Ding-Dong!

BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK!

Nico groaned, clutching his pillow to his face as the persistent ringing in his ears destroyed what little sense of peace he had left. He clutched his ears and silently cursed the source of the noise. Who in the world could be up at this ungodly hour?

Ding-Dong!

BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK!

There it was again.

He suddenly remembered that he had given his address (and number!) to Will so that they could immediately start working on their project together. However, he hadn't quite expected Will to come so… freakishly early. No one else Nico knew would be insane enough to be awake before noon on a Saturday, and, judging by the fact that Cerbie was barking his brains out, neither did the dog.

Nico grabbed his phone from his nightstand, tossing the sheets aside as the warm bubble of air escaped into his cold surroundings, causing him to shiver.

So annoying. Why the fuck would Will-

His thoughts were interrupted as another round of doorbell ringing and crazed dog noises echoed through the house. Half-awake, Nico finally clambered out of his bed, hopped around on the freezing floor, and finally pulled on a black t-shirt while stepping into his signature black skinny jeans, all to let the insistent visitor in.

"Nico, someone's interrupting Cerbie's much-needed beauty sleep. Can you deal with whoever the fuck's out there?" His dad's grumpy morning voice emanated from the other side of the poorly lit hallway. Hades opened his bedroom door, cursing under his breath as the ringing continued.

"Yeah, Dad," Nico shouted, pulling a belt through his pant loops as he dashed towards the stairs. "Go back to bed, I'm getting it. It's Will."

"Who?" Hades asked, bewildered. "I don't think I remember-"

He turned to ask Nico, but the latter was already stumbling down the stairs while buttoning up his jeans. After almost slipping twice on the black marble floor and pulling the frantic, territorial Rottweiler into the side room, he finally reached the blood-red door, turned the handle, and there was Will.

With the sun illuminating his loose curls like a halo, almost like an angel in all his glory, standing on the doorstep at exactly 7:02 in the morning.

He looks so much more innocent than someone who just put me through the rudest awakening of my life, Nico thought, but quickly brushing away the thought. It wasn't a good idea to think too much about someone who was only tolerating him so they could work on a project.

"Good morning Nico!" Will brightly said as Nico opened the door. He chuckled as Nico rubbed his eyes and squinted in the rosy morning light. Nico had very clearly just woken up, with his already messy waves sticking up in odder directions than usual and a shallow indent on his cheek from the pillow.

Blinking, Nico said, "What kind of person exists at this time on a Saturday? Look, it's not even noon yet. Come back later." Nico demanded, slowly starting to close the door when Will stuck his head through the doorframe.

"You did say I could come over when I was ready to work," Will said matter-of-factly as he shifted his bag's straps back up onto his shoulder. " I brought everything we'll probably use. See?"

And sure enough, Will had brought an enormous bag full of—at least from what was sticking out—pens, paper, mini dry erase boards, and Expo markers. There was even a metronome, and a guitar case strapped to his back.

Nico groaned, all resolve to send Will away caving in, and opened the door to let Will in while rubbing his watery eyes, stinging from the sun directly attacking his pupils so early in the morning.

"Maybe next time," Nico mumbled, "you can just ring the doorbell once? Waking up to the sound of the dog going nuts because of the doorbell is definitely not the best way to wake up. I was actually sleeping, unlike SOME people I know."

Will grinned, the corners of his eyes crinkling up in a way that absolutely did NOT make something in Nico's chest stir.

"Well I wasn't completely sure if you were awake yet, so I wanted to make sure that you got up..."

The tips of Will's ears turned a light shade of pink, inciting another strange feeling in Nico's chest. He shook it off, trying to clear his mind, and said, "Well, you woke me up alright. Let's get started then."

Nico led Will through the enormous house, passing by a ridiculous number of expensive art pieces, bejeweled precious metal cast sculptures, and the occasional flower arrangement. Will marveled at the level of riches present in the household, slightly taken aback by how nonchalantly Nico walked past art pieces that were probably worth more than Will's family's entire net worth.

Soon enough, the boys finally stepped into a surprisingly less-furnished living room. Two simple ebony leather couches, graced with velvet red cushions, touched ends towards the close wall of the room, sitting opposite of a flat-screen TV mounted high on the far wall. In the middle of the room sat a large, golden-trimmed obsidian table, leaving the dark red walls bare and free of art, unlike much of the rest of the house.

Nico grabbed two ornate, bone-white chairs from the adjacent office, gesturing for Will to start unpacking. Once Will began pulling all of the supplies he had lugged over from his house, Nico ran upstairs to get ready for the day. After all, he wouldn't want to have terrible morning breath in front of any guest. It totally wasn't because he wanted Will to like him. Definitely not.

