A/N: I wrote this for my friend's birthday, since her OTPs are Malec and Cath/Levi :L You don't really need to know Malec to know this, although there's a small spoiler for the Mortal Instruments in there. Enjoy, and R/R!
EDIT 16/04/15: Hey! I did a little editing to make it run smoother and actually include the linebreaks that document transfer neglected ;-; Thanks so much for the great reviews, although, sorry to say that this is only a one shot; there's no more updates :/ Sorry, I hope you enjoy!
EDIT AGAIN I'M REALLY SORRY TO ANYONE FOLLOWING 19/04/15: The linebreaks still weren't there! I had three little stars and everytime they'd just disappear... I've replaced them with actual linebreaks now. Really sorry, especially to people who are following and keep getting updates :( This should be the last one :)
Cath Avery had a problem.
A big problem.
And it's name was Malec.
The issue started small. Small enough, at least, that Wren never saw it coming.
"Whatcha readin'?" She asked, her voice trilling and her pixie cut perfectly in place.
Cath replied, "A book," which earned her one eye roll and a huff.
"What book?" The more stylish twin's eyes danced across the pages, but couldn't make sense of the unknown names and fantasy terms. And of course, it would be fantasy.
"A book." Cath said. She needed a second before she could deal with people. Just a second, because Magnus was approaching Alec and this was important and- WHOOSH!
The book was gone.
"Wren!" She shouted, her limp ponytail swishing from side to side as she moved up to her twin and attempted to take it back. But because today was a Saturday and Saturday was a weekend, Wren was in tall black heels that looked awesome and gave her a slight, unfair height advantage. If only Cath actually spoke to people; she might have wanted to borrow them.
"Then tell me!" Wren called back, manhandling the precious paper treasure. "Come on, I'm bored - amuse me with your nerdiness!"
If Wren were at college, she wouldn't have had time to bother her. If Wren were at college, that would be just great.
"It's called The Mortal Instruments. One of my friends told me to read it." Wren glanced at her.
"Internet friends or real friends?" She asked.
"Internet friends are real friends." Cath protested.
"That's what I thought." Wren smirked, tossing the book lightly into Cath's hands. Cath immediately started checking for page creases, spine bends and smudges on the cover. "Calm down, it's not like I threw it off of a bridge. Last time I did that, I had to buy you a new one just so you would look at me again."
"And rightfully so," Cath said, placing the book carefully on the table, smoothing the cover as she did so. "Don't touch my books."
"I know, I know." Wren sang. "So… Are you shipping any gay-non-canon-OTPs yet?"
Cath's brow creased. "God, is that the first thing you think of? I need to get out more." Wren shrugged. "Actually, you do go out. How do you know what any of that means?"
"I'm following your Tumblr; it's kind of impossible not to know. Now, have you, or not?"
Turning her head to the side, the introvert said, "No, no I don't," and she didn't even lie.
Wren raised another eyebrow and placed her hand on her sister's forehead. "Are you feeling okay?"
Cath slapped it away. "Perfectly fine, thank you. I don't have to ship gay-non-canon-OTPs for every book I read."
Wren looked at her. "Yes, you do."
"Well, not this time."
"I don't think that's po- Wait," Wren's voice went up several pitches, "don't tell me you've actually got a canon ship!"
"Maybe." Cath muttered.
"Jesus Christ! Someone get the champagne! She actually ships something canon! I believe God is here with us tonight, Cather Avery! Can I get an 'Amen'?" Wren shouted, wringing her hands as though she were leading a gospel choir.
"Shut up," Cath said, but she was laughing.
"Cath, seriously, this is like a scientific breakthrough. This is brilliant. But-," and here, she sat down on Cath's bed next to her, and grabbed her sisters hand, "we need to have a talk."
"Um, what?"
Wren began anyway. "When book characters grow up, they tend to start noticing other book characters, in different-"
"Oh my God, are you giving me the Sex Talk?" Cath interrupted, her face growing hot.
"No, I'm giving you a book version of the Sex Talk. I call it, 'The Books and the Bees'. It's important for growing readers such as yourself to-"
"Wren, I've already been given one Sex Talk in my life; that's all I'll ever need." Their dad had given them one together, when Wren had started to notice one of the boys in her class and Cath had started to notice how wonderful she imagined Bas looking. It's a shame Bas was gay for Simon Snow, really - and it's a giant shame that Wren's crush was too.
The talk had lasted thirty minutes. Five of those had been spent coughing and looking to the side, another five stuttering, and the final twenty giving a speech that resulted in a month of silent dinners and burning cheeks.
Wren gagged at the thought.
