--

“Maybe,”Jace says, after a silence that lasts so long Simon is pretty sure he could’vespeeded around the equator in that time.

Simonblinks. When Jace doesn’t elaborate, he throws up his hands in frustration. “Maybe? What do you mean ‘maybe’? It’s ayes or no question!”

“Is it,though?” Jace asks, absentmindedly picking up a dumbbell. Simon hates him andall of his stupid stupid muscles, and he’s never ever cornering anyone in thegym to ask them out ever again. This is the worstidea he’s ever had. He’s going to murderClary when he gets back to the boat house.

“I mean,yes?” Simon says, slightly incredulous. “I mean I understand you haven’t everbeen to a proper school so you’ve never done that thing where you exchangenotes with ‘do you like me, yes or no’ but like. You have to understand ‘maybe’is not really an option when someone asks you ‘Do you want to go out with me’.”

Jace justhums, and Simon sighs dejectedly, before asking, “Why maybe?”

Jace looksaway from Simon, instead focusing on the dumbbell in his hand. Simon gets kindof distracted watching his muscles move for a few seconds. “Depends on how youmean it.” When Simon just sends him a confused look, he continues. “I see howyou look at me. You’re clearly attracted to me and like,” he shrugs, pretendinglike its less of a big deal then it clearly is, “If you only want me for mybody, some sort of one night stand thing, then no thanks, I’m not interested.”

Simonstares at him for a very long time, processing what he’s just heard. It’s clearJace still has some unresolved trust issues, and he wants to choose his nextwords carefully. “You saved me,” he eventually says quietly. Jace still refusesto look at him. “More than once. You might act like you’re some asshole who doesn’tgive a shit about anybody, and mostly you do, but when you do, when you do care, ohgod you care so much. I’m pretty sureyou’d die for your brothers and sister, without a second thought. And you’resmart, I don’t think people give you enough credit for that. You’re strong,yes, and you’re attractive, god, you are reallyattractive, I mean, look at those muscles and that face and-“ Simon clears his throat.“I mean, you are very attractive, but you are so much more than that.”

Jace frownsat him. “Why are you saying all this.”

“I’m justtrying to prove to you that I actuallywant to date you! That I like likeyou! That, even though I think you are veryattractive, I am not only asking you out for your body! I am asking you outbecause I think you are an amazing person and I want to get to know you betterand laugh with you and maybe hold your hand and-“

SuddenlyJace is right in front of him, taking his face in his hands and pressing theirlips together.

“Andpossibly even kiss you,” Simon finishes, slightly breathless, when they pullaway.

Of course there are also shadowhunter related plots that are very interesting to me like Malec through the eyes of Alec (and Magnus of course) since I love Malec so much. I love watching that relationship developing and see both Magnus and Alec’s perspectives. And of course I loved watching Alec’s journey from a closeted insecure repressed man to the Head of the Institute who is deeply in love with the love of his life which is someone he never thought he’d love back in the days where he was wary of downworlders.

I think Jace’s plot and painful journey from having an abusive father like Valentine, being adopted by the Lightwoods, having changed his last name so many times in the course of a couple of days, the guilt of having activated the soul sword and his parabatai bond with Alec (if it was better explored). Some of these points were addressed in the show, but some of them not with the depth I’d have liked but I totally understand that there isn’t enough time to dwell on some things that are not directly related to the main plot and with so many main character. Jace gave us some good emotional scenes and Dom improved his acting a lot, but I still think that we mostly see Jace’s warrior side instead of his more human side... but still, I totally get that having gone through so much trauma and pain in his life that Jace hides behind his sword and fierce attitude.

Izzy’s story is also interesting to me... but there were some points that I’d have liked to be better addressed or even addressed at all. For example, I loved Emeraude’s acting when it comes to the whole yin fen thing, but I think this issue could have been more explored and we could’ve seen more of her journey through recovery. Another subject that isn’t very addressed is how Izzy feels in the lightwood family. She seems all confident (except for the yinfen deal) but it must be hard to have been dealt with her mother’s cold way of parenting (though Maryse has apologised for some things) and being in the middle of Jace and Alec. Alec having been so “Jace driven” on season 1 and always so worried about his parabatai and Jace also with his parabatai bond and blind trust and love for Clary as soon as she arrives. I know that Izzy understands and is fine with this situations but I can imagine that she has felt behind and invisible many times and less loved by her brothers and family because of this. We could see some glimpses of this when she was possessed by that demon who ended up killing Jocelyn but this is never fully addressed. 

I saw glimpses of Jonathan’s layers and depths... and even daddy issues, instead of just him as a black and white villain, and I wouldn’t mind having seen much more of that because damn, Will Tudor!