#alec bb

[protectoratenova07]

Interesting part of Alec's power is the timeframe for it. At best he can take someone over in 15 min, but it can also take hours. With Cherish we see her affect Ballistic in an instant, Heartbreaker is probably similar, but for Alec the best he can manage is messing with limbs. With how long fights actually take, he'll never be able to hijack anyone in one. Pretty much the only time he could take someone over is if he actively goes after them.

And that makes sense with what his situation was when he got powers. He didn't really want strangers to come and help him. Heroes have tried and failed and that only makes his living situation worse and his dad more quick to anger. He wants the people he's familiar with, the people that are constantly around him to step in and help. But they don't, so his power forces them to, so long as he knows them and knows them well.

(Can't remember if you've talked about this particular aspect of his power before @lakesbian but I saw you're recent post and started thinking)

[faejilly]

Shadowhunters prompt! Where the A/B/O thing means Magnus’s attempts to get Alec’s attention are really out there. Alec is charmed but baffled

so uh. I wasn't quite sure where to go with that, because Magnus & Alec's ability to try and communicate at dramatic cross-purposes is Very Them™️, but I usually think the a/b/o thing would make it easier what with pheromones and more defined gender/courting rituals? But then again it's not like Nephilim would have any idea how anyone else does things, and Magnus would be rather paranoid about crossing any lines?

Yeah. That totally works. Even if I failed to explain any of that IN THE FIC, hopefully baffled Alec is still entertaining? LMK if you want more, there's a whole lot more explanation in my head so I'm sure I can come up with something. 😅😅😅

That was Magnus.

In the Institute.

In a suit with a vest but no shirt and those boots and his hair, and Alec suddenly realized he was still standing with his arm raised from opening a door even though the door had shut behind him.

He was alone with Magnus in the Institute foyer and he was gorgeous and he smelled perfect, as warm and comforting as the incense that burned in the chapel without any of the cold tang of adamas-laced stone beneath it that always made Alec's spine straighten and nose wrinkle because that smell meant work.

Alec finally remembered to let his hands drop to his sides, and then realized Magnus had said something, and he was almost smiling and he was...

Holding out a bouquet of flowers?

Alec blinked.

"What."

He didn't manage to make it sound like a question, and he almost winced as Magnus' expression tightened, and he leaned back and he was further away and the flowers were gone, and Alec almost whimpered in disappointment.

"My apologies, of course."

And then somehow Magnus was bowing and he was even further away with a flourish of his hands and a twirl of his coat and the click of his boot-heels on the stone floor and Alec tried to reach out a hand because he still couldn't figure out what Magnus had said, he'd been too distracted by how pretty he was and how nice the flowers were but then he was alone by himself in the Institute with his hand hanging in front of him.

Again.

What.

Why.

Alec sighed, and stared up at the ceiling, as if that would give him the answer, would explain how his why are you giving me flowers when we haven't even rescheduled our date yet and I haven't gotten you anything? somehow come out as why would you think I'd like flowers despite the fact that Alec adored flowers and would love to tell Magnus that.

If he could just remember how to talk when Magnus showed up?

He'd managed to say yes when Magnus asked him out for drinks!

Only then he'd had to chase Clary and apparently Magnus thought that meant something other than literally having to chase Clary because she didn't have the sense God gave sheep.

Izzy or Jace were going to manufacture a disaster and call Magnus to clean it up just to find out what was going on between them, and Alec hated to think how much of a catastrophe they'd manage on purpose, considering the chaos they pulled off all the time mostly by accident.

He hated even more that he was half-tempted to create a disaster himself so Magnus would stop thinking he'd done something wrong and disappearing to regroup before Alec's brain could reboot after seeing him.

How the fuck was one person that attractive, it should be impossible.

Maybe he could write a letter and throw it at Magnus the next time he showed up?

He heard the door he'd come through open, and the stutter of boots as someone had to shift to avoid him where he was still standing by himself right in front of the door.

Alec sighed again. "Yes, Yoshino?"

"I was uh." Yoshino somehow still looked perfectly composed and reasonably elegant in her leathers even as she shrugged and side-stepped to get around him. "Just going out for coffee. Want anything?"

Alec shook his head. "No, thank you."

"You... all right sir?"

Alec lifted his brows at her.

"You've got that smoky cedar smell thing going on, and that usually means you're about to do something on purpose that terrifies the trainees more than their own reckless stupidity, and I just want to know if I should get some extra bold beans to stash in the kitchen for the rest of us so we can keep up."

Alec snorted and shook his head again. "I promise not to scare the trainees."

Yoshino's nose wrinkled as she stared at him. "Two bags then, got it."

He blinked, and she turned and left, and he allowed himself a grin as the door swung closed behind her. That was probably a good idea, actually. He could use the kick to help him figure out a new approach.

