Chapter 1: " the climb "
Summary:
“William Solace, hasn’t he come?” The teacher was calling out before noticing.
“It’s me! That’s me.” He rushed to say, gathering his breath. “Apologies for being late. I got lost.”
“Oh, I see. I’ll let it slide seeing as it’s your first day, just don’t make it a habit.” She told him, letting him in. “Are there any free seats?”
He was gonna look around to see if he found one, preferably one with a person who looked approachable as his seatmate, but there was no need. A boy with curly dark hair and brown eyes, sat on a wheelchair and with no one as his seatmate, had his hand lifted and was waving it.
“He can sit here!”
Chapter Text
i may not know it,
but these are the moments
i'm gonna remember most,
just gotta keep going
Will Solace had never blamed his father for leaving him and his mother in Austin. He had figured out early on in his life that his had been an unplanned pregnancy, and that his parents had never wanted a relationship serious enough for it to include raising a child together, but for the most part, Will was fine with the knowledge. After all, he was aware of his luck: sure, his father didn’t live with the rest of his family, but he would pick him up at school in a daily basis, never miss a function or recital, he’d always helped Naomi with everything she needed, and he always gifted him something for Christmas and for his birthdays, which was more than most kids in his situation could have wished for.
So, when he was offered a position with a salary to kill for all the way in New York, Will hadn’t been angry at him for leaving as long as he promised to keep contact… Which he had! He still got his gifts for Christmas and for his birthday, they would call once in a while, and Apollo still sent his mom money every month. He was not the perfect father, and his family was not the perfect family, but Will was happy with it, which made the nervousness in his stomach feel way more irrational than they were.
He’s your dad! He loves you! Everything will be fine!, he told himself as he made his way through the airport’s terminal, trying and failing to psych himself up.
His mom had given him the choice of moving in with his dad for the year a week earlier, so she could accompany him on the plane and drive him to Apollo’s house, or spending one more week together before her first national tour started at the cost of him flying alone and settling in without her by his side. At the moment, with bile threatening to make his way up his esophagus and causing him to hurl in the middle of the airport, he was starting to think he chose wrong.
It wasn’t Apollo who worried him. The two of them had never spent more than 2 whole days in the same house, so sure he was a bit scared about not getting along perfectly, but Cecil and Lou had spent the summer reassuring him that it was perfectly alright for children to not always agree with his parents, so he deemed himself ready to spend the school year with him.
The reason for his fears was something else. Someone else. Apollo’s boyfriend, specifically. It wasn’t like his father had kept his partner a secret, or that his existence had been a surprise to Will and Naomi. He knew that his mom had gotten updates on the guy, they had seen photos of both of them together on social media and Apollo had promised they would be invited to the wedding in case there was one, but Will had only ever heard about him or seen him in his phone, so subconsciously, he had forgotten that the man —Hyacinth, as he had checked on Instagram as soon as he got off the plane— was a real person. Much to his misfortune, Hyacinth was a real man, with a real personality Will knew nothing about and, even worse, possible real opinions on his life suddenly being altered over a random teenager his partner had 16 years ago.
Please be nice, Will said to himself, getting closer to the airport’s gate, please, Lord, let him be nice to me.
He spotted the couple soon after exiting the international area of the place, where everyone else was waiting for their relatives or friends. His dad looked just like he had on their last video call, though the passage of time was more obvious without the blurriness of the camera and the poor connection pixelating his face. Apollo was still young, but there were still some wrinkles on his face, which looked caused by too much sun exposure and smiling too often, just like Naomi. The thought made Will smile before his eyes fell on the person standing by his side: a man of the same age with long, black hair falling down his shoulders and holding up a sign with “WILL SOLACE” and some words in Greek written on it. He swallowed, painfully aware that those two weeks on Duolingo’s Greek course had not helped him at all neither with the language or with reconnecting with his heritage, and insecure about how both his father and his boyfriend had been born and raised in actual Greece before coming to the states while he’d spent all his life in Texas trying his best to defeat dyslexia in the battle that writing “Papadopoulos” was.
Will tried his best to summon all his courage and walk towards them, paying as little attention as possible to the voice in his head reminding him that the couple probably spoke solely in Greek at home and he was about to cause them to switch to English for a whole year. I’ll shake things up too much, this was a horrible idea, why did I agree to this? I should have gone to a boarding scho…
“That’s him!” Apollo’s rich, melodic voice made him jump from his thoughts and lift his eyes from the ground to find his dad smiling and waving hello excitedly, like a little kid who had just spotted his friend on the other side of the street.
Will focused his attention on Hyacinth’s reaction, hoping to see anything other than frustration or anger. To his surprise, the man just smiled softly and said something quietly to the blonde by his side. The simple gesture lifted a huge weight from his shoulders, enough to have him walk towards them quicker. Hyacinth stepped away for a bit, to allow father and son to hug each other for the first time after so long.
“You’ve grown so tall!” Apollo said, lifting him up from the ground for just some seconds before putting him back down and pulling away from the hug, though his hands remained on Will’s shoulders as he stared into his eyes. “And so handsome too! It runs in the family!”
Will, though still nervous, smiled. Being called “handsome” instead of “pretty” would always make him happy.
“Normally, I would tell him to shut up, but you do look just like your dad.” Hyacinth cut into the conversation, moving so he was by Apollo’s side and in front of Will. He offered his hand for the boy to shake. “I’m so happy to finally meet you, Will.”
“Thank you,” he tittered as they shook hands. “I’m glad to meet you too. I, uh, I hope we’ll get along.”
Before he could even begin to get nervous about whether that had been the right thing to say or no, Hyacinth spoke again.
“I’m sure we will. Your dad only says the best things about you.”
The words surprised Will for a second. Apollo talking about him to people from what he’d always considered his different, cooler life in New York wasn’t something Will had been expecting. He didn’t know how to reply, and Apollo changed the topic before he could come up with anything.
“Let’s go get the car, you must be dying to get home and rest.”
The idea of “home” had him shocked for a second, in which the two men took care of holding his luggage for him and guiding him to their car as the fact that he was actually living somewhere else for the whole year, that he had technically moved, hit him in the face for the umpteenth time ever since summer started and his mom got offered the tour. Back then, and for the past months, the reality of spending the year in New York had seemed far away and fantasy-like, but now it was as real as it had ever been and excitement and nervousness were fighting over Will’s body.
“Wanna sit in the front?” Apollo asked him, opening the door for him.
“The back is fine.” He mumbled, opening his own door and entering.
Hyacinth took the codriver’s seat after finishing arranging his luggage in the trunk. His father drove them outside the parking lot. Will used the minutes they spent driving outside the airport to check his phone and let his mom and friends know he had arrived perfectly safe at the big city. When he lifted his eyes from the phone, the skyline of New York drew itself before him, majestic and bigger than anything he had ever seen. On the plane, looking down on it from the window, he had tried to prepare himself for it. He was also from a big city! He didn’t want people to think otherwise and make fun of him for it! Still, he couldn’t help but drop his jaw at the sight of skyscraper after skyscraper. Thankfully, neither his dad nor Hyacinth commented on it.
“So, how was the flight?” Apollo asked him, adjusting the rear-view mirror so he could see Will.
“It was nice. I think the lady by my side thought I was a drop-out.” He said, smiling at the memory of how the woman he had sat with would randomly bring up the importance of education during the 4 hours of flight. “Must be weird to see a teen flying alone just before the year starts.”
“What grade were you going into again?” Hyacinth asked. “Eleventh or twelfth?”
“Eleventh.”
“Are you excited about it? I hope you’ll like the school we picked.”
Naomi and Apollo had worked together over the summer to find a school who would take him, and Will had had the last choice amongst a number of options. It was a modest, public school, pretty small considering the huge metropolis it was in. There was no uniform, for starters, and that was a huge relief, because he had spent too many years either wearing a mandatory skirt or arguing with his school’s directorate about how Will being a trans boy should mean that he got to wear the boy uniform. The reviews online and the people who had graduated from there that he had found in LinkedIn made it seem academically decent, and, most importantly, the social media profiles of still cursing students made it seem like a fun place.
“Well, I picked it too.” He said, trying to ease the worry from Apollo. “I’m sure I’ll like it. I’m excited about starting from zero.”
That was, perhaps, the thing he was the happiest about with the whole situation. Having to choose between accompanying his mother on her tour and missing a year had been hard, leaving Lou and Cecil in Texas had been devastating, and moving in with Apollo and Hyacinth was nerve-wracking. But, for once in his life, he got to be in a school in which everyone would only ever know him as Will. No one would know he was trans if he didn’t tell them. He was proud of who he was, and, all in all, if he could choose to be born as a cis man, he was sure he wouldn’t choose it, because he loved who he was as a person and he knew he wouldn’t be the same without what transitioning had taught him. But, for once in his life, he wanted to try something different. Plus, it was not like he would stop being trans, people just wouldn’t know.
“Will, are you listening?” Apollo called. Will had not been listening. “I asked if you’d like take-out for dinner. I promise we’ll cook at home…”
“Some of us more than others.” Hyacinth interrupted him.
“Probably, but what I was getting at is that we wanted today to be special, but we figured throwing a feast would be awkward.” His dad explained. “So, wanna order something out? You can pick anything, of course.”
“Pizza, maybe?”
“Sure thing!”
Somehow, working some magic he didn’t know he had, Will managed to convince them to eat at the place instead of waiting at home for a delivery. Maybe, he thought, the other two just wanted him to make him happy in as many ways as possible, and fulfilling his first wishes was an easy way of doing so. On his end, he was just trying to delay arriving at his new place, not fully ready to face the change yet.
Dinner went fine. Hyacinth didn’t seem to hate him, which was great. The man would poke fun at Apollo at any given chance, and when Will giggled at his father accidentally dropping his cup or clumsily hitting himself with the chair, he would side with him after Apollo pouted and told him he was being mean. His father was the same he had been all those years ago: goofy and dramatic, but clearly very kind. Between “tragic” anecdotes, he would ask Will how his mother was doing, how his friends were, if he still had the same career path in mind. They called often, and he knew most of what he was asking about already, but Will guessed it was a way for Hyacinth to get to know him that spared both of them an awkward conversation.
“Med school? Woah.” He dropped his jaw after Will confirmed he was still dead set on becoming a doctor. “I thought you would go into music, with your parents being who they are and all.”
His mom was just becoming a rising star, and his dad had been a renowned producer for some years now, so maybe music would have been a good way for him to go. It was not his first time getting that for an answer after telling people what he wanted.
“Eh, music is not really my thing. I’m all for listening, but I suck at singing.” He explained. “Or at any instrument.”
“Have you tried the triangle?”
“Hyacinth!” Apollo said, as if scolding him for asking, even if Will was laughing at the question and his father was trying to hold back laughter. “Ignore him. Do you know what brand you wanna go into? You didn’t know yet last time I asked.”
“Pediatrics.” He smiled, always happy to imagine himself working, with his doctor coat and a bunch of lollies ready to be handed to kiddos he had helped feel better. “What do you do for a living, Hyacinth?”
“Nothing special, really. I own a flower shop.”
At the mention of the place, Apollo threw an arm around his partner and pulled their bodies closer, surprising the other, who was about to take a bite of his pizza slice.
“That’s where we met! I would argue it’s very special!”
Instead of replying with a sarcastic comment, like he had been doing at his boyfriend’s antics the whole night, Hyacinth blushed in front of Will.
“Can I go someday?” He asked. A flower shop sounded like a lovely place to work at, and he wanted its owner to know he was interested in getting to know him and become part of his household, even if his addition had been sudden.
“Of course.” Hyacinth smiled at him. “We have a bunch of plants at home, though, so you can use that as a teaser.”
“We didn’t put any in your room, so you can go and get one if you want.” Apollo suggested. “Ah, I should warn you it’s a bit of a small room.”
“It’s cozy.”
“It used to be my office.” His father explained. “And it’s plain white right now. We didn’t want to paint it a color you didn’t like. We’ll give it a coat of whatever paint you choose if you want it changed.”
“White’s fine.” His room in Austin had been painted yellow, because his mother thought letting him pick his favorite color was a great idea, and he had grown sick of it as years went by. “And I don’t need a ton of space, don’t worry.”
As long as he had enough wall to hang up his Star Wars posters and the pictures he had printed out during the years, he’d be fine. His words seemed to reassure Apollo, who let out a long, kind of dramatic sigh just to try to play it like he was not worrying all that much whatsoever just a second later.
A point came in which he could not keep dragging out the time at the restaurant. He’d asked for a big Ben & Jerry’s in hopes of dragging it out, but Apollo had used a tactic unheard of from Naomi that Will had not been expecting: letting him eat in the car so they could get going earlier.
“You’re starting school soon, you need to rest.” He told him.
Will wanted to argue that he was not a little kid, but his mother always told him that a doctor should have healthy habits whenever he tried to talk his way into an all-nighter, and he didn’t want Apollo to do the same thing. So, he let himself enter the car again, in the front seat that time, and ate his cookies and cream ice-cream as his dad drove them through the city until they stopped in front of quite a tall apartment block. The three of them made his way upstairs together, with the two adults carrying his luggage and Will being tasked with the keychain to open the door.
The place wasn’t huge. Compared to the place Naomi and him lived in, an actual house, the apartment seemed pretty tiny, not really ready to fit three people. He gulped, feeling like a guilty intruder for a second before Apollo dropped his suitcase on the ground below him with a grunt.
“Wanna see your room?”
As he spoke, he pointed at one of the three doors in the corridor. They had hung up a sun-shaped wood decoration in the door, similar to the one Will had in Austin, and his eyes almost watered at the sight of it. He walked towards it, trying not to stumble with any of the plants that filled the place, and opened the door as soon as he got there. Just like they had warned him, it wasn’t big, but the walls seemed perfect for his posters and a quick laying down test proved that the bed was comfortable. Plus, he had plenty of room for his clothes, some shelves that he didn’t know what to use for yet, and a pretty big window that let lots of natural light in. Just like Hyacinth had said, it was cozy.
He found himself lost in decorating after Apollo brought the suitcase and his bags to the room. Time slipped past his fingers as he hung up a string of fairy lights below the shelves and stuck the posters to the wall. He examined all the photos he had brought with him to determine which was the perfect one to be placed in a little picture-holder on top of his new desk. Will ended up deciding on one of him, Lou and Cecil in the cinema. The quality was horrendous because so had been the lighting, but it had been one of his favorite days in the whole summer, and seeing it when he was busy with homework would probably cheer him up.
As finishing touches, he settled the sun plushie his mom had gotten him as a kid on the bed, and took from the bottom of his suitcase the light box to put on one of the shelves. Ever since he had bought it, the letters on it had always been “MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU,” but his mom must have changed them before helping him pack, because they now read “HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS.” Will smiled fondly at the little gesture before placing the object carefully and picking his phone up. He had promised her a call after he got home, after all. Few rings went by before she picked up.
“Will! You had me crazy waiting for the call.” She said, sounding happy to finally have her son on the phone. “How was it on the plane? How was your dad? How is his boyfriend? How is the house?”
He toyed with the corner of his pillow as he listened to her nervous string of questions.
“It all went fine, ma.” Will told her. “The plane didn’t fall, and dad was nice as always, and his boyfriend was too! They keep bickering, heh, it’s cute. Their place is a bit small, but I like it. My room’s cool.”
“Do you have room for everything?”
“Yeah! I didn’t pack a lot of clothes, though. I’ll have to get some new ones.”
“I can send you the old ones by mail if you’d like.” She started, interrupting herself. “Actually, nevermind. Go buy new ones! Ask someone at school to go with you, it’ll be a good excuse to make friends!”
“Eh, that might be too sudden, I don’t know.” The idea of making friends still scared him a bit. He had gotten too used to the comfort of his small friend group, and he wasn’t sure he was going to work in a social setting without Cecil and Lou Ellen by his side. “I’ll see about that.”
“Oh, Will, are you still nervous, sunshine? They’ll all love you, you’ll blend in right away!”
“Thank you, ma.” He said, trying to sound convincing. It was late, he was tired, and his mother was about to have her first concert outside of Texas. No need to heave her mood by telling her he was still unsure. “How is the venue looking?”
“We sold out! Can you believe it? It is small, but I didn’t think we would sell out a single date.” She said, excited. “I am a bit nervous too, heh.”
“They’ll all love you.” Without realizing, he mimicked her words. “You are gonna do great. How is the band?”
“Just as nervous. I think Jamie has tuned their bass about 5 times in the last two minutes.” A muffled noise that doesn’t quite make it through the phone sounded from a distance. “You have! And I told you it sounded good the second time! Relax!” She said, not directed at Will.
“I hope y’all have a great night.” Will said, laughing at the interaction. “You’ve got this.”
“You’ve got it too, sweetness.” Naomi talked softly. “I’m gonna miss you so much.”
“I’ll call you daily, ma, we’ve been over this.” Despite his words, he was already starting to miss her presence at home. Same way he and Apollo had never spend more than 2 days together, it was weird for him and his mom to spend more than 3 days away from each other.
“You’re growing up so quickly…”
“Ma, you’re gonna make yourself cry before the concert!” He feared that if the conversation went the way his mom was leading it to, he would end up crying himself. “Break a leg, alright?”
“Alright, alright.” Her voice sounded wet, as if she had already started crying. “Love you, sunshine.”
“Love you, ma.”
Will ended the call and dropped the weight of his body on the mattress, dropping the pillow he was holding onto and grabbing the plushie instead. He felt close to tears, probably due to the accumulated stress from the past months and the upcoming new school year. Truth be told, he really hadn’t allowed himself to do anything with his emotions other than bottle them up the whole summer, but if he started to cry now he wouldn’t stop. Plus, Apollo or Hyacinth would hear and worry, so that was a no. Will convinced himself he was fine, that his mother was right and everyone would love him, and that living with a new side of his family would be easy, or at least he tried to tell himself he was convinced before changing and going to bed.
. . .
reduce, reuse, recycle
monday 3rd , 7:12 AM
will
[ Image attached ]
does it look good?
cecil :P
william yk i love u but pls drop the flannels
u r blonde and blue eyed and tall and ur go-to are flannels
will
THEY ARE COFMY
cecil :P
we dont have to put on everything thats comfy will
free will exists for a reason
ur name is will u should know that
lou -__-
i think you should keep it. it's your whole thing.
will
tf you mean my whole tihng
what abuot my chamring perosnality?
oh lord what if they dont like my charnimg presonality
cecil :P
i seriously think u should worry abt the flannel first
lou -__-
you’ll be fine.
cecil :P
yeah you’ll charm them
flannel or not i promise
we’ll fly there if anyone’s mean to you
lou -__-
do you have the good luck crystal i gave you?
will
mhm ^___^ its in the pocket of my flannle
cecil :P
feels pointed
lou -__-
it’ll work.
you’ve got permission to fly back here and kick my ass if it doesn’t.
cecil :P
now he wont want it to work
will
i would rather it not working then
IM GONNA DIE WITHOT YOU TWO
cecil :P
NO U R NOT
GO MAKE FRIENDS
GO CHARM THEM
lou -__-
go, will, go!
“Will, are you ready?” Apollo called from outside his room, sounding on edge. “Breakfast is, and you’re running a bit late!”
“Your dad gets an ulcer whenever he’s late!” Hyacinth added as Will rushed outside his room.
“I do not!" The blonde man argued, moving Will's chair so he could sit at the table with them. "But, seriously, you're running late. Being late on your first day is not an image you want to give."
Will’s mind was too busy conjuring the image he actually wanted to give. He didn’t have time to stop and think about what he didn’t want. He was also painfully aware of the fact he didn’t have time to sit and properly enjoy breakfast, so he just swallowed his toast in three bites and drank down his glass of orange juice in one gulp before running to wash his teeth. He cursed at himself for leaving the juice for last, because now the toothpaste tasted awful, but at least it motivated him to finish quicker and sprint into his room to grab his messenger bag and walk towards the open door, where Apollo was already waiting.
"Be back in 15, love." He said while Will exited.
"Drive slowly, you're on time. And good luck, Will!"
He didn't get to hear, already making it down the stairs and waiting for his father to catch up. Apollo followed him fast, running behind him and opening the car in record time before slotting right into the driver’s seat as his son took the passenger’s. They were on the road in a matter of seconds.
“Eh, we might make it in time.” Apollo said after a few minutes, adjusting the rear view mirror. His voice sounded like he had just run out a marathon.
Will completely ignored him. His mind was on different matters.
“Do I look good? Do I look approachable?” He said.
“Yeah, sure.” His dad cut him off before he could start to ramble out questions. “Are you still nervous?”
“Yes, yeah, yes, I’m nervous.” As he spoke, he cracked all his knuckles and then began drumming them on the glove’s department. “What if all the friend groups are already closed off? What if no one wants me to talk to them?”
“Well, they would be missing out?” Apollo’s voice sounded insecure about its words, which Will attributed to him not having really spoken that much to him throughout his life. “Also, friend groups don’t close off, do they? It’s not like they’re a company hiring, it’s just some teens.”
“Just teens.” Will mumbled, more to himself than to anyone. “Just teens.”
“Just teens!” His father exclaimed, very loudly, as he took a turn to the right way too fast. “You’ll be just fine, Will. There’s nothing to fear.” Before he could start asking more “what if” questions that were still unanswered, such as “what if they find out I’m trans and hate me,” or “what if they think I’m stupid because I’m dyslexic,” or “what if they think my accent is dumb,” Apollo pulled over to the left and stopped the car in front of a brick-colored building. “Phew! You’ve got two minutes to run inside.”
“But I’m still nervous!” He groaned, hiding his head in his hands. “I can’t do it.” Words couldn’t describe how much he regretted not having agreed to go on tour with his mom and just skip school for a year.
“Oh, Will…” Apollo placed a hand on his back, caressing it in circles. “You can do it, I believe in you. I believe so much in you! I have never seen you or your mom back down for anything, and you are not gonna start now, are you? I know you are scared, I was scared too when I moved here. What if my coworkers didn’t like me? Or, what if I was bad at the job and got fired and left alone without any plan B? But, look, it all worked out fine and I even met the love of my life.” Will took in his father’s words quietly, not wanting to tell him how he was confident that wasn’t gonna be the case for him. “You’re gonna do so well, and I’m gonna be so proud of you! And your mom, Will, she’s gonna be so happy and so proud as well, and, most importantly, you’re gonna be so proud of yourself when this is over. In a week, you’ll have forgotten about being nervous and scared, and you’ll be happy with your new friends and you’ll enjoy the year so much! I know it, okay? Trust me.”
“What if…?”
“You can’t let ‘what if’s stop you, Will.” He spoke softly, looking at him with kindness. “I love having everything figured out and knowing how the future is gonna play out, but we cannot always trust everything will go as planned. I know it’s hard, but until someone comes up with an oracle, we’ll have to figure things out as we go along. But you’re not gonna be alone through it, alright?” He lifted Will’s face so they could look eye to eye. The man’s smile withered for a second. “I know I can't ask you to believe me, but I promise I’m gonna be with you through everything. Nothing is gonna happen to you if I can avoid it.”
Will took a deep breath, filling up his lungs with clean air before drying his eyes —he hadn’t cried, but he hadn’t been able to stop them from watering either— and nodding multiple times, still nervous but a bit less scared. His dad was right, he wasn’t alone. He still had his mother and friends through his phone, and he had him and Hyacinth at his new home, and he was sure they genuinely cared about him. Will had never doubted his dad, and he was starting to trust the other fairly quickly.
“I can do it.” He told himself, opening the door.
“That’s right, you can!” Apollo cheered him up.
His voice died in the background as Will rushed towards the school, painfully aware of the fact that he was actually late. He had memorized his class number, but he had no idea where it was, so he had to stop and ask for directions to one of the janitors before resuming his sprint. Eventually, he ended up finding the classroom and stumbling inside.
“William Solace, hasn’t he come?” The teacher was calling out before noticing.
“It’s me! That’s me.” He rushed to say, gathering his breath. “Apologies for being late. I got lost.”
“Oh, I see. I’ll let it slide seeing as it’s your first day, just don’t make it a habit.” She told him, letting him in. “Are there any free seats?”
He was gonna look around to see if he found one, preferably one with a person who looked approachable as his seatmate, but there was no need. A boy with curly dark hair and brown eyes, sat on a wheelchair and with no one as his seatmate, had his hand lifted and was waving it.
“He can sit here!” He said.
Will missed the way the teacher looked at him to ask him if that was fine with it. He was already on his way to the desk beside the boy’s. All his worrying about no one wanting to speak to him felt silly now that someone had seemed excited to sit with him. Must have been Lou’s crystal, he told himself before sitting, not without flashing a smile at the boy and waving at him. He had just about finished placing his notebook on the table to copy whatever important information about how the class would go throughout the year when the other poked him in the arm to catch his attention.
“So, William?” He asked, handing out a hand. “I’m Leo!”
“Just Will is fine. William is for my mom to scold me and for my friends to laugh at.” He clarified, shaking his hand. “Thank you for wanting to sit with me.”
“Oh, don’t thank me. As you can see, I’m an expert at sitting, so I have to help out those in need.” Will chuckled at the joke before the other kept speaking. “Also, I’m retaking the year and I don’t know anyone in this class, so you’re a lifesaver.”
“I don’t know anyone in any class, so we can be each other’s lifesaver.” Will told him.
“Sure! I have some friends that are actual 11 graders, you’ll love them! Not that you won’t love my senior friends.” Will made a mental note to convert to paganism if Lou’s crystal kept working its magic that well. “Why’d you change schools?”
“Eh, I moved in with my dad because my mom couldn’t take care of me this year.” He explained as summarized as possible. “I’m a bit nervous about everything.”
“Oh.” Leo put on an exaggerated but genuine pout. “Is your mom not from Manhattan?”
“Not at all.” The idea of his mom’s southern drawl replaced with a thick New Yorker accent and her country discography substituted by whatever music they made in New York (rock, right?) made him giggle a bit. “Born and raised in Austin, both of us. I had never left Texas befo…” Leo made him go quiet. He had his eyes wide open and was hitting his arm without strength multiple times. “Yeah?”
“I’m from Texas too, oh my God! Guess from where!”
He had never doubted Lou’s passion for witchcraft, but he doubted it even less now.
“No way!”
“Yes way! Go, guess!”
“Austin?” A part of him was thankful that the other shook his head no, because otherwise he might have started getting scared. “Dallas?” Another no. “Houston?”
“Ding-ding-ding!” He exclaimed, clapping happily. “You really are a lifesaver! I can finally hear something that’s not a valley or New York accent.”
“Valley? What, you have intranational friends?”
“ International, actually. I’m Mexican but we even have an Italian guy. It’s basically the Olympics at this point.” The boy joked. “Don’t ask how everyone got here. Or do ask when you meet them, but the stories can be confusing. We, uh…” He shrugged. “Honestly, we are a bit confusing as a whole. Just so you know, most of us met in Mr. Brunner’s support class for neurodivergent students. Not like you know who Mr. Brunner is, but either way. It’s not like we are ‘the weird kids’ or whatever, mostly because Annabeth is with us, and who is gonna want to mess with Annabeth?” He said it as if he was stating a universal truth.
“Right.” Will nodded, completely sure that no one would ever want to mess with that Annabeth girl.
“But, what I’m getting at is, that if you’re gonna think we are too much or whatever, you don’t have to be with us. No hard feelings.” Leo spoke, even if a slight trembling on his voice betrayed that he would probably feel hurt if Will found him and his friends weird.
“Oh, no need to worry about that, eh… I’m actually dyslexic.” He said, giving Leo a thumbs-up that he hoped was reassuring. “And I was in the process of getting screened for ADHD back at home, but I guess not anymore?”
“There go my hopes of asking you to read the blackboard for me.” Leo clicked his tongue, though his disappointment was feigned. “But that’s great! You’ll blend in right away!”
Those had been his mother’s exact words, and he was starting to believe them. Surprisingly enough, everything was falling into place smoothly. Leo promised to give him his notes from the beginning of last year if he needed it, so Will allowed himself to ignore the teacher and keep talking to him, just like he allowed himself to finally believe he would be fine.
. . .
reduce, reuse, recycle
wednesday 5th, 7:25 AM
will
how is the fisrt week going?
lou -__-
let’s not comment on it before it’s over.
cecil :P
WILL I JOINED THE THEATRE CLUB!!!!
lou -__-
will, save me from this misery.
he’s gonna spend the whole year singing mamma mia or whatever.
when i needed you the most you vanished.
will
dont be mean to him, you’ll live
clubs actvity starts today here
i’m excited ^____^
cecil :P
are u going into the first aid club again
will
yeah!!!! you’re never aided enuogh
plus i finally get to sit with leo’s friends at lunch!!!
after 2 whole lucnh breaks of fixing paperwork at the sercatrey
secretary* or wtv
T___T how can school be so badly organized
lou -__-
are you surprised?
will
i dont think theres anything a school cloud do thats surprising anymore
class is starting
byeeee ^___^
The teacher hadn’t arrived yet despite the bell ringing, but Will still put down his phone when he saw Leo entering the classroom. They had spent most of their time together, at least in the classes they shared, and it had been great. Just as his father had said, Will was starting to forget what he was so nervous about just some days after school started. It was difficult to remain nervous when his new friend seemed to take life with as much humor and as carefreely as Leo did. Will had talked to some people from the other subjects he took, and even if they had been nice he still preferred spending time with Leo.
“I am so ready for Spanish.” He said, taking the desk beside Will’s.
“I thought you were fluent already.” The blonde raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, I am. I am ready to see you struggle is all.”
Will put on a fake, dramatic pout. After just some days, he had picked up the gesture from Apollo, who was used to doing it all the time.
“That’s mean.”
“You’ll live, won’t you?” The boy paired his words with a hard (though it didn’t hurt) pat to Will’s back and a bright smile. “You can’t die on me when I have already told everyone you were coming to lunch with us, Solace. And don’t worry, I promise to absolutely help you pass this subject.”
“You say that about every subject.”
“Yeah, and I mean it.” Leo replied. “Doubting my skills, Solace?”
The teacher chose that exact moment to walk into the classroom, so Will didn’t get to ask how come he was retaking the year if he was so confident in being able to pass and get Will to pass as well. He tried his best to focus on the introductory description of the subject that the woman was giving her students, but if it was hard on its own, it was harder to do it with Leo fidgeting around, arming and disarming his pen and randomly grabbing one of Will’s to do the same.
“That’s broken.” He whispered under his breath, trying to take notes of the grading methods when Leo grabbed his correcting tape.
The other still took it. A few minutes later, when Will was done copying, Leo placed it on his desk again.
“Not anymore!” Forgetting about the class, Will picked it up and tried it, checking it worked perfectly fine. He turned around to ask Leo how he had made it, and the other replied before he had even asked. “No need to thank me.”
“That’s so cool! Where did you learn that?”
“I’ve been into DIY and tech craft club thingies for ages now.” He said, rearming his pen for the umpteenth time. “This year too! What about you? Got into anything?”
“I signed up for the first aid club there was.” Will explained. “I don’t know where the meetings are taking place, though.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take you to the secretary’s office or something before lunch and we can ask.” He said. “She is explaining the vowels, you should pay attention . ”
Will turned and started to pay attention again, or at least he tried his best. The teacher asked them all to introduce themselves in Spanish the best they could once there were only some minutes left of class. Will managed, and even if he could hear Leo chuckle at some of his butchered pronunciation or his southern accent not fading despite the language change, he could also see him nodding whenever he finished a sentence. Of course, the other had to introduce himself right after Will, and it was a given that his perfectly fluent rant about himself and his following conversation with the teacher made Will feel like he had done it a lot worse in comparison, but, all in all, he didn’t mind. Leo had promised to help him pass, after all. The class ended soon after, and he had to walk to his Biology class while Leo left for his AP Calculus class.
They met again in one of the corridors after some hours, just before lunch. Will was waiting by the other’s locker, waving when he saw him arriving and noticed his face seemed withered. The way Leo’s smile came back (though a little tense) as he laid his eyes on him didn’t go unnoticed either.
“Hey!” He said, waving quickly. His eyes weren’t on Will’s when he spoke again. “Eh, you don’t have to say yes, but can you help me put my things there?”
“Yeah, sure.” He had assumed Leo couldn’t feel nor move his legs, and punched himself mentally for that as he crouched down and opened the locker with the code the other gave him. He could be an ambulatory wheelchair user, or maybe he felt pain without mobility. Whatever it was, it was obvious now that he looked tired. His arms rested on his lap, with one hand caressing his biceps. “Leo, do you want me to push the chair?”
He worried for a second that he was overstepping, but the other boy threw his head back and groaned.
“Yeah, that’d be neat.” Will placed himself behind the chair, driving them towards the secretary’s office. “I don’t usually get tired from it at school because it’s not like I’m sprinting through the corridor, you know? But I barely slept tonight.”
“Did anything happen?”
“I got very passionate about a D&D character and overlooked the hour a tiny bit. For about 3 hours.” It was not what Will was expecting, but it was better than the nightmares he had presumed would be the answer. “And then my dog accidentally threw the sheets off the bed and I didn’t want to make it, so I started another character. For funsies.”
“You’ve got a dog?”
“Mhm, Festus! Cutest little boy. Well, he's kinda big, but he's my little boy. You can meet him if you come over one day, or if we go out."
He didn’t want to seem desperate, so Will replied saying he couldn’t wait to meet the dog. Inside, he was dying at the prospect of going out with someone from his new school soon. They continued going through the halls, with Will talking about how he never had a pet, and telling Leo all about George and Martha, Cecil corn snake pets, which he hated with passion.
"Snakes are probably more scared of you than you are of them." Leo said just as they reached their destination.
Will walked to the window to the secretary, greeting the woman behind it.
"Hello. Could you help me find where the first aid club meetings are, please?"
She raised an eyebrow behind the window.
"Did you not get it with the e-mail?"
"I didn’t get any e-mail?"
"It must be in your spam folder, then." She spoke. "Check it, alright? Come back if you need help, but it should be there."
He moved away from the desk, moving to the wider part of the corridor with Leo following him. It was a small distance, so he didn’t need to push his chair, opting to pick up his phone and open the spam section in his e-mail instead. His eyes shot wide open.
[ From: [email protected]
Subject: Insufficient available slots
Dear William,
We regret to inform you that the extracurricular club activities you applied for this year, both your first (First Aid) and second choice (Self-defense), had run out of available slots before you submitted your application. You have been enrolled for your third option, a place in the school's basketball team. Were you no longer interest, cancel your application here until September 4th. ]
[ From: [email protected]
Subject: WELCOME TO THE CENTAURS
Are you ready for a year of playing with the Centaurs and representing your school on the court?
We are glad to welcome you to our team, William! We wait for you in the school gymnasium every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 16:00 to 17:30. Bring your water bottle and your passion for sports!
You can pick your dorsal and displayed name for your equipment here until September 7th.
P.S. LET'S BEAT LA'S WOLVES AGAIN THIS YEAR!!! ]
He was pretty sure he was shaking once he finished reading both messages, and he had paled. His body felt uncomfortably warm with fear and contained stress finally blooming. He had lucked out finding Leo, it seemed, because this was straight up horrible. It was a nightmare. He had never, once in his life, developed the tiniest bit of passion for sports. Will already knew that he was going to do horribly, but the humiliation it would be to play basketball in front of a bunch of strangers didn’t even compare to his actual fear: dressing rooms.
He had not planned to come out as trans to anyone this year. That was the whole thing, he finally had a chance to just be Will, not "Will, who used to go by another name." He could be a boy, not a "yeah, I think he is a boy now." He was just going to be Will Solace, and people thinking he had always been Will Solace had apparently comforted him much more than he had realized, because he was panicking now. Even if he was confident in being trans and guessed he could have made exceptions to not coming out if he met the right people throughout the year, confessing an identity he was confident about to people he grew to trust was the furthest thing from basically being exposed to a bunch of strangers in exchange for using a shower. And, of course, people knowing he was trans wasn't the same as people seeing the body he still felt dysphoric about on certain days fully naked.
"What's wrong, man?" Will's hand must have been holding the phone long enough for Leo to read the message. "Looks like they let Yew write the promo. You should get your equipment before it's late. Hey, are you alright? You look weird." He scrunched his nose, analyzing his face as Will's breathing grew hectic. "You look like you are panicking. Oh, you are."
Will could barely register anything. He couldn’t breath, nor could he concentrate, mind too busy imagining a dressing room full of jocks laughing at him or calling her a girl. What if they told others without him wanting to? It hurt just to think about it, about being stripped of his vulnerability like that.
"Hey, it’s fine, you don’t need to worry. I know sport clubs and all of that can be scary, but it's not all the time. My best friend plays basketball in his school and he's super, super nice. Ah, and everyone in the school's team is pretty nice too. They'll understand you are a beginner." His words were only partially getting to Will, but they weren't helping much. "Eh, ah… Hm… Eh, don't be scared by the LA thing. It's not like they bring some random professional team from Los Angeles, you know? It's Lupus Augusti, it's a school some streets away. Oh, wait, you are not breathing. Will, you should sit on the floor."
He followed the advice, dropping to the cold floor and moving till his back was against the walls. He took his head on his hands, trying to get a hold of his breathing.
"Breath slowly, I can count if you want." Leo tried to help. "Or, eh, we can do the 5 things thing? What do you like best?" Will didn’t reply. "Okay, okay, that's fine. I promise you, you'll be fine. Trust me, they are sweethearts. You'll probably get along, and sport is very healthy, so it's basically prevention from disease and that's Zero Aid if you think about it. I know change is super scary, but it's not so much change if you think about it like that, right? Oh, god, I am horrible at this, ahh… Do you want a hug? It's uncomfortable with the chair, but we can try? Or, eh, you can hold my hand! Or… I can take you to the infirmary, if you need." He took a deep breath. "Actually, stand up and take my hand, you are going to the infirmary, alright?"
Will barely remembered anything after that. He could somehow recall a little remark from Leo to himself about how he hated being better with machines than with people, could barely remember how the school nurse got him to calm down, and could barely remember debating on whether to call Naomi or Apollo first. He had called her in the end, because he needed her and because he was afraid Apollo would go pick him up when Will knew he could stay in school without needing to bother him. The bell rang during their call; he had run out of time to go and eat with Leo and his friends, but that was the last of his worries right now. The only time he cared about was the few hours he had to mentally prepare for his new biggest problem.
Notes:
- first and foremost: thank you so much for reading <3 it means the world ! i hope you guys liked it + i promise nico will be in the next chapter (he gets the pov for even chapters, will gets odd ones!) i will try to post either weekly or once every 2 weeks !
- so! the idea for this fic struck me when i was in the park watching my brother and his friends play basketball. i said "hey, what if i made an au in which will was a basketball player and a loser and nico was disabled and a loser?" then, i remembered how traumatizing playing basketball for about 5 years had been for me and i decided this would be a nice way to get closure ?? or maybe not closure but at least now i can associate basketball with will ^___^ !
- i love love love interacting with readers so pls dont hesitate to comment, i promise you it will make me really happy!! i also have a tumblr !! you can go and say hi
- music is a very important part of this fic, in a way. all the titles and opening lyrics are meant to be something i believe the character whose pov the chapter is about would listen / listens to !!! in this case, we have will as a hannah montana fan, a hill i will die on. the fic is set on 2018, so not all the songs used might exist in the world this is based off, but shhh!!!
Chapter 2: " learn to fly "
Summary:
“Are you sure he isn’t turning you down on purpose?” Hazel asked. “I don’t know, Leo, he seems rude.”
“He is not, he’s a sweetheart!” He said. “The guys in the basketball team just keep pulling him to their table for ‘team spirit’ reasons or whatever, but it’s not like he seems excited about it.”
“Hold up, he’s on the basketball team?” Percy asked. “They’re playing this Friday at school, Lee asked me to spread the word. I had completely forgotten about that, woah.”
“I thought the season started in October?” Piper said, tilting their head.
“It’s a friendly match, just for practice. And… They’re playing against Lupus Augusti.”
Notes:
tw for very brief references of child abuse. also, nico has an eating disorder. it has nothing to do with his weight or appearance, but he is shown eating less than he should because of other reasons (mainly texture). this will happen during the whole fic. keep yourself safe <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
now i'm looking to the sky to save me,
looking for a sign of life,
looking for something
to help me burn out bright.
Somewhere between being the equally awful ages of 12 and 14, Nico’s massive crush on Percy Jackson had led him to take the horrible decision of going to the older’s swim practices as a spectator. The pool allowed for anyone to go in during practice, as long as they kept out of their lanes, and Nico could just sit in the grandstand, far away from the water and perfectly dry, just how he liked it. Plus, it meant that he could stare at Percy swimming, and he even got to seem like a nice friend who cared a lot about the other’s passion.
However, the last 2 years had brought more change to his life than ever before. Nico had grown up, and he had gained some as much as he had lost some. His sister and mother were out of the picture now, for instance, but his father had remarried and gotten two new people into Nico’s life: a step-mother he didn’t know how to feel about, but that he let slide in order to keep his job at her store, and a step-sister his age that he couldn’t love more. He still attended Percy’s swim practice regularly, even now that his crush on Percy was water under the bridge after some terrible information had come to light with the other’s biological dad had finally showed up to one of his birthday, mostly because he needed at least one thing in his life to remain the same and because Nico was aware that his other option was rotting alone at home. Maybe because he knew Percy really appreciated people showing up for him too, but Nico wouldn’t admit that out loud. At least, now that the main entertainment, Percy swimming, was not entertaining anymore, he could take Hazel with him on occasion and beat her in Mythomagic as many times as the hour and half allowed it.
“So…” She scrutinized the cards in her hand, frowning before pulling one out and placing it in front of her. “I use Hecate’s split attack, shoot half of it to your Aphrodite, so she’s down… And the other half to maim half of your Poseidon.”
She took the Aphrodite card into the multitude of cards displayed in front of her and placed her Hecate card horizontally on top of Poseidon’s. Hazel looked up, giving Nico a proud smile. He almost felt bad about how he was about to destroy her.
“Okay. I take my Hades, who has 5000 attack since you attacked first, take my Aphrodite back… Now, I have not one…” He placed a card on the table, by Hades’. “But two Helms Of Darkness, so I get two more movements with Hades on the field. I hit you with my completely unexpected Ares legendary, choose infinite health, so I get rid of all your effects… And my perfectly healthy Poseidon shoots your Hephaestus, and since he deals double damage to him, he dies! And I have all the Olympians! I won!”
Hazel scrunched her nose and groaned.
“This is boring.” She complained. “Aren’t you getting a bit tired of this?”
He shot her a look of complete disbelief as he shuffled the cards again for another match. Tired of Mythomagic? He had been playing for almost a decade now. What blasphemy was Hazel trying to insinuate?
“Tired? Of Mythomagic?” He clicked his tongue. Hazel always lost, so maybe that’s what she had tried to say. He still hadn’t figured out the difference between what people said and what people meant, and he doubted he would ever fully grasp it, but maybe he was starting to get the hang of it. “Do you… Want me to bring another game next time? Dobble?”
“No, Nico, that’s not it.” Well, maybe he wasn’t getting the hang of it yet. “Mythomagic is fun… Well, could be better if you let me win from time to time.”
“Not happening.”
“But aren’t you bored of just coming here and playing cards all day?”
“But it’s not just cards! It’s Mythomagic!”
“I know, I know.” He had started to move his hands around, trying to express himself better. Hazel took them in hers and placed both their hands in the space within them. “It’s not about Mythomagic, Nico. It’s a great game, and you love it, and I love how passionate you are about it, and I would never, never, never, want you to quit.”
“Then why do you think I’d be tired?” He asked. “What is it about if not Mythomagic?”
“Nico, I’m worried about you.”
He felt a shiver running down his spine at the words. Nico absolutely despised whenever someone was concerned about him, but the idea of his younger sister being worried was even worse. It felt like he was not only a failure of a person, but also of a brother, and whatever he had done in order for Hazel to utter those words with such honesty in her voice made his stomach turn.
“What?” He asked, confused.
“I’m just… You only leave the house to go to work, or to come here and play cards with me, and I’m worried that you’re missing out on your teen years.” She said. “I love you, but I feel like unless someone’s playing with you you are just stuck with the computer or the Nintendo playing alone all day. I am very happy that you have a hobby, but don’t you get lonely or bored?”
He shrugged and pulled his hands away from where she had placed them, leaning back. It wasn’t like he hadn’t realized the exact same thing. His routine was pitiful: Nico woke up, usually as tired as he was before sleeping, went to school the whole morning and barely paid attention… Sometimes spent the afternoon in his step-mother’s jewelry, hoping he would get more than 3 clients so he had something to do. Other days he spent the afternoon in the swimming pool, perhaps playing with Hazel, perhaps spacing out for a whole hour if he was alone. On the days where he did nothing of that, he would speedrun game after game until he felt about to pass out in front of his computer. The feelings of emptiness and unfulfillment traveled with him through all of that, but he wasn’t gonna confess that to Hazel.
“My body’s never in the mood to leave the house anymore, you know.” He tried to excuse himself, accompanying his words with a head nod towards his crutches, which rested on the grandstand close to them.
“But don’t you think you should get a new hobby, or something? Something more social or more productive, or creative…” She started. “Maybe cooking, or baking…”
“I’d be shit at it, and I probably wouldn’t be able to eat most of my food either way.” Just the idea of cooking and tasting whatever he had created made him feel sick.
“And an instrument? You have a good voice, and you love music!”
“I would get sick of hearing myself too quickly.”
“Macramé? I know I just started, but I can teach you!”
“Hazel, look me in the eyes for 3 seconds and seriously tell me I look like I would be interested in macramé.”
“Okay, fine!” She said, almost sounding like she had given up. Almost. “What about art? I know you doodle at work when you get bored.”
“I’m not good at it.” He said, not really wanting her to keep talking about his drawings. To his dismay, she didn’t give up art as quickly as she had given up the other activities.
“Yes, you are! And even if you weren’t, that’s not what this is about!” She argued. “It’s not something you have to be good at, just something you like! Plus, we could be in the art club together…”
“No, we can’t. The inscriptions closed ages ago, and if you tell Rachel to move strings to get me in, I’ll tell her to move them back. Plus, if we are gonna be together at art doing something I’m not good at, might as well just be together here doing something I’m good at.” As if to finish the conversation, he placed the cards in between them. “Cut the deck.”
“I’m not cutting the deck until you listen to me and we find you a reason to live a little!”
“Hazel, for the love of God, just cut the deck.” He insisted.
“I’ll cut the deck when you let me help you.”
“I don’t need help!” He spoke too loud. Hazel leaned back with surprise, eyes open. The image made Nico’s heart hurt. “I didn’t mean to shout.” He said, trying to apologize, head hanging low.
“It’s fine.” Hazel told him. “But, Nico, are you really sure you don’t need help?”
The boy looked down and hid his head in his hands, suppressing a groan. He was the furthest thing from sure. Nico knew he was not thriving on his own, and doubted that he would get out of his almost a-year-long slump by himself.
“Don’t make me say it out loud.” He complained, hiding his face again. Then, he lifted his head, trying to study Hazel’s expression to spot if she looked pained. “Would you feel better if I agreed to try out drawing more often?”
“Nico, that doesn’t matter. Would you feel better?” She asked. “I will drop it if you really think it wouldn’t help, promise.”
He considered for a brief second. Part of him wanted to say yes, solely because even if Hazel said it didn’t matter, he wanted to make her happy and stop her from being concerned about him. Another part, however, wanted to say yes for his own sake, which he wasn’t expecting. He had considered himself a lost case many times, without even having tried to get better, so he didn’t know where the change of mentality came from. Maybe it was Hazel being so sure his life could improve, or the notion that the new school year would bring a new beginning. Maybe it was just that he had been inhaling chlorine from the swimming pool.
“I’m not going to the art club with you.” He decided. “But we can paint together some day, or something. If you’d like.”
Nico hoped she would just cut the deck and move on from the conversation, but Hazel threw herself to his arms instead, pulling him to a hug.
“Mhm! I’d love that! We’ll have to go get you decent markers, or pencils, or whatever, and a proper sketchbook!”
Though Nico was reluctant to have most people touching him, he returned the hug, smiling at the excitement in the girl’s voice. For just a bit, he allowed himself to share her hope.
. . .
The first week of the year had ended faster than Nico had thought. He feared it would drag on and on, but soon enough they were half way through the second. He found himself arriving with Hazel at the table they had grown used to sharing with their friends. Most of them were there already, and he could have technically been there before, since he always brought his own food from home, but he had made it a habit to accompany Hazel through the queue as she got her food. Nico let her sit first, partially because he was a gentleman and partially because he didn’t want to sit with the table’s leg between his. Instead, he sat at the edge of the bench, a perfect spot to leave his crutches. Leo sat in front of him, looking bored and playing with a piece of broccoli on his plate.
“Hi, guys.” He said, barely lifting his eyes to meet Hazel and Nico.
“Hi!”
“Hi.” Nico greeted him before turning to Piper, who was sitting by Hazel’s other side. “Hey, Pipes, who turned off Leo?”
“Shut up…” The other complained.
“He’s sad that his new friend was dragged to another table again.” They explained. “Also, Percy.”
“Hey, I already said I was sorry! Come on, Leo, I promise I didn’t mean it when I told you you had made him up in your head.” Percy tried to defend himself from where he was, in front of Piper and with a hand on his fork while the other was, most probably, on top of Annabeth’s, below the table.
He tried not to make the chuckle he let out at Percy’s words too noticeable, because as much as he had been happy to see Leo making a new friend, he couldn’t deny it was a bit silly that he was the only one to have ever seen the guy.
“Are you sure he isn’t turning you down on purpose?” Hazel asked. “I don’t know, Leo, he seems rude.”
“He is not, he’s a sweetheart!” He said. “The guys in the basketball team just keep pulling him to their table for ‘team spirit’ reasons or whatever, but it’s not like he seems excited about it.”
“Hold up, he’s on the basketball team?” Percy asked. “They’re playing this Friday at school, Lee asked me to spread the word. I had completely forgotten about that, woah.”
“I thought the season started in October?” Piper said, tilting their head.
“It’s a friendly match, just for practice.” As he spoke, Percy leaned towards Leo trying to poke him, which looked a bit goofy given that Annabeth was still sitting in the middle. She didn’t comment on it, though, too busy multitasking eating and going through some papers she had spread out on the table. Percy succeeded, catching the other boy’s attention. “And… They’re playing against Lupus Augusti.”
That seemed to cheer the other up instantly. Leo opened his eyes and fixed his posture, going from being scrunched up on his chair from straightened his back. He even flapped his hands in the air for a few seconds. Nico watched silently, happy to see the other be his usual self again, before the words registered in his mind and his hands closed into fists he shook slightly in the air.
"That's so, oh, that's great! That's perfect, we gotta go!" Leo said. "We can see Jason, we can even hang up later with him, and Reyna and Frank can come, and I get to show you that Will exists!"
"I said I didn’t mean it seriously!" Percy complained. "But yeah, we should go. We haven’t seen him in ages."
"He even missed mine and Thalia's last gig." Piper said, voice sad. "Neeks, have you seen him lately?"
"Nah, just called." He tried to make his voice sound neutral instead of gloomy, even if tone was his biggest nightmare. His heart clenched at the memory of their last call, which had ended abruptly after Jason’s father had entered the boy’s room and shouted at him about having forgotten to do the dishes. "He must be busy, planning homecoming and all. How is it going on our front, Annabeth?"
The girl groaned, hiding her face on her palms and shaking her head. Percy got closer to his girlfriend, hugging her and whispering into her ear before turning to the rest.
"Beth's a little stressed right now, guys, but she has it all worked out. It's gonna be the best homecoming ever." He spoke to the rest, but his eyes were set on Annabeth, looking at her with tenderness.
“You can tell us if you need help with anything!” Piper told her.
“Yeah, we always count on you, but you can always count on us.” Hazel said.
“You’ve been stressed about this ever since before school even started.” Leo pointed out. “You should take a rest.”
“He’s right, babe. You should rest.” She turned to face him fully, looking at Percy with sad eyes. She held her hands out, closed with the exception of her index, and hit the right index on the left before crossing her hands over her chest. “You can rest, love, I promise nothing’s gonna happen if you take a break. Let’s use the match as an excuse, alright? Promise that you’ll rest on Friday and just focus on having a good time, can you?” Annabeth sliced the air with her hand flat. Then, she closed both hands and pushed them forward from her chest, with a slight curve to it. Percy kissed her on the forehead very briefly. “Thank you.”
“Heartwarming.” Leo whispered sarcastically and turned to the rest of the table. “How are we sailing in the single community?”
Nico waited for either his sister or Piper to reply first before shooting a side-eye glance at Hazel and finding her on her phone, not intent on answering at all. He remembered then that, over summer, she had exited the single community.
“Nico, he asked you a question.” She said, as if to annoy him even more. In true little sibling fashion, she succeeded.
“I keep forgetting you and Frank are together now.” Nico frowned, crossing his arms.
“How could you betray the single community like this, Haze?” Leo dramatically put his hands over his heart and leaned back.
“I was asking him to drive you two with me on Friday, but I guess not.” Hazel shook her phone on the air to show off her chat with Frank.
“And the disabled community as well? What have we done to you?” Nico tried to match the previous dramatism on Leo’s voice.
“It’s okay, Neeks, I’ll drive us. Though I’m more fit for Formula 1.”
“I’m not sitting on your lap, Valdez.” He said. “I would rather walk.”
“Show-off.” Nico couldn’t help but snort, and he could hear the others in the table laugh as well. He smiled, glad that Annabeth was feeling better. He envied Leo’s ability to liven up a room more than words could ever express, but he was happy he had at least helped him deliver the joke. “But, seriously, though, does Frank have room for the chair in his car?”
“It’s not adapted, but you can put it in the trunk if that’s fine. We can find another way if it doesn’t work.” Hazel explained.
“It should be fine, I think.”
“Nice! He might drive Reyna too, by the way.” Nico couldn’t help flapping his hands briefly at the words. He hadn’t seen Reyna in ages and couldn’t wait to talk to her about his latest obsessions and hear all about hers. “We’ll pick you up at your house. Pipes, who are you going with?”
“I’ll walk, unless a certain couple allows a third-wheel.”
“Fine with me.” Percy told them as Annabeth nodded. “You could tell Thalia, she’s probably dying to see him.”
“She’s working, I think. I’ll try to tell her, though.” Piper replied. “This is gonna end up being a huge hangout.”
Nico nodded slowly and mostly to himself. He had had the same revelation and, as much as he liked his friends individually, a gathering that big was still a bit scary. Plus, Leo was probably gonna try to lure in his new friend, which he couldn’t say was a super exciting idea.
“Come on, it’ll be fun!” He heard Leo say from where he was sat. “When was the last time we all went out together?” No one replied, aware of the bitter answer, but Leo didn’t seem to mind. “Exactly! We have to get back on track at some point, don’t we?”
“You sound like you want us to put our hands in the middle and do a team cheer.” Piper rolled their eyes. Leo smiled at them, shaking his shoulders goofily and pulling a giggle out of his best friend. “Alright, team, hands in the middle!”
. . .
Friday rolled around after a Wednesday of trying out Hazel’s old markers during swimming practice and a Thursday of going back and forth with a customer regarding the price of a necklace. Frank was meant to pick him and Hazel, who were rushingly trying to get ready, in a matter of minutes.
“Have you seen my charger?” Hazel shouted from her room across the corridor, directly in front of Nico’s.
“What do you need a charger for? It’s a basketball match.” He didn’t let her time to reply. “Take mine. Have you seen my headphones?”
“By the TV.”
Frank chose the moment Nico grabbed his headphones from the table in the living room to honk from outside. He could see his rusty blue car from outside the window, peaking through the blinds.
“Hurry up, Haze!” He shouted as he headed to the door, holding it open for her to basically sprint out in direction to the car.
Nico rolled his eyes, never one to turn down a chance to act annoyed about her sister having a partner, and followed through. Reyna was exiting the car, probably wanting to leave the space in the passenger seat for Hazel, who went in excitedly while Nico and the other girl shook hands —it didn’t matter how close they were, both of them were too against physical touch for an actual hug to turn out anything but awkward. The two of them sat in the back seats.
“Hi.” Hazel said to Frank, unable to hide the happiness in her voice.
“Hi.” He sounded airy, as if taken out of breath by his girlfriend. Frank seemed to lean in for a moment before Reyna faked a cough behind them. Nico thanked her mentally as Frank turned on the car. “Eh, how’s everyone?”
“Nico got a really good card.” Hazel said in response. From the rear view mirror, her sibling saw how the driver raised an eyebrow.
“Duo card with Athena and Ares.” He smiled, proud of himself. “I bought my deck if you wanna play during the half.”
“Oh, we can do that.”
“Nico…!” Hazel said. She was pouting, and her tone sounded like a slight complaint.
“Fine, fine, I’ll stop borrowing your boyfriend.”
As soon as the words were out his mouth, the couple in front of him held hands in the space between their seats. Gross, he thought to himself, not really meaning it. Still, he crossed his eyes and frowned a little at the sight, causing Reyna to laugh.
“You’re an insufferable chaperone.” She said.
“They’re an insufferable couple.” He whispered.
“No, we are not.” Hazel whispered back, clearly having heard him.
“Okay, they can be cute sometimes.” Nico agreed in another whisper, turning to Reyna after. “How have you been?”
“Can we stop whispering?” She asked, though her voice remained quiet as she spoke. “I’m doing well. Got elected class president, and the volleyball team this year is fire.”
“You are gonna have to tell me when you play. No way I’m seeing Jason play but not you.”
“I will, promise.” Reyna said with a hand in her chest. “I thought you guys were seeing someone else other than Jason today, though. Finally got a good player in the team?”
“We beat you last season, come on!” Hazel complained.
“We are seeing Leo’s new classmate. He’s starting to become an urban legend. No one’s seen him other than him.” Nico explained. “We might invite him later, and with we I mean Leo, but I’m sure he’s nice.”
“I don’t know, Neeks, I am not sure about him yet.”
“Haze is against him because he doesn’t sit with us at lunch.”
“I mean, can you blame me?” She let go of Frank’s hand to gesture around, which Nico was pretty sure she had picked up from him. “Sometimes he just trusts people who are not good to him, alright? And I don't want it to happen again.”
Frank grabbed one of her hands.
“He trusts you and all of us, right? And we are good people. There’s no reason to think this guy…”
“Will.” Nico cut in.
“This Will will be any different. If he comes today, let’s treat him as a friend until otherwise proven, alright?” She didn’t say anything, frowning but considering the words. “I vow to treat him as a friend. What about the back?”
“I bow for cordiality.” Reyna said.
“I guess I’ll do it.” Nico talked. “We can give him the shovel talk afterwards if it makes you feel better.”
“Fine, but only if you tell him you have ties in the mafia.”
“I’m not moving the mafia against a random teen from Texas.”
“Okay, then…”
“I’ll do it, I’ll do it.” Nico finally agreed, earning himself a delighted and prideful smile in Hazel’s face that appeared just as Frank parked in front Leo’s house. “You guys talk about someone else, I’m gonna go search for him.”
He and Frank both got off the car. Nico went to knock on Leo’s door and accompanied him to the car while the other boy got the trunk ready to fit their friend’s wheelchair. Leo held onto Nico while Frank folded the chair and placed it inside with care, and once he made sure the chair wouldn’t be hurt during the way to school, he let Nico help him inside the back seat. The rest of the drive went by smoothly, seeing as it was hard for it to be not fun when Leo was inside. The other three were already waiting for them once Frank parked the car. Piper had their back against a wall and was chewing gum while scrolling down their phone while Percy and Annabeth talked.
“Are you sure it was well parked?”
“It was perfect, love, I promise.”
“Are you sure? Parallel is…”
“Not your thing, I know, but you did so well.” She reassured him, kissing his cheek right after. Nico couldn’t blame Piper for the way their face lit up at the sight of the rest of the group.
“You made it! Come on in, guys, the match’s about to start and we’ve been waiting for ages.”
“Is Thalia not coming?” Leo asked them while the group made their way inside the place.
The court was sunken, and because of the wheelchair, the group had to stay above the seats, simply leaning in and supporting themselves in the fences they had to prevent falls. Nico cursed mentally at the fact he would have to stand for a whole hour when he was already not having the best symptom day, but didn’t say anything.
“She’s gonna try to get off work early and catch a bit, but yeah, no more.” Piper explained from where they stood behind Leo. “Look! They’re starting!”
Nico watched as both teams did their chant before five boys for each walked to the middle of the court. Among the five teens with purple shirts, a blonde with glasses stood in his half of the circle, telling his teammates where to place themselves. Nico smiled at the sight of Jason and moved his gaze to their school’s team, scrutinizing the people around the circle to find a new face. He spotted Lee Fletcher and Malcolm Pace behind Jason. Michael Yew and Austin Lake, both forwards, stood behind in their half of the court. Nico was about to comment on how there was no new guy when his eyes laid on the figure in front of Jason, another blonde, with hair much more golden than Jason’s platinum, and way shorter than his friend.
“That’s him! The guy with the 7! He’s about to jump!” Leo pointed at the center with one hand and, with the other, shook Nico by the arm. He had guessed that was about to happen every time the no-longer-a-legend Will made a move, but he didn’ mind Leo using him as a stim toy, and with Piper standing behind the other and Reyna standing by Nico, moving would have meant he would become a third-wheel, a fate way worse than handing his arm to his friend. “I told you!”
“He looks like he’s about to have an aneurysm.” Nico pointed out, seeing as Will was shaking slightly in front of Jason. If he squinted, he could make out the latter’s face moving as if he was talking to their team’s newest recruit, probably reassuring him.
“I said he was on the team, I never said he was good at it.” Leo clarified. “Matter of fact, I am pretty sure he doesn’t like basketball.”
“Why is he on the team, then?”
“Problem with administration, I think.”
“Put some faith in him, guys.” Reyna called. “He might surprise you. Not like you’ll win, though.”
The referee’s whistle caught their attention and drew all of them to the match. The first two points went to the Wolves, and so did the next two, and the next. At some point, Michael was able to receive a pass completely free, standing some feet away from the basket, and scoring the first points for the Centaurs. Nico watched without much commentary, silently taking in Piper’s “go, Centaurs!” chants and hearing Percy’s cusses despite the boy being a bit away from them, with Annabeth hugged against him. He watched as Will intercepted a pass and found himself with the ball in his hands, an act impossible to miss with how Leo cheered at him.
“Well done, Solace!”
“Pass it!” Piper shouted instead. Truth was the blonde was basically frozen with it on his hands, and Nico didn’t know much about basketball, but Percy always whistled at him and told him holding the ball for too long was not permitted whenever he spent too much time deciding when they played together. “Austin’s alone!”
He doubted Will had heard them, but he still passed the ball to Austin, although it was weak and someone from the other team intercepted it.
“Woohoo! Go, Dakota!” Reyna cheered as the three of them lamented the pass.
The next time Will touched the ball, he was standing just a few steps away from the middle line. Leo was screaming his name again, and Piper had joined him. The guy seemed confident enough to actually bounce the ball and walk. However, his eyes didn’t leave the ball, and he was moving clumsily given he couldn’t look up and control it at the same time. A guy from the other team, who had been covering Will the whole match, placed himself in front of the blonde, intimidating him enough to have him walk backwards until the referee whistled again.
“What the fuck?” Piper complained.
“He didn’t even touch him, this is rigged!” Leo added.
“Guys, that’s a back-court violation.” Reyna said.
“Guys, that’s a back-court violation.” Leo repeated, making all the vowels sound like “e’s.”
“I vote we start cheering for Jason instead.” Nico suggested, sure that Leo and Piper, being Jason’s best friends, would side with him.
“Are you crazy?” Piper asked. “These are our guys, Nico! They need our support!”
Right before he could say there was a crowd big enough for the Centaurs to go without three people’s support, Leo cut in.
“Maybe not all of our guys, but my guy does. How would you feel if your new friend at your new school told you you played so badly he just went with the rival team?”
“It’s not even the rival team, it’s your literal best friend! Come on, you two always cheer for Jason.”
“I can’t cheer for Jason, we just broke up!” Piper said, as if it was a hard-written rule somewhere in the Guide 101 to Breaking Up Stylishly or something .
“He’s still your best friend, and that’s not how breaking up works.”
“It’s an American thing.”
“I swear to God, McLean, if you pull that card again I’m going to…”
“Will’s got the ball, everyone, shut up!” Leo shushed them. Nico stared at the court, where Will had the ball once again. He didn’t have anyone close, and was standing relatively near the basket. “Throw it, Will!”
As the blonde lifted the ball above his head to throw it, Jason runned towards him so fast Nico didn’t know where he had come from. He couldn’t see it because of the distance, but he could imagine Will’s face panicking at the other’s serious expression whenever he played. There was no way he could score a basket now, but somehow, one of the Stoll brothers had made his way close enough for Will to toss the ball at him swiftly. Travis, as his shirt revealed, scored them 2 points after a layup.
“Good pass!” Nico heard Percy scream and clap.
“And you wanted to cheer for Jason…” Piper joked, as if Jason hadn’t been responsible for half of his team’s punctuation.
“See, he just needed our unconditional support.” Said Leo, making Nico roll his eyes.
“Fine, fine, whatever.” Nico gave in, clapping at the basket. In the next kick-off, Yew got a pass that was meant to be for Jason and scored another two points, in a matter of just seconds. “Go, Centaurs!” He joined his friends, even if the scoreboard made it hard to believe that they could have any sort of a comeback.
The halftime came back soon after, with the last movement being an incredible three-pointer from Lee Fletcher that honestly got Nico’s hopes back up. As soon as the referee marked the end of the quarter and the team disappeared into the locker room, Nico dropped himself into the ground, carefully placing his crutches beside him. He let out a groan at the relief of no longer having to hold himself up.
“I’m going to the vending machine, anyone want anything?” Reyna said, counting coins out of her purse.
Nico’s stomach growled, thankfully not loud enough for anyone else to hear —Piper and Leo were too busy explaining what Doritos they wanted to pay attention to it, luckily—. He hadn’t realized how hungry he had been, but he hadn’t eaten much during lunch because the bell had gone off before he was half-way through his meal. He only liked very specific foods from vending machines, though, and he found himself divided between accompanying Reyna or not. On one hand, he really needed food. On the other hand, if he made the effort to walk just to find out there was not any option he would feel safe eating, Nico would probably explode. So, he settled with waiting a bit more until the match was done and they went to have dinner.
Reyna came back when the match was about to start again, with a bag of Doritos for Piper and Leo, a granola bar for herself and a blue bag of cookies that were Nico’s favorite (and one of the few ones he could enjoy) products the machine had. He watched as Reyna opened it, ate one and made a face before looking at him.
“Want one?”
“Sure.”
He wasn’t done with the cookie he had picked before she talked again.
“You can have them all, I think I only like the blue ones.” She said, handing the whole thing to Nico.
A part of him wanted to tell himself it was good luck, another knew Reyna had done it on purpose so he had something to eat, and if it wasn’t so out of his fashion to cry of happiness, he would have teared up at having such a caring person for a close friend.
“The blue ones suck.” Piper said, before Nico could thank Reyna. “Don’t tell Percy I said that.”
“They’re starting again, guys.” Leo cut in, looking over the court. “Oh, I don’t think Will’s playing. Wanna cheer for Jason, anyone?”
. . .
The Centaurs ended up losing in spite of their game being less sloppy with each minute that passed. Even Will seemed to get a hang of the sport everytime he was out on the court, and Nico found himself happy cheering for him and the rest of the team whenever he got a successful pass or prevented a point from the other team. Sure, he was far from being the best in the team, but according to Leo, he had only been playing for a week and half. Playing a match after so little training was more impressive than anything Nico had done, he considered. Now, the group was waiting for Will and Jason to come out of the locker rooms. Thalia hadn’t made it yet, so Piper was on their phone, trying to contact them.
“She’s not replying…”
“She drives a motorbike, she would crash.” Percy reminded them.
“She’ll get here before Jason comes out, I’m su… Will!” Leo happily lifted his hands in the air as his friend exited his team’s locker room.
Nico took in his sight from up close. His blonde curls were drenched with sweat and his face was flushed from running. He hadn’t showered, nor had he changed, but he didn’t look bad. He smiled, a mix of joy and nervousness on his face as he pulled his water bottle away from his lips to wave his hand hello at them.
“Hi!” He waved. Behind Nico, Percy groaned and Annabeth giggled, making him recall they had a bet on whether Will would introduce himself with a “howdy” or not. “Woah, y’all are really more people than I thought, heh. Nice to meet you?”
“Everyone, Will! Will, everyone!” Leo said, smiling. “We were going out to eat, if you want to come!”
“Oh, ah…” The other tittered. “I am all sweaty and gross, I really need a shower.”
“Didn’t you just come out of the locker room?” Asked Hazel.
“Yeah, but, eh, I have to do something very important at home today, so I’m just gonna shower there?”
Nico didn’t care that the guy was obviously lying, because he figured whatever reason he had to wasn’t his business, but he couldn’t help but to giggle at how bad he was at telling lies. He placed a hand on Hazel’s shoulder, as if to tell her to leave the guy alone, but Leo talked instead.
“Hm… Fine, whatever… I guess I’ll let you go on one condition.” He said, making Will tense for a moment. “From Monday to Friday you are sitting on our table everyday. Deal?”
“Deal.” They shook hands as a car honked. “That’s my dad, I gotta go, but, eh! See y’all next week?”
They had just about finished saying goodbye when a motorbike parked on the curb by their side. The woman driving it took off her helmet to reveal short, pointy, black hair and blue eyes. She smiled fondly at them, getting off the vehicle.
“Thalia!” Piper went to hug their bandmate, who ruffled their brown hair.
“Hiya, punks. How was the match?”
She went to greet Percy later, shaking his hand before hugging Annabeth and waving at Nico and Leo. He was thankful he had grown up enough to no longer get hair ruffles as a consequence of being the little cousin. As she finished greeting Leo, who was telling him about her brother winning, Jason came out of the locker room. His face lit up, but Nico couldn’t tell if it was at the sight of her sister or at the sight of Leo.
“You came?” They had told him in advance about coming, so Nico guessed he was talking to Thalia.
“I only arrived now.” She said as both siblings got into a hug. It would have been comical with their size difference, but knowing how little they saw each other made the situation too saddening for him to laugh. “But I heard you won! I’m so proud of you!”
“Thanks, Thals.” He said. “Are you coming to eat with us?”
“Well, I know I just ran from work to here, but I do have a discount at the diner.” She began explaining. “But if you wanna go somewhere else…”
“I choose discount!” Piper called, raising their hand up.
“Me too!” Said, almost at the same time, Percy and Leo.
“I’m gonna bring the car close up here.” Percy said, pulling his keys out. “We’ll drive you, Jay. Frank’s out of seats.”
As soon as he —an Annabeth, because they were inseparable and, Nico guessed, Percy needed emotional support to unpark in parallel— disappeared, he felt Piper tapping his shoulder, causing him to turn around.
“Yeah?”
“Can you switch seats with Jason?” They asked, whispering and covering their mouth, even if no one was looking at them. Frank and Hazel were too busy enjoying their time together, Jason and Leo were catching up with Thalia, and Reyna had gone to find a trash can for the bags of their food.
“What do you mean?”
“Can you come with me in Percy’s car and let him go in Frank’s?”
“What? Why?” He wasn’t following.
“We would have to sit together, when we just broke up, and it would be so uncomfortable… Please, Neeks.”
“No, it wouldn’t.” He cut them off, raising an eyebrow. “You are best friends, McLean. You still go out together all by yourselves, you still call and text often, and you are one of each other’s emergency contacts, I don’t think sitting in a car would be uncomfortable. If you tell me it’s a thing in the USA I’m graffiting your front door.”
They rolled their eyes, more frustrated with themselves than with Nico.
“First, I would love that. Second, just do it, alright? I’ll owe you one, and I promise there’s a good reason.”
“Then, give it to me!” He said. Even if he had already decided that he would let Jason take his seat, he was curious now that Piper had brought up a “good reason.”
“I can’t, but you have to trust me! When have I ever lied to you? And, no, don’t answer that.” They rushed to say, just when Nico was about to bring up the multiple times Piper had dragged him to the cinema to see films that, unlike promised, had been the further thing from his taste. “Just please, please, please…”
“Fine.” He said, getting a quick hug and an “I owe you, dude!” before they walked away to explain it to Jason.
He then wondered why, if Piper hadn’t wanted to sit with Jason, they hadn’t just asked Nico to switch with them directly, but he didn’t have a chance to ask. It didn’t matter, though, because Jason seemed very glad with their arrangement, and Nico would never complain about something that made his best friend smile like he was smiling as he entered the car, taking the seat by Leo’s.
. . .
As far as Nico knew, Thalia had been working as a waitress at Pine ‘n Bite for ages. Ever since she and Piper had met and started to play together, their group had had the diner as a common reunion spot, even if sometimes they chose another. They even had booked the big, round booth table for themselves on multiple occasions, namely Percy’s birthdays. Now, the 10 of them sat together after having placed different tables close to each other. He had ordered a quesadilla from the child menu, and Thalia had apparently told Zoe, who worked at the kitchen, to give him an adult portion of fries instead of the child menu one. With fries being the thing he knew he could eat at any given point and at 99% of the places, and with his stomach still hungry despite the cookies Reyna had gotten him, he couldn’t be happier. Plus, Jason was at his side, talking to him about the first days of school now that Leo, who sat at the blonde’s other side, was busy talking to Piper.
“Hey, Jay.” Thalia said from behind them, having stood up. “I bought you a gift in case you won. It’s in the bike, wanna come pick it up?”
“Sure.”
Nico, instead of joining Leo’s and Piper’s conversation about their new TV series, or scooching over to Frank to talk about Mythomagic, followed the siblings with his eyes, staring at them through the windows of the diner, aware that no one else was paying attention at the scene taking place outside. Thalia lifted the seat to pull out what seemed to be a CD, the gift she had talked about, but Jason didn’t seem very happy about it. He took it, and Nico saw his lips move, probably to thank her, but neither of them walked back yet. She looked worried, explaining something to Jason as she crossed her windbreaker over her chest to protect herself from the autumn breeze. He looked tense, sad, but not very moved but whatever she was saying. They started to gesture soon, not like Nico usually did, with big hands movements all around his head, pacing around the room, but with short and sharp movements, close to their chests, as if they were containing themselves. In the end, Jason walked back inside the diner alone, sitting by Nico’s side with a smile that didn’t disguise the fact that, behind his glasses, he had gotten teary-eyed.
“Where’s Thalia?” He asked.
“Smoking.” He said. Both knew Thalia didn’t smoke, but whenever she and Jason needed a moment after discussions like that, it was the excuse she gave to have time to collect herself.
“Ah.” Nico tensed his lips. “What was…?” He stopped himself. Like that, surrounded by their other friends wasn’t the moment to bring up Jason’s situation. “What was the gift?”
“ There’s Nothing Left to Lose. ” Jason said, taking a bite of the burger he had ordered. “Foo Fighters. It has the song you like.”
“Cool.” Nico told him, as if there wasn’t an elephant in the room that he had to avoid.
“Yeah, cool.” Jason agreed. “Hey, Leo said your number 7 is a new student. How is he?”
Nico tried not to focus on the way his lips bent upwards in the corners, just a few centimeters away from his scar. Jason had a thing for finding potential crushes for Nico, and even if he had never succeeded, he never gave up.
“I don’t know yet. I’ll update you.”
Notes:
- I PROMISE THEY MEET IN THE NEXT CHAPTER and from them on they keep talking and talking and talking i swear. i just really wanted them to have separate introductions so i could truly see and show how they are like before meeting the other at all (not like they are gonna change drastically and dye their haira and change their names ofc but they are meant to end up happier yk)
- i found foo fighters about a month ago and they are such a "where have you been my whole life?" kind of band. the album thalia gifts him is the album of the song in the title too!
- i played basketball for ages but i dont really know any of the english terminology for it so pls be nice if i said something that didn't make sense. talking about basketball... "lupus augusti" is a little pun that will probably only be understood by people from a very specific area from spain but hey if you got it, i hoped you found it smart. also if theres any spanish person here, the cookies from the vending machine are choco boms but im personally team blue
- nico is like that one video of the guy who plays cow game. also im gonna base Mythomagic on pokemon and hades 2018 and YOU CANT STOP ME (im not sure if it will be mentioned but in this au, nico has the early access of hades and is really hyperfixated on it.)
- see you next week with a will pov chapter !!!
Chapter 3: " $20 "
Summary:
Being a noob during what he was pretty sure was the school’s derby and with a huge crowd watching him stumble upon himself and lose ball after ball was horrible. To make matters worse, Leo had brought a literal army to watch him, and he expected Will to sit with them through the week knowing they had all seen his clumsy playing.
