A/N: Here's an extra long chapter! Enjoy!

Going out at night had always been a routine for Will.

Crime fighting had always been a routine.

Fighting HIM had always been a routine.

Now, Will's routine had changed.

Now, instead of fighting him... Will fought WITH him.

The media was going nuts of course. People had so many questions. So many theories.

Had Ghost king redeemed himself? And started working with Sunshot? Or was it the other way around? Had Sunshot turned to the darkness, willingly letting Ghost king's shadows snuff out him light? Or had he been manipulated?

In Will's opinion, neither was true.

Ghost king had not been a villain in the first place to redeem himself. He had always been a hero... it was just that it didn't seem that way to the public eye. Or maybe, it was because the public and Will himself, never let the supposed villain explain his actions, had never given him the chance of SHOWING who he really was, deep down inside. Instead, Will had attacked him, forced him to fight. And in anyone's books, the guy who fights the hero automatically becomes the bad guy.

It didn't help that Ghost king wasn't much of a talker, and when he did talk, out spilled unparalleled sarcasm. His dark façade didn't do much to help either, neither did his general dislike to socialize.

Anyway....

Sunshot had not gone skipping off to the darkness either. He had merely recognized the fellow hero, and now was helping him.

They were working together, to fight evil.

The last few weeks, the two of them repeatedly fought Paragon, trying to get through to her, and failing every time.

And no, Will was not being manipulated.

He had his doubts when Ghostie first relayed his story for him, but after he learned who was behind that silver mask...

Everything just... made sense.

But this brought Will to a huge problem.

He had been picking fights with the boy who he may or may not have a crush on.

Great Will. Just. Great.

So yeah, the media and the public were very confused. A few, who had argued in the past that Ghost king might not be a villain, said he had redeemed himself. But unfortunately, the majority of the civilians were much like himself, refusing to see past his dark façade and refusing to accept that change was possible. Will couldn't really blame them, because he himself didn't believe it until he was faced with rock solid proof, still that didn't make him any less annoyed with the said civilians.

Will let out a sigh as he made his way to Nico's locker, the said boy locking it before turning to Will.

"You're still limping" was what came out of Nico's mouth.

Will's foot seemed to attract bad luck. Last night, he had sprained it yet again during the fight. He had landed on it wrong, and Nico had had to shadow travel him straight to his bedroom.

How come it was always him who ended up being the damsel in distress?

Will shrugged. "It'll be fine by tonight."

Nico nodded.

Then the two of them silently made their way, Will limping slightly, to the broom closet under the stairs.

That had been their secret meeting spot for a while now. It was where they discussed the problems of their vigilante life, away from prying eyes and ears.

Nico reclined against a wall and crossed his arms, his body language suave and Will tried so hard to fight the blush. Key word: tried.

Nico raised an eyebrow. "What, you're too hot in here too?"

"I uh... yeah... it's a Sunshot thing, see? I'm always hot--" Will blinked. "That came out wro--"

"I guess you are."

"What--?" Will gasped, did Nico just call him--

But Nico just shrugged it off like nothing happened. "Get your head in the game Solace. Don't get distracted--oh, look!" Nico's interest suddenly snapped to Will's shoes.

Will gave him a 'really?' expression, "you're the one who's distracted but I know, these shoes are cool right? They're new-"

"Huh? Who's talking about shoes?" Nico's monotonous voice interrupted his rant.

"What?"

"I'm talking about the cockroach on your shoes lace."

What-

Cockroach-

Did he just say-

"Will?" Nico sounded concerned, "is everything alright? You look pale."

"Did you just say-"

"Cockroach?"

Will nodded.

And realization dawned on Nico's face, his expression of concern melted into a flat one, "don't tell me you're-"

Will gulped and managed a nod.

Nico sighed, his face deadpan, he muttered, mostly to himself, "of course."

It felt like a million years to Will, as he tilted his eyes down to look at his brand new yellow shoes. They shone like mini suns. And there on the bright yellow shoe lace of the left one was a patch of brown.

No, it was not spilled coffee.

It was something, much, much more dangerous.

It was a big, fat, ugly, terrifyingly horrifying cockroach.

And Will, being the hero he was...

"Here it comes..." Nico groaned.

Will screamed.

Nico jumped forwards, covering his mouth, "shh! Do you want anyone to find out we're here?!"

