Always right here beside you

This is actually the first fanfiction I started for Solangelo back in January of this year (2016) but wasn't sure where I was going with it, once I had figured out how to post my stories I went on working on other ones as the ideas came to me but now I'm back to working on this one and hoping it goes well. My main problem being that I had been writing this story in point form in a small notepad but I had left it in my pocket and it had gone through the wash so now even though parts of it came through okay I'm still probably going to have to redo or replace most of the points I had writing down if I can't remember them, man I almost cried… I'm telling you now this will be an emotional ride.

Ch 1. New in town

Nico just finished moving his things into his new apartment, after finishing high school he had packed up his stuff and moved out of the old house he had shared with his family his entire life; though it was just him and his dad and stepmother there these days if you could even say that much.

Ever since the incident his father was never home. He had moved on with his life, and Nico was sick of being home with all the bitter-sweet memories that that house held. He had spent most of senior year looking into finding a place; he had a job throughout most of high school and was saving up money so that he could get out on his own. It wasn't difficult holding a job while finishing school, he had only been involved in the minimal amount of extra-curricular activities required for his resume, and collage applications, he tried to fill his time as much as possible to avoid being home, since no one would be there anyway.

He wasn't the most sociable person but he had a good work drive allowing him to pick up extra shifts whenever they were available, soon he had found an apartment online and sent in the down deposit and now here he was, it was Thursday the week after graduation, he did attend, not that it really mattered it's not like there was anyone there to see him walk across the stage.

He shook his head he really needed to find something to distract him from all of his bitter thoughts; he was pretty tired after lugging all of those boxes up two flights of stairs. It had taken him three hours to move his things from his old home to this new city. The movers had already left wishing him luck with his new life. He had thanked them and started organizing boxes by room but gave up after a few minutes, he needed energy - he needed coffee. So he grabbed his old leather jacket off the couch where he had thrown it and threw on his shoes before heading out the door.

Nico walked down the street looking around for any sort of café or coffee house in the area and spotted a small café located down the street and immediately headed for it. Once there he could see that it wasn't as small as he had first thought, it had a comfortable atmosphere to it, it was well lit but not overly bright, it had a good amount of tables and chairs around the room, a counter with a display case full of treats and a large menu board hanging behind the counter with large lettering big enough to read easily enough from were Nico was standing that he didn't have to worry about holding up a line while deciding what he wanted. He settled for just a large black coffee that he could add cream or sugar to himself at the little station past the counter.

As he approached the till to order he noticed the guy taking orders, he was tall and tan with wavy golden blond hair and a bright smile with a dusting of freckles on his face, he was so bright and cheerful Nico was a little taken aback by it, this guy was clearly the exact opposite of Nico but he couldn't take his eyes off of him, he almost didn't notice when the guy had asked for his order, Nico cleared his throat hoping his slight embarrassment didn't show on his face as he placed his order, the guy just kept smiling as he rang up the order and turned to make it.

Nico wondered how it was possible to smile so brightly that much, it had to have hurt his face. Perhaps it was like how when you're a kid and grownups would tell you not to make silly faces in case your face froze like that, maybe this guy smiled so much he was stuck like that, Nico had to suppress a laugh at that thought as the smiling guy turned back and handed him his drink. Nico thanked him and went over to the small counter and added a little cream and sugar to his coffee and went to sit at a small table in one corner of the room and as he was sitting there with his drink he looked over and noticed a small stage with instruments set up, a sign close by said OPEN MIC NIGHT THURSDAY'S 6:00PM Nico lifted an eyebrow at that, an open mic night at this quiet little café seemed a little odd but maybe it wouldn't be so bad, he never really went to any of those back in high school like his classmates had, he remembered the hype they all had made about them but he had never cared.

He looked at his phone; it was 5:54 now. Just then he saw the blond guy from the till walk past and head to the stage, Nico watched as he moved a stool in front of the mic stand and then adjust the stand as he sat down and started tuning a guitar he had pulled out of a case on stage and checking wires, Nico wondered if the guitar belonged to the guy or if the instruments were there for anyone to use. He sipped his coffee trying not to seem to obvious that he was watching this guy so much, after all the show hadn't even started yet he looked down at his phone again, 5:59.

tap tap

He looks up to see the blond now doing a sound check with the mic and then he spoke.

"Hello everyone welcome to the open mic night, my name is Will and I'll be starting off the night with a song, anyone else who would like to come on stage can sign up on the sheet beside the stage, we encourage anyone to try, and this is all just for fun so let's show some support once each person or group has gone shall we? Now without any further ado…" and with that he started strumming on the guitar and Nico was surprised by the strong clear voice singing, it was so pleasant to listen to he almost forgot about his coffee, he was too busy staring at this guy Will he told himself while he was singing, it wasn't the type of song Nico usually listened to but he was drawn in by the sound of Will's voice almost like he was under a spell, he was brought back to the present when he heard a couple of girls maybe a year or two younger than him sitting close by giggling as they made goo goo eyes at Will up on stage.

Nico wondered for a second what his face must have looked like and he felt his cheeks heat up slightly, pushing that thought out of his head he continued to drink his coffee finishing it off as the song ended and he joined the room in a round of applause as Will got up from the stool, took a small bow then smiled and put the guitar away before leaving the stage.

