#the tsc cast is so large now

[gautierprotectionsquad]

**The Sunshine Court Spoilers**

I finished the book on the 14th of April but waited to post about it until more people have read it.

It's sooooooo goood. I love these characters. This lived up to my hype.

It was so funny of Nora to introduce Jeremy as having caramel brown hair and I just KNOW she added the scene of Jeremy bleaching his hair for us. Only to have his friends make fun of him for being a ken doll lmao.

I think jean/jeremy shippers will be satisfied with this book. We get so much more information about everyone, their backstories, family situation, and what they look like.

There’s a variety of queer characters and relationship types in TSC and, while limited, better poc rep compared to the foxhole court. The larger casts of characters help. We have a canon trans man character (Xavier) and a nonbinary character (Cody) which i was really happy about.

I spent a good chunk of the book theorizing that the raven suicides weren’t suicides but covered up murders as part of the Moriyamas cleaning up but that didn’t pan out. I suspected that jean’s sister was sold but didn’t think she got killed off. I hope it turns out she faked her death. I also suspected and was RIGHT that the book would end with jean counting the things he’s grateful for like Renee taught him.

The way Jean has been spilling his secrets and unintentionally opening up about his trauma around Jeremy meanwhile Jeremy has been tight lipped about his home situation. I love the way Jean just LOVES people even though he does not want to, even people who do not deserve it, even people he just met. And we finally get to see what everyone’s outsider perspective is on the whole ravens situation.

Everyone cares about Jean SO much. Also I love the way Nora writes romance where the romance is barely there in the first book bc the characters are busy dealing with other shit. Unlike tfc where you don’t really expect it until it’s there and Neil is largely oblivious, it’s obvious Jean and Jeremy are into each other and they both are aware of each other’s interest and their own but they also both know Jean’s too fucked up for that right now. I’m excited to see where they go and how things develop between them so that they are ready for a romance.

My favorite quote: “You are the captain of the sunshine court. In no universe could you be anyone’s villain.”

I still can’t believe Nora came back after 10 years to give us a new aftg book. Crazy. I’m so excited for the next book.

Reading tsc has rewired my brain. I feel like my brain was fried with special flavoring.

#romanticsap #tsc #the sunshine court spoilers #sunshine court spoilers #aftg

[layla-carstairs]

on having the herondales front and centre really hurt tlh narratively? i think you've said this before but there absolutely should have been more focus on gideon + gabriel's families. maybe in chog we could have focused on haywood's death, they're separated from each other in london/idris, tom's resentment towards his label of 'the kind one', etc. 1/?

I love unhinged ramblings about the Lightwood, as I've said before they're my favourite tsc family <3 (and as I'm just now realising, the only one of the big 5 to never be a main character...... screaming crying etc etc) (ignoring the eldest curses btw because it's not a main series)

Honest, I think The Last Hours as a series would have really benefited by not having main character(s) at all. It would have worked quite well as a proper ensemble series, where everything is spilt up fairly evenly. Instead of James and Cordelia taking up large sections of the book doing??? while other characters get consistently shoved to the background. The only thing would be that the TLH gang is really big 😭 idk who to you would make a part of the core cast.

by giving character like Thomas for example a central role from the beginning, I think it would be really easy to implement a lot of the things you mentioned. Like fleshing out Barbara, Thomas' arc, seeing more of their family etc.

Kit as a character is a little all over the place. He doesn't really have a coherent character arc, and mostly just exists as a plot device. It kinda bothers me that he's just the sciencist™ which mean he really good at all science. Like what specifically interests him?? couldn't tell you. I think for COG, I would have really liked to see him doubt his abilities to save everyone? like he's never dealt with anything like this before, it's out of his comfort zone, Henry's stuck in another country so he's on his own; that a lot of pressure! it would also make the scene where Thomas convinces Alastair to let him in to finish the antidote even more meaningful; that he fully believes that Kit can cure everyone even when he didn't believe it himself. (also Kit being involved the necromancy is not something I've considered 👀👀 but that could have been so interesting & I think it would've built a better foundation for his relationship with Grace then what we got. like if they became friends before she got sent to silent city. also incredibly messy <3)

also the fact none of the tid characters got poisoned in COG is a crime. like it's not like they did anything anyway, and most of them were shuffled off out of the country. Why not nearly kill one? up the stakes? my vote is for Cecily, just because it would be very on brand for Tatiana to try and kill her brother's wife who also happens to be Will Herondale's sister. Everyone suffers!! also in Kit's flash fiction the first time he kinda questions/wants to use something other than weapons to fight demons is when his mom gets injured and I love parallels <3 also between Ari, her mom, and later Kit Anna would be having the worst time of her life. that could have interesting ramifications 👀

