This story will be Clace eventually, but at the beginning it's a bit of Clonathan, with Clacey moments. If you can't handle my ships, get the fuck out of my ocean. I am in love with Jonathan. Leave me alone.

WARNING: Rated M for lemons/SMUT in the future. Language. Underage drinking. And whatever else. I'll warn you at the beginning of each chapter if there's anything that may be triggering, or not suitable for younger readers. Except for swearing. Just assume there will be swearing, always.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Mortal Instruments, but neither do you, so ha!

-Clary Fray-

I watch the way his arms flex as he places the heaviest of my moving boxes on the floor of my new bedroom. "That's the last one." Jonathan says, straightening out slowly.

My eyes snap away from him. Admittedly, I've been checking him out all day. If you tell anyone, I'll deny it. "Thanks, Jonathan." I say, keeping my eyes away from the exposed part of his chest. He is rocking that v-neck...

"Do you need help with anything else?" He asks. I'm not looking at him (under protest) but I can hear the friendly smile in his voice. Always the gentleman.

Shifting awkwardly on my feet, I tell him "No, I'm just going to start unpacking now."

My mother and I just moved in with her new husband, Valentine Morgenstern and his (hot) son, Jonathan Morgenstern. That makes this Demigod my new step brother.

Valentine has been seeing my mother for 3 years. He takes a lot of business trips to Brooklyn, and that's the only time they were able to see each other, since Valentine and Jonathan are from a very small town, called Fife Washington. As a result, I've only just met Jonathan today. The marriage was impulsive. They just signed the papers, and I was forced to move here. The only reason I agreed to it is because my best friend, Jace, moved to Washington last summer.

He doesn't even know I moved yet. This was all so sudden, between packing, and his habit of not answering the phone, I haven't had the chance to inform him. He hasn't returned my phone calls either. I could probably just tell Isabelle, since they're siblings and all. She's also my close friend, and she'd make sure Jace knew. However, Jace would be mad that I told her first.

"I can help you unpack." says Jonathan, pulling a box knife from the sheath on his belt.

"You don't have to do that." I protest.

He ignores me, slicing through the tape of the last box he brought up. "I want to. It will give us time to get acquainted." He pulls a book out of the box. "The Book of bizarre: Freaky Facts and Strange Stories." Jonathan eyes me curiously, pushing the box of books toward my book shelf, using his foot.

"It's a good book." I defend, joining him by the shelf, placing my books on at random. I'll organize them later.

"Tell me one of the facts." He places my copy of The Tempest on the shelf without removing his obsidian eyes from my emerald ones.

"75 pigeons were sentenced to death for being bank note smugglers." I tell him the first one that comes to mind.

His entire body shakes when he laughs. I turn away from him before I start drooling. He's my step brother, so he's off limits... Right? "I hate pigeons." He says.

"My best friend hates ducks." I blurt. "What's with boys and hating birds?"

The box emptied rather quickly, and Jonathan moves on to another one. "All birds are evil. They can't be trusted."

"They're blood thirsty." I say, quoting Jace.

Jonathan nods, pulling something from the box. "Exactly. They won't be happy until your family is dead." We lapse again into silence, only speaking when he asks me where I want something.

Fact: Putting a fitted sheet on your bed by yourself burns 40 thousand calories. Luckily for me, Jonathan stops laughing long enough to help. "Is that everything?" He asks, casually.

I take a look around the room, seeing that everything is unpacked. "Yes. Thanks for your help."

"No problem." He flashes a wicked grin that brings my blood to boil. "My room is across the hall if you need anything." He winks.

Once he's gone, I flop down lazily onto my bed, and pull out my phone to text Isabelle.

Clary: Holy freaking hell, Batman. He is HOT.

Izzy: Who is!? Tell me everything!

Clary: ... Don't judge me. Promise?

Izzy: Pinky.

Clary: My new step brother...

Izzy: Hahahahaha... Haha... Ha... You have a new step brother?

Clary: Long story. In short: My mom got married. We moved to Washington. My step brother is smoking hot.

Izzy: You're in Washington!? Where!? Why didn't you tell me sooner? Please tell me you're close to Tacoma. Does Jace know?

I shake my head, smiling at Isabelle being, well, Isabelle. Of course she has got one million questions. I type a quick reply.

Clary: Jace doesn't know. He hasn't answered his phone since I fount out I was moving. We got here today.

My mother knocks on my door just after I hit send. "Hey sweetie, how are you doing?"

I shrug. "I'm going to get lost in this house. It's gihugic. Why did they need so much space if it was just the two of them?

My mother flashes a dazzling smile, and sits at the edge of my bed. People tell me I look like her, but I don't see it. She's gorgeous, and tall. I'm barely 5'3, and awkward as all hell. I've often wondered if my hair will ever flow flawlessly, like hers. So far, no dice. "Valentine and Jonathan moved into this house last week." She tells me. "We have a surprise for you."

