A/N: I don't know exactly where this takes place, I haven't read the books in a while so I don't know the timeline anymore, but I'm thinking somewhere between CoG and CoLS. I honestly have no idea.
Hold on to This Moment
"Cheater!" Clary shouted, looking angry. Her scowl was quickly replaced with a laughing fit when Simon broke out in a grin.
"I didn't cheat. I told you, I'm a master at my video games." Clary playfully punched Simon in the arm and turned back to the screen. Simon caught a scent of her shampoo and something that made his senses sharper, his throat go tight, and make him dizzy.
"Simon?" she asked. Suddenly he was aware of how exposed her neck was, with her hair tied back and he loose fitting t-shirt.
"I'm fine," he said, shaking his head. Simon had figured out that it helped to breathe through his mouth, even though he didn't need the oxygen. It gave him something to do and focus on.
Clary checked the time on her phone. "It's getting late," she frowned, "and I should probably get home. Luke worries when I'm out too late."
Simon nodded. "Yeah-yeah, sure. I can take you home," he offered and didn't wait for a reply, grabbing his jacket and opening the door to his and Jordan's apartment.
The walk home was long, taking over half of an hour. The sky had turned pitch black, dotted with the few stars from the New York polluted air. Clary was mostly silent, her teeth chattering on occasion.
"Here," Simon peeled off his jacket.
"No, Simon, it's okay-I'm not even that cold," she protested.
"Take it," he laughed lightly. "I don't get cold anymore, remember?" Clary smiled a thankful smile and continued walking, almost able to see the house. Her breath puffed out in front of her.
"It looks like no one's home," she said, pausing in front of the walkway to the door. She sighed and started walking again. At the door, she fumbled around for the keys and shoved them in the lock. It took her a few tries before she finally got the door to open. Awkwardly, she stood in the entrance to the dark house before Simon got the silent message and gently pushed her in, himself following after.
Their short break from the Shadowhunter world was over the minute Clary remembered the ice in her bones, remembering how it's froze her in bed and kept her from sleeping.
She opened her mouth to protest, tell him she would be fine without him here, that he could go home, but Simon ignored her unspoken words and led Clary down the dark hallway.
Entering the guest room, he kicked off his shoes while Clary climbed into bed, a relieved look on her face. She would get to sleep tonight.
Clary tucked perfectly by Simon's side; her small body curving with Simon's lanky arms and legs, her red hair cloaking his shoulders. He could feel the heat coming off her, yet it didn't warm him. And he wanted it to, so badly that it hurt.
Clary drifted into the brink of sleep, her eyelids fluttering from the beginnings of a dream. Simon lightly traced the few runes on her arm and across her shoulder. From the little he knows about them, he could care less what they meant.
Simon prayed he would hold on to these moments. He hoped he would never forget them once the years wore on and on, immortality setting in, a bitter and tired feeling.
Most people would love to be immortal-always young and living forever? Who wouldn't want that? But watching the people around you growing old and dying, your memories of them fading away, Simon didn't think he could bear it. Forgetting Clary's laugh and the green of her eyes, his mom's smile, Rachel's support, he would take it back. He would choose his family and living in the moment over being immortal in a second.
"I love you," he whispered to Clary before gently kissing her forehead, brushing her hair back behind her ear.