The first thing I registered as I drifted into consciousness were my slow, heavy breaths. My eyes fluttered open just long enough for me to find that it was dark outside and then clenched shut again as I became aware of the pounding deep inside of my skull. Tiny rocks dug into my side as I rolled over, groaning and clutching my head. "Dio," I muttered through gritted teeth.The last thing I remembered was Percy slamming me up against the school, and the shooting pain that had come with it. My entire body was aching and I wondered just how long they (assuming the others joined in at some point) had continued to beat me after I blacked out.

"Merda," I cursed as I put pressure on a gash across my palm, my voice came out weak and choked. I flopped back onto my back, my breathing faltering and becoming tiny sobs despite my best efforts. I hated crying. Crying is weak and pitiful and I seemed to be crumbling into tears more and more often lately.

I need to get up. I told myself, willing my hands to stop shaking as I turned onto my side again and got to my feet, taking care not to press my wound to the ground again. My breathing hitched and I reached out to brace myself on the wall. My gaze was met, not with the side of a portable, but with another brick wall. I wasn't in back of the school anymore.

I stumbled to the edge of the alleyway, looking around with growing panic. None of the run-down shops on either side of the street looked familiar to me. I had no idea where I was or how I was going to get home, and this didn't look like the kind of place where I would be able to get help without possibly getting my throat sliced open.

Will. The name sent a wave of relief crashing over me as I delved my hands into the pockets of my jeans, I need to call Will. But even as I checked and double checked every pocket I had, there was no sign of my crappy flip-phone.

"Oh, Dio." I pressed my back against the cold bricks, clenching my eyes shut again. "I need to calm down," I told myself unsteadily after a couple of seconds. I forced myself to heed my own advice and think rationally and realized I'd seen a telephone booth just a little ways down the street. Opening my eyes and taking a deep breath, I peeled myself away from the wall and took a shaky step forward.

Once I got inside, I leaned heavily against the wall, which was metal on the bottom half and glass the rest of the way up; several panes had been shattered, leaving sharp, jagged pieces scattered over the floor. I picked up the dingy-looking phone, slipped a dime into the slot, and punched Will's number in as easily as I could say my own name. The phone rang a couple of times before going to voicemail. It hit me that I had no idea what time it was, and even if Will had answered, he'd probably hang up at the sound of my voice. That last realization was like a bucket of ice water had been poured over my head. Nevertheless, I started talking right after the beep.

"Will. . ." I said, my voice sounding strange to my own ears, distant and panicked. My head was throbbing. "I know you're mad at me. I'm sorry. . . I'm so, so sorry, Will. . . I really need your help. . . I. . . I need. . . I just. . . Oh, Dio. . . I don't know where I--" I let out a small grunt of pain as I shifted my weight, staring out the opposite side of the phone booth, it was all I could do to keep from crying, "--am. It doesn't look like a good part of town. There's a clothes store across the street from the phone booth I'm in. . ." I read off the names of the stores I could see until my time ran out and the prerecorded voice demanded another coin. I fished around in my pockets, but couldn't find anything but a penny and some lint. I was starting to feel light-headed. I slid down the metal wall, my vision going black at the edges.

Eyes squeezed tight. . . Clutching my skull. . . I hoped Will came. . . Body throbbing. . . So. . . So tired. . .

-

After that, all I remembered were brief snatches of events that seemed more like dreams than real life: Will's voice calling my name frantically, Will talking into his cell phone in an anxious tone, Will hovering near me like he was afraid to even touch me, unfamiliar voices and sounds. . . And now this. Light piercing my eyelids, my hand being extremely warm, obnoxious beeping. I opened my eyes slowly and Will's face swam above me.

"Nico, you're awake." He clenched my hand tighter, and then released it quickly. His eyes were filled with so much relief I thought that they might start overflowing with it. I registered distantly that that sounded a lot like crying.

"Why am I in a hospital?" I wondered, turning my head to look at the heart-rate monitor positioned dutifully at my side. Everything seemed to be processing too slowly in my brain.

"You don't remember?" Will's scared voice prompted me to turn my head back in his direction.