I ignore the last part. "Why did they move?"

"To make room for us." She says. "There wasn't enough room for all of us in their apartment." I nod, still not understanding why the four of us would need an eight bedroom, five bath house. Overkill, yo. "We chose the location for you."

"For me?" I sit up, waiting for an explanation. My phone buzzes with a phone call from Jace, but I ignore it. My mother hates it when I answer the phone while we're talking.

"We moved into this neighborhood because Jace lives next door."

My jaw falls into my lap. "Mom!" I exclaim, jumping into her arms. "You did this for me!?"

"For us." She corrects me. "I want to be with Valentine. You want to be with Izzy and Jace." In short, she's saying 'compromise, motherfucker.' Not that my mother would word it like that.

I pull away from the hug with a dorky grin spared across my pace. "I have to call Jace back. Can I go see him now?" My mother nods before exiting my room.

Jace picks up on the first ring, for once. "You're in Washington, and you didn't tell me?"

My smile widens. I haven't heard his voice in weeks. I didn't realize how much I missed him until now. "There's more." I say.

"First you need to explain to me how you moved closer to me, without saying a word about it. To me. Your best friend. I had to hear it from Isabelle! Do you know how annoying that is?"

"You haven't answered your phone in three weeks." I scold. "I found out we were moving last week." I groan, pulling on a pair of shoes. "This isn't important right now. My mom just told me that she and Valentine bought the house next door to you. I'm coming over. Which house is yours?" I pull my jacket on.

Jace is silent for a second, and when he speaks I can hear the smile in his voice. "I'll go outside and scream your name." I laugh at his enthusiasm. "Passionately." He adds, and I giggle at the long running inside joke... I'll explain another time.

"Okay, I'll see you in a minute." I hang up before he can reply, as I race down the stairs.

I'm rounding the corner when I crash into something - someone. Sculpted arms wrap around my narrow waist, steadying me before I fall. "You're in a hurry." Jonathan smirks.

I blush a deep red and step out of his arms. "Yeah, uh, sorry."

"Your mom told you about your best friend?"

I narrow my eyes, curiously. "You knew?" He nods, but doesn't offer an explanation. As much as I'd like to stand here awkwardly with him all day, I don't want to leave Jace hanging. "He's waiting for me, so... See you later."

Jon smirks and steps aside. The second I'm out the door I hear a familiar voice calling "Clary!"

I smile and run to the left, where his voice is coming from. "Jace!"

"Claaaaary!"

It's already dark outside, but his golden hair stands out through the blackness. Behind him, a house very similar to my new home, which I'm hating less by the second, is dark aside from two lights on upstairs. I race across the lawn, crashing into Jace. His arms wrap around me, lifting my feet from the ground. "I missed you so much, Jace Herondale." Normally I would object to being lifted from the ground, but it's been six months since I last saw my best friend, and I can't bring myself to care.

"I missed you too, Clary Fray." Says Jace. "It's freezing. Let's go inside." My feet are placed firmly back on the lawn. He's right. It is cold. It's December, and there's no snow, which I'm not complaining about.

I follow Jace in through the foyer, ditching my shoes and jacket at the door. The house is silent, and we take care to be extra quiet as we creep up the stairs to his room at the end of the hall. His bedroom is exactly how I expected it to be: Neat. White. Blank. Some things never change.

Jace and I have been friends since we were 12. We met when I was sent to the principles office for punching some kid in the hallway, after he pulled my hair. Of course the teacher only saw my retaliation, and I was the one who got in trouble for it. When I got to the principles office, Jace was in trouble for asking a female teacher if he could motor boat her. We bonded over a three day suspension. To this day, Jace insists that the same teacher let him do it a few years later. I really don't doubt it.

Isabelle has it in her head that Jace and I will be married one day. I don't know why she can't get it through her head that he and I are just friends, and have no romantic intentions with each other. The only time anything even remotely romantic happened between us was when we played Truth or Dare at age 15, and Isabelle dared us to kiss. He doesn't know that was my first and only kiss. We pretend it never happened. It's an unspoken rule that we never bring it up again.

"How did you know I lived next door? I never even told you the name of the town we moved to." Jace notes, hanging his jacket in the closet.

"My mom asked Maryse where you live, or something. I don't know. I'm just glad to be here." I answer, sitting at the edge of his neatly made bed.

Jace crashes heavily onto the bed, laying on his back with his legs bent over the edge at the knee. "I'm glad you're here, too. There are no cool people here."

I lean back on my elbows. "You haven't spoken to me in three weeks. I thought there must be some cool people, since you forgot about me."

Jace sputters. "I didn't forget about you. I thought about you every day."

