Mondays were the worst.

Tuesdays were only slightly better.

Wednesday actually wasn't bad because Clary only had classes until eleven thirty, and then she was out for the rest of the day. Sometimes she would pick up extra shifts at the photography lab, but that wasn't the case this week, so she just went back to her apartment, made herself some ramen and then sat down on one of the couches in the lounge.

It was an old couch, one that dipped down a little at the back given how many times Jordan Kyle had fallen asleep on it, but it was comfortable, and Clary finished her noodles and pulled one of the blankets from the back of the couch, and wrapped it around herself. The dip at the back of the couch made it cosier when snuggling down, because it felt as though the couch was trying to wrap her up, and so it wasn't to surprising when Clary fell asleep.

She didn't wake up until there was talking in the kitchen behind her, but even then, she didn't bother opening her eyes.

Jordan, Izzy and Simon had all seen her in worse states than drooling on the couch cushions, so she didn't rush to wake up.

Except when one of the voices distinctively did not sound like any of her room mates, she popped up, her hair messy around her head.

"Ah, she's awake!" Izzy teased from where she was sitting on top of the kitchen table. Next to her was...Her cousin. Jace. The gorgeous one. Clary struggled to sit up properly, shoving her hand through her hair and trying to tame it down.

Ick.

And she'd fallen asleep with her contacts in.

She blinked a couple of times and there wasn't much discomfort, so she ignored it.

"Hey!" Clary greeted them as she got up from the couch and straightened out the shirt she was wearing. "Welcome to our humble abode," she waved a hand around the living room and Jace gave her a crooked smile that was completely adorable. She joined Izzy on the table top and Jace raised an eyebrow.

"Is this a habit you guys are into? Sitting on tables rather than at them?" He asked.

"It's not like we ever really eat at the table," Izzy shrugged. And it was kind of clear that they didn't, because the table was covered in papers and magazines and Simon's laptop was there, and a bottle of water and half a pack of crisps that Clary was actually pretty sure had been there since last week, just none of them had cleared them away. "Jace wanted to know if we wanted to go to a basketball game with him, he got tickets through work."

"How many tickets?" Clary asked with a purse of her lips.

"Uh, a few," Jace replied.

"So Alec and Mags are coming?"

"Already invited them," Jace told her.

"Aw, so we were your second stop then?" Clary teased lightly and Jace just smiled back at her, not appearing fazed by her flirting. "Enough for Jordan and Simon to come?"

"Yeah, that's no problem," Jace nodded and Clary was surprised. They were coming up to the finals of basketball season and tickets were expensive. Not that Clary knew much about basketball, she just liked going to have fun, but there had been some guys talking about it in one of the cafeteria's at college.

"Sounds fun," Izzy grinned and Jace smiled at both of them, but mainly at Clary.

It was definitely mainly at her.

"Did you want to stay for dinner?" Clary asked impulsively.

"What's for dinner?" Jace asked curiously and Clary and Izzy glanced at each other.

"Well, if we have guests...Pizza," Izzy stated.

"And if you didn't have guests?" Jace arched an eyebrow.

"Leftover Chinese from last night," Clary shrugged. "And if there's not enough, we've got Froot Loops." Jace actually looked a little disgusted but also amused, and he didn't say anything. Izzy got off the table to see what else they had in the cupboards, and Jace started talking to her, and Clary just tilted her head to the side as she looked at Jace's profile.

He was wearing pressed slacks again, and damn, they did things to his ass.

She wasn't sure she was ever going to get over his ass.

Thank fuck he had moved into the city, and hopefully she would get to see a whole lot more of it.

"You guys don't have any fruit or vegetables in here," Jace noted as he looked over Izzy's shoulder and into the fridge. "You don't actually have much in here at all." Clary rolled her eyes, because Jace sounded like her mum. "Anyway, I actually have a meeting in about an hour that I need to get to, but rain check."

"You want a rain check on pizza and Froot Loops?" Clary teased lightly and Jace straightened up from where he had been looking in the fridge.

