Disclaimer: I don't own The Mortal Instrument series. These characters belong to the wonderful Cassandra Clare.
"Tell Alec and Isabelle I'm sorry about everything that happened," Clary said when Kaelie was out of earshot. "And tell Max that I'll take him to Forbidden Planet anytime."
The youngest of the Lightwood kids squealed in delight as he saw the shop at the corner. The nine-year-old with black hair and oversized glasses smiled brighter than the sun.
"Is that where we are going?" Max's gray eyes looked thrilled.
Clary nodded, "That's where we are going."
The golden male beside her grasped her hand, smiling at the younger boy, "Does that make you happy?"
"Very happy!" Max grinned, running down the street towards the store that was labeled, 'Forbidden Planet'. After a moment, Jace and Clary joined him, "Clary, you're the greatest!"
"Here that?" Jace whispered in her ear as they walked into the comic book and video game store, "You're the greatest."
Clary rose her eyebrows at him, "Shouldn't you already know that?"
"Why do you think I love you?" Jace replied, before they were both tugged towards an area of the store by the small boy.
"They have Naruto!" The boy screamed, pointed to the piles and piles of comic books of the said magna.
"Get whatever you'd like, Max." Clary told him. Max smiled brightly, thanked her, and dove into the pile of comics.
"You will regret you've said that soon." Jace said.
Clary shrugged, "If he is anything like Simon is, I believe I can handle him."
"Very courageous of you." Her boyfriend muttered. "Let's see how long that lasts."
It didn't last long.
Within moments Max was bouncing off the walls, knocking over everything in sight, and kept screaming at the top of his lungs. Clary ran around after him, apologizing to fellow customers as she tried to catch the boy on a sugar high. Clary grimaced; she knew ice cream before comics was always a bad idea.
Jace watched the two play cat and mouse with pity for his girlfriend, but also some amusement as he knew this was going to happen. Don't get him wrong, he loved Clary with all of his heart- more than Jace ever thought he could love anything. However, the way that she scrambled around the store after the hyper young boy was enough to make him laugh.
Clary glared at him when he did.
Finally, after Clary had started to pant from exhaustion she caught the youngest Lightwood and pulled him to the register. Jace, as the closet-gentleman he was, payed for the comics and games that the boy had chosen.
Max was still jumping with excitement, "Thank you so much, Clary!"
Through her panting, she grinned at him, "You're welcome."
"Jace," Max turned to look at the beautiful, golden teenager, "Can Clary stay at the Institute for awhile?"
Jace chuckled, "I'd love for her to stay forever." He ruffled the boy's black hair, "She can stay as long as she wants." He replied like a parent.
"Or until her mom blows open the doors and takes her home." Clary rolled her eyes as the three walked out of the store and started on their way to the Institute.
When they were finally back at the Institute, Max let go of both Clary and Jace's hand, tore the bag out of Jace's free hand, and ran off to his room. A thank you thrown over his shoulder.
Jace wrapped an arm around Clary's waist, pulling her flush against his body, "So, my guess is, we have two minutes until Max calls for a playing partner."
Clary smiled up at him, "What do you propose we do in those two minutes?"
"I have a few ideas." Jace grinned, before his lips descended on hers. Both of his arms wrapped around her waist as hers came up to hold the back of his neck, holding him against her.
"JACE!" The voice of Max reflected off the walls, one might think he was in trouble or injured until they heard the laughter shadowing behind his lips.
Jace sighed against her mouth, "Okay, so maybe only one minute."
"Too bad," Clary looked into his eyes, "We were having a scintillating conversation."
He smiled, placing his forehead on hers, "It was incredibly memorable this time." Then his eyes grew wide, "Not that, it wasn't the first time."
Laughing, Clary pulled away from him, "Jace, go play with your younger brother."
"Very poor choice of words." Jace gave a wolfish grin as he gently kissed her once more, "I might be gone for awhile, how long will you stay?"
She looked him in the eye, "I'll call my mom and try to convince her to let me stay longer."
"Tell her we are training." Jace offered.
"Really? I was going to tell her that we were making out on your bed." Clary rolled her eyes, sarcasm reeked in her voice.
"JACE! THIS IS A TWO PLAYER GAME!" Max screamed again, his voice getting louder, which probably meant that the boy had gone looking for Jace.
Jace ignored the scream, "Don't tell her that, she already hates me."
Clary rose a hand to cup his cheek, she whispered, "Jace, she doesn't hate you. My mother just doesn't know you, yet."
He didn't look convinced.
The redhead sighed, "I wouldn't care much if she didn't approve of you. Mom will have to realize that I love you and that my love for you won't change."
"I love you, too." Jace reached his hand up to hold her hand that was still on his cheek.
Clary smiled, "I'll tell my mother that you're training me with a new weapon and I need a little bit more work on it." She said, moving to peck him on the lips.
"Mmm," Jace sighed, "A lot more work."
"JACE!" Max's voice was louder than ever, the two teenagers looked to see him running down the hallway towards them, "Let's go!" He tugged on Jace's jacket.
Jace glanced down at the boy fondly before looking back up at Clary, "I love you, wait in my room."
Clary nodded, "I love you, too. Have fun, boys." She smiled at the brothers as they made their way to Max's room.
"For making me wait, I'm giving you the old controller!" Max scolded Jace.
Jace laughed, "Yeah, I'll get the bad controller. Unless I can beat you their first!" Jace started to run down the hallway with the nine-year-old chasing after him, laughing echoing off the halls.
A/N: Thanks for reading! The idea just came into my head and I thought it would be fun to write a one-shot about Jace and Clary acting like parents, but not actually being parents to their own child. It kind of turned into Clace at the end though, hope that doesn't bother anyone! I hope you liked it!