A/N: WE HIT 100 FOLLOWS! :D Thank you all so much for continuing to read and support the story. It really does mean a lot to me to know that I can provide you guys with a way to laugh, cry, or escape from whatever kind of day you've had. I just want you all to know that I write for you guys, so thanks for being awesome :3

Okay, so now that I'm done gushing, chapter 21 is here! Nico and Will are now officially together, but their story isn't over just yet ;) Anyway, without further ado, let's get started :) Enjoy the chapter!

Texting guide;

Bold = Nico

Italics = Will

21

Will

When Will got home, the first thing he saw when he opened the door was Lou standing in the center of his living room, arms crossed and glaring at him. He jumped when he saw her, nearly falling right back outside. Luckily, he managed to catch himself and breathed a sigh of relief.

Very carefully, he stepped inside and closed the door, all the while looking at Lou as if she were a snake poised to bite. "Um... Lou..." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Why are you... standing in my living room?"

Lou stalked up to him and jabbed a finger into his chest. "William James Solace, you know very well why! I can't believe you didn't TELL ME!" She glowered at him with so much malice Will actually took a step back, holding up his hands as a shield between them. "Whoa, Lou, calm down! I'm sorry, okay?"

"Sorry doesn't cut it, mister!" she huffed, her glare folding into a pout. "Will, I'm your best friend. You know you can tell me anything! So why did you keep this from me?"

"Um..." Will felt his palms begin to sweat. How did Lou find out about him and Nico? They'd only just gotten together, literally a few hours ago. And while a few hours was plenty of time for news to spread, he didn't see how anyone could've known, unless Nico told someone, and, well... he'd been a bit busy to tell anyone anything. And Will certainly hadn't. So there was no way she could've known. "Well..."

Lou grabbed him by the shoulders, and Will could see a fire burning behind her green eyes. "I swear to the gods I'm going to kill that little fucktard Travis. How could he do something like that?! I mean, I knew he was a douche bag, but this is way over the line!" She released him and held a fist in the air. "I'm gonna Falcon Punch that little shitface into next week!"

"Uh..." Will was taken aback by her aggressiveness, and equal parts relieved and confused at what she was saying. "Wait... So this isn't about Nico?" He eyed her warily. "At all?"

"Well, I suppose it involves him." She punched the air with a grin. "He was there to defend your honor in my stead! I'll have to hug that punk ass little shit for protecting you." She turned towards him again, wearing a more serious expression. "But seriously, I'm still mad at you. You should've told me what he did right after you left." She glared at him again. "But did you? No! I haven't gotten a text from you in three days!"

"Uh, yeah..." Will winced. "Sorry about that." He cleared his throat. "But, um, there's actually a reason for that..." He had to tell her what had happened with Nico. Hopefully, that would activate her fangirl mode, and distract from the I-shall-burn-the-world-to-the-ground mood she was in.

Of course, he was crazy nervous to tell her. Rationally he knew she would be insanely happy for him, but at the same time, he wasn't sure if he could tell anyone. Did Nico want to keep it a secret? At least, for a little while? Did he not want Will to tell anyone yet? They hadn't exactly done much talking about what their relationship standards were when he was over...

Lou was watching him through slitted eyes as if she were trying to look into his very soul. Will shifted uncomfortably. "And what would that be, William?" She crossed her arms with a placid expression. "This had better be good. If not, I might have to Falcon Punch you, too."

"Um, well..." He laughed nervously. "Nico— That is, Nico and I— We, well, we sort of..." He was struggling to form the words. He was still sort of giddy from the whole experience, and admitting that they were actually together... Will though he might break down and cry out of pure joy.

But luckily, he didn't have to say it. Lou's eyes went wide, and her mouth dropped open in a large O. "WILLIAM SOLACE, DON'T TELL ME THAT YOU SEALED THE DEAL WITH ANGEL BOY?!" She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him hard several times. "OH MY GODS, OH MY GODS, OHMYGODSSSS!" She broke into a fit of squealing and started dancing around the living room like she had to use the bathroom. "AAAAAHHHHHHH YEESSSSSS FINALLY!"

"Uh..." As Will stood there watching her with a shocked expression, Lou pulled her phone from her pocket, dialed a number, and held it to her ear. "Cecil, it happened! You owe me five bucks!"

"You bet on this?!" Will asked, snapping out of his daze to glare at her accusingly. Lou hung up the phone with an innocent grin. "Uh, yes? Is that wrong?"

"Yes!"

She shrugged sheepishly. "Oh. Well hey; I'm now five dollars richer, babe, so I'd say that's a win for both of us."

Will face-palmed, blushing tomato red. "I can't believe you..."

"I know, but you still love me," Lou said with a wink. "Now come on. I'm taking you out; my treat."

Will groaned. "Fine. But not today, okay? I'm dead tired."

Lou rolled her eyes. "Alright, finnnneeee. But first thing tomorrow I'm coming to pick you up." She smirked mischievously and elbowed him playfully in the ribs. "And you can tell me alllll the juicy details."

"There really are no 'juicy details'," Will mumbled, taking a sip of the soda in front of him. Lou had dragged him to their favorite pizza place, Home Slice, for their usual—double-cheese with pepperoni and sausage—and was now grilling him for information like a CIA torture agent, as promised the day before.

Lou raised an eyebrow disbelievingly, taking a bite out of her third pizza slice. "Somehow I don't believe you."

Will sighed in embarrassment. "Really, I swear. All we did was... kiss... a little." He flushed red and quickly busied himself dousing his pizza with parmesan. Lou, meanwhile, squealed like a pterodactyl. "See! That is what I call juicy, my friend!"

