Alright, so I've had the idea of this one bouncing around for a while, but I've only just put it into words recently. There is about 99.9% certain that this will turn into a full fledged story, but it'll stay as a oneshot for a while. This also kind of worked in with a request from nadiacriscioni, where Jace was a bit insecure and Clary was the confident one. So I hope you guys enjoy, and I hope that this is one that you'll be excited to read more about!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything.
Jace Herondale really wasn't happy with this.
He didn't really do parties, muchless fucking sorority parties.
There were loud ass frat guys and a bunch of girls drinking ridiculous pink drinks who were probably all cheerleaders and here on daddy's money, not really after an education, just here as a stepping stone to their high society lives.
But apparently Isabelle Lightwood had become super buddy-buddy with some girl in this particular sorority and so she had dragged him along to the party. Generally, it would be Magnus Bane who would accompany Isabelle to these parties, since they were much more his scene, something that he actually enjoyed, but Isabelle had gotten it into her head that Jace didn't have much of a social life and seemed convinced that that needed to change, so she had been making more of an effort to force him to go out.
And going out meant people and parties and neither of those were really on Jace's list of favourite things.
"Oh my god!" Came a screech, and unfortunately, that was nowhere near the first time he had heard that kind of screech tonight, given that seemed to happen every two seconds in this place. Although, this time, it seemed as though it was directed at him. He very purposefully kept his head down, hoping to avoid any interaction other than with Isabelle when she said that she wanted to leave. "Herondale! It is you!" Yup, definitely directed at him and it really didn't look as though he was going to get out of this. He sighed and looked up, twisting his head in the direction that the noise had come from.
Clarissa Morgenstern.
"Shit—you never come to these things!" She reached him, ducking around a few groups of people before planting herself in front of Jace, her eyes bright and her fingernails were sparkly as she tugged them through her hair. "Even back in high school—I never remember you coming to parties!" She tilted her head to the side and then let out a laugh. "Oh wait, actually, I remember one party, when you were so wasted you threw up all down—"
"Yeah, yup—I remember that," Jace quickly interrupted her, because he knew the night she was talking about, when they were seventeen, and it was not a night that he wanted to remember. It had been a bad night anyway, when he had agreed to go to the party in the first place, and it had just gotten worse as alcohol had gotten involved. Clary grinned widely at him and winked, like they were sharing some secret, and Jace surprised a sigh, because she made it seem as though they were friends, and they really weren't.
They were...Old school acquaintances.
And he guessed, new school acquaintances as well, since they had both ended up at the same university, in the city just over three hours away from the small town that they had been in previously. They'd had a class together when they were first year, but nothing matched up through their second year.
It was for the best.
Clary was kind of distracting.
In an annoying, magnetic kind of way.
"Anyway," she grinned, carrying on. "It's cool that you're here. You want a drink?"
"I've got one," Jace held up the red solo cup that he had been nursing since he had gotten there.
"That looks nasty," Clary wrinkled up her nose as she leaned forward, not caring that she was getting in his space as she looked down at the drink and shook her head. "Come on—that was probably from the drinks in the kitchen, right? That's all the shit that we just put out for parties, most of it is watered down and all of it is cheap. I'll get you some of the good stuff." Jace really isn't sure that he wants the good stuff, but he tried to look around for Isabelle, and he didn't see her, and he just knows that they're in this for the long haul, even though she promised they wouldn't be. Isabelle had a way like that though, twisting him around her finger with a grin and a promise, even though she was the life of the party and always got caught up when she was surrounded by people and music was playing loudly.
"Fine," he grumbles under his breath and lets Clary wrap her slender fingers around his wrist and pull him through the crowded room.
Jace really wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it turned out that quite a bit had passed, and it also turned out that he had had quite a bit to drink. Clary had ended up snagging a bottle of expensive looking vodka and had tugged on his arm until they had ended up upstairs. They ended up on a balcony that was barely big enough for two people, overlooking the party that was happening downstairs that had spilled out of the mansion and into the back yard. Clary was straddling the wide, flat concrete that served as a railing around the small balcony, swinging her legs back and forth, tapping the toes of her sandals against the concrete, scuffing at it with purple material.
Jace was freaking out that she was going to tip over the edge, because it was obvious that she was stoned and also pretty tipsy, but after half an hour or so, and passing the vodka bottle back and forth, he had chilled out a little bit. Plus, it was clear that she was used to sitting there, gripping the concrete with her thighs as she swung herself from side to side to the beat of the music below.
