I don't know if I should be embarrassed about the amount of trans Nico stuff I have, but here's more.
———

Nico sat on the floor of his and Will's living room one night, Annabeth, Piper, and Hazel sitting with him, laughing.

This happened sometimes, where all the guys usually had work or something (Nico was never really sure, Will seemed to dodge the question on these types of nights, but he wasn't too concerned. He loved spending time with the girls and he knew Will wouldn't cheat, he loved Nico).

During these nights, Nico would invite the three girls of the group over, and they would watch sappy movies, gossip, paint their nails, and make face masks.

It was disgustingly stereotypical, but it was fun.

(He knew it was 'girly' but he never really thought much of it, his friends knew he was a guy, he knew he was a guy, why not enjoy it?)

Their conversations, on these nights, usually consisted of how stupid their boyfriends were but how much they loved them anyway (sometimes about slightly more mature things and it was fun and embarrassing but nice to fit in somewhere), or how that one bitch at work was such a fucking bitch today, or books they've read lately.

Though tonight, when Piper asked him why he didn't go with the guys, he was confused.

"What?" Was his response as he frowned, looking up from the toe nail he was painting.

"Why don't you go out with the guys?" She repeated, and Nico shook his head.

"No, like, what do you mean?" Piper frowned, looking at Annabeth ad Hazel.

"For guys night?" She said it like a question, and Nico glanced at the three of them.

"I- what? I didn't know they did a guys night? I assumed they were working or something," he trailed off, closing the bottle of nail polish with a frown. Piper glanced at Annabeth and Hazel with a confused look, and they both shrugged.

Nico wasn't sure he liked the idea of Will and the others keeping guy's night a secret from him.

After a second, he stood up, putting the bottle of nail polish in his hand in a bucket on the coffee table that was pushed off to the side.

"Are you okay?" Hazel asked, looking up at him and he nodded. He made his way to the bathroom, closing the door and taking a deep breath.

He washed off the face mask, then grabbing the bottle polish remover and cleaned his nails.

When he was done, he sat on the floor.

Why wouldn't they invite him? Why didn't they tell him? Was it because he was transgender? Did they not want him there because he wasn't really a guy?

Sighing, he stood up and went back out to the living room.

"Do you guys think we could cut the night short?" He mumbled softly, hoping to not sound to rude. But they nodded, quickly collecting their stuff and after wiping off their faces, they were soon leaving, wishing him a good night.

Closing the door, Nico pursed his lips, choosing to deal with the mess later an instead went to bed, falling asleep quickly.

———

He slowly blinks awake when he faintly hears the front door opening and closing, hears the soft shuffling of feet, a bag of some sort being dropped somewhere in the room, and a whispered-

"Neeks? You awake?"

Nico closes his eyes, pretending to be asleep, and opens them again when the feet walk past him and the door to the bathroom connected to their room clicks shut, the sound of the shower starting up.

He stared at the bathroom door, his thoughts running, and doesn't realize the shower has been turned off until Will is stepping out again, and he's looking at Will's chest.

He moves his eyes upward, and sees Will smiling at him.

"Hey, I thought you were asleep," Nico doesn't respond, and Will frowns. He flips the light off to the bathroom, and walks over, squatting down so Nico can just barely see his dark blue eyes in the dark, "what's wrong?" He asks, and Nico shakes his head.

Will purses his lips, gently runs a hand through Nico's hair, and Nico closes his eyes with a sigh.

"You know you can talk to me if you need to, right?" He mumbles, and Nico nodds, his eyes still closed. He doesn't open his eyes again until he feels the dip in their bed, indicating that Will has lied down behind him, and Will's pulling Nico to his chest, snuggling close to him and sighing contently.

And even though this normally makes Nico happy and makes him feel loved, he can't help but feel a bit bitter towards Will.

"How do you think a person should be like around their friends?" Nico asks suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"Like, should they have to work hard to fit in, or just naturally fit in?" He can feel the way Will frowns against his neck.

