Heronstairs: A Fluff Collection

"And They Were Roommates!"

"Magnus," Will announced as he threw open the door to their shared apartment, "I am completely and utterly fucked."

Magnus looked up from his phone, rolling his eyes. "Hey, Will. My day was fine, thanks for asking, how about yours?"

"You can tease me later," Will groaned, flopping onto the other end of the couch. "Help me now."

"Okay, fine, what's the problem?"

"It's James," he replied. "I can't stop thinking about him and I'm. So. Fucked."

"Relax, you drama queen, just ask the man out!"

"What if he says no?"

"Then you pick up and move on with your life and quit moping about your cute friend that you keep scheduling your life around."

"But I don't want to lose him!"

"Will. Please calm down. Suddenly I'm feeling stressed about asking someone out and I'm already seeing someone."

"Okay, okay, sorry," Will said, rising and pacing their tiny living room. "We've been friends for so long, I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I made it weird between us somehow. But I think I'm in love with him, Magnus. To the point that I can see myself spending the rest of my life with him!"

Magnus gasped. "You? Mr. Commitment Issues?"

"Oh, fuck off," Will said with no heat. "What do I do?"

Magnus patted the sofa cushion beside him patiently and rubbed a hand up and down Will's spine soothingly when he sat down. "Look, Jem's a sweetheart. He'll hear you out. Just be honest with him, ask him out, and see where things go. You're going to feel torn up like this until you do. Darling, you are a catch, he's got nothing to say no to here. He already loves you in one capacity, it's time to hope he also felt the same shift you did."

Will smiled weakly. "Thanks, Magnus."

"Oh, and just remember..."

"Yeah?"

"Break his bed, not his heart."

The sudden pillow to the face did nothing to muffle Magnus's laughter as Will shut the door to his room with a huff.

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

"Alec? Got a second?" Jem peered around the doorway of their kitchen, fingers wrapped around a cup of tea that hadn't been warm for a while.

Alec looked up from the book he was reading with a smile. He knew his flatmate so well. Jem would mull something over to himself and go very quiet, especially if the thing he was thinking about was stressing him out. Then, if he wanted Alec's advice, he'd ask, ever so politely, before inevitably stressing himself back out.

It would be hard to handle if Alec wasn't aware he did the exact same thing to Jem far more often than Jem did it to him.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"It's Will," he said simply.

"Again?"

"Mmhmm. The feelings seem to be more permanent than I'd thought initally."

"Well," Alec said carefully, trying not to smile, "That can be a good thing. He'd probably say yes if you asked him out. What's the harm? Just smile and be honest with him."

Jem raised an eyebrow at him, sitting on the edge of their battered sofa.

"What? That's what you told me to do with Magnus and it worked."

"Yes, but this is me."

"So?"

"Alec," Jem sighed tiredly. "Please, I don't want to have this conversation again. You know why it's different and you know why I don't date. "