"I miss that about Idris," Clary sighed and Jace almost jerked forward in alarm as he realized that she had flopped herself backwards, laying with her head looking up at the sky with her knees loose on either side of the concrete barrier. She seemed steady enough, although Jace couldn't settle the nervous twist in his stomach at how casual she was acting, even though he knew that if she tipped, she wouldn't die, they were only one storey up. She'd break an arm or a leg, but Jace was pretty sure he would have a heart attack at the fright.
"There's something you miss about Idris?" Jace managed to ask with a curl of his lip, picking up the vodka bottle from the concrete ground of the balcony and taking a long swig. It had been a long time since he had drunk straight from a bottle and even longer since he had had vodka, but the taste had really dulled now that they were getting closer to the bottom.
"Being able to see the stars," Clary stated. She lifted up a hand, pointing up at the sky above them. Jace looked up as well, tipping his head back and arching his back as he leaned back in the lounge chair that Clary had offered to him. He understood what she meant. Obviously, they could still see the stars, but they were tainted by the city lights, and that peace that usually came with looking up at a night sky was interrupted by city sounds. He was staring for so long he felt the blood all settling strangely at the back of his head and when he dropped his head back to look at Clary, he blinked a bunch of times.
She was staring at him.
"You're really pretty," she stated, a smile spreading across her face. Jace blinked at her, completed taken aback and Clary let out a laugh. She had been wearing some dark coloured lipstick earlier in the evening, and it was still there, just smudged and worn down from the laughing and talking and licking her lips and drinking alcohol. There was a smudge of dark coloured lipstick around the rim of the vodka bottle, which made Jace wrinkle up his nose and yet still drink from, even as he noted it.
"I don't know if that's the word you use to describe a guy," Jace's words were a little slurred as he put the bottle back down on the ground, a little bit too heavy, the glass clinking against the concrete. He tapped his blunt fingernails against the side, listening to the hollow sounds it made.
"What?! Why not?!" Clary cried out, her head still turned on the concrete to face him, her eyes wide. "Stop trying to fit yourself into a little box that is framed by toxic masculinity and accept the compliment!" Jace blinked at her, taken aback by the way she spoke with her hands, threw them around, the sparkly nail polish catching the lights from inside.
Magnus spoke a lot with his hands.
Clary and he would get on really well.
They would potentially be scary together.
Oh god.
What if the pair of them and Isabelle became friends?
"You look scared," Clary grinned at him as she pulled herself back up to a seated position and then swung her leg over so that they were both dangling over the balcony side. "Are you?" Jace blinked again, tipping his head to the side as he looked at her.
He remembered her from high school.
Pretty well, actually.
She was on the dance team and he remembered that she was super flexible. There had been rumours about her through the school and he remembered locker room talk after gym class, Derek Bull talking about some weird pretzel position she had let him twist her in. She was loud and popular and he wasn't sure if she knew about the rumours but if she did, they didn't bother her. Nothing really seemed to bother her. She went to all the parties and she had been Homecoming Queen, and even if she hadn't been, she was still the type of girl that everyone just liked. Now that they were at college, she seemed exactly the same.
She was still loud, still popular, still confident. She still had a huge smile, although now the smile was framed in vivid lipstick. Plus she had a nose ring that...Was cute. And kept catching the light from inside and winked up at him. She wore short skirts and low tops and tight jeans and dresses that showed off her little waist and surprisingly big ass for a girl as small as her.
She was tiny.
That was a thing.
When it came to girls, Jace liked them who were taller, his height or just a little bit shorter.
He also preferred blondes, that was obvious from his past.
She was short and slim and absolutely not blonde. Her hair had been a muted reddish-orange when they were in high school, but she had obviously dyed it, going to a dark red that seemed to have tones of black.
"I'm not scared," Jace answered, feeling a little petulant.
Just because he didn't like parties and going out and getting drunk didn't mean he didn't do it. And it wasn't as though he wasn't experienced with what sometimes came next, he knew that he was good in bed. As soon as that ran through his head, though, he blinked, wondering where it came from, because no one had even mentioned sex, and yet that was where his brain went.
It's just...Something about Clary had always made him feel a little on edge.
"So," Clary grinned at him, almost wolfishly, obviously knowing that she was doing something to him. "How're your classes?" It was such a boring question, but it did help to put Jace at ease a little bit, and with the alcohol already loosening his tongue, he began talking. Talking about his degree and about how he was going to be doing his first placement in a couple of months time and where he wanted to go. He didn't realize how long he had been talking until he realized that Clary had actually finished the rest of the vodka bottle. It wasn't as though it had been full when they had picked it up, but it was substantial. Now it was all gone.
