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The world could be a cruel place, and Clary knew that better than anyone. She had seen young men and women killed in battle against monsters that should have never existed and had lost more people in her short life than she had thought possible. So she knew perfectly well how awful their world could be, how torturous and painful and heart wrenching. She’d suffered enough injuries and heartbreak to know that.
However, as she stood in her living room doorway, staring at the love of her life and the two boys she loved more than anything, she couldn’t help but the think that the world could also be a beautiful place, sometimes. When she forgot about the demons waiting for her at work and the politics that polluted the society she lived in, she had to admit that she had been handed her fair share of wonderful things in life.
“Are you going to stand there all day?”
Lydia’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts and Clary shook her head to get rid of the lingering stress buzzing at the back of her mind. It had been days since she’d last seen her family, and she wasn’t about to let her long week ruin their reunion.
“I don’t know, you look pretty cosy over there,” she smiled softly, gesturing at the gigantic pillow fort her sons and wife had somehow put together. “I’m impressed by how well that thing is holding up. Did Magnus stop by and magic it in place, or have you truly gotten that good while I was gone?”
“We did it all by ourselves!” Jasper, their seven-year-old, exclaimed, beaming at Clary proudly. “Didn’t even need any help! We’re big boys now, mom, we don’t need magic.”
“Oh, I’m sure you don’t,” Clary chuckled, stepping into the room and shedding her blazer as she approached her little family. “What do you have to say about this, Si?”
Silas, who had been busy focusing on the puzzle in front of him, looked up at the sound of his name, wide eyes going from Jasper to Clary a few times before he finally settled on an answer.
“We didn’t get any help, mommy,” he said solemnly, trying – and failing – to wink at his brother conspiratorially. Clary had to hold back a coo at her four-year-old’s adorable attempt at discretion, lest she give herself away. “Uncle Mags didn’t even come today.”
“Oh no?” Clary raised her eyebrows, exchanging an amused look with Lydia as she glanced around the glitter-covered room. “Then who decided to paint the walls with glitter? Did mama suddenly develop a love for sparkly things?”
“Silly mommy,” Silas giggled uncontrollably. “Y’know mama doesn’t like glitter.”
“Uh-huh, I do,” Clary nodded seriously, crouching down in front of her blond boy and leaning in to whisper to him. “So who put all the glitter everywhere? Was it your brother? Was it you?”
Silas’ eyes widened even more as he realised what he’d accidentally revealed, and Clary decided to drop the charade, scooping her younger son up and standing up to twirl him around happily.
“I’ve missed you, honey,” she murmured into his hair as she hugged him tightly. “And I don’t care that you had Magnus help you with the fort. It looks wonderful either way, and I’m sure you did most of the work, isn’t that right?”
“Yeah,” Silas nodded enthusiastically. “Mags just magicked it stronger.”
“Si,” Jasper whined from his seat inside the fort, crossing his arms over his chest with a pout. “He wasn’t supposed to tell you.”
“Oh, darling,” Clary laughed lightly, placing Silas down with one last kiss to his forehead before getting down on her knees and crawling into the fort to snuggle her older son. “He didn’t have to tell me. I’m your mom, I can tell when you’re trying to hide something from me. But you want to hear a secret?”
For a moment, Jasper continued sulking, sticking his tongue out at Silas as the younger boy entered the fort after Clary. Before Clary could repeat her question, however, Jasper nodded minutely.
“Mama is the one who gave it away,” she whispered just loud enough for her wife to hear. “She always has a guilty look on her face when the three of you are lying to me, and she’s terrible at keeping it hidden from me. Really, Silas didn’t even have to say anything because she’d given it all away from the very start.”
“Hey!” Lydia called out to her, hurrying into the fort and gaping at her mock-offendedly. “What’s this I’m hearing about me not knowing how to lie?”
“It’s true,” Clary shrugged, a smirk tugging at her lips. “You were always too honest for your own good, baby. Between you and Alec, it’s a wonder you manage to get anything out of your negotiations with the downworlders. If I was in their place, I’d sniff your lies out in less than a minute.”
“You can smell lies?” Silas gaped, climbing onto Clary’s lap excitedly. “Mommy, can you teach me how to smell lies?”
Clary opened and closed her mouth a few times, sending Lydia an imploring look and glaring lightly at the blonde when she mimed zipping her mouth shut. Really, Clary should have seen it coming. Her wife was wonderful, but heaven knew she did petty like no one else in the world.
“It’s an espression, Si,” Jasper rolled his eyes.
“Expression, sweetie,” Lydia corrected, raising her hands in surrender when Jasper turned his narrowed eyes on her. “Sorry, sorry, you’re right, it’s absolutely an espression. Your mom can’t smell lies any better than you can, Si, she’s just being silly because she’s missed us.”
“Did you miss us as much as we missed you?” Silas asked, blinking up at Clary innocently.
Clary pretended to think her answer over, tapping her chin and humming consideringly until her boy started wiggling impatiently.
“I don’t know, honey, how much did you miss me?” Clary asked, smiling appreciatively as Lydia shuffled closer to her and wrapped her arms around as shoulders as best as she could without disturbing their son.
“We missed you more than- more than a whole uni-verse!” Silas grinned, throwing his arms out to the sides as though to measure the width of the universe and accidentally knocking his hand into Jasper’s head. “Oops.”
“Hey! He hit me!” Jasper pointed out, rubbing his head dramatically like he’d been severely wounded. Clary and Lydia exchanged a simple knowing look before Lydia was crawling around to their older son and inspecting the ‘wound’ seriously. “It hurts so much.”
