Heeeey people, I'm back! Did y'all miss me? ;)

Anyways, turns out oneshots are a lot easier to write than most of the longer stories I post. So I'm having a go at some and I'll try and whip them out relatively often!

What to expect: Clace, fluff, mainly all-human (for now at least), annoyed friends such as Alec and Isabelle, coffee, dancing, fighting, and lots of drama.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, they belong to Cassandra Clare (who totally deserves them given that she's written these amazing books). The general plots are sometimes based loosely off writing prompts, but for the most part the plot is my own.

So... enjoy!

- s.i

The Pandemonium

Clary

Stepping into the Pandemonium club was like suddenly jolting awake.

The cool, calm breeze of the evening was scared off by the loud blast of music and shouts and thumping feet. It made me dizzy. I hadn't been here for a while, not since I'd broken up with Sebastian. In fact, I'd barely gone out since then, nearly a month ago.

Which was why I finally agreed to let Simon drag me to his band's Friday-at-the-Pandemonium performances. I needed to get out more - and forget about Sebastian.

It wasn't that I had been heartbroken - I'd broken up with him, but that I'd been… lost. We'd been going out for over half a year, and I hadn't realised until it was too late that Sebastian was changing me. Sucking the life out of me. Starting to control me.

I should have seen it before, but I'd been pretending to be happy for months. Sometimes it's hard to stop lying - even to yourself.

Shaking myself out of my thoughts - seriously, Clary? Moping again? - I scanned the room for Simon. I could see him and the rest of his band - Eric, Kirk and a few guys - setting up on the stage in the corner. He'd be tied up for a while, and I was alone.

Fun.

I probably would have stood in the entrance for a lot longer like an idiot if someone hadn't called my name.

"Clary!" Isabelle Lightwood materialised in front me. We've known each other for years, but we had both accepted we had nothing in common a long time ago, and barely spoken since then.

Isabelle was the type of girl exactly the same on the outside as she was on the inside - which was to say beautiful, sharp, and possibly deadly. I, on the other hand, looked barely old enough to be let inside the club. Short, curly red hair, splashes of freckles - that kind of thing.

While Isabelle was wearing fishnet stockings and a black dress nearly short enough to be a shirt, I was dressed in jeans, and one of my only stripy shirts that didn't have paint splashed on the front.

"Hey, Isabelle." I said, slightly wearily.

"I heard you'd dumped Sebastian." Isabelle said. Of course that's what she wanted to talk about.

"Uh, yeah. A month ago." I said, in a voice too casual to be real.

"Hmm." she smirked at me. "Took you long enough. That idiot was practically begging for it. I would have dumped him ages ago."

"Thanks." I narrowed my eyes at her.

"What?" Isabelle shrugged. "You know I'm right. He was a creep."

I thought of my racing heart as Sebastian cornered me by the lockers six months ago, and how I'd stood numbly while he asked me out. I thought of our dates at the movies - his arm round my waist, his lips at my ear. His grip leaving a mark on my arm as we walked down the street. Cutting Simon off whenever he tried to talk to me. Fingers on the back of my neck. Eyes darkening when he looked at me. His lip curling whenever I spoke.

That day I'd finally worked up the guts to tell him I was leaving, the way he was standing far too close to me, the way his eyes had flickered -

And then I realised my eyes were wet, and Isabelle was staring at me. "Don't cry." she said, instead of apologising. "You'll ruin your eyeliner."

I rubbed at my eyes furiously. "I'm - I'm not wearing eyeliner."

Isabelle smiled, then. "I can help with that." She grabbed my arm and dragged me further into the club. The crowd parted before Isabelle like she was a human forcefield, but if she hadn't been holding on to me I would probably have been trampled.

"Magnus!" Isabelle called. "Get over here!"

Magnus appeared a moment later. He was another guy I'd known for a while - a friend of Isabelle and probably the best-dressed person I'd ever met. He grinned at me, his glittered hair catching the neon lights flashing round the club. "Clary darling. How's it going?"

"Great." I said weakly.

"In here." Isabelle announced, dragging me into the girls bathroom. Magnus came in with us like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Isabelle stood me in front of the mirror, and rummaged through her bag. She pulled out a tube of eyeliner, and brandished it triumphantly like a weapon. "Magnus, help me get Clary ready."

