FINALLY A NEW CHAPTER! Gah I've been struggling with this one for a little while, but I finally got some time and got over my writer's block. I really want to update more chapters quickly because they are on a schedule and I want to be updating the holiday ones during the actual holidays, but we'll see how that goes. I should have time this weekend to get another one up, but don't hold me to it. At least this one is up and ready for your enjoyment.

I love you all!

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. Unfortunately. Otherwise I would be enjoying my royalty checks and not stressing about Chinese midterms.

Tuesday October 9 Chapter 25: How to Do Lunch.

Will POV:

8 am came very early Tuesday morning. Not as early as 7 am had, when I'd been lurched out of sleep by that wretched alarm clock then rolled back over, but it was still pretty early. I couldn't push it anymore though, I had to be at work at 9 am.

I took a quick shower to give myself a few extra minutes on my appearance once I'd dried off; I was only working a half day, helping out on a special project, (hence the strange 9 am-1 pm schedule) and meeting Jem for lunch afterwards.

The anticipation had me smiling involuntarily.

Jace was in the kitchen when I made my way there to throw together some breakfast.

"Morning." I mumbled, grabbing a cup of the freshly brewed coffee. Herondale's are not renowned for enjoying their mornings and if Jace or I are up before 10 am, you can be sure there will be a pot of hot coffee not far away.

"Mmhhmn." He replied, his head resting on his arms.

"Are you sick? You're up a whole hour before you have to be." I teased, putting a piece of toast in the toaster. I grabbed a bowl out of the cupboard and filled it with equal parts strawberry yogurt, pineapple chunks, and granola.

"No. Clary wanted to meet before class to put some finishing touches on her masterpiece." He told me, sipping at his own cup of coffee.

"Is that what the kids are calling it these days?" I mocked, grabbing my toast and taking a seat.

"Ha ha, no. She had a drawing assignment so naturally she asked the most attractive person in her life to model for her." The caffeine was starting to awaken his natural 'Jace-like' tendencies.

"Ah. So you were second choice after he said no then?"

I dodged a kick under the table.

"Such a comedian this morning. I'm too tired to talk to you."

"Why?"

"I was up half the night cleaning my room where Alec had been in there; then I had to wait for my sheets to dry. I didn't get to bed until past three." Jace is meticulous in his cleaning. It's one of the odd behaviors no one would guess about him. He's always been much tidier than Cecy or me.

"I'm sure Magnus will make it up to you. I know he appreciates your intervention. Alec too probably; he sounds like the kind of guy who remembers favors."

"Yeah, hopefully not in the same manner in which he was making up to Magnus this morning if those noises were what they sounded like. Ugh. The next place you live should have better insulated walls. I don't know how you've spent the last year and a half sharing a wall with that man."

"Our bathrooms are on that wall; no noise comes through. You could always take some of that money that you don't chip in for rent or groceries and buy some earplugs with it." I gripped. Not that I minded having him over, I just didn't think he had complaining rights, even if he did have his own room.

He ignored the comment and continued.

"Well you're lucky. I'll be sleeping at home tonight so I can get some peace and quiet."

"I'm sorry our lives have so rudely inconvenienced you and your beauty sleep." I finished up my breakfast and put the dish in the dishwasher before checking my pockets to make sure I had everything I needed. "I'll see you later this week then?"

"Yeah, Friday at the latest; I have a date with Clary and I don't want to have to sneak back into the house late."

I sighed. He knew I really don't approve of my house being used for his deceit, but I couldn't say anything because it would just be hypocritical. The Angels know I snuck out more than a few times to go to one of Magnus's parties that lasted until daybreak.

"Fine, just let me know ahead of time. Have fun with your modeling. Oh and you might want to borrow some cover-up for those bags under your eyes." He glared at me and I laughed when I caught him checking his reflection in his spoon before I walked out of the kitchen.

