Demon Marcus, Sunday, All Day

[myownface]

Sparkle was having another slow shift at Demon Marcus. Everything that needed to be put out was out, everything that needed to be chucked into the back room and hidden away from humanity for the sake of good taste was hidden away... Hell, Sparkle had even swept and mopped the floors early out of sheer boredom

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[not_trivial]

In case Sparkle wasn't aware, Alec did not love being at this store. But he had told Izzy that he'd try to have a conversation with Sparkle, and although he didn't know his boyfriend's work schedule by heart, this was his best guess as to Sparkle's whereabouts, and it turned out to be right.

He had a shopping bag in one hand and a tray with two coffee cups in the other, but Shadowhunter coordination meant that he managed to open the door without spilling or dropping anything.

"He-- oh, I should have gotten you a drink that comes with a straw." Oops.

[myownface]

"Hm?" Sparkle blinked up from his nail-polishing, and then broke into a little grin. "Oh, you don't have to worry about that. It's not like I put up a sign saying I was paining my nails or anything. You brought me coffee?"

He waved his hands around a little, letting his fingers dry.

"Best boyfriend."

[not_trivial]

"Well, I owed you for watching me last weekend," Alec explained sheepishly, setting the cup down on the counter. "Oh, speaking of which."

He held out the bag he was holding. But then he remembered that Sparkle's nails were wet, so he ducked his head and just took out the gift that was inside.

"I saw this and thought of you."

Well, he had. But he also thought it would make this conversation less tricky.

[myownface]

Oh, that was a nice scarf. And for a moment, Sparkle couldn't help but wonder if maybe he was starting to train a sense of good taste into his boyfriend, or maybe he'd asked someone if it was hideous or not. He didn't say any of that, of course, because he was too busy breaking into a grin, and then leaning clear across the counter (mindful of the coffee) to solicit a kiss from Alec.

"It's great," he informed him. "You didn't have to, babe, but I love it."

[not_trivial]

"Well, I wasn't going to wear it," Alec joked. It was a lame joke. But accurate. Because it wasn't black. "You're welcome. I'm glad you like it."

He figured he couldn't go wrong with yellow.

"So are you, uh, really busy here?" He was guessing no.

[myownface]

"Drowning in work to do, can't you tell?" Sparkle straightened up with a little smirk, drumming his fingertips once on the countertop. "Why, you wanna get out of here?"

[not_trivial]

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about something," Alec said carefully. "But it can be here. Or not, if you want to go on break." See, Sparkle had options!

[myownface]

Ah. Sparkle looked at the scarf, and then back up at Alec, and he raised an eyebrow.

"This is totally a sucking-up-to-Sparkle-before-a-shitty-conversation scarf, isn't it?"

[not_trivial]

"Yeah," Alec confessed. "Is that okay?"

[myownface]

"Kinda ruins the scarf a bit," Sparkle pointed out, raising an eyebrow. "The rest depends on how shitty this conversation is going to be."

The eyebrow was staying raised. Alec was welcome to elaborate whenever, and Sparks would just be drumming his fingertips on the countertop some more in the meantime.

[not_trivial]

"Well," Alec said, suddenly very preoccupied with how he should hold his arms and settling for awkwardly clasping his hands on the counter, "I was wondering what happened with you and my sister on Saturday. You seemed really, um, angry at her."

[myownface]

Sparkle just crossed his own arms, mirroring Alec's pose.

"She fed you a chunk of cow shit calling it a birthday cake," he pointed out. "You were trying to get that taste out of your mouth for how long that night? You'd think she'd taste that first or something, it was your friggin' birthday."

That... actually wasn't Sparkle's issue with Isabelle at all. But it was a start.

[not_trivial]

"Yeah, but... I think part of that might have been that panthers aren't supposed to eat cake," Alec said gently, but that wasn't really his point, so he moved on quickly to the next thing he had to say. "And I just meant... being a bad cook isn't something I think you'd normally yell at someone about, so I was thinking maybe there was more than that."

[myownface]

Like how she was a complete and utter psycho, and a bully?

"What, you figure she can't take a little yelling at? I thought she was made of tougher stuff." Sparkle was trying not to scowl, now, and failing. "I mean, that's the impression she always gave me on the visits she paid me here at work."

[not_trivial]

"I don't..." Okay, clearly Alec needed to ask some more about those visits. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and said, "Visits?"

[myownface]

"You know," Sparkle shrugged. "Visits. Coming in. Making sure I'm behaving myself. Really getting well-acquainted with the fact that my boyfriend's sister is here on the island and watching, and all."

Flat. That came out sounding super flat, and he'd been going for casual.