Our Cards 3
The atmosphere in the room could be described as tense, and that was using it in the lightest sense of the word. Clary and Jace sat facing each other in the living room, neither knowing what to say, and they probably wouldn't have said it any way, too aware how badly the whole situation put them on edge. They stood there for a while never blinking as they looked into each other's eyes, trying to gage what the other one was thinking. Jace was the one to break the spell, unable to stare at her for any longer, worried of what he might unconsciously say to her while he was in this trance.
The sound of the clock ticking in the hallway was reminiscent of a bomb, unstable, unsustainable and unpredictable, a synonym to Clary and Jace's Relationship. There was a noise in Luke's bedroom, almost as if he was awake and warning them to watch themselves or the barrier between them would fall down and nothing would stop them from following their desires. But that was unlikely, seeing as if Luke knew about Clary and Jace's attraction, they would have moved away and he would have forbid Clary from seeing Jace, agreeing with society on this one occasion.
The rustling brought Jace and Clary back to earth and the uncomfortable silence lessened as both teens were caught up analysing their previous thoughts.
'Would you like something to eat?' asked Clary, eager to play the polite hostess and even more eager to leave the hostility in the living room. To her relief he nodded and walked into the kitchen ahead of her.
She made him some coffee and toast, and before long they were sitting in another uncomfortable silence, the quiet only broken by the sound of drinks being gulped down throats. Eventually Clary felt the need for something, anything, to happen, and before she knew what she was doing said,
'Jace-', while, at the same time Jace murmured,
'Clary...' The two stopped speaking abruptly, surprised by the other's decision to finally break the silence. They laughed, but it was edged with the feeling that they were treading on ice, one misstep and they would go plunging down into the icy cold water bellow their feet. Clary nodded at Jace to go on, allowing him to speak his mind while she thought about what she needed to say.
'Clary, there is some things that I have to say, and if you don't agree with it then just say so and I will leave you alone, but please, just hear me out.' There was a pleading tone to his voice at the end of this statement and Clary's heart almost broke because of the obvious pain on his face.
'Ever since we met, I have felt this undeniable attraction towards you, bringing me closer and closer to you until I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to turn back, and then we found out that we were brother and sister and needless to say that wasn't a happy day, but I didn't care at the time. I told myself that if we loved each other then the world would somehow make it alright, and it took a lot before I finally let you convince me that our fates, who we were, is unchangeable, and that by doing what I would love, I would be hurting those around me. So, I decided to distance myself from you, believing that I wouldn't feel as strongly about you if you weren't there, but that back-fired and I just miss you more than ever. I guess what I am trying to say is that I am totally, and completely head over heels about you and that if you feel disgusted just say so and I can go back to being just your older brother, or I can leave you alone completely, but I had to tell you.'
There was a stunned silence in the room; Clary's face a mask of shock, her thoughts stopped clean by his revelation, speechless, mouth open like a goldfish. Jace flushed, looking away glum, and Clary felt a rush of warmth over her body, contentment and happiness filling her soul until she felt like honey. She smiled at Jace as he looked embarrassed; laughing at the fact that Jace Wayland/Morgenstern the great Shadowhunter was bashful. Upon hearing her giggling Jace turned back to her, slightly hurt that she was laughing at his plight. When he saw her face though he was surprised, he expected to see repulsion and mockery highlighted on her features, instead she exhibited a look of bliss draped across her face. Opening his mouth to say something Clary jumped forwards and took his face in her hands with a force that you would not have expected from someone as slight as Clary. She whispered slowly,
'Well it is lucky that I am head over heels for you two, 'because I don't think that I could deal with Alec and Isabelle coming after me with complaints about your mood all the time.' And having said these words she placed her lips on his, gently, as if testing the waters before diving right in.
Their kiss was slow. They revelled in the way that warmth spread through their bodies simultaneously, as the feelings that they had been suppressing for weeks came flooding to the surface. Jace smirked against her, obviously back to his old cocky self, and Clary laughed out loud at this, surrendering to the happiness that was threatening to consume her. They rested their foreheads on each other, the silence now one of contentment rather than awkwardness, and they would have stayed like that for a long time had they not heard Luke's early morning grumbling, and quickly sprang away from each other as if a wall of flames now separated the two.
Luke walked into the kitchen to find not one but two teenagers already awake, cheeks burning and breath coming out of their mouths heavily, as if they had been running for a long time.
'Jace! What are you doing here?' with a harsh look at Clary, daring her to try and explain the early morning visit.
'Oh, I was just in the neighbourhood and thought that I would stop by,' he responded, an air of defiance exuding from him as it always did when he was around adults who thought they knew better than him. Knowing that he was going to get no better answer from either Clary or Jace he sighed,
'Well then, would you like to stay for breakfast seeing as you are already here and the institute is a long ways away?'
'I'd love to Luke,' he smiled, and Luke didn't miss the secretive smirk that passed between Jace and Clary as he turned around.