NINETEEN

"Hello?" Nico picked up the phone.

"Hey, Nico, It's Frank. I was wondering if you would want to meet me for coffee?" Came the voice from the other end.

"Umm, yeah, that would work. I'm free until eleven, Will's out, if you wanted to meet here."

Nico could hear both the nerves and relief in Frank's voice. "Okay, I'll be by around ten?"

"Sounds good." They said goodbye and hung up, leaving Nico perplexed. He and Frank got along well enough, but there was no reason for them to ever hang out without Hazel there as well.

Nico got out of bed and got dressed. A corner of his newest tattoo peeked up from the collar of his shirt, so he shifted until it was no longer visible. He didn't like displaying his tattoos, not for fear of judgment, but simply because he didn't feel like he needed to go around showing them off. He knew they were there, and that was enough.

Will had to go in early to watch a surgery today, so Nico just threw together a bowl of cereal to go with his cup of coffee, opening his phone. He debated between texting Hazel and asking if she knew what was going on and deciding he could just wait until Frank came and cleared things up. It might not even have to do with her, so he figured he could hold off.

Nico tidied up the apartment throwing out the trash that was lying around and doing the dishes. Before he knew it, there was a knock at the door. Giving everything the onceover, he went and answered. Frank was on the other side, tugging on his collar. "Come in." Nico moved out of the way so he could enter the flat.

They walked into the kitchen and Nico poured them both coffee, and they sat at the island across from each other. "What's up?" Nico finally asked, dying to know the truth.

Frank cleared his throat nervously, fiddling with a button on his sleeve. "Well..." Frank stopped for a moment. "I want you to know that I love your sister very much." Nico had an idea where this was going. "And I would never in my life do anything to hurt her, ever. So the reason I'm here is to ask your permission to marry Hazel." Frank finally spat out anxiously. "I know it's not really conventional to ask her younger brother, but with circumstances being what they are..." He trailed off.

Nico nodded. "I get it, and thanks. I really appreciate you doing this." Nico thought over what he was going to say. "If you guys want to get married, I won't be able to stop you, and I'm not sure I want to. You're a good guy, and I know Hazel talks about you like you put the bloody stars in the sky."
"So that's a yes?" Frank was much more calm now, and clearly relieved.

"It's a yes. However, if you so much as think about hurting my sister, I will not hesitate to make your death look like an accident." Nico threatened. He'd never actually kill anyone, he didn't have it in him, but being a forensic pathologist definitely made it easy to threaten people. And Frank looked thoroughly warned.

"I won't. I swear it on my life."

"Then, should she say yes, welcome to the family." They both stood up and shook hands. Frank didn't stick around for much longer after that, and Nico went and got ready for work.

"'Sup, loser." Alice greeted him with a smile on her face.

"Hello to you too, stronzi."

"Hey, that's not a nice thing to call the person who covered your shift this weekend." Alice pointed out, and Nico corrected himself.

"Hello to you too, my most favouritest person in the universe."

"Much better. Now, you have a client coming by for a consultation in twenty minutes, but after that you are just working the store."

"Yes ma'am." Nico mockingly saluted, and headed to his studio to make sure things were set up. He heard the bells by the front door, and went out front. Kayla was standing and chatting with Alice.

"Hey, Nico." She greeted, turning to him.

"Are you my eleven thirty?" Nico asked, hiding his confusion.

"Yup. Will told me about this place after he got his done. So, student by night, sexy tattoo artist by day?" Kayla wiggled her brows comically.

"Shut up." He laughed off the compliment, uncomfortable. "You can follow me to the back if you're ready?" Kayla nodded and Nico led her to his studio.

Kayla showed him some pictures she had found on the Internet, and told him what she was thinking, and ten minutes later, Nico had a rough sketch drawn up and they figured things out. "Alice will get your next appointment set up. I'll have the stencil done by the end of the week for approval." Nico told her, cleaning up the papers.

"Sounds good. Oh, I told Will to invite you to my party this weekend, but I'm not sure if he passed on the message?"

"He didn't, but if homework isn't bad I'll probably be there."

"Great! Will has the details, so just pester him for them, and we're set." Kayla walked back to the front to schedule her next appointment. Nico finished setting the room to rights, and headed for the art section of the building.

Art 'n Soul was divided into two, with art supplies taking the front half of the building with the register in the left hand corner, and Alice's desk in the right corner. The back area of the shop held the studios, there were three altogether. Nico's was the one on the right, Winona's in the middle, and an empty one tucked away into the left. The empty one was the smallest, but they kept it equipped incase they ever needed it. Winona was looking for a third artist as business had picked up quite a lot. Nico used to only have the occasional client, same with Winona. Art supplies was their main source of income, but over time the roles had switched and art supplies was more of the side business.

Only a handful of people came in, the regulars, so Nico had a relatively slow day. After organizing the shelves for the millionth time, he gave up and dragged a chair over to Alice's desk, taking a seat. "di Angelo, you're not supposed to be over here when you're on till." Alice reprimanded, but didn't make him leave.

"Did you want me to die of boredom? Cause, if you banish me from your corner, I will. Also it isn't like Winona will fire me." Nico leaned back and put his feet up on her desk. Alice changed the music as the disk had ended.

"True. How's uni?"

"I'm so ready to be done this year. Right now being an isolated sheep herder in Iceland looks far better than working in a morgue."

"It can't be that bad, you only have a month left, yeah?" Alice tried to cheer him up, but Nico just rolled his eyes at her false optimism.

"Yeah, well, you're more than welcome to write my eight exams if you think it isn't that bad."

"Pfft, there's a reason I dropped out and moved to America. I never want to see another exam in my life, unless it's my motorcycle exam."

