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Jace lived with a ghost.
If he told this to the nine-months-ago Jace, he would definitely freak out and abandon the apartment no matter how good the deal was. But, today’s Jace? Still kind of freaked out but oh, well it could be worse.
The ghost’s name was Simon and if Jace was being honest, Simon was the nerdiest and the most non-threatening spirit he had ever known (not that he knew any other ghost personally before). And Jace had to admit that living with Simon actually had many perks like sometimes, the ghost would help him with his assignments or accompany him when his insomnia took a turn for the worse (Jace would never say this out loud but he thought Simon’s rambling was endearing).
Jace did have one complaint though. Because when it came to movie nights, his taste and Simon’s always collided.
“You wanna watch ‘Monster House’?” Jace stared at the ghost floating mid-air in front of him.
Simon blinked. “If you even dare to slander ‘Monster House’—which excuse you, the greatest movie of its time, I will disarrange your 37 pages paper.”
Did Jace forget to mention that Simon was a very dramatic ghost? This spirit could probably defeat Shakespeare. He shrugged. “Not gonna lie, that’s actually pretty fucked up.” Jace sighed as he typed in the title onto the search box.
He didn’t have to look at Simon to know he was smiling. Every time the ghost beamed, he lit up the whole room quite literally without even realizing it. Like last week, for example, the blond brought some thrift comic books home because Simon confessed one of the first things he would do if he ever came back to life was to read his comics who were now probably abandoned somewhere. When he gave the books to Simon, the ghost smiled so wide it almost blinded Jace’s eyes (it was so worth it though). He was pretty sure people who lived across his building had seen the beaming light bursting out from his window.
Jace put on the movie and lay down on the couch while balancing a bowl of chips on his belly. He wouldn’t say Simon sat down on the floor when his ass was barely touching it.
They watched the movie pretty much in silence with some occasional comments from Simon, mostly.
“I didn’t know ghosts- I can do that.”
“If you ever try doing that, I swear to god I will call a priest.”
Jace heard Simon snort a laughter and while others would say it sounded gross, Jace would beg to differ and sail across the sea to find the corniest joke for Simon just to hear that and feel the warmth from it.
Oh, did Jace also mention that he was a complete goner for this ghost boy?
When the movie finally came to the reveal of how Constance died, Jace couldn’t help but wonder what happened to Simon. He never asked him how or why or even when did the ghost die. Mainly because he didn’t want to be rude or sound like an intrusive asshole but also because he watched enough horror movies where the ghost flipped out because it remembered some “hidden” or “lost” memories. Jace enjoyed their relationship just like this and if he was being honest, he was terrified that he might ruin it because he didn’t think through his actions.
Jace snapped himself out of his reverie and glanced at Simon. “Do you like watching horror movies because it’s fun or is it because it’s educational?” he asked.
the ghost stared back at Jace and smiled eerily calm. “I don’t think you should know.”
“Fuck you, Lewis.”
Simon barked out a laugh. “No, but seriously though,” Simon said, “I remember having a love-hate relationship with this movie. It used to be so freaking disturbing but on the other hand, it was just so painfully sad for no reason.”
Jace hummed as Simon continued.
“Like, literally, the only reason I watched this damn show so much was because Clary asked me to.”
The blond raised an eyebrow at that. Clary. That was new.
“I don’t understand why she liked it so much, we were just eight! How could an eight-year-old actually get addicted to a movie like that instead of getting traumatized for life?”
Jace fondly listened and watched how Simon waved his arms wildly. “Maybe you were just too much of a softie who couldn’t even take a few jumpscares.” Jace teased.
Simon let out a dramatic gasp, hand to his chest. “Take that back, Christopher.” Simon sneered.
The blond groaned, “I regret telling you my full name.”
Simon snickered and both of them continued their playful banter. This moment was filled with Simon’s literally bright laughter accompanied by the sound of screaming children in the background. Jace wouldn’t trade it for the world.