Set after Season 1, Episode 9: Rise Up

Clary: Simon, we're going to see the one person who can help us both.
Raphael: Have you lost your mind? A Shadowhunter and a werewolf? You do know this isn't a hotel?

Simon: Technically, it is.
Raphael: Even starvation can't shut you up.

"I will keep a watchful eye over him. Make sure he doesn't destroy my hotel, poop on the floor, or kill any humans. Normal fledgling things," Raphael eyes leveled with Clary's, his expression still one of vague disinterest. "As I'm sure you know nothing about."

Simon guffawed, feigning, or perhaps not, hurt, "I am not your new designer poodle puppy."

Raphael cast a look towards Simon that could've killed him, if he weren't already undead. The newly turned fledgling had a sudden interest in the exterior of his beaten up sneakers.

A cool breeze that brushed against his cheeks made him lift his head once again to find Raphael holding the entrance door of the DuMort open. "I don't make this invitation lightly. Don't make me hold this door open forever."

"Alright," Clary patted Simon's back, stepping forward with her friend as well as Luke, their father figure who was surprisingly keeping his cool around his natural enemy, a vampire such as Santiago. "Let's get you settled inside."

"The only one allowed inside is the fledgling," Raphael stated curtly.

The three stopped in their tracks with an impressively unpracticed, "What?"

Raising a brow, Raphael continued, "The DuMort is only available to vampires. Only one of you are a vampire. Do the math."

"Not even to help him get settled-?" Clary asked.
"-or just to walk him in?" Luke added.

"I will be the one getting him settled," the vampire answered, rolling his eyes at the painfully obvious subject before switching his attention to Luke. "And as for your, you're not allowed anyways. Laundry day was yesterday and I don't want to have to rewash my wardrobe because of your… disagreeable stench."

Simon bristled, fully ready to jump to the defense of wolf who'd cared for him his whole life, but never got the chance. Holding out a hand to stop him, Raphael instructed, "Say your goodbyes."

The trio stood there for a few beats before they all turned to each other. The general shakiness and anxiety that Simon felt could be radiated into his two friends, making the three of them a mess who were all buzzing with apprehension about their current situation.

Clary was the first one to speak, putting on that dazzling smile of hers that lit up the street long after midnight had struck. She grabbed Simon by the shoulders and squared him before speaking, "Everything is going to be okay, we'll come and visit you every single night if we need to, and we'll even bring all of your favorite things. Or, if that makes you too uncomfortable, we can just come every now and then, we wouldn't want to be helicopter parents. Or maybe even some type of visitation schedule-?"

Simon shook his head, going to pull his lifelong love into his arms for a big hug when he hissed in remembrance - her sweet scent, the very same one that made him weak in the knees with affection, was also the one that made him want to tear her throat out like a feral dog. Instinctively, he took a step back, keeping her at an arm's length distance. Her eyes widened with the realization of what had happened and the look of concern was enough to make a pit rise in his stomach. Perhaps that was the sickness of the human left over in him for drinking so many pints of blood. "Please be a helicopter parent, Fray," he joked weakly.

"It's going to be okay," Clary muttered with a half smile. It wasn't completely clear who that was to convince, at this point.

Before Simon could be too caught up in the endless thoughts of worry, he felt Luke's large, warm fingers ruffle up his hair, "Don't worry, kid. You'll be king of this place in no time. I have complete faith in you."

The two men shared a warm smile. Their relationship had always been of a father and son, but more. There was a certain affection that each of them acknowledged but never brought up in so many words. Whatever it was, they both felt it, and that was enough for the time.

"Thank you, Luke," Simon managed. "Here's to hoping, right?"

All the tenderness that had just been cultivated and maintained was just as easily shattered by the slightly sing songy voice behind them, "My arm is getting tired."

When Simon turned to face the older vampire, Raphael lowered his head and pointed in the direction of the entrance. The hint was clear enough.

Saying their true goodbyes, Simon squared his shoulders and took his first steps into the heart of darkness. He felt jumpy enough already, so when the door closed behind him, he spun around, chest rising and falling with obsolete breath.

Raphael was framed by the dark tinted glass doors and two low white light lamps which cast a simple light over his features. He was not amused. Clary and Luke were no longer in sight. Everything that had been a constant in Simon's life had been forcibly ripped away from him and now he was just stuck in a luxurious hallway with a vampire who was at least 6 decades older than him and most notably, the one who put him in this situation in the first place. Well, technically, it had been Clary, but it felt a lot easier to Simon if Raphael was the one to blame for it all.

"Walk," Raphael commanded. "You're not going to stay in this corridor."

Begrudgingly, Simon complied, seeing no use in not, continuing his way down further into the hotel. Even though he had been there before, the building always took his breath away in ways he couldn't even explain. It was so understated and simple, yet with such a unique and stylistic flare that just screamed Downworlder: Sub category: Vampire.

Pulling Simon out of his thoughts, Raphael clicked his tongue, "I see you're admiring the interior design. It is quite lovely. Magnus Bane himself did it. He almost didn't, because of all the, uh, history between himself and Camille, but he couldn't refuse me when I asked."

