In Between The Moon & The Stars | Malec

Chapter One

'I wish today could last forever,' said Alexander Lightwood to his little sister, 'that I could stop time or something.' The raven-haired boy nervously played with the colourful bracelet around his thin wrist and shut his beautiful, green eyes down to the ground.

Jace walked into the living room and waved his golden locks to the side of his face, a painful grin appearing on his fair face as he looked his adoptive brother in the eyes. 'You know, if you take the batteries out of that clock,' Jace pointed to the object hanging above the kitchen table, 'you could perhaps also stop time.' They were only two years apart and the blonde had been adopted by the Lightwoods when he was only ten years old, but it felt like the two brothers had known each other for a lifetime, which made it so hard for Jace to say goodbye.

Tonight, when the clocks hit seven - unless Alec would really have taken those batteries out - the Lightwoods were expected to forgather at the Northern square, as the letter they had received for about three months ago said.

Alec knew he was going to receive one of those stupid letters when he was about to turn eighteen, but to actually see the blue envelope on the doormat was something completely different. Shivers had run down his back as he repeated every word on the paper, out loud so his family could listen as well. Maryse shed a few tears as well as Isabelle, but Alec himself had denied the whole thing until now.

Every teenager who turned eighteen received a letter with information about their new life, in which family they would end up and to what district they'll be shipped off too. That happened to every seventeen-year-old teenager, exactly three months before their eighteenth birthday. Within district number eight there were thirty-four people who were about to experience the same thing as Alec, and for each family, it was just as painful as it were for the Lightwoods.

Maryse broke the silence by clicking her heels against the laminate flooring as entering the living room. 'Isabelle insisted on cooking dinner tonight,' she exclaimed and the two brothers frowned both of their brows, 'but I thought it would be better to prepare Alec's favourite dish considering the situation.' She granted her children a fake smile and couldn't stop looking at their beautiful faces.

'Good thing Izzy didn't cook,' Jace interrupted, 'not sure his new family is waiting to welcome a teenager with food-poisoning.'

'They're not my new family.' Alec abruptly joined the conversation, frowning his brows even deeper and now looking seriously pissed. 'Nothing could ever replace this family and just because I'm going to live with other people, doesn't mean they're instantly my family.'

The blonde took a deep breath and took a few steps, now standing in front of his brother and looking him in the eyes. 'I shouldn't have said something like that and you're right, nothing would ever replace this family and just because we live in separate houses doesn't mean we're not brothers anymore.' Jace leaned forward and pulled the raven-haired teenager into a tight hug.

Alec frowned his dark brows in an arrogant way and closed his eyes when giving into his brother's hug, sparks flowing through his veins as his brother tightened his arms around his muscled back and places his chin on Alec's shoulder.

The raven-haired teenager swallowed strongly as he stressfully adjusted his position to Jace's extremely tight hug, clenching his jaws while doing so as he felt quite uncomfortable.

Ever since a couple of months ago Alec started feeling strange around his brother, whenever he was close to the blonde he would feel weird sparks flowing through his veins and there were also moments when he somehow couldn't stop looking at the blonde. They both had been very close to each other ever since a young age and Alec just assumed this whole thing was because of him going through puberty or something, that his point of view had changed because he had now reached the age of fifteen.

Alec eventually began to realise his feelings weren't because of hormonal changes or something like that, he had indeed begun to develop a crush on his adoptive brother and he was disgusted by himself. What fool could ever develop feelings for his very own brother and what could happen to him if the world around him ever found out about his secret, he was convinced that Jace wouldn't ever want to talk to him again.

Things ended up the other way round, though.

Alec didn't want his secret to be exposed and therefore it would be a huge risk whenever he hung out with Jace in public, so he unknowingly decided to back off a bit from his brother. It was only until a few weeks ago when things got really heated up when the two got into a huge fight as Jace felt like his brother didn't care about him nor his feelings anymore, they only talked once or twice a week and Alec was locked away in his room for most of the time. They both said some painful things to each other but fortunately figured everything out before Alec's eighteenth birthday.

'I suppose everything's alright again between the two of you?' Maryse broke the awkward silence with her comforting voice as a beautiful smile appeared on her smooth face, seeing her two children like this made her beyond happy and grateful. 'We're even better than alright,' Jace smiled widely as he carefully reduced grip off his brother, slowly letting go of him as Alec let out a relieved sigh, 'though I'm kind of hungry now.'

Izy cleared her throat as an enthusiastic smile appeared onto her cheeks. 'Finally,' she shouted, 'I've been so hungry! I mean, I could've started eating already but I didn't want to interrupt your special moment.' She looked to her brothers while continuing her quick pace towards the kitchen.

Alec's eyes widened as he took place at the kitchen table, in front of Maryse who elegantly scooped up some burritos onto her plate. 'I-It's just a brotherly hug and nothing more. What's so special about, uh, a simple brotherly hug?' He exclaimed nervously while quickly stuffing his mouth with the burrito in front of him.

Izzy rolled with her dark eyes and decided to pay no more attention to the subject, she realised it made her brother feel uncomfortable and it would've been her greatest sin to make her brother feel bad during the last meal with his family. 'Nevermind,' Izzy now tried to steal some cucumber from Alec's plate and succeeded as she knew her brother wouldn't mind.

I guess now's the time to tell you a little bit about the Lightwoods and their zodiac signs. Robert and Maryse both came from a family of Leo's and they tried their best to plan giving birth between the twenty-third of July and the twenty-second of August so that hopefully none of their children had to move away on their eighteenth birthday. Alec, on the other hand, was quite the late bloomer as Maryse gave birth to him a couple of weeks later which made him a Virgo.

Then came Izzy who was actually an accident so the couple couldn't have planned their birthdate, she was born on May fifteenth which made her a Taurus just like her grandmother was. Jace moved in later and he was a Capricorn, which meant that none of their kids would stay with them and would eventually move away from district fifteen.

Alec was moving to district six tonight, which wasn't that far away from home so he could always visit if he'd like to. Izzy would be moving away to district two which was very close to the beach, the perfect place for her to develop herself and her character even more. Jace would be moving away to district twelve when he turned eighteen, he would be the furthest away from everyone but the teenager seemed to have made peace with that fact. I'm okay with wherever the wind of life brings me, as he said himself.

District six was known for its kindness towards everyone around them, Virgos were always paying attention to the smallest details and their deep sense of humanity makes then one of the most careful and caring signs of the zodiac. This is a sign that's often misunderstood, not because they lack the ability to express their feelings, but because they won't accept them as valid, true or even relevant when opposed to reason.

Alec fit this description perfectly and that's what scared him so much, even though he kept almost everything to himself, people would still be able to figure him and his secrets out because of his zodiac traits. He absolutely hated it, he hated when people could see through the walls he built up for himself. It made him feel weak and defeated, but that was a fate he had to accept.

[ Welcome to yet a new fanfiction! I really hope you're gonna like this as I'm planning to turn this fanfiction into a book as well and hopefully publish it one day, that's also why the chapters are going to be somewhat longer than usual. Have fun reading and leave a comment with what you think of it! ]