A/N: Hello, everyone! I'm back with another Simon oneshot to add to my canon, and this time it's the Simon x Aline that I've promised since 'Forbidden Rendezvous'. ENJOY!

Lakeside Liaison

The boy vampire watched his own feet treading the cobblestone path as he walked through the moonlight dejectedly. Tonight was the night when all of Idris and the neighboring Downworlder colonies were to gather for a cotillion- a get-together that Simon had actually wanted to attend... that is, until he actually attended it.

He had watched Isabelle and Maia fight tooth and nail for his affections all evening, but it all seemed too surreal. They were almost too zealous to really be serious, he had decided, and he wasn't even sure if they were fighting for romance or for the right to kill him.

Apparently, everyone wanted to kill him these days.

Or sleep with him.

Simon kept his head down as he continued along the pathway, thinking depressing thoughts and practically enveloping his soul in Misery Mist. Between his many affairs, Simon had too much free time and too little to do with himself. All day long, it seemed like his thoughts were about one person... Jace, Jace, Jace...

His golden hair, his eyes, his muscles that turned to emaciation recently because he wasn't eating... His smirk, that lazy smirk that he got whenever he was feeling clever... Those were the images that haunted Simon's mind whenever he closed his eyes.

And now, Jace and Clary finally had a reason to be together. Not being related and whatnot. Clary saving his life and whatnot. Essentially itching for a chance to sleep with each other and whatnot.

At first, Simon had dismissed his own feelings as Clary-centric. He had always thought Clary to be a little yo-yo of spunk and pluckiness, and sort of had a crush on her during the previous summer, but the truth was that he hadn't felt any actual jealousy in his life until he walked into the hallway in the Institute and saw the two of them necking so passionately. He had felt an intense loath for his best friend at that moment, and that same sentiment had been repeated every time he saw the happy couple together ever since.

Simon kicked an errant leaf out of his way as he traversed down the path. As he often found with his habits, he didn't quite know where he was going, but he knew that he was going somewhere. Somewhere where he could cry and no one would care. Somewhere where Isabelle and Maia weren't fighting for the chance to either love him or kill him (he wasn't quite sure which). Somewhere where he could let loose his true feelings to the night sky, without the fear of Jace hearing.

Simon realized that he had a problem.

Perhaps he had even known it all along.

He... liked Jace.

A lot.

The boy vampire was about to take another step when he heard someone cry out, "Um, you do know that you're about to walk into Lake Lyn, right?"

Simon froze mid-step, thawed, and pivoted around to face the intruder as quickly as possible. His eyes beheld a teenage girl with shoulder-length black hair and a pointy chin. She looked like a cat, sort of.

"Aline?" Simon said curiously, going over to her to find out why she was here in the first place, and why she cared if he walked into a holy/cursed lake or not.

She smiled wanly. Aline was sitting on the beach of the crystal lake, legs tucked up against her chest. It wasn't the most ladylike posture, especially because of her red dress, but Simon didn't care. He sat down next to her, and she said, "What brings you here, vampire?"

Simon paused for a short while, before finally deciding, "Life." He realized that he should probably feel awkward around the Penhallow girl, due to the fact that one of the last times he had seen her, she had walked in on him hooking up with Sebastian. "What about you?"

"Life, I guess," she said. "I come here a lot. Looking at the lake calms my nerves."

"Really? From what?" Simon asked sympathetically, laying a hand on her shoulder. Aline didn't even flinch, and continued to stare at the water with glassy eyes.

She half-smiled, without any humor or joviality. Sort of like Jace. "I'm in denial."

"Join the club," Simon only partially-joked.

Aline shook her head, hair flying out in a straight black fan with the movement. "No, you don't understand."

"Try me."

She heaved a heavy sigh. "Fine. It's Jace."

