"Will. Psst. Wake up." Something shook Will's shoulder. He groaned. "Wiiiiiiiiillllll."

Will tried to shake them off but they shook him again. He rolled over and opened an eye hesitantly. It was Cecil. "Why are you waking me up at..." Will looked at the clock by his bedside, "at 2 in the freaking morning? I'm a morning person but not this early."

"Something came up."

"What is it?" He opened the other eye.

"There's a Nico di Angelo waiting for you outside our door."

"What?" He sat up immediately.

Cecil shrugged. "I dunno. See for yourself. He'd been knocking for a while. But if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to sleep." He dragged himself over to his bed and snuggled up.

Will got up and opened the door. Sure enough, Jack Skellington pajama clad Nico was standing there. He looked ashen. His eyes looked glazed over and he stared at the floor. He hugged his arms to himself like he was cold. "You have Netflix?"

That was a strange question at two in the morning. Will nodded anyway.

"Can we maybe um, watch something?"

Will nodded again and opened the door wider, gesturing for him to come in. He took a step forward. Unsure or rethinking his decision to go to Will at two in the morning after not speaking to him since their day together, he hesitated. It'd been two weeks. Nico finally decided it was fine and came all the way inside. He looked around. Most things were the same in every room, save for the decoration chosen by the people who lived there. He stood awkwardly as Will closed the door behind him.

"You can sit on my bed if you like." Will smiled but he wasn't sure if Nico saw it in the darkness. Right, he should turn on the light. He stumbled over to his bedside table and clicked on the lamp. The room was illuminated by a low glow. He saw Nico nod and sit on his bed gingerly, like he was expecting Will to attack and he'd be ready to fight back or run at any second.

Will reached for his laptop and curled back up in bed. He opened the laptop and as he waited for it to load properly he looked over at Nico and patted the spot to his right. Not wanting to make him feel trapped, it was the side not against the wall. He crawled next to him but was careful not to touch him. Will wanted to get closer but he didn't want to startle him. For now, he focused on choosing something to watch so Nico wouldn't look so scared anymore. He chose Doctor Who and they watched the first few episodes from season one in silence. Will watched Nico the entire time, barely paying attention to Rose and the Doctor. He looked like he was struggling to focus on the show and after the fourth episode, maybe around four in the morning, Will finally asked, "Do you wanna talk about it?" He knew something had been troubling him.

Nico steeled. He shook his head once. "Just a nightmare. They happen all the time."

"Are you sure? Obviously something is bothering you or you wouldn't have come to me at two in the morning."

"Drop it, Solace." There was a warning in his voice. One that suggested that if he didn't, it would be a mistake but then he whispered, "Please. I don't want to talk about it."

Will nodded, taken aback by the sound of his voice. But just so he wouldn't feel too alone, he scooted closer to Nico, with their arms pressed together. The back of his hand touched Nico's thigh. Nico looked down at the contact. "Don't get to close, it's dark inside."

Recognizing the lyrics from Imagine Dragons, Will smiled softly. "I'll show you how to escape it. If you'll let me." He tried to catch Nico's eyes but he looked away from the touching and stared right at the screen.

"I should go." He stood and headed for the door. But Will followed.

"All I'm asking is a chance to really be your friend. Without you ignoring me for two weeks for no reason that I know of."

Nico stopped, "Why do you want to be my friend anyway? I never asked for you to be."

"Does there have to be a fixed reason? I just want to be your friend. Is that really so bad? You came to me tonight so whether you'll accept it or not, I think you want a friend too."

He didn't say anything and just stood there, staring at the door. He finally moved and walked out, shutting the door behind him with a little too much force at four thirty in the morning. Will stood there, hoping he'd come through to him and he'd stop ignoring him. After a couple moments, he decided to go back to bed. But he couldn't sleep quite as well as he had before Cecil had woken him up.

☀☀

Walking to class, Will didn't doubt he looked like a zombie who hadn't eaten in days. For once in his life he had woken up late and missed breakfast. Waking up in the middle of the night hadn't been good for him. And he hadn't slept well after that either. But maybe it would be worth it if Nico didn't continue ignoring him. He wondered if he had even given it a second thought. Maybe. Maybe not. He hoped so. He really wanted to get to know him better. That pull to him was still there. Who knew, maybe they were soulmates. Will couldn't help chuckling at that. Did soulmates even exist? Maybe. Maybe not. Who knew?

He reached the locker rooms and dodged several shirtless guys to his PE locker. Used to it, he unlocked it and quickly got dressed. But when he turned, Nico was there. When he saw Will looking at him, he blushed furiously. He was in the process of removing his shirt, still in his hands, he glowered at him and muttered, "I don't like being watched. Stop staring at me."

Will grinned, "I sure like watching you."

Nico's blush deepened and he quickly grabbed his PE shirt and threw it on, messing up his hair even more and Will couldn't deny he looked impossibly sexier. He couldn't stop staring. And yet he didn't want to disrespect Nico in any way so he painfully tore his eyes away. "You switched your classes?"

"I'd taken algebra I in middle school and switching to another math class jacked up my schedule." He got up and started walking away.

