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The hustle and bustle is getting too much for Nico to handle.
“Did you hear?” One blonde girl says, passing by Nico while he’s at his locker. “Will Solace has left. A whole period early.”
Everyone was talking about Will. Which, like, made sense. In theory. Today was his birthday. His 18th birthday. His golden birthday. And he had left in the middle of 5th period, and few people knew where he was going.
Nico opened his phone to Instagram, where he found Will’s story. Story 1, a happy birthday to me! picture. Stories 2-10, reposts of other stories people had posted for him. Nico blushes, but just barely, when he sees the one he made for Will.
It’s a collage of various pictures, from theatre and hangouts outside of school. A picture of Will with a Cheez-It box on his head. A picture of Will taken sloppily during laser tag. Cast party pictures from Frozen. A candid taken during the first dress rehearsal because the Olaf costume was just too good. Others too. Over the top, Nico had typed ‘Happy birthday! (I have no normal pictures of you sorry)’ and then tagged Will.
He swipes through the other happy birthday wishes, until he finds the most recent one. A selfie Will took in his car, the sun reflecting just so on his face to make the perfect angle of accentuating everything about Will that made him… him. So alluringly magnetic, and so.. so pretty. The text on top said ‘Sorry for ditching y’all but I gotta go get my birthday gift.’ It was marked as close friends.
“Someone’s going all pretty boy” Hazel teases
Nico hastily tucks his phone away “What? No.” He ignores the fact that his ‘Will Solace’s Pretty Factor Will Kill Me’ playlist on Spotify has been streaming non-stop.
“Look, it’s getting so bad, you should just confess” Hazel says.
Nico firmly shakes his head. “No Hazel. No. Will has a boyfriend. Everyone knows it..”
“Actually, we don’t know it” Hazel says. “He hasn’t actually said it concretely. For all we know, he is pining for you.”
Nico stares straight into Hazel’s golden eyes. “I can’t be certain. And I’m not going to risk friendship with him. What if I confess and he doesn’t feel the same way and then he gets really weirded out by it?”
“Okay then. But if you really believe that, then listen to the actual shit you’re supposed to listen to, ‘Mr. AAD for Chicago’.” Hazel says, before walking off to her sixth period.
Nico wants to protest that he already knows the music, but she’s already left. He sighs and walks the rest of the way to his classroom.
~💀☀️💖☀️💀~
It’s only a little while later when some gossiping girls are being annoying again, this time in drug class.
Okay, it’s not really drug class. It’s called Addiction And The Brain, and it’s his third year science, and it’s really fun, but honestly, it’s way more fun to scare people by calling it drug class.
“I hear he’s going off to meet up with his girlfriend because her parents don’t want a guy like him to be dating their daughter.” One girl says.
The other opens her mouth to say something, but Nico turns around.
“Can both of you shut up? I’d like to actually pass this class. And for the record, Will is single right now”
~💀☀️💖☀️💀~
After class, he scrolls through Instagram Stories again and finds Will’s with a new one: a picture of his right shoulder, with a bandage over it. Text reads ‘FIRST TATTOO!!!!!!!’ as well as a small picture of Will’s sketch of the swirly sun.
It’s really cute, Nico thinks. It suits Will perfectly.
~☀️💀💖💀☀️~
Will stares at his phone, watching the typing bubble appear and disappear from Nico’s profile.
Until finally, a message went through
yeah cast list comes out tomorrow
you’ll be lead tho dw
And then, a few minutes later:
hey ik we were talking about watching SK8 the Infinity
do u want to come over to my place during winter break?
Yes!
I’m free the 26th, 29th and January 2nd
the 29thll work the best
i’m bringing my children over the 26th and the 2nd I’ve got a show
Ooh what show??
Maybe I can come
i’m the props master for Almost, Maine
Leo’s in the cast
I’ll definitely come then
Anyway so the 29th at ur place??
yeah. come over whenever. Bi’s in for the holidays
so we’ll have to watch it in my room
cool
wait children???
oh.
i found out that my adopted children haven’t seen
the Hatchetfield Trilogy so I’m making them watch it
Who?
Paolo, Chiara, Zo, and Hazel
How have they not watched the trilogy yet?
Okay yep fix it
Will texted Nico some more, but then shut off his phone and went to sleep.
~☀️💀💖💀☀️~
The next day was a flurry: Shorter periods, high tension of the Cast List, and most importantly, half the school being missing due to it being the last day before winter break.
Will smiles at Nico when he sees him in a corner of the courtyard with Jason and Hazel in the morning. He can’t remember if Nico is dating anyone at the moment, but there are rumors that he was dating Hazel. Will shrugs those off. He knows that Hazel and Nico are as close as siblings, even though they aren’t actually siblings.
