Who: Jace Herondale and Simon Lewis Where: Simon's studio, Avengers facility When: Saturday, September 24, 2019, after this What: Jace and Simon don't talk about sucky things from their world. And then they do talk, but not about that. 😏 Rating/Warnings: Feels and sexy times Status: Complete
After they lost Clary, Jace had spent a long time so wrapped up in his own pain that he'd barely noticed anyone else's, but he'd noticed Simon's. At first, it had been because he hadn't seen enough of it, because he expected someone who never stopped talking to be just as voluble with his grief. It had made him angry, on top of the sadness, to think that the others weren't missing Clary enough, and especially her best friend.
Until that moment he realized Simon had plenty of pain—he just wasn't showing it all to Jace.
It was why he wasn't surprised that the vampire had been playing sad songs in his studio, and that he hadn't admitted to anything more than that on the net. Jace wasn't here to make Simon open up or share more than he wanted—he, of all people, understood the need to deal with things in your own time and own way—but he wasn't going to leave him alone, either.
For once, it wasn't his own feelings he wanted to satisfy as he let himself into the studio, greeted Simon briefly, and sat down at the keyboard. He was glad that he'd played it a bit while they'd been babysitting Madzie, because it meant that they were (once again) already past that awkward bit of information that his evil adoptive father had been the one to teach him. He put his hands on the keys, pressing them to familiarize himself with the weight again, but didn't turn on the instrument yet. Instead, he sat quietly for a moment before saying, "Do you wanna play or talk?"
Simon didn't have to think about it, didn't have it in his silent chest to do anything else but say, "Play."
And they did, Jace picking something out and Simon joining in.
Music filled the space and Simon let his mind start to wander through the liminal space where it was just him and the notes pouring out of him. Except it wasn't just him. Jace was there, too, anticipating every key change, every seamless transition from one song to the next. He wasn't sure how much time passed, but it felt like a long while, after which he emerged back into the more aware world with only one thought. "I really can't tell if this is going so well because of this year I don't know about or the time loops I never experienced. Or experienced, but can't remember because of blah-blah-blah temporal bullshit or physics or quantum whatever. So, help a guy out. Which is it?"
"You forgot the option where I'm just that good," Jace said, flipping off the keyboard so that he could lean forward on it without creating sounds he didn't want. He hadn't played so much since all those consecutive days in the time loop, and it felt good to let loose without really thinking much about what he was doing. "But probably the time loop. We've only played together a few times back in our world. Not as much leisure time between patrols and training sessions." He flexed his fingers, working out some of the tension of playing for so long. "I recognized a few of those melodies you threw in there."
"I'd call that cheating, but I know it sucked. Not the time with me, of course. That rocked. You said it yourself. I wasn't the reason it was terrible, so I'll take that as a win." Throwing caution to the wind, Simon set his guitar aside and leaned far enough over to take Jace's hands before he could mentally talk himself out of doing it.
This was so stupid. The very definition of madness.
But he knew a lot of techniques for massaging out aching muscles after hours of practicing, and he employed that know-how now. If he could be clinical about it, he could ignore the dumb butterflies in his stomach and the way he'd stopped breathing altogether. Simon didn't dare look at the hunter's face. He'd thought way too much about it lately as it was. "Did you get another partner after Alec went to Alicante? And were those training sessions for little ol' me? You know, the ones where you apparently really liked getting me on my back."
Jace was glad that Simon wasn't looking at him, so he couldn't see the way Jace's eyes widened perceptably before he could catch himself. That little hitch of breath couldn't be helped, but hopefully it wasn't so noticeable that Simon could read anything into it.
"It's not my fault you can't ever defend against a very basic attack and still stay on your feet." He swallowed against a tight spot that Simon's fingers rolled deftly over. It probably didn't help that he'd done some particularly extensive training this morning. "I didn't get a permanent partner, no. I spent some time filling in, going out with the newbies, but mostly training." Considering the topic they were avoiding right now, he decided not to point out why he hadn't been in the field as much. "Including being assigned to whip you into shape."
Simon raised a very expressive brow at Jace, even though it meant he had to actually look at him to do so. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize 'boop-boop' was part of the standard Shadowhunter fighting repertoire. How on earth did I miss that in all the fights I saw you in? Must've been too terrified for my then-mortal life. I'd ask who did said assigning, but I doubt they're around for me to thank by way of this neat thing they call a glitter bomb." He grinned his most evil grin before returning to his self-appointed task. He'd never been Catholic, but he thought this was probably as close to penance as he'd ever get. "Don't pretend you didn't love every second with me."
"What can I say? Expert trainers such as myself use the tactics that best motivate their trainees, and you required something not described in the handbook. I volunteered, by the way—just to see the look on your face—but you really don't want to see the tactics I'd use to revenge a glitter bomb." Jace laughed and shook his head at the other's expression, which was far better than at the dismal start to the evening. "Fishing for compliments now? Last time I was nice to you, you told me to shut up, so I think I'll save my praise for someone with manners."