Jem POV:

I awoke early with a cat on my head and a textbook jabbing into my ribs. My disoriented mind assessed that I was on the couch; I must've fallen asleep while I was studying last night. I was surprised that Alec hadn't removed the books from my lap or covered me in a blanket as he usually did. Not that It was his job or anything, but it was strange that he hadn't done it. Walking down the hall to the bathroom gave me an explanation as to why.

His door was wide open and his bed had obviously not been slept in; he would have still been in it at this time of day if he'd come home last night. I checked my phone but it was void of messages, save one from Will saying good night and that he'd see me tomorrow- which was now today.

I sent Alec a text asking if he was alright then set about cleaning up the mess of books and tea cups that littered the den. Luckily my internal clock woke me up early enough to take my time getting ready for class.

I met Will at a little cafe a few blocks from my apartment around 2 pm for a late lunch. After buying our food we picked a quiet table in the corner away from the crowd and sat down.

"So how'd it go last night?" I asked. He'd told me that his best friend was likely going to be resistant to the idea of us dating, since he knew everything that had happened between us last week. But he was hoping that after a brief explanation Magnus would change his opinion of me. I had no personal stock in whether or not Magnus approved of me, but seeing as how he was an important part of both my best friend and boyfriend's life, I figured I should promote peace as much as possible.

"Well..." Will shook his head, as if trying to shake away a bad memory.

"That disastrous hmm?"

"That would depend. If you're asking if Magnus "approves" of my relationship decisions, then, it could be worse. He's mainly just concerned I'm moving a little fast, which is rich coming from him. But I think once he realizes what happened before was the exception, not the rule, when it comes to how you treat me, he'll get over it." He took my hand and kissed it lightly. "Unless you're planning on proving him right in which case he will have to find a way to balance his smugness with his wrath."

"I promise he will have no reason to dislike me from now on." I reassured. "So if that didn't go badly then what else happened?"

"Honestly I'm surprised you haven't been told. Let's just say that we can safely assume double dates are out of the question for the foreseeable future, as I'm fairly certain your friend Alec would rather rip my face off than look at it for half a second."

That was certainly not the answer I'd been expecting.

"What? Why?" All I had heard from Alec today was a short text saying he'd stayed at Magnus's last night unexpectedly and it was a long story that he'd tell me tonight.

"He thinks, well thought, as I'm positive it's been cleared up by now, otherwise I don't think he'd have stayed in Magnus's bed last night-"

"Enough with the asides already, get to the point."

"He saw me kissing Magnus last night and thought he was being cheated on." Will looked at me smugly, phrasing his answer in a way that was sure to make me ask more questions. He didn't like to be interrupted.

I narrowed my eyes, not wanting to give in to his little game, but also dying to know what the hell he was talking about.

Will obviously had no intention of continuing on his own, so I eventually caved.

"I'm sorry, you're going to have to elaborate on that."

"You said get to the point. That is gist of it."

"How about you give me the whole story with as minimal amount of detail you can without making it nonsensical, ok?"

"Not possible. It's all or nothing." He took a bite of his sandwich and waited. God he's annoying.

"Fine. Go on then. I only have a few years though, so try to keep it succinct will you?"

He glared at me, then continued.

"So we were at this bar, Magnus and I, not Alec; that would have been weird and not made much sense." He was doing this on purpose.

I let him ramble on, zoning out every now and then while I ate. Eventually, what seemed like years later, he came to the part where he'd "rescued" Magnus from the "persistent slut" and I could fill the next step in for myself.

"Jesus; Alec saw you didn't he?" I knew Alec well enough to know that he would NOT have reacted well to that situation. His mind jumps to conclusions much too readily and his fear of confrontation would have likely led to him just turning around and spending the rest of the night freaking out.

"Apparently. We didn't know though; he didn't come up and say anything. He just left from what I gathered." Will seemed less than impressed with such behavior and, though it wasn't how I would've handled things, I knew Alec couldn't help it. He just wasn't hardwired to make a scene.

"So how did he end up at your house?"

"I was getting there when you so rudely interrupted and jumped ahead. I have half a mind to start all over from the beginning."