However, Apollo had told him that he could not in good faith let him skip school because of embarrassment, and now Will found himself in the queue at the cafeteria trying to psych himself up mentally. Seeing his food tray full felt like doom was nearing. He walked towards the table Leo had told him they would be, reminding himself for the last time that everything would be fine.
Chapter Text
mama told me that it don’t run
on wishes, but that i should have fun
pushing the flowers that come up
into the front of a shotgun.
It took a lot of convincing from Apollo and Hyacinth for Will to go to school on Monday. In a way, it felt similar to last week, when he had been picked up after having a panic attack in front of Leo and Apollo had to convince him that no, he shouldn’t just miss every practice until the year was over. Will had ended up agreeing, and he had even showed up to the first training wearing his dad’s old running wear, seeing as he had no sports clothing in New York. Even after his dad had told him that, as long as he didn’t miss the whole year, he could skip the first day to catch his breath after the negative surprise, Will had decided that if he was gonna do it, he should do it from day one.
So, he had gone to every team practice ever since. The first day was probably the worst, with how clearly he was shaking with anxiety and fear mingled in every cell of his body. He had missed almost all —if not all— of his passes, had almost hit one of his teammates in the head and had hurt his fingers when a rebound bent them backwards. To say that he was embarrassed would be an understatement. In the end, one of the older teammates, who he had hoped would also be bad given his short height but that had crushed his hopes, had stopped him mid-training to ask him, quote on quote, “have you ever touched a basketball before?” Will had been terrified as he shook his head no, fearing that he would be made fun of, but the guy just took a deep breath and told him that he should have said so sooner.
Things had gotten easier since then. The team, as Leo had told him, had been understanding. They walked him through everything, explained things as much as he needed, never made fun of him and celebrated his small achievements, and even used all their lunch breaks to explain Will the rules of the game and the moves the team had practiced over the last years.
Overall, it had all been great until the match had rolled up and he had made the sloppiest performance in the history of sports (at least, that’s how he felt about it). It was one thing to be a noob in the court during training, when he had Fletcher and Yew to guide him through everything. Being a noob during what he was pretty sure was the school’s derby and with a huge crowd watching him stumble upon himself and lose ball after ball was a completely different thing. To make matters worse, Leo had brought a literal army to watch him, and he expected Will to sit with them through the week knowing they had all seen his clumsy playing.
However, Apollo had told him that he could not in good faith let him skip school because of embarrassment, and now Will found himself in the queue at the cafeteria trying to psych himself up mentally. Seeing his food tray full felt like doom was nearing. He walked towards the table Leo had told him they would be, reminding himself for the last time that everything would be fine.
“Hi, y’all.” He said, balancing the tray with one hand to wave with the other.
He got an enthusiastic “hi, Will!” from Leo and from a person with braided brown hair that Will remembered from Friday. A boy with black hair sat on the same bench as Leo said something along the lines of “‘sup, man?” between two bites of food. The girl at his side, to whom he was hugged to, ignored Will, too focused on some papers she had sprayed in front of her. Another girl said the same words as Leo without any excitement in her voice and with her eyes squinted as if she was suspicious of him. Finally, a boy with black curls that was eating from a bento box of his own rather than from a tray rushed to mumble his greetings as he moved the crutches that rested by his side on the bench to make room for Will.
“Thank you.” He told him as he took the seat by his side.
“Okay, guys, roll call!” Leo called, clapping. “I’m Leo, no introduction needed! This is Annabeth, she’s in the students council and has been getting elected class president since she was 8.”
“7.” The boy by Annabeth corrected him.
“Since she was 7. Currently, she is trying to plan out ho-co, so we’ll let her work and move to our next member of interest.” Leo said. “Now, this is Percy Jackson. As you can see by the constant PDA, he’s dating Annabeth. But, other than that, he is the leader of the swimming team and a sweetheart who won’t hesitate to kick bullies.”
“Long as they are not bullying me, then I’m kinda lost.” He said, with a thick New York accent. Will didn’t comment on it, but it felt weird to imagine the guy getting bullied, seeing as he was tall, handsome and most likely a good person.
“Now, we’ve Piper, also known as Pipes.” He said, pointing at the person in front of Percy. “They are from California, but their dad is an actor and has been working on a project here for about 3 millenia, so they have been attending school here for years. They’re famous for being my best friend and the coolest guy you’ll ever meet, but also, they have a band.”
“We’re playing next week in Mitchell’s garage, if you wanna come.”
“Is that a bar?” Will asked.
“No, it’s Mitchell’s from class A’s garage. He’s our keyboardist’s cousin.” Piper said. “But it’s a cool place.”
“Nice.” Will said, giving them a thumbs-up. A garage band was pretty cool, he thought, so Leo was probably right about Piper being “the coolest ever.” Plus, he hadn’t missed the fact they went by they, and the thought of not being the only trans person of the group made him happy.
“Now, that’s Hazel, the youngest and freshest addition to our beautiful family! She looks like a cinnamon roll, and she can and will be one as long as you don’t test her limits! Other than that, Hazel stands out for painting like she’s literal Monet and for always being there when you need her.”
“Leo, cut it…” She said, seemingly embarrassed of getting praised like that. “I’m not that good. At drawing, I mean. I think I’m good at being there for people.” Will nodded, taking in her sweet voice now that it didn’t seem so cutting. Her accent was strange, like it had a hint of a southern drawl behind it, covered with a mixture of Cali, NYC and something else.
“Born in Louisiana, Hazel has been moving all around the country until her mom recently remarried and settled in in the city…”
“The beautiful city.” Percy mumbled over Leo’s words.
“Of New York, where she is now living with her mom, step-dad and step-brother, Nico!” As he spoke, the guy by Will’s side made a quick peace sign with the hand that he was holding his fork with. “Seven years ago, Nico left the marvelous city of Venice to pursue a life in the land of dreams and opportunity…”
“And I ended up in the USA instead.” He said, not lifting the gaze from his food and with a monotone voice. Mentally, Will noted that his posture was very bad, but he didn’t say anything about it.
“Hey! I was about to say that!” Leo complained. “Either way… Nico can and will insult you in three whole languages, hopefully 4 if he passes his AP Spanish class…”
“Which I am not passing, courtesy of dyslexia.”
“Which he is totally passing, courtesy of Leo Valdez.” Leo added. “Seriously, you’ve got a good level, we’ve been over this. My Chemical Romance could disband 10 times in front of him and he would still be in denial, but we love him as emo as he is.”
“For the last time, Valdez, I am goth.” Out of everyone, his accent was the most prominent, but it was probably because of how different it was.
“And he’s very big on subcultures and card games. Get ready to never win at UNO again.” Leo finished off his explanation. “Now, what can you tell us about yourself?” He said, pointing at Will using his dessert spoon like a microphone.
“Eh…” He cleared his throat. “I’m Will Solace, and I’m from Austin, Texas.”
What did he have to add? He didn’t think he was that interesting. He wasn’t the president or the leader of anything, like Percy and Annabeth, and he didn’t have a band or a talent, like Piper or Hazel, and he didn’t have a special style, like Nico. He froze, unsure of what to say next and looking around trying to find a hint.
“Why did you move here?” Asked Piper, helping him guide his speech.
“Oh! My mother couldn’t take care of me this year, so I moved in with my dad.”
“Oh, that must have been hard.” Percy said, sounding and looking concerned.
“No, no, don’t worry.” He rushed to clarify, realizing that the vague wording he always used could make it seem like his mom was dealing with economic hardships. “I, uh… My mom’s a country singer. She is having a national tour this year, for the first time ever, so she couldn’t be at home with me. My meemaw is too old to look after me full time, so I came to live here with my dad. They are not divorced or anything, just… Never married.”
“Is he cool?” Percy asked. He made it sound like destroying uncool dads was his average Monday activity, in case Will needed him to.
“Yeah, yeah, very cool.”
“Wait a second.” Leo said. He had been deep in thought, as if trying to make things click in his mind. “Will Solace as in Naomi Solace?” Will nodded, a bit embarrassed. He had always felt like, outside of Texas, being into country was deemed the opposite of cool. “One of my foster moms was so into her! Had her playing all the time. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s weird to have a famous parent.” Piper said.
“She’s not that famous.” Will cut in, not wanting to seem like he was the child of Texas’ biggest rise to stardom when it was far from the case.
“A national tour is pretty big.” Percy said at the same time he took his phone from outside his pocket and handed it to Will. “Type your number, I’ll add you to our group chat. If that’s fine, of course.”
“Sure.” He took it in his hands and started to type in his number, stopping in the middle of doing it. “Wait, can’t Leo add me?”
“He lost admin privileges last week.” Nico explained.
“Why? What happened?”
Leo looked like he was ready to jump and defend his case. Nico, on the other hand, seemed like he was about to refute all of his arguments. It reminded Will of a video game Cecil liked to reference, but before the interaction, which he was sure would be attorney-like and silly, could take place, the ringtone of a phone interrupted them.
“Mine.” Annabeth said, lifting her phone from the table, where it laid by the papers. Her voice sounded hoarse, as if she hadn’t talked in a long time.
“Want me to pick it up?” Percy asked her. She shook her head no and took a quick sip of water before taking the call.
“Hello, Annabeth Chase.” She spoke. “Oh, yeah, hi, Sharon.” She smiled nervously. “Oh. Oh. Yeah, of course. Absolutely. No, don’t worry, it’s fine. I totally get it, don’t worry. I understand, don’t worry. Yeah, everything’s fine, don’t worry. Perfect. Bye, thank you.” She hung up after a minute or two of nodding and trying to sound confidence as her face deflated. As soon as the call was over, she dropped the phone in the table without much care and buried her face in Percy’s chest, muffling a groan.
“Hey, hey, pookie, what happened?” He asked, rocking both of them back and forth gently.
Annabeth took a deep breath, pulling out for him and reorganizing her papers with shaky hands.
“The band canceled.” She said with her voice wet. “The dance’s on Friday, and the band just canceled.” She held her head in her hands, eyes wide open and worried and her breath slowly but surely becoming quick-paced. She looked like Will did whenever he had an anxiety attack. “What am I gonna do now?”
“We’ll find a solution, babe, it’s all gonna be fine.” Percy told her. “Right, guys?”
“Hey, Beth.” Piper placed a hand on her tray, catching Annabeth’s attention. “If a band is all you need, you know Thals and I can volunteer.”
“But I won’t have the money from the other band back until maybe…”
“Hush.” Piper cut her off. “You don’t need to pay us immediately. Come on, Thalia will understand and we are all friends. That’s what friends are for, right?”
“Alright…” Annabeth took in a deep breath. “Alright. That’s what friends are for, alright. Yeah, that might work. I’ll tell the rest of the organization team. Okay.” She gathered herself. Annabeth took a deep breath, sent a quick message to the organization team. “Just… I hate to ask you this, but do you think you could play just covers? You know I love your music, but…”
“Say no more, Beth. I get it, and Thals will too. Our genre is not for everyone.”
“What genre are they?” Will asked quietly to Nico at his side.
Everyone else, including Leo, were focused on the conversation, but the boy had returned to eating, which he did pretty slowly. Will waited for a reply that didn’t come. A few seconds later, Leo seemed to noticed that Will was still looking at Nico hoping for an answer and called to him.
“Neeks.” That lifted the other’s dark brown eyes from his bento box. Leo pointed at Will with his head, and Nico turned to him, though he didn’t look at Will in the eyes.
“Sorry, what’d you say?”
“What genre are they?” Will repeated.
“Eh, I don’t know. Genderfluid, I think?” He said, making Will giggle.
“That’s gender. I mean the band, not Piper.”
“Oh! I always get those wrong. Riot grrl.” Nico said, as if that explained anything to Will, and went back to eating.
“Is that their band’s name? As in, they are their own genre?” He asked.
He didn’t want to doubt Piper’s garage band, but qualifying it as their own genre seemed a bit presumptuous. Nico took a bite of his food and turned to Will again, without waiting until he was done swallowing. Once he finished the bite, he began explaining.
“No, riot grrl, written g-r-r-l…” He looked up as he said it, maybe struggling with spelling out loud. Will always had the same problem. “Or sometimes just riot girl written normally is a feminist punk movement whose origins date back to the early 90s. Washington is usually considered its birthplace. It combines punk rock’s music and values with the feminist movement. Bikini Kill are probably the biggest riot grrl artist. You know what punk is, right?”
“I think so…”
“I can explain if not.” Under his voice, which was turning less and less monotone, Will could hear a layer of “please, please, let me explain, please.” He guessed that if Nico was better at eye contact, he would be able to see his eyes shining.
“You can explain either way.” He smiled.
Everyone else at the table had found a conversation of their own. Leo was talking with Hazel, Piper and Annabeth were talking together, and Percy was multitasking talking to them and making sure his girlfriend had a human-sized stress toy if needed. He was happy to see that he, too, had fallen into easy conversation with one of them.
“So, punk rock, or just punk, is a music genre that dates back from the 70s. It rejects the nature of mainstream rock, and punk lyrics revolve around anti–authoritarian or anti-establishment themes. The subculture that stemmed from the rising of punk rock promotes anti-consumerist, anti-corporatism, DIY ethics and direct action. For artists, eh… Punk’s not really my thing, it’s more Percy’s and Pipes’, but I like AFI. And, well, I like post-punk, but it’s not the same.” He started to ramble. “Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Offspring… Those are punk bands.” Nico properly faced Will, making eye contact for a brief moment. As he had guessed, his eyes were shining. “Am I talking a lot? I feel like I’m talking a lot.”
“I asked you, though.” Will reassured him. “Plus, I get the same way talking about the things I like.”
“What do you like? You didn’t say.” Nico asked him.
“Star Wars, mostly.” A part of him was afraid of coming off as a geek, while the other was aware that his favorite franchise was well-loved all around the globe, meaning Nico could think he was just boring. Will added more things. “And I like, eh, I like scrapbooking? And journaling, sometimes, but I do it on my phone notes so maybe it doesn’t count.”
“You don’t like basketball?” Nico said. Will really hoped he didn’t mean it as a joke, or something humiliating.
“No, I wanted to be in the First Aid club but I couldn’t and they put me into my third option.” He explained.
“Why did you even pick it as an option?” Will couldn’t blame him for asking. Austin Lake had had the same question.
“It was the first on the list and I didn’t think both my first and second would fill out.”
“Oh.” Nico said. “That sucks.” He made a thumbs-up as he spoke, which didn’t make any sense but made Will smile.
“Yeah, I suppose. What club are you into?”
He was guessing Nico would be into something like a music history club, or maybe he played an instrument. He was waiting for an answer when Leo spoke loudly enough to interrupt the conversation. Will, however, still made a mental note to ask Austin if there was any Nico in his saxophone club.
“Hey, Beth.” Leo called. “Can we bring a plus one to ho-co this year?”
Annabeth lifted her head, acknowledging his question and waiting till she was done eating the bite she had on her mouth before replying. The few seconds that passed felt static. Will could basically feel the buzzing anticipation from everyone at the table before she replied.
“No.”
If she was bothered by the collective groan the table let out, she didn’t show it, submerging her fork in salad again and continuing her meal.
“What am I gonna do then? Pipes can be with me and on stage at the same time.” Leo complained, crossing his arms.
“Are they…?” He started whispering to Nico.
“I don’t think Piper likes boys.” Nico whispered back.
“Were you gonna call Jason?” Hazel asked him. Leo nodded.
After having been seatmates with Leo for two weeks, Will had heard all about Jason, so he didn’t need to ask who he was. However, as much as both seemed like great friends, bringing him as a plus one seemed like a whole other step in the friendship scale.
“Are they…?” Will started again.
“I don’t know if Jason likes boys.” Nico answered.
“Well, since you can’t have Jay and I can’t have Frank, we can go together as friends!” Hazel said, offering her hand for Leo to hi five, which he did.
“Deal.”
“Hey! Am I meant to go alone?” Nico complained just when Will was about to ask whether Frank and Hazel were dating or not.
“Neeks, I don’t think it counts as alone if you come with Leo and me in the car and we go back together.”
“But you are both gonna be dancing together, that’s what you two always do when you go somewhere with someone.” Nico argued.
“Well, you don’t ever dance.” Leo said.
“I’ve got chronic leg pain!” Nico replied. “I need my someone to stand against a wall with.”
“I can stand against a wall with you.” Will offered before he could stop himself.
He froze as soon as the last word was out of his mouth. He knew this guy from 20 minutes ago, and Nico probably had plenty of other friends willing to spend homecoming with him. He was sure it would come off as weird that he didn’t want to dance and would rather just stand. He was about to say he was joking when Nico spoke again.
“It’s your first homecoming here, you can’t miss it.” He said, sounding more genuinely worried than simply trying to push Will away.
“I’m not that much of a dancer.” He said.
“Promise?” Nico asked.
“Promise.” He said, holding his hand out. “Wanna go to homecoming with me?”
“Sure, Solace.” Nico squeezed his hand.
“A pleasure, eh…”
“Di Angelo.”
“A pleasure, Di Angelo.”
The bell ran shortly after that. Everyone stood up and picked their things. Will had half a second to see how Nico di Angelo closed his bento box, unfinished (half full, at that), and leaned down to pick up his crutches. Will noticed they were full of stickers before he moved his eyes somewhere else, not wanting to seem like he was staring for the wrong reasons. The boy and Hazel walked in the opposite direction that him and Leo had to go to, but Will turned around one last time to see the boy he was apparently going to ho-co with disappear into a crowded corridor.
. . .
itsa me! lunchio!
Monday 17th , 3:10 PM
Unknown Number (1) added you
Unknown Number (1)
guys thats will rigth there
talk will
will
hey
Unknown Number (2)
guys, tell him who is who
i’m annabeth, will !! <3
mr hot wheels
im piper
will
you saevd your own nubmer in my phone, remember?
Unknown Number (3)
IM THE REAL PIPER
mr hot wheels
that soudns like somethign fake piper would say
Unknown Number (4)
im nico
and btw you gotta earn the neeks privliedsge or wtv
piper table
he is literally taking u to a dance after sitting w u for like 5 mins
neeks
my point still stands
. . .
mr hot wheels
Tuesday 18th , 01:12 AM
will
leoleoleoleoleo
are you awkae
pls be akwae
mr hot wheels
the wikced never sleep
im petting my dog so be quick
hes the mots improtnat blonde of my life
will
when annbaeht said “the dances on friday” did she mean next friday
mr hot wheels
no bro she wuold have said “next firday" in that case
why?????????
will
I DONT HAVE ANYTHIGN TO WARE
N IVE GOT PRATCICE ON WENDESDAY AND TRUHSDAY
I DIDNT EXALCTY PACK TUXEDOS
AND I CANT HSOW UP IN A FLANLE
mr hot wheels
shhhhhhhhhh breathe
i dont have nothing yet either
leaving things for the last second >>>>
we can go to the mall togethre tmr dw
“Okay, now turn to your left. Your other left.” Leo, as Will was finding out, was not the best at giving directions.
“Tell me I’m not driving in a forbidden direction.” He begged, tightening his grip around the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.
“Nah, just added 10 minutes to the drive.” Leo said. “You’ll live. Now, to the…” This time, he hesitated, holding both his hands up with his fingers in L shapes. “To the right.”
Leo’s dad had allowed Will to drive his car, because it had a ramp and room for the wheelchair. Apollo had taken him to work, and Hyacinth’s pick up truck that he used for the flower shop was far too small for it, so it had been left parked in front of Leo’s house. Will was driving them to the mall, with Leo at his side in the “passenger seat” and the cutest golden retriever he had ever seen on the backseat.
“Annabeth said the theme was ‘Under the Sea.’” Leo told him, eyes on the screen of his phone. “Bet you a dollar that Percy picked it.”
“Does he like scuba diving?”
He had sat with them again today, as promised. Their conversation had felt short-lived. Time passed by faster with them than it did with the basketball team, even if both groups made him feel happy. They had all been sitting in the same seat, which Will assumed were unofficially designated, so he had sat by Nico once again. The boy had spent most of lunch break complaining about a client he had had to deal with at work the night before, but he had been so heated that Will hadn’t had a chance to ask him where he worked. Other than that, no other topics had come up, so he still knew fairly nothing about most of the group.
“Yeah, he likes all of the water stuff.” Leo said. “He’s going into marine biology, I think.”
“Oh, that’s cool.” Will said, turning to the left when Leo indicated him to. “What are the rest going into?”
“Beth’s probably gonna end up studying architecture in some Ivy League college. Haze, I don’t know, but I hope she pursues art… Piper is really, really into the rockstar business, and they want to go into a music-based degree. You already know I wanna be an engineer.” He said, counting off his friends with his fingers. “No idea about Nico, though. What about you?”
“Med school.” He smiled, like he did whenever he thought about his dream. “Pediatrics.”
“Oh, that’s really nice.” Will shot him a side eyed. At his side, Leo was smiling fondly, looking down at his lap. Then, he lifted his eyes and gave him a wide grin. “I owe my life to those pediatrics guys, so you better go and save a bunch of kids too. Now, turn to the right twice and we should be there."
Will found them a place to park fairly easily, and they got out of the car after Leo told him how to get the ramp out. The other had chosen a place that, Will guessed, wasn’t the biggest mall New York had to offer, but it still seemed huge to him. As much as his grandma always accused him of being raised in cement, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was reacting to the shopping center like he had been born in a barn and never left.
“Will!” Leo shouted his name. Out of muscle memory, he had walked directly to the electric staircases while the other waited in front of the elevators.
“Sorry, sorry…” He said at the same time he rushed towards him. “Force of habit.”
“Don’t sweat it.” The elevator arrived while Leo spoke. They both got inside, and the brunette pressed the buttons. "“What do you have in mind for your outfit?”
“I’ll be fine as long as it fits.”
“I’m not letting you say I helped you pick ugly clothes.”
Deadset on finding Will good clothes, Leo headed them immediately to one of the first stores on the second floor. The first store didn’t have anything that looked homecoming appropriate, with everything being way too fancy and expensive for both of them. The next one didn’t have anything for men other than common smokins, and they agreed to go for something more fun. The third seemed a bit better, but Will was starting to get bored and could barely pay attention to the options he was passing through in the rack. He had started off thinking about the theme being under the sea, because he had wanted to have it in mind in case anything on the rack seemed “under-the-sea-ish,” but in a matter of seconds his thoughts had switched to his pet fish Steve that had died in second grade.
“Will, look!” He moved his gaze from the tenth white button down he discarded to Leo, who was holding a long, flowy, light blue skirt. “Thoughts?”
He was sure he paled. His stomach jumped to his throat, suddenly making it taste like bile. Will was frozen, standing in front of Leo as his fingers clutched to the clothing rack hard, as it was his only way of releasing the stress he was feeling. Cold sweat dripped down his back. Did Leo know? And, even worse, was he making fun of him? Why would he want to see Will in a skirt if not?
“I don’t do skirts.” He said, trying to sound confident. He failed, but Leo didn’t comment on how his voice came out as a miserable, high-pitched string of words and voice cracks.
“It’s for me.” Leo said, showing it up again before placing it over his legs. At his side, Festus barked quietly. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost, man. I am sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfor…”
“Wait, no, no, it’s just…” Will coughed, making his way to Leo again. “It was a misunderstanding, don’t worry. I didn’t know you liked feminine clothes.” As he spoke, he made quotation marks with his fingers. “I’m sure you would look amazing in it. Wanna go to the dresser? I’m dying to see it on.”
“Really?”
Will could tell he was trying to put on a happy face, but his voice still sounded sad. He had come to notice that Leo totally failed to coordinate his facial expression and tone whenever he was trying to hide how he felt.
“Yeah, really.”
“Let me find a top right quick.”
In about 10 minutes of both boys searching for a top that matched the skirt, Will found a crop top that was the same color and had flowy long sleeves made with some mesh material, and Leo took it with him to the dresser. As Will had expected, it took him a bit to get changed, so he made time by entering his phone and scrolling down in Instagram. His mom had posted a bunch of pictures of the band’s last concerts, all of them with a huge crowd. He was proud beyond words. Lou had posted stories of her visiting her grandparents in Hondo, and of course she had taken one with the “This is God’s Country” sign. She had been getting into the gothic americana aesthetic during summer, and Will missed her rants about it. Cecil, meanwhile, had just posted a silly edit of his snakes with birthday hats on their heads and the text “HAPPIESSST BIRTHDAY TO THEM!!” He made a mental note to ask Leo for his new friend group —could he even call them that after just two days?— member’s accounts.
“Okay!” Leo came out of the dresser. “Do we like it?”
He was messing with the details on the skirt, twitching them between his fingers and looking at anywhere but Will. As nervous as he seemed, the blonde didn’t think he had a reason to. The color was beautiful against his skin, and the frills and mesh arms made him look like a mermaid.
“You look awesome.” He complimented him as soon as he saw him.
“And it has pockets!” Leo added, alongside a demonstration.
“I’d buy it if I were you.” Will said. “It’s perfect.”
Though still twitchy and avoiding eye contact, Leo smiled.
“Can you take a picture?”
“Sure.” He said, holding out his hand for Leo to deposit his phone in it. “For Hazel?”
“Oh, it’s for a friend. I, uh, you know, multiple advice? Or something. Not like I don’t value your opinion.”
Will chuckled, told him to relax and took about three pictures of Leo. He checked they had come up alright before handing the phone back, noticing he had a ton of unread text messages —nothing Will couldn’t relate to—, some of from just some minutes ago from someone saved as “el pequeño nicolás,” that had texted him “leo leo leo leo,” “leoooooooo,” “leo >:(,” “okay wtv idc.,” “LEO I CARE PLS ANSWER” and “istg valdez.”
“I think Nico wants to talk to you.” Will said, showing it to him. “Didn’t mean to pry, it just came up on the screen. It seems urgent.”
Leo studied the texts as he took the phone in his hands. He mumbled something about Nico not usually texting like that and clicked the call button. The other picked up almost instantly.
“Neeks, what’s wrong?” Leo asked, worried.
“Are you in the mall?” He was on speaker, apparently, so Will could hear him clearly. “I saw you and Will.”
“Yeah, we are here. Why? Where are you?”
“I’m on a date with Frank and Hazel. Ew, not, not with my sister, that’s disgusting. I’m on a date with Frank, and Hazel is… Wait, no. Frank and Hazel are on a date, and I’m here stuck with them.” Nico explained. “I saw you guys.”
“Geez, bro, you really are more protective of her than I thought.” Leo said.
“Hazel dragged me here! She said I need sunlight!” He shouted. “Well, guess what? The place has a roof, so I’m getting no sunlight and third-wheeling for nothing!”
“Is this you begging to be invited to mine and Will’s exclusive, cool hang out?”
“Are you gonna make me say yes?”
“No, it’s just 5 bucks if you don’t.”
“Valdez, I’ll find you.”
Leo snorted.
"Fine, fine. We are in front of the ice-cream shop, just let me check and pay for some things and we'll be out."
"Thank the Lord." Nico let out, mostly to himself.
They met up with Nico about ten minutes later, after Leo was done buying. He was waiting on his phone, leaning back against a wall. He wore black overalls over a shirt with wide black and white stripes, and, on his chest, rested a green and yellow Sunflower lanyard that was the only piece of color in him. He didn’t have his crutches on him, so Will guessed that's why he was wearing it. He took one of his headphones off and looked up at them when Leo called his name. He didn’t look away after three seconds, meaning it was probably the longest Will had been able to stare at him. He already knew he had big, dark brown eyes and pale skin, but had never noticed the acne scars, the beauty marks here and there and the three only slightly faded lines that crossed one of his cheeks.
“Behold! Your saviors!” Leo told him. Will raised a hand and waved from behind him. “And you get to keep your 5 dollars, I’m feeling generous.”
“Sweet, ‘cause I wasn’t gonna pay you.”
“And I bought you your sunlight!” He moved an arm behind Will’s back and pushed him slightly so that Will walked a few steps, until he was closer to Nico. “For free and no third-wheeling!”
“Wait, why am I the sunlight?” Will asked, looking back at Leo and trying to ignore the fact Nico had chuckled at the joke.
“Because you’re blonde.” Nico told him, matter-of-factly. “Also, hi, Will.”
“Hi. Mind you, I was the reason Leo called you, so you owe me…”
“If you say 5 bucks, I swear to God…”
“I was gonna say an ice-cream, but that works for me.” The parlor behind them was calling his name, and he couldn’t ignore it any longer. “I think that if I enter another clothing store I will drop dead at the entrance.”
“Sweet! Nico pays for both!”
“You said you were feeling generous!” Nico complained, though Will could see him reach behind him for a little black bag he had, probably searching for his wallet.
“I reconsidered.”
“You’re lucky I was craving one too.” Nico complained, lightheartedly, before the three of them walked to the queue. “I wanted to get one earlier but Frank has to be lactose intolerant.”
“Nico, don’t be mean. He’s just differently abled.” Leo said, sounding sarcastically condescending. “But it’s okay, though. Now you get to pay for three ice-creams instead of one.”
“The true American dream.” He said, finally pulling out his card. “Same as always?” Nico turned to Will after Leo nodded. “Eh, what do you want for yours?”
“I like… Wait, you don’t really have to pay if you don’t want to, it was a joke.” Will told him. Nico shrugged.
“I don’t mind, truly.” He said. “And I do owe you a favor.”
“Telling Leo to read your texts isn’t really a favor, though.”
“Hm…” Nico seemed to consider it for a brief second. “Maybe, but you still offered to keep me company in a party without barely knowing me, and you sat with me two days in a row even if I barely talked to you, which I promise wasn’t intentional.” Will opened his mouth to protest, but was interrupted. “Think about it this way: I’m extremely socially awkward and this is the only way I can think off to subtly show you that I’m liking having you around, so you get to eat ice cream and ignore that I just unveiled my secret plan, and I get to showcase my not incredibly shitty personality. Deal?”
He smiled at Will. It seemed genuine and forced at the same time, like he was happy but didn’t have much experience smiling. In a way, it was endearing.
“Deal.” He agreed, returning the smile. “I like cookies and cream.”
“Coming right up.”
They had found an empty table in which they could sit and rest for some minutes before going for clothes again. Leo was finishing his second scoop of chocolate ice cream, Will was having his —it tasted great, even if he still felt a bit bad for the fact Nico had to pay— and Nico was on his phone while they ranked childhood foods.
“I miss sheet cake.” Will pouted.
“You’ve been out of Austin for two weeks.”
“It’s not like I had sheet cake right before leaving.”
Leo’s and his conversation was interrupted when Nico made a sound of complaint by Will’s side before dropping his head to the table. If Will didn’t know he was just as dramatic, he would have poked fun at him.
“What’s wrong?” He asked, instead.
“Haze and Frank are staying for dinner.” Nico let out. “Why did I agree to her boyfriend being my ride?”
Will felt like a cartoon character with a lightbulb turning on above his head. He smiled, bending himself above the table so he could, somehow, make eye contact with Nico.
“We can have dinner too! I’ll invite you.”
“What about me?” Leo pouted, but Will ignored him, confident that the other was just being goofy.
He had hoped for Nico to be happy at the idea. Ideally, he would have smiled and told him how great it sounded, and they would have picked a place to go to later. Instead, he seemed uncomfortable in a way that made Will fear he had crossed a sort of boundary.
“I’m not sure, I don’t…” He said, fixing his posture (though it still wasn’t perfect) and coughing into his fist. “I don’t know about that. I’m not hungry.”
“Hey, Neeks, we can go to your fav…” Leo started to say, but Will cut him off.
“No, no, that’s fine.” Will said. “I’ll pay you back another day, and I can give you a ride home if you don’t want to wait for your sister.”
“Really?”
His voice sounded like he couldn’t believe Will’s words, which made him a bit sad. He had offered something very simple, there was no reason for Nico to ask like Will had offered him the moon in bubble wrap paper.
“Well, the car’s Leo’s, but I’m up for it.”
“Consider the plan Valdez-approved.” Leo said, giving them a thumbs up.
“Settled, then.” Will smiled. “Wanna go find me some clothes, then?”
They stood up after some more minutes of resting, and Will resumed his quest. Nico told him that he had asked Annabeth regarding the theme, and that she had said it was for decorations more than as a dress-code. According to her, it was pointless to expect people to follow anything remotely dress-code-like, given that most would either not know about it or ignore it on purpose.
“I’m not wearing anything fishy. I mean, oceanic.” He told him. “So don’t worry about matching, or anything.”
With that in mind, it was easier to search clothes. Not like they found anything straight up in the first place they looked for, but it made Will less stressed about it, as it gave him a broader piece of items to choose from. In one of the stores they went to, Leo suggested a mesh top and a beige-colored jacket that didn’t have pockets, but looked warm.
“It might go with your hair? I don’t know.”
“I, uh, I don’t do mesh.” He said, trying to sound casual. “But the jacket’s cool.”
“I think those pants over there would go well with it.” Nico said, pointing at one of the shelves. “Maybe a button up will do?”
“Oh, I see it. Go grab the pants, Will, I’ll find you a shirt.”
Five minutes later he was buttoning up the white shirt in front of the mirror of the dresser. If he did the buttons all the way to the top, he kinda looked like a choir boy who had never broke a plate, so he was busy trying to find the perfect height for it to make him look less like he did during the year he went to catholic school and more like a teen having fun without revealing his top surgery scars. Will found it after some minutes and threw the jacket on top of him before admiring the whole look in the mirror.
He liked how he looked: mature, boyish and slightly cool. In a way, it reminded him of some old pictures of his father that he had seen as a child. Plus, it wasn’t just a plain old suit, and he felt that the light ochre color made his eyes pop out. He allowed himself a little hand flap to channel the euphoria he was feeling before collecting himself and walking out the dresser.
“So, Valdez-approved?” He asked.
Leo seemed very excited about how he looked, smiling brightly and moving his arms around in celebration. Nico reacted quietly, eyeing him from the top of his head to the tip of his shoes before the left corner of his mouth lifted up in a smile and he gave him a thumbs up.
“What can I say? I always knew I had an eye for fashion.” Leo said.
“Says man about a three-piece outfit in which he picked out one.” Nico told him while Will made his way back into the dresser.
“You of all people know how important a good jacket is.”
“Got me there.”
Will chuckled at the conversation, though he wasn’t entirely sure he got the internal joke. He changed back as quickly as possible, because there hadn’t been much of a queue and he didn’t want to risk taking too long and having it become huge. Truth be told, he regretted it later, because as soon as he paid, the three of them headed to the parking lot. Nico went on the backseat, with Festus, though he made sure not to touch him or speak to him in case he was needed. He still said goodbye to the dog alongside his owner when they parked at Leo’s garage. On the way to Nico’s house, he sat on Will’s passenger seat.
“I didn’t know you drove a truck.” He said, fastening his seat belt.
“It’s my dad’s boyfriend’s. He’s got a flower shop.” Will explained.
“And what does your father do?”
“He’s a producer.”
Nico basically beamed at the information. His hands closed into little fists that he clearly had to try hard not to move too much.
“Who does he produce for? What songs has he been on? Any famous? Does he do indie? Tell me all about it.”
“Oh, ah…” Will found himself embarrassed of the fact he didn’t know most of the answers for those questions. “I know he produced some of my mom’s songs when he lived in Austin, but I doubt he kept doing country. I can ask?” Nico nodded repeatedly. “I’ll tell you tomorrow. Now, I need you to give me directions.”
“Can I look at the glovebox?” Nico asked, before Will was done speaking. “Oh, right, directions. Left, right, then second exit.”
“Left, right, second exit, okay. And yes, you can.”
With the excitement Nico dove into the glovebox, Will was tempted to ask him to pull out Google Maps instead, not sure that the other boy would pay attention to him the rest of the car ride. Nico, however, seemed to multitask easily.
“Cher, Depeche Mode… Oh, Alphaville! Turn left, then… Oh my god, I have been trying to find this album like crazy.” Nico said. “Right. First exit. Next turn is right too. Meh, not too big on this one. That’s it, that’s my street.” He said, after some more minutes of judging CDs. He fixed his posture and unfastened his belt, freezing for a moment before turning to Will. “Oh, Lord, I didn’t let you say anything at all.” He rolled his eyes at himself and threw his back against the seat, moving his hands to his head. “I’m insufferable, I know.” His tone made it sound like a sort of joke, but Will was afraid his words were true.
“I still had fun, though.” He reassured him. “Seriously, don’t apologize for rambling. It’s fine with me.”
“Swear it.” Nico said.
“I swear!”
“On something important!”
“I swear on the Consti…”
“Importanter!” Nico giggled, probably at his own grammar mistake. Will giggled at his attitude, but kept his hand where he had placed it on his chest.
“I swear on Hannah Montana: The Movie, 2009, that I do not mind you rambling. Good enough?”
“I’ll take Hannah, don’t worry.” Nico laughed. “Thank you for driving me. I had fun.”
“Oh, don’t thank me.” He said. “See ya tomorrow.”
“See you.” Nico got off the car and walked a few steps in direction to his house. Then, he turned around and run —he walked, but Will guessed he would have run if it weren’t for chronic pain— back to the car, tapping the window with his knuckles until Will lowered it. “Hey, Solace.”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s go grab that dinner you owe me someday, alright?”
. . .
neeks
Friday 21st, 8:05 PM
neeks
haze and i r here already
and leo
will
im getting there
hows the amibence
neeks
cute. theres ocotpus shaped ice
will
awwww
is the wall comfy
neeks
ive leaned againts better ones
“Dad!” Will complained, putting on one of his earrings. They were Apollo’s, but he had insisted his son wore them for the night, and they looked good enough. He only put on one, though. “He’s there already!”
“I thought it wasn’t a date?” Hyacinth laughed. He was waiting for Will to be done, holding his jacket for him.
“It isn’t, but I like being on time too.”
“I’m coming!” Apollo finally made his way in the hallway, holding a camera in his hands. “Couldn’t find the memory cards.”
As he explained, he handed it off to his boyfriend and told Will to pose. Hyacinth took two or three pics of Will by himself as Apollo, from behind him, made proud faces.
“Aren’t we gonna get one together?” Will asked, looking at his dad. He could see the shock in his face, but the man didn’t hesitate to get with him and place himself behind him for the picture.
“Say cheese!”
The moments after that were as much of a flash as the one from the camera. In a second, Will was fastening his belt and Apollo was driving through Manhattan’s busy streets. It felt like his first day of school, though he was way less nervous. He felt confident in himself, though, and with how excited he was, he felt like he had no time to be anxious. Will was wearing clothes he liked to a dance organized by one of his new friends in his new school, and he was spending the night with a boy that seemed cool and that made him laugh. He checked his phone for more updates on Nico’s end, but there weren’t any new messages.
“Here we are.” Apollo parked them in front of the school and turned to Will with a proud smile plastered all over his face. “Have fun, alright? Text me if you need anything. I’ll pick you up when you tell me to, but keep me updated if you can.”
“Will do.” He said. The man held out his palm for Will to hi five, which he did. When he looked up, his dad’s smile had gone from pride to sadness. “Dad? Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, it’s nothing.”
“You can tell me.”
“Hey, now. I am your dad, and you are about to have a big moment in your life. It’s my responsibility to look after myself, and your responsibility to go have fun, alright?” He asked Will.
“But I care about you.” Will complained. In response, Apollo lifted a hand to ruffle his son’s curls.
“I know, sunshine. I care about you too, alright? I want you to know that. I really do care.” As he spoke, his voice and eyes grew wetter. “I know I haven’t always shown it, but you are so impo…”
“What do you mean?” Will interrupted him. He didn’t leave him time to reply. “Dad, I know I didn’t grow up with the standard family, or with the standard dad, and I know there are a million things I could complain about or be unhappy with, and it would be understandable of me. Like, sure, I was a bit sad when teachers jumped around the topic during Father’s Day, and kids would poke fun at it sometimes, but it’s not like you didn’t show me I matter to you.”
“Will, you really don’t have to comfort me…”
“But I want to!” He cut him off again. “I never felt like you didn’t care about me, so I don’t want you to live with that in mind. You have been there for mom and I whenever we needed you, and other times. You always drove me to school, and looked after me when mom had gigs late at night, and came to birthdays, and functions… And what about when I found out I was trans and bi? It was you who guided me through everything, and I know how much money you put in for the surgery. I don’t need you to tell me to know that you care.”
Apollo pulled his eyes away from him for a moment, taking a long sigh.
“Ah… Naomi really did raise you.” He said. “You act like she did whenever I got insecure about a project.”
“Did you just compare me to your uni homework?” Will laughed. “Way to ruin the moment.”
“Talks like Naomi too, ah…” He dried his eyes as he spoke, turning around after and ruffling Will’s hair again. “I’m really thankful, you know? I am thankful she and I managed to take care of you. You are a gift to be around, Will.” He smiled. “Now, go and have fun, will you?”
Notes:
- HAI GUYS I MADE A PLAYLIST FOR THIS FIC. it includes (future) chapter title songs, songs that i considered as options for titles, songs i think the characters would listen to and most of the songs that play or are referenced in the actual fic! the vibe i was going for was 90s-00s coming of age tv show for queer kids (can you tell "the perks of being a wallflower" changed me as a person at the ripe age of 13?) and i think i succeeded !!! (also, it might be updated as writing continues + not all the songs are from nico or will so you can have fun guessing what every song means?)
- THEY ARE HERE, THEY ARE THE MOMENT, THEY HAVE MET AND THEY ARE GOING TO HOMECOMING TOGETHER !!! also it was so much fun writing the table scene <3 i love these guys + leo will nico friendship you will always be famous
- happy solangelo week ! i doubt i will post anything (other than for collab day and it will be only on tumblr) but i hope everyone enjoys it !! i will totally enjoy it.
- thank you so much for reading !! this is getting so much love and i cannot express how happy it makes me <3 every kudo and every comment means the world to me! thank you so much, really. hope to see you again next week for nico's pov !!
Chapter 4: " party "
Summary:
“Do you wanna ditch the party?” Nico asked him, not sure where the confidence came from.
“I don’t have a car.”
“We'll walk.” If he was happy to spend more time with Will —and he was—, his voice didn't betray it. He was still in pain, but he could surely bear with it until they got home. “I don’t live that far from here. Do you?” Will nodded, causing Nico to click his tongue. “Well, then… I guess you can stay the night?”
The invitation surprised him as much as it surprised Will, who looked up with his mouth ajar. He was expecting a rejection, but it didn’t happen. At least, not straight away.
“What about sleeping?”
“You can use my clothes. And, well, we would have to share the bed.”
Notes:
tw for brief mentions of child neglect, abandonment and ableism. keep yourself safe !! <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
i refuse to believe that there’s a problem.
you see, i could stop if i want,
i just don’t want to yet. i creep the volume up,
i’ve gotta drown myself out
The band hadn’t started yet, but Nico was starting to get nervous. Hazel and Leo were waiting by his side, but he knew they would leave to the dancefloor once Piper and the girls came on stage. It wasn’t like he didn’t like being alone —most of the time, he preferred it—, but being alone in class or at home and being alone during a dance in which he was meant to be with another person were very different. He tapped the can of soda he had picked up from one of the tables in order to avoid having his phone on his hands all the time.
“He’ll be here in a second.” Leo reassured him. “He was late on the first day of school too, so don’t worry.”
“How is that meant to help me not worry?”
“Well, because now you know he is probably just late again, and that he hasn’t ditched you.” Leo said.
“Who said anything about ditching?” Nico said, taking a sip of his lemon Fanta. He probably shouldn’t have done that, because the way his hand shook slightly betrayed that he wasn’t very confident of his words.
He had had doubts about Will agreeing to spend homecoming with him the whole week. He couldn’t say that he wouldn’t blame the other if he didn’t fulfill his promise, because that was a mean thing to do, but it didn’t mean that Nico wouldn’t understand him. They were meant to be at a party, and it wasn’t Will’s fault that Nico’s legs weren’t healthy. It felt cruel of him to have the blonde stuck talking with him rather than enjoying the thing and dancing. Plus, he was boring. Hazel had been right that his life was absolutely monotonous, and he felt like he barely had anything meaningful to add to conversations.
“If he ditches you…” Hazel started to say.
“I don’t need you to give me his shovel talk.” Nico interrupted her.
“I was gonna say that Leo and I will stay with you if he doesn’t show up.” She told him, looking at him with softness but seriousness in her eyes. “But you are right I should have given him a shovel talk.”
“Heh.” Nico scoffed. “It’s not like it’s a date, I guess there was no need.”
Earlier in the week, Nico had made the horrible mistake of telling Jason about Will saying he’d spend the night with him during the dance, so, for the past dates, his friend had been bringing it up as a potential date. After daily “how is the date looking?” texts for the past 4 days, he wanted to make it clear to everyone else that there was no date taking place.
His phone vibrated in the pocket of his jacket. Nico took it out after taking another sip, talking himself up in advance in order not to get disappointed if it was another “good luck on your date” text from Jason instead of an update on Will. After unlocking his screen and opening WhatsApp, he found a text from the boy amongst all of his unread chats.
will table
Friday 21st, 8:17 PM
will table
where are you?
im at the door and i cant see you :(
theres so many peolpe in here yikes
im swaeting like a hooker in chruch
nico
wait for em at the door
im coming to get you
He showed the phone up to Hazel and Leo for a brief second, too short for them to read anything other than Will’s contact name. Nico told them he was gonna go find him and left. There hadn’t been many people around him and his friends, but as he got closer to the entry, the place started to feel more packed. Matter of fact, it became crowded enough for the space he could bridge between skip and skip with his crutches to be reduced by a lot. That explained Will being surprised at the crowd, he figured. In the end, he found the boy standing frozen a few steps away from the door to the school gym. Nico walked to him.
“Hey.” The boy greeted him with a string of voice.
“Hey there. You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.” Nico told him. “Am I that pale?”
“Uh?” Will said, needing a second to take in the words. From up close, he looked incredibly tense. “No, no, you’re not pale. I’m just overwhelmed.”
“I know.” He said, trying to smile reassuringly. Will’s face didn’t seem reassured, which caused Nico to raise an eyebrow and analyze the conversation on his head for a second. “I mean, I know it’s overwhelming. Not like I know you’re overwhelmed.” He corrected himself, even if it was a bit of a lie. Will did seem uncomfortable, sadly. “There are less people that way. We should go.” He pointed with his head to where he had come from and turned around. In front of them, a wall of people made moving seem impossible. He and Will might lose each other in the multitude, so he tapped the floor twice with one of his crutches. “Hold onto my arm?”
There was a moment of hesitance in his eyes, but Will ended up nodding and wrapping his hand around the sleeve of Nico’s black leather jacket.
“Sure.”
Nico led them outside the multitude, trying to get back to the place he had been at with Hazel and Leo. They barely talked, too busy telling people to move out of their way. A point came in which they were barely surrounded anymore. Will didn’t let go of his arm, though. Nico wasn’t the biggest fan of unnecessary physical contact, but he figured it may have been necessary for the other, so he didn’t tell him off.
When they arrived at his old spot, Hazel and Leo had left. Nico hadn’t told them to stay, and Piper was already on stage, tuning their guitar, so he figured they had gone find a good place in the dancefloor for when the band started. He leaned against the wall, throwing his head back for a second. Walking fast to go get Will had taken more effort than he had thought.
“There are drinks over there on that table.” He said, pointing with his head. Will just shook his to signal him he wasn’t thirsty. “That’s fine. Can you talk?” Overwhelming situations often meant going out of speech for him, so he wanted to make sure.
“Yeah, I just… I need a breather.” Nico scoffed at the way his accent seemed to get stronger when he was nervous. The same thing happened to him, but it was still interesting to hear his “I’s” turning into “ah’s” full of airiness. “It’s not funny.” Will frowned.
“I know, I know.” Nico giggled. “You just sound really southern right now.”
“No, I don’t.”
“You do. Don’t worry, it’s nice.” He said. “You look great, by the way.” Nico complimented Will, even if he had known beforehand how he would dress for the night. The blonde looked basically the same he had at the store, but Nico found himself noticing a detail. “You’ve got an earring!” He pointed out. Will’s hand traveled to his ear, as if to cover it or check it. “That’s so cool.”
“You think so? Thank you.” Will smiled at him.
“I hadn’t noticed you had your ears pierced, woah. I’ve been wanting to get mine done for ages.”
“Really?” The other tilted his head. “Which ones?”
“I want to get an industrial so bad… How did you get your parents to agree?”
Will nodded his head and swallowed saliva, as if he hadn’t been expecting or wanting the question. Nico found it weird (he should have known the answer straight away, right?), but didn't say anything.
“See, my mom wasn’t gonna let me…” He started. “But my grandma kinda insisted. I know, I know, weird for a southern elder, but she really, uh, she really wanted to make me happy. You look good too. I like your tie.”
Nico looked down, having forgotten about which tie he had picked. It was black with seashells and ammonites drawn in white all over it. He was pretty sure it had been a gift Percy had gotten him that year he had worked in the aquarium.
“Thanks. Found it last minute and thought it went with the theme.” Nico explained. “Annabeth went all out.”
There was blue lighting over the room, and basically every wall was covered with either balloons translucid enough to look like little bubbles or with strings of shiny paper in blue and greenish tones. A shadow projector hidden somewhere painted a moving parade of sea animal silhouettes on the ceilings, and the tables had a bunch of starfish and coral decors on them, as well as frizzy paper strings hanging to the floor in a way that covered the legs and made them look beautiful. There were even crafted jellyfish and balloon strings hanging from the ceiling.
“She sure did.” Will began to say.
If he was gonna say something more, he didn’t. He interrupted himself when the sound of drums came in, sounding throughout the speakers on stage. The lights above the band had just lit up, and Nyssa was playing as the rest of the members waited for the time to enter, clapping to the beat so their audience would copy. Nico joined the rest of the students in applause. There was something about having friends playing that made everyone excited. Pipes’ music project was well-loved, and many of their classmates went to their concerts as much as possible. He was sure that, knowing they would have a good crowd no matter what music they played, they had picked songs far from the current charts and opted for what they thought would be fun to play. Nico got his confirmation as soon as Piper pulled the microphone stand to them and sang into it.
“There’s a fresh breeze headed down the beach, saving me from the heat!”
He was ashamed to say he had no idea what the song was. He clapped to the beat, looking around to see whether anyone else was in his predicament. Will seemed to know it word by word, to his surprise. He watched in silence as the blonde moved his shoulders and mouthed the absolute gibberish that the chorus consisted of. He was making faces at Nico, as if expecting him to join his singing, but the other just laughed.
“What song is this?” He said, loud enough for the other to hear. It wasn’t bad. It was a happy song, carefree, and the lyrics talked about the beach, which he guessed matched the sea theme. It didn’t mean he wasn’t curious, though.
“It’s from Teen Beach Movie , in the second film.” Will told him during the bridge. “I love those films.”
“You really like Disney Channel, don’t you?”
“God forbid a guy has taste.” Will said. “I hope they play ‘Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’ next. You’d like that one.”
“I like this one.” Nico said. “Just wasn’t expecting Teen Beach Movie from a punk band, you know?”
Will didn’t answer, too busy singing the chorus again. He’d his eyes closed, and was moving his arms close to his chest, up and down, with a bright smile plastered all over his face. It seemed like the stress that had been surrounding him since he got in the place was gone, so it was a nice sight. By the time the song was done, Will seemed like a completely different person that the one he had been 10 minutes ago. He was cheering loudly, clapping and whistling as Piper waited for the crowd to quiet down a bit for them to speak. Nico tuned in.
“Thank you so much, Goode High School! Thank you so much for having us, and thank you to the organization team for tonight.” They shouted, earning the band more cheers. “We are only doing covers tonight, but we can still have a good time, can’t we?” Once the party was over, Piper would probably deny it, alleging that it didn’t count if it was in their own school, or something, but Nico couldn’t help to think they sounded like an actual star whenever they interacted with the crowd from on stage. The way they had to stop between quotes to let people cheer just proved his point more. “We’ve got a beautiful theme going on here, ‘Under the Sea,’ but what do you say we take it somewhere else? Yeah? You guys wanna go river deep?”
By their side, Drew was already hitting the keys, playing a melody that Nico did know. He turned to Will, singing the first quote at the same time Piper did.
“ When I was a little girl, I had a ragdoll, only doll I’ve ever owned. ” He said, stopping after. His special interest in music was sadly paired with a voice that wasn’t the best for singing. “I wish they’d post covers on Spotify.” He lamented.
“Oh! I don’t have their Spotify.” Will said, holding out his phone for Nico to hold. “Can you…?”
“Yeah, sure.” He opened the app, searching the name of the band and following them.
“Can you follow yourself on Instagram as well?” Will asked him before Nico could return the phone.
“Of course.” He said, even a part of him was surprised Will wanted it. He was still surprised Will seemed to genuinely like spending time with him. “Want me to follow everyone else? Leo, and Haze, and…” Will nodded, smiling.
His smile was very cute, Nico thought, showing all his teeth and brightening his face up. It made him jealous for a second, because he had basically taught himself how to smile by rehearsing in front of a mirror, and it still didn’t come out as naturally or as pretty as Will’s seemed to come to him. The envy didn’t last for much, overwhelmingly defeated by the fact he was glad that the other seemed happy.
“There you go.” He returned his phone to him. “I’m gonna grab another drink.”
Will followed him to the table, and grabbed a can of his own when Nico went for another soda. There was a large number of different snacks, both sweet and salty, spread over the table as well. Will picked a mini pizza, while his stomach did a turn at the different smells and the idea of eating any of the things in front of him. The smell was the worst part, definitely, and he was about to suggest leaving when someone walked in their direction.
“Will!” Austin Lake, a student from his grade whom Nico remembered was on the team with Will, approached them with a girl with ginger hair dyed green by his side. “Hi! How are you? This is Kayla, my host sister! I told you about her, remember?”
Nico, who hadn’t noticed Will and him were standing so close to each other, felt the other tense by his side. At least, when he looked up at him, he found his face looked more relaxed than it had looked when he had just arrived.
“Hi! Austin says you’re really nice.” He said, waving his hand at the girl.
“Thanks, he says the same thing about you.” She waved back. “He’s always saying you’re super fun and that he’s glad you didn’t give up and dropped the team.”
“Wait, really?”
His friend was smiling like he couldn’t believe it, causing surprise to strike Nico. He was used to feeling out of place, or unwanted. Before the accident, he had no friends other than Bianca, and he spent time with her friends pretending that he didn’t feel like a bothersome kid the others didn’t want around. After the accident, Percy had remained by his side, and so had Annabeth, and they had introduced him to their own friend group… But Nico couldn’t help to feel it had been out of pity. He still felt like the chronic pain and the crutches made him too much to be around, and that his presence was unwanted.
He couldn’t phatom that Will might have felt similar, for whatever reason. As the blonde kept talking with Austin, Nico scanned him from top to bottom. They had only known each other for a week, but he had already formed a pretty solid idea of who Will Solace was, and it included the terms “caring,” “witty,” and “good listener” in it. He was sure the other probably had some flaws that Nico didn’t know about yet, because he couldn’t just be perfect, but it wasn’t nice to see the other expected people to notice his flaws before anything else.
Part of what made him feel comfortable around Will is that the other seemed to genuinely not mind —maybe even like— the parts of Nico that he hated about himself. He wondered if there was no one around to reassure Will of his own fears, and briefly lamented that with how little they knew each other so far, he couldn’t be that person for him. At least, he had the whole night to get to know him more. Nico decided that the night would be a success as long as he could wake up the next day knowing he and Will were closer now.
“Austin! Will!” Despite not having been addressed, Nico still lifted his gaze to search for the source of the words: Lee Fletcher, captain of the basketball team, was standing between Michael Yew and the Stolls, and pointing at the empty photocall. “Move your asses here, the photocall is free!”
“Team picture is mandatory!” Michael shouted after.
“We’re coming! Come on, Will.” Austin said, grabbing Will’s wrist and pulling him in his direction with no real strength.
Nico followed after them, with Kayla behind as well. She made some small talk while they both watched the guys from the basketball team pose multiple times. They did a normal one at first, and then continued to take silly pictures while Nico and Kayla talking about being from another country. After the boys were done with the pictures, Austin remained standing below the blue frizzy paper strings with sharks and turtles around it and called for Kayla to take a picture with him. Will took her place by Nico.
“We should take one together.” He smiled at him. “To commemorate.”
“I look horrible in pictures, you don’t want that.” He said. It was true. His mind didn’t seem to comprehend that cameras weren’t actual eyes, meaning that all his problems with eye contact applied to lenses as well, for no reason. Still, Will didn’t budge.
“I’ll be the judge of that.” His accent was still stronger than it had been the whole week, drawling out words in a way that reminded Nico of the way Piper managed to convince people to book their band for their venues, not because their accents were similar, but because of how inclined he felt to listen. “Come on!”
Nico grabbed onto his wrist when Will started to walk towards the photocall once Austin and Kayla left.
“I’m really awkward around cameras, though. I really don’t wanna ruin it.”
“You just have to smile.”
“I am bad at smiling.”
Will clicked his tongue.
“I don’t mind that.”
Maybe it was the way he said his “I’s.” Maybe it was the way he smiled. Only thing Nico knew is that next minute he was standing in the photocall with one of Will’s hands wrapped around his torso in a way that Jason would probably call date-like. With how focused he was preparing himself to smile in time for the camera to capture it, he hadn’t had the mind to ask him to not get so touchy, but he found himself surprised it didn’t bother him a lot. It still made him curious. Why was Will hugging onto him like that?
He got his answer soon enough. When the camera man, a guy that worked with Annabeth in the organization team, told them to smile and say cheese, Will’s fingers moved against his skin and began tickling him. Nico wasn’t used to getting tickled —Bianca had been the only one to ever do it—, so he was fully unprepared and began laughing out loud, bending in and trying to pull away from the touch.
“Damn you, Solace!” He said between giggles.
“I’m just helping you out!”
They were both laughing as they walked away from the photocall to take the two polaroids that the boy behind the camera had taken, one for each. Will was about to start to shake it out, but Nico stopped him, nudging him with an elbow.
“Don’t do that, it’ll flaw it.” He warned him.
“You know about photography?”
“My best friend’s really into it.” He shrugged.
Thinking about Jason reminded him of Thalia on stage, and he began paying attention to the music again as he and Will found a free spot on the wall in which he could lean on. For a moment, he was overwhelmed with the fact that he hadn’t eaten in a few hours and that his legs were starting to hurt more than he could mask, but he tried his best to ignore it. Piper was singing “Bette David Eyes,” and he distracted himself by singing the lyrics quietly under his breath.
“This is not the kind of song I imagined you would know by heart.” Will said. He had one of those mini pizzas resting on the table in each hand. One was untouched, while the other had a bite on it. “Want one?”
Nico’s stomach turned. The cheese wasn’t melted evenly, nor properly, and he didn’t even know what type or brand they had used. Not to mention how just the sight of salami made him nauseous. He shook his head no.
“It’s Hazel’s favorite song.” He said. “What’s your favorite song? ‘Jolene’ or something?”
“Why’d you say that like “Jolene” is a bad song?” Will scoffed, shaking his head to show he disapproved. He didn’t reply, because he joined the round of applause after the song was done, leaving Nico to wonder what his answer would have been.
“You guys are an amazing crowd!” Piper complimented the audience. Nico giggled at the fact they were acting as if they hadn’t performed in front of most of those people before. “You’ve been giving us your all so far, so please… Give it up for Drew Tanaka on keys!”
He joined the laugh cheer Drew got before turning to Will, who was also clapping and cheering, to tell him really quickly that she was also the leader of the cheerleader team. He figured that was good knowledge for a basketball player to have.
“And for Nyssa Barrera on the drums!” More cheers went by as the girl hit the drums. “And Thalia Grace on the bass!”
“Grace? Like Leo’s friend, woah.” Will said after shouting with the rest of the crowd.
“I’m Piper McLean and we are Olympia Grrls! Thank you so much for having us, Goode! This is “Falling for Ya,” for all the lovebirds out there.”
“Thalia and Jason are siblings.” Nico explained, not paying attention to Will’s commentary about Teen Beach Movie. “He’s the one into photography.”
“Leo doesn’t talk about her that much. Not in comparison to him, at least.” Nico scoffed. It wasn’t hard to believe. “Is he your best friend too?”
“Yeah, and Piper’s.” He said. “Well, technically he’s my cousin. And he’s Piper’s ex, but they are best friends. Broke up this summer when Piper came out, it’s all. They met Thalia through him. She’s older than us, and they don’t live together anymore, but the band was missing a bassist.”
“Well, the bass is crucial.” Will mumbled. “My mom’s bassist invites me to ice cream all the time.”
“I do that too.”
Nico grinned at how the blonde rolled his eyes. His smile died when the look of faux annoyance on the boy’s face turned to one of discomfort.
"Is this place getting more crowded?" He asked. "Agh…"
"They must be about to announce homecoming queen. We're too close to the stage, let’s see if the back is less crowded now."
Making it past the people was harder now. Nico's arms were getting tired, and his legs weren’t having the time of their life either. He had managed to do fine with the loud and busy environment the whole night, but now that his body felt worse, the music and chatter was starting to irritate him. On his end, Will kept stumbling upon people, and with each apology he let out, his voice sounded more and more panicked. Eventually, he ended up dropping a girl's drink over her white shirt.
"Watch it, punk."
"I'm so sorry, I didn’t mean to. Oh, god, I'm so… I didn’t mean to. I can get you a paper, or…" His voice sounded airy, small and tense.
Nico closed the distance between himself and the other two with a single step and placed a hand on Will’s shoulder to soothe him.
"Sorry, Clarisse. It’s hard to get through to the exit." He apologized for Will, who was still choking with his own words.
"You are leaving already?" She asked. Nico guessed the change of topic meant she accepted the apology. After all, he doubted she was mad enough at Will to like seeing him distressed. "Silena hasn’t even won yet."
"We already know she's gonna win, so might as well leave." Nico shrugged. "We left a very good spot up close if you wanna watch her get the crown."
"I'll think about it. You two get home safe."
Nico nodded, and chuckled when he saw her walk away in the direction they had come to just a second later.
"I swear to God, if those two go to college before Clarisse can declare, I'm… Will, are you alright?" Will was shaking a bit, both his body and his breathing, and his eyes seemed watery. He didn’t answer. "Let’s go for fresh air."
. . .
The stairway in the school entryway had always been dirty, and Nico was wearing good clothes, but he still sat down on them, too tired to hold himself up. Will sat by his side. The blonde hid his face on his arms and groaned for a second while Nico tried to make up the constellations Bianca had taught him about in the polluted sky of Manhattan.
"It's fine, trust me. Clarisse is buff and tall and all of that, but she's not mean unless you deserve it." He reassured him. "She won't think about it more than twice."
"I keep making a fool of myself." Will mumbled, so quietly Nico wasn’t sure he was meant to hear.
He heard it nonetheless, and couldn’t ignore it. As much as he knew he was terrible at comforting others, he got closer to Will and, after hesitating, caressed his back in big circles. If that was what was bothering Will, coming off as embarrassing, he wanted to help the best he could.
“That’s not true. I doubt anyone thinks that.” He could hear a brief, faint “I do” that he was certain hadn’t been meant to be audible. Nico ignored it, because he was sure Will would want him to and because he was sure nothing he said could ease the feeling. Instead, he suggested his favorite thing for when he felt unsafe somewhere: running away to somewhere else. “Do you wanna ditch the party?” Nico asked him, not sure where the confidence came from.
“I don’t have a car.”
“We'll walk.” If he was happy to spend more time with Will —and he was—, his voice didn't betray it. He was still in pain, but he could surely bear with it until they got home. “I don’t live that far from here. Do you?” Will nodded, causing Nico to click his tongue. “Well, then… I guess you can stay the night?”
The invitation surprised him as much as it surprised Will, who looked up with his mouth ajar. He was expecting a rejection, but it didn’t happen. At least, not straight away.
“What about sleeping?”
“You can use my clothes. And, well, we would have to share the bed.” Nico said, growing awkward by the second. “If that’s fine with you. We can drive you home tomorrow.”
“That’s… Yeah, that sounds fine.” Will said. He pulled out his phone. “I’m gonna ask dad.”
“Okay.”
Nico pulled his phone as well. He should let Hazel know he was leaving earlier than planned. He listened to Will's phone ringing as he searched for his sister’s number and started typing. Before sending the text, Nico waited to overhear the call.
“Uh, Hyacinth, is dad there?” Nico guessed his dad’s boyfriend had picked up the phone instead. “I just… I was thinking about spending the night at my friend’s house. Yeah, the one I came to the dance with. Yeah. No! I told you it wasn’t a date! Hyacinth!” Nico watched in amusement at how Will turned red and shouted at his phone, fighting between continuing the call through the embarrassment or ending it without getting a proper reply. “Can I? He says he’ll drive me in the morning. Okay. Tell dad, alright? I’ll text one of you if anything happens. Okay. Bye.” Once the call was over, Nico allowed himself to laugh as Will clicked the hanging-up button repeatedly. “Look, I told them many times it wasn’t a date! I don’t know why he’s like that! I didn’t say anything weird, I swear…!”
“No, no, I get it.” Nico reassured him, still laughing. “Jason did the same to me, don’t worry. You just should have seen your face.”
“Don’t tease me!”
“I’m not teasing you, Solace, I’m just saying the truth.” Nico giggled, resuming his text to Hazel.
haze !
Friday 21st , 09:43 PM
nico
hey. im taking will home
haze !
???? in which car
nico
walking
haze !
does he live nearby
nico
our home
hes spending hte night
haze !
“its not a date” he said
“no need for a hsovel talk” he said
nico
“ni niid fir i shivil tilk” hi siid
just dont freak out when you see him home
haze !
okiii
stay safe + text me when u get home ^___^
“Ahh, Hazel approves.” He joked, standing up and allowing himself a brief moment to lament the loss of a surface to sit on. “ Andiamo. ”
Will followed behind him, just a few steps behind. They fell into comfortable silence, though Nico was trying to find a conversation topic to fill it out. In the end, it was the other who said something.
“So, who do you think won homecoming queen?”
“Silena Beauregard.” Nico told him immediately. “She wins prom and homecoming queen every year. And her boyfriend wins king. She’s in the cheerleaders as well.”
“Oh, really? I voted for Annabeth.” Will said. “I didn’t really know anyone else, to be honest. Leo talks about her like she’s incredibly popular.”
“She is.” He agreed. “She’s something out from a Disney Channel film, you know? Smart, sweet, pretty, athletic… I’m glad to be her friend.”
“How did y’all meet?” Will asked, walking up a bit so he was side to side with Nico. “Leo said something about a support class, but didn’t say if it had been all of you there.”
“Oh, no, that was later. That was mostly how we met Piper and Leo.” Nico started. “Annabeth and Percy met in a summer camp before high school started. Yeah, they’ve been pining for that long. We met Hazel when she moved in with me.”
“And you?”
“Eh… I was introduced to Percy as a “family friend.”” He said, making quotation marks with his fingers. “And then it turned out we were actual family.”
“No way! You are kidding, right?” Will asked him. “How did you find out? Was it a Mamma Mia situation or…?”
“That’s not even what happened in Mamma Mia. ” Nico rolled his eyes. “But we were at his house celebrating his 16th birthday and suddenly this guy walked in like he owned the place, and, surprise! He was Percy’s biological dad. And, double surprise! He was apparently mine and Jason’s uncle. It was… A moment.” Will was staring at him, open-mouthed and in shock. “Yeah?”
“He just showed up for the first time in 16 years unannounced?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “You see, physically they are not very similar, but if our parents have something in common is that they are not the best. To be honest, I’m a bit happy that Percy’s is mostly out of the picture.”
“Oh.” Will sounded sad, which made Nico realize the harsh reality of his words. He hurriedly tried to lift the weight of the conversation.
“It’s fine, though, don’t worry.” He started. “Mine’s not that bad, either. He just leaves me be and ignores me most of the time, so that’s chill.” With how unnatural his smile was, he doubted it would help convince Will of anything, but he still gave it a shot and paired it with a thumbs up. “How, uh, how’s living with your dad?”
Will smiled shyly and kicked a stone on the pavement.
“He’s nice. I miss my mom, but at least I have him and Hyacinth.” He started. “I know he cares about me a lot, and a part of me is happy we have a chance to spend so much time together. We’ve never lived together.”
“Never ever?”
“Never ever.” Will said, shaking his head no. “Mom and him met in college, when she was still living with her parents and he was sharing an apartment with other students. I think they broke up before I was born, too. They raised me as friends. I always thought that was really nice.”
There was something ironic about Will’s dad making him feel cared enough for the boy to talk about him with such softness and admiration in his voice despite not having been around much during his childhood while Nico’s dad was a weird mixture of a helicopter and a neglectful parent. He told himself Hades acted like that out of grief, just like he always did, but, as usual, it didn’t make him feel any better. Hopefully, they had made it to his street quicker than he thought.
“This one, right?” Will said, pointing at his door. Nico nodded, pulling his keys out of his pocket.
“Ta-da!” He said after he had opened the door for Will to enter. “It might be messy.”
“Woah! This is huge for an apartment."
“It’s not that big.” Nico shrugged. “Just open concept.”
The first floor had barely any walls in it. To their right was the living room, with walls covered in white bookshelves and CD displays and a huge TV placed in front of a black sofa and a coffee table made of dark wood. Behind, in the same space, was a transparent dining table they barely used, which was a shame considering it faced a wall that was purely consisting of windows. To the right, was a door that led to his dad’s office. To the left of the entry, separated with just a half-wall, they had a kitchen with a tiny table where Hazel and him usually ate, because their parents never waited for them to eat or seemed interested in sharing a meal. The corridor was simple, with a door behind the stairs leading to a mudroom and laundry room, where he told Will to leave his shoes and jacket, and a door in the opposite wall leading to a restroom.
Nico walked towards the kitchen, swinging the fridge door open and pulling out a plate of fresh pasta and shoving it into the microwave.
“Do you wanna eat anything?”
“I think I’m fine.”
They made it to his room upstairs after, with Nico carrying both of his crutches in one arm and his dinner on the other hand. Will opened it for him. He felt a bit embarrassed at the multiple pieces of dirty clothing poorly hidden below his bed, and at the two used glasses on his desk. Thankfully, the other didn’t notice, or at least didn’t comment on it.
“You can sit on the bed.” Nico said, opening the drawers on his dresser and pulling out a pajama for Will and one for himself. “Is this fine?” The blonde nodded.
Will took the clothes and left to the room Nico had told him was the bathroom. He changed in his room, and placed the clothes he had taken off without any care in the dresser before sitting on his bed, and starting to eat. The heat from the microwave was almost gone already, but needed something in his stomach really bad, and it tasted good even if it was cold. In the meantime, he accepted Will’s Instagram request and texted Hazel. When the other came back, he sat on the bed by his side. Nico hoped he didn’t think it was weird that he was having dinner at 10 pm.
“Woah, you’ve got a record player.” Will commented, looking at the device that rested on top of his dresser.
“‘S a birthday gift.” Nico pointed with his head at the box full of vinyls resting between his bookshelf and the dresser. “We can play one, if you want. I don’t have any country, though.”
“I don’t listen to just country!” Will laughed as he pushed Nico without strength. “My mom’s a country singer, but she didn't get a degree in music to listen to a single genre, you know? She raised me with more music than that.”
“Really? What do you listen to?”
“Eh, I don’t know. I like Phoebe Bridgers a lot.” Will said. “I do like country. Of course, there’s my mom’s discography, and Dolly Parton. Other than that… Fleetwood Mac and some songs by The Cranberries.”
“I have Rumours, if you wanna play that.” He watched how Will jumped off the bed and searched for the vinyl on the box. “Bridgers is, hm… I haven’t heard much from her but I’d say indie-folk. The Cranberries are mostly alt-rock, and Fleetwood Mac, eh… Soft rock? Pop rock? They’ve a big blues influence.”
“Won’t this annoy your parents?” Will asked, even if “Second Hand News” had already started playing.
“Dad’s at work, and Hazel’s mom is traveling somewhere.” He explained. “There’s the private chef, Giulia Alberta, but she is staying awake to go pick Hazel up later. I’ll go greet her after I’m done.”
Nico finished his food by the middle of the third track. He had noticed that Will never commented on how little or how slowly he ate, which was possibly one of the things about the boy that made him feel so safe to be around. He was glad that the blonde hadn't noticed his eating habits as soon as other people had. Then, he stood up from the bed and went to knock on the woman’s door, briefly telling her that he had came home walking. Will had followed him, and he continued to do so when Nico went downstairs to leave his plate on the kitchen sink.
“Ah… I wish we had an elevator.” He said, placing his hand on the railing.
“You can get one of those stair lifts.”
“No need.” He brushed the blonde’s words off. Truth was, a year ago he had suggested getting one, but his father had pretty much told him it would be a waste of money and an aesthetic disaster. Nico remembered his exact words being “suck it up and walk.”
“We can stay in the living.” Will suggested instead. “If that’s fine.” He didn’t say anything for a second, which the other interpreted as giving him his green light. “I’ll go turn off the record player!”
Nico smiled at the sight of him disappearing upstairs, and turned to the living room. He basically threw himself in the sectional before fixing his position into sitting up, and grabbed the remote to turn on the TV. He set it to Disney Channel as he waited for Will to come back.
“Oh, what are we watching?” The boy asked him, taking a seat by Nico’s side.
“An ad break.”
“Oh, suspense, I like that.”
They waited for the advertisements to end. Before it happened, the sound of keys opening the door caught the attention of both of them, making Nico turn to look at the door. He realized he had forgotten to tell his dad about Will coming over as soon as the man walked inside the room. A childish part of him considered throwing a blanket or something over the blonde and hoped Hades wouldn’t notice, but he ended up not doing anything. Neither did his dad, who scanned the teens on his couch before disappearing into his office without saying a word. It didn’t phase him, since he was used to it, but he had briefly hoped that Will’s presence would at least get them both a “hello.” Will seemed to notice his disappointment, and placed a warm hand over Nico’s. He tried to shy away from the touch at first, but didn’t try for too long. The other’s thumb was drawing circles on his skin, and he didn’t wanna lose that contact.
“ Hello, I’m Olivia Rodrigo from Bizaardvark, and you’re watching Disney Channel! ”
The words made him focus on the TV again, where a beach ball animation was fading as the ad break ended.
“No way!” Will said. His hand went from softly caressing Nico’s to hitting it without strength repeatedly.
“Uh? What? What’s wrong?”
“Look! It’s Teen Beach Movie !” He pointed to the screen, where a brunette girl and a blonde guy were looking at what seemed to be a turf war. “They’re gonna do “Cruisin’ for a Bruisin,’ this is perfect!”
Nico watched as Will stood up, probably ready to copy the choreography. That seemed like a nice thing to see, he said to himself as he pulled his knees close to his chest and stared at the other dancing. His body still hurt, and he was exhausted mentally. His father hadn’t paid attention to him all day, he had barely eaten the whole day, and he had ditched a party because his “dance” partner for it was struggling. It hadn’t been great, if he thought about it like that.
But, then again, he had fun. Piper’s band had been incredible, and Annabeth had gone all out with decorating. Even the ride there with Hazel and Leo had been nice. He had loved spending more time with Will, and he was thrilled to spend the night with a friend in his house… It had been ages since he had invited anyone, and now he had his new friend in front of him, performing a song that, as predicted, he liked, while his father was in his office, probably annoyed at their 2013 Disney Channel pop-rock. Plus, they still had the whole night ahead, and Will would probably have breakfast with them.
So, yeah, it felt perfect.
Notes:
- i want to deeply apologize to everyone who wanted them to get together this chapter. 3 i'm sorry to disappoint guys i truly am 3 but they have known each other for 5 days and this fic is a slow burn though !! please be understand :( !!
- on another note, they did have very cute moments !!! (and chapter 5 might or might not be already finished and might or might not continue their night together at nico's house, so there's that!) i had so much fun writing this tbh (i must say, though, we don't do homecoming where i'm from so apologies for any inaccuracies). i feel bad for making will so anxious at the party but also otherwise they wouldn't have gone home together so it is what it is. jason and hyacinth (and probably apollo in the future) being the captains of the ship is so precious to me o7 + we got some hints at nico's past and also at his relationship with his family woohoo im so ready to mess up those big 3 kids (why do i say 'we got' when i gave this to myself aaaa)
- yes. i wanted to include jules albert so i made him into an italian woman who works as a private chef/assistant called giulia alberta. i looove adapting the more "magical" side of the saga in subtle-ish ways !!! like giulia alberta existing, piper being the one in charge of getting gigs, apollo being like "we outta oracles" in chapter 1, hyacinth owning a flowershop, etc. etc. !!! its a self-imposed very goofy challenge ig !!
- unlike the previous chapter, this one doesn't hint a lot at what's going to happen in the next one exactly, so as a teaser . . . they might or might not go on a field trip ! who knows !! stay tuned to find out next week with another will chapter !! <3 thank you so much to everyone, specially if you've read the notes till down here (hai ^__^ !!) !! ily guys, your support makes my day every time <33
Chapter 5: " not strong enough "
Summary:
“Can you talk?” Nico had asked him the same thing at homecoming, and it made him wonder whether it came from past similar experiences.
