Now Recording

Chapter 1

"This is a really, really stupid idea," Alexander Lightwood repeated for the twentieth time, the paintball gun poised nervously in his hands.

"Possibly." His best friend, Jace Herondale, called to him, his crooked grin flashing white from the distance. "But it's going to be an absolutely epic Herontale."

Alec cast a pleading look over his shoulder at Isabelle, who was in charge of recording. She lifted a hand in an airy, unbothered wave, her dark eyes remaining focused through the glinting camera. Absolutely no help whatsoever.

"This is a stupid idea." Alec continued to protest, but he was already starting to take aim.

"Just do it, you pussy!" Jace shouted back unwisely.

Alec sighed, narrowing his eyes at the white dot of an egg perched on top of Jace's idiotic blond head. He should've been reclining in bed watching Umbrella Academy, or enjoying a black coffee from Taki's down the street. He should've been celebrating the end of his last year of college, finally getting an endless break from all-nighters and instant noodles.

But instead, there he was on a perfectly good Saturday afternoon, shooting eggs off the top of an obnoxious halfwit's head for a vlog. 

An obnoxiously charming halfwit, an unwelcome voice in his head whispered, with eyes the color of the sun and-

Shut up, he told it.

"Dude, hurry up!" Jace's voice thankfully broke through his thoughts. "You're wasting the camera battery!"

His finger squeezed the trigger, and the egg exploded into a dripping mess of yellow yolk and blue paint on top of Jace's messy, pale locks. Jace let out a yelp of surprise, and Izzy screeched with laughter behind them. Bright blue coloring dripping down the side of his nose. He wiped egg yolk out of his eyes, still sputtering.

"Why'd you do that?!"

"You told me to!" Alec snapped angrily, dropping the gun. 

"Well yeah, but I didn't think you'd actually do it." Jace looked sheepish.

"You called me a pussy!"

"Still!"

"Why are you the way you are?!" Alec demanded.

"Do it again!" Izzy gasped in between laughter, moving up to Jace for a closeup of the gooey tangle of his hair and forehead.

Alec rolled his eyes, but he had to hide a smile as he headed back to the loft the three of them shared. He had to admit he would be sorely disappointed if the exploding egg didn't end up on Jace's next vlog.

It was still strange to think about, that 10 million people actually waited to watch their stupid, horribly-planned antics each week. Youtube's current, top trending video was of them being kicked out of a Las Vegas hotel two weeks ago thanks to a long and complicated story regarding Jace's irrational fear of ducks. A vlog clip featuring their cat Church clinging for dear life to the front of Jace's shirt with Alec and Isabelle laughing their heads off behind camera had been voted Cutest Video in three international surveys last year. Considering the blue persian's smushed-in, demonic face, Alec didn't quite understand it.

Then the emails and calls had started coming in, from publicists looking for something new to canned soup businesses trying to negotiate commercials. They'd agreed not to take up any of the publicists, but a few ads or sponsors here and there had been enough for a down payment on a new, cozy loft for the three of them.

He didn't think any of them, even Jace himself, had thought that the little channel he'd made out of pure boredom would blow up into something so large. After all, there wasn't anything really special about the things they did. It was just Isabelle smacking Alec over the head with a pillow. It was just Jace zooming in and out of his own face covered in Sharpie. It was just Church pretending to starve right after Jace had fed him nearly a pound of cat food.