#but they all see the shit that goes on and they all see izzy straighten his shoulders and brace himself for the punches | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kate2kat · 6 months

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I tried to fix one detail that a number of us particularly hated

The Unicorn’s Leg

“Is it just me or was the grave marker a bit off?”

The wedding has wound down now, leaving the flatness that always follows a party, even a normal one, nevermind one that took place too soon after a funeral. Fuck the captains for being in such a hurry anyway, not as if Lucius and Pete needed their permission to fuck all over the ship.

“Yeah,” Fang agrees, voice heavy, “how’s Izzy—“ his voice breaks “— how’s Izzy going to walk now?”

“Don’t!” Jim hisses at Archie, cutting off an eye roll, moving round the table to put their arms around him. “You made him such a good leg, Fang.”

Fang tries a smile, but it’s a small, sad thing and it just makes Jim even sadder. “You all helped. He still needs it.”

“That’s what I’m saying. He needs it. Fuck it, I’m going to go give it back to him.” Jim’s exhausted, in the grips of an adrenaline crash, but they won’t be able to sleep with the vision of Izzy, stuck again, unable to move, while his beautiful leg weathers on the beach, its gold paint peeling, flaking off in the sun, his cravat rotting in the rain, his ring — his precious ring that he was so secretive about — falling into the sand, lost forever.

“You’re shit at rowing. I’ll come too. Give him back his leg.”

They’re moving quietly, getting a boat over the side, when Wee John’s voice comes out of the darkness. “You leaving? You said you would. Don’t you want to wait for morning?”

Jim is suddenly even wearier. “I don’t know man. I thought I would leave. Kind of sick of it all now, you know? So I might just stay here. Maybe we won’t get killed.” Maybe they would. Maybe it wouldn’t matter even if they were. “We are going to give Izzy back his leg.”

“He can’t walk without it,” Fang adds.

“Is there space in that boat for me?”

“It’s not that small— Oh! Yeah, of course, Wee John, you should come too.”

“I just need to go get something.”

Wee John goes off below while Jim and Fang finish getting the boat into the sea. Wee John comes back on deck with Frenchie in tow, clutching his guitar.

“He never got a chance to give us another song. I thought …” He trails off.

They all clamber down into the little boat and Fang takes up the oars. It’s not far to the beach. There’s a weak light in one of the windows of the shitty little cabin. Jim hopes Ed and Stede are too busy to look out and see what they are about to do.

When they reach the grave, the others hang back, but Jim falls to their knees and starts digging away the soft sandy dirt. Fang joins them, and together they scrape the dirt away, Fang’s tears fall openly, and then Jim is weeping too. They’d been too stunned when Izzy was laid in the ground. Too outraged at cruel fate.

“Fuck, Izzy,” they pant now, “a rotting leg couldn’t kill you, how could you let a bullet do it, man? Didn’t even let me try.”

They’d thought, after the leg, and Aunty, that maybe, just maybe, they were good at this. Raised to kill, good at saving lives. Wouldn’t be such a bad life, would it?

They’re getting tired, but they can’t stop now.

“Careful,” Fang says, voice thick. “He’s just there.”

Without noticing, they’ve dug all the way down. Jim’s fingers brush the leather of Izzy’s waistcoat, where the shroud has shifted.

They look up, at Frenchie and Wee John silhouetted against the starlight. John holding Izzy’s leg, gold paint gleaming faintly; Frenchie’s hand wrapped around the neck of his guitar. Jim realises that their free hands are clasped together.

Fang reaches up. “Give it here,” he says, “so I can give it back.”

John leans down, the leg extending into the pit.

And then he straightens. “No,” he says.

“No? What the fuck, man! You knew what we came to do, give it here,” Jim hisses at him.

“No,” John repeats. “I also have something for him, and I’m not getting in that hole. And neither should he be down there. Bring him up.”

“Yes!” Frenchie’s voice is vehement. He sets his guitar on the sand and kneels down. “He shouldn’t be buried in dirt.”

Fang bends, bracing himself against the side of the hole, and slides his arms under Izzy’s body. “Is this okay, Izzy? Am I crushing you?” he whispers. He straightens, Izzy held against his chest. “I’ve got you. Shhh, I’ve got you.” He raises him high, and lays him gently on the side of the hole.

Grasping Frenchie’s hands, they scramble up after him.

Wee John is on his knees in the dirt, fingers deftly passing Izzy’s cravat around his neck. “Give me the ring,” he says, and Frenchie passes it over.

“Don’t drop it!”

“Course I won’t fucking drop it!” He threads the ring into its place and tying the knot.

“Did he ever tell you whose that was?” Frenchie asks.

“Not me,” says John.

“Me either,” says Fang. “All these years, he never said. It was just always there, he never took it off.”

He kneels too, and reaches for Izzy’s leg, sliding it into place and fastening the straps. “There you are, Izzy.” His voice breaks, and he remains where he is, hand on the golden hoof. “There you are.”

Wee John is holding something else now. A little pot. “Guys,” he says, “I thought … I dunno … maybe a little more gold paint?”

Fang nods his head vigorously. “Make him beautiful.”

John dips a finger into the pot and rubs it delicately over Izzy’s closed eyelids. The gold shines in the darkness.

Frenchie has picked up his guitar again, and he strums a chord, hums a phrase. It’s the lovely French song. Jim’s throat is too thick to force any sound out, but in their mind, they sing along, just like they did when they were all a happy family, on the deck of the Revenge and Izzy sang for them. The same deck where he defied Blackbeard and saved them all.

No one speaks for a while after Frenchie lets the wordless song fade away.

They didn’t think this through, they only knew Izzy needed his leg.

Now they say: “Guys, we’re not putting him back in the dirt.”

“Of course not,” John agrees.

“You belong at sea, Izzy,” says Fang, and picks Izzy up once more. “Let’s take you home.”

Izzy’s body barely makes a splash when they slide it over the side of the little boat, far out in the sea, beyond the Revenge, weighed down with a big rock from the beach.

They watch as it drifts down, ring and leg and gold face paint gleaming through the water.

Also on AO3, if you want to come yell with me there

#ofmd s2 #fix it fic #izzy hands #izzy deserved better

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spookyblazecoffee · 7 months

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Distance

Liam knew there was a distance growing between him and Isaac multiple times before Isaac moved. He just didn't expect it to get as bad as it did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, Izzy wanna play Stramash* with Jordan and I?" Liam asks one day after their father died.

"I can't Li, I'm busy… sorry." Isaac responds.

"It’s alright! We'll just play with mama or dad." Liam says, "Next time though, right?" he adds, Isaac feels a slight tug on his chest.

"Yeah. Next time…" he answers.

Liam notices that he didn’t hear Isaac’s bedroom door open all night.

Next time never happened.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another day, Liam wanted to show Isaac a story from one of his books, so he went to Isaac’s room. He wasn't there, so Liam went downstairs thinking he was in the living room or the kitchen.

When Liam couldn't find Isaac, he went into his mama’s office.

"Liam, what are you doing mo chridhe?**" Jenna asks, looking at her youngest.

"Have you seen Iz? I want to show him something, but I can't find him." Liam responds.

"I believe he went out with his friends Erica and Boyd." Jenna answers.

"Oh…" Liam says quietly, "I'll go back to reading my book then." he adds, trying not to cry.

"What's the book about, dear?" Jenna asks sweetly.

"The dancing plague of 1518." Liam answers bluntly before leaving the room.

He reads the rest of his book in Isaac’s room that night. He has a nightmare of a snake-like monster slashing Isaac across his torso and Isaac getting paralyzed when he falls asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It happens again a week later…

"Hey, Iz…" Liam starts, knowing what’s most likely going to happen.

"Yeah, Liam?" Isaac questions softly.

"Wanna go stargazing with Mama, dad, and I? They say Saturn will be visible and that there's going to be a lunar eclipse…" Liam asks, moving from the balls of his feet to his tip toes multiple times.

"Can't, sorry… next time, though. Okay?" Isaac responds, looking guiltily at his baby brother.

"Yeah, I guess…" Liam says, looking sadly at the floor. "You're still coming to my game tomorrow night, right?" Liam wonders.

"Of course. I wouldn't miss it for the world." Isaac answers, smiling sadly, but Liam doesn't see it because he's still staring at his feet.

Liam goes downstairs to see his parents and his dog waiting by the door.

"Where’s your brother, Liam?" David asks, concerned.

"He can't make it… he'll try to next time, though!" Liam answers, putting Cernunnos on his leash and walking out the door.

While they're walking towards the small field Liam and his brothers would play in when they were younger, Cernunnos slips out of his collar, forcing Liam to run after him.

"Liam, dear, let him go. He'll come back soon. And if he doesn't, we know our way around here, we'll find him." Jenna shouts after her youngest. Liam hangs his head and walks back to his parents.

3rd person, Isaac

Scott, Isaac, and Derek are chasing Deucalion through the trees surrounding them when Isaac hears a familiar accent and barking in the direction Deucalion is running toward.

Shit! he thinks, stopping in his tracks as he hears Deucalion say: "Well, hello there, little pup. What's your name?" he starts to run again, faster than he was before, concerning Scott and Derek.

He catches up to Deucalion but makes sure that no one outside of the treeline can see him.

"Give me the dog." Issac says, making Deucalion quirk an eyebrow.

"And why should I?" Deucalion asks, "I can sense its owners are nearby. I thought I should bring it to them…" he continues before Cernunnos barks at Isaac.

"You do that, but afterwar-" Isaac starts.

"Yes, I know, afterward I'm going to be chased again." Deucalion says, straightening his cane and walking towards Isaac’s family.

3rd person, Liam

"Hello? Is anyone over here?" a voice yells from behind the treeline.

"Cernunnos!" Liam shouts, "How did you find him?" he asks the man in front of him.

"Little guy just came right up to me, I almost hit the troublemaker with my cane." Deucalion responds and Liam giggles, "Well, I have to go… I'll see you around." he adds, ruffling Cernunnos' fur before turning back to the woods before he walks off into the trees.

Liam feels a little less alone in this world when he sees that same man again a week later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The last time it happens is the night Isaac left for France.

"Hey, wanna come with me to take Cernunnos on a walk? We can look at the stars…" Liam asks, and Isaac doesn't even answer. He just shrugs.

Liam didn't know what was happening to his brother, but he wanted to help.

"Or we could watch The Princess Bride…" Liam suggests, knowing how much Isaac loves it. Once again, silence. "Or play a game? Or make a cake? Or help Nan make Jordan a gift for his upcoming birthday?" Liam says, hoping to get an answer. Nothing.

"Are you okay, bub?" Liam asks, "You've been acting weird lately." he adds, with concern on his face.

"I'm fine… I'm just tired." Isaac says.

Liar. Liam thinks, but he doesn't say it out loud.

They had gone out the night before for dinner with Jordan, just the three of them, but Isaac had been quiet almost the whole time

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, Liam had woken up to see a note on his desk, and Isaac not in his bed.

The note said:

I'm sorry, Li, I had to leave. I know I said we would go together, but I can't stay in this town a minute longer. I hope you can forgive me for leaving and for pushing you away over this last year. I know it will take some time, but I would like to talk with you like we used to when we were younger. So whenever you can find time to do so, call me, please. I love you, bub

-Isaac

@tw1ggy14

*Scottish board game

**My heart

#Teen Wolf #Liam Dunbar #Isaac Lahey #Jenna Geyer #David Geyer #Jordan Parrish #Lahey Brothers (but only three of them)#Scott McCall #Deucalion Teen Wolf #Erica Reyes #Vernon Boyd #Boyd Teen Wolf

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morganaspendragonss · 3 years

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when the dust settles

Tommy grins, arching an eyebrow as she looks back at TK. "Shall we go rescue your man from my girls then?"

TK has to prepare himself before entering the house, but his resolve to stay calm and composed immediately crumbles as he sees what's waiting for him—Carlos, meticulously stacking Jenga pieces back in the box while the girls colour quietly at the kitchen table.

ao3 | 1.5k | 2.14

It’s late by the time they finish their impromptu shift, all piling into Nancy’s car after returning the rig to the garage. A tense silence falls over them as they head back to Tommy’s place, both TK and Nancy still reeling from the bombshell she dropped on them this morning. The sense of finality that comes with leaving the ambulance behind is almost too much to bear.

It’s Nancy who breaks it eventually as they pull to a stop outside the Vega household. “Well,” she says, turning to look at Tommy, “if this was our last ride all together, then… Thank you, for being such an amazing captain. There’s no-one I’d rather go through volcanoes, kidnappings, and dust storms with.”

“Agreed,” TK chimes in from the back seat. He doesn’t have as close a connection with Tommy as Nancy does, but the thought of her leaving still sends a sharp pain through his chest. She’d been the first captain he’s truly felt free and comfortable under, and he can’t picture the job without her steady leadership guiding them through. “And, thank you for giving me a chance, Cap. You, uh, these months with EMS have been the best of my career, and I know most of that is down to you. So, um… Yeah.”

He trails off awkwardly, flushing slightly as he stares down at his hands. There’s an awful pressure behind his eyes, a sure sign he’s about to cry again, but he tries — unsuccessfully — to force the tears back.

“I think we’ve all cried enough for one day, huh, Strand?” Tommy asks, but there’s a smile in her suspiciously thick voice. TK looks up at her, met with a warm gaze and, yep, the undeniable shine in both her and Nancy’s eyes.

She breathes out shakily, then reaches a hand back to TK, the other going across Nancy. “I’m not sure I deserve such high praise, but thank you both. I meant what I said earlier; it has truly been a gift to work alongside two incredibly talented paramedics, and I could not have asked for a better reintroduction to the job.”

Nancy arches a brow, looking at her in disbelief.

Tommy laughs. “Maybe I could have gone without being kidnapped and having my firehouse blow up.”

“For starters,” Nancy mutters.

“Point is, I’m grateful. And… I think that maybe I was a little too hasty in my decision earlier.”

TK straightens in his seat, sharing a hopeful glance with Nancy. “You mean you’re coming back?”

“I’m not sure my girls would have it any other way,” Tommy admits wryly. Her smile turns a little sad, and she casts her eyes skyward, squeezing their hands tightly. “Then I think about what Charles would say,” she continues softly. “He would tell me to do what I want to do, not what I think I should do, and that’s my job. Don’t get me wrong, the girls will always come first, and I still need to do a lot of thinking to make sure it’s actually doable. But, hopefully, when the 126 reopens, I will be back in that ambulance with you two.”

Nancy doesn’t waste a second in launching herself forward to hug Tommy. TK grins at them, his eyes more than a little wet, and he feels a weight lifting from his chest.

“That’s awesome, Cap,” he says, squeezing her hand once more before letting go to surreptitiously wipe at his face.

“I can’t believe you almost left me alone with him,” Nancy adds, pulling back from Tommy and jerking her thumb towards TK. He makes a token protest, as is his role in this relationship, but the ribbing is worth it to see Tommy smile and roll her eyes at them, like she’s done so many times before.

“Alright, kids.” She opens the car door and climbs out, leaning back in to raise an eyebrow at TK. “Shall we go rescue your man from my girls?”

TK laughs and gets out too, hearing Nancy do the same. He has to take a moment to prepare himself before Tommy lets them in; seeing Carlos with the girls earlier had put all sorts of thoughts in his head—thoughts he should not be having after only a year of dating. Not that he wants to have those thoughts about anyone else, but still.

Slow and steady; that’s what they agreed. So TK takes a deep breath, tells himself to keep his head, no matter what’s waiting inside, and follows Nancy into the house.

His resolve crumbles immediately, his heart doing a funny little flip at the sight of Carlos meticulously stacking Jenga pieces back in the box while the girls colour quietly at the kitchen table. TK doesn’t know why it’s this, of all things, that’s making him so giddy, but there’s something about Carlos taking such care over something so small, whereas TK himself would have just thrown the pieces in the box until the lid had to be forced on.

It takes a second for his brain to reboot, and by that time, Carlos has abandoned his task. He smiles at them as Tommy hugs her girls, and TK goes over to greet him, wrapping an arm around his waist and pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek.

He leans his head down on Carlos’s shoulder, letting some of the exhaustion finally catch up with him. “Have fun?” he mumbles.

Carlos covers the hand TK has on his waist with his own. “Not as much as you, I’m sure.”

“Nine-year olds versus a dust storm?” TK hums as if in thought and wiggles his hand in the air. “Tough choice.”

Carlos laughs, gently knocking their heads together before pulling away from TK as Tommy returns from putting the girls to bed. He doesn’t let Tommy get a word out before he approaches her, an adorably worried look on his face. “I know you said they usually go to sleep much earlier than this,” he says, apologetic, “but they wanted to stay up and wait for you, and I figured they’d do that anyway so I said it was alright. I’m sorry if it wasn’t, I shouldn’t have assumed —”

“Carlos!” Tommy holds up a hand, very obviously fighting back laughter. “It’s okay, really. That was absolutely the right call; I’d probably have woken them up anyway. I can’t thank you enough for agreeing to look after them so last minute.”

He shakes his head, waving her off. “It was nothing.”

“It was everything,” she corrects. “I hope they didn’t torture you too much?”

“They were no trouble at all, I assure you.”

“Well.” Tommy sends him another grateful look, then glances round at all three of them. “Thank you, again. All of you. Now, go home and get some rest — you guys deserve it.”

TK steps forward to hug Tommy, then moves back to Carlos’s side. “Night, Cap,” he says, lifting a hand in one last wave goodbye, before he and Carlos step outside together.

They linger on the curb, waiting for Nancy, who stayed back to talk to Tommy some more. TK hooks his pinky around Carlos’s, leaning on him again. “You were really good with them,” he says quietly, keeping his voice carefully devoid of implication.

Carlos shrugs. “I’ve got five nieces and nephews, and my sisters have taken full advantage of my childless status to turn me into the family babysitter. Trust me, once you’ve had a toddler screaming in your ear for four hours straight, you can handle anything. Besides, apart from repeatedly kicking my ass at Jenga, Izzy and Evie really were totally fine.”

TK snorts. “Yeah, you’d think a cop would have steadier hands than that.”

He grins up at Carlos, receiving a pinch in the side for the comment, which only makes him laugh more.

“They cheated!”

“You can’t cheat at Jenga, Carlos.”

“For once, he has a point,” Nancy says, making them both jump as she appears from, seemingly, nowhere. She levels a finger at the two of them, eyes narrowed. “Technically, I am obligated to drive you home, but if either of you start with the lovey-dovey shit, I will not hesitate to abandon you on the side of the road.”

