**The characters names of The Mortal Instruments are owned by Cassandra Clare. The original content of this story are owned by Ms sweets, 2020. Please do not copy or reproduce my story without written permission.**
A/N Boo! đź‘» Happy halloween guys! Decided to Treat you guys with a chapter. Enjoy x (Re-upload)
I recommend listening to the song that is mentioned in one particular scene before continuing.
Chapter 10 – Homegoing
"Come on guys. We can't be late. The taxi..." Maia called from the stairs, Clary didn't catch the last bit of what Maia was saying, too busy scrambling up her belongings and hurrying, she rushed out the door to join her, along with everyone else.
Today they were off to view the house they were all hoping to live in in September, after realising earlier on in the year, how well they got on together they had all agreed on getting a student house further away from campus and through Maia meticulous negotiation tactics they were able to go to the house early to have a look. This would be their first time going altogether, seeing how they had only been able to view it online. Trying to get everyone together for a decent hour was virtually impossible, but now the academic year was coming to a close, there was barely any assignments and so they had more free time.
Clambering down the stairs, they rushed through the main building and out the entrance, all standing looking for a taxi, "I thought you said the taxi was here." Simon asked.
"I never said that." Maia retorted, they all looked at her confused, even Clary had heard something about the taxi not it is entirety, but something of it.
"I could've sworn you did. When we were running down the stairs." He said back.
"I said it was near." Maia said defensively, cowering away from the accusing eyes, "Well Maia, near as in here, like round the corner? Or near, as in way over there?" Jordan questioned her; he was growing bored of just standing on the pavement.
"Like 15mins away." She answered warily.
"Maia!" They all moaned, "Why would you do that?" Jordan asked, clearly upset by having to be outside earlier than needed.
"Look guys, I had to work really hard to get a viewing of the house, and I'll be damned if we miss it, ok?!" she answered, flattening her flyaways "So, forgive me for getting you guys to leave out a bit earlier, I just want this to be good."
Everyone was silent for her speech, but as it came to a close, they all began to speak, moaning at the fact they were standing there like idiots. Clary hadn't joined in, instead she pulled out her phone and texted Seb.
Meet you at six?
Seb: Yeah, that's good.
It was Sebastian's birthday tomorrow and she had insisted on starting the celebrations tonight, a small drink with the guys and then spending the night chilling in her room, he wasn't in the mood to do anything big. In his own "I'm only twenty, nothing special." But it was special to her, it was her first time celebrating his birthday and she wanted to do something.
Seb: You heading out to see the house now?
Yeah, just waiting on the taxi.
Seb: Oh ok, just let me know when you get there.
Clary glanced up from her phone still hearing the bickering between her friends, she laughed to herself, shaking her head as she returned to her phone. Tapping away she wrote back to him.
I will baby x She pressed send, staring at the screen she scrolled up to their previous conversations and blushed, thinking of what it had led to, "Clary." She heard, snapping her head up, Maia waved her over as she held the taxi door open, "C'mon." Jogging to the taxi she hopped in joining Jordan and Simon in the back, Magnus was in the front speaking to the taxi driver and Maia sat beside her closing the taxi door and off they went.
Magnus paid the taxi driver as they stood waiting for him, they had all chipped with the fare, seeing it would be cheaper that way. Magnus had re-joined them, walking up to the house Simon knocked on the door and they waited, Clary took in the door as they patiently waited for whoever to open it, she glanced at the rusted metallic number right in the top middle of the door. A bunch of the silver bits had eroded off one of the ones revealing an orange tinge beneath it, with blackened spots, she had seen that on the site.
Clary liked the number they gotten, eleven, a cute number she thought. One and one, she didn't mind it at all, trailing her eyes away from the number she noticed the shade of the door, a rustic red, not a colour she would've painted a door too much like the close to the shade of a brick. She had realised it had looked more brighter in the pictures, more of a crimson shade. They mustn't have updated any of the pictures since they had first upload them, which kind of bothered her, if you couldn't be honest with the colour of the door or condition of the number, what would the inside look like?
Pulling her out of her thoughts the door opened and a woman stood behind it, a smile plastered on her face, Clary knew that smile though, the one you put on for customers trying to be friendly when you couldn't care less. "Hi everyone. Do come in, come on."
