It's Always Been You

Chapter 4

Clary blinked. "So? So is Simon."

Jace laughed. "Have you been holding out on me Lewis?" That earned him a glare from Simon.

Izzy dismissed that with a wave of her hand. "Simon is basically a rockstar. I'm sure he gets tons of sex now."

"I do not..." Simon whined. "How did this turn on me?"

Jace reached under the table and squeezed Simon's socked foot reassuringly. Clary nodded slowly, "I'm still mad at you. Gretel glared at me throughout."

Jace shifted so, she could sit next to him, and Simon dropped his foot.

His phone vibrated with a message. From Simon.

SimonLewis [1.30PM]

Becks is out of town, wanna come over? In thirty minutes?"

Jace smiled as he put his phone away. Izzy groaned. "I hate that I don't know what is going on. Jonathan Christopher Wayland, you will tell me who you are sleeping with."

"That tone of voice didn't work when my grandmother used it, it won't work now." Jace said, smirking. "Why is it so important to you?"

"I don't know." Izzy said. "I want to know who is making you happy. Is that so bad?"

"You want to give them the shovel talk, don't you?" Clary asked. "Didn't give one to Magnus when he and Alec started dating?"

"No." Izzy said, scowling. "He gave me his employee discount card. If anything, he should give me the shovel talk."

Simon laughed as he stood up. "I have to get home. Becks is going out of town and you know how she is."

Clary asked. "How is Becks? She says you have been staying out most nights."

"For the love of-" Simon sighed loudly. "I am going to pour green hair dye in her shampoo."

Jace laughed as Simon stalked out of the diner. Izzy looked at him again. "You aren't off the hook."

"OK, you caught me." Jace said. "I'm sleeping with Meliorn."

"No you aren't." Clary said, without looking up.

"Fine, I'm not." Jace sighed. "I'm not going to tell you who I'm love with just because you want to know. Let me enjoy it before you scare...what?" Clary looked up and Izzy's face softened.

"Aww, you are in love." She said, her hand on her chest. "Why didn't you say so?"

"I'm not...I-I...damn it." Jace sighed. Was he in love with Simon? "Shut up."

"No. Never." Izzy said. "I don't think you have ever been in love. I felt you were just a whore. I love you, but you are wild. But this? This is perfect!"

"OK," Jace said slowly. "I'll need you to calm down. Don't say anything, please. I really like this person, but it's too early to talk about love and stuff, so will you please, please, just shut up about it?"

"Shut up about what?" Alec said, sliding into the space Simon was sitting. "What are we shutting up about?"

"Jace is in love." Izzy said. Jace covered his face. "Izzy!"

"What? It's Alec." Izzy said, unapologetically.

"Oh." Alec said, thoughtfully. "Figures." He signaled for the waitress. Then he paused. "Wait. Are you...?"

Jace stood up. "I'm going home. You guys are the worst."

He walked out quickly ignoring Izzy's "Jace, come on! We're sorry."

He was almost at Simon's when the text he was expecting came in. Alec was nothing, if not predictable.

AlecLightwood [1.56PM]

Simon? You and Simon?

JaceWayland [1.57PM]

What about me and Simon?

He decided to play it dumb.

Alec Lightwood [1.59PM]

Are you sleeping with Simon? Is he the one you are in love with?

Jace switched his phone off. He wasn't going to deal with this now.

When Simon opened the door to pull him inside, Jace knew.

He was in love with Simon.

And Alec knew...

******

"Are you OK?" Simon asked, next to him. Simon noticed that Jace was distracted when he came over. Jace hummed and turned to throw a hand across Simon's middle.

"I'm fine." Jace said, "We need to talk."

"Oh." Simon sat up immediately. "You want to call it quits? Why? I thought we were having a great time and it was perfect. I mean, our friends are nosey but that's not our problem. Is it me? What did I do? Is it because of...why are you laughing? This isn't funny. You want to break up with me, although we have to be dating to break up, but...Jace I'm sorry, what did I do?"

He stopped talking and took a deep breath. Jace was still laughing, "Are you done with your little freak out?"

"It's not a freak out." He grumbled. "Nothing good comes after 'we need to talk'. My mom told me that when I was 7 when she wanted to tell me my dad died, my Bubbie told me that when she told me she was probably not going to survive her surgery when I was 14. She was being dramatic but it was the worst six months of my life. Then there was Camille..." he sucked in a breath and let it out slowly.

Jace raised a blonde brow. "Ok...we'll come back to that. Now, Alec has kinda figured it out. Us, I mean."

"Huh." Simon looked stunned. "That's it? You need to work on your delivery, Wayland." He lay down again. "OK, so he knows. Are you sure?"

"Well, I ran away before he said anything, but I'm pretty sure." Jace said, sheepishly.

Simon put a hand on Jace's chest. "Oh. You think we should tell them?"

"Well, not all of them." Jace said. "They'll figure it out eventually."

"That is a terrible idea." Simon laughed. "It's a good thing you are the pretty one."

"Hey."

Simon thought. "So what should we say? What are we? Fuck buddies? Friends with benefits? Are we dating? 'Cos let me tell you now..."

"I love you." Jace interrupted him softly. Simon's eyes widened.

"Oh." He said. "I suppose we could tell them that. But that sounds a bit one-sided. I-I...damn it, Jace, what am I supposed to say to that?"

"I'm mostly worried that you are speechless. Ish." Jace said, although his expression was uncertain. "It's OK. If you can't say it to me, but I may have let it slip with Izzy after you left and she is all excited about it and I wanted you to hear it from me."

"I'm crazy about you, Jace." Simon said, smiling sadly. "Like, I might be in love with you crazy. But what if..."

"What if...?" Jace pressed.

"You know why our friends haven't suspected us?" Simon asked. "It's because someone like you could never go for someone like me." He rushed on when Jace started to talk. "I know, I know, I'm cute and a good person. But..."

"Simon." Jace said firmly. "You are hot."

OK, that wasn't was he expected to hear. "I'm what?"

Jace rolled his eyes. "You are hot. And strong. And sexy. A little insane, but I like it. You are sneaky little shit, and I didn't even know I was in love with you till this afternoon. And as for thinking I'm too good for you...that's stupid. You are the best human being I have ever met. And that's not because of that thing you do with your tongue that makes me...."

"OK, I get it." Simon laughed, straddling Jace's hips. "I rock your world, basically."

Jace pulled him down and kissed him. "I mean, you can try that thing with your tongue again."

"Gladly.