Summary: "Isabelle watched her, and she thought: how easy it would be to lean in right now and kiss her. Perhaps that feeling had always been there, from that very first day, hidden in the corners of every moment they’d shared with each other since then, scattered across the memories they’d made. And Isabelle had never had much of a penchant for restraint."
*
Isabelle Lightwood, Idris' princess, is bored... And then she meets Lydia Branwell, Palace Guard, and finds herself becoming rapidly enamored with her.
This beautiful fic was written by the amazing @nikialexx for the Shadowhunters Mini Bang 2023 by @malecdiscordserver
What’s a Mini Bang? The Shadowhunters Mini Bang 2023 is a collaborative fandom event that combines writer and artist talents! Writers create never before seen stories, betas test their editing skills, and artists choose a story that inspires them to create! Not only is this a great chance to create something new for the fandom, but it also gives an opportunity to work with new people and make new fandom friends through the Malec Discord Server.
Who can participate? In order to participate in this Mini Bang, you must be a member of the Malec Discord Server. This is a requirement as, instead of emailed check ins, all Mini Bang announcements will be made in the server.
You must be at least 16 years old to join the server and participate in this bang. You must be over 18 years old to create/read explicit works.
What is the schedule? The schedule as it currently stands is below. This schedule is subject to change depending on the situation. You will be notified of any changes once you sign up.
February 25: Writer, beta and artist sign-ups begin
March 26: Writer and beta sign-ups closed
March 29: Brief summaries from writers for beta claims
April 2: Beta claims
May 10: Writer and beta check-in 1
May 10: Summaries due from writers for artist claims
May 10: Artist sign-ups close
May 13: Art claims
May 15: Last day of art claims
June 11: Artist check-in 1
July 17: All check-in 2
August 21: Final drafts and art due
August 27: Posting begins
Join the Malec Discord Server or check out our Tumblr for more information!
To honor the last weekend of Femslash February, I’m accepting begging for WLW prompts 🎉 It’s as easy as 1-2-3.
Send me a pairing. My fandoms include; Shadowhunters, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Teen Wolf, Criminal Minds, and others if you just ask.
Send me a prompt you’d like me to write. This can be as basic as a word or as thought out as an entire scene. Open to fluff, smut, and anything in between.
(Um, okay, it's kind of still 2 hours to March where I'm at, so I hope I'm not too late for Femslash February... Sorry for the late ask; if I'd known sooner I would've jumped on the chance like glitter on Magnus Bane.) A Lydia and Isabelle one, please 😇. Maybe, a high school au? Thank you!
I can’t say I’ve ever written a high school AU before, but @skylar102 gave me this wonderful idea and it fit perfectly! Hope you like it!!
~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~
“How are you not nervous right now?” Izzy asked from where she practically vibrated in her seat. It was already hard enough to sit in the too-tight dress she chose for the evening and the nervous anxiety skittering through her was definitely not helping. Lydia reached over and grabbed at her hand, holding it gently in her own.
“Because I’m not the one up for Prom Queen,” Lydia responded, stroking her thumb across the back of Izzy’s knuckles. Izzy felt immediately calmer as Lydia let go of her hand in favor of resting it on her knee to stop it from bouncing. Izzy took a deep breath and pushed it out steadily just as Lydia’s hand squeezed the fabric covering her leg.
“You should be,” Izzy countered, letting her perfectly manicured hand rest on top of Lydia’s. It was no secret that the two were in a relationship so displays like that one were pretty normal. After Izzy’s brother had come out and made the school just a little safer for the upcoming years, Izzy didn’t have to hide how much she loved Lydia, but that didn’t mean they could both be Prom Queen.
Lydia huffed out a laugh and said, “I want nothing less than to be Prom Queen, Iz. Besides, you would beat me anyway, just like you’re gonna beat everyone else, okay?” Lydia reassured Izzy by stroking a hand across her hair. Izzy could feel her making sure every strand was in its rightful place and her nerves almost completely disappeared at the gesture.
