Sun and Star- High School Solangelo AU

This is Me Trying

*Time Skip To Friday*

Will POV

As Will walked into Chiron's class, he got nervous. It was officially the day of their final presentation, and although they had been working on it for the past 3 days, he didn't know how it was going to stack up against the rest of the class. He took his seat next to Jason, who was involved in a lively debate with his girlfriend over text. Something about final party prep and whether or not Pitbull was party music. Rolling his eyes, he looked over at the rest of his friends who were rambling on about the latest football game. 

"You waiting for your boyfriend to get here?" He looked over at Jason who was grinning wickedly at him. He clearly was loosing whatever debate he was having with Piper which is why he was looking to mess with will.

"For the last time Jason, he's not my boyfriend. And I'm waiting for him to get here so we don't fail the stupid final today" He retorted annoydly. Gods, keeping this from Jason was getting harder and harder because the idiot blonde didn't even realize that he was onto something.

"Does your boyfriend know that he's just your group partner?"

"He's not my-" he paused, watching Nico walk into the room. He looked different today, no longer decked out in all black. He was wearing a white top that clung to him, with a leather jacket layered over it. And for jeans, he was wearing a loosely fitting pair of dark blue jeans that hugged his ass.

"Sure, sure whatever you say man" Jason chuckled, watching his best friend become starstruck by the entrance of their classmate. 

Chiron called the first group to present, and it just so happened to be the two of them. Will must have been staring a little too hard at Nico's new outfit because as they took their place at the front of the room, Nico leaned over and whispered to him "Like what you see solace?" which only resulted in Will turning a deep shade of red. He would never give Nico the satisfaction of knowing his answer to the question.

For their final presentation, they had decided to do an analysis of a Taylor swift song to show that poetry exists outside of short book pieces. The song they had settled on: This is me trying. Somehow, he had convinced Nico to sing the song in front of the class while will played the guitar. As Nico sang the lyrics, will got lost in a trance. His voice was smooth and deep, a melodic air that seemed to comfort Will. He could hear the emotions behind the song, knowing the reason that they chose this song is because they were both burnt out students, two kids that were told they had such bright futures, pushed to their limits.

They told me all of my cages were mental

So I got wasted like all my potential

He heard the extra emotions Nico poured into this part especially. It almost broke him to hear the lyrics, knowing the pain Nico had put himself through to be at this point. Pushing past the death of his sister, an abusive ex, all to come out on top. But he knew it cost him a lot.

I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere

Fell behind on my classmates, and I ended up here

They were ahead of everyone, no one could touch how far the two had come compared to the rest of the class. They had always done it through competition, and now he didn't know where they stood, but Will wasn't mad that he ended up here. Here he was, sitting at the front of the classroom, listening to the boy he liked sing a song beautifully. They were both trying, trying to survive and stay afloat. At least they were trying.

As Nico finished up their song, will delivered the analysis, only building on the incredible foundation of the presentation that Nico had just created. By the time they were done, he could tell that everyone loved it. Even his football friends. Looking at Jason, he couldn't help but laugh seeing the blonde jock with misty eyes. Quickly looking over at Nico, he mouthed good job, getting a small smile of thanks in return.

They went back to their seats on opposite sides of the classroom as other groups presented, but the only thing Will wanted to look at was Nico. He sat in admiration, watching the boy watch the presentations. He fell harder, tracing the way his hair fell into his eyes, how his eyes lit up or darkened as he watched the presentation, his hands fidgeting absentmindedly with his skull ring. He couldn't tear his eyes from him, he was too intoxicating to look at. He could only think of the last lyrics that nico sang before ending the song.

It's hard to be anywhere these days when all I want is you