A/N:I know these are coming late, but i only have monday and tuesdays off from work so deal with it!

You keep wanting happy chapters or Will's POV, but this is my story so now you have to deal with MY plan. trust me, you wont be dissatisfied, but you have to be patient. one chapter a week, to keep yall looking forward to mondays! (or monday nights at this point)

Enjoy!

Tuesday II

When you start working through your problems, surprisingly you find that your life starts to become a little more manageable.

When Nico rolled out of bed in the morning, he had beaten his alarm by two minutes. He knew taking the extra time given would only lead to him feeling worse, so he kicked off the sheets and ran his hand across his face. His mother used to tell him not to pull because it would lead to wrinkles, but he didn't care.

As he dragged himself into the bathroom to wash his face, his reflection was simply a mockery of his distain for mornings. After splashing his face with some water to get the last of the sleep out of his eyes, he made his way downstairs. The only person up was his father, something he thought odd but pushed the note aside.

The tall, lanky man was sipping coffee, his eyes dark and dangerous as he skimmed over some book that was sprawled out on the table. When Nico met his gaze, he gave him a half-hearted smile. Nico's father nodded, turning his attention back to his book. His tired face being pulled down by gravity. Nico already looked so much like his father, maybe he should listen to his mother about the eye thing.

He hobbled over to the counter where he fished out some bread to throw in the toaster, knowing he should eat before he leaves for school. If he didn't, he'd never make it to second period. The kitchen hung silent as the morning sun was high in the sky already. Nothing but the sounds of the toaster etching into the bread, the turning of a page, and the gentle thud of ceramic on tile with every sip.

Nico threw the dry toast into his mouth as he headed up stairs, chewing it without using his hands. He had gotten used to multitasking when he was younger and eating food was just another step in mastering so.

He threw himself onto his bed, reaching to grab his phone for the ten minutes he allotted for breakfast. He scrolled through TikTok for a few minutes before pulling the app away. He dusted the crumbs onto the floor as he swiped over to snapchat, a heavy sinking feeling filling his lungs as he noticed Will hadn't messaged him.

He wanted so badly for the blond to message, but the last thing he wanted to do was respond. After about two days of blatantly ignoring someone, he shouldn't be surprised when the energy is matched. But it still hurt.

With a sudden jolt, he sat up and shook his head. He had to concentrate. When he got to school, Will would most likely ask him what he was going on about and he needed a solid excuse. Without one, Will would for sure notice that something was up.

Step one: make sure William Andrew Solace never finds out that Nicolas Andrea di Angelo has a giant crush on him.

That was doable.

Right?

Nico huffed as he looked around his room. He needed to get ready or he was going to get to class late. He would spend the time walking to school to let his mind come up with a sure-fire plan. He could do this!

…..

By the time Nico got to school, his only plan was to continue to run from. Now, it wasn't the most solid plan he's ever come up with, and sure, it was totally going to backfire, but if he gaslit Will just enough, maybe he would forget all about this weekend and Nico shutting him out.

The only actual plan, though, was that he needed to speak to Jason. The blond might be clueless on a lot of issues, but he might be someone he could use.

Nico needed to talk about this. He literally couldn't stop himself. He had promised himself he wouldn't talk about it, he wouldn't tell anyone, but at any given chance, the first thing Nico wanted to scream was, "Hey! Wanna hear about this really hot guy I have a crush on? He doesn't know and I'm never telling him but he's my best friend and you absolutely need to know about it!". It was his kryptonite.

He thought about telling Hazel, but she scared him a bit sometimes. She looked so sweet and innocent, but you tell her something she doesn't like or doesn't agree with and you better start running. Nico swears she knows more swear words than he does, and that was saying something.

Frank was out of the question. While they were friends, they never truly saw eye to eye on things. Frank had originally thought Nico was a creepy kid, but that was saying something.

Hazel and Nico were close. As close as two kids who made a trauma bond to never leave one another after joining the anime club in the sixth grade could be. They had bonded over their love of My Hero Academia and Yuri! On Ice. (They were a little peeved that My Hero was only just now becoming extremely popular, but they would never admit it to anyone else.)

When Frank had joined, Nico and Hazel watched him from afar. Hazel had been interested in what he had been drawing, but Nico wanted to keep a close eye. He didn't like that his best friend was taking interest in someone else. To him, he thought Frank as best friend competition, not potential boyfriend material.

Nico had kept a close guard on him the moment he found a doodle of furry art in his notebook.

"Hazel," he had said, his tone dead serious, "you can't replace me with a furry."