If anyone were to walk in, they would assume Simon was holding Jace's hand, but he was simply feeling through his wrist and palm for more trouble spots. He tilted his head curiously and shoved another layer of ignoring-the-situation onto the growing pile caused by the warmth in the other man's laugh (and his own desire to hear it again, to say nothing of being the cause of it). "No, no. You can't just threaten me with a good time and leave me hanging as to just how said revenge would go down. That's just rude. Now who's the one without manners?" He used the hand he was holding to pull Jace closer over the keyboard between them, his voice dropping to something approaching conspiratorial. "Don't tell anyone, but I happen to like you nice. I just don't know what to do with it. With you."
"What part of you don't want to see it leads you to a good time? You have no sense of self-preservation, do you?" But despite the slightly exasperated way he said it, there was a fondness there he couldn't quite shake. This was what had been missing the last several months: the ability to poke and insult while knowing that it was actually all in good fun. Mostly. Jace had turned his hand around to grasp Simon's before his conscious thoughts caught up with him. "You don't have to do anything. I know it's a lot to jump from barely knowing me to this." Whatever this was.
"Nope!" And of course Simon popped the 'p' because that was a 'p' popping moment if ever there was one. "Well, I have considerably less since Clary bumped into you at Pandemonium. Or you bumped into her. Outside it, as I recall. I was very happy to be a struggling musician in a city that didn't give a shit, but then my best friend turned out to be some angelic Chosen One, and the rest is super secret, don't-talk-about-it history. Okay, but, for real, don't I at least get a preview of this revenge? Because my curiosity has been well and truly engaged, and I doubt you want to see what might happen if it isn't satisfied."
Funny that Jace would accuse him of a lack of self-preservation when he was absolutely rambling and talking a mile a minute to keep from acknowledging the fact that, yes, right now, in that instant, he was absolutely holding Jace's hand and feeling Some Kind of Way about it.
"Answering my ambiguous threat with an equally ambiguous threat? That's not very creative of you, Si. I'm disappointed," Jace said, leaning in a little farther and looking at him with slightly narrowed eyes that did nothing to hide the smirk that sat on his lips. "If it was something boring, then telling you would prevent it from being the deterrent it should be. And if it's something really devious, then you might be on your guard. I'm really not seeing any incentive for me to fess up here."
To Simon's absolute horror, when he opened his mouth to make a biting retort, what came out instead was a whine and the truly mature: "That's not fair! Why do you get to give me a cute nickname when Jace is already yours, and I have nowhere else to go?"
Gosh, he'd actually said cute. And there was the small matter of his eyes jumping around to unhelpful places around the other man's face (and neck). Apparently pouting was the order of the day, since the alternative was to lean in and kiss himdo absolutely nothing, thanks. "Fine, don't tell me, but don't be shocked when I annoy you back into hating me again, trying to weedle it out of you when you least expect it."
"I think I'd rather hold onto my name anyway, thanks. I've been through too many already," Jace said, and while the playfulness wasn't entirely gone from his tone, it had dropped a bit quieter, as if sharing a secret. Maybe he was.
If this had been a time loop day, Jace might have closed the distance between them and kissed Simon, despite the awkwardness of the keyboard between them and the still-tentative nature of their friendship. It would probably have been a bad decision, either immediately or in how the day turned out after. He'd made plenty during those eighty-four days, and he'd learned at least a little about the other man in the process—which was why he didn't let temptation get the better of him. Yet.
"I would be shocked, because I don't think you could do it." Maybe it was a challenge, but really it would have been far easier to just stop talking to Jace altogether, if he didn't want to be friends. "You forget that I know so many more of your tricks than you probably realize, and yet I still willingly came here. Sorry, Si, you're just too annoyingly likable."
"I could always encanto you," Simon muttered mutinously.
But he never would.
Not because he'd never really mastered the ability. No, it was the principle of taking away someone's autonomy. It had happened to him—a fact he only liked to unpack in his darkest hours—and he couldn't imagine doing it to someone else. He set all of that aside with a small shake of his head and reached out to poke Jace lightly in the shoulder. "More sucker, you, falling for my geeky wiles. And more fool me for falling right into your flirty orbit. Something tells me even a year later, I've never figured out how you do it so effortlessly. Am I still a hopeless case in your old present?"
"Only you would encanto someone to make them not be your friend to prove a point," Jace said, laughing lowly. Despite holding back in some ways, he was becoming aware of just how much he wasn't holding back in others. Sure, he'd flirted with Simon before (and not even only in the time loop), but it had always been a throwaway thing, put out there to see how the man would react or as a lead into more. He couldn't remember ever just basking in it like this.
