Chapter Text
“Harder, Magnus.”
“Are you sure?” Magnus panted, arms bulging.
Clary glared at him over her shoulder. “Which one of us actually has to wear the corset?”
“Which one of us has to catch the other if she passes out at the altar?” He asked breathlessly, shaking his head. “You already have a tiny waist. Besides, you’ll have to eat at the reception.”
“Fine,” Clary huffed, straightening up as Magnus tied the strings of her dress. “Where did you learn to lace a corset, anyway?”
Magnus smirked, shrugging one shoulder. “I had a burlesque phase in college.”
“Of course you did,” Clary snorted, shaking her head. Once Magnus was done, she turned around, smoothing down the pristine white shirt of her wedding gown. “How do I look?”
Upon seeing her fully done up and laced into the dress, Magnus had to take a moment, his hand pressed to his chest. “You look beautiful, biscuit,” he told her, a knot in his throat. “Your Mom would have been so proud to see you like this.”
Clary sniffed, nodding. “She’s always with me. With both of us.”
Magnus squeezed her hands, and pulled her into a hug. It had been almost five years since Jocelyn died and left her firm to Magnus. Clary was only eighteen, barely finished high school, and she’d spent hours sitting in her Mom’s old office where Magnus now worked, the two of them grieving side by side even as Magnus struggled to keep the business running. Clary had had Luke, her stepfather, to keep her company, but Magnus had had no-one, so they’d taken him under their wing. Clary had eventually learned enough about the business from watching Magnus that she took up a position as a secretary, and though she didn’t know it yet, Magnus had fixed his will to make sure that Clary would receive the whole business if anything were to happen to him. With a few more sniffles from the both of them, they broke apart, both turning to look in the mirror to check their eyeliner.
“Let’s go and get you married, kid.” Magnus smiled, offering her his arm.
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“I can’t believe I would have missed out on the colour of this suit if I hadn’t met Magnus before today. You’ve really been dressing me this well all these years and I didn’t even realise…” Alec marvelled, brushing some lint off the breast off his jacket. It was a dark, warm forest green, and he knew it complimented Magnus’ maroon suit perfectly, because Magnus had insisted they compare colour swatches weeks in advance.
“You owe me too much,” Izzy sighed dramatically, standing next to him in the mirror. “I gave you the illusion of fashion sense and a soulmate. I am officially the best little sister in the entire world.”
Alec smiled, putting his arm around her shoulders. “You really are. I’m so lucky to have you, Iz, really.”
Still unused to Alec’s blunt declarations of affection, Izzy blinked at him in the mirror, a slow smile spreading on her face. Meeting Magnus had done Alec a world of good; everyone could see it. Before Magnus came along, the only time Alec ever showed any kind of emotion was when he was dealing with his patients or his dog. Magnus had changed all that. In a matter of weeks, Alec had gone from withdrawn and uninterested in life to enthusiastic and engaged in everything around him. It was beautiful to see.
She and Clary had known when setting them up that Magnus would encourage Alec to loosen up, but when Alec called her the morning after their date and announced that Magnus was his soulmate, her first reaction was that she couldn’t believe it. She had to admit, though, that a part of her wasn’t surprised. They were total opposites, and they balanced each other out. Her and Clary had been very similar.
“What are you thinking about?” Alec asked.
Izzy sighed happily, wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him from the side. “The first time I met Clary.”
The first time Izzy laid eyes on Clary, the redhead had been halfway through beating up a mugger. She could still see it vividly; the mugger’s shocked, bloodied face pressed into the pavement as Clary quite literally kicked the shit out of him. Izzy had rushed forward, instinct making her reach for the strange, angry woman to hold her back from actually killing the man who’d attacked her.
When she caught Clary around the wrist, the entire world shifted, literally, and Clary froze mid-kick, her gaze snapping to Izzy’s face. As the mugger crawled away, bruised and beaten, Clary’s wide, green eyes drank in every detail of her soulmate’s face.
“Trust me to get stuck with a hot head,” Izzy had chuckled breathlessly, and Clary had promptly burst into tears.
“I’m sorry, I don’t… I don’t usually do this, I swear.” Clary had insisted, between sobs. “My Mom died, like… two weeks ago. I-I… I can’t. I can’t. You deserve better than this.”
Izzy hummed, putting her fingers under Clary’s chin to tip her head up and gently wiping her tears away with her free hand. “How do you know?”
Clary blinked at her, her light eyelashes catching the warmth of the setting sun. “Because… You’re the kindest person in the whole world. I can feel it.”
