"It looks like brown, slimy, deformed pasta," Will said, raising a strip of pad thai using his chopsticks.

His hand slipped and the string of noodle fell on the plate, splattering the brown sauce on him.

Tessa snorted. Will shot a glare as he wiped the stain off his shirt.

She rolled her eyes in response. "Just try it, Will," she said as she took another bite of it. Tessa had tried pad thai in other Thai restaurants in New York and London, but the one they had here was delicious. Obviously.

Just as Will began to attempt fixing the position of the chopsticks in his hand, Tessa stopped him. "Use a fork, Will. You're useless with that thing."

He scowled at her, but took up a fork anyways. He proceeded to stab a string of pad thai noodle. He stuffed it in his mouth grumpily, like a 5-year-old being forced to eat broccoli.

Tessa waited for his reaction as he chewed, and watched as his scrunched up eyebrows smoothed out and his eyes brightened.

"Hmmm."

"Hmmm indeed," Tessa replied with a grin.

She scooped up a few more pieces of the dish onto her plate before pushing the rest to Will.

"You don't want the rest?"

"Nah. We still have the fried rice and I really want to try that one," Tessa explained, eating the pad thai on her plate. Unlike pad thai, pineapple fried rice wasn't as common.

As if on cue, the waiter appeared in the cramped space between the tables. Tessa wondered how any of them got around with plates of food in their arms. The place was definitely not glamorous, with its dirty floor, plastic chairs, and wooden tables, but most restaurants in Khao San Road were like this.

"Pineapple fried rice?" he asked with a heavy accent.

Tessa nodded and he placed the big plate on the table before nodding and walking away.

On the plate were two pineapple halves lying on their spiky side. The inside of the pineapple had been emptied out and filled in with fried rice. Steam rose from it, bringing a delicious zesty aroma.

Tessa eagerly scooped up a spoon of it and blew on the rice to make it cool faster. Up close, the scent was even more enticing.

She ate the spoon of pineapple fried rice, and her mouth exploded with flavours. The savoury fried rice, and a fresh burst of pineapple as she bit on it. It was delicious, and she willed her mouth to chew slower before she choked on the food.

"Enjoying your food, Tess?" Will asked, amusement laced in his voice.

She swallowed. "You have to try this," she told him as she scooped up the rest of the rice in one pineapple half.

"Are you sure you want to share?"

Tessa looked up to find Will smirking at her, urging her to shoot him a glare.

Will swallowed another spoonful. Tessa scrunched her nose.

"Mango with rice? How are you eating that?" Tessa asked.

Will had bought a plate of mango sticky rice, and he was now too busy devouring it to answer her verbally. Instead, he spooned out some of the rice along with a piece of mango and offered it to Tessa's mouth.

Tessa looked down at the spoon, which was inches from her sealed lips. She took a sniff. It had intoxicatingly sweet smell, which made Tessa even more deterred. She didn't really like sweet things, like chocolate.

Will swallowed his food down. "Come on, Tess. Just try a bite."

"It smells really sweet, Will. I-"

As Tessa opened her mouth while saying "I", Will took it as an opportunity to shove the spoon into her mouth. Tessa's eyes widened in shock, but before she could do anything, the food was dumped in her mouth and Will had jumped back from her.

Tessa's mouth was still open. She shot Will the iciest glare she could manage. This is unbelievable, she thought. She had no choice but to swallow it, or it would be more than impolite to puke it out.

She began to chew. It was actually not bad. It would be good if it wasn't so sweet. Tessa swallowed it.

"So?" Will asked, taking another spoonful for himself.

"Hmm… It's okay, I guess. Just too sweet," Tessa said slowly.

Will shook his head. "'Too sweet'. How is this too sweet? It's perfect!" he declared, waving around his spoon to emphasize his point.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Will asked incredulously, trying to keep his voice down.

Tessa shrugged. "We're in Thailand! Might as well try out everything."

Will replied with a look of horror. "You didn't even want to try mango sticky rice! That's something that's still kind of normal. But this? Not normal. At all."

Tessa sighed. "Come on, where else will you be able to try deep-fried grasshopper?"

"Nowhere! Because you don't eat them!" he exclaimed, sounding exasperated.

"Why are you panicking, Will? You're not the one eating it," she pointed out.

"Yes, but- I don't... You-" he sputtered out, before finally giving up.

Tessa smiled triumphantly and turned to the vendor. "One grasshopper please."

She nodded and offered Tessa a stick with a deep-fried grasshopper pierced through it. Tessa took it from her tentatively, eyeing it as if it might jump away.

The vendor lady gave her a gap-toothed grin of encouragement. Tessa nodded meekly.

She caught Will's scandalized look from beside her. "Will, take a picture while I'm eating it."

He merely stared at her open-mouthed.

"Will!"

"Um... okay." He took out his camera, not taking his eyes off of Tessa.

