“your friend set you up on a blind date and i happened to be eating alone so you thought you were meeting me and you were cute so i went along with it but you just got a text from said friend that theyre sorry your date stood you up and now i have some explaining to do” au
I got a lot of requests to do this one so:
Eating alone wasn’t as refreshing as everyone said it would be. Will was a people person. He liked having people around to talk to and fall into conversation with. While he didn’t feel awkward or judged for sitting alone, he just didn’t enjoy it.
He’d brought a book to read, but he could exactly focus on turning pages when he was planning to use two hands to eat. Then what would he do while he was eating? He didn’t want to turn on his phone and watch Netflix in the middle of a restaurant. Not only would that look incredibly stupid, but he didn’t even have enough data to do so.
He stood up and decided to simply get some takeout and eat it at home in his room where he would be able to be half asleep, watching TV in his shorts and munching on his food without worrying about how to keep busy.
As he walked, someone behind him said, “Oh, uh. Hi. Are you Alex?” Will turned in confusion and stopped short, gasping softly. In front of him, biting his lip nervously, was the most beautiful human Will had ever seen.
His eyes were such a deep dark brown, they looked nearly black with long dark lashes surrounding them. His skin was a smooth olive tone, his cheeks splattered with a few very light freckles. His hair was a messy of curled waves sticking out in different spot in a way Will could never hope to pull off. He wore a long sleeved shirt with the Marauder’s Map depicted on it, and torn dark jeans with combat boots.
It was a perfect mix of mysterious bad boy with adorable dork.
“S-Sorry?” Will responded, forgetting how to form words.
“I’m Nico. Uh, Jason’s friend? For the uh, blind date. Wait, is it you, or… I’m sorry if-”
“No, no, yeah. Yeah, it’s me,” Will said hurriedly, only realizing how stupid, short-lived, and completely insane the lie was after he’d blurted it out.
“Oh thank God,” Nico breathed. “Sorry, I get nervous. I don’t really go out much.” He smiled nervously and Will bit his lip. “Did you get a table yet?”
“Uh, yeah. Yeah, over here.” He led Nico to the table he’d been sitting at previously and chuckled nervously. His eyes kept flitting to the doors, hoping that whoever his actual blind date was wouldn’t recognize him or come in. But then, if he didn’t even know what Nico would look like, and they saw Nico with Will, they wouldn’t even think to ask, right? So he was safe…. For now.
“So Jason said you went to school with him?” Nico asked, skimming the drink list.
“Yeah. But, I mean instead of going off what Jason said, let’s just start new between us, yeah?”
Nico smiled awkwardly and nodded. “Sure,” he said with a small chuckle. “I mean he hadn’t told me much anyway. Just that he knew you from his last high school and you were a really great guy. So… are you going to go to college?”
“I sure hope so,” he answered. “I want to go to UT maybe. I want to be a doctor, but I’m not sure what I’d specialize in. There’s a lot of fields within it, you know?”
Nico’s eyes shone with excitement. “Yeah, I get that. Completely. I’m really into health as well. I’m good with gore, but I think I’d be more in the psychological area, like mental health.” He shrugged. “I’m still not sure.”
“I mean we’re high schoolers. I don’t think we’re supposed to be sure.”
“Thank God you agree,” he muttered. “Everyone’s trying to go down my throat and force me to choose something specific right now and it’s driving me crazy. Is it such a bad thing to want to stay in arcade and blow off steam for a while?”
“An arcade?” Will repeated.
“I can play Pac-Man and Galaga like no one’s business, dude. I’m a pro.” Will laughed and shook his head. “What, you don’t believe me? We can go to an arcade after we eat and I will prove it to you.”
“You’re saying it like you need to defend your honor,” he chuckled.
“It is,” Nico said, trying not to laugh. “I’m sorry, I’m being a dork.”
“Don’t apologize,” he said. “It’s… endearing.” Nico scoffed and focused on the menu. “So… why did you agree to a blind date? Didn’t anyone ever ask you in person? Oh- uh, not to be rude, it’s just… this is going to sound so lame, but you really don’t look like someone who’d struggle to get a date.”
Nico’s cheeks burned bright and he bit his lip. “Ah… thanks. Um, let’s go back to the ‘I’m awkward and dorky’ part, tell me where I lose you.” Will burst into laughter and covered his mouth to stifle it. Nico rolled his eyes and smirked. “Why did you agree? You definitely shouldn’t need to.”
Will smirked and raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know. I never really paid attention to anyone at my school. I want to broaden my horizons I guess? I don’t know. But I’m glad I did.” Nico smiled ran his hand through his hair.
