Chapter Text
Will Solace has decided apartment lease forms really ought check sleepwalker status before taking on residents.
He was having a perfectly normal night until there was a knock on his door. He squinted at his clock and frowned when he saw it was nearly three in the morning. The chances it was a serial killer were probably next to none, but Will walked cautiously towards the door anyway. The metal of the handle was cold and sent goosebumps up his arm as he turned it to open the door of his tiny apartment. Before he could even say hello, or look at whoever was in his doorway, they pushed past him and into his flat.
To say Will was surprised would be an understatement; he was dumbfounded. It’s three in the morning and there’s a stranger in my apartment. Awesome. The guy was around Will’s age- maybe a year younger- and he had a mess of dark hair encircling his head, like a fuzzy halo. Not that Will noticed this until far later. He was more concerned by the fact that the stranger was going through his drawers.
“Hey!” Will hissed. The guy didn’t respond. He just continued rifling through Will’s things, muttering under his breath. Realising his door was still wide open, Will shut it and walked closer to the guy. He didn’t want to touch the guy (in case he flipped out and decided to attack him) so he hissed again.
“Hey! What are you doing?” This time the guy turned around and started at Will with a blank expression. His dark brown eyes looked distant and glossy. Will thought back to the lesson on Symptoms at the start of term. Either this guy was stoned off his face, or he was sleepwalking. Whichever one it was, waking the guy up could result in confusion and possibly be detrimental to Will’s physical health (sometimes sleepwalkers/stoners turn violent when forced to wake) He sniffed the air around the guy. It didn’t smell of alcohol, smoke or any other nasty chemicals, which meant he was probably sleepwalking. The question now was, what on earth to do with this guy?
He was only in boxers and a dark shirt printed with a cartoon skeleton and ghost, claiming the wearer was a “Killer Partier” (Will couldn’t help but smile when he saw the tiny little party hats on the ghost and skeleton), so Will doubted he had a phone with him. Or any identification at all, really. Will sighed and watched the guy mutter to himself, in what sounded like Italian. Sleepwalking was rare in adults and usually occurred when sleep-deprivation and stress were frequent. Which probably meant the guy searching through his sock drawer was a student too. But that still didn’t help figure out where he lived and he certainly couldn’t wake the guy to ask him. So Will gently took the shorter man’s elbow and guided him to the couch. The ‘Killer Partier’ lay down on the couch without much resistance, and was asleep in the blink of an eye.
The guy wasn’t that short, it was more a case of Will being rather tall, but somehow curled up on the couch he looked tiny. Will had the sudden urge to tuck him in and kiss his forehead, like he was an small child. He decided against kissing the stranger, but he did drape a blanket over the pale guy’s thin frame, before letting out a huge yawn and wandering to his own bed. As soon as his head hit the pillow Will was fast asleep.
Usually Will’s alarm woke him up, but this morning it was a large thud coming from the lounge room. Shit. He forgot about the sleepwalker. Will flung aside his yellow covers and dashed to the couch to find a confused guy lying on his floor. In the daylight the guy was far less creepy, Will would even go as far as to say cute. The cute innocence the guy radiated was ruined by the string of forceful curse words that left his mouth.
“What the hell?” Killer Partier muttered, looking around the room his face dazed. Will cleared his throat and the boy yelped and whipped around.His gaze travelled down lower than Will’s face and Will felt his eats heat when he realised he wasn’t wearing a shirt. For a second it looked like the cute guy was checking him out, until his lips pulled into a scowl. Will held his hands up in a peaceful gesture.
“Uh, hi, I’m Will Solace. Did you know you sleepwalk?” Will watched the guy’s face go from pale to red as a tomato in less than a second. Somehow he managed to still scowl through his embarrassment.
“Shit,” The guy scrubbed his hands over his face and then stood up, “I am so sorry I haven’t slept-walked? Uh, sleep-walked? Since I was eight.” Will shook his head with his charming smile. What? He totally just wanted to check there was no medical reason the ‘Killer Partier’ was sleepwalking. Yeah that’s what he wanted to do. The guy ran a hand through his hair and Will was delighted to see that, even after attempted taming, his slightly curly hair still formed a dark halo around his head.
“It’s not a problem. I didn’t catch your name though; I can’t call you Killer Partier forever.” The guy gave him and odd look and Will was impressed to find the scowl still there, although it had gotten less severe. He looked down at his t-shirt then back up at Will, shaking his head sharply.
“Uh, right, hi I’m Nico. Nico Di Angelo.” Will smiled a radiant smile. Di Angelo seemed fitting for a boy with a hair halo.
“So Nico di Angelo,” Will smirked. Nico blushed, “Wanna go for breakfast?” (Will would admit that this was outright flirting). It seemed as though Nico didn’t know how to react. First he blushed, then he made a flustered gesture with his hands and then he scowled. Again.
“I’m not wearing any pants,” He commented. Will looked Nico up and down noting his bare legs. They were skinny, bust still muscly; perhaps wiry would be the best word. Nico looked to be wiry all over. Will looked back up at Nico's face and hid another grin. He didn't know it was possible for someone to turn that shade of red.
“No you’re not.” Will agreed with another smirk. Something about this guy, with his dark brown eyes, his hair halo, his permanent scowl and susceptibility to blushing made Will’s and toes feel tingly. Nico just stood there like a deer in the headlights before he cleared his throat.
“Uh, thanks for looking after me, I’m so sorry again!” Nico dashed out of the door and Will watched him go with a slight smile on his face. That smiled faded when he realised he didn’t know where Nico lived. He didn’t even know if Nico liked guys! Although judging by the way he looked at Will’s chest there’s a fairly hefty chance he’s at least bi.
Nico di Angelo. The kid with the permanent scowl, who made his fingers and toes tingle. Will grinned to himself. He had some investigating to do. No, not stalking just investigating.