A/N: To kick this chapter off, happy Thanksgiving babes! What better gift than an extra long chapter? Here's the new chapter (finally), and it's a Will POV this time around! Squee! ^-^ Hope you guys love it and keep being awesome ^-^ I'm thankful for you all ❤❤❤

As always, texting guide for this chapter;

Italics = Will

Underlined = Lou

13

Will

Will burst through his front door breathless and panicked and gasped out, "WHAT'S THE EMERGENCY?!" His dad looked up at him from his place on the couch and raised an eyebrow. "Um, what are you talking about?"

Giving him an exasperated look, Will stomped over and shoved his phone screen at his dad. "You sent me a text saying, 'EMERGENCY! COME HOME ASAP!'" He stared at him with an expectant look, waiting for an explanation. His dad just stared at the phone with a blank look for several seconds before slamming his fist in his open palm. "Ohhhhh, that. Yeah, it's actually a funny story, son."

"I'm not laughing," Will said humorlessly, glaring at him. "I was in the middle of something, you know! I ran out of Nico's house like a crazy person. What do you have to say for yourself?!"

Apollo scratched his cheek in embarrassment. "Um, well, there was a, uh, spider in the bathroom? IT WAS HUGE!" he added frantically, holding up his arms to defend himself as Will raised a fist threateningly. Taking a deep breath to keep himself from murdering his father, Will let his hand drop and tried to relax a little. "Dad, you couldn't have added that tiny little detail at the end of the text, so, ya know, I didn't run out on Nico and his dad like a psycho?" He winced and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Gods, he's probably freaked out..."

His dad gave him a sheepish grin. "Sorry, Will. Did you get what you went over for?"

Will started slightly, fingering the manga in the large pocket of his dad's old sweatshirt (which he'd stolen a few years ago). "Oh, yeah, I guess I did..." With a jolt of realization, he shook his head and pointed an accusatory finger at his dad. "Hey, don't change the subject! I'm still mad at you!"

"Good!" Apollo said with a smile, ignoring his previous comment. "Hey, I was thinking of ordering pizza for dinner. What do you think?"

"Dad!" Will said exasperatedly as his dad stood and walked towards the kitchen, pulling a phone from his pocket.

"Cheese or pepperoni?"

"Are you seri—" Will gave up with an irritated sigh and ran his hands through his hair. His father was hopeless. "Cheese."

Apollo grinned, shooting him a finger gun. "You got it, Will."

As he walked off, Will sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ridiculous," he murmured to himself, padding over to the stairs and taking them two at a time. "Completely ridiculous." He let himself into his room and kicked the door closed, pulling his phone and the manga from his pocket. He tossed the book on the desk and flopped on his bed with the phone, opening his texts. He figured he owed Nico an apology/explanation for his weird behavior earlier.

He thought about just going back over, but he figured that would be rude, so texting was the next best thing.

10:17 AM - Hey, sorry about running out on you earlier... My dad said he had a quote on quote "emergency", so I ran over (literally, might I add), and, long story short, it's not an emergency. (Told you my family was as weird as yours.) Anyway, should I just come back over, or...?

He sent the text and watched the screen, waiting for the response. After about five minutes of looking down at his screen in anticipation, however, he frowned and tapped out another text.

10:22 AM - Nico? You there?

Five more minutes later, and still no answer. Will was a little worried now. Sure, he figured that sometimes people didn't text back if they were busy, et cetera, but Will had just seen him (not busy, at that) not twenty minutes ago. Was he mad that Will had run out like that? But he'd just apologized and explained, so what was the problem?

Before he could debate any longer with himself, his phone dinged, scaring him, and he nearly dropped it. He expected a text from Nico, but was disappointed when he saw that it was from Lou. Then immediately afterwards felt angry at himself for feeling disappointed. He was acting like a twelve-year-old.

10:27 AM- Hey, babe. Did you get the manga?

Will took a deep breath. "She's your best friend. You can talk to her about this. Okay? Okay."

10:29 AM - Yes, but Dad texted me saying he had an emergency, and I sorta ran out on Nico. I tried to text him after to apologize but he's not reading my texts or responding Lou what do I do?

Instead of texting, she called a few seconds later, and Will smiled to himself. He should've just called her ten minutes ago and saved himself all this trouble. "Hey, Lou."

"William, I'll be over in two minutes," she said in greeting, before immediately hanging up. As promised, a few minutes later, she tapped on the glass, and Will padded over to let her in. "So, di Angelo's not texting you back?" she asked, flopping slant-ways across his bed and kicking off her shoes (orange kitten heels. Will had to admit; it was a fashion statement). Will shook his head and sat down beside her. "No. I don't understand. Is he mad at me? I tried to apologize."

