Request for @Stitchthecat! I hope you like it!

Nico's POV

"We're going to have to work on this over the weekend," Will sighed, picking up our shared science project. So far the volcano was the worst thing I had ever made in my life, the paper mache still damp with glue although it had been finished for a day and a pitiful stream of fake lava trailing down the side, making it look as if someone had spilled ketchup on it. 

"Yeah, sure," I said, but I wasn't thinking about the words coming out of my mouth. All I was thinking about was how Will's freckles looked like a galaxy spreading across his nose and how his hair caught the sunlight when he was standing in just the right spot. "My house?" 

"Sounds great," Will was saying, but the only thing I was paying attention to were his beautiful, thick lips. "I'll be there at noon tomorrow." Will grabbed the project, waving goodbye to me before I could realize what I had just agreed to. 

------

"He's coming over here!" I groaned, burying my head in my hands at the dinner table. "I can't believe I invited him over here! It's terrible here!" My father frowned, his fork chinking against his plate as he scooped up a forkful of mashed potatoes. 

"It's not bad here," he protested. "I think it's lovely here." 

"Dad, my room hasn't had a make over since fifth grade, and I'm a high school senior," I reminded him. "It's still that ugly bright red color with the rocket ship stickers plastered to every inch of the wall, remember?" He winced. 

"Well, I think that's more of a problem with your room, not with the house. So, this Will character. Is he the same Will you're always talking about?" 

"Dad," I groaned. "If you embarrass me tomorrow-" 

"Yeah, Dad, it is," Hazel laughed. "You know, the one with the crystal blue eyes and the luscious blonde hair." I was blushing so hard I thought that their might be heat waves visibly rolling off of my face. 

"You talk about him all the time, Nico!" he said. "He sounds like such a nice boy for you. I'm so glad you finally managed to get him over here." Hazel was roaring with laughter and I buried my face in my hands. 

"Dad, stop!" I begged. "It's just for a school project. Please, don't embarrass me. I'm begging you." My father pushed back his chair from the dinner table, an innocent look on his face. 

"Embarrass you?" he repeated. "When have I ever embarrassed you?" He scraped the leftovers of his dinner into the trashcan, whistling a merry tune as he did the dishes. I glanced over at Hazel and found her still giggling, trying to hide it behind her hand. 

"I can't believe you," I muttered. "I never thought you'd betray me like that." 

"You did the same thing to me," Hazel reminded me. "Frank came over once to study for a test and all Dad could talk about during the entire day was how hot I always said Frank was." 

"You're a couple because of that!" I protested. "You should be thanking me." 

"Hey, maybe I have the same plan," Hazel said with a wink. "I bet that by the end of the day, you'll be so desperate to get away from Dad and his teasing you'll lock yourself in the closet with him and make out." She laughed when she saw my bright red cheeks. "Hey, I'm just trying to help you out. I know you want him." She stood up, leaving me staring down at my plate with my elbows propped up on the table. As long as the day went a little bit better than that dinner, it would be fine. 

Will's POV

I stood at the house that Nico had given me the address to, holding the failed attempt at a volcano in my quaking hands. I didn't want to admit it but I was nervous to see Nico, nervous to see his chocolate brown eyes and his cute, shy smile. I gave a short, quick knock on the door and almost immediately it swung open, Nico standing in the doorway. I shifted my eyes downward and I could see him rubbing his palms on the leg of his black jeans. "Come on," he said, walking into the house. I followed him and I immediately liked the house. It was clean and white, with a man who looked very much like Nico lounging on the couch watching a sitcom with a darker skinned girl sitting next to him. I recognized her from school as Nico's sister and she smiled at me when she saw me. "That's your family, right?" I asked. "Should we go say hi to them or something?" 

"No, it's fine," Nico said, grabbing onto my wrist and tugging me closer to the stairs. "We should probably just get up to my room and work on the project." He was walking quicker than he normally did, and if I didn't know better I would have thought that he didn't want me to meet his family. But did I know better? Was Nico just acting a little bit strange, or did he really not want me to meet his family?

We walked up a short stairway, and when I reached the top I found that there were five rooms arranged around a squat hallway, almost like a lobby. "In here," Nico said, bringing me into the second door on the right. As soon as we were both inside he shut the door, then looking at me. "Alright, what needs to be done?" he asked. 

"A lot," I sighed. "The first problem is that the 'lava' looks like we crushed up a tomato." 

"Oh, I have something that might help us with that," Nico said, leading me across a clothing scattered floor. I stepped over black tees and grey tees as well as a few more pair of black jeans until we reached Nico's desk. He swept an armful of homework off of it, opening up the bottom drawer and pulling out a vat of something. "Dark red food coloring," he announced. "But, that's not all." He opened up the top drawer and pulled out something that looked like white melted silly putty. "This should get the consistency," he told me. "I think if we put the food coloring in it, it'll look like lava." 

"Perfect," I grinned. "Let's get started." 

------

There was a knock at Nico's door an hour later and his head snapped toward it, his eyes going wide. "I'll get it," I announced, moving open to the door to turn the knob. It swung open and in the doorway was Nico's dad, holding a plate of cookies and smiling widely. 

"I thought you kids could use some snacks," he said, striding in. "How's the homework doing?" 

"Great, Dad," Nico said quickly, taking the cookies and putting them on the floor. "Thanks for the cookies. See you at dinner." 

"Hold up," his father said, turning to face me. "I want to meet this Will character you're always talking about." I heard a groan from Nico and I glanced over at him to see his head buried in his hands, the tips of his ears bright red. 

"I didn't know you talked about me to your family," I said to him. 

"I don't, really," Nico said. "Just talking about our project, mostly." 

"That's not it," Nico's dad said, chuckling. "You should hear the way he talks about you. He claims that the reason he's getting a D in science is because he can't stop looking at you. He's always going on about your golden hair and bright blue eyes. He says you look like a Greek god." Nico was blushing even more now, his face a garish shade of red, and I was sure that mine was the same color. I had to say, I didn't really mind that Nico talked about me like that. "If you ask me," Nico's father continued. "There are some crazy hormones going on in that boy." He jerked his finger towards his son and it was at that Nico stood up, herding his dad out of the room. 

"Alright, Dad, that's enough," he said. "Thank you so much for that uplifting speech about how I talk about my friend in private with you, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave." 

"But I wanted to talk to Will more!" he protested before Nico slammed the door in his face. He leaned against the door, his eyes shut and his head tilted up at the ceiling. 

"Sorry for that," he sighed when he seemed to have regained his composure. "He can be a little bit much." His face was still the color of the fake lava we had just finished making. 

"Do you really talk about me like that?" I asked curiously. Nico groaned, pushing himself up from the door and walking over to me. 

"Not exactly like that," he stammered, glancing away from me. "I mean, a little bit, but-" 

"You don't have to be embarrassed," I said quickly. "I think the same thing about you." 

"You think I have luscious golden hair?" he asked, tugging on a black lock of hair.

"No," I said. "I mean, I think you're cute. Like you think I'm cute." I paused. "You do think I'm cute, right? Or do you  just describe me in extreme detail to your family?" 

"No, I think you're cute," Nico laughed. "I can't believe we're saying 'I think you're cute'. Major fifth grade flashbacks." 

"Well, I thought you were cute back then, too," I admitted. "Maybe we were meant to be." 

"Why, because you thought I was cute back in fifth grade?" 

"Well, I still think you're cute now, so that must count for something." 

Hi guys! I hope you liked this one!

Nina