"Shouldn't we be the ones taking you out somewhere?" Clary sung out as she swung her and Sebastian's joined hands between their bodies. "You know—since you're the one that got the promotion."

"You guys already congratulated me," Sebastian grinned over at her before looking back to Jace who was on his other side, Sebastian's other hand grasped in his. "I wanted to say thank you for that." Clary smirked up at him and then winked past him at Jace before she skipped a step ahead, tugging a little on Sebastian's arm as they got closer to the restaurant. Sebastian let out a laugh and sort of jogged ahead with her, his hand falling out of Jace's, and he looked back at Jace with a question on his face, but Jace just grinned, shoving his hands into the pockets of the jacket he was wearing and watching as the two of them went ahead, Clary was incredibly hungry and incredibly thirsty, apparently, since she had been looking up the menu and drinks list the whole car ride there.

Something just felt as though it had really clicked recently.

They had obviously all agreed to this relationship and to give it a try, and he had been so happy, especially after Vegas, but he had been a little worried at the beginning. He'd been nervous that Clary wasn't going to give them all a proper chance and she was going to get cold feet and call the whole thing off, say that they were better as friends, and...She didn't.

It had been almost six months now, and they were still together, and it felt as though they were solid. None of them were putting pressure on where the relationship was going, but it felt as though they all wanted to make something out of what they had, they were all working together. Clary was getting better when she had questions about things she wasn't sure about in the relationship, Jace was getting better at asking for what he wanted or needed rather than pushing it to the side, and Sebastian was getting better at stepping back and letting the others take the reigns, since he was used to always being the one with a plan. There were things that they all had to work on, and they were all so different that there were things they clashed on and wanted to do differently, but...It most of the time it was really, really good.

"Jace?" Sebastian's voice was amused as Jace reached the two of them and he blinked as he realized they were watching him. Sebastian was grinning and Clary rolled her eyes before reaching out to slap his ass and giggle as she walked into the restaurant.

"What?" He asked, unable to stop his own returning smile as he looked at Sebastian.

"You just looked a hundred miles away," Sebastian shrugged. "Everything good?"

"Yeah, it's great," Jace replied, leaning in to press his lips to Sebastian's cheek in a chaste kiss before following after Clary. Sebastian had been the one to pick out the restaurant, and it was nice, the exact type of place that three of them liked—the atmosphere wasn't too uptight and it was right on the waterfront, with all the doors and windows open so there was a nice breeze coming in, and the sun was sinking and casting gorgeous colours over the rippling ocean. The vibe wasn't too uptight, the waiters and waitresses in simple black tee-shirts and jeans or denim shorts, but there were still nice table cloths on all the tables and little candles and flower arrangements at each one.

"I like it," Clary said approvingly as they walked up to the hostess, Sebastian putting his hand on Clary's lower back as he moved slightly in front of her to speak to the woman, giving his name and the time of their reservation. They were lead out to their seats, on the deck, in one of the far corners next to the glass barrier that gave them a clear view of the ocean and the beach a little further along and Clary's stomach dipped as she took in the candles on the table and the three place settings laid out in the private alcove.

This was a proper date.

And—it was probably really stupid, for this to be hitting her right now, because they'd been officially dating for a while now, but it felt like this was their official date, and it...It made her heart race and her palms sweat a little bit. They had gone out for brunch and for drinks, but it had always been casual, and they had done that before all this had started, this just felt different because it was at a nice place, and it was a proper sit-down-at-a-table-dinner not at a bar or a booth, and they were all dressed up a bit. She had never gone on a date. That had always been her thing, that she didn't date, and she knew it wasn't actually about the single date part, it was about the whole relationship around it, and she had already been doing that, but this was the date part, and she hadn't had that before.

"Clary?" Jace's fingers were soft against the back of her hand as he pulled out a chair for her, the one in the middle, and she couldn't help herself. She turned to him and kissed him hard on the mouth, ignoring the fact that the waitress was standing right behind them, talking to Sebastian about their wine selection.

Jace had always been so important to her, but...Letting him into her heart like this was different, because she'd never let herself feel like she was going to fall in love before. And Sebastian, the way she felt about him was different but just as intense, it was forever changing between these explosion of new emotions as she discovered something new about Sebastian, given he and Jace had known each other longer, and this steady thrum under her skin that made her feel safe and as though she had known him for years.

"Did you guys want to hear the specials, or are you good?" Sebastian asked, interrupting their kiss with a smirk, and Jace and Clary looked back at him and the waitress, Sebastian just looking amused while the young waitress looked flushed.