I shook my head, Will's eyes widened, but I put a hand up to keep him from speaking. "I remember. . . I just don't know why I'm in a hospital." I explained after a second.

Will's eyes danced with what I could've sworn was at least partially amusement, "I just didn't know how bad of shape you were in when I found you. You could've had injuries I couldn't see. . . Turns out you do have a minor concussion."

I nodded, "From slamming my head against the wall. . ." I thought aloud.

Will's brow furrowed, "What happened anyway?"

I stared at his face for a second, I couldn't believe that he was actually here, that he was so concerned for me. He didn't even seem to care about the things I had said back at CiCi's. He just wanted to know that I was okay, and I'd put money on the fact that he'd beat la merda vivente out of all four of them if he knew the truth. And now I was going to lie to him.

"I think. . . I mean. . . I was walking home, and all of a sudden someone grabbed me. . . shoved my head into the wall. . . That's all I remember. And then I woke up in an alley and my phone was gone. . . I don't know why they'd take it. . . it wasn't worth much at all. . ." That wasn't true, I knew exactly why they'd taken it. They wanted to go through it, search for even more ammunition. They probably even thought it was funny that I couldn't call for help. "But I guess that was all I really had on me. . ." My eyes widened, the realization was the only thing I wasn't faking. "Oh."

Will leaned closer, I couldn't follow the emotions playing out in his eyes. "What?" His voice was hushed like he was listening to a horror story around a campfire.

"My backpack. They took that too. . ." My chest felt hollow, my sketch pad had been in there. All of that hard work, gone. There was no way I was getting it back. I could almost hear Octavian's voice, sneering some snide comment about my art. "My drawings. . ."

"Oh. . ." That was all Will had to say. I knew that the emotion on his face wasn't a lie, and right then he looked so deeply sympathetic for me that it made my heart ache.

His hand twitched like he wanted to do something, but was forcing himself not to. I let my eyes wander over his fingers for the millionth time instead of looking him in the eyes. "When can I get out of here?" I forced out, instead of all of the things I really wanted to say: I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I shouldn't have called you. I'm glad that I did.

Will opened his mouth to speak, but he was cut off by the doctor bursting in. I went through the same thing I had with Will, except the doctor was much more brisk and business-like. He explained why I was here, that I had a concussion, he asked what exactly had happened, if I was having any trouble remembering anything, or if I was feeling anything else unusual, (I told him the truth: that I couldn't remember exactly what my attacker had been saying before they knocked me out, that I only remembered snatches of what had happened after I had called Will, and that I had a headache, I felt a bit dizzy, that it was almost like I was dreaming, in a daze). He'd nodded and told me that me that we'd discuss everything else as soon as my mother got back (she'd stepped out briefly to use the restroom), and he'd wait outside for her.

My step-mom came in shortly after that and raced over to my bed, picking up my hand and gripping it just like Will had been doing when I woke up. She smoothed my hair back from my face, her eyes glistening with tears, and she told me how worried she had been when I didn't come home from school and I didn't call her. Apparently she'd started calling the police, but they'd said I wouldn't be identified as missing for forty-eight hours and they couldn't do anything until then. My father was on the first flight home and he'd be here as soon as he could.

I assured her that I was fine, I didn't mention the fact that my head was pounding again and everything sounded like I was underwater. I looked over at Will to find that he was watching me with a troubled expression on his face, and I gave him a tired smile. He smiled back with one side of his mouth, it was the first smile I'd seen from him that made me want to frown instead of grin back.

"What's wr--" but the doctor was explaining that I'd have to stay for just a couple of days (or less) while they ran more tests, and then I could go home. I'd have to rest often, I couldn't exert myself too much, he told me that if my symptoms started lessening I could become more and more active, but if they worsened while I was doing something, I was pushing myself too far. He reminded me not to ignore my symptoms and "tough it out," that it would only make things worse.

I closed my eyes against the pounding in my skull as he spoke, Will's fingers brushed over my arm and I lifted my heavy eyelids to look at him as the doctor told my mom what things I should avoid and when to give me my medicine, blah, blah, blah.

"How're you doing?" Will asked softly.

I started laughing and then stopped when a sharp pain flashed through my skull. "I've been better," I told him, wincing.