"Oh, definitely. A thousand years from now, you'll probably still be a hopeless case." And he wouldn't want it any other way, even if he wouldn't be around to see it. His thoughts hadn't quite worked their way around to working through that, and he was perfectly content to keep it that way for now. "I'd offer to teach you, but trust me when I say even that didn't help."
It was Simon's turn to dim a bit—he'd noticed it in Jace earlier, but it felt wrong to tease him about the whole name thing. He wasn't so obtuse not to have some inkling of just how rough all of that must have been, even without the benefit of knowing the particulars. Or experiencing some of them. And speaking of experience, or the lack thereof, he didn't like to think about the long stretch of forever he had sitting in front of him. If he was smart, he'd probably ask Magnus about it sometime. How to live while everything around him grew old and died.
He was going to be nineteen forever. A sobering thought, one that he shook from his head so he could focus on other things, like laughing quietly and leaning on the back of his keyboard (and still holding Jace's hand). "Shut up, you didn't." He grinned. "Tell me everything."
"A couple of drinks, a little bit of very bad roleplay on your part, and me getting a girl's number just to prove I could," Jace summarized with a smirk. "While glamored to look like you, I might add. Proving two points."
Except he remembered some very specific things he'd told Simon that night: No one wants a guy with his cards already on the table. No one wants a guy who can't shut up. And hadn't he gone on to prove that he was very much wrong in that? Maybe a random girl at a bar didn't want the rambly mess that Simon often was, but there was a big difference between a hook-up and...whatever this was. He shifted his hand in Simon's to a grip that was a little more comfortable, freeing his thumb to roam along the other's skin.
"There are worse things than being hopeless at purposeful flirting. Like the six weeks it took me to teach you a basic back stance. Or your complete inability to keep a straight face when you know the punchline of a joke."
Simon would have rolled his eyes, but he was a little caught up with the zing of sensation that connected his hand to the base of his spine. It left him dazed and a little stupid. He lost track of the conversation for a moment. Once more, he found himself pouting, which he really, really had to stop doing. "Hey, no fair using future things against me. Well, one future thing. The present thing is just endearing, and you know it. You said it yourself, I'm annoyingly likable. But, okay, wait—what the hell do you mean glamored to look like me? Please tell me you didn't fall into the sheets with someone while wearing my face, 'cause even I've got limits, man."
"Keyword: annoyingly. I'm being generous stopping with only two examples, because you said you like me nice. Admit it. You just like me, period." Maybe Jace was pushing it a little bit, but his restraint had limits, and apparently that applied to his flirting as well. Or maybe he was simply taking it as a good sign that Simon hadn't pulled away. As twitchy as he usually was, that had to mean something. "I said I got her number. Under your supervision. I'm not walking around looking like you for shits and giggles. Why would I, when I look like this?" He gestured to his face with his free hand.
For half a very damning second, Simon was very upset that there was a keyboard between them. In the second half of that second, that flipped to relief. Because Jace flirted with every breath when he wasn't fighting demons, and sometimes even then. So whatever was happening now, from the way they were leaning toward each other and the stroke of Jace's finger against his skin, it didn't really mean anything. (Did it?) "I plead the Fifth, or whatever Downworld equivalent means that I refuse to incriminate myself any more than my pointed silence already indicates." He caught Jace's other hand and pulled it toward him with a raised brow and a smirk playing just at the edge of his mouth. "What is it you told me about fishing? It's not cute, even if you are."
"Good try, but you're talking to a Shadowhunter. I'm pretty sure the Accords were built on the hope that Downworlders would incriminate themselves and make the Clave's job a little easier." Things had begun to turn around in the last year, but even appointing Magnus as Alicante's first High Warlock was only the first step of many. "Fishing implies that I'm looking for something, but I know my strengths." If something fluttered oddly in his chest, it had everything to do with the capture of his hand and absolutely nothing to do with the compliment. He leaned in another fraction, ignoring the keys digging uncomfortably into his abs. "Do you know yours?"
Simon's tongue flicked out over his lips, and he had to swallow heavily. He tried to laugh, but it came out this weak, barely there thing. "Let's see… music. An encyclopedic knowledge of geeky things. And—and my ability to bore any date I have into catatonia with no vampy cheating needed. Bam! In your stupidly sculpted face and pretty eyes."
Jace wondered if Simon could hear the way his heartbeat sped up at that flick of tongue, which put his thoughts in two separate directions, both of which were appealing. Maybe all the sound-dampening panels would screw with his vampire senses, but Jace didn't have high hopes for that. It was a miracle that his brain was functional enough to give him an idea. "Prove it—all three, right now."
Thoughts spun up in his head, spurred on by the hunter's reaction: the slight dilation, the rapid patter in his chest, the way his pulse jumped in his neck. Simon leaned in all the more, so much so that he could feel the heat from Jace's skin. "That precludes the assumption that this is a date. Otherwise, one of my strengths is null and void."