They hurried inside, jammed in the narrow hallway waiting to be instructed, "If you could continue down into the room straight ahead, I will join you there." She called from behind, moving forward the walked past the stairs and a closed door into the room, she heard the front door close. They had walked into the living room, which was a decent a reasonable size for the all to chill in, even though they had seen pictures and agreed to live there she didn't know if the pictures would hold up in reality.
"Right." She heard coming from the doorway as the woman made her way to the front of the group, "So I believe I spoke with one of you lovely ladies on the phone." Maia raised her hand slightly and smiled sheepishly, "Maia, right?"
"Yeah."
"Nice to finally but a face to the name. Well, welcome to the house, as Maia may already know, my name is Grace and I'll be showing you around today. Do excuse any mess that is present, the current residents are moving out, but they have neatened up as much as possible." The woman – Grace, was dressed amazingly in a maroon red trouser suit, that clung to her body just the right amount, it must've been tailored.
It had been paired with a white shirt, the one with the bow that tied at the front she could've sworn her mom had told her what they were called, and she laughed, thinking how they could get away with that name for a top. The lady – Grace had her blonde hair back in a tight low bun, it pulled her face back a bit from the tightness. She had kept her make-up simple, natural apart from the bold matte red lip she had went with, it complimented her pale complexion and her light brown eyes. Everything she wore went nicely together, nothing too over the top, even her shoes were a nice black heel.
Finishing her internal inspection on the woman she heard part of what she was talking about, "This is one of the few five-bedroom student properties that we have." Her smile still present.
"I noticed you didn't have a lot, when I was looking." Maia piped up,
"That's correct, we tend to keep it to a maximum of four. It's… easier to manage. And along with that we mainly get student groups of about three or four. But we do have the occasional five." She smiled at them, "Like yourselves."
"So, this is the living room and kitchen area, behind me and in front of you, is the living room and entertainment area, which I find to be a decent for a party of your size. Then behind you, if you care to look, is the kitchen area." She moved to go into the kitchen and the turned to watch.
"The fridge and other white goods will be here when you move in as its inclusive, and of course the stove. It is a gas top, so we do say be careful when cooking, there are emergency precautions on the wall beside it and a fire extinguisher on the wall by the door. We haven't had any accidents as of yet and wish to keep it that way."
She was showing them the cupboards space and how much they could fit in, no one was really talking just taking in what the woman was saying. Slyly scooting over to Simon, she whispered to him, "Hey Si."
"Hmm..." He turned his head slightly his attention fixed on Grace, listening intently to every one of her words. Rolling her eyes, she carried on, "You know that thing around the woman's neck?"
She saw his brows raise in confusion to what she was asking, so he looked down at her, his attention shifting, "What are you on about?"
"The shirt she's wearing it has a name."
He continued to look at her as if she was crazy, "Clary, I thought it was a called a shirt, a white shirt."
She sighed heavily, "No silly, it has that funny name. something to do with body parts."
"Peter pan?"
"How is that a body part?" She asked baffled by he answer
He shrugged, "At least I guessed."
Going back to listening to Grace, something started to bother her, she got a nagging feeling she was forgetting to do something. "If you'll follow me, I'll show you the upstairs." Leading the way, she left the room and the rest followed.
They were all bunched on the stairs when she stopped and faced them to speak again, "These are the first flight of stairs and if you look ahead you have one of the first bedrooms, which is conveniently placed by the bathroom. There are just the few steps," she pointed down to where they were, there was only about three steps, "If you want to look down, you'll see them, they lead up to that area, so be careful. Now I'll show you the next part of the house."
As everyone continued up the stairs, stayed still, "Shit." Muttered to herself, she was supposed to text Sebastian, quickly writing a message she sent it.
So sorry, forgot to text. But we're here now, been here for about 15mins
It didn't take long for Seb to text back, he was a quick texter on most days, unless he was in class and even then, he was texted back in a responsible time frame.
Seb: No worries, hope all goes well. See you later x
Putting her phone in her pocket, she went and found the others hearing Grace's voice she joined them one of the rooms and stood by Simon, "The room is quite spacious and again you get some things, like the bed and dressers. You can buy your own dressers and mattresses if that's what you would like, just keep the old mattress to the side and return it back on the bed at the end of your tenancy."
It was a nice room. The walls where a plain white with a feature wall that was coloured purple, she could see herself living out her remaining years in there, but she still had three other rooms to see.
"Because the current tenants are in the process of moving out, this will be the only bedroom I can show you. As you saw on your way to this room, there were another set of stairs to your right that lead up to another bedroom and one another one on this level. So, in this section of the house there are three bedrooms, roughly about the same size."