“Then I will not hesitate to turn you in to Cap,” TK counters, but Nancy just rolls her eyes and gets in the car.

“Please. She’d be on my side and you know it,” she says, which—point. “You coming or not?”

TK grumbles but gets in, immediately retaking Carlos’s hand when they’re both settled. They share a soft smile, making Nancy groan, but she doesn’t make good on her threat, which is a win. This entire day has felt like a win, minus the rocky start, and TK can’t help but feel like things are finally falling into place.

There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s getting closer with every second.

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justimagineitblog · 4 years

Text

“You Used To Love Me” Michael Gray Fan Fiction - Chapter 10

A/N: Alright this one broke and mended my heart all at once while I was writing it - goddamn these characters hahahahaha.

WARNINGS: Swearing, Violence, Guns, Death, Alcohol -

I know I’ve used swear words in previous chapters but this one is quite heavily riddled with it, I also thought I’d warn that there are mentions of death in this one my loves - it’s nothing too full on and I don’t go into heavy descriptions but I just felt like this one needed a warning just incase x

As always, please enjoy xx

As the alarm goes off, Charlie and I both jolt awake in bed. It only takes a few moments to realise that it’s almost half an hour past when we were supposed to be up.

“Fuck!” He shouts as he jumps out of the bed, ripping the sheets back. He’s going on a work trip this weekend with his brother, and if the time on the clock is correct, then the car should be pulling up any moment.

I tear myself out of the bed after him, frantically running around with him to help him get ready.

“Charlie your suit case is in here!” I call as I hear him fumbling around my apartment for his luggage. He runs back into the room, tearing through the cupboards for his suit.

He strips naked right in front of me, and I can’t help but laugh at how much of a mess this is as I try and help him get his suit on.

“He’s gonna kill me if I’m late” he stresses, his hands desperately trying to do up his buttons but he fails. This is a big weekend for their business. If he’s late or messes his up, I know how horrible he will feel about it for a long time.

“Hey, just breathe okay, let me do this” I coo, swatting his hands away as I do his buttons up for him.

He nods, closing his eyes and drawing in a deep breath. Once his shirt is buttoned up he takes off again, scurrying around gathering all his paper work, luggage and some how wriggling his shoes on. We both jump in fright as the beeping of a horn below signals that his car is here.

Swearing repeatedly, he runs to the door, but freezes right before he walks out. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry” he breathes, turning back to me with a shaking his head.

“Stop, it’s okay” I promise him, my hands on his chest as I straighten his tie and jacket “You’re gonna be amazing”

With a relieved smile, he presses his lips against mine. I hold his face, trying to soak up as much of him as I can.

“I’ll miss you, don’t get in any trouble while I’m gone eh?”

“Me?” I furrow my brows “I have no idea what you’re talking about”

He laughs, pulling me in for another kiss.

“Okay, okay you have to go” I chuckle as the car horn continues to beep downstairs. He gives me a few last pecks and before I know it he’s gone, running down the hallway, leaving me flustered in his wake.

I run over to the window, watching as he gets in the car and gives me one last wave. I return the gesture, blowing him a kiss that he pretends to catch as the car pulls away and disappears from my sight.

Slinking back through my apartment I collapse lazily back into my bed, arms and legs flailed in every direction as I fall back asleep.

LATER THAT AFTERNOON

“Hello?”

“Hi you”

I smile as Charlie’s voice speaks like honey through the phone line.

“Miss me already?” I tease.

“Most definitely” he replies, when suddenly the sound of excitement and hollering fills the phone.

“The deal went well then?” I chuckle at his excitement.

“The deal went… incredibly,” he begins, trying to speak over the mens in the background “Actually, we made an ever bigger deal than we originally planned on… they want to financially support the entire business, Izzy”

“Oh my god, Charlie, that’s amazing!” I exclaim

“I was gonna wait to tell you when I got home but… Izzy I think we’re going to move up here”

My jaw drops as I press the phone closer to my ear to make sure I heard him right. When I don’t reply, he begins to fill in the blanks eagerly.

“They want us to move up here Izzy, they want to support us and the whole business-“

The weight of what he’s actually saying begins to wash over me as a million questions leap and bound through my mind.

“Charlie-“ I stutter “You’ve been there for 5 hours” I blurt out, glancing at the clock. 5 hours. That’s barely enough time to decide you want to move 3 hours away. Permanently.

“I know, I know, but we just made the biggest deal of our lives… I’ve gotta follow this Izzy”

“Oh my god” I breathe, trying to sound excited but doing an absolutely horrid job of hiding my shock.

“That’s not why I wanted to call you though, I think I have a proposition for you” I hold my breath. So far, I couldn’t have predicted this conversation even if I tried. I have no idea what is about to come out of his mouth.

“Well you see, I told him I wasn’t moving up here unless they set us up with a proper home because…” He takes a deep breath before blurting out his next words “I want you to come with me, Izzy”

The second the words leave his mouth I freeze. Go with him. Did he just ask me to move away with him? Move three hours away? Away from my home. The place I grew up. Away from my job. Away from the Shelby’s.

“Izzy? Izzy are you there? What do you think?” I hear his muffled voice asking through the phone as I snap back into reality. Heat rises up my neck and over my face as I fumble for my words.

“What do I think?” I echo his words. I don’t know what I think. Actually, I’m thinking way to much.

“I know it’s a lot. You don’t have to pack your bags right now. I’ll tell you all about it when I get home”

Pack my bags?

My breath quickens as do my racing thoughts and heart rate.

“Okay, I have to go!” he rushes quickly as the shouting and hollering behind him gets louder, urging him to go and join the celebrations.

And just like that, the phone line goes silent. I stand in the lurch for minute after minute trying to digest what just happened. I fumble for a chair, trying to steady myself as I sit down. The whole conversation was such a rush and a whirlwind that I feel physically light headed.

We’ve only been together for a month.

But if I don’t move away with him, is that the end of us? We would hardly be able to visit one another during the week. And even weekends aren’t always free. Between both of our work schedules, how would we ever make time. Three hours away. That’s no short trip. If anything happened back here, I wouldn’t be able to get back in a hurry. What if Tommy got into trouble? And Arthur? What if Polly needed me? And then the most regretful, dreaded thought crosses my mind. What about Michael?

I feel physically ill. I can’t move. I can’t do this. The phone that’s rested in my lap begins to ring obnoxiously, frightening me so badly I almost throw it clean across the room. Maybe I should. Maybe I should break the goddamn thing.

“Shit” I hiss, running a hand through my hair as my heart pounds so hard it feels like it might just jump straight out of my chest.

I yank the phone towards my ear, completely exhausted and flustered.

“Izzy? Darling it’s Polly”

I sigh, trying to calm myself down enough to sound somewhat normal and coherent.

“Hi Poll, what’s up?”

“Look don’t panic, we just need you to come down here okay”

The tight nervousness of her voice snaps me straight out of my cloudy, foggy state.

“Polly what’s going on?” I reply urgently, standing up from my chair in a panic.

“It’s alright. Just come down to the office okay? We’ve got a client here and-” she pauses as voices in the background get louder and I strain desperately to hear who is there “We just need you to go over some things”

“I’m coming now” I hang up the phone immediately.

Something isn’t right.

I race out the door without my coat, my hand bag, anything. I don’t even bother trying to be subtle as I run through the streets, tearing my way through people and around corners until I see the office ahead. As I get closer the fear in the pit of my stomach grows bigger and bigger.

Polly never sounds like that. What the hell is going on. What am I about to find inside.

The sound of sudden shouting from inside sends a crashing wave of fear and adrenaline through me as I burst into the office through the back door. What I find when I walk in sends my stomach into back flips. I freeze, almost tripping over my own feet from stopping to abruptly.

All heads shoot towards me. Tommy, Arthur, Polly and Michael. They look terrified, there eyes wide with panic as they’re stood at the edges of the room, their backs practically up against the walls. And it doesn’t take me long to figure out why. My eye’s immediately fall over a man stood in the middle of the room.

He’s standing amidst the office desks which have been flipped and smashed all over the floor. Paper is thrown everywhere. I would call him a stranger, but he’s not. I know this man. We all know this man. He is a client. Bill Rodgers.

I have seen him a few times. Met with him. Met his wife and children. He pays donations to us once a month, in return, we look after his family if they ever need anything. A simple agreement. We do that for a lot of families around here. He’s never been overly warm. But friendly enough. And I don’t know him incredibly well. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realise there is something wrong. Besides the fact that the office is a mess. With chairs, desks and tables scattered across the room. Paper work everywhere. Bill stands in the middle of it all.

His doing I assume.

And he is completely wasted. I can smell it on him. All the way from the door way, my nose catches the distinct smell of whiskey. It almost fills the room. You have to drink bottles of whiskey, or spend days on end inside of a pub to smell like that. Even the way he stands, head to the floor, grumbling, swaying. Muttering to himself. But that’s not even the most concerning thing. No. The most concerning thing about Mr Rodgers is not his drunken stupor.

But the pistol that he is clutching in his hand.

I swallow hard when I see it. I glance to the floor, where I realise they have placed all of their guns.

He must have demanded them to drop their guns.

What I cannot figure out, about Bill, is what the hell he wants. He has never caused any trouble. Never gotten in trouble with the law. Never betrayed us. What the hell is doing here in a drunken rage with a gun?

“Bill,” Tommy begins, his arms outstretched to him “This is Isabelle”

I glance nervously at Tommy as he signals for me to come over to stand beside him. I rush over to his side, and he steps in front of me ever so slightly. Bill looks up at me gravely, through the disheveled hair falling in his face. I try to hold his eyes, staying calm and gentle. In his state, anything could set him off.

“And what is she gonna do about it huh?” He growls “They’re dead Tommy”

“Bill-“

“No, Tommy” he shouts “I pay you donations every month, yeah, and you look after my family in return. BUT THEY’RE GONE! THEY’RE GONE TOMMY!” His voice grows louder as he waves his arms in the air, and we all take a few steps back as we watch the pistol in his clutch nervously.

Tommy opens his mouth to speak, but I beat him to it.

“Bill,” I say gently and he shoots his eyes in my direction “Just tell me what happened, and I can help you. Whatever you need. But I have to know how to help you first”

He stares at me, reluctantly, angrily, before something seems to give.

“They’re dead” He breathes “Sarah, and my boys. I was out, and the house was robbed. They stole everything and killed my fucking family”

My heart drops. He lost his family. All of them. This man is hurting. He is in pain. We are supposed to provide protection. His house being robbed is something none of us could have prevented, or helped, but he has just lost his entire family, and he’s looking for someone to blame.

I can’t believe my own actions when I find myself walking slowly towards him. I feel everyone in the room tense, as I do. This man may normally be harmless, but right now he is intoxicated and armed. And I’m walking straight into it.

“Izzy, don’t” I hear Tommy’s voice hiss so silently I almost miss it. But I ignore him.

“Bill, we can help you okay” I take another slow, weary step towards him treading so lightly I barely make a sound “We can find the men who did this, but I just need you to put your gun down for me”

He sways, seeming to lose his stability. The whiskey coursing through him right now must be making him see double.

Suddenly he bursts into sobs, and I almost jump out of my skin. He sinks to the floor, falling among the debris in a pile of sobs and cries.

Keeping my eyes firmly glued on the gun, I lower myself to his level.

“No one can help me” he whimpers in between cries.

“We can help you, I promise” I breathe, the stench of whiskey slapping me in the face and burning my nostrils as I shuffle closer and closer. I’m only inches away from him. Close enough to reach out and take the gun from his lose grip. With one head in his hands, and the other hanging by his side, he’s so distraught I don’t even think he would notice.

I hear feet shuffling around me, as they all begin to reach for their guns just incase.

I hold my breath, praying over and over again silently to myself as I extend my arm. My hand shaking as I close in on the pistol.

But the second my skin touches his, my hand brushing the pistol ever so slightly as I almost grab a hold of it, it sets him off like a match igniting a bomb. His giant stature lurches upwards as he roars with rage. Happening all to fast for me to comprehend, or even try to escape, he shoves me with a brute force that I’ve never felt before. He pummels me, bashing me up against the wall, the back of my head colliding with it so loudly against it that I think I black out momentarily as everything goes white. My ears, are ringing, piercing and loud and I only just begin to comprehend what’s happening when I feel his hands around my throat.

His forehead is pressed roughly against mine, his thick breath hot and drenched in pungent alcohol as his chest rises and falls heavily. I grab at his hands, clawing desperately to try and pry them off as his grip tightens. He shakes me like a rag doll, shoving me so harshly into the wall that I’m just waiting for it to give way. He stares at me with rage, with ferocity that I have never seen before. Frozen, paralysed in fear, all I can do is stare back into them.

The sound of gun chambers cocking all around us catches his attention, and suddenly I’m being pulled away from the wall. He spins me around, and the blow to my head as well as lack of oxygen disorients me completely. It’s not until I feel the burning of cold metal against my temple that I come back to my senses. Bill is stood behind me, one arm around my chest to keep me still, my back pressed against him. The other hand, is pressing the barrel of his pistol against the side of my skull.

I stiffen immediately, not even breathing as he faces me towards the Tommy, Arthur, Polly and Michael, who all have their guns aimed at him.

“PUT THE FUCKING GUNS DOWN OR I’LL BLOW HER BRAINS OUT ALL OVER THESE WALLS” He screams at them, his booming voice almost defeating me in one ear as he presses the pistol harder against my head.

Tommy, Polly and Arthur drops their guns to the floor immediately.

But Michael doesn’t budge.

Our eyes lock, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so terrified. He is completely pale, all the blood drained from his face as he aims the gun at Bill’s head.

“Just put the gun down” I whimper, and he shakes his head frantically, refusing to.

“Let go of her” he growls through clenched teeth, his voice cracking and shaking.

My ears prick as Bill cocks the gun, the chamber clicking.

“An eye for an eye huh,” Bill breathes, beginning to sob again “I fucking kill her and then we’re even for you not protecting my fucking boys”

“Bill let her go” Tommy warms, holding his arms out to him “We are going to find the men that did this and when we do, they are going to get what they deserve. But this…” she shakes his head “This isn’t the answer”

My eyes dart from Tommy back to Michael, who has not moved an inch, gun still aimed.

“I TOLD YOU TO PUT THAT FUCKING GUN DOWN” Bill shouts at Michael, completely ignoring Tommy’s words.

“Michael” I plead desperately, dread washing over me so heavily that I feel ill. I watch as he shakes his head, refusing. His wide open, panic strike eyes have turned glassy, and I can feel tears stinging and biting at my own eyes.

“It’s okay,” I breathe, giving him the smallest nod I can manage with the pistol against my head “Just put it down”

His eyes flicker between me and Bill, and I have to fight to not release a harsh exhale of relief as he lowers his gun to the ground.

“There you go Bill, all the guns are down, now let us talk to you eh?” Tommy negotiates, trying to sound as calm and gentle as he can. But I can see his palpating jaw. His tense body. The veins in his neck bulging from holding his breath. He is the furthest thing from calm.

For a moment I feel Bill’s grip loosen, and in my peripheral I can see the pistol fall away from my head as his arms falls to his side.

He’s letting his guard down.

I shut my eyes, taking a shaky breath in through my nose.

“You’re going to find them” he growls his orders at Tommy “And when you find them, I’m going to kill them”

“Bill…” Tommy shakes his head, trying to be as polite as possible “Bill I can’t let you do that. If you kill them, they’ll only send you to jail… just let us take care of it-“

“TAKE CARE OF IT!” He screams, and I can’t help a whimper from escaping my mouth “YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO TAKE CARE OF MY FAMILY. BUT YOU DIDN’T-“

Tommy opens his mouth, to try and say anything that will calm him, appease him. But once bill has been set off, there is no taming the fire that is his rage. I should have known. There is no reasoning with a drunk man.

With a grieving man.

“No, no, this is your fault” I feel him nodding his head behind me as he points the gun at all of them “This is your fault, and you’re the ones who are going to fucking pay. YOU’RE ALL GOING TO FUCKING PAY”

His cry is the one of a final war cry, and I know what’s coming next.

The next moments of my life feel like they are in slow motion. Suddenly the barrel of the gun is pressed straight up against my head again as he shoves it against my temple. The last thing I see is Tommy, Polly, and Arthur lunging forward, all shouting and begging for Bill to stop before it’s to late.

This is it. This is the last thing I’m going to hear. The last thing I’m going to feel is the end of a pistol pressed again my skull, before I feel nothing at all. Please let it be painless.

A single gun shot fires into the atmosphere.

I expect nothingness. More black. Maybe heaven. Or hell. Though I’m not ever sure if I believed in God.

But I feel myself breathing, my chest still rising and falling. I hadn’t even realised I had squeezed my eyes shut when they shoot open to find myself still in the office.

I’m alive.

The first thing I see is Michael. His gun aimed not at me, but at where Bill had been standing.

It wasn’t Bill’s gun that fired. It was Michael’s.

Bill is dead.

Everything washes over me all at once. Relief. Horror. Fear. Adrenaline. My head is pounding, and entire body feels like I’m floating. Completely weak and empty. Not strong enough to stand, and having lost all feeling in my body, I feel myself collapsing to the floor.

Right before I hit the ground, I find myself falling right into a pair of arms. All noise is muffled, and I feel completely numb as I almost completely pass out for a moment. The only thing I can hear is the throbbing and pounding of my head. It’s not until I come back around moments later that I realise whose arms I’m in.

They’re familiar arms. Strong. Firm. I’ve felt this exact grip before. They way the seem to hold me together. I thought I had forgotten how they felt. But I still know them anywhere.

Michael.

He scoops me up with desperation, and I don’t know who is clinging on to who as he holds onto me like its his life that depends on it. The only thing stopping me from crashing to the floor is him. His arms has envelope me completely, engulfing me in like a safety net. Wrapping me up in a way that I’ve only ever experienced with Michael.

My body and mind still completely disoriented, I find myself only being able to cry. That’s the only thing that comes out. With my face buried in his chest, he holds the back of my head, pressing me so close to him I can barely even breath. But I don’t care. I’m alive.

“You’re okay, you’re okay, I’ve got you” He chants frantically against my ear, and I can’t tell who he is trying to calm down more. Me or himself.