"I can imagine." he said, tilting his head to the side, "Where'd you get all of your other injuries?"

"I don't know. . ." I said after a second, which was mostly true. Most of the cuts and bruises covering me had been acquired after I passed out. I hoped Percy felt tough, beating up an unconscious scrawny runt.

Will frowned, "You don't remember?"

I shook my head, "I don't. . . But that's not what's important. I want to apologize for what I said. I really appreciate you, you've been nothing but nice to me and I-- I--" I was miserable without you.

"Sssshh. . ." he soothed, "I couldn't care less what you said. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that last thing I said to you was that I never wanted to see you again. . ." His mouth tightened into a thin line at the thought.

I smiled weakly at him, it was the most I could manage even though I felt like there was so much more bubbling just below the surface, and let my eyes close, my breathing evening out. I didn't think anything of his fingers brushing over my forehead, curling into my hair, just that it was calming.

-

The next time I woke up, a nurse was standing next to my bed, scratching notes onto a clipboard. She was pretty in a quiet, honest way, with her brunette hair pulled back into a loose bun and a stream of freckles across her cheeks. She glanced up at me and then smiled and set down her clipboard when she saw that I was awake.

"Hey, Nico, how are you doing?" she asked, adjusting the blankets pulled over me. "I'm Nurse Jenkins, me and Nurse Berns will taking care of you for the duration of your stay," she informed me in a more professional tone.

I looked around the room, "Will. . . My parents." I croaked, my voice felt like it hadn't been used in forever, which was weird because I couldn't have been out for very long.

"Your parents left after they made absolutely sure you were okay, they told us to call when you woke up, and your friend had to get home to his family." She smiled ruefully, "He probably would have stayed here with you until the sun died out, but his parents came by and made him go home."

I closed my eyes, smiling. "Yeah, that sounds like Will," I said quietly. "Can I call my mom myself?"

She nodded and handed me the old phone from on top of the nightstand next to my bed, it was one of those that had a long, loopy cord connecting it to its base. I told the nurse my mom's phone number and she punched it into the old clunky keypad for me.

The phone rang twice before my mom answered, "Is he awake?"

"Yeah, I'm awake, Mom," I answered, trying to make my voice sound like my whole body wasn't throbbing.

"Nico!" she exclaimed, and then I could hear a frantic Italian accent in the background. "We're coming over right now!"

"Okay, Mom. I love you." I told her, and then I hesitated for a second before I added, "Could you go across the street and see if Will can come with you?"

"Of course, sweetheart." she told me, I could still hear my dad in the background, probably demanding to talk to me while Marie shooed him away.

"Thanks. Can I talk to Dad?" I shifted the phone from one ear to the other, which turned out to be a bad idea because I quickly discovered that I had stitches from on my right temple that curved down and then stopped a couple of centimeters from the tip of my ear. I picked the wrong moment to curse loudly.

"NICO! Modera il linguaggio!" my father exclaimed.

"Sorry, Dad," I said sheepishly, wincing and putting the phone back against my other ear. "It just hurt a lot."

He sighed, "I'm sorry. How are you doing?"

"It's fine, you're just doing your job," I told him, smiling with one side of my mouth. "I'm doing as good as I can be. You can see for yourself when you get here."

"Yes," he replied, and then Marie's muffled voice and the sound of the door opening and closing sounded in the background. "I'll see you soon."

I nodded even though he couldn't see me, "Ti voglio bene."

I could hear the smile in his voice when he answered. "Ti voglio bene anch'io. Noi ci saremo presto."

"Addio per ora," I answered, and then I hung up the phone and handed it back to Nurse Jenkins. "They're coming right now," I informed her.

"Good," she said, smiling at me, "In the meantime, we should get you something to eat." She held out a laminated paper titled 'Menu' in a loopy font. "What do you want?"

-

My parents arrived about fifteen minutes later, when I'd already finished my meal (that's how hungry I'd been), and my heart dropped when Will didn't enter after them. I stared at the slowly closing door desolately for a few moments until it suddenly swung inwards again. I couldn't suppress the huge, relieved smile that sprang to my lips.

