It was chilly outside, but the rain had died down save for a few drops here and there. The streets were busy and the people were busier, trying to get to their place of business, wherever that may be. Will had often thought about the lives that people were living, and wondered if they might have been different if Shadowhunters such as himself were not there to protect them from the things best left a secret.
“The market is this way, where are you going?” Jem asked, confusion spread all over his face.
“Ha! To think, you actually thought we were going to the market. We’re not elderly, and we’re certainly not boring, well, at least, I’m not, no no, we shall go to the market when we have to hold each other up due to bad arthritis. But right now, we shall simply look forward to that day, and go somewhere else.”
“If I have to hold you up when you’re elderly I’m afraid I might pack my bags and leave now to save myself.”
“Well that sounds delightful, but what a shame that parabatai cannot do such a thing. I’m afraid you will have to be in my presence until I die, even if that means rubbing my scalp and feeding me prunes so I’m not constipated.”
Jem screwed up his face in disgust, though although he didn’t like to admit it, growing old with Will didn’t seem such a frightful task at all. In fact, he couldn’t picture a future without Will in it to shoot his witty remarks left right and centre.
“So…where are we going, if not to the market?”
“Ah! As much as I would like to remove your curiosity I am afraid I simply enjoy leaving you in the dark for as long as possible.”
“I don’t even know why I bother asking anymore.”
“Good boy. You are beginning to understand my cruel ways.”
They walked for what seemed like hours, though Jem knew it had only been no longer than twenty minutes. Will remained silent the whole time, which Jem found very peculiar. Will never kept his mouth shut this long.
Jem could only assume they were going to a place not meant for people their age. A brothel, a watering hole maybe, that would be the most likely outcome from the spontaneous William Herondale, alas, he continued walking, hoping that such things were not on the agenda for today.
When they had finally ceased walking, Jem’s eyes wandered over the place before them. It was not familiar in the slightest, though the street was quite pleasant, and quiet. Jem liked peace.
Will opened the gate to the nearest house, and stepped inside the maze of trees and shrubbery outside.
The colourful display, and the doors and windows would suggest that a man rather comfortable in his sexuality lived here, or a woman with perverse tastes.
Will knocked on the door three times, using the lions head knocker.
A familiar face was on the other side in the form of Magnus Bane.
“Magnus.” Jem sounded surprised. “Have you moved without informing the institute?”
“Oh Jem, always thinking of such silly things. No no, I don’t live here, though the house is quite exquisite isn’t it? Well, you’ve only seen the outside but I can imagine you already think such a thing. Just wait until you see the inside.”
Both Jem and Will stepped inside, taking in the scenery of the buildings indoor scenery. The walls were a strange orangey colour and the staircase wound the whole way up to the top of the roof it seemed. The chairs were a beautiful mahogany, and the place shone as if it had never been lived in.
“So, if this isn’t your house, who’s is it?”
“That, my dear boy, is none of your business, I invited you in out of the kindness of my heart, I took you off the street, it is rude to ask such questions.”
“Off the street? But I live in…”
“Now now, no need to go off on a tangent about your life.”
Magnus was always one to confuse Jem, he never did quite understand what Magnus was bickering about half of the time. Jem had decided a long time ago that it was simply the fact that Magnus wished to play games with him, use him as a toy if you will, and something, for whatever reason, made Jem think that Magnus was strangely jealous of him, hence why he targeted him out.
“Take a seat, take a seat” Magnus said. “Or are you going to ask me who the chairs were made by or who has sat in them previously?"
Jem screwed his face up again, this time not in disgust but sheer confusion. The amount of times Jem had pulled such a face in front of Magnus, you could assume that Magnus would be able to paint the expression perfectly without Jem even being in the room.
Will decided not to sit, and instead went into the kitchen to fetch himself a quick snack of bread and butter with a side of milk.
“Make yourself at home, oh, wait, I can see you have already done such a thing.” Magnus sarcastically implied.
“Go easy on Jem.” Will whispered, hoping that Jem, in the other room, would not hear him.
“Ha! I am going easy on him, you want to see me go guns blazing.”
“Why do you always act like that around him? Does he irritate you? Do you simply not like him? Does he have something you want?”
Magnus eyes shot up at the “does he have something you want?” question.
“What is it? What does he have that you don’t? You seem to have everything you could possibly wish for.”
Magnus’ eyes focused on Will intently, not taking his glare away from him.
“I…I don’t understand.”
“You, Will, he’s always had you.”
“He’s my parabatai, that doesn’t mean that you and I can’t be friends as well, we get along just fine, do we not?"
“Are you sure that’s all Jem see’s you as?”
“Excuse me?” Will couldn’t muster up a thought that would even slightly comprehend what Magnus was thinking.
“Parabatai.”
“Now you have lost me even further, in fact, you have lost me so much, I feel as if I am in a maze with the worlds most perverted warlock.”
“You know it, and I know it, and I know that you feel the same way about him.”
Will walked back into the main room, taking what Magnus had said leaving footprints in his mind.