Beneath his chest, I can hear his heart racing. It pounds loudly against my ear. His grip on me never lets up, he doesn’t budge whatsoever. He just holds me. Let’s me sob, staining through his shirt. Everything else fades out. Everything seems to go away. Not just Bill’s attack. It’s like the last few months haven’t even happened. Nothing else matters right now except for the fact that I’m in his arms.

I feel a pair of trembling hands on my face and when I look up I find my eyes opening into Michael’s. His eyes are wide, panic filled and pooling with tears. As we stare at one another, it’s almost like he can’t quite believe I’m in his arms right now. Even though it’s over now, he still has residue terror all over his face. I know he thought that he was about to lose me for good. Forever.

Up until now I’ve barely been able to take a full breath or even begin to stop hyperventilating. But something about the hold his eyes have on me begins to centre me. I feel myself being grounded. Like I’m coming back to my surroundings. Those serene blue eyes give me something to anchor to as the panic slowly but surely leaves my system.

Without even meaning to we find our foreheads pressed to each others, his grip on my face still firm.

“Look at me” his voice is barely a whisper, as it shakes, threatening to break completely “You’re safe”

Pulling me back into a hug, he grips onto me so tightly as if I’m going to disappear if he doesn’t. And I don’t want him to let go, because I feel like I might just break and crumble if I don’t have him holding all my pieces together.

TAGLIST

@shadow-of-wonder

@marvelismylifffe

@saintd0lce

@haphazardhufflepuff

@peaky-things

@burnitup

@swweett-insanityyy

@ganjeolhiddaeng

@thoughtfulfreakalpaca

@infinitelycharmed23

@chloeforde

@ashtronomyyyy

@livingforbarnes

@cleverdreamerhoagiewolf

@elleclairez

@marvelschriss

@carezzesuigraffi

@l0tsofpennies

@siliethkaijuy

@ineedabifriend

@bloodorangemoonlight

@maiabiovillage

@yoheyyosup

@hinagiku0

@beth-winchester21

@soleil-dor

@baker151910

@cherrytop02

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heathers-wig · 3 years

Text

come & find me - heathney hanahaki au part three

note: please check out parts 1 & 2 before reading! this is the final part :)

## / ## / ##

So. It’s the Hanahaki Disease. Such bullshit. I sound delirious just writing it, but it can’t be helped, I guess.

I don’t know who they’re for, but I can’t let anyone find out. It would bring the bad type of attention, and no one can know of this weakness. Especially my “beloved”, seeing as how they’re literally the death of me. I don’t know who they are, but I already hate their guts. Maybe they’ve replaced Courtney as the Most Aggravating Individual of the Year.

## / ## / ##

Good news: I’m not the only one that has the disease! Bad news: Gwen, Eva, Harold, and Izzy know. Oh, and Gwen has it too, and over the idiot skateboarder, no less.

I guess I can’t judge, though, seeing as how I don’t know who these stupid flowers are for. “Pride” and “loyalty” — what type of hints are those? And Izzy was so out of line with the “I bet it’s Courtney” thing. Glad Gwen found it funny because I sure didn’t.

If it is Courtney, I have the worst taste. The worst.

But Izzy won’t be right. Courtney’s Courtney, and out of my league and I’m out of her league.

## / ## / ##

So. It turns out Izzy was right.

## / ## / ##

Courtney’s infuriating, still, but not in the same way as before. She’s so hard to look away from. I’ve observed all these things about her that I didn’t even know I noticed, and now they’re all resurfacing and it makes it so hard to ignore her. All the things I found aggravating before are weirdly charming now??

She’s just… really pretty. And sweet if she wants to be.

Shit, I really do love her.

Wait. WAIT NO THAT'S NOT WHAT I

…

No, I do love her. I really fucking love her.

She’s just?? Perfect. Every time she straightens her hair and every time she proves someone wrong and every time she does literally anything is so goddamn pretty I can’t even breathe around her. Literally. It’s selfish but I want to have all the couple-y things with her. I want the picket fence and matching rings and holding hands. I want her intimacy and love and affection. I want it all.

But… I’m too selfish for that. I’m just going to die, I’ve accepted it. It’s about time the Hanahaki Club does, too, or they’re just playing themselves as fools.

I am, too, by fantasizing like this. Dying is the only way for me.

## / ## / ##

Gwen’s in stable condition. She got in a coughing fit during a Hanahaki Club meeting, and now she’s literally fucking dying.

I’m scared, but I don’t know why.

That’s going to be me, soon, though. Whether or not Gwen lives to see is something I’ll just have to see.

## / ## / ##

Of course Courtney found out. Smartass.

But is it bad that I really, really liked having her attention and care?

Whatever. But, she held my hand today, and her hand was really, really warm.

God, how pathetic am I? I’m literally dying over here and yet I’m getting all flustered over a hand. I’m doomed.

I don’t know, I just wished I could have stayed like that with her forever. Her hand on mine. Her hand squeezing mine.

Together.

## / ## / ##

It got worse.

It hurts and it hurts and it hurts and it hurts and it hurts to even fucking breathe with how much it hurts.

Am I dying? I think I am.

I hope I am.

## / ## / ##

She’s clueless. She’s so fucking cute when she’s clueless.

She keeps on trying to guess who my “beloved” is, and she’s fucking clueless that it’s her. Of course she is. Of course Courtney is smart and sharp at everything but identifying that it’s her I’m in love with.

Of course, of course, that’s just the universe playing “Heather’s Karma” at me.

She’ll fall in love, someday, and it’ll hurt like a bitch when she realizes who she’s pining for is a dense rock.

## / ## / ##

I want to hold her and kiss her and love her and I know it’s selfish but the thought of it is so good but I can’t indulge in it and it hurts.

… At least it’ll be over, soon. I can feel another cough coming.

## / ## / ##

I’m going to die today. I can feel it.

It’s a shame Courtney is going to beat herself up for not finishing the answer on time, though, but she’s going to hurt either way. Maybe I’ll leave her this so that she knows.

God, that’s going to be embarrassing, but at least I’ll be dead and not around to see her reaction, even though it’ll be priceless.

It’s time to go, though.

## / ## / ##

Good (?) news: I’m not dead. Bad (?) news: I will be in a few hours.

I’m high on pain meds right now. It hurts to write, but I gotta.

So I thought I was gonna die. Fucking Gwen n Eva ruined that though. They got me to a hospital. Caring assholes.

The doctors say the flowers are going to suffocate me. Good. I’m ready for this to be over.

My last request is that this, somehow, is given to Courtney Barlow. The doctors already know this.

So, Courtney, hey, how are you? In the event you have this, I’m dead. Sorry. You were the person I got Hanahaki for. Sorry for not telling you.

I’m running out of time but I love you. You already saw the other entries, you already know how much I love you and every part of you. Of course you do. Smartass.

Besides this, I have left you a lotus and an azalea taped in my journal. The azalea means “take care of yourself for me”, and I left you one because I’m going to beat your ass if I see you again too soon. The lotus means rebirth.

I don’t know what happens when you die, but come and find me when we’re reborn. In the next life or the one after that, just come and find me. I’ve never been patient but for you, I’ll wait.

Come and find me.

(Courtney goes to find her.)

❀

She finds her through a vase of flowers. Lotus flowers and azaleas, to never forget the promise Heather didn’t know she made.

And heathers. Especially heathers, year-round. The only difference was that she tossed them out before she could see them wilt, much like the original Heather had.

Over the years, Courtney found Heather in minuscule things. In flowers, of course. In libraries and in pain enduring manuals and in medication and in sickness and in health, Courtney found her.

The girl who lives and loves and cries eventually dies, knowing that she’ll soon be reunited with the girl who lived and loved and died.

❀

0. restart

past the blood and bruise / past the curses and cries / beyond the terror in the nightfall / haunted by the look in my eyes / that would've loved you for a lifetime / leave it all behind / and there is happiness

❀

vi. white heathers & red roses; ‘wishes do come true’ & ‘I love you’

It’s been perhaps a day or two since Heather had awoken from her state of dying that she had accepted with grace, and Heather hates everything about the situation.

She may be in stable condition, but she is in no way getting better. She still hacks out sweet peas and purple hyacinths, along with her own blood, and she still feels just as depleted, but Heather can’t bring herself to care. The hospital gown is stiff, and saying the medical equipment is unfamiliar and uncomfortable is an understatement at best, but still, Heather takes the treatment with little argument to be provided. She’s too exhausted to care anymore, and she knows that in a few days short her time will come for good.

Still, despite her denial of the surgery, that didn’t stop her friends from the Hanahaki Club and the doctors begging her in a gentle yet urgent tone to go through with the surgery. She’s not sure why she declines; had it been a few months ago, Heather would have leaped at the chance for treatment when Gwen first suggested it. Now, though, Heather found herself wrinkling her nose in distaste, shaking her head, refusing the treatment, company, and tray of food brought to her.

Maybe, Heather thinks, if she refused her medication and nutrients, she’d die faster, but it seemed even at the hospital she didn’t get the choice. Soon, both are injected into her, and all Heather can do is sigh and wish the blossoms would overtake her faster.

Her family never shows up, though, and Heather is unsure if that’s truly a good or bad thing.

Shaking her head and the thought away, Heather wordlessly looks to the vase of roses sitting next to her stand on her side with a cheesy Get Well Soon! card attached to the vase.

Momentarily, she wonders if she would be killed faster if she choked on the thorns of the roses, before falling asleep due to her own exhaustion.

❀

It’s around 7 PM when Heather expects her nurse to come around with her dinner — an unidentifiable lump of food that tastes like chalk — when the door to her quarters slams open, and a girl who is very much not her nurse stumbles into the room.

Upon identifying who her unprecedented intruder was, Heather felt her windpipes squeeze, a lump forming in her throat. All she can do is stare like an idiot at Courtney, whose face seems to be unable to choose between adopting overwhelming relief or fiery rage.

Momentarily, though, Courtney’s raw frustration creases her features, deepening a scowl and narrowing her eyes — had she always had those bags beneath them? — to slits.

“You… you absolute idiot,” the brunette seethes, fumbling over her words. “Why? Why did you make yourself suffer for so long over these stupid flowers over me? Why are you refusing treatment? God, you’re such an idiot…”

Just like that, concern and relief overwhelm her initial anger, allowing Courtney to sink to her knees next to Heather’s side. The brunette clutches the other’s nearest hand desperately as her face contorts, fighting back a sniffle. For a fleeting moment, concern overrides all else as Heather watches Courtney let out a muffled sob, but she’s powerless to do anything besides squeezing her hand.

“But if you’re an idiot, I’m the bigger one,” Courtney choked out a watery laugh. “All that time spent investigating, and I didn’t even notice who the flowers were even for — if I had just thought harder, or if you had just told me, I could have put an end to these flowers by telling you how I feel.”

At that, Heather opens her mouth to speak, but winces as the pain seeps in once again. She notices her heart monitor elsewhere spiking, and at this, Courtney gives her hand reassuring squeezes that feel familiar and comforting.

Shaking her head once more, Courtney sighs, a fond smile cracking past her exasperated exterior. “Idiot,” she says once more, smiling, “Did you really think I didn’t like you?”

Feeling herself inhale sharply, Heather blinks once, twice, and three times before deducing that no, she hadn’t imagined the words in a dying state. Courtney’s watery eyes and wide smile and hold on her hand are still there, and so is the pain, momentarily, before it subsides. After exhaling deeply, there’s no shakiness in her breaths, nor irritation in her chest or flowers itching in the back of her throat for release.

There was only air. No flowers, blood, or bloody flowers. Just fresh and clean air that she had been deprived of for months.

For the first time in months, Heather breathes, fully and truly, free of the deadly flowers in front of her beloved.

Courtney seems to have noticed as well (her sharpness is something Heather admired — no, loved about her) as her smile falls off her face as a look of blatant surprise overtakes her features. She presses a shaking hand to Heather’s chest, feeling her heartbeat and the even rises and falls of her chest, and laughs.

She’s still shaking, though, so in a moment of blissful selfishness that Heather finally allows herself to indulge in, she wraps Courtney in a hug, and when the brunette wraps her arms around Heather, she vows to never let her go.

The months of the floral disease have been a chilling winter and her touch feels as though she has provided a getaway from it. The snow has given away and has melted into spring, the season of rebirth.

The brunette's warm. She always was, she always has been, but her warmth was unlike Heather had ever felt before, especially in the cold and lonely hospital. Greedily, Heather takes in her heat and her love and breathes in her cinnamon perfume. She was here, and it was real.

Courtney laughs softly, her chapped lips pressing against Heather’s temple diligently. She gives Heather’s hand a squeeze when they disperse from the hug, smiling brightly. Heather smiles and looks to the roses next to her side and lets herself love.

❀

Later, long after they had dispersed from their initial hug and moved onto exchanges of gentle kisses and hand-holding, Courtney hands Heather a bouquet of flowers just before she is dismissed from the hospital. The brunette looks away from Heather’s inquiring gaze, seeming embarrassed and bashful for the first time since Heather had met her.

When Heather identifies the flowers, though, she understands the uncharacteristic flustered behavior, but finds it charming and amusing rather than embarrassing.

White heathers. She lifted a portion of the bouquet to the light for a better view of the white flowers. Symbolizing wishes coming true.

Whether or not Courtney knew of flower language — after this, Heather was unsure if she ever wanted to lay her eyes on the language of flowers, despite the fact it was seared in her head — didn’t matter to Heather. She smiles instead, brushing hair out of Courtney’s eyes to look into them better.

“Thank you,” she whispers, her voice hoarse from all the time she spent talking with Courtney.

Predictably, Courtney opens her mouth to respond, but Heather cuts her off with a kiss.

She had been wanting Courtney and her love and affection for months, now, and now that she had it, she couldn’t help but feel the flowers and vicious coughing were nothing but a bad dream she had awoken from.

When they pull apart, Heather sucks in a breath and chuckles softly, just barely audibly, as their noses bump together.

“I love you,” Heather says. There’s no hesitation or stumbling with her words in her proclamation — only sincerity and assurance. She had waited a long time to even think of saying those words, and they had been pressing against her tongue for all of those months spent hacking up flowers. Still, throughout all of the time and suffering, all Heather had done was fall further, and the words were meant with her entire being.

Courtney’s smile in response was bright. Her eyes are just as bright, if not brighter; the words brought tears to her eyes, but thankfully, they were happy tears.

“I love you too,” Courtney murmurs, and this time, it’s her lips that find Heather’s with a smile pressed against them.

❀

END OF PART THREE - THANK YOU FOR READING! :)

#total drama #td heather #td courtney #td gwen #td eva #td izzy #td harold #heathney #gweoff #izva #evzy #my writing #heathney hanahaki au #hanahaki #part 3/3 #thank you for reading if you did!!

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echo-bleu · 3 years

Text

straight through the smoke (1)

This is my gift to @killiarious for the 2020 Malec Secret Santa Event, now that the gifters’ identities have been revealed! The plot bunny got away from me, so there will be three chapters. Happy holidays!

[CW: death penalty (but no one dies), mentions of self-harm]

Read on AO3.

At the knock at his door, Magnus puts Madzie down on the ground, letting her run to Catarina. She’s been nervous, not quite understanding what’s going on, and she keeps randomly running up to them to hug them. The other warlocks are upstairs on the roof, in a meditative state to maintain the new wards over New York, while Magnus and his best friend stand ready to move the loft and its inhabitants to the Seelie Realm, if worst comes to worst.

He steels himself before opening the door. It’s the middle of the day, so it can’t be Raphael – Magnus just realizes now that he left him in the Institute on his own earlier this morning – and Luke texted him just a few minutes ago that he was still out on patrol. The Seelie Queen is back in her realm with her henchmen. That means that it can only be Shadowhunters.

Alec.

Magnus isn’t ready to deal with him. He’s not sure he’ll ever be ready. Alec lying to him about the Soul Sword, about something that affects Magnus so directly, the safety of his people, isn’t something that Magnus can forgive easily. He understands why Alec did it, and he thinks that with time, he could come to trust Alec again, but he can’t start thinking about it until all of this is over.

And yet he can’t help but worry. Alec is out there, with his siblings and Clary, other people Magnus has come to care for, facing against two monsters. Valentine has proved more than dangerous, and with Jonathan’s help, he may well be unbeatable.

Magnus made the choice to leave them on their own. He chose his people over Alec, and while he would do it again, while he had to do it, the guilt is still eating at him.

He doesn’t know if he feels more hurt or guilty, right now. He feels crushed, more than anything else. He struggles to focus, his thoughts permanently turning back toward Alec. The current stillness, since his warlocks raised the wards, feels like the quiet before the storm, and it has left him with too much time to think.

“What do you—” Magnus starts, opening the door with more force than necessary, but it’s not Alec behind it.

It’s Clary.

“Magnus!” she exclaims as soon as he sees her. She looks twitchy and out of sorts, looking around her before she walks into the loft, almost stepping on Magnus’ feet.

“Biscuit,” Magnus says, forcing his voice to stay cold. He’s too fond of her to be angry, but he really doesn’t want to deal with her right now.

Except that she really seems scared.

“I know I shouldn’t be here,” she says, waving her arms around nervously. “But I had to come.”

Magnus frowns in concern and gently guides her to the living room. Catarina stands up in alarm, while Madzie only looks up from the drawing she’s resumed for a second, unconcerned. Clary, with her small size and her nervousness, doesn’t make a threatening figure. Magnus discretely builds a bubble of silence around Madzie to muffle the sound of their conversations, so she doesn’t hear anything not meant for her little ears.

“Magnus?” Catarina asks suspiciously.

“Biscuit, tell me what’s wrong,” Magnus commands, making Clary sit down in the blue armchair. He waves at Catarina not to worry, but she still goes to stand closer to Madzie, straightening in a defensive posture.

Clary doesn’t even seem to notice. “The Clave took full control of the Institute,” she says. “They...they just stormed in and declared it. They said that the New York Downworld had violated the Accords and—” she trails off, too agitated to speak.

“And what?” Magnus prompts. He feels a leaden weight of anticipation in his stomach. This isn’t good.

“They said that the Downworld Cabinet facilitated it. That Alec—” she meets Magnus’ eyes, panicked. “That Alec colluded with you and betrayed the Clave. Magnus, they’ve arrested him for high treason.”

“What?” Magnus lets out before he can even control his mouth. It feels like a punch to his gut. In all the scenarios he went through, even the darkest ones where Alec got hurt or died by Valentine’s hands, Magnus’ fears were always about the divide between them. Between the Clave and the Seelie Queen, between the Nephilim and the Downworld. Between him and Alec. He never, ever imagined Alec being rejected by his own people.