"I'm ready to hear the specials," Clary grinned, ignoring the way her own cheeks were burning as she slid into the seat that Jace had pulled out for her. There was a short, breathless laugh from Jace as he took his own seat, and Sebastian was grinning as he sat down on his other side, the three of them turning back to the waitress, who was looking between them as though trying to work something out, but as Sebastian casually reached out a hand and rested it on Clary's arm that was on the table, and Jace's arm rested across the table with his fingertips brushing the side of Sebastian's wrist, she seemed to understand, and there was a smile on her face as she looked back up at him, eyes bright with curiosity.

She ran through their specials and let them know she'd be back soon to get their drink orders, and then just before she left, as Sebastian and Jace were talking about what whiskey was on the menu, she lowered her voice as she spoke to Clary.

"Your boyfriends are gorgeous—you're so lucky," she said, and Clary couldn't help the wide grin, her cheeks aching a little from how big it stretched, and she turned her head to reply, but the waitress was already walking off with their order. Clary watched her go with a grin, before turning to look back at Sebastian and Jace, who had missed the whole exchange and were still talking about what they wanted to drink, and she just enjoyed the moment, picking up her water glass and sipping from it. They all decided on their drinks, and then the starters and what they wanted for their mains, and they placed their order, and the sun was getting a bit lower and there were fairy lights all twined around the single metal bar that ran along top the glass barrier beside them, and the whole atmosphere was just really nice.

"Holy shit," Sebastian closed his eyes and moaned. "This is ridiculous.

"I wanna try!" Clary all but demanded, putting down her own knife and fork and looked pointedly over at Sebastian. Jace snorted into his own meal as Sebastian cut off the corner of his steak and made sure to lather it in blue cheese sauce and spear through one of the seasoned beans as well and held up his fork to Clary. It was very proper date-like, getting fed by one of her boyfriends, and sure, it was a little cringe-worthy, but it wasn't as though this was their normal behavior so she could accept it as a one off.

She liked it as a one off.

"Fuck, that's amazing," she shook her head as she finished her mouthful. Sebastian smiled fondly at her, swiping at the corner of her mouth gently, where some of the blue cheese sauce as gathered, and Clary shot him a small, intimate smile before sipping from her cocktail.

"So...This means that you're going to be getting more weekends off," Jace began as he looked over at Sebastian, as he finished his dinner and pushed the plate away from him a little and leaned back in his chair, his legs stretched out under the table.

"And nights," Sebastian added and Clary wiggled around a little in her seat.

"I don't think I've been so excited about someone not working through the weekend since high school," Clary laughed. "I remember we always used to have to work our plans around my shifts at the ice cream boutique and Simon's job at the DVD store." Sebastian paused at that, and he smirked.

"You worked at an ice cream boutique?" He asked and Jace grinned.

"The outfit she wore is exactly what you would expect for an ice. Cream. Boutique," he drew out the words and Clary rolled her eyes, knowing that they were both teasing her a bit, cheeks reddening but loving their attention on her. "It was cute as fuck."

"Do you still have it?" Sebastian wiggled his eyebrows at the pair of them and Clary widened her eyes and dropped her mouth, trying to look scandalized at his question but Jace was just full on laughing, to the point where he was gripping his stomach. "Or at least pictures? Please tell me there's pictures, right?" He looked toward Clary and stuck out his bottom lip, in a rare pouting expression that was completely adorable and all together unfair, and had Clary blinking at him as she scrambled for an excuse.

"I have the pictures!" Jace spoke up gleefully.

"You told me you deleted those!" Clary hissed as her head whipped to look at Jace, although her eyes were sparkling and she clearly wasn't upset.

"We were drunk and I told you I would think about it—I vividly remember saying I would think about it, not that I would do it because I would never want to delete those pictures, even if there's no way in hell I would forget those pictures!" Jace was laughing as he scrolled through the albums on his phone, and Clary's mouth was open as Jace turned his phone around and waved it so that both of his lovers could see the screen.

And a twenty-two year old Clary had squeezed into her ice cream boutique uniform one night when her and Jace were super drunk and talking about old high school stories stared back at them, hands propped under her chin and pouting exaggeratedly at the camera, her hair a complete mess given the state that she had been in that night. She had still fit into it, but after seeing how she looked like a cross between a candy striper and a slutty oompa-loompa, the next morning she had decided that the whole thing needed to be thrown out forever. She would have burnt it if they had a fireplace.

Jace, apparently still had evidence, though.

