A/N: Sorry for this being a touch late, my internet went out last night, so I had to wait until I could have a connection to post Day 2. Stay tuned later tonight for Day 3! (Also warning for some language from our anxious smol beans.)

Taking a seven a.m. college class was the dumbest thing Jem had ever done. 

He had known, somewhere in the back of his mind, that a seven am class coupled with a very busy rehearsal schedule, other classes, a job, and a chronic illness was a poor choice, but here he was anyway.

At seven a.m. on a Tuesday morning.

Dying a little inside.

As he pulled out a rapidly filling class notebook and a pen, trying to ignore the headache he could feel building, he heard someone drop into the seat next to him rather dramatically. 

He turned curiously and felt his heart stop. 

Will Herondale was sitting in the seat next to him, in all his disheveled glory.

He'd seen Will around campus before and they'd chatted once or twice. He knew Will was a literature major with a tendency to be very verbose, and that he hated his roommate Gabriel with an intensity most people couldn't muster about things as mundane as dishes left in the sink for too long. 

Jem was a music and composition major with an apartment off-campus and an enormous crush on Will. 

"Good morning," Jem managed after composing himself. 

"Nothing good about it," Will shot back with no venom behind it, plopping a notebook and an unbelievably large coffee down on the table. 

Jem gave the coffee an incredulous look that only intensified when Will pulled out a thermos and an energy drink. 

Pouring the coffee into the thermos with one fluid motion, Will sighed. "Taking a morning class was a mistake."

"Amen," Jem said, a bit amused and a bit concerned for Will's health.

Will gave a jaw-cracking yawn as he opened the energy drink, pouring that into the thermos as well and shaking his ungodly creation. 

Sniffing the concoction, Will made a disgusted face and looked at Jem. "I'm going to die," he said matter-of-factly before tossing his head back and draining the whole thing in one go. 

When he finally set the thermos back down, Jem laughed. "I don't know whether to be impressed or horrified."

"Definitely both," he said, tossing everything back into his bag and leaning over, frowning and looking for something. "Shit. James, can I borrow a pen?"

Jem, as he did every single morning Will sat within earshot, had anticipated this and tossed him the spare, rolling his eyes. "You ask for a pen every morning you sit near me. Are you always this forgetful, or just when you consume ridiculous amounts of caffeine?"

"It's a good conversation starter," Will whispered dramatically with a wink as the professor began to lecture. "And I like talking to you."

Jem felt a blush creep up his cheeks and turned to face the front of the room, determinedly trying to focus on anything the professor was saying and failing miserably.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The one perk of morning classes, Jem supposed, was that you had most of the day left to yourself when they were over.  

Just as he was contemplating what to do with the rest of his day, Jem felt a hand on his shoulder. 

"Hey," Will said, sounding slightly out of breath. "I forgot to return your pen."

"Just keep it," Jem said with a smile. "You'll undoubtedly need it in your other classes today."

"Actually, that was the only class I have today," he said, tucking the pen behind Jem's ear with gentle fingers. 

"What a coincidence, mine too."

"That's perfect," Will said with another heart-stopping smile, "Because I was wondering if you wanted to spend the day with me?"

Jem blinked twice, surprised. Will wanted to spend a day with him? Did he mean as friends or like... a date? Oh, dear god, was this a date? Had he been quiet for too long? Shit, he had. What was he supposed to say?

"Are you asking me out?" Jem was surprised at his own directness, but decided to just go with it, holding his breath a little. 

"Um... Yes. This might just be caffeine-induced boldness, but I, ah... I really like you, James, so yes. I am asking you on a first date." Will rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, looking away. 

"Let me go home and drop this off," Jem said, gesturing to his bag. "And then I would be delighted."

The beaming smile that broke out over Will's face was almost enough to chase away the butterflies in Jem's stomach. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Briefly glancing in the mirror, Jem ran his hand through his hair again and gave himself a scrutinizing look. He'd dropped his bag off and grabbed his wallet, keys, and phone before panicking slightly and changing his shirt.

Twice.

Will had told him he'd meet him at the subway station across from the campus in half an hour, and Jem had made it home in five minutes. 

"Pull yourself together, James," he said aloud. "It's just a date. It's not even a dinner date. You look fine. This is fine." 

Jem had changed from the t-shirt he'd woken up in (seven a.m. really was far too early) into a collared shirt, rolled to the elbows but still looking much more put together than he had previously. 

"Okay," he said, releasing the breath he'd been holding and stepping into the tiny living room, scooping Church up in his arms. "Okay. I can do this. It's just a date. I have my phone and my wallet and my keys. The apartment is mostly clean if he comes back here afterwards. I am not going to get flustered and I am not going to start coughing and I am going to be fine."

Church, sensing his panic, licked his cheek and snuggled closer. 

"Thanks, fuzzball," Jem said fondly, putting the cat down and grabbing his coat.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and went to meet Will at the subway station.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Will gave himself a once over in the mirror, trying in vain to get his hair to lie flat. He'd come back to his dorm to "drop off his bag" (change his shirt) and "tell Gabriel where he was going" (try not to panic).

"You can do this, Will," he sighed, straightening his shirt and idly wondering if he should change to the blue one. "It's just a date. With James Carstairs. Who is beautiful and funny and smart and has perfect hands and plays the violin and lets me borrow a pen every fucking morning and maybe I should not have had this much caffeine, holy crap."

Will could feel his heart pounding, but he straightened and tucked his phone into the pocket of his coat. 

"Don't fuck this up," Gabriel called from his bed, not looking up from a chemistry book.

"Thanks, asshole," Will retorted, throwing a shoe in his direction and grabbing his wallet.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and went to meet Jem at the subway station. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Jem felt his nerves melt away when Will approached with a shyer smile than he usually flashed. 

"Hey."

"Hey."

"You look nice."

"Thanks, you do too."

"So," Jem said after a pause. "What did you have in mind?"

Will, as it turns out, had quite a lot in mind, and the date ended up being most of the day. They started in the art museum, quickly discovering that neither of them knew anything about art but liked museums anyways. At one of the exhibits, Jem had started to walk a little closer, shoulders brushing and both of them ignoring the warmth of that point of contact while they pretending to look at the paintings instead of each other.

Onward to the park, walking in the crisp air of a winter afternoon and learning about Will's relationship with ducks. Jem laughed at his story, teasing Will about not asking questions he didn't want the answers to.

"Listen, how else was I supposed to know they were carnivorous?"

Will slipped his hand into Jem's hesitantly, pleased when long fingers wrapped around his.

The day went on and so did their adventures, from the museum to the park to a cafe to a movie to the bookstore and finally back to the lobby of Jem's apartment building.

The chain of contact they'd kept up since the park tightened for a moment, anticipating the break that had to come, before-

"Do you want to come up for coffee?"

Hearts raced again in anticipation and excitement alike, moment freezing until-

"I'd love to."

Hands stayed entwined up four flights of stairs and to a doorway, two pairs of eyes carefully noting the mistletoe over the doorframe.

"You put that there?"

"A meddling friend," came the exasperated reply, "but I'm not exactly going to take it down."

A door opened as two hearts did, and the night dragged on in cups of (decaf) coffee, terrible movies on TV, and the first of a series of shy kisses. Soon enough, they'd both fallen asleep on the couch, and an alarm screeching from Jem's phone broke the spell the tiny apartment seemed to have fallen under.

Jem silenced it, deciding that for once, he had more important things to do at seven in the morning, and that two desks in that class today would be decidedly empty.