[cloysterbell]

Hung up the phone. Rude.

[onetimetwotimesthreetimess]

Can we get part four - maybe with Magnus opening up about what he did?

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

“Raziel, what the–” Alec swears the second he enters the room.

His entire office is covered by bouquets and bouquets of flowers, there’s not a single surface that isnt being occupied by one. 

He moves closer to the desk and picks up a flower from the bouquet of lilies and brings it upt o smell it. 

It smells fresh.

Alec knows that magnus handpicks all these flowers himself—that he could do it with the snap of his fingers but he won’t.

He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to make of that considering everything that the man has done.

Magnus has been relentlessly sending him flowers for the past ten days, with the same note attached to it, written in his beautifully artistic handwriting.

You once told me that you have never been to an amusement park since the shadowhunter codex doesn’t have a chapter on ‘fun’ in it. I’m sure you have heard of Coney Island and please do not do that thing that Jace does where he pretends to not know about mundane things just to seem more mysterious.  I know you know of Coney Island. 

I will be waiting for you there. There are things that I need to tell you that I do not think I can write. I have magic in my veins but I have been wishing at every shooting star that you will show up today. 

I have caused you a lifetime worth of pain, Alec. So, I will wait for you for a lifetime, if I have to.

It’s the same note like everyday. Just a different location.

Today it was Coney Island.

Yesterday it was Rockefeller centre.

The day before, there was a small fair being organised by some college students.

An ice-cream parlour they used to frequent. 

All perfectly mundane places.

Alec had wanted to visit each and every one of them but he didn’t have the courage to push through the heartbreak. 

He didn’t want his hopes up.

He didn’t want excuses. 

He just wants Magnus and he knows that he can’t have that. 

Alec sighs and sits on his chair, his eyes darting across the flowers. 

“What are you doing?” Alec had blushed the first time Magnus had gotten him flowers. Magnus had snapped his fingers and turned the flowers into a beautiful flower crown.

He moved closer to Alec and placed the crown on his head.

“You look pretty,” Magnus had said, tilting his face from left to right to inspect his work. 

He had wanted to thank Magnus for the compliment but it had been hard back then. He’d still been getting used to being called pretty and beautiful.

“But why?”

Magnus cradled his face in his hands and said softly, “I saw a flower and it reminded me of you. That’s why.” 

Alec had giggled at that because it really was that simple.

“Okay.” 

The memory seems as clearly as the day it had happened. 

It always seem impossible to forget anything about Magnus.

Alec doesn’t want to either.

He picks up the note and reads it again. 

He remembers the heartbreak and pain from the past few month—from the day that Magnus broke up with him. It hadn’t lessened even a bit and Alec doesn’t know how long he can keep living like a dead-body. 

He thinks if it’s reasonable that the person who broke his heart is the one he wants to go to get it fixed. 

He wonders if it’s the same for everyone around the world. 

And then he wonders how Magnus went through so many of them and made through it.

Maybe he really should see Magnus.

If there's anyone in the world who knows a thing or two about moving on: It has to be Magnus Bane.

@carelessflower this will always be your masterpiece anh sjjsjsksk

[iamyourdensityy]

I've never paused to yell at the TV more than this fucking show everyone is PISSING ME OFF

[applejuiz]

i love you, alec hardison

[magnus-the-maqnificent]

magnus when dark!alec

Magnus, watching Alec take out three clave people in one move: Um, yeah, I'm afraid the murderer needs to be dealt with privately. I'll have to do it alone, I'm afraid. Preferably a bedroom with attached bath so we can lock him up more permanently.

The Clave, shuddering at dark!Alec: how brave you are for dealing with him alone!! We pray for you, tho

Magnus, already planning how to bear Alec's babies: Yes, yes, now where can I find plenty of rope? And lubricant? For um, the wrists, so he doesn't get chaffing.

[eulchu]

Ro I have never seen a single person in this fandom who is a tsc fan I own every book, that universe has stolen my soul since I was like 12 years old

WHAAAT NO WAY i litwrally pre ordered the qoaad book i love them so much i got the fearless rune tattoed on my ankle WHOS YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTER

[dysfunkshunale]

Lowkey proud I've never seen an episode of Supernatural but know Jensen Ackles from The Boys, Dark Angel and Day's of Our Lives.

[graffic17]

A Brockton Bay without Coil is an interesting scenario to me, because it would so severely shift the power balance that the city would be utterly unrecognizable when compared to canon.

Because unlike how fanfic commonly depicts Coil, he is a known factor. His powers aren't. But Coil and his mercenaries are one of BB's 3 powerful gangs.

Take him out of the picture (let's say the asshole has a brain aneurysm) and the entire structure of the criminal world in Brockton would be radically different from canon.