“Oh, I’m sure it does,” Lydia hummed sympathetically. “You probably won’t recover for days given how bad it is. Is that- is that blood I see?”
“What?” Jasper’s eyes filled with panic as he touched his head, only for him to slap Lydia’s hands away playfully once he realised he’d been fooled. “It’s not funny, mama.”
“It’s a little bit funny, sweetie,” Lydia bit down on her bottom lip to hold back a chuckle. “But maybe we should still get back at Silas for hitting you like that. What do you think, angel, should we… tickle him?”
Before either boy could react, Lydia and Clary were on them, attacking their sides and sending their sons into fits of giggles as they squirmed against the pillows. Silas had fallen out of Clary’s lap at some point during his attempts at resisting, and Clary ended up giving up on tickles in favour of blowing raspberries onto his stomach.
“Mommy, stop!” Silas screeched in between bursts of laughter. “’m not ticklish!”
“Oh, no?” Clary laughed delightedly, poking the blond boy in the ribs one last time before scooping him back up in her arms and setting him down gently on one of the sturdier pillows Lydia had brought out. “I don’t know, you seemed pretty ticklish to me, honey.”
“We were just laughing to make you happy,” Jasper piped up, fixing the collar of his button-up shirt just as Lydia did the same thing with her blouse. Sometimes, Clary forgot how similar those two could be. “Cause if we don’t laugh, you get all sad.”
“Ah yes, that must be it,” Lydia agreed. “Our boys could never be ticklish. Doesn’t sound like them.”
“You’re very right,” Clary smiled. “Our boys are the strongest in the world, and they could never be weak to something like tickles. I have to say boys, your acting skills are getting better. Those giggles sounded very real to me.”
“They probably get it from Izzy,” Lydia added. “She came here yesterday and we both know how much the boys love her. Sometimes I wonder if they love her even more than they love us, because they couldn’t stop talking about her after she’d left.”
“Mama! You know that’s a lie!” Silas’ jaw dropped as though Lydia had just said the most ridiculous thing in the world. “We love you more than anyone in the whole ga-laxy!”
“Someone’s been learning some space vocabulary in their spare time, I see,” Clary booped the tip of her son’s nose. “You’ve got some good words for me today, Si. And mama is just kidding; we know you love us more than anyone in the world, just as we love you more than anyone else.”
“Good,” Silas nodded seriously. “That’s good, right Jasper?”
“They have to love us more, Si, they’re our moms,” Jasper said exasperatedly, although a single pleading look from his brother had him deflating. “But yes, it’s good. I’m glad you love us, mom, and I’m glad you’re home.”
“I’m glad I’m home too, darling,” Clary smiled softly. “Now, did you have any plans for tonight, or are we just going to stay in the fort all night until one of you falls asleep?”
“It’s comfy here,” Silas shrugged. “We could have pizza here!”
“But then we’d get sauce all over the pillows,” Jasper sighed, glancing over at Lydia. “And mama hates it when we get things dirty.”
Clary didn’t even bother to point out that Jasper was just as much of a neat-freak as his mother, knowing it would only cause a debate she wasn’t in the mood for. As much as she liked bickering with Lydia about which one of their kids took after them the most, she was far too happy to be back home to focus on that right then.
“We could always have the pizza in the kitchen and come back here afterwards,” she suggested, winking at Lydia when her wife mouthed a ‘thank you’ in her direction. “That way we get to enjoy a nice meal all together and then we can fall asleep in the most comfortable spot in this apartment. How does that sound, huh?”
Jasper and Silas were rushing out of the fort before she could get an answer out of them, the younger boy struggling to keep up with his brother as Jasper went straight for their favourite place’s menu. Clary shook her head at their antics but let them be, turning to stare at her wife instead.
“God, I’ve missed you three so much,” she whispered, leaning in to – finally – kiss Lydia, letting her lips a little longer than she usually did when the boys were around. “I thought I would be stuck in Alicante forever given the pace things were going at. I love you and Alec, but you need to figure things out with the higher-ups before I get called out again.”
“I’ll do my best,” Lydia promised her. “For now, I’m just happy to see your beautiful face. I feel like you’ve been gone for months, and the boys have been just as impatient to see you again.”
“I’ll make sure to slip them an extra slice of pizza when they think you’re not looking,” Clary chuckled. “That way I’ll get back into their good graces in no time.”
“You do whatever it takes,” Lydia shook her head fondly. “Are we really going to sleep in here tonight? I’ll admit that the pillows are comfortable, but we’re not as young as we used to be and I’d hate to have to explain how I hurt my back when I have to leave for morning patrol.”
“Luckily for you, I’m even more comfortable than pillows,” Clary grinned. “And I don’t have to go into the Institute tomorrow, so I’ll deal with the consequences of spending a night on the floor in peace. And that way, we’ll be keeping the boys satisfied. It’s a win-win situation.”
“Mmm, it’s always a win when you’re here,” Lydia said dopily, kissing her again before flopping onto her back, burying her head in a pillow. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I deserve a nap for having dealt with those two bundles of energy on my own for a week. It’s your turn to handle them.”
“As you wish, my heart,” Clary laughed, pressing a kiss to Lydia’s cheek before crawling back out of the fort and heading straight for her wayward sons.
She found the two of them huddled together on the couch, the menu balanced precariously on Jasper’s lap as Silas pointed at all his favourite pizzas, and her heart warmed even more.
Really, she thought, who cared how cruel the world had been to her when it meant she had gotten three sources of pure joy out of it?