“A Bit.”
“That’s alright. We can wait here as much as you need.” Will reassured him. He noticed the conflicted look in Nico’s eyes, as well as how he was biting his lip again. “Do you need anything?” He tilted his head.
“‘S weird.”
“You can tell me.” He said, making his tone as reassuring as possible.
“Hug me real tight?”
Notes:
tw for gender dysphoria and related insecurities, mentions of car accident and talk of mental health issues! also cw for menstruation
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
i don't know why i am the way i am,
not strong enough to be your man.
i lie, i am just lowering your expectations
half a mind that keeps the other second-guessing
close my eyes, and count.
The ending credits rolled by too quickly, or at least that’s how it felt to Will. Hazel, who had arrived back home during the middle of the film and asked if she could join, seemed to share the sentiment, letting out a sound of complaint after the last song was over. He turned at Nico, who had his arms crossed over his chest and had gone for too long without making a sarcastic comment about the film.
“Well? Did you like it?” He asked, visibly excited. On Nico’s other side, Hazel was looking at him with what Will guessed was the same look of expectation he had.
Nico let out a long sight, closing his eyes and nodding slowly.
“I liked it. It was very fun.” He admitted, acting as if he was disappointed with himself for liking it. It made Will wonder whether he was a sort of cinema elitist, a thought that was a bit goofy.
“Yay! Just imagine if you had caught ‘Surf, surf, crazy.’” Will told him.
“Aw, you missed the beginning?” Hazel pouted.
“Were you two gonna dance that one too?” Nico asked, in reference to the fact Will —and, once she had arrived, Hazel— had gotten up to do all the choreos. Both of them nodded, causing the boy to scoff. “Able-bodied show-offs.”
“You should take an ibuprofen if you need one.” Hazel said, getting up from the couch. She was still wearing her homecoming dress, because apparently she thought Teen Beach Movie had been more important than changing out of it. Will didn’t blame her. “I think I’m gonna go get out of this thing. Goodnight, guys.”
“Goodnight.”
“Night, Haze.” Nico told her. “The ibuprofen does sound nice.”
He spoke more to himself than to Will, but the blonde still followed him into the kitchen after Nico stood up (not without a groan of pain). He hoped it came off as a friendly gesture, instead of as if he was following Nico around like a limpet stuck to him. At least, the other didn’t comment on it. He simply grabbed a glass of water and a pill and took it silently as Will stared, not really knowing what to say. It wasn’t an uncomfortable setting per se —it wasn’t like people expected to be given conversation while in the middle of swallowing a painkiller—, but silences he couldn’t fill out always made Will feel uneasy, as if he was doing something wrong and running out of time to fix it. He had started to look around the white upper cabinets as if they had a good ice-breaker behind their glass doors when Nico talked again.
“I liked the ending. Of the film, I mean.” Nico said. His eyes fell on Will for a second, but quickly moved to the glass in his hand. “I’m glad she decided that she could do what she wanted to.”
“I know, right?” Will smiled at him. He remembered his conversation with Leo in the car from earlier that week, in which he had gotten no answer on what Nico’s future plans were. “Hey, what do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. Sleep, probably? I’m tired.”
“With your studies, I mean.” Will snorted.
“Oh, that…” He almost regretted asking, because Nico had been looking at him again, but his eyes left him as soon as he got into thought. Now, it was him who was suddenly interested in the cabinetry of his own house. “That, well, I don’t really know yet.”
“You still have time, though.”
“I’m not particularly good at anything, though.” Nico said. “I thought about doing Italian Studies, or something, but I don’t know. I just speak Italian, you know? It’s not like I love it on a technical level and I’m not into Italian literature or anything. I don’t wanna spend my life as a teacher either. Plus, I’m dyslexic.”
“You know a lot about music. Maybe Music History?” Will suggested. “As I said, you don’t have to know yet.”
“I don’t think I could find a stable job with Music History.” Nico said. He looked at the living room, making sure it was still empty, and then he whispered: “If I don’t get a job, I’m gonna be stuck all my life working at dad’s funeral parlor.”
“There’s nothing wrong with working at a funeral parlor.” He told him.
“I can barely deal with interacting with my classmates on a daily basis, I don’t think I could deal with managing a bunch of grieving families and their dead relatives.” Nico whispered. “Plus, I don’t wanna be stuck with my dad.”
That seemed easy to believe, with how Nico had described him as someone who mostly ignored him and how the man had walked past them without even saying hi out loud. Will didn’t mind going without some greetings, but he figured it must have been embarrassing for Nico, or at least not very pleasant. He had tried not to think about how he was still in his office, and how he had a live-in assistant. When the woman had left for Hazel and Leo at the party, Nico and her had exchanged some quick conversation in Italian that had led Will to learn that she had been working for them since before they moved to the states. He hoped it didn’t mean Nico had seen her more than he had seen his parents during his whole life.
“I’m sure you’ll find out something that works for you.” Will told him.
“Thank you.” Nico smiled. “It’s not like I put that much effort into looking for options, though…”
“I’m sure you’re putting more thought and effort into it than what you think.”
“That’s what Hazel says too.” He spoke, taking a sip of water and looking down at the ground, seemingly lost in thought. “She’s rooting for me, but I don’t…” He stopped himself, shaking his head as if to wake up from a trance and looking up right after. “Either way, let’s go to bed.”
Will followed him upstairs, hoping to himself that Nico hadn’t been about to say he didn’t believe in himself. Once they were back in his room, he got up on Nico’s bed first while the other went to the bathroom. In the meantime, he scrolled down his phone, sending the address to his dad to come pick him up in the morning, checking in with his mom, and opening Instagram to check Nico’s account now that his request had been accepted. There weren’t that many pictures, so he allowed himself to check them all.
The first one was from some years ago, and it was mainly pictures of Manhattan. Most of them didn’t have Nico on them, and if they did, it was just his hands or a bit of his face. Then, he had posted a bunch of pictures from Venice, captioned “nothing you can say can stop me going home,” so Will guessed they were from a visit to his hometown. There was one at the airport with a girl with features similar to his, quite a bit taller, whom Will assumed was a cousin that had gone to pick his family at the airport. The next post had been taken a long time after that one, and it was the first one to be a single picture. In it, a rosary rested on a Hades figurine from the game Will had learnt Nico liked, Mythomagic. The caption read “so love your good night,” and comments weren’t enabled. The fourth post was also months away from the previous one, and it was once more pictures of Venice. The fifth post was also a single picture from Venice, Will guessed, since it showed a room that was structured and decorated much too differently from anything in the house. It had a long paragraph as caption, but it was written totally in Italian, so he didn’t try to read it. After that, the next post was a picture of Hazel and him eating ice-cream in the park, with Nico’s crutches resting on the ground below him, captioned as “can’t find my way back home, but it’s through you.” The seventh post seemed to be just a compilation of pictures from Olympia Grrls. Lastly, there were a bunch of pictures of the entire friend group minus Leo during a pride parade. Will guessed the boy had been taking the picture.
Nico walked into the room a bit later, while Will was talking to Lou Ellen and Cecil about how the party had gone. He climbed up the bed and under the sheets, and asked him if he wanted to turn off the lights already. A few minutes later, the lights were off and Nico di Angelo was snoring by his side.
. . .
"Hey, y'all." He said to the table, holding his tray with one hand to wave with the other.
Will had been the last one to arrive at the table, and most of his friends didn't pay much attention to him. Only Nico and Hazel greeted him back, but that didn’t phase him. What took him by surprise was the fact that the seats have apparently changed disposition, seeing as Piper was by Nico’s side and Leo was sat on their other side, meaning Hazel had moved to the other bench, by Percy and Annabeth. The couple, just like Piper and Leo, had their side of the table covered with calculators, notebooks and spreadsheets. Hazel patted the empty space on the bench by her for Will to sit at.
“What’s going on?” He asked.
“Piper and Percy have a Maths exam.” Nico explained from in front of him. “This is last minute tutoring.”
“No, you can’t do it like that, Pipes, it’s null.” Leo told their friend, pointing at the paper in front of them.
“What does it matter that it’s null?” They complained, holding their head between their hands.
“You can’t multiply it by another matrix and have the result be anything other than 0!”
“Why not?”
“Because that’s not how math works.”
“Are we seeing matrices this year?” Will asked. He would swear he hadn’t seen them in the program.
“Nope, but it’s Leo.” Nico said, as if that explained anything. “Of course he knows matrices.”
“Right.” Will nodded slowly.
“Hi, Will, hadn’t seen you!” The mention of his name must have pulled the boy out of Piper’s notes, because he noticed the blonde had arrived. “What’s that look for? You look confused.”
“It’s just… How did you manage to retake the year? You’re so intelligent.”
The question had been rounding his mind since they met. Piper shot him a look that made him regret asking, with their eyes wide open and one of their hands slashing through the air as if to tell him to cut it. Leo, however, just clicked his tongue and pointed down as his legs with one hand as the other busied itself correcting one of his friend’s worksheets.
“These bad boys didn’t lose mobility overnight, baby.” He said, way too nonchalantly considering the topic. “Well, except they kind of did. But, yeah, car accident, hospital, physical and emotional trauma, lots of paperwork… I didn’t really have time to revise for finals. I didn’t leave the hospital until mid July.”
“Oh.” He did regret asking. Bile was making its way up his throat, powered by the guilt washing over him for touching on such a sour topic. His mind went back to the picture on Nico’s account in which he had assumed Leo was behind the camera, now realizing that this was the real reason behind his absence. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…”
“Nah, don’t worry about it.” Leo dismissed him. “It was kinda weird that everyone knew beside you, you have no idea how many jokes I had to give up. Plus, we wouldn’t have met you otherwise! Every cloud has its silver lining.”
He didn’t really think the silver lining made up for the massive storm cloud in this case, but he didn’t say anything. He was still stuck on the fact that barely two months ago Leo had been stuck in the hospital. Will couldn’t help to feel amazed at how little it seemed to affect him.
“If you say so…” He mumbled.
“I say so. Pipes, you got this one so wrong.”
After that, Leo went back to helping Piper. With them, Percy and Annabeth busy revising, Hazel, Nico and Will were left to talk by themselves.
“Did Mr. Brunner tell you guys about the field trip?” Nico asked him. Will shook his head no.
“We are going to the MET on Friday!” Hazel smiled as she delivered the news to him, with her hands closed in tiny fists.
“The MET? I got banned from there once.” Percy jumped in the conversation, causing Annabeth to click her tongue.
“You didn’t get banned, you got grounded for pushing that kid.” She reminded him.
“Same shit.” He replied. “Have fun, since you are allowed to go.”
“Percy, you got grounded five years ago, you are allowed to go.” Annabeth argued. “Okay, let’s take a look at this one problem.”
“I’m dying to see it! It’s all I’m gonna be thinking about all week, I wanna see the ones by Morisot they have so bad.” Hazel rambled. “It’s a shame it’s a guided tour, I wish we could wonder on our own. Then again, it’s great that there’s a guide, but…”
“But what if they skip Morisot?” Nico interrupted her.
“Exactly! But there’s so much more things I wanna see, though… There’s no way we’ll cover it all in just one day.”
“You’ll live.” Nico told her, causing Hazel to make a face between a pout and a frown that made her look a few seconds away from threatening to hold her breath until Nico took his words back.
The bell rang some minutes later. Will and Hazel stood up first, while Piper grabbed onto Leo, whisper-shouting a desperate “take me with you.” Percy was pouting at Annabeth all the way while she reassured him he was about to do well. Nico was the last one to stand up, seeing as he was busy closing his still not empty bento box and putting it back on his bag. Hazel waited for him while the rest of the group left for their respective classes, probably because Nico and her shared a class, or so Will guessed. On his end, he also waited, but he had no idea why.
“Hm? Where do you have class?” Nico asked him once he was ready to go.
“Room 213.”
“Oh, I’ve class in 210. We can go together.”
“Sure.”
Apparently, he had been wrong about Hazel and Nico sharing a class, because she only walked with them till the stairs. Her classroom was on the first floor, so she left them alone and headed for her AP World History lecture by herself. Will’s mouth felt like sandpaper as he tried to fill out the silence. He stumbled upon his words mentally when trying to think of something to say, until he decided to ask something that had been bothering him for the past minutes.
“Do you think I made Leo uncomfortable?” He asked when Nico stopped by a locker to pull out his textbook. It made the boy halt his movement to think about it for a bit before resuming his search for the book.
“I don’t think so. He’s been wanting to tell you.” Nico said. “I know he didn’t like that everyone knew but you. Said it made him feel like you were left out. But also, I don’t blame him for not telling you.”
“Me neither, never.” Will rushed to say.
“He takes things with humor and all, but sometimes…” Nico’s voice became quieter as he spoke until it became a whisper, as if he was worried Leo would appear out of thin air and overhear. “Sometimes he feels like he’s too much.”
Will’s heart clenched, thinking about how Leo never asked him to push his chair when he got tired, but rather waited until he noticed and offered. He wondered if that was the reason. Nico must have noticed his saddening expression.
“It’s all very recent, hopefully he will get better with time.” He said, pulling the textbook from inside the locker. “At least, I hope we can make him feel better with time.”
. . .
🧡 CENTAURS 18-19 🧡❗
Thursday 27th, 03:49 PM
lee (#17)
good afternoon guys :]
remember that you should let us know if advance if any of you can’t come to practice :]
it’s not mandatory but it helps coach hedge a lot when organizing it <3
michael (#27)
what lee wants to say is “where in hell are you fuckers”
we are the only two people here
lee (#17)
that is not exactly what i wanted to say
austin (#14)
WILL AND I ARE GETTING THERE
will
the bus isnt moving but we’re almost there
connor (shorter stoll)
i got us a flat tire <3 no stoll appearance today
travis (taller stoll)
we’ll be missed
Will and Austin Lake stumbled inside the locker room after having run all the way from the bus stop to the school gym. The blonde closed the door behind him and leant against it for a second to catch his breath while the other boy sat in one of the benches and started to change into their equipment. Lee and Michael, their seniors, giggled a bit at the dramatism of their arrival before greeting them.
“Are we on time?” Austin asked after greeting them back as he changed into his clothes. Lee nodded at him. “Thank the Lord. I need to start to change at home like you.” He said, talking to Will, already dressed with the black and orange shirt representing their team.
He clutched his hand around the hem at the bottom of his shirt. Truth was, Will wasn’t having the best day. His soft jawline and the roundness of his arms and face had been making him dysphoric all week, and, to make things worse, his period had just started earlier in the day. He was pretty sure the painkiller he took was starting to wear off as well. As much as he knew that Austin had no way of knowing that he came and left practice with equipment on to avoid changing in front of the rest rather than to save time, he couldn’t help feeling like he was being called out in a way. By the time they finally left the locker and began warming up, Will was feeling nauseous. He couldn’t blame it solely on menstruation, though, seeing as he had been getting sickly nervous before each practice so far.
“Listen here, cupcakes.” Coach Hedge called them once they were done with the first part of the warm-up. “The season starts this Saturday. We’ll be playing against Hailwood High, and, as you know, three of our players will have to sit out.” Will was hoping he would be selected as one of those. He trusted his chances, seeing as he was the worst player by far. “This a final reminder that just because you weren’t called does it mean you are a bad player. Just that we have too many people in the team this year, but… Honestly, I was gonna call you four, so I guess saying this is useless. Four laps around the court, cupcakes.”
“Wait, what?”
With how quiet he had been, he doubted anyone heard him, but apparently Coach Hedge had.
“I said, four laps ‘round the court!”
Will began running with the other boys after a loud whistle from their trainer. Normally, he would pay attention to bickering from the other players, or just make small talk with someone, but his mind was still processing the fact that he had been called for the first proper match of the season. Maybe, he tried to tell himself, I will just warm the bench! But he couldn’t even convince himself of that, not after he had been on the court for almost two entire quarters last time. A part of him wished he would have gotten the news earlier, which would have given him more days to practice, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t been doing his best during Monday and Wednesday’s practice. His best was just bad, and there was nothing Will could do about it.
He was still deep in his self-deprecating thoughts once they were done with warming up and the coach called them to explain their first exercise. It was simple, just something to practice positions and flash cuts. He wasn’t great at it, seeing as he failed to catch some balls and he didn’t deliver his passes perfectly once or twice, but the other three weren’t perfect either.
After that, there was a more complex exercise they had trained already and that still gave him headaches. One of them had to run across the court with the ball, pass it to someone waiting out of bounds, by the midline, take it back, attempt a layup, pass it again to two other players but the other side, and shoot a 3-pointer. Running was easy —it wasn’t, seeing as Will still couldn’t bounce the ball without looking at it—, and he didn’t get much baskets, but he could attempt just fine. The problem was that the three people by the sides had to go from left to right and from right to left, and he was very bad at telling one from the other. When there were more people, he just asked before his turn which side was which, but now, he had no one. Just as he had expected, it went awful, but no one commented on it. They knew he was dyslexic, after all.
A quick exercise consisting of them standing in a square and performing diagonal passes made him feel better about it. It was easy, and honestly it was a bit goofy. He liked practicing passes, mostly because his hands automatically got the hang of it. Sometimes, though, he would get lost in thought and forget what he was doing.
His stress picked towards the end of practice, when they were tasked with a 2 versus 2 over just half of the court. Michael and him against Austin and Lee. Will could tell none of the other three boys was playing as seriously as possible, and he didn’t blame them; the less people who attended a training, the more one had to do, and tiredness led to underperforming. It only made him feel worse. The rest’s underperformance was way better than his 100%. How was he meant to win against an actual team? If he thought too much about it between passes or throw-ins, he felt his eyes get teary eyed, and that only led to him cursing his period and hormones, a reminder that only stirred up the dysphoria.
He didn’t know exactly how it happened, but, in the end, his mind clouded up with worries and insecurity to the point he run in the wrong direction and hit Michael’s shoulders with his face, causing both of them to fall to the ground.
“Agh…” The older boy complained as Will made sense of the situation. He tasted iron in his tongue, a tale-tell sign that he was bleeding. He should have standed up, offered a hand to Michael, and maybe made a joke about it, but he was at a loss for words. Words couldn’t describe how stupid and inferior he felt, or how close to tears he was. In the end, it was Michael who stood up and offered him a hand. “Let’s go get some water on those lips. I’m gonna find me an ice-pack.”
“Be back, cupcakes. Lake, Fletcher, practice free shots while they’re gone.”
Will froze upon getting to the sinks. More accurately, he had been frozen for a while, but the sight of himself in the mirror just made it worse. Michael had left for his ice-pack, leaving him alone, so he allowed himself to cry his woes out, believing the other would go back to the court immediately and not see him sob about a round face and soft thighs. He was wrong.
“Solace? Will, are you crying?” He heard the other’s voice and the creak of the door, but didn’t move to see him enter. The brunette’s reflection was on the mirror soon after. “Did it hurt that much? Are you alright?” He shook his head no. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m so bad.”
“No, no, no, you are not, what the fuck?” He whispered. Yew opened the faucet and splashed some cold water on Will’s face. “Clean up, and don’t say that about yourself. You’re not bad, Will, you’re good, and you’re learning so fast.”
“I’ll never be like y’all…”
“No one expects you to.”
Will knew it was meant to be reassuring, and a small part of him took it as such, but most him felt like he had just been denied his status as a real boy. He wanted to be like the other guys in the team. He wanted to be like the other boys, that was all he had ever wanted in his life, and despite being the very thing that had excited him the most about moving towns, he feared it wasn’t working. What if he never was like the others? He sobbed weakly.
“Hush, don’t cry, come on. We don’t expect you to because you just started, but that doesn’t mean we don’t believe in you. With how fast you are progressing, I wouldn’t put it pass you to be a staple player next year. If you want to continue, that’s it.”
“I wanna be like you.”
“Like me? Man, I’m 5’2.”
“Like all of you.”
The other smiled at him gently.
“You are already, Solace. You are a guy playing a sport for fun at school, you are late to practice, you hate the fact our clothes are orange… You make mistakes sometimes, like I do, or like anyone else. You can’t calculate passes perfectly sometimes, but you should have seen the amount of easy ones I’ve missed the whole month. We are some teens playing in their high school team, and our biggest dream is winning a high school in which most of us do have friends, for the sake of it. None of us are perfect, and no one expects us to. You are not even that bad, and I am not an expert, but you really are a fast learner. Hell, I envy that so much, you’ve got no idea! I wanna be like that too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah! You’ve learned things that took me ages already. And we’re all proud of you. Hug?”
“We’re sweaty.”
“So?”
He hugged him. Michael squeezed him right before letting go, which reminded Will a bit of his dad. He was in the middle of wondering if he had started to see him and Lee Fletcher as some sort of older brother figure after just some weeks when there was a knock to the bathroom door.
“Practice’s over, folks. You owe Austin and me a turn at picking up the balls.”
Lee walked inside the room with Austin following behind, sitting on the benches. Michael sat by his side and they started to change for the shower, while Will went to pick his bag. He didn’t change, but his dad had insisted that he shouldn’t wear his basketball shoes outside the court, so he began packing them.
“Will, you showering today?” Lee asked him. He shook his head no. “Me neither. I’m taking the bus home, you?”
“My father picks me up.” He said, finishing lacing his normal shoes. “But I can wait with you at the stop.”
“Sweet.” They didn’t speak until they left the school gym, which was the moment Lee chose to ask him: “How are you?”
“Hm?”
“You looked down today. If there’s anything wrong, you can let me know. Especially if you are having a problem with anyone…”
“No, no, not at all.” Will rushed to stop him. “I just… I’m a bit insecure, that’s all.”
“How come?” He shrugged at the older boy’s question. “You are doing very well for a beginner. I believe in you, we all do.” Lee walked two steps ahead, enough to turn and place a hand on Will’s shoulder, staring at him with fond eyes. “As the team captain, I’m really happy to have you with us this year, and I’m really proud of you. We all are.”
Will pretty much froze at the praise, which filled his chest and made him happy. He thought about what Lee had told him, about Michael hugging him in the locker room, and Austin searching for him at ho-co. He thought of their group chat’s profile picture, the one they had taken together, in which one of the Stolls was ruffling his hair. He was happy with his team as well, and everyday he felt more proud of himself than the day before, even if there were particularly bad days that left him feeling hopeless or like a failure. At least, he thought, he had the other players to cheer him up, even if he was just a noob they had just met. He couldn’t come up with a decent reply, especially with how quickly the bus arrived and with how they basically had to forget their conversation and run so Lee could make it to the stop in time, but he hoped the rest of the team knew how much he appreciated them, and that’s what he spent the brief five minutes before his father arrived with the car and he got in the passenger seat.
“How was practice today?”
“Meh…” The exhaustion from work-out, the strong emotions and the period cramps had gotten to him, and he wasn’t in the mood to talk.
“Tired?” Will nodded. “Hyacinth and I were thinking of doing a family movie night, you feeling up for it?”
“Which film?”
“I don’t know. Mamma Mia?”
“Okay.” He mumbled. His eyes were on his phone, scrolling down the conversation his friends had been having in their lunch table group chat and also replying to some messages from Lou and Cecil. “Do you have a hot water bag at home?”
“A hot water bag?” Apollo asked, frowning as he tried to remember. “I don’t think so. I’ll get you one tomorrow morning.”
“Thanks, dad…” He was already feeling nauseous, but it got worse when his dad took a sudden turn in the road. Apollo, looking angry, honked and cursed out loud in Greek, like he always did in the car. “Do you ever swear in English?”
“Huh?”
“I’ve just always wondered if you curse in Greek because it’s easier or because you don’t want me to hear you curse.”
“Fifty-fifty. Nothing beats cursing in your first language, but your mom was very keen on not swearing around you when you were a baby.” Apollo smiled as he spoke. “That wasn’t a curse word, though, not in the slightest.”
“Should I greet Hyacinth with it, then?”
“Prolly not.” His dad answered, making him giggle.
They spent a few seconds in silence before Will talked again.
“You know, I tried to learn a bit of Greek during summer, but I just can’t do it.” He pouted. “I really wish I could.”
“Why do you say so?”
Even if they were still on the road, his eyes fell on his son for a second, worried and caring.
“The alphabet is just so overwhelming…” He was gonna keep going, explain how it made his head hurt and how hard it was for him to read, even if he could memorize it, but Apollo interrupted him.
“You don’t have to learn the alphabet.” He cut him off. “At least, not at first. You can just learn the words by sound.”
“Really?”
“Sure. Hyacinth and I can teach you.” The man smiled proudly at the idea. “Plus, I’ve been thinking about spending Thanksgiving at your auntie’s, and mom’s English isn’t that great yet, so it might come in handy. How does it sound?”
He told Apollo it sounded great, because the idea of learning his father’s native language from his father himself really seemed amazing, and it was something he would have never thought could happen just some months ago. He had always known he was half-Greek, but Will couldn’t wait to actually feel like he was. If he became worried about what his aunt and his grandmother —which Apollo later said would probably prefer giagiá— would think of him, it only happened later.
. . .
The bus ride to the museum had been awful, with everyone singing loudly and with Will having to sit with someone he had never seen in his life, given hat Nico and Hazel sat together, Austin went with Kayla, and Leo was condemned to sitting with Mr. Brunner’s in the area for wheelchairs —”wish me luck,” he had told him with a look of absolute terror in his face. He was more than happy to finally be at the place and to have Leo, not only by his side but also as part of the duos they had been told to group themselves into for the sake of a worksheet they had to fill out.
“Di Angelo, Levesque, Solace and Valdez, please.” Mr. Brunner called from the place in which he was handing the papers to the students. Will saw the siblings, who were probably planning to work together, walk towards him at the same time Leo and him did. “The four of you will have different worksheets, adapted with your needs in mind to make it easier. Since there’s only four of you, and since I’m afraid and sorry that we couldn’t cover all your particular conditions, I think you would benefit in working as a bigger group rather than in couples.”
They nodded in agreement and took the worksheets, moving back to where they were, though this time Hazel and Nico came with them.
“Woohoo! Our lucky day, sunshine! We get the art nerds all for ourselves.” Leo celebrated, smiling at Will.
“You do have to put effort into it.” Nico said as he scoffed. “What do we even have to do?”
“Just find examples of techniques and connect them with some painters, identifying the period some works belong to and listing those era’s characteristics. Should be easy.” Hazel explained, looking at the papers. “But we need the tour to do it, though.”
Their guide appeared shortly after. She greeted the students before explaining the history of the museum and moving on to the first room they were going to see, stopping to comment on different artworks. In the walks from room to room, Leo and Will (and occasionally Nico, if he wasn’t in the same predicament) found themselves having to poke Hazel to get her to stop ogling at paintings and to continue moving with the rest of the class. He couldn’t blame her, though. Every wall was covered with master pieces, and it was a pity they didn’t have unlimited time for each of them. At least, they finished the tour quickly and their group was done with the homework rather quickly, becoming one of the first people to finish, probably due to the fact they were four and not two. Hazel basically hopped her way to the teacher in hopes they would get free time to go and see the Morisot.
“We will all have free time in about 15 minutes, miss Levesque.” Mr. Brunner said, trying to hold back a giggle at the way Hazel groaned at his response, not even bothering to hide her annoyance. “I understand, I understand. I suggest you and your friends have a quick break at the cafeteria meanwhile.”
“Alright, mister.” She told him. Afterwards, she turned away and began walking, with the three boys following behind her.
“Cafeteria, then?” Leo tilted his head.
“I guess. It’s not a Morisot, but I wouldn’t mind a milkshake.” Hazel settled.
Only a few minutes later, they were standing in the queue. Hazel and Leo were talking about a show they were both watching, though Hazel’s eyes were on her hands trying to count her coins to see if she had enough cash. Leo already had a bill in his hand, seeing as he also wanted something to eat. Will looked at the menu, but he wasn’t feeling like eating at all and the food was all overpriced.
He turned his eyes to Nico, trying to search for conversation. The boy looked like he had seen a ghost, pale as ever, with one of his legs shaking and his fingers clutching at the handle of his crutches so hard his knuckles looked white. His eyes were wide open, as if he couldn’t bring himself to close them, and he was biting his lower lip as a way to relieve tension. Will considered the crowded space as a reason for his state at first, but he had seen Nico in crowded places before and, as much as he didn’t thrive, he handled them way better than he did. No, a crowded room would have had Will acting like that, not Nico.
He kept trying to find an explanation, until he remembered how little the boy always ate, and how he always did so at a slow pace and from a box he had packed for himself. He knew he had a private chef at home, but Hazel ate the school’s food, so it was obvious it was a personal reason. He thought about the dance last week, in which he had refused any food from the tables but had eaten a full plate as soon as they got home. Eventually, he arrived at the conclusion it was the smell and sight of different foods everywhere that was making Nico uncomfortable. Will whispered his name, trying to call his attention, and reached a hand around one of Nico’s, resting against the clutches, when the other didn’t react to his voice. Nico turned to face him almost immediately, so fast that it was a clear indicator of the state of alarm his body was in.
“What?”
“Wanna go to the souvenir store with me?” He asked. It was the first excuse that came to his mind. “I don’t feel like eating.”
“Yeah, sure. Perfect.” He said, repeating a bit more before telling Hazel and Leo they would be somewhere else.
“Oh, alright…!” Hazel smiled at first, but she looked sad when she kept talking to Nico. Will saw her mouthing what he interpreted as an apology. “Do you wanna meet again before the actual free time or…?”
“‘Course. Text us when you’re done.” Nico said. He was still tense, Will could tell, but he smiled at Hazel before leaving with Will.
The gift shop wasn’t very far away, but it was enough for Nico to relax, it seemed. He still didn’t seem like he was in his element, but at least he was blinking now and his face wasn’t so pale. He complained at the bright lights shining on the gifts, and at the fact that the place was still full of people, which Will could understand.
“I wanna get something for my ma.” He told him, hoping that Nico would help him search and thus have a distraction.
“What does she like?” He asked.
“ Steel Magnolias and Stevie Nicks, but they don’t sell merch at the MET.”
“Bummer.” Nico mumbled. “What’s something she would like?”
“I don’t know… I want it to be something she can use rather than just look at.”
“There are some bags over there.” The boy pointed at a section. “And aprons.”
He ended up getting her a cute tote bag with some fruits on it, or, in Nico’s fancier words, a still life. On the apron section, he had found one with a discount and a print that matched one of the Greek plates they had at the museum, and he thought getting it for his dad would be nice. Nico got himself a book on 30s European art, which Will didn’t know he was into.
During the queue, the boy seemed to be exhausted. Will hoped it wasn’t because of a flare up. After they were done paying, Nico tugged at his flannel and pointed at a random room of the museum.
“There?”
“You wanna go there?” His question earned him a nod from the other. “Sure.” He said, even if he didn’t understand why.
He understood once they were there. It was spacious, but barely had anyone inside, and the rumbling and underlying noises of people didn’t reach that room. A huge bench was in the middle, completely empty, and Nico sat as soon as they arrived. He rested one of his clutches on the ground and used the other to rest his head against it, letting out a low groan.
“Can you talk?” Nico had asked him the same thing at homecoming, and it made him wonder whether it came from past similar experiences.
“A Bit.”
“That’s alright. We can wait here as much as you need.” Will reassured him. He noticed the conflicted look in Nico’s eyes, as well as how he was biting his lip again. “Do you need anything?” He tilted his head.
“‘S weird.”
“You can tell me.” He said, making his tone as reassuring as possible.
“Hug me real tight?”
He did as soon as his brain registered the words. Nico didn’t return the hug, just letting himself be surrounded by the pressure of Will’s arms around his torso. He hoped it was tight enough.
“Was it alright?” He said after Nico, who seemed content with the hug, pushed him away softly after some seconds.
“Thank you.” He told him as he nodded. “Just needed pressure.” His voice sounded hoarse. Will reached inside his bag and pulled out the water bottle he had brought with him in case he needed an ibuprofen for his cramps. He offered it to Nico silently, who took it in his hands. “Thank you.” He said after taking a few sips.
“Of course. Do you feel better?”
“Yeah. Sorry, it was just too much. Forgot my headphones at home.” He explained. “Can you tell Hazel I wanna stay here?”
“Sure. And it’s alright, don’t worry.” Will quickly texted Hazel. “I can keep you company. The paintings here are really nice, actually.”
They waited in silence for a few seconds, then for a few minutes. He didn’t mind. Will was fine with the quietness, and he could easily wait until Nico felt ready to speak. Even if they had to leave before that happened, he didn’t think he would be bothered.
“They give us a coupon.” Nico said out of nowhere, making the blonde tilt his head. “A free ticket. At the end of the visit. We, uh, we can come back one day. Feels wrong that you have to miss it because of me.”
“I don’t mind being with you, promise. How do you know about the ticket, though?”
“They sent a doc with the whole plan to autistic students.” He explained. “Have I told you I’m autistic? Because, well, I am autistic. In case you didn’t know. Yeah.”
“You didn’t have to tell me.”
“Because you guessed it, or…?”
The question made Will giggle.
“I didn’t guess, but I would probably have in the long run.” He confessed. “I mean that you didn’t have an obligation to.”
“I know that.” Nico replied. “Just think you should benefit from knowing. Plus, I only didn’t tell you because it didn’t come up, but it’s like with Leo’s thing. It’s weird that everyone knows beside you. I don’t want you to feel excluded. And, well, I don’t wanna exclude you.”
“I feel plenty of included, you don’t need to wo…”
“Also, for your information.” Nico cut him off. “I know you know about ADHD, and dyslexia, and the crutches thing, because, well, hard to miss. But I also have an eating disorder, and…”
“I figured.” Said Will, being now the one to interrupt him. Nico stared at him dumbfoundedly. He blinked repeatedly in silence at the blonde. “Yeah?”
“You figured?” Will nodded. “And you didn’t try to intervene or anything?”
Will felt heat rise up to his face and fill his stomach uncomfortably. He suddenly felt like he was drowning, and he probably would be drowning in sweat in just a few seconds. He rushed to explain himself, not having wanted to say or do anything wrong.
“Well, I mean, you know, it was… It was very clear, I don’t know, I’ve only seen you finish a meal once, and you always eat the same things. But I thought that if I could arrive at that conclusion, the people who have been friends with you for ages could too, and your sister who lives with you probably could too…” He spoke almost too fast for Nico to follow. “But, then again, they weren’t saying much about it, so I thought you would have told them not to mention it, or something, but also, it’s not like you don’t eat because you don’t want to, just that lunch finishes before you can eat, and stuff like that, so I thought maybe it wasn’t weight related, you know? It could be, I don’t know, avoidant, or restrictive, so I didn’t wanna…”
“How the fuck do you know what ARFID is?” Nico sounded more surprised than mad. Matter of fact, Will realized as relief settled in, he didn’t sound mad at all. “I normally need 30 minutes and a long talk of ‘eat for me, would you?’ before people finally get it. Figured you hadn’t done it because you hadn’t noticed.”
“No, no, just what I said.” Will said. “I am sorry you gotta go through that. It sounds exhausting. This is gonna sound weird, but I look into illnesses a lot. I read about symptoms and treatment of different things a lot.”
“That’s not weird.” Nico shrugged. “I think it’s cool that you are passionate about your future career… I wish I was like that.” He sighed, looking down and playing with the hem of his jacket, looking gloomy all of a sudden. “Plus, it’s refreshing that you already know, and that you didn’t ask.”
“Thank you.” Will smiled. Then, he moved on the bench, scooching closer to Nico without knowing whether it was a good idea or not. The other jumped at first at the closeness, but didn’t move or push him away. “You like art, right?”
“I like music.” He mumbled, still looking down.
“You can like more than one thing.” He said. “I saw you sketching on the worksheet during the tour. It looked really good.”
“I mean, it’s nothing compared to, I don’t know, Hazel…”
“You can both be good at the same thing.” He told him.
“I just started, though.” Nico said. He was covering his mouth with his hand now, as if embarrassed. “Not really. I guess I’ve been drawing here and there for way longer. But, well, Hazel says I’m depressed and good at it, so she told me to try.”
“Are you?” Will asked him, trying not to make the concern in his voice too obvious.
“Good at it? You just said I was.” The question had gotten Nico to look up. The look on his face was a confused frown that made Will wonder whether he had angered.
“Depressed.”
“Oh.” His features relaxed as he considered the question, sighing and looking away from Will. His hands were back at the hem of the jacket. “I… I haven’t gone to the doctor for it. I’ve looked into it, but I don’t think I would get diagnosed, because my symptoms overlap with other stuff, but it’s not like Hazel is wrong either. Even the things I love don’t hit the same, or the parties I used to like. The whole driving me with her to her own dates is because I seriously don’t really leave the house on my own account. Meh… Only thing I ever do is go to work and sit at the swimming pool and stare at the tiles in the wall.”
“I am sorry.” Will told him. “I hope you can go to the doctor about it. Even if it’s not depression, or if you can’t get diagnosed, I hope you can get therapy for it.”
“Thank you.” Nico smiled at him. “I am trying to do more stuff, you know? Go out and all. I’m only gonna be 17 once, and most of my friends are going to college next year, it’s not like I’m static about wasting my time. Like, I’m going to Pipes’ gig tomorrow and…” His eyes shined at his words, and he turned to look at Will with a bright smile. His hands had closed into excited fists. “Wanna come? Jason and Leo are gonna be there, and we can go to have dinner later! You’ve never been to Thalia’s diner, and you owe me a dinner…”
“I have a match.” It felt almost wrong to admit it, as if he was telling him a lie. A part of him feared Nico would actually accuse him of making up an excuse.
“Oh, man…” He deflated for a moment, groaning at Will’s words, but chided himself in quickly. “Good luck, then. It’s a pity I can’t go see you.” He looked up at the blonde, suddenly noticing something. “What happened to you here?” Nico asked, pointing at his lip, where Will had gotten a scab from yesterday’s practice.
“Practice accident.” He said, slightly embarrassed. “A collision, if you will. It looks a bit silly.”
Nico smiled at his words. Will noticed that he was wiggling his legs in the air. He wasn’t really sure what part of him getting hit by accident was stim-causing, but he didn’t comment on it.
“We’re matching now.” Nico told him, pointing at the three scars on his cheek.
A part of Will wanted to know how he had managed to get scars there, but he knew it was out of hand to ask. He just smiled back, glad to see the other happy. He couldn’t stop himself from noting his smile was pretty, and, when he joked about their battle scars and Nico began laughing, he thought his laugh was beautiful too. It was deep when it started and high-pitched when it ended, and he laughed with his whole chest. He loved to see him so happy, especially after what had been an exhausting day for him, and after the conversation they had had. Will got the feeling that, once months had passed, he would have forgotten about most of the paintings and the techniques in each of them, but he would remember stimming with Nico in an empty room filled only with art and their giggles. He hoped it would be the same for him.
Notes:
- there's like 5860 more important parts to this chapter but man did i have the time of my life writing nico's instagram. also, all his captions are mcr lyrics. you take the man out of his little 2000s emo pop punk band, not the 2000s emo pop punk band out of the man o7! this chapter has multiple mentions to will not knowing the roughest parts of the rest of the group's lives, which may or may not have to do with next chapter (which will feautre... a halloween party woohoo stay tuned for that!)
- i had to go into trauma vault to remember basketball practice lmao. also days in which only a tiny part of the team shows up are the absolute worst imo T___T funfact! on my last year at the team i was also hugely struggling with feeling like the worst player (which i still think i was but thinking back, it wasn't that important tbh) and i had a panic attack during training before the first official match (i had been selected to play and i didn't want it nor could believe it), so this is partially inspired by that.
- THEY WERE SO CUTEEEE weren't they? <3333 my little boys in the museum !! i love museums guys i love museums so much. my family are always so angry whenever i force them to visit museum during trips but HOW THE FUCK ARE YOU GONNA MISS THE MUSEUM !!!! i've never been to new york (i dont have that money im afraid) nor to the met (kinda hard to go to the met without going to nyc ngl) but i spent an ungodly amount of time on its web looking at what pieces of art they had and, matter of fact, they do have a pdf for autistic students attending field trips and also multiple sensory maps (it isnt mentioned, but thats how nico finds a quiet place so quickly)! i thought that was really cool! im not used to local museums or activities looking out for disabled/autistic people so it was a nice thing to see. ALSO on the topic of art galleries and museums,,,, hazel's obsession with berthe morisot is pure projection. man do i love her art. shout out to impressionism, gotta be my favorite art period alongside
- i love writing hazel having a cute aesthetic milkshake so much. i think she was born to have cute milkshakes. i can't explain it, it just makes sense.
- guys guys guys...!!! i got an idea for another multi chaptered au that i will probably post after i finish this one (though we are not even half way done... yoink!) (and also i gotta finish extreme cabin makeover first too) but THE VIBES ARE IMMACULATE!!! im so excited!!! i dont wanna say much or i will get excited and drop this fic to write the other one (BAD IDEA), but the playlist starts with pink pony club by chappell, that's a hint i can give !!! :3 :3
- thank you so so much for reading !! (also i might be seeing artms soon??? omg???) i hope you liked this chapter <3 stay tuned for a bit of angst next week!
Chapter 6: " shadowplay "
Summary:
“Thank you for that.”
“‘S just a hug.” Nico shrugged, trying to lie to himself about how much he had liked it.
“For what you said too.” He began, speaking again before Nico could brush it off as nothing to worry about. “I don’t know why, I just… Most of the time I feel I’m lesser than others, so I’m always afraid someone’s gonna dislike me or be really mad at me.” He laughed tensely once, sounded strained and uncomfortable. “I shouldn’t have said that, I’m sorry, it’s…”
“Don’t say that.” He hushed him. “I understand. I’m glad you told me. I’m here for you, alright? And I… We don’t dislike you. You’re great, Will.”
Notes:
alright folks, hold on to your socks because this is when the hurt in hurt/comfort starts to shine! the tw list is a bit long for this so there will be a summary at the end notes for anyone who would rather skip! stay safe!! you guys let me know in the comments if i should add "angst" to the tags, or at least change "mild hurt/comfort" to "hurt/comfort" (i never feel like its sad enough to be tagged as that) (also why am i talking like a youtuber)
tw for:
- referenced parental emotional abuse & threats of physical violence
- ableism
- underage drinking (will takes like 2 sips of a beer)
- ptsd flashback regarding past parental abuse (about percy and gabe)
- past minor character death
- survivor's guilt
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
in the shadowplay, acting out
your own death, knowing no more,
as the assassins all grouped
in four lines, dancing on the floor.
The first sign Nico got that Jason wasn’t feeling alright when he got into his car was that he wasn’t even lip syncing to the Lauper song on the radio. If there was anyone he knew that would choose singing whatever 80s pop was playing over the health of their lungs and throat, it was him, so the silence was a reason to worry. He didn’t even seem that excited to see Nico, only greeting him with a soft “hi.” He could tell how the blonde tried to smile, and he could recognize how he failed at making it believable. His features relaxed into a sad expression as soon as his eyes were off Nico.
“Hi.” He said, finishing fastening his seatbelt. “Are you alright?”
“Headache.” Jason replied. He couldn’t tell if it was a lie or not. “Is Hazel sure she doesn’t wanna come?”
“She’s at the movies with Frank.” Nico told him. “Are you sure you wanna go? We can do something else, or, I don’t know. We don’t need to do anything. Pipes will understand”
“I am fine, don’t worry.”
They didn’t speak much. Nico kept his attention on Jason, partially because there wasn’t anyone else in the car yet, and partially because he was concerned. In the same way Jason had found out Nico was gay before anyone else and purely by accident, Nico had found out that he didn’t have it easy at home before the rest of their friends, and without Jason meaning to let him know. At first, he had blamed himself, sure that he had just ruined one of his best friendships, and guilty that he knew something that he felt Piper or Leo would be better at helping with. Still, Jason didn’t seem to mind. He had told Nico that at least he had someone to come for comfort other than Thalia. Of course, he didn’t expect Jason to tell him everything, but he still hoped to find a way to cheer him up when he noticed something was wrong. Thinking about things that could make his friend happy, Nico tried to tap “I love you” in morse code on the glovebox, hoping it would remind him of Leo. Pride filled his chest when Jason smiled.
“Almost.” He said, doing it himself on the spinning wheel. “It’s like that. He taught me.”
The smile in his lips died after a bit, but it came back once he stopped the car in front of Leo’s house. Nico waited in the passenger seat, scrolling down his phone while Jason went to ring the other. Will was playing, if the stories from inside a locker room posted by the rest of the team were anything to go by. Nico made sure to text him to wish him good luck.
“Hey there, Neeks.” The back door had opened, and Jason was princess-carrying Leo into the seat. With the way the other clinged onto his neck, it reminded him of a Superman comic.
“Hey.” He mumbled, putting his phone back in his pocket as Festus got into the car.
“Are we all set?” Jason asked, getting back in the driver’s seat. He was turned around so his eyes could be on Leo, and he was smiling much more brightly and genuinely than he had been when Nico got in the car. It made him happy. “Hold up, you’ve got something here. Grease?” He asked, reaching out a hand to try and smudge clean a little stain on Leo’s cheek.
“I am not leaving the house with grease on my face! I shower, you know?” Leo argued, though he didn’t back away from the touch. “It’s probably ink.”
“Were you working on something?” Jason finished cleaning the ink off his skin and began driving again, fixing the rear view mirror to watch Leo through it. The boy began shaking his hands, closed into fists, as soon as he got the question.
“Yes! We just got these new packs of screws that are just the perfect size for this prototype I had in mind, and I think that if the nuts we ordered arrive by next week, I can have it done before next Sunday, but I had to finish off the drafts and the project plan. It’s coming off so pretty!”
“What is it?” The blonde asked before Nico could.
“You know those little drone toys for kids? I wanna have the core of one inside this tiny dragon thingy, very steampunk, very cute, very whimsical. I want it to have a brass finish, or maybe copper, it’s not set yet. Maybe bronze. But I’m leaning towards brass. It just sounds cooler, you know?”
“How many are you gonna make?” Nico asked. He knew Leo sometimes made more than one of each project and sold the extra ones online.
“I don’t know. I was thinking of more than one, but I am also thinking of making this sort of amphibian drone boat ship thingy, so I need to restrain myself a bit with the use of materials.”
“I volunteer to try them out.” Jason offered.
“Yay! That’s a free excuse to hang out!”
They talked until they reached Mitchell’s house. More accurately, Jason and Leo talked and Nico occasionally said something, but he didn’t mind. In the end, he was quiet unless it came to his special interests, and Leo and Jason hadn’t seen each other in ages. The place wasn’t packed, but it still had its fair share of people in it. The band hadn’t started yet, either, which allowed them to grab a drink before finding a spot close to the stage. They were close enough for Thalia and Piper to wave at them once they were on, ready to perform, and the three of them waved back before joining the collective cheer. Thalia and Nyssa started the song, playing alone for some seconds before Piper joined them singing.
“ Shut! Up! Get over yourself, you sick fuck!”
They performed about 20 songs in the span of a bit more than an hour and half, occasionally stopping to interact with the public so Piper could rest their voice and drink a bit of water. Nico and Leo spent the whole thing singing along, and Jason multitasked between singing and taking pictures in one of his smaller cameras. They managed to take a selfie that showed the stage while Piper was asking questions to the audience, and Thalia, who was in the frame, noticed just in time to smile at the camera and give it a sign of horns.
“Thank you so much, everyone!” Piper shouted into their mic as the last song finished. “These are Thalia, Nyssa and Drew, I’m Piper, we are Olympia Grrls and you’ve been an amazing crowd!”
“One more!” Leo shouted.
Nico joined him, and so did many others. Piper turned around at the band, asking them something with their hands over their mic so it wasn’t heard out loud, and smiled before turning again.
“You guys want another?” They asked with a proud smile on their face that grew brighter when people shouted “yeah.” “Sweet… You guys fine with a cover?” Another “yeah” seemed to be the cue for Drew to start playing a beautiful harmony on her keys. “We’ve got one more for you guys! This is ‘Silver Springs’ by Fleetwood Mac! Hope you like it! Sing along if you know it!” They began singing after taking a last, quick sip of water from their bottle: “ You could be my silver spring, blue green, colors flashing… ”
Nico recorded the whole thing, singing along quietly in hopes his voice wouldn’t overshadow Piper’s in the video. For a cover, it felt incredibly intimate, as if they had written the song themselves, which was a bit silly, considering Piper had only ever dated Jason and, as far as Nico was aware, they had been the ones to break up with him. He clapped alongside the rest of the crowd once it was over, and him and his friends waited until Piper and the band finished putting away their instruments and the singer could reach them.
“Guys! How was it? Did you like it?” They said, throwing their arms around Nico and Jason from behind briefly before high fiving Leo.
“You were awesome!” Leo rushed to say. “Did you do a new one?”
“Yeah. Did you like it?”
“It was so cool.”
“I need you to send me the sample.” Jason told them. “And I loved the encore.”
“I liked when you threw yourself to the ground.” Nico said, recalling one of the performances.
“I kinda slipped, but it went well with the song.” Piper confessed. “It didn’t hurt, though, it’s fine!”
Thalia approached them from behind. She placed a hand on Piper’s shoulder and used the other to wave at the boys.
“Hey, Pipes, Mitchell says he saved food for us if we want anything.” She told them. “Think it’s pizza.”
“Oh, I’m starving.” They groaned. “You guys wanna come? It’s part of your groupie privilege.”
“Sure.” Nico answered first, knowing Leo and Jason would wait to see if he felt like eating before agreeing.
“Yeah! I forgot to eat before leaving, so.”
“Were you working on something again?”
“I gotta tell you all about it.” He told Piper.
“I have to go to the bathroom.” Jason said, instead. “Let me go ask Mitchell where it is.”
“He was over there, earlier.” Thalia said. “I’ll lead you to him.”
If someone else other than Nico questioned it or thought twice about the interaction, no one said anything. He followed Piper and Leo, who were already discussing his dragon drone, but not without a bittersweet feeling in his stomach. Nyssa and Drew were sat on the kitchen island, eating their veggie pizza, and Piper took two slices for Leo and Nico to have.
“I’m not…”
He tried to say he wasn’t feeling like eating anymore, because as much as he could eat most pizzas, there were too many different vegetables with too many different textures on it. Most of them he could handle on their own, but all together, with all their juices and different sized seeds, were too much. Piper understood without him needing to finish the sentence, and just took the slice for themselves. They spent some minutes there, until they finished the pizza, talking about the concert and catching up with the girls, who had been Leo’s classmates last year. Nico, who wasn’t as close with them, just served himself a glass of cold tap water and sipped in silence as he listened to the conversation. His phone beeped in his pocket, and he pulled it out.
will solace
Friday 29th, 10:08 PM
will solace
WE WON !!!!
by 4 points
nico
woohoo! that’s great
did you score any?
will solace
i tried
nico
thats what matters
are you cereblating?
will solace
the team? not really
dad’s ordering take out though so theres that
how was piper????
nico
[ Video attached ]
look they did feletwood mac
will solace
omg they keep outdoing themsleves
did jasons sis not play?
nico
thats the encore
it was moslty acapplela with just keys
The mention of Thalia and Jason made him notice the hour. They had left the group around 20 minutes ago and hadn’t come back yet, and if the chatter dying slowly was anything to go by, the party was coming to an end and his drive was nowhere to be seen. Not like Nico cared. If he saw Jason scarcely, Thalia saw him even less, despite the fact they were siblings. He just hoped that whatever conversation was taking that long wasn’t an argument. Until Leo or Piper pointed it out, he would remain quiet. Unfortunately, it didn’t take much longer for them to notice.
“Hey, weren’t Jason and Thalia meant to come back?” Leo asked.
“Ooops, I guess we just ate Thals’ dinner.” Nyssa whispered behind him.
“The house is huge, maybe they got lost?” Piper spoke, still finishing their last slice.
“Should we go for them? Leo and I need him to drive us back.” Leo asked. “Who is driving you, Pipes?”
“He said he could drive me back too when I texted him about it.”
“I’ll go look for him.” Nico offered. In case Thalia and Jason were arguing, he didn’t want anyone else to see, because he doubted Jason would. At least, if it was him, the other wouldn’t have to explain anything to anyone new. “Just finish eating. Also, you haven’t told Piper about the boat yet.”
“God, you’re right! Listen here, Pipes!”
The place was huge, but he made his way back to the garage pretty easily, and with some of the people already back at their houses, he found Mitchell easily. It didn’t prove very useful, seeing as apparently Jason and Thalia had never actually looked for him. He should have guessed that, honestly. The boy still advised him to look upstairs, and that’s what Nico did, entering the house once again and going up, knocking on every door in the corridor until he could hear voices coming from behind one of them. He stopped himself before knocking and paid attention to the voices before figuring out if the voices belonged to the people he was looking for. There was silence for a second, and then, instead of words, he heard sobbing.
“I… He just… And I…” He heard Jason gasp between cries.
“I know, sweetheart, I know.” Thalia replied, comfortingly.
Nico knew he should leave, but he found himself stuck in shock.
“And he told me… He… That I can’t read…” Jason cried out. “Called me a…”
“Shhh, take it easy, it’s fine. Breath, sweetheart.”
“I’m sorry… I shouldn’t… You…”
“It’s fine, it’s alright. Everything’s alright. Just breath, alright? Easy, take it easy. I’m here for you, I always am.”
“I’m sorry.”
He didn’t hear Jason talk again after that. The other just kept crying, and it sounded even more painful than it had at first. Nico couldn’t bear it, and he shouldn’t be eavesdropping to begin with. He walked away from the door, wondering what he was gonna tell Leo and Piper. Once he was downstairs again, he decided to call Jason, which in retrospect, was what he should have done to begin with. A few rings went by before the other picked up.
“Neeks?” He asked. He barely sound like he had been crying, and the thought terrified Nico.
“Is everything alright?” He asked, even if he knew it wasn’t. “You two left and didn’t come back. People are starting to leave.” He felt bad, stealing Jason of the comfort of his sister, but he didn’t want to go back into the kitchen, tell the others he hadn’t found them, and have Leo and Piper find them in the same situation he had.
“Yeah, everything’s… Everything’s fine, we’re just catching up.” Jason said. “I’ll be with you in five.”
He did as promised, and in just five minutes, he and Thalia were in the kitchen. Jason looked so composed Nico would have found it hard to believe he had been sobbing to her just some minutes before, but he didn’t say anything. The ride back home was alright, he guessed. Piper, Jason and Leo were playing “I spy,” Festus was resting his head on Piper’s lap, and they had put on ABBA Gold. Nico, however, was tense, barely paying attention to any of the fun taking place around him. He barely spoke, and he didn’t play any of the games, even if Leo called him a bore. They dropped Piper off first, Leo off second, and Nico for last. By the time Jason stopped the car in front of his house, Nico couldn’t bear it anymore.
“There we go. Hope you had fun.” Jason smiled sweetly at him. Nico didn’t reply, and made no effort to leave the car. “Nico? Are you alr…?”
“I heard you and Thalia speaking.” He blurted out before shoving his head in his hands and groaning, overwhelmed with the feeling of guilt. “I am so, so, so sorry. I went to look for you and I heard you crying and I was gonna leave, and I left, but I was so shocked at first I froze, and I promise I didn’t mean to, I am so sorry. I just felt so bad, I’m sorry, I couldn’t take it.”
Jason placed a hand on his shoulder, drawing circles to calm Nico down. It helped, even if a part of him felt horrible that it was him getting comfort when he felt Jason should be the one getting help.
“It’s alright, Neeks, I’m not mad at you.” He told him. It sounded genuine enough. “It was an accident, right?” He nodded. “Then, that’s it. I’m sorry you had to hear, though. For how long… What part did you listen to?”
“About your father saying you can’t read.” He said, assuming that’s who they had been talking about. It’s not like he had other options. “That fucker, I swear to God… Why would he even tell you that?”
“Do you wanna know?” Jason tilted his head.
“Do you need to let it out?” He asked, aware that Jason didn’t owe him his stories. The blonde nodded, looking exhausted and heavyhearted. “I’m all ears.”
“So.” Jason took a long sight and placed his hands on the steering wheel to have something to hold on to. “Juno said she wanted to bake a cake for tomorrow’s breakfast, because dad isn't working tomorrow. She asked me to read her the recipe while she did it, to save time, and because she says she wants our family to do things together all the time, and I did, but I kept messing up all the words, or taking too long. Dad was in the living room, and he could hear, so he ended up getting frustrated…” His voice broke for a second. His knuckles were white where they held onto the leather in the wheel.
“Take your time.” Nico mumbled.
“He came into the kitchen and snatched the cook book out of my hands. And he started to say that I am stupid, and that it’s pathetic that I can’t even read at my age. Said I was lucky he didn’t hit me with the book until he rearranged my neurons, and said he couldn’t believe he was raising a re… I actually don’t wanna keep going.”
“No need for that, don’t worry.” He told him. “You know he’s wrong, right? He’s a fucking asshole, Jay, that’s what he is, and he’s fucking wrong.”
“I can’t read, Nico.” Jason whispered. He sounded defeated.
“Yes, you can. You get straight A’s, for fuck’s sake, and he knows that. You are dyslexic, just like your sister, just like Percy and me. It’s genetic. And one day, you’ll get diagnosed and he can shove the cook book up his ass.”
Jason scoffed.
“I told Juno about it. A bit before school began.” He started. “She said I was just… I’m sorry.” He interrupted himself.
“You can say it, it’s fine.”
“Said I was trying to fit in with my weird friends. That I was ‘normal’ before meeting you.”
“Before meeting who? Your dyslexic old sister who was there in your fucking birth?” Nico deadpanned. “Also, hate to tell her this, but you met most of us after she came into your life, so how under God is she supposed to know how you were before?”
“Dad told her that…”
“Your dad should tell her to fuck off.” He spat. “And if he wants her to bake cake, he can read the recipe himself and leave you the fuck alone. Rearrange your brain? I’m gonna rearrange his ugly ass face until it’s backwards, I swear to God, if I ever catch him…”
He tended to get like that, angry and rambling, whenever Jason told him anything about his dad. Every new thing he found out about the man and his wife made him see red. At least, the other didn’t seem to mind, and had told him before he found a certain comfort in Nico’s anger. Nico guessed it wasn’t much, but it was more than enough considering he was spurting mere empty threats. After all, Jason’s father was a big, tall, rich and important man, and he was a short, disabled teen. The max he could get away with was hitting him with his crutches “by accident,” but he had never gotten the courage to try it out. A part of him hoped he would be brave enough to try it one day. Another bigger part wished Jason would leave that house before Nico had to.
. . .
itsa me! lunchio!
Sunday 28th , 5:23 PM
nico
hey guys, reyna called
will solace
who’s that? :O
nico
dakota is hosting a hawolleen party on wednsesday
will solace
who is dakota
nico
all of us got invited on the basis of being her and jay’s friends
“the more the meirrer” or wtv
haze !
@will solace they go to school with frank!!!
bro thinks he’s on the team 🔥
and w jason
AND we should totally go
wooper-cy
@beth COUPLE COSTUME???
pipes
not on the gc for the love of god
will solace
am i inculded in “all of us”?
bro thinks he’s on the team 🔥
you better be
nico
i’ll ask
i hope you are
Nico loved Halloween. He was static about it, even. Hazel and him had been talking about the upcoming party on their way to the cafeteria, and he had decided to queue with her as she got her food for the sake of keeping the conversation alive.
“Should we dress up?” He asked, swaying on his heels.
“It’s Halloween.”
“Right. Wanna go matching?” They exchanged a quick look, as if trying to read each other’s mind, and they talked again at the same time: “No.”
“Same wavelength, good.” She said, picking up a bottle of orange juice onto her tray. “I have something in mind already. You?”
“Me too.” He replied.
They were the last ones to make it to the table. Will and Piper were already on the edges of their bench, in their unofficial but sort of official seats, and seeing the blonde reminded Nico of the important notice he had to give him.
“I asked Reyna.” Nico announced after sitting, perhaps sounding too ominous. “And Dakota told her that you can totally come. The more the merrier, after all.”
The blonde’s face lit up at the words, making Nico’s chest fill with happiness. He would have hated to tell him that he wasn’t invited, and chances were that, had that been the case, he would have either missed the party all together or, more likely, managed to get Will in incognito —Piper and Percy would have aided him, he was sure.
“Woohoo!” Leo cheered. “Now, we gotta talk costumes.”
“Before we talk about costumes!” Percy cut him off. “Does anyone need a ride there or back home?”
“Jason’s driving me and Leo.” Piper said.
“And Frank’s driving Nico and I! I can ask him to take you with us, Will.”
“That’d be lovely, thank you.” He smiled politely.
“Can we talk about costumes already?” Leo asked, basically twitching in his wheelchair. “I managed to get Piper and Jason into a trio costume!”
“Oh my god, as whom?”
“As the polycule from The Book of Life. And… I’m gonna be the girl!” He said, getting a round of applause, because apparently that’s what they were doing. “Now, you two!”
“What if we weren’t doing a couple costume this year?” Annabeth raised an eyebrow at him.
“We are going as pirates.” Percy said instead, followed by more applause.
“I’m going as Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service. ” Hazel said when they got to her. “Frank’s going as Tombo.”
“That’s so fucking adorable.” Nico mumbled under his breath. As much as he liked to pretend he was bitter about their relationship, he was rooting for them. Will poked him at the side, making him realize it was his turn. He swallowed the food in his mouth quickly, which never failed to make him gag, and spoke without lifting his eyes from his plate. “I wanna go as a really niche video game character.”
“As who?” Will asked.
“You won’t know it.” Nico said, looking at him. At his words, Will pouted dramatically, making him give in. “The game’s called Hades. He’s the protag. What about you?” He asked, not even waiting for his applause to be over.
“I don’t know.” Will said, doing the stupid thing with the I that Nico liked. “I didn’t even know if I could go ten minutes ago.”
“Can you recycle something from last year?” Percy asked.
“I didn’t really think about packing my old Halloween costumes.” Will said. Nico snorted at the words. “But, also, they’re really old. My friends and I don’t really do dress up.”
“Boring…” Leo complained.
“What do you do?” Hazel asked him.
“We do a movie marathon in one of our houses.” The boy smiled.”Usually one actual horror cult movie that only Lou enjoys and then bunch of cute ones. We try to keep it scary for the first two, but somehow we always end up in Barbie in a Mermaid Tale. ”
“That’s a cult movie.” Percy mumbled.
“Last year we did The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Frankenweenie as the main course . ” As he spoke, Will pulled out his phone. “Looks like this year they are doing… Carrie and Beetlejuice. ”
“So you aren’t gonna dress up?” Nico asked. He hated how genuinely concerned he sounded, but he couldn’t phantom a costumeless Halloween. Will turned at him, with a very genuine and reassuring smile that probably shouldn’t make him as happy as it made him.
“I’ll find something. Don’t worry.”
He had no reason not to believe him.
. . .
Wednesday arrived earlier than Nico expected it to. With how static he was waiting for Frank by the door, one would think he was the guy’s partner and not Hazel, though in all honesty she was excited as well. Nico had guessed right when he had called their idea adorable, because the red bow on her head and the simple dress made her look super cute. When her boyfriend came through the door, wearing a striped shirt and jeans, Nico was already offering to take a picture of them together before Frank asked. Now, he was in the car with them, listening to The Corrs and giving out directions for Frank to drive them to Will’s house. Nico was dying to see what the other had managed to put together, so he offered to get off the car and go ring the blonde himself, even if he could have just texted him to get down to the street.
He waited patiently (not really), supporting his back against the door until he felt it open. Nico turned around and saw Will, dressed with an oversized white button-up sustained by a wide black belt, cream-colored pants and gauze around the lower part of his legs. He looked cute, and happy, which was probably what Nico should have noticed first.
“Skywalker?” He asked. Will nodded, smiling proudly. “You look great.”
“Says you.” Nico giggled at the response, not really knowing how to cope with compliments. He had thought he looked good before leaving the house (God knows he wouldn’t have left without changing, otherwise), but it didn’t mean he was ready to hear it coming from someone else. “Red looks awesome on you.”
“Thank you.” He said, hating how his voice sounded giddy. Hopefully, Will wouldn’t notice. Nico coughed into his fist, trying to compose himself. “That’s our ride right there.”
“Sweet.”
The rest of the car ride was long, with Dakota’s house sitting 30 minutes away, but it was nice nonetheless. With Will in the car, Nico had someone to talk to while Hazel and Frank caught up after having gone a week without seeing each other. He knew the blonde had practice on Wednesdays, like Percy, and they talked about it. The team was playing on Sunday, but Will hadn’t been selected to play, which was fine with him.
“To be honest, being selected the first time was a shocker.” He confessed. “I think it’s because we were only four guys on the training that day and the coach would have felt bad saying they were all going but me.”
“But you won that one, didn’t you?”
“I doubt I made the difference.” Nico frowned, feeling bad that he hadn’t gone and thus couldn’t convince Will that he had been crucial to the victory. “I haven’t scored a single basket yet.”
“That’s not everything, is it?”
“I guess not.” Will mumbled, looking down. “I don’t know, though…”
“I’ll go watch you next time.” He promised. Will turned to look at him, eyes wide shot in disbelief. “What? We are friends, right?”
He hoped Will agreed. It had only been two months (a bit less, actually) of knowing each other, but he felt like they had clicked. Like they were already close, despite how recently they had met. He had told Will about how he didn’t have a future planned out except for the one in which he became chained to his father’s business, and he had told him about how he felt like his life was going nowhere, which was stuff he had only told Hazel and Jason. To this day, Nico didn’t know what had possessed him to do so, but maybe it was the way Will seemed to be such a good listener, or the way in which he didn’t seem to judge him. Maybe it was precisely because he was new to the friend group, a fresh addition into Nico’s life, and he didn’t feel like it would disappoint him or concern him too much. Maybe it was just because it felt nice being around him. Nico guessed it didn’t matter. Whatever the reason was, he loved being around Will, and he found himself wanting more.
“Of course we are.” Will jumped to say. “But it’s… Embarrassing, to say the least.”
“I saw you against Jason, remember?” He whispered. Frank and Hazel were still in the car, and they had been at that match as well, and he didn’t want them hearing that and jumping to the conversation.
“Agh, don’t remind me…”
“What I mean is, I’m sure you have improved a lot. If anything, it would be admirable, not embarrassing.” He said.
“Do you even like basketball?”
“No, but…” But what? But I like being with you? I can’t say that… “But it’s just 40 minutes. Plus, I go to Percy’s swim practice, and I can’t even swim.”
“If you say so…”
“I do.”
“Then, I’ll let you know next time I play.” Will gave in. Nico just smiled, even if inside he was celebrating with fireworks.
Fortunately, they had just made it. He doubted he would have been able to follow the conversation logically. Instead, now he had an excuse to ask Frank if he would mind keeping his crutches on the trunk, seeing as he was doing mostly fine. He had brought them with him just to make sure, honestly.
“Remind me to get them later.” He told him after thanking him.
The four of them walked towards the door together, with the music creeping louder and louder with each step they took. Percy and Annabeth had just made it to the place some minutes before them, and Jason, Leo and Piper had arrived earlier, but they didn’t see them upon entering. Hazel and Frank went to grab something to drink almost immediately, and Will and Nico remained alone.
“How do you feel?” He asked the blonde. Nico had learnt that Will, like him, didn’t thrive in crowded spaces.
“I’m fine so far.” The other replied. “It’s huge, so it doesn’t feel too busy.”
“What about the music?” Nico had recognized the song in the background as one of the songs topping the charts at the moment, but couldn’t say he loved it.
“I liked Piper’s band better.” Will confessed. Nico couldn’t help agreeing. “Wanna grab a drink?”
“Sure.”
There were tables with drinks all over, but Nico couldn’t find anything non-alcoholic. Coming from the host, it didn’t surprise him, but it still didn’t make him happy. He turned to Will, who had grabbed a plastic cup and a can of beer. He scrunched his nose, because he wasn’t used to anyone in their friend group drinking, but he had no reason to judge Will. They were teens at a party, it wasn’t anything crazy. He just hoped the boy wouldn’t get ridiculously drunk or something, but that seemed out of character.
“Can we find the kitchen?” Nico asked him. “I want water.”
“Of course. I think I saw a door over there.” Will told him, pointing in the direction of a door. As they walked, he took a sip, grimacing as he swallowed it down. “It’s warm.” He complained.
Nico had never had beer, warm or cool, but he guessed that it was meant to be enjoyed fresh.
“Are you gonna finish it?”
“Don’t think so.” Will spoke, holding the kitchen door up for him. “I’ll put the cup back on the table when we are back and hopefully someone will think it’s theirs? It’s not like I’ve been drooling over it… Wait, I don’t want it to get spiked or anything.”
“Throw it down the sink?” Nico suggested.
“That’s wasteful…” He was pouting as he talked, as if he was facing a serious moral dilemma.
“Put ice in it?”
“That kills the flavor.” Will sighed. “It’s not like it’s a delicacy. I guess ice is fine.”
So, without thinking much about the fact they were trespassing Dakota’s fridge, they opened its door so Nico could grab a small bottle of water while Will opened the freezer and took out a box of ice cubes, putting one inside his cup.
“Is this even allowed?” Will asked.
“He won’t notice.” Nico shrugged in response.
“Fair enough.”
“Is it better now?” He asked once the other took another sip of his drink. Will nodded and gave him a thumbs-up. “I didn’t know you drank.”
“Twice a year or so, it’s not like it’s my favorite thing.” He explained. “Does it make you uncomfortable? I can stop if…”
“It’s fine with me.” Nico told him. “Just, uh…” He didn’t know what to say. More accurately, he didn’t know how to say it. He wasn’t used to be around alcohol, because all his friends knew that Percy and Jason couldn’t stand it, and as much as he knew Will would stop if he heard about the other’s trigger, Nico couldn’t help but feel it wasn’t his place to tell him.
“Just what? If there’s anything I should know, you can tell me…”
He had turned to look at Nico, who walked by his side, and, therefore, Will’s eyes weren’t looking ahead. It would have been fine, he figured, if Will wasn’t clumsy by nature and if Percy hadn’t been coming in their direction to greet them. He knew he couldn’t have done nothing to prevent the fact that they collided against each other, and that Will’s drink spilled over the taller boy, but he still felt his heart clench on itself for not having reacted sooner.
Will was frozen in place, apologizing. It reminded Nico of homecoming, but it was completely different. Throwing soda on Clarisse was one thing, throwing beer on Percy was something else… Not because Clarisse seemed scary and Percy was their friend, but because where the girl had probably been mostly unphased by it, Percy was as stuck in place as Will, and Nico could see the way his eyes were tearing up, just like how he could hear his breath quicken.
“Fuck.” Nico whispered. He managed to react quickly enough to slot himself between the two boys, turning to Will first and placing his hands on the blonde’s shoulder. “I’m gonna take him to the bathroom, alright? I need you to find Annabeth and take her there too, understood?”
Will seemed confused, which Nico couldn’t blame him for, but he nodded determinedly and went to find Annabeth. Meanwhile, Nico grabbed Percy’s hand and dragged him to where he thought the bathrooms were. Luckily, they found them quick enough, and empty, so Nico pushed his cousin inside and closed the door behind them. By the time they were inside, Percy was full-on hyperventilating, and immediately dropped to the ground, putting his head in his hands.
“Make it stop, I didn’t do anything, I didn’t do anything…” He mumbled between fast paced breaths.
Nico kneeled by his side after gathering a bit of paper, and began drying off his face.
“Nothing’s going on, Perce, you’re fine.” He said, hoping he sounded reassuring. “You’re safe, he’s dead, and he can’t hurt you.”
“I didn’t do anything.” He kept mumbling.
Nico guessed his words were probably not getting to him, but that was fine with him. He would just keep talking. There was a knock in the door, followed by a girl asking if they were done, which he ignored.
“You didn’t do anything, Perce.” He whispered. He tried to think of when he got like this, and what got him through it. Soft words, soft tone, being told he was safe… It didn’t seem to be working, judging by the way Percy was still breathing poorly and shaking under him. “You are safe, you didn’t do…”
“Make it stop, Nico, make it stop…” He was getting louder, the last words bordering on a shout. “Stop it, stop it, stop…”
“He’s dead. He can’t hurt you now, he’s not hurting you right now, Percy.” He ignored the knock on the door again. “You are safe. Annabeth will be here in a second.”
“They’re gonna laugh at me, they’re all gonna laugh at me…”
Nico felt his bones freeze. It was horrible to hear the distress in his voice. In his eyes, Percy had always been someone to look up to, an older figure, someone he could idolize. When he had met him as a 10-year-old and Percy hadn’t immediately rejected him as a friend on the basis of Nico being barely capable of articulating two decent sentences in English together, he had seen Percy as a hero, and had ignored the sad reality in front of his eyes. Perhaps, it was for the better, because it wasn’t for kids to know heavy things like that. So, Nico never noticed the smell of beer and vodka on Percy’s house, and he never noticed their stains on the carpet, or the bruises on Percy and Sally. Nico had been a scaredy kid growing up, while, for him, the other had been the bravest and coolest person in the world. Yet, at the moment, he couldn’t help to feel like he was looking at the scared and scarred kid Percy had grown up as: trying to make himself small on the floor, crying and hyperventilating, with beer spilled over him and terrified of being used for a laugh while he struggled to find a reason for his unfair punishment. Nico knew he was still the strong and brave guy he had thought him to be, but he wished there were different reasons for him to be strong and brave other than pure survival.
“No one's gonna laugh at you, Percy.” He said. The other was mostly dry already, so he stopped patting him with the paper. “I am not laughing, and Annabeth won’t laugh…”
“He’s gonna bring Eddie and they’re gonna laugh at me.”
“He’s dead, and you haven’t seen his friends since he died.” Another knock on the door. “You are safe. You are here with your friends, and you are not being punished, or made fun of.”
“Are you done in there!?” The person from behind the door finally snapped. “Can’t you leave?”
“I would have opened the fucking door if I were done!” Nico shouted back, frustrated. The girl could either hold it or pee herself for all he cared, especially when chances were there was a perfectly good bathroom somewhere else in the house that she could go search for. He regretted screaming almost instantly, when he turned his head from the door to Percy and saw his green eyes red and crying and his face contorted in fear.
“Why are you shouting? What did I do? I didn’t mean to, I didn’t, I don’t know what I did, Nico…” He sobbed out weakly. “I didn’t mean to. Why are you mad? Why are you shouting?”
“No, no, no, no…” He rushed to tell him. “You didn’t do anything, I am not mad. I’m sorry, I won’t shout again. No one’s shouting anymore. See? Just peace and qui…”
He was gonna kill whoever the fuck was behind that door, because his words got interrupted by loud banging and an even louder voice.
“Are you even using the restroom!? Can’t you fucking leave!? Some of us need to go!”
“Why is she shouting?”
“Let me go tell her to fuck off.” He began saying, making an effort to stand up before Percy grabbed him by the arm and pulled weakly, as if silently asking him not to leave. “What do you need, Percy?”
“I don’t know.” He sobbed. “I don’t understand. I didn’t do anything.”
“You didn’t do anything.” He echoed. He wished he could tell him it had been an accident, but feared it would sound like an excuse Gabe would have used before and send him further down into his spiral. “Nothing’s going on. No one’s pouring beer on you, not anymore. You can breathe.”
“Is he gonna beat me up?”
“No, Percy, he’s dead.”
There was another knock in the door. Weaker, but still enough to make Nico grit his teeth in order not to shout at the girl again.
“Percy? Nico, is Percy in there?” It was Annabeth’s voice, he registered. “Please, I need to see him.”
“Beth’s here.” He whispered to him. Percy sobbed weakly against his arm before looking up at Nico.
“Is she gonna laugh at me?”
“No, she won’t. She never will.” He reassured him, standing up slowly enough for Percy to follow his movement without falling back into the ground. “She’s gonna help. She’ll make sure you feel better.”
He managed to get them to the door and open it. Outside, waiting for them, were Annabeth and Will, standing behind her with a look whose concern matched hers and biting his nails. The girl needed less than a second to hug Percy, and he reciprocated, probably craving the comfort.
“I know. I know, sweetheart, I know.” She whispered against his ear. “Let’s go outside, let’s go get some fresh air.”
It took a bit for him to manage to move, still terrified at the idea of people laughing at him, but Annabeth managed to drive them both outside. Fortunately, the bathroom was close enough to the back door for the walk to be quick. Nico watched in silence how they left the dance floor before turning back at Will, pale as a ghost. He sighed, taking an easy guess about how the other was feeling right now, and grabbed his wrist.
“We should go outside too.”
Will followed him outside like a puppet, as if he wasn’t in charge of his body. With how anxious he was at the moment, Nico doubted he felt sovereign over himself, actually. It didn’t matter. He was there for him. Percy and Annabeth were sitting on the wrap-around porch the house had. By the sound of it, he was much more calm now, though still crying a bit. Never letting go of Will’s hand, Nico got them to a spot far away enough so that the couple weren’t in the point of view.