For example, there's no Undersiders. Rachel would likely remain a solo villain, extremely distrustful of anyone and everyone, though she could end up in a team, maybe with Trainwreck since Wildbow does say that they'd have gotten along. Alec would've just kept drifting along, piecing together his own personal morality based on not wanting to be his dad. Brian'd still be an enforcer for whoever would hire him, trying in vain to save up enough to get custody of Aisha, though I could see him making a small team of his own. And Lisa probably keeps pickpocketing until somebody realizes her potential, hero or villain.

So many factors of canon would be completely non-existent without Coil (no Dinah kidnapping, no Trainwreck infiltrating the Merchants, no Chariot in the Wards, probably no Leviathan attack, so on) that the creation of an interesting AU just from that is a gold mine for a fic.

[lorata]

so the exam week is currently starting over here -advanced biology is the first one for me ;)- so to calm my nerves, could i learn about how your dear victors would cope if they had chosen an academic path?

i do not have the most academically minded bunch, to put it diplomatically, but here goes

answers under the cut for length

Ronan: business or law, probably, something douchey but everyone forgives him because he's just that charming. however he'd be a little bit adam parrish in that his entire backstory is a total fiction and nobody realizes none of them know who he really is

Adessa: biology, genetics, behavioural psychology, i don't even know, she'd want to do everything and probably does multiple degrees. she'd be an absolute terror and "um, actually" everyone so they'd hate her but they'd also fight to be in her highly coveted and exclusive study group sessions

Odin: he'd do very well, obviously, either something obnoxious like classics (affectionate) or coming out of left field with natural science. doesn't really need to study but takes meticulous and beautiful notes

Misha: she drops out of high school in every modern AU i've put her in, so this one is tough! i can only imagine her as a campus cryptid who sneaks into classes without actually enrolling because she's interested in the content and no one knows who she is but they're all afraid to ask. she doesn't do assignments because she's not a student but once in a while she'll turn in something startlingly sharp

Claudius: music, obviously, like if he had to. i think he'd be one of those people who had a rotten time in the early years but liked doing his degree once he got there. assuming he gets recognition & accommodation for the dyslexia i think he'd manage all right

Devon: i think he'd do a degree in social work and he'd be very good at the people aspect and the practicum and all that but the adhd used to have him staring into space and missing things in class as a bb so i think the actual sit-in-chair part of coursework is always his least favourite. the centre is, for better or worse, very active and hands-on; university, not so much. studying has him lying flat on his back with his book laid over his face groaning aloud into the air. he'd need to find a cute boy and play 'one kiss for every fact i remember'

Petra: legitimately I don't know WHAT she'd do for a degree but I know that studying does not come easy to her (undiagnosed learning disability) and she pushes herself to near exhaustion to get top of the class if there are stakes involved (e.g. a scholarship, or Selene). she studies with Dash and works herself to the brink but she does it! and then eventually someone notices and says hey maybe you should get tested, and she resists because what are you implying! but she does, and what do you mean it's not this hard for everyone, what do you mean it could be easier, and she has a full out crying fit right there in the office. and then she still has to work hard but it's not AS hard, you know what i mean?

Brutus: struggled with this one because again, blue collar boy, BUT i genuinely think he'd like sports medicine! he'd need glasses and a dyslexia diagnosis but he'd throw himself at studying the same as at a cliff wall: silently, with grim determination, one step at a time

Emory: another one who in modern AUs like ... runs a bakery giving skills training to at-risk kids and volunteers at the local community centre all with a high school diploma, so my brain squints trying to imagine her in academia. maybe child psychology for teen therapy/counselling? like the others she'd need help with the learning disability but she is very stubborn when she wants to do a thing. flashcards work very well for her bc she can activate memory

Alec: the kind of student who studies super hard and still comes second to the one who rocks up the day of the exam without studying at all, and he tries very hard not to be annoyed about it, but he is, and he knows it's a character flaw, but oh well. med school is hard but he loves every minute of it

Creed: doesn't actually know how to study. he just ... comes to class, understands the material and does well? is that bad? people always make studying sound super complicated, but oh well. 100% poli sci / communications major

Lyme: i can't decide if she'd be on the kinesiology / sports medicine side or over on the social work / child psychologist side (i've written AUs with her doing both), it really depends. either way she's pretty focused and doesn't socialize much until people from class drag her out because they're afraid her brain is going to explode

Enobaria: i'm imagining 5 hour energy + 4 loko + redbull study sessions that leave everyone amazed she's still alive and a little bit afraid, honestly, but she needs the buzz to get her through it because the content is fun but the actual studying is so boring. i think it would help her to record lectures and listen to them while running but it would take her a while to realize it because her whole childhood is people trying to get her to sit down and do her homework ~properly

Nero: definitely social work but with a minor in like ... philosophy? poetry? something like that anyway. i want to say he's pretty quiet in class but does very well on exams and it startles his classmates the first time, but the profs tell him he needs to participate in discussions if he wants a good grade and he's like ............. y tho, but he does after

not sure for my less-developed characters but hopefully this is fun!