"Oh, did you?" I laugh. "Then why were you avoiding me?"

"I wasn't." He defends, rolling his head to the side. "Alec and I had this huge project due for the end of the semester, and he kept yelling at me if I even looked at my phone. He's been really on edge lately."

I laugh. "Alec is always on edge. He's Alec."

"Enough about that." Jace declares. "Why did you move?"

"Remember my moms boyfriend, Valentine?" Jace nods. "They got married. He's from Washington, and mom is an artist, so it made more sense that we should move, rather than him."

"They got married?" Jace's eyes widen.

"Out of nowhere. They didn't even tell me, first. They just signed the papers."

He shakes his head. "Are you okay with it?"

I shrug. "Valentine is nice, and he makes my mom happy. Jonathan is also... Nice." And sexy as hell.

"Who's Jonathan?"

"My new step brother."

"I didn't know Valentine has a son." Says Jace, sitting up on his elbows.

"I knew, I just never met him until today. I didn't know their relationship was this serious." I shrug again. I love my mom, but she doesn't always make the most well thought out decisions. she's impulsive, and forgets that she's got a daughter to taker care of, since dad died five years ago.

"Clary!" a feminine voice rings from the doorway.

"No!" Jace complains. "She's my best friend, Izzy. It's my Clary time, and you aren't invited."

Isabelle ignores him, pulling me up from the bed into a hug. I'm not really a very huggy person, but I've missed Isabelle, so I hug her back. "I've missed you so much! Come hang out with me soon, okay? I know you need your Clace time, so I'll leave you alone. Just come see me soon, promise?"

"Pinky." I offer her my pinky, and we shake before she leaves the room.

Jace is smirking. "Did she call us Clace?"

"She's been doing that for years." I inform him. "I've learned to ignore it."

"Ignoring Isabelle takes practice." He jokes. "Are you going to Fife High, or is Vally Boy insisting on some kind of private school? He seems like the type."

"I am not going to a private school. And I'm pretty sure Jonathan said he'd registered at Fife High, so it's safe to assume that's where I'm going." Jace starts laughing, uproariously. "What?" I ask.

"I'm picturing you in a Catholic Schoolgirl uniform. The image won't leave my head. It's very awkward."

I swat his shoulder. "Pervert."

Jace laughs harder. "It's not like that. I'd never think of you like that."

I put up a fake hurt front. "Thanks, Jace. That makes me feel really good about myself."

He shakes his head. "You didn't let me finish. I don't think of you like that, because you're my best friend, and I actually care about you. I'd never disrespect you, like that."

Heat raises in my cheeks. Jace never talks like this. I shake my head, writing it off as he hasn't seen me in six months. "Tell me things. What's new? How's Max? Is Alec out of the closet yet?"

My best friend grins, as he plops a pillow beneath his head. "He's not out yet, but I'm pretty sure he has a secret boyfriend."

I slap my hand over my mouth. "He does!?" Jace just nods. "And Max? How's he?" Max is probably my favorite person ever. Literally all he does is read. He's only 10 years old, and he's reading more advanced books than I am. Seriously, I love that kid.

"He's joined Battle of the Books, or whatever." Says Jace.

"Of course he did."

"And I'm pretty sure he has his first crush." He rolls his head to the side to look at me, where I'm laying casually beside him.

"On who!?"

"Max has always had a crush on... You. When Izzy was telling me you moved, he was happier than I was. It was hilarious, you should have seen it. He's cute when he's excited."

I shake my head. "I don't think it's a crush. I think it's just that I actually talk to him, and the rest of you don't."

Jace sits up swiftly. I follow. "This sounds like we should make a bet."

A grin spreads across my face. "You're on. What are the stakes? And how will we know?"

Jace thinks about it for a moment. "If Max tells you you're pretty, beautiful or anything like that, or if he says something that leads us to believe he has a crush on you, I win. Loser has to do whatever the winner says for three days."

"Everything we're told for three days?" I question.

Jace nods. "As if you're on scopalomine. Zero resistance. Whatever the other says." There's an evil glint in his eye, and I'm pretty sure he already has a plan to humiliate me.

I may regret this. "Deal."

For those of you who are reading my other story: Don't worry. This story won't interfere with Fatally Mine. It's just something light, to balance out all the dark stuff I normally write. This probably won't be updated nearly as much as Fatally Mine. Maybe once a week.

Oh, and in case you guys didn't know:

Scopalomine is a drug made from the borrachero tree, in Columbia. It can be blown in the face of victims, or added to drinks. Moments after taking the drug, the victim goes into a "Zombie" like state. They're coherent, but have zero control. Victims have reported emptying their bank accounts for robbers, or even helping them pillage their own homes. Just so we know what Clary and Jace are in for...

Anyways, review.

-IWriteNaked