A/N: I'm so sorry I didn't keep my promise to put out a chapter sooner, but I've had pretty severe health problems recently that I've had to take care of, so I haven't been able to get on my computer much. I hope you all understand ;-; RIP responsibility. Hope you guys like the chapter~

27

Nico

The next morning, Nico woke with Will's familiar warmth against his back, blond hair tickling his neck as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes. Will let out a quiet mumble in his sleep and shifted, nuzzling the back of Nico's neck like a needy kitten. He had to hold back a laugh as he rolled around to face him, smiling fondly as he ran his fingers through golden locks. Soft... He really is like a cat.

"Mmmm..." Will yawned, finally awakened by the gentle movement, and cracked his eyelids open to reveal slivers of bright blue. "...Nico?" He smiled sleepily, causing a pang of happiness in Nico's chest. Cuteee. My heart can't handle this much cute at once. "Is it morning now?"

He nodded as Will pushed himself up slowly, cracking his neck side to side and wincing as his bones cracked. "Ah... I feel refreshed." Stretching his arms above his head, he turned to Nico with his typical million-dollar smile and a bed-head worthy of a supermodel. "I forgot to say good morning! Come hai dormito?"

Nico, smiling at the use of Italian, thought about it for a moment before answering earnestly. "Good." And it was true: he couldn't remember the last time he'd slept so soundly. Usually, he would toss and turn endlessly, but with Will beside him, he'd slept like a rock the whole night. "Really good, actually."

"That's good." Will gave him another heart-melting smile as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Nico watched him as he wandered over to a chest of drawers and began sorting through it with tired laziness. After a while of digging around and cursing, he pulled out a few different things and returned to the bed, handing Nico a pair of gray sweatpants and an old Haikyuu! T-Shirt, both way too big.

"Sorry, you may have to tailor them a bit, but these should be small enough to fit you." He opened his bedroom door and cast a grin back over his shoulder. "I'll go change in the bathroom. Be back in a bit." He closed the door behind him, leaving Nico alone to get dressed.

As expected, the clothes were about two or three sizes too big, so Nico had to tie up the sweatpants to keep them from dragging on the ground and tuck in some of the shirt so it didn't cover his knees, but it wasn't too bad. When he was finished with the modifications, he sat on the bed to wait for Will, hugging his arms to his chest. They smell like him... He buried his nose in the fabric with a happy little sigh.

Flopping down on the bed, he curled up under the blanket and pulled the shirt's hem up to his nose. Nico yawned loudly and pulled the blanket higher over his shoulders. It was so comforting and warm, he could almost fall asleep again...

By the time Nico opened his eyes, warm rays of afternoon sun were shining through Will's parted curtains, painting the floor with a shade of honey-colored light. He moaned at the stark brightness and rolled over, feeling the loose fabric of Will's clothes bunching around his hips uncomfortably as he shifted. He remembered that he'd fallen asleep waiting and slowly forced himself into a sitting position, squinting around in confusion. Where was Will?

Untangling himself from the blankets, Nico slid off the bed and wandered towards the door unsteadily. The sweatpants had slipped back down to pool around his ankles. He frowned, pinching the fabric with his hands to hold it up as he opened the door. The hallway was quiet, but from downstairs came two voices; presumably Will and his father.

The stairs were a struggle with the baggy pants, but Nico made it safely to the bottom without tripping. The living room was empty as he moved through it, the voices he heard earlier undoubtedly resonating from the kitchen.

It wasn't like he was trying to eavesdrop, but when he heard his name, he stopped himself right before entering the kitchen and pressed his back against the wall to listen despite his conscience advising him against it.

"Y'know, Will, you and Nico have been spending a lot of time together lately." Nico recognized Apollo's voice, but it sounded more like he was talking through a speaker than in person.

"Yeah," Will responded distractedly, followed by the sound of dishes clinking. "So what, Dad?"

"Nothing, nothing..." He paused uncomfortably. "I mean, I just wanted to let you know, son, that if you two are, you know, seeing each other, I would totally support you, one-hundred percent. As long as you two are, of course, um... being safe."

Will groaned. "Daaddddd!"

"I'm just being a parent!" Apollo rushed defensively. "I'm trying to look out for my son's health and well-being! What's so wrong with that, huh?" There was a long, drawn-out pause where neither father nor son spoke. "You do know about the proper protection, right, Will?"

"Okay, this conversation is officially over." Nico (blushing at the embarrassing conversation) heard Will click off the speaker so he couldn't hear Apollo's response, but a second later, they said their goodbyes and Will hung up, letting out a loud, exhausted sigh. "Gah... Protection? Really? Fucking Dad."

