Nico had packed up his things slowly, waiting for Will. As the hall emptied out, Nico closed his locker and pulled out his phone. He pulled out his phone, typed out Where are you?, contemplated for a moment, then hit send.

A buzzing noise came from around the corner. Nico looked up to find Will smiling at the screen of his phone. Will's blue eyes sparkled and his hair was perfectly messy, as usual. Nico's heart rate picked up.

Just then Will met his eyes and his smile got even wider. Nico felt his face flush and looked down so Will wouldn't see, his long bangs falling in his eyes.

"Sorry I'm late. A friend needed my help."

Nico shrugged. "No worries."

"Shall we then?" Will indicated towards the main door. Nico nodded and followed him out.

The leaves were just beginning to turn color and the air was cool but not cold yet. Nico and Will walked side by side, arms just barely brushing their coat sleeves together. They walked in silence for a while. Nico was trying to think of something to say to Will, when suddenly-

"Is that squirrel talking on the phone?"

Nico looked around wildly trying to find what Will was referring to, when he saw the squirrel near the base of a tree. Then he burst out laughing.

Will looked at him with a mixture of amusement and concern. It felt strange for Nico to laugh, he so rarely did it, yet he couldn't stop.

"Th-the squir-rel is h-holding a le-af," Nico managed to get out while still laughing. He had to admit, it was pretty funny that the squirrel was holding the leaf to his ear like a cell phone. But it was funnier that Will assumed it was a cell phone.

Will blushed a bit. "Oh, I guess that makes more sense. But from far away it looked like… well I guess I've always had an overactive imagination."

Nico thought Will was extra cute when he was embarrassed. He had managed to stop laughing, but now he was hiccupping. Will smiled widely at this.

"Aww, does someone have the hiccups?"

Nico growled in response, but it was cut off with a hiccup which made it far less intimidating.

"Guess I'll have to scare it out of you." Will had an evil glint in his eye.

"Plea(hiccup)se Sol(hiccup)ace, nothing you (hiccup) could d(hiccup)o would be (hiccup) scary."

The blonde remained suspiciously silent, and Nico just rolled his eyes and trudged on ahead of him towards home, still hiccupping loudly. He could hear Will walking behind him though, so he didn't slow down or look back.

Suddenly, Nico felt something poke the back of his neck and warm breath on his ear whispered, "Boo."

Nico jumped, to Will's satisfaction. They both stood there for a moment, waiting to see if-

Hiccup.

"That didn't (hiccup) work."

"Worth a shot." Will sounded much too satisfied that he'd had the opportunity to scare Nico. The dark haired boy was already planning his revenge. "You'll just have to drink a glass of water upside-down when we get to your house."

"Does that act(hiccup)ually work?"

"Works every time for me."

By then they were at Nico's house. He led Will inside and made right for the kitchen. Will demonstrated how to lean over the glass to drink from it upside-down, and Nico managed it without spilling. It did the trick.

The two boys headed up to Nico's room to study. The house was all theirs, with Nico's parents at work and his sisters still at school, but Nico preferred to study in his room anyway.

His room was dark, with the shades pulled shut and deep blue walls making it feel like a cave. Upon entering he flicked on the light and kicked some of the clothes piled on his floor out of the way. His bed, however, was made neatly. Nico sat on the bed and Will sat next to him.

"Who's that?" Will pointed towards a picture on the dresser of a much younger Nico and an older girl who clearly wasn't Reyna.

"That's Bianca,"

Will froze. How could he be so stupid? Of course that was Bianca.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I'm okay." Nico said softly.

"What was she like?" Will asked.

Nico's features seemed to soften, and he spoke with reverence in his voice. "She was all kindness and smiles. As a kid I followed her everywhere. She got a little annoyed with that sometimes, but she was always the one I relied on."

Nico seemed content to leave it at that, so Will wasn't going to pry further.

"And your other sisters- Hazel and Reyna?"

This time Nico's smile reached his eyes. "Reyna's great. She drives us wherever we want to go, except when she has volleyball practice. And Hazel's a sweetheart, but she has a flair for the dramatic."

Will laughed. He was glad Nico was in a good mood again.

"What about your family?" Nico returned. "Are they… doing okay?"

Will gave him a reassuring smile, glad that he'd asked. "It's been tense, but no worse than usual I guess."

Nico smiled back. "Well if you ever need anywhere to go…"

The blonde nodded, then suddenly broke into a wide smile. "Hey Nico, you know where else it was tense?"

Nico looked at him curiously.

"The past, present, and future walked into a bar."

"Don't make me hit you with my textbook." Nico threatened. Will was too busy rolling on the bed laughing to care.

When Will stopped laughing, they pulled out their textbooks and attempted to begin studying. Nico stole glances at Will while he was engrossed in the chapter, liking the way Will pushed his tongue through his teeth. Will, for his part, was concentrating so intently on his book to try to keep himself from reaching towards Nico. Still, his hand unconsciously shifted towards where Nico's was resting.

It was going to be a long study session.

A/N: So, my flash drive died :( I didn't even know that could happen. At least the few things I'd already written are well ingrained on my brain. Anyway, sorry for taking so long this time, next update should be a bit sooner.