Jace closed what distance was left, save a tiny sliver of air between their lips, though it was so negligible that breathing might as well have been a caress. "I'm not catatonic yet, so maybe it's not."
"Jace," Simon whispered as his eyes closed, and then the scant distance between them vanished. Maybe this was insane, but he hadn't felt particularly right-minded since Sunday. Possibly even before then, but especially since realizing he liked Jace as something far, far beyond a simple friend. He wasn't sure they'd ever be simple anything.
In that moment, however, he was simply Simon, and he was simply kissing Jace: soft, gentle, a little probing and uncertain. It changed everything, but he couldn't, wouldn't take it back. His fingers trembled a little where they were wrapped up in Jace's hands, his nerves leaving him with rampaging butterflies and a sudden gulf of gnawing doubt.
Jace barely managed to grab a stuttering breath before it was happening, and even then his chest felt like it might burst. He knew this kiss, because he'd experienced it every time they'd gotten close in the time loop. Once it had gotten to this point, it had been pretty difficult to mess up, but this was a time Jace wasn't content to rest on his laurels. There were plenty of advantages of training and flexibility, and this one was never advertised for the boon it was.
He stood without breaking the kiss, slowly leading Simon to turn with him as he walked around the keyboard until they were on the same side. The change in angles would have been even more awkward, except that Jace tugged on their clutched hands, aiming somewhere behind him for the couch and a far more comfortable place to continue this.
Even though it had been Simon who moved those last millimeters that brought their lips together, he had the distant idea that he should probably be more engaged in the direction of how this was going. Truth was, though, he was glad that Jace was taking the initiative and guiding Simon on his rolling stool the short distance away—which was patently absurd. He made some kind of grunt of warning before stopping the backwards trek long enough for him to stand and go back to their evident destination under his own power.
His legs hit the front of the couch, but he retained a touch of his inherent grace and managed not to flail back onto the cushions. Instead, he sort of flowed onto it and pulled Jace down with him. All the while, Simon never stopped kissing him. He also never once stopped to try to figure out why this seemed so easy, how it was Jace knew just how to tease his lips with the flick of his tongue or caress the palm of his hand in such a way that it gave him goosebumps.
Right as Simon began to sink into all the sensations going around and through him, he recalled other rather similar feelings from another party altogether. It was enough for him to push against Jace's shoulder. "Wait, wait, I— This isn't"—a squirmy kind of guilt had set up camp in Simon's insides. "I want something new with you. I've already…made out with someone here. In here. On this couch."
Gosh, he really wanted to spontaneously combust.
Jace smiled against Simon's lips as he took the lead exactly as Jace had hoped and expected. Unwinding their hands was necessary now, as he had so many more places to touch, and he would have soon formed a tangle of lips and arms if Simon hadn't called a halt. "What—ah."
The knowledge that there had been someone else shouldn't have felt like the lead weight in his stomach that it did. They'd fought over the same girl, after all, and been involved with at least one other at different times. And back in his time Simon was dating—well, it didn't matter right now, and neither did his misplaced jealousy. He settled a hand on the back of Simon's neck, not quite possessive, but definitely conveying that he wanted to keep going.
"This isn't actually entirely new for me." It felt different, because Simon knew about their future, had been friendly for more than a mere hour or two. The way they'd come together had been more natural, less like the impulse of a moment. But there was plenty that was familiar, too. "But we can go wherever you want. We never actually made it anywhere else."
Confusion clouded Simon's thoughts for a beat. Really, they weren't that clear to begin with, but now he had to contend with the reality that Jace had an unfair advantage and far more experience in this dynamic. Simon wanted to be angry, maybe felt the smallest flash of it, but that didn't seem fair. If nothing else, the knowledge that they'd come together in some way like this before just cemented his desire to not be there. "Unless you've figured out how to teleport with one of those runes, your room is closer. Also, I feel like I should be getting major points for not freaking out over the fact that you just basically told me that we've done this before."
He really was very willing to let this go, but Simon also desperately wanted to know: "But how many times? You realize you have a really unfair advantage here, right?"
Complicated and inscrutable things happened with Simon's face. Considering how easy Jace found him to read the rest of the time, he thought it was probably a good thing they were talking about this now. "Imagine if you'd had all week to freak out and overthink it."
That wasn't why Jace had kept that part back, but it still seemed a likely outcome. He was tempted to tease him with definitions ("Depends on what you mean by this...") or with the fact that they were pausing to talk this through, but memory of that desire to have Simon remember what had happened, day after repeated day, was far too strong to take this too lightly. "Twenty-seven days." He stroked the back of Simon's neck lightly with his fingertips. "But it's not as much of an advantage as you think."