#there's so much more I could say but this is getting long 😅 #this ended up mostly being about kit oops #I didn't even touch on Tatiana that much #there's just so much potential here 😭 #chain of thorns #cot spoilers #chain of thorns spoilers #chot spoilers #the last hours #tsc #chain of gold #chain of iron #christopher lightwood #thomas lightwood #anna lightwood #cecily lightwood #cecily herondale #gabriel lightwood #gideon lightwood #tatiana lightwood #tatiana blackthorn #anon ask #bella talks

[streettealee]

Do I write fanfiction because I genuinely still enjoy the fandom... or am I holding on to something I am long overdue letting go of in favour of finally pursuing my original works full-time? 

Because I adore the TLH cast, truly. But I think I’m exhausted now. All the rants about character endings, themes that did not carry over and arcs that did not resolve, frustration over seeing all the more optimistic views when I’m still raging over the disservice to certain characters -- I think I may be done now. Or maybe just FOR now. Characters can belong to a fandom and interpretations to fan authors, but... they don’t feel like mine anymore. 

Am I here for the community? Is that it? 

It feels wrong to abandon my fics while they remain incomplete. I literally have a full outline for WBITHOM and could tell you what happens in each chapter and what the ending is right now. I’ve just lost the will to write it out in proper form. What does my work mean to anyone anyway? It’s only a wish fulfilment self-insert at the end of the day.

How many times CAN I read about these characters without thinking about what everyone else’s thoughts are, the news of what CC has planned, the fact that TLH has ended and it was kind of a flop no matter how satisfied a large number of people may be and that TWP is next and much more hyped? 

The TSC universe has endless possibilities (I still think about sea faring Shadowhunters thanks to discussions with @thevagabondexpress) and yet it feels kind of like it’s running dry. For me, at least. There are still fanfics I like to read; I just don’t think I can write my own. And I’m not that excited about the future installments to canon. 

CC follows a formula and the only time she truly feels unpredictable is when she pulls the kind of stunts we saw in TLH where characters were killed for shock value, another character acts as a convenient fix-up for the infamous family tree, characters who were supposed to be best friends but didn’t spend enough time together to feel that close at all, red herrings for character deaths everywhere, just... for crying out loud, everything ended a little Too Well, barring Kit’s death and the anticlimactic deaths of our antagonists (Tatiana’s defeat could have been MUCH cooler). What happened to the promise that it’d be more emotional than TID? Sure, I sobbed when Kit died but that was because it was unexpected, unfair, and he reminded me of someone who I cared about. But that was it. I felt so empty after that when I was reading. I got to the end of the novel and while, yes, it was bittersweet -- it just wasn’t satisfying. I was not satisfied.

ChOT felt cheap. I’ll say it. So many plot beats and decisions felt cheap. 

None of my fanfics work to repair any of that. They feel pointless. Why do I bother writing then? My fics change some things -- for instance: Cordelia’s lack of knowledge, letting Matthew actually have something significant and life-changing happen to him in a way that is meant to better his life in the long-term, James actually having more of an identity crisis, him and Matthew having more connection moments -- but does anyone really care about that? I have no idea. 

So, I feel like I’m not contributing anything. Therefore, this is either a “I’m done writing fanfic for now” or “I’m hungry and on my period and something will inspire me when I least expect it and you’ll probably see an update sooner than later”. I don’t know. My fic feels like a lot of effort for very little self-satisfaction. I don’t feel that proud of it or many others I’ve done, if that makes sense.

#just thoughts with lee #tlh #fanfic #tsc #twp #tid #streettealee #more problems I have with chot

[thevagabondexpress]

charles, grace, and keeping the adults in character: some issues a tsc fan sees in tsc, pt. v

Let me start this by saying that yes, actually, I know how Grace's hex works. That one of its conditions is that people around her do not question the requests she makes of them. However, it's shown also by the reactions particularly of Matthew and Cordelia that it does not mean nobody will question another person's responses to Grace or their view of her.

Hence, a hole. Charles is twenty-six, I believe. Grace is sixteen. A legal minor. They're engaged. Now, marriage with a vast age difference was quite common at the time in our world. However, the examples of marriages we're given within TSC suggest that among Shadowhunters this is unusual—our largest given age gap before this is only four years.

