Chapter Text
Will
Will was under the impression that he worked best when he improvised. This was good, because when he reached the university and couldn't find the student accommodations, he thought it would all be fine. He set off determinedly in what turned out to be completely the wrong direction, and was only corrected after ten minutes, by a brunette with grey eyes and a sweet yet faintly sarcastic smile. She marched him off to the right building extremely efficiently, introduced herself as Tessa, then left. He still took a long time to find his room, but at least he was in the building.
When he got to his room, he flopped on his bed bonelessly. There was some orientation thing in an hour, but he had bags of time before that. There was no roommate in sight, but there were about ten massive suitcases and a faint sheen of glitter on one side of the room, so he presumed his roommate had already made himself at home.
His family picture went on the small bedside table, and his clothes went in the chest of drawers. Will hadn't brought much with him: whenever he travelled, he would take very little and would simply buy whatever he needed when he was there, though his family protested it was a waste of his money. Of course, when it came to going home there was always trouble, because he never had space for everything he had bought, but Will never thought about that until he absolutely had to.
The door opened, and a ridiculously tall, thin, handsome man walked in. Will sat bolt upright, because he was a hopeless bisexual and what else could he do.
He introduced himself as Magnus Bane, which Will thought was probably a complete lie, but lots of people changed their names when they came to uni, a fresh start and all that. Will himself hadn't, but he wasn't exactly going to tell everyone to call him Gwilym.
They explored the place together, and soon got hopelessly lost. They were rescued by Tessa yet again, who shepherded them back to their room with a faintly patronising air. "Do you get paid to help lost students, or something?" Will asked, amused. Tessa smiled but said nothing, making Will certain he was right.
Will soon became certain of two things. 1: Magnus was one of the best roommates ever. 2: Magnus would be a great friend, but he wasn't Will's type. They were completely platonic.
They went to the orientation assembly together, laughing and chatting. The assembly was the usual crap, and Will fell half asleep, leaning on Magnus. Suddenly, Magnus sat bolt upright, dislodging Will. He sat up, disorientated (and it was an orientation assembly? Get it? No?) and frowned at Magnus, but Magnus was staring straight ahead at something... or someone. Will followed his gaze to a boy with colouring not dissimilar to Will's own, but otherwise very different-looking. At first, Will didn't understand why Magnus was staring, but then he realised.
Magnus had a crush. On his first day. On someone he had never met. Nice going, Magnus.
Will would soon find out that he was no better.
Jem
To be honest, Jem became a teaching assistant only partially for the credit. Mainly it was because he liked Professor Branwell, and considering the man was paralysed from the waist down, he thought he might need some help.
But when he walked into the classroom the day after the orientation assembly, he nearly walked out again. He hadn't realised how full it would be, how many students there would be. He took a deep breath and walked over to Professor Branwell.
"Need anything, sir?" He asked politely.
"No, thank you- er, well now you mention it, I- well, I can't find my board pen." He spun fruitlessly in his wheelchair, searching for the pen. Jem spotted it under some books on the desk, retrieved it and handed it to Professor Branwell.
"Ah, thank you, Jem! Now..." Professor Branwell seemed to be looking for something else, but Jem decided to keep out of it this time.
To his regret and horror, Jem ended up doing most of the teaching. He enjoyed Mechanics, he really did, but what he didn't like was having to ask first years (including his adoptive sister) about it while the actual teacher just wrote happily on the board. And to make matters worse, the aforementioned sister, Jessamine, kept asking him questions of her own to piss him off and keep him talking.
Afterwards, Professor Branwell asked Jem to come with him to find his wife, who taught Politics. Jem agreed, despite having agreed to meet a friend. They went to the classroom she usually taught in, but she wasn't anywhere to be seen when they got there, so they asked Gideon, who was just coming out of the classroom.
"Oh, she just left, to go speak to Professor Starkweather." Jem winced when he heard that. Professor Starkweather wasn't the nicest person.