Deciding it was a good time to make his entrance, Nico ducked around the doorway, faking a yawn to avoid suspicion. "Will? Why didn't you wake me up earlier? What time is it?" He noticed with amusement that the blond was blushing as heavily as he had been a second ago, coughing nervously into his hand. "U-um... It's nearing ten." He beamed happily, seemingly having collected himself. "And you just looked so cute sleeping, I couldn't bring myself to wake you up!"

Nico rolled his eyes and punched the blond lightly on the shoulder as he leaned against the counter beside him with his arms crossed. "Shut up. So, what's the plan today?"

Will pulled out two cereal bowls and set them on the counter. "Well, first of all; breakfast. After that, I have to go practice with Lou. She's still mad at me for blowing her off before and going to the beach without her."

Nico frowned as the blond started digging around in the pantry for cereal, having an unreasonable amount of trouble. "Oh, right... I forgot about that. Do I have to come too?"

"Of course!" Will accentuated the exclamation by slamming down his chosen box of cereal with slightly too much force, bending the cardboard corners. "I still need you to be on my team, silly! Lou's also bringing someone new she met at the library who said they'd join us. And Cecil finally agreed, too, so we'll have a perfect team of five for the tournament."

Raising an eyebrow, Nico took a seat at the table, resting his chin in his hand as Will began meticulously preparing their cereal, measuring a perfect cup of cereal and milk into each bowl with a frown. "You mentioned that before. Is this tournament thing a big deal?"

"Pretty much." Will grinned excitedly, momentarily dropping his concentration. "Every year on July sixteenth, this arcade hosts the Legendary Laser Tournament. If your team wins it, you pretty much become unequivocal laser gods. Suffice it to say, the bragging rights are in high demand."

"Unequivocal laser gods?" Nico scoffed. "Never thought I'd hear those three words together."

"Stop being smart and eat," Will ordered, setting a pristine bowl in front of him and forcing a spoon into his hands, collapsing in the chair beside him. Nico smiled evilly and picked up a piece of cereal, placing it on his spoon and flicking it at Will. The wheaty projectile struck him in the center of the forehead, falling down into his bowl as Will let out a theatrical gasp and Nico snickered into his hand.

"You did not just throw cereal at me."

"Actually, I think I did."

Will shook his head as he scooped up a spoonful of cereal and aimed it at him. "Oh, it's on, di Angelo. You just started all-out breakfast warfare: Prepare for the consequences!"

After they'd cleaned up the kitchen and rid it of evidence of their impromptu food fight, Will changed clothes and they hopped in his car to drive over to Critical Hit to meet Lou, Cecil, and the mysterious third person that would be joining them on their nerd expedition. Will—the dork he was—connected his phone to the car radio and blasted BTS the whole way.

By the time they parked, he was halfway through Suga's rap in Cypher Part 2 and pulled the keys from the ignition with a flourish right as he finished it. Nico sat there staring at him with a raised brow, palm resting on the door handle. "I... did not know you could do that."

Will winked at him as he undid his seatbelt. "It's one of my secret talents. Come on, let's go!"

Nico followed him out of the car, still slightly flabberghasted by the sudden revelation of his 'secret talent.' This boy was a verifiable treasure trove of hidden talents, and it was seriously annoying. Like, leave some talent for the rest of the world, would you? Still, it was kind of... impressive? And not necessarily the weirdest thing he'd found out about Will so far...

"Nico." A finger flicked him gently on the forehead. "You're spacing off."

"Huh? Ah, Scusa." He looked around and took note of their surroundings for the first time since walking in as Will led them through a crowd of people by a line of claw machines. Critical Hit was basically like any other arcade, filled with tons of mini-games and a prize counter, but this one was way cooler than Nico had expected. It was huge, with a neon rockclimbing course on one giant wall in the back, a full mini-golf course, and a spacious room with one-way glass to reveal the laser-tag course beyond. It was like a mini amusement park.

Will must've noticed his dazed expression because he dropped back and took his hand with a proud smile, like he was the one who owned the place. "I discovered this place when I was, like, eight. It's pretty much been my hangout ever since. You like it?"

"Yeah," Nico managed to say, still trying to absorb all the flashing lights and bright colors that were assaulting him in every direction, not to mention all the people. "It's... big."

That earned a laugh from Will as he directed them around a row of DDR machines. "Yeah, that was my first impression, too. It looks a lot smaller from the outside. Anyway, we need to look for Lou and the others. She told me they'd be by the skeeball section."