Given that the first-generation Londoners (our TID cast) don't know that Charles is gay during the time when he and Grace are engaged, and that they would have been aware of Grace's very disadvantaged position, that full ten year age gap could seem downright predatory.

Now. They might not question that Grace is interested in Charles, or that she'd make these requests of him. It's not out of the realm of possibility for a teenager to be interested in an older man. But, if they were to remain in character with the characterization of them as adults and parents, particularly in the short stories, they should and would have questions about why Charles's self-control and moral compass are so lacking that he's willing to acquiesce to Grace's requests, instead of doing the right thing and telling her to look for someone closer to her own age. And yet, Matthew is the only person to truly question their engagement and acknowledge that it's wrong.

My issue here, other than the obvious, is twofold. First, this ties back into my post about Jordelia. The author lacks understanding of her characters, particularly of her characters in their adult forms. She doesn't allow them to be themselves, and instead forces them to cooperate with her narrative at the cost of pulling them out of character from who they should be and how they should grow based on the parameters she established.

My second issue is one that also pervades TMI especially, but the other installments of the series as well: often times, she doesn't allow the narrative to acknowledge elements which the majority of its viewers will see as wrong. When I say this series is about breaking down unacknowledged issues within TSC, I don't mean issues other readers haven't noticed. Like my troubles with Christopher, this one I've seen recognized by others in the fanbase as an icky situation. So clearly, it's something many readers will take issue with. And yet the author doesn't acknowledge this within the narrative.

Now, I also want to say that I'm not here to present a solution to this issue. While I would like this acknowledged by the canon, the books are already written so that's not going to happen and anyway, the point of this series isn't really to say, "I want [insert fix] instead." I do that plenty enough when I write fanfiction, I don't need or want to do it here. By and large the point of this series is to gather my thoughts together into a more coherent (and hopefully more mature) analytic critique than the rambling vents my mother and my close writer-friends put up with from me. It's a way to help myself understand what I'm seeing (and not seeing), and how/why I'm seeing it that way and reacting to it as I do, and I share it with the hope that someone else will resonate with my analysis and go, "Okay, thon's is seeing this too." To paraphrase Doris Schwartz, "I just point out the problems. I don't do solutions."

"some issues a tsc fan sees in tsc" is an attempt to break down the unacknowledged things in tsc that i unearthed reading chain of thorns, rereading the rest of the series in preparation for it, and writing two longform fanfics (one of them a genderbent canon reworking) for the last hours. click on the "some issues..." tag to see more of these.

#some issues a tsc fan sees in tsc #tlh #tsc #the last hours #the shadowhunter chronicles #grace blackthorn #charles fairchild #tsc vent #fan analysis #analyzing the last hours #fan essay #chain of gold #chain of iron

[sockmonstergotstyle]

Ngl all the new tsc flower cards are confusing as fuck because sooooo many side characters were introduced at once in qoaad/the lost world that I just lose track. Like these new cards are brought out and I’m like cool, but I don’t know who the fuck you are

#the tsc cast is so large now #ngl im expecting little from twp partly bc of that #like qoaad had sooooo many perspectives and it ruined it #and like cc is expanding the cast so fast now and its unnecessaryyyy #with tsc books ive reached a point now where im like #quit while ur ahead #bc its just #its not great rn #like with every new book since like qoaad the quality just seems to be getting worse #it feels like less care goes into them #like im not even that excited about cog #like i want to be #but i know itll be tje same shit again yno #like #a love triangle #a HerondaleTM #probably some way to make clace relevant despite thme being unborn by about 90 years #its just getting a but same old same old #and the more side characters brought in for twp the less development theyll get too #id rather have a few really well developed side characters than 3000 with one personality trait who die 10 chapters in #like i couldnt tell u the name of any of tys school friends #or kierans brothers #i swear if the first twp book has more than 3 perspectives im giving up lmao #even though i know theyll be at least 5 #bc we have ty #kit #dru #and then of course also janus and probably clary #even though that entire plotline is rodiculous and will probably just add 300 pages to the book for no purpose #300 pages that could be hsed to address the mental health themes that were glanced over in qoaad

[queenlilith43]

Foreshadowing in TBC

I worked in some fanfic, and then remembered this thing from the Bane Chronicles. I would like to add a TW for canon self-injury, because no matter how much you want to read this theory, I don't want to trigger anyone.