"Nico!" my father exclaimed, and I switched my attention to him. He walked swiftly over to my bed, "Would it hurt you too much if I hugged you?"

I shook my head and my father stooped down and embraced me carefully like I was breakable. I bet he didn't realize that I was already broken, and not just on the outside.

He pulled away, "I'm so sorry I was not here when this happened."

I shook my head, "You're here now e questo è tutto ciò che conta."

My father smiled at me and stepped aside to make room for Marie to stand next to him while Will walked around my bed and pulled up a chair on my right.

"Hazel couldn't make it." my step-mom explained, probably not elaborating any further on purpose. Chances were that my step-sister wasn't doing anything too important, and could've come if she really wanted to.

I nodded, "That's alright, she has all the time in the world to see me when I get home."

She bent over to stroke my face worriedly, "Are you in a lot of pain?"

I shrugged, "It's not too bad." I told her, "My headache is already a lot better."

She nodded, combing my hair with her fingers. Sometimes the things she did reminded me so much of my real mom that it hurt. "That's good. . . The police want to come interview you as soon as they can."

I nodded, my gut twisting. Lying to the police was a lot more serious than anything I'd ever done before. "They can come any time they want."

"Okay, I'll let them know. . ." she said, and shook her head, "Can you believe they actually thought Will had done it?"

My head snapped over to him, causing pain to shoot through my skull, "They what?"

He shrugged, smiling a little. "I had that voicemail from you, and my parents to back me up," he explained, and then he laughed, "They were so mad at me for taking their car. . . until they found out why. My parents, I mean."

I smiled back at him, "How'd you find me?" I asked, searching his face, I wasn't really sure what I was looking for.

"I typed one of the store names you gave me into Google and then went to the one in the worst location listed." He stared at me for a couple of seconds, before whispering, "I was so scared, Nico."

Nico. I relished the way he said my name, so different from the moment before he'd stormed out of CiCi's, when it had seemed so empty.

"I'm sorry," I told him as a tear fell down his cheek. "Don't cry, Will."

"I'm sorry."

I shook my head, "Don't be." and we just looked at each other for a second, before Will laughed softly, wiping droplets from his face. "Okay."

"Will you promise me something?" It came out more like a plea than I'd intended.

"Depends on what it is." he said, sounding amused.

I laughed, and then winced, "Promise you'll visit me when I'm on house arrest."

"I'd do that even without promising."

"Okay."

My mom immediately started protesting that it wouldn't be house arrest because I'd be treated like a king, and my father laughed and said that I was spoiled while Will absent-mindedly wound strands of my hair through his fingers, dropping in teasing comments here and there. I almost started crying right then, because I was loved so much more than I deserved.

-

It turned out that I really could have gone back to school if I wanted to, but of course, I didn't. School was the last place I wanted to be. I wasn't very happy with my current situation either, which was being confined to my bed and getting scolded every time I tried to leave my room.

I sighed, throwing off my covers and going to study myself in the mirror for the umpteenth time that day. It was a little unbelievable that Percy had done all of this to me. Well, most of it, there were still the injuries whose cause I couldn't place (like the cut on my left hand, which wasn't deep enough to need stitches, but was still bandaged to keep out infection). I touched the stitching running through my head gingerly, remembering the sound of my shirt ripping. For a moment I imagined it would sound the same way, if I tore through them right then, let the blood run down my face and drip onto the hardwood.

I dropped my hand to my side, the flesh around the stitches was an ugly bluish green color along with the skin over my cheekbone. The two bruises ran together like a marker drawing done by a child who'd pressed down too hard on the paper, and I had scrapes over different places on that side of my face, while my other cheek was faintly bruised; that's how hard he'd slapped me. My lip was split, but I wasn't sure exactly when that had happened. I knew that underneath my clothes, both of my shoulders were different shades of discoloration, along with my right hip and ankle. I had other bruises over my back and chest, and a few scattered over my arms and legs. The few weeks I'd had to heal had quickly been reversed.

A soft series of knocks sounded at the door and I turned and leaped into bed, dragging the covers over me leaning back again my headboard like I'd been there all day. . . Which wasn't too far from the truth. I didn't want to be lectured about my health again.