“Hi Nico!” He says as he passes by
“Hi Will!” Nico replies “You going to Zero Hour?”
“Yep” Will affirms. He waves to Nico and gets the rest of the way to his class.
~☀️💀💖💀☀️~
Most of the rest of the day is uneventful, minus the fact that taking any notes in class make his shoulder burn. Good news is half his classes are showing movies, and one just has a Kahoot review.
He watches as everyone files into the main gym for the assembly, since, being a senior, he gets in just after the Band and ASB are ready for people to come in. Juniors are next, then Sophomores, and last, Freshmen. The color wars have the clear winner of Freshmen. Their section is a sea of red. He’s scrolling through Spotify when the ASB advisor, Coach Hedge starts the assembly.
“HOW ARE WE DOING PEGASI??” He shouts into the microphone.
Will opens Instagram and texts Nico
Do you think he knows he doesn’t have to be that loud?
yes
i’m fully oncinved he just wants toannyn us
Oncinved?
CONVINED
CONVINE
CONVINCED
there we go
Ik
Im messing w you
Will texts Nico back and forth throughout the assembly, and then finally, finally, he can leave to check the cast list.
He slides his finger down the list, and smiles when he sees his name as Billy Flynn. He signs his name, and picks up his script from Taffy, the Assistant Producer of Chicago, who nobody liked because her poor planning last year caused Nico and Hazel to go into panic attacks. Will waits by the list for Austin and Kayla.
He sees Kayla’s bright orange hair and smiles at her. “What did you get?” He asks
“EMCEE!!” She’s smiling.
“Let’s Go! I got Billy Flynn!” He says.
Austin meanders down later, since he had to put away his instrument after the assembly, and gladly signs his name for saxophone. “You ready to go?” He asks
“Hang on a second. I wanna say bye to Nico.” Will says. He walks over to where Nico is standing by the list, Hazel chatting with Lavinia.
“You heading out?” Nico asks
“Yep” Will answers
“Got your script?”
“Yep. I wanted to wish you a happy break” Will says
“Thanks. You too. Don’t die over the holidays.”
Will waves bye, then walks with Kayla and Austin to his car.
~💀☀️💖☀️💀~
December 25th comes and goes, and Nico quite honestly can’t really care. Christmas blew – and despite having a laundry list of books he wanted, only received one book, and it wasn’t even one on his list.
Nico is looking forward to the 29th, has everything set up for Will to come over, but 20 minutes before Nico was going to IM Will to see if he was still coming over, he got a message.
I can’t come
☹
WHY
Turns out great-aunt daphne’s pudding actually is toxic
I got food poisoning
why did you eat it if you thought it poisoned??
I didn’t think it poisoned
I thought it looked funny
I ate it bc id be given shit if I didn’t eat it
ur parents suck if they get mad @ u for
not eating some weird dish
Its not my parents
Its great aunt daphne
☹
get better soon
I’ll try
Maybe I’ll be healthy enough to brave the
worl in time to see Almost, Maine
worl??
World
I’m sick gimme grace
grace granted
and also itd be great ud you come to see Almost, Maine
I buy tockets at the door right??
Yeah
Nico can’t pretend he isn’t disappointed by Will being sick, but it does give him a few extra days to decide if he is going to confess his love via the little Christmas gift.
~💀☀️💖☀️💀~
Nico never writes the confession.
~💀☀️💖☀️💀~
Nico watches Hazel sit down in dead center of the first row on closing night of Almost, Maine. And hears his phone buzz with 3 messages in a few seconds from Hazel
NICO
NICO
WILL’S HERE
get him to sit by you
SIDEQUEST: Get Will To Sit By You HAS BEEN COMPLETETED
good job hallie
Nico looks through the little hole in the wall to see Will sitting beside Hazel. The two are chatting and laughing.
Nico can’t help but feel at least a little bit jealous that he’s not the one joking with Will. But, he smiles, and does his job.
~💀☀️💖☀️💀~
Nico’s hands are shaking when he finds Hazel, so he shoves his hands into the kanga pocket of his sweatshirt. “Where’s Will?” He asks her.
“Wow, way to be appreciative of your little sister.” Hazel says. She pauses for a second. “He’s in the bathroom.”
“Thanks… Um.. how are you doing? I know you’ve been dealing with Gaia” Nico says
“The usual. ‘your friends don’t care about you’ ‘you’re selfish and everyone will leave you’.” Hazel says
Hearing Hazel talk casually about how her parents treat her makes something twist in his gut, and then he remembers that he speaks so casually about his own problems, so maybe it’s for the best.
“Oh, Will’s back. I’ll go chat with Leo for a bit to give you two some space.” Hazel says, walking towards Leo.
“That show was amazing.” Will says “I can’t imagine working this and Frozen was easy”
Nico laughs. “You mean, working 12 days in a row is not normal?”
