![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
terresdebrume✗ TECHNICAL DETAILS
FANDOM: The Shadowhunter’s Chronicles
SERIES: Tomorrow will be perfect
RATING: General
WORDCOUNT: 2 417
PAIRING(S): Isabelle Lightwood/Aline Penhallow
CHARACTER(S): Isabelle Lightwood, Aline Penhallow
GENRE: Domestic fluff, Friends to lovers fic.
TRIGGER WARNING(S): -
SUMMARY: In which Aline eats raw onions, Isabelle wonders about the future of the Nephilims, and their relationship is nothing like Jace and Alec’s.
TOMOROW WILL BE PERFECT ON LJ: [Series Masterpost]
------------------------------------------------------------------
“Did you notice Clary set her species to non-human ?”
Aline looks up from her cutting board, eyebrows knitting together in the middle of her forehead. She tilts her head to the side -Isabelle hides her smile at the gesture her hand- and answers:
“I didn’t. I’m surprised thought –I’d have thought with all the ruckus around the Shadow World she’d keep it quiet.”
Isabelle hums in assent, and Aline goes back to cutting onions, stealing a slice every now and then, munching on it with as much delight as Isabelle eats chocolate. The quirk is almost as disturbing as it is sweet, and Isabelle’s mouth stings at the sight, but she still smiles.
Watching Aline indulge in her odd little sins has always been a pleasant activity, anyway.
The two of them sit in silence for a while, Isabelle going through Clary’s pictures while Aline turns the fire up under their pasta and dips the onions in a pan. After a while though, Isabelle speaks up again:
“Do you think she’ll be showing her Runes off now?”
She steals a glance at Aline, who is currently busy trying to reach the pot of salt on the top shelf. The pale yellow of her trapeze dress -dotted with a sunflower pattern at the bottom- rides up almost to her buttocks, making Isabelle’s eyes go wide and her breathing quicken.
It’s ridiculous of course: she knows what a woman’s body looks like and she’s had plenty of hookups in the past -but seeing so much of Aline is different from seeing Clary in the same kind of clothes.
(In times like this, Isabelle longs for her brother’s presence even more than usual… at least she’d have someone to talk to.)
“Well it’s not like there’s much to show,” Aline retorts, jumping up to catch the salt, “She had them made so small I didn’t even think they’d work at first!”
Isabelle chuckles, remembering Aline and Clary’s heated arguments on the topic… accepting Clary’s different outlook on being a Nephilim and a Shadowhunter wasn’t an easy thing for Aline -or any of them, for that matter. Even Jocelyn had trouble coming to term with it, and she lived as a mundane for at least eighteen years.
Nowadays, they’ve all adapted to the idea of Clary wanting to keep her Runes hidden -so well, in fact, that it’s almost odd to think she’d ever show them in public.
“Whatever she decides to do, she’ll have to do it fast though,” Aline remarks, sprinkling salt on the onions, “The Council wants her gone already -if she insists on sitting the fence she’ll end up in more trouble than it’s worth.”
“Maybe not so much trouble,” Isabelle muses, closing her laptop and walking up to the kitchen counter, “sure she’s got a lot of things going against her but she’s famous. Mundanes love her even more than they love Jace—”
“Which is ridiculous because you were the one who actually saved them.”
Aline is chopping beef lard now, hands glistening with grease when Isabelle comes to stand beside her. She stares at the shorter woman with a blank expression, and Aline grows pink around the ears before she turns back to her work, frowns and mumbles:
“It’s true. I don’t blame either of them for not doing it but if you hadn’t taken things into your own hands, Morgenstern would still be alive today.”
“Alright,” Isabelle admits, bumping their shoulders together, “Maybe I did. But let’s face it, mundanes just aren’t ready for a savior in a hijab, so you really shouldn’t be surprised.”
“Mundanes are stupid,” Aline retorts.
Her knife is loud on the cutting plank, and she puts her whole weight into the gesture -a sure way to tell she’s nervous. Some people let off steam by punching walls or screaming themselves hoarse or, like Isabelle, by taking a very hot shower; Aline does it by cooking something requiring lots of pieces.
“You’re murdering veggies again,” Isabelle tells her. “It doesn’t bother me you know. Nephilims aren’t this fussy and at the end of the day, they’re the ones I have to live with.”
“Oh Nephilims are dumb as well,” Aline states forcefully. “Just because we’re using different pretexts doesn’t mean we’re any better!”
