Will had never seen Nico express much. He had seen him smile, laugh, be slightly annoyed, nothing major. But right now, Nico was radiating pure terror. His hands shook, his voice was low, and his eyes darted wildly, not meeting Will's gaze for more than a few seconds. He repeated himself, his voice wavering. "Where did you get this?"

Will was speechless. Based on Nico's reaction to the card, it wasn't good. Will had figured that much anyways, what with the creepy powerfulness of Eris and Hypnos, but it might be worse than he had thought. He wasn't sure what to tell Nico. He couldn't lie in a situation like this, but telling the full truth was risky.

Will swallowed. "A...woman gave it to me," he said. "At a McDonalds. Last night."

Nico's face flickered with distrust. "That's not the full truth, is it?"

Will flinched. He knew he was painfully easy to read, and Nico seemed to have a second nature for discerning when others were lying. "It's...no. But, Nico-"

"Why did she give it to you?" Nico questioned. "Was there anyone with her? Did she say something? What was happening? It says she's your friend on here. She wrote it. Is that true?"

"No! Nico, I don't-" Will tried.

"She was trying to recruit you, right? They all do. They always want new ones. People who are easy to manipulate. That's how- no, no, no..."

"Nico-"

Nico didn't even hear him. He flipped the card over in his shaking hands, over and over, lost in his head. "It's happening again." He mumbled. "I thought I got away. I can't get away. They're everywhere. Why are they everywhere?"

"NICO!" Will said a bit more forcefully, finally snapping Nico out of his spiral. Nico looked up at Will, eyes wide and scared.

Will tried to keep his tone even, despite the fact that he was terrified at Nico's reaction. He didn't even really know what to say. His mind briefly flashed back to a few weeks ago, when Cecil had been convinced that Nico was in the Mafia. Maybe that had been more accurate than Will had thought. No! Don't think that. He didn't even know what the Mansion of Night really WAS. It didn't matter. Right now, he just needed to figure out what was going on with Nico. "This organization, whatever they are, the Mansion of Night," he ventured. "You...know them. Or know about them."

Nico nodded, his eyes darting downwards. "I...do."

"You don't have to tell me how you know." Will said. "If it's hard for you to say, or secret, I get it. I understand having secrets. But if it's really bad...you can't keep it bottled up. And you can trust me. I promise."

Nico looked up at Will, almost examining him. He was silent for almost a minute, then he quietly spoke. "They killed my family."

It felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room. Will stared at Nico in utter shock. He didn't know what to say. Sorry? That didn't mean anything. It was shallow. Maybe something like...I understand? But he didn't, not...really. No matter how horrible it seemed, Will needed to know more. So he simply asked: "Why?"

This didn't seem to be the response Nico was expecting, but he didn't seem entirely opposed. He took a deep breath, sat on Will's bed, and began.

"They're...they're this scarily powerful crime organization. Worldwide, I think. And my dad was...a member. My mom wasn't. That was dangerous, him being in love and having kids with a non-member."

Will noticed Nico's use of kids. Plural. He had a sibling? He didn't know that. Well, he supposed he hadn't known any of this.

Nico continued. "My dad tried to make my mom join. Says it would be safer for her. She refused, and they..." Nico choked up.

Will reached out and held Nico's shoulder, sitting down next to him on the bed. "It's okay. You don't have to...say it."

Nico nodded and took a deep breath, continuing after a short pause. "After she died, my dad gave custody of me and my sister to one of his assistants. He said it was too dangerous for us to be with him, but he'd be...back for us. Then, maybe eight years later, he did. He wanted us to join the Mansion. He said they could use us. We refused. We knew it was dangerous. So...they killed my sister." Nico sniffed, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Why your sister?" Will blurted out, without thinking about how terrible of a question that was.

"They said I was more...useful than her." Nico said bitterly. "It was their way of threatening me. It almost worked. That's when I met...Mother. She said I could never escape them. That the Mansion was where I belonged. I got out, somehow. It's...blurry."

"What happened then? How did you end up here?" Will felt bad about pressing Nico with questions, especially with how fragile he seemed, but he worried he would never get Nico to open up like this again. And it was important.

Nico shrugged slightly. "Well, I couldn't stay with my dad. Not after all of that. So I came to America. Illegally. I lived on the streets for a while. Then this lady Sally took me in. Her son had gone off to college, so she had a spare room..." He took a shaky breath. "It was the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me. When she found out I wasn't in school, she enrolled me, and, well, you know the rest."

Will stared at Nico in total shock, then impulsively wrapped his arms around Nico, hugging him tightly. He felt Nico stiffen at first, but he slowly softened in his arms and awkwardly wrapped an arm back around Will.