She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "Nico, seriously. I'm not replacing you."

But Nico didn't buy it. He went so far to keep Hazel as his best friend that he spent the next week learning how to draw animals. They always turned out poor and disfigured, but if it meant proving to Hazel he was better than Frank Zhang, then it was worth it.

Now, Nico kind of wished he had kept at it, knowing how much those artists make, but he knew in the long run he'd rather keep his sanity.

Hazel did notice fairly quickly what Nico was doing and she thought it was quite charming. She let it go a little longer before finally telling him that he wasn't being replaced, she just had a crush on Frank and wanted to get to know him more. Nico always thought trying to get a boyfriend in anime club was a bad idea, and he would have been correct if it wasn't for the fact that Hazel was head over heels for the chubby furry that sat in the corner, not talking to anyone.

Frank did end up growing out of his furry phase, and Hazel and Nico swore on their grave that neither of them would talk about that year. Sixth grade was a mashup of stretched truths and blatant lies when anyone asked. Their furry OC's (Furrsona) that were long lost siblings remained buried and hidden for as long as they remained alive. That was a secret they would take to the grave.

After a few months, Frank had told them he wanted to be a veterinarian and that's why he had been obsessed with animals. Nico thought turning to furry art was a weird way to express it, but he let it slide as Frank never brought up his and Hazel's time in the anime club.

What happens in anime club, stays in anime club.

So while Hazel would be the best bet to confined to, he needed a different perspective. He needed someone who wouldn't give him advice. And Jason was the sight he needed.

He had grabbed Jason's clothes he had borrowed from Piper's the day before and had planned on using it as an excuse to go over to his place. He knew Jason wouldn't say no. He would let Nico get away with murder if he could.

So the plan was to gaslight Will long enough to figure out how to properly avoid him without destroying their friendship and hide away at Jason's. Wasn't the best plan, but it sure as hell was something.

When he arrived, Nico made a B-line straight to Jason's locker. Just as he arrived, so was Jason. He thanked any god he could think of for Jason being early. Normally he wasn't, but he had been blessed on this day.

"Jay," Nico called out to him, the blond shutting his locker. His glasses sat poorly on his nose, crooked. Jason looked like a giant puppy who didn't care if you yelled at him as long as you threw his ball.

"Nico," he exclaimed back, smiling.

"Can I come over to your place tonight?" Nico was quick to the point. Jason looked a bit surprised but it quickly morphed back into a smile.

"Sure, dude! We needed to hang out soon anyways."

"Good. I have stuff for you so it works."

"Alright!" Jason leaned on his locker, grinning his adorable, lopsided grin.

"Cool, I'll see you later."

Jason looked a bit confused but he waved Nico off as he headed away from him.

"Oh, okay. Yeah."

Part one done. He could breathe a little.

Nico headed over to his locker, feeling a bit better. If he could just making it to his class room, he could blame it on needed to catch up on homework.

But as he rounded the corner, he saw Will, chatting with a girl he thought he recognised from one of Will's classes. She had fire red hair that was thrown up into whatever she called a bun. Her laughter was contagious as she burst out laughing. She was a bit loud, but it was the loud you enjoyed.

She placed a hand on his shoulder and said something, smiling as Will shook his head. She wiggled her eyebrows before placing her paint-covered hand on Will's cheek. She had a caring look in her eyes as she spoke to him. Nico wished he knew how to read lips and wished for the pain in his chest to go away.

That wasn't Katie, he was pretty sure. But if it wasn't Katie, it just showed that there were way more obstacles than he originally realised. Fuck, how was Nico ever going to compete with the entire student body at this rate?

Nico bit his cheek and shook his head. Just walk on by before he notices you.

But Nico didn't have that sort of luck. Just as he thought he was safe, Will jogged up to meet him.

"Hey, dude," Will called, stopping as Nico turned to his locker, focusing on his combo. "How are you?"

Nico hummed as he unlocked his locker.

"A bit tired," he said, giving Will a half-hearted smile. Will looked like he was tossing a thought around but Nico couldn't figure out what. Will was an open book, but sometimes it was written in a different language.

"I get that." Will paused as he looked up and down the hall, biting his lip as he scrunched his brow. Nico pretended not to notice as he aimlessly moved books around in his locker. "I just-" Will's words got caught on his tongue as he tried to piece his train of thought together.

Nico turned to look at him, doing everything he could to avoid looking him in the eyes. He knew he wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer if he did - hell, he didn't think he could hold on just standing next to him.

