Work Text:
Nico was sitting in his room, bored out of his mind. It was a typical Tuesday night. The night sky outside was dark blue, the streetlights had turned on, spreading a silver light on the streets, illuminating all it touches, and his window was open, the late night breeze brushing across his hair. Through the window, he could see the view of the house in front of him, where his neighbors were living. In his room, the speaker was blasting music, the soft melody reaching his ears, making the room cozy, and he was on the bed, reading a book.
It's not that the book itself was boring, it was actually pretty good, it’s just that he couldn’t focus on anything really, his mind kept re-reading the same sentence over and over again without understanding a word he was reading. Every time he found himself going back to the same sentence. Part of it has to do with the fact that his neighbor, Will, was in his room, arguing on the phone with someone, presumably his girlfriend, Drew.
Him and Will met when he and his mom, Naomi, moved into the house opposite him and his father and step-mother. He felt something from the moment he saw Will, his blonde hair moving in waves in response to the soft summer wind, his eyes blue as the sky above, like someone took a brush and dyed it in the strongest blue color. He felt his heart in his chest as he saw Will come towards him, his mouth in an easygoing smile.
Him and Will got along very fast, Will’s outgoing personality clashing with Nico’s more reserved personality, and weirdly, that’s what made them get along so well. They had their own inside jokes, They hung out for days on end, and they even made a new communication method in case one of them was grounded. Since their rooms were facing each other, they started writing messages to each other on paper, then sticking it to the window and waiting for the other to answer. His sister, Hazel, kept joking about it, but he couldn’t help but feel his heart doing a somersault every time he saw a message on the window.
Afterwards, they kept hanging out in each other’s houses and every day they spent with each other, Nico could feel his feelings for Will grow, and he has reached the conclusion that he is in love with him. Unfortunately, he learned very early on that Will had a girlfriend named Drew, whom he met at summer camp, apparently. Although Will told him he was happy with her, Nico could sometimes catch him talking very frustratingly on his phone, or looking annoyed while texting someone.
He shook himself out of his stupor and watched as Will kept arguing with his girlfriend on the phone, pacing around the room, his face set in an annoyed expression, probably trying to explain to his girlfriend something he said, or did, which caused her to act up again, since she usually makes a big deal about everything. He closed his book, and watched as the conversation slowly started dying and Will hung up, looking resigned, and then looked out the window at Nico’s room and let out a small smile.
Nico took up his sketchbook, and with a black marker, he wrote “You ok?” on the paper.
He watched as Will smiled a weary smile, then sat down on his bed and took out his notebook. While Will was writing, Nico thought about what would happen if Drew was never in the picture. ‘Will would obviously be happier’ He thought. He knew it wasn’t fair, and that he shouldn’t want to sabotage his friend’s relationship, but he couldn’t handle seeing Will’s face fall down at every text, every call from her.
While Nico was busy thinking, Will finished writing, and lifted the paper and raised it to his window, a small smile gracing his face. On the paper it said “Tired of drama”. Understandable, Nico thought. Will and Drew’s relationship is clearly exhausting Will, and he just wished Will could finally break it off with her, and maybe then the slight twinge of his heart every time he saw Will with Drew would disappear.
This isn’t about you, Nico thought. Will needs assurance right now, and you thinking about it isn’t helping. He then wrote “Sorry” on a new piece of paper, accompanied with a sad face at the bottom. He really didn’t have anything else to add
Will shrugged, and while Nico got back into writing something on the paper, he got up and left.
Nico, not noticing it, was debating with himself whether or not to reveal his feelings towards Will right now.
Tell him Tell him Tell him Tell him
Nico, feeling brave, decided to write it down. As he finished writing it, he lifted the paper up, only to find Will’s curtains closed, and Nico was left, raising the paper at the closed window, “I love you” was written on the paper, reflecting back to him from the glass.
Nico felt a twinge of disappointment at that, and lowered his paper down. He decided to go around the room, looking for something to do, since he wasn’t feeling really tired. He looked at himself in the mirror, and thought, ‘How am I supposed to compete with Drew? She’s so pretty, way more popular than me at school, successful, and so far above me in every sense’ Nico stared at himself, looking at his ragged t-shirt and jeans, and sighed.
He eventually gave up, and just sat down, listening to music. The song playing on his phone was “Enchanted” By Taylor Swift, and he found himself screaming the words, “Please don’t be in love with someone else” in his room, and getting caught up in the song. He was so busy, that he didn’t notice Will opening up his curtains, and looking at him from the window pane. He didn’t notice Will smiling softly, and laughing. He didn’t notice Will closing the curtains back, his face full of nothing but adoration for the black haired boy.