“This should be alright.” He mumbled, ready to go sit on the ground.
“I am so, so, so, sorry. I can’t even begin to explain. I understand if…” Will started to ramble. Nico decided to remain standing, and turned slightly so they were staring into each other’s eyes. Will was teary-eyed and shaking all over as he apologized. “I didn’t mean to, I swear, I…”
“Will, listen here.” He put both palms on the blonde’s shoulders, making him quiet down for a bit. “Breath.” Nico told him. “It’s not me that you should apologize to, but, for the record, I know you didn’t mean to. You had no way of knowing this would happen, and no reason to hurt Percy, and it’s obvious this is not what you wanted. I know all of that. And Percy knows as well. He’s not gonna be mad at you, and I’m sure he’ll forgive you. Understand?” Will nodded slowly as he took in word by word. He didn’t look super convinced, though. Nico sighed, opening his arms and looking at the other with hesitance in his eyes, not because he didn’t want this, but because of how unused he was to hugs. “Hug?”
Will basically threw himself in his arms and let Nico squeeze him. He didn’t know how long they spent hugging, but he figured it didn’t matter. After all, he still owed him one hug from the museum field trip. When Will pulled away, he looked more composed. He dried his eyes with his hand and fixed his clothes before talking again.
“Thank you for that.”
“‘S just a hug.” Nico shrugged, trying to lie to himself about how much he had liked it.
“For what you said too.” He began, speaking again before Nico could brush it off as nothing to worry about. “I don’t know why, I just… Most of the time I feel I’m lesser than others, so I’m always afraid someone’s gonna dislike me or be really mad at me.” He laughed tensely once, sounded strained and uncomfortable. “I shouldn’t have said that, I’m sorry, it’s…”
“Don’t say that.” He hushed him. “I understand. I’m glad you told me. I’m here for you, alright? And I… We don’t dislike you. You’re great, Will.”
“Thank you.” Nico wanted to hug him again. “I’m still very sorry about Percy, though.”
“I know.” He sighed. He wished he could allow himself to reach out a hand and hold Will’s against his. “I’m gonna be brief and vague because it’s not my story to tell you, not because I think it’s funny to be mysterious, but just know that Percy and Jason, if you are ever around him, don’t mix well with alcohol. Most of us have our fucked up trauma things, unfortunately. I know it’s awkward, but you should ask about it one day.”
“Ask about it, sure.” Will took in the words, sounding nervous.
“I can be with you when you do, if it helps.” He offered with a smile, which the other returned.
“Is it alright if I ask…? Is there anything I should know about you?”
Nico bit the inside of the mouth, pondering the thought. Unlike Percy, Jason or Piper, he didn’t have complex PTSD, which made his list of triggers significantly smaller, but also… The things that scared him weren’t anything the other could control, but he figured that Will would appreciate prior explanation if he ever saw him struggling.
“Do you want the full story…?” He hesitantly asked, trying to make it sound like he was indifferent. A part of him wanted Will to know the basics and that’s it, scared of being vulnerable when there wasn’t a need to. Another bigger part felt Will was deserving of his vulnerability, even if it meant going through a harder answer.
“I want whatever you are comfortable with.”
“Well, then…” Nico breathed out. He sat on the porsche, which was high enough for his legs to wiggle, not reaching the ground. He patted the floor at his side, and Will sat there with him, looking in the same direction as Nico, who took a deep breath before speaking. “Before Hazel, I had another sister, called Bianca. She was a bit older than me, and she was…” He scrunched his nose, not sure how to explain it. “To put it plainly, she was my best friend. I want to say it’s because we moved and I didn’t know enough English to talk to anyone else, but she was my best friend at home too. She was great, you probably would have liked her. The thing is, the house you came to after homecoming… We lived somewhere else at first. A very old building that dad had inherited and was planning on rebranding as a hotel, or something, but it was too old and the works were working too slowly. It wasn’t…” His breath halted and his heart skipped a beat. Words began feeling harder as a rubbery feeling took over his tongue. He had to stop and gather himself. Nico was unsure on whether he would be able to follow, but then he felt the warmth of Will’s hand enveloping one of his and drawing circles on his skin, and he kept going. “It wasn’t up to code. It… The roof fell in during a storm. The walls collapsed on themselves.”
“Nico…”
“My dad was at a funeral. It was just me, Bianca, and my mom.” He said.
His mind was filling out with images of the day. He felt the hair on the back of his neck pike up as the feeling of the water on the floor making it through his socks came back, at the memory of lightning and thunder striking repeatedly in the background like a the toll of a bell announcing doom, and the mental image of Maria di Angelo on the floor trying to find the keys to the front door as Bianca ran towards her. Nico had been frozen in place.
“We were the only people in the whole building.” He mumbled gloomily. “I was the sole survivor.” Nico bit the inside of his cheek again, trying to make it hurt so he could focus the pain somewhere else. “Mamma and Bianca… I think something covered them and they ran out of air. I don’t remember what the autopsy said. I was buried under the rubble for hours. I could barely breathe, and it hurt like I was holding the fucking sky. I made it, but they said I would have leg pain chronically following the nerve damage. Also, I got these when they pulled me outside.” He said, pointing at his cheek. Will’s tiny scab from practice had faded weeks ago, and Nico had been sad even if he had known it would happen. He had pretty bad acne, which wasn’t his favorite thing, and acne and three massive scars on his face didn’t truly make him feel like he was a sight for sore eyes. He looked around to see what Will was doing, and found him staring in awe at the lines on his cheek. His eyes were beautiful, Nico caught himself thinking, but he still clicked his tongue at the fact he was ogling him. “You can stop looking now.”
“I wasn’t looking at that.” It sounded airy, and it reminded Nico of the way Frank greeted Hazel whenever they got in his car. He chose to believe Will meant his words, even if he wasn’t sure what other reason he would have to look at Nico.
“Moral of the story is…” He stopped, realizing he had said the wrong thing. There really wasn’t a moral… He had meant to do a conclusion, but not like that. “Don’t live in an old building? Not the point. The thing is… Storms and lightning petrify me, and I don’t really vibe with water, or with heavy weights. Those things make me panic. That’s it, that’s my tragic past.” He tried to joke about it, even if his heart felt heavy in his chest.
It had been ages since he told anyone. Annabeth, Piper and Leo had been told by Percy, and Percy had been told by his family. So had Jason. It wasn’t a topic that ever came up, and Nico was thankful for it, even if now it meant that he had no idea what kind of response to expect or want from Will.
“I am glad you survived.”
The world stopped for a second. That wasn’t something Nico was used to hearing, and it wasn’t something he told himself. It had been two years already, but he still felt guilty over having survived while his mother and sister didn’t. It wasn’t fair, because they had been looking for the keys, and for their phones, to call for help and to flee the building… And he had just panicked and stood in place until a wall fell in on him. Yet, he had hobbled out of the situation that had buried his family. How was that fair? He didn’t know. His father didn’t know either, judging by how he had never told him he was happy Nico made it.
He didn’t blame him for it, though, because he agreed. Nico as the sole survivor had always felt like a sick joke life and death had played on everyone else. He would have rather for Bianca to live, and he was sure his friends would agree with him. If Will had known her, he would agree with him, and Nico was distantly aware of the fact he was shaking his head no at his words and ready to tell him that he was wrong, that he wasn’t glad. It took him a bit to realize he couldn’t speak properly, and it took him longer to realize he had broken to tears. He could faintly hear himself apologizing, not sure if it was over crying or over something else, and that was the last thing he registered before he felt Will pulling him into a hug. A second later, surrounded by the warmth of his arms, was when Nico felt himself starting to fall for him. For a moment, he felt glad to have survived.
Notes:
- CHAPTER SUMMARY : nico, jason and leo go to piper and thalia's gig on saturday. jason and thalia disappear for a bit, and when nico goes to search for them he overhears jason crying about his father telling him he can't read. once jason drives them all home, when there's only him and nico in the car, nico tells him and asks him if he needs to talk abt it, so jason explains that his dad shouted at him and threatened him in front of his step mom over dyslexia symptoms. time flashes to a month later, when the friendgroup go to a halloween party and will accidentally drops beer on percy, which triggers him into a flashback regarding gabe humiliating him. nico tries to calm him down until annabeth comes to help him, and then nico reassures will that he is not to blame bc 1. it was an accident 2. he didn't know it would happen. after that nico tells will about how his mother and sister died buried under rubble when their building crushed down and how he was the sole survivor. will tells him he is happy he survived and nico breaks to tears, so he hugs him, and that's when nico realizes he's falling in love.
- this chapter was very hard to write, mostly because i wrote it while being sick 3 i don't hate it though, and i like the next chapters enough to make up for it.
- okay from top to bottom. JASON GUYS JASON. he will be carrying the angst of the fic, this is a warning. next chapters will dwell deeper into his situation! ^___^ also, leo talking about his little projects, i love him!!! nico as zagreus >>>> (if you have never seen fanart of nico in zag's clothes PLS go through velinxi's or marik_draw's acc and you'll find some, and you'll love it). "the 3 mcs from book of life arent actually dating" WRONG !!!! THEY TOLD ME OTHERWISE !!!
- now. for the actual important stuff of the chapter (which is a "blink it and you miss it" situation, sorry :P)... HE'S CAUGHT FEELINGS EVERYONE!!! THE FEELINGS ARE BEING HAD!!! THE LOVE IS BEING FALLEN INTO!!! HE LIKES THIS GUY!!!! WOOOHOOO!!! EVERYONE CHEERED!!
- next chapter isn't fully written yet but it's gonna include thanksgiving! we are moving fast because i know exactly when i want them to start dating, and i want them to have as many chapters dating as not dating. i hope you'll understand (i say as if you guys hadn't wanted them together by homecoming)
- now, for irl updates... GUYS. GUYS. MARINA 6TH ALBUM!!! MARINA 6TH ALBUM!! IM SOOO GONNA GET TICKETS IF/WHEN SHE GOES ON TOUR. I HOPE I WILL BE ABLE TO SAY "I GOT TICKETS" IN A NOTE OF THIS FIC OR SOMETHING, LMAO. also i got to see the spanish female selection (current world champions) play!!! and i just finished my italian course and im pretty sure i passed !!!! lots of good things going on these days! yay! <3
- see you next week with a will chapter !!!!!! stay safe and enjoy life !!
Chapter 7: " everywhere "
Summary:
“Are you gonna work here now?” Nico tilted his head. “Like, are you gonna be here in your free afternoons from now on?”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.” Nico mumbled, almost as if caught with a cheat sheet on an exam. “I, uh, you’d get bored, didn’t you say so? So I thought maybe I could bring you coffee some days, or something. Do you get a break?”
“It’s a one-day-only thing.” He said. With the face he got in response, it was easy to know Nico was disappointed. He was biting the inside of his tongue, looking around and nodding slowly, looking like he wasn’t sure about what to say. Will didn’t like seeing him disappointed, and so, he tried to fix it. “Do you get breaks in the jewelry shop?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “Are you… Gonna come see me someday?”
Notes:
i want everyone to know that this chapter was gonna be posted next week, and that next week's chapter was instead going to be the one posted today. this chapter right here is a 10k-long fluffy sweet treat sandwhiched between angst bc i felt bad putting 2 sad chapters next to each other. also im posting this from a party lmao
EITHER WAY ! HOPE YOU ENJOY o7
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
you know that i'm falling and i don't know what to say.
i'll speak a little louder, i'll even shout.
you know that i'm proud and i can't get the words out.
oh, i wanna be with you everywhere.
reduce, reuse, recycle
Tuesday 20th , 2:46 AM
cecil :P
WIIIIIIIIIILL
will will will will
lou -__-
will please show yourself.
will
hi !! ^____^
[ Voice note: “Hi!” shouted in unison by multiple people ]
new york friends say hi
lou -__-
are they treating you well?
cecil :P
they sound trustworthy
will
yes they are and yes they are
arent you at class?
lou -__-
a doubt has befallen us.
cecil :P
are you coming over for thanksgiving????
will
cant :(
mom’s playing in washington on friday
did you know theres this whole genre about feminsit punk thats from wasintgon
lou -__-
we miss you.
cecil :P
speak for yourself
(and for me)
“Aw…” He said out loud, pouting at his phone. “Y’all, they miss me…”
“You say that like it’s hard to believe.” Nico was the first out of the people in the table to react.
“It is, in a way. I don’t know.” He mumbled. “I miss them too, but I’m here by myself. I mean, y’all are here and you’re my friends, and I love you! But I still miss them. They have each other, though, so I thought they would be fine.”
“That’s not how it works, though.” Said Piper. “Like, they have each other and all, but neither of them are you. Of course they would miss you.”
“Yeah, man. We would miss you if you left all of a sudden too, even if there’s still six of us.” Leo told him. “Wait a moment. Are you leaving next year?”
He felt himself blush as the whole table stared at him in silence, expecting his answer. Will’s breath hitched as he tensed and his heartbeat got faster. At his side, Nico looked at him very serious, as if his reply would change the course of his life as a person. However, when he noticed Will had become uncomfortable, he sneaked a hand under the table and caressed his knee. A part of him thought that, on any other day, that would have done nothing to help his heartbeat slow down —it would have probably done the opposite—, but at the moment, it seemed to work.
He had noticed Nico had gotten more touchy the past weeks. On Halloween, after they had hugged for a good fifteen minutes, the boy had grabbed his hand once they entered the house again. He had appreciated it, feeling anxious due to the amount of people in the dancefloor, and hadn’t questioned. Nico had only let go of him once a song from a goth band came in and Nico had started dancing. He had looked lost on it, as if he had forgotten about Will. Lou had taught him and Cecil goth dance ages ago, and he remembered it as just a lot of mystical arm-waving. It had looked mystical on Nico as well, freeing and beautiful to witness. Lou had told them it was all about letting the music flow through you as it pleased, and it was exactly what Nico had done. In the end, when the music stopped, he had just blushed and grabbed Will’s hand again, taking them to another place. The only thing he had said was “Joy Division,” which the blonde hadn’t understood until he googled it the next morning. After that, they hadn’t held hands again, but Nico no longer shied away from his touch, and had no problem touching him in small ways, such as putting a hand on his shoulder or brushing against him. Will couldn’t say he didn’t love it.
Now, he had his hand on his knee, a quiet way of telling him he was there for him.
“Yeah, I am.” He admitted, finally replying to Leo. “I love it here, guys, and I’m really glad to have met you, but… I was always meant to stay for just a year.” Nico’s hand tensed a bit, and disappointed faces spread over his friends. Will automatically regretted his words, even if they had just been the truth. “I’m sorry…”
“Hey, man, it’s alright.” It was Percy who spoke. “You’ve got nothing to be sorry for. We’ll be happy as long as you have a good year here, right, guys?”
“Yeah! But also, you gotta keep in contact with us once you leave!” Piper said.
“It might not be a long time, but it’ll sure be a fun one.” Leo told him. “Are you gonna go back to Austin for Thanksgiving?”
“Nah.” Will shook his head. “That’s what my friends asked, too. But mom has a concert on Friday. I’ll go for Christmas, though. I already have the tickets.”
“Oh my God, when are you leaving?” Piper asked him.
“On the 22nd, the day after class ends.” Will said.
“You are staying the whole semester, then?” Piper said again. He nodded, and they smiled brightly. “That means we can add you to our Secret Santa!”
“Y’all do a friend Secret Santa?” He asked.
“Do you not have Secret Santa in the south?” Said Nico.
“I don’t have enough friends for one.”
“We’ve been doing one since we met!” Piper kept explaining. “It’s a yearly tradition at this point. We don’t have many of those. We should have more of those, guys.”
“You and I have Thanksgiving cinema.” Leo pointed out. “Jason already said he could come, by the way.”
“Oh, my, Thanksgiving.” Annabeth, who had been mostly quiet, turned to Percy. “I can’t spend it with you this year. My cousin’s foster family invited us, and I don’t think my parents will go if I don’t, but it would mean so much to him if we went.”
“Aw, bummer.” Percy complained light-heartedly at the same time he tucked Annabeth’s hair behind her ear with tenderness. “You go with him and have a great time, alright? Send me lots of pictures.”
“Cheesy! Anyone single who has plans for Thanksgiving?” Leo said loudly, interrupting their moment. He looked at the bench in front of him, realizing slowly that Hazel wasn’t single and Piper’s plans were also his plans. He pointed at Will and Nico with his fork. “It’s only you two.”
“We’re staying at home, and Frank’s coming over.” Nico said.
“Frank and his grandma!” Hazel corrected him, smiling proudly. Will could tell how happy she was of her thriving relationship, and couldn’t help but smile a bit too. “What about you, Will?”
“I’m going to my aunt’s.”
He had tried to sound relaxed, but the words still came out tense. He had been nervous ever since his father had made the visit official, and with every day he had grown more terrified of it. For starters, Will had never met his father’s side of the family, and vice versa. Even if he had already asked Apollo thousands of times whether he was sure his aunt and grandmother knew of his existence, he still couldn’t be sure about it. Then, there was the fact that he had only learnt very few sentences and words in Greek after his dad’s offering of teaching him, meaning he could not keep up a conversation in the slightest. He didn’t want to make a fool of himself, either, but he felt like whether he attempted to talk a bit in their language or just kept to English, he would be an embarrassment. What if he was a disappointment? What if they just didn’t like him? What if they resented that Apollo had had a child by accident, and let Will know about it?
“Do you not like her?” He heard Nico ask. The boy was looking at him, with his eyes full of concern. He had really pretty eyes, Will thought to himself briefly before becoming fully aware of the concern factor. “You seem uncomfortable.”
“I have never met her, or my grandmother.” Will admitted. “I’m a bit terrified.”
“I’m sure they’ll like you.” Nico told him, sounding genuine. “Why wouldn’t they? You’re, you know, nice.”
“What if nice isn’t enough?” He questioned, biting his nails.
“I think you are enough.” Nico said.
He was smiling at him, and, like most of the time he smiled on purpose, it looked a bit awkward. Half of Will thought it was endearing; another half he tried to ignore thought it was straight up charming… And its charm worked wonders. When he was being told like that, by him, it was easy to feel like he was enough.
. . .
They didn’t have school on Wednesday, meaning Will didn’t have practice in the afternoon either. With the visit being scheduled on Thursday, it left him with an uneventful day ahead of him. He woke up later than usual, and allowed himself some time to laze around in the bed with his phone. Lou Ellen had gone to Hondo again, and had posted a stunning compilation of pics of old churches and corn fields. Cecil had gone to see a basketball match, according to his “close friends” stories. No one else had posted anything else that he could investigate, so Will got off the bed, showered, and walked inside the kitchen, where Hyacinth had been making pancakes.
“Where’s dad?” He asked through a yawn as he sat on the bed. It was unlike the house to be silent, but especially so when Apollo was inside. The fact Kate Bush wasn’t blasting through the speakers in the living room was a tell-tale sign of his absence. “Thought he had a day off today.”
“He had to leave to the studio.” Hyacinth sighed. “Apparently some intern lost some samples they needed for a single, and they are gonna re-record them just in case they aren’t recovered before the release date.”
“Do you work today?” Will asked, then.
“I was about to say… We’ve got a bunch of orders for Thanksgiving that need to be picked up today, and stuff.” He said, placing a pancake from the pan straight to Will’s plate. “I was gonna ask if you wanted to help at the store. I get it if you have plans, though, no big deal.”
“Help you in the flower shop?” Will tilted his head. Hyacinth nodded. “I don’t know anything about flowers.”
“It’s just reading the tags and giving them out when people ask for them.” The man explained. “And manage the register. If anyone comes to buy something not pre-ordered, I’ll do it. You shouldn’t have to worry. I’ll be there if you need help, though. And you’ll get paid, of course.”
“You don’t have to pay me.”
“Not really, but I should.” Hyacinth replied. “I’m gonna shower, and you let me know after I’m ready if you wanna come.”
An hour later, Will was with Hyacinth in the back store of his flower shop, tying a green apron behind his back. They were surrounded by the numerous bouquets and flower arrangements that had been ordered, and as pretty as the plants looked, the smell was overwhelming. Once Hyacinth finished putting his hair up —Will had to ask how he managed to keep his curls so perfect despite it being so long and tedious—, they exited towards the main area, still full of flowers, but more bearable.
Will took his spot behind the register counter as Hyacinth flipped the door sign from “CLOSED” to “OPEN,” and their day began. Just as he had been told, he had nothing to worry about. All he had to do was wait for people with orders to appear, ask them the name they had placed their flowers after, and retrieve them from the backroom. He had thought about problems that could happen to him, like two people with the same name having ordered the same thing, but he found out Hyacinth had asked for first and last name in such cases, or added additional information to facilitate the process of identifying a customer. He misread a name once, which he knew was bound to happen, but contrary to his belief that it would lead to huge backlash from the clientele, he just had to go and find the actual order, without any other complication. It was, despite clearly being a busy day for the business, very easy.
A few hours after starting, Will found himself bored, staring from behind the register at the glass doors while Hyacinth finished arranging some flowers for the only customer currently in the store, an old lady. His mind went to Nico and all the times he and Hazel complained about their job being slow. It wasn’t a fair comparison, because he had only been working for a few hours, and had been busy for most of them, but Will figured it was easy for an ADHD teen to get desperately understimulated when clients weren’t coming.
He tapped his fingers on the counter, waiting for someone to appear behind the glass doors, when he spotted the figure of a short boy covered in black, baggy clothes. Will blinked, making sure his eyes weren’t deceiving him, but a waving hand from the boy confirmed that it was, in fact, Nico. To make his surprise bigger, instead of walking past the store, he went to place a hand on the door handle. Will rushed to open it for him.
“Woah, what a service.” Nico joked once Will swang the door open for him to enter. “Since when are you employed?”
“My dad’s boyfriend owns this place.” He said, delighting in the surprise on Nico’s face. It wasn’t often that he saw him surprised, seeing as the other remained with a neutral expression most of the time, but it just made it seem even cuter when he scrunched up his nose in confusion and curiosity. “I’m just lending a hand.”
“How are you liking it?”
“It’s fun. At least it’s fun when there’s people.” He said. “What do you do to not get bored?”
“At work?” Will nodded. “We have these catalogs we are meant to sell. I usually steal one and draw on it. Doubt you can do that, though. Do flower shops come with catalogs?”
“Not really… What did you come for, though? I should work now that there’s a client.”
“I had an order for today.”
Hyacinth seemed busy, making conversation with the lady from before in a far corner of the room as he fixed her flowers, and there was no one else in store. Will wanted to reach out a hand and walk Nico towards the register like that, and a part of him felt tempted to do it, even if they ended up walking normally.
“Under what name?” He asked, heading towards the back room.
“Eh… I don’t know, I wasn’t told.” Nico mumbled. “‘S just a bunch of chrysanthemums.”
“I can go look.”
Will, having a vague idea of what a chrysanthemum looked like, went inside in search of the flowers. He had learnt throughout the day that Hyacinth had organized the orders in alphabetical order, so he went towards the D of “di Angelo.” He doubted the flowers were directly under Nico’s name, but he didn’t know his parents’ name. There was no sign of any “di Angelo” in any of the tags, though, and a quick look at the L section revealed there was no sign of “Levesque” either.
“Do you know what your dad’s called?” He asked Nico after leaving the room empty handed. It took him a bit to register his own words, so the boy’s laughter didn’t make sense to him at first.
“Yeah, he doesn’t talk to me that little.” He chuckled before telling him the man’s name.
Will took a peek inside the room, scanning the flowers around the H section trying to find chrysanthemums before his eyes laid on a proud arrangement of them, rather big and definitely fancy. He just had to go inside, pick it, and send Nico off with him. Preferably charge him, too. Yet, Will found himself not wanting to send the other off so fast… He couldn’t deny the feeling had been there after just meeting him, because while it had been much tinier and hard to notice, he was sure a part of him had distantly sensed it: he was drawn to Nico. Whatever it was, there was something about him that pulled Will towards his presence, and he didn’t want to ignore it.
“I think I see them.” He said, feeling brave. “Do you wanna come inside and check them? So I don’t have to come out again.”
He studied Nico’s reply. His crutches weren’t with him, which seemed to make him confused about what to do with his arms. Nervously, the boy put his hands on his jacket’s pockets, took them out again, and started to scratch his face in just a matter of seconds.
“Yeah.” Nico said, just when Will was about to apologize about making him uncomfortable. “Makes sense.”
Still feeling unsure, Will considered telling him he needn’t go inside with him if he didn’t want to, but he didn’t get a chance to. Nico grabbed his hand, which Will was definitely not complaining about, and pulled him inside the backstore before he could protest. He could swear he saw Hyacinth raise an eyebrow at them before going back to cutting tulips for the old woman.
“This one?” Will said, pointing at the flowers and trying to make sure his voice didn’t sound like being alone in a dimly lit, quiet, small place with Nico was making him nervous. He had never got the appeal of the “7 minutes in paradise” game, but he was starting to understand why people liked it.
“Hmm…” Nico squinted his eyes and looked. It wasn’t like he had to read a long text, just “Hades,” but with how he hadn’t stopped holding Will’s hand, Will didn’t complain about it taking longer. It was rare for him to feel comfortable around people, and he liked to end his social interactions early, but he wished they could stretch the moment out as far as possible. “Should be that, yes.”
Will carried the flowers out, mourning Nico’s hand on his, and went to the register alongside the boy.
“So, eh… Are these for…?” He started, not sure where he was going. If there was a plant he knew the symbolism of, it was chrysanthemums. Or, maybe he didn’t know the symbolism, but he definitely knew they were predominantly used for graves.
“For Bianca and mom, yes. We are visiting their graves tomorrow.” Nico replied before he finished the question. He pulled his credit card out, tapped the counter with it and rolled his eyes. “Church on a Thursday. Kill me.”
The blonde snorted. He had guessed Nico was catholic after seeing the rosary picture on his Instagram, and, when he had asked him about it, his response had been a rant about how much he had hated catholic school. Will could easily guess that church was not very exciting for him, specially no on a Thursday.
“I’m sure it will be over before you know it.” Will tried to tell him. “And then you get to celebrate Thanksgiving with Hazel and Frank, and…”
“You’re making it worse.”
“I’m not.” He said before gesturing at him to swap his card. “You’ll have fun with them.”
“I wish I could take someone home too.”
Maybe Will was starting to go crazy, but he swore he heard the smallest bit of nervous hesitancy under his voice. He raised an eyebrow. A part of him wanted to test his luck and ask who he would take if he could, but he stopped himself. That was, perhaps, too much taking into account they were meant to be just good friends. Thankfully, the register asked Nico for his credit card code, meaning Will got to look away and hide the way he had blushed at his own thoughts as the other typed the number in.
“Do you want the copy?”
It was him who was sounding nervous now, voice shaking through the standard question. Nico shook his head no, so Will just handed him the flowers. As much as some minutes before he had been wanting their time together to be longer, he found himself wanting Nico to leave so he could quickly lock himself in the backstore, process his feelings —why were there feelings to process in the first place, oh, god? His heart was beating so fast it was unbearable—, and calm himself down. Yet, Nico didn’t walk towards the door.
“Are you gonna work here now?” Nico tilted his head. “Like, are you gonna be here in your free afternoons from now on?”
“Why?” Will registered the word escaping him before he could stop it. He kicked himself mentally, knowing he should have probably said that no, he wasn’t gonna work there, and that whatever Nico’s reason to ask was wasn’t his business.
“I don’t know.” Nico mumbled, almost as if caught with a cheat sheet on an exam. “I, uh, you’d get bored, didn’t you say so? So I thought maybe I could bring you coffee some days, or something. Do you get a break?”
One of Will’s hands grabbed a pen from the counter, the first thing he could get his hands on, and he tightened his grip to the point his knuckles turned white. He wants to bring me coffee on my break, he said to himself, nodding slowly at Nico’s words and trying his best to keep a relaxed smile, God above, he wants to come see me on my breaks.
“It’s a one-day-only thing.” He said. With the face he got in response, it was easy to know Nico was disappointed. He was biting the inside of his tongue, looking around and nodding slowly, looking like he wasn’t sure about what to say. Will didn’t like seeing him disappointed, and so, he tried to fix it. “Do you get breaks in the jewelry shop?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “Are you… Gonna come see me someday?”
He asked the question looking directly at the shelf at their side. If Will hadn’t know he was autistic and struggled with eye contact, he would have guessed he just really liked lilies. He nodded, though unsure Nico could see him, and showed him an empty post-it that he had just ripped out from the tower of those in the counter.
“I will if you give me the address.” He said, handing him the pen.
Nico eyed him, eyed the pen, and eyed him again, as if asking if he was sure. Will nodded, and next second he had Nico writing his workplace’s address. He felt as if he had just won the Olympics. His heart was still pumping up too fast, but contrary to the stress and uncomfortable sweat he got when he was in big social gatherings, Will felt like he had just come first place in a marathon that had Nico waiting at the end. It was silly, and he knew he could have asked for where he worked before, during their previous talks about it, but it didn’t stop him from feeling on top of the world.
“Will, stop flirting with my clients!” Hyacinth’s voice was what pulled him down to Earth again. He must have made a really funny face at the words, because Nico started laughing.
“He’s my friend!” He shouted back.
“Stop flirting with your friend, then.” Nico had snorted before, but now he was full on laughing, giggling as he placed the sticky note back on the counter. “Are you done with the register? I need it.”
“Yeah, yeah, I am.” He said before turning to Nico and whispering to him. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s gotten to him.”
“Oh, don’t worry, he’s fun.” Nico brushed it off. “See you on Monday, Will.”
“See you.” He said, waving goodbye.
He watched in silence as Nico exited the store. Will moved a bit, allowing Hyacinth to use the register and charge the woman. Through the windows, he could see Nico entering a fancy, roofless car. The woman he had met back when he went to his house was behind the steering wheel, while his father sat on the passenger’s seat, asking Nico something —probably a “what took you so long?”— with a pissed off face. The boy rolled his eyes as he fastened his seat belt. Will loved it when he did that, because of how dramatic he made it. It was not subtle at all, and in a way it was very Nico. As he was starting to realize, he really liked Nico, and all his little mannerisms felt special and endearing in their own way. Damn, he told himself, I should have noticed sooner.
Hyacinth elbowed him once the woman left and they were both alone in the shop again, pulling Will out of his thoughts.
“Was that the guy you didn’t have a date with?”
“Maybe.” Will shyly let out. He was starting to wish their little homecoming thing had been a date, even if he knew he hadn’t felt as strongly about him back then.
“And you were flirting with him at the workplace because…?”
“I wasn’t flirting with him.”
“Weren’t you asking for his number?” Hyacinth raised an eyebrow.
“I have his number. You’ve seen me text with him before.”
“Moving fast, aren’t you?” It was Will’s turn to elbow him. He was sure it didn’t hurt, especially judging by how the man just laughed in response. “Okay, fine, I’ll stop. What did you talk about, though?”
Will stopped to think about it. What had they talked about? Ah, right. Nico had told him he wanted someone to spend tomorrow with, and Will had had to bit his tongue in order not to ask if he would choose him if he could, right before Nico had said he would like to come see Will at his job often, just for Will to tell him he would be the one to go see him and bring him coffee.
“Yeah, uh…” He started, feeling the touch of the sticky note on his hand. “Maybe we were flirting.”
. . .
Apollo wasn’t done in the studio by the time Hyacinth closed the store, or so he told Will with a sigh as the boy got into the passenger seat of his pick-up truck. The man confessed he didn’t really feel like cooking, which Will didn’t mind, and drove them to a small gyros place he claimed was the best in town instead of taking them home. He waited at the table, scrolling down his phone as Hyacinth made conversation with the guy behind the counter as he waited for their orders. When he arrived, Will decided to take a picture of them and the food, with Hyacinth doing a thumbs-up as he himself did a peace sign, and sent it to his mom with a heart as a caption.
Will missed his mother a lot, even if they called daily and kept each other updated in everything. He had lived with her his whole life, and now they were on completely opposite sides of the country, with him living with another side of his family in New York and her just having played in Sacramento some nights ago. With the visit to his aunt’s house scheduled for tomorrow and the uncertainty of it all, he couldn’t do much more than pout and wish he at least had her by his side, as he was used to.
“Do you not like it?” Hyacinth asked at his sad face. “I can order you one with another meat, if you want.”
“No, no, it’s not that.” Will said, taking a bite of food to prove it.
“What is it, then? Are you feeling bad? We can go home if you want, wait for your dad, take these to-go…”
The boy smiled. When he had just landed in town, he had been deathly afraid of Hyacinth rejecting his presence, or blaming him for intruding in his family, but through the months they had spent together he had only been caring to him. He had expected to be ignored, in a way, but he had been wrong. Hyacinth cooked most of the time at home, and he helped Will with his homework whenever needed, with him and Apollo taking turns in helping him with long reading assignments. He went to see him at matches, and he checked up on him as much as his father did. There had been moments in which Will had come accidentally close to calling him “dad” by mistake.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” He said, not wanting to concern him further. Then, he stopped for a second to think what to say, knowing he wanted to ask him something about Apollo’s side of the family, but not sure why. “What did you feel like…?” He started. “How was it finding out I exist?”
“Like, when your dad told me?” Will nodded. Hyacinth frowned, looking up like Will had noticed him doing whenever he was trying to remember something. “Hm… I would have to think about that. It was ages ago.”
“It was just some months.”
The man looked at him in confusion, his head tilted.
“Some months?” He asked. “Will, he told me on our second date.”
“Did he?”
Will knew his father loved him, but he had always thought he carried him as a secret. After all, he had been the result of an accidental pregnancy when his parents were in college, and given that Apollo had had the chance to start from zero in the big city, he had assumed people like Hyacinth or his sister and mother had only been told once it was required.
“Yeah.” Hyacinth said, putting his food down to explain. “He arrived at the restaurant in a rush, and sat down, and before I could greet him he told me he had a child back in Austin from a past girlfriend, and that I should know if we were gonna go steady. He said he sent part of his salary every month, that providing for you was always gonna be his priority, and that if I didn’t like that there was no reason to keep seeing each other. He said that if we ever adopted, he would want to raise our children as siblings to you, and that he was never gonna lose contact with you over a partner.” He explained. “I remember being confused, because we hadn’t even kissed yet, and suddenly we were talking about adopting. He’s dramatic like that, you’re similar in that way.” A fond smile formed on his lips as he kept talking. “But as out of the blue as it was, I liked it. It was nice to see he cared for you and your mother, even if I didn’t know you. It’s not like I had doubts, but it was nice to see he was the good person I had thought him to be. It made me feel like I was making the right decision by choosing to date him. Why’d you ask?”
Will looked down at the table. He could picture his father rambling out all of that to a confused Hyacinth. There had been times he had arrived from work going on about whatever had gone wrong with a song or a sample, and ranted for minutes without barely catching a break as Hyacinth and Will either stared in silence or nodded. He guessed he hadn’t changed much, and neither had his care for his son. He wondered if Hyacinth had been his first boyfriend after moving out from Austin, or if his existence had been a deal breaker for previous partners. It didn’t matter, because apparently his father didn’t keep around people who weren’t alright with his support of Will, and that was incredibly reassuring. As silly as it sounded, Will realized he hadn’t stopped to think that Apollo wouldn't take him to meet his family if he suspected they would make him uncomfortable.
“I am scared about tomorrow.” He mumbled. It felt like a secret, even if he was sure the couple had gathered it made him nervous with how many questions he had made. “I don’t wanna be a homewrecker and ruin dad’s family.”
“Kid, look at me.” Will obeyed, looking up and fixing his eyes on Hyacinth's, stern and focused on him. “You are your dad’s family.”
In theory, Will knew that already, and in practice, his dad has never not proven it to him. It didn’t mean he didn’t need to hear it from time to time. He had been wrong about Hyacinth, and he hoped he would be wrong about fearing his aunt and grandma. He smiled shyly, and let himself be comforted by the words. After all, he was his father’s child, and that was undeniably part of his father’s family. No one could change that, and no one could convince him that he hadn’t been loved by Apollo and his boyfriend.
It was never easy to tell himself he was loved, appreciated and that he belonged in places, but that time it felt easier than most. Will felt calm, with some of his worries regarding the day after feeling far away now. They fell into easy conversation, and he went to bed that day with his pocket full of money from his shift, his heart filled with images of his family and Nico surrounded by flowers, and the knowledge that he had had a great day.
Will had a weird dream about eating gyros at mass during Thanksgiving and woke up trying to remember who had been there in order to tell them later. He remembered Lou and his mom, Nico, Piper and one of the clients from yesterday as members of the congregation, with Apollo as the priest. He was still mostly asleep, typing a lazy message to his group chat with Cecil and Lou Ellen about his dream, when his father knocked on his door.
“Rise and shine, sunshine! We are leaving in an hour!”
With a groan, Will got out of bed and got ready in record time. They left after 45 minutes rather than an hour. It was a 40-minute drive, but it felt both longer and not long enough. As much as he had been confident in himself last night, Will was starting to get nervous again as the minutes went by. By the time they arrived, he felt short of breath.
“I’m gonna get your mom’s gift out of the trunk, you two get going.” Hyacinth said.
Apollo and him kissed, Will pretended to gag, and they all got down the car. It was his dad who knocked on the door, which he was thankful for, seeing how he had frozen upon arrival. A feminine voice shouted from inside. Will didn’t understand what she said, but he guessed it was the Greek equivalent of “I’m coming!” Judging by how the door opened just a few seconds late. In front of them stood a tall and athletic ginger woman. Will stared at her and then at his father while they hugged and greeted each other, noting the lack of similarity despite being twins, and then her eyes fell on him.
“Will, right?” She asked, holding out her hand for him to shake. He did, at the same time he nodded in silence. “You look just like in the pictures! The breathing image of your dad, too. But I’d said you’ve got your giagiá’s hair.”
“Duh, that’s because I got mom’s hair.” Apollo told her, rolling his eyes.
“My mom’s blonde too.” Will said, not really sure why. All his life he had been told he had the hair of his mom, and he liked it that way. Still, he didn’t think telling the part of the family he wanted to belong with that the similarities they found in him were actually from someone else.
“What’d you say?” Artemis asked.
“I said my mom’s blonde too.” He mumbled again, looking down embarrassed.
“Naomi, is she? You should invite her next year! I would love meeting her.” His aunt smiled, gesturing for them to enter the house. She placed an arm around Will’s shoulder as they walked inside, protectively. It made him feel safe, in a way, and helped him believe her words were genuine. “I’m sure she’d had lots of things to complain about your dad right here, and I’m all for women complaining about Apollo.”
“ I’m ill fir wimin cimplining ibit Ipilli.” The man repeated.
“I’m happy you like men, I didn’t see much future elsewhere.” Artemis said, though it was clear she didn’t mean it. “Where’d you leave Hyacinth?”
“He was getting the stuff from the trunk. We are still having a barbecue, right?”
“Yep. Do you like meat, kid?” She asked Will. “I got vegetarian options if you’d prefer that.”
“Meat is fine, thank you.” He smiled. His voice sounded strained, like he was working his first day in a retail store and trying his best to appease a mean client, and he hated how high-pitched it came out. Will coughed into his fist. “You’ve got a garden?” He asked, trying to sound more like his usual self.
“‘Course! The grill’s there.” She explained, taking them through the corridor. A knock at the door caught her attention. “Oh! I’m gonna go open for Hyacinth. Show the kid around?”
She rushed towards the door, and left Will and his dad walking towards the end of the corridor, where a french door led to a spacious garden. On the porch rested an already-smoking grill and a big table with chairs, where a golden-haired woman with green eyes and a black hoodie with Greek letters and the number 1996 in it was sat. She stood up as soon as the two of them entered, smiling fondly and placing one of her hands —the other was holding onto a cane— on her heart as she sighed and walked to them. She didn’t look particularly old, which Will guessed made sense considering how young his dad had had him. He assumed her age would be around 60, give or take. There were barely any wrinkles on her face, and he could tell the ones she had were mostly from smiling. She said a bunch of stuff to his dad in Greek, but Will only caught some words, like the man’s name, “long time,” and something he guessed was the past tense of “see you.” Then, she turned to Will, looking at him with a gentle expression and placing a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it without making it hurt.
“Hello, dear.” She said. It was much less than what she had said to her son, but Will knew she wasn’t fluent in English yet, so he had been expecting short sentences. “Oh, you are beautiful.”
“Thank you.” He said, trying to sound as clear as possible. Hopefully, he would be able to neutralize his accent for the day. “You too, miss.”
“Miss?” She shook her head no, frowning exaggeratedly. That won’t do, she seemed to tell him. “ Giagiá, yes? Or granny.”
“ Giagiá is fine.” The least he could do was learn the word in the tongue she could understand perfectly, right? “I’m Will.”
“I’m Leto.” She said. “I’m happy to meet you.”
“I’m very happy too.”
She hugged him, pulling him close slowly and squeezing him gently. She smelt like honey and cinnamon, like she’d been cooking recently, and it reminded Will of his mom’s kitchen. Despite the clear language barrier, he got the feeling that she was genuinely pleased with his presence. He too hadn’t been lying when he said he was happy. So far, he was liking his aunt and grandma.
Said aunt shouted from the corridor, telling them to move from the door. Will was so happy to actually have understood the full sentence in Greek that he barely moved in time before she and Hyacinth entered the garden, with her carrying a box of pork meat and him holding a bouquet and a box of chocolates. He greeted his unofficial mother-in-law, exchanged some words with her and handed her the flowers and chocolate.
“Put them in the kitchen, love?” She said, handing the box back to her daughter. The older woman winked at Will once his aunt left with the box. “For dessert.”
He smiled back at her, allowing himself a moment to breathe deeply. It was all going well so far, even if they had only been there for 10 minutes. Not only did Will not feel like he was unwelcome, he felt he was appreciated, and that was more than he could say about most settings.
“Wanna help me lay the table?” His dad asked him. Will nodded and headed back into the house, when Hyacinth took his dad’s wrist in his hands.
“You catch up with your mom, I’ll help.”
The blonde man rolled his eyes and used his other hand to remove Hyacinth’s.
“You stay and ask her for my hand in marriage while I lay the table.” He told him. “I wanna go annoy Artemis.”
So, Will followed him to the kitchen, and grabbed the cutlery and glasses while Apollo and Artemis fought about who did the dishes more often when they were together. He and his dad laid the table while the woman and Hyacinth started the grill, and the florist became the sole cook of the day once Will’s dad noticed the archery range set up at the end of the garden and demanded a quick competition against his sister. Meanwhile, Will had nothing to do other than sit with his grandmother in silence.
“So…” He started, always desperate to fill up quiet spaces, which always made him nervous. “Where in Greece are you from?”
He had asked his dad and Hyacinth the same thing, and he knew Apollo’s family had lived in a tiny town in Delphi before they had to leave over gentrification making the prices of everything unbearable, but he had been told they had moved in when the siblings were around 1, so he had no idea where his grandma was from.
“I’m from Kos.” She smiled, seemingly happy to talk about it. “It’s a very small place. Not popular.”
“I’m from Texas.” He told her. “It’s very warm there.” She frowned, as if to let him know she didn’t like warm places, and he nodded in agreement. “What, uh… What job did you do?”
It was not the most deep conversation Will had ever had, but with how little they knew about each other and with how little they could communicate in words, it was easy to fall into it. They were pretty much playing 20 questions, but he didn’t mind. After all, it was one of his favorite games for road trips, and it was still fun when there was no road nor trip on-going. He learnt his grandma used to be a kindergarten teacher, which was easy to believe seeing how every word, gesture and movement she did seemed to be infused with tenderness. She learnt he wanted to be a doctor, and happily told him his aunt was a midwife. She talked about his late grandfather, and Will talked about his mom, even playing one of her songs for her on Youtube.
Hyacinth called his dad and aunt, who ran towards the table debating on whether they would need an extra go at the range after dessert to break a tie. Will suspected there was no tie to begin with and that they just wanted to keep playing, but didn’t say anything. When he mentioned he hadn’t know Apollo was into archery, his grandmother had proudly shown her hoodie, which allegedly belonged to Artemis, and taught Will to read the words on it, “Amfissa Junior Archery Tournament 1996,” apparently the last one they had partaken in (and in which both twins had gotten gold in their respective categories). Artemis promised him that she would teach him to shoot an arrow later, even.
They took a million selfies, especially after the food was done. Their dessert was just the chocolate they had gotten for Leto and a bunch of dates and strawberries. Will barely had time to find his favorite picture of all the ones they had taken and sent it to his mom before his aunt dragged him to the range, joking that she didn’t wanna be the one to brew coffee for the rest of the family and thus forcing the chore on his dad. He was happy with that, though his happiness faded the slightest bit after he found out how absolutely horrible he was at archery. His dad came to take his spot soon enough once he was done with the coffee, thankfully.
When Will came back to the table, Hyacinth and Leto were deep in conversation. Judging by their looks, it was a serious matter, and he caught some words similar enough to English that let him know they were talking about politics. Not wanting to disturb, he opened his phone instead. A quick look at Instagram confirmed the plans his friends had talked about: Percy had posted a picture of his baby sister and his parents with a small text thanking them for everything, Leo and Piper had posted different pictures at the same restaurant, both together with their friend Jason, Annabeth and a boy her age with similar hair and features were both posing to the camera, dressed with Celtics equipment, and Nico had posted to his “close friends” a very zoomed in pic of Hazel and Frank in the kitchen and the text “how dare they have a healthy relationship in front of me?” He giggled at it, imagining him frowning as he typed it. He must be bored, Will thought. With how little his family seemed to talk to him, and with Hazel probably giving more attention to Frank, which was understandable, he guessed Nico had spent the day by himself. That ought to be boring, he thought, as he replied to the story.
neeks • @ghost_king
You follow each other mutually
Both of you follow @hotwheelsceo, @beth.chase.00,
and another 8 accounts
will
it must have been a long day for u
neeks
tell me about it aghhhhhhhh
i hate this holiday its literally so boring
“thanksgiving” well i would be thankful if it ended
will
how long until frank leaves?
neeks
idk
its not like frank’s the rpoblem. at least i can play board games w him and haze
i should have invidet you. we needed 4 players for one
how was your aunt btw?
will
its been great, she’s really nice
my gradnma was really kind to me too
we’re gonna leave soon though
neeks
see, ik they would like you
[ Read on Thursday 22nd, 7:02 PM ]
you’re easy to like
[ Message unsent ]
. . .
neeks
Thursday 29th, 5:35 PM
will
almost fell so hard in practice that i was poistive i would injure myself
and then we would hav eto wait for ages for you to come to my match T___T
neeks
don’t jinx it, solace
will
no jinxing will take place o7
are u sure u wanna come though?
im still pretty bad
neeks
I RPOMISED YOU A MOTNH AGO
IM GOING TOMORROW EVEN IF THE SUN ENGULFS THE EARTH
“Will, can you come with us for a second?”
At his name, he lifted his eyes from his phone. Will was at the dresser rooms, tying up his everyday shoes and multitasking to text with Nico, which probably slowed the process a bunch, but he didn’t mind. Around him, the rest of the boys were starting to undress and getting ready to shower, but Lee and Michael, captain and sub captain, were still fully dressed and standing close to the door. They were very different, with Lee being a tall, black boy and Michael being extremely short and pretty pale, but they both shared a look of concern that had Will standing up and walking towards them before he could even process the words.
“We just wanted to talk to you about something.” Lee explained, walking them towards the currently empty girl’s dresser room. Michael closed the door behind them.
“Did I do anything wrong?”
“No, absolutely not.” Lee kept saying. “You’ll see, Will… We have noticed that you never stay to shower after practice or matches, and while we absolutely don’t mean to pry, as captain and sub captain, and also as your friends and older peers, we feel like we should reach out. If anyone in or outside the team…”
“Especially if it’s inside the team.” Michael pointed out.
“Indeed, especially inside the team, is making you feel unsafe or insecure about your body or how you look, we would really appreciate knowing so we could assess the situation properly.”
“This is meant to be something you do for fun, and if there’s absolutely anyone preventing you from that, we need to speak to them and tell them a thing or two.” Michael finished for him. “You don’t deserve to feel unsafe, in any way or in any setting.”
With every word they spoke, he felt his heartbeat quicken and his mouth get drier. “Fuck” seemed to be the only coherent thought his mind could come up with as he struggled to find a response. It was too hard to make an excuse, especially when he was clouded with guilt over having made his friends worry about him being bullied. He felt both pair of eyes on him like a laser, burning him and silently pleading for him to reply honestly, and he couldn’t do anything other than that.
“I… I’m not being bullied, or anything. There’s no one making me feel bad.” He said, hoping it was good enough.
“Are you sure?” Lee asked, looking at him as if he was staring into your soul. “I’ll believe you if you tell me to, but if you are lying and at some point decide you do need or want our help, you’ll have it, alright? I promise.”
Lee, and Michael, who was nodding behind him, cared too much about him, Will told himself. It was making him feel sick, knowing that they were genuinely concerned about something they shouldn’t be, and it was perhaps that and the months of carrying the knowledge in silence that made him speak again.
“Guys, I don’t shower here because I…” He started, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. Every time he had to come out to someone, the words seemed to die in his throat and become hard to utter, but he was determined. “Because I’m trans.”
“Oh my fucking God.” Michael’s words made him lift his gaze from the ground, teary-eyed at what had sounded like disapproval. In a matter of seconds, he had the boy’s hand on his shoulders and his blue eyes staring deep into him with even more concern than before. “For the love of God, Christ and everything holy, Will, tell me you either have had top surgery or use an A-cup.”
“I’ve had top surgery.” He said, confused and not thinking much about it.
“Thank the Lord.” Michael said, removing his hand from where they were covering his face with them as he groaned in relief. “If you had just told me you’ve been training with a binder all along, I think I would have yeeted myself outside a window.”
“So, you’re fine with it?” Will asked. “With me being trans, I mean.”
“Of course we are, who do we take us for?” The shorter boy said.
“Of course, Will. We are your friends, and most importantly, we are not bigots.” Said Lee.
Will hadn’t meant to, but he felt himself start to tear up. He had been holding onto the fear and anxiety of the new people in his life turning his backs on him once they knew he was trans that the relief of his first coming out experience in a long time going well was almost painful in a way. He felt like a dam that had just opened.
“Thank you, guys… Do you think the rest of the team will, you know, understand?” He asked, not wanting to celebrate anything too early. “Do you think I would be okay to shower with y’all from now on? Even if everyone knows, I don’t wanna make anyone uncomfortable.”
“Uncomfortable?” Michael said, almost laughing. “Will, why would we be uncomfortable? And, also, you’ve been leaving practice too early.” As he spoke, he raised his shirt a bit, showing twin scars under his chest covered with laurel leaves tattoos. He pulled the shirt down again almost as quick, though the message was already sent. “And Butch’s nonbinary, by the way. No one’s ever said anything about either of us, and they won’t about you.”
“Though if they do, tell us, please.” Lee added. “We’ll take care of it.”
“You just gotta help us dispose of the body in return.”
“Michael!” Lee shouted, pushing him to the side with a scandalized face on. The boy laughed as he stumbled a bit, and his laugh was contagious enough for Will to follow. It made sense to laugh, he thought. After all, he was happy.
. . .
Nico wasn’t in the stands when the match started. He had texted Will in advance, telling him he was going to be late because apparently his private chef-driver-whatever that woman was had been busy taking Hazel from macramé to her art club. It was alright. At least, he had his father and Hyacinth already. Plus, he had to wait on the bench for the first half of the first quarter. By the time he came in and swapped places with Connor, he caught a glimpse of a boy with dark curls and crutches sitting close to the court. Nico was there, sat beside Austin’s host sister and giving him a thumbs-up.
Having a crush was weird, because there was no real reason for Will to feel more confident in himself just because he knew the boy he liked was on the crowd cheering for him, If anything, he had dreaded the match the whole week, thinking that the nervousness of the play and the nervousness of wanting to impress Nico would distract him and cause him to embarrass himself in public. To his surprise, he just felt content, wanting to do his best even more than usual, and thus focusing the most he could.
Will was still not the best, and maybe not even good in a noticeable way, but he felt like his performance didn’t seem noticeably bad, and that was good for him. He ran from one end to the court to another in record time multiple times, and he found himself free from any defense on most contrattacks. He managed multiple assists, mostly to Sherman and Lee, and caught some crazy passes from one basket to the other. Truth be told, he wasn’t playing as much attention to the crowd as he thought he would, wanting to focus on playing, but it was the knowledge that Nico and his family were there that made it so.
It was towards minute 7 of the final quarter, with both scoreboards dangerously similar, that he found himself rushing towards the basket with no one covering him, and with Lee running with the ball through the middle of the court. On the other sideline, Austin was running as fast as Will. When a player of the other team planted himself in front of Lee and made him stumble a bit, forcing him to grab the ball, he called Austin’s name and passed it basically at the same time the rival player announced to his team that he had held the ball. The pass was perfect, but Austin had a defense on him just some seconds after taking hold of the ball. He could hear the players on the bench shouting some version of “pass it!,” and the sound of the crowd in the strands, but it was muffled in comparison to Austin calling his name.
Will had a boy with white equipment in front of him almost immediately. He huffed, bending his arm and placing it on the rival’s chest to push him before he could sprint diagonally, closer to Austin and in direction to the basket. The bounce pass from the other fell into his hands in the middle of his race. He stepped on the ground and used the impact to lift himself, laying up the ball and hitting the blackboard right in the corner with it. It went into the basket like the Fates had told it to.
“Way to go, Will!” Austin shouted as he processed the situation.
The bench was roaring, with some of the players having stood up to clap and cheer for him. Will still couldn’t believe it. He had scored his first two points ever, as reflected by the scoreboard. He barely had time to, because the match was coming to an end and the other team wanted to do the most with the 2 minutes they had left, so they were already ready for their entry pass, but he still used the spare seconds he had to take a quick look at the crowd. Nico was standing, cheering and smiling so wide it could light up a dark room. Will hoped he was too far for the other to see him blush.
The final whistle from the referee came just some minutes later. Goode’s Centaurs won, 74 to 68. Of course, it wasn’t Will that had made the difference, but he had contributed (even if they would have still won without his layup), but it felt good to have scored. The rest celebrated it with him, praising him and the other two involved in the play, and congratulating him on his first basket.
When he started to take off his clothes to shower, no one commented on the surgery scars or on the different genitalia, but they jokingly clapped and cheered for him finally showering. It was easy, and it was normal. Connor Stoll splashed him with water in the shower, and he splashed him back. Malcolm Pace asked for a bit of his shampoo and he gave it to him. He felt like he belonged.
Outside of the court, his dad and Hyacinth were talking with Nico. Will tried to talk himself into not making a fool of his person in front of everyone. He had known the other would come —hell, he had invited him—, but there had been a secret part to his plan that he hoped would work.
“Hey there.” He waved at them. “How’d you like it?” Will said to Nico.
The boy didn’t get to reply, though, because Apollo was automatically on him hugging him and telling him how proud he was and how well Will had done.
“Love, I think he wants to talk to his friend.” Hyacinth said, looking at Will knowingly.
Apollo pulled away from the hug, though Will held onto his arms for a second, getting his attention for long enough that he could mouth a “thank you” to his dad. Then, he turned to Nico again.
“So?”
“You were amazing, Will! I can’t believe you’ve been telling me you were bad all along.” He said. His voice sounded full of genuine excitement. “And you scored! It was so cool! You’re awesome.”
“Thank you…” Please, he begged his body, don’t blush. “You know, I was thinking earlier that I still owe you that dinner from some months ago.” Will said, rushing the words out before he could regret them. “I was wondering if you’d like to go today, since it’s getting late and we’re here already.”
“Do you have a car?” Nico asked, though he was still smiling.
“Yeah, do you have a…?” Apollo started, stopping when Hyacinth elbowed him. They exchanged a series of looks that Will guessed meant something in dating-for-years dialect. “You can have the keys, if you want. We’ll walk home.”
He tossed them to his son, who caught them mid-air.
“You can choose the place, of course.” He told Nico. I feel like for you, he said to himself, I could go anywhere.
Notes:
- for a chapter i was convinced was gonna be impossible to pull off (i kid you not, all i had written down in my notes for this was 'will meets artemis ^^ !!' which is NOWHERE close to material i can stretch into 8k), this ended up being the longest chapter so far and one of my favorites
- OKAY GUYS FROM TOP TO BOTTOM. he's gotta go back to austin at the end oh no whatever shall we do!!! i'm actually so excited about writing his christmas chapter with lou and cecil being there!! nico goth dancing to joy division was actually gonna be in last chapter but it was getting too long. THE FLOWERSHOP PART!! that was so unplanned and it ended up being one of my favorite parts (this whole chapter was so unplanned). also hyacinth as a whole, he's my silly billy. he's so unserious and also he's so rooting for will and nico. ALSO GUYS WILL HAS NOW JOINED THE REALIZED HIS FEELINGS CLUB! WOOHOO!!! friendship ended with oblivious pining, now mutual pining is my best friend. we met artemis and leto which i will be honest might not appear again but hey i loved writing that part!! also back tracking a bit APOLLO BEING A GREAT DAY AGAIN !! my favorite content. back to the family scene... it's so hard to find information on greek culture that isn't about the fucking helenic era, @people greece still exists thank you. AND WE GOT US OUR FIRST COMING OUT SCENE! WHICH I LOVED WRITING SO MUCH! it's been on my head since i decided the dead apollo kids would be in this. AND OFC WILL SCORED!!! i don't actually remember my first basket scored on a match but i remember other player's and my team always cheered a lot when one of us got our first one, or when someone who didn't usually score did. also i didn't shower on the locker room for about 3 years and they did cheer and joke when i did so that's what i based the fic on.
- important thing i thought might be misunderstood ! if a message is stated as unsent it means the character typed it and deleted it before sending for whatever reason, not that it didn't arrive!!
- next chapter is a surprise <3 have fun
- NOW ANOTHER IMPORTANT THING: would you guys enjoy a percabeth fic? because once i finish this and extreme cabin makeover (aged up solangelo slice of life canon-compliant fluffy fic that you can check out on my profile), i want to write this one idea i have for a mermaid au series!! first fic on it is percabeth, second would be solangelo!! i have so many ideas for when i finish this im so excited. (not to sound like a youtuber but you can subscribe
and hit the bell buttonto not miss anything) (also if you go to my tumblr thats where i yap about ideas). also i have some one-shots ideas that i really want to write aaaa imagination be damned- life update: i'm going to see ARTMS live (i've been into loona since around butterfly era, i cannot stress how massive it is that me and kim lip are gonna be breathing the same air). i finished the lost hero and OMFG IT WAS SO GOOD damn 11-year-old me for not liking it. got into an exchange program, so might go to france for a week-ish in some months. also i wrote this chapter from my dad's work computer so shout out to me for thriving in bad conditions. THAT'S ALL !! SEE YOU NEXT WEEK WITH YOUR SURPRISE <3
Chapter 8: " there is a light that never goes out "
Summary:
“I’m sorry. I distracted us…”
“No, you didn’t. I asked you to show me. And I loved it.” Jason reminded him. “They have to give you the stick either way. We’ll do something other than the movie if they don’t. Every plan is fun as long as we do it together.”
“I don’t wanna ruin it, though. Piper’s really looking forward to the film.” He mumbled. “I already ruined the whole summer…”
“Hell, no, you didn’t.” Jason told him immediately. Summer had been harsh to go through without Leo as first, because it had been hard to know their best friend wouldn’t be able to walk again and would be permanently scarred in every way possible, but neither him or Piper would ever change the visits to the hospital and the hours-long talks with Leo for anything. “It wasn’t your fault that any of this happened, and our summer wasn’t ruined. I like being around you.” Jason told him. I love being around you, he wanted to tell him, I love you.
Notes:
SURPRISE EVERYONE !! IT'S THE JASON POV NO ONE ASKED FOR !! don't worry, next week will be nico again and pov's other than him and will's will not be standard
buckled up everyone
trigger warnings for this chapter :
- gaslighting
- ableism
- emotional & psychological child abuse
- mentions of past alcoholism
- dissociationit looks horrible (i did cry writing it) but hey! at least you guys get valgrace fluff ! also important to note jason's opinion on most people, most things and himself is influenced by the fact he's a victim of abuse and he's not the most reliable narrator
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
take me out tonight, because i want to see people
and i want to see life. driving in your car…
please don't drop me home
because it's not my home, it's their home
and i'm welcome no more.
Much against his will, Jason was a secretive person. Other than Nico —and God knows he hadn’t intended on Nico knowing in the first place—, he hadn’t told any of his friends about how his father treated him. It was his best option, or at least that’s what he thought. There was nothing Reyna and Frank could do to help, Percy would get too worried, and he didn’t want to hurt Piper and Leo. He had made his peace with that: his house was his little secret. One of many.
Amongst the things he didn’t tell anyone, there was also stuff such as the one time he cheated on an exam three years ago, the fact that he had lost his calculator after a year of owning it and had been asking for people to lend him one ever since instead of telling his father, or the fact that there was another factor to his and Piper’s break-up other than them coming out as a lesbian. In a way, when the other had come over during summer to break up with him, it had felt relieving. It was easier to come out as gay to your girlfriend when they was doing the same to you, though it had been more embarrassing when Piper immediately guessed Leo as the cause of Jason’s realization. He hoped it was them who were very good at reading people, and not that he was easy to read. Seeing as no one else had realized, it was probably Piper’s talent.
So, to cut a long story short, Jason Grace had a crush on his best friend and the only person who knew —and who was doing their best at trying to get them together— was his other best friend and ex-girlfriend. He had abandoned the hope of actually dating Leo due to personal reasons, but he couldn’t tell Piper, so Jason just let them continue with their self-proclaimed wingman role. At least, they always found a way of having him and Leo spend more time together than usual, and that’s what he had settled for: before he had to leave for college and Leo had to go into 12th year, he wanted a year full of them together.
“Hey, mom.” He walked into the kitchen, where Juno was making dinner. He had a hard time calling him mom or acknowledging her as his mother, but he did so on the basis that his father had told him to. She had done more than his actual mother for him, at least, but there was still something about her that made him feel uneasy sometimes. “I’m gonna go out with Leo and Piper later. We won’t be back for dinner.”
“But it’s Thanksgiving, love.” She whispered. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier this week?”
“I told you on Monday.” He mumbled. He was sure he had told her about how they were going to the movies, and that she had told him it was great that he had time to be with his friends. “And we go out for Thanksgiving every year.”
With Piper being indigenous and Leo and his dad being immigrants, none of their families were really into Thanksgiving, so they tended to spend it together by themselves.
“Are you sure you told me?”
“Yeah?” Jason said. “I told you we were watching the new Wreck-it Ralph one.”
“Isn’t there anything more serious that you could watch?”
“That’s what you asked on Monday.”
“Love, I don’t think you told me on Monday.” Before Jason could reply, she cleaned one of her hands on her apron and pressed it to his forehead. “Are you feeling sick? Maybe you dreamt it?”
“But I told you. You said I could go.”
“Why would I pretend I don’t remember?”
She pouted. Jason couldn’t stand seeing her sad, as much as sometimes he disliked her for choosing his father over him. He couldn’t really blame her, could he? She had married his father, not him, and she still took plenty of care of him despite Jason having been additional luggage into the marriage. Plus, as much as his father had made it clearly that he loved her (sometimes it felt like loved her more than he loved him, but he was the child of a woman his father hadn’t liked that much, so he didn’t blame him much for that either), Jason felt like she should be treated better. She didn’t have a job, and it was clear that family was her top priority, but he couldn’t help but feel like all her hard work into making them a functional family wasn’t amounting to much, and he felt responsible.
“Are you sure I didn’t tell you?” He asked for the last time.
“You know I’d never forget about something you told me.” She smiled, placing her hand on his shoulder. He could believe that.
“Alright, then.” He gave in. Perhaps she was right that he had just dreamt it, or something like that. It wasn’t unusual for him to think about doing something and then remembering it as done when he had only thought about it. “I’m telling you now, then. I’m going out with Piper and Leo.”
“Why don’t you invite Frank and Reyna?” She tilted her head.
His parents were obsessed with Frank and Reyna. Don’t get him wrong, he loved them, certainly more than his parents did, but it got frustrating when they made it so obvious that they preferred them so, so much before his other friends. Frank and Reyna went to the same private school he went to, for starters, which automatically made them look better in their eyes. More importantly, though, was the fact that neither of them were disabled, that Frank was neurotypical, and that Reyna hadn’t told them about her ADHD. In his parents’ eyes, they were classified as “Jason’s normal friends.”
“Frank’s spending Thanksgiving at Hazel’s.” He smiled. The other boy had been talking about it the whole week. It was his first time having a proper dinner with Hazel’s family other than Nico, and he had been mortified, but Jason knew it would go great.
“And Reyna?”
“Reyna works in retail, she has to be at the store today.”
“Poor girl…” Juno sighed, turning around to continue working on the food. “You should invite her over next year.”
“We’ll be in college next year.” He reminded her.
He made a sort of excuse about going to check if Lupa had food on her bowl and left the kitchen before the woman could say something about how she wished Reyna had a man to look after her. He had been taking those kind of comments ever since the two of them had met, knowing that Juno meant he wanted him and Reyna together, and they had become more uncomfortable as the time went by. He didn’t like his family assuming his friend needed a man, for starters, but it had been worse after Reyna had told him about being aroace, and it had gotten worse when Jason had started to date Piper and Juno kept making comments like that. Like most things his family told him, he didn’t wanna hear.
. . .
jason’s driving license = free real estate
Thursday 22nd, 3:01 PM
leo<3<3<3
IM ALMOTS READY
HOLD UP
pipes
hes not driving away
jason
yeah, don’t worry! i’m not gonna leave you at home.
i’m gonna go to the door, alright?
leo<3<3<3
I CANT FIND HTE LANYDAR
jason
you never use it, though. i’m sure it’ll be fine.
leo<3<3<3
I WANTED TO ASK FOR THE SUBLITLES STICK :((
jason
they should give it to you without it.
pipes
yeah + we’ll beat htem up if they dont give it to u
jason
want me to enter and help you look for it?
leo<3<3<3
can u?
only if its no bother
Why would it be a bother…?, he sighed and thought to himself, exiting the car. Jason checked his reflection on the rear view mirror, trying to fix his hair. It looked good already, but he wanted it to look better. He left the car before he had time to worry about whether he should have gone with lenses instead of glasses that day, and made his way to the door. Leo’s dad opened the door for him.
“Oh, hello, boy.” He greeted him. “He’s in his room looking for the thing, you should go with him.”
“Thank you so much, sir.”
Jason stepped into the house and made his way to his favorite place in it, Leo’s room. He considered knocking on the door, but didn’t, and just entered inside the space. It smelled like oil and Festus’ wet food, and it was a complete mess. His friend’s desk was covered in trinkets and materials that didn’t allow any of the wood of its surface to shine through, the bed was unmade and there were multiple clothes on the floor that Leo was trying to pick up in search for his lanyard. Festus was lying below the window, without his harness on, and jumped at the sight of Jason. Better said, he jumped towards Jason, stepping on the bed and going to throw himself at the blonde.
“Hi, boyo, did you miss me?” He said between giggles as the golden licked his face.
“He likes that you smell like Lupa.” Leo said, having turned around and found out about Jason in his room. He rolled his eyes at Festus and called for him until the dog went to rest his head against his lap instead. “Hi.” He smiled, waving at Jason.
“Hi.” He was confident he was smiling like an idiot.
“I’m sorry for the mess.” Leo apologized, scratching his arm. “I should have started to look for it sooner. We’re gonna be late now… I just got so excited, and…”
“Were you working on something?” Jason asked. He wasn’t mad at Leo to begin with, but he could never get mad at him for using his time on his projects. With how happy they made him, Jason couldn’t physically do anything other than admire them and his creator.
“Yeah, wanna see?” The mention of his work had Leo smiling bright enough to light the room up, so Jason had to nod and let him show him what he had been working on. Not like he would ever mind. Leo told Festus to move, and then made it to his desk, picking up a small steampunk-looking dragon statue. “See, it’s what I told you about! The motor is in the head. Wanna hold it? Be careful, though, the glue is very recent.”
Jason, staring at it in awe, took it into his hands with extreme care.
“It’s beautiful, Leo.” He praised him. “Did you cut the pieces yourself?”
“Maybe…”
“It must have taken ages… God, you’ve outdone yourself.”
“Do you think the eyes should light up when it’s on?” He asked, looking up at him. “Because I have some extra lights from when I tried to do that shine-in-the-dark Grand Canyon model, and I thought it would be cool…”
“It would be awesome.”
“I was thinking that, maybe, if you are free next week, we could go and fly it?” Leo started, taking the toy back from his hands. “You know, since you volunteered to try it first, and all… We could call someone, if you want, but I think just the two of us is better. In case it doesn’t work, you know? Better to have less witnesses.”
“That sounds amazing. I’m sure I’ll be free.”
Sure, his first partials were about to take place, but with how little time Leo and him spent together by themselves, he was not about to tell him anything else. Jason could find a gap in his timetable long enough to fit drone-flying with Leo. He was always dying for a chance to be with him, and he knew how happy he would be if their whole hangout was about his prototype. Plus, it hadn’t escaped him that it had been Leo himself to suggest it being just the two of them… Piper was gonna have a field trip when they found out. Just as if summoned, his phone lit up with two notifications from them, one in their groupchat and one private.
jason’s driving license = free real estate
Thursday 22nd, 3:15 PM
pipes
[ Voice note: Hey, guys, I just wanted to ask if you’re still at Leo’s house, which is like, totally fine if you are, because I can walk to the mall and all of that, but like, if you told me now that’d be cool! Because if I gotta walk I’d need to leave now! Totally fine if you are short of time, just let me know, guys! ]
pipes
Thursday 22nd, 3:16 PM
pipes
ARE YOU STILL AT LEO’S
WINK WINK
TELL HIM ILL WALK TELL HIM ILL WALK
IM SOOOO WALKING
[ Video attached: The road below Piper’s leg moving as they walked. ]
WALKING AS WE SPEAK DO NOT PICK ME UP JASON YOU HAVE ONE JOB
“Should I tell them we’ll get going?” Leo mumbled, looking at his own phone and biting his lip. He looked adorable. “We might could get to them in time…”
“I’d say they get going and get some snacks?”
“You sure?” Leo pouted.
“Yeah. It would take me too long to get to their house, I think.”
“Alright, I’ll tell them.” The other said, already typing. “We didn’t find my lanyard.” He was pouting, and Jason wanted nothing more than cheering him up. He was convinced any room could be lit up with a grin from Leo. “I’m sorry. I distracted us…”
“No, you didn’t. I asked you to show me. And I loved it.” Jason reminded him. “They have to give you the stick either way. We’ll do something other than the movie if they don’t. Every plan is fun as long as we do it together.”
“I don’t wanna ruin it, though. Piper’s really looking forward to the film.” He mumbled. “I already ruined the whole summer…”
“Hell, no, you didn’t.” Jason told him immediately. Summer had been harsh to go through without Leo as first, because it had been hard to know their best friend wouldn’t be able to walk again and would be permanently scarred in every way possible. Jason had coped by getting his license, not wanting any of his friends to ever return home in a random Uber again, and Piper had coped by writing songs about it that would probably never see the light. But, if there was anything he knew they had in common, is that they wouldn’t change the visits to the hospital and the hours-long talks with Leo for anything. “It wasn’t your fault that any of this happened, and our summer wasn’t ruined. I like being around you.” Jason told him. I love being around you, he wanted to tell him, I love you. “No matter where it is, you make everything great.”
“Thank you…” Leo smiled at him, but Jason could swear he was teary eyed. “You should go get the car ready while I put the harness on Festus.”
He didn’t need to say more. If he needed a minute by himself, Jason would give it to him. So, he went outside the room and asked his father for the car keys, making easy conversation with the man before Leo and Festus left the room ready to go.
“Piper’s gonna kill us if they get there before us.” He said, getting towards where Jason was standing. “Let’s go?”
“Sure. I’ll drive him back after 8, sir.” Jason smiled.
They made it to the movies in time. Piper was there already by the time they got there, though, and the way they winked at Jason upon seeing him and Leo arrive felt so incredibly obvious that he was tempted to chew them off for wanting to expose his crush. They got tickets despite knowing they were 5 minutes short of the session starting, and, though Leo had had to poke Jason in the side and ask him if he could ask for the subtitles stick himself, they had gotten once without problem. Plus, Jason had loved the film, even if they had to sit in the front row and it made his neck hurt a bit.
“Next year we gotta do a Wreck-it Ralph Halloween costume.” Leo said.
They had gone to their favorite place in the mall after the film, a vegan burger restaurant that was never too busy and that Piper had discovered. Originally, the singer had wanted to go to Thalia’s diner, but Jason had convinced them otherwise by saying he didn’t like going there when his sister was working. It was true —he didn’t feel comfortable asking his sister to work for him, even if the context was at the place she was a waitress at—, but the real reason was the multiple messages from her on his phone that he had left unanswered after the Halloween party. He hadn’t clicked on them, but could already guess most of them were gonna be about moving in with her. Almost everything was about moving in with her when it came to their relationship, and Jason couldn’t stand the topic. He needed someone to hug him, not to pay half their rent.
“Me as Vanellope?” Piper suggested.
“Me as Vanellope!” Leo argued. “You can be Ralph. Or we can toss a coin. I’m honestly fine as long as Jason gets Felix.”
“I look nothing like Felix.”
“You look nothing like Vanellope either.”
“Pipes, you’ll hurt his feelings.” Leo pouted.
“I don’t think his feelings lie on his similarities to Vanellope.”
“Look how sad he looks!” He said, accusatorily, pointing at Jason. Then, he whispered. “Pout a bit, please. There. Look how sad he looks!” At his cue, he turned to Piper, showing them his big pout. It sent them into a laughter attack, with their defense mechanism apparently being hitting Jason in the face with a french fry. “Either way, Halloween is too far away. What are we gonna do for Christmas break?”
“Thanksgiving break started yesterday.” Jason pointed out.
“And it’s ending soon!” He said. “We should do something for Christmas. I wanna build these special tree decorations, I want them to light up in a very specific way, and I want to show them to you. And also, we gotta go to karaoke! We say it everytime and we never go. We all know Piper’s gigs are great and all, but, guys, really, I’ve been truly practicing ‘Spice Up Your Life’ and it would be a waste if you didn’t hear it.”
“We gotta do the PowerPoint night.” Piper suggested. “I have been recompiling pics of Percy in 256 pixels resolution and I want to put them side to side with fish I think look like him.”
“Did he give you permission to do that?” Jason tilted his head.
“He even funded me a visit to the aquarium.”
“Oh, we have to go to the aquarium together, guys, it’s a need.” Leo said, then. “Any other ideas?”
“I wanna have a sleepover.” Jason said, feeling a bit silly. He had never felt comfortable enough to invite anyone to stay the night at his house, not because he was uncomfortable with his friends, but because he was uncomfortable with his family. On the other hand, he wasn’t sure his family would agree to him spending the night with someone who wasn’t Nico or Percy, and they only had that privilege due to being family. “I know it’s simple, but I think it would be fun.”
“We should do that!” Leo exclaimed, grabbing onto his arm excitedly. “We should! And we can make popcorn and order pizza, and watch Wreck-it Ralph as much as we like. We can even do karaoke at home!”
“I vote we do it in my house!” Piper volunteered immediately. “Plus, dad’s gonna be in Australia recording whatever, so double the fun.”
“Huge house for ourselves, woohoo!” Leo shook Jason’s arm in celebration, and Jason let him, thinking to himself about how happiness was such a beautiful look on him.
. . .
Jason dropped Piper off first, meaning he still had some more minutes of car ride alone with Leo in which he decided to play Spice Girls, wanting to hear his version of “Spice Up Your Life.” Much like whenever he tried to sing, it was off-key, and he could tell Leo knew and just chose not to care. It was fun, and it was easy, and maybe it wasn’t perfect and sometimes it wasn’t even good, but it made him happy. He knew Leo was a perfectionist when it came to his jokes and his prototypes, or his job at his dad’s hardware store, but he was like this too in many aspects: carefree in a way that made Jason fall in love with him. Nothing in his house was ever allowed to be short of perfect, loud or spontaneous. In a way, Leo felt like the joy that he had been missing out on for so long, and he craved him.
“Should I accompany you to the door?” He asked.
“Afraid I’ll get lost?” Leo grinned. Jason felt himself blush, hoping the fact it was already dark outside would hide it. “I… Uh, I was actually gonna ask you to accompany me.”
“Really?” He said, surprised, even if he was already rushingly taking off his seatbelt and getting off the car.
“I know it’s getting late, and it’s dark, and all… But I was wondering if you wanted to go into the garden with me for a bit and fly the prototype. Should be dry by now.” Leo said. He had started to scratch his arm again. “It’s alright if you wanna go home, though. It’s late.”