Magnus smirked. "It would be a pleasure."

"I'm fine!" I said quickly. "I don't need makeup or anything - "

But Isabelle was already cupping my face to hold it still. "Look up." she ordered.

I sighed. "You guys are horrible."

"Trust me, we're doing you a favour." Isabelle said, unfazed. I struggled not to blink as she expertly lined out my eyes. Magnus grabbed Isabelle's bag and looked through it, before coming over with what looked like a a tub of glitter. "A touch of fairy dust." he told me, grinning.

"Not too much." Isabelle warned. "Otherwise she'll look like you."

"That's not a bad thing!" Magnus glared at Isabelle.

Isabelle caught my eye and I tried not to laugh as Magnus sniffed, and opened the glitter tub. He sprinkled some over my hair, and across my cheeks, and probably would have used the whole tub if Isabelle hadn't slapped him away.

"Did you bring a change of clothes?" she asked, stepping back to inspect my eyes.

"I don't need to change." I said firmly.

Isabelle and Magnus raised their eyebrows in perfect sync.

"No." I folded my arms.

"Not even heels?" Isabelle asked. "I have a spare pair."

"You might need them, darl." Magnus said.

"So you're calling me short as well as under-dressed?"

"Yep." Magnus didn't sound that apologetic.

"Well, you know who your friends are." I muttered.

"The people that make you look awesome, that's who." Isabelle said, spinning me round to face the bathroom mirror.

And… I wasn't trying to sound cliché or anything - I mean, I still looked exactly like myself, but… brighter, somehow. It wasn't just the glitter. My cheeks were more flushed, my eyes brighter than they had been in ages. I hadn't realised I'd looked so… washed out for so long. I looked sharper, and older too.

Isabelle smirked at me in the mirror and pulled out my hair tie, so my hair fell out in curls on my shoulders. It glinted in the light with glitter, the red tone illuminated so it looked like fire.

"Told you we needed glitter." Magnus said proudly.

"Nah, it's the eyeliner." Isabelle said.

"No, it's probably just me." I smiled, bright and big, and Magnus pretended to shield his eyes.

Isabelle looked pleased. "You're coming round, Clary. Let's go smash this place."

And so, armed with Isabelle on one side and Magnus on the other, we walked out of the bathroom and into the club. The music was so loud I felt it through the ground, rattling through my heart and lining my bones.

I felt alive.

"There you guys are," came a voice.

Alec Lightwood came into view. He was Isabelle's brother, I knew, but that was really the full extent of my knowledge. We'd never really talked.

As you can probably see, I'm not a very popular person.

"We were just helping Clary, babe." Magnus said.

I blinked. Babe? I mean, Magnus called me darling all the time, but still. And - was Alec blushing?

"Hey, Clary." he said, looking at Magnus instead of me.

"Hi, Alec." I looked over at Isabelle, raising my eyebrows. She just smirked.

"It's Clary, right?" came another voice. I swear, people just kept appearing out of nowhere.

This particular person came up behind Alec, grinning.

Oh, sweet dear lord.

It was Jace.

Some things you should probably know about Jace: he's been out with nearly every girl in the vicinity, I've tried to avoid him - which, trust me, is a very different tactic to all the other girls I know, and also Jace was stupidly, disgustingly good-looking.

Tussled blond hair, topaz eyes and a mouth that was practically always smirking. Apart from when he was kissing girls. Actually, he probably still smirked when he did that.

I internally slapped myself. Get a grip, Clary. Honestly, pathetic.

Then I realised he'd asked me a question. "Uh, yeah. It's Clary."

I could almost feel Isabelle grinning. Luckily Alec and Magnus were too busy staring at each other to watch me make a complete idiot of myself.

Jace - you guessed it - smirked. "We don't see you here that often, Clary."

"I'm not really a…" I gestured weakly at the club around me. "This place sort of person."

Look at that stunning wit and charm. I know. I should write movie scripts.

"There's a trick to that." Isabelle said, evidently taking pity on me. She handed me a glass she'd picked up. "Try it."

I thought about Isabelle dragging me into the girls bathroom, the glitter in my hair, the loud music, and Jace's smirk. "What the hell." I muttered, and drank it.