Lou crossed her legs and turned on her side to look at him. "Will, you're being stupid. He's probably just busy."

"But he wasn't busy when I left," Will pressed, letting out an exasperated groan. Perhaps she wouldn't be as much help as he'd originally thought. He buried his face in a pillow and screamed. "Why am I feeling like this?!" he yelled, voice slightly muffled by the pillow. In answer, Lou placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a reassuring pat. "It's called love, William."

Will sprang up like a jack-in-the-box and shook his head at her, wide-eyed. "No. No way! I don't— I'm not— I don't love Nico! He's not funny or considerate or adorable or anything like that! I definitely don't like being around him or hearing him laugh or look at me through those damned thick eyelashes! What are you even saying, Lou?!"

"I'm not saying anything," Lou said, her eyebrows raised as she looked at him with a smirk. "But you appear to be saying quite a lot, Will." She pushed herself to a sitting position and used a pillow to rest her elbows against. "It sounds to me like you need to seriously address how you feel about Nico, babes."

"What...? No..." Will protested weakly. "I mean, I know how I feel. He's just a friend. An annoying friend that blackmailed me into several dates to get a manga because I'm forgetful and, you know, they probably restocked the shelves at Barnes & Noble and I could've just gone in and bought one but he— Urgh, damn him!" Will threw up his hands with a deep scowl on his face. "I can't believe this."

"Will," Lou said, patting his shoulder, "rant."

"What?" he asked, looking up at her with a confused look. Lou stared back at him with a completely serious expression. "You heard me: Rant. Go on. Rant about everything that you hate about Nico." She sat back, raising her hands in a show of peace. "I won't even say anything; I'll just be the stereotypical good friend and listen to you complain. So go ahead."

Will frowned. "But... I can't just—"

"He's devious," Lou interrupted, "isn't he?"

"Yes!" Will growled, unable to help himself with the prompt. He squeezed a pillow to his chest so tightly he feared it would pop. "He's insanely devious! No, scratch that; insane, period! You know, the first time I went over, he had all the lights off, and candles everywhere—fuckingcandles—and you know what he said to me when I mentioned it? 'I like the dark'! I mean, who fucking says that?!

"And you know what else, he's so tiny! He thinks he's got this whole bad-boy emo image going on, wearing all the black and scowling at everyone all the time, but he probably weighs as much as a ten-year-old! I could pick him up and cuddle him like a teddy bear, he's that small, and he thinks he's so tough, always flirting with that damn accent. And as if all that wasn't enough, his house has no food in it! When does he ever eat?

"Plus he has this weird obsession with Disney, and is always saying bad, inappropriate jokes at the worst times, and he somehow managed to get me to go out on not one but three dates with him, all for some dumb manga! I don't even know if I want to read it now, but I know I have to because I went through all this damn trouble to get it! And you know what else? He somehow always manages to look so fucking adorable no matter what the scenario, even playing fucking laser tag, he looks like an angel. I mean, seriously, how can one person be so attractive and not even realize it?!"

Will sat back with a loud exhale, breathing heavily from his passionate, angry monologue. Lou was looking at him with a knowing look on her face, not saying anything for several seconds while Will's anger level slowly went from a million back to one, and he felt himself deflate like an old balloon.

"Anything else?" Lou asked carefully.

"The nickname," Will muttered, collapsing back on his pillows with an exhausted groan. "Sunshine. I mean, I guess I did start it with 'ghost boy', but I was having an off day, okay? And not just sunshine, oh no, but my ray of sunshine, said in that fucking adorable sexy accent that—Urggghhhh, I just cannn'ttttt!" He held a pillow to his face and rolled onto his stomach, wanting to curl up in a ball and die.

"See?" Lou said eventually, reaching out to rest a hand on his arm. "Don't you feel better now?"

"Noooo," Will moaned, turning to give her a miserable look. He returned his head to the pillow's protective softness and groaned. "If anything this made it a thousand times worse, because now I can see that I'm totally head-over-fuckin'-heels for him! And after only a week of knowing him! What is wrong with me?"

"Oh, Will," Lou said gently, squeezing his hand. "I'm sorry. I wouldn't have told you to rant if you were going to feel this bad after. But this is a good thing, believe it or not."

"How?" Will demanded, pushing himself to a sitting position and glaring at her. "By all means, tell me, because I'm feeling about a million different things right now, and none of them are particularly good, Lou. Christ."

