No Good Deed

One-Shot

A/N-Set before The Infernal Devices series.

Will untied the yin fin box with the gravity one would use for a tomb. The feverish silver haired boy on the bed shifted but otherwise had no concept of himself, let alone of the other person in his room. A sheen of sweat plastered his bangs to his forehead. With his skin tone, hair, and white shirt, Jem looked like a monochrome color pallet. God or the universe or whatever had gotten too greedy if it thought it would take Jem just yet though.

Will unloaded the box on Jem's nightstand beside a glass of water. The toolset he needed to keep his parabatai healthy and well. "You've never gotten so far gone that I couldn't bring you back." Will said. If Jem were conscious, that would have been met with exasperation, but a man stooping to do good deeds for someone else's sake got to say whatever he wanted.

Will poured the powder into the glass and rotated it to mix well. It was a well-crafted cup and probably had a story behind it like most of Jem's possessions. Like some kind of cosmic compensation for dying young, the world seemed to bombard him with beautiful things. Will looked in Jem's direction; the crescents under his eyes had darkened blue. He stood over his parabatai and his shadow cut off the candle light from Jem's face.

The glass weighed heavy on Will's lip, but he tipped it bottoms up. Yin fin, the monster on his best friend's back, rolled into his mouth.

The institute had closed for the night which eliminated the awkward possibility of Charlotte walking in on them. Making deals with the devil was always best a night. Less change of someone talking you out of it. The mixture smarted and Will made an undignified face.

The stuff had enough kick to bleach Jem's hair silver. Will hoped it wouldn't have that effect on his tongue.

Will bent over his parabatai with thoughts about sleeping beauty and breaking curses. He hovered for a second before he pressed his mouth against Jem's. Will needed to puppet his face to work the angle and then massage the drug down his throat. It was a slow process and Will made a terrible prince. Real fairy tales all ended horribly anyway. He would rather be a Shadow Hunter, at least they got to kick ass before the monsters won.

Will grazed his lips over Jems and tasted salt mingled with the yin-fin. He deposited half the pretty poison when Jem stirred.

He couldn't wake up when the council requested an audience or for missions against highbred pixie trolls, but another guy depositing illegal drugs into his mouth apparently took precedence.

Will shifted off of him and went to close the yin fin box. A thin coat of residue still coated the inside of his mouth and he felt a little too hyperaware to be strictly comfortable. The best parts of himself, Will shared with Jem, and they experienced a lot of things together, but hopefully a drug addiction wouldn't be one of them.

Jem seemed dazed and heavy lidded. He'd been in bed for days. "Will?" He said and pulled himself up. Beneath his nightshirt, his frame seemed frailer than before. "I must have been dreaming. I thought for a moment that you were. . . "

"Polishing your knives?" Will prompted. There weren't actually any weapons out, but Jem just stared at him without blinking for a moment.

He put the cup of yin fin in Jem's hands which his best friend peered into before swallowing. The sweet, spicy scent of the drug burned into Will's nostrils.

Jem drained the glass and then shoved the cup away from him. It miraculously didn't shatter when it hit the floor. Will dipped his head sideways to watch it roll out of sight under Jem's bed.

"Perhaps you would like to take the opportunity to wake up on the other side of the bed?" Will suggested. He took a hesitant step closer to him.

Jem threw off his covers and his toes brushed the carpet before Will could stop him. Will wasn't above playing a game of 'keep the shadow hunter from over-exerting himself'. Or put himself between his parabatai and the world. That was classic Jem and Will. Although somewhere along the line, they had switched roles.

Will preferred to be the one making questionable decisions. If Jem fancied a path of self-destruction, he would have to fight Will for the right to be to the most reckless.

They looked at each other.

Will turned away from Jem's probing metallic eyes, dreading that he would look at him and just suddenly know how he handled the yin fin. Will winced at the prospect of that confrontation. Jem had one scathing look of parental disappointment—which occasionally bordered on questioning the validity of their relationship. Had Will inhaled enough yin fin to dilate his eyes?

"How long have I been asleep?" Jem sidestepped Will while his guard faltered. He threw his bedroom door open and stood in the dimly lit hallway. When he pinned Will with his stare, his eyes were fever bright. Jem pushed the door back. With everyone asleep and the facility shut down, there was nothing for him out there until morning.

"Three settings of the sun. Just the time it takes to get a decent suit tailored or for Henry to almost blow off his fingers again." Will said. He knelt without looking at Jem and grappled for the glass under his bed. "You are quiet rested I assume? Maybe we should go gallivanting across the city?"

"No one of proper repute would be out at this time of night." Jem's voice came soft.

"I hope not." Will said. "The women of loose morals and the skyrocketing rate of crime is what I thought we would enjoy."

"Will." Jem said like a rebuke, but he didn't really put much scandalous indignation into it. Will hoped he wasn't becoming immune to his humor, but he doubted it. The drug had taken three days of Jem health and without being able to take yin fin his parabatai's body had weakened further. It must have been quiet the shock.