"Okay, okay, don't bring that up. Just remember," Wren began, annunciating each word carefully and placing her hand on her sister's shoulder, "if they break up, don't die. If one of them dies, don't die. If anything happens, don't die. Try not to ship them too much. Being canon just means the ship is ready to be sunk. This doesn't seem to be too big of a ship for you, but for the love of God, be careful. I have to go party now, because unlike you, I don't burn in the sunlight, and actually need it to thrive."
Cath snorted and waved her concerned sister away. "Go drink. Remember to tell Dad where you are."
Wren was already out of the door. "I will!"
She didn't. She was grounded.
Cath knew the ship had begun to manifester when Reagan found her in bed, with the lights off, crying about 'The Breakup'.
She walked over, pulled the covers back, and asked to borrow her cell phone charger.
"O-Okay, it's on the- on the des-s-sk." Cath croaked, her throat sore and her face wet. Her hair was in a ponytail - which, essentially, it always was, but it was messier now. She was wearing a Malec shirt she had bought off of Etsy, and her glasses were on the side.
"Cool," said Reagan, flipping on the lights. "Jesus Christ, Cath, what's wrong with your face?"
"I'm crying, Reagan." Finally able to control her blubbers, she gave Reagan a look.
"Not that. It's different."
"I'm not wearing glasses?"
"Oh. Okay." Reagan turned to leave, but paused at the door with a loud, pissed off sigh. "I hate myself for doing this to me, but what's wrong?" Anything reminiscing control was lost in Cath's voice within one second.
"Th-Th-They broke up!" Cath wailed, burying her face in her palms again.
"Wait, who broke up? Did Levi dump you? Am I going to have to go slap a hoe?"
"No! It's Magnus and Alec!"
"Who? Is that the jock I said would probably spend Christmas alone, if it wasn't for his boyfriend? I was joking, Cath. I know him. He has a family." Cath stopped crying long enough to giggle, sniffling as she did.
"No, they're from the book I like." Reagan looked at her.
"Of course they are. Ugh. I mean, good, because I don't actually know that guy and he could, for all I know, be alone without his boyfriend, but ugh."
"You just don't get it, you don't know the feels." Cath whimpered, collapsing back on her bed.
"I really, really don't. I don't even know what 'feels' are - and I have absolutely zero percent desire to find out." Cath stayed silent, staring sullenly at the ceiling. "...Would you like an Emergency Kanye Dance Party? Levi said they helped."
Cath shook her head. "No. This is beyond an Emergency Kanye Dance Party."
"Jesus Christ. I'm going to leave you to grieve. I'll try and text you later. Just try not to touch my stuff while you're so… wet." Reagan said.
Cath thought she left, but felt a hand on her shoulder a second later, just for a second, before Reagan had gone to drink until she couldn't walk. She did actually remember to text her though, which made Cath decide to suggest Wren as a drinking partner - she figured they would go well together.
She also remembered to send her sister a text.
'They broke up. I died.'
The problem reached it's epitome on the third of April.
It was a school day. A Wednesday, to be exact. Cath had had to go to class approximately five minutes ago. But there she was… still in bed.
This may have had something to do with stress. This may have had something to do with insomnia. This may have even had something to do with an emergency trip to the Watford School of Magicks in the middle of the night, but Cath was not one to lie to herself.
This was because of Malec.
Head pounding, vision blurry, her eyes found the poster of Baz on the wall opposite her. "I wish it had something to do with visiting Watford," she mumbled.
This wasn't the first time she had been kept up because the world of fanfiction and the internet had stole her focus. Most of the time, however, it had been because of Carry On, Simon and her dedication to finish it. The rest of the time it was general laziness. Her average waking time on the weekends was 1 - 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and that could be attributed to the vast amount of skill of DeviantArt.
It was just usually Simon and Baz. Two other characters had never caught her attention this harshly.
Cath blamed the fact that it was canon as she hopped around, putting on her comfortable trousers - nothing else was worth the effort right now - and oversized shirt - perhaps, if she looked disoriented enough, the teacher would decide she had had enough punishment already and let her off.
Her phone bleeped as she ran a brush painfully quick through the birdsnest of strands.
'Cather text me when you're out'
And again a second later.
'i have pumpin spice lattes'
And again.
'pumpkin* though their pretty pumpin if thats what your into'
It made Cath laugh, until she realised that the time was now twenty minutes into her class. Damn Levi, damn clothes, and damn her comfortable bed! She wrote back as she tied her hair into one of her messiest ponytails to date.
'not actually in yet. stayed up late last night and overslept. wondering if it's worth it'
Her phone beeped a moment later.