If Will hadn't been so shocked at Nico's story, he definitely would have been panicking at their close proximity right now. However, all he could focus on was Nico's face pressed into his shoulder, his tears on Will's skin. He desperately wanted to help him, in any way.

Nico pulled back from Will after a bit and wiped his eyes. "No. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"

"Nico, stop." Will said, both his hands on the other boy's shoulders. "You're allowed to be upset. Everything you've gone through...I can't imagine."

"It's...sad." Nico said. "But...I don't know. I can't spend time being sad about it. It won't change."

Will frowned. "I guess. But it's better to talk about it than it is to keep it inside, right?"

"Maybe." Nico admitted, his eyes meeting Will's.

They were quiet for a moment, then Will sighed. "I hate to ask, but...have you seen any Mansion of Night members since you came here? Or did you really get away?"

Nico hesitated. "I've only seen a Mansion member once, since I moved here. Epiales. I think I told you about them, my first day at school? They're the weird tentacle person. I brushed it off at first, but now, after seeing this card, and knowing there are more of them...I wonder if they were some type of threat. Like something is going to happen, and it's all beginning."

Will's brain finally connected all the dots that had been floating in his head. He KNEW Hypnos and Eris had rightfully reminded him of Epiales. They were all part of the same creepy crime group. Then, at Nico's last statement, he remembered something else.

"Big things are coming." Will recalled. "That's what's written on the card. Next to the friend thing. Which I ASSURE you is not true."

Nico nodded at Will's reassurance, flipping the card in his hands again. "The message might not be related to me. It could just be a coincidence. But I'm still scared."

Will pulled Nico closer to him. "Don't be. I'll watch out for you, okay?"

Nico raised an eyebrow, and for the first time since he'd seen the card, he cracked a smile. "Really? How do you plan on protecting me, Will Solace?"

"You're not the only one with secrets." Will responded, smirking. Were they flirting? This felt like flirting.

"Hm. Well, as long as your secrets don't consist of you being part of the Mansion, I'm okay with that." Nico said.

"Trust me, I am anything BUT that." Will said, leaning into Nico. They were really close now. Will felt like there were a million butterflies on his stomach.

Nico turned to him, seemingly about to say something, when Will's door burst open and Cecil and Lou Ellen ran into his room.

"Will!" Lou Ellen yelled, before stopping in her tracks. "Oh my god. Sorry. Are we interrupting something?"

Will's cheeks flushed and he reflexively scooted back from Nico. "No! We were just talking!"

"Oh! Okay. Right." Lou Ellen nodded, clearly not convinced.

Cecil tapped his foot nervously. "So, can we play Mario Kart, or are you gonna keep talking to your boyf-"

"Mario Kart is fine." Will cut in.

"I should probably get going, anyways." Nico said, sounding a little embarrassed at Lou Ellen and Cecil's interruption. "Sally usually has dinner ready around six, and I do not want to miss that. She makes the best food ever. It's all blue, for some reason, but it's good."

"I'll walk you to the door." Will said. "Lou Ellen, Cecil, you guys get Mario Kart set up."

When they reached Will's apartment door, Nico turned back to Will. "...thank you." He said hesitantly.

"For what?" Will asked.

"Listening to me. Not being weird about anything. Being my friend." Nico shrugged. "Lots of things."

Will swore he felt his heart melt. "You're...you're welcome." He choked out.

Nico wrapped his arms around Will awkwardly. Will could tell he wasn't very used to initiating hugs, or really hugs in general. They stood in an embrace for a long time, longer than a usual hug lasted. Definitely longer than their last little hug had lasted. Will tried not to think about it. He was probably blushing. He didn't care.

Nico finally pulled away, smiling gently at Will. His cheeks seemed pinker than usual. Maybe it was warm in here. That was reasonable. "Well...bye, Will." He said as he walked out the door.

"Bye, Nico." Will said softly as the door shut behind Nico. He stood there, almost frozen, for a minute. The last hour, everything Nico had told him...it didn't seem real. But it very much was.

He almost didn't want to believe all of that had happened to Nico. He didn't want to believe all that stuff about how awful the Mansion was. But if he was going to face any members of the Mansion again (and based on that card, he was sure he was), he needed to believe it. And he needed some insider information.

Will's heart was still warmed by how much Nico had trusted him with. He felt slight guilt at not telling Nico about his secret, but it hadn't been the time. He would tell him eventually. He might have to. If something were to happen, and...

Will didn't really want to think about that, so he turned and walked back to his room, where his friends and Mario Kart were waiting.