"Yeah?" I called.

"It's Will."

"Will!" I exclaimed happily, and then mentally kicked myself. "Yeah, come in."

Will opened the door, grinning. "Happy to see me?"

I rolled my eyes, "I'm happy to see anyone who's not yelling at me every time I put a toe out of bed," I paused to narrow my eyes at him, "Don't you start either."

My friend laughed, closing the door behind him and coming to sit on the edge of my bed, "I'm sorry I didn't visit you at the hospital yesterday." he said sincerely.

I shook my head, "It's okay, Will, I know you have a life."

Will sighed, "Yeah, but I promised I'd come see you, and you must have been bored just lying there."

"What does it look like I'm doing now? And you promised to come visit me here, not at the hospital, so technically, you didn't go against your word."

"Good point." he said, moving across the bed to sit next to me. He paused a moment before he settled down completely, "Is this okay?"

I looked at him quizzically, "Yeah."

Will relaxed against the headboard, his shoulder barely touching mine, his head leaned back, so his neck arched and his Adam's apple poked out. The shadows from the window played over his face, hollowing out his cheeks and making his skin shine. His eyes shuttered closed, their lashes resting against his cheeks, looking like shadows themselves.

"Wait!" I said, and his brilliant eyes flew open and landed on my face.

I shook my head, "Go back to how you were before." I insisted.

Will gave me a questioning look, but complied, and I pushed off the covers excitedly and raced over to my desk. I pulled out my art supplies and dragged the rolly chair across the huge raven rug and plopped down into it, selecting an 8H pencil to start out the first lines.

Will peeked out of the corner of his eye, and then went back to looking peaceful after I glared at him, "Didn't you already draw me?" but I saw the smile flicker over his face.

"I haven't been able to get you right yet," I explained, glancing back and forth from Will to my paper in order to get the correct angle for his jaw. "How long do you think you can stay like that?"

"Can you put some music on? Preferably something calming."

"Screamo it is." I joked, setting my things aside to walk over to my CD case. I turned it slowly until my eyes fell on A Lesson In Romantics by Mayday Parade. "This is probably one of the most laid back bands in here. . ." I said, setting it in the player carefully and hitting 'Play.'

"Okay."

I set back to work immediately, tucking my legs underneath me, tracing lines and switching pencils when I needed to, erasing and blending and bobbing my head in time to the music. After a while I kind of got lost in my work, I forgot Will was right there in front of me, relying solely on the picture I'd taken in my head of a perfect moment.

I stopped my pencil in the middle of drawing the soft curls of his hair, alive with sunlight. I was hunched over my paper, my nose just a couple of inches from the sheet. I looked up and straightened out my back as fast as I could, and Will quickly looked away, a faint brush of pink highlighting his cheeks for a moment as he resumed the position I'd put him in.

I laughed quietly, and then kept drawing, "I'm almost done." I told him.

"Okay," Will replied.

I added a few more finishing touches, erasing a few lines and blending things a little better, and then I pulled back to study my work. I bit my lip on the side that wasn't split, "I think I almost did it this time. . ."

Will sat up, his eyes bright. "Are you done?"

I nodded and climbed off the chair and onto the bed in front of him. He took the drawing from me and his eyes widened, "Wow. . ." he whispered, almost reverently, "What. . . What did you mean by 'almost?'"

I shook my head, "I don't know. . . I just feel like it's not exactly. . . right."

Will let his eyes scan over the picture again, shaking his head in wonder. "Nico, this is absolutely amazing."

I squirmed, blushing, "Thanks. . . I just. . . I don't know, there's something about you that I can't quite get right on paper, you know?"

Will's lip twitched, and he stared at the paper for a second longer before he lifted his eyes back up to mine.

"You look. . . sad." I told him after a second.

"I. . ." he hesitated, his expression wavered on the brink of something I couldn't quite out my finger on, "I can't believe someone would do this to you."

He reached out like he was going to touch my face, and then changed his mind at the last second and dropped it. My eyes followed its decent with confusion and then snapped back up to his face as it hit the mattress.

