The Institute, New York, Tuesday

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle had been away from Idris for almost a month. Not by choice, of course, but because of duties in New York. Specifically, her mother had had to spend a little more time in Alicante.

Which had left Isabelle in charge of the Institute.

Not for the whole month, of course. Just a couple of days at a time, five in a row at most. But, still. It was a responsibility which Isabelle took very seriously, which meant that even when Maryse had been back in New York and in charge, Isabelle had stayed at the Institute, helping her mother and updating her on everything that had been going on. Not to mention learning things for her next bout of temporary leadership.

And to make up for her absence in Idris, Isabelle had of course sent Flick some letters. But, to really make up for it, she'd also made sure to send his phone a whole lot of alluring selfies - from the casually adorable to the downright dirty - knowing full well that he wouldn't see them until he made it out of Idris and to somewhere where mundie tech worked, at which point they would flood to his phone all at once. That was the point, see. To make him want to see her as soon as he saw all those photos that had accumulated over the past few weeks.

Except, there was a slight problem.

Okay, two.

One, Isabelle had no idea when Flick was going to get to come back to New York next.

Two, her version of New York was experiencing a truly outrageous heatwave that was testing even Isabelle's angel-given ability to withstand rough conditions. So she'd been feeling pretty gross for the past couple of days. The AC at their apartment had broken down this past weekend and no amount of threatening phonecalls seemed to be getting it fixed any quicker, while the Institute was starting to get uncomfortably warm as well. So as Isabelle sat behind her mother's desk at the Institute right now, hot selfies were the farthest thing from her mind. Instead, she was trying to find whether she needed anyone's official authorisation to cajole Magnus or another warlock into cooling the building down through supernatural means.

That was how bad this was getting.

[ooc: NFB, but open! This is me dealing with my own weather issues, omg.]

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[seveninchmotto]

At that, Isabelle paused. Chewed thoughtfully on her lip for a second, too.

"I don't know if I want to start planning before your Ascension."

[flickofthewrist]

"Why not?" Flick asks, frowning. "What if I don't make it? What if I don't...do that?"

[seveninchmotto]

"Thats exactly it." As much as she was not up for accepting the possibility that he wouldn't make it. He would make it, it was the only option.

But, all the same... She pushed her hair back, brows settling into a light frown. "I don't want to be superstitious, but... It feels like, maybe it's inviting bad luck to plan beforehand."

[flickofthewrist]

"Hmm."

Flick rubs at the side of his neck, thoughtful. "But if I don't make it, couldn't I die during the ceremony?"

[seveninchmotto]

"No."

Whoops, that came out... a little louder than she'd meant it to. In fact, she probably hadn't meant to say it at all.

"I mean," she hedged. "You could. But you're not going to." Because she wouldn't allow it.

That was totally how it worked.

[flickofthewrist]

That exclamation got a few turned heads and Flick glared at them to make them mind their own goddamn business.

"But, if the worst happens..." He trailed off and rubbed at his face. "If we wait, it might not happen. If you really want to wait, we can. I will."

[seveninchmotto]

"We're not getting married before your Ascension," Isabelle replied, now making sure to keep her voice down again. She hadn't really noticed the looks.

All she saw was him. "We can't. So what's the point of planning before that, either?"

[flickofthewrist]

"So, what if I die?"

They had to face this possibility. He didn't want to and she didn't want him to but they had to face it.

"We'll never get married. We have to have -- we have to have some kind of plan for that, Isabelle."

[seveninchmotto]

"Why?" she asked, her frown getting a ton more pronounced. "If you die, it'll all be over."


His life.


Hers, too, at least in one manner of speaking. That seemed to be what she was implying.


"What's there to plan for? It's not as if it'd be your problem past that point."

[flickofthewrist]

"Because I want to be married to you!" Flick said heatedly, ignoring how his voice rose a bit. "If I die, I don't want to have not gotten the chance."

[seveninchmotto]

There were more looks from other people. Isabelle didn't notice this time, either.

"I want to be married to you too," she said, with obvious conviction, "but we can't have a Shadowhunter wedding before we're both Shadowhunters. You can't bear the Marks!"

It was yet to occur to her that they had other options.

[flickofthewrist]

"So, why can't we have another wedding?" Flick asked, spreading his hands out on the table. "Why can't we just have two weddings?"

Just in case. Just in case the worst happened.

[seveninchmotto]

"What?"

She paused, confused.

"Like a... Like a mundane wedding?"

[flickofthewrist]

"Yeah."

Flick looks down and shrugs.

"Like that."

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle watched him and his downcast eyes for a second, without saying anything.

Then she reached across the table for his hands. "Jon."

[flickofthewrist]

"It's just a thought," Flick said, shrugging and curling his fingers around hers. "There's no rule that says we can't get married twice."

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle squeezed his hands. "I didn't mean like I didn't want to do it," she said. "Baby, you're the only person in the world I would ever want to get mundane married to."

She'd just been surprised. She hadn't even thought of it before.

"And I do."

[flickofthewrist]

"We could just elope," Flick suggested, shrugging. "Get married without anyone knowing so at least we are married and when the Ascension comes, we can -- we'll have a plan for after either way."

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle pulled his hands across the table, and raised them to where she could kiss his knuckles.

Then, half hidden by their hands, she smiled.

"I love you."

[flickofthewrist]

"I love you too," Flick murmured, smiling at her. "Did you want to do that? Elope? A quick wedding that we keep to ourselves?"

[seveninchmotto]

"Yes."

Except, Isabelle hesitated, tilting her head. "But, would your mom want to come?" she asked. "We hide enough from her as it is."

And she wasn't sure Beth would be able to attend their Shadowhunter ceremony. The rules were strict.

[flickofthewrist]

"We can ask her," Flick said thoughtfully. "I don't see why she wouldn't come but we should ask her, at least. I don't know if a place like that would be too much for her."

He was thinking Vegas, of course, not realizing they could go other places to elope.

[seveninchmotto]

Meanwhile, Isabelle was sadly unfamiliar with the concept of elopement being associated with Vegas. As much as she loved Vegas.

So she was confused. "Wait, a place like what?"

[flickofthewrist]

"Las Vegas," Flick said, shrugging. "That's where most people go to elope."

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle didn't really look any less confused. "That's a thing?"

Mind you, she also looked intrigued by the idea. Also, perhaps a hint amused?