The answer stilled him, but it was the sensation against his skin that made Simon's eyes fall closed and his back sort of melted against the couch cushions. At some point, he'd wound up with a hand at Jace's hip where his thumb found its way under his shirt and was now making counterpoint motions against his skin. He kept waiting for the rest of whatever to drop, but it didn't mean he wanted to stop. "Is it—is it better that I don't know you like you know me? All the way around, it seems. Like, will you forgive me if I get it wrong sometimes?"
Leaning up, he nosed a bit at Jace's cheek and jaw and then against the side of his neck. "How can you not think you're miles away from me?"
"Simon," Jace said, and the name came out all soft around the edges, a bit awestruck, like to say it any other way right now would be an offense of angelic proportions. The only real answer to those questions was to kiss him again, not as a distraction, but something fervent he couldn't quite express in words. "There's no better or worse, right or wrong here." He stayed close as he spoke, rubbing the side of his nose to Simon's. "This was new for me here, during my time loop. I didn't tell you before, because I didn't want you to think I had an ulterior motive." He pulled back enough to look down at him. "Have you ever known me to settle? Even in your time, you should know me well enough to know that I wouldn't hesitate to tell you if I wanted to fuck you and be done."
This level of affection was never something he'd ever experienced in his life, least of all from a guy he was pretty sure he loathed just a few months ago. Want jolted through him, harder than his heart had ever beat when he was mortal, human. Simon decided then and there that he wanted Jace to say his name like that a million times before he was satisfied, and then he'd restart the count on principle. If the ending was meant to jar him at all, it did the opposite. He groaned and yanked Jace down for another kiss while he snapped his hips up. "Guess you could say I'm coming around to the idea that you might actually want me for me, and now I actually want you to drag me to your room and show me a few of things you've learned about me. And I can learn some things in the process."
"You are really"—Jace punctuated the word with another kiss—"not making me want to move from this couch." Except that one of the many problems with their interactions in the time loop was that they didn't progress, never led anywhere different without risking ruining the day altogether. That was enough motivation for him to roll off the couch and to his feet, grabbing one of Simon's hands in the process. "I could drag you. Or we could just hurry."
Even not-quite-running, there was something thrilling about going through the building with Simon's hand in his, where anyone could see them. It occurred to him as they went that he'd need to tell Alec what was going on before it somehow got back to him, but there would be time for all the sensible thoughts later, when he no longer had an enthusiastic vampire in his grasp. He thought he deserved an award for how much he did not fumble getting his door open, and then they were inside, and he had his hands on Simon's face again. He gazed at him for a moment before pulling him into a soft kiss.
Every time they came together, Simon kept expecting it to turn hard, bruising. Kept thinking he was about to get pushed into a wall or pinned to the bed. Truth was, he didn't know what to do with all this tenderness. It left him confounded and whimpering, hands twitching at his sides before coming up and clutching at Jace's sides instead. Nothing bruising, just answering like for like. He'd barely remarked the inside of the other's room, but it was enough to note that it hardly looked lived in. Had his rooms at the Institute been quite this utilitarian? Simon remembered Clary's room as being nice, but he wasn't sure that Jace would have gone in for the same level of opulence.
Funny, just that glancing thought didn't send him screaming from the room. There was a time he would've been spooked by far less, but the idea of Clary didn't hurt as much anymore. And he didn't hate Jace. Would wonders never cease? His cool fingers insinuated themselves under the hem of Jace's shirt until they caressed over absurdly smooth skin. "Are you real, or did one of Magnus's spells go wrong? And if it did, maybe don't tell me. I don't want this to be all in my head."
Jace laughed against his lips, a sound that was far more fond even to his own ears than he'd intended, but his self-control was barely there already in the face of all of this. "I think that's my line." The other times they'd been together were, after all, only in his head now. He nuzzled Simon's cheek, then stepped back just enough to pull his shirt over his head and toss it toward his hamper. He was quick to press himself into that cool touch once again, and he pulled at the hem of Simon's shirt, wanting to get it off, too, even though he couldn't resist stealing another kiss. "I'm flattered that you would have had a delusion that dreamed this up," he teased and followed it by another soft kiss, even as his hands were sliding up Simon's chest.
Real and true contrition twisted his face into a scowl that vanished the second Simon was presented with that momentary picture of sculpted muscle and beautifully runed skin. Although he really wanted to burn it into his memory, he found he liked kissing Jace all the more.
"It's not like you haven't been in my head since you got here," he admitted, low and close, barely separated from Jace's mouth. It was the kind of confession he could only give when they were alone and Jace was treating him like something precious, like something he wanted. Simon tried to be as smooth when removing his own shirt, but he got distracted by the warm hands moving over him. He flailed, Muppet-like, while his arms got caught up in his sleeves and his nose snagged the neck hole. A grunt of frustration accompanied his inelegant tearing of the rest of it off and flinging it to the floor like it had personally offended him.