Tag list: (love y'all, tell me if you want to be added or removed!) @the-blackdale @patalliumapples @murderbabies @blueth0rn @herondalesofterrasen @revati3008 @tenacioushubb @pjo-tsc-trc-otherthingstoo @bookeater34 @unorganisedbookshelf @clarys-heosphoros

The Bane Chronicles: The Rise of the Hotel Dumort by Cassandra Clare and Maureen Johnson, first published as an ebook in 2013.

"What are you?

The voice came from nowhere. It was in the room. It was outside. It was in Magnus's head.

'A warlock,' Magnus answered. 'And what are you?'

We are many.

'Please don't say you are legion. Someone's taken that.'

Do you make mirth from the mundane scriptures, warlock? "

Good job Magnus; you're hallucinating. And this is the start of this whole thing.

"He is with us. Now you will come with us. Come to the altar.

'I think I'll pass,' Magnus said. 'I've for a place here I like a lot.'

Remember this is when Aldous Nix was trying to open a Portal to Pandemonium or the Void. So now the voices want Magnus to help them.

"That was interesting. It didn't seem that the demons could come out. If they could, they would have. This was what demons did. But s connection had still been opened. A one-way connection, but still a connection.

Magnus stepped just a tiny bit closer, trying to look for any markings on the floor, anything to tell him how large the Portal was. There was nothing."

Of course there's nothing. The entire Portal is the building you're in.

"Warlock, do you not tire of your life?

'That's a very philosophical question for a nameless and faceless voice from a Void,' Magnus replied.

Do you not tire or eternity? Do you not wish to end your suffering?"

Y'all remember Ragnor going a little insane at the start of The Lost Book of the White? This is the same. These voices are asking Magnus if he will be willing to give himself up as immortality looms in front of him.

And this being in the middle of Aldous going crazy only bangs that point into your head.

"Blood . . .

If warlock blood opened the Portal . . . well, warlock blood might be able to close it.

. . . or not.

It was good a guess we any."

What powers does warlock blood hold? And remember: This is Magnus, knowing full well who his father is (and hints dropped in CoLS proves it was canon even before the reveal)makes this a powerful thought.

"'Why would you want that?' Magnus asked. 'Pandemonium has to be a pretty crowded place, considering you're always trying to leave it.'

Would you not know your father?

'My father?'

Yes, warlock. Your father. Would you not know him?

'My father never took much interest in me,' Magnus said.'"

*Raises an eyebrow.* Magnus, Asmodeus loves manipulating you. He just doesn't talk to his dad a lot because Asmodeus is a dick! I don't blame him.

"Would you not know your father, even if you spoke to him?

Magnus stopped on that one.

'No,' he said. 'I don't suppose I would. Unless you are trying to tell me what I am hearing now is the voice of my father.'"

Magnus: Lying through his teeth. Good job, sweetie.

And then things get even crazier.

"You hear your own blood, warlock."

There you have it. In these own words, Magnus is hearing the voices of his own blood, "alight with magic from Hell" tempting him, pushing him over the edge. The Devil inside him is waking up.

"Magnus regarded the levitating slab, the destruction, the remains of the bodies. He also became dimly aware of a presence behind him. Some of the Shadowhunters had come inside and we're looking at the slab, but seemed to hear nothing.

'Magnus?' one of them asked.

'Keep back,' Magnus replied.

Why do you protect them? They would not protect you?"

Well, screw you, voices, because there is a Shadowhunter who will protect Magnus. That Shadowhunter will go to Hell and back TWICE for Magnus. He protects them because he's a good person, and in turn, Alec will protect him, because they love each other.

"Magnus went to the closest Shadowhunter, grabbed a blade, and cut himself.

'You.' He pointed to the Shadowhunter who had shot Aldous. 'Give me an arrow. Now.'

The arrow was handed over, and Magnus tipped it in his blood. Then he rubbed some more blood down the shaft for good measure. He didn't need the bow. He directed the arrow at the slab with all his might, casting every Portal-closing spell he knew.

It felt like he was locked into place, his entire body concrete, time stretched and slow. Magnus was no longer certain where, or maybe even what, he was, only that he was still spell-casting, only that the altar remained, and the voices in his mind were yelling. Hundreds of voices. Thousands of them.

Magnus . . .

Magnus, come to me . . .

Magnus, come . . .