Magnus hadn't spoken much since he had got there and neither had Jordan, Maia was the only one really addressing the lady and any asking the questions. Jordan didn't seem like to the type to really care about the house process, he just needed to know it wasn't shit and it was in a liveable state.
But she didn't get Magnus' silence, he was always talking about the house and now, nothing. For weeks he had been going about how he'd decorate his room, granted he was given permission, design and fashion was his thing.
"Is a dickie bow?" Simon bent down to ask her, cutting into her thoughts
She shook her head, "No. I think your close though."
Taking out her phone to check the time – 1:30, she unlocked it and quickly skimmed through her photos, when she stumbled across Marie, the cat from The Aristocats and it clicked, "Pussy bow!" Clary splurted.
"Yes!" Simon shouted in agreement. Suddenly all eyes were on Clary and Simon, making her realise what she had done. Feeling slightly awkward by her outburst, she felt her blush spread, "Pardon?" It was the lady – Grace, who spoke.
Clary was embarrassed and couldn't think of a way out the situation, "Hmm."
"You just… shouted out…" Clary could see the lady didn't want to repeat what she had just said and Clary wasn't about to say it either, so she waited, for the women to try and finish her sentence. She was not making the next move.
"Erm… Pussy bow." She said it, Clary hadn't thought she would actually repeat it, glancing over to the others, she could see they were holding in their laughter, trying to keep a straight face. Why were none of them helping her? They were just watching as she sunk further into her pit of despair.
Taking a deep breath, she nodded, "Yes I did, I was referring to your top, shit – shirt, I meant shirt." Grace continued to look alarmed, to much of Clary's delight. This was going from bad to worse, "I'm a fan of that style shirt you're wearing and I've been trying to remember what it is called... all this time."
She wanted to vanish immediately, where was Jace when she needed him? If only he could help her disappear.
"Yes, that is the name of type of shirt I'm wearing." Awkwardness. That summed up the whole ordeal and she really wanted out now.
"So, about the other bedrooms?" Maia cut in, diverting Grace's attention to herself
"Yes, if you'll like to follow me." She left again, Maia winked at Clary and left too, with Jordan and Simon following. Thinking she was alone Clary let out her frustration a bit, silently screaming, she thought that had to be one of the most embarrassing things she had experienced in her life, she'd never live that down. Feeling somewhat better she turned to go to the group and saw Magnus standing there, watching her.
"You alright there Biscuit?" He was leaning against the doorframe, watching her, there wasn't an ounce of sarcasm in his question just genuine concern.
"I've haven't melted into a poodle of patheticness. So I guess I am."
"So it's ok if I say that was funny then?"
She sighed, "Laugh about it later. It's just too soon right now."
"Ok. Come on Biscuit." He nodded towards the door, but she didn't budge, "What do you think of the room?"
He moved towards her, inspecting it "It's not too bad, needs a bit of a work."
"Do you see yourself in here?" He shrugged,
He really wasn't being himself, "Are you ok Magnus?"
"I'm fine." She didn't believe a thing his was saying, he had air of sadness about him the past few days.
She scooted closer to Magnus, "You know you don't have to bottle things in. You can talk to me." She knew he was thinking about her words, fighting whatever turmoil he was holding in, "I know Clary. Just a lot on the mind."
"Whenever you're ready to unload some, I'm here." She didn't push any further and went to cross the room to leave, when he called to her, "I don't wanna go home."
"Why?" She was taken aback by this, facing him she could see the tension in his shoulders.
"I'm free here." He smiled at her, "For the last year I've been able to be me and none of you have judged me for that. Or even questioned me. You've teased me, calling me a little whore and the other names but all in good fun, like I tease you. None of you have cared about who I brought home or who I've went home with, you don't act weird cause I'm gay. You just… accept me." She wanted to say something to him, making him know she didn't care about who he liked, that wasn't her business or anybody else's for that matter, but she knew he wasn't finished, "And it's been such an amazing feeling… But when I go I home, where I live, I'll have to go back to something I don't want to."
"Then don't."
His smile faltered and settled into a grimace, "Not that easy."
Walking over to where he stood, she spoke, "Magnus, some of the best things that happen to us in life don't come easy, but it doesn't mean we have to stop reaching, fighting for what we want." She rested her hand on his shoulder "You're an amazing person and you shouldn't have to hide all that boldness inside."
