midnight | j.w.

1 1 . h y a c i n t h

If there was one thing Dahlia was certain of, it was that Alec Lightwood was absolutely terrible at ice skating with the lack of a stability rune. He was clumsy, uncoordinated and Dahlia would've probably laughed had she not felt bad about him constantly falling.

Isabelle was a natural. She was as graceful on the ice as she was doing anything else. Plenty of people would stop, even for a moment, to watch as she glided across the solid surface perfectly.

Dahlia had high expectations of Jace. She thought that since he was such a graceful Shadowhunter, he'd be a decent ice skater but, no. He was just as bad as his parabatai, if not worse. Though, he hadn't fallen, his grip on the edge of the rink remained firm.

She really couldn't help but giggle at the sight.

Alec sighed and grumbled when he fell flat on his butt again, looking up at Dahlia with a glare. "That's it, I'm using a stability rune. I don't care about your stupid rule."

Before they entered the ice rink, Dahlia had told them that they weren't allowed to use runes because it was more fun to do it this way. Izzy shrugged, Alec reluctantly put his stele away and Jace had said something along the lines of, how hard can it be?

"If he's doing it, so am I," Jace announced, loosening his grip with one hand so he could reach for his stele.

"No," Dahlia protested, skating over to Jace and taking the stele from is hand, "Come on, I'll help you."

Jace grumbled, "Fine," under his breath and she reluctantly handed his stele back to him. He pocketed it and grabbed hold of the edge once more.

She held her hands out to him and he glanced down, hesitantly letting go of the edge and placing his hands in her outstretched palms. She smiled and held onto them tightly, slowly pulling him away from the edge and towards the center of the ice rink.

"What are you doing?" He gasped, his eyes wide as he stared at her.

She giggled softly. "Don't you trust me?"

"No, Aladdin," he answered quickly, glancing at her to see her reaction to his reference.

She grinned. "That was brilliant." She moved so that she was by Jace's side, letting go of one of his hands and threading her fingers through his on the other. "Now, let's teach you how to skate."

Jace may have been terrible at ice skating but he was a quick learner; before he knew it, he was skating without holding onto Dahlia. Although, he didn't really want to let go. He felt at ease when his hand was holding hers; her fingers fit perfectly in the spaces between his.

So when she did attempt to let go, he held onto her hand tighter. She assumed it was because he was afraid, regardless of the fact that he had momentarily skated on his own, not for any other reason, she convinced herself.

Isabelle past them and grabbed onto Dahlia's free hand, taking both of them with her. Jace lost his balance and ended up falling flat on his butt. Isabelle was too busy laughing at him to help him up while Dahlia suppressed a grin and held her hand out to him.

Instead of taking her hand and pulling himself up, Jace pulled her down and caught her just before she hit the ice, his arms around her waist.

She cursed under her breath and shot him a playful glare, pushing herself back up and offering him her hand once more. He grinned and took it, pulling himself up properly this time around.

Isabelle winked at Dahlia when Jace wasn't looking, a grin spreading across her face. Dahlia blushed and shook her head, lifting a finger to her lips. Izzy started laughing and Jace turned to her, giving her a confused look and asking, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Dahlia interjected quickly, "She's laughing because I fell, you see."

Jace raised an eyebrow. "Bit of a delayed reaction, don't you think?"

Alec appeared, much to Dahlia's delight because, hopefully, the subject would then change. "Hey, man, you okay?" He asked Jace, giving him a concerned glance.

"I'm good," Jace replied with a casual smile before turning his attention back to the girls, giving both of them odd looks. He glanced at his parabatai and mumbled, "Girls are weird."

Dahlia's eyes narrowed as she looked at him while Isabelle smacked him at the back of his head. Alec attempted to hide his snicker but Jace heard it and looked at all three of them, dramatically pointing at each and announcing, "This is bullying."

"Aw, you poor thing," Dahlia cooed, skating over to him and almost knocking him over in the process. She hugged him like he was a child looking for attention, her arms around his shoulders.

Alec averted his eyes from the scene, his heart constricting painfully as he tried to avoid seeing whatever the hell was happening between the two. Izzy caught her brother's eye and offered him a sympathetic smile.

"Shall we get something to eat after this?" Dahlia asked, pulling herself away from Jace.

"You're so posh," Isabelle pointed out, raising her eyebrows, "But yeah, I'm starved."

Jace shrugged—his cheeks were flushed pink and he drooped his head slightly in attempt to hide his blush. "I don't mind, I had a late breakfast so I'm not that hungry."

Alec didn't reply because he didn't think he needed to—they were going to go either way but Dahlia looked over at him expectantly with her eyebrows raised as if waiting for an answer. He nodded and mumbled, "Yeah, sounds good."

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A/N gonna post this before I delete it. I hate this chapter so much it's horrible. It's just a filler though.... maybe I'll delete it later on