“They said things about your relationship being unnatural and contaminating the whole Institute,” Clary says sadly. “That it should never have been allowed, that he was a disgrace to all Nephilim.”

Magnus swallows hard. He’s heard these words about himself, of course. He knows how the Clave sees him – barely with any more regard than Valentine himself does. The Circle has never been a true extremist group, not when too many people in power in Alicante agree with them. But to hear this about Alec, for the heinous crime of loving him?

“Where is he now?” he asks.

“In one of the basement cells, I think,” Clary says. “They put all of us on house arrest pending investigation. That means we’re confined to our rooms, essentially. I used a portal rune to come here.”

“If they find out you’re gone—” Magnus starts.

Clary bites her lip. “I know. But I had to do something. I heard them talking. They’ve called off the search for Valentine, and they’re putting Alec on trial today.”

Even Catarina looks shocked at that. Magnus sits down brutally, his legs no longer supporting him. He curses under his breath, if only to let out some of the unbearable tension.

“The Clave’s penalty for high treason…” he mutters.

“Is deruning, or death,” Catarina completes for him. “Magnus—”

“It wasn’t supposed to be like that,” Magnus breathes out. “I had to—I had to keep my people safe, Alec understands that—but he’s a Nephilim, he’s supposed to be safe—” He puts his face in his hands.

“Magnus,” Clary calls softly. Magnus looks up, feeling like he’s being crushed by a weight larger than him. “Before they took him away, Alec told us not to contact you. That you couldn’t do anything.”

Against his will, Magnus lets out a noise that sounds too much like a whimper, struggling to breathe around the knot in his throat. He bites down on his fist, trying to calm himself down.

Even facing his own downfall, Alec would think of him first.

“Then why did you come?” Catarina asks Clary, coolly. She has no lost love for Shadowhunters, and she doesn’t know Clary at all. She knows Alec, though, and she knows how much Magnus loves him.

“Because there has to be something that we can do, and Magnus is the most likely to come up with an idea. We can’t let this happen!”

“This is the Clave we’re talking about,” Catarina says. “It’s not about letting it happen. They do what they decide to do, and they have full authority on their soldiers.”

“Magnus, you defended Izzy last year,” Clary says, turning back to Magnus. “Can’t you do it again?”

Magnus shake his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. “She barely got free, and only because you had the cup as leverage. And her crime was nothing, compared to this. The Clave is corrupt from top to bottom, Alec won’t be freed by legal means.”

“Then what do we do?” Clary asks.

“Nothing,” Catarina says firmly. Magnus looks up at her, and he can see the compassion in her eyes, but she stands her ground. “There’s nothing we can do. Any move against the Clave will be a declaration of war.”

Magnus stands up and starts pacing along the bay windows. “I think we’re past that point,” he says. “We’re already at war. They’re accusing Alec of complicity in a violation of the Accords, for the sole crime of his relationship with me. They’re not trying to arrest Valentine anymore. I think we have to assume that the Circle and the Clave are working together.”

“And you want to do what?” Catarina shits her stance, putting her hands on her hips. “Storm the Institute? Go head-to-head against the entire Clave? Magnus, you have our people to think about. They’re not going to risk their lives to get Alec back. I know you love him, but is he really worth risking all of them?” she points up toward the roof.

Magnus runs a hand down his face. “I already chose them, you, over him once. I broke up with him because I thought I had to choose between being with him, and the safety of my people.” He pauses. “But that was when I thought he would be safe. This is different.”

Clary wrings her hands, looking between them.

“You’re going to put us all in danger,” Catarina says, looking at Madzie, who is still drawing quietly, oblivious to her surroundings in the way only children can be. She can’t hear them, but Magnus still watches her for a moment to make sure that she’s okay.

“No,” he says. “I’m going to get Alec out of there, but I’m going alone. You’re staying here to keep the wards up and prepare to move to the Seelie Realm.”

“The Institute’s wards have been raised against all Downworlders,” Clary warns. “My portal can probably get you in, but—”

“You forget that I am the one who built these wards,” Magnus interrupts her. “I can get through them. I can deactivate them entirely, if I need to. And no Shadowhunter can get in or out of New York right now.”

“Magnus—” Catarina starts, but Magnus glares at her before she tries to convince him not to go. His decision is already made – nothing will stop him from saving Alec’s life. Not now.

She raises her hand in surrender. “Be careful. Come back to us.”

“I will,” Magnus says. “We will.”

Clary’s portal brings Magnus straight to Isabelle’s bedroom, and she steps back out to collect Jace from his own. Isabelle’s red-rimmed eyes widen when she sees Magnus and she saunters up to hug him, but she hesitates at the last moment, letting her arms fall back to her sides.

“Magnus,” she murmurs.

Magnus draws her into a hug. “Biscuit told me what happened,” he says.

“I didn’t know if you’d come,” she whispers brokenly.

Magnus closes his eyes in dismay. “We broke up, but it doesn’t mean I stopped caring.”

“This morning—”

“I was angry, and I was trying to convince myself that I’d made the right decision,” Magnus explains. He’s ashamed of how he behaved at the Cabinet meeting, pretending like he barely knew them, letting the Queen speak for him. He won’t forget Alec’s lost and hurt look any time soon.

Jace and Clary come back at that moment. Isabelle gently pushes Magnus back and steps out of the hug, and Jace sends Magnus a furious glare.

“Calm down,” Magnus says. “I’m here to help.”

“Is that what you call it? Allying with the Seelie Queen? Raising wards around the city that kill any Shadowhunter who tries to leave? Leaving Alec behind?”

“I did what I had to do,” Magnus defends himself coldly. “Alec lied to me. Your people will see mine exterminated without so much as a blink.” He takes a breath to calm himself. “Alexander wasn’t supposed to be arrested. If you want my opinion, you should blame your grandmother. Your Clave.”

Jace almost lunges at him, but Clary holds him back with a hand around his waist. He glares at Magnus some more instead, then turns his back to them and goes to stand by the window.

“You have no idea how he’s been, the past few days, do you?” he says quietly. “When the Inquisitor arrived, he was training. Hand-to-hand, five on one. He refused to use iratzes between fights.”

Magnus takes in a breath. He’s known of Alec’s self-harming tendencies since the beginning of their relationship – how could he not? – but Alec hasn’t had to resort to something this bad in a while.

“Jace, that’s enough,” Isabelle says, just as quietly. “Magnus isn’t responsible for that. Alec’s had a rough year. We all have.”

Jace deflates. He’s absently massaging his parabatai rune with one hand, the other playing with a loose thread on his sleeve. “You’re right,” he says. “It’s been...a lot. And now this.”

“Magnus, I need you to know that—” Isabelle hesitates, biting her lip. “I know why you broke up with Alec, and I get it. He’s heartbroken, but he wants you safe first and foremost. He loves you more than anything.”

“Isabelle, what are you trying to tell me?” Magnus asks, guilt churning in his gut. He doesn’t have the patience for this, not right now.

Isabelle shift from foot to foot, uncomfortable. “Before they arrested him, they gave him the opportunity to renounce you. If he told them your plans and made a public announcement disavowing you and the Cabinet, they would have let him go free and even keep his job. He refused. He didn’t even hesitate.”

Magnus shuts his eyes tightly, his head pounding. “Alexander,” he murmurs in dismay.

Self-sacrificing to a fault. Even when Magnus broke up with him, made it clear that their relationship was over, Alec wouldn’t save his own skin. “He could have done it, bought us time,” Magnus mutters, opening his eyes again. “He had to know that we wouldn’t believe it.”

Isabelle shakes her head. “That’s not Alec. He’ll die for what he believes in. And you’re everything to him. Not just you, but the Cabinet too, everything he’s accomplished to make us better.”

“He once told me that his family was everything to him,” Magnus sighs.

“And you’ve become part of it,” Isabelle says. “It doesn’t matter that you’re not together right now. You’re family.” She puts a hand on Magnus’ shoulder. “That’s why we’re going to get him out. As a family.”

There’s a knock at the door.

“Shit,” Isabelle mutters. “Stay out of sight.” She stands up and, in one smooth move, removes her dress.

“What are you doing?” Jace hisses.

Magnus doesn’t bother averting his eyes. Neither he nor Isabelle are shy when it comes to nudity, and besides, she’s still in her underwear. “Buying us time,” she whispers.

She opens the door brusquely. “What?” she asks, annoyed.

“Whoa,” Magnus hears Raj’s voice. His blood boils. He has no lost love for this Shadowhunter, and if he’s working with the people trying to harm Alec— “What are you doing in here?”

“Changing,” Isabelle rolls her eyes.

“We’re supposed to escort you to the ceremony room,” Raj says. His voice isn’t as assured as it usually is. “The trial is about to start.”

Isabelle closes her eyes. “Already? Raj, what the fuck is going on out there?”

Raj sighs. “I don’t know. They said the warlocks raised wards around the city. We can’t get in or out. They’re expediting the trial, they want to have it done as soon as possible.”

Isabelle clasps a hand over her mouth. “Fuck,” she mutters. “Raj, you know he didn’t betray anyone, right?” She sounds small and vulnerable, and Magnus can’t tell how much of that is an act.

“I don’t like Bane, but Alec’s a good leader,” Raj says. “He doesn’t deserve this. But we can’t do anything. Come on, I have orders. We still have to get Jace and Clary.”

Isabelle runs a hand through her hair. “Give me a minute to get dressed?”

“Okay,” Raj grumbles. “But hurry up.”

Isabelle shuts the door firmly and turns back to Magnus and the others, her panic obvious on her face. “It’s too soon,” she whispers. “This can’t be happening.”

“We can’t get him out now,” Jace says. “There will be too many people. Even you can’t fight several hundreds Shadowhunters,” he adds to Magnus.

“How many of them are loyal to Alec?” Magnus asks, a plan starting to form in his head.

Isabelle bites her lip. “Enough to go against the Clave? I don’t know. Alec is well-liked, but we’re trained to respond to commands. It will be hard to go against direct orders, and many won’t be willing to risk their lives.” She steps back into her dress, quickly pulling it over her body.

“Even if the Inquisitor condemns him for something they know he didn’t do?” Magnus asks.

Jace takes a breath. “Alec is their Head. I’m the Inquisitor’s grandson. If we can show them another path, a clear way for them to follow us without too much danger…”

Isabelle’s eyes light up. “Since Alec became Head, we’ve had a lot of Shadowhunters requesting to be assigned to the Institute because they’re unsatisfied with the Clave, for a variety of reasons. Most of them will see that this whole trial is a sham. And even an expedited trial will take days, days we can spend convincing them. If we time it right, I’d say we can get...maybe a third of them to help.”

“If we time it right?” Clary repeats.

“If they sentence Alec to death,” Magnus understands in a breath. “It has to be last resort. If I can just get Alec out—”

“They’ll chase you wherever you go, and it will paint you in the worst light,” Jace says. “If they can claim that you kidnapped him, it will be an all-out war.”

Before Magnus can answer, Raj pounds on the door. “Isabelle, we have to go!”

Isabelle wrings her hands in anguish and turns to Clary. “Get yourself and Jace back to your rooms before they can see you’re gone. Magnus, can you glamour yourself invisible?”

“Yes,” Magnus nods. “I have to make some calls first, secure us the support of the Downworld. I doubt the Seelie Queen will help, but Luke and Raphael will. They only agreed to this deal with the Seelie Queen because I did.”

Jace’s face contorts in anger briefly, but he doesn’t say anything. This isn’t the time. Clary draws her portal rune in the air. “Go,” Isabelle says. “I’ll see you in a minute.”

Magnus snaps his fingers to call his magic to his hand, ready for the glamour. “When you get there, start passing the word. Be discreet. I’ll handle Alec.”

As Jace and Clary walk through the portal, Isabelle gives Magnus a long look. “You saved me from being deruned once, Magnus, because Alec asked you to. I know you still love him. Can we count on you?”

“If you couldn’t, I wouldn’t be here,” Magnus says coolly.

It seems to convince her. “Then let’s do this.”

#shadowhunters #malec #malec fic #alec lightwood #magnus bane #straight through the smoke #mine #echo's fanfiction #angst #malec secret santa #malec discord server #hmdiscord

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bittywitches · 3 years

Note

Could you do Crush by Tessa violet for E?

Ethan steps out of the changing room into the waiting area where you are, a bit shy and flustered from the looks of it, making you bite the inside of your cheek to stop the giddy smile.

“Well? Thoughts?”

“I liked the first one better.” Your friend Isabella says, her arms crossed against her chest with a judgmental look as scrutinized Ethan in his blue blazer.

“I think you look sexy,” You add slyly, unconsciously biting your lower lip as you look him up and down.

Ethan rolls his eyes, ignoring you again for what felt like the seventh time this morning, despite having a little grin on his face. “Izzy?”

“It’s loose around your torso. It’s gonna make you look even smaller than you usually do when you stand next to Gray-”

“Okay that’s enough!” He turns around and storms back into the change rooms, leaving Isabelle chuckling.

She looks over at you, who is now pensively watching Ethan’s back as it disappears behind the white cement wall. You sigh, resting your elbow on the armrest of your white chair as you hold your head in your hand, a small pout on your lips.

“I don’t get how your guys’ relationship works.”

“Believe me, I don’t either.” You groan, sinking back into the comfortable chair, closing your eyes as you breathe out.

“Do you seriously think he doesn’t realize you’re coming onto him?”

“He has to know! It’s not like I try to hide it! I’m so blatantly obvious.” You peak an eye open to look at her, but she’s just got the same expression on your face, looking off into a far corner. “He’s definitely just not into me.”

“That can’t be though.” You lean your head to the side against the pillow to look at her, your eyebrow raised as you give her a pity shake of the head. “Come on, you see the way he looks at you! Or just the way he reacts to you being around? He’s always so smiley and giddy. And you know he’s not that soft when you’re not around?”

You sit up now. “Soft??”

“You know, like all flustered n shit. He can be an asshole sometimes, just never in front of you.”

“Aww, he pretends to be nice for me?” You balance both your elbows on your knees now, cradling your chin in your hands as you smile.

“Girl, you’re both the same type of crazy.” She says, and you giggle.

“Okay, I think this is the one.” You both cough and straighten when you see Ethan return, now sporting a sleek gray blazer. He’s wearing a a black turtle neck underneath, hugging his frame flatteringly. “What’re we thinking?” He gives you both a little spin.

You’re distracted, your eyes just trained on him because, damn, it’s a good look for him. You could imagine the red carpet photos already, and how you’ll stare at them for ages when they’re released...

“You’re right, this ones a lot better.” Izzy stands up and walks of ter him, flattening the sides of the coat and fixing his collar before taking a step back to look at him again. “This is definitely my favourite out of all of them.”

“You think?” Izzy nods, and he turns around to look at himself in the mirror, posing some more with a devilish smile.

“Y/N? What do you think?” He turns again to look at your now, his hands stuffed into the pockets of the blazer.

You perk up, a little frazzled. He wants my opinion?

“Uh, yea. I agree, I really like this one. You looked like... a hot college professor.”

Ethan blinks at you, and you wince. “Sorry, I don’t know how to speak normal. It looks really good.”

He smiles at you, and you return it, having to blush at his gentle expression.

“Alright then, this one it is.”

----

You close your apartment door behind you, locking it before sighing and leaning back against the cool frame. All you could think about on the drive home from the mall was Ethan and that damn blazer. You shivered, and you wanted to believe it was just because of the cool metal of the frame, but you knew better.

You opened your phone, checking to see what you have scheduled for the rest of the night. Just a few chores, then some reports to write for work.

You sigh, throwing your bags onto the sofa before collapsing on it, having no motivation to do any of it. You open instagram and start mindlessly tapping through your friends’ stories, before stoping on Ethan’s story.

It’s a picture mirror selfie of him in what you presume to be the change room, wearing the same gray blazer and black turtleneck. His lips are puckered, and his hand is up near his face, holding a pair of glasses that he crudely drew onto the picture. Across it are the words:

Sexy Professor at your service 😏🧐

You’re face reddens, but you still giggle. You reply to his story with a message:

Firstname.Lastname: Told you :P

Not even a minute goes by before you get a response.

ethandolan: Haha okay fine

ethandolan: Hey wanna facetime?

You raise an eyebrow, but respond.

Firstname.Lastname: kk

A few seconds later you see Ethan’s icon pop up on your screen, and you drag the phone symbol to the right to accept the call.

“Hey,” Ethan’s voice rings out at you, a bit raspy so you can tell he’s tired. He’s wearing an old DT hoodie, and it looks like he’s lying in his bed.

“Hey, what’s up?” You ask him, rolling onto your stomach.

“Ah, nothing. Just showered. Thought I’d check on you to see if you got home okay.”

“Aw, what a gentleman.” You purr at him, and you expect him to react the same way he usually does to your silly flirtations; an eyeroll, a shake of the head and a smile, a “shut up”. But now all he did was look at you a little funny.

“Uh..” You clear your throat. “You okay?”

“No, yea, I just.” He shakes his head. “Izzy just told me the weirdest thing when I was dropping her off today.”

“Oh yea?” Oh god, You thought. What had she gotten you into now?

“Yea.”

“What’d she say?”

“Oh, nothing... just,” he chuckles. “She said that you have a crush on me.”

You stare at your phone screen in disbelief, unsure if you actually heard the words that just came out of Ethan’s mouth. “Uhhm.” You frantically try to sit yourself up, but your arms lips and you land onto your face again before successfully sitting yourself up right on the couch. “Did she now?”

“Yea.”

“...I see.”

“And I said, that’s totally crazy.”

“Ah.”

“...right?”

You tilt your head at him, wincing again like you did at the store. “Weeell...”

Ethan sits up now, his brows furrowed as he looks at you through his phone. “Well what?”

“Well... yea I kinda have a crush on you.”

Ethan almost barks with laughter. “Shut up!”

“What do you mean ‘shut up’? I thought you knew!”

“How the fuck would I know?”

“Oh, I don’t know, other than the fact that I literally flirt with you all the damn time!”

“I thought that’s just how you talk to your friends!”

“Have you EVER seen my talk like that with anybody else?”

“Well, no but...” He runs out of words to say, and just lets out an exasperated sigh as he runs his hand through his hair.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be weird, it’s no big deal. I know you’re not into me so it’s fin-”

“Woah, hold up. Who said I’m not into you?”

