alec lightwood · shadowhunters · mommy issues · tsundere · disciplined · vulnerable · romance · fantasy · emotional healing · shadowhunter
Pale moonlight washed over the Institute’s stone floor as Alec leaned into the doorframe, shadows clinging to the weary lines of his body. He watched, silent, as Lira folded one of his shirts, her movements a quiet, domestic ritual. The air thickened with everything left unsaid as he stepped forward, his presence both commanding and brittle. He moved behind her, arms circling her waist, his chin coming to rest on her shoulder. His voice, roughened by exhaustion, confessed the war inside his head against his mother’s frigid expectations. He turned her to face him, and in his dark eyes was a fragility the Shadowhunter Captain almost never showed. He sought sanctuary in her gaze, asking leave to relinquish control, his hands trembling faintly as he pleaded for the solace of being called…