not about angels - solangelo au

Chapter 16

I woke up with Will's blue eyes inches from my own. "Um...hi?"

"Hi," he said, smiling. 

I pushed myself into a more comfortable position, as I had slumped sideways over the side of the bench during the night. The early morning light shone brightly in my eyes and I blinked a few times to adjust my vision. 

I brushed my bangs away from my forehead. "Is it still pretty early?" I asked.

Surprisingly, I wasn't fazed much by the fact that we spent the night together, in the innocent sense, of course. It had felt nice, instead of awkward, as I had expected it to be because of my gigantic crush. I would've said it was mutual affection, if I didn't know better.

"Yeah, the sun only rose a couple minutes ago."

I looked at him with mild astonishment. "You were up before it was light?"

"I rise with the sun," Will replied, grinning again. 

"That was really cheesy," I said, laughing a little bit.

Will was standing a few feet in front of the bench, and had been leaning over me when I woke up. He straightened up then, the sun illuminating all the lines of his face and the tangled mess of his hair. He looked beautiful and pure, like the angel he was, and my heart skipped a beat as I looked at him.

"What?" he asked. 

"Nothing," I replied, not even blushing. Something about the quietness of early morning, the peace of it just being the two of us, erased all of my self-consciousness.

I stood up and stretched my arms over my head, then looked over at Will, who was watching me with a strange expression on his face. 

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," he replied, with a smug laugh.

"You're mean," I said. "Anyway, I should probably get back to the Underworld before anyone gets suspicious."

"Aw," Will said. "But it's fun being with you."

The butterflies rematerialized in my stomach, but I tried to push them away.

I grinned. "I know, I'm wonderful. But really, I should probably go."

Will nodded. "Me too, actually."

"Alright," I replied. "See you tonight?"

"Yup," he replied, with a dazzling smile.

I grinned back, my heart rate increasing, then turned away to shadow-travel.

"Nico, wait," Will called from behind me, just as I was about to leave.

"Yeah, what?" I said, turning around. 

Will was blushing a tiny bit, which caught me off guard a bit. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," he replied, with a little smile. "Um, I just wanted to say that, er, I really like you. Like, a lot."

I could feel my whole face go red. Wait, what? Does he mean that in a romantic way, or what? There's no way he can actually like me can he?

"Aah," I said, stumbling over my words. "Me too. I really like you, a lot, not myself. I mean, guess I'm okay. I don't hate myself, but-" I paused. "I'm rambling, aren't I?"

"Yeah," Will said, with a full smile this time.

"Okay," I said, my face turning red again. "Well, um, yeah, I mean, yeah, thanks, I guess, I like you, too."  That was really, really awkward, I thought. 

Will smiled again. "Well, cool, I guess. Bye."

"Bye," I replied, still blushing.

~~~~~~~~~ 

"Oh, hi Nico, you're up early." Reyna was leaning against a door as I walked down one of the hallways in Hades' palace.

"Yeah, um, I just wanted to get all my work done sooner," I replied, thinking of a lie quickly.

"That's great," Reyna said. "There's two more meetings today than yesterday, so getting some things done already is a good idea."

I groaned inwardly. Great, even less time to hang out with Will. Actually, though, I wasn't sure I wanted to go. How was I supposed to react after what he said? I had convinced myself that he knew I liked him (because let's be honest, I wasn't exactly subtle) and was only doing it to be nice, which made me kind of sad, but also made me like him more. He was just so amazing. 

~~~~~~~~~

I decided to go, because my want to be with Will overruled my pessimism towards our earlier conversation. Unfortunately for me, I began to blush as soon as I saw him, which I should have expected. I was going to try to stay nonchalant and let Will bring it up if he wanted, which I hoped he didn't, to save me the emotional pain of rejection. 

"Hi," Will said. He looked slightly uncomfortable, but his smile was the same, even in the fading light.

"Hi," I replied, unable to resist letting a little smile grow on my face.

"So," he said, looking away from my face for a second. "Um, about what I said earlier-" 

"I understand," I said hurriedly, interrupting him. "It's just to be nice."

"What?" Will said, forehead wrinkling in confusion. "No, that's not it."

"Wait, what?" I said, equally as confused. So he's not just pitying me?

"I was saying that I like you, but I guess it was kind of a lot to spring on you. I totally get it if you don't feel the same way."

I had to stop and process that for a second. He wasn't joking?  "You-you actually like me? As in, like like?"

He smiled unevenly. "Yeah. I mean, if that's a problem-"

"Of course not!" I almost choke, interrupting him for the second time. 

"Does that mean..."

"Um, yeah."

"Okay." His voice sounded lighter. It was almost fully dark now, so I took a few steps closer to him, closer than arm's length. 

And then his lips were on mine, and my hand flew to his cheek, and I tried to lean away, but I just pressed closer to him and kissed back. My brain said to stop, but my heart disagreed. 

We pulled apart and Will grinned at me. "I've been wanting to do that for a really long time."

I laced my fingers with his. "Me too."

"I figured."

I felt myself blush. "Was I really that obvious?"

"Yeah," Will grinned and kissed my cheek, making my chest feel warm. "It was cute, though."

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Sorry for the bad ending; I just lost all my inspiration around 900 words. Anyway, yay, they've finally stopped being idiots. Next chapter will be less awkward (yep, there's still a LOT more to come). Also, sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes; I'm too tired to check over my work. Hope you enjoyed it!