You blink. “Are you saying you’re into me?”

“I’m not saying I’m not into you.”

“Bitch-”

“Why didn’t you just fuckin tell me?”

“Because you weren’t acting on any of my advances so I just thought you didn’t like me like that. It’s not my fault I didn’t know you were so dense.”

“Hey!”

“You ARE!” You laugh, and ends up laughing along with you.

“...So you do like me?”

He sighs. “Yes, Y/N. I like you a lot.”

You grin. “Cool.”

“The fuck is wrong with you??”

“What do you want from me!”

“I don’t know! This isn’t supposed to be happening over the phone!”

“Fine, then do it properly tomorrow when you take me out to breakfast.”

He gapes at you. “I- okay. sure.”

You smile. “Okay I gotta go now. Wear your sexy professor outfit for me tomorrow!”

“Y/N!!”

“Bye!”

#forgive me if there's grammar issues or typos I did not edit this at all #ethan dolan #dolan twins #ethan dolan fanfic #ethan dolan headcanon #ethan dolan blurb #ethan dolan concept #ethan dolan imagine #dolan twins imagine #dolan twins concept #ethan dolan x reader #dolan twins blurb

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malecsecretsanta · 3 years

Text

Merry Christmas, killiarious!

For @killiarious. The plot bunny got away from me, so there will be three chapters.

Read On AO3

*****

straight through the smoke

Alec.

Magnus isn’t ready to deal with him. He’s not sure he’ll ever be ready. Alec lying to him about the Soul Sword , about something that affects Magnus so directly, the safety of his people , isn’t something that Magnus can forgive easily. He understands why Alec did it , and he thinks that with time, he could come to trust Alec again, but he can’t start thinking about it until all of this is over.

Magnus made the choice to leave them on their own. He chose his people over Alec, and while he would do it again, while he had to do it, the guilt is still eating at him.

“What do you—” Magnus starts, opening the door with more force than necessary, but it’s not Alec behind it.

It’s Clary.

“Magnus!” she exclaims as soon as he sees her. She looks twitchy and out of sorts, looking around her before she walks into the loft, almost stepping on Magnus’ feet.

“Biscuit,” Magnus says, forcing his voice to stay cold. He’s too fond of her to be angry, but he really doesn’t want to deal with her right now.

Except that she really seems scared.

“I know I shouldn’t be here,” she says, waving her arms around nervously. “But I had to come.”

“Magnus?” Catarina asks suspiciously.

Clary doesn’t even seem to notice. “ The Clave took full control of the Institute,” she says. “They...they just stormed in and declared it. They said that the New York Downworld had violated the Accords and—” she trails off, too agitated to speak.

“And what?” Magnus prompts. He feels a leaden weight of anticipation in his stomach. This isn’t good.

“Where is he now?” he asks.

“If they find out you’re gone—” Magnus starts.

Clary bites her lip. “I know. But I had to do something . I heard them talking. They’ve called off the search for Valentine, and they’re putting Alec on trial today. ”

Even Catarina looks shocked at that. Magnus sits down brutally, his legs no longer supporting him. He curses under his breath, if only to let out some of the unbearable tension.

“The Clave’s penalty for high treason…” he mutters.

“Is deruning, or death,” Catarina completes for him. “Magnus—”

A gainst his will, Magnus lets out a noise that sounds too much like a whimper, struggling to breathe around the knot in his throat. He bites down on his fist, trying to calm himself down .

Even facing his own downfall, Alec would think of him first.

“Then why did you come?” Catarina asks Clary, coolly. She has no lost love for Shadowhunters, and she doesn’t know Clary at all. She knows Alec, though, and she knows how much Magnus loves him.

“Because there has to be something that we can do, and Magnus is the most likely to come up with an idea. We can’t let this happen!”

“This is the Clave we’re talking about,” Catarina says. “It’s not about letting it happen. They do what they decide to do, and they have full authority on their soldiers.”

“Magnus, you defended Izzy last year,” Clary says, turning back to Magnus. “Can’t you do it again?”

“Then what do we do?” Clary asks.

Clary wrings her hands, looking between them.

“No,” he says. “I’m going to get Alec out of there, but I’m going alone. You’re staying here to keep the wards up and prepare to move to the Seelie Realm.”

“The Institute’s wards have been raised against all Downworlders,” Clary warns. “My portal can probably get you in, but—”

“Magnus—” Catarina starts, but Magnus glares at her before she tries to convince him not to go. His decision is already made – nothing will stop him from saving Alec’s life. Not now.

She raises her hand in surrender. “Be careful. Come back to us.”

“I will,” Magnus says. “We will.”

“Magnus,” she murmurs.

Magnus draws her into a hug. “Biscuit told me what happened,” he says.

“I didn’t know if you’d come,” she whispers brokenly.

Magnus closes his eyes in dismay. “We broke up, but it doesn’t mean I stopped caring.”

“This morning—”

Jace and Clary come back at that moment. Isabelle gently pushes Magnus back and steps out of the hug, and Jace sends Magnus a furious glare.

“Calm down,” Magnus says. “I’m here to help.”

“Is that what you call it? Allying with the Seelie Queen? Raising wards around the city that kill any Shadowhunter who tries to leave? Leaving Alec behind?”

Jace almost lunges at him, but Clary holds him back with a hand around his waist. He glares at Magnus some more instead, then turns his back to them and goes to stand by the window.

“Jace, that’s enough,” Isabelle says, just as quietly. “Magnus isn’t responsible for that. Alec’s had a rough year. We all have.”

Jace deflates. He’s absently massaging his parabatai rune with one hand, the other playing with a loose thread on his sleeve. “You’re right,” he says. “It’s been...a lot. And now this.”

“Isabelle, what are you trying to tell me?” Magnus asks, guilt churning in his gut. He doesn’t have the patience for this, not right now.

Magnus shuts his eyes tightly, his head pounding. “Alexander,” he murmurs in dismay.

“He once told me that his family was everything to him,” Magnus sighs.

There’s a knock at the door.

“Shit,” Isabelle mutters. “Stay out of sight.” She stands up and, in one smooth move, removes her dress.

“What are you doing?” Jace hisses.

Magnus doesn’t bother averting his eyes. Neither he nor Isabelle are shy when it comes to nudity, and besides, she’s still in her underwear. “Buying us time,” she whispers.

She opens the door brusquely. “What?” she asks, annoyed.

“Whoa,” Magnus hears Raj’s voice. His blood boils. He has no lost love for this Shadowhunter, and if he’s working with the people trying to harm Alec— “What are you doing in here?”

“Changing,” Isabelle rolls her eyes.

“We’re supposed to escort you to the ceremony room,” Raj says. His voice isn’t as assured as it usually is. “The trial is about to start.”

Isabelle closes her eyes. “Already? Raj, what the fuck is going on out there?”

Raj sighs. “I don’t know. They said the warlocks raised wards around the city. We can’t get in or out. They’re expediting the trial, they want to have it done as soon as possible.”

“I don’t like Bane, but Alec’s a good leader,” Raj says. “He doesn’t deserve this. But we can’t do anything. Come on, I have orders. We still have to get Jace and Clary.”

Isabelle runs a hand through her hair. “Give me a minute to get dressed?”

“Okay,” Raj grumbles. “But hurry up.”

Isabelle shuts the door firmly and turns back to Magnus and the others, her panic obvious on her face. “It’s too soon,” she whispers. “This can’t be happening.”

“We can’t get him out now,” Jace says. “There will be too many people. Even you can’t fight several hundreds Shadowhunters,” he adds to Magnus.

“How many of them are loyal to Alec?” Magnus asks, a plan starting to form in his head.

I sabelle bites her lip. “Enough to go against the Clave? I don’t know. Alec is well-liked, but we’re trained to respond to commands. It will be hard to go against direct orders, and many won’t be willing to risk their lives.” She steps back into her dress, quickly pulling it over her body.

“Even if the Inquisitor condemns him for something they know he didn’t do?” Magnus asks.

Jace takes a breath. “Alec is their Head. I’m the Inquisitor’s grandson. If we can show them another path, a clear way for them to follow us without too much danger…”

“If we time it right?” Clary repeats.

“If they sentence Alec to death,” Magnus understands in a breath. “It has to be last resort. If I can just get Alec out—”

“They’ll chase you wherever you go, and it will paint you in the worst light,” Jace says. “If they can claim that you kidnapped him, it will be an all-out war.”

B efore Magnus can answer, Raj pounds on the door. “Isabelle, we have to go!”

Isabelle wrings her hands in anguish and turns to Clary. “Get yourself and Jace back to your rooms before they can see you’re gone. Magnus, can you glamour yourself invisible?”

J ace’s face contorts in anger briefly, but he doesn’t say anything. This isn’t the time. Clary draws her portal rune in the air. “Go,” Isabelle says. “I’ll see you in a minute.”

Magnus snaps his fingers to call his magic to his hand, ready for the glamour. “When you get there, start passing the word. Be discreet. I’ll handle Alec.”

“If you couldn’t, I wouldn’t be here,” Magnus says coolly.

It seems to convince her. “Then let’s do this.”

TBC on AO3!

#killiarious #malecsanta20 #*fic20 #*gifts20

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normal-thoughts-official · 4 years

Text

aaaand we are back back again with malec livewatch! you can read the first and second parts before if you wanna, or filter out “malec livewatch” if ur tired of this absolute bullcrap

yes i know it’s been years. not my fault okay i was studying

today: post-wedding 1×12! and finally freedom from the terrors of s1

forever a slut for that scene where Magnus just does that hand movement and a bunch of shit starts showing up in the conveniently empty table ugh we stan. imagine if the special effects had been this good all the time they really used up 10 out of their 15 dollars and all the two favors from cousin Mike for this one. 1×12 was so inspired tbh only valid episode

Alec's clothes look so much better without the stupid ugly blazer? could do without the high waisted pants (why) but he looks so much better and also more comfortable. again i hope the costume department staff got a big, fat paycheck because the difference we see in him during the wedding vs post-wedding alone is just insane. he looks so much better and more comfortable and more himself, the blazer made him look stiff and again DOESNT MATCH THE REST. also nice touch that the blazer is the only part of his clothing with gold, the sh wedding color. he gets that off and everything looks so much better

Magnus looks even better post wedding too. like the clothing is already *chef's kiss* but he looks even prettier afterwards somehow. the hair is a little softer and he's less stiff as a whole (for obvious reasons), and aaaa hes so beautifulllll he's so prettyyyy look at his perfect soft little hair falling softly over his head and the PINK STREAKS possibly the best Magnus look i said what i said. especially with him all soft and smiley like that i big love him

sexiest thing about Magnus is how Jace does anything and hes like NO BITCH

the way he says "warlock tracking is stronger" with that smile......... hes so prety

that's a deep inhale he makes before using the tracking spell lmao u ok buddy?

oof i can only imagine how he felt when he was doing the tracking and he was suddenly hit with an image of Camille screaming and hitting in his direction,,,....,,,,,,, Fuck

love how Raphael just locked her in the basement thats so sexy of him we stan

"i punched her there's no way she'll help me" ugh still salty that clary of all ppl got to punch her but not Raphael or Magnus fuck this tbh

STOP MAKING ME LOOK AT CLACE

they both look so giddy and happy to be talking after the whole wedding thing + camille drama like don’t look at me. alec can barely look at magnus because he’s so agitated but you have the smile on his face and magnus is also smiling disbelievingly and i just doaudjsuoiadsa i love they

seriously tho the way magnus smiles..... so private and disbelieving but also so obvious and he’s even looking down like he never expected stuff to go down this well..... bro i stan

i had forgotten about the specific cadence in which alec talks? lmao. there’s a certain tilt to his voice when he says “it’s so INTENSE” that i really love

also that’s a really funny line like honey who the fuck are you to complain about anything being intense. ur the most dive or die bitch in this entire building. and we stan

alec’s WIDE ASS SMILE when magnus says “you certainly know how to make a statement” I CRY. magnus looks so proud of him and still disbelieving that alec went this hard for him and alec is just still on cloud 9 that he really Did That and came out and magnus is just proud of him and wow he really gets to have this and duahdsudhsadajsas???? i adore everything about them

the way maryse shows up and magnus immediately recoils and alec immediately straightens up like magnus is lowkey expecting rejection and alec is just bracing himself for one of the hardest fights of his life

also their expressions are so funny like maryse is LIVID she’s absolutely losing her mcfucking mind with anger homegirl’s head is about to explode and robert is just looking like he pissed on the carpet or something

the way alec doesn’t back down at all is so admirable too like!!!! it’s one thing to make a big fuck you gesture, it’s another to still hold your ground against your abusers after that fact. but he really stands there and goes “this isn’t about you” “i’m the same person i’ve always been” and doesn’t give her an inch of room for clownery. like again once alexander gideon lightwood makes up his mind there’s no stopping him and there’s no going back and he’s just so fucking strong??? he really said “from now on i’m out and you’re going to absolutely deal with that and i will not compromise a single thing” and the lightwoods just had to deal with that lmaoooo

you can see it in maryse’s face too, like after the “i’m the same person i’ve always been” she just pauses, realizing that she lost this battle without even knowing, she was on top of it a second ago and now there’s nothing she can do anymore and she’s just shook. and all that’s left for her is to scoff at magnus and leave, because that’s it, she lost every hold she had on him

alec’s little mouthed “what?” at “and all for a downworlder” too. i think part of him was like “wow she’s backing down already?” because you know he expected this to be a lot harder i think lmao. but i also like to think that there’s a side of “mom what the fucking fuck have you seen him he’s gorgeous and kind and smart and amazing and literally the best person i could have fallen in love with but go off i guess”

robert going all “just give her time” like he doesn’t understand what’s happening here at all. he clearly plays the “good cop” in the lightwood’s abusive dynamic tbh, like people often brush him off as being just spineless but i honestly think that he’s just the other side of her manipulative coin. specially with izzy, like, when izzy said fuck it and completely let go of maryse’s hold on her? that’s where robert came in, being the accepting, “nice” parent who listened to her and cared, and making sure she’d keep her loyalties. because he didn’t really stand up for izzy either and in the end he kept her still glued to the lightwood family through that, and kept defending maryse and izzy listened to him because he was robert. and i think that’s what’s happening here too, him trying to frame this as “don’t worry, she’ll come around” because he knows right then that alec is absolutely going to turn their back on them if that’s what it takes for her to be happy so he immediately slides in and reframes this under an affection light where everything will be alright! even if honestly i don’t think that’s what alec is really thinking about at all, i think he was 100% ready for a showdown

and robert is clearly so disapproving and yikes at the whole thing too but he pretends he isn’t and like lmao

shoutout to their faces when robert asks “are you two in love?” like magnus just turns around like oh hell no we’re not gonna have this conversation and alec lights up for just a second with a small smile before he’s like wait wait no shit shit shit we’ve just met no of course there’s no love (and like... i don’t think there is per se, because i think love is something that takes longer to settle in, specially for alec, but i think the idea that he could talk openly about being in love with a man and even fall fully in love with magnus one day makes him super happy you know?) lmao dorks

tho tbh i think magnus shuts down that conversation immediately to avoid heartbreak. because i think that for this whole thing he was expecting alec to say something he’d hate hearing to get his parents’ approval, you know? like like i said it’s really unexpected and surprising/inspiring that alec didn’t back down an inch there, and i think he was expecting alec to kind of fall back slightly now, like, he played his cards and now he would negotiate with them, you know? find a place to make them comfortable. instead alec gives them a complete fuck you and he’s like... damn obviously super pleased but also waiting for the other shoe to drop

he just steps in like “pls no” and stops that conversation right there

the way alec takes a deep breath and magnus opens his mouth then closes again quickly not knowing what to say and then changes the subject.... he’s really so scared of this talk and i just aaa

alec literally never fucking stops going from magnus’ eyes and lips in quick succession like alec. alec please. stop being horny for just a second man. please alec i’m begging you

it’s so cute how magnus mentions a date and alec is immediately like “hell YEAH we should do that” no hesitation like he’s 100% ready to leave immediately right now (i see his pause between “wanna... i don’t know, get a drink?” and “....sometime?”, i see it, you can’t fool me alexander) and also the fact that his first suggestion is something that he hates but that he knows for a fact magnus likes is so cute, like he immediately goes for magnus’ interests here and we stan

i also think that he’s come to associate drinking = dates after 1x06 and the way magnus called him specifically for a drink before he showed up too, like... it’s cute how he immediately came to associate those things because of magnus and just jumps into that because that’s what he knows. he’s so eager and like good for him

magnus’ SMILE when he says that like bro he can see how stoked alec is to go on a date with him they are adorable he is so fucking HAPPY i doubt he expected such a great outcome from this and yet here they are

ALEC DOES THE WHOLE LOOKING AT HIS LIPS IN QUICK SUCCESSION THING ONE LAST TIME BEFORE THE SCENE ENDS SHUT UP OH MY GOD HE NEVER STOPS. MATT DADDARIO THANK YOU FOR MY RIGHTS

next part

#malec livewatch #sh #malec #magnus bane #alec lightwood #abuse tw #maryse tw #camille tw #anti clace #meta

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malecstele · 5 years

Note

do you write au's? if yes, could you please write debut-sf-author!magnus and big-fan!alec? before finishing his book magnus wrote inspirational tumblr posts&essays so thats where alec knew (and fell a lil bit in love with) magnus so now he goes to magnus' book launching event where magnus is supposed to sign and spread put some first copies but alec is clumsy af so when he gets there he runs into a bigass book stack and THAT surely gets magnus' attention magnus kinda softly screams to him 1/?

