Veronica

After a lot of convincing, and almost breaking the door, Veronica was finally able to get inside the kitchen with Kit.

"I can't believe I have a tik toker staying with me!" Veronica exclaimed excitedly, finding amusement in the Herondale's mortification.

"I can't believe shadowhunters even have TikTok!" Kit exclaimed back as he opened the fridge. Veronica watched him scope out the food, knowing that there were only leftovers from Izzy's cooking in there. "Is this…. Pasta?" he inquired, holding up her older sister's attempt at Fettuccine Alfredo.

"Technically." Ronnie answered him, watching him cautiously place the dish back into the fridge. "Also, what does that even mean? You're a shadowhunter too you know," Ronnie shot back, leaning against the freezer portion of the fridge beside him.

"It's different though," Kit explained. "I blew up on the app when I thought I was still a mundane," he said as he shut the fridge. He clearly discovered he wasn't going to find anything very appetizing in there. "Which of my videos have you seen, anyway?" Kit asked, his face turning slightly red.

"I don't know…" Veronica said, actually unable to think of one off the top of her head but still putting on a mischievous smirk. "I don't think I actually follow you, but my foryoupage is definitely obsessed with your account," she said, watching to see his reaction as he walked to another part of the kitchen. However, his expression appeared neutral as he started checking more cabinets for food.

"I should have gone with Jace to… what's that restaurant called? Pakis?" Kit said, frustratingly shutting the cabinet door.

"Yup, Pakis. That's it," Ronnie responded, internally laughing at his mispronunciation. "But you know… you could just come out with me to eat something. I mean, unless you'd rather settle for some cheerios for dinner."

Kit's blue eyes eyed her skeptically. "I thought you said you were just going out for fresh air?" he asked her, tilting his head.

"That's exactly what I'm doing," Veronica confirmed with a mischievous smirk, crossing her arms as she watched Kit look between the kitchen fridge and her. She wouldn't mind a person to go out to the city with.

"Screw it, I'm in. Just let me grab my jacket."

Kit

Damn me, Kit thought as he attempted to calmly walk up the stairs. The past half hour had not gone as he had planned. First his attempt in introducing himself to the cool shadowhunter girl he's staying with ended up with him on the ground. Then she discovered he was on Tiktok- it couldn't get any more embarrassing than that. It wasn't that he was embarrassed of his videos or anything, because that was definitely not the case. He knew that his videos were funny and they were able to provide a distraction for him when he needed one. What he was afraid of was her showing the videos to his cousin, Jace, who he knew would mercilessly tease him about them.

Kit entered his new room, reaching in his duffle for a pair of shorter cotton shorts to replace the sweatpants he was wearing. He pulled a white shirt over his head, and checked out his reflection in the mirror. He had to admit, all of the shadowhunter training he had been working on was really beginning to show. He had definitely picked up some weight over the past few months from muscle mass, and could even see some tone forming in his arms.

He ran his hands through his blonde hair, again contemplating his decision. On one hand, he was going out with a girl he just met in an unfamiliar city. He also had no idea where she planned on taking them, and it didn't help that no one would be aware of where they were going. There was also the whole thing with him being the First Heir, and while he could activate his powers to protect himself, he still didn't have much control over them or know how to direct them.

But on the other hand, it wouldn't hurt to make a new friend while he was here- he actually kind of liked Veronica. Ever since he overheard her call shadowhunters "stuck-up, bitchy…" something along those lines, he knew that she was his kind of person.

He grabbed his gray jacket and made his way back downstairs. Veronica appeared to have been doing her research, as he could hear the familiar sounds of the videos on his account. "Will you stop that?" Kit said, approaching her as she stood near the elevator. She no longer was wearing the oversized sweatshirt, and he could now see she was wearing a tiny cheetah top and black leather shorts underneath.

"Sorry it's just-" she said in between laughs, "I can't believe a video of you stoned and confused about how planes work got six million views." The sound continued repeating, so he assumed she was scrolling through the comments.

Kit sighed, clicking the button to open the elevator doors. "Give me a break, that was literally a year ago," Kit said as they stepped into the elevator.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop," she said to his relief. "But first, I need to read these comments… 'this describes the American school system, have my kids, at least you're pretty, okay but same-'"

"I thought you said you would stop!" Kit protested. Their voices seemed to echo inside the quiet chapel they stepped into on the bottom floor. "And FYI, I stand by what I said! Like how the fuck does a plane that big fly?!"

"I don't know!"

"EXACTLY," Kit humphed as he swung the double entrance doors open onto the busy New York City streets. Kit was used to big cities, being from LA, but NYC was still a big change of scenery compared to the past months he had spent living in the Devon countryside. It was definitely a lot louder and a lot more crowded.

"Alright… we've got our fresh air! Are we done now?" he asked Veronica, although he was certain they weren't.

"Nope! Come on, TikTok boy!" she said, skipping to the left with her dark hair bouncing behind her. Kit had to do a slight jog to keep up.

"You know, I would really appreciate it if you kept the whole "Tik Tok" thing between only us for right now," Kit suggested hopefully.

"Hmm…" she said, slowing to a walk. "I'll think about it."

They approached a group of pigeons on the sidewalk that quickly scurried and flapped their wings away as the two teenagers passed them. Veronica began walking down the steps to a subway terminal, and Kit had no choice but to follow the girl.

He made his way down the long flight of stairs, occasionally having to skip a step to avoid an abandoned piece of trash. One thing that he didn't miss about living in a big city was the litter- it always grossed him out to see half eaten food containers flying around in the air.

As they neared the bottom of the steps, Kit could hear a homeless man playing a guitar and a couple of underground trains racing by. They approached the paid area that had a man working at the booth, but Veronica openly hopped over the barrier anyway. Kit followed her, surprised she wasn't at least a little bit more sneaky with her actions.

"Okay, which train do you want to take?" Veronica asked, catching Kit by surprise.

"You're asking me?! I've never been here before!" He protested.

Veronica simply rolled her eyes. "Yeah, no shit. Think of this as a, like, 'choose your own adventure' story. I know where all of these trains lead to anyway, so just choose a random one for us to get on and we'll figure it out from there."

"No offense, but that sounds pretty fucking stupid. I thought that you had a plan on where we were going."

"Just pick a fricking train Goldilocks!"

"Fine!" Kit said, realizing how stubborn the Lightwood girl is. He chose the train nearest to the Subway entrance since it was currently boarding anyway.

"But only because there won't be a wait!" Kit argued, making his way onto the train. The doors closed behind them shortly after. Even though the train was pretty empty save for a young family and an older couple, the two of them decided to stand anyway, holding onto one of the train's poles for balance. They situated themselves until the train started moving again.

"Please tell me where we are going, because I am really hungry and I am not in the mood to have to hitchhike my way back to the institute."

"Chill, you are going to have food in your stomach in ten minutes- TOPS. How do you feel about Chinese food?"

Kit shrugged. "I'll take anything at this point."

"Good, because we're getting Chinese food."