Hazel knocked on her brother's door before slowly pushing it open. "Nico, I've got your homework. And some soup."

She set the books down on the floor and brought the soup over to the drowsy boy tucked into bed under several blankets.

"Thanks." Nico said softly. Hazel noted that his hands were cold and clammy as he reached out to take the bowl. She frowned and touched the back of her hand to his unusually warm forehead.

"Are you feeling any better?" She sat down on the end of his bed.

"A little." He blew on the soup, then ate a spoonful.

"Wanna hear about how Leo tried to ask Callie out?"

Nico didn't really care, but he knew Hazel loved talking about her friends so he said, "Sure."

As Hazel talked, Nico tried to quell the fear in the pit of his stomach. He really didn't want to go back to school tomorrow, but he'd missed enough days and his fever was almost completely gone. Besides, he had a test to take.

There wasn't really any reason to not want to go to school, Nico reasoned. After all, his conversation with Jason on Friday had gone well. But it was Jason, and Nico trusted him. Yet he still wasn't sure if he would walk into school tomorrow and suddenly everyone would know. And they would all be looking at him. He'd kept this secret for so long, does telling just one person change anything?

Of course Jason wouldn't tell anyone. But now that Nico had admitted it, wouldn't people be able to sense it? Or maybe he should be hoping for that. He wasn't quite ready to tell the world, but would everyone just knowing be better than making him summon the courage to tell people over and over again?

Nico remembered Jason questioning him at lunch on Friday about his study date with Will.

"So, who did you ride home with yesterday?" Jason had asked, genuinely curious.

"I walked home yesterday," It was true, he just left out that he hadn't walked home alone. Nico tried to kill the butterflies that fluttered around in his stomach whenever he thought of Will, but kept failing miserably. He looked at the table, trying not to blush.

"Ooh, does someone have a crush?"

Nico blushed deeper.

"Who is she?"

"Tsntashe" he whispered. The feeling of butterflies subsided as his heart started racing.

"Huh?" Jason hadn't caught any of that.

Nico took a deep breath and said, "It's not a she."

"Oh." Jason looked stunned for a moment, then he recovered. "Who is he then?"

The shorter boy stared at the table, trying to find the words to admit out loud to liking Will Solace while simultaneously fighting his instincts that were telling him to run away. Jason sensed Nico's nervousness.

"It's okay, you don't have to tell me." The blonde shot his friend a reassuring smile.

Nico was grateful that Jason was so understanding, he simply couldn't bare revealing more of himself at the moment.

"But if you ever want to talk to someone," Jason offered.

It really wasn't so bad, Nico reminded himself. Much better than he ever expected it to go. But that reminded him of his other problem, Will.

Nico frowned as Hazel continued describing Leo's antics to try to impress Callie.

He was sure he hadn't dreamed it, Will's lips gently brushing his for a fraction of a second before he left. Nico didn't know if it could be counted as a real kiss. Maybe an almost-kiss.

But it had definitely happened. And when it did, Nico froze. He stood there for a good minute after Will had left completely. Luckily, his sisters and their parents were out Saturday afternoon, so there was no one to question why he was standing there staring blankly.

The sky was cloudy and grey and the air was slightly chilly, but not enough to need a jacket. When a bird cawed he was shaken out of his stupor. Without a second thought, he grabbed his shoes and house keys and went for a walk to clear his head.

An hour later, he had no answers. What did this mean? Did Will like him? Did this mean he would have to tell more people that he's gay?

He was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice it had started raining ten minutes ago. By the time he got back to the house he was soaked through.

Once he made it back his sisters and parents were home, and they all immediately scolded him for being out in the rain and for not leaving a note. It wasn't until the next morning that he woke up with a fever. Nico spent the next few days in bed, alternating between watching tv and sleeping because the cold medicine made him drowsy. In the few hours he was awake at night he attempted to do his homework, which was piling up as the number of days of school missed increased.

He had finished the soup that Hazel brought him and she offered to take the bowl back downstairs. As she was about to leave, he called out, "Hazel?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you seen my phone?" He looked at the bedside table where he normally kept it. It wasn't there and the charger hung limply off the edge.

"Do you want me to call it?" She pulled her own phone out of her pocket.

He nodded, and a moment later there was the distinct buzzing of a phone vibrating, but he couldn't quite tell from where. Hazel took a couple steps back into the room as she listened.

"I think it's coming from under your bed."

She set the soup bowl down as she laid on the floor and reached under the bed.

With a smile, she pulled Nico's phone out and handed it to him.

"Thanks." He said.

"No problem." She scooped up the bowl and headed back downstairs.

Unsurprisingly, Nico's phone showed a missed call and was very, very low on battery. Surprisingly, he also had a text from Will.

Nico reached over to the cord to plug it in before opening the text.

Hey! Didn't see you in class today. Everything alright?

Crap. It was sent on Monday. Two full days ago. How was he supposed to reply now? Did Will still care? Nico bit his lip, contemplating whether he should include an explanation for why it took him so long to respond.

Sorry, I've been sick and I dropped my phone under my bed. I'll be there tomorrow.

After thinking for a full five minutes, he hit send. Then he reached for his textbooks and resigned himself to studying. He might as well if he was going to school tomorrow.

Not a minute later, his phone buzzed.

Sorry to hear that! Hope you're feeling better :) See you tomorrow!

Nico couldn't help but smile at that. Despite his fears, he was suddenly looking forward to school tomorrow. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all.

Yeah, see you tomorrow

He turned his attention back to his textbook, but didn't stop smiling.