Moondust

Chapter seven

19th of June

The next Sunday, Will woke up at 5:00, shuffled into the bathroom, and got dressed. At 5:30, he heard a knock on his apartment door. He opened it to the (not entirely unwelcome) sight of Nico in his doorway again, white paper bag in hand.

The routine that emerged the next few days was shockingly easy to fall into. On the first few Sundays, Nico was quiet, no matter how many questions Will bombarded him with. Luckily, none of them tripped and fall on their faces again (They had made a deal that under no circumstances to talk about that. Ever. ) and they ate in silence as they walked to the subway. Nico found out that he has classes every Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday, so he showed up on those days as well, coffee and various breakfast pastries in hand.

One day, frustrated with the silence, Will blurted out, "That's it. You are going to talk to me, godammit! Doctor's orders!" Nico's eyes widened in surprise before he let out the smallest of smiles. "Doctor's orders?" He grinned.

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10th July

After two weeks, Nico knew about Will's family, his dancing, and the fact that he's absolutely  horrible at singing. But the minute Will proded him with an innocent question, Nico redirected it back at him.

At least he's talking.

But Will learned some things about Nico  without any words being said.

He’s twenty one, a year older than Will. They found out because of a friendly argument over the last bagel in the paper bag, Nico insisting that he respect his elders

The guy isn’t a morning person. Will got that from the fact that he keeps yawning on the train and the way he winces at the early morning sunlight. 

He normally takes his coffee black, but puts in ten sugars; he holds the sugar pot over the cup for ten seconds, then stops pouring. Will finds the coffee sweet and disgusting in equal measure.

Nico lives with his family: his cousins, Percy and Piper. They have friends that come over sometimes as well, and they all do some form of street performance: singing, playing various instruments, magic tricks, dancing…Will got that from the calls he keeps receiving during the journey, which mostly consist of playful banter and discussion about shifts.

The routine goes like that for the rest of the month, just the two of them. Then, one Tuesday, Piper tags along.

"So, you're the guy who's managed to catch our little Ghost King." She commented, eyebrows raised.

After a moment of stuttering and a few death glares from Nico that mean, ‘No, Pipes, we are NOT together’, Piper lays off, but when Nico is buying the tickets, she pulled Will down to her height and whispered, "You hurt him, and you'll have me and the rest of the gangs to deal with."

Turns out, Piper was a hundred and one pounds of protective pit bull disguised as best friend.

She lets Will go and gave him a sweet smile. After that, Piper tagged along almost every day, snagging a piece of blueberry muffin or waffle from either him or Nico. Nico seemed more comfortable with her, and conversation flowed more easily; even though all they talked about was performing schedules.

19th of July
On the one day she isn't with them, Will finally gets to ask what's been picking at his brain for a while.

"Nico, who are the gangs?” He asks. Nico shot him an assessing look.

"You'll see.”

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20th July

The next day, Will woke up to the sound of his doorbell ringing.

"Nico?" He exclaimed, surprised. The boy on his doorstep was panting, out of breath, cheeks flushed. The only thing that stopped him from inviting the guy in was the next sentence.

"C'mon. The gangs are going to battle." Nico said, a jubilant grin in his face. He extended a hand, and Will grabs it, with no idea what he's going to witness.

He just knew that it was an absolutely mad, irrational urge to get to know more about the boy that was dragging him down the subway steps, the smile on his face bright enough to compete with the sun.