He was hyperaware of his heart racing, the feeling of claws seeping into his chest as if his emotions were eating him from the inside out. To scream, to laugh, to cry wouldn't be enough to escape the flutter of his heart when Will only looked at him, moving nothing more than his eyes.

Will broke out into a smile, one enough to leave Nico paralyzed for the next week as he thought over his words to himself.

"I just… I was worried about you, is all." He tilted his head, a curl finding its place in front of his face. His eyes brought him back to just how blue the ocean was. It wasn't nearly as brilliant, but Nico could imagine a world where the sea looked just like that.

Nico gave the best smile he could muster, throwing everything into it. His eyes felt blank, but maybe Will wouldn't notice.

"Yeah, I just…" Nico took a deep breath and tried to relax his shoulders. "Had some family drama that got in the way. I was meaning to message you back, really, it just slipped my mind this weekend."

There was a nervous look to Will's reaction, but he hid it well with a smile that reached his eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked. And under normal circumstances, he would of. Nico would have called him and cried all night on call, only hanging up when his phone died or he passed out. Which ever came first. But not this time.

Nico shrugged.

"It was just something I was trying to process on my own." Nico wanted to open up about it to Will, but something had him by the neck and was holding him down.

Nico looked up at the blond and smiled. His jaw was stiff but he pressed on.

"I, uh, actually have to get going to class, though. I didn't get the homework I was meaning to get done this weekend, so I'm gonna go last minute pull something together."

"Oh," Will spoke gently, his face unreadable. "Okay." He gave Nico a toothy grin, the gap between his top two teeth noticeable.

As Nico turned to head towards class, Will perked up.

"Oh, hey," he called out. Nico stopped and turned to face him. Will's face had the same dusting of freckles it always had but his cheeks were now dusted red. Nico hated how cute it made him look. Was it a sun burn?

"Hmh?"

"Wanna come over after school?" Will asked, his face bright. "Dad's been bugging me to get you to try his new guitar he got the other day, says it's just your style. I think he's grossly miscategorized you, but he begs to differ."

Nico felt a twinge in his chest as he forced a sad smile. The sad wasn't forced, but the smile was.

"Sorry, I'm going over to Jason's after class today."

Will's face fell a bit but he took a deep breath in and straightened his back.

"Fine, but you have to come over soon, then."

"Yeah, sure."

Will waved as he stuck his other hand in his pocket. "See you at lunch."

"Yeah."

And with that, Nico hightailed it to his class. He really did need to get some work done, but he was thankful he was able to get away from Will with very little questions asked.

His heart was still racing by the time he sat down. As he pushed paper and books around in his backpack, he noticed he forgot the one thing he actually needed.

He gave a defeated sigh and groaned. He rested his head on his desk as he let the feeling of floating finally wear off, sending him crashing to the ground. He debated going back to grab it, but the last thing he needed was to risk another run in. He would just have to borrow the text from someone else and pray he wouldn't need it.

Part one of avoiding Will was complete, now he had the rest of his life left to go. This was not going to be easy.

….

When lunch came around, Nico made sure to steal the spot between Hazel and Piper. He knew both of them would throw hands if needed and it wasn't unusual for him to not sit beside Will. He just hadn't done so in several months. Yeah, add that to the list of things that now seemed stupid.

Nico made sure to have both girls engaged in conversation the entire time, never breaking to give Will a chance to butt in. He did notice the blond giving him a curious look, but the one time he caught Will's eye, he made a face and rolled his eyes, almost making it seem they both were in on the joke. That seemed to satisfy him for the time being.

Piper, however, caught on right away. She kept nudging him and speaking in shitty code that anyone with half a brain and baseline info on the situation would have pieced together. But thank god neither blond picked up on it and Hazel was too deep into her story to notice. Frank never really cared for that sort of drama, so he was safe, too.

The conversation had gotten onto the topic of Hazel's potential wedding and it was a hot debate on who was going to be in her bridal party.

"Obviously, I'm the maid of honour," Piper said, picking at the half-finished bag of chips she had stolen earlier from Will. Everyone stole food from Will, and he never seemed to mind.

"I wouldn't get too cocky," Jason said, wiping something from the corner of his mouth after he took a bite of his sandwich.

"Oh yeah? Are you gonna be the maid of honour, Sparky?"

"I accidently put a fork in a toaster one time and you can't seem to let it go!"

"You say that as if it wasn't, like, two years ago," Nico pointed out, jabbing at him with his fork. Jason rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath something.

Hazel tried to hide her laughter behind her hand but failed.

"I would love to see you in a brides maid dress," Will said, leaning on his hand as he watched the interaction. It had been a while since the table was back to its usual energy after the Piper-Jason breakup.