WHO ARE YOU then with a sigh he begins, i'm-- but alec cuts him off by going on a giant monologue beginning with "magnus bane" (as he thought magnus would continue) then describing everything he knows abt his life, ex-jobs and whatever else he knows. then after a long breath he barely whispers "i'm alec lightwood. um, sorry i mean alexander. but you can call me alec if you want. but you didnt come here for that; you probably want me out of here dont you" 2/6

then magnus says "i was gonna say im impressed at just how clumsy one can be" but alec "it doesnt usually happens, i swear! but i was so nervous abt meeting you that i made a disaster..." to all the other ppl who were there and kinda heard everythung they said, magnus "im sorry everyone but it looks like we're short about 50 copies, id say" he shoots a lil glare at alec but then he sees how miserable he feels while picking up books with bent covers and missing pages and his face softens 3/6

he doesnt give alec a definite answer abt staying or leaving immediately so while alecs picking up books magnus silently goes back to talking about the book and signing whatever books are left, ending the event much faster everyone but magnus and alec leave, so magnus helps alec at least put the books back even if he's internally crying at the mess "so, alexander, huh, you said?" magnus's trying to cheer them both up even tho alec feels like shit and magnus wants to kinda cry 4/6

they kinda begin talking while cleaning up the mess and magnus asks him abt alec's life "since you already know TOO much about mine" (to which they both laugh a little) alec starts talking abt himself and he kinda forgets that hes talking to his idol and begins seeing magnus as an actual human, so his nervousness is gone, which makes him quite charming to magnus after they finish magnus offers to take alec back home in his car but alec assures him he has a bike (he cares abt the world OK) 5/6

magnus observes hes never actually ridden a bike so maybe alec is actually something else than he first seemed so before alec can go and "get out of your head" (which is funny since his thoughts were kinda all abt this guy right here in front of him who seems to be like more than he shows to people) magnus tells him " i know this might seem a little inappropiate but im only at the beginning of my career so it probably doesnt matter that much... 6/6

First of all, thank you so much for waiting. Life has been pretty hecftic lately and I’m so sorry it took me so long to answer this. I hope you like it!

Alec could hardly contain his excitement. He was finally going to meet Magnus Bane. The Magnus Bane! Alec could tell by the amount of people in line that not a lot of people knew just how great Magnus was. The line was a decent length, but Magnus deserved so much more. He was releasing his debut novel today and Alec was thrilled when he found out that Magnus was going to be doing a book signing at the local bookstore.

He had discovered Magnus on Tumblr years ago, when he was first starting out as a blog. He would post these wonderful essays about loving yourself despite what society wanted you to think and how everyone should be proud of their sexuality. At the time, that was what Alec really needed. Only Izzy and Jace knew that he was gay and Magnus’s posts gave him the courage to come out to his parents. He knew that Magnus would never really know who he is, he just needed Magnus to know how much he has impacted his life.

That was one of the reasons why Alec was there. He wanted to thank him in person, also, Alec just adored his writing and had a little crush on his work.

Alec looked ahead, there were about five people ahead of him. It wouldn’t be too long before he would be able to meet Magnus.

Soon, he was next. The lady in front of him was just finishing up. He felt his heart flutter with excitement. The lady thanked Magnus and turned right into Alec. To get out of the way, Alec dodged her, failing to notice the stack of books right next to the table. His stomach dropped when he heard them all fall onto the floor. Mortified, Alec looked at Magnus, who stared back with his eyebrow raised.

“I’m--,” Magnus began.

“Magnus Bane,” Alec cut him off. He then scolded himself for interrupting him. “I’m sorry. I just really wanted to meet you. I started following you on Tumblr years ago when you were first started out and...well your blog meant, means a lot to me. We were a lot alike, from where we lived to the kind of people we surround ourselves with, our hobbies. When you made that post about being proud of being bi, it got me thinking. I wanted to be proud of who I was and to embrace it like you did. So I came out to my parents and my life has been so much better since. When I heard that you were doing your book signing here, I just really wanted to meet you, to thank you.”

Magnus stared at him with a blank expression on his face.

Alec sighed and said a lot quieter, “I’m Alexander Lightwood, but you can call me Alec. But you probably don’t care, especially after,” he gestured to the books on the floor. “I should leave, you probably want me out of here, don’t you?”

“Actually,” Magnus said. “I was going to say how impressed I was with how clumsy a single person can be.”

“I swear that doesn’t normally happen! I just was trying to get out of the way and wasn’t really paying a lot of attention because I was so excited to meet you!” Alec looked at the scattered books and started to pick them up. He just felt so bad, some now had bent corners and pages and dents in the covers.

“I’m sorry, everyone, but we now appear to be fifty copies short.” Alec caught Magnus’s stern look. It softened when he saw Alec trying to fix them. Alec gave him a small smile and continued to pick them up because Magnus didn’t tell him to stop or to leave. He felt so guilty for ruining the man’s day.

Magnus sat back at his table and resumed to sign the remaining books. Alec couldn’t help but overhear him talk to the people. He was so kind and genuinely seemed happy to talk to them. He was truly amazing. Too bad he ruined everything. He watched as some people had to leave because there were no more books, although they were promised new signed copies in the mail. By the time Alec was picking up the last book, Magnus squatted next to him.

“So, it’s Alexander, right?” He picked up a mangled sleeve. “Since you already seem to know about my life, why don’t you tell me about yours?”

Alec couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “It’s not that interesting, I’m working on my masters.”

“In what?”

“Business”

“Why that?”

“I don’t know, a part of me thinks that with that degree I would be able to help people.”

“That’s why I wanted to write, I wanted people to know that they’re not alone in this world and that there are people like them out there. I hope you know that it really did a lot to me when you told me how my writing has changed your life.”

Alec smiled at him, “Yeah, well, I wish it could have gone smoother.”

“Well, it made a rather dull day quite exciting. I hope you know that I’m not upset with you or anything. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Thanks, I was worried that you’d hate me,” Alec straightened himself up.

“I don’t think I could.”

Alec’s heart fluttered a little in his chest.

“Honestly I should probably be thanking you for ending it sooner, my day started with me spilling my coffee all over my expensive rug that I just bought. All day I have been thinking about how much I want to just drink tea and watch something on Netflix.”

“That’s me on most days,” Alec replied.

Magnus laughed, “That’s the good life.”

It was weird, it’s not like Alec thought that Magnus was some superior being. However, he never really thought about his life outside of his writing. To hear him talk about his bad day made Alec think more as Magnus the person rather than Magnus his idol.

They walked out of the shop together. “Where’s your car?” Magnus asked.

“I don’t drive.”

“Oh, well, I can drive you home.”

“No, it’s okay, I have a bike.”

There’s a look in Magnus’s eyes that Alec couldn’t decipher. It was almost a fond look. “I know this might seem a little inappropriate but im only at the beginning of my career so it probably doesn't matter that much but would you like to go out some time?”

#malec #magnus bane #alec lightwood #shadowhunters #malec fic #requests #asks #headcanon #malec fanfic

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carmenlire · 6 years

Text

Won’t You Be Mine

Prompt: Heart

read on ao3

Magnus enters his apothecary, ready to slough through the dozen orders that’s accumulated the past few days while he’s been away on business. He’d been to a warlock summit in Vienna earlier in the week and while it had been a pleasure as always, he couldn’t deny that he had been ready to return to New York.

To Alec.

Although, Magnus muses, he doesn’t know why he’d rushed home. True, it’s Valentine’s Day, but he honestly doesn’t know if Alec even knows of the holiday. Alec hadn’t said anything in the past few weeks-- no hints, no leading questions, no squirmy behavior that Magnus could pinpoint. Really, it was business as usual between the two of them.

Really, Magnus hasn’t even decided if he’s going to say anything to Alec. The two of them never needed an excuse for a spontaneous trip abroad or a date with a bottle of wine on the rug in front of their fireplace. Magnus has only ever celebrated Valentine’s Day single and drunk in Pandemonium-- or a dance club in Athens or a tequila bar in Tijuana.

Mind still far away, it comes snapping back when he sees the thing on his desk.

A pink paper heart, folded in half rests on top of his laptop.

He’s grinning as he sees it-- there’s nothing else it could be but a gift from his lovely boyfriend. Walking around his desk, Magnus stands beside his chair and reaches for the innocuous paper. The front is simple, Magnus scrawled across the front in Alec’s endearing mix looping cursive and print, always as though he’s in a hurry no matter what he’s writing.

He takes a moment to imprint this memory. True, it’s a simple gift that any child could have put together-- and perhaps have done a better job-- but it’s the sentiment that counts.

It’s always the sentiment that gets him.

Magnus carefully opens the valentine and his smile softens even as he chuckles.

Alec had clearly tried to get creative-- there’s heaps of glitter edging the heart and he’d used a rainbow of markers to draw miniature hearts all around his message.

A message, which, makes Magnus suck in a breath, makes him close his eyes against the swell of emotions the simple words summon even as a helpless laugh escapes him.

I lose my breath every time you enter a room. My heart beats faster when you walk by. Magnus Bane, you make my heart bloom, I love you more than any other guy.

It’s all the best parts of Alec wrapped up in one really terrible poem and Magnus grins, knows that he’s smiling like a lunatic, but he just can’t help himself. It’s dorky but heartfelt and Magnus can’t believe that he gets to have such an amazing man in his life and in his heart.

Alec rarely goes the extravagant route. His style is more the little things-- the Omamori charm, a bouquet of flowers when he knows that Magnus has had a long day, a piece of jewelry that makes him think of Magnus. This paper heart might have cost Alec twelve cents and twenty minutes but it’s the best Valentine’s Day gift Magnus has ever received.

Sitting down in his chair at last, Magnus doesn’t get any work done, too busy plotting all the ways that he’s going to return the favor. He thinks of whisking Alec away the moment he gets home to some achingly romantic city but that thought barely has the thought to form before it’s overtaken with making Alec’s favorite meal and relaxing at the loft for the night.

His thoughts scatter as the front door rattles open and he hears Alec’s voice call out, “Babe? You home?”

A quick glance at his clock shows that it’s barely noon. Alec usually doesn’t arrive home until seven or even later.

“In my study,” Magnus answers, pitching his voice to be heard throughout the apartment.

He doesn’t have time or the desire to hide the fact that he was obviously mooning over Alec’s valentine. As Alec appears in the doorway, Magnus immediately meets his eyes and they smile haplessly at each other for a long minute that would earn disgusted stares and endless ribbing from their friends.

Alec leans against the doorjamb, crossing his arms over his chest as he takes in Magnus, gaze dropping to the paper heart still held in his hand.

“I see you’ve found phase one,” he says, smiling just the slightest bit.

Intrigued, Magnus asks, “Phase one? Are you telling me there’s more?”

Scoffing, Alec straightens and walks over to the desk, around it so that he can half-sit right next to Magnus. He reaches out a hand and cups Magnus's cheek.

“You think that all I did for Valentine’s Day was make you a card? Babe, we’ve got an evening full of plans.”

Delighted and surprised, Magnus grins as he stands. He places the card reverently on his desk before sidestepping so that he can rest against Alec, twining arms around his neck and pulling him close.

“I have to admit that I’m surprised you even know what today is. I didn’t think shadowhunters would celebrate such a frivolous holiday.”

Wrapping arms around Magnus’s waist, Alec widens his stance so that Magnus can settle more firmly against him. “It might not be a shadowhunter holiday but Izzy and Jace consistently had dates on February 14th every year. I learned a lot just by hearing them bitch about it. Well, Jace bitched mostly. Isabelle usually enjoyed it and would tell me everything her date had done that had impressed her so much.”

“So, what are we doing tonight?”

“Step one was the valentine, of course. I hope you liked my poem,” Alec says seriously. “It took me approximately seven hours to make it.”

Alec doesn’t give Magnus a chance to comment before he’s continuing. “Next, we have dinner at your favorite restaurant in the city, and then--”

“La Citadelle,” Magnus asks in disbelief. Belatedly, he realizes that he may have just ruined things. That restaurant was notoriously busy and reservations had to be made at least ten months in advance. Even Magnus’s magic and personality were no match for the snobbish maître d.

Shit, Magnus thinks. What if Alec thought a different restaurant was his favorite? He should have just waited and where Alec took him, he would have made sure to make his appreciation known.

Luckily, Alec’s face doesn’t fall and his expression turns smug.

“La Citadelle,” he confirms. “I made reservations last spring.”

Magnus tries to bite back his smile but quickly realizes that it’s futile as he starts grinning. He grabs Alec’s face, smashing their mouths together for a quick, messy, fervent kiss. “I love you so much, Alexander.”

“I love you too, Magnus.”

“Anything else planned for today,” Magnus asks, curious.

“Maybe,” Alec replies. “It’s a surprise, though.”

Magnus’s eyes light up. “I love surprises, especially when they’re from you, darling.” He sniffs. “Have it your way, then. I won’t try and trick you into telling me where we’re going.”

Alec rolls his eyes but doesn’t comment. Magnus is just thinking up how to find out what’s after dinner when he realizes a discrepancy.

“It’s only noon, dear. What are we going to do until dinner?”

Alec smiles as his gaze turns heated and he gives Magnus a lingering, appreciative once over. “I’m sure we can think of something," he murmurs.

Magnus’s breath catches, even after all this time, and he leans down so that he can nose along Alec’s cheek. “You're right,” he whispers. “I’m sure we can think of something.”

Somehow, six hours later, they’re almost late for their reservation. Magnus enjoys dinner immensely and can’t help but wonder how Alec scored a window table and Magnus’s favorite vintage.

When dinner is done, Alec pays the bill before reaching for Magnus’s hand. Magnus lets himself be pulled along down the block. They only walk for a few minutes before stopping in front of what looks like a studio.

Alec leads him inside and when Magnus realizes where Alec’s taken him, he laughs out loud, stepping close to kiss him full on the mouth.

When they break apart, Magnus looks up and meets those beautiful hazel eyes that he loves so much.

“Thank you, darling. Today was perfect.”

“You’re perfect,” Alec replies cheekily and Magnus rolls his eyes even as warmth blooms in his chest.

He and Alec spend the next few hours at a paint and sip party, each trying desperately to follow the instructor’s directions and paint a romantic landscape while enjoying a very nice Merlot.

By the time class ends, they’re each obviously tipsy and not-so-subtly flirting with each other in increasingly outrageous ways.

Magnus can’t remember ever enjoying a Valentine’s Day more and resolves to knock Alec’s socks off next year.

The two of them walk hand in hand back to the loft and fall asleep wrapped around each other.

Their paintings hang in Magnus’s study for decades to come, obviously amateurish but painted with all the love and joy in the world.

#won't you be mine #this was fun to write okay #especially that awful poem kdfjghsdfg #my writing #malec flufftober

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warriorgays · 6 years

Text

GK Bingo: Caught Red-Handed, Brad/Poke

I signed up for the Generation Kill Bingo way back in May and then... did nothing for three months. the idea is for August to be MEGA-PRODUCTIVE, so we’ll see how this goes.

“Dog, seriously, you got to get going.”

“For the last time, do not call me dog in bed,” Brad corrected. He interlaced his fingers behind his head and stretched out against the sheets. In his own home, Brad didn’t indulge in petty luxuries like 600-thread count sheets or down-feather pillows, but he was more than willing to enjoy them on one of these visits. “And why are you so eager to have me gone? Can’t you give me one fucking minute to enjoy the afterglow?”

“I don’t know how much you’re enjoying it, if you’re already snapping like that,” Poke said dryly. He had already put his boxers back on, and was slipping a soft grey t-shirt over his head. “Gina and the girls are going to be home soon.”

“I thought Carlie had dance lessons?” Brad yawned.

“Nah, those are tomorrow. Gina took ’em to some art museum.”

“Art museum? You’re going to have some bougie-ass kids, Tony.”

“Says the guy whose parents own a fucking art museum.”

“It’s one painting.”

“Ask me how many paintings my folks own that are hanging in fucking museums, Colbert. Go ahead, ask me.”

Poke stood and pulled his jeans on, still talking in that way he did when he was thinking of building up into a rant. On a good day, Poke could go toe-to-toe with Ray Person in a rant-off. Brad found it endearing, because he had terrible taste in friends. Or in… whatever Poke was.

“We’re not even going to get into the level of bougie you need to be to buy a painting for what, five figures, and hang the damn thing in a museum instead of your own living room,” he continued. “That’s a whole different kind of narcissism right there.”

“Oh yeah?” Brad said. He pushed himself into a sitting position and met Tony’s gaze with a challenging eye. If he played this right, he could level this into another round of making out. “And when you and your friends got your hand on some quality spray paint, you put all your ‘art’ in your own living room, right? No need to show it to the world? It’s a civic contribution.”

“Bro,” Tony laughed. “Did you really just compare your parents buying a painting to a bunch of dumbass fourteen-year-olds tagging a convenience store with the word ‘pussy’ and their made-up gang handles? Seriously?”

“Don’t call me ‘bro’ in bed, either.”

“I’ll call you whatever I want, you dumbass white boy.” Poke put a hand on the back of Brad’s head and urged him up for a kiss. Success. “Besides, I’m not in bed.”

“We can change that very easily.”

“Too late. That’s the garage,” Poke said as a faint reverberation rumbled through the house. “Put your pants on.”

Brad conceded with a sigh. He tried to dress as quickly as possible, but not quick enough—the bedroom door opened when his shirt was still halfway over his head.

“Brad!”

“I thought you weren’t going to be home for another half hour,” Poke explained apologetically.

“Hey, Gina,” Brad said as his head poked out from his collar.

Poke had stepped closer to kiss his wife on the cheek, but Brad kept his distance with an awkward wave. He still had no idea how this thing was supposed to work between the two of them. Gina was just as warm and affectionate as she had been before he started sleeping with her husband, if not more so, but they had never had a heart-to-heart about it, and he was happy to keep it that way.

“I was wrong about the hours; the museum closes at five-thirty, not six. You’re staying for dinner, aren’t you?”

“I wasn’t planning on it—”

“Is Brad here?!”

Well, shit.

Brad stepped into the hall; Carlie had yet to actually see him in her parents’ bedroom, and he wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible. With the ease of long practice, he squatted down and immediately straightened, with the oldest Espera tossed over his shoulder and giggling fiercely. Her sister waddled after her, but Izzy was still getting the hang of running, and he had another minute before she caught up. He turned to face Gina and Tony, the former of whom was also laughing quietly into her hand, and the latter of whom was looking at him with that little crooked smile and those dark velvet eyes that made it so hard to categorize whatever they had into a basic friends-with-benefits no-strings arrangement. Gina’s question was still hanging in the air, and Brad gave in, like he always did.

“All right, you caught me. What’s for dinner?”

#genkillbingo #bradpoke #my fic #series: gen kill #brad colbert #poke

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humansunshineao3 · 6 years

Text

New Eyes - A Mundane Soulmate AU [ii]

[Sequel to this]

“Harder, Magnus.”

“Are you sure?” Magnus panted, arms bulging.

Clary glared at him over her shoulder. “Which one of us actually has to wear the corset?”

“Which one of us has to catch the other if she passes out at the altar?” He asked breathlessly, shaking his head. “You already have a tiny waist. Besides, you’ll have to eat at the reception.”

“Fine,” Clary huffed, straightening up as Magnus tied the strings of her dress. “Where did you learn to lace a corset, anyway?”

