A/N: Just a short little drabble. If I get five or more reviews I'll update my other MI story within the week. :D
Disclaimer: This doesn't belong to me.
Skyscraper
They still intimidate him sometimes: the soaring metal buildings stabbing at the sky, the cacophony of cars choking the streets, the people pushing past each other as if they are the only important one there. It made his heart hammer in his chest when he was least expecting it, his breath to get momentarily caught in his throat, a strange fear of being so pressed in suddenly emerging.
Of course he would never let them see just what an effect they could have on him. He was Jace Wayland after all, and Jace Wayland wasn't afraid of anything-not demons, not death, and most certainly not living in such a crowded city. What would his friends think of him if they ever learned that he hated being in the midst of the large crowd, like he was getting crushed on all sides by complete strangers.
Here in the city he was just a nameless boy to most of these people, a pretty face for girls to look at; he could be killed by a drunk driver or the son of a drug user who lived in a rundown tenement building. Maybe that was part of what intimidated him so much, the fact that here, in the city, he was nothing to anyone but his few friends. He had spent his entire life being defined but what others thought of him: Michael Wayland's son, the best shadow hunter of his generation, a cocky womanizer; he sometimes felt as if he didn't know what parts of him was really him and what parts where expected of him. When he was no one to anyone around him he felt like a small, confused boy unsure of how to act.
Or maybe it was because the first time he had been truly been in the city was when he was eleven years old and he had spent day after day inside, frightened of the strange new world beyond. Even when he had traveled with his father they had avoided large cities such as this one, instead preferring to stay in the smaller rural area. The business of New York City had set his mind spinning when he had first set eyes on it; it seemed as if t here wasn't enough space to even breathe without bumping into someone or something.
He never let anyone know what effect the city had on him. His father had once said that he was as easy to read as an open book, he just had to look into the boy's face to know exactly what he thinking; Jace had known this would give away his true feeling for the city so he spent hours practicing until no one could see the terror the city would draw forth in his eyes. To ensure even if his mask slipped he wouldn't be given away he had forced himself to act like he adored every aspect of the city: the loud noises, the dirty streets and alleys, the pushy people, the smell of exhaust that filled the air. He would have given anything to be able to return to the quiet, welcoming country where he had grown up but he knew it wouldn't happen so he feigned love for the city. Faking adoration for so long caused him at seventeen to occasionally feel as if he really felt the emotional about the city. But of course a person can still love the thing that terrifies them: a city of skyscrapers, the person others had built him to be, the fact that he would never return to his home, or the strange feelings for this red headed girl he had just met.
a/n: Bam. There you go. It was inspired by me having to go into the city and kind of freaking out and I thought it might work for Jace. Please, please tell me what you think.