"Damn right you would!" Jason exclaimed, wiggling his finger at him.

"Anyways," Hazel clapped her hands, "who said you were going to be my maid of honour?"

"Because I'm your best friend plus I'm the only girl at this table," she said as if it was a no brainer. She gestured around to the guys before raising her brows to prove her point.

"What if I ask Nico?" she asked, matching Piper's energy.

"Actually," Nico piped up, "I'm going to be your flower boy, so…"

Piper lost it. The thought of Nico walking down the aisle with a basket of flower petals was the funniest thought she had ever had. She almost fell off her seat as the rest of the table howled at the mental image.

"No, no, I'm holding you to it." Hazel said, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Good, 'cause I'm serious."

"So am I."

Nico had done everything he could to avoid Will. When he approached him after class, he skirted away, rushing down halls just so he could barely miss him. He would be lying if he said he didn't see Will's face turn almost defeated every time he had to go or would miss him by a hair. It hurt, but it was better than facing reality for what he was going through.

Maybe he took pleasure in hurting his friend, but the relief he received when he got away was euphoric.

Now he was sitting on Jason's floor with his feet tossed up on the bed as Jason leaned back against his pillow, the two of them just listening to the humming of the fan that was circulating the room.

When he had asked what Nico wanted, Nico had thrown Jason's clothes at him, telling him, "you left this shit at Piper's, dude."

He had been more surprised that Nico had found them then he was that they were at Piper's. Both ignored the full contents of the pile, especially when Jason was putting the folded laundry away.

Jason had offered him a can of White Claw, and while Nico didn't really have a preference of drinking, he took it anyways, needing anything to take the edge away. Jason always had a stash of them, and even though him and Piper always made fun of him for it, he always smiled and shrugged, offering them a can. Of course, they always took one.

After sitting down and downing half the can in one go, Nico told Jason everything. It was spewing out of him at a rate he couldn't believe.

Keep it to yourself, he told himself. But as it went on, he needed everyone to know. It was a dangerous secret that was infectious, and Nico wanted to bring the whole world down with him.

Jason had listened to the first bit of what Nico had said before taking a deep breath and downing the rest of his White Claw before getting up and grabbing another one.

"We're going to need another one, I see." He got one for himself and for Nico.

And so there he was, laying on the floor, an empty can beside him and an almost finished one in his hand, watching as Jason sat and listened to every word he said. He didn't judge him, didn't tell him he a stupid, didn't tell him anything. He just asked questions in times he was unsure and let Nico take the rest.

"So, this happened on Saturday?" he asked, his brows furrowed as he finished off his second can.

"Yeah," Nico frowned, taking a drink from his can. Jason for some reason loved the watermelon flavour and it was all he had on hand.

"So, how are things now?"

"I don't know!" Nico flailed his arms, letting them fall back after he was down. He went to take another drink but quickly realised that his can was empty. He huffed and crushed it before tossing it towards the pile on Jason's desk. "I've just been avoiding him all day and being quick in my texts with him. I just know if I don't, I'll say something I'll regret later."

"I get it." Jason heaved himself up and leaned over the bad, legs crossed, staring down at Nico. "You feel like you're caught between a rock and a wall."

"Yeah, sure." Nico stared up at the ceiling, waiting for something to hit him that would give him the right idea to dealing with all this. When it never came, he sighed heavily. "It's just – I hate how I feel about him."

"Hmh?"

"Like, I wanna hold his hand, you know? I want him to keep smiling at me and call me pretty – don't you fucking laugh at me!"

"Sorry," Jason apologized as he hid behind his hand.

"I just… I want him to look at me like he did Saturday again. Like I was the only one that mattered. I just… I just want to kiss him." Nico's voice began to fail as he continued. He had spoken out loud these thoughts for the first time to someone and he hated how his heart raced at just the sound of those words.

"Dude," Jason started, waving his hands around as if he was a magician. "You don't have to worry about all that stuff."

Nico raised a brow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Dude, all those thing's you said about Will, that's just normal 'bro stuff'."

Now Nico was really confused.

"No, I can assure you it's not."

"Nico, trust me. Everyone wants that with Will. It's totally normal to think of holding Will's hand. Trust me."

Nico had to laugh. Was Jason serious?

"Okay, dude, you can stop fucking with me, I feel better now."

"I'm not fucking with you." Jason was now the one who sounded confused.

"You're serious?"

"What? Is that not normal?"

"Is thinking of wanting to kiss your friend normal?" Nico asked, watching Jason's face. He seriously couldn't believe he was having this conversation with him. "Usually, no."