While a couple of girls walked on stage, Will was walking by Nico's table and he wanted to say something like "that was incredible" or "you're really talented" or something like that when he heard his thoughts spoken by the two girls sitting by him that he had seen swooning over Will during the song Nico felt a little annoyed that someone had beat him to the punch but why should he care?

He saw Will stop at the girls table, he smiled shyly while running a hand through his golden waves.

"thank you, I usually start off open mic night since it starts right as my shift ends." One girl giggles and askes,

"so are you in a band or something?" she bats her eyes at Will and Nico resists the urge to roll his eyes Girls he thinks to himself they're always flirting, he remembered when his sister used to gush over boys… pain grips his heart at the thought of his sister. Nico stands up keeping his head down as he walks past the table where Will was talking to the two girls and throws out his cup on his way out the door, it seems that even after moving away and setting out on his own he still can't escape his painful memories.

…

Will watches as the dark haired guy from earlier walks past him and out the door, he has his head down and looks kind of upset, Will couldn't help wondering what was wrong. He was brought out of his thoughts when the girls he was chatting with continued asking questions.

"So are you here every week?"

"I work different shifts each week, but I usually come by for the open mic night" he gives them another smile and they blush and continue giggling "sorry but I have to go now, please enjoy your evening" the girls pouted a little but he went off to the staff room to get his things and when he got outside he couldn't help a quick look around to see if the dark haired guy from before was still around but didn't see him. Will lets out a little sigh too bad when he thought about the spaced out looks he noticed the guy giving him he couldn't help thinking about how he was totally his type.

…

When Nico got back to his apartment he looked around and saw everything lying around and decided he'd wait until tomorrow to unpack and put things away, but as for now he should probably get something to eat. The thought hadn't occurred to him until now but he was really hungry. Well after all he hadn't actually eaten anything since this morning so he let out a sigh and grabbed his jacket and shoes again and headed out the door.

He walked around until he came to a McDonald's and decided to get something from there. Once inside he saw how packed it was but there were still some seats available so he decided to eat in, he went up to the counter and ordered a 10 piece chicken Mc nuggets meal with a coke, after a few minutes he got his food and went to sit down at a small table to eat.

…

Will walked into the McDonald's and thought about getting a salad to go when he spotted the guy from earlier, he smiled to himself, how lucky was he to bump into the cute guy here? He thought he'd try his luck so he got his food to stay and as soon as his order was up he walked up to the cute guy and after summoning up all of his courage he cleared his throat,

"Hey, is this seat taken?" The cute guy looks up a little startled and stares blankly at Will, he can feel his courage leaving him but he tries again, "There's not really anywhere else to sit so do you mind?" he nods over his shoulder to the rest of the room that's packed full, the cute guy seems to understand and nods so Will sits down, he offers a friendly smile "I'm Will by the way." he says then remembers that this guy was at the open mic night so of course he knew that already so he quickly adds "Will Solace." and hopes he saved himself from embarrassment and holds out his hand for a friendly hand shake hoping he's not being too forward, why was he messing up so bad?

He felt like an idiot, but his fear was quickly dispelled when the cute guy shook his hand and offered an awkward but cute smile in return then quietly introduced himself as

"Nico Di Angelo." he had a slight accent that Will thought was so cute though he couldn't quite place it but going with his name he would guess… Italian? He wanted to hear more of that cute voice so he tried to make small talk.

"So did you enjoy the song?" He hoped he didn't sound needy or anything like he was looking for attention. Nico gave a small shrug,

"It's not the kind of song I'd normally listen to, but it was really good, you have a good voice…" he trailed off and blushed slightly.

Damn he was cute.

Will had to suppress a smile, it wouldn't be good to embarrass the guy and scare him off so he continued to conversation.

"Oh? So what kind of music do you usually listen to?" Nico took a sip of his drink before answering.

"A few things I guess, jazz, blues, rock, some metal, some classic" Will smiled.

"That's quite the variety, interesting." Nico stared down at his half eaten food so Will continued talking so the other could eat.

"I like quite a few things myself, there's not really much that I don't listen to, my friends and I used to have karaoke parties all the time so I got kind of used to singing just about any song" please don't let this come off as self-absorbed he thought to himself, Nico didn't seem to mind though, he just sat and ate his food, maybe he wasn't really up to talking.

So Will ate in silence for a couple of minutes with him when Nico suddenly spoke up.

"I've never been to an open mic night before, was that your guitar or do you guys just sort of keep instruments around the café?" he spoke quietly but still loud enough to be heard as if he wasn't used to talking a lot.

"It's mine, but yeah we keep the instruments there for people to use, they get put away in a storage closet after the open mic night so nothing happens to them." He offered another smile and Nico returned it with a small shy smile of his own, man this guy was too cute. After that they finished their food and as they got up to throw away the trash and leave Will wanted to continue talking with Nico so he worked up his courage again.

"I live in the area so if you live around here too why don't we head out together then we could keep talking?" he paused for a moment hoping he wasn't being too pushy so he added "if you don't mind that is, it's up to you." yeah nice save there Solace he thought. His spirits lifted though when Nico answered

"Okay sure." He said it really quietly but Will was glad to hear it.

Well this has really been an eventful month for writing huh? what is this the fourth or fifth new story I've posted this month? Oh well the other's will get done at some point I swear!