Inconvenient Love

Chapter 3

Nico stayed in his room for the rest of his Saturday, not even bothering to go out to a party. He opened one window, felt the cold breeze, sat by it and stared at the dark walls.

It was midnight when there was a knock at his door, a soft knock he hadn't heard before. "Can I come in?" Will.

Nico thought for a minute before sighing. "Yeah, fine."

Will slipped into the room and closed the door behind him, blinking at the sudden darkness. "Haven't you ever heard of a light?"

"Diss my room one more time and you're gone," Nico warned.

"Right, sorry." Will slowly inched his way across the room. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Nico waited until Will had slammed his shin against the bed with a string of curses to turn a light on, unable to hide his smirk. "Hurts?"

Will looked up at the sudden light, his blue eyes catching it perfectly. "You did that on purpose."

"So what if I did?"

Will couldn't help but grin as he finished the walk toward Nico. "That probably left a bruise, you know."

Nico watched the newest member of their "family" sit beside him. "Yeah, so?"

Will shook his head. "Nothing." His grin disappeared. "I...I came to apologize. I know it must be hard with us moving in...it's a big change... It's hard being the one to move, too."

"Where'd you move from?" Nico asked. "How far away?"

Will reluctantly told the street and address before looking into Nico's eyes. "As mom said...it was an apartment. A pretty small one, too. But I had my own room and the window was huge. A lot of sunlight came in."

"You like the sun." Nico summed up.

Will nodded. "You don't?"

Nico gestured around at the dark room. "Take your bet."

Will grinned again. "Fine, fine, Mr. Darkness, I get it. But you won't stop me from liking the sun." He leaned back, keeping his hands between the wall and the back of his head. "Now, are you going to let me apologize?"

"I accept it." Nico started to pick his nails, them starting to bleed almost immediately. "I mean, I'm the one that hit that plate out of your hand."

"Cause I'm the one that wanted to force you to eat as our first meeting." Will took Nico's hands in his own. "Don't do that, you're bleeding."

Nico's cheeks turned pink. "W...What?"

"You're picking your nails, or what's left of them." Will wiped some of the blood off. "Don't do that." He frowned. "Your hands are freezing. That's what you get for having your window open. Close that and let's warm you up."

Nico had trouble coming up with his usual remarks as he watched Will close the window. "Um..." His cheeks burned.

"What?" Will grabbed the heavy blanket off Nico's bed and draped it over its owner's shoulders. "Gonna lie and say you're not cold?"

Nico let his shoulders relax under the blanket's weight. "You're insane..."

"For wanting you to be healthy?" Will sat by him again.

"For being obsessed with my health," Nico corrected. "We've only met once and I was an ass during it."

Will scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, well, I forgive easily."

Nico looked him over, unable to stop himself from realizing the crush he had. He couldn't look away.

"Why were you sitting in the cold?" Will asked. "Your lips are blue."

Nico scowled. "No, they are not."

"Yes, they are," Will retorted. "You can't tell cause you're not used to them being warm."

"They're lips, it's not like I can put a blanket over them." Nico wrapped the blanket tighter around his shoulders. "You got any bright ideas to help the problem you pointed out? Or are you-"

Will's lips met Nico's, silencing the boy's rant. One simple kiss. It really did warm Nico up.

But as soon as they broke it they realized it wasn't a simple kiss. Nico's cheeks were flaming red, and Will sat there was a smile brighter than any Nico had seen before.

"I..." Nico grabbed Will's face and pulled him close, kissing him again. He had never had a boyfriend before but had had many crushes. And this was the first time any of them were fulfilled.

And Will's lips were soft, and his touch warmed Nico up, and no thoughts could race through his mind with Will that close. It was the closest to Heaven Nico had ever experienced.

But nothing went on forever. Not even the good. It wasn't long until Will pulled away, his smile having disappeared with the good news. "Nico...our parents are getting married."

Right, legality. Depression. Nico remembered that life wasn't good.

"The law's always in the way." Nico stood up and stalked away from Will. "First they block marriage cause it's two guys. Now we're illegal cause our parents are getting married. We're gonna be legal brothers, Will."

"Stepbrothers," Will corrected. "Just calm down...we'll figure it out. It's not like we're planning to get married."

"Oh, sure, like a perfect boy like you isn't planning to get married." Nico sat on his bed with a sigh. "You shouldn't have kissed me."

"But you liked it." Will sat beside him. "We both did. And then you kissed me."

"I was living in the moment," Nico hissed.

"I was, too, but I don't regret it." Will put a hand on Nico's arm. "I like you, Nico. And I think you like me, too. So just...calm down and let's talk."

Nico glanced at him. "Talk about what? It's not like there's any way out of this."

"What do you mean?"

"We kissed. There's no going back. I'll always think of you that way, now." Nico explained. "And you're...yeah, I like you. A lot. There's no erasing that. And there's no changing that we're gonna be step-brothers. So there's nothing we can do then just...hide it."

"Hide it?" Will scratched the back of his neck. "I mean, I guess it could work...it'd be really hard, though."

"I know." Nico could already imagine how hard it would be. Seeing Will do something cute, trying to hold back from blushing or kissing him or turning away..."I could act like I hate you. They'd believe it. Then they'd never suspect what's really going on."

"You could act like you hate me?" Will asked.

Nico shrugged. "I hate a lot of people."

"And that's believable." Will smiled. "Okay, fine, fine. We'll try your idea. But if they find out...what will we do?"

Nico shrugged. "We'll burn that bridge when we get to it."

Will blinked. "Did you just mix two-?"

Nico kissed him in response.