"You know when I went back for Christmas, as much as I enjoyed going home and seeing my family, I realized how much of myself I was hiding from my them and I didn't like it."
She would never have guessed Magnus wasn't the way he was here at home, he just always seemed to exuded confidence, brighten up any room he walked into. She loved it. To know her didn't feel that way completely with his family was upsetting, "So don't you think it's time to be yourself. There's nothing worse than not being able to be yourself around the people you love the most."
"I know what you're saying, but I'm not ready."
"Ok." She said softly, after a moment she said spoke again, "You know, if there's ever a time you don't wanna go home for a holiday, you could come stay with me."
Magnus laughed, not in humorous way but more of a "yeah, alright." way "I mean it, I've got plenty of spare rooms you can use at my house."
"How big is your house?" He laughed again.
She smiled at him, "Big enough for you stay there. Whenever you want."
Grasping the genuineness of her offer, his laughter died, and he thought about it, "I'll keep that in mind." He hugged her, "Thanks Biscuit." Pulling back, he looked at her, "We should go join the others."
..
"The house was amazing. Thank god we saw it." Maia exclaimed; they were all in the taxi on their way to shopping centre, "So who's getting the bedroom downstairs?"
Clary was taken aback by Maia had said, she didn't even know there was a room downstairs, "I think I want it." It was Jordan to pipe up, "I don't want to be climbing the stairs to get to my room."
"Ok, any other takers?"
"I'll take the one by the bathroom." Simon said, "Easy access."
"Right, two done. I think I want the one right at the top, if that's ok?" She looked over to Magnus and Clary, they had both sat next to each other in the taxi, "I don't mind." Clary shrugged.
"Right, so out of the two left which one do you want?"
Clary peered over to Magnus and he looked down at her, facing back to Maia she continued, "We'll figure it out."
..
"So, we've gotta be in and out. Cause it's already 3pm." Clary was reeling off what needed to be done "Get the cake, get the gift, get back… and get everything sorted." They had arrived at the shopping centre and were now standing in the middle of it, watching people go past them whilst they waited on Clary's instructions.
"Then get laid." Maia said whimsically
She sighed at the remark "That's not funny or even remotely true."
"Erm… Everybody's knows birthday sex comes into play at some point." She shook her head, which led Maia to continue "There's a whole song dedicated to it."
Maia and Jordan started to sing the song "Birthday Sex, Birthday sex..." Magnus then joined in with the adlibs, leading Clary to shake her head, whilst the continued to sing and laugh at her.
"Guys, I'm just gonna go do something ok? I'll catch up with you in a bit." Simon said distracted, he left, leaving the group before anyone could answer, Clary watched as she saw Simon's back grow further away.
"Clary can I borrow your phone? Mine is dead." Clary dug into her pockets and handed Maia the phone, she sat down on one of the benches and did whatever she needed the phone for.
"So, I'm going pop into Topshop and just pick up the present, maybe get something to go with it and I'll be right back."
"I'll come with you Clary." Magnus piped up "Give you some pointers."
"How kind. Jordan?"
"Count me out, I'm gonna stay with Maia." Settling himself in a spot next to her, Clary left them to chill, while her and Magnus went to get Sebastian's gifts.
Returning, Clary saw them exactly where she had left them, they were deep in conversation until she was close enough to them and they stopped. Looking towards Jordan she asked him a question "Has Simon come back at all?"
"Nah."
She really was starting to wonder where he had disappeared to. "He's a big boy, I'm sure he's fine." Maia chimed, Clary knew she was right and decided to drop it for a little.
"So are we done here or?"
"Nearly, I just need to get one more thing and then we can go." Just as she said that the pressure in Clary's lower region intensified "I need the toilet." She had needed it for a while, ever since she had been at the house but she didn't want to use their toilet she thought that was kind of rude, even though Magnus had pointed out that that would be their toilet soon, she couldn't bring herself to do it. she didn't know whether it had been cleaned or not and she didn't want to tease herself.
"Then go." Maia said
She had started to jig a bit, trying to hold it until they got back to the flat "But I've gotta get the cake and the toilets are on the opposite end. And I refuse to come back up here."
Magnus looked at her, smiling at her small dance "Biscuit just go, we'll get the cake. Please. Before you piss yourself."
Knowing she couldn't keep it in much longer she agreed "Ok, ok."