But Magnus held on. And then the slab fell to the ground, breaking into countless pieces."

So Magnus did it. He stopped it, with his father calling for him from his blood.

A little insight into the meaning of an eldest curse, and what powers Magnus could have.

I've thought this before, but never really posted this to Tumblr, that Magnus will play a critical role in summoning Lucifer. It will be Magnus whose sacrifice will bring him back, and this time, he won't be able to save anyone.

So what do y'all think? Is this part of Magnus's eldest curse powers? Anything to do with his general powers? What dark side does Magnus have?

I also think Aldous Nix was Belphegor's eldest curse because of Belphegor's power but that's my crackpot theory.

#magnus bane #the bane chronicles #tbc #the rise of the hotel dumort #cassandra clare #the eldest curses #the lost book of the white #tw self injury #and i tagged this because despite it being in canon i want to make sure everyone knows #your mental health is more important than bokks

[magnus-the-maqnificent]

@for-the-love-of-kitty Here you go!

Kit had barely gotten through the first month of his first year at Hogwarts when he landed in detention.

It wasn’t his fault, though. It was mainly his kleptomania to be blamed. It was maybe the fourth or fifth potions class when, without even realising it, Kit had tried to steal what was apparently a rare and very expensive ingredient, and very unsubtly too. Professor Bane, the potions master, had not been pleased.

Kit also may have gotten a little defensive and ran his mouth, saying some schmuckish thing about how Professor Bane shouldn’t be wearing too much glitter in a place where it could potentially contaminate the potions (which, obviously, it wouldn’t. He had no idea where that came from.). Also a lot of other things. Maybe his mouth was to blame more than his kleptomania.

Either way, he ended up in detention that evening, running some errands for the caretaker, Filch.

There was one other boy with him in that detention - Ty Blackthorn.

Ty was a Ravenclaw, the house famous for its brains. He had midnight black hair that tumbled down to curl against his jawline, and gray eyes that Kit had never seen up close. Ty was utterly, utterly beautiful.

That day, Ty had been sent to detention because, apparently, his behaviour had been deemed ‘inappropriate’ in class by some dipshit of a professor. Later Kit had found out what actually happened from someone else - apparently Ty hadn’t been paying attention, and when the professor confronted him, had refused to look him in the eye, which he took for disrespect and sent him to detention after docking several points from Ravenclaw. That was a long time ago, and now when Kit looked back on it, he was pretty sure there must’ve been more to the story.

Back then, he and Ty were complete strangers, and now, over the course of five years at Hogwarts, had become friends. Back then, Kit hadn’t known anything about Ty - only that he was a beautiful boy, and now he knew a lot.

He knew that Ty was different - but in Kit’s opinion, different was never bad. Where most people except for some rogue Gryffindors avoided the Forbidden Forest, Ty would often roam near its outskirts in his free time, hoping to catch a glimpse of the animals that roamed there. Ty loved spending time with the gamekeeper Hagrid, who had many tales to tell of dragons and giants. Though Ty’s gaze was faraway during Hagrid’s stories - or even Kit’s anecdotes of his life in the mundane world, for he was a half-blood - he would remember every important detail with clarity. Ty, whose hands fluttered like the butterflies of spring, whose eyes seemed to hold the keys to the world. Ty, who dreamed of becoming an auror and solving mysteries. Ty, whom Kit loved more than anything else in the world.

But Ty thought of Kit as nothing more than a friend.

Kit had many thoughts on that. He was honoured to be one of Ty’s friends, for Ty generally wasn’t the kind to mingle with people, and being one of his close friends was as precious as perhaps the rarest gem in the world. But it also stung like a wild bee at Kit’s heart every time Ty referrred to him as a friend. He never spoke up about it, though - he didn’t want to ruin his friendship with Ty. For him, being friends with Ty, being able to talk to him and seeing him every day was more than enough.

Presently he and Ty were walking by the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, Ty’s gaze turned towards the forest. They were both sixth years, which meant they had lesser classes and more free time. Ty was looking very handsome in his blue and black Ravenclaw robes. Kit on the other hand, was decked out in yellow and black, the colours of his house - Hufflepuff.

He suddenly remembered a day, long ago, when he was confiding in Ty because someone had made fun of his yellow and black striped Hufflepuff scarf.

“Why would they make fun of you?” Ty had asked, and Kit had shrugged.

“Apparently it makes me look like a bee.”

“So?” Ty had said simply, “I like bees.”

