Wpov

OH MY GODS I JUST GOT NICO TO SMILE!

I honestly, just got Nico Di Angelo to smile. And it was the most beautiful thing in the world.

As his eyes flutter shut, though, things start to change.

First his smile dissolved into terror.

Then he started shaking.

"Nico?! Nico, wake up!"

He wouldn't wake up.

"Nico, please, wake up!" I said frantically.

Then he screamed. He was trembling.

"Nico wake UP!"

But he wouldn't. His eyes stayed firmly shut.

"P-please..." Nico cried in his sleep.

Sobs shook his body.

He screamed again.

I shook him, and a minute later he whimpered, but slowly opened his eyes. At first he seemed panicked, but soon he remembered where he was and relaxed.

"I-I'm sorry Will! Did I wake you up? I'm so sorry!" Tears swelled in his eyes so I hugged him.

"Hey, it's all right. You didn't wake me up; I was already awake."

He nodded but I knew he didn't believe me. He put his head on my shoulder.

He was breaking. Nico Di Angelo was breaking.

(A/N:I was thinking this would be a good end to a chapter but that would be really short so I guess I should keep writing.)

-----Npov-----

Oh my gods! In all the panick, I had completely forgotten about how my dad still haunts me in my sleep. I forgot about the nightmares.

Will pulled me into a hug and I rested my head on his shoulder. Tears threatened to spill, but I pushed them away.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No....but I have to, don't I?"

Will hugged me closer and I told him my dream.

"It was about a year ago..."

My dad was stepping closer and closer, taking his sweet time getting to me.

He knew the longer he took getting there the longer I get to worry about what he's going to do to me. Now he was inches away.

"Go steal things for me." He said. I knew what he wanted me to steal. He wanted me to steal achohol. He must be out.

Sometimes my dad steals the achohol himself (it usually is successful), but most of the time he likes to make me do it, as he knows how terrified of it I am.

I usually get caught stealing.

They whip those they catch.

I'm terrified of that whip.

He dragged me over to the door and shoved me through it. "Go."

I stumbled, trembling, over to the bar. At first no one saw me.

I made it into the kitchens and quickly grabbed a bottle. Then, right as I was going to run out of the bar, someone grabbed me from behind.

It was Octavian, the guy who caught me most of the time. "Stealing again, are we?"

"N-no!"

"Then what do you have that bottle for?" Octavian asked, grinning evilly.

"It, umm, it's for..."

"That's what I though. And what do we do to those who get caught stealing?"

"N-no! Please!" I said, trembling.

He smirked and grabbed my arm, taking me outside.

Outside there was a stage with a wooden area to tie people to and a rack of whips. I whimpered, making Octavian laugh.

My dad was already waiting by the stage to watch. He grinned when he saw me being dragged up. Octavian tied my wrist to the wooden area, my back facing the growing audience.

He ripped off my shirt, revealing my scars.

Then he spent a couple terrible seconds picking a whip. He was purposely taking a long time, knowing I was terrified, and wanting to savor it.

Then the first whip came, making me scream.

I could hear the crowd that had gathered. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a boy about my age and his father fighting.

"We need to help him!" The blonde haired boy said. "It's the same boy every time!"

"That means he hasn't learnt his lesson, Will. Now get inside before you get hurt."

The second whip came.

"No, dad! Look! They are using him as entertainment! Don't they see he's in pain?"

"He probably deserves it, now get inside."

"No! I'm helping him whether you will or not."

Before Will could run, his dad grabbed him.

"No, son, I'm trying to protect you, so go inside."

"No!"

Will struggled but didn't get away from his father.

The third and forth whip came, and I was crying. It just hurt so much...

"HE'S CRYING DAD, LET ME GO!" Will screamed.

Will twisted his arms out of his fathers grip and ran up onto the stage.

"Stop it! Stop hurting him!" He yelled.

The fifth whip came.

"Go away, kid, or you'll be whipped too."

"No. you need to stop. Now."

Octavian raised his whip.