She snorts, dry and humorless, and Isabelle wonders when her eyes started to water. When did Aline -shy, traditional, conservative little Aline- start questioning the Clave and Covenant?
With a frown, her heart beating fast, Isabelle goes to stand behind Aline and give her a hug from her new position. Aline tenses in her arms and then melts back just as fast -as if nerves just leaked out of her. She smells like lily of the valley -a perfume Max gifted her with a couple of years ago- and onions. It’s not the most pleasant smell, but nothing can be done about it just now, and at least Aline doesn’t seem so tense anymore.
“Aline,” Isabelle tries carefully, “is it just me or is this not only about whatever might happen to Clary or I?”
Aline’s back straightens and she goes back to her work -and this time around she doesn’t look like she’s picturing someone’s body instead of the beef. If Isabelle is to be honest, it’s kind of a relief.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about Alec lately,” Aline sighs at last. “And why your parents kicked him out.”
“They didn’t,” Isabelle corrects. “He left before anyone had time to process the revelation… Jace didn’t talk to anyone for weeks afterward -it was an accident after all.” She sighs, resting her chin on Aline’s shoulder -it’s a bit painful on her neck, but Isabelle likes it all the same. “May I ask why you’ve been thinking of my estranged brother though? I don’t even remember you being very close.”
“I don’t remember Alec being close to anyone,” Aline snorts, “Except maybe Jace but I suspect there was more to it than brotherly lo—ow! Don’t pinch me when I’m using a knife!”
“Don’t dodge my questions,” Isabelle laughs. “I was being serious.”
Aline’s sigh reverberates through Isabelle’s chest, the vibration setting butterflies free in her stomach.
“I know.” The smile in her voice is gone. “Do you remember what I said when I came to live with your family?”
“That you wanted to see the States and expand your horizons of training,” Isabelle remembers, eyes wandering to the move of Aline’s hands. “And also something about a complicated relationship with your parents which none of us dared to ask about because we didn’t want bad memories to resurface. Why?”
“Well, I wasn’t very truthful about my motives,” Aline admits -the onions are fizzling in the pan by now, and she pauses to add some crème fraîche to the mix. “It’s just… there was this –do you know Helen Blackthorne?”
“I’ve seen her at a couple of Council sessions,” Isabelle answers, puzzled. “She’s older than us, right?”
“Yeah… she’s about four or five years older so she’s maybe…” Aline pauses. “Wow. She must be nearing thirty by now.”
“Shh,” Isabelle jokes, “Don’t say the word, it scares me!”
“You’re only twenty-four, you butt!” Aline chuckles. “And Helen’s age isn’t even the point! It’s just –We used to be dating, and when we broke up…”
Ironically enough, Isabelle is more surprised by her own lack of surprise than at the news itself… then again, she’d be lying if she said she’d never noticed Aline’s complete disinterest in guys.
“You didn’t want your parents to find out,” Isabelle finishes, squeezing Aline in her arms. “So you came to live with us, where no one would ask questions if you looked a little sad.”
“Yeah,” Aline sighs, relaxing again -more deeply this time, “I thought’ I’d be going back quick enough, but then Clary happened.”
“Ah, yes,” Isabelle smirks, “The start of all our interesting stories. Suddenly, Clary.”
Aline giggles in her arms, making Isabelle grin harder as they move together so their meat can join the onions in the pan. It’s nothing different from a hundred other nights they’ve spent in their apartment, pretending it was really theirs and not just something the local Institute rents because it’s become so tiny.
It’s nothing different, but Isabelle’s heart still beats harder than it usually does, she still breathes harder… maybe it’s because aline feels warmer tonight, maybe it’s because of her confessions… she doesn’t know.
“Let’s not badmouth her,” Aline chuckles, “A lot of those could start with ‘So Jace suggested’. And beside, neither of them has anything to do with why I’ve been thinking about Alec.”
Isabelle nods against Aline’s neck -Aline’s sharp inhale jerks her head a little, but she doesn’t mind.
“I just thought… Clary’s always been so shocked by the way our world works, you know? Kept saying it wasn’t fair and all.” Aline sighs. “I thought maybe Mundanes wouldn’t be so bad about liking people of your own gender.”
“Well,” Isabelle admits, “I thought they wouldn’t frown quite as much when they learned I’ve had sex before getting married -certainly not that they’d be shocked I even knew what contraception was at twenty!”
“Oh Raziel, don’t talk about that -I’m embarrassed for them. I hope it’s an American thing.”
