Chapter Text
Chapter 1
"Hey, Nico, wait up!" Will called, struggling through the masses of evening rush hour Tokyo to catch up to his best friend. Nico didn't turn around, but slowed to a walk so that Will would be able to reach him.
"I haven't seen you at all this week! How are you?" he asked loudly over the crowd.
"Breathless! I swear, I started calling you like, five minutes ago. Are you going deaf in one ear or something?" Will teased, laughing as Nico shoved him. A passing businessman, whom Will had stumbled into and apologised profusely to, shambled away, grunting about 'the youth of today'. Nico rolled his eyes and steered Will in the opposite direction. "Come on, let's go grab a coffee."
"Alrighty," Will agreed, smiling at Nico, "I'm buying this time."
They walked into a nearby coffee shop, glad to be out of the cold. After ordering and receiving their drinks, Nico watched Will drop some brown cubes into his brew. "You always put those in your coffee. Is it brown sugar?"
"Something like that," Will replied absent-mindedly. Nico seemed satisfied, and lifted his cup for a sip. His face contorted into a grimace. "Ugh. This tastes like sludge."
"No way," Will grinned. "Let me try it." He picked up his cup and tipped his head back. "Ergh! That's disgusting! Aw, dude!" he laughed at Nico's disappointed, pissed-off expression. "Want me to get you a hot chocolate?"
"I'm always a slut for hot chocolate," Nico replied, the corner of his mouth tugging. "Though you know what I could really go for? McDonalds."
"Again?" Will laughed. "If you're not careful, you'll end up battling heart disease, di Angelo. I told ya, you gotta take care of yourself."
"Says you," Nico retorted, "Come to think of it, I never see you eat anything. Are you sure you're not anorexic or something?" Will lifted up his shirt, exposing a faintly toned chest. "I don't know man, see any bones there? Go on, have a feel if you want."
"Gee, I don't know. Do you even lift?" Will shook his head.
"You are one sassy little emo."
"For the last time, I'm not an emo!"
"What are you listening to right now?" Will asked, pointing at Nico's earbuds. There was a pause.
"...Welcome To The Black Parade..."
"I rest my case."
They went quiet, Nico glaring into his cup of sludge ('I swear to God I'm NOT an emo'), Will staring out of the window. They listened to a TV in the corner broadcasting news. "On tonight's news: late last night, another ghoul attack was witnessed. The scene of the crime, a small police base in Ward 14, is swarming with investigators. Names such as the Gourmet and the Glutton have popped up in the search for suspicion, and four casualties have been counted." The news show ended and a new programme started.
"I wonder what it must be like to be a ghoul. No one ever seems to look at it from their point of view. They have to do it to eat, after all."
Nico mused quietly, watching the footage shown on the TV with concern.
"I suppose..." Will agreed shiftily, and returned to watching the world go bye through the window. Suddenly Will grabbed Nico's arm, knocking his coffee flying. "Good riddance," he muttered, staring at the pasty grey-brown goop covering the floor. He then noticed that Will was pointing out of the window.
"For God's sake, Nico, just look! It's snowing!"