Bright, sunny day. The birds were chirping loudly. Jace was surprisingly melancholy considering how bright a day it was.

He heard the patter of feet, and then Clary was smiling at him. "Your Royal Loneliness."

He swatted at her halfheartedly and she danced out of reach, laughing. It had been three years since they'd met, and Clary had only grown more and more perfect. Prettier, shrewder, wittier, kinder... the list went on and on.

"Go away," he said. "I'm in a sulking mood. I want to sulk."

"Ah, no," Clary said. "You see, I'm an Irish enchantress come to lure you into the woods and ransom your parents, and I can't do that if you're sulking."

Jace said dramatically, "Take me away, fair lady! To thee I owe my affections, small though they may be!"

Clary pretended to take offense. "It is not thine affections I desire, young prince, but thy heart."

Jace swallowed the impulse to tell her she already had it, instead pasting on a rakish grin. "Oh? and what of your suitors waiting to ask thy hand from thy father? What of them?"

Clary grinned mischievously. "All I desire is thy heart, young prince, and eventually all thy fortunes."

Jace laughed out loud. "Some enchantress you are."

"At least I'm honest about it," Clary pointed out, looking pleased. She was one of the few people who could make him laugh like that.

A strand of hair fell loose from her bun and Jace resisted the urge to reach out and tuck it away for her. At the tender age of fourteen, she had already ensnared the hearts of many of the guards' sons. Jace wanted to taunt them every time she ignored or failed to notice their obvious affections, but he didn't. Clary would probably never talk to him again, his parents would tease him even more, and it was just improper, being this close without being related.

Clary laid a hand on his arm. "Do you play the piano?"

He started, and she withdrew hastily. Jace cursed himself soundly. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," she said, attempting a casual air and failing miserably.

"Liar," Jace said easily. "Of course I know how to play the piano. A prince must be able to talk about fine things, not just swing swords and pose for portraits."

Clary looked him up and down, and Jace's stomach fluttered. "You wouldn't make for a very good portrait anyway."

"Lies!" He pretended to stagger back. "This is slander. I am extremely good-looking and photogenic."

Clary just shook her head and smiled. "What were you sulking about?"

All the humour leaked out of him. "Nothing."

Clary sat down in one of the armchairs patiently. "Jace, I've got all day."

"What about my mother?"

"Her Majesty gave me a day off."

Jace scowled. "I'm not talking to you about this."

"And why not?" she inquired calmly.

Because I like you, he wanted to spit out suddenly. I like the way you laugh, and the way you talk, and are one of the few people who call me by my first name. But I can't tell you, because you'll probably never talk to me again. You obviously don't feel the same way. But all he said was, "You'll judge me."

Clary lifted her eyebrows. "Jace, I caught you sneaking out of the royal kitchen, in your underwear, in the middle of the night, with your mouth stuffed with raw fucking potatoes. And I'm still talking to you."

Jace winced at the memory. "Well, that was me trusting you with my shame, and my inability to turn down a challenge. This is me trusting you with matters of the heart."

"Matters of the heart?" Clary looked delighted. His breath caught painfully. "Does Jace Herondale, Heir of the Brocelind Plains, have a crush?"

Jace ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe. But I'm afraid she won't like me back."

The moment the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to take them and stuff them back in. He had done it. He had gone and fucked up everything. Now she definitely knew who it was. Oh god, she would never talk to him again and he would never marry anyone and the Herondale line would end and the kingdom would rebel and he would have brought down doomsday all because of his inability to keep his stupid fucking mouth shut -

Clary stood up. "Oh, she doesn't like you back, does she?" She was smiling knowingly.

Jace's breath caught. There was no way she could know. No way.

She took a step, then another, and another until she was improperly close to him. "What if she did like you? What if she thought you were handsome and sweet and kind and utterly, utterly kissable?" Her eyes flicked to his mouth, then back up to his eyes.

Jace blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "'Kissable' isn't a real word."

Clary looked at him like he was daft. "What do you mean, of course it isn't a real word. I used it for emphasis."

Jace didn't know what else to say, or how to respond. If he said something wrong, she would never talk to him again. If he said the right thing, however...

He cleared his throat. "Well, then, I might just have to admit to her that I've fancied her and her laugh since the day we met. And I might also have to kiss her just to convince her my feelings are genuine. Hypothetically, of course."

Clary's lips quirked up. "Since the day we met? You mean to tell me you were blushing so much in the carriage because of my laugh?"

Jace glared at her. "And I got a good talking to from my parents because of that for three years." At her mystified look, he elaborated, "They greet me everyday in the morning with, 'How's your redheaded vixen, Jace?' Every single day."

Clary giggled. "Every day?"

"Well, they let me off on Sundays and Christmases," he amended, eyeing her mouth. It looked like a piece of fruit.

Something was wrong with him. That, or this was what people felt like when they fancied someone.

Clary tilted her head. "You know, I still don't think I'm very convinced of your affections for this girl. Perhaps you should reassure her." She batted her eyelashes at him, and Jace suddenly understood why girls did that, because her eyes looked dark and mysterious and coy, and he wanted to kiss her so badly it was an ache in his chest.

So he kissed her.

It was tender and hesitant and soft and barely there, because he was just touching his lips to hers very lightly, but then she made a noise of surprise and kissed him back. Her hands rested on his shoulders, then on the back of his neck, pulling him closer. He put his hands on her hips, and was emboldened when she didn't pull away. She tilted her head, and he did the same, and he could taste chocolate and sea salt all of a sudden. A painful tightness in his chest demanded his attention, and it was only when he drew away gasping that he realized he had run out of air.

He leaned his forehead against hers, unable to stop smiling. Clary liked him. Clary liked him back.

The girl in question smiled back. Jace was extremely aware of all the places they were touching, most importantly her hands around his neck. He felt drunk on skin-to-skin contact.

"I have this," she said, tracing a shape on his chest. It took Jace a moment to understand what she was talking about, dazed as he was. "All I need now is the castle, and enchantresses will hail me as a legend for generations to come."

Jace laughed. He was definitely drunk on skin-to-skin contact, most notably a type where lips touched. He bent down to press a kiss to her mouth. "My heart is all yours, temptress," he promised her. They didn't talk about the castle, or what waited a few years from now.

Instead, they laughed, and kissed, and he played the piano, and they kissed some more until the morning waned into afternoon and Clary had to go check on Queen Herondale and see if there was any help needed around the kitchen. Jace offered to come along, and she looked surprised for a moment before replying with a cocky smirk, If you can keep up with dirtying your hands, Your Highness.

He responded by kissing her swiftly, and chased her down to the kitchen, both of them laughing.

Hi! I hope you liked it, because I most certainly do. I just want to clarify that Clary and Jace are around the age of ninth-graders, so I don't think it's weird they have their first kiss now. Same goes for the swearing because I know a few ninth graders who are positively foul-mouthed (I'm looking at us, Aditi). So, anyway, thanks for reading. This may be the last thing for this AU because I'm working on a new fanfic and my original stories, but I'm happy to answer any requests for this fic!

Love, Miss Math Dork.