***Gabriel P.O.V***
That evening, it was obvious that both Gideon and I were in incredibly good moods from ours days. Tatiana on the other hand was sulking. Apparently Will had rejected her (yet again) and she couldn't understand why. Both Gideon and I had told her he was a lost cause, and she should turn her affections to someone else. I pointed out Rupert Blackthorn obviously has a soft spot for her, (he had stopped trying to be subtle about it, as he literally trailed my sister like a lost puppy) but Tatiana was having none of it. Her loss really. We just allowed her to sulk away, not letting her bad mood ruin our very good moods.
Once she had mopped off back to her room to wallow in her own self-pity, I looked over at my brother "I take it your sate with Sophie went well?" I asked, making his face light up. "Am I that obvious?" he chucked, making me give him a sympathetic nod "just a tad" I answered honestly. I then looked at him with a raised eyebrow, indicating that I wasn't going to just let him end the conversation there. Apparently he didn't need all that much encouragement, and spent the next 15 minutes telling me about his date (most of it was just him gushing about Sophie to be honest). By the time he had finished his little speech by saying "I'm not the only one in a noticeably good mood. Don't think I haven't noticed Gabriel" which made me blush. Gideon grinned at me, leant forward saying "you can tell me, I won't laugh" and I knew I wasn't going to get out of this until he got what he deemed a satisfactory answer.
"We had a new person start at the Institute today. Not just anyone mind you, but someone called Cecily Herondale, who is the sister of a certain William Herondale. (This caught Gideon's attention). Charlotte asked me to look after her, and I admit I was sceptical, assuming she would be just like her brother. There are similarities, which is to be expected, but differences as well. She's basically a younger, nicer, funnier female version of her brother." I said, and had to stop myself before I turned into the gushing idiot my brother had been. Of all the things Gideon had expected me to say, it was obvious that he hadn't expected me to say what I had done. "You like her, I can tell" he said, in the cocky manner that only siblings could manage. I shrugged "sure, she seems like a nice person and we got on today. And she doesn't have the annoying habit of her brother of calling me Lightworm, instead uses our actual surname" I said, making Gideon smirk.
"You know what I meant Gabriel" he said, causing my blush to come back. Why did older brothers always know how to make you feel so uncomfortable and awkward? He seemed to realise that I was getting uncomfortable, and changed the direction of the conversation. "I'm surprised Will didn't say anything. It's the sort of thing he would say, that his younger sister would be coming to the Institute" said Gideon. Grateful that the conversation had shifted from any feelings I may or may not have developed for Cecily, I sat up. "That's the thing. He didn't know she was coming until she turned up. He doesn't want her there. He tried to send her packing back to Wales, and got really angry when she refused. She knows Will and I hate each other, so to wind him up even more, she insisted on staying with me, despite the fact he explicitly told her not to" I said. Gideon then gave me a funny look, like he knew something. When I asked him about it, he just tapped the side of his nose saying "I have the right to remain silent" then left. Brothers, I ask you?
I decided to head back to my room and decided to take my mind off things by reading. I would only get so far before a certain dark haired Herondale girl entered my mind's eye. I couldn't be falling for her: I had only met her that day, and she might be an improvement on her brother, but Will was still her brother. Anyway, if something was to happen between me and Cecily, it would give Will another reason to hate me, and I could do without that in my life. Anyway, there was no guarantee that she even liked me like that. How did I know she wasn't getting close to me to get the attention of her brother? I decided to give up on my book and go to sleep. I was back at the Institute tomorrow, we would see what that day would bring.
***Cecily P.O.V***
Like my brother, I stayed at the Institute after my work was done. I tried to talk to him, but he was having none it. I had been disappointed when Gabriel had left for the day, but he assured me that he would be back to following day, which made me happy, though I wouldn't admit it. I had enjoyed spending time with him, and getting to know the real Gabriel Lightwood rather than the version in my brother's stories. I found myself thinking a lot about the green eyed boy I had spent the day with, but had to remind myself not to get carried away. He might not even like me in that way. For all I know, he might have just been nice and let me stay with him because Charlotte had asked him to. I guess I will find out tomorrow.
~The next day~
I found myself waking up early the following day. After a few failed attempts to fall asleep, I gave up and had a shower then went down to breakfast. Whilst eating, I watched people entering the room. I found myself wondering what their stories were, what had brought them to the Institute. I was so engrossed in my own thoughts that I wasn't aware that there was anyone standing behind me until I felt a hand on my shoulder, making me jump. I turned round, assuming that the person behind me was my brother and ready to scold him, only to realise that it wasn't Will at all, but Gabriel Lightwood. "Sorry, did I make you jump?" he asked sweetly, making me blush slightly. I hope he didn't notice. "A little" I admitted "but it's my own fault for getting so lost in my own thoughts that I wasn't aware of my surroundings" I said, causing a small smile to form on his lips. I then realised that he was still standing up "you can sit down if you want, I've got no one sitting next to me wanting me to save them a seat" I said, somewhat awkwardly. The smile on Gabriel's face grew slightly as he took me up on my offer and sat down.