Will shakes his head “Definitely not normal, Nico.”
Nico takes a deep breath, then says. “Okay, this is gonna feel like it’s coming like – straight outta left field but trust me when I say that this is something I’ve been stressing about for a long while.” He takes another deep breath, partially to stop himself from hyperventilating, partially to take a moment to collect his thoughts. “So, you know that scene where Chad and Randy fall in love?”
Will nods his head “Yeah. I remember when we did it at school. That scene was always one of my favorites to watch.”
“Well, I would always think about you, like um...” Nico pretends to go weak at the knees and sways down.
Will is quite clearly and obviously confused. Nico stands back up.
“I’m saying I like you Will.” Nico states matter-of-factly.
Will remains confused, and Nico begins a tangent
“I like you. Like, dating and stuff. Those Instagram notes about liking someone when he doesn’t like me back? You. The guy who didn’t give me a sweater on Heather’s Day? You. Me saying ‘I Miss Him’? You.” Nico exhales after that last one
Things seem to finally click into place for him. “So, when I said I’d jump the guy that didn’t give you a sweater on Heather’s Day… I was really saying I’d jump…” Will trails off
“Yourself? Yes.” Nico affirms.
“And when I said he’s an idiot for not realizing you like him I was calling myself an idiot.” Will says. “I really am an idiot. The signs have been there for a month – probably more than that if I was paying attention during Frozen.”
“Look, I gotta go strike the snow.” Nico says. “If you want some time to think it over, we can talk during rehearsal tomorrow.”
Will nods. “Okay. See you tomorrow”
~☀️💀💖💀☀️~
Will spirals.
Not because he doesn’t like Nico. Again – he would’ve given Nico a sweater on Heather’s Day if he had more than four sweatshirts (which thanks to Christmas and his Birthday, now he does.
He wasn’t expecting the ‘idiotic pretty boy’ from Nico’s Instagram notes to be.. him. But he also knows that Nico will spiral even more than he does. So, after talking with Kayla for an hour in her room during which he does freak out about the possibility of gaining a boyfriend (!?!?), he carefully folds up his yellow and white tie-dyed sweatshirt from a summer camp he worked at two summers back, and puts it in his backpack on top of his notebooks.
~☀️💀💖💀☀️~
He tells his dad (who is his choir teacher, go figure) that he has to leave zero hour early because he has to talk with a friend.
~☀️💀💖💀☀️~
When the agreed-upon time with his dad arrives, he quietly packs up and leaves. Leo grabs his sleeve as he’s leaving. “Where are you going?” He asks
“Nico.” Will says
Leo releases him.
Will finds Nico on the first floor of the PAC (Performing Arts Center) Building. “Hey Nico! Can we talk?”
Nico hops up from his spot on the ground with Hazel. “Is this about… last night?”
“Yeah.” Will says. He walks with Nico a few feet, just enough space so that the others won’t be able to hear what he’s saying. “So, I want to say that I am an idiot for not realizing you like me sooner. I mean… it’s been going on as long as Frozen.. right?”
“Since the end of In The Heights” Nico admits.
“So I am a confirmed idiot. Moving on from my obliviousness, I want to tell you that I like you. Back. And maybe.. do you want to go out later this week? On a date?” Will hates how much his last sentences come out like questions, because he knows Nico likes him. But they do, anyway.
“Uh… Yeah.” Nico says. “Sorry, Just, I didn’t imagine a world in which you do like me back, so uh.. but yeah.”
Will grabs the sweatshirt out of his bag “To make up for my obliviousness, and also because if I had paid more attention, you would already have this” He holds it out for Nico.
Nico stares at the sweatshirt for a few moments. “Are you sure? You won’t be cold or anything?”
“I got a few more sweatshirts for Christmas and my Birthday. Trust me, you can have this one.” Will assures him.
~💀☀️💖☀️💀~
Nico wore the yellow and white sweatshirt as often as he could manage to make it look good in an outfit (and quite a few times that it didn’t go with the outfit as well), earning a ton of teasing from Reyna, Hazel and Paolo and Chiara.
Will joined whenever he could leave zero hour early, and coincidentally, his dad had to work with Sopranos and Altos during the last 10 minutes.
Their first kiss was on opening night of Chicago – Nico initiated it. Will came offstage, Nico went up to him, pulled him away from the main entourage, and kissed Will.
When the annual talent show came around, Nico attended with Will to watch Paolo, Chiara, Hazel, and Leo perform their separate acts. They all went to Denny’s with Jason and Reyna afterwards.
And when Will graduated that year, Nico was right there, even though it meant that he’d be leaving come summer’s end to go to college in Arizona.
(but really, who’s gonna think about that, when they have an entire summer ahead of them before Will leaves, and they live in a world where Facetime and Instagram exist)