"When is that anyways?" Nico and Alice chatted the rest of their shift away, only stopping once when Winona came down from her flat above the store to see how things were going. When they heard the bell, they both made it look like they were incredibly busy doing what they were supposed to, but they both knew Winona wasn't ignorant, just simply turning a blind eye when she said nothing.

Nico could hear Will's music as he came up the stairs, and he was sure all of their neighbors hated them right now. "Will!" Nico shouted over the noise as he entered their flat. "Turn that shit down. I could hear you from the third floor." Will smiled embarrassed, and turned down the volume so Nico could hear himself think again. "Thanks." Nico said at a normal volume now that it was quiet. He opened the fridge to start making supper before he had to head off to class. "Oh, did you know that Kayla is getting a tattoo?"

"Kayla?"

"Knowles. Came in today for a consultation." Nico poured the box of pasta into the boiling water.

"Oh, yeah! I completely forgot, but she told me to invite you to her party. Saturday night, her place."

"She beat you to it. How was the surgery this morning?"

"Rough. We ended up being there to observe an emergency heart transplant." Will sighed, and Nico gave him an understanding look. "Sometimes I think I'm just ready to graduate already and become a nurse, and other times I freak out because why on earth are they letting me be a nurse in a month?"

"Hey, it's fine. You are perfectly capable of being a nurse. This is what you've been working towards for years, and you know your stuff. Don't stress it. Any news on Aurora yet?" Nico asked, turning his back on the stove so he could look at the blond.

Will's eyes looked down, but he shook his head, stood up straighter and brushed it off, changing the conversation topic. "Anything exciting happen at work?"

"No, it was the longest day of my life. Oh! This morning Frank came by." Nico started, but Will interrupted him.

"Hazel's boyfriend, yeah?"

"Yeah. Anyways, he came by to ask my permission to propose to Hazel, since her parents aren't in the picture."

"That's big news. I'm assuming you gave the usual death threat?" Will gave Nico a knowing smile, and Nico nodded unashamed. "How are you taking the news?"

"Well, I saw this coming months ago, and I know that they probably won't move to Canada or anything because Frank's job is here, and Hazel just started school, but honestly?" Nico paused. "I'm a little scared. She's my family, and as much as she denies it, things will change between us when she's married and has her own family. We'll stop hanging out, and you have to move out eventually, and I'll be left on my own again." Nico admitted, shakily.

"For your information, I'm not planning on abandoning you anytime soon." Will reassured. He opened his mouth to say something again, but changed his mind. He took a deep breath and stepped closer to Nico, leaving not much space between them. Nico drew a sharp breath, unsure what to think about their closeness.

"Will, what are you-" Nico started to say, heart beating fast, but was interrupted by Will's lips on his own. This kiss was much different than their sloppy, drunken kiss. It didn't last long, and as much as Nico enjoyed it, he pulled away, knowing it was for the best.

"I'm sorry. Gods, I shouldn't have done that." Will started rambling, face flushed. He took several steps away from Nico, now leaning against the island. Nico was glad for the distance. "Not that I didn't want to, that's not it, it's just I didn't ask, and I don't even know how you feel and I-"

"Will. Shut up." Nico said, trying to decide what to do.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just, I like you, Nico, a lot. And if you just want to pretend that that didn't happen, I understand, but I needed to know if there is ever a chance of anything happening between us, because I'm tired of questioning everything." Will poured out his feelings, terrified, but knowing that it was the right thing to do.

"I didn't even know you were gay." Nico admitted. There were times he definitely questioned Will's sexuality, but didn't say anything about it because Will hadn't been forthwith about it.

"You didn't?" Will looked confused. "I could have sworn I told you at some point. And bi, but close enough." Will shrugged, smiling.

"Look, I like you well enough," Nico started, but Will held up his hand.

"I don't need half assed excuses. Just tell me the truth straight on, and we can move on from this moment and pretend it never happened."

Nico nodded. "I find you attractive, but I've been telling myself there was no chance. I wasn't going to risk crushing on a straight guy again. I don't know why anyone would want to be with me, because I know I have problems. I'm working on fixing them, but they are problems nonetheless. For right now, I think I need to work on building into myself before I'm ready to build into a relationship." Nico couldn't make eye contact, because as much as Will was trying to make light of the situation, there was still hurt in his eyes, and that was too much for Nico at the moment. "I really am sorry, Will. If you need space, I'd be more than willing to give it to you, or whatever you need, really. I don't want this to affect our friendship."

Will took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling. "I understand. And I'm really glad to know that you're not one of those people who think that a relationship will fix everything. It'll save us a lot of future pain. I say we continue on as normal and pretend I didn't kiss you." Will admitted, and was finally able to give Nico a small smile.

"Wouldn't be the first time." Nico joked, smiling back before realizing his mistake.

"What?" Will had no idea what Nico was talking about, and Nico's face reddened.

"I suppose it has to come out sooner or later. You kissed me on New Year's at the party." He finally admitted.

"I did what? Why didn't you tell me?" Will asked, laughing.

"I figured I'd save you the humiliation."

"And just so you know, even if you don't see it, anyone would be lucky to have you, and don't ever settle for less."

Nico didn't believe him, but turned back to preparing the meal, finishing up quickly. They ate quickly and quietly, neither having much to say, and as much as he didn't feel like it, Nico headed off to class to give Will some space.

(A/N: I miss Europe, but I'm glad to be home too. I had no intention for Will to do that when I had sat down to write this chapter, but hey, why not. I was at the airport at 3:30am Sunday morning, and didn't get home until 2:30am Monday morning, and with the time change my Sunday was 33 hours long. I got to see two sunrises though, which was neat. 

I should be back on track with my updating scedule, posting the next chapter the Wednesday after Christmas as this week's is a little early. Hope you guys all have a great break :)