"Things like this happen all the time." I shrugged, "At least it was me and not some helpless old lady."

He laughed quietly, "That's one way of looking at it."

"Are you okay, Will?"

"As good as I'll ever be."

I scooted over and curled up next to him, leaning my head on his shoulder, and Will jumped in surprise. I looked up at him, "Is this okay?"

"Yeah." he told me.

"What's wrong?" I asked, closing my eyes to ward away the ache throbbing through my head.

I felt his muscles clenching beneath me, heard the heavy sigh that pulled it's way from his lips. "I'm just worried about you."

"I don't think that's the whole story, Solace, but you can tell me as much or as little as you want."

He didn't speak for a long time after that, and my headache was completely gone before he apologized and announced that he had to get back for lunch. I pulled away from him and then dragged the blankets up to my chin to compensate for the loss of his body heat. I almost told him he could just stay and eat lunch here, but I knew he that he was just using that excuse to escape, and I'd only make him feel trapped.

-

After another day of laying in bed, doing homework, and generally being bored, my mom had finally decided that I could get up and walk around a bit, so Will came by and we decided to go to the lake since it wasn't too far away. My mom only agreed to let us go after Will promised that he would make me sit down if I so much as looked slightly off.

Unfortunately, he held true to his word and me stop at least ten times on the way there, and only once was it reasonable (he'd actually had to catch me because I got super dizzy all of the sudden, but then he'd acted all weird about it and apologized and then he helped me sit down). He wouldn't admit it, but I was almost positive he was just doing it because he thought it was funny to make me mad.

Now we were sitting by the lake, the same place we always did when we went there, on a small ledge that jutted out over the water.

"Are you feeling okay?" Will asked, reaching out and brushing aside my hair to feel my forehead like I might have suddenly broken out into a fever during the walk there. He pulled his hand away quickly as if I had broken out into a fever that was so searingly hot it burned him. He'd been doing all of the time recently, jerking away from me and looking mildly uncomfortable all of the time, like I put him on edge, and it was really beginning to bother me. I sat, staring at his hand, trying to think of some way of bringing it up to him, for apparently too long, because Will waved his hand in front of my face, "Hey, Neeks? Nico, you in there?"

"Huh?" I said, starting and looking up at him, "O-oh, yeah, I'm fine. I mean, I feel fine." I said, by way of answering his previous question.

He nodded, and then sat there, still seeming ill at ease. I reached out tentatively and touched his arm. It jerked slightly, just like I'd been expecting it to, and I frowned.

"Will. . ."

He raised his eyebrows, a silent question.

"You-- you've been acting weird," I explained quietly, shifting on my knees awkwardly.

Will opened his mouth to reply, but I continued before he could. "And I think I know why. . ." I told him, holding his gaze.

His eyes widened, and his lips formed a couple of soundless words before he finally squeaked, "What?"

"Look, I know you're gay, and I know that you know that I know. . ." I took a moment to be embarrassed about how stupid I sounded, "But I don't care, okay? You're still the same guy, and I know you don't like every guy you meet, and I know that you definitely don't like me." I gave him an amused smile, "You'd have to be pretty stupid to." Will was still staring at me like I was a fish that had just dragged itself out of the lake and grown legs, so I plowed on. "I just. . . You seem to be really nervous around me and I don't want you to be nervous. . ." I leaned forward on a whim, resting my forehead against his, sitting there for a second and looking into his eyes, letting him see the truth in mine, "I trust you, okay?"

I was honestly surprised that his eyes hadn't popped out of his head at that point, and I blushed, pulling back, "Sorry." I mumbled.

Will cleared his throat, looking away with a similar blush to mine spreading across his cheeks. "Uh. . . You're fine."

"Okay. . . but I just want you to know that things don't have to be any different than they were before. You're still Will, and I'm still Nico, and you're still my best friend."

Will grinned widely after a second, apparently recovering smoothly from his flustered state. "Promoted straight from tolerated to best friend, I'd say that's pretty good."

I shook my head, "Just from friend to best friend. Remember? We became friends when you got me out of that dinner."

"Right. How could I have forgotten?"

I rolled my eyes, "You should try harder to remember these things, or I'll have to reconsider my decision."

