Will sighed, falling backwards to flop down on his bed. It had been a long day, with a rude middle-aged rich lady backseat driving and criticizing his car for two hours.

Seriously, why would someone take an uber for a two hour car ride? Why would you want to be stuck in a car with a stranger for that long? Will didn't get it. But, oh well, at least he'd been paid well for it.

Staring up at his ceiling, Will couldn't stop his mind from wandering to the day before, when he and Nico had stayed late in the studio, talking and laughing and singing until almost midnight. Then, since he had taken a bus there, Nico drove him home. With the wind from the open window in his face and a beautiful boy next to him, Will felt like he was in a cheesy teen movie.

Never mind that they were both twenty-one and technically not teenagers anymore. It didn't stop him from eyeing Nico's hand nervously, wondering what it would be like to hold it in his own.

He knew he was going quick. They'd only known each other for, what, a week now? And truthfully, he couldn't classify his feelings as anything but intrigue at this point.

He didn't know Nico very well. But he'd be damned if he didn't want to.

Nico fascinated him. How fierce his eyes were. But then sometimes, when he didn't think anyone could see, how a strange sadness overtook his features. How passionate he was about music. How glowingly he spoke of his sister. How Will could never quite tell what he was thinking.

How there were times like yesterday when Nico completely blindsided him. Yesterday, it had been just half an hour after they'd gotten into the studio. After their previous time being spent messing around with the instruments and Nico showing Will how the sound editing worked, they finally started singing for the first time.

Nico's voice blew Will away. Not because it was powerful, or show stopping, but because it was… Will couldn't think of the word. Personal, maybe? Nico sung quietly, so much so that Will had to lean in to hear all of the words. He had so much emotion in his voice, could make himself vulnerable so easily and clearly. It gave him a sort of simple, comfortable elegance, which was a stark contrast to how Will had seen him act previously; shy, nervous, avoiding eye contact.

Then, Will remembered, whatever fearlessness with his emotions that Nico had been displaying vanished the moment the music stopped.

It was strange.

Will's phone buzzed suddenly, pulling him out of his thoughts. He rolled over, not wanting to expend the effort required to sit up, and pulled the screen close to his face. The brightness was too far up, so he had to squint to make out the words displayed on his phone.

Nico di Angelo

Would you like to meet my sister?

Will immediately swiped in and began typing back.

Hazel? Yeah, I'd love to! But why?

It was less than thirty seconds before Nico responded.

She's heard me talking about you and wants to meet you

Will grinned. He talks about me, he thought, clutching the phone to his chest.

Ok, cool! When and where?

Friday, 7? We'll pick you up?

Sounds great!

Will dropped the phone on his bed, speeding into the kitchen. He knew he had to find something to busy himself with so he could contain his excitement. Seeing the dirty dishes piling up in the sink, he figured that was as good of a busywork as any.

He invited me to meet his sister. That must mean he likes me well enough, right? And he told Hazel about me! Wait, I wonder what he said…

Suddenly, Will's mind went racing, imagining all the things Nico could have said about him- good and bad. His dish-scrubbing became even more vigorous as he began to worry- had Nico been complaining about him? Maybe Hazel only wanted to meet him so she could confirm how awful Nico had described him to be. Maybe Nico didn't even-

"You ok there, kid?" said a voice behind him. Will spun around, clutching the plate in front of him like a shield. Lee, his older brother and roommate, was standing there, looking amused. "What did that plate ever do to you, huh?"

"S-sorry." Will gently placed the plate into the sink. "I was thinking."

"Thinking? About what?" Lee took a step toward Will, leaning in and trying to catch his eye. But Will was persistent in avoiding his gaze.

"N-nothing."

"You were thinking about nothing. Which made you try to murder that plate."

"Y-yes."

Lee pressed toward him even more. "Do you have a crush?"

"What?! N-no! Absolutely not! That's- that's ridiculous!"

Lee smiled fondly at him. "Cute dumb kid. You totally have a crush."

"No I do not." Will said each word forcefully, glaring at his brother.

"Mmm… yeah you do."

"No, I… well, I guess I… but…" Will was spluttering now.

"What's her name?"

Will went red.

Lee raised his eyebrows. "His name?"

Will went even redder.

"…Nico," he whispered.

Lee propped his elbows up on the counter as he spoke. "Nico. That's a nice name. Is he cute?"

"I-I guess…"

"You guess?"

Will now looked like a ripe tomato. Lee laughed.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop teasing you." He pushed off of the counter and sauntered over to the couches, flopping down with an exaggerated sigh. "I still wanna know about him, though."

Will took a few tentative steps toward the couches, dragging a hand along the counter. He glanced at the ground, a smile stuck on his face. "Nico is… he's…" Will shook his head.

"Oh my god, you're so in love," Lee laughed.

Will looked up at him, scowling again. "Okay, fine, if you're just gonna make fun of me-" He turned and started marching back to his room, but Lee jumped up, still laughing, and grabbed at his brother's shoulder.

"No, no, Will- Willy, don't be like that- Will, c'mon." Finally Will stopped, letting Lee drape his arms around Will's shoulders with an over exaggerated pout. "I'm sowwy." He grinned suddenly. "But I just couldn't resist. You're so obvious."

Will was smiling a little now. "It's just a crush. Not a big deal."

"You should invite him over! I can be a great waiter, and besides, he'd be totally impressed if he knew you could cook."

"But I can't cook."

"Well, he'd be impressed if he thought you could cook, then."

Will shook him off, laughing. "No. And we're going to a… actually, I don't know where we're going on Saturday. He just said he'd pick me up."

"You don't know where you're going?"

"Uhh, no?"

"He's gonna kidnap you."

Wll rolled his eyes. "He's not gonna kidnap me."

"You don't know that! And, y'know, I don't know how I feel about this guy who I've never met refusing to say where he's taking my baby brother-"

"Lee."

"-and I've never even heard of him before, so clearly you can't have known him for very long-"

"Lee."

Lee grinned, dropping his worried facade. "Nah, I'm just messin' with ya. Do be careful, though. And probably find out where you're going."

"Okay, okay." Will tried to pull away from Lee's hold to get to his room, but he held fast.

"Oh, no. You're not slipping away from me yet. You've gotta tell me all about this guy first!"

Will groaned. "Fine. Well, first of all, he's a singer-"

"Ooh, that's hot!" said Lee, making Will blush once again as he pulled him onto the balcony so Will could tell him more.

A/N So I know I said I'd get this chapter up last weekend, but life took an interesting turn for me so that didn't happen, sorry. From now on, though, I'm going to try to upload around twice a week (no promises though). Thank you for your patience and thanks so much for reading!