That was another thing he liked about Ty - his simplicity, the way his train of thought flew straight like an arrow instead of curving and bending in unnecessary directions.

Kit watched as Ty spotted something in the shrubbery and ran over to it. He followed him, and saw, just in front of Ty where he knelt among the weeds, a large lizard like creature.

“A fire breathing Salamander,” Ty said, his voice low, and Kit remembered the glow in Ty’s face when he cast his first successful patronus spell. Kit had wanted to tell him in that very moment, I love you, Ty.

Ty’s face jerked up, his hand stretched out halfway to pet the salamander. “What?!”

Kit blinked. “What?”

Ty’s eyes were wide, and he seemed to be breathing hard. “What did you just say?”

Kit shifted slightly, a little worried at Ty’s tone. “I didn’t say anything.”

“You did,” Ty said, and stood up facing Kit. “You said, I love you, Ty.”

Kit realised that he had spoken it out loud, and wanted to smack himself. He spluttered, trying to come up with some excuse, when Ty placed his hand on Kit’s cheek and he went still.

Something stirred in Kit then, some sort of bravado, and he said, “I do love you, Ty. I have loved you for a long time. It’s just... it’s just so hard not to fall in love with you.”

Ty looked at him a long moment, then said, “I can’t believe I never saw it before.”

Kit was silent, half afraid that Ty would disown him as his friend, and that would be it. He wished that his mouth wouldn’t get him into so much trouble.

Ty smiled a little. Kit had no idea what to stare at, so he fixed his gaze upon the earmuffs hanging around Ty’s neck. Kit had stolen them long ago, from the Herbology class on mandrakes in his second year.

“Maybe that’s why they say love is blind,” Ty said. Kit looked at him in surprise.

“What?”

“I love you too, Kit,” he said, his hands fluttering against Kit’s cheeks as he cupped his face and kissed him on the mouth. Kit gasped, not entirely able to believe this was happening, the culmination of his longing for Ty over many years coming down to this one single moment, to the feeling of Ty’s lips against his.

And then Ty pulled away and gave Kit a broad smile, returning to the fire-breathing salamander as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile Kit’s mind was reeling, to the point where he confused monkshood with anabaena in the potions class a couple of hours later, much to the exasperation of Professor Bane. He even stayed up late into the night, lying in bed and brushing his fingers against his lips and wondering if it was just a wonderful dream.

It wasn’t until the next day, when Ty took him to his twin sister Livvy and told her that they were dating, that Kit knew he hadn’t dreamed it all.

Send me an AU, a trope and a prompt from this list + any ship from tsc and I’ll write you a drabble!

#drabbles #tsc drabbles #kitty #kit x ty #tda #twp

[ourooboroos]

Intermission

HELLO. @the-ghost-of-william-herondale and I have begun a TSC AU Challenge wherein we each write AUs and then must use some part of each other’s fic for our next AU. 

(They’ve also posted a fic and it’s wonderful and I 10/10 recommend you go read it!) Here’s my first one! 

Read the full thing below the cut or on my AO3. 

***

“Alec? You’re drooling.”

Alec whirls around, releasing his grip on the thick rope next to him. It springs up a tiny bit, and the pulley above it shudders. Izzy’s smirking at him, her face caked in stage makeup and wearing a loose orange jumpsuit.

“I am not,” Alec says, but he swipes his sleeve over his mouth just in case. “I’m just, uh. Getting ready for intermission.”

Izzy snorts. “Intermission isn't for, like, three scenes.” She reaches out and pats him on the shoulder, and Alec rolls his eyes at her. “It’s okay, you can admit that you like what you see.”

“Shut up.”

“Only because you asked so nicely.”

Alec waits until his sister has gone further into the wing before turning back to the stage. Izzy’s right, they have another song and a half until intermission, plus a short scene and two set changes. He has no reason to be so close to the curtain pull. But. Can anyone blame him for being a little distracted? The school’s star is on stage at this very moment, dressed for their last rehearsal in much too large trousers and an oversized sports coat, and he looks absolutely stunning. Also, he’s singing. And Alec may be in love with his voice.

When Alec’s parents had divorced and his mother had packed up her life along with his, Izzy’s, Jace’s, and Max’s, Alec was… upset to say the least. He loved his life in New York and moving in the middle of his senior year because his father had had an affair was not high on things he wanted to do. Another thing that was not high on that list was working tech crew for his new school’s spring musical.