"No! Please, Nico, I don't know what I would do without your marvelous friendship!"

"Hey! My friendship is marvelous, so try not to sound so sarcastic."

Will smiled easily, and I smiled back, and things finally seemed to fall back into place after weeks of discord.

-

"Y'see, it's all a matter of technique." Leo was saying.

I was still a bit annoyed that Will (who was currently laughing so hard at what the Latino was saying that he was choking) had brought him over to my house, but to be fair, the guy was actually pretty funny. Just in a way that would be highly offensive if you didn't get his sense of humor. . . and even sometimes if you did. The guy was unpredictable, which was welcome after the boring (but safe) couple of weeks I'd spent in my house, both breaking up the melancholy and serving as a distraction from the fact that I'd be going back to school on Monday. Like, right then he was teaching us the art of fingering, which wasn't a conversation one normally had in a strictly Catholic household for all the world to hear. . . or at all.

We were all in my living room; Will was sprawled out over the white sofa, I was curled up in a chair next to it, trying to focus on the homework piled in my lap, and failing, and Leo was standing in front of us, talking loudly with elaborate hand gestures.

"See, three is just the right number." He held up three fingers, like he was doing a Hunger-Games-salute, "You've got to stick your fingers deep--" he cut himself off, seeing my horrified face, his expression went through confusion, probably because I had been laughing at his crude jokes the whole time up until this point, horror, most likely because he realized that I wasn't looking at him, but staring straight over his shoulder, and then snapped back to neutral as he whipped around to face my father, who was standing in the archway. "DEEP IN THE BIBLE!" he yelled, turning his fingers downward and jamming them into the palm of his other hand, which in my opinion, really didn't help the situation at all. "Y'ALL NEED JESUS!"

Hades stood there for a second, looking completely bewildered, and I was about to launch into a lengthy apology when his lips started twitching, and then he clasped a hand over his mouth and backed out of the room.

At this point, Will was laughing so hard that he'd actually fallen off of the couch and hit his head on the coffee table, which resulted in him clutching his skull while simultaneously shaking with mirth and looking quite pained. The combination was actually hilarious, as he kind of looked like he was having a mild seizure. I completely forgot about my dad (who was probably in the next room saying every prayer there was from every religion known to mankind), for the sake of laughing at Will's unfortunate circumstance.

"Will. . ." I wheezed as he sat up, leaning back against the couch and still laughing, "are you okay?"

He nodded, chortling, "I think I'm going to have a bruise."

For some reason, we all found that absolutely hilarious, and the three of us spent the next five minutes dying of laughter, until I proposed that we go up to my room ("Oh, so you're into that kind of stuff. . . Hey, I don't judge. Everyone's got their weird little kinks." Leo had said, and then he'd winked in a very suggestive way, and Will had cracked up all over again) so my dad wouldn't hear anything else he didn't want to.

I walked in and plopped down on my bed, leaning back against the headboard without even stopping to think about the fact that Leo had never been in my room before. I guess it should have occurred to me since this was the first time he'd ever been in my house, but it didn't.

Leo took a couple of paces over the threshold, turned in a slow circle in the middle of the plush black rug, and then turned to look at Will, who was stretched out across my ebony comforter. "I can't say that I'm surprised."

Will laughed heartily, and I glared at both of them, "What? You're not surprised about what?"

"Your room," Leo stated flatly, crossing the mahogany floorboards to plunk himself down in my office chair.

My gloomy expression grew even darker, "What about it?" I asked tightly.

Leo shrugged, "It reflects your sunny personality quite well." He and Will exchanged a knowing glance.

I huffed angrily and set back to doing my homework, pressing down with my pencil more than was actually necessary. "Good."

-

"We haven't been to see Hollie for a while." Will pointed out, kicking at the leaves piled along the edge of the sidewalk, their bright colors broadcasted proudly that it was truly Autumn. A cool breeze swept past, taking a couple of them with it and reminding me that in a few months time we'd be trudging through snow.

I nodded, needlessly verifying the fact. It had been at least two weeks since we'd last seen her. "We should stop by."

