Hey guys! I'm back with another TMI One-Shot! If you're here from my THG fanfic, "Catching Fire: Retold", I usually write The Mortal Instruments One-Shots. (Also, I'll work Chapter 4 for that over the weekend!) So, it's been about a week since I last wrote anything because I actually finish my first week of sophomore year today (it's Friday when I'm right this author's note).
So, enough with the chit-chat. This fanfic is a clace mundane au One-Shot! Somebody left a review on my other mundane au One-Shot, telling me to write more, and I got the idea to write this story. This is a background: Valentine is actually in Clary's life as her father, but he's physically and sexually abusive. Clary's mother hasn't found out yet and is still totally in love with Valentine (she doesn't appear in this fic). Luke is suspicious of Valentine's cheating since he's Jocelyn's friend and has gotten to know Clary fairly well (again, he's not in this fic). Jace and Clary go to the same high school together, but they don't really talk since Clary's only friend is Simon.
If I do ever write mundane au's again, it's probably going to be the same background as this if you guys enjoy it. And with that, let's get into the fic!
TW: Talk/Mention of Physical and Sexual Abuse. (Not very descriptive, pretty mild.)
Clary POV:
Clary slammed the door of her apartment shut and stomped down the steps, her feet hurting from the force of the impacts. Again, she had tried to tell her mother about the awful things her fath- no, Valentine had done to her. Again, her mother had dismissed her claims, saying that he would never do such things and that she was a liar. It made Clary so, so angry and repulsed that her mother could continue loving that man. That man, who had been hitting and raping her for the past 10 years. (Clary is 16, the same age as the books.) She'd tell herself that if she could just convince her mother, make her see the truth, then she would leave him. Although, as more and more time passed on, Clary's hope began to dwindle. She began to believe she would never escape from Valentine. Never.
Pulling open the door of her apartment complex, Clary stepped out into the cool night air of Brooklyn. It was almost midnight in July and the weather was perfect. Deciding to take her usual longer walk, Clary went left down the sidewalk. As she walked, her mind went back to the screaming match that had ensued less than 10 minutes ago.
It had all begun with Clary going up to her mother - like she had so many times before - determined to have Jocelyn believe her claims. Again, the conversation started with: "Hey, mom. Can we talk?"
Once again, her mother had replied with: "Sure, sweetie. What's up?" Once again, her mother had smiled at her, a warm, loving smile that filled Clary with a renewed sense of hope.
"It's about dad." Her mother's smile went away. Her expression then twisted to one full of anger and disbelief. Still, Clary kept talking. She should've stopped then, if she'd known any better. It was like the first time all over again. "Mom, I swear all the awful things I said he's been doing to me are the truth. If you would just believe me-"
"Stop right there." She wouldn't even hear her out anymore. The first few times she had listened to the whole story. "Clarissa, I don't know what's been happening between you and your father, but you can't keep making these false accusations. You know better."
"I've told you what's been happening!" Clary shot back, her voice full of anger and disappointment, like it was every single time.
"Really? You expect me to believe that your father - your sweet, loving, and kind father - has been hitting you?! Raping you?!" Her mother had scoffed. "Clarissa, don't be ridiculous!"
"I'm not lying, though, mom!" Clary had cried the first few times by this point, but not anymore. "I swear, on my life, that I'm telling the truth! You say that Valentine is sweet, loving, and kind?! You must be so so, so naive and blind, then! If you can't see what's been right in front of you for the past 10 years-"
"ENOUGH!" Her mother had screeched. "Enough, Clarissa! If you don't stop with these stupid claims, then I'm cancelling your Tisch classes and grounding you until school starts!"
"Hmph!" That's when Clary had stormed out of the apartment.