"If you do I will throw this plate at you and leave." I told him in all seriousness. He sighed dramatically and continued from when Alec stormed off. His little brother, who is also friends with Alec and Isabelle (heavens this city is small) had bumped into a very drunk and upset Alec at Taki's and took him back to Magnus and Will's.

Jace had filled Will in while Magnus had been trying to calm Alec down.

"Is he ok?"

"I have no idea. I would imagine so, if the sounds coming from Magnus's door this morning are anything to go by; of course that may also have been torture, perhaps I should have checked."

"Do you try to be this infuriating, or does it just come naturally to you?"

"It is a gift."

"It should be returned."

He threw his balled up napkin at me, but I dodged.

"You are a child."

He just grinned ridiculously.

"I take it I can assume you haven't spoken to either of them today?"

"Correct. I wasn't sure if Alec was the kind of person who needed a formal apology, despite the fact that I didn't actually do anything wrong per se, or if he'd just rather ignore it and move on."

I laughed at the idea of Alec moving on over something like that that simply.

"You need to talk to him and clear the air."

"I'm sure Magnus has already explained."

"Doesn't matter. It's going to eat at him until he hears it from your mouth too."

"That's a little immature."

I shrugged, being used to Alec's quarks. He hasn't had the best luck with relationships and has a right to be leery, even if he does take it overboard sometimes.

"Says the grown man who just threw a napkin at me and has been seriously contemplating the pros and cons of spitballs for the last fifteen minutes. Yeah, don't think I haven't noticed what you've even doing with that straw wrapper."

He made a face that resembled that of a child who's just been caught with their hand in a cooking jar.

"I'm not sure this relationship can continue; you're far too attuned to my behaviors." He grumbled, scattering the little bits of rolled up paper onto the floor.

"Pouting is certainly helping your cause." I added once I was sure all of the potential projectiles were disposed of.

"How did this conversation become about me?"

"Your mouth was moving?" I suggested. "Ow!" He'd kicked me under the table. "If you're going to resort to violence we should take this out of public; we both know how it will end." The precedent had been set for every bout of play fighting between the two of us to end on a bed…or a sofa…or a floor...

"Who says I'm even willing to sleep with you after the way you've been treating me this afternoon?" He was a horrible bluff.

"Suit yourself." I got up to leave and didn't look back.

"I hate you." Will grumbled, falling into pace beside me right as I walked out the door.

"So dramatic today." He nudged me with his shoulder before slipping his hand into mine.

"Where shall we go?"

"Well, if you'd like to come back to my apartment we could find something to do until 6 when Alec gets home from work and the two of you can get this talk out of the way."

He contemplated for a minute then turned us around.

"My place it is."

"You will have to deal with this at some point."

"Why? It's not my responsibility to reassure him. That's Magnus's job, and I'm sure he's got a handle on it."

"I'm telling you, I know Alec and you're going to need to clear the air if you ever expect him get along with you." Hopefully that would be all it would take… Alec is notorious for holding grudges.

"Do we need to get along?"

"About as much as Magnus and I do." He hmph-ed at my analogy, but at least the point seemed to have sunk in. There was silence for a block or two while he thought it over.

"Fine. I'll get around to it." He took his keys out and unlocked the door to his house, ushering me inside.

His house was far more decorated and bright than my and Alec's living quarters; much more home-like and lived in. The woodwork was a distressed white, offset by the pastel green of the walls and ocean blue furniture. There was a distinct beachy theme to the place.

We kicked our shoes off and Will went to the kitchen to get us something to drink while I went over to the sofa.

There were a few framed photographs on the walls and on the end tables, along with a couple photo album under the coffee table. I guessed they were probably taken by Magnus; Alec had told me he was working on becoming a photojournalist. I reached for one of the albums and my hand was pounced upon by what appeared to be a large white cotton ball.

"Hey you," I picked it up and it latched onto my hand, biting and licking like Church used to do when he was a kitten. "Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?"