"Rain check on dinner with you, yes," he answered and Clary felt a squeeze in her stomach. Izzy looked between them with a smirk and then shut the door.

Clary looked pretty cute in her outfit, if she did say so herself. A crop top and jeans, her hair in double Dutch braids over each of her shoulders and a cap on her head. Simon was the only one of them that had a car, so he drove them close to the venue and then they parked and caught the bus the rest of the way so that they didn't get trapped in too much traffic. Magnus Bane and Alexander Lightwood were meeting them there with Jace, who had the tickets, and Clary didn't have a choice but to just grip Izzy's hand and let her friend drag her through the crowds of people because she was tiny and she couldn't see much in the crowds of people.

"There they are!" Jordan called out over his shoulder and Izzy and Clary followed after him, Simon just behind them. Clary saw Magnus first, and she let go of Izzy's hand to throw her arms around the Indonesian man. He laughed as he gave her a squeeze.

"Hey, biscuit!" He greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. When she pulled away, she saw Alec behind him, and then Jace.

Looking a whole goddamn snack.

She stepped back so that Magnus could hug Izzy and the others, and then stepped forward to hug Alec and then grin up at Jace.

"Good seeing you again," she told him and he smiled back at her, not saying anything. He was introduced to Simon and Jordan and then they joined the queues that were heading into the venue. Part of Clary wanted to be standing next to Jace, maybe see if she could bump up alongside him a couple of times, but then Izzy grabbed her hand and Magnus was on the other side and she got swept up in the energetic buzz. Izzy wanted to get food, which was going to completely blow her food budget for the entire week, and Clary figured she could just steal from the others if they chose to get food as well.

The seats were pretty good. They weren't courtside, but they were close.

"So do you actually know what's going on here?" Clary whispered to Magnus and he grinned and threw an arm around her.

"I'm just here to watch the beautiful, sweaty men run around in tiny shorts," he replied and Clary laughed and nudged him in the side with her elbow, wiggling her eyebrows in agreement.

She actually forgot about the fact that Jace was only a few seats over, getting swept up in the crowd and the game that she wasn't actually following but was more than happy to stand up and scream with when their team scored. Izzy was on one side and Magnus was on the other, and she always had a good time when she was with them. They were all sort of on the same level, and they kind of vibed off each other.

It was at half time that their group all kind of shuffled a little. Simon and Magnus needed to go to the bathroom, Izzy had managed to talk Alec into buying her something else to eat, so they wandered off, which just left Jace, Clary and Jordan.

Jordan was completely absorbed in his phone, probably in another fight with his boyfriend, because that happened a lot, so Clary turned to Jace, tipping her head to the side and blinking her long eyelashes at him, wetting her lips with her tongue.

He noticed.

She saw the way his eyes fixed on hers, then on her mouth, before lifting back up again.

Clary patted the seat next to her and Jace let out a short laugh before moving over to sit in the seat next to her. He was dressed in a nice pair of jeans and a light blue v-neck short sleeved shirt that clung to his biceps and showed off his slim waist. There were a pair of sunglasses in his hair and Clary reached up and plucked them off his head, studying them.

"Do you think...If I sold this pair of glasses..." she began with a little smirk. "That I could pay the rent for the month?" She arched an eyebrow at him and Jace rolled his eyes, giving her a look, but he didn't try to take the glasses back.

"I don't think the whole month," Jace replied and Clary grinned.

"But at least part of the month?" She said knowingly as she turned the glasses to the side and caught a glimpse of a little gold scrawl on the inside. "These are Cartier?" She asked, her eyes nearly bulging out of her head.

She had thought they would be expensive.

But she imagined that Cartier would be even more.

"Shit," she whistled through her teeth, and then slipped the sunglasses up her nose. Jace watched her, smiling, and Clary took in a deep breath, savouring the moment. "This will undoubtedly be the most expensive item I will ever wear, so I just want to enjoy it." Jace let out a laugh, and tipped his head toward her.

"They look good on you," he said and Clary grinned.