And that was how Isabelle Lightwood had fallen in love with Clary Fray.
“If it had been me, meeting my soulmate like that, I’d have run for the hills.” Alec admitted, shaking his head.
Izzy shrugged, grinning from ear to ear. “The first thing I remember thinking was ‘well fuck, my masochist streak is no joke’.”
Alec cackled, throwing his head back. “Excellent.”
“She needed me,” Izzy said softly, stepping away from Alec to get her earrings from the dressing table. “And I didn’t know it at the time, but I needed her too. You meet your soulmate when you need them the most.”
“I can’t believe you waited so long to get married,” Alec shrugged, helping her put on her veil. “I thought for sure you’d get married within the year.”
Izzy hummed, spinning around slowly in front of the mirror to look at the full effect of herself in her white fishtail wedding dress. “We wanted to have a nice wedding. There’s no way we could have saved up enough in a year. Besides, she had grieving to do, and I was still in college. This is the right time.” Her eyes were bright with joy when she turned to face Alec. “Let’s go.”
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Clary and Izzy had flipped a coin to determine who’d stand at the altar and who’d walk down the aisle, with the promise of switching positions when they renewed their vows on their 25th wedding anniversary. The winner of the coin toss had been Clary, and she chose to be the one standing at the altar, wanting the full effect of watching her bride walk towards her.
When the doors opened and Izzy appeared, Clary knew that there was no hope that she’d manage to keep her shit together, and Magnus surreptitiously pressed a tissue into her hand. Thanking God for Magnus’ sob-proof make-up, Clary dabbed at her eyes as Izzy floated down the aisle escorted by Alec, though she barely noticed him. Her eyes could only see Izzy, sparkling and radiant, the shape of her joyful smile visible even through the translucent material of the veil. The moment she got close enough, Clary reached for her hand, and with a quick squeeze, they turned to face Simon, Clary’s childhood friend.
“Hey, what’s up, guys?” Simon asked nervously into the mic, and Clary and Izzy peeked at each other, giggling. “Sorry, my bad. This is very serious business. You know, when Clary and Izzy first asked me to do the ceremony, I said no at first, because, well… I ramble. But anyway, uh, I thought about it, and I realised that yes, I had to do this. Because Clary’s my oldest friend in the world, right? When we met in kindergarten, I remember being absolutely inconsolable that she wasn’t my soulmate. She was the kindest, sweetest, fiercest person I’d ever met, and she was always unwaveringly loyal. She is the kind of woman that anybody would thank God for giving them. But, you know, I dealt with it, growing up, and then I met this kickass law student, totally poised, classy and witty. I mean, she could… She’d kill you with a choice sentence. It was beautiful. And her name was Isabelle.”
Izzy grinned mischievously at Simon, who chuckled.
“So we started dating, right, and I was like, oh man, this is it. We waited three dates before we touched, and… Still black and white. I was like, really? I’ve now met two of the best women in the entire world and neither of them were right for me? But, it turns out, they weren’t meant for me. Because they were meant for each other. Now, I’m not gonna lie, when Clary brought her soulmate home for dinner the first time and it was Izzy, I literally screamed.”
“He did,” Clary giggled tearfully, and Simon beamed at her.
“But after all of two minutes of watching them together, I realised that what they have goes beyond a soulmate bond. It goes beyond pheromones and whatever genetic bullshit. Because even in a world where we didn’t have soulmates, in a world of, I don’t know, monsters and demons, these two wonderful women still would have found each other. Their hearts would beat as one in any universe. I truly believe that. And today we’re here to celebrate that miracle, and the fact that from now until always, they’ll have each other to lean on. And now I’m gonna join you all in crying like a baby while they tell us just what they mean to each other.” Simon bowed a little, and everyone laughed, Magnus wordlessly handing him a tissue as Izzy and Clary turned to face each other.
“The first time I met you,” Clary said quietly, grateful that the mic meant she didn’t have to shout, “I was broken, and angry, and I felt like I had nothing left. My Mom meant everything to me, and she was taken from me so suddenly. I thought that I’d be an ugly, violent husk of a person forever. When I was beating that guy up, I didn’t know restraint or compassion. And then,” she took a deep shaky breath, “you touched me. And just as suddenly as I lost everything, I gained everything back. With that simple touch, you not only literally gave my life colour, but you brightened everything around me. You didn’t coddle me, you never shrugged off my pain, you held me and scolded me when I needed it, and I don’t deserve you, Iz. I really don’t. You always know what to say to make me feel whole, and safe. I have no idea what the hell I did in another life to earn your love and affection, but I’m going to spend this life being the best person, the best wife I can be, because I want the gift of your soul in the next life and every other life after that.”