It was late, indeed, but he had told Juno he wouldn’t be back until after dinner, so he should be fine.
“Oh, but I would love to stay.” He mumbled.
Leo beamed at the words, and that was enough for him to know he had said the right thing. He followed him inside, briefly saying hi to his father, sitting on the sofa watching a soap opera. Jason had expected Leo to speak with his dad for a bit, but he just rushed towards his room, took the dragon figure out and exited through the backdoor into their porch.
He followed him outside. It was dark already, and he could feel the autumn breeze making its way through his windbreaker. Winter was just around the corner, and the weather was losing its gentleness as days went by. He liked winter, though. It snowed in New York, around the time December started to fade into January, and he loved snow, something that he rarely ever saw back at Pasadena. He liked the cold temperature, and he liked Christmas break and having hot cocoa with his friends. He adored buying gifts for everyone. Plus, it was Hazel’s, Thalia’s and Nico’s birthday, so he got to buy even more gifts.
“Can you help me off the chair?” Leo asked, pointing at the stairs on the porch.
“Of course.”
Soon enough, he had Leo sit by his side in one of the lower ladders. The boy handed him the remote and taught him the controls. The dragon toy was flying in a matter of minutes, spinning around against the beautiful starry night sky. Whenever he got a turn right, Leo celebrated by his side, exclaiming something and flapping his hands. Jason wished he could turn around and look, but he was focused on making sure the drone didn’t crash, not wanting to make Leo sad if that happened.
“I should add a voice box.” Leo said after some minutes. “I’m sure Festus could get proper roars, couldn’t you, boy?” He spoke, patting the dog at his side. They had taken his vest off after making it home, and the dog had been running laps around the garden before growing tired and choosing to lay his head against Leo’s lap instead. “I should call it Festus, actually.”
“What are you gonna call the ship? You know, the other one you wanted to make.”
“I thought about Argo, or something related to that.” He said. “Because of the argonauts, you know? Original Jason, and stuff.”
“Does that make me off-brand Jason?” He joked.
“No, never!” Leo rushed to tell him. “Just, I don’t know, spin-off Jason? That’s not so bad, is it?”
“I’ll take spin-off Jason.” He smiled. “The remote lit off, here.”
“It’s running…” A yawn cut Leo off. “Out of battery. You should land.”
“Are you tired?” He asked as he landed the toy in front of them with care.
“Just a little.” He yawned again. “Can we stay out a bit more? I’m having fun.”
They weren’t really doing anything anymore, and he didn’t want to burden him with conversation if he was tired, but Jason didn’t question him. He was having fun as well, just staring at the sky knowing he had Leo by his side.
After a few more minutes, he felt a weight on his shoulder. Leo had fallen asleep against him, and his heart jumped at the realization. He was glad they were alone, because he was sure he looked tomato-red. A part of him wanted to reach out inside his pocket and take a picture, but he hadn’t asked Leo for permission. Plus, he wanted to remember the moment without needing the phone, so he just tried to capture as much as he could, engraving it into his brain. Leo snored very quietly, barely audible, and he smelled like honey-scented shampoo and greasing oil. Jason would never tell anyone they smelled like oil and call it a compliment, but he liked it on Leo, knowing it came from working and enjoying his craft. It was unmistakably him, too. He looked relaxed, even if Jason knew he tended to have problems falling asleep, and he looked beautiful. His skin was warm to the touch, but he knew that already. He felt in heaven.
His mind went to Piper for a minute, trying to recall if they had ever had a similar moment when they were together. They had, he remembered, the one time they had gone outside and a stargazing night had turned into Piper venting about their time in wilderness therapy. He had held them through it as they cried themselves to exhaustion, and the night had ended with Piper asleep in his arms as Jason tried to take off his jacket to put it on them without waking them up. It had been different, not because they had been dating, but because Piper hadn’t been happy. Leo had said he was having fun, and Jason hoped it had been true.
They remained like that for some minutes —Jason didn’t check how many— before he maneuvered Leo enough to pick him up. He wasn’t heavy, specially with how much weight he had lost after the accident, so it didn’t take him too much of an effort to take him into his room. The bed was still messy, so he tried his best to arrange the sheets a bit, as if tucking him in. After going back outside to retrieve Prototype Festus, the remote and the wheelchair, he started to walk outside the house.
“He fell asleep, sir.” He told Leo’s dad. He was sure he was blushing, but at least the man was nice enough to not comment on it. “I took him to bed. Should I put the car in the garage?”
“I’ll do that, don’t worry.” He said, taking the keys from Jason’s hands. “Need me to drive you, son?”
“No need, but thank you for the offer.” Jason told him. “Thanks for letting Leo hang out today.”
The man rolled his eyes and sighed, dramatically and faux, before smiling at Jason tenderly.
“Ahh… Your parents must feel blessed to have you.” He said, with a fond expression. Jason smiled awkwardly. He felt more like a curse, or at least a burden, than a blessing, but he still thanked him before leaving the house.
He drove home in silence. His first idea had been calling Piper to let them know about Leo falling asleep on him, knowing they would probably have a field trip when he told them, but he didn’t like having phone calls while he was driving. He just put his playlist on automatic reproduction and listened to whatever came in, with “whatever” being The Smiths. The song was depressing, and it reminded him of himself as his mom, not Juno, but Beryl, because even if he had barely met her, he still liked to imagine what songs she would relate to or sing to him.
“ The dream has gone, but the baby is real.” He muttered alongside the singer before turning off the car and the music.
He felt tense as he walked towards his door. Jason could hear Lupa’s barks from outside as he turned the keys until making his way inside. The husky was inside, waiting for him, and he immediately knelt to pet her.
“Hello, darling.”
He allowed himself to relax for a second, just feeling her breath and her fur under his skin, before his moment of respite dissipated in front of his eyes as he heard Juno crying in the kitchen. Jason basically ran there, but he froze once he arrived. The woman was sat at the table, by his father’s side, and her make-up was ruined with tears as she sobbed into her hands. He had an arm protectively surrounding her back, and Jason could see him stroking her arm with his thumb, even if he wasn’t saying anything. That was shocking, but what took him out by surprise the most was the huge plate of turkey, barely touched —had it been touched at all?— resting in front of them. The table was laid, too.
“Mom? What’s wrong?” He asked, already feeling like he had done something wrong. She just sobbed in reply.
“Would you care to explain why under God you didn’t come home for dinner? On Thanksgiving day, for that.” His father told him instead. He had raised his voice, but it was the sternness and lack of care on it that scared Jason the most.
“I went out with Piper and Leo. I told her.” He said, turning to her after. “I told you.”
“Your mother has spent the day working hard in the kitchen for you to skip dinner without even letting us know in advance.”
“But I told you!” He said to Juno, who shrieked.
“You didn’t tell me!”
“I did! I told you on Monday, and…” He started.
“You didn’t tell me on Monday!” She shouted, sobbing. It was physically painful to see her so sad, even if Jason was sure he had told her. “Stop saying that, you didn’t tell me on Monday, you… Don’t try to make me look bad… Please, Jay, don’t try to…”
“Shh, shh, it’s alright, darling.” His father whispered to her. Juno hid her face on his chest, sobbing weakly against it. “He doesn’t know what he’s saying, love.”
“Juno, please.” Jason tried again. She whimpered, making him realize he hadn’t called her mom, and causing him to feel guilty immediately. He still kept talking, trying to sound softer than he had before. “I told you before leaving. I said we wouldn’t be back for dinner. You…”
You might have forgotten, he wanted to say, but she had told him specifically that she would never forget. And she had sounded like she loved him. She was in so much genuine pain now, as well… Maybe he was misremembering, just like how he had probably misremembered about Monday.
“He didn’t tell me anything, I swear, he didn’t!” She sounded accusatory, which was perhaps what hurt him the most.
“I know, love, I know.” His father told him. Jason’s heart clenched at that. He didn’t know, he had no way to, because he hadn’t been with them in the kitchen when they talked. He wanted his dad to trust him as well. It didn’t feel fair that he only trusted Juno. “He’s going through a phase, you know that.” He said, talking softly to her and caressing her back. Then, he turned to Jason, looking at him with disgust in his eyes. “Apologize to your mother right now.”
“I’m really sorry, mom.” He began, stuttering a bit in the beginning. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I really thought I had told you, I wouldn’t have been gone otherwise.”
She didn’t reply, instead remaining quiet against her husband’s chest. The man kissed her temple and dried a tear off her cheek.
“Go to your room, love. Rest now, alright? I’ll be with you in a minute.” He told her as he kissed her forehead. She left the room silently, without saying goodbye to Jason. He figured he didn’t deserve it, after having hurt her that much. He hoped she would forgive him, even if he already knew his father probably wasn’t going to. “Sit down.” He told Jason, who obeyed immediately. He knew better than taking too long. “Do you have any idea of how lucky you are that she loves you?” The man said, basically spitting the words out.
They hit him one by one, like bullets to his chest, and he couldn’t do anything but look down in shame.
“I do.” He whispered. Juno cooked for him, and had been the person who drove him to school and practice when he didn’t have a license. She had chosen to marry his dad even if Jason came included, which was more than many would do.
“Do you, really?” Jason nodded at the question. “Then, why are you so intent on doing this shit to her? Juno gave off her job to take care of you. Is this your way of thanking her?”
He tended to forget about that. She never mentioned her job, and Jason hadn’t known much about it before she quitted, so it wasn’t unusual for him to forget. Still, he understood how ungrateful he probably seemed —how ungrateful he probably was—, and felt even more guilty, thinking about how she was crying in her room.
“It was an accident.” He tried to excuse himself.
“I don’t wanna hear a cheap excuse.” His father shushed him. “Do you know what happens to parents with insolent children?” Jason shook his head no, even if he could come up with an educated guess as to what his father was about to say. “They end up alcoholics. Is that what you want? Do you want another mom killing herself drunk in a car? Would you like that?”
He had been sure that was gonna be the route his dad would take, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. He had barely known his birth mother, it shouldn’t be that painful to be reminded of her death, but it still was it. His heart felt broken to pieces, and as much as he didn’t want to cry, his sight was blurring with tears already. If he tried to talk, he would sob.
“I said: would you like that?”
“No, sir.” He rushed to say, not wanting to leave time for his voice to break.
“Start acting like it, then.” His dad continued. “I don’t want more ‘I told you’ business coming from you. No more leaving unannounced and trying to make your mom look stupid.”
“But…”
“Jason.” His tone was knife-sharp. Jason didn’t dare to speak again. “Do you see the turkey on the table?” He nodded, though he wasn’t looking anywhere but to the ground. “We’re eating it tomorrow for lunch. You’re not gonna be the reason we waste food in this place. Understood?”
“I told Reyna we would study at her home tomorrow.” He said, weakly. His father had been the one who suggested a study session together with her, so he really hoped he wouldn’t count it as a “I told you I was going out” situation.
“Cancel.” He told him. “You’re grounded. No going out with friends until I allow otherwise, and you better get good grades in your finals, or that date might extend. Now, understood?”
“Understood, sir.”
“Go to your room.”
Jason didn’t need to be told twice. He basically ran to his room, happy to know Lupa was following him. He closed the door and sat cross-legged on the bed, picking a pillow to bury his face in it once he had removed his glasses. He wasn’t sure whether to cry or not. He didn’t wanna be noisy. Lupa got on the bed with him, resting her head on his leg and whining alongside him. Once he inevitably started to cry, she began licking at his tears the best she could.
“Thank you, darling.” He told her, petting her once he calmed down a bit. “At least you like me, don’t you?”
She nuzzled his nose against his hand, which he took as a yes. It was enough, he tried to tell himself. His birth hadn’t been important enough for his mother to try rehab, and his father was already blaming him in case anything similar happened to him or Juno, who was probably still sobbing herself to sleep over him just some rooms away, who had had to quit her job for a boy who didn’t even remember whether he had told her he was going out to the cinema. The only person in his family that he had thought liked him as a person had left him alone with the screams and threats and fled by herself. Well, maybe his dog liking him wasn’t enough to compensate for everything else.
Jason took his phone from his nightstand, needing contact with someone who would be nice to him. Leo would still be asleep, or so he hoped. He could have called Piper, and told them about his time at the garden with the other, but it didn’t feel fair to call them, or Reyna, or anyone who wouldn’t know what was truly going on in his head. He would have been using them for his comfort, wouldn’t he? It left him with two options: Nico and Thalia. Thalia had texted him earlier. He hadn't opened the chat, but it seemed like she had sent him a long, long text about how grateful she was for his health and existence. He didn’t want to open it, or to call her. She would tell him to go spend the night at hers, which he couldn’t do, and which he didn’t really want to do. He had had enough of his family tonight already… He needed something else.
Jason phoned Nico, and he picked up after just a few rings.
“Jason? Is anything wrong?” He asked. It was late at night, so the call had probably surprised him.
“No, no. Well, yeah, but…”
“Don’t wanna talk about it?” Nico said.
“Yeah, no.” He said. “Can you talk? I…” His voice broke, still shaky from crying. “I need a distraction.”
“Oh, alright. Yeah, I can totally talk.” Nico said. He sounded a bit nervous all of a sudden. “Matter of fact, I had something to tell you. I, eh, I have been meaning to. Don’t get too excited, though. Or do, I don’t know. It’s, uh… You remember the new guy on our basketball team? Plays with number 7? Blonde?”
“Will?” He asked. Nico and him, as well as Leo and him, had talked about the boy before.
“Yeah, Will. That one.”
“Yeah, I remember. Why?” With how nervous Nico sounded, he could guess what he was about to be told, but it didn’t make it any less exciting.
“So, maybe, and just maybe… Just maybe! I might or might not have caught feelings.” Nico blurted the words out, making them stick to each other and blend together. Jason still understood, though. He couldn’t help but giggle at the way he had said it. “Don’t laugh!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He said. “I had a feeling you would say that.”
“The fuck do you mean you had a feeling?”
“You went to homecoming together, and you talk about him a lot.” He said.
“Can’t I just talk about other men without it being a crush?”
“Yeah, but you barely talk to anyone.” He pointed out. Faintly, he could hear Nico go “good point” with a disappointed tone from the other side of the call. “Plus, you spent the whole Halloween party together, and Piper said you two disappeared for a bit.”
“Oh. Oh, well, we did.” Nico admitted. “I told him about Bianca that night.”
“Really?” Nico never talked about his past anymore, or at least not with Jason. Knowing how close they were, he doubted he talked about it with many people. The fact that he had told someone who didn’t know prior to meeting him, who could have gone without knowing, was hard to believe. “I’m proud of you, Neeks.”
“Thanks.” He could almost hear the smile on his face. “He was very nice to me. Told me he was happy I survived. And then he hugged me, because I’m a crybaby.” Jason was gonna stop him to tell him that crying once didn’t make him a crybaby, but he didn’t have time. “But he’s so kind to me, Jay… He listens to me all the time, and he cares about me, and makes sure I’m comfortable all the time. And he has hugged me before, and I don’t even mind…”
“Don’t mind?” He chuckled, scratching Lupa behind the ears. “Are you sure that you simply don’t mind? Or do you just love it with your whole heart…?”
“Jason! Okay, I really like it when he does. He is like… So soft and warm, agh, I sound stupid. Forget I said anything.”
“Alright, alright. We can talk about something else…”
“He has freckles.” Nico said, almost right after. “So many freckles, oh my God, you wouldn’t believe it. And blue eyes. God, he’s so handsome, it’s infuriating.” He kept rambling. Jason could only listen, trying not to giggle too loudly. “And he’s southern. From Texas.”
“Does he have an accent?”
“Does he have an accent? You should hear him, lord, it’s so… I want to laugh at it, but I just like it so much, and it makes me feel so fucking stupid, but he sounds so good whenver he speaks, and I just want him to talk, and talk, and talk…”
“I like that the feelings were a ‘just maybe’ situation.”
“Okay. Okay, Jason, maybe I’m head over heels, is that what you wanted to hear?”
“Been waiting for months, actually.”
“I can’t stand you.” Nico complained, though he laughed right after. He wasn’t actually mad. “I’m going to a match of his soon.”
“Really?” He knew Nico wasn’t one to go out much, so he must really like this guy if he was gonna go to a basketball match, presumably without his friends.
“Yeah. Promised him a month ago but then he wasn’t called for the next one, and then I worked for the next one, and then I had promised Percy to go see him at one of his swimming events months ago, so I couldn’t not go.” Nico said. “But, yeah, I’m going next week. Just me.”
“Who is driving you there?”
He waited patiently to hear a question he had gotten used to in the past months.
“Eh… Did you know that you are my favorite cousin, and that I love you and your driver’s license?”
He snorted at the words.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll drive you to your date.”
“It’s not a date, Jason.”
“Then, I won’t drive you to your date.”
“Jason!” He sounded desperate, almost. It was impossible not to laugh. He felt so much better already, even if he was still sad and his pillow was still wet with tears. “Jason, I swear to God, if you don’t drive me…”
“I’ll drive you, Neeks.” He promised, before realizing that he was not meant to go out, that he had been grounded. “Oh, wait. I actually can’t drive you.”
“Jason, come on, it’s not funny…”
“I mean it this time, Nico. I’m grounded.” He admitted, biting his nails.
“Really?” Jason made an affirmative sound. “Man… What the fuck did your asshole of a father do now?”
“I made Juno cry. It was my fault.” He mumbled. This wasn’t what he had wanted to talk about with Nico, and, if he was honest, his question could have been rhetoric. He had still replied, though, so maybe a part of him did need to leave it out. “I didn’t tell her I was going out on Thanksgiving.”
“You’ve never spent Thanksgiving with her, though? You have been going out with Piper and Leo ever since you moved here?” Nico sounded as confused as Jason had felt. “Shouldn’t she have known?”
“Maybe she didn’t want to assume. I don’t know… But I missed dinner, and she had been working hard on it.”
“But Leo said on Tuesday that you had gotten permission already?”
“I think I had wanted to tell her and I thought I already had. Like, I thought about doing it and forgot I hadn’t actually done it.”
“So, in her eyes, you just disappeared the whole day without telling anyone?” Nico asked.
“Yeah.”
“How long were you out for?”
“I don’t know… Six hours? Seven?”
“Oh, so you were gone for seven hours without telling anyone where you were going or with who? And your parents didn’t check up on you at all, but then when you came home they were mad they had no idea where you had gone off to?”
“Yeah.”
“Jason, do you see what’s wrong with that?” He hated that Nico sounded soft all of a sudden. Out of the two of them, he was the one meant to be angry when Jason was sad. It felt wrong, like he had done something stupid and now Nico had to walk him through it.
“No…? Why do you sound like that?” He asked, nervous.
“Jay, they fucking knew where you were going, there’s no way they wouldn’t have reached out if you had just disappeared.” Nico told him, sounding angrier now. It felt calming, in a way. He was used to anger being directed at him… It helped to know there was at least someone who could be angry in his defense. “They knew you were at the cinema with friends. They knew you were safe, that’s why they didn’t reach out. They knew because you fucking told them, and whatever shit they pulled to make you feel like you didn’t is a sick game to make you feel bad. They are assholes, both of them, and I don’t know what shitty excuse they have to do this to you, but you really don’t deserve this.”
“Why would they do that? Juno was so hurt…”
“If she wants you to spend Thanksgiving with her, first she should be a better person to you, and she can start by not gaslighting…”
“She’s not gaslighting me, Nico.” He said. “It’s not her that’s mean to me.”
“Jason, she’s out there insulting all your friends in front of you and she has done absolutely nothing whenever your father has been insulting you or calling you actual slurs. She lets your dad threaten you, goddamnit.” Nico started. “She is an asshole too. I’m sorry that she is, because you have done nothing to deserve it, but…”
Jason ended the call. He felt bad about it immediately after, and it would have driven him to tears if he hadn’t started to cry already throughout Nico’s words. He didn’t know if Nico was right, but he didn’t want him to be. Time felt slowed down, and he felt out of himself. His body felt strange, as if submerged under water, making it harder to move. The first time Nico called him again, he didn’t want to reply, so he ignored the call. The next time, he let the rings go out until they died, not really feeling connected to the world around him. The phone was ringing, but it felt like it came from a TV and not from in front of him, and the text on the screen didn’t make sense. Nothing did.
Lupa was on him, whining and nuzzling against him. After a good 20 minutes, it was her tongue on his face that ended up pulling him out from whatever awful state he had been sent to. He hugged her, feeling like she had saved her life, and he cried against her fur until he felt he was out of tears. Then, Jason just hugged the husky until his breath felt even enough. His phone beeped with a notification, and he picked it up with shaky hands.
neeks
Thursday 22nd, 10:25 PM
neeks
jason??
jason r u there
oh thank god u r
in case you are toruting yourself: im not mad at you
for ahngin up and not pikcing after
i just hope u r alright
i meant what i said but ig its fine if you dont believe me
wtv bad shit juno or ur dad say abt you pls dont believe them
you deserve better than that
jason ik you are reading these
wtv. i stand by what i said
and im not mad at u
stay safe, alrigth??
sleep well <3
Jason’s head hurt, and he was tired. He left Nico on read.
. . .
Thalia Grace
Thursday 22nd, 8:05 PM
Thalia Grace
dear baby brother,
this thaknsgivng i wanted to let you know how graetful im to you. when you were born, i felt i was the luckiest gril in the word. ever since, youve just continued to proving me right, bc youre the best brother i could have ever asked for. im grateluf to life, bc you were born healthy and storng. i wish i cloud go to see you play more often because i love seeing you ace match after match. youre a blessing to see play, a blessing to hear talk and a blessing to be around. i still remember when i got you that one superman comic w my first salary from the urban outfitters back at dena and you talked about it for weeks until i got you the next one. ik you dont like superman naymore, but im graetful for every time you talked to me about it. im grateful you could save up and buy the camera you wanted, and i was gretaful when you sent me that voicenote talking about it. im greatful whenever i see you posetd soemthgin on insta. youre the best photogarpher in the world, and the smarste boy ever. every day im proud of you. i know youre gonna go places, but i hope you’ll always remember that youve got a place in my house whenever you need it <3
[ Read on Friday 23rd, 7:06 PM ]
i know we dont talk much ever since i left, and i know you’re still upset i did. im upset at myself too, jay. but i still care about you like i awlays have
[ Message unsent ]
Notes:
- million dollar question for you guys: was it actually sad or am i just a crybaby?
- i don't even want to do the commentary because just going through the chapter makes me a bit sad tbh. but either way: THIS GUYS ARE SO WRONG!!! LEO IS FIX-IT FELIX!! PIPER IS VANELLOPE AND JASON IS CALHOUN. thanks for coming to my ted talk. i watched wreck-it ralph 1 and 2 over this fic and what can i say other than "welcome back, trials of apollo." also they weren't gonna fly the dragon this chapter, but it's a sweet treat for jason because all his other plans are about to be cancelled. i'm so nice, am i not? also we get nico being giddy about will !! hes so precious to me
- next week's chapter is 1. the christmas arc !!! 2. continues will's and nico's date from last chapter 3. nico pov ofc 4. hurt/comfort 5. VERY FUCKING LONG. 11K TYPE OF LONG. i hope you'll look forward to it, as i'm very happy with how it came out <3
- my life has been so busy these days guys. today i got my italian basic level certificate and my friend bought an alien plushie from ikea, and that's the most interesting stuff going on in my life this week. sabrina didn't announce any spain date which woohoo (not woohoo) and ehh nothing more about me! hope you gusy had a great week!!!
Chapter 9: " salt in the wound "
Summary:
It’s horrible, and it scares me.” He explained. “I know it’s dumb…”
“It’s not dumb, Nico.” Will instantly cut him off. “You’re struggling, why would that be dumb?”
“If I just suck it up and ate like everyone else, it would be easier…” He shrugged, looking everywhere but at Will to avoid eye to eye contact.
“Nico… Who told you that?”
Notes:
welcome back to the longest chapter so far!
trigger warnings:
this chapter shows nico's thoughts and point of view on jason's situation as seen on last chapter. it also dwells multiple times on his low self-steem and some insecurities regarding his disability and eating disorder as he goes in slump after getting triggered by something he eats. stay safe while reading <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
you put salt in the wound, and a kiss on my cheek.
you butter me up, and you sit down to eat.
you add insult to injury, you say you believe in me.
but you haven't decided about taking or leaving me.
Nico seriously hoped he wasn’t coming off as rude for being on his phone while they walked towards Will’s car. Technically, he was using it to text Jason a bunch of “HE’S TAKING ME OUT FOR DINNER” messages, none of them properly typed. Distantly, he remembered that it had been him who had told Will to take him for dinner one day… But it had been 2 months ago, and he surely never expected the other to actually do it. After arriving at his car, Nico placed his phone in the pocket of his leather jacket and waited as Will opened the trunk and put his sport bag inside.
“Want me to put them inside?” The blonde asked, smiling at him so brightly it took Nico a second to process he was talking about his crutches. He quickly mumbled a “sure” and handed them to Will, who stared at one of them for a second too long. Nico scratched the back of his neck, not sure what the issue was until the other talked. “Is this one new?”
He was pointing at one of the stickers he had placed in the crutches. It was a sleeping Snoopy one she had gotten in one of the last sheets she had bought and gifted him, and it was actually the most recent one Nico had gotten. He didn’t keep count, but Nico guessed he added a new sticker every two weeks on good months and once a month in bad ones. Whatever the actual number was, he was sure no one really paid attention to it other than himself and the people who actually gifted them the stickers.
“Yeah, from Hazel. Why?” He asked.
Something about other people worrying about his stickers made him feel uneasy. The first time he had placed one, it had been a gift from Percy’s mom, when he was still at the hospital from the accident, and his dad had clicked his tongue once the woman left the room. If the multiple decorations on both crutches were anything to go by, Nico hadn’t really cared about the man thinking he was being childish or driving attention to himself, but he guessed a small part of him was still hurt.
“I don’t know, I just thought it was cute.” Will answered. “I like them.”
“I’ll give you a tour one day.” He said, trying to not sound as excited as he was with the idea. One of the crutches was full of more dark or gothic stickers, depicting critters, bones, moths, and such, while the other kept all the colorful and cutesy stuff his friends would gift him. He had never had a chance to explain where or who he had gotten each of the stickers from, but he had always wanted to. “If you want.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” The other said as he closed the trunk and got to the driver’s seat.
Nico took the passenger’s seat. He felt static, equally nervous and happy, and he decided to disguise the fact his hands were shaking a bit by going through Will’s dad’s collection of CD’s again. It was a different car —an actual car, not a pick-up truck— than last time, and thus, it had different music. He didn’t comment on the albums, going quicker through them than last time due to not wanting to waste the ride talking about music when he could be talking with Will instead. Still, his eyes lingered on one of them, and Will noticed.
“We can play it if you want.” He said.
Nico didn’t waste a second, taking it out of the box and starting to play it. He smiled at Will after he did, finding out the other was smiling back. They both shied away from eye contact almost immediately, though Nico turned his head again once he guessed the boy's attention was back on the road.
Will looked adorable. His hair was still damp from the shower, dripping a bit at an irregular pace, and darkened with the water. He had changed, of course, and was now wearing jeans and a black sweater a size or two too big and with Greek letters on it. He looked cozy, and it made Nico wish they could hug. They had hugged a fair amount of time already, which made him feel honestly lucky, but he wished they could have shared a hug in which none of them was going through distress.
“Your hoodie is new, right?” He said, trying to distract his mind from hugging Will.
“Yeah! It was my dad’s, we found it the other day at my auntie’s house. She has a matching one.”
“Do you know what it says?”
“Amfissa Junior Archery Tournament.” Will translated. “Amfissa is a… A city? It’s pretty small for a city, I think. But it’s a place in Greece.”
“That’s cool. Black looks good on you.”
Out of the two of them, Nico was the one who dressed in black the most. Other than for some dark browns and greens and one or two pops of red, his closet was a black-and-white film. Will, on the other hand, seemed to always be wearing warm colors or some pastel blue or green. Nico wasn’t sure he had ever seen him wearing darker clothes, but he was loving it. A dreamy part of him tried to imagine him wearing some of his own clothes, making a list of which ones would look better on the blonde, while a more rational part told him to focus.
“That’s high praise coming for you.” Will told him, drumming on the steering wheel as they came to a red light. It was dark out already, with the days having gotten shorter as November faded into December. “So… Where’d you wanna go?”
“Oh, right.” He had forgotten was in charge of picking the place. “Uhm… There’s this diner Jason’s sis works out. We usually go there when we go out all together, but we haven’t had a big hang out since you joined the group. Wanna go there?” He asked. “I know it’s not super fancy or cool, but, uh, it’s our sort of secret, special place. And also, I can eat their food.”
“That sounds good. Put it in Google Maps?”
They arrived at Pine ‘n Bite 15 minutes later. The big, round booth table was taken by a group of middle-aged women, but they didn’t need it for just the two of them. Nico and Will sat at a table for two, and the blonde started to look through the menu. They had been sat for about 2 minutes when Thalia walked towards them, wearing the gray-striped dress and black apron of her uniform.
“Been a while, punk.” She said, smiling and squeezing Nico’s shoulder briefly. They hadn’t seen each other since Nico had overheard her and Jason, a reminder that made him deflate a bit. “Who’s the new guy?”
“That’s Will.” He said, never sure if he was meant to add more or let the boy actually introduce himself.
“Oh, Pipes told me about you! Good things only, of course.” The girl said, holding out the hand she wasn’t using to hold her notebook and pen in a closed fist for Will to fist bump as he smiled. “A friend of my friends is a friend of mine. Want anything to drink, kids?”
“Do you have Dr. Pepper?” Will asked at the same time Nico asked for a Diet Coke.
“‘Course we do.” She noted the orders down. “Thought about dinner already, or should I come back later?”
She left after Nico asked for his usual and Will ordered a hot sandwich, and came back with their drinks just a minute or so later, almost catching Nico in the middle of his explanation about how sometimes Thalia put his and his friend’s drinks on the house.
“Alright, so here’s your glass, and here’s yours.” Thalia said as she placed both cans and glasses in front of their owners. “Hey, Neeks, have you been talking to Jason lately? My phone broke down so we’ve been out of contact.”
He thought about it for a moment. Nico didn’t know much exactly about Jason’s and Thalia’s relationship with each other, or at least didn’t understand it the best he could. As far as it was aware, it boiled down to Thalia wanting Jason to move in with her and to Jason not wanting to, but he didn’t know why he rejected her offers, or why they argued about it so often. Whatever it was, he doubted any of them were happy with how things were. He also didn’t know if Thalia knew he was aware of Jason’s situation, or if he should even tell her. Granted, Thalia had been through the same hell of a house, but she didn’t have “updates” on her brother like Nico had.
What was he meant to do? He thought about the call they had had last week. Did Thalia know about that? Was it even his place to tell her, if she didn’t know? Nico sighed against his empty cup, not really sure he was doing the same thing.
“If you, uh…” He started. “If you take a smoke break early, maybe we can catch up?” He said, hoping she would understand. It was Jason’s and his secret euphemism, she had no way of knowing it, but she still nodded with sad eyes and left after squeezing his shoulder once more. Nico watched her go before looking back at Will. As much as he was into him, for a moment he had forgotten about his presence. “Oh, I’m sorry… That was rude.”
“What was rude?” He asked, tilting his head.
“I told her I would go catch up with her when we are meant to have dinner together.”
“She’s your cousin, right?” Nico nodded. “And you don’t see her often. I think you should talk to her too, don’t worry.” He smiled reassuringly, but it didn’t help much. He still had Jason’s defeated voice in his mind. “Hey, you seem tense.” Nico simply shrugged at Will’s words, though he felt bad for making him worry. “Do you not feel like eating? Maybe they haven’t started our food yet, we can tell them we’ve changed our mind and go somewhere else. We don’t have to have dinner. We can go on a walk? Or I can drive you home… Or we can drive around, if you don’t feel like going home yet.”
Nico bit the inside of his mouth. He had known right after meeting him, when he had found him and Leo at the mall and the blonde had insisted on paying him back over an ice-cream, that Will was a massive sweetheart. With how he continued to prove how much he cared about everyone’s comfort and safety, Nico was sure he had fallen for the biggest-hearted person in New York City.
Driving around the city with him sounded nice, he had to admit, but he did feel like eating, and to be honest he was both hungry and dying to have dinner with Will, so he shook his head no.
“I’m just a bit tired.” He said. It wasn’t a full lie —the strands had been awfully uncomfortable—, but it wasn’t close to being the full truth either. “Are you tired from the match?” He asked, trying to redirect the conversation’s focus to anywhere other than him.
“Tiny bit.” Will smiled, probably still proud of himself. It was a good look on him. “I wasn’t very athletic before the whole basketball thing, but I think I’ve gotten used to it already.”
“Would you change it?” Nico asked, making him look up. “Like, if you could go back in time and not join, would you?”
Some seconds passed as Will pondered his answer.
“I don’t think so.” He replied, finally. “The guys from the team are really nice to me. I wouldn’t change meeting them.” He looked up at Nico after speaking, staring into him like the boy was some kind of precious painting. It made him feel almost exposed, and he quickly looked down at his lap and started to toy with his rings to avoid eye contact. “I don’t think I would have changed meeting anyone I’ve met. I’m very happy here.”
Nico smiled. With how sweet and fond of his current life Will sounded, it was impossible not to. Still, there was a bittersweet aftertaste that came when he inevitably remembered it was a one-year only thing. Less than a year, even. Will would probably go back in June, as soon as school was over, and though he had promised to keep in contact, a part of Nico still felt like it wouldn’t be enough.
It wasn’t fair, or that’s how he felt like. The boy he fell with was the one boy that wouldn’t stay in town with him. Sure, if they dated —which would be ideal, but with how inept he was at social interaction and how he would probably explode and die before confessing his feelings seemed impossible—, they could do long distance… But Nico just wished it would all be easier. None of his friends were from New York, other than Percy, and the fact Will was the only one who wasn’t actually gonna stay made him feel jealous of everyone else.
Thalia came in with their food right in time to pull him off his sad, infatuated spiral. Will said his plate was really good, which made Nico let out a sigh of relief he hadn’t realized he was holding. The idea of bringing him to a place he wouldn’t like must have been stressing him out subconsciously. They spent their time talking about anything. It started off by complaining about their upcoming English Literature exam, and that led to talking about books. Nico didn’t read much, with dyslexia making it incredibly frustrating for him and his ADHD making it impossible to follow an audiobook. Will also struggled, but he did read from time to time. At least, he had read the books for English Literature, which was more than what Nico could say.
Talking with Will was incredibly easy. Maybe it was the way he always listened to what Nico had to say, no matter how small it was, and never let any of his thoughts go unsawared. Maybe it was the slow cadence of his voice, his accent and the way he dragged words around. Will talked slowly most of the time, unless he was nervous or really excited, and Nico loved it. He felt he could fall asleep listening to him, not because he found him boring —he might not have seemed as receptive as Will, but he did love listening to him—, but because he found him relaxing. He understood why Jason had made fun of him getting giddy over the phone.
As if on cue, summoned by the memory of Jason in Nico’s mind, Thalia appeared behind him and squeezed his shoulder.
“Hey, Neeks, the manager said I can have a 5-minute break now, if you wanna go out with me.”
He looked up at Will, to confirm once more that he was fine with Nico leaving, and stood up and exited through the door with Thalia once the blonde had smiled at him. It was cold outside, even if he had his leather jacket and a long-sleeved hoodie underneath. Winter was some days away, and the autumn breeze was starting to lose its gentleness. He could imagine that Thalia wasn’t having a great time, dressed with only her uniform as she leant against the local’s wall.
“So, how is he?” She started, smiling weakly. It was hard to see her like that: tired from working and from stressing about her brother, unaware of whether he was safe or not, and vulnerable.
“He’s grounded.” Nico started. “I don’t know how, specifically, but he was gonna drive me today and couldn’t because of it. That step-mother of yours… Of his? Whatever, Juno is trying to manipulate him about random stuff, I don’t know why.” He said. “She pretended he hadn’t told her something important, that’s why he’s grounded now. Keeps defending her too. I guess it’s a coping mechanism or something, but I don’t want him to get hurt.”
She took the words in quietly, one by one, nodding and tearing up though she was still smiling tensely. Nico looked down in shame, even if he knew he had nothing to be ashamed of regarding that situation. Perhaps he was just sad to admit he couldn’t do much to protect Jason, or perhaps it was just the feeling of helplessness that had followed him for so long finally catching up with him. Much like Thalia, he too felt himself tear up before he noticed her wrapping her arms around him. Nico fought the urge to immediately reject her. Thalia was a great hugger, and he needed this.
“I know, sweetheart, I know.” Her voice was sweet, and her tone was soothing. Nico should have focused on that, but his mind was back on the gig from October, where he had overheard the same words over Jason sobbing his heart out. It only made him feel worse. A tear fell from his eyes as he let out a weak sound. His cousin hugged him tighter. “It’s okay, Neeks, I promise it’s okay. Trust me, alright? I’ve got this, I’ve got him. It’ll all be fine. He’ll be fine.”
He nodded at the sound of her words, as if forcing himself to agree with her. It didn’t matter if Nico believed her or not. What mattered was that she was on her shift and that her break was only 5 minutes long, so he had no business wasting them on crying. So, Nico pulled himself together the best he could, dried off his tears and nodded at Thalia one final time before they both finished talking and went back inside. He probably wasn’t as composed as he had wanted to, though, because Will detected something was off as soon as he sat down again.
“Neeks, is everything okay?” He asked, lifting his eyes from his phone, which he had picked up when Nico had left.
He sniffled, not wanting to cry in front of Will, but not feeling up to lying again. Nico shook his head no, hoping Will wouldn’t mind.
“I don’t feel like eating anymore.” He said, trying his best to sound natural.
Will frowned in front of him, looking more worried than mad, and pulled out his wallet.
“Don’t worry, that’s alright.” He told him as he started pulling out bills and, for some reason, a yellow gemstone. “I’ll drop you home, okay?”
“Thank you.” He mumbled. “Why do you carry a rock?”
“Oh!” Will said, pulling out the last bill he needed to pay for their food. “That’s a citrine crystal my friend gave me. Lou, remember? I’ve told you about her. It’s meant to bring prosperity and joy, so it’s basically a good luck crystal. She said it carries the energy of the sun.”
“That fits you.” Nico said. He hated the sound of his voice, half-way between infatuated with Will sad about his recent conversation with Thalia. “You look like a ray of sunshine.”
“Thank you!”
The boy smiled brightly, as if to prove Nico’s point. It made him happy, nursing a part of him that was currently hurting. Maybe he needed to get himself a bit of citrine as well, Nico thought. Then, his eyes lingered on Will a second too long, and saw him turn around the chair with a confused look as he tried to localize a waiter willing to hand them their bill. The small frown on his forehead and the way his mouth was only partially opened made him look adorable. He didn’t need any sun-powered crystal, he rectified. Will was already sun-powered and more than he could take.
Will drove him home and got off the car at the same time as Nico, picking up his crutches from the trunk for him. It felt like the blonde wanted to extend their time together, and he seemed sad when Nico glimpsed at him, already going to the driver’s seat. That just wouldn’t do, not when he could also extend their time together.
“Hey, uh, Will.” He called his name before the other got in the car. “You said earlier we could go on a walk, right?”
“Yeah?” The boy tilted his head.
“Does the offer still stand?”
The walk was short-lived, because it was getting late and it had been dark for a long time already, but Nico didn’t regret asking for it. Will seemed to sense he wasn’t feeling up to talking a lot, and filled the silence by talking more about Lou Ellen and her crystals. He was perfect at killing awkward silence, at making every instance have a conversation to remember it for, and as much as Nico liked quiet, he liked Will’s voice more.
They were back at Nico’s front door too quickly for his taste. Despite the late hour on his phone’s screen, none of them make an effort to leave. They were both leaning against the fence, with Nico hoping no one from his house was spying on them as they both stared at the starry night sky. He recognized Orion and Taurus from a book on stars Bianca had infodumped him about before she died. He had read it last year, pushing through dyslexia by repeating himself it was mostly pictures, as a way of feeling closer to her.
“When’s your birthday?” He asked Will, realizing he didn’t know. He wanted to know his star sign, not because he necessarily believed in the Zodiac, but because he wanted to show Will his constellation if it was visible.
“August 23rd.” Virgo, right? Or Leo, he didn’t really know. He couldn’t spot any of them, sadly. “Yours?”
“January 28th.” Nico answered without giving it much thought.
“That’s just around the corner!” Will said, sounding more excited than Nico thought was necessary. His birthday wasn’t anything that important, was it now?
“Hazel’s first.” He shrugged. He still didn’t have a gift for that, Nico remembered.
“What are you gonna do for yours?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged again. It wasn’t like he hated parties, but he never felt in need for a birthday one. “But you’re invited.” Will giggled at his side, obviously content, before his body twitched due to the cold breeze. He had fewer layers than Nico. Keeping him from home was probably unfair. “You should get going. It’s late.” He told him, even if he would prefer him to stay. He walked with him the few meters separating them from his car, talking after Will opened the door but before he got in. “Thanks for today. I had an amazing time.”
“Really?” Will smiled.
His question sounded genuine. Nico had realized how he always seemed surprised people appreciated him or said they liked to be around him, and it bothered that something as obvious to him as “being with Will is nice” wasn’t obvious to the others.
“Yeah, of course.” He said. I love being with you, he wanted to say, I hate it when you leave. I hate that you’ll have to.
. . .
A week later, Nico and Will found themselves together at Pine ‘n Bite again, surrounded by their friends and occupying the round booth. It was Saturday, early in the morning —10:30 wasn’t that early, but it was for Nico—, and they were having a second breakfast, or, as Nico liked to call it, his first breakfast. He hadn’t felt like having anything at home, and to be honest he still didn’t feel like eating, but he was starving and that was less than ideal. Everyone else had ordered already, except for Hazel, who had said wasn’t hungry (Nico was pretty sure she was doing it out of solidarity, and he appreciated the gesture, though he still hoped she hadn’t lied about not being hungry). He kept studying the menu, trying to find something that didn’t sound too overwhelming or scary.
“Okay, I’m giving up.” He whispered, mostly to himself, as he dropped the menu on the table and leaned back against the seat.
Frustration was taking over him. Nico tried not to think too much about it, because it left him feeling hopeless or depressed, but ARFID was tiresome. It was exhausting not being able to eat the same food as everyone else when they had lunch together, and straight up not eating was the worst. Of course he understood why his friends would be worried about him skipping meals, but he still hated making them worry. Yet, if he ordered something he couldn’t eat, it would lead to either wasting the money and food by not even touching it, or to having him puke it and panic, which would be more concerning for the rest. No one commented on it, but he was sure they were thinking something about the lines of “poor Nico” that made him want to hit his head against the table.
Nico felt a hand reaching up to his on the booth and squishing it once before leaving. When he looked up, he saw Will, who had sat by his side, smiling and looking at him sweetly.
“It’s alright.” He whispered to Nico.
It wasn’t like it fixed anything automatically, but he felt better immediately, even if just for a bit. Nico smiled at the words, but didn’t get to reply. Annabeth had called everyone’s attention by clapping. She held a blue cap on her hand, filled with little papers with their names on them.
“Okay, everyone, we are going by age from oldest to youngest. If you announce who you’ve gotten out loud, we have to repeat it, so please don’t do that.” She said. Nico wondered if her tired tone was enough for Will to guess how they had to redo the toss multiple times every year because of the same thing. “Remember the minimum budget is 5 dollars and the maximum is 25. Now, Pipes, you start.”
Hazel, Will and Nico were the last one to toss out their papers, being a year younger than everyone else. There was barely anything to pick from when it got to his turn, actually, but he was still excited about seeing whom he had gotten. Bending it a bit and hiding it with one hand so no one knew who he was going to be a secret santa for, Nico checked the name on the paper: Will, alongside a smiley face. He wondered what were the odds of him being the person in the blonde’s paper as well, and got himself excited with the idea that the small possibility would be true. Man, being into someone really gets you stupid,, he told himself once he realized he had started to quick his feet below the table.
Nico smiled, content for a second and happy at the coincidence, before realizing he really didn’t know what to give Will. He’d known everyone else for way longer and knew what things they owned and didn’t own, or stuff they had said they wanted in passing months ago before they even met Will. He took a last quick look at the paper before putting it in his pocket, and then took a glance at the boy, who was talking with Leo about their Christmas from last year. No matter what, Nico decided, he was gonna make sure the other loved his present.
They didn’t spend much time at the diner after the toss, with the 12th-graders having an exam on Monday that they still needed to study for. Percy drove Nico and Hazel back home. He had wanted Will to do so, but apparently the boy had come by bus. Still, he thanked Percy and got out of the car alongside his sister once they made it to their destination.
“Do you wanna play Mythomagic with me?” Nico asked his sister once they were at the hall inside.
“I have to finish a project for art class.” She said, sounding genuinely sad that she couldn’t. “We can play after I’m done.”
Her supplies had been on the dining table towards the back, but she went to take them to the coffee table and turned on the TV.
“Are you gonna do it in the living room?” Nico said. Hazel nodded in reply. “Can I be with you?”
“Yeah, sure!” The girl smiled and handed him the remote. “Wanna choose the channel?”
“Nah, it’s fine.” They were passing a documentary on some sort of turtle Nico didn’t care much about, but the scenery was pretty, and he wasn’t really intending on watching. “Do you have a sheet of paper?”
Hazel gave it to him, and he bent it in half and picked up a black pen from Hazel’s pencil case. She was doing watercolors, so he doubted it would matter. They didn’t talk much, mostly because while Nico was drawing for fun, Hazel was doing it for school and he didn’t want to disturb her. He filled the first half of the paper with rough sketches of Mythomagic’s God’s designs in different poses, though he only got to fit three before he ran out of room. Nico turned the paper after, drawing Hazel working in front of him instead for a bit of change. He got lost in it, focused on capturing her frown of deep concentration perfectly.
“Do you always draw on random sheets?” She asked without lifting her eyes from her paper.
“Yeah? If I bend it, it’s like a notebook.”
“Wouldn’t you rather buy an actual sketchbook?”
“I don’t want to leave it half-way.”
She didn’t ask anymore, probably not wanting to push him, and Nico didn’t talk again either, burdened with the knowledge that he didn’t use to be someone to leave things unfinished, but had been unable to finish or fulfill most of his goals for the past months. Instead, he kept drawing, declaring his Hazel painting done and taking another piece of paper to start drawing Pokémons from memory. In the background, the TV kept giving biological facts about Galapagos and, from the kitchen, he could hear the sound of his dad and Hazel’s mom cooking. He paused for a moment, lifting his head up and looking at the kitchen. Why was Marie cooking?
“Where’s Giulia?” He asked, catching his father’s attention.
“Her family came to visit. We gave her some days off.”
“Ah.” Nico said, quietly, pretending not to notice the slight shudder he had had at the knowledge their personal cook wasn’t gonna be cooking for some days. “Cool.”
“Food’s almost ready, if you two wanna come lay the table.”
Hazel was still working, so Nico stood up and set the table himself so she could finish her homework earlier. It smelled weird in the kitchen, enough to make him feel uneasy. He was placing the glasses when his step-mom pulled the oven’s door open and took out a tray of lasagna. Nico took a deep breath. That was his comfort food, one of his favorites, and hopefully it would help with the bad symptoms day he was having.
He called for Hazel after he was done. She sat by his side, as usual. Eating with their parents, who were either busy, working, or prone to not wait for them after arriving home, was not as common for them, and a part of him didn’t really know how to act. It’s just your family, he said, it should be easy.
So, he took a piece of food into his fork, blew into it trying to ignore the lingering weird smell that was still making him partially nauseous, and took the bite hoping the familiar taste would comfort him. There was, however, no familiar taste, nor texture, nor anything. The pasta was probably fine, and he didn’t even register the bechamel, but there was no meat in it, just fish. It tasted like fish —tuna, he guessed—, and it only remained in his mouth for a few seconds before he spit it out and coughed, panicking as the initial confusion turned into overwhelming fear. His breath was shortening, and he couldn’t make sense of the situation, not even realizing the fact Hazel had a hand on his back trying to help him calm down. He could hear his parents calling his name worriedly, but he only began focusing when he heard Hazel calling him Neeks.
“Nico? Nico, what’s wrong?” He heard his step-mom. “I thought you liked this.”
“Why does it have fish?” The question came out almost as a shout. He had a tendency to get angry when sad and sad when angry. “Why’d you put fish on it?”
“One of my friends said it was really nice like this.” She said, slowly and calmly.
“Why’d you change the recipe?”
“I didn’t think…”
There were a million things he wanted to say, like “you could have asked” or “you ruined my comfort food,” but Nico simply let a loud groan into his hands and stood up from his chair, walking upstairs as quickly as possible and hitting his door close before throwing himself on the bed. He hugged a pillow, groaning into it and crying for some minutes. He was always anxious food wouldn’t taste how he expected, that its appearance would betray him and hit him with a flavor that was not for him or a texture that was too much. As pathetic as it made him feel, food scared him, and there were only so little dishes and brands he felt safe with. He guessed he could take one off the list. The bitter memory was gonna haunt him for some months, he was sure.
He didn’t feel like dealing with his emotions and anxieties, too tired from the surprise and the anxiety attack following, so, for around 20 minutes, Nico tried to fall asleep and take a nap that just never came. In the end, he gave up and pulled out his phone instead. He didn’t feel like being at home; he wanted out immediately. He didn’t have those many friends with a car, though, and his legs were hurting too much for a walk. Jason was still unavailable, Reyna was at work, Percy was studying and there was just something weird about asking your sister’s boyfriend to hang out with you out of the blue, so Frank was also off the picture. His only option was Will.
will !!
Saturday 8th, 3:02 PM
nico
hey
are you busy?
will !!
leo and i are gonna go to the mall :0c
why??
nico
nothing dw
was wondeirng if you felt like going somewhere w me
will !!
i can ask him if you can come!!!
we’re gonna buy presents
[ Read on Saturday 8th, 3:11 PM ]
he says you should come ^____^ !!
and said haze can come too !!!
nico
really?
will !!
yeah ofc !! i’ll drive us there in 15 mins !
see you !!!
Nico and Hazel had been waiting outside for 5 minutes already by the time Will and Leo showed up, not because they were late, but because Nico had insisted on waiting early. Initially, he had been weary about going out with Will while he was in distress, not wanting the other to see him at his lowest, but after he had told Hazel, the fact that he got to be with the other for some hours finally hit and it made him feel better. He was excited about the day, even if he still felt nauseous and would probably cry at the mention of eating.
“So!” Leo said, skipping greetings, as the siblings buckled up. “We all swear to not peek when the others buy their gifts for the Secret Santa, right?”
“Deal.” Nico mumbled. He had taken a bunch of money, ready to find both something for Will and something for Hazel’s birthday, as well as something for Thalia’s.
“Yeah, sounds good.” Hazel agreed at the same time.
The ride was quick. Festus was resting his head on Nico’s lap for most of it, and though he didn’t pet him seeing as it was working, just having the dog on him calmed him down. He did get his fur on Nico’s pants, which was annoying, but other than that he greatly enjoyed chit chatting with the others and staring at the doggie.
They started with toy stores, though the toys there were mostly for children. Nico did get a blast looking at the board games, wondering if his Secret Santa would get him one and making a list of which ones he could ask his parents for as a present. Leo, as well, was very excited about the drones and the remote control cars. He found a newly released game with beautiful designs and a cute storyline, and purchased it quickly and discreetly while Hazel showed Will her favorite Pokémon in their plushie version. They went over to a bookstore, despite the fact none of them loved reading physical books, but Nico got to look at the comic section while Hazel looked at artbooks.
“Do you like comics?” Will, who had gotten to his side and began sorting through them as well.
“A friend does.” He said, thinking about Jason. “Do you?” Nico asked, once he saw a Star Wars coming in the back of the shelf.
“Yeah! I don’t read many of them, though. There was this series they made for Darth Vader some years ago I’ve been really wanting to read, but they never came to my local library.” He said. “At least I have the films.”
“I haven’t watched them, you know?” He said, mostly to change the topic the slightest bit in a way that wasn’t suspicious. Will stared at him with his eyes wide open.
“Never?” He asked. “In 17 years you haven’t watched them?” Nico shook his head no. “ Teen Beach Movie, I can excuse, but this… Well, actually, not having watched Teen Beach Movie is iffy. Thank God we fixed that.”
“We’ll have to fix that too, then.” He said, elbowing him and smiling crookedly. “Maybe I’ll watch them during Chris…”
“No!” Will interrupted suddenly. It surprised Nico, and so did the way he was now clinging to his arm. “We should watch them together. You need an expert of the lore. And I’m gonna be gone the whole Christmas…”
Nico had to grip the bookshelf edge very tightly in order not to die right there at the fact Will wanted to watch a film —not even a film, but six! Probably more if Will wanted him to watch the sequels and spin-offs— with him.
“Well, then, we’re gonna have a whole movie marathon to plan.”
“You can come to my house if we do it!” Will replied.
He was pretty sure he replied a simple “sure,” but Nico was dying inside to tell him he was more than ready to welcome Will into his house at any time, movie marathon or not.
Their next stop was a music shop, because Will insisted he wanted to see if there was something he could gift his dad, but he couldn’t find anything, not knowing which CDs he had already and which ones he didn’t own. He seemed very frustrated about not knowing. Once they exited the place, he fell into one of the benches inside the mall and let out a defeated groan.
“It’s fine, you’ll find something.” Nico reassured him. “Is there anything else he is into?”
“Archery? Cooking?” He mumbled. “I’ll think about it later. Anyone wanna go somewhere else?”
“I wanted to check the shop they have with all the art supplies.” Hazel said. Nico could imagine she was about to prematurely spend her birthday money.
Nonetheless, they went there, with Hazel immediately knowing where she was heading, Leo getting distracted by spray paint and Nico just randomly testing different pens and markers he saw. Will, who didn’t have much interest in any product, went with him.
“There’s so much stuff… What do you use to draw?”
“Random sheets of paper and a black BIC pen.”
“Just that?”
“A pencil too.” Nico said, grabbing a golden pen they had and sketching a little Will on the test paper. He made his face squishy, much more rounded than his usual style consisting of rough lines and sharp edges, because there was nothing rough or sharp about Will. He was soft, cozy, and nice to hold on to.
“Is that me?” Will asked. Nico nodded, though he wasn’t super proud of it. He could have done better if he hadn’t rushed so much, and it was a bit embarrassing for Will to see… “Can I keep it?”
It was surprising to hear him ask, but Nico couldn’t do anything than to rip off the paper and hand it to Will. The blonde opened his wallet and carefully put the golden mini-Will inside, alongside his gemstone. Nico smiled shyly, feeling very happy for a moment before a low rumble coming from his stomach sounded. As if it was going to muffle, he put an arm around his torso, which only made the other boy look more concerned than he had already.
“Are you hungry?” Will asked, worried. Nico nodded, looking away as he mentally berated himself. “Do you need to go buy something to eat?”
He probably needed to, but the idea made bile go up his throat. There was no food he could think of that he felt like eating. Nothing felt safe anymore. He was sure whatever he put in his mouth would taste different from how he expected, and it would scare him and drive him crazy in front of everyone, not to mention he would be physically uncomfortable as well. Will seemed to notice his uneasiness.
“Hey, is there anything wrong? You can tell me if you need.” He said, reaching out for Nico’s hand. It made him feel better, but it wasn’t a fix-it-all. Still, it was enough to help him answer.
“I haven’t eaten since yesterday.” He said, not counting the bite he had spit out and also ignoring Will’s concerned face. “I tried to, I swear, but there was something wrong at lunch and now I feel horrible about everything. Food is… Really scary right now.”
Will clicked his tongue and frowned. If he wasn’t painfully aware of the fact he was causing him unnecessary distress by not being able to help himself, Nico would have found his face cute.
“Can I ask why it is scary?”
“I can’t be sure it’s gonna taste like it’s meant to, and I panic when things don’t taste like they’re meant to. The uncertainty makes me really anxious, and if the food isn’t how I thought it was gonna taste, I get too overwhelmed and uncomfortable and I just… It’s horrible, and it scares me.” He explained. “I know it’s dumb…”
“It’s not dumb, Nico.” Will instantly cut him off. “You’re struggling, why would that be dumb?”
“If I just suck it up and ate like everyone else, it would be easier…” He shrugged, looking everywhere but at Will to avoid eye to eye contact.
“Nico… Who told you that?” Will asked, making Nico tilt his head. Probably everyone he knew had thought about it at some point, right? But no one had straight up told him, and so he told Will. “Neeks, what? No one thinks that you should just get it over with. That’s not how it works. We all know you’re trying your best.”
He wanted to reply something like “you can’t actually think that,” or “be honest, Will,” but he couldn’t bring himself to. He wanted very badly to believe Will was being honest with his words, that he and the rest had never thought poorly about him and his illness, and that no one expected him to put himself through distress. Nico blinked quickly, trying not to cry. He thought back to October, to Halloween, to Will knowing exactly what he needed to hear and saying it like he truly believed it. He might truly believe it, he said to himself. Then, he looked up at Will, who was still looking worried, but whose features had relaxed into a gentle, compassionate smile that just screamed “I’m here for you” and that made Nico’s heart skip a beat. He does, he truly believes it, Nico rectified, opening his arms a bit in a shy request before Will enveloped him tightly, he believes in me.
He didn’t count how long they stayed together in the hug, but it felt like a long time. Not like he was about to complain. Still, they unglued themselves from each other once Leo and Hazel, now bearing a bag with the store’s logo, came up to them saying they were done at the place. They saw more places after, like multiple clothing stores in which Will finally found good gifts for his dad and Hyacinth, a Flying Tiger, and a beauty store in which Leo shyly requested entering and in which, after much hyping up from everyone else, he ended up buying a beautiful eye palette.
They drove back home once Nico started to feel he was walking on knives with every step. He needed an ibuprofen, a blanket, and a computer from which he could order those Darth Vader comics as soon as possible! They were back quickly, as much as he wished he could extend his day with Will like he had done last week. Meh, he probably wouldn’t have been able to go on another walk, though, so it was fine, or at least that was he decided once Hazel and him took off their coats in the hall.
“We’re back!” Hazel announced, placing her keys on the shoerack’s top shelf.
“Nico too?” His father called from his office, making Nico turn his head to the door in a mix of confusion and slight dread.
“Yeah?” He said.
“ Vieni qui. ”
Hazel turned to him, looking just as confused. Nico knew she had picked up plenty of stuff from hearing him and his dad or Giulia Alberta talking in Italian, but that wasn’t the problem. Why was his father calling him? With how often he limited himself to pretty much ignore his son, he couldn’t guess it was for anything good. So, he crossed himself —he was an atheist despite his upbringing, but he had never lost the habit—, and walked to his dad’s office while Hazel left for her room (not without wishing him an ominous “good luck” before).
His father was sat at his desk, with his computer open in front of him and a bunch of papers with numbers and bankary data on them spread above the table. He didn’t look up at the sound of the door opening.
“ Sì? ” He said, trying to call his attention.
The man looked up, studying him in silence for a moment. One of his hands was still scribbling information on a paper. He never had his full attention on Nico, but what was new?
“Do you need to go back to treatment?”
He thought about it for a moment. He had stopped treatment after the accident, partially because he had been getting good enough to not depend on it, partially because of how much his father had had to invest on buying a new apartment, paying for his wife’s and daughter’s funeral, Nico’s physiotherapist, etc. Did he need it? He wasn’t sure. He had been doing really well the past months, if he ignored the hell today had been and how bad the following weeks were gonna be.
“ Non lo so. ” He mumbled, tired and hungry and in pain and not in the mood to switch back to English. As far as they could understand each other, they both could allow themselves their first languages. “ Possiamo provare solo la terapia? ”
“No nutritionist?” Nico nodded. “Therapy therapy or feeding therapy?”
“ Terapia terapia. Non c’è bisogno che sia un specialista.” He said, hoping his father wouldn’t push him to say more. If he was going back to therapy, he wanted to tell whatever unlucky soul he got for the therapist about all his problems, not just his eating disorder.
“Alright.” The man nodded, taking a post-it and writing something that somehow resembled the words “Nico - therapist” and sticking it on his computer, below the keyboard. “ C’è pasta nel frigo. Normale, la solita. ”
“Okay.”
“One more thing.” Nico stopped midway through the door, turning around slightly. “The Jacksons are hosting Christmas this year. Tell your sister.”
“Okay.”
Nico left the room then, making a mental note to tell Hazel in the morning. He went into the kitchen area, not really interested in eating yet but knowing he needed a painkiller. He still opened the fridge and pulled out the plate of fresh pasta for him, because he didn’t want to go to bed without having eaten the whole day, so he microwaved it as he took the painkiller and sat down to eat. It felt like ages of fighting a silent war before he finally felt ready to take the same bite. It was already cold by then, but he microwaved it again. It tasted like it should, fortunately. He didn’t finish the plate, only half of it, but Nico counted it as a victory, enough to take a picture of it to frame the moment.
will !!
Saturday 8th, 10:01 PM
nico
[ Image attached: A half-empty plate of ravioli with tomato sauce and Nico’s hand giving a thumbs-up in front of it ]
nico 1 - arfid 0
more like nico 1 - arfid 500 but hey i got a point
will !!
WOOOO well done !!!!
im so proud of you <3 !!!!
Nico slept easily that night, dreaming of Darth Vader comics and movie nights with Will.
. . .
Hazel’s birthday came and went quickly. Their friend group and Frank went to the theater and watched the new animated Spiderman movie, which automatically went into Nico’s top 10, and probably onto Percy’s too, considering the fact he didn’t stop stimming for the whole thing if it wasn’t to comfort Annabeth about the spider imagery. Jason said he couldn’t go, but he appeared with his family at home later to drop by their gift. Neither he or Nico said anything, but both could tell the blonde was upset about the situation. Hazel got her new board game, loved it at first and demanded a match against Nico, who let her win for once.
Once the 21st rolled by, they went to eat together after school to exchange their gifts. Percy received a shark plushie from IKEA, and he immediately guessed it was from Will, seeing as he was the only one who didn’t know Percy had one already.
“Oh, I’m sorry…” Will started to apologize.
“Are you kidding? Two Blåhajs? That’s every man’s dream! Now mine is gonna have a little sibling just like me! Thank you, dude.” He said, holding the toy like it was his newborn son and smiling like he had just won the lottery. In his eyes, he probably had.
Leo got a dragon-themed notebook with D&D character sheets inside, and figured it was Annabeth’s because, according to him, “it was too good to have been thought out by anyone else, no offense.” Coincidentally, she got her gift from Leo: the most expensive LEGO toy the budget had allowed. Percy got Piper a Hello Kitty guitar strap, which they liked enough to stand up and round the whole table to hug him tight. Their gift was for Hazel, an artbook on Berthe Morisot. Will figured out his gift was from Nico as soon as he unwrapped it, but it didn’t matter. Not with how he threw himself to Nico to hug him as a “thank you,” at least.
Nico was the last one to unwrap his, which some argued defeated the purpose of gifters being secret, but he didn’t mind. He was just excited to see whatever Hazel had gotten him. He teared through the black wrapping paper, just to reveal an also black, though leathery, surface. It took him a few seconds to realize he was holding a horizontal, black notebook with blank pages. A sketchbook. He looked up, searching her eyes amongst the rest of the people in the table.
“But…” He started, not really sure what he was gonna say.
“I know you can finish it.” She told him, smiling fondly. Nico didn’t protest, just hugging the notebook close to his chest.
A day later, Will left for Austin. Nico had wanted to accompany him to the airport, but even he could tell that was too obvious. Instead, he texted him the whole morning, wished him a safe flight multiple times before Percy came to pick him and Hazel up to go see Thalia for her birthday. She was working, but took a quick break to be with them, seeing as the diner wasn’t busy. Piper and Annabeth came some minutes later, too. No sight of Jason, though, although he texted Nico asking him to tell Thalia he would have loved to go.
Nico saw Jason for the first time in months on Christmas, three days after Thalia’s birthday. He looked tired, but Nico couldn’t tell if it was over finals or over his family. Whatever it was, no one seemed to notice but him. Thalia hadn’t come, as much as Nico was sure Sally had invited her, but he couldn’t blame her. She hadn’t run away from home just to go have Christmas dinner with her family, had she? He took the executive decision of sitting between Jason and his dad, not comfortable with having the two of them right next to each other. He considered “accidentally” poking the man with his crutches once, as a little payback for ruining his friend’s life and for being an ableist fucker, but it would probably backfired on Jason, so he didn’t.
At least, the family meeting was fun, solely because the Jacksons were there and their presence alone made everything feel better. Sally Jackson reminded Nico of how his mom had been, in a way. He was happy for Percy and Estelle.
Eating was surprisingly easy. For starters, Percy had texted him in his mom’s name asking if he was fine with what they were gonna cook and offering a safe second option. He had asked for one, but he found out he could almost finish his whole plate of turkey. He even took some bites from the dessert before deciding he felt full. By then, the adults were starting to brew coffee for themselves, and Percy had already gotten up from the chair and suggested the teens went out to do something.
“You guys bought a basket ring? When?” Jason said as the four of them entered the garden, pointing out a basket installed on the wall that Nico had never seen.
“Oh, yeah! Paul thought it’d be fun, but no one at home’s that good.” Percy explained. “Mom beats our asses at it every time.”
“Wanna play 21?” Jason asked.
“You sure?”
Nico didn’t need to look up to know Percy was staring at him. Of course, he was the only one out of the four of them who had a chronic disability, so it made sense for the other to worry about his limitations and whatever… But Nico didn’t want him to. Sure, he had been doing badly in terms of symptoms for the past days, and Percy might have noticed, but he didn’t like that in the slightest. He was fine with people caring, but having others acting like he couldn’t do simple stuff bothered him, even if they were partially right sometimes. He wanted to play, no matter what Percy or his legs had to say about it.
“I’m in.” He said, moving to leave his crutches against the wall. “What are the rules?”
Upon explanation, Nico realized that 21 was, by any means, an easy game. It seemed like a dummy version of the proper sport. They started playing after Jason was done explaining, with the blonde starting on the basis he was the closest to being 21. It was easy. It hurt, and he had to run more than he’d liked to, but he was having fun. He even scored a shot or two before he started to feel short of breath and began feeling like he shouldn’t run anymore.
“Need a breather?” Percy asked at some point, while Hazel was getting ready for a free shot.
Nico frowned, told him “no” and kept running and playing, powered with spite and burdened with pain. He was a competitive person. He loved winning, and he really wanted to win, for himself and to prove it didn’t mean anything that he was disabled. It felt like a redemption after so many days of staying in his bed over flare-ups, even if he knew only Hazel knew about that.
Problem was, as much as he would have liked to win, he knew he wasn’t supposed to. Not when Jason was the ace of his basket team, when Percy had practically been born wearing a Knicks shirt, and with Hazel being much more athletic than him, who didn’t do any exercise other than walking. And, yet, he was getting ahead of the rest. It was hard with how much his lower body was starting to ache, but upon focusing, he noticed little details like the fact Percy was missing rebounds that came to him so perfectly they were basically gifts or Jason failing shots that he would have nailed in an actual match. They weren’t even running that fast, both of them. Nico lost it once Percy basically moved away from him to leave him a free-way to the ring.
“Are you two going easy on me?” He said, grabbing the ball and looking at both boys.
“Why would we do that…?” Percy started. He didn’t sound very convinced, though. Nico threw the ball at the ground, frustrated.
“I can still play, you know? I’m on crutches, not in a vegetative state.” He complained. “It’s not like I can’t do anything.”
“We know that, Neeks, but…” Jason said, calmly.
“But what?” He asked, crossing his arms.
“But we just didn’t want you to get frustrated if…”
“I am frustrated now. Are you happy?”
“Nico, we didn’t want you to push yourself too hard, or…”
“Well, I wanted to.” Nico spit out, already walking outside the garden. “How is that any of your business?”
“We care about you.” Jason replied.
It didn’t matter how lovingly or genuinely he said it, Nico was already leaving and he knew no one was gonna stop him. He made it back into the house, walking towards the corridor as stealthy as he could so none of the adults tried to talk to him, and locking himself inside Percy’s bedroom. Nico hugged one of the shark plushies on the bed, holding it tight against his chest and muffling a groan with it. He waited like that for some minutes, not really crying simply because he dried his tears too quickly to count them as fallen, until there was a soft knock on the door.
“Nico, are you here?” It was Jason.
“What do you want?” He choked out.
“I just wanna talk.” The other said. “And to apologize.”
“What about Percy?” Nico asked. He was already walking to open the door, though.
“Percy’s… Composing himself.”
“Is he mad?” He said as he pulled the door open, trying to scowl at Jason, even if he knew he was probably failing.
“He’s frustrated, but mostly with himself.” Jason said as he made his way inside the room and closed the door again. He and Nico walked back to the bed, both sitting on it. “I meant what I said. We care about you, Nico. And we didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“You did.”
“And I’m very sorry.”
Nico hated that it sounded genuine. It was genuine, and he knew that. If there was something he could believe, it was that Jason and Percy did care about him, and they were sorry.
“I’ve been doing bad.” He mumbled. “I wanted to prove myself I could do normal stuff.”
“You do normal stuff everyday.” Before Nico could protest about it and start to berate himself, the other kept talking. “Maybe some of it is disabled stuff, but that’s still normal. And it’s certainly not something you have to over compensate for, we all know…”
“It’s not for you.” Nico groaned. Maybe it was for everyone else in a way, but he felt his passion for going beyond his limits had to do with himself. "I just feel useless. Or dumb. I don't know. You'd think I would have gotten used to it after 2 years."
"2 years is very little for a change so big, Neeks." Jason told him. Nico lowered his head, and his cousin put an arm on his shoulder. "You are not useless or dumb. Your worth doesn't depend on your abilities."
Nico pinched the bridge of his nose as he took in the words. He hoped Estelle grew up to be a bit of an asshole, because otherwise he would officially be the only one of the cousins who wasn’t an angel from heaven. He wanted to thank Jason, and tried to, but it felt overwhelming and he couldn't bring himself to such vulnerability.
" Grazie ." He muttered in the end. It felt more natural to him, easier to let out. Jason either guessed the meaning or understood it, because he replied that it was nothing and offered a hug. He was not as good of a hugger as Thalia. Nico feared he had had less time to practice. He spoke again once they stopped hugging. "I've missed you." He said. "Leo and Piper too. They keep complaining about you canceling plans."
"I couldn’t tell them. They'd worry or get suspicious." You’re the best behaved guy I've ever met and you've been grounded at home for a month, of course they would, Nico wanted to say. "I miss all of you too."
"Leo finished his ship prototype. Said he wanted you to see."
Jason smiled sweetly at the words.
"He sent me a picture. It looked amazing." He breathed out. "He's incredible, I can't believe he's my friend sometimes. He's so talented, and so smart with all the stuff he does… I think he could get into Ivy League easy, don't you think?"
"Yeah, I do." Nico agreed, laughing a bit. "With the way you talk about him sometimes, I'd think you're in love." He joked.
Jason stopped smiling for a second, moving a hand to the back of his neck and starting to scratch himself. Leo did the same thing when he was nervous, though he just scratched his arms. Nico wondered if one of them had picked the habit from the other for a brief moment.
"About that…" Jason started. "Do you know how Pipes and I broke up because they found out they are a lesbian?"
"Yeah?"
"They may or may not have been the only one to come to a realization."
It was a bit embarrassing to admit he didn’t get what Jason meant straight away, but once he processed the conversation, he turned around with his mouth open in awe.
“You like guys?” He asked, perhaps a bit too loudly.
“Shh, Nico, not so loud.” Jason hushed him. “Yeah, I think. I mean, I’m pretty sure, but it’s still confusing. I don’t think I ever liked girls either. It’s weird to realize so late, I don’t know…”
“Eighteen is not late.” Nico said, before rectifying. “I don’t think it ever gets late for things like this. And I’m really happy that you figured that out.” He smiled at him, and Jason smiled back. Nico wondered if anyone else knew, or if the other could even safely tell most people. Probably not, lest his family found out, he realized sadly before bringing something else up. “So, Leo?”
Jason pushed him without strength, making him fall onto the bed.
“Can you blame me?”
Nico stopped to think about it. He understood why Jason would like him. They had been best friends for ages, and they were so different but complemented each other so well. Leo was incredibly talented and smart, as Jason had said, and his sense of humor was great and went perfectly with the other’s. He was also pretty, and most importantly, he was probably head over heels over Jason. Leo talked about him like he was describing a superhero that had landed in their friend group straight from space, and there hadn’t been a day in the whole school year in which Nico hadn’t heard him bring Jason up.
“You should tell him.”
He could already imagine them together, and they looked like the perfect couple. Yet, Jason seemed to disagree, because he tensed up and began scratching his neck again.
“I can’t.” He said, adding more before Nico could ask why. “I’m not ready.” He didn’t push him to say anything else. He trusted Jason to know what to do with his love-life, and he didn’t want to make him uncomfortable for no reason. “How is it going with Will?”
The conversation went on after that, with Nico explaining the date they had had (though skipping Thalia’s parts for obvious reasons), the whole secret santa ordeal, and the fact Will had left for Austin already. He didn’t dwell on how sad it made him that the other wouldn’t spend more than a year in New York, but Jason still put a hand on his shoulder as Nico explained that part. It ended when Sally Jackson opened the door to the bed, saying she had been looking for them in order to take a picture of all the kids together. Taking the picture was easier than Nico had thought. Percy apologized profoundly, and he forgave him. Jason tensed when Sally commented it was a pity Thalia hadn’t made it, and Nico squeezed his shoulder to comfort him.
The picture came out nice, and Jason praised Sally for it for some minutes while she sent it to everyone. Nico liked it, even if his smile was a bit awkward. Hazel, on the other hand, was beaming with naturality in the picture. Estelle appeared poking Jason on the face from where she was on Percy’s arms, and the boy was looking at the baby rather than at the camera, smiling sweetly, just like the girl’s brother. Nico wondered if that was the thing Jason liked about photography so much… That in spite of the odds, the moment that would be frozen in time was of them being happy together.
Notes:
- funfact: the scene at the end in which they play basketball together was like maybe the 2nd or 3rd scene that i had in mind when i started to plan the fic. i really liked writing this chapter, i think the vibe was immaculate. i love winter and autumn, guys, everything that happens during winter and autumn is automically immaculate in terms of vibes.
- next week's update might be a little late. i'm going through a bit of a block. the doc is almost 200 pages long, and while i love writing it, i am feeling a bit burn out from this fic. they are gonna start dating soon, and i am hoping that will make me feel motivated again. i hope you understand. if you want more specific chapter updates, you can find them on tumblr.
- on another note, i have started writing another multichaptered solangelo fic (the pink pony club one mentioned chapters ago) and i'm very excited. i'll probably start posting it after this is finished (uphill battle is a tiiiiiny bit away from being half-way written, i believe). the title so far is a long sentence (with a parenthesis, ofc), but i'm calling it "living the dream" for short.
- next chapter will probably be one of the shortest, if not the shortest, but it includes will's christmas trip to austin. i hope you'll like it, though i struggled writing it because of aforementioned block
- life updates for this week: i didnt do anything interesting ^0^ !! again !! i'm struggling to fill up uni papers to say something. also started hades 2's early access and had a lot of fun! i wanna get to icarus so bad, he's sooo the reason i got the early access, i love waxwitch fanart so much. also i audibly gasped at hestia's and apollo's casting, they are sooo great auntie and soooo queer icon. hope you had a great week <3
Chapter 10: " christmas song "
Summary:
“One of my friends likes it. Well, he likes the whole album, I think. He’s really big into music, and sub-culture and all of that.” As he spoke, he got his hands close to Blair so she could climb onto his palms. “You’d get along with him.”
“Which one is it? Nico?” The girl asked. “You talk about him a lot.”
“You talk about him all the time.” Cecil pointed out, still focused on the computer.
“I talk about all my friends.”
“You talk about the Leo guy a whole lot, and then a lot about Nico too, even more than Leo, and the rest gets occasional mentions.” Cecil replied. “And sometimes you kinda sound like that one time in 9th grade when you had a crush on Lina from science.”
“Oh, well…”
Notes:
you've heard of reuse, reduce, recycle, now get ready for REUNION !!! <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
you don’t have to be alone to be lonesome,
it’s so easy to forget. the sadness comes crashing,
like a brick through the window,
and it’s christmas, so no one can fix it.
Will and Naomi Solace landed in Texas on the same day, but in different cities. His mother had an interview on a late night program on Houston, and would make it home on the next day. Truth be told, Will had gotten a bit sad after finding out that, but every cloud had its silver lining: it meant he got to spend the night at his friend’s house, whom he hadn’t seen in ages. Getting off the plane was easier in Austin than it had been in New York. Instead of the uncertainty of how the people waiting for him were going to receive him, he knew Lou Ellen and Cecil were probably dying to see him as much as he was dying to see them.