Even though that brought up a whole slew of thoughts and questions about what the warlock was to Raphael or what type of relationship the two would have if Raph could just snap his fingers and Magnus would show up with paint swatches and fabrics, Simon shook his head and focused on the path which he was walking, "Whatever. We're not friends, and you don't get to talk to me like we are. To me, you're just food and shelter. To you, all I should be is blackmail over Camille. Let's just keep it at that."

"Fine. Silence it is."

That promise was kept throughout the winding, gridlike corridors that belonged to the DuMort. Luckily for both of them, little to no vampires were out and the ones who were kept their head down or vacantly shuffled along in a daze. The journey only took a few minutes, but the tension between the two men stretched that out to feel like hours. Hitting a spot that Simon recognized, he nearly floated towards one specific door, a door he had been through a handful of times, a door that called to him in all but a voice…

"Wait!"

Before he knew what came over him, Raphael grabbed Simon by the crook of his elbow and pulled him back. A look of bewilderment and surprise could be found on both of their faces. At the same time, Simon shrugged him off and Raphael moved quickly to remove his hand.

"Apologies," the older vampire nodded before taking the lead. "Uh, this way."

Raphael quickly steered them away from Camille's room. Of course Simon had been drawn to the room of his sire, it was only natural of the fledgling. Raph was not going to put Simon through that, knowing that part of his transformation had included such invasive visions of Camille, taunting him, luring him, mocking him. He wasn't going to put the boy in a room that looked, smelled, and lived like his abuser. Camille was a particular type of awful who had a way of worming into the heads of her victims and playing with her food without even knowing of it. Raphael remembered the pain of his own sire… Needless to say, there was no way Simon sleeping in that room was going to happen.

"Here we are," Raphael turned a corner and opened a wide door, exposing a huge and exquisite loft/penthouse apartment that seemed to roll out the longer one looked at it. Right off the bat, Simon could tell this was Raphael's room. Whatever objections he had about the vampire, he did not feel the same towards this room. Everything about it was so cool and unique and so utterly Raphael. That was the thing about vampires - even though they themselves couldn't be alive, they found ways to live through their wardrobe, their rooms, their actions, etc. Nothing about them felt dead in the slightest.

Raphael smirked at the look on Simon's face. As soon as he caught wind of the cockiness, the boy practically shook it off, folding his arms. "It's fine, I've been in nicer. My band was up in the running to possibly be the guest performers for a shin dig for a guy's apartment which was probably way nicer than this one, after inflation. So."

"Whatever you say, Lewis. Follow me to your room."

Unaware that this room had more than one room, Simon followed along is silent awe. Raphael opened a door, letting the other take the first steps in to christen the room. "Here's the guest room. It's never been occupied before and you have full privilege to make this yours. Just, don't carve the walls or anything. Magnus will kill you without hesitation."

"Noted," Simon said, looking around. It was a pretty large room, almost as large as Raphael's first story part, which was surprising for being a guest room. Everything about it was like the rest of the hotel, pretty with an obvious aesthetic, but this one in particular felt empty with zero personality. It made Simon fully realize the creepy feeling of being alone.

He had become so convinced of his new found solitary life that when Raphael next spoke, it made Simon jump and snap to attention. "Make yourself comfortable and sleep, if you want. You don't necessarily need it, but it never hurt anyone. I know you just fed on an awful lot of blood at the grave, but-"

Simon flinched, the aforementioned meal making his stomach gurgle, "Can we please not say the 'b' word just yet? Especially in reference to me and definitely especially not in reference to me, the 'b' word, and any word that means consumption."

"Ah, right," Raphael said, looking Simon over. He forgot what it was like to be a fledgling, to be at such a conflict with yourself and the new life that you now had to live. "We will work on that. Anyways, if you find yourself hungry, come and get me so we can work something out."

Nodding, Simon scratched the back of his head. The two of them stood in incredibly awkward silence for an insurmountable amount of time. Neither of them spoke, neither of them breathed, it was just a coexistence of awkwardness and not knowing what the other was going to do.

Finally, Raphael muttered a fast, "Goodbye." The vampire made himself then quickly scarce from the room.

Catching himself being able to breathe a sigh of relief after the other's presence left the room, Simon collapsed on the bed, trying to find any flaw in the near flawless and smooth ceiling over him. He had seen the sleek black coffin the the corner of the room but he'd be damned if he was caught in that. Well, he was damned anyway, but that would've made him far too dyed in the well of monstrosity to recover from. That was a journey for another day.

Simon didn't know how long he was going to be able to stay in this hotel surrounded by sinfully attracted beings, but he did know one thing for certain. He wasn't here to make friends. Especially not with Raphael Santiago.

Author's Note: First chapter done and out of the way, yay! I'm extremely rusty because I haven't written any thing like this in actual years. I will work on this when I can because I love these characters and I love this source. Happy reading all and thank you for making it this far. 3