It wasn’t until Mr. Garroway jumped onto the stage and his voice came over the loudspeaker that Izzy froze again. Lydia grasped onto Izzy’s hand again and pulled it to her lips for a gentle, calming kiss as they waited for him to speak.
“It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for! It is time to announce this year’s Prom Court!” The crowd cheered and Lydia pulled Izzy to standing, moving her to the front of the crowd with the other nominees. “This year’s nominees for Prom Queen are; Brinda Darsey, Joan Wafford, Isabelle Lightwood…” At the mention of her name, her friends cheered loud enough that Luke had to pause before announcing the last nominee, “and Vinita Matko!”
The long, dramatic pause filled with a drumroll and cheering from her classmates was too much for Izzy to handle. She wrapped her arms around Lydia’s waist and hid her face in her girlfriend’s neck, leaning into her as best she could. Lydia’s laughter echoed in her ear, but it wasn’t loud enough to drown out the sound of her name.
“Baby, you won! You did it!” Lydia screamed, pushing Izzy away, but holding her at arm’s length so she could press a gentle kiss to her lips.
“I--” Izzy didn’t know what to say. She knew it was a ridiculous reason to be emotional, but she had wanted to be Prom Queen since she entered high school and she always thought she never could, not with a girlfriend on her arm. But Lydia walked her up to the stage, arm in arm, and the most pride-filled look Izzy had ever seen plastered to Lydia’s face.
Just as Lydia went to step back, Mr. Garroway pressed a hand to her shoulder and said, “Just a minute, Lydia.” Izzy glanced at Lydia with wide eyes and then over at her friends and classmates who were smiling knowingly everywhere she looked. “The senior class has decided that this year, there would not be a Prom Queen and a Prom King, but instead,” Mr. Garroway trailed off as Izzy sent a desperate glance to Lydia.
“What is going on?” She asked, her heart beating faster by the minute. Lydia shook her head, her eyebrows furrowed as she shrugged her shoulders.
Mr. Garroway continued, shouting, “Please welcome this year’s Prom Royalty; Isabelle Lightwood and Lydia Branwell!”
If Izzy wasn’t crying before, she was when Lydia ran up the stairs and straight into her arms. She barely remembered any part of getting their crowns and sashes and suddenly, she was slow dancing with Lydia with a crowd of their peers around them. She didn’t think that the night could have gotten any better when she first saw Lydia in her dress but dancing with her like there was no one else in the room made for the most perfect night. She wouldn’t have traded it for anything in the world.
Izzy doesn’t think twice about asking to train with Lydia. After that impressive arrow-catching move she’s determined to learn everything she can from Lydia, and not just when it comes to quick reflexes.
Lydia Branwell is the embodiment of everything Izzy’s family needs her to be right now - she commands attention whenever she walks in a room, when she speaks others listen, and she’s got the ‘serious professional’ thing down perfectly.
So Izzy watches and learns. She volunteers for the same assignments, stands close during debriefings, telling herself it’s just business. Just the means to an end… until it isn’t.
It doesn’t take long for Izzy’s initial admiration to turn into something softer the more she gets to know Lydia. Lydia isn’t just clever and severe, she’s also kind and genuine. The more time they spend together the more Lydia opens up about herself and her past, and Izzy realizes she’s more than just another ruthless Clave lackey.
Izzy isn’t sure when, but at some point her desire to impress Lydia shifts from wanting to make a good impression as a Lightwood to wanting to make a good impression as herself, as a potential friend, as… maybe more than that. Then she reminds herself that Lydia’s only here because Isabelle’s family’s reputation is in shambles, and gives up any hope of something more.
That doesn’t stop Izzy from flirting, of course. There’s no harm in a little flattery, even if it is one-sided.
They’re on patrol one early evening when the two of them pass by a shop with a small flower display outside. “One second,” Izzy says, doubling back for a minute before catching back up to Lydia with a single purple flower in hand.