[faejilly]

it can be a fic or meta, but if you're feeling inclined i would love to know more about your opinions for how alec's family gifts in your headcanon would present with even more eldritch elements to it?

oh, I have so many feelings, thank you lovely. Pls enjoy my version of bb!Alec (who is still much too old for his age because he's Alec)

Alec hasn’t even been Marked, still technically a fledgling rather than a Shadowhunter, when he learns that most nephilim can’t hear their weapons sing.

There’s a man come to see his parents, an important man, a dangerous man. But not just in the way nephilim are supposed to be dangerous, though the rhythm of his steps make it clear he can fight as well as any other Shadowhunter Alec knows. There’s something else though, something beyond his skill, something that’s not explained away by the way everyone in the Institute all bow their heads to his titles, Consul and Warrior and Sir.

Alec can hear him, something humming under the man's skin almost like a seraph blade dreaming in its hilt but off-key, a discordant whine that makes Alec want to cover his ears but he knows that wouldn't help; the noise isn’t really a noise, he can feel it in his blood, between his bones, not in his ears at all.

He doesn’t know what it is, doesn’t know what he should say, or to who, but he can’t let it go, it pushes in the back of his throat and it has to be let out.

He thinks if he tries to speak and it doesn’t work, the pushing will get worse, will hurt, will perhaps not let him stop, not ever again.

If that’s true, (it is true, he doesn’t know why or how, but it is, he knows, knowledge deeper even than the laws and runes he’s memorized from the Grey Book, the ones that make the power under his skin flicker and flare, waiting for the first Mark to settle it), he can’t do what his father would prefer, and tell his parents in private. He can't risk them choosing not to listen.

If he can’t be discreet, he has to go far enough the other way that he’s inevitable.

Luckily, the hum from the man is just enough that his seraph blade doesn’t like it either, hissing to itself in the hilt when it ought to be asleep, and Alec knows he can tell them about that. He’s worked with the Weapons Master, with his father, his favorite chore is tending to the adamas in the Institute's care.

So he waits outside the armory, plants himself in the middle of the hall when the man and his parents approach, makes sure the door to the armory is cracked so Master Amira will hear him too, might even come out and back Alec up, if he’s lucky.

He waits, and he doesn’t step back against the wall, and his mother is lifting a brow and his father’s mouth is too tight, neither of them impressed that he’s just there in the way like a mundane too stupid to move.

Before either of them can do anything, Alec falls forward, prostrating himself before the man, arms spread and forehead pressed to the tile, because there’s no way to say what he’s going to say without it being an insult, and this is the only way he’ll get the whole thing out before he’s in too much trouble to be allowed to continue.

The man’s footsteps don’t slow, and Alec realizes he’s going to just walk right past him, and he’s offended enough his chest burns, and he almost can’t feel the pressure in his throat anymore.

How dare he ignore a sign of supplication like that? He’s got worse manners than Izzy and no excuse for them at all.

“Consul.” He hears his mother’s voice, low but steady, and the footsteps stop.

She’s as offended as he is, Alec can tell, he can taste it in her voice, but no one else can ever taste her moods like he can, so he’s sure no one else knows. Yet.

But he does, and it’s enough. If she knew what he knew, she’d speak, and they’d listen, they’d have to.

So he’ll have to do as well as she would.

“Begging your forgiveness, sir.” Alec projects his voice as well as he can, for all he’s talking to the floor. He can’t raise his head, not even an inch.

The Consul doesn’t say anything, but neither does he move.

“Why do you not care for your blade, sir?”

There’s a shocked silence, and Alec can hear the weapons in the armory startle awake as his father reaches, and he can feel Master Amira’s axe-blades as she joins them in the hallway.

“What seems to be the trouble, sirs?” Master Amira’s voice is smooth and clean and Alec reminds himself to breathe.

“The Lightwoods are about to lose their heir,” the Consul answers, his voice tight and the hum beneath his skin twisting down a half a pitch, sharp and unpleasant, “unless they explain his behavior very quickly, and very well.”

“I do not think so.” His mother’s voice rises, as pure a tone as any Alec has ever heard from adamas and he realizes he has lifted his head to look at her, that everyone is looking at her, the pair of clerks who follow the Consul everywhere, someone in every doorway down the hall, a silhouette behind Master Amira he can’t quite identify; even in the glimpse he can get of the corner of Ops behind his parents, everyone has turned toward the sound of her voice. “You should answer him, Consul.”