Once seated Gabriel asked "what were you thinking about?" which made me shrug. "I was just wondering what brought people here. I started giving people random backstories as to why they would end up here. Gosh that sounded silly when I said it out loud" I said, convinced he would get up at leave, thinking I was a silly little girl who made stories up in my head to keep myself entertaining and making me utterly boring. To my surprise he chuckled "and what stories did you come up with?" he asked, with what seemed to be a genuine interest. I smiled, then pointed at a small blonde boy saying "well, he's on the run. He tried to steal a zebra from the zoo, but the plan backfired and the zebra left and hasn't been found. He ran away rather than face charges" I said, then looked at Gabriel, trying to guess his reaction. He had a massive grin on his face. We spent the next 10 minutes giving people backstories, trying to get weirder each time. We ultimately had to stop when Charlotte came over, and gave Gabriel a list of things I needed training with. I had to control my excitement at getting to spend another day with Gabriel.
It seemed that my brother did not share my excitement. As soon as we had left the dining room to get on with the jobs ahead, he came storming over, with a face of thunder. "Keep away from her Lightworm" he snarled. I felt sick, if they got into a fight, I honestly wouldn't know what to do. Should I try to break it up, should I get help? If I did, who would I get? Gabriel scoffed then "would you like to take my place and train her? I'd let you, although I have to admit, I'd be disappointed. I rather enjoyed Cecily's company yesterday" he said, which caused me to gasp slightly. There was a part of me that was happy he had enjoyed yesterday as much as I did, however there was another part of my that said that he was only saying it to get a reaction out of Will, and it had seemingly worked, as to my horror, Will had pulled his arm back, seemingly to hit Gabriel in the face. Thankfully the supposed hit Will had been preparing never actually happened as a hand went to Will's arm, pulling him back, and someone else had stood in front of Gabriel, trying to calm him down.
The boy who had pulled Will back looked about the same age as him, only he had silver hair and eyes. There was a slight Asian look about him. Whoever he was, it seemed that Will seemed to listen to him as me managed to calm my brother down and pull him away, before tempers flared again. I turned my attention to Gabriel and the boy dealing with him. I had been so focused on the fight that had almost broken out that I hadn't noticed a girl standing close by. She looked quite pretty, with long brown hair and big welcoming eyes, but there was a scar running down the side of her face. It made me sad to think someone would want to hurt her, even though I didn't know her. She seemed to be with the boy dealing with Gabriel, as she had stepped forward, lightly putting her hand on his arm.
It was then the three of them turned to look at me. It was Gabriel who spoke next "Cecily allow me to introduce my brother Gideon (who put his hand out for me to shake. I noticed he was slightly shorter than his brother, but broader. Where Gabriel had brown hair, Gideon had sandy coloured hair, but he shared the same green eyes as his brother) and his girlfriend Sophie". On realising I was looking at her, Sophie hid her scar behind her hair. She smiled at me then "it was nice to meet you Cecily, but Gideon and I have work we need to do. Maybe we'll see you later?" she said. I smiled encouragingly at her "I'd like that" I said, and with that, they both left, leaving me and Gabriel alone in an awkward silence.
"I'm sorry for annoying your brother" he said quietly. I just shrugged then. "Don't worry about it" I said, then added "did you mean what you said?" because I knew it would annoy me if I didn't get an answer. It had clearly thrown Gabriel off guard as he just looked at me saying simply "pardon?" I just hoped I could say what I needed to without losing my nerve. "You told Will you enjoyed my company yesterday. Did you mean that or where you saying that to wind him up?" I asked. As soon as the question was out I was terrified of the answer. What if he had hated my company yesterday and simply told my brother otherwise to get a reaction out of him. Gabriel, to my surprise blushed and became very awkward. "I was um, telling the uh, truth. I really did enjoy your company yesterday but if you um, didn't feel the same, you can always be with someone else" he managed to get out, and had taken a sudden interest in his shoes.
I smiled then saying "and there was me thinking you hadn't enjoyed my company when I had very much enjoyed yours" I said, causing him to look up at me, a beautiful smile on his face. "You did?" he asked, and I could hear the hope in his voice. "It's what I said isn't it?" I replied, and in that moment a weight had been lifted off our minds. We spent the rest of the day training and getting to know each other better. Just before Gabriel left to meet his brother and leave, he scribbled his number down on a sheet of paper "should I ever need to give a backstory to someone" were his exact words, which made me smile.