Hi Everyone,
This story will mainly be Clace, some Malec and Sizzy. Slow updates. This is my first fanfic so I hope you guys like it. Unfortunately, I am not Cassandra Clare, so I do not own any of her fabulous characters. The plot's all mine though.
Chapter one.
"Shit!" The loud exclamation resounded throughout the apartment, startling the young woman who had been sitting in her art studio while her roommate had been out of the house. The abrupt end to the silence that had consumed her for well over an hour had made her jump and she almost knocked her paints over in the process. She carefully set them, and her paintbrush down for a moment while she re-tied her hair. A few strands of flaming red curls had escaped their hold and had been annoying her while she worked, yet she was too focused to stop what she was doing to fix them. Once she had finished, she grabbed her paintbrush once again, about to pick up where she had left off when the door slammed, shaking the walls of the apartment. Clary poked her head out into the hallway, seeing the back of Jace's golden haired head retreating to the kitchen. Sighing, she put her paintbrush down and went to join him.
Jace Herondale was business man, a lawyer, and a damn good one at that. He was usually very put-together, a crisp suit and tie every day. Clary should know, they had lived together for four and a half years. Everyday his attire was the same, which is why she was nearly stunned when she saw him sitting at the island in the kitchen, the first two buttons of his shirt undone, his tie hanging at the collar of his shirt, and his hair looking as though his fingers had run through it several times. "What the hell happened to you?"
"I did something stupid, Clary. Something so, so stupid." His face was strained, and one of his hands came up to run through his hair again, a nervous tick that Clary knew he had.
"Okay, well that isn't so bad. You do that daily." Clary teased, and for a moment Jace looked like he was going to laugh, until the spark in his eyes deflated and his face turned back to the way it had been from the mere glimpse she caught of it before he hid his face in his hands, elbows resting on the countertop. "Well, I'm obviously not helping." She paused, waiting for him to chime in as he usually did. "You know, the only way I'm going to be able to help you is if you tell me what is going on." Her voice coaxed Jace to remove his hands from his face and look up at her.
"It's so stupid, Clary." She rolled her eyes, annoyed.
"Yes, I got that part. I was looking for something more along the lines of what you did that was so stupid."
He sighed, and for a moment she was worried that he wasn't going to talk, which would be a first. They had known each other since senior year of high school, about seven years in all, and she had never heard him shut up. Even when she was brand new to the area, he talked to her like they had known each other for years instead of minutes. "You're not going to like it." He finally said, making her release a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
"Try me." Clary watched as he took a deep breath and shook his head.
"The guys at work were bugging me about my love life again." Jace carefully avoided Clary's gaze as he spoke, instead choosing to stare at the counter. "It all started out as the usual; pestering me about getting a girlfriend, like we were all back in high school. Then, they started asking if I was going to bring a date to the corporate Christmas party. Apparently, it's 'the' event of the year, lots of media coverage and the works." He finally brought his eyes up to Clary's to see if she was still paying attention. Her green eyes met his golden gaze evenly, and he continued. "I was so fed up with their incessant nagging that eventually, I exploded." He watched as Clary's eyes widened slightly.
"What did you do?" She asked, warily.
"I told them I had a girlfriend. Stupid. So, so stupid." Jace looked so torn up over this, Clary almost felt bad for laughing. Almost.
"That's…that's all?" She asked between giggles. "That's what you're so worked up about?" Jace was watching her with an unimpressed look, clearly waiting for her to finish.
"Yes, that's all. It's not as simple as it sounds." Clary tried and failed to stifle another giggle. Exasperated, Jace put his head in his hands once again.
"Jace, that's not bad. If anything, that's one of the better things you could have said. At least you didn't say something that got you fired."
"Clary, they all think I'm lying. I told them I've been together with this girl for a year, half as long as I've been working in the same place. You'd think that maybe once, I'd have let them know about my unavailability. No pictures, no nothing. It's like the girl hasn't existed, which, she hasn't, but, oh never mind." Jace all but slammed his head back onto the counter and didn't look up until he felt Clary's hand on his shoulder.
"Jace, if you think about it, that makes it even better. You don't have any pictures for them to go by, and it's not like you need a date by tonight, right? Isn't the Christmas thing around, you know, Christmas time?"
"Well… yeah, it is." The tone of Jace's voice caught Clary's attention. He was hiding something, she was sure of it.
"Do you want me to play along like I have no idea you aren't saying something, or would you like to just tell me?" Clary snapped, causing Jace to whip his head up, staring at her as if she had two heads. He eyed her cautiously as she stood there with her arms crossed, not backing down. If living with her for over four years had taught him one thing, it was that she was stubborn. He sighed, knowing he would eventually have to tell her, what with them living together and all.
"A few of my coworkers and I made plans a while back to get dinner together after we finished this project we've been working on for a few months. We finished the other day, and dinner plans were made for tomorrow night." Jace watched as Clary's eyes widened.
"You're not going to say what I think you're going to say, right?"
"If you thought I was going to say that now they made it a 'bring your significant other to dinner' night, then yes."
"Significant other?" Clary asked.
"Well yeah, Alec works with me, remember?" Jace's brother, Alec, was gay. He and his boyfriend Magnus have been together for almost as long as Clary had known them.
"Right. So, you need a date by tomorrow night." Jace nodded slowly, expecting her to come to the conclusion on her own. "That shouldn't be hard, just go out on the street shirtless, holding a sign that says 'Dinner date wanted.' That should get you a few takers." Clary giggled again as Jace continued giving her that expectant look. She gave him a weird look until the puzzle pieces began to connect, and her eyes narrowed as she looked at him once again.
"No. No way, absolutely not." His reaction was almost instantaneous.
"Please, Clary. I need you to do this for me, just this once, then I promise it'll be all over. After the Christmas thing, of course." Jace pleaded with her, but her gaze didn't soften.
"No way, it'll be too weird. Besides, Alec knows me, won't he be more than a little suspicious if you bring me as your supposed 'girlfriend'?"
"I'll talk to him about it before, so he'll know not to say anything. Please Clary. I'll do anything at this point." She eyed him warily, and he could tell the moment she had conceded to his whining.
"Fine. I'll do it. But, you have to buy my coffee for a week."
"Done." Jace had a huge smile on his face.
"I wasn't finished. I'm assuming that the Christmas event is going to be formal attire, right?" She paused until he nodded. "Then I'm going to need to buy a new dress. You have to go shopping with me." After a moment, she added "And Izzy."
Jace almost groaned at her request. Shopping with Clary was one thing, but dragging his sister, Isabelle, along? That would take all day. Still, he was asking her to be his fake girlfriend for more than one night, so he supposed that was fair.
"You've got yourself a deal, Fray." He stuck out his hand, and she shook it, both still unsure of exactly what was going to happen over these next couple of months.