AN: After watching the news and hearing all of these things about what happened in Paris on Friday really made me want to do something. I wrote this when all the feelings were still circling around, and wrote it from Nico's (an American's) POV of what had happened. I think what happened hit everybody pretty hard, and this is my way of doing something. Writing is how I cope with things. So, here we go.

Nico di Angelo never really had friends at school. He was always the outcast, the loser, the "emo". He grew up hating life and everything it stood for. That was, until, when he was fourteen years old, when he met a boy online who seemed to like all the things Nico did. After two months of talking to him, Nico learned that his name was Will Solace and that he lived in Paris, France.

Over the years, Will was Nico's best and only friend. They could talk about anything and everything. In a conversation with Will was the first time Nico had the courage to admit that he was gay. Will only responded with "me too". Oh, how Nico was happy when he talked to Will. And a year after they had started talking, when they were fifteen, Nico lay in bed, unable to sleep. He finally understood the quote "You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."

He fell in love with William Solace, and the other boy knew it. And the feelings were returned. The only thing that ruined their relationship was that they had never met; they lived worlds apart from each other. Yet, Will told Nico that when the New Year came, he would have enough money to fly over to America, and they could meet. They would be able to see each other with their own eyes and smell and touch them; they would know that they were really real. But then, one day, everything changed.

Two months before the New Year, on November 13, 2015, Nico had been making himself dinner when he received one text from Will.

"I love you."

Immediately, Nico responded, smiling broadly and thanking every god he could think of. It had been the first time Will had ever said, "I love you", or even hinted it. The idea made Nico's heart skip a beat. He had never been happier.

"I love you, too. What's all this about?" was what he answered with, walking into the living room with his plate in hand. But when he saw what the TV showed, what the news was covering, where…

His plate dropped and broke against the floor, but he couldn't seem to care. He prayed, for hours on end, pleading and bargaining and hoping that he was wrong. Oh, how he wished he were wrong.

But the news kept on coming, the details kept pouring in, the death toll kept rising…

Nico stayed up for days on end that week, totally skipping school, not even bothering to call in sick. He would forever see the title of the news story in his dreams: "Paris Terrorist Attacks"

Will couldn't have died in there, could he? The sad thing, the thing that mostly haunted him forever, was that he would never know, because the messages stopped coming, and Will had always kept his account secret from his family. Nico would never really know why Will stopped talking, and would never, ever, meet his best friend. The one thing he had always feared finally happened.