When he looked back up, he was struck by a thought that stopped him cold and widened his eyes. His fingers itched to touch Jace again, but the renewed sight of all those runes gave him pause. On some level, Simon knew this sudden idea was ludicrous and illogical, but still he had to ask, had to know for sure. "I can touch them, right? Your runes? Like, I'm not going to burn my tongue when I lick them, am I?"
Jace had begun to relax into this. He was far more at ease with the act of seduction than he'd been at developing a friendship, even if this had a different edge to it. But the knowledge that Simon had been thinking about him even before the time loop made his heart stutter for a few beats. He was glad for the distraction of Simon's shirt and the absolutely-Simon feat it was to get it over the man's head. He had to bite back a laugh, but he couldn't keep the amusement from his face, even as his eyes roamed the newly-revealed skin.
He stopped at the question, his hands coming to rest on Simon's chest, thumbs lightly caressing even in the pause. It should have been ridiculous, but before the time loop, he'd never actually done anything like this with a vampire before, and he was a little surprised Simon hadn't thought of it those other times. "My blood made you super special," he said with a bit of a smirk as he reached for Simon's hand and placed it on the Nyx rune on the left side of his chest. "Obviously you were meant to be licking me all along."
One second, Simon was biting his lip while pleasure radiated from where Jace was touching him, and the next a quiet, but heartfelt, "fuuuuuuuuck…" was filling the air between them. "That silver tongue of yours is so fucking unfair, but don't you dare shut up."
He took the step necessary to close the gap, and then his hands and mouth were everywhere when he wasn't drawn inevitably back to Jace's lips. True to his world, Simon began to map the runes along his chest and sides and stomach with his tongue. He could feel the rush of blood just beneath the surface of Jace's skin, wanted it, craved it. His fangs extended as a matter of course, but he only teased the other man with them, dragging across his ribs like he'd done with his neck on the beach. "Mmm, sunshine."
That comment finally brought the laugh out of him, and he sneaked in a kiss before his hands started down familiar paths that he hadn't been sure he'd ever get to walk again. Letting Simon have his way severely limited how Jace himself could touch the other man, but he wasn't crazy enough to even consider stopping him, instead using the opportunity to card his fingers through Simon's hair. Heat flared everywhere Simon's mouth went, blood rushing to compensate for the coolness of his touch until it made Jace almost dizzy. He groaned as the vampire's teeth grazed him, reflexively tightening his fingers in the man's hair. "I'm not the only one with a talented tongue." He tugged a little harder. "Get back up here, Si. I wanna see your face while I get you out of your pants."
The prickle across his scalp shot straight south. Well, not straight. Nothing about this was remotely straight. Simon moaned, and he wasn't really sure if it was the feeling, the command, or the nickname that prompted it, or some tangled up mixture of all three. "Was that part of the twenty-seven days?" He kissed his way back up, lingering a little at the side of Jace's neck until he was kissing him again. "How far did we go? How many ways did you take me apart? Please tell me I at least returned the favor. I wanna make you feel good, too."
Those lips on his neck nearly got him, and Jace was pretty sure Simon knew—or would quickly learn—that it was a weak spot for him. But he had a goal in mind, and even that memory of the bite wasn't going to keep him from it this time. "Not as many as I wanted," he admitted as his touch dropped to Simon's waist, tracing the muscles that few probably expected the vampire had under his quirky-musician persona. He nuzzled Simon's cheek and then pulled back enough to look at him as his hands drifted to the button of Simon's jeans. "It was a repeated day. Things went mostly the same." He pulled open the button and went immediately for the zipper. "Too fast, at first. Fumbling on the couch or against a wall. Sometimes on our knees." The corner of his mouth lifted at that, and he pushed the jeans over Simon's hips. "It got better, once I figured out what you liked, but I always thought it would be best like this."
When he could savor it without fearing that moment of reset.
Being undressed by Jace Herondale was one of the most erotic experiences Simon had ever had in his entire life, bar none. If there had been fumbling before, there certainly wasn't any on Jace's behalf. At least not now. He couldn't really blush anymore, but he felt it anyway, like the ghost of a familiar sensation, fondly remembered. By some miracle, he managed not to trip over himself as his jeans came down and then off, and then repeated the same improbable miracle by catching hold of the hem of his boxers and pulling them off too after a split-second of squirmy nerves. Some backwards sense of logic told him Jace had seen him like this before, so he had no reason to feel anxious.
There was no hiding the trembling in his hands, however, when he reached out for Jace's hips and pulled him in, fitting him against his own. "Let's do new things, then. Your bed seems like a good start. And also you being out of these clothes, like, yesterday. I could do the honors, but I can't promise the seams will be in the same shape after."