But then Izzy was cast as Brooke Wyndham and she didn’t have a car to drive home after rehearsal every day and Jace was on the baseball team so he couldn’t help and Izzy begged Alec and the guy playing Emmett was so hot…

So here he is.

It’s been three months of rehearsals and Emmett (his name is Magnus, dammit, Alec reminds himself) has just gotten better and better and could probably play Elle Woods himself, if matters depended on it, and look damn good doing it (as it stands, Helen is playing Elle, but like… Alec can just tell that Magnus would be really excellent as any character, okay?). But Alec hasn’t been able to endear himself to Magnus at all. In three months. And the first actual performance was tomorrow night with three following over the weekend and then, come Monday, Alec would have no reason to see Magnus anymore (he had come to realize, belatedly, perhaps, that they shared no classes or their lunch period, which, quite frankly, was just cruel).

Alec sighs and turns his head back to the stage just as Magnus is moving into the final line of the song. It’s like music to his ears. Well. Better than music. Like angel’s singing. Or something. Whatever.

“Hey,” comes a voice from behind him, and he looks over his shoulder to see another member of the stage crew, a girl he hasn’t spent much time with, but who painted a lot of the sets. He thinks her name is Carrie? Maybe? Her shockingly red hair is much easier to remember than her name, all things considered. “Ready for the set change?”

Alec’s eyes drift over to the large wooden cut out of a mobile trailer set off to the side. “Yeah,” he replies. He and Clary move over and each grip a side of the set piece and wait until Magnus finishes the last note he’s holding and the stage lights dim. A small group of stage crew members pop out from the other wing and carry off the Harvard set and Alec and Clary get moving. Raj runs out with a trash can and a piece of sheer fabric with trash and debris attached to it. The trailer is set slightly to stage right, with the trash can next to it, the fabric spread along the stage floor. Andrew moves to stand behind the trailer, dressed in a grubby tank top and boxers and carrying a large stuffed bulldog. Clary turns and jogs quietly back to the wing and as Alec follows, he bumps into Magnus, who has turned his eyes to the floor as he finds his next mark.

“Sorry,” Alec whispers, but Magnus just sends him a kind smile and raises his hand in apology. Alec’s heart thumps heavily, rapidly, and he ignores it as best he can as he stalks quickly to the wing. Izzy’s watching him, grinning, when he gets back to his spot. “Shut up.”

****

Opening night arrives in a flurry of tickets and programs and two dollar concessions in the school lobby. Alec is standing around backstage with the other stage hands as the cast members prepare in the dressing rooms down a nearby hall. Clary’s doodling something in her sketchbook and Raj is telling some story that Alec is only pretending to listen to. He’s relieved when Izzy pops out of the hallway connecting to the dressing rooms and grabs his arm. “Come with me,” she says, and tugs him into the hall.

Alec furrows his brow but lets her drag him. “Izzy, wha-” but before he can finish, she’s opened the door to the men’s dressing room and shoves him in with a smile. Alec stares at the door for a moment, confused, but spins when someone clears their throat.

Magnus. He stands across the room, near a vanity, already in costume and makeup. His hair is free of its normal faux-hawk and instead parted neatly on one side and combed loosely back. He’s in another too big sports coat and ill-fitting trousers that reach the toes of his Converse, and he’s missing the glitter and jewelry that he donned before dress rehearsals began. His smile is gentle and his voice soft as he says, “Hi.”

Alec knows his eyes are wide, and he can feel the heat creeping up his neck. He’s glad the rest of the room is empty - which, how? - as he backs up a little and his back hits the door. “H-hey.”

Magnus’s smile falls as Alec wrings his hands in front of him. “I don’t…” he pauses to clear his throat again and his gaze darts to the floor before he meets Alec’s eyes again. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. I didn’t even think-”

Ah, shit. “No,” Alec interrupts. “I’m not… okay, I am, but it’s not a bad thing,” he says, sputtering slightly. When Magnus’s lips twitch, he lets out a breath and runs a hand over the back of his head. “What… uh, why did Izzy bring me here?” His eyes flick around the room - the bright lights on the vanities that line one wall, the open wardrobes along the other, the backpacks and sneakers scattered along the floor - before landing on the top of Magnus’s head. Meeting his eyes, which Alec has just realized are the deepest, richest shade of brown, is just too difficult.

“I wanted to talk to you,” Magnus says easily, and Alec’s face grows hotter.

“...Why?”