They found Professor Starkweather arguing with Professor Fairchild, Professor Branwell's wife, about her father. She was trying to keep her voice down, but he was yelling. Jem went pretty red: it was Professor Fairchild's private business, and he shouldn't really be hearing this. To make matters worse, Professor Starkweather's class was still in the room, looking as uncomfortable as Jem felt. He looked at the students, then froze. Because he recognised one of the students.
Black curly hair, blue, blue eyes, and a cocky smirk. Will Herondale. What was he- oh. He would be an English student.
Jem had met Will yesterday, when he, Gideon and Gabriel were relaxing on the lawn. Gabriel had suddenly sprung up and started shouting at some random stranger (Will). Will's friend, who turned out to be called Magnus, tried to break up the fight, which had something to do with Will's sister Cecily, and Jem and Gideon helped him. When they succeeded, Will hadn't seemed overjoyed to find that Gabriel had a brother, but Jem he had looked twice at.
When the argument between the professors seemed to be dying down, the students started to leave. Jem turned to leave as well- he was really late for meeting his friend- when he felt a hand on his arm. He spun round to see Will beaming angelically at him. They'd only met for about five minutes and he was treating Jem like his best friend. Still, Jem couldn't help feeling touched.
"Hello, Jem. Fancy seeing you here," Will grinned. "We should meet up. Poor Professor Fairchild, getting attacked like that. Starkweather's awful. When are you free?"
Jem blinked at him. "Are you majoring in English Lit?"
"Yes?"
"Well, be ashamed, because that little monologue was the most poorly constructed speech I've ever heard. You switched topics completely randomly." Jem laughed.
Will smirked and gasped, mock offended. "Could you do any better, James?"
"Actually, yes, and I'm a Mechanics major. Feel humiliated."
"Mechanics, huh?" Will eyed him. "Going to tell me anything else about yourself?"
"Nope. Look, Will, it was great seeing you, but I'm meeting a friend, and considering he's Gabriel Lightwood, I doubt you want to tag along."
Will grimaced. "You're meeting up with that worm?"
"Will!"
"Fine, fine, sorry."
"Ok, Will, I really need to go." Jem made to leave, but when he reached the door he felt a hand on his arm.
"Give me your number? So we can stay in contact." Will gave Jem big, soulful cobalt eyes, and Jem couldn't say no. He typed his number into Will's phone, and put himself in as Jem in his contacts. Then, after a weakening of his resolve, he put Jem Carstairs. Will's smile when he saw it made everything worth it.
"Now, I have to go." Jem insisted. Will relented, and waved him goodbye as he left. Jem couldn't stop himself from waving back.
Jem
Jem got to the Happy Crocodile cafe about fifteen minutes after the agreed time. Gabriel looked pissed, but then again he always looked pissed, so Jem wasn't worried. He was the sort of friend who would defend you to the last and was extremely loyal, and he spent his life trying to pretend he wasn't. He and Jem hadn't immediately hit it off in the first year of uni, but Gideon and Jem had been friends from the start, and that had brought Jem and Gabriel together. Jem didn't regret it one bit.
They chatted about this and that, mainly complaining about how much their flat cost, even when splitting the costs, and how broke they all were. Jem was glad he was seeing Gabriel, they hadn't met up in a long time. But he couldn't focus. His mind was on something else.
Specifically, Will Herondale.
Will
All in all, Will considered that a good day, unless you counted Professor Starkweather's outburst. His classes were good, he still liked his roommate, Tessa was in his English Lit class and they were friends now...
And he had Jem's number.
His life was complete.
W: Hey Jem
J: Hi, this is Will, right?
W: No, it's Gabriel Lightworm. I got a new number
J: Hi, Will
W: Do you want to meet up sometime?
J: Yeah, sure. Does Saturday work for you? Also, it's not a date. I'm bringing friends
W: You wound me with your lack of trust! Also, yes Saturday works, and I will be bringing friends too, so there. Happy Crocodile cafe?
J: Sounds good
Sounds good. Sounds good. Jem thought meeting up with Will sounded good. He thought he could fly, he felt so light.
Will was so gone for this man.