"Who's Hollie?" Leo, who seemed to be spending more and more time with us, asked, sounding utterly exasperated.

"Our friend." Will stated, at the same time that I deadpanned, "She works at a music shop."

"And it's so important that you go and see her because. . .?"

I shrugged noncommittally, shoving my hands in my pockets and turning to face him, as everyone seemed to be stopping now. "It's not that it's a big deal. . . it's just kind of something that we. . ." I glanced over at Will. Honestly, I wasn't exactly why we kept going back to see Hollie either; I mean, sure, she was nice and all, and we'd become friends over the last couple of months, but it wasn't like it was something we'd had to do.

"Normally do." Will finished my sentence, "And plus, we don't really need a reason to visit a friend, do we?"

"Guess not." Leo agreed, and we continued on our way.

-

Today Hollie was going for a more laid back style that consisted of jeans so torn up that they were actually more holes than they were material, a deep green leather jacket over a tank top sporting the Avenged Sevenfold logo, a pair of beat-up black combat boots, and more necklaces and bracelets than I could count.

She grinned at us as we walked in, pushing aside her college text book to slip off her stool and greet us. "You two haven't been in here in forever," she pointed out, her eyes flitting over to Leo and then to Will questioningly.

"This is Leo Valdez, he's our friend," Will explained laying a bit of stress on the word 'friend,' to which Hollie nodded shortly. I snorted softly as I realized what she'd been asking, the idea of Leo dating Will was not only disturbing, but also completely unfathomable. "Leo, this is Hollie."

"A pleasure to meet you, fair lady," Leo said, taking the hand Hollie had intended for a handshake and kissing it. "You can call me Hot Stuff, or Bad Boy Supreme, whichever you prefer."

Hollie pulled her hand away uncomfortably and wiped it on her jeans as subtly as possible. "I think I'll just stick with Leo," she informed him, taking a step back.

Leo shrugged, "It was worth a try," he amended, already starting away from the rest of us to examine the memorabilia dominating the walls.

"Is he always like that?" she wondered, watching him leave with a certain amount of distaste.

Will laughed briefly, "You'll get used it, he isn't all bad."

"Yeah, but he's definitely no walk in the park." I pointed out, glaring after my annoying friend.

"Hey, you're not all sunshine and butterflies either, Death Boy," Will shot back teasingly and I gave him a wolfish grin, "I should hope not."

"By the way, I still need to get you to wear something other than black."

"How was that a 'by the way' statement? We weren't talking about anything remotely close to that!" I sputtered.

"Actually, it made perfect sense, you just don't want me to give you a makeover." he stated smugly. This was a topic we'd been arguing over for the past couple of weeks, and it was getting really old really fast.

"Ooh, a makeover?" Hollie interjected, positively beaming, "Neeks, I could make you look like you belong on the cover of a magazine."

"Only Will calls me Neeks," I retaliated grumpily. "And I don't want to look like some dumb model anyway."

She sighed, "You're no fun, you know that?"

"You let my sister dress you up." He gave me his best puppy-dog face, which, for the record, no human should be subjected to.

I glared at him. "Don't give me that face, Solace. I am not letting you give me a makeover, end of story."

Will smiled at me knowingly and leaned forward so that I could feel his breath against my ear, "We'll see about that." he whispered and then pulled away, his eyes narrowing in a challenge.

I gulped, suddenly thrown off balance for no reason that I could decipher. "W-whatever, Will," I sounded a whole lot less confident than I'd intended, and the light blush dusting my cheeks wasn't helping anything either.

Will just laughed and strode over to join Leo, smirking like he'd just won the lottery or something. I stood there for a good ten seconds, staring after him in bewilderment until I realized that Hollie was studying me, her brow crinkled and her head tilted to the side like I was some huge mystery. I managed to turn even more red and then shuffled off hurriedly in the opposite direction Will and Leo had gone. I hid in the R&B section, trying to sort out my emotions or maybe even focus on something else until Will found my hiding place and informed me that we had to go and I couldn't help but think that he looked altogether much too pleased with himself.

It's way too late and I'm way too tired to write a mildly interesting A/N psch. Also, I feel like nothing really happened in this chapter, sorry.