"We'll text Simon and meet you down there." Maia added
"Fine. See you lot in a bit." And she left them, in search of the toilets. As she hurried through the shopping centre to the toilets, she remembered she hadn't said what cake, patting her pockets she realised she didn't have her phone, she had given it to Maia to use. Turning back, she could still see them standing in the same spot, so she stopped and called to them "Magnus, Vanilla!"
She saw his head pop up and then Maia and Jordan's follow, seeing them looking at her, she shouted again "Vanilla." Getting a thumbs up from Jordan she ran, barely making it to toilets. Once she was finished sorting herself out, she left the restroom and was greeted by all four of them, holding up the bag Magnus smiled at her and she mouthed thank you.
..
As soon as she had gotten in the flat, she went to work on the little party, knowing she was limited in time, one hour was all she had and she barely had that, Sebastian had a habit of turning up early. After putting his things away in his room Magnus had offered up his services, which she was grateful for. By just having his extra pair of hands everything got sorted just in time for Sebastian to call her phone and say he was downstairs. Telling Magnus to take the bag with the cake and put in his room, she went to get Seb.
"Hey baby." He smiled, before bending to kiss her, wrapping his arms around her waist he pulled her close, making her lose her breath, she loved when he kissed her like that. He was a happy mood, probably from spending the day with his boys.
"Hey." She answered all flustered, "I like this."
He pulled back from her slightly "Like what?"
"What your wearing. I like it… a lot." He did look really good, he had on a fitted white top that clung to him perfectly, in the recent months Seb had been working out a bit more and she could see the difference in the way his clothes rested on him and she liked what she saw. He paired it with a beige jacket and a watch, she hadn't seen it before, it was probably the birthday gift he had gotten when he went home the previous weekend. Lowering her eyes, she looked at how the jeans sat on him, they were fitted style that had just the right amount of bagginess to them, Seb only wore dark jeans, but he had switched it up to a lighter blue and she approved. To finish off his outfit he wore some white trainers.
He smiled widely at her, "Thanks baby." Lowering his lips to ears he spoke again, "We should probably go upside."
"Ok." She nodded
Arriving at the main door she opened it, allowing them both to enter, the went into the kitchen where they were greeted to everyone shouting, "Happy Birthday Seb!" she herself was shocked, she hadn't told them to do that but the fact they did made her smile. Everyone was gathered around the table and wearing those stupid pointy party hats, which confused Clary for a sec, as she hadn't brought those. Who did buy them? she thought, Sebastian laughed, wrapping his arm around Clary "Guys, guys my birthday isn't till tomorrow," He looked up, seeing the banner across the windows in the kitchen and the other decorations "But this, this is amazing. Thank you guys. Thanks baby." He pecked her cheek.
Moving further into the kitchen Seb went around greeting everyone and cracking a few jokes here and there, as he got around to Jordan, he let out a loud laugh, Jordan must've said something but hadn't caught it and to be honest she didn't really care. What she cared about was that Seb enjoying himself.
"We know it's not till tomorrow, but still… Gotta give it 100." Jordan said, giving him a big hug.
Seb placed his hand on his shoulder "Nothing but love man."
Clary watched in awe, seeing how happy Sebastian was, despite him saying he didn't want to do anything. She smiled to herself when she found Sebastian's eyes on her, feeling the love emanating from his look making her smile grow in return, he turned back to Jordan.
"You did good Clary." Magnus now stood beside her, she glanced up at him "Now that, is a man in love." She didn't feel the need to say something in that moment, instead she took in Magnus's word and how they made he feel, knowing that the gorgeous boy she hadn't dreamed of had walked in her life and made it so much better.
The party continued and laughter ensued, as they all danced and played a few games "You're cheating! How is tha – how is that fair? You're cheating!" Simon shouted making everyone burst out in laughter, the night remained that way riding the high of happiness and fun and it was perfect.
Seb said he needn't the toilet and left which Clary used as her que to set up the cake for him, it was nearing 11:30pm and she could tell Seb was ready to call it a night. Asking Magus to grab it, she got the lighter and candles out the drawer ready for when he came back with the cake. Pushing the drawer shut, Magnus came back with the cake and placed in on the table.
Clary froze, "You got chocolate?"
"Yeah." He answered kind of unsure, "What's wrong with chocolate?" He questioned
"Clary doesn't like chocolate." Simon mentioned, making the others look at her weirdly, when she heard footsteps behind her. Finally seeing the body come into frame she saw Sebastian "Seb, you weren't supposed to see yet." She was beginning to feel more disheartened, coming to stand behind her, he rested his hand on her lower back.