He spotted them first, but they noticed him a just second late. It was Cecil who pointed in his direction, and Lou was the first one to run to him. If she wasn’t wearing a long skirt and if Cecil wasn’t taller than him and probably too heavy, he was sure they both would have jumped to hug him. Will could have easily cried of happiness.
“I’ve missed you so much…” He started. “How have you been?”
“It’s so boring without you, Will, she never laughs at anything I say.” Cecil pouted.
“And he keeps singing out of nowhere like he’s trying to leave me deaf!” She said, hugging onto her arm. Despite her platform boots, she was still the shortest by a lot, barely tall enough to put her head on Will’s shoulder like she was doing.
“Guess what! I got the starring role!” Cecil said, grabbing his suitcase so he could grab Will’s other arm as they walked towards Lou’s moms. “We’re doing Grease. ”
“See, I told you you would!” He replied. Will had gotten tired of texting him good luck on the auditions, even if he knew Cecil would do great. “I wish I could see…”
“I’ll record the whole thing, don’t worry. I’ve guaranteed front row seats, too.” Lou smiled at him. “I started a new project, I forgot to tell you!”
“Another short-film?” He asked, aware of the girl’s recent interest in script-writing. “What’s it about?”
“So, it’s 1991, in a rural village in Alabama, and there’s this girl whose father is the preacher in town, and her boyfriend dies in a tornado after they have a discussion, which…”
“Bla, bla, bla…”
“Cecil!”
“Just kidding, the idea’s really good.” Cecil conceded. “Should be a musical, though. Like, write the songs, maybe? Cast me while you're at it.”
“I’m gonna cast you either way?”
“As the boyfriend?”
“As the girl.”
“Yay!”
She rolled her eyes while Cecil celebrated. Will giggled. He’d missed that… There was still bickering within their new friends —plenty of it—, and he loved hearing about his New York friend’s projects and passions just as much, but there was something special about Lou and Cecil. He’d missed them.
“Would you look at that? You’ve grown so tall!” Said one of Lou’s moms once they got to them. She dressed and looked just like her daughter, though her style was more traditionally goth than Lou Ellen’s.
“How’s the big city treating you, kid?” Asked the other as she fistbumped him. In comparison with her wife and child, she was extremely underdressed, in nothing but jeans and a hoodie. “Made friends?”
“Bunch of them.” He smiled. “But I’ve missed these friends.”
“Lou Ellen did cry a bit after we dropped you off at the airport back in September…”
“Mom!” The girl immediately complained, hiding her face on Will’s arm.
“‘S okay, I cried on the plane.” He comforted his friend. “We’re even.”
After that, Cecil argued back that he was uneven, and jokingly dared Lou to punch him in the stomach so he could cry and fix it, which made her laugh and forget the embarrassment. They took three pictures together with Lou’s mom’s instant camera, one for each one of them, and then her ma carried his luggage while they went to the car. Will remained sandwiched between his two friends, though they had let go of him. He had missed car rides with empty desert-ish landscapes, much more tranquil and familiar than the bunch of buildings he had been driving around for the past three months, but the car ride was done before he could tell and, with it, the wilderness by the road.
Lou Ellen’s house was their favorite house to hang out to. Walking inside felt like walking back into his old home, something he still had to wait a day to do. Still, Lou’s house was pretty great. It always smelled like pumpkin spice or cinnamon, it was cluttered in an eclectic way that fit the owner’s to a T, and was quite big, considering only 3 people lived inside.
“Wait there! I have a surprise!” Lou said, abandoning him and Cecil on the hall as she run upstairs to her room. It was a bit surprising she could run that far in the skirt. “Close your eyes!” She screamed from the top. “You too, Cecil!”
“But I already know what it is!”
“Do it in solidarity!” Will had already closed his eyes, and he hoped Cecil did the same, because he would feel a bit silly standing with his eyes closed by himself. Still, Lou was rather quick, coming back less than 3 minutes later. “Open them!”
She was just standing in front of them, and it took him embarrassingly long to notice what had changed. Her smile was the same as always, with one of her canines broken from the one time Will had pushed her swing too hard when they were 7, and the highlights on her hair were still the cranberry color Cecil had suggested last time. Same dramatic eye make-up, same hairstyle… Same mismatched cross earrings, one of them being played with by a ferret…
“Wait, you’ve got a ferret!? Since when!?” Will exclaimed, having never seen it and immediately realizing that was the surprise. The girl held out her arm, and the creature walked over it until she needed two hands to hold it.
“Early Christmas gift! Isn’t she perfect?”
“What’s her name?”
“Blair Stoker III, nicknamed ‘noodle girl.’” Cecil replied. “She’ll tell you it’s just Blair, but I know that’s what she wrote on the papers.”
“Uncle Cecil is a meanie, don’t listen to him.” She babied the animal before sticking her tongue out at the boy. “She’s Blair! Doesn’t it fit her a lot?”
“She’s really cute.” As he spoke, he lifted a finger close to her mouth so the ferret could try to bite it.
They got called to help in the kitchen after the ferret to Will introduction. Lou and him laid the table and Cecil helped cooking the shepherd’s pie they shared. Her mom dropped them off at the grocery store before she drove to work, they got three different types of chips, and walked back home together, stopping at the park. It was cold outside, already getting dark too —they had eaten late due to Will landing after noon—, and most kids were at their home, meaning they had the whole playground for themselves. They took turns at the swings, Cecil pushed the merry-go-round while Lou and Will were on it, and the boys tried the monkey bars while Lou made it her personal goal to poke them on the sides as many times as she could.
Back at Lou Ellen’s house, they watched Home Alone and Nightmare before Christmas in her room. Will had never known anyone who owned as many blankets as his friend, but it came in handy in moments like this, when they could make a blanket forth in sleepovers while they crouched in front of her computer to watch the films. The base had Cecil and Will’s inflatable duvet, where they sat cross-legged once the last film ended.
“Wanna watch one more? Or play music or whatever.” Lou began saying, taking the computer in her lap but frowning almost immediately later as she clicked on multiple buttons annoyedly. “Agh, it does this everytime, I swear…”
“Let me see?” At the request, she handed it to Cecil, who clicked his tongue. “Might take a while to fix it, but don’t worry. You’ve got the CDs if you wanna play something.”
She left her position between them to exit the forth and play one of her multiple CDs on her radio. Meanwhile, Will scooched over to Cecil to watch him work on fixing the computer, though he didn’t understand anything of what the other was doing. Lou Ellen came back shortly after, as a nostalgic instrumental played through the speakers. It sounded familiar, and it only took a bit for him to remember why: it was the same opener as the CD Nico had played after his match some weeks ago.
“What’s it called?” He asked, to nowhere in particular.
“This is an anti-virus.” Cecil replied.
“The song.” Will asked, turning to Lou this time. She had gotten her ferret from outside the cage and was now playing with her on her lap.
“‘Plainsong.’” She replied. “By The Cure. Why?”
“One of my friends likes it. Well, he likes the whole album, I think. He’s really big into music, and sub-culture and all of that.” As he spoke, he got his hands close to Blair so she could climb onto his palms. “You’d get along with him.”
“Which one is it? Nico?” The girl asked. “You talk about him a lot.”
“You talk about him all the time.” Cecil pointed out, still focused on the computer.
“I talk about all my friends.”
“You talk about the Leo guy a whole lot, and then a lot about Nico too, even more than Leo, and the rest gets occasional mentions.” Cecil replied. “And sometimes you kinda sound like that one time in 9th grade when you had a crush on Lina from science.”
“Oh, well…” Will started.
He had forgotten to tell them about the fact he had developed feelings for Nico, and now it was his time to surprise them. Lou interrupted him before he could.
“To be fair, Lina from science was really cute.” She mentioned.
“Nico’s really cute too, actually.” Will let out, almost as in passing. He looked around, not wanting to look at his friends right away, but wondering if he was missing surprised faces. When Lou Ellen held onto his arm with both hands and tugged at it a bit, he knew she had understood what he had tried to hint at.
“What’d you say?” She asked. He was now looking at the girl’s expression, a poor attempt at a stern look that had been clearly overtaken by a wide, giddy smile.
“I said Nico’s really cute too.” He mentioned, grabbing at one of his curls and twirling it in a nervous gesture. “And I like him a bit, too. A lot. You could say that I like him a lot.”
She let go of his arm to wave tiny fists in celebration.
“Told you!” She said, now grabbing onto Cecil’s knees. “Five bucks!”
“Can we call it even if I fix your computer?” The boy sighed.
“No!”
“Were you betting on my love life?” At the question, Cecil shrugged and Lou Ellen gave him an excited thumbs-up. Will pulled out his phone. “Booking plane tickets for tomorrow as we spe…” A pillow hit him softly on the head before he could finish.
“You’re forbidden from leaving Austin County until January 1st. I’m not letting you fly to New York before you tell us all about this guy. And I want pictures, Solace.”
Will let out an exasperated sigh. He already had his phone out, though, so it took nothing to unlock it and enter Nico’s Instagram profile. He’d posted a story of him, Hazel, Percy and his cousin Thalia together, who was holding two blue cupcakes, one with a two-shaped candle and the other one with a three-shaped one. He showed that to Lou and Cecil, who briefly lifted his eyes from the keyboard to the phone.
“He’s the shorter one with the crutches.” After that, he closed the story’s page and went back to his full profile, handing it to Lou to scroll down through it. “If you like any picture, I’ll literally cry.”
“Got it.”
“So…” Cecil started. “Do tell: what’d he do to steal your heart?”
“He is very witty, and very sarcastic, and really fun to be with, but he’s very kind.” Will began explaining. The ferret had moved from his hand to Lou’s shoulder, as if she was also interested in Nico’s pictures, so now he had his hands free to snap his knuckles as a way to kill nerves. His mind went to October, to the hug they had shared in some guy from another school’s porsche. “Sometimes he’ll notice I’m stressing out too much before I do, and I never ask for help about it, but he helps either way. I just think he’s special, I don’t know. I don’t believe he realizes.”
“Why do you think that?” Asked Cecil, who was now focusing on him more than on the computer.
Will pulled his knees to his chest and started to bite on the nail of this thumb, considering his answer. His mind flooded with random memories, most of them just flashes: Nico’s dad ignoring them on homecoming, how he had changed topics to Hazel both when asked about his art and about his birthday, how he had been shaking his head “no” when Will told him he was grateful he was alive, the whole talk about “sucking it up” regarding his eating disorder, and the surprised look and initial hesitation on his face when opening his sketchbook from Secret Santa.
“I don’t know, it’s just… I don’t think he gets much attention at home.” Will started, feeling weird to be talking about that. “Not enough to give himself credit for the things he’s good at. He’s harsh on himself all the time… He doesn’t know what he wants to do after high school, and I can tell it’s stressing him out, but I don’t know what to do to help him. I really want to help him, though.”
“Hold up.”
Lou dropped Blair on the duvet as she stood up and left the blanket forth once more. Will could see her wandering around the room, standing on her tippy toes to pick something from a box and coming back just a few seconds later to hand him a black crystal.
“What’s this one for?”
“Obsidian’s a healing stone.” She said. “It blocks out negativity and helps people find their true path. It also boosts creativity, and helps with blood circulation. You should give it to him. You can charge it under moonlight and cleanse it with running tap water."
He accepted the crystal, not asking anything of the sort of "will it work?" Lou trusted in its qualities, and he knew it would hurt her feelings if he doubted her judgment. Plus, she had never been wrong about her crystals before. Hopefully, Nico's wouldn't be the exception to the rule.
"Good as new, Lou." Cecil tapped her in the shoulder and gave her back the laptop. "What do you wanna watch?"
They fell asleep on each other with the computer still running the last Gumball episode they had started.
The rest of winter break went by too quickly. Cecil's mom, who had been friends with Naomi since their youth, drove him and her son to the airport after they left Lou's house the next morning. Will's mom had landed before they could get to the terminal. She was taking a picture with a fan when they arrived, and he could tell how she spotted him in the process and had to reign in her urge to go with him.
They basically ran to hug once the fan had left. Her perfume was the same one she had worn the morning he dropped him off to get his plane to New York. It had been three months since then, but it felt like ages, even if they had called daily. His mom had always been the most important person in his life, and Will was hugging her as if he had to prove it.
“How I’ve missed you, my sunshine.” She whispered, caressing his back as Will nodded against her.
The day was over soon: Naomi had invited Cecil’s family to have lunch in a fast food place, and after that she went home and rested after weeks of having had very little sleep. Christmas’ Eve was just a day later, and they didn’t do much more than go visit Will’s grandma and going out to buy something for the next day.
Will and his mom spent Christmas at the Blackstone’s, with Lou’s moms offering given that Naomi had barely had time to prepare an actual Christmas dinner. They still brought to the house what they had bought, and the five of them took turns in the kitchen. Once the actual meal was done, the three women went to the living to catch up while Lou and Will tried to bake gingerbread cookies by themselves. It didn’t work out perfectly, and somehow they both had managed to get flour in their face, but they tasted good. Just before lunch, Will phoned his dad pretending to have forgotten his Nintendo and asking him to see if he had left it on his bed, where he knew he had left Apollo’s and Hyacinth’s gifts. Judging by their voices, they hadn’t been expecting anything from him, and he could swear his dad sounded the tiniest bit like he was crying towards the end of their call.
A part of Will, which surprised him, found itself wishing to go back to New York so he could see them. He bit his tongue at the thought, feeling weird. He was at home there. Sure, his and his mom’s house smelt like cleaning products, and it was lacking the lived-in feeling it had had when… When people actually lived in it, but that didn’t mean anything, right? New York could never have the swing he accidentally threw Lou Ellen off, the PizzaHut his mom took him after top surgery, the high school theater in which Cecil had debuted… But Austin didn’t have Leo and whatever new invention he had come up during the weekend, didn’t have Lee ruffling his hair while they walked to the locker rooms, and it didn’t have Nico’s sarcastic comments every three seconds. It didn’t even have his mom in there anymore, either. He tried not to think about it while he was at Lou’s, but couldn’t help it once they made it home.
“Ma, can we talk?” He asked before he had even closed the front door fully behind himself. Her mom turned to him, smiling sweetly but with heavy bags under her eyes and clearly tired. Will felt bad immediately. “It can wait…”
Her eyes lingered on him for a bit, as she decided what to do.
“Why don’t you make some hot cocoa for both of us while I change?” Will did as told, preparing two warm cups and turning on the TV to have whatever shitty hall-mark movie they were running as background noise. Her mom slotted herself under the same blanket he had over his legs once she came back in pajamas. “So, what is it you wanna talk about?”
“I don’t know…” Will started, feeling guilty for keeping her awake when he didn’t even know how to word his thoughts. “I feel weird.”
“Oh, sweetness…” She placed a hand on his arm. “Is everything okay?”
“I just… I wanted to be here so bad, but now I miss it there.” He mumbled, looking down. “And I missed you so much! So, so, much, and Cecil and Lou too… And I thought about being here everyday and how I wish I was here, and I love being here… But I miss New York.”
“But that’s alright, darling.” As she talked, Naomi leaned in to hug him the best she could without dropping their drinks. He was thankful for the comforting gesture. “Life’s gonna take you to so many places, Will, and you’re always gonna miss the part of you that you leave in them. But it’s never gonna die, sunshine, and the people you love and have loved there will always know it’s around them. And, just like them, it’s gonna be waiting for you to come back.”
His voice came out weak when he asked: “What if I never go back?”
“Then, you’ll still carry part of the place within yourself wherever you go.” Naomi whispered, caressing his hair softly.
She was right, and he knew it. He thought about his dad swearing in Greek at bad drivers, about Leo’s smile when he had told him he was from Texas too, the way Nico’s longest post in Instagram was captioned in Italian, at Annabeth and her Celtics merch… They carried their birthplaces with them, but they also had picked up New York slang… Hell, his dad still knew how to square dance from when Naomi had taught him back in college. Will knew he had a heavy southern accent that the East Coast’s shore hadn’t washed away from him yet, and he had his idioms picked up from his grandma. Lou’s citrine was still in his wallet. Cecil’s past performances were still in his phone’s gallery. He was a result of his town and his people, that much was obvious. What about New York had he brought home with himself? Maybe it wasn’t the accent, the mannerisms, the slang, or anything, but he sure did miss its people. Will figured it was his love of them that he had carried on the plane.
“I’m gonna miss them when I come back.” He said. “A lot.”
“I know, love.” His mom kissed the top of his head. “I’m glad you’ve been loved and loved enough to miss them so much.”
“I like a boy from there.” Will choked out. He had meant to tell his mom during the winter break, wanting to wait until they could talk in person, but he hadn’t thought it would be while he was crying about homesickness from the living room of his house. “I don’t wanna leave him and my new friends.”
His mom held him tighter. When he looked up at her, Will could see her lips held in a tight line. He wondered if she felt bad that she was the reason he had to be in New York to begin with.
“I’m sorry, sunshine.” She muttered, almost more to herself than to him, but loud enough for Will to hear and confirm his thoughts. She opened her mouth to say something again, but he didn’t wanna hear. His mom was out of advice, and he was out of energy.
“Mom?” He asked to interrupt her. “Can you play me a song?”
Will fell asleep on a cold bed that had been empty for the past three months, but that was still his bed, and he dreamt of his mom’s “If We Make It Through December” cover.
. . .
As he had expected, Will started to miss Lou, Cecil, and his mom as soon as he was back in Manhattan, but he guessed the feeling of missing one of the sides was gonna linger with him for the time being. Still, if he kept his mom’s words on in his mind, it was easy to deal with when it came to most stuff. New York wouldn’t leave him forever, and he wouldn’t leave forever either. He already knew the street names, the subway and bus lines, the best spots to park at and the best route to walk back home… It would take him a while to forget, just how he hoped the people he had met and loved there would take a while to forget about him.
The first day of school started like any other Monday: class with Leo in the first period, something Will had been excited about until he saw the boy looked clearly disappointed on how he had spent his winter break.
“What happened?” Will asked early into their conversation, before the class had started.
“Jason kept canceling all of mine and Pipes’ plans. He’s been doing it for weeks now.”
“Out of the blue, or…?”
“Pretty much!” Leo interrupted him. He had gotten frustrated with the pen he was disarming and arming, and some of the pieces had fallen from the desk, but he made no effort to grab them. “There’s only so many ‘something came up’ a guy can take, you know?”
“You should tell him about how he’s hurting your feelings.” Will suggested, whispering even if most of the classroom was empty. Leo frowned and began scratching his arm. There was no reply, so he began repeating himself a bit louder, knowing Leo had some hearing loss following the accident he had been in. “I said that…”
“I heard, don’t worry.” The boy replied. “‘S just, I don’t know. I don’t wanna seem upset with him.”
“But you’re upset with him.” He argued.
“I’m upset with myself.” Leo said, almost before Will was done talking. “I’m too much sometimes, alright? And I know that I am. If he wants to stop hanging out with me, I can’t blame him. He’s done his part already. I’m just hurt, but that’s nothing.”
“What do you mean ‘do his part’?” Leo just clicked his tongue at the question and let it go unanswered. “Whatever… You’re not too much. You’re a great friend, and if he doesn’t want to be with you, he’s missing out.”
“Sure is.” The other sarcastically blurted before turning his attention back to his pen and its pieces on the ground, just as the teacher walked in the classroom.
Their conversation ended like that. Will could tell the other was upset, as he spent the lectures they had together before lunch time frowning and barely talking. Leo seemed to cheer up when they got to their table, though he assumed it was mostly a facade. Piper didn’t seem to be their usual excited self either, but they got happier once him and Leo walked close to their seats.
“Will!” Nico was the first one to call his name when he saw him. He swore he could see him try to stand up and go for him before realizing Will was so close that letting him sit normally would be quicker. “How was Christmas?”
“It was great.” He smiled, already missing the blanket forth by Lou’s bed and falling asleep by Cecil and her. “But I missed y’all…”
“We missed you too.” The other told him with a soft look on his face. He had on a knit sweater with a skeleton design that looked adorable —and a bit big— on him. “I’m glad you’re back.”
Just when Will was about to thank him and agree with him, Percy and Annabeth made it to the table, looking weird. They were holding hands, or, rather, she was holding his hand with both of hers like he would come undone if she let go, and he was biting off the nails on the hand he had free. There was a bit of uncertainty in her eyes, but Percy was straight up nervousness turned into a person.
“Do you want me to open yours first?” She asked, not greeting the rest of the table.
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” Percy choked out.
“Uni results?” Piper asked, tilting their head and getting a nod for both of them. “Hey, you can wait until you get home if you don’t wanna open it around us.”
“Not happening.” Percy shook his head. “I’m not getting rejected in front of mom…”
“I’m sure you got in.” Annabeth reassured her boyfriend. “Do you want me to read it for you?” He nodded. “Wanna wait a bit more?” Percy shook his head no.
The boy pulled his phone out and unlocked it before giving it to his girlfriend. The entire table sucked a breath in. Will felt Nico scratch at his tight, as if searching for something, and he reached out with his hand to grab his. Annabeth cleared her throat and started.
“Dear Percy Jackson.” She began reading. One of her hands was back on Percy’s. Her breath hitched for a moment, her grip on him tightened and she jumped a bit from her seat. “Congratulations and welcome to our dear campus’ Biology program!”
The phone fell back on the table almost immediately, as she dropped it to hug him while he processed the words and the hug. Nico jumped out of the bench and went to congratulate him too, though he and Leo only placed hands on his shoulder.
“We told you!” Piper shouted. At their side, Hazel was clapping and beaming for him, something Will copied.
“I got in, I got in.” Percy kept repeating like a mantra, looking around at their faces as if he was waiting for one of his friends to go “just kidding, you’re not.”
“Of course you did.” Annabeth told him.
Food was forgotten from then on, basically. They checked Annabeth’s e-mail, another acceptance one, and though the group occasionally ate, but they found themselves stopping every few minutes to talk about applying to university, getting in, campus life, career options, and whatever. Will, who was contributing a lot to the conversation, noticed how Nico remained quiet at his side, not talking for most of the lunch break and barely looking up from his plate. Upon noticing, he tried to change the topic, which wasn’t too difficult. He didn’t know if Nico noticed, since he didn’t change his behavior much after, but at least, if the talk had been making him uncomfortable, it didn’t prolong.
Once the bell rang, Will turned to ask Nico if he wanted him to accompany him to his class, but the other beat him to it.
“Come with me?” He asked. Will was ready to follow him.
They walked in silence, until Nico asked him to hold his textbooks while he opened his backpack to put it inside. When he did, Will caught a glimpse of the sketchbook Hazel had gifted him, now covered in some stickers and with some pages and looked used. It made him smile.
“Are you alright?” Will ended up asking him, seeing as Nico’s mood still seemed deflated.
“Percy and his girlfriend got into the same uni. That’s really good.” Nico said as an answer.
It took some seconds for Will to understand he meant it as “I’m happy for them.” Still, the wording made him feel iffy, not wanting Nico to feel like he had to be happy just because something good had happened, and wanting him to feel good for himself and not just for the other two.
“That’s great, yeah.” The blonde agreed. “But you seem down.”
Nico looked away, as if ashamed, and sighed.
“Hazel and Leo starting to look at places, and programs, and stuff. She’s going into Fine Arts, in the end.” Will didn’t need him to say more to know what he was trying to say: they’re moving on in their lives, and I’m still stuck not knowing where to go. It was a shame Nico’s hands were busy, because otherwise he would have reached out for one again. “I’m… I don’t even know. I wish I could say I’m trying my best, but I’m not even sure.”
“But you are trying, Nico.” He told him. “You’ve been through so much, and you don’t have it easy in so many ways, and you show up to school everyday, and put effort in your classes, and…”
“And I still can’t find something I’m decent at and that I like to do.” The boy cut him off before immediately turning to him looking apologetic. “I’m sorry, that was mean… You’re only trying to help, I’m sorry…”
Will could see in the way he started to close his backpack faster and started to lift his weight on the crutches that he was about to leave. He did that whenever something became stressful, move somewhere else, but he didn’t want him to flee. Instead, he grabbed at his wrist, not too rapidly and strongly to stop him fully, lest he tripped with the crutches and fell, but enough for Nico to hesitate.
“Wait, I wanted to give you something.” He said, looking inside his messenger bag for the little silk bag in which he had kept Lou’s gift idea and pulling it out for Nico. “I was gonna wait until your birthday, but I think you should have it.”
Nico took the silk bag, opened it and took out the irregular, black crystal to examine it.
“A crystal?” Will nodded in response. He kept scrutinizing it until reaching a conclusion. “Obsidian?”
“Yeah!” He informed, only then realizing that Nico might have some knowledge on common gemstones used for jewelry due to his part time job. “It’s a healing crystal. It's meant to guide you and protect you from negativity. It also boosts creativity. You can leave it on your window overnight and charge it with moonlight, and cleanse it with tap water."
"You got this for me?"
"I told Lou Ellen there was a friend I wanted to help and she suggested it. I know not everyone believes in them, but the one she gave me worked."
I met you, he thought to himself, that's good luck alright.
Notes:
VERY BRIEF CHAPTER in comparison to the others, i know, i'm sorry. writing this was the true uphill battle. chapter 11 was so much easier to write (though it might be shorter than the others as well, but im way happier with it). its gonna be about nico's birthday!!! yay!
now, to comment the chapter: rip will solace, you would have loved phoebe bridgers' cover of "if we make it through december." YES i gave lou lesbian moms. i was hesitating between her and cecil but i think she was just born to have lesbian moms. i loved writing lou and cecil so much, specially lou. i like that their irl personalities are the complete opposite of how they text. also lou has a ferret because i found out hecate's sacred animals are polecats which are like the undomesticated version of ferrets (not really, ferrets are a mix of polecats and something else, but you get me). her name is blair bc of the blair witch project because my girl is obsessed with horror films. also if you got the "1991 rural alabama daughter of a priest" reference i love you <3333 !!! lou and nico would have been so besties (they like the same album). also percabeth got into uni!! the reason percy was so nervous about his is that he used to be abused over being "stupid" and has been neglected by schools, thats why it mattered so much to him!
- IMPORTANT NOTE !! there might not be a chapter next week (i said the same thing last week lol) because im going on a holiday soon and i wont be able to write! im still not sure what im gonna do because i like to go a chapter ahead of updates and idk if thats going to mean i need to skip two weeks or just one, but lets hope for the best!
- the doc reached 200 A4 pages, everyone. i cant believe this. i was working on the outline today and it looks like the fic will have around 20 chapters (i wanted it to have 24, will likely be a bit less)! im so excited. i cannot stress enough how much i didnt think i would get pass chapter 4, this whole fic is a crazy achievement and it wouldnt have been possible without every single person who has supported it<3 thank you so much <3
Chapter 11: " california "
Summary:
“Make a wish!” The blonde whispered to him when he was about to blow out the candles.
He wasn’t really sure what to wish for: part of him wanted to ask for a sign of what career he should get into, part of him wanted to ask for Will to ask him out, which felt too desperate, or for Will to be able to stay in New York with him, which felt too selfish, and part of him knew it probably didn’t matter what his wish was. He gave up trying to find a wish about himself and ended up blowing the candle as he wished for a chance to Jason’s situation to get better, the only thing that came to mind.
After that, he took the candles off and handed one of the cupcakes to Will.“Cheers?”
“Cheers!”
Notes:
tw for referenced physical child abuse (blink and you miss it situation, the chapter doesn't dwell on it)
HEY remember how there wasn't gonna be an update this week either? i got bored and i said "im sure i can pull an update off and still keep the schedule." let's see how it goes (hopefully well !! )
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
too hard to find reasons to stay,
even true love could not persuade.
‘cause i was never told that i wasn’t gonna get
the things i want the most.
The day of his birthday, Nico woke up to his legs cramping very bad. He hissed in pain and gritted his teeth, barely having the mind to notice that it was happening on his birthday and that it was about to ruin the day. No posture made it better, and there was not a single second in which his legs weren’t aching or too tired to move. Nico reached a hand out to his nightstand and grabbed his phone to check the hour. He had overslept, apparently, but it didn’t matter. There was no way he was going to school like that.
“Nico! We’re gonna be late!” He heard Hazel shout from behind his door.
“I’m staying!” He replied. “Can you come in?”
Hazel opened the door and walked inside. She was already ready for class, with her bag hanging from one shoulder and dressed with her favorite pair of overalls. She looked cute on average, but he could tell she had put on makeup, which didn’t usually do, and she had styled her hair differently than usual. He hoped it hadn’t been over his birthday, or something. With it falling on a Monday and Will having practice, he had decided to celebrate on Friday’s afternoon, but he knew Hazel liked to do special stuff for him on the actual day.
“Do you need anything?” She asked.
“Can you get me a painkiller from downstairs?”
His sister was back in a few minutes, with a pill, a bottle of water, and a bowl of greek yogurt that she placed on the nightstand for him. She hugged him and wished him a happy birthday before making it to the door again.
“Wait!” Nico asked when she was about to leave. “Can you get my crystal from the window? And my sketchbook?”
“‘Course. Anything else?” She asked as she obliged, grabbing both items and some pencils and pens for Nico to have with him on his bed. She kept the crystal Will had gifted him in her hand for a bit, observing it from up close. “Does it really work?”
“I don’t know.” Nico admitted.
He had taken it from Will, because the boy had said his worked, and because… And, well, because it had been a gift from Will and his heart had skipped a bit when the boy had reached inside his pocket searching for something for him. Nico had been doing as told: moonlight and running water. Yet, he didn’t feel very guided in his path. He guessed it boosted creativity alright.
He had been making good use of his sketchbook. Now that his drawings weren’t all in random pieces of paper and that he could see them all together, he could understand why Hazel and Will had him as a sort of artist. Nico wouldn’t say he was necessarily good, but he drew a lot. At least a quarter of the notebook was already done, which made his fears of not finishing it seem a bit silly in hindsight. It sounded a bit stupid, but having all his sketches together made him want to sketch more. It was fun to do something knowing he wouldn’t have to erase it or hide it after, which was the case with catalogs from the jewelry shop and with his school notes. There were some drawings he was proud of, and he wanted to keep adding to that collection.
Sure, Nico still spent a huge portion of his time in video games and Mythomagic, but he had started to do more things. Now, he found himself going out to the park with Hazel to draw ducks —she drew one duck before moving onto Ghibli fanart, Nico drew one duck before turning onto gothic imagery—, calling people more often to have background noise as he drew —it had been ages since he had had a good six hour long talk with Reyna on the phone, and he hadn’t noticed how much he needed one—, and, sometimes, going out by himself to “search for inspiration.” Just right now, he was about to spend his sick-at-home morning drawing, knowing that some months ago he would have spent it either crying, sleeping or adding onto his way too high number of hours of gameplay for a game that had not even been out for a year. Will’s crystal worked perfectly in that aspect, yes.
“I think it does.” He said, trying not to blush or smile too hard about Will’s gift. He probably failed pathetically, seeing how immediately after he began thinking about the fact the blonde had said he would get him a new present. Nico had told him he didn’t need to, but, of course, Will had insisted. Now, he was desperate to see what Will would get him.
“You’re doing the thing again.” Hazel accused him.
“Which thing?” He asked, though he knew what she meant already. One of his hands was already protectively close to his pillow, ready to throw it in self-defense. He moved it away once he remembered Hazel had done her hair special that day. “I’m not doing anything.”
“The thing when you look down and shrug a bit and then don’t lift your head up but start smiling and blush a bit.” She explained. “The one you do whenever you…”
She did her hair, he reminded himself as he fought to choose peace, no pillow of protection today. ‘S okay, tomorrow will be another day. He opted for interrupting her words instead.
“I can’t believe that you out of all people, Hazel Levesque, would go out of your way to make fun and humiliate a poor disabled boy during a flare-up on his birthday, and that…”
“Okay, okay, okay! I’ll shut up.” She conceded, lifting her hands up to signify she had given up. “But, I’m just saying, if there’s something you want to tell me about anyone, I’m all ears.”
“Thanks for the offer. We’ll call you.” He deadpanned.
Hazel tried to frown, but she didn’t take it very seriously, giggling through it. Nico was pretty sure his sister was smart enough to notice what was going on with him and Will, and Hazel knew he knew that. No formal confirmation was needed.
“You’re running late.” Nico reminded her. She went in for another hug and rushed soon after wishing him a last happy birthday.
After that, Nico had the whole morning to himself, with the restriction that he barely felt capable of leaving the bed. If anything, he thought, once the ibuprofen kicked in he would be able to move around the bedroom, but there was no way he would voluntarily go downstairs. It wasn’t the first time something like that happened to him, though. He was just sad he didn’t get to see his friends during his birthday. Sure, he was gonna look down in shame when they inevitably started to sing him the birthday song during lunch, but if he stopped to think about it, it was gonna be the last birthday he had to spend with half of the group in high school, and missing it made him kinda sad. Don’t think about that, he told himself, trying to find positivity to the situation, you’ll see them tomorrow, or the day after, and we’re going out on Friday.
With that in mind, the boy busied himself. First thing he did was call his grandparents in Italy. It was already past noon for them when he did, and he didn’t want to wait too long and risk missing them. Talking with them always cheered him up. His father had told him that his paternal grandparents had died before Bianca had been born, so the ones back in Venice were the only ones he had ever met. He was fine with that. Seeing his father, Percy’s and Jason and Thalia’s, he could only guess how the people that raised them were. Meanwhile, his nonna was the living image of his mom, and he liked to imagine that if she had gotten to grow old, she would look just like her mother did, and his nonno was the best card game player in the world, whom Nico had yet to defeat. They both had the sweetness and fondness Maria di Angelo had shared with the world.
Their talk lasted for a good 20 minutes, which Nico didn’t mind at all. Something about talking in Italian for a bit was recomforting. He liked to think he hadn’t lost his accent, though he couldn’t deny it had washed out slightly. He had spent almost as much time in New York as he had in Venice, and he hadn’t come to terms with the fact his time in the East Shore would surpass his time in his home place sooner than later. Nico loved Venice, loved his country and loved everything and everyone he had left behind. With his mother gone, he felt there was something hidden in the place she had been born and raised, in the city she had birthed and raised him, that pulled him in and told him to come back. It was still his home, and it would always be. Maybe he would never move in permanently, but he would never abandon it. The few things he knew how to cook were traditional, northern Italian dishes, his thoughts were always best put to words in Italian, and he would choose a vacation to Italy over any other place —except for maybe Greece, but he only needed to go once to scratch his special-interest-motivated urge and from then on he would travel New York-Venice and Venice-New York only.
Giulia came to his room shortly after the call ended, asking if he was feeling like any particular cake for his birthday. He shyly requested a crumble cake typical of Veneto, feeling homesick and knowing there was no recipe like hers. After more than a month had happened since the incident with his step-mother’s cooking, food was still iffy, and he had lost weight for the first time in a year and a half, which had been disappointing, but he felt like he was getting back on track. The fact that he was gonna invite all his friends to dinner soon was proof of it. He hadn’t started therapy yet, with his first session being scheduled somewhere in February, but he was hoping it would help his progress even more. Nico took a glimpse at the stone on the nightstand. Perhaps it was working better than he thought.
After hanging up, he picked up his phone to reply to the multiple happy birthday texts he had gotten. Officially, the first one to congratulate him had been Hazel, of course. They had stayed up together in his room, playing Mythomagic until the clock had reached midnight, when she had hugged him and began whispering a version of “happy birthday.”
After that, there were Jason, Reyna, and Will, who had texted him exactly at 00:00. Jason had texted a long paragraph about how much he appreciated him without any typo that Nico could spot. He was amazed by the guy’s dedication to type perfectly in spite of his very clear dyslexia symptoms, and he couldn’t help but wonder how early he had started to write the text for it to be perfect. Reyna had been briefer, more direct, as she always was, but he had still cried a bit to the picture of them hugging she had sent him alongside her good wishes. It was from some years ago, when Nico still looked too much like a little kid, and she was ruffling his hair at a comic convention they had gone to. With his “happy birthday” text, Will had thanked him for having chosen to spend so much time with him when there had been no need to at the beginning, because, and he quoted, “he had given Will one of the closest friends he could have asked for.” Nico felt a bit guilty for leaving him unreplied for a few minutes, but if he had started to text him while Hazel was in the room with him, he would have never heard the end of it.
Leo had texted him at 1 AM, which made Nico think the guy had been planning to do it early but got caught up in a D&D character sheet or something. Piper had texted him at 4 AM, which he had no explanation for other than them needing to fix their schedule. Frank, Percy and Annabeth had texted him in the morning, and Thalia had called him while he was asleep. He made a mental note of calling her later as he opened his phone and checked new messages.
will !!
Monday 28th, 8:13 AM
will !!
are you alright??
hazel said you werent coming :((
nico
yeah dw i just feel ill
it happens sometimes when u r crohnically ill
sadly chornic pain doenst know its my birthday
will !!
im sorry to hear
i hope you’ll have the most increbidle day possible either way!!!
feel better soon !! <3
nico
i’ll be fine dw
[ Image attached: A black crystal stone resting on a nightstand by an empty bowl of yogurt and a half-finished bottle of water. ]
its helping me thorugh it
go pay attention to class!
Sadly enough, Will seemed to listen, because he wasn’t online after that. Nico understood it was not the best idea to text during class, and he wouldn’t have been happy to talk to Will knowing the other could get in trouble for it, but a part of him still felt pettily sad about it.
Instead of focusing on that, Nico opened his sketchbook and got to drawing. One of his multiple playlists played in the background as he sketched Mythomagic fanart. After about 30 minutes of getting frustrated with a Hephaestus sketch, he moved on and decided to switch to Hades, filling out about two pages of the main character and his love interests holding hands. For the fun of it, he drew himself with the clothes of some of the characters, and after, he started to try out drawing his friends with the fits he thought would look better on them. That led to changing videogames, and Nico found himself drawing Leo as a fire-type Pokémon gym leader, Will as nurse Joy, and Hazel as a trainer.
He got an audio from their lunch table group chat some hours later: a very poor in terms of pronunciation cover of “ Tanti auguri a te ” followed by Leo complaining at everyone else. Nico had to laugh at how exasperated he sounded as he told the others “guys, it’s literally a single sentence!” and how Will just replied “it’ll be ready for Friday!” He wished he could have been there with them instead of missing out the day by himself.
Before he knew it, it was almost time for Hazel to come back home. Still, he could hear the quiet hums and the music Giulia was playing in the kitchen while she made lunch, even if his phone told him it was about time she went to pick up the girl. Nico was considering shouting to ask her if she had forgotten when the front door opened.
“We’re home!”
It was Hazel’s cheerful voice that was clear, but the use of “we” made no sense. Their parents didn’t get home for another three hours, so it couldn’t be them. Had she brought a friend? Then, to his surprise, another two voices that he could easily recognize greeted the woman. He had heard them on a voice note not so long ago. Feeling better despite still in pain, Nico walked outside his room and stood close to the stairs, leaning on his open door and starting with eyes wide open as Will helped Leo out of his chair.
“Do you want on my back, or…?” He asked, probably deciding how Leo was gonna make it upstairs. Hazel was bending the chair close to carry it up herself.
“Back’s fine. Hey, Nico!” He waved and smiled once he spotted him. “Happy birthday!”
“You brought people home?” Nico asked, ignoring Leo for the moment and looking at Hazel, who just lifted her shoulders and smiled.
“Surprise!” She smiled. “We had planned to take you out to have something to eat after class, but since you couldn’t come, we brought the surprise to you.”
“We can leave if you’re not feeling up for it.” Will said, even if he already had Leo hanging onto his shoulders and one foot on the stairs. From behind him, Leo nodded.
Nico was shaking his head no before he could realize. He had been missing his friends all day! He would have to be crazy to kick them out! So, he told them to come up, tried to go down the stairs, immediately went back to wait at his bedroom when he hissed and Hazel clicked her tongue at him, and smiled once the other three made it into the room. His sister took his desk chair, Leo sat back on his, and Will got on the bed, close enough that their knees were touching. Nico tried not to think about that too much.
“How have you been?” He whispered. Leo was busy finding something from his backpack and Hazel was talking to him, so there were no eyes on them.
“Better.” He replied. “Just spent the day drawing stuff.”
“Oh, can I see?”
Nico knew Will liked his drawings, for some reason, so his curiosity shouldn’t have come as a surprise, and yet he found himself looking down and shrugging as he held in a giggle and prayed not to blush. He hoped Hazel wouldn’t notice him doing “the thing.”
“Another day.” He mumbled in response. “I thought you had practice today.”
“I did! Coach Hedge called it off because his wife has her first ecography today. He seemed very excited.”
“Awww, the world’s first baby centaur!” Leo cooed, having found what he was looking for: a big plastic container with cupcakes inside, two candles and a lighter. Nico probably made a face at the food, because the boy stopped tapping his fingers on the lid and explained: “These are for the picture and as a gift for your family, you don’t have to eat them. I can go down for a piece of your actual cake if you want! Or, well, not me but someone else. Seriously, you should get a stair lift.”
“When I move out I’ll get one.” Nico replied, not wanting to think of how he was gonna move out when he still had no idea what to do with his future. “What flavor are they?”
“Lemon!” Leo replied, inserting the one-shaped candle onto one and handing a cupcake and the seven-shaped candle to Hazel.
“Can I have a tiny bit?” Nico requested, feeling a bit anxious but wanting to try one.
Normally, he would force himself over the fact Leo had baked them for him, but he didn’t feel like that. They looked and smelled good, and he really liked lemon flavored desserts. He genuinely wanted to give it a try, even if the last time he had had a new food felt far away.
“Sure thing!”
Leo lit up both candles and handed both cakes to Nico, who held them up close carefully and smiled, partially because Hazel had her phone out ready to take a selfie with all of them, and partially because Will had scooted closer to him and Nico could hear him breathing.
“Make a wish!” The blonde whispered to him when he was about to blow out the candles.
He wasn’t really sure what to wish for: part of him wanted to ask for a sign of what career he should get into, part of him wanted to ask for Will to ask him out, which felt too desperate, or for Will to be able to stay in New York with him, which felt too selfish, and part of him knew it probably didn’t matter what his wish was. He gave up trying to find a wish about himself and ended up blowing the candle as he wished for a chance to Jason’s situation to get better, the only thing that came to mind.
After that, he took the candles off and handed one of the cupcakes to Will.
“Cheers?”
“Cheers!”
They toasted with the cakes. The blonde bit into him immediately, and smiled with his mouth surrounded by crumbs. Nico wanted to reach out and clean his face for him, but he busied himself taking off the wrap —if a piece of it did as much as grazing his lips, he feared he would panic. He gave it a small bite, so tiny he barely got any food in, and swallowed down before he could overthink it. It was good, sweet, and it wasn’t overwhelming. He finished the whole thing.
Leo suggested a game of Mythomagic after, but they changed it to UNO when Will said he didn’t know how to play. Nico won the first four rounds easily, even after the other three teamed up against him. After the fifth round, Will stood up and stretched.
“Can we play something?” He asked, pointing at the record player.
“Not sure I have happy stuff.”
Will still browsed through his entire collection. In the end, he played an album from Queen and they had two more UNO games before they gave up with Nico and decided to play Catan instead. Nico won that too.
“Isn’t it boring to win all the time?” Leo ended up asking.
“Nope.”
“Well, losing all the time is.” The boy sighed.
“Wanna go downstairs and play Mario Kart?” Asked Hazel. Leo opened his mouth, probably to make a joke about how he wouldn’t mind being pushed downstairs, but the girl spoke again. “I’ll carry you! Will can carry you if you need.” She said, looking at Nico.
The boy turned his face in Will’s direction, ready to tell him to not listen to Hazel, that he would get down by himself, but meeting the boy’s beaming face of happiness and giving in instantly. Nico didn’t say anything on the way down, too busy hiding his face against Will’s shoulder to make sure no one saw him blushing.
The afternoon passed by quickly after that: they played Mario Kart, a game in which Nico didn’t always win, and moved onto the mountain game of Wii Party while they ate crumble cake. Their parents came home a few hours later, and left for upstairs after wishing him a happy birthday. They didn’t come to send Will and Leo off once they had to drive back home.
“Thank you for inviting them.” Nico told Hazel just a few seconds after the boys had left. “Why’d you tell him to carry me?”
“Did you not like it?”
“I didn’t say that.” He said before a pillow thrown at him from the other end of the sofa hit him in the head.
“Stop doing the thing!”
Nico celebrated his actual birthday party on Friday. He had expected it to be his biggest one to date by one person, since Will hadn’t been there last year, but Jason told him he couldn’t go. He had the same number of guests as last year. He got multiple new board games, some very cool clothes, an artbook and a cat-shaped Comfy Pillow Pet from Percy. When Will handed him a big, thin square covered in paper wrap, he immediately knew it was a vinyl. He couldn’t help a little stim as he started to unwrap it, though he had a slight fear the other had gifted him something he already owned. It evaporated when he saw the red and maroon tones of the cover.
“I asked my friend Lou.” Will started to explain. “In her own words: ‘It’s not Disintegration, but it’s a close second.’” Nico was beaming, hands flapping at the record on his lap. It was, indeed, his second favorite from The Cure. “I was gonna get the other one, but I saw you had it already, so I hope this…”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, don’t worry.” He said, trying to resist the urge to bounce on his seat. “ Pornography is so good! And that was a poor wording choice.”
“‘S already on camera.” Leo said from when he was sitting, holding his phone at him.
“Thank you so much.” Nico ignored Leo, turning to Will instead. “These things are so expensive.”
“Dad’s got a discount in music shops. It was nothing, really.”
He would have to get him something just as good for his birthday, Nico thought to himself before realizing that Will would be off to Texas already by the time August came. His chest filled with a bittersweet feeling, but then he turned around and saw Will smiling at something Piper had said and taking a bite of a birthday cake. His gift was perfect, and his smile was perfect, and there was nothing he wanted more than to be with him. Damn, Nico thought, he had fallen bad. He wanted him, and with every day spent together he cared both more and less about the fact their time together had a deadline. He tried not to think about him, taking the gift Piper was handing him as a distraction and starting to unwrap it. When he had to blow the candles for the second time that week, Nico forgot about being selfish, and wished for a chance for Will and him to end up dating.
. . .
j !
Saturday 2nd, 3:40 PM
j !
wanna come over? my dad said it was alright since it was your birthday.
i got you a present!
and i miss you and haze.
nico
yeah usre !!
hazels out w her boyfernd btw
j !
bummer. </3
you can still come, though!
Giulia dropped Nico at the Grace’s front door half an hour after receiving Jason’s invitation. He took a deep breath before entering the house, preparing himself mentally. It wasn’t like he had never been there before, but he had never liked it. Even before finding out Jason’s parents were both assholes, the tense air in the place was noticeable.
When they had met for the first time, back when Nico was 14, his main thought about the family had been “Mr. Grace is weird,” and Bianca had backed him up on that in the car. They had been told in advance that his first wife had died in a car crash and that one of his children had run away, for the sake of not bringing those things up, and Nico had been expecting a devastated man buried under grief. Instead, he had thought his uncle had a heart of stone. The place was devoid of any pictures of Beryl, which he wasn’t sure was due to mourning or to the fact he had remarried. He had asked Jason about it while he and Bianca were alone at the boy’s room, and he remembered Bianca telling him that was not a good thing to ask about. Jason had seemed sad, and Nico was pretty sure his reply had been “he likes Juno more,” which hadn’t felt right. On the way back home, he had asked his mom about Juno, wanting to know how she and her husband had come to be. He learnt everything he could: the woman had been born in California, she hadn’t had a job between meeting Mr. Grace, and they had fallen in love after meeting in a coffee shop. It was clear they adored each other, but Nico couldn’t help but feel bad for Jason, who didn’t even have pictures of his mom around.
With regards to Mr. Grace’s relationship with his children, Nico simultaneously had no words and the urge to write an essay full of complaints about it. First off, there was Thalia, whom Nico and Bianca hadn’t even been told the name of. All they knew is that they had to be sensible and not mention anything about their oldest cousin. In the end, it had been his mom who had slipped up about her, asking if she was alright and getting what had felt like a terrifying scolding —though looking back, it was more akin to a childish tantrum— from Mr. Grace. He remembered being back in the car 20 minutes later, with her mom having told his dad that she was getting sleepy. Now that he knew more about everything, he couldn’t help but wonder whether she had been aware of how Jason was being treated. Whatever the case was, Maria di Angelo had died too soon to do anything about it, and Nico feared he had been born too early to help in a way that mattered, even if Jason told him the comfort he provided was enough. Thing was, the man had a daughter that had run away from him and no matter how long passed, he had yet to recognize anything within himself that could have caused it, so he hadn’t changed his authoritarian parenting, his abusive tendencies, or his shitty personality. Nico was beyond surprised Jason hadn’t followed his sister’s steps.
He knocked on the door, praying that it wasn’t his uncle who came to answer. It was Juno, which wasn’t much of an upgrade.
“Oh, hello, dear.” She greeted him. Like everytime he was around him, he could tell her smile was fake, and that she was clearly uncomfortable. If Nico was honest, his legs were barely in pain that day, but he liked taking his crutches when he knew she was gonna be around. “Want me to put those away?”
“I’d rather keep them, thank you.” He returned the smile, knowing he was gonna put the crutches away once he got to Jason’s room. For now, he just wanted to bother her.
Nico made his way inside and greeted Jason, who was waiting for him in the corridor with his massive husky by his side. They went into his room quickly, not wanting to spend too long in the living room with Jason’s parents, whom Nico doubted wanted to spend much time around him either. The blonde closed the door behind him as Nico put his crutches by his desk and sat on the bed.
“Close your eyes!” He did as told, waiting with his eyes closed while he heard Jason humming and rummaging through his stuff. “Okay, open them!”
In front of him, Jason was holding out a shiny rectangular box with vibrant colors and different monsters and gods from Greek mythology in a style Nico would recognize anywhere. “MYTHOMAGIC: Conquer Olympus!” was written on big letters below the brand’s old logo.
“You got me an original set?” Nico asked, dumbfoundedly. “From the 90s?”
“Someone was thrifting it online way cheaper than it should be.” Jason shrugged. “One of those parents who don’t know the wealth their nerd children own in terms of collectable card games.”
“You’re crazy.” He said as he jumped off the bed to hug him.
Nico could barely grab the box properly with how much he was stimming. He wanted to open it and see the cards immediately, wanted to demand a match against Jason right there, wanted to store them and never touch them lest they deteriorated, wanted to frame them and hang them on his wall. He wasn’t sure how, but he was certain an original set from the year of release of Mythomagic was about to solve all his problems. At least, life seemed easier with one. He sat on the bed again, ogling at the shiny box and waiting for Jason to sit down by his side. Once he did, Nico looked up to ask for a game, but noticed that, for some reason, the boy seemed tense. He was smiling, but it didn’t seem fully genuine, and he could tell he was uncomfortable by something.
“Is there something wrong?” He asked.
“There was something else I had to tell you.” Jason said. “Good news.”
No news is good news, Nico thought to himself. The boy’s nervous demeanor only confirmed the idiom.
“What is it?”
The words fell off his tongue awkwardly and slowly, fearing the reply. He didn’t want to place his hopes up, knowing the other tended to have a disordered version of most stuff regarding his life.
“I got accepted into uni.” Jason sighed. “Into the Linguistics program I wanted. Full scholarship.”
That was good news, right? A full-ride scholarship sounded like great news. Yet, Nico couldn’t shake off the feeling something bad was about to happen. There had to be a piece of bad news waiting to be delivered to him. He didn’t say anything, waiting for Jason to speak first.
“At UCLA.”
The world froze for a moment as Nico took everything in. A full-ride scholarship in his dream program, but all the way back to Los Angeles, California. He struggled to decide whether that was bad or good news.
“You said you would go for in-state tuition.” As soon as he said it, he noticed the way Jason grimaced and regretted it. He hadn’t meant to sound accusatory.
“I didn’t want them to find out, so I didn’t tell anyone.” Jason started. “But I only applied to schools in Cali.”
“So…” Nico swallowed. “You’re leaving.”
“At the end of the year, yeah.”
“And no one else knows?” Jason shook his head no.
“I’m leaving, Neeks. And I’m never stepping in this house again.” He said in a whisper. “I am gonna find a part time job, I’m gonna get my degree, and I’m gonna make my life back in California and even if they moved like they did when Thals left, I’ll never speak with them again.”
“You’re never coming back?”
He couldn’t help the surprise in his voice and the way his eyes shot open, or the pain in his chest when Jason shook his head no again. Nico was struggling, really. He wanted to be supportive: ever since he had found out about the abuse, there had been nothing he had wanted more than to see Jason away from his parents, living a life in which they were out of the picture. He just never thought it would mean he would be out of the picture as well. Of course he was happy Jason had found an out of his shithole of a house, but he couldn’t see how moving out and parting ways with all his friends was the best solution.
“Isn’t there any other way…?” Nico asked, voice so small it made him cringe. “What about Thalia? Why don’t you move in with…?”
“Nico, I cannot move in with Thalia. That was never an option.” Jason said, sounding more serious and calmed on the topic than Nico had ever heard him. He looked at the blonde, confused. “I have spent my whole life dreaming of getting into a good uni, getting a degree I like, and building a career for myself in my field. And that’s something I have to do either by myself or, at least, not with Thalia. She can barely provide for herself, and she wouldn’t be able to provide for both of us.”
“You said you’d get a job.”
“For myself.” Jason said. “And I promise you right now that once I’m stable enough to, I’ll help her pay whatever she needs. But there’s a path in front of me in which I do what I’ve always wanted and I end up building my own life, and there’s another in which I get a half-assed version of what I’ve been bending myself backwards for for the past 4 years while helping pay for the apartment of the sister who left me behind in an abusive household.”
His hands were shaking, so he started to crack his knuckles to calm himself down. Nico couldn’t blame him. He loved Thalia, and he knew Jason did too, but he understood how much her past actions had hurt him. He had never heard him voice it before, but he didn’t need to. Nico could easily imagine how 13-year-old Jason had felt when the only decent person in his house fled without notice: devastated, and probably doomed. He had gone through hell by himself, and he understood he wanted to escape it in the same way.
None of that could erase the bittersweet taste on his mouth, though. Deep down, and not so deep down as well, he was happy for Jason. The fact he wasn’t showcasing that was making him feel beyond guilty, but he couldn’t help to pick at the strings, unhappy with the fact he would likely never see his best friend again after August started.
“What about the rest? What about Leo?” He asked, thinking about how sad he was to have to see Will go away. When he took a look at Jason, it was clear the other felt even worse about leaving his friend behind. He didn’t answer, though, just tensed his lips and frowned as he teared up a bit. “Are you not gonna tell him…?”
“That I like him?” The other finished up for him. “And what would that do? What would I tell him? ‘Hey, I’ve been in love with you for a year, but I am gonna ghost my entire friends and family, nothing personal’? I can’t, Neeks. It’s unfair to him. Even if I didn’t leave, it would be unfair to make him put up with everything.”
“What do you mean unfair?”
“I’m a mess, Neeks, and I just… I’m not good for him, I don’t know.”
“You’re not a mess.” He immediately cut him off and reached a hand to hold his arm. “You’ve been turned into one, but you’ll heal. Hell, you’re gonna… You’re gonna fly to LA and you’re gonna build your own life and get a therapist and heal and all of the shit you’ve been through will seem meaningless one day. You’re good for him, you’re perfect for each other and he’s clearly into you.”
“But I’m leaving.”
“Try long distance!” Nico said, maybe too loudly. “Worse comes to worse, you weren’t gonna see him again either way.”
“But…”
“I don’t want them to take this away from you too.” Nico whispered, feeling his eyes water and his voice shake.
His parents had taken the memory of his mom, his sister, his friends and his freedom, and now they were taking Leo as well.
“I know.” Jason said, looking equally sad.
Of course you know , Nico thought. It was him who had been the victim of everything, and there will never be anyone who was more hurt by the situation than Jason. Nico wasn’t being fair to him… He looked at the other, finding how he tried to disguise a sad grimace with a very tight and forced smile, and not missing the way a single tear was running down behind his glasses. When his eyes lingered, Nico spotted what he feared was the reason as to why Jason, who so often struggled to see some of the worst aspects of his life, was so set on leaving everything behind all of a sudden: on the back of his neck, his purple shirt failed to hide a bruise. Nico bit his tongue in order not to scream his realization out alongside multiple insults he didn’t really want his parents to hear.
It was obvious that was the kind of conversation Jason had expected to have with him, but it wasn’t the one he deserved. He tried not to think too much about how little occasions of getting what he deserved Jason had had in his life, and instead focused on fixing. Nico moved his hand from his arm to one of the boy’s hands, who rested on his lap, and squeezed it.
“Hey, Jason?” He said, getting the order to look at him. Jason was full-on crying now, and the fact he didn’t make a sound was off-putting. It’s alright, Nico told himself as his mind repeated the words he’d said not so long ago, he’ll flight to LA, build his life, get a therapist and heal. This pain will seem meaningless one day. With that in mind, he spoke again. “It’ll be alright. And I’m very happy for you.”
. . .
Montauk 2019
Monday 11th, 7:05 AM
aunt sally
created the group chat
woo-percy
added you
aunt sally
added
paul dad percy
woo-percy
added
beth !
woo-percy
added
haze !
woo-percy
added
j !
aunt sally
Hello!
The weather forecast said we’ve got a beautiful long weekend ahead of us, so Paul and I thought of doing the family Montauk trip earlier! What do you guys think?
beth !
i’m fine with it! last year’s dates crash with our midterms this year
haze !
cool !!!! im with nico, he says he likes the idea !!!
j !
my parents said it’s alright.
aunt sally
Great!
We are leaving on Friday after school, if that’s fine with everyone!
@haze !, you can bring your boyfriend if you want!
nico
is it alrgiht if i invite someone as well?
aunt sally
I’m sorry, Nico
There’s only room for one more person in the car
You two can talk it out, just let me know before Friday! 🤗
From her side of the couch, Hazel clicked her tongue and looked at him defiantly.
“So, Will?”
“How many chances of taking him to Montauk am I gonna get?” He asked, trying to get some pity from the girl.
“But I’ve been looking forward to taking Frank for so long…”
“We’ll repeat it in summer, you can take Frank then!”
“What if the first of them to confirm gets to come?” Hazel offered.
Nico returned the look of defiance she had given him earlier.
“Deal.”
“Deal.”
Notes:
valgracers, i'm gonna hold your hand as i beg you to please, trust the process. they're outslowburning nico and will but they'll be fine i promise it's all planned out, you just gotta give them time!!
now, commenting the chapter -> did you guys notice that uphill battle nico canonically draws thanmegzag fanart? he would be thanatos kinnie i feel like. also trust that leo will and hazel had all secretly "dressed up" a bit bc they thought they would be going out, meanwhile nico was wearing pikachu pyjamas the whole birthday. i'm rereading the chapter to write the notes and now i'm tempted to feature nico's comfy pillow pet in future chapters so if anyone has a name suggestion pls drop it. DISINTEGRATION GUYS WHAT AN ALBUM, AM I RIGHT? rip nico you would have loved talking to lou. rip lou you would have loved talking to nico. there's something in what nico says abt his thoughts on jason's family that might seem like a continuity error but it's actually that jason was an unreliable narrator <3 let me know if you caught it! now, for jason. i feel like it's very common in people with horrible parents to dream of starting their life from 0 somewhere in which they aren't known? at least that's always been my dream and i've seen people say the same online. is it the best and most rational situation? probably not, but nothing in his life has ever been rational. i know the communication between him and everyone else is not very healthy but as i said TRUST THE PROCESS!!! IT WILL GET BETTER!! SOON!! VERY SOON!!
- next chapter we are getting the best kind of episode: the beach episode!!! i hope you'll look forward to it !!! also this past week i've been curious as if any of you guys have any expectations/idea/theories of how things are gonna play out? i would love to hear it so pls let me know
- good news guys: I AM DONE WITH UNI PAPERWORK and hopefully i did it all right. that was so stressful like i genuinely think i had an anxiety attack for hours over it but it's over now!! im going to a music festival soon w a friend im so happy !!! im gonna see one of my fav singers too and it was super cheap guys im thriving!!! thats all i think !! see you next week (hopefully) <3
Chapter 12: " thoroughfare "
Summary:
"What do I do?”
As Leo read the actual messages, his face of confusion about the situation started to shift into a big smile.
“Go with him!” He said, probably loud enough to catch the attention of some of the other students that had already made it to class. “Tell him you’ll go. Why are you even asking?”
“I don’t know!” Will said, opening his chat with his dad and asking him immediately. “It’s a bit scary.”
“Oh, no, a weekend getaway to the beach with my crush and his loving family, consisting of friends of mine? How horrible!” Leo mocked him light-heartedly. Of course, Leo didn’t know he was scared of standing out for keeping a shirt on, but he didn’t want to swim in front of everyone else and expose his very telling scars. “I told you, he likes you!”
Notes:
welcome to the beach arc! i hope you'll enjoy it (i'm sure you will)
trigger warnings for this chapter include a past toxic relationship with a big age gap between a teenager and an adult. you can easily skip until the first ". . ." part breaker / search the first "neeks" (ctrl + f), and there'll be a summary of that part in the end notes. please, keep yourself safe.
for the people who are gonna read the whole chapter, i recommend listening to linger by the cranberries until the first part breaker and/or to either breathless by the corrs if you're feeling happy and joyful or to thoroughfare by ethel cain if you're in a mood for calmer, slower music. OF COURSE YOU CAN ALSO LISTEN TO WHATEVER YOU'D LIKE. these were the three songs i looped for hours while writing this and i felt they fitted very well but if you wanna listen to korn while reading i would be more than happy o7
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
but then you turned to me, stared into me deep
and said well maybe not, cause look at what i’ve got
you might not be my love, but, baby…
i doubt it.
The day of Nico’s birthday, after leaving the other’s house, Will was in charge of driving Leo home, as per usual. He let the other choose the music, and sang along with him to the songs he knew as a way of distracting himself from how hard his heart was beating after his time with Nico. The day had been great: not only had Will gotten to physically carry Nico downstairs, sat with him the whole day and beat him at Mario Kart, but he had also noticed how happy Nico seemed throughout the whole afternoon. The boy had been beaming for hours, and Will knew he would do anything to see the same bright smile on him more often.
At least, he had a song to Carpool Karaoke with Leo as a distraction, or at least he did until Leo got a phone call and he had to turn the music off. The other talked in Spanish all throughout it. Will only picked up a few words, but he guessed he was talking with his dad and, judging by his tone and the little bit that Will understood, the man wasn’t calling about anything bad or serious. Leo ended the call just after a minute or two.
“Everything good?” He still asked.
“Yeah, he asked if I was fine with him having dinner with some friends.” Leo said. “Wanna pick something to eat? ‘S fine if not.”
No practice, day at Nico’s house with him, Leo, Hazel and birthday cake, and now having dinner with Leo? On a Monday?
“Oh, that sounds great.” Will immediately said. “Let me call my dad.”
So, he drove them to the nearest PizzaHut, ordered a medium, and got them at Leo’s place before the pizza ran cold. Leo had insisted his dad would be fine with him bringing in a friend, but that they didn’t have a room for him to stay the night, but he didn’t mind. After all, he needed to get back home before class the next day, and he wasn’t about to crash at Leo’s unannounced. Still, the boy’s idea of eating in the backyard sounded great. January was chilly, but it was nothing, some extra layers couldn’t help. They ate together and talked as Festus run laps around the garden —Will had never seen him off-duty, so he hadn’t been expecting it when the dog went to him as if asking for pets, but he hadn’t hesitated.
“So…” Leo started, biting off a slice of barbecue pizza. “Nico and you…”
“What about Nico and me?” Will said.
He tried to sound confident and dismissive, but it came out giddy and a bit embarrassing. If Leo wasn’t chuckling at him, he would do it himself. Instead, all he did was blush and cover a bit of his now red face with the palm of his hand.
“I’ve been wondering if you’re together for some weeks now.” Leo replied, making Will shrug.
“Not really, sadly.” He said, looking down at his shoes. “I really like him.”
“I figured.” Leo giggled, elbowing him from where he sat by his side. “You’re not subtle about it, you know? But I don’t think he’s being subtle either.”
“You think he likes me?” Will asked.
“Yeah, have you seen him?” Leo replied, as if it explained something. After realizing it didn’t, he sighed and started again. “He warmed up to you really quickly in comparison to other people, and he clearly loves spending time with you. Like, last month when he asked if you were free! He never asks people to hang out, just stays home and waits to be asked. I don’t know for sure if it’s romantic, but I can tell he really likes you. If I had to say something, I’d said it is. Romantic, I mean.”
Will stopped to think about it before coming up with a reply.
“I think the same some days.” He said. “Uh… Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but I’ve heard so much about how he hates going out and doing outdoor things, but he is always coming up with things we should do together. I don’t know, though. I gotta go back to Austin at some point.”
“What about long distance?” Leo asked.
“We could try, but I’d had to ask him out first, and I don’t know if I got the courage.” He drawled out, so focused on the in and outs of dating Nico and going long distance that he subconsciously let his accent come out really strong. Will gave out a long sigh, not sure what else he could add. Maybe he should change the topic. “Can I ask something? You don’t have to reply.”
“Yeah?” Leo, who had stopped half way in the process of taking his cup of Fanta to his mouth, seemed taken aback by the question. “What is it?”
“That friend of yours, Jason… Did you fix things with him?”
Will hadn’t had a chance or a moment in which asking felt appropriate, but his conversation with Leo from all the way back at the start of the term had been on his mind, driving him crazy. He hadn’t been able to get over how sad the other had sounded. If Leo was going through something bad, he wanted to be able to help him throughout it. However, the way he took the plastic cup to his mouth to bite the edge rather than to drink, alongside the pensive look on his eyes, told him he had landed on a sore topic.
“There’s nothing to fix.” Leo mumbled against the plastic. “I told you he’s done his part. I can’t ask for more.”
“What part?” Will asked. Almost a month later, the strange wording still made no sense to him. “Leo, it’s a friendship, not a group project. Least he can do is be clear to you, and he hasn’t even done that…”
“I said he’s done enough already.” The other said, the edge of his voice tainting with annoyance.
“What do you mean?” The blonde asked, still confused. Whatever it was that Jason was doing didn’t seem anywhere close to enough.
His question made Leo put the cup down, as well as the slice he had been holding with his other hand. He pulled his knees to his chest and held them in place, taking a long, defeated sigh right after and pinching the bridge of his nose before resting his head on his legs. He seemed tired, really so, and Will immediately regretted having brought up Jason. He was about to mention something else or to call for Festus as a distraction when Leo talked under his breath.
“I guess you should know.” He sighed.
Will didn’t have time to tell him he didn’t need to be told anything if Leo didn’t want to share, because the boy started to explain right after clearing his throat, and the look in his eyes let him know whatever he was about to tell him was important. He didn’t want to interrupt.
“I had a girlfriend last year.” Leo said the words so quickly they were a bit difficult to understand, but he let Will enough time to process them before continuing. “She doesn’t go to school with us. She’s… Don’t laugh, alright? She’s in college.”
The brunette stopped explaining, looking at Will with sad eyes as if asking for pity. With the way Leo was acting, he couldn’t help to feel like he was missing something.
“Why… Why would I laugh at that?” Will tilted his head.
Leo didn’t reply immediately, just looked at the grass in front of him, where Festus kept on playing by himself. His friend seemed so small and hurt… Will had noticed early into their friendship that Leo was the kind to hide his pain behind a brick wall made out with jokes, and he could tell it wasn’t going to be likely that he saw him open up and show himself being that vulnerable in the close future.
“I met her at my dad’s hardware store while I was helping out. She was studying… She is studying mechanical engineering, just like I want to. Started asking her all about it and then we exchanged numbers, and then we hung out, and then we dated for some months.”
“How much older is she?” The question was barely a whisper.
“23. Took a gap year once.” Leo replied, not looking at him directly. “5 years older.”
“That’s…”
“A lot considering I wasn’t even a senior? Yeah.” Leo admitted with a sad smile. “That’s what Piper said, and Jason, and everyone. She was mean to me sometimes too, I don’t know. When I’d get overwhelmed, or when I would talk ‘bout D&D for too long. Called me childish, which… Don’t date a minor altogether, but also don’t date a minor if you’re gonna complain about childishness, I don’t know.” Leo shrugged. “Whatever. I say that now, but when the rest told me I didn’t really listen. Piper and Jason were dating back then, you know? Percy and Beth had been together for ages, and it was obvious Frank and Hazel were gonna end up dating as well. I got very mad at myself because I was jealous, but I think I was just…” Leo looked up at the night sky, grimacing as he recounted the story. “Lonely isn’t the word, ‘cause I had everyone, but I just felt like I wasn’t enough. Like I wasn’t special. No one had ever asked me out before her. No one had had feelings for me before… I don’t think she truly did, though.”
“What happened in the end?” Will said, hoping he didn’t sound too pushy.
He cared about Leo a lot, and he was grateful the other was sharing his past with him, but he still wasn’t connecting what that had to do with Jason, and he didn’t want the other to lose track and find out he had opened up for no reason. Leo clicked his tongue and spoke again.
“Then I got in an Uber with a drunk driver.” He deadpanned. “She never came to the hospital to see me. I thought maybe it was that she was overwhelmed about it, that it had traumatized her too. Maybe it did, I don’t know. She never replied to my messages ever again. Blocked me when I tried to reach out.”
“Leo…” Will bit his tongue, unsure of what to say. Sorry didn’t begin to cut it.
“Jason and Piper came to see me almost daily.” He continued, not leaving Will time to say anything else. “He’s a massive nerd. Massive, massive nerd. 4.5 or higher GPA kind of guy, and he was coming to the hospital to talk to me instead of studying for finals. He got his driver’s permit over me. He’s always been nice to me…”
“And what does that matter if he’s being mean now?” The other whispered softly, hoping Leo would get that he wasn’t judging him, just trying to see his point.
“He already did so much in comparison to, you know. Others.” He mumbled. “He didn’t need to do any of that. If he wants out of our friendship, I can’t blame him, it’s just…”
Leo didn’t finish the thought, just hid his head against his legs again as he let Will arrive at his own conclusions about the situation. When he spoke again, he did it slowly and hoping he would get to the other.
“Hey.” He started. “What that girl did to you is beyond horrible, and you didn’t deserve any of it, but it doesn’t mean that because she was a major asshole, everyone else gets a free pass. Jason is his own person and he has his own responsibility of treating you decently. Especially knowing what happened, he should be careful not to act like she did.”
“Maybe.” Leo spoke quietly. “I don’t know. I was so much before the whole thing already… Some days I didn’t understand how he and everyone else managed to put up with me. And then I was in a wheelchair, and had a service dog, and a mean ex, and hearing loss, and PTSD… Why would anyone put up with me? I really am more upset at myself than at him.”
“You are not too much.” Will deadpanned, matter-of-factly. “I promise. Never once since I met you have I thought ‘Leo is too much sometimes.’ I love being around you! You’re so kind, and so fun and you’re so smart and selfless… There’s nothing about you that is too much. If that’s what Jason is making you feel like, you have to talk to him about it. And if that’s how he actually feels… To hell with him.”
There was silence for some seconds, in which Leo’s face remained hidden.
“I like him, you know?” He said after a little while. His voice broke through it. It was obvious he was crying. “I don’t get why the conversation we have to have has to be about this. That’s not what I wanna do with him. I wanna tell him that I like him, and I want him to tell me he likes me back, and I want us to hold hands. And then I look at how things are and I have to talk to him, who doesn’t even like guys, about not cutting me off. I guess I was born unlucky.”
Again, a simple sorry wasn’t enough. Will had no idea what to say to help him, so instead he just placed a hand on Leo’s knee in hopes the other would understand he was there for him. He hoped that, amidst the clear pain he was in, Leo could feel the comfort.
. . .
neeks
Monday 11th, 8:10 AM
neeks
WILL
WILL WILL WILLL WILL WILL WILL WILL
WILL!!!!
will
WHAT!?!?!
is everything alright
neeks
YES
PERCY’S MOM TAKES US TO MANTOUK YEARLY DURING SRPING BREAK AND I WAS GONNA ASK IF YOU WANT TO COME W ME
THIS WEEKEND, THE WHOLE WEEKEND
will
AND WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING!?
neeks
LIFE OR DEATH SITUATION
either you come w me or frank comes w hazel so plsplspls can you confirm quickly?
if you want to come that is yk
s okay if not
[ Read on Monday 12th, 8:15 AM ]
reduce, reuse, recycle
Monday 12th , 8:16 AM
will
[ Screencap attached ]
WHAT DO I DO!!??!?!
lou -__-
go with him?
cecil :P
whats mantouk?
will
i think he means montauk
lou -__-
tell him you’ll go with him!?!?
cecil :P
and whats montauk
will
a coastal village on long island
lou -__-
TELL HIM. YOU’LL GO. WITH HIM.
cecil :P
oh thats cool
lou -__-
he’s asking you on a literal vacation with him. GO.
cecil :P
yeah will you should go
there’s a lot of musicals about falling in love by the beach
lou -__-
please not mamma mia again.
cecil :P
I MEANT TEEN BEACH MOVIE
IM NOT THE KIND TO FALL FOR A GUY WHO FLASHES A SMILE
lou -__-
WILL HE’S SINGING IT OUT LOUD PLEASE FREE ME FROM THIS MISERY.
Will put his phone down the moment he saw Leo come into the classroom. Despite the fact they sat on the first desks upon entering, he jumped over the table to get to the boy faster and shove the phone on his face with the chat opened. He waited for the other to read it.
“I like Teen Beach Movie.” He said as a final conclusion, which made Will realize he had shown him the wrong messages.
“No!” He exclaimed as he rapidly changed it to Nico’s chat. “This! What do I do?”
As Leo read the actual messages, his face of confusion about the situation started to shift into a big smile.
“Go with him!” He said, probably loud enough to catch the attention of some of the other students that had already made it to class. “Tell him you’ll go. Why are you even asking?”
“I don’t know!” Will said, opening his chat with his dad and asking him immediately. “It’s a bit scary.”
“Oh, no, a weekend getaway to the beach with my crush and his loving family, consisting of friends of mine? How horrible!” Leo mocked him light-heartedly. Of course, Leo didn’t know he was scared of standing out for keeping a shirt on, but he didn’t want to swim in front of everyone else and expose his very telling scars. “I told you, he likes you!”
“He’s inviting me as a friend.” Will argued.
“No? Percy has taken Annabeth the past years, and the other option is Hazel taking Frank. And his option is you!” Leo reasoned. “You are his equivalent of Annabeth and Frank, which means…”
“I don’t really think that’s how it works. We are not dating, for starters.” The blonde replied. Leo lifted his hands up and shrugged.
“I’m just saying everyone’s taking their partner and he’s taking you, which could mean nothing!”
Will didn’t have anything to reply; all his attention was focused on the brand new notification alerting him his dad had replied to his message with “If whoever is hosting is fine with it, sure! Send me their number when you can!” He rushed to tell Nico that yes, he would go with him to the beach, hoping Frank hadn’t beat him to it. He felt a bit bad for Hazel and him, not liking the idea that he was robbing them of their vacation, but he couldn’t help the way his chest fluttered when Nico celebrated in his chat that they got to go together, since Frank hadn’t said anything yet.
When Friday came by, his dad drove them to Percy’s house after school. The Jackson’s front yard was a mess. A middle-aged brunette woman and a man her age were carrying a bunch of bags from the house to the trunks of two cars. Percy was holding the toddler Will had seen through his stories multiple times, Estelle, and Annabeth made faces at her to stop her from crying, which wasn’t working. A little kid wearing an eyepatch that Will hadn’t seen his whole life stood to the side, between Nico and Hazel, looking a bit stressed as he clinged to the girl’s hands while the siblings talked with a blonde, tall guy Will remembered from playing against him: Jason. He made a face, not really happy to know the guy was going with them, and walked towards the group holding his bag while his dad went to help Percy’s mom.
“Will! You came!” Nico smiled at the sight of him, dropping his conversation with Jason for a bit. He grabbed his hand and pulled so Will was standing by his free side. “Jason, this is Will! I’ve told you about him.”
“Hello, it’s a pleasure.” Reluctantly, he shook the hand the boy was offering.
“And this is Tyson!” Hazel said, pointing at the kid with her head. “Her mom’s friends with Sally, so he tags along sometimes!”
“Hi, there!” He fistbumped the kid, who still looked very nervous. “How are you?”
He whined and hid himself behind Hazel’s leg once more.
“Sally and Paul were a bit loud because they couldn’t find something.” Nico replied, quietly. “And my headphones are already in the car.”
“Oh! Do you want mine?” He asked, reaching inside his bag to grab his pair of headphones and handing it to the kid, who grabbed them immediately and put them on. “Better?”
