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Demon Marcus, Sunday

Second verse, same as the first, but a little hung over and--

Eh, screw it. Sparkle was at the clothing store today in case anybody decided that their current clothing situation wasn't working out for them. He'd had a good night hitting up the bars in Baltimore, had been treated to a few drinks by some charming young men who were out on the town, and now he was back at work, contemplating doing it all again tonight.

Yeah, he could be doing one of a million fascinating things right now, but honestly, he kind of just enjoyed the excuse to dress up and bum around the clothing.

[Open!]

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Alec wasn't even thinking about his new appearance when he went out into town today. He wasn't dwelling on it every second, and when he wasn't looking in a mirror, he managed to put it out of his mind for the most part. So it didn't really occur to him when he stepped inside Sparkle's store and nodded a polite hello before turning to look at the clothes.

"Hi."

....

"Hnnng."

That was kind of like hello if you squinted, Alec. It was punctuated with a wary side-eye as Sparkle ever so subtly shrank down behind the counter a little more.

Super subtle. Truly.

"Can I help you with anything?"

Alec noticed, but immediately worried that he'd done something wrong in the time since they'd last talked that was causing Sparkle to react that way. He really should have had coffee this morning.

"No, it's okay, I'm just looking for a belt," he explained, but then couldn't help asking, "Are you okay?"

"Dunno. Did I do anything recently that would lead to me being not okay in the near future?"

Because Sparkle really didn't like being not okay. He tried to avoid situations like that wherever possible, really.

"I don't know what you mean," Alec said warily. The concern in his eyes was genuine, but that might not be something that Sparkle was looking for on this particular face.

Nooo. Sparkle was far more inclined to look for the nearest exit, where this face was concerned.

"Look, we're on good terms, okay? I'm not looking to fuck anyone over. So just..." He shook his head, hunkering down a little more. "You wanna just loom and threaten and get it over with so I can get back to work?"

"Oh," Alec said, and then, "Oh. Sparkle, I'm Alec."

Hopelessly confused, but Alec.

"... The hell you are."

Sparkle took a moment to stay right where he was, because hiding behind the counter, where he was essentially cornered, was clearly the best place for him, before grudgingly sitting up to get a better look.

"... Yeah. Yeah, you are. Shit. Uh. Hi?"

The real Isabelle would be oozing way more 'I can destroy you' vibes, here.

Or at least wearing heels.

Alec, who had wandered over toward a belt display, hadn't been advancing or cornering Sparkle at all. So, no, maybe not the Izzy-iest behavior.

"Breathe," he said, looking genuinely concerned. "I didn't think..."

"S'fine. Look, no harm, right? You can't help how you look or anything."

This was not stopping Sparkle from bunching his shoulders a little and kind of avoiding looking that way, however.

He was looking a little shamefaced, there.

"I wasn't really thinking, either."

Because terror made thinking hard. Fear was inconvenient like that.

"Yeah, you looked really... scared." It wasn't a great word, but it seemed the most applicable, even if Alec frowned a little once he used it. He shook his head. "Sorry."

"Shit happens, right?" Sparkle wasn't a huge fan of the word, either, but he was willing to drop it. "You, uh... Yeah."

So, awkwardness. That was new and fun!

"How've you been?"

"Okay, except for this, I think," Alec said, but he quickly returned to, "Was it a body language thing I was doing, or...?"

"Just your face," Sparkle mumbled, looking up at the ceiling, now. Ceilings were fascinating. "You weren't, like, being threatening. Swear to god."

So, wasn't that good to know?

"I mean, you have that... Shadowhunter... thing. Where you have like nothing in the world to fear? But that's different. 'M used to that."

"There's things I fear," Alec mumbled. People said he worried too much, usually. But he knew what Sparkle meant.

He bit his lip for a second. "Do you think you've ever... read too much into Isabelle like that? I mean, when she didn't mean to scare you."

Okay, now Sparkle's expression was shifting to something a little less chagrined, a little more annoyed.

Which was still, in a way, a step up from terrified.

"You think there was actually some time that Isabelle came in here that she wasn't intending to scare me? Really?"

"I was just asking," Alec said. Although yes, that was his theory. "It could happen, right?"

"I managed to hold my own against that pair of assholes trying to kill us at the Kwik Stop without pissing myself in fear," Sparkle replied, his tone dry. "And I don't go up against fucking monsters for a living or anything, but I've lived a shitty enough life and I've had to run from enough assholes who would take me apart if I let them, I know when I'm being threatened, Alec."

Sparkle gave his head a shake, and then reached for a bottle of nail polish sitting on the counter.

"A person doesn't have to spell it out in big shiny letters to let you know in no uncertain terms they can fucking crush you. Not everyone makes it as obvious as yelling about turning you into sausages while waving around a rusty knife."

"That's what I thought," Alec said, frowning, "since you grew up the way you did, so I don't understand how I walked in here just now and you thought I was threatening you." He dropped the belt he'd been examining, let his hands fall to his sides, leaving Alec projecting nothing but casual sincerity. "I mean, Sparkle, I think your instincts are probably usually on-point, but I couldn't possibly blame you for exaggerating a danger because it's safer that way. If you ask Jace, I'm pretty infamous for that, actually. You don't think there's even a chance that you could have?"

"You get threatened by the same face enough, you learn to react when you see it, instead of when you see what it's doing. That's survival instinct, too," Sparkle pointed out, giving the contents of the nail polish bottle a shake. Casual. He was being so damn casual about this.

He had to.

"Right now, yeah, I overcompensated. But unless it was you every other time I felt like I was being loomed at and reminded that I was less than a fucking bug to be stepped on when my tolerated existence became inconvenient? No. No, I don't think there's a chance of that. I am fucking terrified of your sister, and I think, when she comes in here, that's exactly how she wants it to be. And I can't do anything about it, because she's your sister."

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Demon Marcus, Sunday

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