"I don't think he speaks Chinese." Will informed me, setting my cup of tea down on one of the seashell coasters and sitting down next to me on the couch. "He's a little devil. You can just toss him somewhere, eventually he takes the hint and goes back to Magnus's bed."

"William, that's horrible. I'm not going to toss him anywhere. Besides, he's absolutely adorable."

Will snorted while the 'little devil' nuzzled his head against my palm, then bit it ferociously.

"What did you say to him?"

"I asked his name; he doesn't seem to want to be very forthcoming with it." I scratched behind his ears and he flipped himself over trying to reach my fingers. It was possibly the most delightful thing I've ever seen.

"It's Chairman Meow."

I looked pointedly at him.

"And yet you don't think he speaks Chinese?" He laughed at the unintentional irony of his previous statement. The kitten snuggled itself down into the crook of my arm and started his grooming process.

"I'll have to let Magnus know how much his cat has taken a liking to you. He thinks the thing is a good judge of character."

"You don't?" I asked, pretending to be hurt.

"I think he likes anyone who doesn't swat him away when he bites. That doesn't necessarily mean good people, just cat lovers."

"One and the same." Chairman Meow meowed in agreement, or frustration with his fluff, I couldn't be sure.

"Duìle, do those albums have any embarrassing photos of you in them?" I motioned towards the books I'd been reaching for when I was interrupted by the kitten.

"What? Oh, no. Those are all of Magnus. You don't want to see them." He answered, a little too quickly.

"Not even one single picture of you, in three albums? I find that hard to believe."

"I resent your implications."

"You could just show me and prove my implications wrong."

"Or you could learn to trust me. This hurts Jem." He pretended to pout, trying to get me to give up on my quest. The more aggressively he tried to steer me away from it though the more I couldn't let it go. There had to be something amazing between those pages if he was getting so defensive.

I reached for his hand (with the arm that didn't have a cat cradled in it) and kisses his palm and then each finger.

"Please? I want to see."

He narrowed his eyes at me while my lips made their way to the inside of his wrist.

"That's not fair. How am I supposed to say no to you?" He scooted closer, making it easier for me to reach the crook of his arm.

"You're not."

"Fine. You can look at the recent one." He pulled a blue and green leather bound album from its place under the table.

"That's no fun; I know what you look like now." I could tell I was pushing my luck, but a few more kisses and he caved.

"If you laugh at my baby photos I'm kicking you out." He warned, handing over the oldest looking book and putting the other one back in its place.

"I wouldn't dream of it." I got comfortable next to him (aggravating the cat into leaving unfortunately) and opened the large album.

The first photograph was an old wedding portrait of a young man and a woman who Will resembled greatly.

"Ma and da on their wedding day." He flipped the page and showed me some of their honeymoon. "They went back to where they met, Wales, where my da is from. Ma was on a backpacking trip when the met. It was the night she got there and, according to da, it was love at first sight. Must've been; he uprooted and followed her to the States. Really pissed of his parents."

He indicated a photo of what must've been the aforementioned grandparents.

"I never met them. They disinherited da for abandoning the family business to peruse his love. It was supposed to go to his younger brother, but Uncle Stephen moved here a few years later, when he was old enough to get away." He pointed out a few more older photographs of his family, showing me his Uncle Stephen (who looked a lot like his father and who Jace favored) and his wife Amatis.

Then the baby photos began. He tried to flip passed them as fast as possible, so I had to keep pushing his hand away and turning back pages to see. There were a few of just him and his parents, then a lot more once his sister Cecily was born.

"This is one of my favorites." He pointed out one of him holding Cecily sitting in his mother's lap. "It was taken right after she was born. I can't really remember it, but I love the photo."

"You all look so much alike." Jet black hair, smiling blue eyes.

"I know; it makes Jace look adopted in his baby photos when da's not in there with him." He skipped forward to show me while I rested my head comfortably on his shoulder as we continued.

"Wow. It really looks like you stole him." I pointed to an image if Will holding a tiny baby Jace at the piano while Cecily tried in earnest to get his attention.