"Damn," Sebastian grin was gone, replaced with something just a little darker as he skimmed over the picture and let out a whistle, raising his eyebrows as he looked at Clary. "So you don't have it anymore? That's w

hat you said?" He double checked, and Clary rolled her eyes as she flicked at his elbow and both men laughed as Jace tucked his phone back into his pocket and relaxed back into his seat. Sebastian had driven there, since all he had gotten to drink was a bottle of beer even though Jace had been trying to talk him into trying one of the expensive whiskeys earlier—mainly because Jace wanted to try two different types of whiskey—but neither of the other two had had a lot to drink, just enough to loosen up a bit. The whole atmosphere was just nice and warm and encompassing and Clary was giggling as Sebastian's hand rested on her knee under the table and Jace flirted with both of them as their dessert was brought around and placed in front of them, and Clary was thinking about maybe ordering some tequila shots for her and Jace to really loosen them up when a hand landed on her shoulder.

"Hey, Clary," came a familiar voice and Clary turned her head to look up to where Maia was standing, with a tight smile on her face and her eyebrows raised as she looked between Jace and Sebastian. Just behind her was Jordan, who gave Clary a small smile, and she smiled back at him before her eyes flicked back to Maia. "How are things?"

"They're good," Clary smiled back easily, although she couldn't help but feel just a little on edge. Her and Maia were friendly, and she got on fine with Jordan, even though they had only really gotten together and had sex, but it just felt a bit strange, because Maia and her, they didn't really talk outside of sex. Whenever they hung out, they ended up having sex, that was generally the reason that they got together. It wasn't like with Kaelie, where they hooked up and had sex but also became really good friends and she was already friendly with Jace, and then her and Isabelle were friends as well, Maia had come out with them a handful of times, but it had definitely been as Clary's friend, not as part of the group. "What about you guys?"

"We're good," Maia replied, and her fingers brushed over Clary's bare shoulder in a way that was a bit too familiar and Clary had to fight to keep her forehead smooth, because she didn't want to be rude. "I didn't realize that—ya know, this was still happening," she looked back up, at Sebastian and Jace, and this time, Clary did frown, and she looked back at the two men at the table with her, who were both definitely frowning as well.

More glaring, really.

Clary didn't like that, and she bit down on her bottom lip as she turned back to Maia, trying to keep her voice light as she forced a small smile.

"Yeah, it is. We're actually just in the middle of dessert," she said, nodding down to where the vanilla bean ice cream was melting over her caramel cheesecake.

"Right," Maia nodded, and there was tightening around the corners of her mouth, as though she knew that she was being dismissed, and Jordan definitely knew as well, from the way that he put his hands on Maia's waist and seemed to be trying to move her along. "Well, I mean, feel free to send me a text when this is all over," Maia said, her voice light but a little bit of bite laced in there, and Clary's spine stiffened. Maia squeezed Clary's shoulder slightly and then leaned forward, and all Clary could smell for a split second was Maia's perfume, which she had always loved, but there was just something too sweet about it right now, and then Maia was pressing a very purposeful and very slow kiss onto Clary's cheek, more to the corner of her lips and when she straightened back up, Clary felt...Weird.

Kind of frozen, one of her hands still gripped around her spoon.

It felt like cold water had been dumped over top of her, completely ruining her good mood from earlier, and she felt Maia and Jordan move away from them, but she couldn't look back up at Jace and Sebastian just yet as she tried to file through her feelings.

She wasn't too sure what had happened, exactly, but she knew it wasn't good. She knew that if she looked up at Jace and Sebastian, they weren't going to be happy, although she already knew that Jace was going to be more upset than Sebastian. Logically, somewhere in the back of her head she knew that they had no reason to be mad at her, she didn't think? But maybe she should have pushed Maia away? Maybe she shouldn't have let her touch her shoulder to begin with? Maybe she should have shifted her chair a bit closer to Jace to put more space between them? She didn't know what the right thing to do was, she had just been trying to be polite and at least semi-friendly. She'd gotten a few messages from Maia, dating right back to when they were in Vegas and Maia had messaged her, asking when she would be back, saying that her and Jordan missed her, and she'd replied once or twice, saying that she was seeing Jace and Sebastian, because she didn't want to be rude, but now...Maybe she should have been clearer?

"Clary?" Sebastian's voice was low, and it was soft, not angry, not pissed, and it actually made her feel a bit calmer, lifting her eyes to look at him. "Should we go?" She nodded, still not looking at Jace, but she could feel his angry gaze on her.

"Yeah," she mumbled in agreement.

Heya, lovelies. Hope you enjoyed it. Be safe and kind.