Magnus smirked, shrugging one shoulder. “I had a burlesque phase in college.”

“Of course you did,” Clary snorted, shaking her head. Once Magnus was done, she turned around, smoothing down the pristine white shirt of her wedding gown. “How do I look?”

Upon seeing her fully done up and laced into the dress, Magnus had to take a moment, his hand pressed to his chest. “You look beautiful, biscuit,” he told her, a knot in his throat. “Your Mom would have been so proud to see you like this.”

Clary sniffed, nodding. “She’s always with me. With both of us.”

Magnus squeezed her hands, and pulled her into a hug. It had been almost five years since Jocelyn died and left her firm to Magnus. Clary was only eighteen, barely finished high school, and she’d spent hours sitting in her Mom’s old office where Magnus now worked, the two of them grieving side by side even as Magnus struggled to keep the business running. Clary had had Luke, her stepfather, to keep her company, but Magnus had had no-one, so they’d taken him under their wing. Clary had eventually learned enough about the business from watching Magnus that she took up a position as a secretary, and though she didn’t know it yet, Magnus had fixed his will to make sure that Clary would receive the whole business if anything were to happen to him. With a few more sniffles from the both of them, they broke apart, both turning to look in the mirror to check their eyeliner.

“Let’s go and get you married, kid.” Magnus smiled, offering her his arm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I can’t believe I would have missed out on the colour of this suit if I hadn’t met Magnus before today. You’ve really been dressing me this well all these years and I didn’t even realise…” Alec marvelled, brushing some lint off the breast off his jacket. It was a dark, warm forest green, and he knew it complimented Magnus’ maroon suit perfectly, because Magnus had insisted they compare colour swatches weeks in advance.

“You owe me too much,” Izzy sighed dramatically, standing next to him in the mirror. “I gave you the illusion of fashion sense and a soulmate. I am officially the best little sister in the entire world.”

Alec smiled, putting his arm around her shoulders. “You really are. I’m so lucky to have you, Iz, really.”

Still unused to Alec’s blunt declarations of affection, Izzy blinked at him in the mirror, a slow smile spreading on her face. Meeting Magnus had done Alec a world of good; everyone could see it. Before Magnus came along, the only time Alec ever showed any kind of emotion was when he was dealing with his patients or his dog. Magnus had changed all that. In a matter of weeks, Alec had gone from withdrawn and uninterested in life to enthusiastic and engaged in everything around him. It was beautiful to see.

She and Clary had known when setting them up that Magnus would encourage Alec to loosen up, but when Alec called her the morning after their date and announced that Magnus was his soulmate, her first reaction was that she couldn’t believe it. She had to admit, though, that a part of her wasn’t surprised. They were total opposites, and they balanced each other out. Her and Clary had been very similar.

“What are you thinking about?” Alec asked.

Izzy sighed happily, wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him from the side. “The first time I met Clary.”

The first time Izzy laid eyes on Clary, the redhead had been halfway through beating up a mugger. She could still see it vividly; the mugger’s shocked, bloodied face pressed into the pavement as Clary quite literally kicked the shit out of him. Izzy had rushed forward, instinct making her reach for the strange, angry woman to hold her back from actually killing the man who’d attacked her.

When she caught Clary around the wrist, the entire world shifted, literally, and Clary froze mid-kick, her gaze snapping to Izzy’s face. As the mugger crawled away, bruised and beaten, Clary’s wide, green eyes drank in every detail of her soulmate’s face.

“Trust me to get stuck with a hot head,” Izzy had chuckled breathlessly, and Clary had promptly burst into tears.

“I’m sorry, I don’t… I don’t usually do this, I swear.” Clary had insisted, between sobs. “My Mom died, like… two weeks ago. I-I… I can’t. I can’t. You deserve better than this.”

Izzy hummed, putting her fingers under Clary’s chin to tip her head up and gently wiping her tears away with her free hand. “How do you know?”

Clary blinked at her, her light eyelashes catching the warmth of the setting sun. “Because… You’re the kindest person in the whole world. I can feel it.”

And that was how Isabelle Lightwood had fallen in love with Clary Fray.

“If it had been me, meeting my soulmate like that, I’d have run for the hills.” Alec admitted, shaking his head.

Izzy shrugged, grinning from ear to ear. “The first thing I remember thinking was ‘well fuck, my masochist streak is no joke’.”

Alec cackled, throwing his head back. “Excellent.”

“She needed me,” Izzy said softly, stepping away from Alec to get her earrings from the dressing table. “And I didn’t know it at the time, but I needed her too. You meet your soulmate when you need them the most.”

“I can’t believe you waited so long to get married,” Alec shrugged, helping her put on her veil. “I thought for sure you’d get married within the year.”

Izzy hummed, spinning around slowly in front of the mirror to look at the full effect of herself in her white fishtail wedding dress. “We wanted to have a nice wedding. There’s no way we could have saved up enough in a year. Besides, she had grieving to do, and I was still in college. This is the right time.” Her eyes were bright with joy when she turned to face Alec. “Let’s go.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clary and Izzy had flipped a coin to determine who’d stand at the altar and who’d walk down the aisle, with the promise of switching positions when they renewed their vows on their 25th wedding anniversary. The winner of the coin toss had been Clary, and she chose to be the one standing at the altar, wanting the full effect of watching her bride walk towards her.

When the doors opened and Izzy appeared, Clary knew that there was no hope that she’d manage to keep her shit together, and Magnus surreptitiously pressed a tissue into her hand. Thanking God for Magnus’ sob-proof make-up, Clary dabbed at her eyes as Izzy floated down the aisle escorted by Alec, though she barely noticed him. Her eyes could only see Izzy, sparkling and radiant, the shape of her joyful smile visible even through the translucent material of the veil. The moment she got close enough, Clary reached for her hand, and with a quick squeeze, they turned to face Simon, Clary’s childhood friend.

“Hey, what’s up, guys?” Simon asked nervously into the mic, and Clary and Izzy peeked at each other, giggling. “Sorry, my bad. This is very serious business. You know, when Clary and Izzy first asked me to do the ceremony, I said no at first, because, well… I ramble. But anyway, uh, I thought about it, and I realised that yes, I had to do this. Because Clary’s my oldest friend in the world, right? When we met in kindergarten, I remember being absolutely inconsolable that she wasn’t my soulmate. She was the kindest, sweetest, fiercest person I’d ever met, and she was always unwaveringly loyal. She is the kind of woman that anybody would thank God for giving them. But, you know, I dealt with it, growing up, and then I met this kickass law student, totally poised, classy and witty. I mean, she could… She’d kill you with a choice sentence. It was beautiful. And her name was Isabelle.”

Izzy grinned mischievously at Simon, who chuckled.

“So we started dating, right, and I was like, oh man, this is it. We waited three dates before we touched, and… Still black and white. I was like, really? I’ve now met two of the best women in the entire world and neither of them were right for me? But, it turns out, they weren’t meant for me. Because they were meant for each other. Now, I’m not gonna lie, when Clary brought her soulmate home for dinner the first time and it was Izzy, I literally screamed.”

“He did,” Clary giggled tearfully, and Simon beamed at her.

“But after all of two minutes of watching them together, I realised that what they have goes beyond a soulmate bond. It goes beyond pheromones and whatever genetic bullshit. Because even in a world where we didn’t have soulmates, in a world of, I don’t know, monsters and demons, these two wonderful women still would have found each other. Their hearts would beat as one in any universe. I truly believe that. And today we’re here to celebrate that miracle, and the fact that from now until always, they’ll have each other to lean on. And now I’m gonna join you all in crying like a baby while they tell us just what they mean to each other.” Simon bowed a little, and everyone laughed, Magnus wordlessly handing him a tissue as Izzy and Clary turned to face each other.

“The first time I met you,” Clary said quietly, grateful that the mic meant she didn’t have to shout, “I was broken, and angry, and I felt like I had nothing left. My Mom meant everything to me, and she was taken from me so suddenly. I thought that I’d be an ugly, violent husk of a person forever. When I was beating that guy up, I didn’t know restraint or compassion. And then,” she took a deep shaky breath, “you touched me. And just as suddenly as I lost everything, I gained everything back. With that simple touch, you not only literally gave my life colour, but you brightened everything around me. You didn’t coddle me, you never shrugged off my pain, you held me and scolded me when I needed it, and I don’t deserve you, Iz. I really don’t. You always know what to say to make me feel whole, and safe. I have no idea what the hell I did in another life to earn your love and affection, but I’m going to spend this life being the best person, the best wife I can be, because I want the gift of your soul in the next life and every other life after that.”

As Simon predicted, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house by the time Magnus handed Clary the ring to put on Izzy’s finger. Izzy herself was laughing breathlessly, her lower lip trembling as she tried to keep herself together long enough to say her vows.

“Clary, it’s been the greatest joy of my life in watching you heal. When we met, I looked like I had it all together, but the truth is I was lost. I was overworked, hyper focussed, and I felt like I was dead inside. You were brave enough to show your pain to the world, you screamed it and made people listen because you knew that you deserved to be heard. I adored that about you in the moment we met, and if anything, I adore it even more now. I admire you so much, Clary Fray. You are the most authentic, honest, most selfless person I know. I’ve had the honour of standing by your side as you knitted your heart back together, and through some stroke of luck I’ve been the one you handed it to. As we go forward together into the rest of our lives, I promise you that I will continue to support and cherish you, and never, ever let you slip. I know that your greatest fear is falling back into rage and hatred, and I swear to you, I will love you hard enough and deep enough that at the end of the day, when you walk through our front door, the world will melt away. It’s just going to be you and me, babe, until the end of our lives. And I couldn’t be happier.”

Izzy turned to get the ring from Alec, but he was sobbing, his hand over his face, so Magnus fondly plucked the ring out of his hand and gave it to his sister with a wink, patting Alec on the shoulder gently.

“I’m sorry,” Alec gasped, waving Magnus away as Izzy slipped the ring onto Clary’s finger, “I never thought I’d live to see the day where she took something for herself.”

Magnus hummed, and squeezed his waist. “I know, darling. I know.”

“Now, who will give away Isabelle Lightwood?” Simon asked, glancing at Alec, who reached out to squeeze Izzy’s hand.

“I will.” Alec announced, and Izzy looked back to smile at him.

“And who will give away Clary Fray?”

Luke raised his hand wordlessly, his free hand on the back of the empty chair next to him. Clary made eye contact with him for a moment, and his face crumpled in a tearful smile. “I will.”

Simon grinned. “Cool! Oh! If there’s anyone who thinks these two shouldn’t get married, speak now or forever hold your peace, whatever. Anybody? No? Awesome.” He sighed, shoulders slumping in relief. “Go on then, Fray, what are you waiting for? Kiss her, fuck!”

Clary was careful as she lifted the veil over Izzy’s head, letting it float down over her hair. Izzy was a little more forceful, and Clary yelped as it tugged at her hair, making Izzy giggle.

“Sorry,” she whispered, her hands encircling Clary’s waist.

Clary shook her head, swiping at happy tears. “Apology accepted.”

“By the power vested in me by the worldwide web, I now pronounce Clarissa Fray and Isabelle Lightwood married!” Simon exclaimed, joining everyone in clapping as the two newlyweds kissed passionately, Clary throwing her arms around Izzy’s neck as they sunk into it. “Oof! Geez, there are kids here…”

“Simon, the mic’s still on!” Magnus hissed, elbowing him in the ribs.

Alec laughed, burying his face in Magnus’ neck as Izzy and Clary broke apart.

“Ladies and gentlemen and non binary pals, I present to you, Mrs and Mrs Lightwood-Fray!” Simon crowed, throwing his fist in the air. Everyone cheered and stood to clap as Izzy and Clary walked down through the venue hand in hand, so caught up in each other they didn’t give anyone else a second glance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You know, I didn’t take you for a crier,” Magnus teased as he and Alec swayed together on the dancefloor later that night.

Alec rolled his eyes. “I’m not, not usually. I haven’t cried like that since I was, like, fifteen.”

Magnus hummed, his fingertips rubbing at the soft, short hair on the back of Alec’s neck. “For the record, you’re a very pretty crier. It’s almost annoying, actually.”

“Just wait until you see me when I’m sick. I promise you I’m not pretty then.”

Magnus smiled. “I can’t wait.”

Alec snorted, leaning back a little. “You can’t wait for me to get sick? Sadistic bastard.”

“I can’t wait to experience every little detail of you,” Magnus explained, leaning in to rub their noses together. “I can’t wait until the day I can hand on heart say I know you inside out.”

With a bashful smile, Alec tucked his face into Magnus’ neck. “Shut up.”

“Nope, never going to happen, you may as well accept that now,” Magnus teased, kissing Alec on the temple. “Me and my big mouth are here to stay.”

“Forever,” Alec murmured, lifting his head.

“Mmm,” Magnus nodded, eyes tender. “Forever.”

#clizzy #clizzy fanfic #clizzy fanfiction #shadowhunters fanfiction #shadowhunters fanfic #content #writing #soulmate au

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sometimesambroswrites · 7 years

Note

prompt: maybe like jace is doubting malec's relationship?? like he doesn't trust magnus At All (doesn't help that he, like all the shadowhunters, is lowkey racist against downworlders) so he's sort of the mind "he's a lothario warlock, he can't be trusted with my bro" but then like he does something dumb on a mission that gets alec hurt or something and magnus w/o hesitation exhausts himself healing him/throws himself in front of him or whatever to save him and jace is like "oh shit i was Wrong"

I was going to write my usual 500-600 words and then I wrote 2400 words because why not; I admit I was a bit skeptical at first because I kinda liked Jace’s I’m-just-glad-for-my-parababro attitude, but then @estefra showed me how interesting it could be to explore this side of Jace, so thank you so much for the prompt! I enjoyed writing from Jace’s POV for once, and I hope you like it as well! Jace is, admittedly, very douchey at the beginning, but I hope it shows why he acts a certain way and says certain things and I hope you can forgive him at the end. Alright, here goes; let me know! :)(I’m publishing this and nobody’s read it yet [I usually have a couple of people read my things], so I’m fucking terrified. Okay.)

-Wait, Alec!

Jace lengthens his steps to catch up to Alec,who looks at him with impatience: -What?

-I just – - Jace tries to gauge Alec’s mood,but he simply looks determined as usual; he sighs: -This thing youhave with Magnus –

He immediately sees a smile hidden in thecurled corner of Alec’s lips and he presses his lips together: -Whatis it, exactly?

Alec’s smile disappears as a frown falls on hisface: -Are you really trying to talk about my sentimental life whenClary’s mother’s life depends on us?

Jace hesitates for a second, but then hedesists; he takes a small step back: -No, you’re right. We better go.

Alec isbarely ever at the Institute.

Jace looksfor him for two hours before Izzy tells him he’s out with Magnus.

She lookshappy about it, bus asks: -Why? Did something happen?- as soon as shenotices Jace’s expression.

Jaceshakes his head, jaw clenched: -No, it’s just – he’s been going outwith the Warlock a lot.

Izzy’sexpression hardens slightly at the word: -The Warlock?-she echoes.

Jacewaves his hand dismissively: -You know what I mean.

ButIzzy plants her hands on her hips and looks a lot like Maryse whenshe says: -I really don’t.

-Idon’t think he’s right for Alec,- he says, words dragged between histeeth, -I don’t have anything against him, but I don’t think weshould trust him with Alec.

Izzyrolls her eyes: -And why would you think that?- she asks, impatienceclear in her voice.

-Becausehe’s a Downworlder,- he snaps, -Relationships don’t mean the samething to them as they do to us. Alec gave up something hugeforhim, andwhat did he get out of it? Nothing.

Izzylooks at him, stunned; she raises her hands: -I’ll talk to you whenyour head isn’t lodged so far up your ass,- she says, before turningand walking away.

Jacefrowns after her.

Hefinally catches him as he’s sneaking back into the Institute at 3a.m.

Hehas his arms crossed over his chest and his back against the wall inAlec’s room.

-Isn’tit a bit late?

Alecjumps and Jace frowns; he would have never missed him before Magnus.

-Yes,-he says, like it’s obvious, -Which is why I’m in my bedroom.

Hestarts pulling off his boots.

-Wereyou with the Warlock?

Alecstills when he hears the word, one boot off, and he looks up at Jace,a hard expression on his face: -I was with Magnus.

Themuscle in Jace’s jaw twitches: -I don’t think he’s good enough foryou.

Alecstraightens up immediately, takes a few steps closer to Jace: -Whatdid you just say?

-Don’tget me wrong,- Jace says, holding his position even though he has tolook up at Alec, -I’m not saying he’s a bad person. I just don’tthink that he’s right for you.He’s distracting you and he’s keeping you out until late and he’s aDownworlder,Alec. You know relationships don’t have the same weight for them. AndMagnus Bane?He had a lot ofrelationships that clearly meantnothing tohim.

Alec’shands shake as he takes in all of what Jace has just said: -I’m goingto say something,- he says, voice low, almost threatening, -And thenyou will get out of my room because I don’t want to beat the crap outof you.

Hetakes one step closer and he towers over Jace: -Magnus Bane is thebest fucking thing that’s happened to me in a longtime,-hesays, a humourless smile on his face, -He’sreminded me that there’s actually a world outside these walls that Idon’t have to carry on my shoulders, and just because youarean emotionally constipated messforone reason or another, it does notmeanthat all relationships are like yours. Andyou know what, brother?-he spits the word like he never has, because they’ve never foughtlike brothers,aiming for the throat, going so deep that the only thing keeping themtogether would be blood, -I lovehim.-and he’s startled by it because he knowsbutthat doesn’t mean he’s ready to say it out loud, and yet there it is,-And if our relationship meansnothing tohim?- he throws his arms in the air with a cold grin, -I’m fuckingfine with it, because I still got to love him. And now getout.-, hegrowls the last two words, pointing at the door, his breath short.

Jacestares at him and looks like he wants to protest, wants to saysomething, but the fury on Alec’s face convinces him to walk away.

Izzygrabs him by the ear and drags him in her room, slams the door behindthem and lets him go: -You are an idiot.

Jace rubshis ear, pouting at her: -I’m sure you’re right, but why?

-Ourbrother.Actually,- she jams her finger in his biceps, -mybrother. Until youstart making sense again, you’re out of the family.

Jacecrosses his arms over his chest.

-I’mlooking out forhim.

-And howis that working out for you?

