neighbors | solangelo au

1.4

It was immeasurably hot and the air was suffocating and stagnant. Even from the protection of the covered porch, Nico could feel the piercingly bright sun burning his bare arms and face. This kind of shit weather always brought a sort of fatigue, and even with the air conditioning inside, Nico had felt himself slip into that horrible lethargic state that only overly warm weather could bring.

There was a frozen yogurt place a few blocks away from Nico's house, and though Nico was pretty sure there was ice cream in the freezer, he badly needed a change of environment and some fresh air (the shitty air conditioner made everything smell like dust, but, in retrospect, that was better than burning your fucking limbs off in the heat).

It'd been a few days since Andy and Will were over for dinner, and Nico was surprisingly happy to see the other boy seated in the slightly withered grass of Will's front lawn.

Nico walked over to Will's side and sat down beside him. "Hi."

"Hey," Will said, lifting one hand in a half wave. The ends of his normally curly blond hair stuck flat against his forehead in the heat, and he seemed just as fucking uncomfortable as Nico was.

"Um, I was just gonna go get some frozen yogurt. Do you wanna come with?" Nico decided to get right to the point he had been intending to make; heat from the ground was seeping into his legs and he didn't fucking like it.

"If they have air conditioning, I'm in," Will said, pushing himself to his feet. "Lemme run and tell my dad."

.

The walk to the froyo place was short, and soon the two were sitting across from each other at a table.

"Okay," Will said, taking a bite of his food. "So we already know that we have a similar taste in music, but that's it. Tell me something about yourself."

Nico shrugged. "I dunno what to say. I mean, there's nothing especially interesting about me."

"Ugh," Will said, rolling his eyes sarcastically. "You're not making this 'being friends' thing easy, you know. Fine, we could just play 20 Questions?"

"Alright," Nico said. "You go first." Is this what having a friend is like? Wow, that was actually really fucking pathetic. Nico sighed inwardly at his own insufficiency.

"Favorite color?" Will asked.

"Uh, blue, maybe?" Nico replied.

"Last song you listened to?"

"Ummm..." Nico had to think about that one; he listened to music constantly. "I think it was something by All Time Low?"

Will grinned in appreciation. "Great band. Anyway...um, what do you want to do when you grow up?"

"No fucking clue," Nico said. "I'm really, really bad when it comes to planning the future."

"Same, actually," Will replied. Nico decided that he liked how Will actually made eye contact with him when they talked. "What are you afraid of?"

Nico chased a strawberry around the bottom of his cup. "I don't like public speaking. Or crowds. Also, clowns are creepy as shit, but that might be a thing for everybody."

Will laughed. "Yeah, clowns are like demons in face paint."

Will was about to continue when Nico interrupted. "What are you scared of?"

The other boy tilted his gaze up as he thought, and Nico watched him. "Being alone, I think? Abandonment, maybe, and rejection." Then he laughed. "Well, now that we know each other's weaknesses..."

Nico smiled. "I promise I won't blackmail you, as long as you don't blackmail me. To be honest, I don't think our fears would be enough material to blackmail each other, but that's okay."

"Also, I know I wouldn't particularly care if you told someone my fears," Will said, standing up to throw out his empty cup.

"Me too, so I guess it doesn't matter." Nico followed suit. "Wanna go to the park or something? It's a short walk, and there's trees and shit we can sit under to avoid burning to death."

"Sure," Will replied with a small smile. Nico was finding the fact that he had to look up to meet Will's eyes very annoying.

They made their way to the park, and Nico walked over to sit cross legged under a tree, Will following him.

They spent a good fifteen minutes counting the number of weird looks they got from hipster parents (Nico was convinced that one blond lady thought they were in a gang, which he wasn't entirely opposed to), but quickly got bored, so Nico got out his ever-present pair of earbuds and passed one to Will, and they listened to music until the temperature began to drop and clouds began to close in over the sun.

"We should probably get back," Nico said, pausing rhe music and glancing at the sky through the leaves. "Looks like it might rain."

Will nodded, pushing himself to his feet. "Yeah, my dad needs me back to help with dinner, anyway. At least it's cooler now, thank God."

They joined the group of parents and small children exiting the park, and it began to rain gently as they turned onto their street.

"See you tomorrow, maybe?" Will looked at Nico as he left the sidewalk to walk to the porch.

"Yeah, see you," Nico replied, allowing a rare smile to form on his face as he waved goodbye to the other boy.
_________
it's hella cold where i am so i decided to write about it being hella warm. also sorry it's kinda short and really late. enjoy anyways.

also fix you has 30k+ reads which is fucking incredible???? thanks so so so much if you read that. also thanks so much for 100 followers, if you follow me.

xo - lucy