As Tessa sorted out the stack of papers given to her by Charlotte, her mind couldn't help wandering back to her first meeting with Will Herondale. He really was rude and insufferable, and she wondered if he had any friends at all. He was taller than Tessa was -even though she was wearing short heels- and he was skinny, but muscular. It must've been the result of fighting. He had eyes that were a peculiar shade of dark blue, like iolite gemstones, which were framed by long, thick lashes. His jet black hair was messy and his lips were-
Tessa shook her head. What was wrong with her? She had been unfocused for the past couple of hours. She stared at the paper in her hand and sorted it onto one of the growing stacks in front of her. She was sitting in a black leather chair behind a glass desk, which was almost completely covered in papers and files. There wasn't much more in the room, besides a rug and a small empty bookshelf. Tessa had nearly jumped in glee in seeing space for her to put some of her books. She was in a small room connected to Charlotte's office. It wasn't quite her own office room, since there was no door to separate her from Charlotte, but she had enough privacy. But so far, her job hadn't been very exciting or interesting in anyway. She was beginning to think that maybe all the hype around The Shadowhunters was just based off of rumours. She glanced back at the stacks of papers surrounding her and sighed heavily. Tessa closed eyes and threw her head back, taking deep breaths.
"Enjoying your job, Ms. Gray?" said a smug voice.
Tessa reluctantly opened her eyes, glaring at the speaker. "Yes, very much. Thank you for asking, Mr. Herondale," she replied coldly.
Will came around the table, dragging a chair with him. He was wearing gray slacks and a light blue shirt, his top button undone. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbow and his hair was as messy as it had been before. He plopped down on his chair and took a piece of paper from one of the stacks, glanced at it and at the remaining stacks, and placed it neatly in one of the piles. Tessa raised her eyebrows in surprise. Was he really helping her?
"What? Am I surprising you, Tess?" he smirked at her.
Tessa looked away and focused on the stack of papers. An unexpected warmth flowered inside her. Tess, she echoed in her mind. No one had ever called her that. It sounded nice rolling off his tongue, his silky voice made it sound beautiful.
"Tessa?"
She snapped out of her daze to find looking at her in puzzlement, tilting his head slightly.
"Are you okay?" he asked, real concern lacing his voice.
"Yeah, I'm just a little... distracted, I guess," she answered.
A wicked grin appeared on his face. "Distracted by my charm and exceedingly good looks?" Tessa opened her mouth angrily to protest, but Will held up his hand to stop her. "It's completely normal. I'm actually surprised you haven't fainted yet considering our proximity to each other."
Tessa gave a huff of indignation and turned back to her seemingly endless task of sorting papers. After a few moments of silence in which both of them were absorbed in the act of scanning and sorting documents, she saw Will get up from the corner of her eye. She continued working and only looked up when he was a few steps away from the entryway to Charlotte's office.
"Thank you, Will," she said, her voice loud in the completely silent room.
Will turned his head back and gave her a genuine smile. "No problem, Tess," he replied, his eyes softening.
Charlotte came back about half an hour later after dealing with the business with the cat named Church. She took a look at Tessa, who was drowning in piles of paper cream-colored files, and widened her eyes. "Goodness, I never knew there were that many papers. Come, Tessa. You've done more than enough."
Tessa gladly stepped away from the neat piles and walked over to Charlotte's office. She stood over her table, signing something. Then she straightened up and walked towards the door. "Come with me," she said, motioning for Tessa to follow her.
As they walked through the nearly identical corridors, Charlotte explained that there was a meeting and Tessa had to join.
"I don't understand. I'm new. Why would I need to go to a meeting? What will it be about?"
Charlotte gave her a suspicious smile. "You'll see. In any case, going to this meeting would be much better for your internship than just stacking papers all day," she said with a smile.
Tessa nodded in agreement. She walked quickly through the corridors, looking down whenever someone passes by. It wasn't that she was shy, she was just... not in the mood to meet new people. Or so she told herself.
They finally arrived at the meeting room, which was more like a living room than anything else. The floors were carpeted and there were a few couches and chairs clustered around a coffee table. Some seemed old and vintage, while others were new and modern. There was an idle fireplace near the couches as well, for cold winter nights. The windows on the far side of the room were as tall as the room itself, and the curtains were a velvety material. The sky outside was blue with a tint of grey and the sun was nowhere to be seen. A bright chandelier hanging in the middle of the room illuminated the place.
Inside the room, there were already a few people lounging on the couches. Among them was Will, who was sitting lazily on one of the sofas, his arm casually slung across the back of a cushion. Next to him was another boy who looked the same age as Will. He was also leaning back against the sofa, but unlike Will, who looked careless and unorganized, this boy was calm and composed. His position seemed graceful and his face serene and kind. His pale face was all angles and it attracted attention. But what caught Tessa's eye was the silver. His long eyelashes were silver, his irises were silver, and his neatly combed hair was silver.
He smiled politely at Tessa as their eyes locked.
Leaning on the wall next to the fireplace was a boy who looked a bit older than Will. He was also built and muscular, but unlike Will, he was large and broad-shouldered. He shared the same emerald green eyes as another boy who was sitting on a cushioned chair.