The kid nodded, letting go of Hazel to hug Will’s legs. Nico gave him a thumbs-up. Percy’s mom came to them right after, asking if they were all fine with Jason and Tyson going in a car with Percy, Beth and herself and the rest going in another one with Percy’s step-dad and his sister. Will was more than happy with the arrangement: he hadn’t been feeling like spending three hours with Jason in a car, and he got to go with Nico, which was perfect.
He sat in the middle seat of the back, while Percy’s dad fixed buckling up Estelle in her chair. Nico took the seat at his other side, closing the door as he buckled his belt. Hazel opened the door only a few seconds later, surprised at the sight of her brother already on the chair.
“I thought it was your turn sitting up front?”
“Oh, I forgot.” Nico said. Hazel looked at her brother, then at Will, and then at Nico again, not really looking like she believed him. “You can take it, don’t worry.”
They left a few minutes later, with The Corrs blasting through the speakers and Will joining Hazel and Paul, whose name he had just learned, in a karaoke that Nico didn’t seem to be a big fan of. The three hours went by quickly: Hazel, who had had to move houses many times and had been through, quote on quote, “more road trips than it should be legal,” pulled up every road trip game she knew, and they spent the whole ride playing.
Will had never been to Montauk, but his first impression was good. There were some other people who had had the same getaway idea, but overall, the place was empty, which made sense considering it was still February. Still, it was sunny and warm enough to go to the beach.
They set their towels on the sand right after leaving their things on the two cabins they had rented. Percy and Annabeth were in the water almost immediately, and Hazel followed right after. The little kids remained in the sand with Paul and Sally, who were taking turns between looking after them and swimming. Jason was with them, talking about whatever instead of going in the water.
Nico and Will sat in the same towel, close to each other and without having taken their shirts off. However, Nico’s pale hands were toying with them hem of his shirt, as if deciding whether to take it or not. He didn’t know if it was as a way to distract himself from his inner conundrum or if it was just because of his passion for card games, but Nico ended up pulling UNO after just a few minutes. The games weren’t as competitive as the last time they had played, mostly because they were more focused on talking about their days than they were on the match —though it was obvious Nico was gonna win—, but Will enjoyed it more like this.
“Hey.” Nico interrupted their conversation, sounding a bit shy. “Aren’t you… Gonna go swim?”
“I don’t know how to swim.” Will replied. It wasn’t the full truth, since he was very capable at staying afloat, but it was true he was far from being able to swim a long distance or do so quickly. Whatever, Nico didn’t need to know, and it saved him having to take his shirt off in front of everyone. “You?”
“I learnt when I was a kid.” Nico said, throwing a green draw 2 at Will.
“I meant if you are gonna go swim right now.” He rephrased.
“Oh. Nah.” He shook his head no. It made sense, Will thought. After all, he had said he wasn’t a fan of being in the water. “Just… ‘S a bit hot.”
“You can take your shirt off if you want to.”
He wasn’t one to comment on what people took off or didn’t at the beach or swimming pool, because he hated when people did that to him, but it seemed like Nico was asking for some sort of reassurance. As soon as the words were past Will’s mouth, the other’s hands went back to the hem of his shirt.
“Just… Nevermind, whatever.”
Will didn’t understand why Nico was acting like that until his black shirt came off and he figured where his insecurities were coming from. Most of his torso was scarred or covered in big bruises that were fading at different paces. He didn’t comment on it, the same way he reigned in his urge to look down. Nico had changed into shorts earlier, and as much as he hadn’t bothered looking, he could only guess what state his legs would be in.
“Do you want me to put sunscreen on your back?” He asked, instead. Nico smiled and nodded, handing him the sunscreen bottle. Will got to work. “Does it hurt?” He asked, placing his hands on his back.
“Most of the bruises are numb.” Nico replied. “Just don’t press on them and shit like that.”
“Got it!”
The moment was done quickly, and Will sat back where he had been sitting earlier after returning the bottle to Nico.
“You can also take your shirt off if you want.” Nico mentioned, looking down and picking up his UNO cards, though instead of taking them to play, it seemed like he was tying them up.
“I’m fine, don’t worry. Maybe later.” Will lied. “Don’t you wanna finish the game?”
“I’m bored?” Nico said, although he didn’t sound very confident in his answer. It reminded Will of whenever Naomi immediately caught one of his lies: that’s how he imagined he sounded like. “Do you wanna go on a walk?”
“You do?” Will questioned. Going on a walk didn’t precisely sound like Nico’s favorite plan.
“Yeah. Till the end of the beach.”
The boy pointed as he spoke. Will turned his head, following the direction his hand was pointing out. The end of the beach was pretty far, and there was barely anyone resting in that part. Nico’s crutches were back at the house —not like they would have been very stable in sand either way, Will thought—, and even if he wasn’t having a particularly bad symptom day, he was sure the walk to the edge of the beach and back would tire him.
“Are you sure?” Will asked, even if Nico was already standing and he had started to copy him. The boy nodded. “Sure.”
The walk was alright: the sand was warm below his feet, the sun was kissing his skin and, from time to time, a wave big enough would reach them and the cold water would refresh them. The quiet area of the beach made it so that there was no noise, which was Will’s only problem with the whole ordeal. Don’t get him wrong, he was truthfully enjoying the low come-and-go rumble of the sea breaking against the shore and the squeaks from the seagulls and other birds, but that wasn’t what he had been wanting to hear. They weren’t Nico.
Nico remained quiet the whole thing, not saying anything. In comparison to the on-going conversation they had been having the whole day, and that he felt had prolonged from lunch to the car ride to the UNO games, there was no exchange going on between them. It could have been fine: Will still panicked at awkward silences, feeling like he had to entertain his company in exchange for kindness most of the time, but over the past months, he had learnt to enjoy Nico’s silent company. The other wasn’t just rambles and rambles, having a much more quiet side to him that had freaked out Will at first but that he know appreciated. It was peaceful to be with him even when they didn’t talk, and Will’s fast-paced heart barely got a chance at peace.
This silence, however, was freaking him out for other reasons. Nico was obviously uncomfortable with something. Will couldn’t help to notice that he was toying with the laces in his swimsuit shorts, that he would occasionally crack his knuckles, or that he had started to play with his fingers in some sort of stim. He didn’t miss the multiple times Nico opened his mouth as if about to say something just to look down embarrassed. Was he doing something wrong? Was Nico too shy to complain about it? Will didn’t want to think about it, lest he spiraled himself into a crisis. It didn’t get any better as their walk progressed, and by the time the beach came to an end, they still hadn’t talked and Nico still hadn’t calmed down from whatever was bothering him.
“End of the line!” Will said, just to say something. He placed his hands on his hips and turned around to look at the way behind them. The rest of their group were really far away, barely visible, and there wasn’t anyone anywhere close to them. They’d gone really far; he seriously hoped Nico felt alright. “Should we turn around?”
As he said it, he started walking the first steps of the way back, but Nico wrapped a hand around his wrist and made him halt his movements.
“No!” He said, a bit too loudly. He let go of Will, later walking towards the rocks at the verge of the beach and leaning against one with his face turned to the ocean. “Let’s stay a bit.”
Will was gonna reply “sure,” but he didn’t. Embarrassingly enough, he kinda froze in place for a few seconds at the sight of the other. His face, ironically enough considering his surname, looked angelic, even with his cheeks rosy from the sun and his eyes a bit squinted due to the bright day they were having. The sunlight reflected on the sea, and part of it reflected on Nico’s dark eyes in a way that made Will feel castaway. They were close enough for him to see his faint freckles —he didn’t have many, and they were hard to spot, but he still loved them—, but they were also sufficiently far away for him to have a full body view. There was something about the way his muscles have relaxed upon supporting himself on the rock, about how peaceful he looked as he just stared at the waves with that neutral expression of his that was just turning into a slight grimace of protest against the sun, that had Will’s eyes linger on him. No one could blame him for not replying.
“The ocean’s beautiful.” Nico mumbled.
“Yeah.” Will didn't really have the Atlantic in mind.
Nico turned to him. If he hadn’t been so mesmerized, Will would have moved towards him and sat by his side, but he couldn’t do anything other than stand in place and stare as the other opened his mouth again before looking down, shrugging and grinning. He had noticed him doing that a few times by now. Will thought it was adorable, but he had failed to find a connection between each time. It wasn’t like the finger tapping stimming he did when nervous or the fist shakes he did when happy, or like the big arm movements and serious frowns whenever Leo, Percy or Hazel poked fun at him.
“Are there beaches in Austin?” He asked.
“Mhm, fluvial.” Will said, surprised by the random question.
Nico pulled his knees to his chest and looked back at the sea.
“When you go back, I hope you’ll think of this when you’re at the beach.” Nico said it in a whisper, as if it was almost a secret, or a forbidden thing to say. Will understood. After all, his imminent return to Austin was always the elephant in the room whenever they were together, or at least that’s how he felt. “I’m gonna miss you so much.”
“Hey, we’ll keep contact.” He said. This time, he actually went to Nico’s side, as if the premature closeness would help him miss him less in the long run. “My friends and I have been talking all year, and we’ve been fine. We’ll be fine, Nico.” The other didn’t reply with words. Instead, he just made a sad sound. “But, for the record, I’m gonna miss you too.”
“It’s not gonna be the same once you leave…”
“I know.” He replied, not really sure if that was the right thing to say.
On his hand, until then busy with drumming his fingers against the rock, he felt the cold touch of one of Nico’s. Upon looking down, he found that the other was holding it, or rather, clinging to him as it would prevent him from leaving.
“Will, I…” Nico wasn’t looking at him, nor at the ocean. His eyes were back on the ground, staring at the warm sand covering their feet. The boy cleared his throat and tightened his grip around the other’s hand. “I wanted you to come today because I wanted to tell you that I don’t think my life’s gonna be the same without you in it. You’ve made every day since we met so much better. And I’m so thankful.”
“Nico…”
He tried to find the words to comfort him, noticing the other’s voice was starting to shake, but he couldn’t come up with anything quickly enough before the other continued.
“I feel like I had lost hope in myself until I met you.” Nico told him. “You’ve been so incredible with me. Whenever we talk you make me feel so cared for, and so appreciated, and just so loved. I know I’ve always had people who love me around, but there’s something special about you… I think everyone would say you are special as a person, and they’d be right, but what I mean is that the way I feel about you is also special.”
Will’s heartbeat was reverberating through every cell of his body with how fast it was going. A rush of adrenaline and pure, vibrant joy overtook him with everyone of the words, and as they fell one after the other, he felt himself fall for Nico even more than he believed possible. He was sweating, and the thought that he hoped the other wouldn’t notice his palm was getting sweaty was what reminded him that they were still holding hands. Mourning that he couldn’t tighten his grip on Nico’s the way the other had, he kept listening, although his hopes had already skyrocketed and, for a moment, he feared a hard crash.
The crash never came, though.
“What I mean to tell you, Will, is that…” Nico cleared his throat again, as if the words were stuck. He lifted his eyes from the ground and stared at him, passionate and stern but with a face so soft and charming that Will knew he would say yes to whatever the other was about to say. “I would hate it if you went back to Austin without knowing I like you, and I would love it if you went back as my boyfriend.”
Not even a second passed before Will was throwing himself at his arms, hugging him and keeping Nico close as he whisper-shouted “yes, yes, yes” until Nico’s happy giggles overtook him and the only thing they could do was embrace each other and laugh. Once they pulled away from the hug, with the blonde’s palms still on the other’s shoulders, they stared at each other like it was their first time seeing each other. Nico didn’t stare for too long, facing down as he grinned and blushed, but Will took the liberty to lift his chin up so he could keep eyeing him.
“I’m so in love with you, you’ve got no idea.” Nico said, sounding light-heartedly accusatory.
“Good thing we’re dating.” Will replied, completely earning himself the strengthless punch the other delivered to his chest.
“For how long have you…?” Nico didn’t need to finish the question.
“I realized during Thanksgiving.” He started. “But I think it had been building up since we first talked. You?”
Nico stopped supporting his torso up, falling into Will’s instead and placing his head against his chest. He looked soft, calm and content, and Will wished he could have him feel so relaxed and happy forever. He knew he couldn’t, but at least he could brush some of his curls out of his face and make his smile grow wider, and that was enough for now.
“Since Halloween.” Nico whispered. “I can’t believe you made me be the one to confess first.”
Will laughed at the comment, but didn’t say anything. His mind was back in Dakota’s backyard, where he had held Nico against his chest just like he was now right after the other had opened up his heart to him. Maybe that was his opportunity for him to do the same. Will placed a hand on one of Nico’s and another in his shoulder to support the boy when he moved to sit a few centimeters away. The other looked surprised, not understanding the sudden separation.
“What’s…?”
“Since we are opening up about feelings and stuff…” Will started. It was now his turn to toy with the hem of his shirt, unsure of what approach to take. “I’ve been meaning to tell you for a bit now, but… I don’t know, it was hard. It is hard.”
“Tell me what?” Nico asked, softly and non-judgy. “You can tell me anything.”
“Ahh…” The blonde sighed. “I guess this is the easiest way.”
Not very smoothly, he took his shirt off. It got stuck on his head for a bit, which probably made him look a bit goofy, but Nico didn’t comment on it. Once the shirt was off, he couldn’t suppress the urge to protectively place his arm around his scars, though he recognized that defeated the whole purpose soon after doing it and took it away. Instead, his hand went to the back of his neck and he nervously looked around at nowhere in particular until his eyes stopped on Nico’s face.
His boyfriend —he still couldn’t believe it— was staring at him with his mouth open in a big, but surprised smile, and his eyes were filled with disbelief.
“You have had a tattoo all this time?” Nico basically shouted, grabbing at Will’s shoulders. “And you didn’t tell me?”
“Oh, well.” He had forgotten about the stylized sun inked over his heart, just above the scar tissue. “Kinda risky to show it since I’ve been trying to hide the scars.”
“Oh. Oh!” Nico said, as if just setting in the realization that that was what Will had been trying to tell him. “Yeah, makes sense. Absolutely. Cool.” As he spoke, he moved his arms until they were around Will. Then, he pulled him into a hug and pressed a kiss to his temple. “Cool.”
“If you say so.” Will said, laughing a bit at the other’s reaction. He wondered whether his brain had short-circuited a bit at the sight of the tattoo, which it probably had.
“You know that everyone else would be fine with it too, right?” Nico asked, sounding more settled and serious, though still gentle, as he toyed with a strand of curly blonde hair. “We’re a big bunch of queer people, and Piper’s nonbinary.”
“I know.” Will replied, looking up from where he laid his head. So far, he was enjoying the fact that dating Nico came with so much cuddling. “I’ll tell them someday, but I wanted it to be a secret here. Texas is not New York.” He said, drawling it out more than usual. He was sure Nico would have commented on it if the topic wasn’t clearly important to him. “I got lucky, real lucky, but it wasn’t perfect. I always felt like no one at school other than Lou and Cecil thought of me fully as Will. Sometimes it felt like they were just being nice.” As he spoke, Nico drew circles in his hand. “I know the others here wouldn’t think differently of me if I told them, but it never seems like a good enough moment.”
“‘S alright.” Nico replied, placing a soft kiss to the top of his head. “It’ll come.”
“Thank you.” Will mumbled. He ignored the fact the sentence seemed unfinished. It was too soon to start with pet names. “Wanna head back now?” The sun was starting to set down, and they still had a long walk ahead. Nico threw his head back and groaned. “Tired?”
“Yeah…” He said, pouting a bit before his face lit up with an idea. “Your first job as my boyfriend should be carrying your disabled darling all the way across the beach.”
“All the way!?”
“I’m a light-weight!” Nico smiled. “And you’ve done it before!”
“You’re lucky I’m into you.” Will joked, turning around and crunching down a bit, not without putting on his shirt back first. “Get on.”
He didn’t mind carrying him anywhere; it was true that the other was a light-weight, and he was athletic enough for his weight to not bother him much. Other than that, Will could only say that he would do anything to hear his boyfriend’s laughter as pure and joyous as it sounded when he got on his back.
Notes:
- SUMMARY OF THE FIRST PART: it follows after last chapter's mini birthday celebration at nico's house. will drives leo home and they have dinner together in the garden, where leo asks if will and nico are dating and will says they aren't, but that he likes nico and is sad he'll have to go back to austin. after, will asks about jason, and leo replies that he thinks jason wants to stop being his friend because he is "too much" due to his adhd, autism and paraplegia, amongst others. he says that he used to be in a relationship with a girl who attended college and who would tell him he was too childish or active before he got into the accident, after which she ghosted him and never saw him again. a part of him fears jason is doing the same thing, but he tells will he can't blame him, because he already stayed with him for long enough when he could have left like his ex did after the accident, even though """he didn't have to.""" will tells him to confront him about it, but leo just says that he hates that the talks he had to have w jason are about this rather than the fact that he likes him, saying he feels like he was born unlucky.
- that being said, GUYS I PROMISE I'M FIXING VALGRACE. I AM. I AM I AM I AM. SOONER THAN YOU THINK. IT WILL ALL BE BETTER AND VERY SOON. I SWEAR IT ON SNOOPY. I PROMISE!!!! PLEASE TRUST ME WE ARE GETTING THERE VERY SOON.
- NOW, MOVING ON TO THE OTHER HUGE PART OF THE CHAPTER............. THE SLOW BURN IS DONE COOKING, EVERYONE, CHEER FOR THE BOYFRIENDS!!! this part was SO SPECIAL TO WRITE OMG i feel like they've been building up for so long it had to be great but also not super cheesy and I THINK I DID WELL !! I HOPE YOU LIKED THE CONFESSION <333 PLS LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS !! also also also i'm very curious: did you guys think nico was gonna be the one to ask will out? or did you guess it would be the other way around? i can't believe these motherfuckers are finally dating omfg. everyone cheered.
- I'M POSTING THIS FROM AN ACTUAL BEACH VACATION !! ^0^ im writing the note before leaving so i hope i'm having fun. ALSO. MOST IMPORTANTLY. i saw my favorite spanish singer live last week. I WAS ON THE FRONT ROW, BASICALLY IN FRONT OF HER MIC. i had a friendship bracelet with one of her songs (if you're curious this is it) AND NOT ONLY DID SHE PERFORM IT (it was in the setlist lmao) BUT...... SHE SAID IT WAS THE LAST TIME PERFORMING THE ACOUSTIC VERSION. I'M SO HAPPY GUYS. I GOT THE LAST ACOUSTIC VERSION. I DIED. (if you're curious, the lyrics are about a friend of the singer and the lyrics that repeat are "sailors and pirates, i tie the knots while you drive in this sea full of lights." and "you are the biggest proof that there's people whose mere existence is revoltionary")
- see you next week with the first full chapter with OFFICIALLY DATING SOLANGELO!! i'm finishing it at this moment and i think chapter 13 is one of my favorite ones in the whole thing, so i hope you'll look forward to it.
Chapter 13: " just like heaven "
Summary:
“Neeks?”
Nico smiled at the sound of Will’s voice, turning around with Estelle still in his lap, clinging to his shirt. The boy stood on the corridor with a hand on the wall to help him support and another scratching one eye as he yawned.
“Did we wake you up?” He whispered, hoping they hadn’t. Luckily, Will shook his head no.
“Had to use the bathroom.” He said. “What are you doing?”
“Putting her to sleep. Attempting to.”
“Is that Mako Mermaids?”
“Maybe.”
“Can I join?”
Notes:
SHOW ME SHOW ME SHOW ME HOW YOU DO THAT TRICK !!! shout out to just like heaven, probably my favorite song by the cure alongside by lovesong (you guys don't know how much it took for me to accept i wasn't naming any chapter after lovesong. i died dead. fingers crossed there'll be a lovesong chapter in upcoming *drum roll* band au)
there are no major triggering scenes this chapter, it's very fluffy and generally a "moving in the right direction"/"healing" chapter, but jason's situation is touched on and nico has a brief instant of eating something he dislikes
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
spinning on that dizzy edge,
i kissed her face and kissed her head,
dreamed of all the different ways
i had to make her glow.
Nico had gotten himself a boyfriend, and, to make it all better, the boyfriend was Will Solace. With how close they were at the moment —his torso was touching the other’s back as the blonde gave him a piggy ride all across the beach—, he wouldn’t be surprised if Will were to tell him that he could feel his quickened heartbeat.
He had never been more nervous than when asking him out, or at least not for what he supposed counted as a positive reason. If he was being honest, he couldn’t believe he had been the one to confess. Nico hadn’t even told Jason or Hazel that he was going to, for a plethora of reasons such as not wanting them to accidentally reveal his plan, as a way of feeling he had done it all by himself, and, mostly, in case it went wrong, which he had been sure wouldn’t happen, but what if it did? None of that mattered anymore: he had Will laughing at their current conversation, consisting mostly of bickering, and they were dating. Nothing could change how happy he was; even the fact they only had about 4 months before Will flew back to Austin felt like a distant, unimportant memory.
“Can you get off for a bit?” Will asked, straightening his back slightly. Nico had been noticing him trying to rearrange how he was carrying him, and had tried to help ease the weight, but it was clear it wasn’t working. “My back’s killing me.”
“I can try to walk if you need.” He said, sitting down on the sand while Will stretched with a groan.
The sun was starting to set, and the bright, orangey rays shining behind him made the edges of his silhouette look faded to gold. His hair had taken a beautiful toasty color, and his skin was blushed from the warm day in spite of sunscreen. He was beautiful, and Nico couldn’t feel luckier. He smiled fondly from where he laid on the beach. It wasn’t often that he felt lucky, but he did when it came to Will. The doom he felt whenever he thought about the plane back to Austin wasn’t more powerful than the joy of knowing that, in spite of the odds, their paths had crossed.
“You’re staring.” Will said, the words turning to a giggle at the end.
“You’re really handsome.” He replied, matter-of-factly and only then realizing he had never told him that, as much as he had thought it. It made Will cover his mouth with a hand and snort into it in a mixture of giddiness and nervousness that was frankly adorable.
“Shut up…!” The other complained. “Wanna get on again?”
“If it’s bothering you, I can…” He started, even though his legs really hurt from the walk. It hadn’t been that long, but the uneven surface of the sand had made it so much harder than it should have, throwing him off balance multiple times.
“But I like carrying you.” Will argued with a little pout on his lips.
“Ahh…” Nico gave a long, exasperated sigh that wasn’t serious in the slightest and stood up the best he could. “If you insist!”
By the time they made it back to where the rest were, the sun had already disappeared behind the horizon. From the beach, far away from the city lights, the stars in the night sky were much clearer and beautiful. Nico would have focused on them, but he was too busy trying to ignore the smug smile both Jason and Hazel gave him when they saw him and Will appearing together.
Sally and Paul, as he was told, had gone back to the house they had rented to put the kids to bed. Percy and Annabeth were unbending some plastic chairs and putting them around an unlit bonfire. There was an empty pair already, which the couple took once they were done, so Nico guessed the new ones were for him and Will and took one, with the blonde sitting by his side right after.
“Did you guys get lost?” Percy asked as he popped open a bag of marshmallows.
“How are they gonna get lost on an empty beach?” Annabeth asked him. “But you were gone for a while.”
“Didn’t feel like running back.” Nico shrugged. They didn’t ask for another explanation, and he could tell Annabeth and Percy didn’t particularly care, but Jason and Hazel kept looking at them knowingly. “You guys did anything?”
“Destroyed Jason at volley.” Hazel said, smiling and high-fiving Annabeth, who sat by her side.
“And Percy.” The older girl added.
“It was close, though.” Jason said.
“No, it wasn’t.” As he spoke, Percy handed the marshmallows to his girlfriend and started to open a bag of crackers. “But we’re gonna get their asses tomorrow in the rematch.”
“Would love to see it.” Annabeth replied.
She passed marshmallows through skewers and gave everyone one while they talked, while Percy started to hand out the crackers and chocolate. The conversation moved from volley quickly while they roasted the marshmallows. Nico tried not to think too much about how when Percy and Beth asked Jason about college acceptance emails Jason changed the topic to midterms, instead placing his attention on placing the bit of chocolate Hazel had handed him out correctly below the marshmallow and two crackers. Will had finished his s’more before him, and had already bitten into it —he looked a bit goofy now, with part of the chocolate smeared on his lips. The blond was lost in conversation with Hazel, discussing something about starter Pokémon that Nico would love to add into, and he didn’t notice how Nico was gazing at him as he mindlessly bit into his own food.
Somehow, it took him both too long and too little to notice something was off. His body reacted immediately, turning around from Will and spitting into the sand as he coughed, one hand instinctively grabbing around the other’s freckled arm in a way that he had half the mind to hope wasn’t too tight. Nico tried to make sense of the situation and to calm his breath at the same time, but the people around him had all reacted at his sudden outburst and he felt there were too many voices talking at the same time. There were too many “what’s wrong?” and “are you alright?” going off simultaneously. At the end, Hazel offered a water bottle that he grabbed and drank from as the rest’s concerns died, not surprising seeing as he hadn’t reacted.
“Thank you.” Nico rasped out, returning the bottle to his sister.
He pulled his legs to his chest, a bit uncomfortable in the chair but at least having a chance at hiding his face. The choir had died too quickly and he hated knowing he was guilty of it.
“I thought you could eat this.” Percy lamented, not accusatory in the slightest. Nico could guess he felt bad, since it had been him and his family planning the whole thing.
“Me too.” He replied. He tried to make it sound like a joke, but failed miserably seeing as it came out choked and sad. Although he wasn’t crying, his eyes had teared up and his nose was getting runny, and his voice betrayed it.
“It says here that they changed the recipe…” Said Annabeth, who had grabbed the package of the crackers and was inspecting it, pointing at some words printed on the plastic. “Was that it?”
Slowly, he nodded after considering it for a bit. The texture had been less firm than he remembered, and the flavor hadn’t felt familiar at all.
“Bummer.” Percy groaned. “I’m sorry, Neeks.”
“‘S okay.” He said, hoping they would move on from it. He didn’t like the eyes lingering on him, or the minds lingering on his situation, and it was truly fine. It wasn’t like he had been planning to eat more than two s’mores.
“Do you want another marshmallow?” The boy offered, already putting his hand inside the bag, though he hesitated before pulling one out.
Nico thought about it for a few seconds. A part of him was screaming in his ears, telling him to say no and walk back into their rental house to sleep it all off without even having dinner. Another part was trying to take it slowly.
Last week, he had started therapy, and though he had started by letting out some stuff unrelated to his eating disorder, it was all related, according to the woman treating him. He had opened up by his fear of falling behind and his constant worries about being an embarrassment or a burden around his friends, which was where things such as the pain, the crutches, the ARFID and even the autism —though Annabeth and Leo were autistic too— came in. His therapist had asked him if any of his friends had ever made him feel like that directly, and he had had to shrug and say that no, not really. If he had to pick someone, he had told her, it would probably be his dad and step-mother. Honestly, Nico was happy they had had only 10 minutes left of session, because he hadn’t exactly been feeling up to dwell on that. Truth be told, the woman had told him they would need to leave most of that talk for the next week —which Nico was dreading, though a part of him was looking forward to it. Still, recognizing out loud that none of his friends had ever been unkind to him about needing more time had helped, even if just a bit.
So, he closed his eyes, trying his best to take it slowly and be kind to himself. Nico really wanted to run away into the house and go to bed hungry, but he could see how that wouldn’t help anyone. If he was feeling bad the rest were too concerned about him, leaving would only make it worse. In terms of feeling like a burden, he was as much of a burden there, where he could laugh at whatever dad joke Percy came up with, rest against Will’s shoulder and talk with Hazel about Pokémon as he was inside the house. That was, as long as he wasn’t attempting to eat right after getting triggered…
But he did like marshmallows, and he had just had one in the s’mores and it hadn’t been the problem. Shyly, he reached out a hand to take the candy from Percy, and he began roasting it after he turned around in the chair to rest his head on Will’s side. He took the food to his mouth after it was done. It was sweet against his lips, sticky and melting and a bit too hot, but it was comforting, familiar, and what had been wrong before, the cracker, was no longer in the picture. He couldn’t deny it had been a bit scary at first, and that he had felt tempted to ask Will to hold his hand, but in the end, it was alright and Nico got to feel proud of himself.
They all walked back to the rental house together about 40 minutes later. Hazel, Percy and Annabeth, who had spent the day in the sea, took turns showering first while Nico, Will and Jason remained in the kitchen. His cousin began peeling an apple for him and Nico, and offered a slice for Will, but the boy rejected it. Though he wasn’t the best at reading facial expressions, Nico would swear he saw a bit of disdain in the way Will turned down the fruit before excusing himself into one of the rooms, saying he was gonna call his family. If Jason noticed as well, he didn’t say anything, and Nico didn’t get a chance to ask before Percy came back from the shower to prepare himself a glass of chocolate milk as he talked with them.
The rooms had been assigned before going to the beach: Nico, Hazel, Will and Jason shared one with two sets of bunk beds, while Percy and Annabeth shared a twin bed in a room also shared with the two kids. Nico got one of the lower beds, no explanation needed, and so did Jason. Hazel called them “sibling bunk” and “blonde guy bunk,” which summed the whole thing up pretty well.
They turned off the lights very early, and he could hear Jason and Hazel snoring not many minutes later, but Nico wasn’t managing to fall asleep. In spite of how tired he was from the long day, he kept tossing and turning without feeling any closer to sleep than he had been at 8 AM. Matter of fact, he had probably been more tired at 8 AM that same day.
Maybe, he thought, it was a way of his body giving him time to process the fact that he had finally gotten the courage to ask Will and it had worked out. It still didn’t feel real, in a way, that he now had a boyfriend sleeping in the same room as him, just some feet away. If he had to point out the moment his mind changed from “I can’t have him because he’ll leave” to “I need to date him before he leaves,” he would have to blame it on the other blonde sleeping in the same room. Nico just hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the fact Jason, too, was leaving, and that it seemed like Leo and him weren’t even gonna get a chance. He had surprised himself with how quickly he suggested long distance to the other, and after that he couldn’t stop thinking that, if it had seemed like a good idea for their case, there was nothing that made it a bad idea regarding his and Will’s. The only thing between him and asking were his own inhibitions, and he had won over them. It was a shame he hadn’t gotten to do it before Valentine’s, but a day off wasn’t that bad, was it?
Whether processing that was or not the reason for his lack of sleep, Nico gave up trying to find a comfortable position to sleep on once he heard voices outside the room. If someone else was awake and walking around the house, he could do the same, which seemed more interesting than spinning around the bed thinking about Will (though thinking about Will was pretty neat). Nico stood up from the bed and exited the room, finding Percy on the living room trying to reason with his baby sister to pull her back to sleep.
“Perce?”
“Hey!” The other whispered. “You awake?” Nico nodded in response, trudging towards the living room. “Beth and I were gonna go on a late night walk, but she won’t go back to sleep.” He said, pointing at the toddler with his head. “Hey… Do you mind looking after her till we get back?”
“Nah.” Nico said, sitting with them on the couch. “Couldn’t sleep either way.”
“Thanks, man. Here’s the remote. I downloaded the entirety of Mako Mermaids, she should fall asleep to that.”
“Isn’t she a bit young to be watching Mako Mermaids?”
“I didn’t say I downloaded with her in mind.” Percy replied. “Also, none of the shows she likes are airing right now and the kid channels are in sleepy time or whatever. But it’ll be fine. Plus, you get to enjoy it too.”
“Don’t know, I’m a H2O type of guy.” Nico joked as he started the first episode.
“I forgot the USB with that at home.”
As soon as Percy was done with the sentence, Annabeth walked outside of their room, having changed into linen pants and a hoodie from the camp they both counseled during summer, the same one where they’d met. She thanked Nico too before they both left for their walk, leaving Nico alone with a toddler that was very pouty and very angry about her big brother and “aunty Beth” going somewhere without her. She had clearly been waiting for the couple to leave to express her disappointment by pouting and attempting to punch the sofa with her tiny fists, which would have been endearing if the sofa wasn’t in a rented property and if Nico wasn’t the one in charge of her.
“Hey, hey, hey!” He said, grabbing her and pulling her from where she was hitting the arm rest onto his lap. “Let’s not do that.”
Her reply was a whine that didn’t quite change Nico’s mind, but, sadly, his suggestion of watching TV instead didn’t change the toddler’s mind either. They went back and forth for a few minutes, with Nico trying his best to not raise his voice too much taking into account the rest of the house was sleeping. The kid didn’t care about that, clearly, and she allowed herself to be as loud as possible. Still, they both froze once they heard steps in the corridor. Estelle stopped whining and hugged Nico, hiding her face on his arm.
“What are you hiding for?” He whispered, though he didn’t break the hug. “Don’t dare blame this on me.”
His voice must have been loud enough for the other person awake in the house to hear.
“Neeks?”
Nico smiled at the sound of Will’s voice, turning around with Estelle still in his lap, clinging to his shirt. The boy stood on the corridor with a hand on the wall to help him support and another scratching one eye as he yawned.
“Did we wake you up?” He whispered, hoping they hadn’t. Luckily, Will shook his head no.
“Had to use the bathroom.” He said. “What are you doing?”
“Putting her to sleep. Attempting to.”
“Is that Mako Mermaids?”
“Maybe.”
“Can I join?”
Despite the thumbs up he got from Nico, he still disappeared back into the corridor, going to the bathroom as he said he had to before coming back and sitting with Estelle and Nico on the couch. The girl was still clinging to her cousin, but she lifted her head slightly once Will’s weight settled on the sofa.
“Hi there, sweetness.” He said with a tender voice and tone. “Remember me from the car ride?” She nodded, sticking up a tiny hand and waving it in the air as she said “hello.” “Hello! How are you awake so late, sweetheart?”
Nico watched in silence at how Estelle frowned and crossed her arms. She attempted to stand up on the couch by herself, but fell back on Nico’s lap looking upset.
“Percy and Beth went on a walk without her.” He explained instead.
“Oh, how rude…” Will said, putting on a fake frown himself. A part of Nico wanted to laugh, because as much as it was endearing, it looked undeniably silly, but at least it was keeping Estelle quiet, so he reigned it in. “But we can still have fun without them! Don’t you wanna look at the pretty mermaids?”
“No!”
She pouted as she answered, standing up again and jumping a bit to prove her point, but she seemed to forget about it quickly. Her eyes set on the TV and she remained quiet as the show played out in front of them.
“Which one’s your favorite?” Will asked, scooting closer to the girl to help her sit back down. She pointed at the screen, said something that sounded remotely like “Lyla” and started to chew on her fingers after. “Ohhh… I like Sirena the best. Tomorrow, when we go to the beach again, you can go in the water and see if you meet any mermaid!”
“Wanna go now…”
“But all the mermaids are gonna be sleeping!” Will protested. The kid pointed at the screen again, whining and probably trying to complain that the girls in the screen were very much awake. “Oh, well… That’s ‘cause these ones are Australian, and it’s morning for them when it’s late here.”
“Can we go too?”
“To Australia?” Again, Nico had to hold back laughter at the obvious surprise in Will’s face. He was having a lot of fun seeing him trying to lull the girl to sleep. “Eh… It’s really far away, we’d need a plane! But tomorrow, if you find a mermaid, can you tell her to send a message to Lyla? How does that sound?”
“Hm, okay!”
After that, they just watch TV in silence for a few minutes. Estelle fell asleep against Nico’s arm about an episode and a half later. He threw his head back in relief once it happened, because he hadn’t wanted Percy to come back to his sister still awake, but didn’t make any sound lest she woke up again. Still, he silently high-fived Will, who was smiling proudly at himself.
“You’re good with kids.” Nico whispered, which only made him smile wider.
“I know.”
Confidence looked good on him, Nico found himself thinking. It was a pity that it was rare.
“Wanna go out after Beth and Percy come back?” Nico suggested.
Although the light was pretty dim, it still allowed for the way Will’s mostly neutral, relaxed face flourished into a big, shiny grin as he stood up.
“I’m gonna go change.” He said as a yes, walking behind the sofa and quickly squeezing Nico’s shoulder as he did.
Annabeth and Percy were back from their walk just when Will was done changing and walking back into the living room. Nico let Percy pick up the toddler from where she still laid asleep against him before standing up and going to put some clothes on himself before going out. He only changed his pyjama pants into jeans, though, deciding that the old shirt he used for sleeping was fine enough. After all, he hadn’t been thinking about going on another walk, just picking a towel and chilling on the beach.
By the time Nico came out of the room, Will was leaning against the front door, with his phone in one hand and the house keys on the other. He lifted his face for the screen after hearing the other’s steps.
“You aren’t wearing anything else?” He asked.
“Why?”
“It’s still February, you know?” The other said, pointing at his thin, short-sleeved shirt. Nico just shrugged, getting closer and opening the door. “You’re gonna catch a cold.”
“Are you my mom?”
“Just your boyfriend.” The blonde replied as they exited the house. Nico rolled his eyes, but he still blushed at the comment. “So, what’s the plan?”
They walked some steps into the beach, till they were right by the end of the dry sand that the riptide hadn’t taken yet, before Nico unfolded the tower he had been carrying.
“It’s like a picnic but without food.” He replied, sitting down cross-legged after arranging the towel.
At his side, Will sat down as well but quickly laid his back on the towel, with his hands behind his head. Nico decided to copy him, and soon enough he had the night sky in front of him. The lack of light pollution in comparison with the big city was outstanding. Every star and constellation was much clearer.
“Are you a Virgo?” He asked Will.
“Off by a day. I’m a Leo.” The other replied.
Nico reached a hand out and pointed at the sky, in hopes Will could notice which bunch of stars he was pointing at.
“That’s Leo.”
“I always knew he was born for stardom.” Will replied, immediately causing Nico to snort, turn around and bury his face against the blonde’s body as he groaned a sort of “that was so bad.” “Which one did you mean? I didn’t catch it.”
Nico pointed again.
“There, see? There’s a triangle in, uh, the right. And then there’s a sort of pointy S close to it.”
“There?” Will asked, pointing at the correct place. Nico nodded. “That’s pretty. I didn’t know you were into this.”
“The Zodiac? Or the stars?”
“Both, truly.”
Nico sighed. He sat back up again, straightening his posture the best he could (he’d learned Will was really pissed at how badly it got sometimes), and hugged his legs close to his chest.
“I’m not really into the Zodiac.” He replied. “I’m depressed enough without my birthday leading to impending doom, or whatever. I’m not super into stars either. Just read some books on it.”
“You told me once you don’t like reading.” Will said, copying him and sitting back up again.
“I don’t.” Nico said. “My sister did. Or, well, not really. She had gotten really into astronomy before she… You know. It was a bit annoying to hear her talk about it all the time, but then I picked her books and read them all.”
“Oh…”
“That’s Perseus.” He interrupted Will. “And he’s got Andromeda right besides him. His wife, you know? And then there’s Cassiopeia above, and then Cepheus, those are his in-laws, and…”
Will raised a hand, not to check he was looking at the right stuff like he had before, but to grab Nico’s wrist and pull his arm down. His hand went from pointing up to resting on the towel, and Will’s grabbed onto it.
“You can talk about her if you want.” Will told him.
“I don’t wanna make you sad.”
“Why would it? It’s obvious she made you very happy. Why wouldn’t it be the same to me?”
Nico thought about it for a moment. He never talked about Bianca anymore: he would never forgive himself if it somehow made Hazel feel like she was “the second best sister he could have,” he didn’t want to mention it around his friends who had known her and were also missing her, and it was obvious that his dad was not really static to talk about her unless in good days or when it was about throwing a mass in her and her mom’s name. She was still in his mind, in his phone’s gallery, and sometimes in his nightmares, and yet Nico often feared her memory would be forgotten at some point… But now he had the boy of his dreams asking him to talk about her. Nico felt like in heaven, and he hoped Bianca was happy for him from the real place.
“Another day, when I’m not tired.” He meant it like a promise. Whether it was to himself or to Will, he didn’t know. “Just know you would have liked her. Everyone did.”
“Was she similar to you?”
The idea was so crazy that Nico chuckled in spite of the serious topic.
“I wish I was similar to her.” He replied. “She was great.”
“I think you’re great.” Will argued. Nico didn’t reply verbally, but he hoped the way he smiled fondly and dropped his head on the blonde’s shoulder was enough. He wished he had the boy's talent to always said what he needed to hear. “You’ve no idea how lucky I feel to have met you.”
“I’ve been thinking the same about you the whole day.” Nico replied. “Forget about that. I’ve been thinking that for ages.”
“You are more of a sap than what you look like.”
“What does that even mean?” Nico asked.
He was gonna turn to poke Will on the side as a way of avenging his edgelord persona, but halted when a particularly harsh blow of "gentle" sea breeze hit his skin and made him cross his arms in a self-hug. At his side, Will clicked his tongue knowingly.
“Cold?” He asked, sounding too smug for Nico’s taste.
“Yeah. Don’t say it.”
“I told you so.” Will said despite the other’s words. While Nico rolled his eyes dramatically, the blonde began taking off his sweater and handed it to him, whose eyes were by then set on the night sky again. He didn’t notice Will's offering until the boy poked him with it. “Neeks, take it.”
“Wait, you're just giving it to me?” Will calmly nodded at his boyfriend’s surprised words. “What about you?”
“I'm warm already. I'll tell you to return it if I need it.”
“Promise?” Asked Nico, whose hand was hovering over it and pulling back slightly just to readjust, hesitating.
“Yeah, promise.”
Will smiled when he finally grabbed the hoodie. Nico recognized it: it was the black one he had gotten from his dad, with the Greek text in it. He had never seen the other wear it at school. Will had said he liked to keep it in the car as a last resource if the weather turned bad out of nowhere, because it was his warmest sweatshirt. Nico knew it was a bit big on Will, and could only imagine it on him.
The black fabric covered his head for a second as he put it on. Once it was fully on, Will was still smiling, but bigger than he had been before. Nico found himself smiling too. Whether it was because of how adorable the other looked, of how pretty he felt with Will staring at him like that or because of a particular idea that had sprung in his head, he didn’t say.
He analyzed the three reasons mentally one by one. First, there was the way Will's eyes were staring at him like he was the Sistine Chapel, and how they moved from Nico's own eyes to his lips. It was impossible not to feel beautiful like that, Nico thought. Almost subconsciously, he lifted a hand to scratch at the scar tissue on his cheek. The three parallels printed there had mined his self-esteem, but Will had never seemed to mind. Nico’s mind went back in time all the way to October, to a soft "I wasn't looking at that" muttered with a strong southern drawl. It wasn’t his first time coming back to the memory —though the fact Will was in front this once meant he couldn’t allow himself to kick his feet at it—, but it felt like the most important. For months, he had dreamed about what it meant. Now, he knew, and he had the living proof in front of him and the practice to the theory bubbling up in his heart.
“I don't have much to give you in return…” He said, hoping Will wouldn’t notice the grin he had on and that the giddiness wouldn't bleed into his tone.
“Oh, that's fine!” Will started. His posture relaxed as he spoke, shifting slightly and looking away from the other briefly. Just how Nico wanted. “You don't need to keep it, as I…”
Nico wasn’t sure he had ever felt as brave as he did when he closed the distance between them. The kiss was a bit sudden, but Will recovered from the surprise in less than a second, kissing back immediately as if he had been waiting his whole life for the moment. It was clumsy, a bit messy and definitely not the best kiss ever, but it was Nico's first ever kiss and he was sharing it with Will, who had a hand over his palm, resting on the towel and another on his side pulling him close. He didn’t need to pull too hard; Nico didn’t need much of an incentive to get close to him. On his end, other than the hand he had pinned on the ground, he had one on Will’s cheek, occasionally caressing the freckled skin with his thumb. He was kissing Will Solace. Nico was proud of himself for doing it and happy that it was happening, both feelings so big and powerful in his chest that a year before he would have laughed at the idea of someone like him being that happy. In all honesty, if he didn't have Will’s lovely warmth and touch grounding him, he might have believed he was dreaming.
Will pulled apart first, when he failed to hold back laughter. He turned his head as he giggled awkwardly and high-pitched, hands still occupying the same spots on Nico’s body.
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry…” He started apologizing despite the fact he was laughing through it, clearly unable to stop.
Nico's hand left his cheek to pull a blonde curl outside of his eyes.
“What for?” He asked.
“I'm just so happy.”
It was easy to believe when paired with the laughter and the pair of shining eyes filled with joy. Nico had a feeling he didn’t look much different.
. . .
They walked back to the house holding hands after a good half an hour of kissing and cuddling and explaining constellations. Before the blonde could open the front door, Nico tugged his arm until he stopped, and they remained standing on the front porsche. Nico still had Will’s black hoodie on. The other hadn’t lied about it being very warm, and the fact that it was oversize made it really comfy. The texture was nice too. Not to mention, it smelled like whatever jasmine-scented soap Will used. Letting go of Will’s hand felt bad, but reaching out for the hoodie’s hem to pull it off felt worse.
“You can keep it.” Will said, interrupting him. Nico looked up with a face that clearly asked “are you sure?” and the other nodded. “It looks better on you. Black’s not my color.”
Nico didn’t say anything at first. He just covered his nose with the hoodie and giggled into it. He was having the best day of his life.
“Hazel’s gonna die when she sees me with it.” He spoke after a bit. “God, I can’t wait to tell her.”
“Oh, Leo is gonna get so annoying when I tell him.” Will replied as he leaned on the fence at the porsche. “You know, he kept insisting you were inviting me because you liked me.”
“He guessed it?” Nico asked. “Good Lord, he’s too smart.”
“I think we’re just too obvious.” Will told him, reaching a hand to play with Nico’s hair. “He thought we were dating already for a bit.”
“Early access, I guess.” He shrugged. “I didn’t even tell Hazel and Jason that I was gonna ask you out…” As he spoke, he closed his hands into fists and began slowly clapping with them to stim. “I can’t wait to tell Jason.”
“He knows?” Will asked, perhaps too surprised.
Nico turned around to find his face, previously calm and serene, slightly twisted. The boy was scrunching his nose, and he seemed tense overall.
“Yeah? He’s my best friend.” Nico replied, unsure of what was causing Will to seem so uncomfortable. “Is everything alright? Do you… Not like him?”
The question sounded silly as it came out of his lips. First off, he had always thought of Jason as a great person and friend, and he was sure everyone in their friend group would agree with him on that. Second, and most important, Will and Jason didn’t even know each other. Sure, they had played against each other and been at the same party one time, but other than that, they had never talked or even co-existed for a full hour. Judging by the way Will didn’t relax, though, he could tell the question didn’t seem as silly to the other.
“I just… Are you sure he’s a good person?” Will asked after sighing. Nico was so shocked he could barely get the “yeah, why?” out of his system without stuttering. “Look, I know I don’t know him well, but…” His voice turned into a quiet whisper as he spoke like he was telling a secret. “He’s been ghosting Piper and Leo for months now.”
Nico froze in place, not sure of which way the conversation was gonna go. He wasn’t even sure what way he wanted it to go. Hell, he wasn’t even sure what the options were. Will probably only had Leo’s part of the story, while Nico had the context of Jason’s apparent isolation, but he wasn’t about to tell Will something that was so deeply personal about the other to the point only two people knew.
“Is he?” He asked, trying his best to sound genuine. Tone was hard to control, and he was not the best at pretending stuff, but Will bought it.
“Yeah. Yeah, he is.” Will replied. “Look, I don’t know about Piper, but Leo seems… Leo is very hurt by it, like, very, very much. He’s told me about last year and what happened with this girl he was with, and I think he feels like Jason is doing the same. He keeps saying that he’s too much and that Jason has already done enough and that he gets why he wouldn’t put up with him anymore, but you have to understand how that’s just bullshit, right? You understand what I’m saying, right?”
Nico nodded slowly as he took in the words.
“I didn’t know that.” He lied to Will. “That’s horrible.”
It felt horrible to lie to him, but he didn’t have any other option. If he told the other that he had actually known for months and left it at that, he would come off as a horrible person, but he couldn’t give the blonde the context he was missing.
“‘S okay, you didn’t really had a way of knowing unless Leo told you.” Will said. “I probably shouldn’t have told you, actually. Fuck…”
Nico could see the exact moment in which guilt took over Will. The other groaned and buried his face in his hands. Immediately after, he had one of Nico’s hands on his back caressing it and reassuring him it was alright, that he had needed to just let it out and also explain himself. They didn’t walk inside the house until Will felt better.
On Nico’s end, it was taking a lot of self-control not to go out again, run to the sea and drown himself at the very moment. His chest hurt, filled with guilt. He had been so focused on getting Jason safe or happier, on making sure he was comfortable with his secret and that he didn’t risk a friend finding out or one of his parents hurting him more, that he hadn’t truly stopped to consider Leo and Piper’s side of things beyond “they must miss him.” Leo’s history with Calypso had completely flown over his head, and so had the implications that Jason’s actions could have on the boy. Now, knowing that Jason only had a few months before the plane taking him to LA flew and he disappeared from their lives forever, the situation felt beyond fixing, but there had to be a way.
“There has to be a way” were the words on Nico’s mind the entire of the next day. The quiet, coastal environment wasn’t enough to distract him from the mess his head was in as he tried to find a way for Jason and Leo to fix things. He started the day with Estelle dragging him and Will to the water to search for the mermaids Will had promised. Neither of them wanted to get too deep inside, but luckily, the kid forgot about them once her mom arrived offering ice-cream. After that, Annabeth and Percy set up the volley net and he sat down to watch. The teams had changed, with Hazel and Jason playing together, which meant that Nico could cheer for them without Will thinking he was ignoring their conversation about Jason from the night before. He was happy when the rest went back to the water and him and Will went for ice-cream by themselves, just to spend the rest of the day playing cards again.
At night, when most of the group was already asleep, Nico caught a glimpse of light coming from the bed bunks in front of him and Hazel’s. That was his chance, he figured.
j !
Saturday 16th, 11:56 PM
nico
are you awake???
j !
yeah?
why?
did you have a nightmare?
nico
i have to talk w you
j !
right now?
nico
right now
ik where the keys are
see you outside
He left before Jason did. The blonde found him on the porsche, sat on the stairs leading up to the house and dressed in his pyjama pants and Will’s hoodie from yesterday. The other was also in his bedclothes, but had thrown a windbreaker on top. He closed the door behind himself and sat down with his cousin.
“What’s wrong?” He whispered.
Nico wasn’t looking at him, just at the sea, far away from them but still visible. He didn’t get to see the obvious concern on Jason’s voice reflected in his face, which maybe was for the better.
“You have to talk with Leo.” He let out, quickly, before he could back down.
“What?” Jason asked. “Nico, I told you, I am leaving, I can’t tell him that I like him…”
“Not that.” Nico interrupted him. This time, he turned around to face the other and found him looking surprised and confused. “But you have to talk with him. To you, you still have months ahead before leaving. To him, you’ve left already. Maybe not New York, but…” But your friendship, he didn’t say.
“What do you mean?” Jason said. “We’ve texted, and…”
“But you’ve stopped spending time with him.” Nico replied. He sounded too accusatory, and he could tell the other got sad at his tone. “I know it wasn’t your choice. I know you would change it if you could. But he doesn’t, and I think it’s killing him.”
“Oh…”
Nico didn’t say anything else. He didn’t even need to mention Calypso. He knew that the boy was making the connection by himself. He watched silently as Jason looked away from him and faced towards the horizon, with his sad eyes open widely and a finger in his mouth as he bit his nails. He let him time to process, never fully understanding but imagining what the other was going through. The day before, when he had had the same conversation with Will, he had felt similarly frozen and devastated over not realizing sooner. For Jason, he guessed, the hit must have been a hundred times harder. After some long seconds that felt like hours, the blonde took his head on his hands and muffled a desperate, painful groan. When he came back, he looked at Nico with tears in his eyes, though he wasn’t crying yet, a trembling lip and heavy eyebags. Jason was 17, but his pain felt older, and Nico couldn’t help to think that he had been forced to grow up too soon.
“It’s too late now, isn’t it?” He asked.
“No.” Nico rushed to say, reaching a hand towards the other and placing it on his arms. “No, no, no, absolutely not. It’s not.”
“But I’m leaving. Even if I fix it now…”
“That doesn’t matter.” Nico said. He didn’t have a plan in the long run, if he was honest, and he didn’t have any suggestions either. “You’ll cross that bridge when you get there. But for now, the last months you have together, you can’t spend them away and suffering by yourselves. He deserves better than that. You deserve better than that.”
“What could I even tell him?”
Nico looked down at Jason’s lap, where his phone was resting. He hadn’t noticed when the other had taken it out of his pocket, but guessed he had done it with the idea of texting Leo in mind.
“What do you want to tell him?” He asked back, feeling it was more appropriate. Jason never got to do what he wanted; he deserved this chance.
Jason breathed deeply and let the air slowly escape his lungs one time, two time, three times until he picked up the phone and opened contacts, clicking on Leo’s and calling instead of texting. It wasn’t what Nico had been expecting, but, thinking about it, it was probably better than a text. He looked up at Jason, who looked at him and mouthed “the truth.” In response, Nico could only nod and hold his hand.
Only two rings went by before the other picked up the phone, in spite of the late hour.
“Jason?” From how close he was, Nico could hear Leo, even if he wasn’t on speaker. “It’s almost 1 AM. Is everything alright?”
“Yeah.” Jason said, sounding weaker than he had probably intended. “You could say so.”
“Why are you calling?” Throughout the long, hesitant pauses between words, one could easily infer the clear confusion on Leo’s voice.
“I just wanted to talk to you. I missed you.”
“Really?” The other sounded genuinely surprised. “You haven’t, you know… You’ve been, uh, cancelling on Pipes and me very frequently.” Jason opened his mouth to talk, but Leo kept speaking. “Look, I…” He sighed, stopping for a second. A quiet “there’s no easy way to do this” could be heard in the distance. “Look, I get it if you don’t wanna be with us anymore. Or, with me, at least. I promise I do, you don’t need to give any explanations, or anything, I just…”
“No.” Jason interrupted him. “No, no, that’s not it. That’s what I called to tell you. That I’m sorry for being so distant these past months. I shouldn’t have been. You and Piper are my favorite people in the entire world. I was an asshole. I’m really, really sorry, Leo.”
There was silence for a few seconds after that. Jason’s breath hitched, and his grip around Nico’s hand tightened a lot as he held in both his breath and his tears until the other talked again.
“You don’t wanna stop hanging around with us?”
“No.”
His voice broke, and when Nico looked up, he could see that he was crying. Jason had said he wanted to tell the truth, and that was it. He didn’t want to stop being with his friends, not now, not ever. But it wasn’t a matter of wanting anymore, and he was hurting too. Nico hoped the way he had started to caress his back would help him feel better.
“Then why’d you stop?” It wasn’t accusatory. It wasn’t mean. Leo’s tone was just confused, hurt and genuine.
“I couldn’t go out.” Jason said. His voice was more stable now. “My parents forbid me from it. I could only go see Hazel and Nico on their birthdays, and then Montauk because dad helps pay for it. But I haven’t left the house outside of practice and school.”
“Wait, what? Why?” The other asked in disbelief.
“I’m grounded.”
“You? Grounded?” Leo said. Nico didn’t blame him for being surprised. “What’d you do? Since when? We haven’t seen each other since Thanksgiving. Did you steal a bank or something?”
“No, I…” Jason took a deep, though shaky, breath. “I didn’t do anything.”
Nico let go of his hand and hugged him. Jason was crying heavily now, silently in a way that always freaked the other out. He went back to when it had just happened, on Thanksgiving, when the blonde had adamantly defended his parents decision and reasoning, blaming himself for it. Nico was glad he had changed his mind: now, admitting he hadn’t done anything was part of what he considered the truth, and he was incredibly proud of Jason. A part of him felt like he was starting to heal, like he had promised himself he would, and that was all Nico had ever wanted for him.
“Then why would they punish you?” Leo asked, so softly it made Nico wonder whether he had guessed Jason was crying.
“My parents just…” A deep breath interrupted Jason. “They don’t like me, Leo.”
“But you’re perfect.”
“Not for them.” Jason replied, though Leo’s comment had seemed like something that accidentally slipped his mind more than actual conversation. “They’re always mad at me. They’re always shouting. My father didn’t like mom, and he’s never liked me. And Juno… I thought she loved me, or at least liked me, but I think she just wanted a perfect family. But I’m not perfect enough for them.”
“What? Jason, what do you mean?” Leo asked, not leaving any real time between questions for the other to answer. “Not enough? You? Have they told you that? I’m… Lord, I knew they could be strict, but… It’s more than strict, isn’t it? God…”
“It is.” Jason choked out. “It’s just mean. It feels like torture sometimes. They won’t let me have anything unless they give it to me. Not friends, not happiness, not freedom…”
“Jason, I… Fuck.” The boy was having an obvious hard time finding the words. “You’re being abused?”
“Yeah.” Nico had never thought a single syllable could bear that much pain.
“Does anyone know?” Leo whispered, so tenderly that Nico hoped it would heal one of the multiple wounds Jason was clearly slitting up for the other to hear.
“Thalia. That’s why she ran away. It used to be to both of us until…” Until she left me, Nico autocompleted for him mentally, even if Jason didn’t finish the sentence. “Nico found out by accident. You’re the first person I’ve told.”
“You need to tell someone who can help. You should tell my dad, or Sally, or… I don’t know. Piper? Their dad is rich, I’m sure he’ll help…”
“It’s okay, don't worry about that. Just… Are we still friends?” He asked. The sheer vulnerability in his tone made Nico want to cry.
“Of course we are.” He was sure Leo was crying. “I’m not gonna let them ruin our friendship like this.” Jason nodded, though he was probably thinking that his parents had already ruined it. If not now, in six months. “Thank you for trusting me. I’m sorry I can’t do much to help you out…”
“Just being friends with you helps out.” Jason interrupted him. “You make me so happy. Just knowing you’re there helps. I’m sorry I haven’t been there for you lately.”
“You couldn’t have.” Leo reminded him. “Don’t beat yourself up about it anymore. We’ve done enough of that. It’ll pass, I am sure. I’ll be with you through this, I promise. Not physically, I guess, but… I hope you’ll be safe.”
“It’s alright.” Jason said. “I’ll be fine once college starts.”
“Promise?” Leo asked.
Their call ended shortly after Jason lied for the first time since the conversation started.
Notes:
- VALGRACERS HOW ARE WE FEELING !!! AND THEY ONLY GET HEALTHIER FROM HERE !!
- SOLANGELISTS HOW ARE WE FEELING ABOUT THE KISS !!!!
- other than those two things, GUYS i love this chapter so much and how it turned out. the kiss, nico slowly healing, jason and leo reconciliation, nico struggling w estelle, mako mermaids (do you guys prefer h2o or mako mermaids?? i was a mako mermaids kid but now im an h2o adult). i already said this last week but this is one of my fav chapters in the whole thing so i hope you liked it as well <3
- next week we'll have a new will chapter and i'm not really sure how to tease it but there's no angst <3 aaaaand the chapter title is by maisie peters. also i don't know if you guys saw but there's this wonderful solangelo event taking place at the end of the month and i'm cooking a fantasy au for it with another maisie peters title!!! so excited for that
- ALSO i'll be starting university next week (as well as chinese classes) (also getting my C2 english certificate this year which should be easy but im lazy) so updates might be slower. im actually excited for uni this year, im in class w all my friends and i'm so looking forward to it !!!
Chapter 14: " the band and i "
Summary:
“We talked things out.” He said. Will tried not to show his surprise. “He apologized to me.”
“Wait, really?” Will didn’t have it in him to smile. It was not what he was expecting, and he couldn’t say he was super trusting of Jason yet, especially with how hard it was for Leo to seem happy at the news.
“Yeah! Yeah, really.” Leo replied. “He said we’re still friends. Well, he asked. I said we were. So, we are friends. Still friends. Best friends.”
Will wasn’t sure what to say. It had been obvious ever since Jason had first been mentioned that Leo was head over heels with him, and that, even if they didn’t end up together, Leo had always seemed very, very fond of their friendship as it was, at least until it had changed. Something must have been off for him to not be beaming about the fact things were back to normal.
“Are you…?” He started. “Are you happy?”
Notes:
you guys are not going to believe this when i tell you but this is a chapter with no tws just happiness and wholesomeness
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
told her i was home sick;
i hadn’t thought of home twice.
drive and then we drive again to an ocean,
and i think i knew it then for a moment.
Their little vacation passed by rather quickly. Will had known it was meant to be a long weekend getaway, but he still felt sad once the sun began to set on Monday and Sally Jackson announced they had to head back to Manhattan. He had had a lot of fun, even if he had not gotten in the water once. At least, no one had commented on it after the first day, which he was grateful for. Nico hadn’t been inside the water much either, which meant they had had plenty of time to just be together while everyone else swam. Will wasn’t about to complain, even if sometimes he had seen Hazel or Jason look at them knowingly. Had Nico found a moment to tell them? He didn’t know, but he guessed that, if the other hadn’t told them yet, it wouldn’t take long before he did.
On his end, the only decent thing about going back to school is that Will got to tell Leo. He had tried to text the other, but had given up, feeling it was not the best medium to deliver the news. Instead, he had sent him something like “WE’VE TO TALK ON TUESDAY,” which he was sure Leo would have figured out by the time they saw on Tuesday. They didn’t share any classes on Tuesdays until after lunch, and he wasn’t about to tell everyone, especially not without having talked about it with Nico first. The other must have been on the same page, because they both played it as if nothing had changed after the weekend.
The conversation was mostly focused on Piper and Leo’s weekend, since they had stayed in town. As they talked about how they had had a sleepover and about how somehow Piper had managed to lose against a paralyzed person in Just Dance of all games, Will made a mental note to ask both Leo and Nico about Jason. The guy had been all weekend at the beach with him, so he wouldn’t have been able to go out with his other friends no matter what, and Will was pretty sure he hadn’t seen him on his phone, so it was hard to imagine he had texted Leo during their trip, but maybe they had talked. He still wanted to ask, though, even if to just let Leo know that he hadn’t forgotten about his current problems and that he was still there for him. Regarding Nico, the truth was that they had spent most of their time together or with Hazel, and Will had never actually seen Nico and Jason talk by themselves over the weekend, which made him wonder if he had changed his boyfriend’s mind on the boy. He would have to check.
Before his mind could spiral about having told Leo’s personal stuff to someone else like it had on Friday, Will felt his phone ringing in his pocket. He wasn’t gonna pick up, not wanting to interrupt the conversation going on in the table, but as soon as he pulled out his phone to check who was calling, the rest went silent. Will was still about to reject the call and tell them to keep talking, until he saw Naomi’s name on the screen.
“Mom?” He exclaimed, barely realizing he was speaking. Immediately, he picked up and took the phone to his ear. “Ma? Is everything alright?”
He didn’t want to panic, but his mom never called him outside of the few hours she had learnt he would be, most likely, at home, and she usually texted him before to check if he was ready. His heartbeat quickened and he felt sweat fall down his back. Under the table, Nico grabbed the hand that wasn’t on the phone. While it was reassuring, it wasn’t that what calmed him down in the end, but the way his mom laughed relaxingly at the other side of the line.
“Oh, sweetness, everything’s alright.” She said. Will couldn’t help the groan of relief that escaped him. If anyone else at the table had been holding their breath at his earlier worry, they probably calmed down as well. “Did I scare you?”
“A bit, yeah.” He replied. “Why’d you call? I’m at school.”
“Are you in class?” His mom whispered, as if she was scared the teacher would hear, or as if her whispering would prevent any teacher from noticing if Will were on his phone during class.
“We’re having lunch.” Will said, separating the phone from his ear a bit just so Naomi could hear the loud mix of “hi!” and “hello!” that the rest gave her.
“Hello, dears!” The woman said before her son placed the phone back in place.
“Why did you call?” He asked again.
“Oh! That!” His mom started. “See, we play in New York next week! I’ve been talking with my team. We were gonna give you free tickets from day one, also Apollo and his boyfriend, but I thought maybe you wanted your new friends to tag along? The venue is pretty big, so they said we can invite a big group no problem.”
“Oh my god, really?”
During the call, he didn’t really have time to think about how none of his friends liked country and about how maybe they would have better plans for a Friday evening, the date he recalled the concert to be. He had grown up going to his mom’s gigs, and Will couldn’t remember a single one he hadn’t loved. The idea of having all his friends share the experience, of having his new, music-obsessed boyfriend share something that felt so intimate and so intrinsic to who he was as a person had him euphoric.
Plus, he was sure they could get into the backstage before the show or after. Maybe not all of them, but he surely could get Nico in and introduce him to his mom. After telling her he had fallen for someone, she hadn’t really pried much about it, trusting Will would tell her everything he was comfortable telling her. He had appreciated it in the moment, back in Christmas when he had been sad in Austin missing the hell out of a boy he would, according to himself, never date. Now, with his boyfriend’s hand on his and his mom coming to town in about a week, he couldn’t wait to introduce them, even if just as friends.
“Yeah! How many of you are there, sunshine?” She asked.
“Seven counting me.” Will replied.
“Alright, love. Ask them if they want to come, will you? Text me once you know the full list.” She said in a sweet tone. “I’ll let the tour manager know. I’ll tell you when I land in New York too, alright? You better come pick me up again.”
“I will, I will.” He promised.
His mind was already filling with images of him driving to the airport by himself to pick her up, stopping at random places that had become his favorite spots in such little time and showing them to her. Any other day, when the threat of him leaving and his deadline felt more apparent, he would have wished for days to become longer and hours to move slower, but with the biggest and most loving part of Austin coming to Manhattan in a matter of days, he couldn’t wait for time to pass.
“Love you, bye!” He said, hanging up after his mom told him to keep enjoying his lunch. His phone went back to his pocket and he turned to face the people sitting around him. “So! It was my mom.”
“We gathered.” Piper replied, giving him a wide smile and a thumbs-up. “What did she say? You sound happy.”
“She said that we’re all invited to her concert here next week.” Will announced before remembering that, again, his mom’s genre wasn’t the rest’s cup of tea. “That is, if you want to come, of course. Perfectly fine if not. She does country, I get it if y’all don’t lik…”
“Free concert?” Nico bounced in his seat.
“I’m down.” Said Percy, Annabeth nodding in agreement at his side.
“Man, shut up, her music’s good.” Leo said, swatting Will’s hand without any real strength.
“Do we get backstage too?” Piper asked, seemingly very excited. Out of everyone, Will had thought they would be the least interested, with punk and country feeling so different from each other. Yet, their eyes were shiny and they had closed their hands into tiny fists that could barely stay still in excitement.
He nodded.
“I haven’t asked, but I usually get backstage.”
“Woohoo!” They cheered. “I’ve always wanted to be behind the stage of a professional group!”
The conversation carried on like that afterwards, not changing topics until the bell rang. His next class was with Leo, which meant he could tell him the news if they got there quick enough. They didn’t really get there that fast —truth was, Will might or might not had gotten used to being slightly late since teachers usually turned a blind eye, understanding it took Leo longer to get from place to place and that Will was accompanying him for safety reasons. Even if the safety reasons were gossiping and procrastinating class—, but they didn’t need to. Apparently, their World History teacher had fallen sick over the weekend and wouldn’t return in a few dates, meaning they got a free period. Life was really smiling at Will’s face recently, he thought as he smiled widely, letting himself fall on his usual chair. He was about to turn around and tell Leo how well everything was going, but changed his mind in an instant once he saw the other seemed preoccupied.
“Are you alright?” He whispered, not wanting any of the students sitting close by to hear. Most of them were busy, already playing Scattergories or just talking to their friends about their long weekends, so luckily they didn’t have attention to themselves. Still, quietness felt more appropriate.
“Yeah. Yeah, I am.” Leo sighed. “Just… About your mom’s concert… I didn’t want to ask in front of the others, but…”
“Hey, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to.” Will rushed to say. If Leo had been being nice to not let him down in front of the rest, he appreciated it, but he didn’t want him to keep a lie that needn’t be kept.
“No, no! I want to. I meant what I said, her music’s good.” Leo said, just as quick as the blonde’s reply had been. “But, what section would we be at?”
“Uh. Probably VIP?” Will tilted his head.
Leo nodded slowly, biting the inside of his cheek and not facing the other. Meanwhile, Will tried to make sense of the question at the situation. VIP was the best section, that was the whole point, and most people would have been happy to get tickets for it for free, even if they weren’t super familiar with the artist performing. Yet, Leo seemed disappointed, and not surprised in the slightest. It took Will embarrassingly long to get an idea of why.
“Oh!” He exclaimed once he connected the dots. “Hey, don’t worry, I can totally ask them to sit us in the reduced mobility area. Plus, Nico probably needs it too.”
“All of us?” Will nodded. “That’s a lot, I don’t know, what about the people who need the tickets for that area? Plus, you can’t see that well…”
“Look, you and Nico do have reduced mobility, and each of you can take a companion, so technically it’s not those many. Plus, the venue’s really big, I doubt they’ll sell out.”
“I don’t wanna bother you.”
“It’s not a bother.” Will replied, exasperated. A part of him wanted to grab Leo by the shoulder and shake him until the idea of being a liability fell out of his head. “I’ll ask my mom if it’s okay for all of us to sit with you, alright? But if it’s not, I hope you know I’m going as your plus one you want it or not. I’m not leaving you alone.”
“What about Nico?” Leo asked.
“I guess he’ll take Hazel.”
“But what if he prefers the VIP section? He can, you know, just sit. Not like he needs a bunch of area to just move around.”
“Well, then I guess he can sit there with the rest, but I’m not leaving you alone.”
“But it’s your mom’s concert!” Leo argued. And you’re my friend!, Will wanted to reply. “And you would be with me before being with your literal boyfriend?”
Later at night, Will would find himself groaning into his pillow about how he had let Leo get away with changing topics without him noticing before they had come to an agreement. At the moment, though, he just gasped.
“So, you figured it out?”
“I told you, you’re not subtle about it.” Leo replied, smirking as if he hadn’t looked incredibly upset some seconds ago. “ Oh, Leo, he’s inviting me as a friend! It means nothing! What did I tell you?”
“That he liked me back.” Will replied after sighing.
“And…?”
“And you were right.” The blonde accepted. “So, do you wanna know how it went?”
“Oh, I’m gonna need you to tell me everything. With details!”
With how much Will had been dying to tell him about Nico and him, and with how insistent Leo was on him not missing anything —probably, Will realized too late, to avoid the conversation’s topic moving back to him—, they needed the whole free period for Will to get to the part in which Nico had told Hazel to go back home on the passenger’s seat rather than on the back just so they could sit together again, and about how, with the late hour and the music from the AUX being much calmer than The Corrs, Nico had fallen asleep on his shoulder.
By the time he was done, there were only two minutes left between the bell rang. Will decided to ask about Jason, remembering he had been meaning to. Leo’s face shifted at the question, in a way slightly different than it had the last times the topic had been brought up. Rather than genuinely upset and dying to vent his heart out, the boy seemed to be struggling to put up a smile that looked convincing.
“We talked things out.” He said. Will tried not to show his surprise. “He apologized to me.”
“Wait, really?” Will didn’t have it in him to smile. It was not what he was expecting, and he couldn’t say he was super trusting of Jason yet, especially with how hard it was for Leo to seem happy at the news.
“Yeah! Yeah, really.” Leo replied. “He said we’re still friends. Well, he asked. I said we were. So, we are friends. Still friends. Best friends.”
Will wasn’t sure what to say. It had been obvious ever since Jason had first been mentioned that Leo was head over heels with him, and that, even if they didn’t end up together, Leo had always seemed very, very fond of their friendship as it was, at least until it had changed. Something must have been off for him to not be beaming about the fact things were back to normal.
“Are you…?” He started. “Are you happy?”
Leo clicked his tongue, avoiding Will’s eyes.
“I am.” He replied with the saddest tone possible.
Will tried to go on with their conversation without giving Leo’s love life much thought, and he failed miserably. The other hadn’t said when that conversation with Jason had taken place, and they hadn’t discussed the topic all that often after the night of Nico’s birthday, but everything’s convenient timing made Will have an inkling it had been over how things had played out. Had Nico just asked Jason to apologize? He would have to ask. Then again, Will guessed that at least the guy had apologized, which he could have chosen not to do, but looking at the boy talking to him at the moment, thinking about how hurt he had seemed for the past two months, how bittersweet their last conversation about Jason had been… He couldn’t help to think that Leo deserved more, and better.
“Will, are you listening?” Leo called after some seconds of him being lost in thought.
“Sorry, what were you saying?”
“Nothing serious. Why’d you space out? Everything alright?”
“Yeah, I was just thinking.”
“About what?”
“Not much.”
“Are you still hung up about me and Jason?” Leo asked. Will, who was fighting to choose between groaning and nodding, couldn’t help to think about the many times Leo had said he was bad at reading people and damn him for spreading such misinformation. “Hey, it’s fine now, I promise. Why are you so worried?”
He finally decided to groan, hiding his face in his hands before answering.
“Don’t… Actually, you can get mad if you want.”
“Why would I get mad?” Leo mumbled, interrupting him briefly.
“Over the weekend I might or might not told Nico about how Jason was treating you and now I’m afraid he confronted him about it and that he only apologized to you because he had been told to or something.” He said the string of words so fast there was barely any separation between words, hardly any second for him to breathe. Will took a deep breath before continuing. “I am so, so, so sorry.”
There was a brief pause in which none of them said anything. When he gathered the courage to look up, Will found Leo wasn’t looking at him. Rather than upset or angry, he just looked deep in thought, calculating the situation as if it was an equation he needed to solve or a theoreme he couldn’t understand yet. His eyes weren’t anywhere in particular, and his mouth twitched and moved from time to time like it was mentioning the steps quietly until it came up with a diagnosis.
“I am not angry with you.” He decided. “Ask me before telling other people my problem’s next time, but that’s all. I know you meant well, so don’t sweat it. And I mean that, I know you stressed you get about people being angry at you.”
Normally, at someone telling him they weren’t mad at him, he would go with “really?” or a variant of it for the next 3 minutes, but his mind was elsewhere.
“What about Jason and Nico?”
“That’s… That’s difficult.” Leo concluded, placing his hands on his knees and drumming his fingers against his pants as he looked at Will. “Look, there’s more stuff than you know going on, and I can’t tell you. It’s bigger than me, bigger than both of us, and it’s hard for everyone involved, but just don’t worry about it. There was a reason Jason lost contact with us, and I understand it. But now I know it, and we’re gonna be fine. Trust me, alright? You should probably talk about this with Neeks too, but, whatever he tells you, try to trust him as well.”
What he wanted to answer was “huh?” or “what?,” but he didn’t. Will analyzed the information he had: there had been a seemingly very serious reason behind Leo and Piper getting ghosted, and Will just had to trust that Leo was right in accepting it and forgiving it. A part of him, defensive and protective, couldn’t help but think back to his toxic ex and want to shake Leo by the shoulders and tell him “NOT AGAIN!” The part of him that had spent months learning how smart, understanding and surprisingly emotionally intelligent, at least when it came to others, Leo was, trusted him easily.
The other part of the message, which was that he should talk to Nico, wasn’t anything Will hadn’t thought about already. He wasn’t sure how his boyfriend bit in this “bigger than both” situation, or why Leo would ask him to trust him. At least, trusting Nico was just as easy as trusting Leo.
“I will.” He promised the other.
. . .
His mom arrived in New York the last day of February, only one day before the concert. Will had checked the tour dates prior —though he knew them by heart already—, and found out she didn’t have any other date until next week, in Philadelphia, so he hoped she would stay, at least, the whole weekend.
Will showed up to practice that day, even if he could barely concentrate on anything with the knowledge that his mom’s flight was about to arrive. The plane had been delayed a bit, which meant he had a chance to go pick her up by himself after practice was done, as long as he showered fast enough. His dad had even let him take the car despite the fact it meant he had to walk to the studio. Will basically fled to the dresser rooms once Coach Hedge announced they were done for the day, which earned him a quick, not very serious, scolding by Lee on how everyone had to do their part in picking up the basketballs after training. He nodded through it, but didn’t really pay much attention, too busy trying to remember the way to the airport.
He left the locker in record time, having showered and changed into a shirt that was part of his mom’s tour merch —the thought of blending in as a fan was hilarious—, and ran towards the parking lot. Will checked his phone as he inserted the car keys, to see how long he had until the plane landed: half an hour, which meant he should be able to do it in time. There were also some unread messages, namely some questions on English homework by Leo and some pictures and texts from Nico, to whom he had been talking to before making it to practice. He opened his chat. The last message from Nico was “are you seeing your mom today?”, and it was the only one he replied to, by sending a voice note about how he was just setting off to the airport. Will didn’t get to see, since he never used his phone while driving, but the other replied with “have fun <3” almost immediately.
The boy cursed at every red light he got, which felt like too many, but he made it to the airport quick enough. He could see the plane starting to land while he looked for a place to park. The few minutes he had to wait felt neverending, and he couldn’t help but bite his nails and walk in circles for a bit until he saw his mom and her manager exit through the gate.
“Mom!” He called, basically jumping at the sight of her.