They ordered their drinks and food and spent the time talking about different topics, from Harry Potter to music to TV shows to their favorite movies and their families. Will was surprised to find that Nico had actually had a very horrible past, which he tried to downplay by brushing over details instead of delving into it, but Will knew how much it mattered. Losing family and being bullied wasn’t easy. And something told Will that his awkwardness was actually anxiety, and he simply didn’t pay attention to it.
But Will wouldn’t push. He enjoyed hearing him talk, enjoyed making him laugh and being made to laugh. He didn’t remember the last time he laughed so much. When they finished lunch, Will stood and said, “So, are we testing your arcade skills?”
Nico’s smile widened and he stood to follow Will out of the restaurant.
They walked to an arcade across a pizzeria and Will could see the excitement and relaxation flood through Nico. It was like he was somewhere comfortable, somewhere he could be himself in. “Get ready to get your ass whooped,” Nico said, smiling cockily.
And sure enough, Nico beat Will at every arcade game they tried and at every rematch they had. He was skilled in every game, and won quickly or by a large margin. “How the hell are you that good?” Will said in shock after his hundredth defeat.
Nico chuckled and rubbed his hands together. “Um. Well, when bad stuff happened, I’d always go to an arcade to sort of… I don’t know get away from it? I spent a lot of times in arcades when I was little. They’re still a good place to go when I get upset.” Will nodded.
“Well it is now my mission in life to beat you at at least one arcade game.” Nico laughed and sat beside him.
Suddenly the score for Harry Potter went off and Nico pulled out his phone. “Hello? Hey! Look the- wait. What? What are you…?” Nico stood up and looked at Will with wary and shock. “No. No it’s fine. I said it’s fine! I have to go.” He hung up and suddenly, Will saw the dangerous bad boy side get emphasized in his demeanor. “Who the hell are you?”
“Uh… what?” Will questioned.
“You’re not Alex. Apparently Alex stood me up. So who the hell are you and why did you tell me you were?” he growled, his expression darkening as he stepped toward Will.
Immediately, Will stood up and bit his lip, his entire face reddening from embarrassment. He was positive he looked like a blond tomato. “Um… N-Nico, I-”
“Are you some sort of fucking psychopath?” he snapped.
“No!” he protested. “God, no, Nico! I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry I lied. I… Please stop looking at me like that.”
“No! I’m angry! I’m embarrassed, and honestly a little fucking scared! Who are you?”
“My name is Will,” he started. Nico’s eyes widened in anger and he put his hands in his hair. “Wait, just…. Dammit. Look, I was eating alone, okay? And I got really uncomfortable, so I was going to leave but then you ran into me and…. You’re insanely attractive and I could barely think so when you asked if it was me you were meeting I said yes, And then we were sitting and talking and laughing and I laughed more than I have in a long time, and… I didn’t want just blurt that I wasn’t actually supposed to be your date.”
Nico narrowed his eyes, and clenched his fists. “What were you planning to have happen? Have me call you Alex for a few months? Have me gush to Jason about how great things went with Alex? Were you ever planning on telling me anything? Ever?”
“I… I don’t know! I wanted- no I still want to see you again, to hang out with you again. I would’ve told you, I just… I don’t know how or when.” Nico furrowed his eyebrows and crossed his arms, standing alert and defensive. “I’m sorry, Nico. But everything else I said was true. Me wanting to be a doctor and loving Harry Potter and the jokes and… all of the rest was real. Didn’t you… I mean…. If I was Alex… would you have been okay with seeing me again?”
Nico’s lips parted but he didn’t say anything. He looked away from Will and stared at the ground, his breaths slowly turning back to normal. “Alex stood me up,” he muttered. “I… I did have fun. But now I feel very stupid because I went up to you and assumed you were supposed to be my date and spent all this time thinking your name is Alex, and it’s actually Will, and…. I feel stupid.”
Will cleared his throat and rubbed his arm. “Well… I was so dumbstruck when you talked to me that I pretended to be some guy named Alex and I just got found out so…. I feel pretty stupid too.”
Finally Nico’s eyes returned to him. He was still angry, but not as much. “Then I guess we’re even.” Will wasn’t sure what that meant.
He gulped and took a breath. Then he stood up and held out his hand. “Hey, I’m Will. I’m eighteen. Nice to meet you.” Nico furrowed his eyebrows and stared at his hand. Hesitantly, he shook it.
“Would you… maybe like to go on a date sometime? I promise not to stand you up or use a fake name.”
Nico’s eyes, dark and big and endearing flickered up to him. He as suppressing a smile, but eventually it became a smirk. Will could feel butterflies in his stomach. “Okay,” he said softly. “I think that’d be nice.”
