Author's Note: Sorry for the later update y'all, it's the first round of midterms for me, and I've been swamped with work these last two weeks or so! I hope you still enjoy the chapter though! ~Aleavon
Following hours upon hours of staring at the ceiling after Nico turned out his lights, he found himself still wide awake, mind filled with thoughts of Will. The way his laugh lit up a whole room, how warm his hand was when it briefly brushed up against Nico's, the light smell of… shampoo? lingering in the air after a turn of his head.
This boy is bad for my health, Nico thought, staring out into the darkness.
After an anticipation-filled night of tossing and turning, Nico finally woke up to his alarm blaring from somewhere in his room. He groaned, blindly reaching for the charger plugged into the wall, and slowly reeled his phone in by the cable it was attached to.
Nico blinked slowly, eyes adjusting to the bright screen, and turned off the screeching annoyance coming from his phone speakers. His eyes flicked up towards the time, and he jolted awake as he realized that the 10:00 alarm had been ringing for almost 45 minutes.
It was really stupid of me to say I could be there at 10:30am when I usually stay up till like 5 in the morning playing games anyways, Nico berated himself, bracing himself for a worried, or even worse, angry text from Will.
Thankfully, Will hadn't texted him asking where he was yet, even though they had agreed to meet up almost 15 minutes ago. Nico frantically typed out a message to Will, letting the latter know that Nico overslept his alarm, and then immediately started pulling on clothes.
Nico quickly grabbed his keys, wallet, and phone from his nightstand, and dashed down the stairs and out the front door, pausing only to lock up before he continued running towards the subway station.
After what felt like an eternity spent in the subway car and running down the street looking for Will's house, Nico, who was now drenched in sweat and out of breath, finally rang the doorbell to Will's house at 11:07 am, and Will immediately opened the door.
"G'mornin', Sleepin Beauty," Will drawled, emphasizing his usually-lighter southern accent as Nico stepped into the corridor.
"I am… so sorry," Nico said, gasping for air between words while grimacing at the reminder of his tardiness.
The blonde then noticed Nico's disheveled state, brows furrowing in worry.
"Are you okay?" Will asked, Nico nodding wordlessly in response.
Will frowned, and Nico felt another wave of guilt crash over him, knowing that he was the reason Will was making such a concerned expression. "You know I'm just messing around. You didn't have to push yourself so hard to get here faster, I didn't mind waiting at all."
Nico shook his head, breathing becoming less of a strain on his lungs as he inhaled slowly, waiting for Will to shut and lock the front door. He fiddled with the belt loops on his jeans, anxious about being in a new environment, but didn't want to say anything about it. Nico was a guest in Will's house, after all, and had already made Will wait for him.
Will turned towards Nico, motioning with a tilt of his head as he stepped away from the welcome mat. Will turned one of many curiously sun-shaped doorknobs, and revealed a brightly illuminated hallway, and led the way, Nico quietly shuffling in behind him.
"I hope it wasn't too hard going a whole 18 hours without seeing me," Will quipped, heading up a set of stairs before opening the door to a small study room.
Nico felt the corner of his mouth twitch upwards in amusement, knowing that there was no way that Will knew that he had just described the actual situation from last night. But he was not about to out himself in front of the person in question.
The raven-haired boy glanced towards the rest of the room, turning away from Will in the process, to scope out the situation.
All of the project materials were already set up neatly on the large table in the room, notes from their last planning session spread out on the surface, pencils lined up perfectly, Will's guitar leaning up against one of two very comfortable-looking leather stools. Nico, as far as he could tell, was the only thing that was missing from the whole set-up.
He blushed again in embarrassment and shame, realizing that Will had probably been waiting for him for a long time. On top of waking up late, Nico had missed—by mere seconds—the first subway he needed to take to Will's house, and had to wait another 10 minutes to catch the next one. And seeing as Will arrived at Nico's house at 7 o'clock last time... Will must have been up for a long time with nothing to do.
Will glanced over at Nico, who had one of the most pitifully guilt-ridden expressions the former had ever seen, and Will's jaw clenched with sympathy for the other boy.
He must still feel awful for being late today, Will realized, remembering the state Nico had arrived in, and reached out towards Nico. Before he could put his hand on his shoulder, however, Will remembered how violently Nico had reacted last time, and pulled his hand back, instead opting to pull out a chair for Nico.
The boys sat down and had just started working on their project when Will's phone dinged with the receipt of a new text. Will jumped up, face lighting up, and Nico watched in curiosity as Will typed out a few lines and popped his phone back into his back pocket.
"Phoebus is here!" Will exclaimed, dashing for the door, before pausing and looking back at Nico.
"Oh, sorry. I'll be right back, I haven't seen him in ages, I promise it won't take long!" Will said, slipping out of the room with a guilty expression on his face.
All the thoughts Nico first had when Phoebus's name came up suddenly came flooding back. Who was this Phoebus? What was he to Will? And most importantly, why was this bothering me so much?
Nico strained to try to hear the quiet conversation at the bottom of the stairs, but couldn't quite pick anything up. His anxiety grew as the minutes passed, before he heard footsteps coming back up the stairs again.
Please don't be what I think this is, Nico mentally pleaded, imagining a tall, handsome guy walking in with Will on his arm, being introduced to Nico as Will's other half, dreading the sinking feeling that would invade his chest yet again.
A very, very energetic golden blur came dashing out of the hall and jumped on Nico, almost knocking him off the chair. Nico was taken completely by surprise, barely able to grab onto the table before he toppled to the floor.
The small Italian boy looked at his aggressor, and immediately realized that the blur in question was actually a very friendly, but large dog. The retriever rubbed his face against Nico's chin, trying to lick him on every possible surface, and Nico struggled to push him back just far enough to stop his face from getting drenched in slobber.
The overexcited canine continued to try to sniff at Nico's clothes, but, after a stern "Down, please!" from Will, finally sat down obediently and settled for licking Nico's hand.
"Sorry, he gets super excited around new people," Will said sheepishly. "This is Phoebus, my golden retriever. You can pet him if you want, though he's clearly already all up in your face."
Nico shook his head, amused, and couldn't help but feel relieved as he gently stroked Phoebus' fur.
Phoebus is just a dog..., Nico mentally berated himself. No need to be paranoid about that anymore. Why were you even overthinking just a name anyways? Stupid.
After a minute or two of brushing his fingers through fur that was just as soft and golden as Will's hair, Phoebus stood back up and dashed out of the doorway to the study room and Nico turned his attention back to the desk where Will was watching him with an amused expression.
"Aw, you didn't miss me?" Will asked jokingly. "You were way more excited about Phoebus than me coming back."
Yes, I definitely missed you, and everything about you too, Nico thought. Where did that come from? Nico mentally slapped himself. Focus.
"As if. Let's get to work." Nico grumbled out in response, but stole a furtive glance at Will as he started setting up their materials for recording.
Will dramatically pouted, but followed Nico's lead, delving into their work.
There was no need for either to worry about the other's work ethic in the collaborative effort. Both boys had long since determined to create the best project they had ever had, even if it was just to impress their project partner sitting by their side.
