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The moment Clary introduces him to Jace, Simon understands why she's been swooning every time she talks about him. The guy is hot. And hey, Simon's not insecure about his sexuality - he and Clary came out to each other as bi in, like, ninth grade - but he's never been instantly attracted to anyone the way he's attracted to Jace. But he sees the way Clary looks at Jace, and the way Jace looks at Clary - they're not dating officially, but it doesn't take a genius to see that they will be soon - and tries to shut down those feelings before they get worse.
Tries being the operative word.
He does become friends with Jace, though, something that Simon doesn't understand considering that Jace seems to be better than him in pretty much every way. Somehow, Jace seems to actually not mind having Simon around, even if he seems to mostly exist to get beat up in the training room whenever Jace is feeling moody. After Simon becomes a vampire, he can at least dodge Jace's blows, but he still has no hope of fighting back.
One training session, Simon does actually make an attempt at fighting Jace - surely his speed will at least help - but he ends up being hit mid-run. His arms lash out as he falls backwards, grabbing onto Jace's shirt and pulling him down with him. Jace ends up on top of Simon, his hair brushing Simon's forehead and his deep blue-and-brown eyes causing Simon to flush and avert his eyes. He ends up staring at Jace's throat instead, which is not helpful, because ugh, he doesn't want to be thinking about drinking his crush's blood while said crush is lying on top of him. Sinking his teeth into the other boy's neck, finding out whether he tastes as golden as he looks.
Fuck.
Simon asks weakly, in a slightly high-pitched voice, "Why aren't you dating Clary?" Jace blinks down at him lazily, then Simon's words seem to hit him as he huffs incredulously, standing up and pulling Simon up with him. Then he walks out.
"I guess it's a sensitive subject!" he calls after Jace. It might be his imagination, but he thinks he hears Jace scoff under his breath.
And then there's Jace's sister, Isabelle. Well, they're not actually related, but their biology is pretty much the only way they aren't siblings. They're unbelievably loyal to each other, and to their other brother, Alec. Simon is terrified of Alec, so he tries not to antagonise him by making his crush on Jace too obvious. Or his crush on Isabelle.
Which, apparently, is a thing now.
Simon starts off mostly just being a little intimidated by Isabelle. Then they become friends, because Izzy is seemingly the only one in the Shadow World who loves Star Wars as much as Simon does. Even if he has to show her the movies for the first time because she's never even heard of them. Then, he sees footage of her singlehandedly fighting off a horde of demons that somehow found their way into the Institute. Simon pretty much just stands there, gaping.
One day he walks into the training room to see Izzy beating Jace in hand-to-hand combat. Like, beating him by a lot. She knocks Jace to the floor and holds him down, and from that position, Jace finally yields. Izzy helps him up, and the two of them stand there for a few moments, breathing heavily, hair plastered to their foreheads, sweat glinting on their arms.
Simon wants to die.
(Ha. Too late for that.)
Isabelle notices him first, smirks, stalks towards the door. Towards Simon. Simon swallows audibly. But when she gets to him, she puts her hand on his arm, leans in and whispers, "Don't hurt him too badly. I already did enough damage." Then she grins (Simon's stomach swoops), raises her voice, says, "Well, I'd better go find Clary," and walks out.
Simon looks at the place where she touched his arm. It feels like it's on fire, like she's branded his skin.
Jace looks at him suspiciously. "What was that about?"
Simon smiles. Mysteriously, he hopes. "Wouldn't you like to know?"
Jace rolls his eyes and goes back to cleaning the weapons on the wall (which doesn't really make sense considering Jace and Isabelle weren't even fighting with weapons, but anyway).
"Let me guess," Simon says, "you feel bad because your sister wounded your ego, so now you want to wound my body."
"There are several things I'd like to do to your body," Jace retorts, annoyed. Both of them process those words. And then, amazingly, Jace blushes. Simon curses himself for wanting to see how far it goes.
Simon panics. "Uh, okay," he says. "Save that thought. But maybe later, I gotta go."
Jace watches Simon leave, unblinking.
Simon Lewis is very confused. He paces in a guest room in the Institute, trying to process. He knows he has feelings for Jace, but he can still feel that place where Izzy touched him, the way her smile made him ache. Somehow, he wants them both, he wants to be with them both.
Unluckily for me, Simon thinks ruefully, both of them prefer Clary. Which is totally fine. Clary is his best friend and he loves her and wants her to be happy. But even so, he can't help feel a little bitter. He resolves to go talk to her. Maybe they can figure out this mess together.
Thankfully, the Lightwoods are nowhere in sight when Simon leaves his guest room. He knocks at the door of Clary's room, and she she opens slightly it a moment later, looking through the small gap. Her cheeks are flushed, and Simon frowns. "Have you been doing exercise?"
"In a manner of speaking," comes an amused voice from inside the room. Simon knows that voice. Isabelle. He pushes open the door, and now he can see Izzy on Clary's bed, lipstick smudged and hair messy, looking pleased with herself. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what they've been up to. Simon's stomach drops, but seeing evidence of the two of them, together, like this, doesn't upset him like he thought it would. That said, he can't help wish it was him that did this to Izzy. He turns to Clary, who looks concerned. "This is okay, right?" she asks.