The Consul’s eyes widen, and his shoulders go back, and that feeling of danger rises, rises, and then it’s cut off, a sharp clean silence as Alec’s father takes one, single, step, letting the heel of his boot hit the tile just so. “My son is a Lightwood.”

“Recognized and sworn before an Iron Sister, sir.” Amira adds, and Alec blinks, aware now of what the odd visit last year had meant, the woman in white who had laughed as if she wasn’t dressed for mourning, who had shown him her throwing daggers and grinned when he’d hit the target with them, and given him two pure slivers of adamas to keep, one for each boot.

The Consul has gone still, and his expression is unimpressed, but the hum changes pitch again, and his clerks look nervous, eyes moving too quickly for all they’ve kept their bodies still.

“Sir.” Robert speaks into the silence, and his voice is like nothing Alec has heard from him before. He’s still quiet, still deferential and polite in tone, but it’s sharp somehow, the glint of a knife as it is slowly pulled from a sheath, the light of a seraph blade the instant before it materializes. He’s not really asking a question. “Your answer.”

“My blade has been cared for by four generations of the Dieudonné line, his question is an insult to my bloodline that has earned no answer beyond contempt.”

“Then why is it crying?” Alec doesn’t lower his head this time, for all his neck aches from the angle required to look up at the adults surrounding him. “It is awake, sir, and in pain, and you are not soothing it.”

Master Amira makes an odd choked-off noise he’s never heard before, but the rest of the hall is silent, and the silence grows, deeper and thicker, until Alec realizes he’s looking at his mother again, that they’re all looking at his mother again.

“His words are True.” Maryse’s voice is a hiss, barely louder than the blade, yet it carries. Her voice fills the hallway, perhaps through to Ops as well, perhaps beyond; it feels to Alec like the whole Institute can hear it, this one soft note of revelation whispering between them all. Her voice still rings like a bell against something inside him, something he has no name for but recognizes as the weight behind that pressure in his throat, the balance in his blood that hears better than his ears. “You will answer, or you will be foresworn.”

“You cannot-” one of the clerks attempts to speak, but Master Amira snorts and they give up.

“My parents were very traditional.” His mother’s voice sounds normal now, calm and conversational. But it still tastes like copper to Alec, like blood, and the tension in the hallway doesn’t ease. He eases himself back and up until he’s kneeling. Until he’s ready. “When my brother was forsaken, they dedicated me to the Mortal Sword as the new Trueblood heir.” Maryse smiles, and Alec can feel everyone except his father move back, trying to get away from it. “I absolutely can.”

The Consul looks contrite, bows his head in apology, enough that Alec can feel the other adults relax, just a little.

But the hum beneath Dieudonné’s skin has turned into a scream, his seraph blade wails in grief and fury, and Alec is moving before he realizes it, one hand in each boot, a flick of each wrist, and two slivers of adamas go through the Consul’s throat before he can speak.

Shock holds them all still, the scream rises into a shriek, twists and throbs and fades, at last, though Alec can’t hold in the shudder while it lingers. The Consul’s eyes are still open, but darker than they were, than they should be, and blood is dripping from them as well as his throat, and his ears, and his nose.

He stays standing for too long, still and stiff, and then a drop of blood hits the floor, one, then another, and finally he sways, and falls. His mouth opens as he hits the ground, and a dark cloud rises from it, smelling of sulfur and steel and something green that Alec will recognize five years later the first time he handles angelbane.

The former Consul jerks, his joints moving wrong in his death-throws, something too sharp to each convulsion, something other.

“Fuck,” someone Alec doesn’t know breaks the silence two long heartbeats after the body stops moving. It’s only then that he sees the rune that has now appeared, a Circle just like Hodge’s, broken by twin spears of adamas piercing through it, one on each side.

No one moves for yet another heartbeat, and Alec can’t look away from the man on the ground, the man who clearly wasn’t just a nephilim, not anymore, not like the rest of them. The man he’d killed. He’d killed the Consul of the Clave, in front of witnesses, in the middle of the Institute, before his parents…

He can feel a shared look over his head more than he can see it, and then his mother’s hand is on his shoulder and his father is calling out orders and she’s leading him away and his footsteps are running to Ops and an alert alarm is sounding, one Alec can’t hear properly through the blood rushing through his ears, and he’s relieved when his mother takes them both to his room, and tucks him into bed, and shields his door with her personal rune as well as every warding rune he’s ever seen. He smiles at her in thanks, and lets himself go.

She’s there again when he wakes, and at first he can’t remember anything. He starts to move, and feels the tug of an IV, the rattle of the stand next to his bed shifting with his movement. He blinks, and his mother sighs. It sounds like relief, and he blinks again even as she moves close, reaches out and brushes his hair off his forehead.