“Here,” Izzy says, placing the flower behind Lydia’s right ear, the stem disappearing into the blonde hair Lydia always keeps tucked back when it isn’t pulled up. Izzy wonders briefly what those golden locks would look like falling loose over Lydia’s face, but resists the temptation to untuck them and find out.
“What’s this for?” Lydia asks, growing still at the unexpected touch, tone wary.
Izzy stands back and admires the flower before nodding once in silent confirmation with herself. “I thought purple would suit you,” Izzy says with a smile, and it’s all she gives by way of an explanation before turning to continue on their path as if nothing out of the ordinary just happened.
It isn’t until Lydia strides into the Ops Center the next day wearing a purple dress and suit jacket - to match a familiar flower now braided into her hair - that Izzy starts to think maybe she isn’t the only one trying to impress.
“Nice outfit,” Izzy says when Lydia approaches.
“I thought you might like it,” Lydia smirks.
“The outfit isn’t the only thing I like,” Izzy says, deciding to take a chance. “Maybe we can head out early before patrol tonight, grab dinner?”
Lydia’s smirk softens to an eager grin as she nods. “I’d love to.”
Isabelle knows she’s testing their boundaries, but this little game between the two of them is too enticing to stop. Eyeing Lydia from across the room, from across the shoulder of the very fine, eligible young Nephilim bachelor her parents not-so-subtly sent her way, Isabelle laughs at a joke that isn’t funny and places her hand gently on the inside of his arm. She watches Lydia tense at the sight of the touch, unable to help the small frown that creases her beautiful features before she’s a mask of impassiveness again...
Isabelle excuses herself and makes her way over to the side of the room where Lydia walked off to, towards a table lined with drinks.
“If you don’t dance with me, Miss Branwell, my parents are going to send every unmarried Shadowhunter my way the rest of the night, and you’re going to have to suffer through watching me flirt with every last one of them,” Isabelle says, her voice low.
“And why would that bother me?” Lydia asks. Even as she says it her eyes drift down from Izzy’s eyes to her lips, then lower still before she remembers herself and snaps her gaze back up.
Isabelle knows Lydia is here alone and that she hasn’t dated since her almost-wedding with Alec. Isabelle also knows that a month ago the two of them had the best sex of Izzy’s entire life after what started as a passionate screaming match over Lydia voting against her in a Clave referendum dissolved into just passion. Lydia acts like it never happened, but Isabelle can’t let herself forget.
She’s been shamelessly flirting with Lydia ever since - in public, in private, through texts when she’s not in Idris and fire messages when she is. So far to no avail.
“You’re right,” Isabelle says. “Why would me doing something like this-” as she says the words, Izzy brings her hand up to rest gently on the exposed skin of Lydia’s forearm. “-to someone who isn’t you-” Izzy trails her fingers slowly, softly down toward Lydia’s wrist. “-bother you? Such a meaningless interaction.”
Color springs to Lydia’s pale cheeks, enough that one might assume she had blush on for the evening, though Isabelle knows she doesn’t. Lydia pulls her arm back and turns away abruptly to hide her face, busying herself with the table of drinks beside them. When she turns back a few moments later it’s with a glass of champagne in hand.
“Isabelle, you can’t keep doing this. We can’t…” Lydia sighs, taking a sip of the drink to stall, leaving a print of red lipstick behind.
Isabelle reaches out and takes the glass from her, turning it intentionally so that when she brings it up to her own lips it’s directly over the lipstick mark Lydia just made, pressing her lips against where Lydia’s touched only a moment before. Izzy lets her own lips linger, then licks along the edge of the glass, all the while never breaking eye contact with Lydia who swallows thickly as she watches.
“We can’t? Or you won’t?” Isabelle challenges. “Say the word and I walk away now and you never hear from me again.”
Lydia remains silent.
“That’s what I thought,” Isabelle says, handing the glass back with a devious grin. “Meet me in the courtyard in 5. I know a place.”