His best friend gave him a small smile and squeezed his hand again. "Will, really. I know you think that this is going to ruin your life, but it won't. In fact, it could make it better. You'll never know unless you try."

"I'm sick of trying!" Will shouted at her, pulling his hand away as an irrational spike of anger traveled up his spine. "When my mom left, I tried to pretend it didn't hurt! When school started, I tried to pretend that I wasn't that sad kid whose parents split up! I tried to pretend I didn't see all the pitying looks! I tried my best in school, I tried to be there for my dad, I tried to take my mind off it all by immersing myself in school and sports; I tried. But it doesn't work, Lou!" His voice broke on her name, and he buried his face in his hands. "It doesn't work..."

"Will..." she whispered after several seconds. He could hear the tears in her voice. Her weight shifted on the bed, and a second later warm arms wrapped around him as she hugged him. He tried to push her away. He felt mad; mad at Nico, mad at Lou, mad at his mother for leaving him, mad at himself for breaking down like this after so long of acting carefree and keeping it all together. He tried to push her away, but her arms were tight and strong around him. He had a fleeting thought that they were all that was holding him together.

"Will, it's okay," she whispered, hugging him tighter. He felt her tears tickle his scalp as they fell on his head. "It's okay," she repeated, more forcefully this time. The words made Will's resolve crumble, and he slumped against her, letting himself sob as she cradled him, just like she had when his mom first left; like she did every time he needed a friend. He realized for maybe the hundredth time that he had possibly the best best friend in the world.

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Will felt himself beginning to calm down, that familiar exhaustion you got after a long cry taking hold of him. He took one last deep inhale against Lou's shoulder, her vanilla and rosemary scent filling his nose and flushing his system with calmness. Finally, he was able to pull away, sniffling, and Lou gave him a smile. "Better?"

He nodded, giving her a weak smile in return. "Yeah. Thanks, Lou. Have I mentioned that you're the best friend in the world?"

"You could stand to mention it a bit more often," she joked offhandedly, poking him in the side. They both laughed, and Will gave her a smile—a real one this time. "Really, Lou; thank you. Not just for the hugging thing, but also for making me rant like that. It's probably a good thing that you got me to stop being an oblivious idiot."

"Yeah, well, that's the Will I love," Lou said, nudging him playfully with her shoulder. "Oblivious and idiotic."

Will laughed. "True. Besides, if you didn't put up with me, who would?"

Lou hopped to her feet and walked over to the window, tossing a smile over her shoulder at Will. "Oh, I think Nico would." That comment earned her an un-amused look from Will. "Not funny," he said, throwing a pillow at her. She caught it with ease and tossed it back with a grin. "Isn't it though?"

She leaned over and opened the window. One leg swung over the sill, she turned and gave Will a wink and a thumbs-up. "I gotta go to work, babe, but I'll talk to you first thing after my shift." Will nodded, sitting cross-legged and absently stroking the pillow Lou had thrown. "Tell your mom hi for me."

"I will!" Lou swung her other leg over the ledge. Sliding out onto the tree branch she always used to enter and exit, she stuck her upper half back in through the window and pointed at him. "Hey, remember; you are an oblivious idiot that is—"

"—in love with Nico," Will finished, rolling his eyes. "I know. Just keep rubbing salt in the wound, there, Lou. It's not like we just had a huge emotional crying and hugging feels fest or anything."

Lou rolled her eyes but gave him a smile. "Shut up. I just want you to remember something."

"That I'm an oblivious idiot?" Will asked, raising an eyebrow.

His best friend snorted. "No, something else, stupid." Her expression turned serious, and she looked him straight in the eye. "You don't get to choose who you fall in love with, Will. In fact, you're lucky if you fall in love at all, so if you do find someone, you should feel lucky. Very lucky." She turned to go again but looked back at him one last time. "Just remember that."

A/N: Haha, you probably weren't expecting that, were ya? XD Yeah, I figured we needed a little angst after all the nice fluff I gave you guys. (Ily guys, pls don't kill me for this c:) Also, for those of you wondering about Will's past, don't worry; more will be revealed as the story goes on (same w/ Nico.) This was an extra-long chapter, with lots of Lou/Will BrOTP, so hopefully you guys will forgive me for the angstiness ;)

No translations for this chapter, but plenty of crying. (Haha, not sorry.) Next time should be a bit more interesting, since we'll get to see if Nico has gotten his shit together yet, as our baby William has XD Remember to follow and favorite if you liked the story, and feel free to leave suggestions/comments/corrections down in the review section, and also feel free to PM me with any questions. Stay awesome, babes! ^-^