You're My Light in the Darkness
Sum: A pair of troubled teens have a few moments a day to make the pain go away. Clace. Trigger warning: abuse and other stuff. Rated T. One-shot.
A/N: Full trigger warnings: abuse, rape, swearing, drugs.
Yeah, yeah. I know, a lot of sad stuff. But be grateful, because at first I wanted to make it a multi-chap with alternate endings, in each of them either Jace or Clary would die. But I changed my mind because I wanted this to have a happy atmosphere/undertone.
So, enjoy :)
Recommendation of the day is below, as always you have to suffer through my mediocre, amateuristic, weird writing first.
And for the first time in my one-shots ever: A DISCLAIMER! Can I get a 'whoop whoop'? I don't actually own the Mortal Instruments, in case you thought I did. Well, I don't. Although, I do have to confess I may or may not have Cassandra Clare in my basement writing Clace bits for my hungry reader soul to feed on.
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''It was my spot first!''
''I deserve this spot as much as you do!''
''The hell you do!''
''My life is much shittier than yours!''
''The hell it is!''
''Wanna bet?''
Jace challenged her, crossing his arms defiantly.
An eight-year-old and a nine-year-old glared at each other, before the youngest one made the first move.
''My dad beats me and my mom.''
Jace scoffed. ''That's nothing, my mom makes me drink alcohol sometimes and makes me breathe in the smoke from her cigarettes!''
Clary giggled. ''Aw, poor boy. At least your twin brother isn't beating you, as well.''
Jace's glare intesified. ''Yeah, well, my mom makes me watch while she does dirty things to her boyfriends!''
Clary took a step closer, arms crossed as well. ''My dad whips me with his belt if I'm so much as one minute late.''
''My mom makes me clean up the broken glass from a bottle she threw at my head!'' He took a step closer, trying to seem threatening. She would never admit out loud that she did feel threatened, seeing he was much taller than she was.
He grinned as he glanced at her speechless, hesitating form. ''I win.''
She huffed.
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An eleven-year-old and a twelve-year-old sat side by side on a bench by the abandoned skate park.
Originally her spot, now their spot.
He glanced sideways at her long red locks which were purposefully covering half her face.
He turned to her fully, causing her to turn away.
Even though she did, which hurt a bit, he still gently tucked her hair behind her ear.
Others would gasp, some would look in horror. Jace just gently observed the large bruise on her face with nothing but kindness in his eyes.
He decided to start. ''My mom bought too much booze, so I took some because I'm a horrible son.''
''My dad beat the shit out of me because he found out that I punched Jonathan.''
Jace grinned. ''You win.''
She smiled a bit, but immediately winced and moved to touch her cheek.
''You actually punched him?''
She nodded, looking at him and searching his eyes.
''That's my girl.'' He spoke, proudly, ruffling her hair.
''You're only one year older than me, you don't get to ruffle my hair.'' She grumbled, bumping her fist against his chest.
As soon as her hand hit his clothed chest, he wrapped his around it and observed her split knuckles.
''You punched him hard. I'm so proud of you.'' He half-whispered, planting gentle kisses on her knuckles.
He caught her blushing out of the corner of his eye.
''You took booze with you?'' She mumbled, some of her hoping he hadn't, most of her hoping he had.
''You bet'cha.''
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A thirteen-year-old and a fourteen-year-old sat side by side.
Jace was a little more distant that day than he usually was.
Clary was much more cheery than usual.
Her parents and brother were gone for the weekend. On family vacation, because apparently she wasn't a part of their family. She didn't mind.
With the times their parents went out for and came back from work, they usually only had half and hour to chat.
Now, they had all night.
''So, like, I totally dissed him, y'know. I knew it was a bet all along, of course—almost fell for it, too—but like, last minute I decided to just work him into the ground and totally slapped his ego down a bit, y'know. What a pervert.''
She looked at Jace, expecting another hair ruffle and a proud grin. But instead, all she got was a nod while he stared at his shoes.
Her mood went down a bit, she suddenly became very insecure.
''Jace?'' She asked, her voice cracking a bit as she made herself as small as possible.
What she had learnt from years of abuse was the well-known calm before the storm.
She felt guilty to say she was terrified.
Jace was a strong guy, he'd beaten up lots of guys for her without breaking a sweat.
He could very well do the same to her.
His head immediately snapped up as he looked at her with shock.
''Clary, God no! No, don't be scared, please!'' He scooted close to her hurriedly, wrapping his arms around her.
''I will never hurt you.'' He whispered, tucking her head under his chin.
''Then why are you acting like this?'' She whispered back.
Suddenly, the warmth of his embrace was gone as he pulled back, looking at his shoes again.
''My mom... she—she touched me...'' he sucked in a breath, ''Not like a mother should touch her child.''
Clary was used to a lot by now, but this still came as a shock to her. But she didn't let that show on her face.
She took his hand in hers.
''My dad whipped me. Fifteen times across my back.''
Jace remained quiet for a while.
''I've got some weed.''
She giggled. ''You win, definitely.''
No response came as she stared out over the empty skate park, so she looked at him to find him already staring at her.
And then he kissed her.
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An eighteen-year-old an a nineteen-year-old laid on top of each other on a bench in a skate park.
His lips were pressed against hers, hers against his.
His fingers intertwined in her red locks, hers in his golden ones.
He pulled his lips from hers, she from his.
He smiled down at her, stroking the side of her face with his thumb, gazing lovingly at her freckles. ''My mom tried touching me again but I pushed her back, she hit the table and passed out.''
''My brother's in love with me, I think. He tried kissing me. My dad was pissed and beat the shit out of me.''
''My mom is using more drugs day after day. I think she might overdose soon.''
''My mom's in the hospital with head trauma. She might not make it.''
''I'm planning to run away from home with the love of my life. Never come back, start a new life somewhere we can be happy.''
''I think—'' she paused, glancing up at his brilliant golden eyes, ''I think I am, too.''
''Guess what?'' He whispered, ducking his head down to plant kisses on her neck. ''We both win.''
A/N: Bam. How was that? That felt really good, it felt super cute, to me. I really like this one. *Pat on shoulder* Good job, me!
Recommendation of the day: the book Wink, Poppy, Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke. I ordered it at my local bookstore—they didn't have it in English, boo Netherlands—and I'm thinking about joining a bookclub there. Also, the documentary The Blue Planet, fucking brilliant oh my god. I love it so much.
Unpopular opinion: I actually don't like 13 Reasons Why. I'm so sorry, I tried but I think the plot is way too slow, Clay is a little dumb, seriously underdeveloped character and Hannah is a whiny drama-queen. I'm sorry. I really am. Please don't hate me, I really tried. This is just my opinion, you're allowed to like the show. I just didn't.
BAM. Lemme proof-read...
Done.
Review and favourite xoxoxo
Waffles out :)