"Why wouldn't it be?" Simon answers, trying to quell his feelings.
Isabelle looks between the two of them, her gaze lingering on them both, then abruptly says, "I'll let you two talk," and walks out, fixing her hair as she goes. She brushes against Simon as she leaves, and once again, a rush goes through him at the feeling of her touch.
Clary motions for Simon to enter, then once he does so, she shuts the door behind them. Simon draws breath to say he's fine with them together, he's not jealous, he's happy for them, but before he can speak, Clary asks, "I'm confused. Didn't you talk about this with Jace?"
"Why would I talk with Jace about you and Izzy being together?" Now Simon's has no clue what's going on. Unfortunately, as Clary opens her mouth (hopefully to explain what is happening, or what she thinks is happening), Izzy wrenches the door open and rushes back in. Simon idly notices that her lipstick is perfect again.
"Demon attack on the other side of the city. We gotta go, Clary. Sorry, Simon." She shoots him an apologetic look. That's what you get for hanging around a bunch of Shadowhunters, Simon thinks to himself.
As Isabelle leaves again, presumably to get some other Shadowhunters, Clary says quickly, "Look, I've seen how you look at Izzy, and at Jace. And how they look at you. I thought Jace was gonna tell you. I'll explain properly when I get back, but here, read this." She picks up a massive book from her bedside table; the cover reads Shadowhunter Marriages. "Uh, and Jace says he and Izzy are evenings, we're mornings," she adds cryptically, following Isabelle out into the hallway.
"What -" Simon starts, but Clary is already gone.
All the Shadowhunters Simon actually talks to (basically just Clary, Jace and Izzy) are out doing their demon-slaying thing, so he goes back to the guest room, sits on his bed and reads the book. The first section is just a directory of marriage runes. Simon assumes that this is not what Clary wants him to read, since he's incapable of anything to do with runes, so he skips through that bit. Simon reads on:
Shadowhunter marriages take place between a woman and a man of the Evening moiety and a woman and a man of the Morning moiety. In each marriage, there are four sexual/romantic relationships and two platonic relationships. People of the Evening moiety may only have sexual/romantic relationships with people of the Morning moiety, and vice versa - to have such relations with an individual from one's own moiety is sacrilegious and may result in a Shadowhunter being stripped of his or her runes.
Isabelle. Jace. Clary. Simon.
Oh.
It's certifiably insane, of course. But the moment Simon reads the words, he feels them settling into him, like he just knows. Because he already does. Jace and Izzy are Evenings. He and Clary are Mornings. It's completely ridiculous. But he can already imagine it, the four of them, together. He already wants it. And if Clary is to be believed, they all want it too.
Damn it, he just wants them to come home.
Simon waits in the training room, because he knows it'll be the first place Jace goes when he gets back. In the meantime, he tries to read some more of the book, but it's pretty boring and also full of offensive comments about Downworlders, so he gives up and just sits there, staring at the wall.
Finally, Jace comes back. Simon stands up as Jace advances towards him. He looks pretty much unharmed by the fight, just a bit sweaty and with bits of demon blood clinging to his skin. Simon watches as Jace puts his seraph blades away, then says quietly, "I've been doing a bit of light reading." He motions to the book on the floor next to him. Jace glances down at it, then looks back at him with realisation dawning in his eyes. Simon continues, "I didn't really like the bits about how Downworlders are inferior, but I didn't mind the part about -"
"By the Angel, would you just shut up," Jace says, closing the gap between their bodies and pressing Simon against the wall. For once, Simon is silent, looking up at the other boy. "Finally," Jace mutters, and Simon isn't sure whether he's referring to him shutting up or to what happens next, but he stops caring, because Jace is leaning down and cupping his hand around Simon's cheek and pressing their lips together. Their noses bump awkwardly, but then Simon tilts his head a little and parts his lips and then they are really kissing. Simon feels his fangs popping out, which, yikes, but also there is nothing he can do about it. His fangs graze against Jace's lips, and Jace practically growls and opens his mouth and kisses him harder. Simon puts one hand on Jace's waist, one on his arm, and pulls him closer.
When they separate, breathing heavily, Jace's cheeks are flushed and his eyes are wide and he looks so beautiful. Simon just wants to kiss him again. He's already leaning in when-
"That was quite the show, boys," comes Izzy's voice from the doorway. Jace and Simon turn to see Clary and Izzy standing in the doorway.
"How long have you been standing there?" Jace demands, but he sounds more amused than angry.
Clary grins. "Long enough."
Simon looks between them. It's still hard to believe - kissing Jace, Izzy actually returning his feelings, this thing between the four of them being possible at all. "We really are doing this, then?" he says.
"These two have never known anything different," Clary says, motioning to Izzy and Jace, who nod their assent, "and I'm down if you are. Which, considering what we just saw, is pretty much a given."
Simon smiles. "Yeah." Here's the thing: he doesn't really know what he's doing. But he does know that he trusts and cares about the others enough to want to find out.
This is it, then. The first of many moments Simon knows he'll share with them. What they have may be uncommon, but Simon wouldn't trade it for the world.