Alec sees Magnus glance at the clock above the vanities, and takes a peek himself. They have half an hour until places. Magnus takes a step forward and Alec watches, motionless. He wonders, briefly, if this is what an antelope feels like when it sees a lioness about to attack. “You’re new this year.”

“Yeah.”

“And we don’t have any classes together.” Another step.

“No.”

Magnus pauses a few feet away and smiles and Alec finally meets his eyes. They’re shining in the fluorescent room. “So I just… wanted to get to know you better. I’m sorry it’s taken me three months to say anything, but-”

“Better late than never,” Alec blurts out. He resists the urge to clap a hand over his mouth, because, fuck, he’s embarrassing himself, but then Magnus laughs, loud and bright. “Exactly.”

They stand there silently for a moment, simply looking at each other. Alec feels like he’s allowed to now, maybe, and his eyes rove over the planes of Magnus’s face, his strong jaw and his smooth skin, even as he has stage makeup coating his face. It feels weird, staring at him so openly after months of covert glances and watching him from the shadows backstage. At the same time, he can sense Magnus’s eyes on him, and he wonders what he thinks. Perhaps, one day, he can ask him.

“So…” Alec begins, not sure where this sentence is heading. He scratches his cheek. Magnus is smiling at him encouragingly. “You’ve been, uh, really good. Brilliant, I mean. Y’know, out there, as… as Emmett.”

Magnus laughs again, and Alec grins. He thinks he could get used to that sound - it’s almost as melodic as Magnus’s singing. “Thank you.” He gestures to his costume and tugs at the sleeves of his coat. “I’m not a huge fan of the costume, though.”

“I mean,” Alec clears his throat, “there’s the, uh, shopping scene. You look pretty great there.” He quickly averts his gaze, but looks back just in time to see Magnus’s face redden. He preens a little.

“Thank you, Alexander,” Magnus says, voice even softer than it had been earlier, and Alec’s heart nestles tightly in his throat, nearly causing him to choke. Nobody calls him Alexander. Not his mother, his father, any of his siblings or relatives… he’d never been okay with anyone calling him Alexander. But coming out of Magnus’s mouth, it sounds right.

Alec opens his mouth, about to say as much, when there’s a sharp knock on the door.

“Are you guys done in there? I need to finish getting dressed.”

Magnus and Alec meet each other’s eyes and crack matching grins.

****

Opening night had gone off without a hitch (except for when Lydia tripped over her jump rope during “Whipped Into Shape”), and now it was Saturday. There are two performances today, one at noon and one at 7pm, and everyone involved is ready for it to be a long day. Alec’s packed himself and Izzy a few granola bars, bottles of water, and energy drinks (despite how much he loathes them) just to keep himself awake.

It’s not like he spent most of last night thinking about Magnus and their talk in the dressing room, or the way Magnus had hip-bumped him during intermission, or the way he’d asked Alec for help fixing his hair before the final scene, or the way he’d given Alec one of the flowers that his friend Catarina had brought for him when they bumped into each other in the parking lot before heading home.

Anyway.

The matinee is going smoothly so far, and it’s nearly intermission (actually, this time. Like it really is almost intermission) so Alec is standing near the curtain pull, just waiting for the stage lights to dim and the music to die down. He knows his cue. It’s the end of the scene where Elle finds out she got the internship.

And it’s because he knows his cue that he doesn’t feel bad about blatantly watching Magnus as he points to the board on the Harvard set, pinches Helen, and then quietly makes his way off-stage, heading towards Alec’s wing. Alec smiles at him and goes back to watching Helen sing. But before he knows what’s happening, he’s being shoved against the wall behind him. His eyes widen as Magnus grips his shoulders and leans in quickly and without warning.

And then they’re kissing. Alec relaxes as Magnus presses against him, his lips soft and his body warm. He faintly hears quiet golf claps coming from further backstage and he raises a hand to flip off whoever it is before his hands settle on Magnus’s waist.

Magnus pulls back after a long moment, and Alec can do nothing but stare at him, grinning widely. Magnus is smiling back and I can get used to that, Alec thinks.

“...than before!”

The stage lights flicker out.

Alec spins, pulling the rope and swinging the heavy velvet curtains closed as Magnus laughs behind him.

And yeah. He could get used to this.

#linkscap writes #malec #shadowhunters #tsc #alec x magnus #alec lightwood #magnus bane #high school au #yes they ARE performing legally blonde: the musical