Will, scared, took a step back, but when Octavian brought down the whip, Will jumped in the way.

He took the pain for me. It had hit his cheek.

Later, Octavian left and untied me. I was shaking with pain.

"Hey...are you okay?"

But I never got to answer because Will's dad ran up, furious.

"How dare you! How dare you let my son do that!" He yelled at me.

"I-I'm sorry!" I could barely manage this because of the pain.

"Youre not! You gave my son that! I bet he's going to have a scar now and it's all your fault!"

"Dad, I'm fine." Will said quietly. He was looking at the scars on my back.

Some were newer and some older. Some you could barely see. But he stared at my back and took in all the pain I must have felt over the years.

But he couldn't have ever imagined what I'd gone through.

----end of story----

When I finished, Will's eyes were wide. "You were the kid that...your dad....oh my gods...."

Slowly, he lifted up my shirt and looked at my back.

You could see the scars from the time he had saved me from getting whipped.
There were tons of smaller scars too, from my dad.

"You are that kid, aren't you?" He let the shirt fall back down over my back again.

He traced a scar on his face, it was barely visible and most wouldn't even notice it. But I did. I even knew what it was from.

"That's why you don't want help, too, isn't it?"

I looked at my feet. That was partially true. I also don't want my dad to use those who help me against me later.

We sat like that in silence for a while.

"WILL, BREAKFAST IS READY!" Called Will's mom.

I noticed that if I screamed, Will's parent would probably bring me home.

Will must have been thinking about this too, because he quickly clamped his hand over my mouth.

But, honestly, I wouldn't have yelled.

"Okay, I'm coming!"

"Please don't scream..." He said.

Slowly, Will removed his hand.

I looked at my feet again, "I won't."

He relaxed and headed downstairs.

He had closed the door behind him, but he must not be able to lock it from the outside because once again he didn't.

But this time I didn't run.

I decided to explore the room I was in. The first thing I noticed was a large bookshelf with photo albums in it. I picked a random album, titled 'William' and flipped through it.

The first picture had Will and his sister holding hands in front of a big tree.

They were both smiling and I noticed they had the same bright-as-the-sun kind of smile. The girl also had golden-blonde hair, but her eyes weren't quite as bright as Will's.

I smiled.

The picture had reminded me of my own family before we got split apart.

Hazel was always super excited and optimistic, and I had teased her about it.

Now I wished I hadn't, because now I would do anything for that kind of optimism in my life again. And Bianca had been he only person who knew I was gay. And she didn't care. That meant the world to me, as I hadn't been sure of what my parents would do if they knew I was gay.

But now I knew and I wished I hadn't. My father abuses me for being gay. I shuddered, and went back to the pictures.

There were several ones like the one I had just been looking at.

But soon his sister's face turned to annoyance.

She obviously didn't want to be taking pictures with her brother.

Then, this girl was gone, and I assumed she had gone off to college.

The pictures of Will, alone, made me sad. He didn't deserve to be lonely. He deserved the best, kindest, most amazing person in the world. Which is why he deserved better than me.

But soon the pictures ended all together. There simply weren't any more.
I frowned. Both Will and I didn't have many pictures (although Will had a few more) because his parents got too busy and mine...well...you know.

But then I heard voices in the halls.

"Will, I don't see what the problem is, I just want to make sure you've cleaned your room recently." His mom said.

Uh oh...

I quickly looked around for somewhere to hide, and my eyes fell on the bed. I dove under it, and waited.

"Mom, don't go in there!"

"Honestly, Will. If you haven't cleaned room, I'm not going to be that mad."

I heard the door open and Will gasp.

"See? There really wasn't a problem and you shouldn't have made such a fuss. Your room is perfectly clean." His mom said.

"Yeah..."

"Anyway, I've got to get to work. How about you invite a friend over?"

"Yeah. I will. In fact, it's like they're already here."

I would have laughed if it wouldn't have given me away.

But also, in that moment, I realized Will actually considered me a friend. I hadn't ever had one before. It was...odd.