When he seemed to have gathered his wits and gotten the camera ready, Tessa turned back to the grasshopper.

She closed her eyes and took a big bite.

There was a crunching sound and she chewed slowly, trying to taste it. It was crispy and savoury. Surprisingly, it was quite good.

"So?" Will asked, a tinge of horror in his tone.

"It tastes like... shrimp," Tessa finally decided. She took another bite and looked at Will. There was barely concealed disgust in his face.

"You like it?" asked the female vendor from behind her.

Tessa turned to face her and smiled. "It's actually good. Thank you," Tessa said. The lady smiled back and mumbled "good" and few times as Tessa turned away and walked to Will, who couldn't take his eyes off the half-eaten grasshopper.

"You're disgusting, Tess."

"Excuse me, this is quite good. It's not my fault you're such a chicken."

"It's called being hygienic and classy."

"You're backpacking, Will. I think being hygienic and classy is not an option right now."

Will opened his mouth to retort, but seemed to find nothing. He huffed and crossed her arms as Tessa grinned at him, taking the last bite of her fried grasshopper.

He stuck his tongue out, his face distorting with disgust.

Tessa swallowed, a curious expression on her face. "Would you still kiss me?"

Will stopped in his tracks and looked at her with a bewildered expression. "What?"

"It's quite a simple question, Will. Would you still kiss me after eating this?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but closed it again. He narrowed his eyes, looking thoughtful. "Yes-"

"Really?"

"... after you brush your teeth for at least 10 minutes."

Tessa burst out laughing. "10 minutes?" she asked incredulously.

Will remained looking indignant even though Tessa was grinning.

Before he knew what was happening, Tessa had reached up and pulled his head down. She kissed him slowly, and Will's initial repulsion slowly melted away.

When Tessa pulled away, she immediately burst into laughter. Will looked at her with a dazed expression. "Why are you laughing?"

"You just tasted fried grasshopper!"

Will's eyes widened in realization. Tessa laughed even harder. He seemed to have forgotten their previous argument.

Will snapped his mouth open, his tongue hanging out. He looked around frantically, and finally darted to a stand selling drinks. Tessa watched with amusement as he attempted to buy a drink with his tongue half hanging out. The vendor looked completely bewildered and almost scared as Will gestured wildly.

He seemed to finally understand as Will took out some money and pointed to a filled plastic cup. The vendor hesitantly gave Will the cup after he received the money.

As soon as the drink was in Will's hand, he downed half of it in one gulp. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and stalked back to Tessa, his expression thunderous.

"You have no idea how much trouble you're in," he muttered.

"What are you, my father? You can't ground me, William."

"And are you my mother, calling me 'William'?"

Tessa narrowed her eyes. "Touché, Herondale."

Will smirked and took another sip of his drink. It was a bright orange-brown colour. He looked at the cup. "This is actually really good."

"That's Thai iced tea," Tessa pointed out.

Will rolled his eyes. "I know what Thai iced tea is, Tess. They have it in every Thai restaurant."

Tessa crossed her arms. "You didn't know what pad thai was."

"I did! I just never bothered ordering it," Will finished lamely.

Tessa shook her head and took his free hand. "So," she said, looking up at him. "Where shall we go now?"

Hello! Yes, I realize that is quite short. I haven't had time to write because of school, so I apologize for that.

So, after researching, Khao San road in Bangkok is apparently the centre of backpackers. I've been to Thailand, but only to Chiang Mai, not Bangkok. But I do love Thai food. Especially pineapple fried rice. and mango sticky rice. Hence why this chapter is basically about Will and Tessa eating.

And about the deep-fried grasshopper: I didn't try it when I went because it was a school trip and we had to stay in groups. I looked for the vendor, but couldn't find any selling deep-fried insects. Just so you know, the grasshopper is the one I wanted to try because they rest are deep-fried cockroaches and maggots. Yeah, I'll pass on those two. However, my friend, who was in a different group, found a vendor selling those and she tried the grasshopper. So when I asked her to describe the taste, she said "Crispy. Savoury. Tastes like shrimp."

In other news, an update on my theatre school fanfic: I have random scenes written but no visible plot line. So this might be put on hold. I might do it in September, because that's when I start at my new school, so I'll have first-hand experience. Oh yeah, I forgot to say. I'm moving to England to go to boarding school. WHOA. I FEEL LIKE TESSA IN ALL THOSE HIGH SCHOOL AUs.

Anyways, hope you guys liked this chapter! Please follow, favorite, and/or review! Thank you to all those who have done one or more of these three! You guys are awesome.

Oh yeah, here are my replies to guest reviews:

(First)Guest: AHHHH thank you! Also, you read my other story. That's awesome. Thank you so much for that :)

Thalia: YEAH I'M FROM INDONESIA! You're from the US, that's cool! And thank you!

(Second) Guest: Your review actually reminded me to finish this chapter. HA.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Infernal Devices or anything else mentioned above except for the plot, etc.