Chapter Text
SEPTEMBER
Jace meets Clary in life drawing class on the first day of the school year. She's attractive, a redhead with a cute smile. They bond over the excitement of making it to junior year, done with their general requirements, and finally able to focus on the art workshops they came to this school for. When she turns to him and asks him to be her portrait partner, he thinks there might be something there.
Cool and smooth as ever, he asks her if she's heard about the graffiti tunnel under the bridge on the south end of campus. He heard about it from Alec, who heard about it from Magnus, who graduated from the university last year, but Jace is pretty sure the information is still good. He's thinking about checking it out Thursday night, if Clary wants to come along.
"Can I bring a friend?" Clary asks.
"Sure," Jace says, mentally adjusting his calculations. "The more the merrier."
And that's how he meets Simon.
When Clary said she would bring a friend, Jace expected her to bring a roommate or some other girlfriend to make sure nothing weird happens with this strange guy from class she just met. He can work with that. He’s been known to charm both a target and her wing girl, and hey—if it doesn’t work out with one, maybe it’ll work with the other.
He was not expecting the devastatingly attractive guy that Clary greets with a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"Jace, this is my best friend Simon. Simon, life drawing partner Jace," Clary introduces.
Best friend. Jace is stuck on that word, and he grins in relief. His focus switches from Clary to her friend in the big, hipster glasses and short-sleeved shirt unbuttoned to reveal a rumpled graphic t-shirt. The guy looks ridiculous, but —
Jace didn't even realize he has a thing for dorky guys until this moment. Somehow, the frumpy outfit doesn't detract from the height of his cheekbones or his shining dark eyes. The guy’s sunny smile causes something to flip in Jace's stomach. Jace's eyes are drawn to the way Simon’s lips move when he starts talking, but he doesn’t hear the words through his heart beating in his ears.
Eventually, he realizes that Simon has fallen silent, and both he and Clary are looking at Jace expectantly. Crap. How long was he staring?
"Right, nice to meet you," Jace grunts with a slight nod. Simon frowns, withdrawing his outstretched hand—double crap. Jace hadn't even notice Simon reaching out for a handshake. Jace's hand twitches unconsciously to grab for Simon’s hand to make up for the snub, but that might make the moment even weirder than it already is. Instead, he clenches his fists and starts heading down the hill towards the tunnel entrance under the bridge. "Let's get going," he calls back.
"Hokay then," Simon says. Jace doesn’t look back. He feels like he'll look like a fool if he does, so he keeps walking. Behind him, Simon and Clary follow, Simon whispering to Clary the whole time. "Clary, you sure this isn't a trap? Your new friend is kind of giving me a serial killer vibe here."
"Simon!" Clary exclaims. "Be nice."
"Hey, I'm not the one that's leading two perfect strangers into a secret underground tunnel for god knows what purpose. He could be a hot, tattooed version of Hannibal Lecter for all you know."
Ears burning, Jace pretends he doesn't hear.
Soon the three of them are standing at the entrance of the dank tunnel. It's five feet high, so they all have to duck to go in, but Jace leads the way with the light of his phone.
"I can't see shit," Simon complains.
"Fine. Here," Jace says, and unthinkingly reaches back and grabs for his hand.
"Whoa, buddy, come on," Simon says, trying to shake him off. Jace grips tighter and leads the way. "Come on! I'm not your type, man."
Jace rolls his eyes. Simon has no idea how wrong he is.
"I don't need you tripping and falling on your face," he tells Simon. "Come on, we're almost there. I can smell the paint."
"Here Simon, take my hand," Clary adds. Jace notices how Simon’s grip relaxes in his as soon as Simon grasps Clary’s hand on the other side.
They follow the smell of spray paint to a small juncture, a section tall enough that they can straighten out and look around. Simon and Clary pull out their phones to use as flashlights too, the three of their lights enough to see by. The tunnel is covered with graffiti. The pipeline is only for water runoff when it rains, so only the bottom portion of the tunnel walls is faded and washed off. Everywhere they look are the words, pictures, and history of students who have come before.
"Here you go," Clary says, depositing a can of spray paint into Jace's hand. He raises an eyebrow at her. Here he was, thinking Clary would be so innocent. She grins impishly at him. "You really think I was going to go to a graffiti tunnel and not leave my mark?"
Jace shrugged. "We only met a few days ago. I don’t know what you would or wouldn’t do."
"Fair enough," Clary concedes, just as Simon calls out to them from a few feet away.
"Hey, look at this!" He’s ridiculously proud of himself as he shines his light on his contribution.