"Damn right they do," she responded, and Jace looked a little surprised by that and he let out another laugh. From the way that Clary was now sitting, turned so that she was facing toward Jace, their knees were pressed together. Clary was very aware of the warmth against her leg, and she moved slightly forward in the seat, just so they were pressed more firmly together. Jace seemed to notice, but he didn't say anything. "So...Are you super into basketball? Is that why you have these seats?"

"No, I got offered the tickets from a friend," Jace shrugged. "He's a client as well, so these were thrown in with a job that we're doing for him at the moment."

"Shit," Clary's eyes widened behind the sunglasses that she was seriously considering stealing. But...Not to sell and pay her rent. Just to keep. "I should get into your line of business." Jace grimaced a little, and then he leaned forward and slid the glasses down her nose. But he didn't take them off her, just pushed them up so that they were on top of her head, and she was glad that she had taken her cap off, because Jace's fingers brushed over one of her braids, touching the curve of her ear before letting his hand fall back to his side.

"No, you shouldn't," he replied. "You would be wasted in a place like mine."

"You don't enjoy what you do?" Clary asked, arching an eyebrow.

"No, I do. But it's my company. I get to choose what I work on, delegate the rest. You deserve to work on something that you're passionate about," he told her and Clary couldn't stop her smile. Although it wasn't as big and flirty as her other ones, it was smaller, because that sentiment had just sounded...Really nice. "So what are you studying?"

"Photography," Clary told him. "Minoring in art history."

"Nice," Jace smiled at her. "Are you good at it?"

"Yes," Clary narrowed her eyes slightly, as though taking offence, and Jace let out a laugh.

"I was just asking!" He protested lightly, still laughing, but holding his hands up, palm outwards, showing that he didn't mean to offend. Clary's forehead smoothed out, her eyes not narrow anymore, rolling them at him. She was about to reply when people around them suddenly started talking louder and turning around to look at them. Clary frowned, and Jace glanced around, before they realized why the attention of practically the entire arena was on them.

The Kiss Cam.

"Oh god," Clary let out a laugh, her cheeks warming up as she stared up a the screens with her face and Jace's plastered over them, red love hearts surrounding them. She looked toward Jace, who was just grinning at her, eyes dancing. She could vaguely hear the commentators cheering them on, but her entire focus was on Jace and his mouth. He was saying something as well, but she couldn't actually hear, and so...She just leaned in.

Jace's mouth was soft against hers, but they were firm, and within a second, his hand had come up and was cupping her face, his thumb against her cheek and his fingers reached out for her jaw, gently but firmly holding her in place. Clary's whole body felt as though it was melting into Jace as his tongue pressed against her lips and his head tilted to the side, making the angle better. As his tongue touched Clary's, she shivered and one of her hands moved to rest on his his knee, her fingers curling into the denim, and the tip of his tongue flicked against the roof of her mouth. His kiss wasn't controlling, but it was definitely in control.

Her eyes were bleary when they pulled apart, and she took in a sharp breath through her nose.

Jace wasn't smiling, and he wasn't frowning, his face was just soft, and he leaned forward to press a last kiss against the tip of her nose.

It was endearing and so fucking cute, and Clary didn't even know how to respond.

His hand moved from her face and he looked back up at the screen to see that it had moved onto it's next victims. Jordan had seen the kiss and was grinning at them and when Clary lifted her head, she saw Simon and Magnus coming back. Magnus raised his eyebrow at the fact that Jace was now in his seat, but he didn't say anything. When Isabelle and Alec had gotten back, Alec had brought two extra lots of curly fries and Clary cheered, reaching past Jace to snag the cardboard box and shoved her hand into it.

"You want some?" Clary asked as half was finished, holding the fries up in front of Jace's face. He looked at them, and she swore that she could see in his face that she wanted some, but he shook his head.

"No, I'm good, thanks," Jace replied with a small smile. Clary nodded and quickly looked away, feeling something like a lump in her throat, and it wasn't the curly fries, but she shoved some more into her mouth to distract her.

