neighbors | solangelo au

1.11

It was the start of the first two weeks in August, where the going-back-to-school hype hadn't set in yet, but everyone could feel the summer drawing to a close, and this time of year always brought a certain heaviness and lack of motivation to do anything. However, one of the good things about their neighborhood during this time of year (probably one of the only good things about their neighborhood in general), was Mrs. Larsen's annual end-of-summer block party/barbecue, to which the entire block, practically, was invited, and people a few streets down had taken to inviting themselves. The hostess apparently didn't give a shit; Nico'd never seen her turn somebody away, and her neighbors were always willing to have their backyards be an extension of the party to make space.

Normally, Nico wasn't a fan of social interaction on a scale as large as that of the barbecue, but in the end, his wish for food overcame his dislike of other human beings (Mrs. Larsen hired a catering company- a fucking catering company- plus partygoers brought expensive rich people food in a sort of high-class potluck). Nico was looking forward to this year's edition especially; since Will and his dad were tagging along with Nico and Bianca, Nico figured he could find an unnecessarily expensive armchair in a corner somewhere, and talk to Will, and only get up to go to the buffet table. However, Bianca invited Shady Brian, who had the brilliant idea of bringing Zoe along, and Nico and Will had forgotten Zoe's unfortunate bout of thievery, which had inconveniently included Mrs. Larsen, until they were standing on the front porch behind Bianca and Shady Brian.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit," Zoe was saying, in a sort of tribal chant, as Nico and Will tried to think of what to say to Mrs. Larsen to convince her to let Zoe stay (hey, Nico wasn't Zoe's biggest fan, but she was good comic relief, and also someone they could pin the blame on if something was broken).

"Uhm, we'll say we have 911 on speed dial and we'll call the police if she touches anything?" Will suggested.

"I don't know, how do you feel about lying?" Nico responded.

Will laughed. "I mean, for the sake of the party..."

"If she doesn't actually answer the door herself, we'll just pretend I'm not here. If she does, then let's hope she doesn't remember me," Zoe hissed, as Bianca rang the doorbell, and they heard footsteps in the foyer.

Luckily for Zoe (and probably for Mrs. Larsen's psychological well-being), the door was answered by the eight-year-old son of the Benjamins, who lived four doors down from Nico. The kid (Nico couldn't remember his name) promptly yelled "Nico and Bianca and other people are here," in the direction of the huge-as-fuck dining room and ran back outside.

"Wow, what a warm welcome," Zoe said sarcastically.

"That kid saved your delinquent ass," Will replied. "You'd probably be sitting on the porch swing for like six hours if Mrs. Larsen had answered the door."

"Screw your logic," Zoe said. "Where's the food?"

.

Once they'd all had so much food the catering company grill guy flat-out denied them more food and they'd become bored with all the expensive snack foods in the dining room, Nico looked through the kitchen cupboards until he found a coffeemaker and settled into an acceptable armchair next to Will with a cup of coffee.

"That's, like, a major invasion of privacy," Zoe said, from her seat on the floor in front of the glass coffee table.

"What, going into someone's house and using their coffeemaker without their permission?" Nico replied, glaring at her over the rim of his borrowed mug.

"Don't come for his coffee; he will literally try to kill you," Will warned.

"Shit, I'm just saying." Zoe raised her hands consolingly. "Although, aren't you not supposed to drink coffee after 3 o'clock? 6 o'clock?"

Nico snorted, and looked at the clock on the mantelpiece. "It's 11, and I'm only on my first cup."

"So that's why you're so short." Will turned his head and put his chin on top of Nico's head.

"Fuck you, it's genetics."

.

Nico had another three cups of coffee before Zoe saw a cute guy and ran off after him, and Will got up for more pie and never came back. Nico was on such a caffeine high that he didn't notice for a good half hour that he was alone, and went outside to try to find Will during the height of the party, about 1am, when Mrs. Larsen's nephew set off some illegal fireworks and literally everyone within a 1000-mile radius was packed into the space of three backyards to watch.

The number of people present was frankly daunting, and Nico gave up after about 5 minutes. As he was returning to his armchair, he passed through the kitchen (to get another motherfucking cup of coffee), and saw Will sitting in the grass through the sliding French doors. 

"You look aesthetic as fuck, sitting alone, looking at the sky," Nico said, walking out to join him. 

Will laughed, shrugging. Nico could see his face in flashes, as the fireworks exploded. "There's a lot of people over there and I can kinda see the fireworks from here."

"Hah, I'm rubbing off on you," Nico replied, sitting down next to him.

"Your influence on me is actually kind of horrible." The outline of Will's smile was barely visible until another firework went off.

"You mean amazing," Nico replied, leaning back to lay on the grass.

Will snorted, looking over his shoulder at Nico. "Mmm, maybe not."

Will returned his gaze to the fireworks and Nico couldn't help but watch him. It was a constant, but Nico especially noticed right then how absolutely beautiful Will was. He was breathtakingly beautiful. Like, Nico literally couldn't breathe. It might have been partially the fault of four cups of coffee, but looking at Will dropped a weight on his chest, and at the same time felt like the reason he was alive. 

Holy fucking shit, Nico thought. I'm fucking in love with the literal fucking miracle that is Will  fucking Solace. Shit shit shit shit shit. 

He was feeling about six different emotions at once, chiefly fear and anger, and Will must have seen something on his face, because he said "You okay? You look like you just had a heart attack?" and Nico thought that was probably a perfect description for what was happening to him at that moment, and he just barely managed to say "Must have been all the coffee," and he literally died, in the best, most alive way, when Will laughed.

_____________________________

i t ' s  f u c k i n g   h a p p e n i n g.

zoe is literally all of us? also, i figured an important and completely relevant piece of information  you all should know is that my mom knew someone in high school (or college?) named, i kid you not, benjamin benjamin. FUCKING BENJAMIN BENJAMIN. who would name their child that????? crazy ass rich people.