The boy by the fireplace gave a small nod to Tessa when he saw her. His eyes then glazed around the room lazily, lingering on a girl who was sitting cross-legged on the carpeted floor. She bore a striking resemblance to Will. Her dark blue eyes sparkled and danced excitedly around the room, and there was a ghost of a smile on her lips. Her loosely braided hair was the same jet black as Will's. She gave a big smile to Tessa when her eyes caught sight of her.
The last person Tessa saw in the room was a girl who was almost ridiculously beautiful. She was sitting up straight on a tiny chair, her blond hair falling around her shoulders in loose curls. She looked at the rest of the room as if they were all inferior creatures. She immediately had a bad feeling about this girl. Even as she caught sight of Tessa, she didn't acknowledge her presence in any way.
Charlotte cleared her throat. "Alright, everyone. I'd like you all to meet Tessa Gray."
Tessa smiled awkwardly as everyone turned to look at her. She looked at the only face she knew in the room besides Charlotte's, and he was smirking at her with his eyebrows raised in amusement.
"You're a bit plain, aren't you?" asked the snobbish blonde girl plainly.
Tessa's mouth opened slightly in shock. Everyone else in the room sighed and Charlotte groaned.
The girl who was probably related to Will scolded her. "Jessie!"
"Please excuse our friend," said a calming voice. Tessa turned to see that the source of the voice was the silver-haired boy. He smiled at her apologetically. "She tends to say whatever crosses her mind. Though her words aren't always true," he told her, getting up from the sofa. He walked over to her and held out a hand. "I'm James Carstairs, by the way. But please, call me Jem."
As Tessa shook his hand, the girl with black hair leapt up. "I'm Cecily Herondale," she stated, her hand outstretched. Tessa took it and asked, "Are you related to Will?"
Cecily looked at her in surprise. "Why, yes, I am. I'm his twin sister," she replied. Squinting her eyes slightly at Tessa, she asked, "You've met Will then?"
Tessa felt her cheeks redden for no reason as she nodded and looked away to hide it.
The two other boys came up to her.
"I'm Gideon Lightwood," said the boy who was sitting on a chair. Gideon had thick sandy-blond hair and he was very muscular. He nudged the boy next to him when there was a short silence.
"Oh yeah, and I'm Gabriel Lightwood," stated the boy who had leaned by the fireplace. He was taller than Gideon, and probably everyone else in the room, for that matter. His face was sharp and handsome.
Tessa turned to look at the blonde girl who Cecily had called "Jessie". She was still in the same position, her nose up in the air.
"Don't mind Jessamine," Cecily said, rolling her eyes. "She's always like that with everyone."
Tessa smiled at her. "So," she said, turning to Charlotte, "What's the meeting about?"
There was a flash of surprise in Charlotte's face, as if she just remembered about it, but she quickly recovered. "I just thought that maybe knowing people your age would help you feel… more comfortable here."
Tessa was genuinely surprised and pleased at the same time. She called them all there… to make her feel welcome?
Tessa gave her a grateful smile. "Thank you, Charlotte," she replied genuinely.
"Well, I'm bored," said a familiar voice.
Tessa shifted her head slightly and caught sight of Will, exaggerating a yawn. "What are supposed to do now? Play games in the playground? Text each other personal secrets?"
Charlotte didn't seem hurt or shocked in any way by Will. She just sighed tiredly. "I'm just introducing her to you all. I'm not asking you to be giggling 12-year-old girls."
"Whatever," Will replied. He swiftly got up and walked over to where they were all standing. "So, what shall we do now?" His eyes glinted wickedly. "Shall we teach Tessa how to fight?"
Tessa felt her eyes widen as her mouth dropped. "Teach me what?"
"Goodness Will, you're worse than a giggling 12-year-old girl," Jessamine snorted. She scrunched up her nose. "I could never understand why you all enjoy fighting so much. Especially you, Cecily. It's so not lady-like to fight," she reprimanded, tossing her blonde curls back behind her shoulder. Cecily looked like she was using every ounce of her self-control no to slap Jessamine. "Maybe Tessa should come with me and learn how to dress properly instead," Jessamine continued. Her eyes scanned Tessa critically, and Tessa had to fight the urge to cover her body with her hands, as silly as it seemed. "I know exactly what to do to-"
"Actually, I think Will's idea is great," Charlotte interjected. Tessa held back a groan. "It'll help you understand Shadowhunters better. Besides, it's better than stacking papers right?"
She turned back to the group of people standing in front of her, composing her facial expression to mask her fear and anxiety. She didn't see how fighting would make her understand Shadowhunters, but Charlotte was right. It was definitely better than stacking papers. Tessa took a deep breath. "Alright then. Tell me what to do."
Will grinned at her. "We're definitely up for some fun, Tess."
This is probably the longest chapter I've ever written for a fanfic. I usually write short chapters so YAY for longer chapters.
So I know there's actually not much happening here. Just little hints of Wessa and mostly character introductions.
I love writing this fanfic, because as bow down to me peasants put it, "I need as much Wessa in my life as possible." So I'll hopefully update at least once a week. Anyways, that's all for now I guess.
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DISCLAIMER: I (sadly) do not own The Infernal Devices
