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Jace Herondale’s biggest mistake was dating Clary Fairchild.
The two of them had met a few months ago when Jace was a 16 year old omega and Clary was a 15 year old alpha, about to turn 16 in a week. They had been attracted to each other at first sight, and it wasn’t long before they started dating. It had been one hell of a ride, and Jace liked Clary, he truly did.
It wasn’t until they had been together for a while that Jace realized he didn’t like Clary enough. Not the way that he was supposed to, if they were going to be in a relationship. So he broke it off. They remained friends, but it wasn’t as natural as before. It wouldn’t be for a while.
One person he did meet during the course of their relationship was Sebastian Morgenstern, Clary’s brother. Their parents had divorced and each one got custody over a kid, Clary raised by their mother and Sebastian raised by their father. Just recently, their father had died, so Jocelyn Fairchild and her husband, Luke Garroway, ended up gaining custody over Sebastian. However, he had decided to keep the Morgenstern last name in memory of his father - a surprising choice, in Jace’s opinion. The way Clary talked about Valentine Morgenstern made him seem like an asshole.
Jace and Sebastian weren’t exactly close. Sebastian was an alpha, like Clary, but he seemed like more of the stereotypical alpha than Clary ever did. They mainly knew each other through Clary.
One day, Jace and Clary were hanging out at Taki’s along with Jace’s friends, Alec and Isabelle Lightwood, and Clary’s best friend, Simon Lewis. The five of them had become tight-knit during the time when Jace and Clary had dated, and even after the breakup, they were still friends.
How was dating Clary Jace’s biggest mistake?
He himself didn’t even know until that day.
It had seemed like a normal hangout, all of them talking and eating, and Jace had made a comment that made Clary laugh. Beside her, Simon seemed to tense. “Can I speak with Jace for a moment?” He asked, and when everyone was okay with the two leaving for a bit, Simon got up. Jace followed him as he left the restaurant.
“What’s up?” Jace questioned, leaning against the wall and giving Simon a look.
Simon glared at him. “Clary’s still in love with you!”
Jace froze and stared at him, the words struggling to process. “What?”
“She’s still in love with you!” Simon repeated. His eyes were narrowed and he sounded angry. “It’s very clear to me that she is! And as long as you keep hanging out with her, keep being single, stuff like that, she’s still going to think there’s hope!”
“She can’t still be in love with me,” Jace protested. “That can’t be possible.”
“Well,” Simon muttered, “it is.” He sighed. “Let’s go back inside. Sorry for yelling.”
“It’s alright,” Jace murmured as he followed Simon back in.
For the rest of the hangout, his mind was stuck on the idea of Clary still being in love with him. He needed to find a way to fix this.
The quickest way to get someone to fall out of love with you was to make them think that you were taken. It was even faster if they thought you were dating their brother.
(At least, that’s what Jace heard from one of Clary’s friends. He didn’t know if it was successful or not, but whatever, he couldn’t think of anything else anyway.)
Sebastian didn’t have many friends, so it wasn’t too hard to get him alone. He often visited his dad’s apartment, where he had grown up with him, on Saturday mornings, so when Sebastian left the house and got far enough away that Clary couldn’t see him, Jace took his chance.
“Sebastian!” he started calling out, but Sebastian’s nose was already twitching. He turned to Jace and smirked a bit.
“Well, if it isn’t my sister’s favorite omega,” he drawled out, coming closer. “What are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you,” Jace answered honestly. He hated that Sebastian called him Clary’s favorite omega - to Jace, that was basically a full confirmation that yes, Clary still had romantic feelings for him.
Sebastian tilted his head. There was interest in his expression now. “Why?”
Jace took a deep breath, let it out, then asked, “Can you scent me so the others think I’m taken?”
The alpha looked startled. “What?”
Jace sighed. “Do I need to repeat myself?”
Sebastian shook his head. “No, no, not really, but what brought this on?” His calm exterior seemed to have shattered.
“I don’t want to explain,” Jace muttered, hands turning into fists. He looked away from Sebastian. “Just trust me?”
A pause, then the alpha nodded. “Alright. Now?”
Jace nodded, flushing slightly.
Sebastian pulled Jace in closer and wrapped an arm around his waist. “Come with me to my father’s apartment,” he said. “My scent will have completely covered yours by the time you’re back.”
Jace smiled. “Alright.”
Sebastian and Jace’s fake relationship had been going on for a while now, and, much to Jace’s surprise, Clary had gotten together with Simon during that time.
“I’m sorry,” Simon said when he and Jace got a chance to talk alone. He tried for an apologetic smile. “I really did think Clary was in love with you, and now you’ve gone and started a fake relationship with Sebastian because of that, so…”
Jace sighed. “It’s fine,” he said. “It’s… not that bad.”
And it actually wasn’t that bad. In fact, it was great. Jace enjoyed Sebastian’s company, and it was clear that the alpha enjoyed his as well. They got along well, and Jace… he had to admit, his feelings weren’t just platonic anymore. They had changed during the time that their fake relationship had taken place. Jace had romantic feelings for Sebastian now.
The next time he saw Sebastian, the alpha said, “Am I ever going to know why you started… this… with me?”
Jace paused, then said, “Simon told me that Clary was still in love with me.”
Sebastian stared at him. “So…”
“I don’t like Clary that way anymore,” Jace explained. “And I didn’t want her to be hopelessly in love with me forever. So I thought that if I started a fake relationship with you, she’d… fall out of love or something.” He groaned. “It was a stupid idea. But turns out none of it was true anyway, because she likes Simon.” He looked up at Sebastian. “I don’t regret this though. I liked spending time with you. Really.”
Sebastian smiled a little. “I like you too,” he said, then he was leaning forward and kissing Jace, and oh, this was the first time Jace had been kissed by Sebastian, and it felt great.
When the kissing ended, far too soon in Jace’s opinion, Sebastian said, “I hope that you… wanted that.”
“I did,” Jace said breathlessly. “I did.”
And that was how their relationship became genuinely romantic.
There were no regrets.