"Well, look who it is!" someone yelled before Will could respond. He jumped and turned to see one of Nico's friends standing in front of him, hands on hips, wearing a large grin. If he remembered correctly his name was... Percy?

Rather than seeming surprised, like Will, Lou looked annoyed. "Oh, if it isn't Haruka Nanase. What brings you here?"

Percy folded his arms and glared at her. "Okay, first of all, while I am flattered to be compared to Haru, don't call me that. Secondly, I happened to be here by chance." He jabbed a finger over his shoulder. "Jason's at a table back there, and he told me something rather interesting earlier..." He walked closer and slung an arm around Will's shoulder, nearly knocking him over. "Will, I heard about you and Nico."

"Um..." Will struggled under Percy's weight.

"You better not do anything you'll regret," Percy warned, his green eyes narrowing into slits. "Got that kid?"

"Wha—" Will stared at him wide-eyed, not expecting him to say something like that, and with such a threatening aura. "Uh, I w-won't..."

"Oh, step off, dolphin boy," Lou scoffed, standing and dragging Percy away by the hood of his blue sweatshirt, ignoring his protests. She gave him a shove back in the direction he'd come from. "Go back to blondie, would ya? Your face is putting me off my pizza."

Percy gasped and held a hand to his chest in mock hurt. "Rude. But fine, I'll go." He turned, but cast a look back at Will and did the cliche I'm-watching-you gesture with narrowed eyes. Will gulped, letting out a breath when Percy was gone. "Okay, well, that was weird..."

Lou rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure weird is that boy's middle name."

Will laughed. "Yeah." Suddenly, his phone dinged in his pocket, making him jump. "One sec." He pulled it out of his pocket to see a text from Nico. He felt himself smile as he read over it.

11:24 AM - Ciao raggio di sole~ What are you doing today?

11:25 AM - I'm out eating pizza with Lou. And, funny story; I ran into Percy, and well... he sorta threatened me

11:26 AM - Ugh, did he really? Sorry. Gods, I can't handle that idiot sometimes. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to come over? My fever's dropped so my dad gave me permission to get up and about again

11:27 AM - That's great! But you still have to drink a lot of water, okay? It's important to stay hydrated after getting sick

11:27 AM - Yeah yeah, Dr. Solace. So can you come or not? I'm thinking... trashy Naruto marathon?

11:28 AM - Ha, sure. But not until like oneish. Gotta finish my pizza w/ Lou

11:29 AM - Perfetto. See you then, ill mio raggio di sole ;)

Will put his phone down with a smile, and looked up to find Lou staring at him with a raised eyebrow and an amused look. "What?" he asked defensively. "Why are you looking at me like that?" He raised a hand and brushed it across his cheeks. "Do I have something on my face?"

"Yep, you sure do," she said with a teasing grin. "A huuuuuge smile." She waggled her eyebrows. "I'll bet my life's savings that was angel boy himself. Is he sexting you?"

Will—who was in the middle of taking a sip of soda—nearly spit it out all over her, forcing himself to swallow and nearly choking. He coughed and pounded on his chest, face as red as a tomato. "Lou, what the fuck! Why would you say something like that?!"

His best friend laughed maniacally, pounding the table with a fist. "Gods, I was just kidding! Ha, your reaction was priceless!" She wiped tears of mirth from her eyes and shook her head. "Ah, that was a good one. Anyway, what did he actually say?"

"He— He wants me to come over later," Will said, trying to get a handle on his blush. "He was sick, but he said he's feeling better now, so he wants me to come over and watch Netflix."

"Ooh, a little Netflix and chill?" she asked, raising an eyebrow suggestively. Will pointed an accusatory finger at her, flushing again. "Hey, you stop that!" As she laughed, he sighed in exasperation and shook his head. "No, not like that. I'm pretty sure we're just watching Naruto."

"What?" She snorted. "Naruto? Really? Not that I have anything against it, but there are, like, thirty seasons. And plus, it gets kinda stupid after a while. Like watching Bleach. Too mainstream." She held a hand out and made a wave motion. "I like to keep it classy and sassy. Like Toradora or Lucky Star."

Will snorted. "Fine examples for 'classy and sassy' there, Lou. And to give him credit, he did call it a 'trashy' marathon, so you gotta give him some props. Maybe Naruto is his guilty pleasure, like you and Free."

"Free is not a guilty pleasure," Lou protested. "It's a regular pleasure, thank you very much. My guilty pleasure is probably Love Stage or Haikyuu." She clasped her hands together with a happy sigh. "Hinata is such a little cutie pie and Kagehina... OTP forever."

Will rolled his eyes. "Yeah, okay, fangirl." He took another slice of pizza and started eating. "I'm gonna go to Nico's after this slice, and you better not stalk me and watch through the window. I don't want to have to pull the drapes on you."

"Oh, please," She said, waving a hand dismissively. "Give me some credit, bae. If I followed you, you wouldn't even know I was there." She made the Naruto tiger jutsu sign with her hands. "I'm like a ninja."

"Yes," Will said sincerely, giving her an exaggerated bow. "Please, teach me your ways, Lou-sensei." They both burst out laughing and continued eating pizza, and Will turned to stare out the window, smiling to himself. Could life possibly get any better than this?

A/N: Wooo, I loved this chapter. Some of the lines were hilarious XD I hope you guys liked the Will/Lou interactions, as well as Lou and Percy. Those two are now my official BrOTP XD Anyway, as always, thank you all for your support, and remember to follow and favorite the story if you enjoyed it, and leave comments, suggestions, and corrections down in the review section :)

Translations;

- Ciao raggio di sole~ - Hi, sunshine~

- Perfetto. - Perfect.

- Ill mio raggio di sole. - My ray of sunshine.