You might be thinking that I was rapidly succumbing to peer pressure, but honestly? I hadn't felt so in control for a long time. The drink wasn't sweet, but it sizzled down my throat without me gagging.

Jace disappeared and reappeared with more drinks, and we found a space near the bar table. Simon was just tuning his guitar, and I caught his eye as he scanned the room.

Simon stared at my company, and gave an extremely unsubtle wink and a thumbs up. I fervently hoped no one else saw it.

"How's Sebastian?" Jace asked me, taking a sip of his glass.

I looked away. "He's - "

"Jace, you idiot." Isabelle slapped his arm. "Do you ever pay attention? Clary dumped him ages ago!"

Magnus grinned supportively at me. I just sighed. "Can we please not talk about Sebastian?"

"I'd be happy to." Jace said easily. "Sebastian's an idiot."

"Thanks, guys." I glared round at them all. "Really helping. This is the - the first time I've been out since - "

"You've been getting over him for a month?" Isabelle looked shocked. "That's a record. It usually only takes me a couple of hours."

Jace and I looked over at each other and I tried not to snort. "It wasn't that I was getting over him, exactly. It was… me trying to find myself again."

It was Isabelle's turn to snort. "Tosh. None of that zen nonsense."

"Did you just use the word 'tosh' in the twenty-first century?" Jace asked.

"Sexy, aren't I." Isabelle smirked at me and took another sip of her drink. She'd snagged a cocktail glass half-filled with bright blue and most likely toxic liquid.

Jace rolled his eyes, and then smiled over at me. "I get what you mean. Sometimes life just sucks people out."

"The deep thinker tactic doesn't work on you, Jace." Isabelle said, unimpressed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

Isabelle just looked pointedly between Jace and I, and took another sip of her drink. I could feel myself blushing.

"Gross." Alec said. "Isabelle, give it a rest."

"Don't even get me started on you." Isabelle grinned. She leaned over and brushed Alec's cheek. "You've got glitter on your face."

"Go away." Alec stepped out of her reach, blushing.

Magnus looked completely unapologetic. "Whoops. Must have come off my hair when I - "

"Nope, don't finish that sentence." Jace said quickly. "I'm getting out of here before Alec goes even redder."

Alec glared at Jace, but Jace simply clinked his glass against mine. "Dance with me, Clary?"

I probably went redder than Alec, but Isabelle and Magnus were both smirking at me and I wanted to get out of there. Also, it was harder to think when Jace Herondale was smirking at you.

"I don't really dance," I said, but I was already putting down my glass.

"It's easy." Jace took my hand. "It's not getting trampled by the crowd that's the hard part."

"I feel a lot more confident, thanks."

Jace just laughed and lead me away from the bar and his smirking friends, and towards the stage. Simon and his band had just kicked off, and the crowd was going wild - a pulsing mass of lights and fingers and feet.

I'll give Simon this - his band was pretty crap on records, but they were great live. Eric alternated between screaming into the microphone and making out with it, and the crowd loved him. Simon's guitar bounced between the speakers, the low notes shaking my ribcage. It was pretty awesome.

Jace and I pushed through people - him walking gracefully and me stumbling - until we were right in the centre of the crowd.

His hand got knocked out of mine by a particularly enthusiastic girl with pink hair, and as I spun round I couldn't spot him. Jace had probably ditched me for someone else.

For a moment I felt awkward, clumsy and out of place, and then I thought no. I'd had enough of that. Tonight was mine, and I was going to use it.

I closed my eyes and let the music feel all the hollowness inside me. There was no tactic to dancing - everyone was too close together for that.

It wasn't Clary and a pile of strangers, it was just one beast. Everyone's hearts were beating in perfect sync. Maybe it was the drink, or the glitter, or the music, but dancing felt amazing. Like waking up.

"See? It's not that hard." Jace's voice said in my ear.

I swung round, trying not to crash into him. We were pushed so close by the crowd that we were practically touching. "I wasn't dancing." I said unevenly. "I was just getting pushed around by the crowd in time to the music."

Jace laughed, and I could feel it vibrating through me. Or maybe that was just the music.

And then, it happened. Jace looked over my head - which wasn't hard, he had more than a few inches on me - and his eyes narrowed.

"Jace?" I asked, turning round.

It took me a moment to scan the crowd, before I saw the figure in the doorway. Hair so blond it was white, eyes like pools of ink.