'not when i have pumkin spice its not. im on my way'
'pumpkin ugh'
Cath allowed herself to fall on her bed. She could skip just one day; especially if Levi was involved. Smiling, she sent a reply.
'actually use your key. if you knock i wont answer'
The answer came quickly.
'you wound me, woman'
Cath only had to wait ten minutes before the knock came at her door. As promised, she stayed on her bed.
"Come on, Cather, let me in!" The call came from outside the door. Levi's voice was muffled, but audible. Cath stayed silent. "I left my key at home!"
Cath tilted her head to the side. "Did you do it on purpose?" She called back.
"No!" Came the reply. "I'm holding two lattes anyway."
Rolling her eyes, Cath twisted onto her feet and made her way to the door. When she opened it, she saw a smirking Levi holding a small tray with two lattes with one hand, and a key with the other. Cath shut the door on him and went back to her bed.
Levi came back in a second later, giggling. "Sorry, sorry, I couldn't resist."
"You could have, you chose not to." Cath corrected, but she was smiling. "Why aren't you at work?"
"Why aren't you at school?" He replied.
Cath frowned. "It's not school. It's a mature course of mature classes for mature people. School sounds like it's for children." She said, her brow furrowed.
"You practically are a child. You can't legally leave education." Levi said back, sticking his tongue out at her.
Cath huffed. "Just answer the question. Why aren't you at work?"
He shrugged. "You were worth skipping," he said, sitting next to her and passing her the latte. "Your turn: why aren't you in class?"
"You were worth skipping," she echoed.
"Liar." Levi accused playfully, pointing at her with his free hand. "You weren't going in anyway."
"I was considering it, until you texted me." She shrugged. "You seemed better than jolting awake fifty times a minute for an hour."
Levi grinned at her. "I'm humbled, Cather. You humble me." Leaning back on her bed, he glanced at the new addition to her walls. "Have you got a new poster?"
Cath looked at the fanart of the sparkly man and blushing teenage boy. "Uh, yeah."
"That doesn't look like Bas and Simon. Where's the blond? Why is there glitter?"Levi asked, a crease appearing on his brow.
"That's - that's not Bas and Simon." She said nervously.
"It's not? Then why are they on your walls?"
"I just like them." She shrugged. "That's Magnus and Alec."
"Are they your OTB?" He questioned slowly.
"Aw. You're trying. How cute. They're sort of a secondary OTP." Leaning her head on his shoulder, she sipped at her latte. "You need to read it."
"I would if I could, young Cather."
"Mature Cather." Cath corrected, waggling a finger. "Just because you're an old man, doesn't mean everyone else is a baby."
"Not everyone else is a baby - you're the only person I know who's under 20." Levi pointed out. "Are you obsessed with them yet?"
"Does having them on three shirts with one more on the way count?" She asked rhetorically. Levi answered anyway.
"Yes, yes it does. Is that why you went to bed late last night? How late did you go to bed, anyway?"
Cath shrugged, looking the other way. "Well, it was technically early…" She muttered.
"Jesus, Cather," He laughed. "Do I need to read this book?"
"Yes, yes you definitely do. I still can't believe I'm in love with someone who can't read. It's like irony in human form."
"I have you to read for me. Isn't that great for you? You get to read twice as much." Levi chirped, moving his head onto her lap.
"I wish I did. Then I could talk to you about my books. I'll even get you a Tumblr account." Cath murmured dreamily.
"Tumblr?" He asked.
"Oh, Levi." She whispered, patting his shoulder with a grimace. "Welcome to the internet. It's full of porn, incest, and cat pictures."
Levi frowned. "I'm scared."
Cath smiled. "Good, that means you're going in the right direction."
"What's my rite of passage?" He asked, sitting up and posing readily, to Cath's amusement.
"You could try twerking. Or meme-ing. Or get a text post with over five hundred notes."
"Have you done any of those?" Levi laughed.
"Oh, yeah. All of them. Particularly the last one. There's a reason I don't go outside. It's not the type of thing people want to see." Cath explained.
Levi responded, "I'm sure they'd like to see me doing it," and began to dance in a way that no way near represented twerking.
"Nice try," Cath giggled, "I'm sure you'll improve when I get you a fandom."
"A fandom? That sounds scary." Levi said, as Cath stood and reached into the suitcase under her bed for her books. She looked at him with a look that would only ever come about when she was near books - one of knowing something bad that no one else knew.
"You haven't seen anything yet." She said, then she opened up the book and began to read.
Cath skipped the next class, too - Levi was worth skipping.