And with that, she vanishes from the crowded hall, eager to see what the rest of the night will bring.
Pairing: Isabelle Lightwood/Lydia Branwell & Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Rated: Teen
Summary: “What do you know?” Magnus asked as he stroked at Izzy’s hair, holding her face delicately in his hands with a pleading gaze in his eyes. Izzy shook her head and gestured toward the screen replaying the last bit of information the Institute had.
“The Heads of all Institutes were in the grand ballroom and they were just about to announce the new Inquisitor when there was an explosion and the feed went black,” Izzy explained as Magnus watched it happen on the screen. He winced when the screen clicked off and his grip on Izzy’s shoulder tightened.
Izzy paced around the ops center, her eyes darting to the lit-up screens for updates she had known wouldn’t come. She could feel Andrew’s empathetic eyes on her and ignored the whispered opinions of the other shadowhunters that waited for their next order from the person in charge. Unfortunately with Alec and Lydia were in Alicante, that meant Izzy was in charge and there was no way she could make any decisions knowing the two people she loved most in the world may be in danger.
The front doors of the Institute slammed open and Izzy immediately recognized Magnus’ shouts as the shadowhunters still unused to the warlock’s presence argued vehemently against it. Andrew ordered them to let Magnus through and Izzy thought she might have fallen if Magnus’ arms hadn’t wrapped around her to hold her up.
“What do you know?” Magnus asked as he stroked at Izzy’s hair, holding her face delicately in his hands with a pleading gaze in his eyes. Izzy shook her head and gestured toward the screen replaying the last bit of information the Institute had.
“The Heads of all Institutes were in the grand ballroom and they were just about to announce the new Inquisitor when there was an explosion and the feed went black,” Izzy explained as Magnus watched it happen on the screen. He winced when the screen clicked off and his grip on Izzy’s shoulder tightened. “It’s been an hour and still no word. We have no way of getting to Alicante because all of the portals have been deactivated.” Before Izzy could finish her sentence, Magnus’ hands were swirling with magic and a portal appeared a few feet away.
“You can’t--” Andrew stepped in front of Magnus before he could jump through without thought and Izzy gripped onto his hand to hold him back. Magnus was angry; that much was clear in the way his shoulders straightened and his eyes flashed as his warlock mark appeared. It might have been the first time Andrew had seen his cat eyes if the panic on his face said anything.
“The hell I can’t, Shadowhunter,” Magnus cried as he tugged his hand away from Izzy’s grip. “You think you can stop me?” Izzy was momentarily stunned by the rage in Magnus’ tone that she had barely noticed the portal opening off in the distance. When Lydia’s voice chimed through the commotion, she whirled around and gaped as an ash-covered Lydia and Alec tumbled through the whistling portal.
“Magnus!” Alec husked as he caught sight of his furious husband. Magnus turned and the second he caught sight of Alec on the floor, he was off like lightning. Izzy wasn’t far behind, dropping to her knees beside Lydia’s coughing form.
“What the hell happened?” Magnus asked as he wiped remnants of disaster off of Alec’s face, kissing the cleaned skin with every swipe of his thumbs. Izzy rested a hesitant hand on Lydia’s back, soothing her as much as she could without crossing any unwritten boundaries. Izzy loved her - their hesitant dance of feelings was a year in the making - but she didn’t have a chance to tell her as she had planned before Alec was whisking her off to Alicante for another stupid gathering. She had never expected Lydia to arrive back at the Institute with a ripped dress and ash covering every inch of her visible skin.
“Everyone is okay,” Lydia said quickly. Leave it to her to affirm that everyone else was alright when she and Alec clearly weren’t. “There were a few frustrated shadowhunters that tried to sabotage the announcement, but they failed,” she explained through her labored breathing.