Will grabbed the glass and stalled to examine the powder incrusted at the bottom. "It's harder to kick the asses of miscreant demons without someone trustworthy there to kill the ones I miss." Will regarded Jem though his dark hair. They were so much the same individual that Will occasionally stooped to saying something honest to him.

Having caused Jem astonishment, he switched gears, "Besides have you ever tried to make casual conversation with Jessamine? It's like having your fingernails rooted out and then being scrutinized for how dirty they were underneath."

Jem laughed and Will gleamed a certain satisfaction from that. "I'll take that into consideration next time I feel like collapsing for several days." He said.

Jem confiscated the cup from Will's fingers to plant it on his nightstand beside the yin fin box. Without the glass to focus on, the black haired boy turned toward a painting on the wall.

A moment transpired where Will held his breath and came as close as he ever had to praying that Jem would overlook his strangeness just this once. The person who understood him better than anyone else living, hesitated. "Why won't you look at me?" Jem pressed his hand against Will's shoulder to compel him to turn around, but dropped it when he wouldn't. "Will, what—?"

"I'm high and soaringly drunk." Will searched his parabatai's face and watched him blood-shot eyes gleamed like a testimony. "I'm surprised you didn't notice." Will reached for something cruel enough to ward him off and marveled at how easily verbal poison came to him.

"Because I'm the expert on addictions?" Jem said coolly. "And yet you tried to hide it from me."

Will wavered. He raked his hands though his hair. Lying came too naturally for him and Jem knew that. Will's natural inclination was to encourage Jem to despise him, maybe because he didn't think his parabatai was capable of hating him. "I'm not hiding anything. I did offer to take you out to places of ill repute. Where did you think I meant?" Will watched Jem's mouth press into a line.

He must of stared too long because Jem halted and his expression suggested he was processing something that had just occurred to him. "It wasn't a dream." Jem said, realization dawning.

Will didn't have to ask what he meant. He massaged the bridge of his noise. So much for repressing the night and bottling it up so he never had to speak of it again. "First of all, if you're having intimate dreams about your male best friend, just red flag."

"Except" Jem seemed a little dazed, "It wasn't a dream. You did kiss me."

"There's a perfectly reasonable explanation." Will continued and Jem nodded, more than willing to hear him out. "But I would rather not get into it right now."

Jem buried his face in his hands. "But just think," Will continued, "there are tons of girls that would love to have had—" Maybe not the most appropriate comment. Will touched the side of his neck. "Well, this is a bit awkward."

A crease deepened in the center of Jem's forehead. "You kissed me." Demons from the bowls of the underworld and a vast assortment of scaly Downworlders couldn't give Jem PTSD, but a few minutes in a room with Will had apparently done the job. "I—I'm not sure how to handle—we could never—there are rules against—"

The blood had returned to Jem's face. Will had never heard him sound so flustered. He enjoyed having that power over him. "Breath James" Will grinned at him. "Don't worry. I'm not in love with you. I just want your body."

"Will." The tone was not amused, but Jem could tell when Will was bull shitting him.

The mouth on mouth contact, Will holding yin fin out for him, his sudden reawakening and Will's dilated eyes, the truth caught up with him. Jem flinched and he clenched his fists into his pants.

"Surely," Jem seemed to speak though a knot in his throat, "you wouldn't unnecessarily risk your life for someone who will be dead soon anyway."

Will shook his head at Jem's misplaced indignation. It seemed to be split pretty evenly between Will and himself. "I do that all the time on missions and you do the same for me. Brothers protect each other because they're brothers. I did nothing wrong."

"That's not the issue. Stop trying to make this some grand act of self-sacrifice. You are reckless and you are seduced by anything that could potentially cause you harm." Jem had a coughing fit into his forearm, but maintained enough of himself to glare at Will when he moved toward him. "I will not be your enabler."

They stared at each other. Will anticipated a backlash reaction, a lecture, but he couldn't let the conversation end on a bitter note. He dismissed Jem's accusation that he enjoyed risking his life. Both things were true, but his honest desire to help Jem more so. "It worked." Will said. "Charlotte wanted to contact the Silent Brothers." He looked at Jem. "You could have been kissed awake by one of them."

Jem scoffed. "That's not how the Silent Brothers would have—"

"Details." Will interrupted and waived his hand. "Perhaps we just pretend like this never happened? All shadow hunters are good at repressing their memories, let's do that."

The silence stretched on for a long moment before Jem nodded. "Give me your word that you won't unnecessarily endanger yourself on my behalf again."

"I won't." Will agreed though it surprised him that Jem still took him on such a flimsy thing as his word. "Unnecessarily."

Jem narrowed his eyes. That Will had consented to something totally different than what Jem intended didn't go unnoticed, but he sighed. "I'm going to bed." He announced.

"Jem, you slept for three days. There's no way you're tired." Will reminded him.

"It's four in the morning. What do you suggest I do?"

By way of answer, Will grabbed his violin case and sat it down beside him on the bed. Jem stared at it a moment before he undid the latches. He raised the instrument to his chin and scrutinized Will. "Thank you." Jem said. "It was stupid but thank you."

Will flopped down into a chair. He closed his eyes and listened. The room was no longer anything like a tome.