The morning after, Nico was sitting on the bench in front of their houses, reading a book, this time a different one. He heard steps from behind him, and when he turned around, he saw Will walking down the streets, wearing worn out jeans, along with a linen overshirt. Will sat down next to him, and Nico couldn’t keep himself from staring, from Will’s wavy blonde hair to his beautiful blue eyes, and then he realized that Will has been saying his name for the past couple of seconds without him noticing.
“Nico!” Will said, his mouth set in a smile.
Nico blushed, embarrassed to have been caught staring. “Hi, Will”
“How are you doing?” Will asked him.
He’s just trying to make small talk, Nico told himself, nothing special
Nico smiled, and told himself to just act normal, and said “Fine, and you?”
“Great! Now, there was something I wanted to ask you…”
And that’s how they spent a few minutes, talking and laughing. At one point, the wind had gotten strong, and Nico’s hair flew in front of his face, and Will laughed, and then, doing something that Nico definitely didn’t expect, he reached out his hand and brushed Nico’s hair behind his ear. Nico could feel himself getting warm, the blush creeping up to his face, and he had no doubt Will noticed, as he saw his grin getting bigger.
Eventually, though, Drew came, driving a red car. She stopped by the bench, her long black hair running down in waves past her shoulder, wearing sunglasses. Will got up and got in the car, waving goodbye, and the first thing that Drew did was put her hands around him and kiss him, while looking at Nico with her eyes full of disdain. Nico could feel the expected twist of his heart, but ignored it, and settled for rolled his eyes, and then he looked away. When he looked back, Drew had already driven away with Will, leaving Nico alone on the bench.
Nico went back to his house, and thought about how much he wanted Will to see that he’s the one that knows him, he’s the one that understands him, he’s the one that’s been here before, why can’t Will see that.
Nico thought back to all the times he waited at Will’s back door, all the times he was there for Will, and he didn’t know how after all this time, Will didn’t figure out that Nico likes him, and how he couldn’t know that they belong together.
It was Friday, and Nico was content to just sit in his room and do nothing the whole night. He looked out the window, and saw Will preparing to leave, wearing a gorgeous black suit. He watched as Will took out his notebook, and was writing something on it.
He immediately sat up straighter, and grabbed his sketchbook, preparing to answer.
“You going tonight?” was written on the paper.
And god Nico can’t believe he forgot. The stupid end of the year prom was today, and he had no one to invite. He didn’t know what to say, so he tried to come up with an excuse.
“No, studying” was the best answer that Nico could come up with in the span of two seconds.
Will looked disappointed, or that was just Nico’s brain telling him things, he had no idea.
“Wish you were,” Will wrote, looking at him with a small smile.
Nico just smiled a sheepish smile, and shrugged his shoulders.
Will nodded in resignation, and grabbed his jacket and left.
Nico was left looking at an empty room, and then he looked around him and on the bed, was the “I love you” note he wrote not so long ago, just a few days prior. He then realized what he must do.
He arrived at the ball, and started looking for Will. He noticed him talking with a few of his friends, and stood there. He saw one of Will’s friends, Cecil, nudge him towards Nico, and Will looked away and his mouth opened in shock. Nico smiled, and Cecil whispered something in Will’s ear that shook Will out and his face broke into a smile.
Nico and Will started walking towards each other, when Drew saw Will and grabbed him by the arm, wrapping her hands around him and talking to him, but he pushed her away, and Nico saw her reaction when she saw him, rage and anger, and he could see her mouth moving but he didn’t care about what she said, because Will was here, in front of him, with his stupid smile and his stupid eyes and stupid hair.
When they got close enough, Nico decided that it was the time. He let out a deep breath, and brought his hand into his jacket pocket, and took out the piece of paper he wrote. ‘I love you’
He watched as Will’s smile got bigger, and as he also put out a piece of paper, and there, on the paper, it said, in black, bold letters:
“I love you”
Nico smiled. Will got closer, and closer and he was now close enough so that Nico could feel his breath on his face, and that caused shivers to go up his spine.
And he closed the space between them, and it was like Nico’s mind exploded with a bunch of colors, and all his thoughts got mixed into one happy feeling of pure joy. He vaguely registered Drew walking away in anger, but honestly, he couldn't bring himself to care.
Here was the boy he has a crush on for forever, the one he dreamt about, the one he thought he could never have, the one he dreamt about kissing for so long, not believing any of it could actually happen in real life, kissing him back, liking him, loving him back and Nico couldn’t feel happier.