"Baby its fine, I like chocolate." He smiled at her, rubbing her back lightly.
"I know, I know." She whined "But I did ask for vanilla."
"No, you didn't mention one at all."
"I did, when I was shouting. I thought you guys heard me"
"Sorry Clary. We got none of that." Maia spoke up,
It was Jordan turn to say something now, "Yeah, we just saw you flailing your arms about and your lips moving. That's why I put my thumbs up. So you'd stop."
Clary pinched her eyebrows in frustration
"Baby, it really doesn't matter." Sebastian was still trying to reassure her "C'mon, if it's any consolation, I'll buy you a vanilla cupcake tomorrow."
"It's not about me. Honestly. Let's just, put your candles on so you can blow them out. Ok?"
Taking the cake out of the packaging Clary put the candles on it and lighting all twenty, she held up the cake in front of Sebastian and queued in everyone to sing Happy Birthday, coming to end of the song she saw how excited he was to blow them out "…Happy Birthday to, you." He blew and they all cheered.
Not long after they all had had a slice of cake except Clary, Sebastian thanked them for the party and said goodnight, retreating to Clary's room with her.
Once in the room Sebastian stripped off to his boxers and put on a pair of pyjama bottoms, before he moved to lie on her bed, she hadn't budged from the door yet. She was just resting against, watching Seb spread himself, she could tell he was exhausted, but it wasn't midnight yet and she wanted to see in his birthday with him awake. Finally pushing herself off the door she opened her drawer and grabbed her pjs, quickly going to the bathroom and changing in them, finishing up she saw the numbers on her phone, it was time.
She left the bathroom and looked over at Seb, "It's midnight." Jogging over to the bed, she plopped down beside Sebastian and bent to kiss him "Happy Birthday baby."
"I'm no longer a teen." He said into her hair, she pulled back to look at him, "Baby you're a man. I'm dating a man now" She joked.
"A grown man." He said fervently, grabbing her shoulders forcefully before laughing and releasing her, she laughed too. "We should play some birthday music."
"I'm too grown for that. I thought you heard, I'm a grown man."
"You're never be too grown for birthday music. So, what should I play?
Slipping his hands behind his head, he relented "Something easy on the ears." She smiled, searching through her phone she skimmed her playlist, settling on a song she pressed play "It's your birthday you don't have to nothing…"
"What song is this?"
"It's nice isn't it? It's Destiny Child – Birthday."
"You did alright kid." He answered playfully, as the music continued the playfulness faded and another tone took its place, Sebastian breathing had slowed and more loving look appeared on his face, "Come 'ere." Crawling up she nestled herself by his side, resting her head on his chest.
She lay like that for a while, listening to his heart beat in its rhythmic sequence, it went so well the song, that she could still faintly hear in the background. It had started playing from the beginning again, but she couldn't be asked to take it off its loop. Not long after, a thought crossed her mind, "You know…" She lifted her head off his chest to look at him, "You never told me want my punishment was."
He frowned slightly "Hmm, I didn't?"
"Nope." He tucked a stray hair that had fallen into her face behind her ear, "Hmm, I guess I'll have to think of one." A smirk played at his lips.
Her eyes narrowed at him "You said that last time."
He kissed her lips softly; she could feel his smile against her lips "I know." This made her giggle whilst Sebastian moved to deepen the kiss and she happily accepted, his hand slowly roaming her body, maybe Maia was right after all.
..
"It's so good to have you back kiddo." Her dad engulfed her in a hug, squeezy the living daylights out of her, she had to admit, it was nice being back at home, in the last year she had barely spent any time with her parents due to going to Uni and working, which she wasn't really happy about. She had been looking forward to coming back home since she got the date of when the semester would be ending, Clary had missed spending time with her parents. "Thanks dad."
His arms loosened from around her and making she silently rejoice in the freedom from her father's death grip, they were both standing in her room, looking at everything back in its place, apart from the new additions from Uni she had brought back.
Her dad had helped bring her belongings upstairs which she kindly accepted, she couldn't imagine bringing them up by herself and Simon had to help her bring them down in the first place. But her dad offered, even though he would have to go up and down three flights of stairs repeatedly, she he would be tired by the end, it was tiring for her do it let only her dad. They got to work carrying her boxes up, she thought she should have waited for Si to finish up at work, but he finished late and she didn't want to do it too late on in the night. She just wanted her space back.