Will didn't follow though. Not this time. He'd asked for a chance to be his friend and if Nico really wouldn't let him, he'd stop pestering him. But after a couple steps, Nico seemed to realize Will wasn't behind him or by his side. He stopped and turned his head slightly. "Well aren't you coming?"

Will's lips stretched into a smile and followed after him. "You'll let me be your friend?"

"Don't make it a big deal or I'll ditch you."

"Alright Cupcakes! Line up so I can take role!" Coach Hedge's voice echoed through the gym. They lined up quickly and he checked them off. He finished quickly and started shouting again. "Get in pairs! We're playing badminton!"

The class groaned, they'd been playing badminton for two weeks already.

The class paired up with their friends and Will went to Nico. "This is getting old."

"You get used to it." Will shrugged. "But...do you wanna ditch?"

"And where would we go? We're basically in prison. With just a tad more luxury."

He shrugged again. "Have you seen the library?"

"No."

He grinned, an idea popping in his head. "It's fantastic. Let's go." They creeped along the sides and eventually made it out. Will stopped when Nico turned toward the school building. "Mind if I change first?"

Nico shrugged and they went back to the locker rooms. After changing he turned back to Nico, he was blushing and wouldn't look him in the eyes. Will smirked. He thought he didn't look too bad without a shirt. He didn't have a lot of muscle but he didn't think that meant he wouldn't look good. But then, he was assuming Nico was gay and was blushing because he saw him without a shirt. Yet for all he knew, he could just feel awkward. He didn't want to assume because, again, for all he knew, Nico could be asexual or demisexual or something. Also, some people didn't like when others assumed things. So Will dropped his smirk and moved on. Maybe he could ask Nico about it later.

"C'mon Neeks. The library awaits." He took long strides to get to the library door before Nico. He wanted to open the door for him. And he got to. He smiled as he did so, "I hope you like reading."

Nico walked in and looked around in awe. The library was a sight to behold. It was old fashioned. High ceilings and a crystal chandelier that was probably older than Will's dead grandfather. The very highest shelves held ancient leather-bound books. Three levels of balustrades allowed access to the very tall bookshelves. Smaller ones took the space in the middle of the room and computers lined the walls by the doorway. Couch chairs and lamps were everywhere too. It was quite beautiful and huge. Will loved coming to the library. He studied medicine and the library was always the best place to study. But there was another place. The place he always went to when he came to the library.

He motioned for Nico to follow and approached the back right corner. A shelf behind them would block them from view if anyone were to come in. He scanned the shelf for and old tattered leather dictionary. He pulled it and heard the walls groan as a secret door opened. It led to a smaller room the size of an ordinary master bedroom. Nico and Will stepped in, the door closed behind them. The walls were covered by more bookshelves that Will had filled with his own books. When he found it, this place had only dust and spiderwebs everywhere. The shelves looked like they'd never been completely built and that was probably why the secret room had held no books. But now, most of the book cases were filled and the room had about three carpets of Will's choosing, it was clean of course, and in the corner there was a nest of blankets and pillows. There was also a small cabinet in the opposite corner where Will stashed snacks and caprisuns. Or any other juice. But the best part was the roof. It was glass and slightly high, it had a small balustrade at the top to the left and it was beautiful. It was dome shaped and in the sunlight it bathed the room in a beautiful rainbow. But at night it was perfect for star gazing. Will liked sneaking down here when he could and sometimes fell asleep on the balustrade. He had another nest of blankets and pillows up there. This was his favourite place in all of the mansion. He smiled at Nico, "What do you think?"

"The ceiling is amazing." He sounded out of breath and Will smiled. He was glad he'd brought him here. He wouldn't mind sharing it with Nico and if he hung in the secret passageways that Will should have figured were there after discovering this, he would have eventually found the room himself.

"Wanna read a book?" He reached out to the nearest book shelf and ran his fingers over the spines, deciding which to read himself.

"Yes." He went for the closest book case to him and easily picked one out.

"You can take blankets and or pillows from the corner and theres snacks in the mini cabinet." Will pointed to each in turn. Once he saw Nico curl up with a blanket, book and pillow by the cabinet, he went to his nest and curled up. But after a few hours he started itching to be near Nico and talk to him so he joined him by the cabinet.

Sitting next to him, Nico glared. "You brought me here to read? So let me read."

"Well yes, but I also want to talk to you. We can discuss the book." He looked down and read a paragraph, instantly recognizing it as Paper Towns. "That is a great book."

Nico shrugged, "It's true. Everything is uglier up close." He turned away from Will when he said that, trying to imply he wasn't talking about him but himself.

"I have the same reply as Q, not you."

"We'll see about that."

Will didn't know what to reply to that so he looked up instead, noticing the colorful hues disappearing. It was sunset. "Watch the sunset with me, Nico." He stood and went for the winding metal stairs, leading to the balustrade. Surprisingly, he heard Nico follow. At the top, he lay on the blankets and pillows and gestured for Nico to lay beside him. He did. And they watched the sunset together.

Both lost in their thoughts, they'd fallen asleep by the time the sun set.