“It’s been a long time since an heir manifested two blood gifts at once, especially before receiving his first Mark.”

Alec had opened his mouth to… he wasn’t sure, probably apologize for being lazy after committing murder and then not even cleaning the ensuing mess up himself, but that stops him. He shuts his mouth, swallows, blinks for a third time, trying to get his thoughts to line up into something more coherent than what?

“Is that what I did?”

His mother smiles, and it’s as far as possible from her expression in the hallway, warm and soothing and grateful. “That’s what you did.”

“Oh.”

He lets that sink in, lets the implications and conclusions and possibilities trickle their way through his thoughts. “Does that mean I’m not gonna be buried at a crossroads for killing the Consul?”

His mother winces, leans forward until her forehead rests against his, and he feels dizzy and lightheaded with something almost like joy as he recognizes what she’s doing as comforting, for both of them. “Oh baby, no.”

He closes his eyes and lets himself feel the weight of his mother being his mother before anything and everything else, and doesn’t even fight it when he feels his eyes getting wet and his skin flushing with relief and confusion and love and who knows what else.

“You will never be in trouble for what you did to Malachi.” That chime was back in his mother’s voice as she whispered against his skin, and it soothed him in a way nothing else could, resonating against his worries until they faded. “You saved the entire Clave from whatever he would have done in the Circle’s name, whatever he could have done to our Institute with the Curse Valentine had put in him when he was discovered. The Inquisitor is going through the entire Council, soul by soul, to make sure she finds them all, and it’s only because of you that she has the power to do it.”

Oh.

Eventually she lifts her head, and her eyes are damp too, he can see it when she blinks. “But you will have to go to the City of Bones and meet a Silent Brother and the Soul-Sword.” Her smile quirks, and he realizes there’s pride there in her expression, on top of a complex mix of emotions that don’t make any more sense than his own. “Though that might be less scary for you than it was for me at your age, if you can hear the Soul-Sword as well as you hear seraph blades.”

“I can hear all the weapons in the armory.” Alec corrects before he can think about it. “You can’t?”

His mother laughs, short and damp and beautiful. “Even your father can’t, and he’s the only Lightwood left who can call his weapons to him. You’ve got a stronger Blood-Gift than he does.”

“I do?”

His mother nods. “Your father asked me to tell you he’s sorry he didn’t tell you so earlier. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, either.”

What.

This entire conversation is so far outside of anything he’s ever felt before, and his bones feel too light-weight under his skin and he doesn’t understand. “Why?”

“Did you consider telling me or your father about what you heard from Malachi’s blade?”

Alec frowns, and his mother lifts a hand, palm facing him, stopping him before he can protest the change of topic. “I promise I’m answering your question, please.”

His parents apologized, and his mother said please to him, like she meant it.

He shook his head from side-to-side. “I knew you’d want me to, but.” He stops. He doesn’t know how to explain that feeling, that pressure that he still suspected would have broken him if he’d tried to speak the truth and been told to keep quiet. His mother’s fingers brush against the line of his throat, and his eyes widen as he stares up at her, as he sees a tear overflow and slowly slide down her cheek as she nods, just a little, and he realizes she knows exactly what he’s not saying.

“We taught you we couldn’t be trusted, so you had to act alone.” There’s that chime again, and another tear falling. “But that’s all going to change now.”

It’s a promise, he knows, he can feel it. “What is that?”

“That is the Trueblood gift. My father could make any vow magically binding just by witnessing it, and his father could tell when someone stated something untrue, even if they believed it themselves.” Her mouth quirked. “He called it tasting lies.”

“Can you do that?”

“No.” She closes her eyes, too slowly to be just a blink, and this time when she sighs he can feel the weight behind it. “I can hear Truth sometimes, ride it, verify it, make sure everyone else believes it.”

She opens her eyes, and there’s guilt now, and grief, dark and deep and endless. “Valentine recruited your father and I personally, and I believed everything he told me about what he was doing, and why, and because I believed him, because there was a Trueblood supporting him, a lot of people who wouldn’t otherwise have let him be… let him get away with, well. Everything.”

Alec goes still. He can tell she’s telling the Truth still, and he doesn’t want to know that, doesn’t want to feel it, but he can, he does, and he’s never ever going to be able to forget what this feels like, this truth that turned his whole life into a lie that he’d never known he was telling.

He swallows down the nausea, the outrage, and waits.

“But when your father told me what he learned about what Valentine was really like, I couldn’t believe the lies any more. We turned ourselves into the Clave, and they only let us back because I rode the Truth when I vowed that we would be loyal to the Council, when I vowed on my bloodline, back to my parents and.” Her voice drops, lower and softer. “And down to my son, who is a Trueblood too.”

“And then you lied to me about it.”

“The Council forbid anyone from talking about the Circle.”