Simon + Clary BFF Forever
Clary laughs in delight, and Simon beams like he lives for her laughter.
Jace feels like an interloper, like he's third-wheeling on a date even though he’s the one who brought the two of them here. He watches the two of them whisper to each other and giggle and tamps down on the unfamiliar heaviness in his chest.
“Jace,” Clary calls, pulling Jace from his thoughts. She’s shaking a can of spray paint, grinning at him from the other side of the tunnel. She’s found a spot midway off the ground with a fairly wide space of worn graffiti, smeared by time. “What are you doing all the way over there? Paint something with me.”
Simon dual-wields both his and Clary’s cell phones, shining their flashlights to light the way as Jace and Clary work together with three different colors of spray paint to craft an artsy, rune-inspired design. Jace has to admit, it’s a lot of fun. Clary and Jace work together well, with a natural ability to build on each other’s designs with very little need to talk. He thinks maybe she’s his artistic soul mate.
Still, he’s hyper-aware of Simon there with them, hovering just at his back. He doesn’t know what to say to the other guy, not when Simon and Clary talk to each other so fluidly. Simon talks—a lot—and Clary seems to know just when to interject with a comment or take her turn to say something. He thinks he might choke on his words if he tries, so instead of risking looking like a fool, he spends most of the night focused on his work with Clary.
At the end of it, they take pictures of their creation and head back to the dorms. The next day, Jace wakes up to a Facebook notification that Clary has sent him a friend request. He adds her back, and she immediately messages him about working together on an actual art project. On her timeline, she posts the dark photo of their runic mural and tags both him and Simon in it, thanking them both for the best first weekend of a school year she could ask for.
Simon doesn’t send him a friend request. Not that Jace cares.
The second week of the school year, the student auditorium hosts a free screening of some Marvel action movie Jace still hasn't seen. Clary invites him to go with her and Simon, so he brings Izzy along with him. He's not getting third-wheeled again.
Surprisingly, Simon and Izzy hit it off and make quick friends bonding over what an insufferable narcissist Jace is. He knows that Izzy is joking when she says it, but he's not sure about Simon. He wracks his head for things he’s said that could have given Simon that impression. Sure, he may have told Clary once that he has a face sculpted by the gods, but surely she and Simon could tell he was joking. Otherwise, he comes up empty.
Simon has a self-deprecating, snarky sense of humor that Jace finds irresistibly funny. He finds himself stifling his laughter while Izzy lets hers ring out. Simon’s smiling again, sparing a glance at Jace, who quickly straightens his face. Doesn’t want Simon to think he’s laughing at him.
Izzy gets along well with Clary too, but she spends most of the movie whispering commentary into Simon’s ear and throwing knowing looks in Jace’s direction. He’s not sure what he’s supposed to know; the ambiguity burns hot under his skin.
After the movie, Jace finds himself walking by Clary’s side, trailing behind as Simon and Izzy saunter ahead to the student center for a midnight snack. “Your sister and Simon are getting along well,” Clary comments.
“It looks like it,” Jace grouses. He looks at Clary, who is watching the two wistfully. He bumps his elbow into Clary’s side to get her attention. “Don’t worry, Simon’s virtue is safe,” he assures her. “Izzy’s just a little bit friendly.”
Clary laughs at that, sounding relieved.
They split up after their midnight snack, and Izzy insists on coming to crash at Jace’s dorm instead of walking all the way to her dorm room on the other end of campus. Grinning at Jace, she asks him, “So? How’d things go?”
“You were there. I think we all had fun,” Jace says. He’s unsure of what Izzy is trying to get at.
“I meant with Clary, duh,” Izzy says. “Simon’s funny, but he was exhausting to entertain all night so he wouldn’t interrupt you and Clary’s alone time. I’ve never known you to need a wing girl before. Is this a sign that Jace Lightwood is looking for something more?”
“It’s not like that,” Jace insists. “We’re just classmates. Friends, maybe.”
Izzy raises an eyebrow skeptically. “Then what’s with the Casual Date outfit?” she asks, gesturing at Jace’s clothes. He’s wearing fresh dark wash jeans and a soft heather gray sweater that Izzy always says emphasizes his shoulders in the right way. It’s his go-to outfit for a second date; he hadn’t even noticed when he was getting dressed before the movie.
Jace looks away, fighting the heat in his cheeks.
“If it’s not Clary, then… Oh,” Izzy says. She lays a hand on his arm. “You should have told me. I wouldn’t have spent all night stepping in on your man.”