“Look”, Isabelle snorts, “What I mean is, clearly the Mundane world sucks just as much as ours, and it’s been in need of a good shake for a while now… but this -the whole reveal thing- that’s exactly it. Everyone’s shaken up right now… if we move correctly, we can gain a lot of things from it. All we’ve got to do is make the right decisions.”
Aline moves to lower the fire under her pan with a speed that manages to take even Isabelle’s well-trained reflexes aback, and in less than a second they’re staring at each other.
Aline’s face looks so serious, Isabelle doesn’t dare tell her she’s got a piece of meat stuck in her pixie cut -she’s fairly sure it wouldn’t be smart.
“You’re not going to make those decisions,” she states firmly. “You’ve done enough. We have done enough. All four of us, alright? We don’t have to keep putting ourselves in harm’s way.”
“Who else will though?” Isabelle retorts, blinking in surprise. “As far as I know, there’s no other Shadowhunter with as much knowledge of Mundanes as we do -neither the Iron Sisters or the Silent Brothers will be any help on that front, and you know as well as I do the Council never listens to anyone who isn’t part of those three branches. We can’t expect traders to take the matter in their own hands!”
“And why not?” Aline protests. “Maybe it’s time someone other than Hunters got a say in our politics! I don’t know where Clary got the idea that we’re all trained for battle since infancy but you and I know it’s not true -why not let others deal with the crap for once?”
“Uh,” Isabelle insists, puzzlement slowly turning into annoyance, “Because they won’t? Hunters have always been expected to take care of these things -and supposing things go bad and we end up having to deal with physical fights, who’s going to fight them? Bakers? Most Nephilims will be too scared of being invaded by Downworlders to think about changing the way we view people who are different.”
Slowly, almost too slow to be real, Aline’s mouth falls open, a perfect ‘O’ that gives her an oddly cute fish-like look.
“You sound like Jace,” she says -Isabelle frowns- “He was always suggesting we should start a revolution.”
“He didn’t,” Isabelle protests forcefully, “He—”
“He did,” Aline insists, “All the time! Except he’d never actually have started it. But the way you talk about it…”
Isabelle watches Aline sigh, loud and long, almost deflating with it.
“Remember that time the kids in Alicante organized this massive snowball fight?” Isabelle nods, anger simmering down to confusion. “Jace had this crazy idea about somehow creating a small avalanche to get the other team, and no one thought it’d work, remember?”
“Until Alec decided he’d make it work,” Isabelle replies, clicking her tongue, “So what?”
“You sound exactly like that,” Aline replies, “Exactly like he did back then.”
“Except it’s my idea, not Jace’s,” Isabelle points out, “And it’s a lot bigger than just a snowball fight.”
“That’s why I’m scared!” Aline all but screams. “You’re planning on reforming the wholeClave! How is that not crazy? Honestly?”
“Look,” Isabelle starts, hating the way her voice cracks on that one little word, “If you don’t want to help me it’s your right, but I’m neither Jace nor Alec—”
“No,” Aline sighs, running both her hands on her face, “I’m Alec, apparently.”
“Why would you even say that?”
Aline’s face turns a brilliant shade of red.
“Because apparently I love you so much I’m going to follow through with your crazy idea that’s just bound to get us killed or something -and without even protesting for real, to boot!”
It takes Isabelle a moment to process Aline’s words, distracted as she is by the blush on aline’s cheeks.
Then, in a move she will forever remember for its absolute lack of smoothness -something she thought she’d mastered a long time ago- she gasps:
“Wait, what?”
“Oh for the love of—”
Their first kiss stings with the taste of onion, and sticks with the liquorice Isabelle has been munching on all evening, but it feels just as elating and good as it’s supposed to -and honestly, Isabelle has had a lot of first kisses, so she knows what she’s talking about.
“Well,” she grins after they both need to stop and breathe, “It’s lucky I’m not the Jace to your Alec, or we’d never be doing that again… and that would suck.”
Aline seems to consider the comparison, frowns, and then smacks Isabelle in the arm with an ill-repressed grin.
“You’re and idiot,” she says. “I can’t believe I’m going to start a revolution with you.”
“You’ll love it,“ Isabelle grins. "And in no time you’ll forget you weren’t even that enthusiastic.”
They don’t stop kissing until it’s too late to save dinner, and then they barely even pause long enough to keep them from catching fire. After that, really, there are far better things to do than keep track of time.
“Such as brushing our teeth,” Isabelle suggests after she’s told Aline how much she didn’t care about the time.
(Aline smacks her in the shoulder.)
