Summary: After Clary and Jace send an email that could possibly change their lives, they soon find out that they've been hired as a writing team for a new, promising TV show. They've written together since they were pre-teens, but is this job going to make them see that being best friends isn't quite what they thought it was? AU, AH.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, just the story that I've placed them in.

Jace threw the gray door open and closed his eyes once he heard it slam behind him, breathing in the air that hit him once he'd stepped out. He didn't see her face when he made his announcement, but it didn't stop him from imagining what her reaction could have been. He was quitting the show that they had built together. The show that their years of effort as writers had brought them to.

Jace heard the door slam against the brick wall when she threw it open.

"Jace!" she screamed, and he could hear her frustration and sadness.

He turned around and took a deep breath as he prepared himself to have a conversation with Clary that he never imagined they'd need to have. But there they were, standing only a few feet from one another, and Jace couldn't remember a time when she had felt so far away.

Two years and three months earlier

All Jace could hear was the incessant tapping of Clary's fingernails against the wooden table. He didn't look past his laptop, but he could feel her gaze on him. He knew she was watching him like a hawk, with slightly narrowed eyes. He could feel her piercing green eyes burning a hole through his laptop screen.

"Stop it," Jace whispered.

"Stop what?" she asked, trying to sound innocent, but he could hear the edge in her voice.

"Staring. I know you're staring," Jace responded, annoyance laced in his tone.

He heard her sit up. He knew she crossed her arms. "I'm not even looking at you."

"You might be staring at my laptop, but I know you are rushing me in your mind."

"Oh, you're a mind reader now?" she asked instantly. Jace took a deep breath. Fighting wasn't going to help the situation.

"I will not answer that," Jace said, clearing his throat.

A few minutes passed between them.

"What am I thinking?" Clary broke the silence.

Finally, Jace pushed his laptop aside and caught her smirking. "Clarissa! Stop bothering me. I can't finish with you breathing down my neck about this and I can't—"

"I'm across the table."

Jace breathed out of his nose and could see Clary fighting the urge to smile.

"I'm serious. Leave me alone. You want me to finish? I need to concentrate!"

Clary's palms met the table as she slammed her hands down. "I asked you to finish this days ago! But of course, here we are, too close to the deadline! We are late in emailing this in—"

"Just because it doesn't meet your deadline doesn't mean it's late!" Jace yelled back.

Clary narrowed her eyes. "It's late," she repeated. "Now finish, because—"

"Clarissa!" Jace moved his laptop in front of his face again. "Will you calm down? I'm almost done. Just give me fifteen minutes, and then you can edit this, and we can send it, alright? Now be quiet, please. I need to concentrate."

Jace didn't move until he heard Clary huff. He was a little scared that she was going to throw herself across the table and strangle him. He heard her lean back into her seat, and his laptop jiggled when she rested her legs against the side of the table. He rolled his eyes, knowing she did that on purpose. He took a deep breath, then groaned when he heard her clear her throat.

"I'll wait until you're done writing and we send it, but after, I am going to punch you in the throat for telling me to calm down and be quiet and to relax—"

"I did not say relax," he said defensively.

"It was implied!"

"Fine. I'll take the throat punch, just—"

"Don't you dare shush me."

Jace's shoulders slumped. "Clary, please."

"Fine, but just know that, whenever you see a duck, I will be telling you to calm down and be quiet while you're screaming your head off—"

Jace moved his laptop. "Is this really the time to poke fun at my fear? It's not like it's all birds, it's just—"

Clary put a finger in the air. "Please, Jace. We have a deadline."

Jace put his laptop in front of him, roughly. "You are the most infuriating—"

"Shhh."

Jace groaned and shook his head, regaining his concentration. "Okay," he whispered, and then his fingers began to type away.

"Okay, are we ready?" Clary asked. The two stood over her laptop and stared at the email. It was formatted, with an attachment. They had triple checked the email and edited the piece that they were sending in more than a dozen times. They both read over the email to ensure that it sounded professional.

Jace glanced at the email one more time. "I think we are."

Clary took a shaky breath, and he put his hand on her shoulder.

"This is it, Clary, and we've done our best," he assured her. "I think it's good enough to be sent."

"It's just...this is our future, our dream, what we've been working for since we—"

"I know," Jace interrupted, smiling down at her when she looked up at him. "I was there with you. That's how I know we've done our best to get this perfect."

Clary gave a nod and looked at the screen. "Should I?"

"Yes, do the honors," Jace assured her.

With a deep breath and a swift click, the email was sent. The two sighed in relief as they sent what they had been working on for months.

Jace grabbed Clary by her shoulders and turned her around to face him, pulling her into a hug. She looked up so she could breathe and laughed at how he shook her from left to right.

"I think that was it, Adele," he said, grinning.

She rolled her eyes and hugged him back. "Don't call me that, Christopher."

A/N: I've had this chapter written for the past month, and I'm relieved to finally have it up and posted. As a note, this whole story will be in Jace's POV.

Let me know what you guys think of this story so far! Leave some reviews and feedback, please :)

To my DLF loves, I know I haven't updated the story in a couple weeks, almost two now, and my updating has been awful for the story, but I've got to admit I've been having writer's block with DLF. I've pushed past it for many chapters by talking through it, but this time around, I think to give it a few more days and this is why I chose to put up this story. Since I feel bad every time I don't update for weeks, I thought maybe switching it up with Words would help. I'm still completely invested in DLF, please know that. But I just need to take a couple more days before I can write for it. I never wanna give you guys a chapter that isn't good enough, and that I didn't invest in because I had to force it. I hope you enjoy this first chapter of Words in the mean time :)

Shout out to rippingbutterflywings for beta'ing and for being so excited about this with me. Thaank you, CH Clary. Shout out to DeathCabForMari for conversing about this story with me. Shout out to IWriteNaked for being our Ash & always making us laugh.