Jace was a good kisser.

Of course he was.

He looked like he was a good kisser.

Clary hadn't been following the game very closely anyway, but now she was paying even less attention than she had in the first half. She practically shoveled the fries into her mouth to keep her hands busy, and once she was finished, her fingers bounced against her knees, nervous energy racing through her body. She cheered when the rest of her friends did and she looked at the particularly cute guy on the court with curly hair when Magnus reached over and jabbed her in the shoulder, pointing at the guy. Jace got into the game, he twitched and jumped and cheered with actual purpose, rather than just following the crowd, and it was...Attractive to watch.

Plus, there was one time where he actually jumped to his feet and fist pumped the air and his sleeves got really tight around his biceps.

That was nice.

After the game finished, there was practically a stampede to get out of the arena. Izzy grabbed Clary's hand, fingers curling around hers so that they didn't loose one another in the crowd, and Simon and Jace walked behind the girls, sheltering them from at least part of the pushing people. At one stage, Clary felt a hand against her hip, and she knew it was Jace, even though she didn't turn around to look.

"Alright," Alec stopped once they were outside, and found a small spot where they weren't getting pushed around against the wall. "We're heading that way," Alec nodded his head to the right.

"Our stop is back that way," Simon jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the other direction. Alec nodded, leaning in to give his sister a hug goodbye, and then Clary. Jace held back, a small smile on his face, and it was definitely directed at Clary. She felt strangely subdued, which was unusual for her, but her insides were in knots, and her lips were still tingling and that place where he had touched her hip felt as though he had left a brand against her skin. He didn't hug her goodbye, which she was hoping for, but she waved at him and he gave her this small smile that felt weirdly intimate, even though they were in a big crowd of people.

"Didn't know you had a thing for older guys," Jordan commented with a grin on the bus back to where they were parked.

"Everyone's into older guys," Izzy replied, not looking up from her phone and Jordan raised an eyebrow before looking at Clary.

"Even when the older guy is your cousin?" Jordan prompted and Simon frowned, looking between Izzy and Clary and then Izzy's head came up.

"What?"

"I meant Clary," Jordan grinned. "Clary's into older guys." Izzy glanced at her best friend and shrugged. "And the older guy is your cousin," he reiterated, and Izzy's lips parted.

"What?" She repeated.

"It was just the Kiss Cam," Clary reasoned but Izzy's grin was spreading across her face.

"You kissed my cousin?" She asked.

"It was the Kiss Cam!" Clary protested again and Izzy let out a laugh.

"Nice. You did say you were checking him out. And I saw you guys the other day in the apartment, giving each other weird eyes," Izzy was still grinning, so that was a good sign. "Anyway, you're a massive step up from his ex, even if it was just a kiss," she nudged Clary in the side before looking back down at her phone. Simon and Jordan got distracted by something outside and started talking, and Clary licked her lips quickly before pushing her hair behind her ear.

"His ex?" She said, feigning nonchalance.

"Yeah, she was a bitch," Izzy replied, eyes still on her phone. "Like, I can see why they got together, because he can be fucking uptight as well, but she was worse," she finally looked up, screwing up her nose. "There was one Christmas when she got angry that Jace wouldn't take a call at dinner, because it was apparently some big firm in China that he was working with. She kept saying it was such a big deal and he should just take the call, and then she got pissy when he stayed at the table."

"Eesh," Clary made a face.

"Yeah," Izzy shrugged a shoulder. "I don't know why they were together so long, but he's out now, so that's all that matters. He's not seeing anyone, as far as I know."

Well...At least she knew for certain that he was single.

Or at least, as far as Izzy knew, and that was a lot, to be fair.

She would keep that in mind.

I don't really have the energy for a paragraph thing sorry. I've been fucking spiraling for the past six weeks or so, although I guess I had my birthday? Which was okay?

Um...Nightmare by Halsey is a fucking anthem and I don't know how many times I've listened and cried to it in the past day and half it's been out.

Hope you enjoyed the update.