#sh 1x06

Coda-fic returns! (SH 1x6: Of Men And Angels) Also Maryse Lightwood! Because given a chance it’s *always* going to be about Maryse. (I have a problem. It’s a good problem, I like it.) A little shorter than I originally intended, but I think it gets its point across. You’ll have to let me know if you agree. 😅 (Part of the @malecdiscordserver​ rewatch.)

For the first time in a very long time, Maryse doesn't know what to do.

And of course it's because of Valentine. She thought they'd put him and the Circle behind them, thought they'd finally dug themselves almost free...

She should have known better.

Clarissa looks so much like Jocelyn did, it keeps sending Maryse back, back, and then she has to make herself focus and her head hurts and her back is stiff and how the hell did Jocelyn think she'd get away with anything? Maryse is no longer surprised that the entire Downworld seemed to be after Clary five seconds after she showed up, but rather that Jocelyn somehow managed to hide her for 18 years even with that bright Fairchild hair, with her mother's eyes in a different face, and most of all with the way she strides across a room just like her father used to, refusing to flinch or glance away from her goal, no matter what anyone else thinks.

And Jace and Izzy followed, just like Maryse had followed Valentine...

And then Alec followed them, though for different reasons.

Alec.

Maryse knows exactly what to do, she just doesn't want to, not like this, not the way she knows she's going to act to make it happen.

Never trust a people who can't lie, they find more imaginative ways to stab you in the back.

She closes her eyes, hears the echo of her own voice in her ears.

She's surprised Isabelle has never noticed that Maryse is always talking about herself when she says things like that.

Robert knows, of course.

He's the only one who does.

Because she makes him go along with it.

(Not that it's hard, Robert always goes along, especially if it means it will keep things quiet, keep them orderly. If it helps them avoid talking about their marriage, determined as they are to keep their “united front” in Idris, he’d probably agree to anything.)

Maryse swallows. Makes herself open her eyes, though she barely sees the stained glass in front of her.

She has kept her children in the dark for twenty years. What's a few more? Just until this is over, until Clarissa and Jocelyn and Valentine are taken care of, again, just until her children are secure, until their name can shield them again, just until they're safe.

Just until she makes Alec save them.

Anon, I've been waiting for someone to ask me this for ages. I'm so glad you asked me!

Okay, let me get real deep here for a second because this episode is everything and I have to give it my everything.

There's something about this episode that's just so perfect in every sense. From the outfits to the delivery of their lines, especially that line. It fucks me up big time.

So, okay, listen. For me, Alec was never in denial that he liked men, it was more of a "if my parents find out, I'm fucked" but boy was was curious, that's why he stayed (and also because he wanted to be 100% sure Magnus was fine). He was conflicted, he wanted to stay true to his duties (when Maryse called) but he also wanted to know what was it like to be around another man non-shadowhunter (when Magnus offered him to stay some more)

On the other hand, Magnus was thirsty and you can't change my mind. In 1x04 Magnus made clear signs that he wanted to climb Alec like a tree but after they held hands (and it sounds corny, I know) that changed completely but he was cautious because after Camille, he wasn't going to risk his heart again.

And yet!!

Alec was different, that was for sure and that opened the window, the possibility, whatever you want to call it, for something else because Alec didn't straight-up rejected him. There was an air of "mmmh what if". What if he likes me, what if I can give it a shot, what if he's different, what if we are a match.

And then Magnus went there. "You've unlocked something in me" because it was true!! Alec unlocked something in him!! Because in that short time, Magnus thought to himself that maybe he could open his heart to this tall and handsome shadowhunter, as crazy as that sounded. Take a leap of faith.

Alec has never been in a relationship, so for him to hear those words, well, that was a shock. He was surprised and he would have ask some more if it wasn't for that damn phone call. But I can guarantee you that he liked that. That he had this sort of effect in a man like Magnus because he felt the same. Could be that cocktail or the simple fact that he was close to Magnus, but he felt something have unlocked in him too.

they’re hardly more than strangers the first time but alec’s body is in motion before he can think. he blinks, and the high warlock of brooklyn is in his arms

the next time, they’re fighting and as alec runs across the sand, each deafening, terrifying heartbeat sounds like too late too late too late