In the midst of her packing her stuff away her dad had started to help – provided he got permission to go through the boxes, this gave her some time to talk to him about trivial things and just enjoy his company.
Feeling the air fill her lungs again, she asked her dad a question, "So, what time is mom coming back?"
He glanced at his watch then looked at her, "I think eight? She's had an important meeting today and then some work to finish up. Take away tonight kiddo."
"That's fine." Sliding her arm around her dad's waist she moved them out her room and down the stairs, "Speaking of important things… How is the book coming along?"
"Well, I am close to finishing the chapters, I'd say I've got about, erm… five more and I'll be done. And then it's just fine tuning everything."
Clary had refrained from asking her dad about his book for a while, knowing not to bother his process and so she could talk to him about it face to face, "It's so cool that you're finally getting your book published. Like, I know It's not out yet, but I'm still so proud of you."
She could see a smile form on his face "Thanks kid."
"So… I get a free copy when it's out right?" She asked, as they approached the last set of stairs, this made her dad laugh.
"No. Support your old man kid, you pay like the rest."
She took her arm from around him and froze on the step to make a point, "How is that fair? I contributed ideas."
"So did your mother but she will be paying for hers too." He shouted up, further along on the steps.
"That's so mean." She replied in a joking tone.
"That's business kid." He didn't bother look back and carried on into the kitchen, "Now, what do you want to eat? Chinese? Curry? Thai?"
Unfreezing from her spot on the steps she followed in his route, "Not fussed, but I think we should get something more for mom." Her dad was resting on the counter going over the different menus, his glasses now on his face. Peering up from the pamphlets he nodded in agreement, "Chinese." They both said.
"What time should we order it?"
"Roundabout six, cause it'll take about 40-45 minutes for it to come and by the time mom comes it will still be warmish." She answered
"See, smart kid. Same ol' same 'ol?"
"Of course."
Lifting up his watch his set an alarm for six, hoping the food and her mom came at the right time "That sorted, want to chill with your old man?
"Always."
The two of them settled in the sofa, her dad flicking through the channels trying to find mildly interesting "Any request?"
"No, not really. Just not, the news, we will not be doing that today."
He chuckled; Clary quickly scrolled through her phone answering the messages in the group chat, everyone was back home now. Maia had sent in a few pictures of her boxes piled up in the corner of her room, whilst Magnus had sent pictures of the beach making her slightly jealous.
"I forgot to tell you this but, I used a little of you in the book." This made her look up, Clary's dad hadn't mentioned anything in depth about the story, apart from a soft outline of what he was trying to write, so him telling her he had incorporated part of her in it was new and exciting news to her, "Really? That's so cool."
"Well, I used an event of yours."
"Ok… You've lost me." She wasn't sure where her dad was going with this, and most of all which embarrassing moment had he picked to pin in his book.
"I'm not sure if you remember, but I partially used what happened in the garden when you were younger."
"What?" Her heart sunk, knowing exactly what his was on about.
"Do you remember when you said you had that imaginary friend, that a man disappeared in front of you?"
Her mom had told 'Uncle Luke' at the time, about the incident a few days later when he had come to visit her. Clary sat outside the living room, trying not to get caught being out of her of her bed at such a late time. When she heard them talking about, her mom spoke on how she initially thought a strange man had come out from the words and how that made her feel she was a bad mom for leaving Clary outside so long.
Luke had reassured her, before she had continued with her story going on to how Clary had said the man had disappeared in front of her, and that she had to explain it was just imaginary friend and that it was real. Clary remembered the pain she felt from her mom not believing her and that they had both laughed at that, making little her run back up to her room.
She didn't say anything, which her dad mistook for her lack of remembrance, "I intertwined it into the story for one of the characters, I thought it make a great scene."
Not a word, had left Clary's mouth, the earlier emotion she felt from her dad telling her he had put her in his point was gone and replaced with something else, it wasn't anger or pain, but it was something. She knew her dad didn't do it to be malicious, but that was her sacred moment that he was writing for the pleasure of others and she wasn't sure she liked that, especially knowing that they had never believed what happened despite it being true.
"Everything alright there kid?" Concern in his voice.
Shaking away her internal turmoil, she nodded, "That's great dad. Let's find something to watch."
..
Months had passed since his last visit to Clary, in the days he spent of those many months he had admired the small blue box in his room, that sat atop of his shelf, for some time he waited for his birthday to approach, not that he was particularly cared for this birthday more so than the others, but there was something he wished to do. He had clung onto the words Clary had said to him, promising himself and her, that he would wait till his birthday came to open the small box that had been accumulating dusk.
