WPOV

"You should rest." I said to my boyfriend.

"I'm not tired." He retaliated, but the bags under his eyes said otherwise.

I know Nico wasn't sleeping, regardless of how much he insisted he was. Last week he was at least passing all his assignments, but this week he failed every single one. It was almost like a switch flipped. He tries to hide it, but I'm constantly catching his eyes glaze over and start to fall shut. He'll realize what he's doing and snap out of it.

"You've been exhausted all week."

Nico sighed. "I don't want to waste our time by sleeping. I'm not able to stay long anyway."

I leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead. "It wouldn't be wasting time."

It was a perfect day to hang out in the park. The sun was hanging in a crystal clear sky and the wind rustled the leaves around us. Nico was laying with his head in my lap, and I busied myself by playing with his hair.

I love doing that.

We were spending time together without having to worry about anything. We were alone and both our parents knew we were staying after school, since we told them we were expanding the tutoring to include the afternoons.

But that's a lie; we just wanted time to act like a couple. And I know that sounds ridiculous, we should get it over with and tell everyone we're together, but I'm not ready for it. I don't think Nico is, either.

He was quiet for a long time. I started to hum, filling the silence.

Eventually, he spoke. "Will?"

"Hm?"

He hesitated, then almost whispered, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

I released the strand of his hair I was twirling. "What do you mean, Neeks?"

He sat up. He didn't say anything as he shifted his position, so that he was sitting in front of me. Nico gently reached across and held my shoulders, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

Nico opened his mouth, but shut it again, struggling to find words to say.

His tears fell and he gave me a shaky laugh like he couldn't believe he was getting so upset. "Don't you get it? This is wrong. I'm a failure, Will. Okay? I'm never going to amount to anything. I'm never going to be what you deserve. I won't even be able to-"

I interrupted him by grabbing the sides of his face and bringing his lips to mine.

Terrified of where those words were going, I tried to pour every feeling I had for him in that kiss. The whirlwind of emotions in my chest, the way the possibility of losing him was crushing me. He kissed me back with just as much desperation.

By the time we parted both of us were gasping for breath and the taste of Nico's tears were on my lips. I wrapped my arms around his shaking body.

"Everything's going to be alright." I whispered "It'll work out, you'll see."

He pulled away, his eyes like shattered glass and full of too many emotions.

Pain.

Anger.

Fear.

Confusion.

"Will, you're going to go to college one day. Then you're going to leave for medical school. And, by the time you get to wear the white coat and call yourself 'Dr. Solace' you're gonna realize what a loser I am - if this relationship even lasts that long."

"That's not true, do you want to know why?" I waited for him to give me a hesitant nod before continuing. "You make me happy, Neeks. I would never leave you."

"You'd be stupid to stay."

I watched as Nico stood and started to pace, but I wasn't going to let him keep any more emotions bottled up. "What brought this on?"

He stopped in his tracks, looking thrown by the question. "Huh?"

"What's been going on with you, Nico? Why are you pushing me away?"

He screwed his eyes shut.

"I'm in love with you." He confessed, more tears streaming down his cheeks. He took in a ragged breath and rushed on while I sat in stunned silence. "I-I can't feel that way.... There's so many reasons why I shouldn't."

Before I knew it, I was on my feet, too. I let my hands rest on Nico's hips.

"Nico? Can you open your eyes for me? Please?" He did, slowly, and I couldn't look away from them. "Every relationship has obstacles. We'll be able to get through ours."

"I don't know if we will."

"Well, I know that I want to be with you, no matter what." I told him, brushing the hair out of his face. "I know I love you, Nico Anderson."

He surged forward and threw his arms around me, and I wrapped him in my arms and held him there. I whispered soothing words as he sobbed into my shirt, in an effort to calm him down.

This time he didn't pull away.

~

The next day Nico was running late for our tutoring sessions, so I had plenty of time to think. But, the problem was that from those thoughts came more questions than answers.

What all did I really know about Nico? I mean, I met his sister once, but what about his parents? What do they do for a living? Do they get along?

Why is it that Nico has an Italian accent, but Juniper doesn't?

And don't get me wrong, Ethan and Luke seem nice enough, but what is Nico doing hanging out with drug dealers?

What was the significance of the ring and the Mythomagic character?

So, by the time Nico finally arrived to the library and sat in his usual seat across from me, I wanted thousands of questions answered.

I wanted to know everything about him.

"I was actually able to finish our math homework last night. Surprising, right?" He didn't wait for an answer as he shuffled through his binder, looking for the worksheet. "But I'm pretty sure some of them were wrong so I just-"

"I have an idea." I interrupted, dramatically slamming my hands on the table.

Nico raised an eyebrow, which I found incredibly sexy. "Okay?"

"I also did the homework, and I'm about ninety nine percent sure it's right. I want to learn more about you, so, in exchange for answers and explanations on how I got them, you have to answer any question I ask about you. An answer for an answer."

He sighed, "You can't just tutor me like you usually do?"

"Nope." I said, popping the 'p'.

"What if I don't want to tell you something?"

"Then you can just say so. Don't worry about that, I'll come up with a different question."

He picked at the sleeves of his jacket, deep in thought. After a few minutes, Nico looked away and muttered something inaudible under his breath.

When his gaze returned to mine, he smiled at me sarcastically. "Fine. Ask away."

A/N ~ WASSUP MY FELLOW BREAKFAST FOODS!!!!!1!!!11!

Sorry about how long I took to update this time, schools been really tough lately and, I'm not gonna lie, it's been a struggle. And I have tests this week that I NEED to do good on so it's pretty much been nonstop studying for me

D:

On the plus side, I did decide on another plot twist for this story and I'm so puMPED FOR IT YES (although it won't be until later on sooo)

:D