Sebastian.

I'd like to say I felt nothing, but of course that wasn't true. I was frozen, my throat closing up.

"Clary." Jace said urgently. "Do you want to - "

Sebastian spotted me. His eyes widened, then narrowed.

I turned and began pushing back through the crowd in the opposite direction.

"Clary!" Jace called after me. I heard him pushing after me, and his hand closed round my arm.

"Let go of me!" I tried to pull my arm away.

"Clary, you don't have to run." Jace refused to let go.

I gave him my best glare, and then looked over his shoulder. Sebastian was pushing past people, his expression murderous.

"Let. Go. Of. Me." I hissed at Jace.

"Listen to me first." Jace said firmly. "Don't let that idiot keep his power over you. You're done with him. He should be the one running."

I glared at Jace. He met my gaze stubbornly. "Clary, you are way, way better than him. He can't touch you."

I could hear - over the screaming music - people complaining as Sebastian pushed past them. I heard him yell my name. "Clarissa!"

I looked over. Sebastian's hair was flopping forward from where he'd slicked it back. His face was flushed, his eyes flashing, his expression on-edge. He looked a lot… younger. More human.

He looked less like a demon from my past and more like, as Jace had said, an idiot.

I had already decided tonight that I was done with moping around. I was bright and back in control. I didn't have time for Sebastian.

I looked back at Jace, who raised his eyebrows at me. And I made up my mind. Sebastian had almost reached us now, but I wasn't looking at him anymore.

Maybe it was the drink, or the music, or my pounding heart, or even the glitter… or maybe it was just Jace Herondale and his stupid charm that made me do it.

I leaned forward and - yep, I think you know where we're going here - kissed him.

I felt Jace stiffen against me, but then he was kissing me back and suddenly I didn't care where Sebastian was.

I could feel the music vibrating through Jace's mouth into mine, and the sound of my heartbeat was roaring in my ears. People were still knocking into us from all sides as they danced, and Jace slipped his arms round my waist to keep me from falling over.

If I had been thinking, I would have been scolding myself for succumbing to Jace's charms just like every other girl he'd met.

If I had been looking around, I might have noticed Simon's horrified stare and heard his fingers slip over his guitar strings in the microphone. I might have seen Sebastian stop only metres away from us, jaw going slack in shock and humiliation.

I might have seen Magnus tap Sebastian on the back, Alec push him back towards the door, and Isabelle 'accidentally' trip him up with her heels as he went.

But I wasn't looking, and I certainly wasn't thinking.

When Jace and I finally stumbled away from each other, it took me a moment to remember Sebastian and swing round. But he was nowhere to be seen.

Jace didn't look like his usually composed self. Maybe he usually planned his kisses and hadn't expected me to throw myself at him.

I blushed. Jace looked flushed too, his eyes wide and flickering in the club light.

I said something profoundly intelligent like, "Uh…"

Jace didn't smirk. He smiled - actually, properly smiled. "That worked well, didn't it? Usually my plans end in something being blown up."

"Your plans?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I knew I would be able to seduce you."

"Careful, your ego is showing." I told him, but rather weakly.

Jace ran a hand through his hair - making it even more rumpled then before - and then he leaned close enough that I could see a faint reflection of myself in his eyes. "Do you want to ask me for my number?" He was grinning.

"Don't get ahead of yourself." I said firmly and stepped away.

"Ah, but the idiot can't help it." Isabelle said, appearing without the slightest trace of embarrassment and dragging us away from the dance-floor.

Jace rolled his eyes. "The idiot knows you don't mean that."

"The idiot also knows he can't really argue." Isabelle said.

Magnus and Alec came up to us, grinning. "Hey Clary," Magnus said, "we said hi to Sebastian for you."

"He's very un-coordinated." Alec mused. "He kept tripping over things."

"Like my shoes." Isabelle said innocently.

"And the doorstep." Magnus added. "Not that I pushed him or anything."

I tried very hard not to smile. "Thanks, guys."

"No probs." Magnus said. Alec smiled shyly at me and Isabelle handed me another drink. "The night, as they say, is young." she announced.

"Amen to that." Jace said, and when I looked over he was smiling at me.

Yes, I did smile back.

So, what did you think! Hope you enjoyed, and I'll update soon!