But Will did not have ears for his logic, all he had, was eyes for the roach which he was trying desperately to kick off of his shoes.

The poor animal hung on for dear life.

Poor animal? No!! The fearsome beast!

Nico tried his best to restrain him, and even though he was probably stronger than Will despite his slender build, he failed this time, because when Will's survival instinct had kicked in, and he was absolutely frantic.

The struggle lasted for at least five minutes, with Will trying his best to put as much distance between himself and the roach as humanly possible and with Nico trying his best to restrain him and calm him down while trying to not to accidently step on the roach and kill it.

It only stopped when Will's back pressed against the door and forced it open. He and Nico fell out in a heap.

And Cecil just happened to be passing by.

He jumped back with a yelp, his hand on his heart, "man! You two scared me! What the heck is going on??"

Nico shook his head, gaining his bearings and looked up at Cecil from his spot on top of Will, "he saw a roach."

Cecil winced in sympathy, "rough."

Nico nodded in agreement.

"I-is it gone?!" Will asked frantically.

Nico sighed, "I'm pretty sure it got trampled."

Will let out a breath of relief, then realized the predicament he was in. He looked up at Nico, going crimson in the face. "I uh... I- sorry?"

Nico blinked at him, and got up, he offered Will his hand, "it's fine..."

Will, like a scared deer, stared at his hand for a moment before accepting it up.

Cecil looked between the two of them, his head darting left and right as if he was watching a rather interesting game of tennis.

He cleared his throat, gaining their attention, "okay, what were the two of you doing in there?" he raised his eyebrows.

Immediately both boys looked anywhere but at Cecil, "I um... we were... um..."

Cecil studied them, taking in their messed up hair and disheveled clothes. Will saw something flash across Cecil's eyes, and the said boy gasped, "wait- you two didn't-"

Will realized where he was getting at, and flushed even more, while Nico just blinked in confusion.

Cecil took one glance at Will's face before assuming, "oh my gosh, you did! I knew you would get together sooner or later!"

"Wait what-?" Will sputtered.

Nico seemed to realize what was going on, "wait- you don't think-"

But Cecil had already done thinking, he smirked at them, "c'mon! No need to be shy!"

"We're not-" Nico tried but Cecil was already sprinting away, yelling, "wait till I tell Lou about this! She better have that ten bucks ready for me!"

Will and Nico blinked at his retreating back as he dashed down the hallway.

"Did he just-" Nico started.

"Yes, he did."

"He thinks we're-"

"Yes."

Nico face palmed, "great, just what we need."

Will was silent. His face was steaming hot, but something clicked in his mind.

A sure, gradual smirk spread across his face, "maybe... maybe that is what we need."

"What do you mean?" Nico asked hesitantly.

Will smirked even more, making Nico eye him suspiciously.

"Stop smirking Solace," Nico retorted, "it looks WRONG on your face."

But Will was still reeling from the brilliant idea he just had.

"What do you say..."

Nico's eyes narrowed.

"... we start dating?"

"HUH?!"

Will hastily added, "FAKE dating! I meant fake dating!"

"Why on earth-"

"If we do that, we can discuss WORK secretly without anyone suspecting anything... and if we had to say... disappear during school hours for WORK, it would also be easier to explain."

"I..." Nico sighed in defeat.

"So..." Will started, eyes hopeful despite the raging blush on his cheeks, "what do you say? Will you be my fake boyfriend?"

Nico took such a long time to respond. Will's hopes flickered away one my one like dying candles.

Nico opened his mouth, his hair hanging in his eyes charmingly, "I... I just hate it when you actually have good ideas."

Word count: 1643

A/N: Hello my beautiful readers! How are you all doing? So guys, I'm having a slight writer's block so if yall have any ideas you'd like to see in this fic, pls comment! I won't promise I'd actually use your ideas, but maybe I will, or maybe they would help me get some inspiration.

Another thing I wanted to tell you guys is that....

I know that life can be hard for everyone sometimes, but better times will come, okay? I don't know when, maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe next month, year, but things will get better one day. So till that day, hold on and stay strong. Read some Solangelo, watch a movie, listen to some music, find a hobby, talk to someone about stuff, try to find new people to trust aka make more friends, trust me, it'll help. If anyone needs an ear to vent, just send me a private text. Just know that you have support here and that better times will come one day.

Till then, let's all hold on and stay strong, us Solangelo crowd, okay?