"Like, not right now, obviously, but like…"

Nico was now the one helping Jason out. He couldn't leave him circling the drain of his own words anymore. He sat up and looked his friend dead in his confused eyes.

"Jay," Nico started, taking his words slow. "Are you telling me that you had a crush on Will?"

Jason's brow was furrowed as he thought over what Nico had just asked him. Obviously, it wasn't, right? He couldn't. But the longer he took, the more Nico had to hold in both his laughter and his pity.

"No – no, no, no. Obviously not. No. It's totally normal to want to kiss your dude friends, right?" Jason was pleaded at this point, begging Nico to tell him that what he was describing wasn't what he was thinking it was. "Nico, right?"

"Jay."

"Dude, I didn't have a crush on Will or I would have known. I'm not – I can't be – no." Jason's expression turned horrified, as if he had seen a ghost. All colour drained from his face as he slowly looked down at Nico who was holding back a smirk. Nico raised a brow while waiting for his reaction. "Dude, I might be bi."

"Yeah, maybe."

"Dude," he said again, his time a bit louder. Nico had never seen anyone speed run the stages of grief as fast as he did with Jason. Before he even had time to tell him it was going to be okay, Jason had come to the acceptance stage. "This all makes sense now. Why I was so obsessed with Ewan McGregor growing up. Oh, my god! This explained my passion for men's volleyball in middle school." Jason turned back to Nico with a grin taking up his entire face. "Dude, I'm bi!"

"Glad we discovered that one," Nico said as Jason fished around for his phone.

"I have to tell Thalia." In five seconds, he had called his sister and she picked up on the other end.

"Thals," he started, "you'll never guess what I just figured out. Yeah – yeah – I'm bi! Yeah, I know. It's crazy. Yup – yeah. Yeah, he is. Cool – yeah. Got it. Okay, love you. Yup – bye!"

When he hung up, he grinned. Nico raised an eyebrow, itching for another can of Jason's shitty White Claw.

"So, Thalia said she already knew and that she says 'hi' and that you need to get your shit together."

Nico laughed. Of course she would know he was over. It was the only way Jason would have realised this.

"Yeah, whatever."

"Dude, this is so cool. I can now help you with boy troubles."

"I think this means now you're about to have boy troubles."

Jason scrunched up his nose and waved his hand. "Eh, I'll be fine."

"Dude, your gay-dar is so shitty you thought it was normal to want to kiss your guy friend."

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to platonically kiss your homies."

"Do you want to kiss me?"

Jason gagged.

"Exactly."

….

While Jason wasn't much in the terms of help, he made the day feel much lighter. Jason was always the guy Nico would go to when he needed a quick cheering that would make him forget the shitty things going on.

When he got home, he excused himself after a semi-awkward dinner that consistent of three-sentence-small-talk that went nowhere and praise of the meal.

He set to work putting his energy into his homework, throwing on his headphones and blocking out the outside world. Homework was a nice distraction from what was going on in his life on the daily and by the time he finished enough that he was happy with, it was already eleven pm.

He stretched his body and sighed. He knew he had a few missed texts but besides the guilt of knowing he wouldn't open them until morning, he felt relaxed. Nico never thought that doing homework would be one of the highlights of his day.

It was a weird thing, love. Everyone experiences it in different forms. Platonic love is a type of love that Nico refused to take for granted. You can't choose who you love and who your family is, but you can choose those around you and who you're friends with. It is the one form of love you can both choose and not choose.

No matter how this all goes down, Nico knows that he'll have his friends by his side. Because they love him, no matter what, and he loves them, too.

Love. It's a funny thing.

A/N: Okay okay, this was a little more of a fun chapter. I have a lot of small background info i've been meaning to throw in because i dont want to establish much later on in the series. i only write what feels right so please bare with me.

I've received a lot of comments asking for Will's POV, and i see where yall are coming from, but i have a plan. trust me on this. if i think it would be the best for the story i would, but just, trust me. I am sitting on so much you have no idea so hearing from all of you makes me so excited.

I dont think i have much going on this week, but i know about the week after next i might be a little late as I'm flying to see family and i'm not bringing my laptop with me. but dont worry, i'm hoping to get everything set up ahead of time so it's not that behind (might even be on time.)

we are now over half way done and I want to know where you think this story is going! I love to hear your predictions with this fic. especially with this being part one in the series.

Anyways, tell me how your doing, hows your week been? i love waking up and reading your comments. literally one of my favorite parts of writing these are hearing from you all!

Until next week

Kitty