“It’s not like that,” Jace says again. This time, his protest sounds hollow.
OCTOBER
After the movie night, Jace and Clary start hanging out regularly. Whenever Simon’s at one of his accounting study groups or at band practice with this girl he met at the vegan food co-op, Clary drops by Jace’s dorm room to hang out. She’s easy to talk to, and even when Jace doesn’t want to talk they can just sit side by side working on homework or art projects.
His initial interest in Clary died after the night at the tunnels, which is more than okay with Jace. Outside of Alec and Izzy, Clary is his only friend. He doesn’t want to mess that up.
That’s also the reason why he doesn’t tell her about his crush on Simon. First of all, it’s just embarrassing the way he freezes up whenever Simon is around. He’s pretty sure Simon thinks that Jace hates him, because Jace has never had a conversation with him and tries to avoid spending as much time around him as possible. He can’t help it though, and he’d rather have Simon assume that than think Jace is an uncool dork who can’t string together a sentence.
Second of all, Clary is a shit-talker and would troll the living hell out of him if she ever finds out. Her humor is an adorable trait, and they spend many fun portrait sessions gossiping and making fun of each other lightly. Clary’s favorite target is the way almost every other girl in their class has tried to purr their way into Jace’s pants. Sure, he’s grabbed coffee with one or two of them, even brought one back to his room, but he’s not nearly the playboy Clary makes him out to be. He can only imagine how she’d tease him about having honest-to-god feelings for someone.
But the main reason Jace doesn’t talk about his crush is that he is pretty sure Clary and Simon are on the edge of something more than friendship. They’ve probably been dancing around it for years. Clary tells Jace all about how Simon became her best friend in first grade, how Simon took her to senior prom after her shitty high school boyfriend dumped her the week before, and how Simon and Clary picked out their university together – where one goes, the other follows. It’s like something out of a romantic comedy, how every time Clary talks about what an amazing guy Simon is, she seems closer to realizing her feelings for him.
Jace might be projecting a little bit.
Simon found a bandmate first week of the quarter, and they quickly started playing all the open mics around campus. Clary drags Jace to all of their shows. He really isn’t into Simon’s type of music—the indie acoustic stuff that’s mostly covers of vintage pop songs—but he is into Simon, so he’ll take any excuse to stare at him for an hour without it being weird.
After Simon’s first show—an open mic night at the vegan student co-op—Simon bounds up to their table to give Clary a quick hug and a kiss to the temple. He greets Jace with some surprise in his eyes, but he genuinely smiles as he reaches out to clasp Jace’s hand in a friendly greeting. Jace remembers to take it this time. “Thanks for coming, guys. How did we sound up there? I think I played a little fast on that second song, and we really need to work on our harmonies, but it wasn’t that bad was it?”
“Not bad for covers of songs your grandma listens to,” Jace comments. He doesn’t know where it comes from, this instinct to be mean. It’s like his mouth has no filter when Simon’s around. He wants to take it back immediately, but Simon scowls at Jace before he can.
“If you don’t like it, don’t come next time,” Simon snaps, shoulders tensed until Clary is able to calm them down and change the direction of the conversation.
Jace still comes to Simon’s shows after that, but Simon never asks his opinion again.
For Halloween, Magnus hosts a party at the club Pandemonium he promotes. Izzy and Jace make plans to meet up with Clary and Simon there. As is tradition in their household, Jace lets Izzy pick out his Halloween costume. While neither Alec nor Jace particularly care what they dress up as, Izzy has always maintained that their choices reflect on her.
Alec gets off easy this year because Magnus has already decided on their matching Regency costumes, and they both look fabulous. On the other hand, Izzy forces Jace into a black vest over his white henley and straps a plastic space gun holster around his leg.
“What the hell am I supposed to be? A space cowboy?” Jace complains as he looks at himself in the full-length mirror in Izzy’s dorm room.
Izzy looks up from her phone and whoever she’s texting to level an incredulous stare at Jace. “You’re kidding me.”
Jace glares at her. She’s gone with a classic this year, dressed in a black corset bodysuit and sheer vampire cloak, which is suspicious. Usually, she makes him coordinate with her, like last year when he was Captain America to her Black Widow.
“Seriously, Iz. Who am I?”
Izzy shakes her head disbelievingly, looking back down to furiously type out a message on her phone. “I've made you watch those movies how many times? You should know Han Solo by sight.”
Jace rolls his eyes. “This costume is dumb,” he tells Izzy.
