Work Text:
“Hands off.” Maia glared at Jace, who was sitting at the bar, his hand extended toward one of the bottles that was sitting behind the counter. “Is it impossible for you to sit still for twenty minutes? My shift is almost over, and then we can do whatever you want.”
Jace’s eyebrows rose at that, and a smirk spread across his face. Maia hated how much she liked that stupid smirk. “Really?” he asked, mischief saturating his voice. “Anything?”
“Don’t push your luck,” Maia replied sternly, but she couldn’t quite prevent the grin that was threatening to appear on her lips.
Jace sighed then, leaning back on the stool and tapping his hands against his lap impatiently. “If I have to keep hearing Alec and Magnus flirt with each other while they play pool I’m going to vomit on your abnormally clean counter.”
Maia ignored him, rolling her eyes as she moved behind said counter to serve a customer that had just arrived. She wasn’t exactly sure what her and Jace were. Ever since their hookup- which had been a long time coming, if she was being honest with herself- they had gone out a few times, but they hadn’t put a label on it yet. Part of her was afraid that he was still hung up on Clary, but then she would catch him staring at her in a way that she had never experienced before, and those thoughts just seemed idiotic.
One thing she knew for sure was that she liked him more than she ever thought possible. He came off as arrogant and apathetic to people who didn’t know him, but she had been around long enough to see just how vulnerable he actually was. He didn’t want people to know that, didn’t want their pity or their empty reassurances, and that was something that Maia could relate to more than anyone would ever know. The scars on her neck were a constant reminder of what letting her guard down had resulted in, and though she had come to terms with the fact that they were there to stay, she still had moments of weakness, still had temptations to cover them up and pretend it never happened. On most days, however, she wore them with pride, and with the knowledge that she had survived something horrible and come out stronger on the other side. Jace seemed to understand that in a way that most people didn’t, not to mention Shadowhunters.
She was broken out of her thoughts by the sight of Jace reaching forward once again out of the corner of her eye, and without turning, she said, “You still have all your fingers, but that can easily be fixed.” He yanked his arm back immediately, cradling it to his chest like she had actually attacked him, and she let herself smile.
When her shift ended, they walked out of the bar side by side, their arms brushing, and somewhere in the back of her mind Maia hoped that whatever they were ended up being something that would last.