Author's Note: This is my first published fanfiction, so bear with me. I've written before, but never about characters I love so much! I hope you enjoy! Btw cover image is by BKLH362
Will Herondale was very confused, a feeling he was not used to. Him being who he was, he had a vast knowledge of women, and knew that they could be moody at times, but this far exceeded any of his expectations. Tessa had been acting oddly reclusive as of late, remaining holed up in her room at the Institute of London without answering the door. Whenever he went to touch her, she would shy away red in the face and make up some excuse to leave. It was getting to the point that even Charlotte and Henry were concerned, driving the tactless Henry to ask Will if he and Tessa had broken up again. The worst part was that Will was beginning to ask himself the same thing. It had been week since he had been able to get a word out of her other than "Um….Sophie, what was that? Bye!", and she had avoided him the last time she wanted to break up with him, so there really was no reason for him to doubt that theory. This realization made figuring out what was wrong an even more urgent matter.
He was so confused that he actually forced his way into the Silent City (a feat quite easy for a Shadowhunter of his skill level) to ask Jem, or 'Brother Zachariah' his opinion on the matter. To his disappointment the only response he managed to get out of him was that he was not the best person to ask about this because he had not made contact with Tessa for months, and that if he wanted to find the truth, he should simply ask the someone else that she spoke to, who would probably know at least some of what was going on.
Will decided that his next best bet was to ask Sophie. However when he asked her why Tessa was avoiding him, he got no response out of her but a heavy blush and a clearly falsified claim that she had urgent laundering to do. Will had never encountered laundry that needed washing so urgently that one could not finish a conversation, so he knew something was odd with this situation. When he thought of oddness, the warlock Magnus Bane was the first person to come to mind, so he next stopped by his house. When Will knocked on the door, Magnus immediately opened it to his surprise. Magnus never opened his own front door. Will then remembered that Magnus could sense people, so he attributed the anomaly to an odd crush he had on him, and decided to let it go for more pressing matter. Why was Magnus trying so hard not to laugh? He was red in the face, with tears forming in his eyes, positively shaking trying to hold back his laughter. Will decided that he might as well go ahead and do what he came for, and asked "Do you know why Tessa has been avoidin-", forced to stop midsentence by Magnus's chortles. Will knew he had no hope of getting a useful answer out of him, and just closed the door, turning to walk away more confused than before.
Will knew what he had to do now, he had to snoop. He waited in the vacant guest room nearest to Tessa's to see when she would leave the room. It finally happened around sunset, and he immediately took action. He stealthily crept into her room and began to look through her things. Will knew deep in his mind that maybe he should have been respecting Tessa's privacy a little bit more, and that what he was doing could possibly be perceived as rude, but William Herondale was not one to be kept from his desires by social graces or societal rules, so he continued. He had just gotten to searching under the bed when he heard a floorboard creak and a startled gasp.
There in the doorway stood Tessa, with her hand to her mouth. "Will, what on Earth are you doing?" she asked dazedly. Will, who was still hurt by the stress of not knowing, lost all of his wits, and simply blurted out, "You've been avoiding me all week and I don't know what's wrong, and Magnus was laughing and Sophie was red and Jem was silent and if you want to break up with me just say so!" Tessa moved to sit down on her bed with a shocked, and for some reason embarrassed look on her face. She motioned for him to sit next to her, so he did so numbly. She began to explain.
"Alright," she said, "so I didn't want to tell you this until I was completely ready, it was supposed to be a surprise, but I seem to have no choice. So you know how we were speaking the other day about our future together, and how right it all sounded?" Will nodded yes. "Well, I took a rather large step without consulting you later that day concerning our future together", she paused, biting her lip. "Well…what was it?" he prodded, getting more concerned by the second. Tessa took a deep breath and said with a strong voice, "I got a tattoo."
Will sat, stunned. He asked hesitantly, "How?" Tessa was by now comfortable enough to reveal her whole story, and said "Well I talked to Magnus about it, and he said he had a nixie friend who was really good at it, and open to tattooing anybody, so I went down there a for a couple hours that day and the next, and it was done. So that's why Magnus was laughing he thought, and proceeded to ask the most important question, "What is the tattoo of?" Tessa blushed a brighter red at this question. "Well," she said, "I thought that since I am committed to spending the rest of my life with you, that I should do something to prove it, something as permanent as my love for you is, a tattoo. Well the one image that crossed my mind whenever I thought about something that would remind me of you even after you are no longer with me was, well… the Welsh dragon you have tattooed to your rear!"
By this point Will was laughing, "Really?" he asked, "In the same place?" Tessa nodded, smirking. Will sobered for a moment, "One thing I still don't understand," he asked, "is why you wouldn't let me touch you. You wouldn't even let me touch your am and your tattoo is on….not your arm. Why was that?" Tessa smiled, "You should be flattered by this one." She said, "I wouldn't let you touch me because I knew that considering my feelings for you, and the feelings I get when I am around you, if I let you touch me my tattoo would not stay secret for long." "And pray tell what do you mean by that?" he asked smugly. Tessa sighed and shook her head, "I knew that if you touched my arm, you would end up seeing much more than that in the near future." Will smiled and said, "Well why don't we test out your theory? I want to see your tattoo anyways." Tessa nodded knowingly, and, suddenly overcome with giddiness, clutched her hands around the back of a very smug Will's neck, and pulled him over for a kiss.