As Simon predicted, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house by the time Magnus handed Clary the ring to put on Izzy’s finger. Izzy herself was laughing breathlessly, her lower lip trembling as she tried to keep herself together long enough to say her vows.
“Clary, it’s been the greatest joy of my life in watching you heal. When we met, I looked like I had it all together, but the truth is I was lost. I was overworked, hyper focussed, and I felt like I was dead inside. You were brave enough to show your pain to the world, you screamed it and made people listen because you knew that you deserved to be heard. I adored that about you in the moment we met, and if anything, I adore it even more now. I admire you so much, Clary Fray. You are the most authentic, honest, most selfless person I know. I’ve had the honour of standing by your side as you knitted your heart back together, and through some stroke of luck I’ve been the one you handed it to. As we go forward together into the rest of our lives, I promise you that I will continue to support and cherish you, and never, ever let you slip. I know that your greatest fear is falling back into rage and hatred, and I swear to you, I will love you hard enough and deep enough that at the end of the day, when you walk through our front door, the world will melt away. It’s just going to be you and me, babe, until the end of our lives. And I couldn’t be happier.”
Izzy turned to get the ring from Alec, but he was sobbing, his hand over his face, so Magnus fondly plucked the ring out of his hand and gave it to his sister with a wink, patting Alec on the shoulder gently.
“I’m sorry,” Alec gasped, waving Magnus away as Izzy slipped the ring onto Clary’s finger, “I never thought I’d live to see the day where she took something for herself.”
Magnus hummed, and squeezed his waist. “I know, darling. I know.”
“Now, who will give away Isabelle Lightwood?” Simon asked, glancing at Alec, who reached out to squeeze Izzy’s hand.
“I will.” Alec announced, and Izzy looked back to smile at him.
“And who will give away Clary Fray?”
Luke raised his hand wordlessly, his free hand on the back of the empty chair next to him. Clary made eye contact with him for a moment, and his face crumpled in a tearful smile. “I will.”
Simon grinned. “Cool! Oh! If there’s anyone who thinks these two shouldn’t get married, speak now or forever hold your peace, whatever. Anybody? No? Awesome.” He sighed, shoulders slumping in relief. “Go on then, Fray, what are you waiting for? Kiss her, fuck!”
Clary was careful as she lifted the veil over Izzy’s head, letting it float down over her hair. Izzy was a little more forceful, and Clary yelped as it tugged at her hair, making Izzy giggle.
“Sorry,” she whispered, her hands encircling Clary’s waist.
Clary shook her head, swiping at happy tears. “Apology accepted.”
“By the power vested in me by the worldwide web, I now pronounce Clarissa Fray and Isabelle Lightwood married!” Simon exclaimed, joining everyone in clapping as the two newlyweds kissed passionately, Clary throwing her arms around Izzy’s neck as they sunk into it. “Oof! Geez, there are kids here…”
“Simon, the mic’s still on!” Magnus hissed, elbowing him in the ribs.
Alec laughed, burying his face in Magnus’ neck as Izzy and Clary broke apart.
“Ladies and gentlemen and non binary pals, I present to you, Mrs and Mrs Lightwood-Fray!” Simon crowed, throwing his fist in the air. Everyone cheered and stood to clap as Izzy and Clary walked down through the venue hand in hand, so caught up in each other they didn’t give anyone else a second glance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“You know, I didn’t take you for a crier,” Magnus teased as he and Alec swayed together on the dancefloor later that night.
Alec rolled his eyes. “I’m not, not usually. I haven’t cried like that since I was, like, fifteen.”
Magnus hummed, his fingertips rubbing at the soft, short hair on the back of Alec’s neck. “For the record, you’re a very pretty crier. It’s almost annoying, actually.”
“Just wait until you see me when I’m sick. I promise you I’m not pretty then.”
Magnus smiled. “I can’t wait.”
Alec snorted, leaning back a little. “You can’t wait for me to get sick? Sadistic bastard.”
“I can’t wait to experience every little detail of you,” Magnus explained, leaning in to rub their noses together. “I can’t wait until the day I can hand on heart say I know you inside out.”
With a bashful smile, Alec tucked his face into Magnus’ neck. “Shut up.”
“Nope, never going to happen, you may as well accept that now,” Magnus teased, kissing Alec on the temple. “Me and my big mouth are here to stay.”
“Forever,” Alec murmured, lifting his head.
“Mmm,” Magnus nodded, eyes tender. “Forever.”