"They should naturally fit in," he says, then, "Why?"

"Just curious," he replies, fiddling with Will's fingers that lay on his stomach. A few minutes later, he asks, "you would never lie to me, right, Will?"

"No, of course I wouldn't lie to you, Neeks," Nico hums, still playing with Will's fingers.

"You were at work, right? That's why you're home late?"

"I- yeah, sorry, I tried to get home sooner," Nico smiles widely, turning around so he's facing Will and puts a hand to his cheek.

Lies, lies, lies-

The words were repeated way to cheerily in his head, almost as if his mind were singing them to him, and he only smiled wider.

"I love you so much," Will's got this strange, uncomfortable and slightly fearful look on his face, but he nods, pressing a soft kiss to Nico's lips.

"I love you, too," he replies. Nico snuggles closer to Will despite the fact that he feels like throwing up and Will's touch is suffocatingly unbearable.

He closes his eyes with a content smile and giggles quietly, his hands grasping onto Will's shirt as he tries to get as close to Will as possible.

"Nico," he asks, "Are you okay? You're kinda freaking me out." Nico hums, tilting his head up and planting a kiss to Will's collar bone.

"I just love you so much, I'm sorry," Will runs a hand through his hair.

"It's okay," he mumbles, kisses Nico's forehead, "Have you drank anything tonight? Alcohol wise?"

Nico shrugs, wrapping one of his legs around Will's and pushing his face into Will's chest.

"Can I tell you something?" He mumbled into Will's chest, his voice cheery and happy. Will let out a hum, and Nico smiled a bit wider, his voice not loosing the happiness as he spoke, "hanging out with our group of friends is really hard. You guys are all so perfect and nice and it makes me feel really insecure because I know I'm not like you guys, I know I'm not nice. I feel like an outsider when I hang out with you all. And so everyday, ever since we've started becoming friends, I've forced myself to get up and mocked happiness at six in the morning despite having no motivation to do anything at all. Since becoming friends with you guys, I've become embarrassed about my anxiety and depression and I don't think you truely understand how bad it actually is because I've never really showed you, I've never told you how dark my thoughts actually are. I feel like I have to be someone entirely different with you guys, and it's really tiring Will. I'm pretending to be someone I'm not and when I learn that you and the guys are going out and having a guys night and keeping me totally in the dark about it, it makes me feel a lot shitter. I've always thought you were working or aomething but tonight Piper told me about it, she thought I knew, but I didn't, Will, because no one bothered to tell me. And right now I can't help thinking that maybe I should just give the fuck up. I've been strong for years, but a person has their limits, right?"

Will leaned back halfway through Nico's small speech, looking regretful.

"Nico I'm so sorry, I tried to convince them but they didn't want to disturb you because they always thought you were busy with homework and work in general-"

"Which makes no fucking sense because wouldn't you guys be busy with homework, too? With work? We all generally have a compatible schedule, hm?" Nico's smile is still wide, and Nico can see the fear in Will's eyes.

"Nico, I'm really am sorry, I promise I tried to get them to invite you-" Nico cuts him off with a laugh, tracing patterns onto Will's chest.

"Can you do a favor for me sweetheart?" He asks quietly, not giving him enough time to respond, "the next time you want to lie to me, make sure it's bulletproof, yeah?"

"Nico," Will breaths, but Nico giggles again, kissing his nose.

Nico stands up quickly, grabbing his keys from the bedside table and toeing on a pair of shoes. He ignores Will's protest and yanks his arm from Will's grip as he walks down to the parking garage.

He's not sure if he's over reacting or not, but this hurts bad, and he isn't exactly sure why.

He lets himself cry in his car, and soon, he's at his dad's house.

He's not sure how long he's going to stay, but surely Will wouldn't mind, right?

———

This is not at all how I planned this chapter to go.

(Unedited)

(If you have a one shot request, leave a comment! If you'd like to write a chapter with me, send me a message :) )

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