I shouldn't even be awake right now because it's 2:22 in the morning, and I have slept like 4 hours in total over the last 72 hours, and now my face does this ◕‿◕

Shoutout to my beta, Rippingbutterflywings, because this one shot is so stupid, and she beta'd it anyways…

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of the Mortal Instruments, I just make them suffer.

Have you ever had a moment of clarity within a friendship? One where something happens and you realize what kind of friend someone is and how much you actually mean to them? You find out for sure whether or not they would lay their life on the line to save you.

Here's a cute little tale for you:

Once upon a time, Simon came over to visit Jace, Isabelle, and I. We gathered on the couch in the garage drinking massive amounts of coffee, even though it was definitely night time. Sleep is for squares.

Isabelle turned her cup upside down and frowned. "I'm out again," she complained. "I'm going to go make another pot for us." Simon looked longingly after her as she went into the house, while Jace and I rolled our eyes at him because he was a ridiculous human being. If he would just grow a pair and ask her out, we could have finally gotten out of that awkward stage where they stared at each other when they thought no one was looking.

Jace grinned and wiggled his eyebrows at me. He pretended to be annoyed with Simon and Isabelle, but I knew he shipped them. He told me when we were drunk the week before. His exact words were: "I need them to get married and have nerdy little babies with Isabelle's nose and Simon's funky eyebrows." I'd been sworn to secrecy shortly after.

"Ask her out already!" I told him for the tenth time that day.

Simon shook his head. "I can't do that!"

"Why not?" Jace asked, while inspecting his fingernails to pretend that he didn't care. He totally cared.

"Girls like Isabelle don't date guys like me," Simon said.

"She likes you," Jace said, all nonchalant.

"How do you know?"

"She told us," I announced. "She tells us all the time. Just ask her out."

Jace let out a long dramatic sigh. "I have to pee." And I watched him leave with just as much longing as Simon did when Isabelle left. We're both kind of pathetic, to be honest.

"You're one to talk…" Simon muttered.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Si," I lied.

He glared at me, and I just stared him in his awkward face. "I'll tell Izzy I like her when you tell Jace that you like him."

"Fine," I said with determination. "I'll do it tonight."

Simon's eyes widened, because he realized what he'd just gotten himself into. We were silent for several moments, and I was beginning to wonder what was taking Jace and Isabelle so long when Simon and I heard scratching noises on the door that led outside.

"What is that?" Simon asked me, his expression uneasy. He was so easily frightened.

"Church likes to go outside," I told him. "He probably wants in." But the scratching stopped before I even left the couch. Simon and I lapsed again into silence, before the scratching made another appearance. "I should probably let the cat in," I said.

"No, you shouldn't!" Simon disagreed. "What if it's not the cat? That could be anything."

I stood up and rolled my eyes at him. "It's winter, Simon. He's probably cold." I walked over to the door and unlocked it.

"No!" Simon yelled from behind me. "Don't open it!"

Startled by his sudden outburst, I fell back on the couch, where I stayed—partly to keep Simon from freaking out, but mostly because I was really lazy. "Okay," I said. "But the door is unlocked now. Anything out there can just walk in."

"Lock it again," Simon suggested.

I started to get up to relock the door when the scratching started again. "No, it's fine," I told him, in an effort to avoid moving.

"You should definitely lock it, Clary," Simon complained.

So, I gathered all of my motivation and stood up. And—BLAM. The door flew open and a horrible beast lunged at us from the darkness. We both screamed and jumped back, but the beast kept coming. Simon fell back onto the couch and proceeded to breakdance in fear. I covered his head with my arms and turned my face away from the ugly thing, while Simon attempted to feed me to it. "Take her! Eat her and leave!"

I realized it was just Jace wearing his werewolf Halloween costume. I yelled at Simon over his screams, "It's okay, Simon! It's just Jace."

Jace stood there laughing. Isabelle bolted through the door, letting it swing open behind her. She was merry as could be. "I wish I could have seen you guys!" she exclaimed through fits of laughter. "Clary, oh my God, you were screaming so much!"

"No," I said. "That was Simon."

Jace grinned at me, and I remembered my deal with Simon. I said I'd tell him how I feel. Tonight. But how do you tell someone that they taught you how to look in the mirror and love what you see? How do you tell someone that their general existence brings you great joy and eternal peace? I didn't know how to say exactly how I felt, but it had been said that actions spoke louder than words. That's why I stood up on the couch, grabbed Jace by the shoulders, and kissed him. I kissed him in a way that I hoped would tell him how long I wanted it—how long I've waited. And he kissed me back in a way that said he had been waiting, too.

When we pulled apart, I jumped off of the couch and told Simon, "We had a deal."

He was filled to the brim with nervous, clumsy apprehension, but he put his hand on Isabelle's face and pecked her on the lips. The four of us stood there, smiling like idiots before filling our coffee cups and settling back onto the couch.

For the remainder of the night, Simon cursed at them, and I accused him of feeding me to a beast to save himself.

(Brushes off shoulder) This is the greatest thing I've ever done. It's over, guys. I've peaked. XD

Until next time,

-IWriteNaked