He gives her the look that line deserves.

She’s almost trembling, her hands held too tightly by her sides. “We didn’t want you to have to bear the weight of our mistakes.”

“But I do.” He looks at her, really looks at her, in the same way he looks at the weapons in the armory, and the hilts strapped to the side of visiting nephilim, and the way he’d listened to Malachi and heard Valentine’s Curse in his blood.

Alec can almost see the pattern of the fragile scaffolding of his mother’s emotions, suppressed down under her skin, forced to only exist between the fine lines of her plans, of her will and desire and ambition and pain, all constraining her gift into something so much smaller than it could have been. The foundation of that scaffolding seems shaken, it feels fragile. But it hasn’t moved, hasn’t fallen. She regrets how he feels, sincerely means to change, but she hasn’t, not yet. It’s all still there.

“Every single one of them has been put on my shoulders, and because you hid them from me I thought all that weight was mine, was me, that I deserved every harsh word and mistrustful look, and every single one of them was about you.”

Maryse rears back, but they both hear the Truth in his voice, the sound that resonates between his bones, that builds and forces its way out, that refuses to be silenced. That he is never ever going to try and silence. “You can go.”

She opens her mouth. He lifts his chin, and she concedes. “Amira will take my place with you until the next medic visit.”

He almost frowns, wondering what she means. “You burned through almost all your angelic energy.” She tilts her chin and he glances sideways at the IV bag, half full of something that isn’t just saline, judging by the color of the label. “And you’ve been asleep for almost three days.”

Three? he mouths, more to himself than her, but she sees it, understands it, nods.

There are circles under her eyes, and he can hear the exhaustion she'd been trying to hide when she speaks again. “Let us try and take care of you this time.”

He nods, accepting her peace offering for what it is, and she leaves.

He settles, waits until the door opens again to let Master Amira in.

Only then does he close his eyes, knowing he’s safe, knowing she’s there for him. He knows he’ll forgive his parents when they come back, knows that if they try at all he’ll let them be his parents again. But he’s not sure if they’ll ever earn back his trust.

But he can trust Master Amira, and he’ll make sure to tell Izzy the truth, make sure she knows exactly which consequences are hers, and which are not. He’ll do the same for Max once he’s old enough to talk, and they’ll never have to bear the weight of their parents’ mistakes the way he did, never be expected to fix everything the Clave and Circle broke just because they were offered the mercy of living.

He smiles to himself, pleased with that decision. He can hear Master Amira settling down into the chair next to his desk as he lets himself relax, can hear the soft sweet chime of his adamas slivers being returned, can feel the familiar low rhythm of her axes. He’s always thought they seem like contented cats, purring as they rest against their chosen partner, but today it’s like they’re purring for him, too, soothing him back to sleep.

[georgeeehd]

IN SYNC BB

Drinking Songs For The Socially Anxious, The Amazing Devil // Alisonzai // Change My Clothes, Dream & Alec Benjamin // Eurydice, H.D. // Daylight, Taylor Swift

in collaboration with @endgamepoem

[onetimetwotimesthreetimess]

the sexiest non sexual (?) things malec find about each other?

Magnus goes all soft when he sees Alec holding both Max and Rafe together in his arms. But Alec goes absolutely feral when it’s the opposite. The whole shadow world owes them favours so one of their friends/family will suddenly have two kids dropped in on them out of nowhere because Alec needed to be alone with his husband.

Alec in his consul mode. Magnus sometimes had to magic his eyes shut close otherwise the meeting would have to be cancelled right there.

Anytime Magnus pretends to turn away people for help or when he’s complaining the whole time while helping others. KINDNESS IS SEXY OKAY???

Alec trying to cook. He’s decent at it now because he wants the kids to eat healthy. Magnus thinks Alec in his penguin sweater (gifted by the kids) with a neon pink apron over it is the cutest thing. (And he’s right about it)

When they are fighting together. Battle husbands. They are petty little shits who always complete in the field and keep on challenging each other. Competition and playful banter is their love language. It does it for both of them.

[foodsies4me]

AND yes I was sobbing at Alec giving Ali and protection/kinda adoption sigil in Bridges. He is such a caring and considerate being even though he presents as so stoic. Definitely a soft bean who just melts around kids. (esp when he has two toddlers constantly visiting his quarters multiple times a week)

Magnus when he finds out Alec is basically the rookies unofficial honorary guardian:

(he fighting falling for Alec so hard but you basically fed him breakfast on instinct. We see you bb 🙃)

Magnus is starting to crack and you’re going to see it more and more over the next chapters. And yeah, finding out his husband has more or less been adopting kids left and right by the time they start talking about them is going to be a surprise.😆

Also, here is a tiny snippet (though still a bit rough around the edges because the words need to be made ✨prettier✨ still) from the next chapter that should have been part of the previous chapter before it spun too far out of control.