"Are you threatening to rip off my clothes?" Jace teased, smiling against Simon's lips as he stole another kiss. He ran his hands down the other man's arms, briefly resting them over the hands that were clasping his hips before sliding his own grasp to Simon's hips. He squeezed his ass just because he could, smiling even more in his playfulness. He started to back Simon toward the bed, murmuring between kisses, "You don't have to be so careful. I've thought a lot about this." He'd had more than two months for it.
When Simon's legs hit the bed, Jace gave him a little push that was more a suggestion than any attempt to move him, accompanied with one last lingering kiss and a soft, "Sit." Then he stepped back enough to be out of easy reach. He didn't try to hide the way his eyes raked over Simon's form as he did it, but that wasn't actually his purpose. He pulled his stele from his pocket and started to trace the runes he needed, naming them as he went for Simon's benefit. "Stamina. Strength. Flexibility. Speed. Healing." He paused, considering for a moment before he drew another. "Blood Loss."
That accomplished, he placed the stele on his little nightstand, opening the drawer while he was at it and pulling out other supplies. That brought with it a mischievous grin in Simon's direction before he started unfastening his belt.
After that particular show, there was absolutely no doubt in Simon's mind where this evening was going. Surprise, yes, but not doubt. Zero-to-Sixty over a couple of hours of song and maybe twenty minutes max of conversation and making out.
And now he was sitting on Jace's bed, watching him activate runes—and wanting to trace that angel light with his mouth, see if he tasted even more like the sun. It didn't escape him, the way the other's eyes had moved over him. Left him tingling all over. That last teasing smile was the last straw. His hands shot out and covered Jace's and used that hold to pull him closer where he could very quickly help with the divestment of those pesky pants. "Blood loss, hm?" Simon grinned up at him in a way that pulled his lip back so he could slide his tongue across a still extended fang. "You telling me we got that kinky, or are you just hopeful for this go-round?"
"No, it's a precaution so you don't have to worry about it," Jace said simply as he stepped out of his pants and underwear and kicked them aside. He'd been undecided on that rune until the last moment, though it had been on the list he'd had in his head since the time loop. He stepped into Simon's space, between his legs, one hand dropping to his thigh while the other lifted to his face to run his thumb over the vampire's bottom lip. He couldn't deny that there was a part of him that wanted to be bitten, because he knew what to expect from it, but it was good to talk about it before that want became as strong as it had on the beach. "If we start there, then this could be over faster than I want," he said, letting his thumb graze the tip of one of those fangs. "But it's on the table for later if you want it. Or if your control slips. It'll be a lot harder to overdo it now."
His eyeline could have been filled with something else entirely, but Simon couldn't look away from Jace's darkened gaze. He parted his lips and drew the caressing thumb in and scraped his tooth across it, just hard enough to pierce the skin and draw a few drops of blood. The taste made his eyes nearly flutter closed, but what he wanted to see was the look on Jace's face when he did it, when he was the tease.
Simon let go with a wicked sounding pop, got his hand wrapped around the back of Jace's neck just like he'd done to Simon earlier, and pulled him down as he lay back. It struck him that they were in exactly the opposite position as they'd been on the beach, but he found he didn't mind either way. Really all he wanted was to feel the man's heat against him, covering every square inch he could. "We're really doing this, huh? All night? Possibly into the morning hours? I still remember how to make breakfast foods."
Jace sucked in a breath, and he swayed a little, his lips parted as if he was about to say something, but there were no words in his head for how even that tiny assault felt. The prick of pain was so brief that it would have faded instantly even without his runes healing the spot immediately, but it had very effectively shifted his mood from playful and preparing back to that craving he'd been trying to ignore for the last two months. He realized belatedly that he'd dug his fingers into Simon's thigh, bracing himself, and he was glad to have a partner such a thing wouldn't hurt, even with the Strength rune.
He climbed onto the bed, half crouched and half kneeling as he figured out the best place to have his hands and legs to be able to touch Simon as much as he wanted. "All night," Jace said, just as thrilled with giving that answer as he was with letting Simon take the rest of his weight when he sank into a kiss. Mostly, he was done with words—and it was entirely Simon's fault—but he didn't actually mind the twenty questions. The other man could have asked him anything right now, and Jace probably would have answered. Still, his response was more answer adjacent. "I want to wake up and have you still be here in the morning, for once."
That answer more than almost anything else from this evening went right to Simon's core. He'd expected something vaguely sarcastic or teasing. There's no way he could have braced for that level of sincerity. He shivered and surrounded Jace's back with his arms and drew a leg up to toe the side of the other man's calf. "I don't really know what to do with sweet you. You keep surprising me. Are you ever going to let me find my proverbial feet?"
Jace hadn't intended the response the way Simon seemed to take it, but rather as a sincere expression of how he wanted things to be different—not only from the time loop, but from that year of grief he'd finally muddled through. (Mostly.) He couldn't complain about the way it drew him closer, though, and Jace rewarded it with a rock of his hips that was just as much for him as it was for Simon.