Izzy smiles something unholy, patting Jace’s cheek as she walks by him. She says, “You’re going to change your mind soon enough.”
That night, Jace and Izzy are standing at the bar when he sees Simon walk into the party wearing a Jedi tunic with a lightsaber handle on his belt. Jace sees the moment that Simon spots Jace from across the room—the full force of Simon’s delighted smile makes Jace feel a little nauseous.
He turns to Izzy quickly. “What the hell did you do?” he hisses at her. He can feel his face burning, his stomach roiling in anticipation of something about to go horribly wrong.
“I told you you’d change your mind about the costume,” Izzy sing-songs as she passes Jace a shot of tequila. “Just go talk to him, bond with him. I’ve made you watch Star Wars at least six times, talk to him about the obvious homoerotic implications of Han coming back and risking his life for Luke after knowing him for like, two days.”
Jace frowns at Izzy, who smiles wickedly and clinks her shot glass against his. Jace takes a shot to calm his nerves, then another. Izzy leaves him to go dance with someone. He takes a third shot, just for luck. When he finally steels himself to go talk to Simon, he looks up and can’t find Simon anywhere.
Jace wanders the club for a while. It’s not that big a club, he can’t be that far. Jace realizes that three shots might have been a little too much; combined with his nerves, he’s started to bump into people left and right. In his defense, the place is crowded.
He asks everyone he runs into if they’ve seen Luke Skywalker. Most haven’t, and the few that do recognize the description can’t point him in a direction. At some point, Jace finds himself trying to shake off a scantily clad fairy—that’s when he finally sees Simon.
Simon looks good; his hair is styled for once, swept up to the side, and he’s probably wearing contacts, because he's glasses-free tonight. It's the first chance Jace has gotten to see the whole picture, and. Well. Jace thought Simon looked good even with his dumb hipster glasses.
Simon’s leaning casually against the wall, talking to Clary, who is dressed to match Simon in Leia’s skimpy slave bikini. She has a hand laid on his arm, and they’re laughing at something indistinct from where Jace stands frozen.
Jace knows he should make a beeline for the two of them, but he doesn’t want to cockblock Simon and Clary, if that’s where this night is going.
“Hey, big guy,” the scantily clad fairy purrs at him when he stops trying to push her off his arm. “You wanna get out of here?”
Jace shakes his head to clear his thoughts and looks down at the girl. He puts on his lady-killer grin. He does want to get out of here.
NOVEMBER
Izzy finds out that Clary and Simon are from Brooklyn too, so she offers to give them a lift home for Thanksgiving break. Izzy insists that Clary sit up front with her because “Sisters before Misters,” throwing a wink at Jace with a not-very-subtle glance in Simon’s direction. In that moment, Jace wants to strangle her.
Izzy’s little hatchback is barely big enough for all the Lightwood siblings on a good day, and it feels that much more claustrophobic when Jace is sandwiched between Simon and Alec in the backseat. Alec is grumpy because Magnus can’t come home with them for Thanksgiving; Simon is grumpy because he’s sitting next to Jace.
The ride is the longest three hours of his life. Jace sits with his back ramrod straight the entire way home. He’s hyper-aware of the line of Simon’s leg pressed against his, can smell the spice of Simon’s body wash. At some point, Simon tries to make small talk, but Jace is focused too hard on not leaning into Simon’s warmth to pay attention to his words. He’s fairly certain that his answers are composed entirely of grunts. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Alec glance at him in concern.
Thankfully, Izzy is there to save the conversation, drawing Simon into a discussion of Thanksgiving traditions and how Simon does a Star Wars marathon with his sister every year. Izzy is secretly as much of a nerd about that kind of thing as Simon, and bonds with Simon about forcing Jace to dress as Han Solo for Halloween without Jace even knowing who he was supposed to be. Simon howls with laughter, then Alec mutters something disparaging under his breath, which starts a brief, playful exchange of barbs. Throughout all of this, Jace can barely string three words together.
As soon as they drop both Simon and Clary off and Alec climbs over Jace to get at the passenger seat, Izzy turns to look at Jace with a mixture of concern, pity, and glee. “You’re pathetic,” she tells him in awe. “That was the most painful thing I’ve ever had to watch. Please tell me the next time I can be your wing girl.”
Jace buries his head in his hands.
A week later, Jace walks out of class and is surprised to come face-to-face with Simon. His heart rate immediately skyrockets, wondering why Simon is here.
“Hey,” Simon greets with a little smile and wave. “Is Clary still in there? We’re about to head out to lunch.”