"Uh," Jace cleared his throat, shifting his knees together and picking at one of the strands of the jumper that he was wearing. "Sorry."
"For what?" Clary tipped her head to the side with a confused look on her face.
"Going on like that," Jace waved a hand. "I know that's not really what people talk about at parties." Clary made a face and shrugged a shoulder.
"Talk about whatever the fuck you want to talk about," she replied, not looking bothered. Jace gave her a tight smile and then took in a deep breath. He was about to suggest that they go back into the party, maybe track down Isabelle and pretend none of this ever happened, because this was just not his scene, when Clary spoke again. "You and Isabelle are really close. And her brother—Alec, right? Are you guys, like, cousins or something?" Jace couldn't help but snort at that and shake his head quickly.
"Hell no," he replied. He paused for a moment before continuing, watching her face carefully even if it was a little fuzzy around the edges from the alcohol. "Me and Alec dated for nearly a year, back in high school." As predicted, her eyebrows flew upwards, towards her hair line, and her lips parted. But even though it was a reaction he saw a lot, he couldn't help but feel a heated prickle shift over his body, making him feel uncomfortable. "What? You got a problem?" His words came out harsher than he expected.
"Whoa, whoa. Pump the hate brakes, Fox and Friends," Clary sung out to him with a wiggle of her eyebrows and Jace couldn't help but think that it was completely unfair that she was referencing one of his favourite movies. "My dads are married. I've got no problem with you being into guys...And girls, right?" It was a cheeky smile that she sent to him and Jace didn't hesitate before nodding. Clary grinned and continued talking, although Jace was still hung up on what she had said.
"Your dads?" He asked, interrupting whatever she was talking about now.
"Yeah," Clary smiled. "Dads." Jace blinked and he shifted forward on the seat that he was in and stared closely at her. Clary forced her smile into a flat line, although her eyes were still dancing as she leaned forward, getting closer to him. "What? You got a problem?" She repeated back his words with a laugh, her attempt to stop smiling failing.
Jace stared at her.
He could feel the alcohol in his veins and he could feel tingling into his fingers and his toes and then in the past half hour or so, as he had been watching the small skirt slipping up Clary's thighs, he had felt a tightening in his groin.
She was a sorority girl.
She was loud and a flirt, and not the type of girl he went after.
But...She was beautiful and funny and she had spent the whole evening with her attention fixed on him as though he was the most interesting person in the house. And so even though Jace had told himself that he wasn't going to be having fun and that he just wanted to get out of there, Jace found himself leaning forward, using his knees to lift himself—albeit a little unsteadily—and reached out to kiss her.
He wasn't sure what he expected back, but Clary was enthusiastic, shuffling right forward to the edge of the concrete railing and wrapping an arm around his neck, pulling him in close. He could taste the vodka on her lips, as well as something sweeter, probably a drink that she had had earlier in the evening. Her lips were a little tacky from the lipstick that was still there and and her tongue was cold, but it felt really good.
Really good.
Clary's bare arm was tight around his neck and the other hand was gripping the sleeve of the jersey he was wearing, holding their bodies firmly together. She hitched up one of her knees and pressed it against his side, and he could feel her molding her body against his, her soft curves against his firm torso. It felt so good, warm and soft, and she let out a little noise at the back of her throat that made Jace shiver.
"Want to go inside?" Clary asked as she pulled back, her grip on his sleeve strong and her nose bumping against his. Jace licked his lips, feeling her breath against his mouth, warm and sweet. "That's my room we walked through." Jace was surprised because he hadn't even registered the room that they had walked through when they had come onto the balcony, but when he went to look back over his shoulder, Clary's arm around his neck tightened, forcing him to still face her. "No pressure, I don't want you to think that you have to come with—" Jace didn't let her finish, bringing their lips back together.
Kissing her was fucking good and he didn't want to stop.
He got to his feet, Clary moving with him, even though she had to tiptoe to keep their lips together and he had to lean down. They moved backwards, Jace nearly tripping over the lip of the doorway as they went inside, and Clary giggled into his mouth. Jace regained his footing and they kept backing up. Obviously Clary had shut the door when they had come in, and Jace had just missed the whole thing, because when she tugged him toward the double bed, he noted that the door was closed. They toppled onto the bed, Clary on top, her knees pressing into his hips as she settled over him, and she didn't let their lips separate.
The music downstairs was loud and there was laughing and talking from outside the door, but Jace let it all fade away as Clary's hand slipped under his shirt, and her teeth sunk into the soft, sensitive skin of his neck.
Let me know what you think x