His mom left and I heard Will whisper "Nico? Are you still here?" His voice was panicked.

"Yeah. Just hiding from your mom." I said, crawling out  from under the bed.

"Oh thank the gods! I thought you ran away!"

I, now out from under the it, sat on the bed.

Will came over and sat next to me, "We could invite Cecil and Lou Ellen over if you want. Oh and I brought you food!" He showed me the plate full of breakfast foods that he was holding. I sighed.

"Fine." I mumbled.

I didn't eat much, but it was enough so that Will was at least satisfied. [authors note from like 2938388 years later: HE WILL NEVER BE SATISFIED...(Hamilton)

When I was done, he took my plate and carried it out of the room.

Soon he was back,  and texting Lou and Cecil to see if they could come over.

They both said yes. Soon everybody was gathered at his house.

"So...what do you want to do?" Cecil asked.

"Well we could play this game I made up when I was little, where one person thinks of an item and everyone has to guess what it is. I can't speak or give hints of any kind, except tell you whether your close to what it is or not."

Cecil grinned. "Sounds like fun."

Will was the 'thinker' first and we all started guessing.

"Squirrel!" Cecil called.

"Not even close."

"Elephant!"

"Still not close."

After a while,  Cecil and Lou gave up, and I still hadn't answered. I thought I knew what it was.

"Nico, do you want to guess?"

"A smile?" I asked quietly.

Will stared at me in awe.

"How'd you guess?"

I shrugged.

"Nico's turn to be the 'thinker'!" Lou said.

I nodded. I was going to make this as hard as possible.

"Okay, I've got it."

"A house?" Cecil asked.

"Extremely close but no."

I was kind of surprised that he had guessed so close so quickly.

"An apartment?" Lou Ellen asked.

"Just as close as 'house'."

Will looked up at me, a grin on his face. "Is it...a home?"

"Cecil guessed house,  and those are the same things." Lou said.

I smiled. "No they aren't."

"What's the difference?"

"A house is a building. A home is your family and friends. A home doesn't even have to be a building. It could be a park, if you really loved the park that much."

"Oh." Cecil said. "Who's turn now?"

"Mine." Lou Ellen said.

We played a while longer and I noticed that Will and I seemed to get all of each others' items. It was...odd.

I got another one of Will's right and he smiled.

"That's it! I quit!" Cecil said.

"So what do you want to play now?"

Lou Ellen grinned and whispered something to Cecil, eyeing us. Cecil's eyes sparkled when he heard what she told him.

"Let's play truth or dare." Lou Ellen said innocently.

"Yeah, what a good idea!" Cecil grinned.

Will shrugged, "Sure, I guess."

I was a little more hesitant. I looked at Will to see how confident he was about this, and he seemed fine so I said, "Okay."

Lou Ellen and Cecil grinned evilly, making me regret my choice.

"I'll go first. Cecil, truth or dare?" Will said.

"Dare."

"I dare you to..." Will looked around, thinking. "Run outside and yell the most random thing you can think of."

Cecil grinned. "Random is my speciality."

We all watched him run outside and yell: "the purple monkeys have been chewing on your toilet, Mr. Suess!"

When he came in he barely gave us time to laugh at the neighbors faces before he said, "Nico, truth or dare?"

I had to think for a bit. I didn't want to have to tell them anything I didn't want to, so I said dare.

"I dare you to..." he looked at Lou Ellen and they seemed to form a silent plan together.

"Go over to your dads house."

Now, I don't think they were actually going to make me do it. But then I didn't know that. I was terrified. Will stepped in front of me protectively.

"Nico, don't do that. A game of truth or dare isn't worth your safety."

Lou Ellen and Cecil started excitedly whispering, as if something had been confirmed.

"I wasn't going to actually make him do it. I would have stopped him before he made it out of this room." Cecil said.

Will relaxed a little, but still stood in front of me, as if he were afraid someone was going to try to hurt me again.

Ooooooh, Will is getting protective! Anyway the word count is: 2466