"I used to tell Cecily he was a changeling and the fairies had taken our real brother." He started laughing at some memory he hadn't let me in on yet. "I had to stop after ma and da caught her trying to "give him back to his real parents" by leaving him in the middle of the woods." He apparently found this hilarious. I was slightly appalled.

"Are you serious?"

"Yup. Thank god she didn't believe me when I told her the fairies lived under the lake."

"Will!"

"I was a little kid. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Don't worry, I was punished liberally for it."

The jokes faded as we neared the end of the album and he got very quiet when we reached Jace's eighth birthday photographs. The last page was a single image; a family portrait right after Will had turned twelve. I recognized it as being a duplicate of a larger one hanging on the wall.

"And that brings us to the end. This is the last family photo that was taken before they died."

The comment caught me off guard. I had no idea his parents weren't still alive.

"You should've said something before; I wouldn't have forced you into looking at these if I had known." I put my hand in his, not knowing what else to do.

"I wouldn't have let you talk me into it if I didn't want to." He closed the album and placed it back in its home under the table before opening the next one. "It was a car accident; not too long after that photo was taken. We went to live with my aunt and uncle after that. That's what this album is; mostly my high school years. Magnus was just getting into photography back then so a lot of these are just mess ups that we found too hilarious to throw out or really obviously posed shots." He moved over the subject of his parents quickly and I didn't try to push the topic; details about sad things came with time and patience, I knew that from Alec.

So we looked at all of his high school pictures, the mood gradually shifting to a lighter, more jovial feel.

I had to stifle my laughter at the set of photos in which a fifteen year old Will had given his friend full control over wardrobe and make up. He assured me that was the last time that happened.

I particularly enjoyed his 12th grade "anti-prom" outfit. The event had been themed as a Victorian English masquerade and apparently half the school showed up to Magnus's house instead of the actual prom. I'd gathered that he was a world class party planner with parents that were out of town most days apparently.

"This time period suits you." I told Will, committing the image of him in his Victorian attire to memory. There was just something about seeing him like that, all dressed up with gloves and hat and everything, which was peculiarly sexy.

"I've been told something of the like. Perhaps I should go about dressed like a 19th century gentleman all the time."

"I'm not so sure you could pull of the gentleman part, but I can't say I'd mind you trying."

He raised an eyebrow and pressed his lips against my ear.

"I'll have to see what I can do." He put the remaining album with the one we'd been looking at and placed them both under the table. "I'm bored of reminiscing; let's do something more fun." His hands slid up and down my arms.

"What exactly did you have in mind?"

He leaned forward and kissed me deeply in answer. I turned my body to deepen our kiss and get closer to him.

Our soft kiss quickly heated and I was on my back on the couch with a shitless Will on top of me before my brain could even register what was happening. Not that I was complaining once it had.

My hands explored Will's chest, enjoying the cool skin beneath my fingertips. He kissed my neck softly while unbuttoning the first few buttons of my shirt.

I let myself sink into the feeling of his mouth on my body.

After in succeeding in removing my shirt and leaving it somewhere on the couch, Will broke our contact for long enough to pull us off the couch and lead me to his bedroom. It was a bit larger than mine, with an adjoining bathroom. I didn't have much time to notice anything else, other than the fact that he had an extremely comfortable mattress and a very useful headboard...

"Don't you want to stay?" Will crooned, pressing his lips against my shoulder while his hands massaged my back.

I did. His hands felt like heaven and his bed was so warm and comfortable. My head sunk into the high quality pillows. I had to go though; it was almost six.

"I can't. I have flash cards to make and I told Alec I'd be home tonight."

"So, tell him you changed your mind. You can make your flash cards here, with me." His soft lips contacted the base of my neck, trying to convince me to change my plans.

"William." My tone chastised his attempts, despite the fact that my body was enjoying it greatly.

"James." He breathed in my ear, sending chills of pleasure through my body. I leaned my head back against his shoulder and his arm wrapped around my waist, holding me close to his body.

"I'll leave in an hour."