Distractions

Movie Nights

@-JGRSHNY suggested the next prompt (Everest and Jace (in general, maybe a movie night)) and I'm not going to lie, at first I wasn't entirely sure how I'd write this one, but then I wrote the previous drabble and it just clicked.

However, there is mentions of JKR, homophobia, transphobia, anti-LGBTQIA+ people, and other similar topics within this drabble, so please don't read or at least don't read the part between the labeled areas.

In apology for being an uncaffeinated bitch two days ago, you have been invited to a movie night hosted by your favorite sister tonight at eight. Feel free to bring pajamas, snacks and drinks of your choice, extra extra blankets and pillows, as well as any movies that you would like to watch. (They may not be watched due to the extensive list prepared, but you may bring them just in case.) It will be held in my room and begin *maybe* promptly at eight p.m. See you, Everest F.

That was what the note left on Jace's bedside table had said. At first he had laughed, but upon realizing Everest wasn't joking (she had very sternly told him that she was, in fact, more serious than Professor McGonagall and had gotten highly offended when he didn't know who she was) he had, reluctantly, asked for Clary and Izzy's help to find movies and snacks to bring.

By eight that evening, Jace was standing in front of Everest's sticker covered door in his pajamas with an armful of Skittles, Cheetos, Root Beer, the disgustingly gingery soda Everest liked so much, dried pineapple, and the Princess Bride movie Clary had told him to bring.

"Everest!" he called out, unable to knock or open the door.

The door swung open to reveal his little sister dressed in cotton shorts and a pale pink t-shirt that hung loosely off her frame. Behind her, he could only just see the mounds of blankets and pillows that filled the room. Everest ushered him in and he immediately tossed the snacks in the tub with the ones Everest had gathered, the drinks on the tray beside her bed, and the movie on the stack on the dresser.

"You came!" she cheered.

"I couldn't leave you hanging," he defended. "You know where I sleep. You'd hunt me down and kill me if I didn't show up."

She laughed, the pineapple shaped bun atop her head flopping around at the action. "Probably. What movie do you want to watch first?"

He shrugged. "You pick."

She grinned, making him think that he shouldn't have told her that, and pulled a large DVD case from under a mountain of papers. "I was hoping you'd say that."

He watched from the mound of pillows and blankets he realized she had set up to be similar to a nest as she set up the movie. He pulled the tray and tub closer to the nest as he asked, "What're we watching then?"

"Harry Potter." As she sat beside him in the nest, she turned to him with a serious expression. "But you should know some things first."

He gave her a worried glance. "What?"

Trigger warning: Mentions of JKR and what she's done in the section below!

"One, the books are better." She smiled for half a second before returning to her serious expression. "Two, while I adore the franchise and fandom for the most part, fuck JKR."

"Who?"

The nineteen year old looked positively gleeful for a moment. "J.K. Rowling, she made the Harry Potter series. But she's a horrible person. She's a transphobic bitch of a TERF and while she made a world that so many love, she's done a lot of horrible things in the past and present, likely will in the future too. So basically don't support her even if you love the movies. I have the books you can read if you want to, but don't buy any of her merch specifically. Got it?"

He nodded, doing his best to withhold his anger. He didn't get why people thought it was okay to be horrible people, much less why some thought it was okay to be transphobic, homophobic, anti-LGBTQIA+, racist, or anything else that harmed people. Thinking about how there were so many people out there who hated and harmed people like his brother, his sisters, and Magnus made him sick to his stomach.

Trigger warning over

Everest gave him a small smile and curled up beside him, the Skittles in her lap, as the movie began. His arm wrapped around her and he took a handful of Skittles, ignoring the betrayed gasp. The movie played (as did the rest of the series) and he gave his sarcastic commentary, while Everest criticized almost every single part of the movies. A year ago, when he first met her, he would have wondered why she loved the movie so much if she thought there was so much wrong about them. But now, a year later, he knew that that was just the way Everest was. She loved a lot of things and people, and she criticized them in a way that showed that she paid attention and cared enough to point things out. That, and she wasn't always in a good mood so she took it out by criticizing almost everything in her life.

Their night was spent giving commentary on movies and eating snacks while Everest also took pictures of the night, much to Jace's amused annoyance. She got several pictures of him in awkward positions or mid-sentence and refused to delete them. He retaliated by getting pictures of her angrily pointing at the t.v. and mid-rant. It was a fun night. Even when Everest put a horror movie in and somehow wasn't scared at all but Jace almost left the room.

Their movie night ended as the sun came up and they fell asleep, though Jace could have sworn that he heard camera clicks and laughter before he fully fell asleep. He brushed it off as his imagination though, Everest had barricaded the door with pillows and blankets and chairs; how could anyone get through all that. (It didn't occur to him that they had forgotten to lock the windows. But it was fine. It was only Clary and Izzy on a ladder taking pictures of the siblings cuddled up asleep so that they could use it as blackmail. It was fine.)