The next month passed in a blur—a happy blur, tinged in laughter and smiles and sarcastic comments and iron skies. Nico had never felt so at ease before. Four days a week he went to work at the mortuary, and the rest of the week he attended classes. He got to know Reyna quite well. Reyna, as it turned out, seemed to be the female equivalent of himself, and they enjoyed quite some time together.
And as for Will…
Nico began to realize that he was falling for him.
It happened all at once. The realization that he liked him. Really, truly liked him, in a way much deeper than friendship. It had been coming on for a while, he supposed, but it hit him like a speeding truck when he finally realized it.
And once he realized it, that's all he could think about.
They hung out almost every day now, poking around old bookstores or trying to find the most out-of-the-way cafes. Nico had been over to Will's apartment several more times now, each time significantly less awkward than the first. It was easy now, talking to him, laughing with him. There was no way it should have worked—their friendship, that is—but somehow, it did.
Nico wasn't complaining.
Sometimes, when they looked at each other, Will's eyebrows quirking upward at an unspoken joke that they both understood, Nico thought that maybe—maybe Will felt the same way. But he was much too afraid to ask him.
He didn't want to risk this—whatever it was they had. Because every moment Nico spent with Will, he felt his own darkness ease ever so slightly. As if there was hope for him after all.
He couldn't compromise this. He couldn't.
He didn't want to be miserable again.