Nico nodded and allowed the blond to lead them, weaving through groups of sweaty excited kids and giggling teenagers towards the back corner of the games. With how many people there were, Nico was a little surprised he hadn't heard of this place before. Then again, the only people he really talked to were his few friends, so who knew what else he was missing out on.

"Ah, there they are!" Will suddenly exclaimed, giving his arm a slight tug to signal he'd spotted their goal. They started cutting their way through the crowd towards three people sitting on tall vinyl stools in front of an old-fashioned milkshake bar Nico hadn't noticed before, separated from the skeeball machines by a thick wall painted an obnoxious highlighter green.

Though he couldn't see the other two very well through the crowd, Nico had a clear view of Lou and observed that she had dyed the ends of her short, curly brown hair a bright lime green. As usual, her odd fashion sense was in full bloom as she sported a purple top with several thin straps crisscrossing her arms in place of sleeves, black overalls, and gray sneakers patterned with alien faces and the phrase 'I believe.'

Interesting as ever. She never disappoints.

"Lou!" Will called out when they were a few feet away, hazardously careening to a stop a mere inch before crashing into the counter, Nico nearly running into his back because of the sudden halt. "Ohmygosh your hair! I love it so much! Velmi stylové."

Lou spun around on her stool to greet them with one hand on her neck and her leg stretched out dramatically like a supermodel. "Thank you, thank you. I did it myself last night. Thought I messed it up but it looks pretty good." Her lips turned down into a frown as her hands migrated to her hips. "But it's about time you two got here! We've been waiting for two whole milkshakes and a plate of chili cheese fries!"

"Sorry, we got stuck in traffic." Will brushed a few strands of wispy hair from his face and let out an exhausted puff of air while Nico shifted behind him, their hands still linked. "We sort of hurried. Are you guys ready to practice?"

"I was born ready," Lou joked stoically. "Anyway, yes: I have to introduce you!" She turned her smile upon a tall, slender girl sitting next to her, sipping on a chocolate milkshake. She turned after finishing her mouthful and Lou's cheeks became a little pink—though it could've just been the flashing lights of the arcade behind them. "Everyone, it's my great pleasure to introduce you to—"

Nico cut her off mid-sentence. "Reyna?!"

At the same time, the Puerto Rican girl gasped, causing residual chocolate shake to dribble down her chin. "Nico?"

For a moment, the two just stared at each other in silence while Lou and Cecil traded confused glances and Reyna wiped her mouth with a napkin. Will was the only one who seemed unsurprised, slapping his palm into his open fist with an 'Aha!' expression as Nico was still processing that the stranger wasn't actually a stranger. "Oh, Reyna! You guys were talking about her at lunch that time."

His helpful observation seemed to clear the air, and the group shared an awkward laugh together.

"I didn't know you guys knew each other already!" Lou spoke up with a childish pout. "I guess we don't really need introductions now." She seemed a little disappointed she wouldn't get to do her shtick, but her face brightened again as Reyna placed a hand on her shoulder, like she was a dead flashlight that had just gotten new batteries. (Nico held back a snort at that analogy.)

"Is everyone ready to start, then?" Reyna smiled over at Nico with a little wink. "Since we're all acquainted."

"Sure, I'm ready." Lou hopped off her stool with renewed enthusiasm, followed by Reyna and Cecil—who was so tired he looked like he needed to chug about twelve liters of Mountain Dew just to summon the willpower to stand up—and began parading their party through the crowd back towards the laser tag room with a little too much gusto. "Follow me, little chickies! We'll be there in no time. Geez and crackers, it's like a jungle in here. Stay close to me, Rey-Rey: You might get lost."

"I can and will punch you if you call me that again."

"Ha, you're funny! I love it when they play hard to get."

A/N: Wow I suck at keeping promises to update RIP ;-; I'm sorry I took so long to get this out, guys. I kept writing little pieces at a time but I finally made myself sit down and finish this chapter. I hope you guys like it, and yes, I am shipping Lou with Reyna now XD Also my favorite line in this chapter is 'Geez and crackers.' (Have I invented the perfect swear? Probably.) Feel free to comment some of your favorite lines from the story because I'd love a blast from the past.

Anyway, remember to follow and favorite if you enjoy the story, and please review to hassle me into getting this done because I'm garbage at updating. Also, let me know any mistakes and I'll correct them whenever I can.

Hugs to all of you and Merry Christmas! ^-^

Translations;

- Come hai dormito? = How did you sleep?

- Scusa. = Sorry.

- Velmi stylové. = Very stylish. (Another language is added to William's repertoire, yay.)