Jace POV:
Jace had been wandering around New York for the past few hours now, utterly bored. Both Izzy and Alec were out on dates, Izzy with a random guy from school named Meliorn and Alec with his glitter addict of a boyfriend: Magnus Bane. Which, evidently, meant that Jace had absolutely no one to hang out with and that's how he ended up near his high school in Park Slope. Even though he lived in Manhattan, which was 33 minutes away via the subway. Throughout his walk, Jace had let himself think of her. The girl from school with the flaming red hair and emerald green eyes. The girl that he could never work up the courage to talk to, even though talking to girls had always been easy for him. She'd always seemed way out of his league, which was ironic because he was one of the most popular kids in school, while she was one of the least popular.
To be fair, he'd thought his mind was so engrossed with thoughts of her that he'd imagined her walking down the street towards him. It took him a few seconds to realize that she was actually there, with a murderous look in her eyes that would make any sensible person want to look away as they walked past. It's probably why he was so surprised when he walked right up to her and spoke. "Hey, you're Clarissa Morgenstern, right? From St. Xavier's?"
"It's Clary. Clary Fairchild." She snapped at him. "I go by my mother's last name, not my father's."
"Right, sorry." He probably should've said bye and walked away, but he didn't. "I'm Jace. Jace Herondale."
"I know." She rolled her eyes at him. "What do you want?"
He smirked at her. "Why so eager to get rid of me? Is my sheer beauty to intense for you? You can look away, if you must. I don't mind."
She scoffed at him. "No. It's because you're so goddamn annoying."
He just laughed, causing Clary to glare at him. "You don't have to lie."
"I'm not lying."
"Alright, then. If you say so.." He then got a good read on her then, now noticing the tension in her shoulders and the hoarseness of her voice. She'd either been yelling, crying, or both. "You alright? You seem upset."
She frowned at him then. "I'm fine. Just some family stuff."
"Huh." He shrugged. "You wanna get some food? I know a good diner that's open 24/7, but it's in Manhattan." When she had looked at him like he was out of his mind, he'd hastily added: "Y'know, to take your mind off things- not like a date."
Her expression had softened then. "Oh, um, sure. I don't really want to go back home anyways."
He just grinned at her and offered out his arm for her to take. Using a ridiculously fake British accent, he said: "Right this way, m'lady. I shall take you to the finest diner in all of New York City, Taki's." She looked at him then and almost - but not quite - smiled at him. Even though it wasn't a real smile, it still filled Jace's heart with joy.
Clary POV:
If you would've said to Clary six months ago that she'd be sitting in a booth at a diner in Manhattan with Jace Herondale, the King of St. Francis Xavier School, she wouldn't have believed you. It's not like she had much time to be swooning over guys at her school, with all of her problems at home, but that didn't mean she wasn't caught up on the latest gossip. Jace Herondale was the most desired guy at school, with numerous girls asking him out every single day. Shockingly, he turned every single one down, which made her wonder why he was out with her now. Talking with him, she realized why so many girls wanted him: he was extremely handsome, charismatic, funny, and something else that she couldn't quite place. It was almost like he was full of sadness, but the old kind that seemed to haunt you for the rest of your life. Grief, maybe? But what would he be grieving over?
"Taking a mental photo of my face?" Jace quipped, pulling her out of her mind and back into reality. "I know, I'm gorgeous, but I'm not going anywhere." He winked at her. "Not yet, at least."
"What? No!" Clary silently cursed herself, knowing that she had been caught staring.
"Really? Because you were staring at me, not blinking or anything." He grinned at her and she noticed that his incisor was chipped. He was even more handsome like that, if he was too perfect it would've been less attractive. "It's okay, y'know. Girls stare at me all the time."
"Well, if they stare at you "all the time", then why don't you have a girlfriend yet?" She retorted back.
He just stared at her and it was a few minutes until he finally spoke. "I've been saving myself, for a certain girl at school."
She didn't know why, but Clary felt a pang of disappointment and jealousy. It was like she couldn't stand the thought of him thinking about another girl, even though she didn't even like him like that in the first place. Maybe he just had that effect on all girls. "Excuses, excuses."
"What? It's true!" He was being honest. It was written plain on the expression on his face.
"Okay, okay." She replied. "I believe you."
