neighbors | solangelo au

1.10

As expected, Maria crashed the next day, which, in turn, threw Nico into a bad mood. Plus, Brian and Zoe were on a cruise or a boat tour or something, so Bianca was home to pester the shit out of him.

He hadn't woken up until about 11:30 (Nico slept in on bad days), so Bianca was already in the living room when he brought his coffee in and sat on the carpet next to the couch.

"A question," Bianca asked, her legs tucked under her in an armchair on the other side of the coffee table.

"Mm?" Nico looked up from his drink and raised his eyebrows.

"Do you like Will? Like, like like him?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "Fuck you. And no, I don't."

This was a lie. Nico didn't exactly know yet, but a part of him had begun to like like Will, and his subconscious was doing everything possible to drown that little part of him. So far, his subconscious was slowly failing.

"No, but seriously, you guys should be together, you'd be so cute."

"Oh, my God, shut up," Nico replied, rolling his eyes. "Besides, he might have a boyfriend from where he used to live."

"So if he doesn't already have a boyfriend, you'd consider-" Bianca started, with a glint in her eyes.

"I'll consider throwing this coffee cup at you in a few seconds if you don't shut up."

.

Nico managed to drag himself out of his bad mood. He and Will went to get frozen yogurt (Nico always insisted on paying since that first visit), and spent a few hours tucked in the corner of the building between the weird kids' area and the first yogurt dispenser thing.

Maybe it was just his conversation with Bianca that morning, but Nico was incredibly fucking aware of Will's shoulder pressed against his (actually it was more Will's bicep because Nico was shorter, but he chose to ignore this fact), and worried constantly that he was subconsciously making things awkward. He kept feeling the need to shift positions every few minutes, and Will finally called him out on it when Nico moved his arm and sent his phone, which they'd been using to play music, skidding across the floor to rest under the cashier's desk.

"Shit," Nico said, while Will laughed at his misfortune.

"You're weirdly jumpy today," Will remarked when Nico returned from retrieving his phone (the cashier had wordlessly handed it to him, looking slightly afraid).

"Yeah, I don't know what the fuck is going on." Nico settled back down into his seat on the floor next to Will. "Maybe I had too much coffee."

Will snorted. "Like you could ever drink too much coffee."

"Fuck off. I'm half Italian; my addiction is justified. It's, like, a sin to not drink coffee."

"You're going to hell anyway," Will said, laughing.

"You are, too, for being so mean to me." Nico pointed at him with his spoon.

"I'm actually going to hell for being hella gay. I'm doing the world a favor by being mean to you."

"Ugh, rude," Nico said, pretending to be offended.

.

Later, after being kicked out of the froyo place when it closed, they sat on the swings in Nico's backyard, while Bianca tried to figure out how to use the overly-complicated, multi-hundred-dollar grill without burning down the city, with only the help of Google (this was a serious failure of their father's parental skills, in Nico's opinion). Plus, she kept giving Nico knowing looks, and winked whenever he even looked in Will's direction. He was starting to hope she actually did set herself on fire.

"What do you even want to make?" Will called over to her.

"Corn. I wanna make it like burnt and authentic and summery."

"Jesus Christ, can't you just put it in a pan or whatever?" Nico asked.

"Corn is boiled, idiot," Bianca said, over her shoulder. "And it looks better this way, according to the pictures on Food.com."

Nico leaned back on the swing, letting his feet leave the ground. "I'm disappointed in you."

"You know I'd die for the aesthetic."

Nico laughed. "Okay, true."

They watched Bianca struggle in silence for a few minutes around the bottom of the grill until she stood up, a lit lighter in one hand, and said "I figured it out, I just need to pour this stuff on the charcoal. I think." She drummed her fingers on a white tank of something with a suspicious looking warning label facing them.

"Uh, maybe not? That label says it's propane," Will said, pushing his swing away from Bianca and the grill.

"Shit!" Bianca put out the lighter and held it as far away from the propane as possible.

Nico suppressed a slight laugh. "Maybe you should just leave the grill alone so we don't all die."

"Good point," Bianca said. She left the lighter slightly too close to the propane for Nico's comfort and went inside.

"I've never been more scared for my life," Will said, moving the swing back next to Nico's.

"Me too....I was just thinking,you never talk about your old friends," Nico said, turning sideways on the swing to face Will.

"Not much to tell," he replied. "I had a few people I ate lunch with, but nobody I ever got super close to. This is kinda pathetic, but you're the first, like, close friend I've had."

Nico smiled. "You're the first friend, in general, I've had, so that's okay."

"Really?" Will asked. "Nobody from school or anything?"

"Nope," Nico said. "I went to a private 'rich kids only' boarding school until last year, and the atmosphere there is basically just 'my yacht is more expensive than yours, haha,' so I kept to myself. And everybody at the public high school already had their groups and shit from middle school, plus I didn't make much of an effort. I never really felt the need for friends."

"What about now?"

Nico grinned. "I guess you're okay."

"You're so mean."

"I mean, I like you more than I like Zoe."

"Great, I'm placed over the literal fucking psychopath," Will rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Oh, you know what I mean," Nico said, pushing Will slightly.

"Yeah." Will grinned back.
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sorry it's been aaaages and that this is short (i struggled to get 1k words) and low quality. i had a summer intensive and then a wedding and then writers' block.

shit's gonna get good in part 2, which is coming soon (a question about that, actually, would y'all want third person semi-omniscient will's perspective?? ie what it is now, but will instead of nico?? or should it stay nico bc most of the shit is focused on him?? leave a comment or something). i'm super excited. and scared.

also, is pokemon go out in your country? which team are you? i've been lowkey obsessed.

sorry again for the delay. love you.
xo - lucy