“She’s, uh,” Jace starts. He curses inwardly when he stumbles over his words. “She’s still, uhm, talking to the teacher. About her project for finals.”
“Great,” Simon says, nodding his head.
A long silence follows.
“Okay, well, I’ll just—”
“Jace,” Simon cuts in before Jace can make his escape. “I wanted to talk to you.”
“Yeah?” Jace adjusts the shoulder strap of his bag and crosses his arms. He’s trying to look as effortless as usual, but he’s not really feeling it today.
“Yeah,” Simon confirms. “Listen, I know we don’t get along. When you first started hanging around I thought you were trying to hit on Clary.”
“I was,” Jace says automatically, but turns red as soon as he says it. “I mean, I’m not—I got over that months ago.”
Simon is staring at him. Oh god, why is Simon staring?
“Seriously, I feel nothing for Clary. I don’t like her at all. We’re just art soulmates,” Jace continues digging a hole. Simon is still staring. Can the earth just swallow him now, please?
“Anyway,” Simon says after a beat. “We don’t have to be friends or anything, but I was hoping for Clary’s sake we can get along a little bit better and not bicker or cold-shoulder each other all the time. Sound okay?”
“Yeah, sounds good,” Jace croaks. They shake on it. Something in Jace’s chest flutters when Simon smiles happily, just before he hears Clary from behind him.
“Simon!” Clary exclaims, throwing her arms around Simon’s neck and pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Ready for lunch?”
“Yeah, I’m starved,” Simon says, his smile gentling as he looks down at Clary. His smile doesn’t fade when he glances up at Jace. “Hey, you wanna come with us?”
“Nah,” Jace says, starting to walk away backward. “I’ve got a… thing. But have fun.” He turns and walks down the hall, willing his insides not to burst into flame.
DECEMBER
Simon’s bandmate Maureen won’t let Clary come to band practice, which she complains about endlessly. “Eric and Jordan always let me stay for band practice when we were in high school,” she’ll say. Or, “Maureen is a great girl and all, but why is she taking so much of his time?”
“You sound jealous,” Jace comments once when Clary stops to breathe in the middle of a rant about Simon’s ridiculous practice schedule.
Clary’s brow furrows, and she looks as if she has never considered that possibility before. “Maybe I am,” she says quietly.
Jace’s heart aches as he watches Clary turn the thought over in her mind. They’re sitting across the table from each other as Jace practices sketching Clary’s expressions. So far they’ve done neutral, pleased, and irritated. Jace mentally files this expression as “contemplative” as he starts filling in the details of Clary’s face. She stays silent for a long moment as Jace captures the fall of her hair, the downturned bow of her lips.
“If you’re feeling a certain way, maybe you should say something,” Jace says, focused on shading.
“Maybe,” Clary sighs. Jace swallows hard around a lump in his throat and risks a glance up at Clary. Her face looks conflicted, but maybe a little determined. She doesn’t say much for the rest of the class.
As one last de-stressor before finals, Clary suggests doing a Secret Santa gift exchange. They have a little party at her dorm suite to reveal gifts before they go hit the books.
Jace draws Clary’s name, which is lucky because she’s been complaining about how dry her art markers are for weeks now. It’s easy enough to buy her a couple of staple colors with a coupon to help pay for the rest.
Simon draws Jace’s name and gets him a school sweatshirt that he clearly bought from the student store last minute. Jace knows he shouldn’t feel disappointed that the present isn’t more personal—they’re not really friends, and they’ve barely made their Thanksgiving truce—but he is.
“Sorry,” Simon tells him as he hands it over. “I couldn’t think of what to get you, but I figured you could use some school swag. I’ve never seen you wear any before.”
“It’s great,” Jace says, clutching it close to him. As much as he wishes Simon knew him well enough for a personal gift, he knows he’s going to be wearing this sweatshirt every day of winter break. Simon’s pleased smile is blinding.
Jace enjoys the rest of the party, except for a moment where he’s heading to the bathroom but has to pass by Clary’s room to get there. He doesn’t mean to eavesdrop, but the door is open and he can’t help stop to listen when he hears Simon’s voice.
“Do you even have to ask? I always come to Christmas dinner. I live for your mom’s Christmas pot roast,” he hears Simon saying.
“No, I mean—” Clary says. “I mean, do you want to come to dinner… as my date?”
A beat.
“Yes, of course, Clary. I'd be honored.”
Jace forgets where he was headed. All he can think of now is the pit that has suddenly opened in his stomach. He turns and walks away.