Bane holds out a hand toward Ali, helping him upright while Alec picks up the last of the pre-teen's bags and hands them to him. He's about to push himself to his feet when a tanned, manicured hand enters his line of vision.

 "Well?"

Bane's eyes are focused on Alec, something heavy and searching in them that Alec can't name. He raises his eyebrow again, the expression cool and distant, and yet distinct from both the cold scrutiny and the chilling aversion that Alec knows and knew.

His hand is warm.

[aquanova99]

headcanons about the Volturi guards with a clingy mate?thanks love

Alec

It’s off putting to him at first

As clingy as you are Alec is going to have a lot of boundaries especially around the rest of the guard

It’s hard because at first he doesn’t even try to see your side of things or look into why you may be so clingy and to be honest at first he doesn’t really care

Why would anyone allow themselves to place all their attention on one person? Conveniently forgetting how dependent him and Jane are on eachother

One day he sees your face red and puffy from crying about feeling alone in that giant castle, he tries to ignore it but he finds himself unable to stop thinking about how sad you looked

Why were you sad? Why did he care? Why was he thinking of your face all of sudden? Were you always that cute?

Dammit

After a very distracted guard duty he goes to talk to you, what did you do to him?

But when he sees you all alone in your forcibly shared quarters he begins feel his heart begin to pull towards you.

He’s not very good at expressing it he finds. He asks you why you were crying the other day. You ask him he the hell he cares because why wouldn’t you he hasn’t been very nice

And as if to prove you right he says fine and storms out. And almost immediately storms back in. And all but demands you tell him

You figure it doesn’t make much of a difference anyways so bb you tell him being his mate kinda sucks right now. His gaze immediately softens

Jane

Leave her alone trust me, fight the clinginess

She isn’t budging she needs her space

Okay maybe she will budge a smidge but it’s microscopic

Seriously go at slower than a snails pace because go too fast and she will freak out and use her gift on you

Let me make clear she didn’t mean to but she got overwhelmed and that’s how it came out

She feels bad but even after her apology she isn’t going to be touchy or wanting to cling to you at all.

Alec tried to help you understand she has never been affectionate with anyone besides their mother

He’s gotten pained a few times but because they were all eachother had Jane tolerated better she had time to adjust even if it took turning into a vampire and then some to show more affection

She will show you affection and love in other ways just back off for a bit lol which at first will just involve not scowling at you it’s a good sign honestly considering she still scowls at Demetri

Demetri

As you should be honestly (his words not mine)

He has no issue with this whatsoever

Literally none

He is the one most often sent out in missions however so he feels terrible about having to leave you all of the time

He makes sure to leave some item of clothing that smells a lot like him

It’s still hard and he often comes home to you feeling a bit sad

But he makes sure to let you know he’s alright as he takes you in his arms and spins you around

And if he isn’t busy he’s always holding you whether you’re alone together or are with the rest of the family

He knows clinginess can come from a fear of abandonment but whatever the reason he makes sure you know that’s he’s all yours and he doesn’t plan on going anywhere

Felix

Forever shocked you would want to spend all of your time with him

But also thank the gods because he is probably just as clingy

He only has to go on missions where the laws are being broken and even then Santiago will sometimes go especially now that he has you

The check in ones are usually Demetri and his mate or the twins with him

He’s more of an intimidating figure at trials and obviously he has the executioner title but Demetri will drag him out sometimes just to get the job done quick because that man is in a hurry to get home

Always stays with your for a few hours alone before even considering doing anything else

If you’re around for trials he has to work hard to not look at you which you can take for a challenge sometimes

Let it be known you have not broken this man yet when he puts on his guard persona there isn’t a person in that could break him or make him smile

But it’s still funny to try and it’s gotten the tiniest smile out of Caius once so you’ll take that as a win

Outside of work Felix enjoys a good prank so he always involves you in getting one of his friends

Involves you in everything honestly

Thought you were adorable when he came come to find you wearing one of his scarfs because you missed him

Can and will hold you for hours

Heidi

She asks if you actually want to just be in the room as she is while she makes calls and sends emails for the next tour

You do?

Okey dokey

She enjoys your company too and she sees no reason for you two to not be together

If somehow it is too much she is so kind about asking for space because she can be clingy too

okay I’ll try and say that when she’s feeling down (usually around the anniversary of her coven perishing) she needs to process things on her own

You can understand that and she usually comes back she will need you and won’t let go for awhile

That’s literally the only time she’s distant any other time and she’s just fine with your clinginess she finds it endearing and loves to spend time with you

It’s elevated if you are sent out in missions as well you both get a bit heartsick but distance makes the heart grow fonder and the reunion is always very…intense