Jacealmost sticks his tongue out at her.

-Whatthe hell isyour problem with Magnus?

Jacelooks away: -I don’ttrust him with Alec,-he says, his lips curving slowly around each word, -He’s just goingto hurt him and Alec is letting him in way too easily. He’s aWarlock,what if he just wants him because he’s a Shadowhunter?

Izzycloses her eyes for a second and raises her eyebrows in disbelief:-Jace, Magnus loveshim.

Jacehuffs: -When has thateverstopped anyone?

Izzy’seyes turn sad, slowly, understanding digging lines around the cornersof her mouth: -Oh, Jace,- she says, -When will you stop thinking oflove as a weapon?

Jaceflinches like she’s hit him.

Thealarm of the Institute goes off and Jace blinks, shaking his head: -I– I have to go.

Heignores Izzy calling after him.

Hegoes alone. He shouldn’t but he does, hoping it’ll clear his head.

Itdoesn’t.

Thereare six rogue werewolves and he can’t keep them at bay, he’s corneredin less than two minutes, breathing hard, and he’s afraid,alone –

Exceptthat an arrow sinks in one of the werewolves’ shoulder-blade and Alecis running towards him, Bladeunsheathed, and four wolves turn towards him and growl at him, baringtheir fangs before jumping.

Aleccan only avoid two.

Clawsrun through his shirt and his skin, tearing his chest open, and hescreams in pain, the sound burying itself in Jace’s brain as he feelsthe pain on his own flesh.

Alecfalls, hand clutching his chest, and Jace roars,buries his Blade in the nearest werewolf and starts slashing at theothers without any kind of plan, he just wants them to get awayfromAlec, he manages to hit a tail and a paw and gets two of them tofocus on him as Alec breathes hard, one hand pressed against hischest but the other still weakly holding on to the Blade to keep thewerewolves away from him.

-We’llget you out of here,- Jace calls, desperation creeping its way intohis voice as the pain lessens, and he knows that can’t be a goodsign.

-Sothat I can kill you,- Alec says, voice weak and strained, sucking inoxygen between every word.

Jaceburies his Blade in one of the werewolves’ paw and chuckles weakly,wetly: -It’s fine with me.

Alec’sscream is not human when he yanks his arm backwards and manages tocatch one of the werewolves’ on the muzzle, and Jace throws himselfmore desperately into the fight, recklessly, growling, and thenthere’s only one werewolf that’s still threatening Alec andJace can easily get rid of him, falling on his knees beside Alec assoon as he has: -We’ve got to get you out of here, come on,- he says,-We’ve got to get you to the Institute – -

-No,-Alec interrupts him, voice almost inaudible, lips white, -Magnus,-his eyes close, -Please call Magnus.

Magnusis pale and resolute when Jace emerges from the portal, Alec hangingoff of him, unconscious, blood seeping through his white shirt, andhe points at his bedroom: -On the bed,- he says, and Jace obeys,trying to be as gentle as possible as he lowers Alec on the pristine,silk-looking sheets, Magnus right behind him.

Hesnaps his fingers and Alec’s shirt falls off his chest, revealingthree deep gushes on his chest, and there’s so much blood Jace almostfeels sick.

-I’llmake him sleep,- Magnus says, and Jace feels like he’s talking tohimself, like he needs to reassure himself, -This way I will focusall of my magic on healing him. It’s too late for a potion.

Hishands move in intricate motions, blue magic dancing between hisfingers, and Alec’s breathing suddenly slows down, his eyes stopmoving frantically behind his eyelids.

Magnusbrushes his hand on Alec’s forehead. Just for a second, softly, andhis eyes show all of his worry and sadness and determination andsomething deeper, and Jace feels like he’s going to choke on hisguilt.

Magnuscloses his eyes, his hands on Alec’s wounds, and his magic startsflowing towards Alec.

It’sthree hours before Magnus lets his hands fall down his sides; hesways on his feet when he stands up and Jace rushes forward, hishands on his shoulder.

Magnushas deep purple circles under his eyes and he’s pale; Alec’s skin issmooth.

-Youdid it,- Jace says, relief pooling in his voice, and Magnus nodsslowly, blinking like he’s trying to keep himself awake, like he’strying to focus on Jace; Jacefrowns, catching him when Magnus sways dangerously.

-Areyou going to be okay?- he asks, worry climbing its way back up histhroat.

-Ijust – need to rest,- Magnus says, breathing between words. Hetries to walk away, pushing himself away from Jace’s hands, but Jacesays: -Wait,- holds his hand out to him, -Take – take my strength.You need it,- he swallows, forces himself not to look away, -He willwant to see you when he wakes up.

Magnusseems to consider him for a moment, blinking slowly, and then hetakes his hand.

Energystarts flowing out of Jace, and he closes his eyes against theuncomfortable pull.

-He’llnever forgive me,- Jace whispers, staring at Alec’s unmoving body.

Magnusturns towards him: -He will,- he says, and he sounds sure, -The thingabout Alec is that he sees his own flaws so clearly and condemnshimself so harshly that he has no issue recognising others’shortcomings and forgiving them. He sees himself in every mistakeothers make, and because of that he forgives them,- a bitter smilecurls his lips as he turns back to look at Alec, -Not himself though.Never himself.

Magnuskisses Alec’s forehead, his eyelids, his lips as soon as he wakes up,and Jace needs to step outside because he feels like he can’tbreathe.

Heleans against the wall and stares at the ceiling, dragging air intohis lungs.

It’sa couple of minutes before Magnus steps outside and tells him: -Hesaid tellthe idiot to come inside.

Jacerolls his eyes, but there’s no heat behind it: -Charming,- he says,but he doesn’t push himself off the wall, can’t quite bring himselfto.

Magnuslooks at him and offers him a smile: -Don’t be stupid, Jace. He’syour brother.

Jaceblinks, feeling his lashes damp; he pushes himself off the wall.

-Magnus,-he calls him back as he’s about to step into the room; Magnus turnstowards him, his movements still slow and careful. -I’m glad Alec hasyou.

Magnussmiles, tired, but it crinkles the corners of his eyes: -I’m glad hehas me, too.

Jacelooks away and smiles.

Hetakes a deep breath and enters the room.

Aleclooks healthy, and if it wasn’t for the careful way he seems to beholding himself, Jace would never be able to tell that he’d lookedlike he was about to die not six hours ago.

-I’msorry,- Jace says.

Alecraises his eyebrows, makes a little goon motionwith his hand.

Jacesits next to the bed with a small smile: -I’m sorry for going on themission alone. I’m sorry that you got hurt. I’m sorry that I didn’tunderstand what you and Magnus have. I’m sorry that I insulted him –

-Apretty long list,- Alec comments, drily.

Jacewinces: -Yeah, well. I’ve been wrong a lot, so. I’ve got a lot toapologize for.

Alecsighs, slowly. -It’s okay.

-Butit isn’t –

-Jace,-Alec interrupts him, -I know you. I wouldn’t have picked you as myparabatai if I didn’t know thatyou always recognise how big of a douche you are.

Jacechuckles, relief mixing in a sigh with it.

-Nowgo home,- Alec orders, -You stink.

Jacelaughs again, shaking his head, but he stands up; he doesn’t feel sotired anymore. He taps his fingers on the covers for a second andthen he says: -Can I say something weird?

Alecraises his eyebrows, doyou ever say something that isn’t weird?

-Theway you two love each other,- he says, swallows, looks away, -Ididn’t know it could exist. But I’m – happy that it does. And I’mgrateful that you’ve found it.

Alecis smiling when Jace looks up, eyes bright. -Get out of here,- hesays, sounding incredibly fond.

Jacenods and smiles as he goes.

#malec #malec fic #malec fanfic #malec fanfiction #otp: heart & soul #jace wayland #shadowhunters fic #malec fic rec #malec prompt #ambros writes #alec lightwood #magnus bane #Anonymous

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eversall · 7 years

Note

jimon + jace taking a simon 101 class??? idk what this is

i know what it is its an adorable prompt

to: parabrotai, izzybelle, clearlyfray, supermaia

[jace] i can’t believe i’m stooping to this, but how can i win simon over?

i. [izzybelle]: simon likes those lame pick up lines, and puns, and bad jokes.

“Simon.” Jace calls out as he slips out of the Hunter’s Moon. “Wait up.”

“Well this is a surprise.” Simon says cheerfully, his hands in his pocket. “What brings you to my side of the docks?”

Jace snorts.

“Alcohol.” He jerks his head at the bar. “What, you heading back to the boathouse?”

“I have a 9 AM class tomorrow, yeah.” Simon says. Right. Simon’s going to NYU now, trying to get a normal life back. Jace isn’t sure how he manages to go to class in the morning and then sneak into their missions at night. How is he sleeping?

“I’ll walk you back.” Jace says, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“I’m not a damsel in distress.” Simon scowls at him.

“But what if I am?” Jace asks, smiling winningly and strolling alongside Simon. This is easy for him. Flirting is a game he knows. Too bad it never works on Simon.

Case in point -

“I get it, you’re the big bad Shadowhunter and I need to stop interrupting your missions.” Simon’s frown deepens. “I said I was sorry.” Jace blinks at him and sighs.

“That’s not what I meant at all. It was a joke.” He supplies, helpfully.

“That’s not a joke. Here’s a joke.” Simon says, snapping his fingers, his eyes brightening. “What’s the ocean stressed out about?”

“Global warming.” Jace says immediately. “Melting ice caps. The polar bears - “

“Current events.” Simon snickers, and Jace tries hard not to let that get to him, but he can’t help the tiny snort and his lips twitching upwards. “See!” Simon crows, pushing excitedly at Jace’s shoulders. “You do think I’m funny.”

“I think,” Jace says, arching an eyebrow, “that you’re not taking global warming seriously enough, Simon.”

“Not taking - you’re a real piece of work, Jace.” Simon says, sighing, but he’s smiling too. Jace grins again and waggles his eyebrows.

“A piece that everyone wants.” He tries again, and this time Simon blushes and shoves him. He misjudges his own strength and sends Jace careening into the lamp post. “Jace - shit!” He’s immediately in front of Jace, fussing over him for injuries. Which - ridiculous. Jace is a Shadowhunter. He fights off demons, and Simon’s still afraid of his own strength in comparison.

“Hey, chill, I’m fine.” Jace says, straightening up and laughing. “It’s just so easy to fall for you, Simon.” He winks, for added effect.

Simon storms off.

Well. Back to the drawing board, then.

ii. [supermaia]: you should wine and dine him, he’s into cheesy shit like that. like a proper, romantic date - if you even know what romance means, herondale.

“Hey!” Simon skids to a stop in front of Jace, breathless. “Sorry I’m late! You said to dress nice, and, well, I’ve got a lot more options since Raphael forced me to update my wardrobe.”

“Forced?” Jace asks skeptically, trying his hardest not to ogle at Simon. It’s a difficult task when Simon’s in a tailored blue button-up, the sleeves rolled to just below his elbows, his dark jeans ending in smart looking oxfords.

“Raphael doesn’t hold with even exiled members of his clan looking like a fashion travesty.” Simon grins at him. “So what’s this undercover mission? Are one of the waiters demons?”

“Oh. Hm. Yeah.” Jace clears his throat and folds his arms. “Our source reported that the demon’s moved on, but Alec wants us to check the place out just in case.”

“Argh, really? So this is like a throwaway mission?” Simon asks, scuffing his shoe on the ground. The valet’s starting to look at them funny, and Jace realizes with a jolt that he still has his glamour rune on. He hurriedly tugs Simon into the shadows and lets his eyes flash, activating the rune again as he slides his hand down to grip Simon’s. The valet stares hard at the spot where Simon must have just disappeared.

“You sound really disappointed.” Jace remarks, his grip on Simon’s hand tight. “It’s a free fancy meal.”

“I want to help.” Simon scowls at Jace. He hasn’t let go of Jace’s hand either. Jace’s heart starts to pound faster, and he’s sure Simon can hear it. He doesn’t care, he wants Simon to hear it, wants Simon to understand how much Jace wants this.

“You always help, why not take a day for yourself and put it on my card?” Jace asks, cajoling him. Simon squints.

“You -” He says incredulously, and then he stops. And starts again. “You have a credit card?”

Jace gives him a look. “How did you think I lived in New York? Do you think I just fight demons and then power off for the day or something?”

“Or something.” Simon says wonderingly. “So like, what, you go grocery shopping and stuff? You go to the library? Do you - “

“I told you I go to book club.” Jace says, feeling peeved. “I’m just a normal guy, Simon.”

“That”, Simon says, pointing at Jace triumphantly, “is the most humble thing I’ve ever heard you say. Well done. Congratulations.” His cheeks dimple as he grins impishly at Jace, and Jace can’t help but shake his head, the corners of his mouth twitching.

“Careful,” Jace teases, “that was almost a compliment.” He lets go of Simon’s hand and steps away, trying not to feel disappointed as he smooths the lapels of his jacket. It was a long shot anyway, he thinks to himself.

Simon’s staring at him, his brow furrowed and his expression thoughtful. “You wanna go get burgers then?”

Jace sighs and shakes his head fondly. He can go home and sulk about not getting a date with Simon, or he can get burgers with his friend. The choice is pretty easy.

“Yeah, let’s go get burgers. You can watch me eat and be sad.”

iii. [parabrotai]: i’m no expert but i’ve been told you should try to talk about your feelings?? like be open. don’t hide stuff. i think simons into that kind of communication thing

“I play the piano.” Jace says as he drops into the seat next to Simon in the Institute’s kitchen. He means to say it conversationally, like an opening to better topics, but instead he blurts it out into the silence. Simon raises an eyebrow and takes out one earphone.

“Huh.” He says, tilting his head. “This may come as a surprise to you, but you lose this competition. I play the piano too.”

“You play the keyboard.” Jace scoffs back automatically, before he backtracks. “No, no, I meant - you know. Now you know. I play the piano.”

“Okay.” Simon agrees bemusedly, sipping at his cup of blood. “Now I know? What, are you trying to tell me I play the piano badly? I thought you liked my songs - “

“I do.” Jace shakes his head as he crosses his arms and leans against the counter, grinning. “Angel help me, I’m not sure why, but I do.”

“Hey.” Simon throws his wadded up napkin at Jace, who ducks, laughing. “I’m a hot Downworlder commodity.” Jace raises an eyebrow, and waits -

Simon flushes an attractive pink. “I mean - like I’m popular - like not hot hot - you know what, I think I am, honestly, what - “

“Don’t worry your pretty face.” Jace says sincerely, patting Simon’s cheek as he pushes off the counter and goes in search of a mug to make himself tea. Simon splutters behind him.

“Are you making fun of me? You’re making fun of me.” Simon declares. Jace hides his smile as he roots through the cabinets.

“I’m not.”

“I don’t even know whether to believe you or not. You’re messing with my mind, man.” Simon moans, a thunk sounding. Jace turns to see that Simon’s let his head fall forward on the counter, desolately draped over it like some sort of tragic hero.

“Write a song about it, why don’t you.” Jace says, grinning. Simon bolts upright at that, a strange gleam in his eyes.

So he never actually gets to have a conversation with Simon about feelings, but they do spend the next hour creating increasingly awful lyrics for a song. It’s something.

But he’s getting tired of being rejected unwittingly at every turn. It feels like maybe friendship is all he’s ever gonna get from Simon, and that’s fine. It’s fine. Whatever puts that stupidly gorgeous smile on Simon’s face is enough for him.

iv. [clearlyfray]: don’t be an idiot. just be you. he likes YOU

Jace goes into a state of shock when he reads Clary’s text. She looks over at him, through the crowd at Hunter’s Moon for Simon’s gig, and winks. He splutters into his beer and looks back at Simon, who’s really getting into it now, his eyes lowered as he croons into the mic. Strobe lights flash around them, and the crowd is loud and wild; Simon’s a popular act.

He waits through the set, his heart in his throat as he obsessively smooths his thumb over his phone screen. When Simon finally finishes, Jace forcefully pushes through the crowd until he can clamp a hand around Simon’s shoulder.

“You,” He hisses, and Simon looks at him, alarmed, “Come on, we have to talk.”

“Izzy if he kills me you’re my witness!” Simon screeches as Jace drags him out through the back door. Jace snorts.

“Shut up.” He commands, unable to stop himself from smiling at Simon, a fond feeling bubbling in his chest. “I’m not - Simon. You idiot.”

“You know, I just - yeah, I’m lost at this point.” Simon says, bemused. “You alright, buddy?” Jace ignores him.

“I’ve been flirting with you for weeks.” He murmurs softly, stepping closer and noting the way Simon’s eyes widen and his lips part ins surprise. “I even asked Maia for help, and - now Clary tells me I didn’t have to try so hard.”

“You - flirting?” Simon asks helplessly. “I thought you were just - being you.”

“Yeah.” Jace presses closer, and Simon swallows, holding his ground, looking up at Jace through his lashes. He’s almost Jace’s height, but his eyes are absurdly large and beautiful, and it’s embarrassing how weak Jace is for everything about Simon Lewis. “Apparently you like that, even though I made a fool of myself.”

“I do.” Simon agrees nervously, biting his lip. “God help me, I do. I never thought I could have this, though.”

“Neither did I.” Jace admits, honestly, and it’s his heart on his sleeve as he stares at Simon.

“Fuck, Jace,” Simon says, and then he launches forward and crashes their lips together, hard and demanding. The kiss is fierce, unyielding, taking Jace apart and stitching him back together as Simon’s tongue parts his lips like it’s the easiest thing in the world. Jace is breathless with desire, an overwhelming want clouding his mind as he knots his fingers in Simon’s hair and pulls him closer, pulls him in to take everything that Simon’s willing to give.

They kiss for hours, or minutes, or seconds; all Jace knows is that he has to rip himself away at the end to suck in deep, ragged breaths, shaking as he leans against Simon. Simon, the rat bastard, just laughs, content with not needing to breathe.

“That was awesome.” Simon enthuses, his arms encircling Jace’s waist. His smile crinkles the corners of his eyes, and he traces a thumb over Jace’s cheek. It’s soft in a way that Jace is still getting used to, and he hums and leans into the touch.

“Just shut up,” He says, laughing breathlessly, “and kiss me.”

And Simon does.

#jimon #jace herondale #simon lewis #shadowhunters #i write sometimes #ya girl is trying her hardest to write while working full time and commuting forty minutes each way but it is a struggle #all i want to do is write jace and simon happy is that too much to ask

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