But with those thoughts racing through his head, drowsily stumbling away, Nico missed Will cracking a small smile, noticing Nico's shirt was inside out, before continuing to set things up.

By the time Nico had returned, minty fresh, with a steaming mug of black coffee, and significantly less grumpy than earlier (but still very grumpy), Will had emptied his bag on the table and taken a seat in one of the chairs. Nico sat down on the couch just two feet behind him and started throwing out possible ideas for their project as Will jotted them down on a piece of paper.

Nico secretly admired how nice Will's handwriting looked. And how the lamp in the room really brought out Will's perfectly tanned cheekbones and jawline as he stared intently at the page he was writing on. And the way he'd blow the stray strand of hair out of his face when he tilted his head at just the wrong angle. And-

Get a grip, you're just working on a project together. Stop trying to make things complicated and FOCUS.

Shaking his head to clear away the thoughts, Nico looked back at Will, who was looking at him in a very concerned manner.

"Hey, you good?" Will asked, furrowing his brow. Nico replied with a nonchalant "Yeah," turning back to his notes and getting back to the task at hand. Will took the opportunity to move his work onto the empty couch seat to Nico's left, in hopes that the closer proximity would maybe be able to allow for a bit more conversation outside of project details.


A few hours later, Will and Nico had finished a considerable amount of pre-project work, and at some point, Nico had started warming up to his project partner. He had gotten comfortable enough to reveal his sassy side, beginning to question Will's knowledge of music theory all while the two almost literally inhaled chips and salsa, Will choking occasionally due to the intensity of his consumption. Soon enough, it was past noon. Despite the volume of snacks they had just been eating, Will's stomach rumbled, startling the both of them.

"Well, we've gotten a lot done today," Will said awkwardly, breaking the startled silence between them. "Want to go out to eat somewhere? Might as well take a break while we're at it." Will turned to Nico, hoping for something to focus on OTHER than the black and white project instructions and smeared whiteboards. He noticed a line of Expo marker dust streaked onto Nico's right cheek and fought the urge to wipe it off.

"I don't know," Nico said uncertainly. "I don't usually get out much, and if I do eat out, it's only ever McDonald's or some fancy Italian restaurant Dad wants to take my stepmom." Nico, paused, realizing how ridiculous his explanation of his own taste in food sounded. It really did vary from one end of the spectrum to the other. His face reddened slightly as he tilted his head down towards his lap, embarrassed and worried about whether Will would judge him for it. He peeked up at Will's face, searching for his reaction.

Will furrowed his brow, looking incredulously at Nico. "You mean, you've never been to the best restaurant in the world? C'mon, I've got to take you there! We can take the subway, it isn't too far from here."

After a careful moment of consideration, Nico finally nodded, and in less than a second, Will had already dragged Nico out of the workroom and into the hallway, slipping and sliding over the polished marble floor in his socks.

"Wait, wait wait, hold on," Nico finally gasped, grabbing onto a nearby table to steady himself from the sudden burst of movement. "Before I go out, let me check with my dad first."

Nico started up the stairs, his voice echoing in the large, quiet space in the house. "Dad? Is it alright if I go out to eat with Will for lunch? It won't take too long, I'll be back in a while."
Heavy footsteps were heard from upstairs as Nico's dad squinted down at the two from the second-floor balcony, still in a bathrobe, with a bedhead almost as bad as Nico's, and clearly unadjusted to the bright light streaming in from outside. He must not have gotten dressed yet. Will concluded that Nico's dad was probably even more of a night owl than Nico himself.

"Um..." Hades paused, processing the request momentarily. "Did you bring money?" Hades grumbled in a low, throaty voice, scratching his stubbled chin as his eyes adjusted to the much brighter scene.

"Oh fuck." Nico paused, running back to his bedroom, pulled out his wallet from his backpack, and shuffled back towards the stairs.

Hades frowned slightly. "Hey, language in front of guests."

The smaller boy rolled his eyes, Will chuckling awkwardly in response. Hades's gaze shifted to Will, who was standing there in a conveniently placed patch of sunshine. Internally, there were a lot of questions that he wanted to ask, but the call of his bedroom on a day off work was simply too strong to resist.

"Alright, then, go ahead. Don't stay out too late, especially if you two still have work to do." At that, Will grinned and started lacing up his shoes.

"Yeah Dad, I know." Nico groaned. "I'm not five. I can take care of myself."

Nico's dad's lips twitched slightly upwards at the sight of Will pushing Nico out of the front door.

"Don't get into too much trouble, you two." Hades watched the two boys sprinting down the sidewalk towards the subway, an unreadable expression on his face, before turning back towards his bedroom as a small smile slowly fought his normal stoic manner.