𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 - 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀𝒊.𝒊𝒊. 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨
━━ 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒔

           Light streamed through the window and hit Aria directly on the face. She hid herself in the crook of Jace's neck, allowing the boy to caress her hair softly. Even though her eyes remained closed, her mind was awake and she took the time to take the moment in. She could not remember a more peaceful night of sleep, one that was not tainted by the most stupid nightmares to ever exist, usually involving a cliff or some awful creature that did not stop running after her. 

Aria put her leg over the boy's body, his hand moving there and resting on her upper thigh. His hand was cold, as it always was. When they were younger, they use to joke about them being like ice and fire, so opposite yet so intricately related, almost inseparable in some people's mind. She smiled and hugged the boy, hoping that that moment could last forever. 

"Breakfast's ready!" Isabelle burst into Jace's room, as she did every morning, but stopped herself when she realised that there were two persons in the bed and that their pyjamas were scattered around the room. "I'm sorry I didn't..."

"Get out, Izzy," Jace demanded, his voice deep from a night of sleep.

"Yep, doing that right now," she said, closing the door already.

"Good morning." Jace caressed Aria's face, who had her eyes closed still. She simply groaned and hugged Jace closer, not wanting to get up and lose the contact. "Come on, breakfast's ready. And I need to talk to Hodge."

"What for?" she inquired, sitting up, her eyes still half-closed. The moment she realised she was wearing only her underwear, she tried to cover herself with Jace's bed's sheets, which prompted a laugh from the boy.

"Nothing important, don't worry. Now come on, get dressed. It's not like I haven't seen you like this before."

"Do you realise my room is on the other side of the Institute and that these pyjamas are...? Well, they're Isabelle's."

No answer came from the boy but he instead threw her one of his white t-shirts as well as one of his old tracksuit pants while he rummaged through his closet for a suitable outfit for the day. Aria scoffed at the receiving of the clothes but thanked the boy nevertheless, as he told her that she could shower in his bathroom.

"Don't worry, I won't come in," he joked, looking at her over his shoulder. He took some seconds to really look at her. She was beautiful, even freshly woken up. That was a side of Aria that he had never seen before and he would be lying if he said he didn't like it. 

"I will literally cut both of your arms if you even think about it." Aria took Jace's clothes and walked to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Jace's bathroom was as bare as his room; there was nothing besides a couple of towels, a comb, a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of shower gel. It then dawned on Aria that she would go the whole day smelling like Jace's gel, which she did not know how to feel about. It was such a personal and recognisable smell that left her with mixed feelings. 

She tied her hair up and got into the shower as soon as the water was warm enough, letting it flow through her body. She spent a couple of minutes there but seeing that Jace was pounding on the door because he was hungry and needed to shower as well, she quickly washed her body and stepped out, a towel hugging her body.

"You are insufferable and I would hate to have you as a flatmate," she said as soon as she stepped outside of the room, letting the steam escape.