January 18th; midnight, carefully unravelling the ribbon he discarded the fabric on his bed, the time had arrived for him to open up Clary's gift. He thought back to the present Clary had gotten him, the Christmas one, in the moment she had given him the present he fought to not open it in that instance, instead he thanked her promising to open it when he returned to the institute.
Entering his chambers, he hung his outerwear on the door hurriedly, narrowly catching the hook, he sat in the chair "Master Herondale, welcome back –"
"Aaida be still." He spoke dismissively, his attention solely on the larger red box in his hands, "I wonder what you are?"
Though he was itching to open the box he also wanted to just admire it, Clary needn't have brought him a gift, let alone two, (one being for his birthday) but here he sat with the larger box tracing his fingers along it.
Finding the opening, he lifted it up to see the contents of the box and then he saw it, his gift nestled in white tissue paper sheets. A mechanical hand lay there, griping onto hourglass sand timer, removing it from the box he took a closer inspection, it was mesmerizing. The hand had cogs on it as in the ones he would find in antique clock, holding up the hourglass making it appear it was levitating, the darkened sand sat in bottom slightly disturbed from his movements.
Stirring to set it on his chest of drawers a note fell from the box, stopping him in his tracks he bent to pick up and read,
"Time is a borrowed concept for many, so use what you've been handed with care."
Merry Christmas Jace,
Clary x
He repeated the words to himself before speaking aloud, "That I will."
"Happy birthday Jonathan!" Jace stood at the bottom of the stairs, internally shouting at his mother's name choice. Despite his persistent protesting to her calling him by the name her preferred, she still continued to call him by that, "Mom." He huffed.
"Alright, aright, I was just messing with you." She excused herself from the fixing the flowers and making her way over to him. Jace's parents' house was just like most modern places, overly big and bright – devoid of any other warming colours. He always considered it cold, uninviting, a giant shell completely empty of what made it a home, instead, having a few miscellaneous objects that had no real structure to them, this was just a showroom, not a home.
Watching as she came over to him, he saw her eyes flicker to his chest and lack of material that adorned it, he she was aware of how eager she would be to say something. Now she was in front of him, bending he kissed her cheek, his mother was no short woman, but she was still shorter than him, so bending was still necessary, "Jonathan why are just wearing you night bottoms? You can catch a cold like that."
He rolled his eyes, "Mom, just call them pjs and need I remind you, that if you continue to call me by that name, I won't come home for my birthdays."
She hit him lightly, turning the corner to go in the kitchen, he followed her, "You wouldn't dare deprive your own mother of that."
"But mother I would. I know a sweet spot in history that I would not mind visiting."
"Think about your father."
He furrowed his brows, "I'm sure he would happily come along if he were able." This comment resorted in a fairly nasty look towards him by his mother. Making him slightly tickled, Jace went to the dining table pulling out a chair, the seat was cold as usual, none of the furniture in the house had any real structure to them. Nothing with harsh edges, everything was soft, smooth, white, giving a false sense of purity – hush money promises.
"I prepared some breakfast for us. Good old-fashioned pancakes with syrup and eggs and bacon on the side."
"Where's dad?"
"He'll be back in a moment." She answered sitting the plate and cutlery in front of him, "Look what I got Aaida to do." She said happily
"Mom –" Jace was in no mood to hear what she had done with Aaida.
"Aaida."
"Mom." Jace played with the ring on his finger, trying to not get irrigated by the AI.
"Mrs Herondale." Aaida answered.
"Play the surprise."
"Very well Mrs Herondale." An upbeat tempo began to play, making Jace spin the ring faster, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birth –"
"Aaida stop!" Jace cut into the robotic singing having heard enough of it, chancing a look at his mother he saw the shock on her face, realising his sudden outburst he counted down to himself, "I apologise. I'd prefer if you kept Aaida unevolved with today's events."
"Your hatred for this thing, I never did understand it."
"And you never will." He mumbled
"Pardon?" His mother called to him, "Nothing mom. Thank you for the breakfast."
She had finally brought her plate over to the table joining him to eat, Jace had his reasons why he didn't like the AI as much, but he knew he wasn't ready to tell his mom of the troubles he endured at Alicante and that she wouldn't be ready to hear it either. Only his father was aware of why he had left, and they had both sworn never to speak it, at least that was the agreement in exchange for his departure from the school.