Her, too? How many people liked Jace, after all? Simon swallowed the lump in his throat, and tried to continue on as if he had no idea what was going on in his heart. "What about him?" He knew that Aline and Jace had had a brief fling or something. He just didn't want to acknowledge it.

"Well, we hooked up," she admitted without a shred of embarrassment, "and it was great. Really great. And the way he was treating me... It made me think that we might have a future together. But now that he's with Clary..." Her nose wrinkled. "I just don't get that. I mean, really, they thought they were siblings! It's totally disgusting. But either way... I don't like the thought of them being together."

"I know what you mean," Simon muttered, intending it to be for his ears only.

It wasn't. "How?"

Simon blushed, and tried to backpedal. "I mean..." What direction should he take? Crush on Clary? But... Aline had been so open with him, and... "I know how you feel about Jace. I like him too, but we've never... hooked up or anything."

Simon regretted saying it the moment the words left his lips. Aline turned to face him, eyes wide and mouth open. "No way."

The vampire dropped his head onto the tops of his knees. "Yes way," he murmured against the familiar denim of his jeans.

Aline looked back over the crystalline surface of the water. "Then you basically know what I'm going through."

Simon laughed mirthlessly. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Simon?"

He raised his head from his knees to look at the pretty girl before him. "What?"

A strange light came into her eyes, and the corners of her mouth tilted up. "Are you lonely?"

"No," he said sarcastically. "I'm just dripping with company." Once he thought about it, it actually wasn't that far off. "Well, not now- Okay, fine. Maybe I am lonely."

"I'm lonely, too." Aline scooted across the sand until she was sitting directly next to him, their sides touching. "Simon... You know, I've never slept with a vampire before."

He thought he must have heard wrong. "W-what? Um, Aline, I-"

"Be quiet." He stopped stuttering, and stretched his legs out before him as he stared, terrified, at Aline. "That's better. Now, Simon, you said you like Jace, right?"

"Uh-huh," he admitted shamefully, examining his hands.

"What do you like about him?"

The question threw the vampire. What one thing did he like about Jace? "Everything." His brow furrowed. "Why, what's so special about Jace to you?"

A wistful smile took over her thin features, and she began tracing patterns in the sand. "He's really sexy."

Simon coughed abruptly, for a few good seconds. "I... I guess so..."

"Stop that inane stuttering, Simon." She was awfully... forceful. Even more so than Valentine had been, strangely. "Good. But, anyway, my point is..." She took a deep breath, and said while staring deliberately into Simon's eyes, yet completely devoid of any emotion, "Let's sleep together. You and me."

Simon's eyebrows raised comically. It had been awhile- or, like, three days- since his last hook-up... And Aline was pretty... And he was awfully frustrated... "Okay, fine. Deal."

With a high-pitched cry of joy, Aline jumped on top of Simon and tackled him onto the sand, kissing him as passionately as she could muster and tangling her hands in his hair.

Simon wasn't going to be second-banana to a girl. It was bad enough that he had been submissive to Alec, so he wasn't going to stand for this. He expertly rolled her over, breathing heavily and beginning to deepen the kiss a bit more.

Aline laughed when she broke away to catch her breath. "You're a really great kisser," she grinned. "I can see why Sebastian was all over you."

"Yeah, well," Simon countered, "I've been a lot of places. It comes with the territory."

And so the two took out their mutual frustrations about Jace on each other, and Simon's mind went unburdened for another night.

The end, or a new beginning?

And remember to check out my other Simon oneshots! Chronologically, they would follow: "Pigeons Need Love, Too", "Caged Desire", "Forbidden Rendezvous", "Totally Not Disturbing", "Simonstian", "Stolen Lovin'", and, finally, "Lakeside Liaison" (AKA this one). Hope that clears things up!

If you want more Simon oneshots, then you have to review, review, review! The last one I ever write will be Simon x Jace (obviously), but until then, I have to go through every other character that I can think of! Suggestions are welcome.

Love,
I Suffer From Hubris