Izzy huffed out a laugh and said, “This doesn’t look like much of a failure, Lydia.” Izzy brushed a few stray bits of ash out of Lydia’s ponytail, resisting the urge to wrap the blonde hair around her fist and pull. She slid her hand to the back of Lydia’s neck instead, holding Lydia’s face with her other hand to inspect the bruise forming on her eye.
“We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and didn’t have time to breathe with Jia around,” Lydia retorted, shaking Izzy’s touch away. Izzy tried not to be hurt by the brush off when she heard Alec cough beside her.
“And what do you have to say?” Magnus narrowed his eyes at Alec but a smile plastered itself on Alec’s lips instead. Izzy shared a confused glance with Magnus, both of them equally unsettled and wondering why the hell Alec would be smiling when Izzy and Magnus were still coming down from panic.
“You know, you really shouldn’t speak to the new Inquisitor like that,” Alec said with a shrug of his shoulders. Izzy felt her heart freeze in her chest as Alec gazed up at his husband, happiness in his eyes that Izzy couldn’t quite comprehend.
“What?” She asked as her eyes darted toward Lydia who had let her head rest back against the wall, a similarly pleased smile on her face. It was clear Alec wasn’t going to answer as his lips were attached to Magnus’, so she settled herself in front of Lydia, unsure how much longer her wobbling knees could hold her. “Did he say what I think he said?”
Lydia nodded and whispered, “Yeah. Yeah, he did.” There was a pride in Lydia’s eyes that seemed to restart Izzy’s heart as she took in a much more relaxed Lydia.
“And you’re okay?” Izzy whispered as she inspected Lydia’s ashen skin. Somehow, she was still the most beautiful person Izzy had ever seen. Warm fingers encircled her wrist and Izzy hadn’t realized she was clutching onto Lydia’s knee so tightly, but when she tried to tug away, Lydia held her there.
“We’re both okay. Apparently one of us better than the other,” Lydia noted with an eyebrow raise in Magnus and Alec’s direction. Their lips were still attached with only the sounds of giggled ‘I love you’s’ escaping their mouths as they clutched onto each other tighter than Izzy thought possible.
Izzy let out a deep breath and said softly, “I was so scared, Dia.” Lydia’s eyes widened at the admission but Izzy couldn’t bring herself to regret it. She couldn’t take her eyes off of Lydia the entire event and her stomach flipped when the stream cut off so abruptly. She had never felt as much fear as she did when she could no longer see Lydia’s face on the video feed.
“Well, I’m back and relatively unscathed,” Lydia said as she brushed her thumb along the inside of Izzy’s wrist. “I didn’t realize you cared so much,” she whispered, avoiding eye contact with Izzy even as Izzy ducked her head so Lydia could see the disbelief in her wide eyes.
“Of course I care, Lydia, by the angel, I--” Izzy held Lydia’s face delicately in her hands and before she could change her mind, she pressed their lips together with as much passion as she could muster. Lydia gasped into her mouth and for a moment, Izzy thought she had read everything that had led up to the kiss wrong. Then Lydia’s hands threaded through her hair and she kissed back just as deeply, and Izzy felt like everything was falling into place. It didn’t matter that Lydia’s mouth was dry and her lips tasted of sweat and ash because they were finally admitting to themselves that the last year wasn’t for nothing and that was all Izzy had wanted.
“Finally,” Alec mumbled in the distance when the girls finally pulled away from their first kiss. Izzy shot him a glare and then tackled him in a hug.
“I can’t believe you’re going to be the next Inquisitor!” Izzy cheered once she had her breath back. There was so much good news surrounding her and she couldn’t remember the last time she had been so excited about the future. It felt so incredibly good and she wasn’t quite sure how to handle it, but Lydia pulled Izzy back to wrap her arms around her waist and Alec and Magnus looked at each other like they were the only ones in the room and all Izzy could think was that they earned that feeling.
After the last few years full of battles and losses, the Lightwoods had finally gotten exactly what they deserved; happiness. And Izzy wasn’t about to let it get away from her.