That was when the waitress came over, looking exhausted. She looked like she was the only one on the night shift, the place was deserted except for a few older men and women. Clary ordered coconut pancakes and Jace ordered a burger and fries. After she had left, the pair sat in silence, the comfortable kind. It was a while before either of them spoke. It was Jace who did, his words shocking her. "So, um.. you want to talk about it? Your family problems?"
She'd been silent for a few seconds, before simply shrugging her shoulders. "Not really..."
"Are you sure?" His voice was soft now and full of what Clary thought was pain, even though it couldn't possibly be. "I understand, y'know. I have some... family problems, too. I guess."
Whether it was the soften of his voice or the fact that he also had family problems, she wasn't sure. But she'd opened up to him, anyway. She told him, a guy she barely knew everything: that Valentine had been hitting her and raping her for the past 10 years, since she was 6 years old, and how her mother refused to believe that he'd ever do such monstrous things. How she felt alone everyday, having nobody to talk to about her pain since nobody ever seemed to believe her. It had felt so good to finally have somebody to talk to. Again, they fell into silence for a while and eventually, their food came. They ate, paid, and left. In fact, they were a few blocks away from Clary's apartment complex before she finally spoke.
"You're the first person I've ever told about my father." She murmured.
"Really?" He stopped then and turned to look at her.
Clary nodded. Then, it came to her: it was emptiness that Jace was full of. "What about your family problems?"
"Oh.." He looked at his shoes.
"It's okay, you can tell me." She grabbed his hand, then. It was like she'd done this a million times before, grabbing his hand, even though this was the first time she'd ever spoken to him. "I'm here for you."
He pushed his blonde hair back and glanced at her with his golden eyes. He then looked at her hand in his and she saw him relax a little. "I was 10..." He seemed to struggle with the words. "...when my parents died in a car crash back when I lived in Upstate New York." She sucked in a breath. "After that, I was placed in an Orphanage."
"Jace, you don't have to continue-"
"No, no. It's okay, I want to." He smiled weakly at her. "I was there for 11 months. They were the worst 11 months of my life." He made a weird choking noise, then. She thought he might cry, but his eyes were completely dry. "Then, I went to the Lightwoods. I've been with them ever since. It's hard, but I keep going, for them.."
She nodded. "...I-" She didn't know what to say to him.
"We should keep walking, there are muggers around here at night." He said, starting to walk. When she didn't move, he tugged on her hand. "C'mon, Clary. I don't want to get robbed."
"What? Don't think you could ward them off with your" - She flipped her hair with her free hand for dramatic effect. - "sheer beauty?"
He grinned at her and her heart skipped a beat. She realized, with a jolt of surprise, that she loved seeing him grin like that. It had been only a few hours, but she felt like Jace knew her better than anyone else on the planet, even better than Simon, who had been her best friend for years. "I can fend off many things with my beauty, but not muggers. Sorry to disappoint you."
"Wow, that's lame." She said, almost smiling. Almost.
They joked and laughed all the way back to her apartment. It had been perfect and Clary could almost imagine her joking and laughing with Jace like that for the rest of her life.
"Thanks for tonight." She said, reaching for the door handle. "It was great."
"My pleasure." He bowed in front of her. Jace then grabbed her hand and placed a kiss on the back of her knuckles. "Have a nice night, m'lady."
Again with that massively fake British accent. She smiled at him, for the first time that night, and in her own horrendous version of a British accent, she said: "You too, Mr. Herondale."
He smiled back at her and winked. "See ya at school, Clary."
"See ya, Jace." And with that, he was walking down the street towards the stairs that led down to the subway. Opening the door to her apartment complex, Clary realized that that was the first time she had felt true happiness in a long time.
And that's it! If this gets enough attention, I plan to write a sequel one-shot! But, if not, I'll go back to focusing mainly on my multi-chapter THG story. I really really hope you guys enjoyed this one, since it's not my best work. Feel free to leave a comment and have a great day/night! Bye! :)