"Should I bring the training room into the bedroom?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. He paused only a second before he nuzzled his nose to Simon's and said in a soft tone that very much didn't belong in a public training space: "Boop boop." Other words ("Why would I want to stop surprising you?") came into his head and went again, swallowed by the distracting press of their bodies and the absolute need to kiss him.
When they broke for air again, Jace added, "I can be rough, if you prefer rough." But he clearly remembered those nights falling asleep in Simon's arms on the couch in the studio, and he didn't think Simon did.
Yet another surprise, using that remembered moment against him! But this time Simon's laugh got caught up in Jace's mouth while his hands roved. On the other side of that particular liplock—in which Simon tried to replicate that slow, dirty roll Jace had used against him, with only middling success, because all he'd done was groaned and been spurred on to kiss Jace harder—his fingers were tangled in the other man's hair. So soft. Not really a thing he'd thought about much in his flash fantasies, the way it might feel. He was soooo glad he could know it now, could commit to his sense memory.
A muscle in Simon's thigh jumped, recalling the nigh-bruising pressure of Jace's hand there, but even just a quick scan of his own thoughts decided him. He shook his head where it lay against Jace's bedspread. "Nice. I like you nice. And sweet. And maybe, maybe the tiniest bit mean. Not to hurt, just to drive me out of my mind."
Jace knew that, despite the nerdy persona he wore like a badge, Simon hadn't been inexperienced even before the time loop, but Jace was surprised anyway at how responsive he was to all of this. Not confident, exactly, but making up for any lack of it with enthusiasm and an earnest sort of answer to the questions that Jace's body was asking him. He gripped Simon's hip, his thigh, anywhere he could to increase that delicious slide and get the reaction he wanted.
"Shut up, Simon." He smirked, because if Simon liked a little mean, he could do that—even if his smile was too fond to really sell it. "I'm trying to fuck you."
This time, it was Simon's turn to drop his head back, neck exposed and corded with the strain of not exploding right then and there. His heart may have stopped functioning, but the rest of his natural electrical system worked just fine, if the lightning singing through his veins was any indication. "Yes, oh, gooo-ah, finally." Before reason could be completely obliterated, however, he found it fairly paramount to haltingly admit: "I've… been with guys. And women, of course. But I've never—I've never done that. Been… fucked before. So just, uh, don't make fun."
Never was Simon so glad to be incapable of blushing before in his entire existence.
All of the playful meanness fell away again at that. It was hard to forget that first time, which they'd somehow both managed to enjoy despite the way they'd fumbled through it and made plenty of mistakes along the way. Jace had gotten better as the days went on, and Simon hadn't been able to help that he hadn't. Jace didn't envy him that part on repeat.
He brushed his fingers over Simon's cheek, smiling down at him. "I hadn't either, before the loop." He let that information linger for a moment, and he remembered what Simon had said about kissing someone else on that couch. Only kissing, then. A bit of tightness in his chest that he hadn't even realized had been there eased. "We did okay then, and I'm more prepared now." He brushed his lips over Simon's. "I would never make fun of you for any of this."
Simon hummed a little, a smile curling the edges of his mouth. Yeah, he could get used to this, which could have been alarming if he stopped to think things over for more than ten seconds. Fortunately for him, Jace seemed ready, willing, and able to short circuit his brain rather adroitly. Even after the beach, this was the last way he thought this would go. Actually, he wasn't sure what he'd been expecting. Maybe nothing. Maybe just two people making music.
Well, they were making a different kind of music now.
Ugh, so cheesy. He nearly rolled his eyes at himself.
For his part, Simon smoothed his hands lightly over Jace's shoulders and chest where they weren't pressed together. He could feel his beating heart through the hollow place in his chest. It was a little like having his own back. "Never thought I'd crave this. How warm you are. The way it lingers." He drew Jace close again and whispered against his addicting mouth. "'S better than blood."
"Liar," Jace teased, but then they were kissing again, and there was no more space for discussion. He'd done enough kissing in his time that he often thought of it as fairly perfunctory, just this thing that you had to do to get to the good parts. This was different. Simon wasn't the only one who'd been different, but it struck him enough in the moment to matter as he pressed in, open mouthed, to deepen the kiss. He could understand that craving for warmth, even if his own was of a different sort.
When they broke for air again, he reached up for one of the extra pillows piled at the head of his bed, reluctantly taking back some of his own weight to give them space to shift. He needed to grab the lube from the bedside table anyway, and that brief pause was good to grant him at least a few of his senses back. He wanted to make sure that the only thing similar to their other first time together was the fact that they'd both enjoyed it in the end. He nuzzled Simon's cheek and said, "Don't worry. I'll take care of you."
Because Simon liked him nice. And what Simon liked, he liked.