“Will?” She asked, surprised when her eyes laid on him, but already smiling. Picking her up had been a surprise; one she seemed to like. “Oh, sunshine!”
The woman left her manager and the luggage to go hug her son, lifting him up from the ground briefly before putting Will back down. After the hug, there was a conversation between Naomi and her manager in which they agreed to let her go with Will rather than calling a taxi for both, as long as she was back to the hotel at midnight to ensure she got enough rest before the next day. That left them about 5 whole hours —ideally. If Will was rational, he probably would have to come back home before midnight—, so he took her to the parking lot immediately, not wanting to waste a minute.
Will insisted on driving, something he didn’t usually do when his mom was in the car with him. He played it as being polite, not wanting to have her driving after a flight, when in reality he just wanted control over the steering wheel.
The boy knew his mom had been to New York before, on a vacation with her friends, and that she had seen the city already, but he gave her his own special tour with the places that actually mattered. Will drove her past the school, pointing at where the basketball court was and explaining which windows lead to which classrooms. He showed her the bus stop where he and Austin, sometimes Lee, took on the days no one could pick them up, as well as the tiny dog park Austin had insisted on stopping to see last week. He drove by Hyacinth’s flower shop, though the man wasn’t working that day and his favorite employee Daphne was managing the place instead. When Naomi said she was hungry, he offered to take her to gyros place he and Hyacinth had stopped at on Thanksgiving, and he did take her there, even if they ended up eating at Pine ‘n Bite once Will’s mom said she would rather have something sweet. It was a bit strange that the first person in town he introduced his mom to wasn’t any close friend but Thalia, whom he would just consider himself acquaintances with, but the girl seemed really excited to meet Naomi. Artist to artist connection, he guessed.
After having pancakes for dinner, something his mom would have never let him do but was apparently fine when she did it, the long day took over Will’s body. Class, practice, excitement and driving the whole day had left him exhausted, and Naomi noticed. She didn’t say it out loud, but the way she reached for the driver’s seat once they got back in the car let him know. If he were back in Austin and they had to drive to their house, he would have fallen asleep in the car, but they were in New York and he had to give directions in order for his mom to get them to Apollo’s apartment, so the closest he got to sleeping was resting his head as his mother looped “Coat of Many Colors” on her phone. He loved that song, Will thought to himself as he closed his eyes in a particularly long avenue. His grandma had the vinyl with it and played it whenever he went to his house, and her mom had used it as a lullaby his whole life. A cover of it had been added to her setlist, even, as a way for her to have him with him on stage. It sounded like home, but he didn’t want to think about home at the moment.
Will didn’t know where home was anymore. Home was his mom, and now his mom was here in New York rather than in Austin, and neither he or she would be back in Austin for the next few months. Home was with his friends, but Lou and Cecil hadn’t texted him lately because of exams, and he was taking seven whole people to a concert the next day. Home was with Nico, but Nico had started to ask him out reminding him they have a deadline. “I hope you’ll think of this when you’re at the beach,” he had said. Will was sure he wouldn’t be able to stop thinking of Nico once he went back, beach or not. Whatever happened, he would lose a version of himself, and it gave him a headache.
“Will, did you fall asleep?” He heard Naomi ask with a tender tone.
“Uh? No, why?”
“I said, is this the place?”
He looked around and nodded once he had checked they were in the correct street, and his mom found them a place to park super close to his house. They both got off the car and Will rang his apartment.
“Will?” His dad asked. The building was old, and there wasn’t a camera on the entry phone.
“Me!”
“How was your day with your mom?”
“I’d say it was really nice.” She answered before Will could.
“Naomi!?” The man asked, sounding surprised. “Do you need someone to drive you to the hotel? We could catch up! Actually, I really wanna talk with you.”
Will made it up the stairs by himself after hugging his mom goodbye and leaving her and his dad to talk on the way back home to the hotel. He barely had time to close the door behind himself and lock it before Hyacinth came running out from his and Apollo’s room towards Will with his hair wrapped around a towel and his face still damp from a shower.
“Will, thank God you are back!” He exclaimed, smiling way too much at the sight of the boy. “I mean, how was your day with Naomi?”
“Really nice.” Will replied, smiling but still tilting his head. Something about the way the man was acting was a bit odd. “Were you waiting for me?”
“No. Well, kinda. Come here for a second.” He guided him to his room, where two different outfits were laid on the king size bed. Lots of denim, some leather, a cowboy hat Will didn’t know they had… “Are any of those good for tomorrow? Am I overdoing it? Or underdressed? Which one do you like better? Do you like any? You can tell me if they’re bad. They probably are. Are they?”
“I think they’re cute.” Will replied. Hyacinth let out a “thank God” as he stopped pacing around the room and sat on the bed with a sigh of relief. “Why are you so nervous?”
“Are you kidding? We’re meeting your mom! I need to make a good impression.”
“But mom likes basically everyone?” The other said, sitting with him on the bed. “She’ll like you.”
“But it’s different to like someone you meet randomly than to like the guy who’s dating your ex and taking care of your son, isn’t it?”
“I don’t think she’ll care that you’re with dad.” Will reasoned with him. “They’ve been friends for longer than they’ve dated.”
“What if she doesn’t like me and doesn’t want you to stay with us anymore?”
“You’ve been updating her on me basically daily? She won’t change her mind now after being with you for some hours. You don’t need to be so stressed. It’ll all be fine.” He reassured the man. “I also feel like everything’s gonna go wrong and that people will hate me all the time, but most of the time, if not all, nothing truly happens. I understand it’s very stressful, but you’ll be okay.”
At his side, Hyacinth nodded slowly multiple times until he talked again.
“Wait, what did you say?”
“You’ll be okay.”
“No, before that.”
“I said that I understand.”
“No, about how you feel the same way.” Hyacinth asked. “All the time? Was that a hyperbole?”
“Not really.” Will shrugged, looking around. “I’m just, I don’t know. I feel people are all better than me and that they’ll like me less. Or that they actually dislike me. I try to not stand out and not to embarrass myself or be awkward, but it doesn’t always work. But, like I said, most of the time I end up stressing over nothing.”
“Kid, how long have you felt like that?”
“I don’t know.” He drawled out, scratching his thighs over his jeans. “Some years?” In reality, he had been feeling that way for as long as he remembered. It had just gotten much worse after coming out and starting to transition, when some of his fears had actually turned real.
“Does your mother know? Or your dad?” Will shook his head no. “You really should tell them. Maybe they can find someone to help you.”
“I don’t know…” Will repeated. “It’s a bit scary.” He whispered, voice weak and brittle.
“I can tell your dad for you, if you’d prefer.” Hyacinth offered at the same time he opened his arms a bit for Will to fit inside, which he did, leaning in for the hug at the same time he mumbled “please?” The man ruffled his hair. “Of course, I’ll tell him. ‘S just like you said: It’ll all be fine.”
. . .
The night of the concert was a bit of a ruckus. Apollo and Hyacinth drove Will to Leo’s house, where he got off to switch cars, taking Leo’s dad’s one and driving both himself, the other and Festus to Nico’s and Hazel’s house. Will tried not to seem too happy about Nico sitting on the passenger seat right by his side, but failed miserably. As soon as the other boy slotted himself by the blonde’s side, Will was already blushing. Other than that night on the beach, they hadn’t had much time by themselves to kiss, but he would have pecked him if the other two hadn’t been in the car.
“Hello.” He said, sounding so bubbly it made him feel a little stupid.
“Hey.” Nico replied, looking down equally blushed as he buckled up.
Behind them, Will could see Hazel and Leo look at each other knowingly. For him, it was obvious Nico had told Hazel already, and Nico could probably say the same about Leo. As for the rest, the couple had been talking about it during the week. The plan had been for Will to tell them during the concert, but it had changed once they had phoned Naomi’s team to inform them they would prefer for half of their group to be in the ADA section rather than VIP. It was a bit awkward to have the son of the singer in one section and then to have two punk rockers and Annabeth in the VIP of a country act by themselves, but he was not about to leave his boyfriend and one of his best friends alone in a place he had gotten them into. The new plan was to tell them before the concert, since they would have some minutes to spend backstage before the gig started. Plus, that was not everything Will was gonna tell them, though that was less discussed —Nico wasn’t about to police his coming out, but he had still told him about his idea for the sake of having some support and reassurance.
The group met outside the venue and walked inside together. One of Carrie Underwood’s songs on the pre-show playlist was blasting through the speakers, probably the last or second to last before the opener started. Fans were already inside, making their way to their seats, the bar or the merch stand. Naomi’s manager was waiting close to the door for Will and his friends, guiding them towards the backstage space. Inside, Naomi, her band, Apollo and Hyacinth were sitting around a table talking and, in the performers’ case, eating a quick dinner. Will’s mom and Hyacinth seemed to be laughing at the same joke while his dad rolled his eyes and pouted between them. Just like anticipated, it was going perfectly fine.
“Ma!” He called once every one of his friends was inside the room.
“Will!” She greeted him, gesturing for the teens to come nearer.
Naomi introduced her band to everyone first, as well as her personal manager and the tour manager. For Will, who had known her band for ages, seeing them again after so long meant the world. They all seemed more confident than last year, now that they had sold out almost all their dates. He thought about that first voice call in which his mom had been so nervous about the fans not liking her, and about how obvious it was that not only had they liked that concert, but that all of them had been a success. He had always believed in her, and he knew she believed in herself a lot, but now, Naomi seemed like a true star, more experienced, more confident and readier than ever to put on the show of her life. Her team was amazing, she was the best ever, and Will was incredibly proud of being able to introduce her as her mom.
After she was done, it was his turn. He started with Leo and Hazel, the ones he had told her about the most other than Nico, followed it with Percy and Annabeth, then with Piper, whom he said was also part of a band, and then got to the last one.
“And this is Nico.” He said, grabbing one of his hands. “My boyfriend.”
For a second, Will was tempted to close his eyes and hide. He didn’t. Instead, he got a clear view of the way her mom gasped, turned to Apollo and accusatorily said “you didn’t tell me?” before the man could throw his hands in the air and go “I didn’t know.” At his side, Hyacinth had a smug smirk on and an attitude that screamed “I did.” Behind them, Will could hear Piper tell Leo about how they should have guessed it and, then, a complaint about how Leo had probably known before them. Percy was the only one genuinely surprised, while Annabeth had a hand on Nico’s shoulder congratulating him with a gentle smile.
“William Andrew Solace, it is really rude that you are choosing to tell me this 5 minutes before I have to go on stage.” His mother said, arms crossed. Her frown didn’t last for very long before it turned into a giggle. “Seriously? All day yesterday and you waited until now?”
“Just wanted to have everyone in the same place.” Will reasoned, throwing his hands in the air. At his side, Nico was giggling. “What are you laughing at?”
“Didn’t know you had a middle name.”
“Oh, come on!” Will complained.
At that moment, a member of the crew called for Naomi to go get her mic and fix her hair quickly before her performance started. She turned around to where the voice came from, telling them she would be there in a second, and then turned around to Will and his friends again with a sad pout on her face. He could see it in her eyes that she didn’t want to leave, not when her son had just told her about how the boy he had said he had a crush on was now his first boyfriend. Leaving, much like it was for Will, wasn’t a choice she could make. The woman gave him a tight squeeze.
“We’ll talk about this.” She whispered, tenderly and pressing a kiss to his temple right after. “Have fun tonight, alright?”
Will nodded, hoping that to her it seemed like the promise it was, and a few seconds later, his mom was at the other side of the room, getting her mic connected and testing it one last time. His friends and him exited the backstage, ready to go to their seats, though there was a bit of silence and not-quite-moving after they closed the door behind them.
“Dating!?” Piper almost shouted, crossing their arms. “Since when?”
“Yeah, since when?” Percy added, moving to their side and crossing his arms as well, as if they were the dating police. “I’m looking at you, Neeks. Does family mean nothing to you anymore?”
“Yeah, guys, how long were you gonna keep it from us?” Said Leo, making Will’s eye tick.
“I told Hazel.” Nico shrugged. “And Jason.”
“Oh, so it’s personal.” Percy said, sounding annoyed before a chuckle revealed how little offended Piper or him really felt. “You know you could have just told mom you were together before Montauk.”
“Yeah…” Nico started, scratching his neck. “We kinda weren’t? It happened during the trip.”
“Wait, what?” Annabeth, who hadn’t said anything on the topic, broke through the barrier Percy and Piper were making to look at both of them surprised. “How? When? There was absolutely no change whatsoever, I would have noticed!”
“Don’t sweat it, Beth.” Leo told her. “It’s on them for pinning so loudly. I’m not gonna ask anything for myself, but I think Nico owes Hazel financial compensation.”
“I’m down.” Hazel added.
“Did you guys know already?” Percy asked, surprised by how Leo was not reacting to the news with nothing but jokes.
“Who do you think was the wingman?” Leo asked. “Also, Pipes, you’re legally forbidden from getting a girlfriend or else I’ll be the only one single, and you wouldn’t do that to me, would you?”
“You know I wouldn’t.” They said, offering their fist for the other to bump. “Now, Will’s mom is starting in literal minutes, so there’s no time, but on Monday, I want details.”
“ We want details.” Added Percy.
“I don’t.” Hazel mumbled.
“Wait!” Will said before the rest, who was already walking again, got too far. “I wanted to tell you something else.”
“Guys, they’re announcing the wedding!” Leo joked, making Piper chuckle at his side.
“It’s not the wedding.” Will said.
“There’s no wedding.” Nico precised.
“It’s just…” The blonde continued. Nervously, his hand started to close and open repeatedly, until Nico grabbed onto it and squeezed it, charging him with much needed confidence. “Look, there’s a song in the setlist that my mom always dedicates to me. And she always pulls a trans flag while it plays. That is, because I am trans. I’ve been meaning to tell y’all for a long time now; I didn’t because, well, back in Texas I always felt like I was ‘the weird trans guy’ and nothing more, or sometimes just ‘the weird guy,’ and I liked how different it was to, you know, not be that. But you’re my friends, and I love all of you, and I didn’t want you to find out through my mom when I could just tell you.” Will paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. His eyes were on his shoes, not having realized he wasn’t looking up. “You mean a lot to me, so it means a lot to me that you know this.”
After he was done, Nico squeezed his hand once again, which prompted Will to look up. There were no weird or confused faces, definitely no angry ones and obviously nothing hateful. Leo was smiling very wide and giving him a thumbs-up. A part of him couldn’t help but wonder if he had already guessed it and had been waiting for Will to tell him. If that was the case, he didn’t seem annoyed to have had to wait, which the blonde was thankful for.
Percy too was giving a thumbs-up. “Cool!”
“Yeah!” Annabeth said, holding her boyfriend’s hand. “Thank you so much for trusting us, Will.”
“I’m sorry other people were mean to you.” Hazel said with a very genuine tone and kind eyes. “You’re safe with us. And you should totally tell us if anyone hurts you here.”
“We’re not much, but we’ll find a way to shut their mouths up.” Annabeth added, flexing an arm. Will had noticed during their vacation that she was almost as built as Percy, if not equally built. Nico had told him she did boxing in the little free time she had, which explained it.
“Yeah, we think bullying is a serious issue. Just to be clear, we are against it.” Piper said. Will swore it was a quote, specially judging by the way Leo chuckled at it, but it escaped him at the moment. He didn’t get to think much about it, since Piper was walking up to him and holding up both hands for him to high-five, which he did. “Woohoo! Still he/him?”
“Yeah.” He nodded.
“Nice!” They smiled. “Don’t worry about not having told us sooner. You chose the perfect moment!”
Piper didn’t explain why, which led Will to believe they would have said the same no matter when he had come out, but that actually made him happy. Maybe Piper was right and every moment was the perfect moment, as long as he had chosen it. That was nice to think about.
After the conversation was done, Piper, Beth and Percy went to their seats and Nico, Will, Hazel and Leo went to theirs. The latest two went ahead, leaving the couple behind. Will’s hand was still on Nico’s, who tugged a bit from it to catch the other’s attention.
“Hey.” He said with a smile on his face as Will turned to look at him. Getting on his tippy toes, Nico pressed a quick kiss to his forehead. “I’m very proud of you.”
“Thank you.” Will replied. “Should we get going? Those two are getting pretty far ahead.” He said, though he wouldn’t mind a bit of alone time with Nico whatsoever. Sure, the venue was almost full —the band was already walking into the stage too—, but none of their friends was around, not close enough to see them.
“Uh, I don’t know…” Nico shrugged. “I don’t wanna tire my legs out.”
“You know you can say it if you wanna spend time alone, right?” Will tilted his head for a second before closing the distance between them and kissing his boyfriend’s forehead. “There, I didn’t return it earlier.”
“Thank you!” The other chirped, basically beaming. “Now we can get going.”
The two reached Hazel and Leo fast enough and found themselves seated by the time the first song was half-way done. Will was the only one who knew the lyrics to the songs, and he alternated between singing and talking with the rest, not wanting them to feel bored, even if the other three constantly reassured him they were having fun nonetheless. Hazel, specifically, kept waving her hands and clapping. Nico copied her sometimes, with one hand on Will’s, and mumbled some of the lyrics he could pick up. Leo knew one song or two, during which he was very loud, and other than that he made sure of recording the concert and his friends.
“Are you liking it?” He asked Nico for the umpteenth time after ‘Thoroughfare’ was done.
“Well, yeah.” Nico replied. “I’m not closed to any genre. If it’s good, it’s good.”
“I’m glad you like it.” Will said before his mom’s words through the microphone caught his attention.
“Thank you so much New York!” She said, grabbing the mic out of its stand. “You’re an amazing crowd… Y’all have been very loud the whole evening, so I am gonna ask you to be just as loud when I introduce you to my beautiful, beautiful, beautiful band today behind me!”
The crowd didn’t disappoint, clapping and cheering as the rest of the band were introduced one by one. The same went when Jamie took the mic and gave a shout out to Naomi herself. After that, the applause prolonged for a bit before she talked again.
“These people mean the world to me, and I would have never made it here without them. But there’s someone else in my life who has been the one given meaning to everything, since the minute I met him.” She started. Will knew exactly that was how this part of the concert usually played out, but he still felt himself tear up a bit. Nico went beyond hand holding, throwing an arm around him and squeezing him close. “And that’s my son, Will, who is in the crowd today!”
There was a big, loud cheer for him that Will didn’t really understand —all he had done was being born, so he didn’t feel like he deserved it— before his mom kept talking.
“This next one is a cover of his favorite song.” She said.
“‘Jolene.’” Nico muttered at his side.
“No?” Will said, not only to Nico’s comment, which was obviously a joke, but to his mom, even if it was impossible for her to hear. ‘Coat of Many Colors’ was his comfort song, his childhood song, but it wasn’t his favorite, and his mom knew that.
“It’s a gorgeous piece, and Will, my sunshine, I hope you can believe in the lyrics as much as I believe in you.” She said. “New York, sing along if you know it!”
Will was sure he had already started to cry by the moment he recognized the first note from the keys. Distantly, he realized he had shouted with emotion, and hoped he hadn’t just squeaked directly into Nico’s ear. There, on stage, was his mom singing what had been his favorite song since he had heard it on TV at the age of 7: ‘The Climb’ was blasting through the speakers, every young person in the crowd was singing along Naomi, and he wasn’t the exception, despite the fact he was crying.
At his side, Nico was singing as well, which came as a surprise for a bit until Will realized that, as goth as the other was, there was no way he had grown up in the 2000s and escaped Hannah Montana. He turned to look at him. Nico’s soft gaze fell on him, equally proud and smitten, and the boy moved his hands till they were cupping Will’s face and drying off the tears. He moved one rebel curl from where it had fallen in front of the blonde’s eye so they could stare into each other properly.
Out of weakness, Will moved his eyes away from Nico’s. Out of love, his gaze went to his mouth, watching as he worded the lyrics: always gonna be an uphill battle, sometimes I’m gonna have to lose. Ain’t about how fast I get there, ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side… Nico didn’t finish the chorus, skipping the last verse. His mouth still moved, though, but not to say “ it’s the climb.”
“I love you, Will.”
Sideyedly, Will could see how on stage his mom unbent the trans flag she had on her in every performance, and he could hear a long cheer both for it and for the performance. For him, the applause just echoed the way his heart had skipped a beat just to quicked right after Nico’s words registered in his head. Will basically threw himself at him, hugging him as close as physically possible, not caring that Hazel and Leo were still there, more focused on the song than on the couple.
“I love you too.” He said during the hug, directly to Nico’s ear. It wasn’t a whisper, but there was no way the other would have heard otherwise with how loud the place was. “I love you so much.”
Once it was over, it felt like the song had lasted too little. Will could only squeeze Nico tighter before letting go of him, fearing their time together would also feel too little. He wished he could build a home there, inside the other’s warm embrace, and never let go of it. All he could do was wait for another song to start and let it distract him.
Notes:
- sooooo! no more beach arc, but they went to a concert (concerts >>> the beach) (says nonbinary individual who lives by the beach in a town no singer ever plays at). i don't have much to say for this chapter except that:
a) we got ourselves a title drop which i usually love and i was so sure i could never make one fit since all my titles are songs but then i remembered people can. yk. SING!!
b) THEY SAID I LOVE YOU GUYS THEY SAID IT DID YOU SEE THEY SAID I LOVE YOU THEY DID IT THEY LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUCH THEY'RE SO FULL OF LOVE!!!
c) ALSO OMG WILL'S OUT OF THE CLOSET I ALMOST FORGET THAT !! and they told their friends they're dating <333 i love them !! i love them- the angst you didn't get this chapter comes next week dont worry guys <3
- university has started (it's been two days and i'm already exhausted) woohoo (< unentusiasthic) (wow that was so hard to spell). im going on a short exchange program soon and they waited till like a month before it to tell us we had to get our own housing T___T also the other uni is helping a total of 0% + IT'S. SO FUCKING HARD. TO GET FROM A NOT CAPITAL CITY TO A NOT CAPITAL CITY WTF. WHY DO I NEED TWO PLANES AND A BUS AND A TRAIN!!?!?! literal odysseus didn't have it this bad istg.... other than that i've been pretty well, mostly watching gravity falls (today i dreamt jason got possessed by bill cipher and started to speak in code. i was kinda scared.) (also yesterday i had a dream that i was naomi??? and i was trying really hard to cancel an adidas' sponsorship but they wouldn't let me. so stressful.)
- that's all !! see you next week !! ^___^
Chapter 15: " me & my dog "
Summary:
“Have you had dinner?”
The boy shook his head no. They had been talking about going out for dinner after the show, maybe even tagging along with Will’s parents and the band to go to some fancy place.
“Do you… Wanna have dinner?” The blonde asked.
“What do you mean?”
Notes:
you've heard of the jason pov no one asked for, now get ready for... THE LEO POV NO ONE ASKED FOR?!?!?!?!
trigger warning for:
- past toxic relationship
- panic attacks & ptsd flashback
- massive lack of self-esteem and internalized ableism
- referenced child abusethere are like 5 sentences in spanish translated in the notes at the end <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
i wanna be emaciated,
i wanna hear one song without thinking of you.
i wish i was on a spaceship:
just me and my dog, and an impossible view.
For a day which he had thought would only expose him as a bother to Will, Leo was having the time of his life. Granted, he only knew the lyrics to a few Naomi Solace songs, and those were from ages ago so she had only done two, but the woman knew how to put on a show. She was a great singer, and a really entertaining performer. Plus, he had Will and Nico basically kissing —they weren’t kissing, but he could guess they wanted to— just a few feet away, and he liked to pride himself as a wingman, despite the fact he hadn’t done much to get them together other than tell Will to take his chances. When the music stopped, it felt too early to go back home.
“It’s just a ten-minute interlude.” Will told him, probably having noticed the way Leo frowned. “We can go to the merch stand if any of you want anything. I can’t skip the queue but I can get you a discount.”
“Oh, I wanted a shirt like that girl’s.” Hazel said, pointing at a woman a few feet in front of her.
“Anyone else wanna come?” Will asked.
Their seats weren’t at risk to be taken, so Leo tagged along, wanting to check if they had a hoodie or something, and so did Nico. Ten minutes seemed like too little to get to the stand, through the queue and back, but he trusted Will’s timing skills. The merch store wasn’t actually that full when they got there, luckily. The blonde and the girl went to join the small line forming while Leo waited with Nico in the side.
“Are you liking it?” Leo asked. Immediately, Nico rolled his eyes.
“Not you too…” He chuckled.
Leo too had noticed Will seemed quite anxious about them being at his mom’s show. He had even started a mental count of how many times he had asked “do you like it?,” “are you having fun?,” “how is it?,” or similar, but had given up after the marker reached past 15.
“I meant being with him.” Leo asked.
“Oh.” Nico mumbled, blushing and biting his nails nervously in futile hopes of hiding a giddy tone. “Yeah. Love it.”
A part of him felt bitter that Will and Nico could have what he couldn’t, and another part of him felt worse that he felt that way. For the most part, he was genuinely elated about them finally getting together, something he had called months ago, but he was still slightly jealous. At least now he had Jason as a friend again, even if a part of him would have preferred to not see Jason again if it meant the other wasn’t stuck in the situation he was apparently stuck in. If he was being rational, he knew that Jason’s household wouldn’t change its manners regarding whether they were friends or not, so he tried to be content with what he had… It was just being glad about it when he knew Jason would be hurting either way.
After the call with Jason some weeks ago, things had changed: for the better in some ways, for the worse in another. They had been talking more, which was great, specially after so many months of little to no contact. Other than the fact that Jason was clearly making an effort, sending him multiple things he found that reminded him of him and randomly DM’ing throughout the day, Leo had started to check on him daily, changing it to once every two days after a week in order not to seem overbearing. He could tell that some days the other wasn’t telling the full truth, but he was not in a position to judge. Not only did Jason have all the right to keep things to himself, Leo doubted he would ever be as open as him about anything bad going on in his life. If his friends hadn’t known about Calypso when everything went down, he doubted he would have told them. He wasn’t even sure how he had managed to tell Will.
Regarding changes for the worst, there was the huge, massive guilt Leo couldn’t help to feel about not having noticed sooner. He hardly ever slept. Before the accident, it was mostly because of hyperactivity —leaving every school project for last minute, getting caught up on things that were meant to take 15 minutes, simply needing to spend his energy somewhere, you name it. Now, it was a mix of everything that had been an issue before while also the fear of not waking up again, which haunted him daily. The night after the call, as many others, he had pulled an all-nighter, analyzing every single interaction he could remember with Jason to see if there had been any hint he could have noticed.
Amongst the things he had found were little details, such as the fact it took him longer to reply to texts because he never allowed himself a typo, and the way he would berate himself everytime he got ‘your’ and ‘you’re’ wrong. Leo had blamed it on his major nerd lifestyle, but wouldn’t put it past it being a result of being insulted over it. There was the way sometimes, when he got in Jason’s car, he could feel a shift of environment, and how the other sometimes seemed sad when he had to drive home alone. He had thought it was the happiness of being with him and the sadness of a hang-out ending, which he knew probably contributed, but he hadn’t accounted for the possibility of part of his smile being a mask that fell off the moment his parents doomed nearer. In conclusion, Leo hadn’t have enough signs to know what was going on, but that just made him feel bad, as if he hadn’t focused enough.
“Hey, can I ask you about…?” Leo started.
Can I ask you about Jason?, he had meant to say. The boy had said only Nico and Thalia knew. The fact Thalia knew hadn’t phased him. The fact Nico knew, and the things Will had said about having told him Leo’s point of view, had led him to the theory that Nico had had to do with Jason telling him. He didn’t blame him for it. Honestly, he was more thankful than anything. As someone who hated being vulnerable and honest about his feelings, he could understand Jason’s secretism, and if he had needed someone to push him into communication… Well, if that was the case, Leo was happier than it had worked rather than sad it had happened. Still, he had no idea if Nico was aware that Jason and him had talked, or fixed things up.
Getting to clarify that would have been lovely, but there was no chance for him to. Leo froze upon recognizing a mane of caramel hair joining the queue. He wanted to look away, should look away, needed to, but didn’t manage. Curiosity took over him: he needed to know whether it was really her or not. Leo kept looking at the spot in the line where the girl and her friends stood. It took about 10 seconds for her to turn a bit, pulling her body out to check whether the line had a lot to go or not, and there it was: the same brown eyes, shiny only when the conversation was about her, the same smile that he had learnt was more condescending than gentle, and the same angelic face that his friends had rightfully called belonged to a devilish person. For the first time in a bit less than a year, Calypso was in the same room as him.
“About what?” Nico asked. He had left him hanging.
“Nothing.”
Leo took a bit to reply, probably too long, but who could blame him? His heart was beating too fast. Last year, it would have been about love, or something disguised as that. Now, it was pure anxiety. Was she gonna notice him? He hoped no. Painful as it had been, she liked her out of his life. What would she say? Nothing? Saying nothing would be bad, would leave him destroyed, but he didn’t know what she could say that would make him feel better. An apology? Leo knew not to expect those. He would be alright as long as she didn’t notice him, he told himself. He needed to get out of there.
A paw rested on his thigh, and he looked down to Festus, who was probably noticing how his stress levels had just dialed up. Leo tried to calm down, not wanting to further alert the dog. The least he needed was to draw attention to himself and have faces, specially hers, turn in his direction. Luckily for him, Will and Hazel had just finished buying, and they were approaching him and Nico with matching shirts over his clothes.
“How does it look?” Hazel asked Nico, doing a turn to show it off.
“Really cute.” Her brother replied, giving her a thumbs-up. “Can we go get a drink? I’m thirsty.”
“Yeah, let’s go!” Leo said, perhaps sounding too excited. He didn’t really care, as long as he got to get away from the area.
He joined the group at the bar, barely aware of his surroundings. His heart was still pacing, and cold sweat was falling down his back in a way that made the t-shirt’s fabric stick to his back, causing sensory hell. His mind was busy, thinking about Calypso and how to avoid her, even if he had technically already avoided her. Still, the fact she was at the venue was driving him crazy. There was no way she would go to the ADA section, but what if she did? What if they saw once it was time to leave? What if she had noticed and followed him to talk…? Okay, that last one was far fetched, but the rest were all possible to some extent, and they had Leo terrified.
He didn’t believe in karma all that much, but he found himself worried that this was a sort of karma. Last time he had felt jealous of all his friends being taken but him, he had gotten with Calypso. Was it because he had wished he could have what Will and Nico had? Was fate trying to hammer some learning from your mistakes inside his brain? Were he not pushing the chair, he was sure would be scratching his arms to the point of blood. Matter of fact, once they made it to the bar and Nico went to order, he stopped pushing the chair and began scratching like there was no tomorrow.
“Hey, are you alright?” Will must have noticed the way Leo’s breath was uneven and the fact he was visibly very, very anxious.
“Yeah.” He lied. Usually, he considered himself a pretty good liar, but tonight, his ability to lie had been taken away alongside with the ability to hold himself together. “Just feel a bit sick.”
“Do you need anything?” The other asked. “I’m sure Neeks has a painkiller on him.”
“Let him keep it.” He replied. He could only imagine how tired and in pain Nico could be at the end of the show, and the last thing he needed was for Leo to take away his meds. “I’ll be fine…”
His voice came in as a tiny, extremely weak and flickering sound. Calypso and her friends had just entered the bar, and were coming their way. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, Leo’s mind shouted, hide, run, hide, do something, tell someone, cry, hide, run, run, I can’t even run, shit, hide… He couldn’t run, he couldn’t breath, and he could barely disguise it. All his energy was going into appearing calm. The less of a scene he caused, the earlier they could get back to the ADA section, and once then he could spend the rest of the night trying to forget that she was there. Leo could be fine, all he had to do was being normal. As long as he could keep himself quiet, breathe in silently and not throw a tantrum in front of everyone, he could make it back safe.
But you’re so annoying, his inner voice told him, you’re so loud, you’re being loud, and Will’s gonna notice. You’re ruining his night. You have been ruining it the whole week. Leo needed to shout, needed to drown out the mean words coming from his head, but that would just prove his point: he was loud, annoying, bothersome and ruining everyone’s night. All he had to do was being quiet and still and he was already thinking about screaming.
At his side, Festus started to try to get on him, trying to get close to his chest so he could help Leo self-regulate. That wasn’t what Leo wanted whatsoever, though. Maybe it was what he needed, but that didn’t make it any more desirable.
“I’m fine.” He told the dog, as if he would understand. As if he wasn’t trained to trust Leo’s body rather than his words. “Sit down, it’s fine.”
It didn’t work, and Will ended up noticing.
“Hey, are you sure you don’t need anything?”
Leo needed to leave the venue, probably, and go back to his home and cry himself to what would most likely not even end up in sleep. But it was Will’s night, and it had been going so well… He couldn’t tell him that.
“Can we get going? There’s too many people here.”
That wasn’t a lie, and thus, Will seemed to believe his reasoning. The boy nodded.
“I’m gonna tell Neeks and Hazel to find us outside, wait here.”
Leo wanted to shout at him (“don’t leave me! I need support here!”), but he had told himself he wasn’t gonna scream. He couldn’t be loud with Calypso around, because she would notice, and let it be known that he was annoying. At least she was honest, but he didn’t know how much of a redeeming quality that was.
He waited, finally letting Festus crawl on him for a bit and trying to calm himself now that he was allowing himself the doggie hug. Leo took in the smell of his wet food and the shampoo they used to wash Festus, closing his eyes and picturing himself somewhere else that felt safer: the ADA section, his room or garden, his dad’s workshop, the lunch table, the cinema… He would take anything other than a room with Calypso in it. A low rumble came from Festus, probably a bit frustrated that his owner wasn’t calming down at the pace he would have wanted. Leo couldn’t blame him; he too would be pissed of having such an incompetent human to take care of.
A little kid ran up to him, poking him in the arm and making him lift his head. Leo hoped he didn’t look as messy as he pictured himself to look, with teary eyes, a runny nose and hyperventilations he could barely hide.
“Can I pet him?”
“He’s working…” He mumbled, voice breaking despite the briefness of the message.
“How do dogs work?”
“Keeping me safe.” He choked out.
“Ohhh…” The kid let out. She didn’t seem older than 7. Normally, Leo didn’t mind explaining this stuff to children, but at the moment he really wished whoever was raising this girl had taught her themselves, or that she would have picked a calmer moment to ask. “Is it working?”
“Yeah.” It really wasn’t.
“I can tell my moms if you need help!”
After that, the kid ran in direction to where his moms were, which sent Leo into a panic.
“No, no, no, no! Kid, come back!” He shouted before he could stop himself, and definitely too loudly.
The kid didn’t hear. He saw her tugging at the hand of a middle-aged black woman and pointing at Leo with her other hand. That wasn’t bad. It wasn’t ideal, by any means, but it wasn’t a problem. The real problem was the fact Calypso had heard him shout and probably recognized his voice. When his eyes went to the bar, trying to find his friends, Leo accidentally made eye contact with her, who was looking at him, studying his figure as if trying to determine how much he had changed in the past year and how she should feel about him. The first was obvious: wheelchair, service dog, clear horrible mental health judging by the panic attack he was having. The second was probably even more obvious: somewhere between pity and second-hand embarrassment.
Leo tried to look away. He didn’t manage to, eyes locked with hers, meaning it didn’t escape him when she laughed. From where she stood, Calypso giggled at the sight of him undergoing a crisis, bending over slightly as she chuckled before turning to one of her friends and talking to her with a wicked smile and not fully done with laughing.
That sent all the alarms running for Leo. Everything was going wrong. He wanted to die, wanted to cry and scream until exhaustion took mercy on him. More than anything, he needed to leave…
He did, taking Festus off him and going to the bathroom as fast as he could, not bothering to wait for his friends. He locked himself and his dog in the disabled stall, which had been empty before him, and quickly pulled his phone out. With shaky hands, he texted Will that his stomach really hurt and that he was gonna call his dad to come pick him up. Thank God he was dyslexic and that the other wouldn’t know his multiple typos came from uncontrollable trembling. After that, Leo opened his contacts page, going to dial his dad. His phone was shaking too much, his sight was blurred now that he, locked away, had allowed himself to cry. The room was loud, and his dog was barking, and his t-shirt stuck to his skin, and his hand was shaking, and everything was as much of a mess as he was, making it impossible to focus on anything, or doing anything right. He never did anything right either way. He ruined everything, the same way he was ruining the night… Same way he probably ruined Jason by clicking in his number without realizing instead of his dad’s.
With the phone ringing by his ear, Leo had no way of seeing the screen and who he had called, only finding out once Jason picked up.
“Leo?” His voice sounded as confused as Leo felt at the realization he had dialed the wrong person. “Hey, what’s up? You guys were going to the concert tonight, weren’t you? How was it?”
“She’s here.” He weakly informed, feeling his voice tremble as much as the rest of his body.
“She’s here? Who?” Jason asked. “Are you alright? You sound like you’re crying.”
“Calypso is here. She saw me.” He said. Leo didn’t reply to the last question, but with how openly he was crying now, he doubted Jason had any doubt. “I’m sorry.”
“Wait, what? Sorry for what? Holy… Did she do anything to you?” The other said.
“She laughed at me.” With how he barely articulated his words and with the fact he had cried them out rather than properly spoken them, he doubted Jason would understand. “I wanna go home.”
His heart broke, and his mind exploded as the sound of his own voice crying about going home registered. The bathroom walls were white, hospital white, and the lighting was just as artificial and shiny, and it smelled a bit worse, but definitely similar. And, in the middle of it all, was a heartbroken Leo whose world was ending as he tried to hold it, like water in his hands, and who could do anything other than beg to go to a home he wouldn’t see in weeks. He started to hyperventilate even more, untethered from reality and confused between here and there, between now and last year. Festus was on him again, hugging him and attempting to calm him down, and Leo could somehow notice that if it didn’t work fast enough, the dog would start to bark, calling for a help Leo didn’t want. The help he wanted was his dad, uncontacted, his friends, whose night he didn’t want to ruin, and Jason, who couldn’t leave his house.
“Where’s the venue?” Asked Jason.
“I don’t remember.”
“Send me your location.” The other said. Leo could barely hear it with how loud his heart and breathing were.
“What?” He asked, partially because he hadn’t heard and partially because he didn’t know how that would help.
“Send me your location.” It was very faint, probably just slightly above what Leo’s hearing range was, but there was a sound of car keys and walking coming from the other side of the line. “I’m picking you up.”
“But…”
“I’ll be there in 15.” Jason said. “I’m staying on the line with you, don’t worry.”
“I didn’t send you…”
“Googled it.” Jason deadpanned. “Thought it was easier. Just don’t let go of the phone, alright? I’m gonna stay with you.”
It wasn’t a fix-all, or a perfect cure, but it helped. With Festus helping him regulate his breathing and Jason on the line, distracting him, soothing him and grounding him through questions about something else, he managed to feel better, even if his heart still felt feeble and confused, split between two timelines. Leo ended up leaving the bathroom, not wanting to hoard the only disabled stall.
As promised, Jason was there in 15 minutes, waiting outside the venue. Leo exited the place to go with him. It was dark already, slightly chilly, and he regretted not having brought a hoodie or gotten one from the merch stand. He looked at Jason, hoping that maybe the other would have a jacket to lend him, but it was far from the case: on the bottom, the other wore a pair of jeans and sneakers (one untied), but his top was a visibly old Bikini Kill shirt, a hand-me-down from Thalia that Jason used for sleeping. He had come to pick him up in pyjamas, Leo realized. For the first time in the night, his heart skipped a beat out of love rather than fear.
“Leo!” He kneeled in front of him so they could be face to face. He had on his glasses, a given taking into account he hadn’t even waited to put on a shirt, much less contacts, and his hair was messy. Jason’s eyes were full of worry, and, as usual, Leo chose to look at the tiny scar on his lip instead. “Are you alright? Do you feel better?”
“A bit.” He whispered as a chill went through his back.
“Let’s get in the car. It’s too cold.” The blonde told him, moving behind him and taking the chair for him. Normally, he would appreciate being asked, but at the moment Leo could only thank that he had a chance to relax for a bit. When they got to the car, Jason pulled the trunk open, looking inside for something until he pulled out a purple, zipper hoodie and handed it to him.
“What about you?” Leo asked.
“I’ll be fine.”
Hesitantly, Leo took the hoodie and slipped it on. It wasn’t the warmest ever, probably thought to train with it, if Jason’s school logo on it was anything to go by, but it helped. The smell and the texture were comforting, and so was it when Jason gently lifted him off the chair and sat him on the passenger seat before quickly bending the chair and placing it on the trunk. Festus, still alert, seemed discontent with being in the back seat, but he ended up relaxing once Leo did.
“I thought you couldn’t leave your house.” Leo mumbled, feeling exhausted. His voice was hoarse from crying.
“Let’s not worry ‘bout that now.” Jason replied, which made Leo grimace thinking about what was going on. “Have you had dinner?”
The boy shook his head no. They had been talking about going out for dinner after the show, maybe even tagging along with Will’s parents and the band to go to some fancy place.
“Do you… Wanna have dinner?” Jason asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I checked while I was waiting outside for you.” The blonde said, biting a nail. “The cinema is open. They have a screening in one hour. Thought maybe it would help you feel better. Bad idea, horrible idea. You need to rest, I’ll drive you home…”
He spun the keys, turned on the car and gripped the wheel with one hand. Leo, at his side, grabbed his wrist with all the strength he had left.
“Which film?”
. . .
They went through a drive-through and ate in the car, trying to be as careful as possible in order not to dirty the car. There was no conversation —Leo had pretty much lost speech after telling Jason what he wanted to eat—, but Jason had let him choose the music and they were quietly just enjoying each other’s company with Pink Floyd’s ‘Comfortably Numb’ in the background, which had felt calming at first and ironic right after. If he could, he would probably ask about what he was gonna tell his parents when he got back, but alas, he couldn’t, and it was obvious Jason wasn’t gonna tell him.
They were basically the only people in the cinema. Part of him couldn’t help but think that, were they dating, it would have been a great setting for a first kiss. Just them, alone in a dimly lit, empty cinema. He was still wearing Jason’s training hoodie. Leo zipped it and covered his face with it, thinking about how he had seen Nico wear a black sweater he could have sworn was Will’s. If their life was a bit better, if their luck was a bit higher, maybe Jason and him could have something similar. They couldn’t, but at least he had the fact that, when he reached his hand out, in the darkness of the cinema, Jason grabbed it.
It was almost midnight by the time Jason stopped in front of his house. Leo could talk again, but he wasn’t really talking. He had spent all night fearing being noisy and the ability and energy for it had escaped it when he needed it the most.
“Stay the night.” He whispered once Jason was done helping him to the chair once more.
“I can’t.” The blonde said, sounding pained. “I haven’t asked my parents…”
“They’re gonna be mad either way.” He told him. “Stay.”
“What about tomorrow?”
“I’ll think of something.” I’ll fix it, he wanted to say, I can fix this, I swear, just stay. “Just… Please.”
“I would have to tell them… I took the car.”
“Come inside.” Leo asked. It felt like begging. “Let my dad call them.”
He could tell the other was hesitant, but he still followed him inside the house. His father was in the kitchen, probably having stayed up waiting for him, and immediately went to hug him once he saw he was alright. He hugged Jason just as tight, thanking him for looking after Leo, and asking him if he needed to be driven home.
“Can he stay the night?” Leo interrupted.
“Long as his parents are fine with it, of course.” The man replied. “The phone’s here, if you wanna call…”
“Dad, can you call them?” Leo asked. His dad exchanged looks with his son and Jason, eyeing both before eyeing the phone he was already holding, clear confusion in his face. “Tell them it was you who asked him to come, and ask them to have him stay, please?”
“Leo, I… I’m not following.”
“‘S okay, sir, I’ll just leave…”
“No!” He jumped at the idea of the other leaving, reaching a hand to grab Jason’s as if chaining to the house. “Dad, please. Trust me. Mañana te explico. ”
“ Explícame hoy. ”
“ Tiene que ser mañana… Tú llámalos y diles que se queda, porfa. ”
“Ay, pero…”
“Pa.” He interrupted the man. “Me gusta, ¿vale? Me gusta mucho. Por favor, pídeselo por él.”
His father sighed, looking between the two teens and to his phone again before pointing with his head towards Leo’s room.
“Go to your room.” He said, tired but not annoyed. “ Y mañana me explicas.”
“What’d you tell him?” Jason asked on the way to his room. Leo froze, blushing too much at the question and hoping the other didn’t notice.
“Nothing, nothing.”
They changed out of their clothes. None of Leo’s pants could fit Jason, and he kinda had a heart attack when the boy asked if it was alright for him to sleep without pants. The blonde got in the bed before Leo, who generally always took longer than the average person while changing, even if he had gotten faster after so many months of practice. He didn’t go on the bed with Jason after he was done, though, going for the box where he kept his inventions instead and holding out the ship prototype he had finished back in December.
“Here.” He said, dropping it on Jason’s lap. “I don’t feel like testing it out now, and you’ll probably not be allowed to hang out in ages…” He bit the inside of his cheek, sad at the realization. “So I want you to have it.”
“Leo, I can’t take it.”
“It’s for you.” He interrupted whatever explanation Jason was gonna give. “I always planned to give it to you.”
“I can’t.” The other repeated. “I would take it if I could, but I… What if my father breaks it?”
“Bring it to me.” Leo replied. “You told me they won’t let you have anything unless they give it to you. Well, fuck that. It’s yours. If they break it, bring it and I’ll fix it. No matter how long it takes, just tell me and I’ll fix it. I’ll build another one if I need to, but it’ll be yours.”
He hoped his voice didn’t let out the quiet begging he felt he was doing. Take it, he sounded like to himself, machines are the one thing I can fix, so let yourself have it. Leo waited for a reply, expecting a complaint. Instead, Jason hugged the ship close to himself and turned to him.
“Will you keep my hoodie?”
His heart clenched as he shook his head no.
“They’ll notice.”
“I'll tell them I lost it.”
“That won’t help you.” Leo replied, setting on the bed by his side. It was barely big enough for both, and he hoped Jason didn’t mind. He certainly didn’t. “Next time you play against us… Find me in the crowd and give it to me. I’ll take it.”
“But that’s not until the last match of the season.” Leo swore he could see a pout and hear sadness. Maybe he had gone crazy.
“Well, then…” He started, shutting down the lights. “I’ll wait.”
. . .
The morning after, Leo woke up before Jason. For a night in which he had thought he wouldn’t sleep at all, he got a lot of sleep. The other’s presence had been comforting, despite the fact his heart had been racing just at the prospect of sharing a bed with the boy. Now that his body wasn’t putting him through five states of alarm simultaneously and that his head wasn’t obsessing with past traumas and future threats, Leo could actually process everything that had happened last night after Jason had come to pick him up.
He closed his eyes, imagining the whole thing: eating take-out together, trying not to get a car dirty, sneaking into the last session of the cinema to watch How to Train Your Dragon, going back home, all while wearing Jason’s training clothes, and then sharing a night in his bed… Leo could almost pretend it had been a date and not the consequence of a horribly harming person showing up in his life again, or imagine that it wouldn’t have any just-as-horrible consequences for Jason, who had sneaked out without telling anyone and would have to go back.
They weren’t dating, and yet Jason had risked whatever the hell his parents were about to put him through for something so date-like. It was hard to believe that last month he had been crying himself to sleep thinking the other didn’t want him in his life anymore.
Not wanting to spiral about what was gonna happen to Jason after getting home, he went to the kitchen, trying to be as silent as possible with the wheelchair. He had a few texts from Will asking if he felt better, which Leo pretended he didn’t see as he decided whether to tell him the truth or talk about how Jason had come to the rescue. He probably had an hour or so until the other or his dad woke up, until they had to drive Jason back, and he didn’t want to spend that time gushing on the phone with Will. Instead, Leo checked around the kitchen cabinets and the fridge, trying to see if he had the ingredients to bake anything.
His dad woke up as soon as he put the tray with a wannabe brownie into the oven, sitting at the kitchen table before even making his morning coffee… He never skipped his morning coffee, so he must have really wanted that explanation Leo owed him.
“So?” He said, skipping any “good morning” or similar.
“I’m baking brownies.” Leo shrugged, not really feeling up to talk about anything serious.
“And…?”
“I added walnuts in half only.”
His dad rolled his eyes. “Have you had breakfast?”
“No.”
The man rolled his eyes, sitting up and ruffling Leo’s hair as he went to make toast for him. That was a relief. Confused as he might be, it was obvious he wasn’t angry. By the time he was sat and ready to talk again, his dad already had a mug of coffee in his hand, and Leo was half-way through his toast.
“Dear, what even happened yesterday?” He asked. “I’m… You go to a concert with your friends and come back with the one that wasn’t even invited, and make me call his parents… Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad he was there when you had that episode, but what’s the rest for?”
“Jason didn’t tell his parents he was leaving.” Leo said. “I didn’t want them to get mad at him. It was my fault.”
“Well, he was the one who chose to go for you.” His father reminded him. “It’s not your fault if it was his decision. His parents didn’t sound angry on the phone. It was a good reason to be outside.”
“What did you tell them?” Leo raised an eyebrow.
“I trusted you and told them I had asked him to go pick you up. Said I worked till late tonight. Hope you gave me a good reason to lie to two perfectly respectable people.” Leo grimaced at the words, sticking his tongue out and rolling his eyes dramatically, making his dad frown. “What’s that for?”
“I don’t like them.” He said. “They’re so strict! Look, don’t you think there’s a reason Jason had to sneak out instead of just telling them he was coming for a good cause?”
“Strict?” Leo nodded. “How strict would someone need to be with that kid? He’s a saint.” Leo nodded again. “They don’t have other children, do they?”
“Thalia. Piper’s bassist.” He replied. “She ran away from home.”
“Oh.”
His dad grabbed his mug with two hands and nodded slowly without drinking from it. Leo could almost hear the engines working inside his mind, trying to tie the not-so-difficult-to-tie knots. Sneaking out over a good cause, an runaway daughter, strict for no reason, the fact Jason hadn’t been hanging out with Leo for ages despite clearly caring about him, fearing calling his parents last night to the point they had needed to lie. When he looked up, the concern in his face was obvious.
“Is… Is your friend okay?”
Leo wanted to say no, ask his dad for help, tell him to call CPS or something… Then again, he had had his fair share of horrible experiences with having the CPS called on him and with being taken away from families, and he wouldn’t recommend it, much less force it on Jason. He should say yes, probably, yet he couldn’t bring himself to. It felt too wrong to lie about that, even with how sure Jason had sounded when he had promised things would be better once university started.
“I don’t know.” He ended up saying. “I just… I don’t know what to do.”
Crying was something he had always hated. It made him feel gross, both physically and emotionally. A part of him always felt like he was begging for people to play him violins; another part felt like no one was gonna come help him no matter how much he cried. Yet, sometimes he couldn’t help it. His dad reacted immediately, standing up and going for a hug.
“It’s okay, it’s all alright.” He promised. “It’s all gonna work out, I promise. We’ll think of something, don’t worry.” The man pulled away, looking tenderly at his son and drying his tears off. “I’ve got you.”
“Thanks, dad.”
The oven rang, its timer going off now that the baking process was done. Leo’s dad gave him a last squeeze before going to pull the food out. The sound probably awoke Jason, who made his appearance through the kitchen’s arch shortly after. The only indication that he had been awake for at least a bit was the fact that he had his jeans back on. Other than that his hair was messy, he had left his glasses on the nightstand, and he was mid-yawn. It was easy for Leo to guess how much he was smiling at the picture.
“It smells nice.” He mumbled, hand going from in front of his mouth to scratch around his eye, trying to pull himself awake.
“Leo made brownies.”
“Oh, those are…!” He sounded super excited for a moment before collecting himself and politely asking: “Could I have one?”
Leo didn’t need him to finish the first sentence —he knew Jason was about to say brownies were his favorite, that’s why he had chosen them—, but it saddened him to see the boy not allow himself to be excited. His father cut a piece for Jason and one for his son, asking if any of them wanted anything to drink.
For half an hour, they got to have a happy, lazy morning together before driving Jason home. They went in his car, having to return it, but Leo’s dad drove them all the way while the boys sat together in the backseat. His dad played whatever radio station the car first landed on, broadcasting the morning news. There wasn’t any specific music, something Leo had learnt to relate with Jason ever since the other had gotten his license: there was always music in his car, and it settled the mood of every ride. It was strange, much like the rest of the ride. He wanted to reach a hand out and have Jason grab it, like yesterday at the movies, but the other seemed either entranced with something, gaze lost in wherever, or too nervous to even remember he had hands. His breath hitched from time to time, making Leo wish he could hug him.
The three of them got out of the car and walked to the house. Jason had put on his basketball hoodie, probably not wanting his family to see that he had left in pyjamas, and held a box with Leo’s prototype in it. He was the one to knock on the door, after which Juno came to open.
“Oh!” Her eye twitched at the sight of her son and she bit her lip, as if struggling a lot to keep on her forced smile. “Jason! We were so worried about you! Come on in.”
Before the blonde could obey, Leo’s dad stopped him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Excuse me, I believe I talked with your husband yesterday about him staying the night with us. Did he not tell you that? I don’t want to presume you think of my place as dangerous, is all.” He followed his words with some fake laughter, and Leo held back a smirk as the woman struggled to rebuild a facade.
“Oh, true, I forgot… I’m sorry, I’ve been having some amnesia issues lately.” She replied, biting her nails with the nervousness of a woman who only presented herself as perfect and kind and yet had just called a guest dangerous. “I think it’s genetic, actually. Isn’t it, love?”
“Uh…” Jason shifted the weight of his body from one foot to the other. Leo looked up, finding his blue eyes looking for him, and shook his head very slightly. “My memory’s been fine, though? I would have noticed.”
“Oh, don’t be silly now…” She added some fake laughter into it too, but under it there was a sharp threat: don’t be stupid, follow my lie. It didn’t get her anywhere, though. “You know how kids are at this age, such… Rebels.” With how much venom she added onto the word, she might as well have chosen “idiots.”
“Well, you sure got lucky, then. Never have I seen a young man more polite, other than mine.”
“Nah, don’t lie for my sake.” Leo joked, patting Jason on the back.
“Seriously, I can only imagine how happy one would be to have him as a son. If he makes you half as happy as my Leo…”
“He does, he does. Dear, why don’t you go inside while the adults catch up? Your dad’s waiting for you.”
Jason sucked in a breath, biting his lip as he nodded, but once more, the man prevented him from going inside.
“Let the kids spend some time together!” He said. “It’s been an awful lot since they’ve been around each other.”
“Jason’s been sick…”
“Since Thanksgiving?” The man asked. “Leo, why didn’t you say that?”
“Well, you told me you were going to every practice and match…” He replied, looking at his friend, who had definitely not told him that. Leo just knew he wasn’t one to skip practice. “Were you really sick?”
“He was sick for Christmas only. Other than that, just… You know, exams and homework, and homework, and homework… He tries really hard.”
“I’m sure he does.” Leo’s dad added, patting him on the shoulder and smiling brightly. “Good to know that’s what it is. You know, there’s this friend of Leo… What’s his name?”
“Percy.” Leo cut through. “Jason’s cousin.”
His dad, despite being incredibly smart for many things, had never been good with names, so he could figure the question was a leeway for Leo to give him an actual name from his friend group. If his father was gonna go in the direction he thought, Percy was perfect. To his dad, it was just a name that fit; to Jason’s, who were related to the guy and close to his family, Percy would be a very, very easy lie to believe.
“Percy, that’s it!” His dad snapped his fingers. “You see… There was this time that he stopped hanging out with friends for a long time, but there was no apparent reason, and no one said anything for… I don’t know, two months, maybe three. Two and a half… Give or take! Thing is… After a while, people started to get worried. Not just friends, no, their parents too. In the end, they found out he was… Oh, this is hard to say. He was a victim of abuse, you know? Bad case, at that. It was the first thing I thought of when I noticed Jason wasn’t going out as much… Extremely worrisome, if you ask me. I hope no one else thinks the same way.”
“Oh, that is…” Her face as she struggled to form a coherent reply was a poem. “Such a compelling story. We are so sorry to have worried you! There’s nothing to fear, though. This exam season looks easier, so Jason will be going out a lot.”
“Really?” Leo asked, not wanting to give enough time for Jason to ask the same thing.
“Yeah! Yeah, of course! Isn’t that right, sweetheart?”
“Sure.” He turned around, offering his fist for Leo to bump. “I’m free on Wednesday, if you wanna go out.”
“Sounds good. I’ll call Pipes.”
“How lovely.” Juno replied, with a very sour expression on her face. “Now, Jason, I think you should come… Actually, why don’t you take Lupa for a walk? I need to talk to your dad.”
“Okay!” He said, smiling much happier than he had in ages just after the woman disappeared into the house. He turned around and looked at Leo like he was a treasure, still beaming. He was expecting a thank you, or a high-five, but the boy quickly put down his box to kneel and hug him tightly. He smelled like brownies and coconut-shampoo, and his embrace was warm and comfortable, as safe as always. “I could… God, I’m so happy.”
“It was nothing.” Leo replied, finding it hard to let go but doing so just so Jason could thank his dad too. “So… Wednesday?”
“I wouldn’t miss it.” Jason said, basically jumping.
“See you then, there.”
They said their goodbyes after that. Leo closed his eyes and rested his head against the back of his chair, quietly asking him for his dad to lead him back. He felt way happier than he had been in the ride to the house. It wasn’t perfect. He could guess Jason’s parents were gonna be upset, or at least frustrated, and somehow find a way to blame their son, but at least he had some freedom again, and that felt like a huge victory. Plus, with how happy the boy had seemed, it was hard not to focus on the successes: Jason could go out again, they were seeing each other on Wednesday, and, for a moment, it had seemed like he was gonna mention kissing Leo.
Notes:
i dream about it, and i wake up falling.
1. this is it guys, the last chapter with a boygenius/phoebe bridgers song for title!
2. TRANSLATION !!
"I'll explain tomorrow.
“Explain it today.”
“It's gotta be tomorrow. Just call them and tell them he's stay, please.” (cutesy, more childish version of please btw)
“Ay, but…”
“Dad. I like him, alright? I really like him, so please just ask for him.”
"Go to your room, and you'll explain tomorrow"3. some in-n-outs of planning/writing this chapter: you'll see, when i started this fic, i really wanted it to feature a scene in which leo got triggered at a social gathering, whether it was a party or a concert, and i really wanted it to be about seeing calypso. thing is, i wasn't really sure i was gonna even get to mention calypso! the part in which leo talks abt it with will wasn't planned until a week before writing it! if you go back to early chapters, where hazel is distrusting that will is gonna be mean/take advantage/whatever of leo, it's actually because she's protective of him after what happened w caly and istg i was so scared i would never get to add her into the fic and that there would just be 2 random chapters of hazel being rude 3 !! also, i really knew i wanted to feature a naomi concert, but even i came to the logic solution of having both hings happen at the same time i was so so so not confident on this chapter,,, literally all i had typed was "leo gets triggered" and that was meant to be the full chapter, and i was so sure i would have to scrape it for something else... YET HERE WE ARE PEOPLES!!! WE DID IT!!! WE MADE LEO VALDEZ SAD !!! WOOHOO!! (leo ily dw)
4. very important information: GUYS. BROWNIES ARE CANONICALLY JASON'S FAVORITE. I WAS SO SURE THERE WOULDN'T BE ANY CANON INFO ON IT BUT THERE IS AND FOR SOME REASON I FIND IT SO CUTE LIKE,,, just jason, in a bakery in new rome, eating brownies with his friends and getting his mouth full of crumbs :( that's my son guys
5. i bought the rise and fall of a midwest princess (highlight of the week) and i thrifted the good witch which would hopefully arrive next week. also got bury the hatchet which omg what an album guys!! i love my cd collection so much <3
6. next chapter will be a nico pov!! and who knows! we might get a solangelo date i mean who said that
Chapter 16: " famous last words "
Summary:
“I asked Hazel.”
“To find you a place?”
“For…” Nico started to say confidently before shying out and biting his tongue. He wished he hadn’t let Will grab the only menu, needing something to cover his face with. If he wasn’t blushing, he certainly did once he spoke again: “For date spots recs.”
“Oh.” Will said, giggling nervously right after and lifting up the menu to hide the fact that he too was blushing. “That’s really nice of you. Thank you.”
“Was it a date when we had dinner after your match that time?” Nico asked, making the blonde pull down the menu.
“Was it?” He said, taking a hand to his face as if he was considering it. “I think it counts as an unofficial date.”
“So this can be our first official date?
Notes:
hello peoples and welcome to a new chapter
tw for shitty parenting and cw for an autistic meltdown
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
i am not afraid to keep on living,
i am not afraid to walk this world alone.
honey, if you stay, i’ll be forgiven.
nothing you can say can stop me going home.
j !
Saturday 2nd, 10:21 AM
j !
you’re not going to believe what just happened.
also, how is that AP spanish class going?
<3 will <3
Saturday 2nd, 10:34 AM
nico
hey!!
do u wanna go for berakfast?
<3 will <3
could it be tomorrow?
i’ve got a match in a few hours
also moms leaving tongiht nd i wanna spend the day w her
nico
yeah sure
see u tomorrow <3<3
. . .
Nico wasn’t sure if going to grab breakfast together was considered a first date, but just to be sure, he was treating it as such: he had asked Hazel for places suggestions, eventually deciding on a cute café close to Central Park, had spent Saturday night trying on different clothes until coming to the conclusion that he liked what he wore better when he hadn’t actively put much thought into it… For the first time in his life, he found himself sad not to have a driver’s license, because he would have loved to be the one picking Will up rather than viceversa. At least, it meant he got to see Will pull up in front of his house and get off the car with a smile that turned dumb and in love as soon as he saw Nico.
“Hi!” Will greeted him once Nico was close to the car, whose door the blonde was holding open.
“Hey.” He replied at the same time, lifting himself on his tippy toes to press a quick peck on the boy’s lips before entering the car. Will froze for a bit, hand reaching out to touch at his mouth as if to check the kiss had been real before apparently remembering that they were dating and getting back in the car. “Everything alright?”
“Yeah, just… In front of your house?” He asked. Nico, who was buckling himself up, just shrugged. “Do your parents know?”
“My parents won’t care.”
His dad knew he was gay, and had never seemed very bothered by it. After Nico had told him, the man had just kept staring with a neutral expression and given him a cold “okay” before changing topics. After that, Nico couldn’t recall the theme coming up again. To be fair, he wasn’t very open about his personal life with his father, and it wasn’t like he had been in any relationship that the man should know of. Nico wasn’t really upset about the lack of attention, or that’s what he thought.
His last sessions in therapy had been about his father. It had upset him a bit for the topic to need more than a session: he had two dead family members who fucked his mental health way more than his perfectly alive father, and that’s what he had told Dr. Hestia once she told him they would continue working on his relationship with his dad for some weeks. The woman had hit him with “do you think there’s a reason this topic in specific makes you so defensive?,” which had messed him up a bit, even if his response had been trying to look unbothered as he replied “I’m not defensive of my dad.” That same day, at night, he had called Will very sad, feeling guilty for having been rude.
According to his therapist, most of his other problems had something to do with their lack of relationship. That was what she had said about his “survivor’s guilt” —which Nico still thought had an incredibly unoriginal name—, his need to compensate for being disabled, and his lack of confidence in his own skills. She had said he rejected positive attention, which at first had felt stupid. Why would he go out of his way to do that? Used to it or not, one would have to be stupid to actively reject it. He had initially thought that way, but changed his mind once he realized how despite having started to draw seriously almost daily he was still shy about it. Whenever Hazel complimented anything she saw him doing, Nico would shrug and act like he didn’t really care about the piece, and he was still a bit scared of Will even if the other had never said anything other than positive about his sketches. Dr. Hestia had told him compliments could be desistabling, since they challenged the views he had interiorized all his life, and when Nico had replied “so I’m just stubborn,” she had —very annoyingly— said that he needed to stop making himself out to be a bad person, something he had never realized he did.
For the foreseeable future, they were gonna keep tackling the root of his problems. The most they had shied away from the topic had been towards the end of their last session, where Nico had asked to vent about how he had gotten a boyfriend and managed to tell him what felt like a pretty big lie on the same day, and how guilt had been eating at him ever since. He hadn’t been able to properly explain to his doctor what the lie was about, not wanting to risk having the CPS called on Jason out of nowhere, but she had said it was alright. Obviously, she had advised him to come clean about it, but Nico hadn’t managed to find a moment. Hopefully, they would have time for it at some point of their date.
“Do you need to talk about it?” Will asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.
“Nah.” He shook his head no. “I’ve talked about it in therapy more than I ever wanted to.”
“Oh, right.” The other said. Nico turned to his side and saw him smile nervously as he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “And how’s it been going, if you wanna share?”
“Hm…” Nico hummed. He thought about it for a bit before answering. “It’s annoying. I don’t like being told there’s something wrong, it makes it feel more real. I had more stuff bothering me than I thought, so, not cool. But I’m glad I’m going again. It’s helping me even if just slowly.”
“I’m so proud of you.” Will told him, pulling his eyes away from the road for a tiny second just to smile at Nico. Once his gaze left him, the nervous look took over him again. “And… Well…”
“Are you okay?” The blonde nodded. “You can tell me if there’s something wrong.”
“I just… Do you know how sometimes I get nervous about things?” Will said, words sticking together because of how fast he spoke.
Of course Nico knew. The first time he had noticed had been during homecoming, when Will had been so scared about the crowded room that he hadn’t been able to speak. He had been fidgety at the museum field trip, more content than many would be about having to spend a field trip making sure their autistic friend didn’t get overstimulated. At Halloween, he had straight up told him he felt less than the rest, constantly afraid of harsh judgment, which still escaped Nico, who found it hard to see why someone would dislike him.
“Yeah.”
“Hyacinth thinks I should tell dad.” Will said. “And find help for it. But I don’t know… It’s so scary.”
The boy was driving, both hands on the steering wheel, meaning that there was, sadly, no way for Nico to hold his hand. He turned to look at Will once more, even if the other couldn’t do the same to face him, and hoped he could convey enough reassurance through just tone.
“I think he’s right that you should get help for it.” Nico started with a soft voice. “You can’t just live constantly afraid of what other people are going to think of you. That’s exhausting, and bad for your health.”
“But…”
“I get that it’s really hard.” Nico replied. “What part of it do you find scary?”
“I don’t know… I don’t want dad to think I’m stupid or something.” Will said.
“Has he ever made you feel like that’s a possibility?” He asked, concerned, although the other had never had any complaints about his father.
“Not really… Not at all.” He rectified, biting his lip as he thought about it. “But what about after? I’m scared that I’ll go to therapy and they’ll tell me that I’m either right that everyone is better than me or that I won’t be good at getting better. I’m bad at lots of stuff, so what says I’ll be good at this?”
“It’s therapy, Will, it’s the therapist's job to be good at it.” Nico replied. “As long as you try to get better, you’ll be doing your part. They would never tell you everyone else is better… That’s just not true. You’re great, seriously. You’re so smart, and fun, and caring…” He started to list qualities until he ran out of fingers to count them. “You are so interesting, and so kind-hearted, you get amazing grades, you’re good at sports…”
“I am not.”
“Are you kidding?” He tilted his head. “You’re a staple on the school’s team even if you started just some months ago! You’re so quick to pick stuff up! You adapt so well, and you’re so determined and passionate and…”
“Do you seriously think all of that?” Will asked, shyly and with a weak, sad tone that was straight up painful.
They had reached a red light, which gave Nico a few seconds to grab the boy’s hand and make him turn to look at him. He looked really sad, enough to make Nico lean in and place a kiss on his cheek, right below the eye, as if to prove a point.
“Of course I do.” He said after. “Why do you think I fell for you? You’re other things besides handsome, you know?”
Subconsciously, he had crossed his arms after falling back into his seat, and he didn’t need a mirror to know he was frowning. He was stubborn, no matter what his therapist said, and he refused to take anything that wasn’t Will thinking as highly of himself as Nico did. There was a slight chuckle from the driver’s seat.
“Don’t get angry.” Will asked, softly.
“I’m not angry.” He replied. “Just sad. If I can’t not hammer some self-esteem into you, at least I should be able to hug you.”
“We can go to the park after breakfast.” The blonde offered. “We’ve got all morning.”
. . .
Nico would have to thank Hazel later, because the café was straight up adorable. Sure, the fact that the main colors throughout it were pastel pink and baby blue didn’t match his aesthetic a lot, and he knew that no one would guess that out of the two of them, it had been him who had chose it, but that didn’t matter. Will picked the table: a small nook squished between two half-walls covered in cute clutter and drippy plants, right by a window.
“This place is so cute.” He said, grabbing the menu off the table. Nico had checked it at home, and already knew he was gonna get a plate of pancakes, so he let Will find something for himself. “How’d you find it?”
“I asked Hazel.”
“To find you a place?”
“For…” Nico started to say confidently before shying out and biting his tongue. He wished he hadn’t let Will grab the only menu, needing something to cover his face with. If he wasn’t blushing, he certainly did once he spoke again: “For date spots recs.”
“Oh.” Will said, giggling nervously right after and lifting up the menu to hide the fact that he too was blushing. “That’s really nice of you. Thank you.”
“Was it a date when we had dinner after your match that time?” Nico asked, making the blonde pull down the menu.
“Was it?” He said, taking a hand to his face as if he was considering it. “I think it counts as an unofficial date.”
“So this can be our first official date?” Nico asked, trying to ease his doubt.
As soon as the words were off his mouth, Will started to nod, beaming at the question. He covered his face with his hands for a brief moment, as if he didn’t know where to put them. The blonde struggled to cope with excitement for a bit before he talked again.
“I want to take you to so many places.” Will started. Nico didn’t have time to reply “me too” before the boy kept talking. “The cinema, a picnic, a museum… How do you feel about arcades? I know you love videogames, but they get so loud. Also, when exams start, would you mind a study date?”
“Don’t remind me of exams.” Nico groaned, painfully aware of how midterms were approaching slowly but surely. “I would love a study date, just make sure not to let me distract you.” He said, sounding way flirtier than he intended to, seeing as he had had his short attention span in mind when talking. “Arcades are fine, just tell me in advice so I can wear headphones.”
“Got it.” Will replied. “Anything to comment about the other ideas?”
“They sound great.” He mumbled thinking about them.
A waitress came to take their orders: pancakes and a glass of water for Nico, and a waffle and orange juice for Will. After she left, Nico continued picturing the dates the other had suggested. He owed Will a museum trip, for starters, and there was a sort of excitement that came with taking the picnic blanket away from Hazel, who had had her in her room ready to take out ever since Frank and her got together. The cinema sounded great too. Will had promised a movie marathon, and he was still waiting for it.
“What film would you want to watch in the cinema?” He asked.
“You should choose! I made you watch Teen Beach Movie, so it’s your turn.” Will said. “What movies do you like? I don’t think I’ve ever asked.”
Nico shifted in his seat. The waitress came back with their respective breakfast, placing the plates in front of them.
“Take a guess.” He said after she left.
“Hm…” Will hummed, grabbing his glass and putting the straw between his lips, taking a sip as he considered. “You and Lou are very alike… Horror? But, like, those classic horror films with special effects so old they’re just goofy and not scary.”
“I like old horror, yeah.” He mumbled. “Also, not that old and not that scary, but I love The Rocky Horror Picture Show. You said you watched it last year?”
“Mhm, I liked it.” Will replied. “It was really fun. I’m not all that good with horror movies, though.”
“‘S okay.” Nico told him. “I like other stuff. I’m fond of Ghibli.”
“That… Somehow it strangely fits you.” His boyfriend replied, making Nico raise an eyebrow. He liked to think it fit him too, but he knew most people wouldn’t agree. It was nice Will thought the same way. He smiled, looking down at his plate, which he had yet to start, only poking the food with his fork without actually cutting it. “Hey, you can order something else if you changed your mind.” Will said, apparently noticing.
“No, no.” He was quick to reply. There wasn’t anything off about the food, just a slight nervousness about trying something out at a new place. Not pleasant, but nothing he hadn’t been expecting. There was just something else bothering him. “Can I sit there?” He asked, pointing at where Will was sitting.
“You wanna swap seats?”
“No, at your side.” He clarified. “Like at school.”
Will blushed, scooching himself closer to the wall and patting at the empty space by his side right after. They were eating side by side a minute later. Nico asked about his day with his mom yesterday, and Will started to ramble about it. She had gone to his match, which his team had won, even if he himself hadn’t had a chance to score. His whole family, Hyacinth included, had gone eat out and spent the day around town together before driving her to the airport at night, and he had called Lou and Cecil till 2 AM after coming back home.
“It’s weird.” Will said once they were mostly done eating. “I miss them, and I can’t wait to go back, but I never want to leave here.”
“You have to visit.” Nico told him, resting his head against the other’s arm.
“I will.” He promised. “Or… You can come to Austin one day. There’s not much to see…”
“There’s you, that’s all it needs.” Nico replied. “I spend most of the summer in Venice, though.”
“‘S alright. We’ll find a way to see, I promise.” Will said, dropping his knife to grab Nico’s hand. He only had one bit of food left, after all. “I’m gonna go pay.” He said, pressing a quick kiss to the top of his head. “Still wanna go to the park?”
“Mhm.”
He waited outside for Will, leaning against the wall and scrolling on his phone. The two texts for Jason were still unopened and unreplied, seeing as it had completely escaped Nico’s mind to answer his texts. Quickly, he texted him that he was busy but would be available in some hours, clicking “send” just when Will exited the place.
They got to the park pretty fast, with both locations being close by. Soon enough, the couple found a place to sit close to the lake. The sight was beautiful, but there weren’t many people close by, and it was pretty quiet. At his side, Will was smiling, relaxed and sunbathed, letting the calming setting wash over him.
“Do you mind if I draw you?” Asked Nico, watching as the blonde’s face transformed into one of surprise. “It’s okay if not, forget I asked.”
“No, no, no, don’t back up now.” Will told him. “I didn’t know you brought the sketchbook.”
“I take it everywhere.” He admitted, putting it out of his bag. It was the first thing he always packed, and the first he took out after making it home. The fact he hadn’t wanted it a few months ago was crazy.
“Do I have to stay still?” The blonde asked.
Nico shook his head no at the same time he took out his pencil and pen. “If you could talk through it it would be nice, actually.”
“Great!” Will said as Nico’s pencil touched the paper for the first time. “So, my dad’s started to watch Grey’s Anatomy, and I tried to watch a bit with him because I thought ‘hey, if I wanna be a doctor, maybe I’ll like a series about hospitals,’ but it’s not my thing whatsoever… He loves it, though, and it’s always on the TV… It’s gonna make me go crazy.”
Will rambled for about half an hour, maybe 45 minutes, before Nico came to a result he was proud of. Carefully, he started to rip the page off.
“Hey!” Will said upon hearing the noise of paper tearing. “Why are you breaking it?”
“I’m not…” He mumbled, deep in concentration in order not to actually shred it. “Just wish I had scissors.” It took a bit, but in the end, he managed to separate it properly and without the actual drawing being damaged. He handed it to Will before blushing and looking down, hiding behind the paper. “On second thought, I should have asked if you wanted to keep it before ripping it.”
“Are you kidding? It’s so beautiful, Neeks.” The other replied, taking it into his hands and admiring it in awe. “I get to keep it?”
“Yeah. It’s yours.” He replied, hands going to the grass below them to play with it as a distraction. “I’m glad you like it.” Nico said, trying very hard not to reject the compliment.
“I’m gonna hang it in my room.”
“Please, don’t.” There was only so much positive attention he could take so far.
“Top drawer, then?”
“That works.” Nico conceded.
Will placed the painting into his bag, careful not to crease it. When he didn’t put it back right after, Nico realized he was searching for something else inside, which made him scooch closer. After a minute or two, Will found what he had been looking for and pulled it out: an unopened sticker sheet with teal and tawny colors.
“I got you a gift too.” He said, handing them to Nico, who grabbed it with shaky hands. The gesture was small, but it was so adorable and loving that it was making him sentimental. “I got them with Hazel at the merch stand. I hope she didn’t tell you.”
“She didn’t.” Nico said, inspecting them in silence. There was a sun, probably in reference to the last name “Solace,” a banjo, a bunch of references to lyrics that Nico only partially recalled and a cute pair of cowboy boots. “Thank you…”
“It’s nothing, really. You collect them, so I thought you’d like them.” Will wasn’t even half-way through the sentence by the time Nico opened the package, ready to take the sun sticker and place it on his crutch. “Also, you promised me a tour once.”
“Yeah, I did. I did do that!” Nico said, taking the crutch with the colorful ones, placing it in his lap and sticking the sun on it before scooching even closer to Will, enough so that he could lay the mobility aid on both of their laps. “The other one has the edgy, black, goth stickers that no one cares about. This one’s the actually cool one.” His hand went to one that was a star with a smiling face draw on it. “Percy’s mom got me this while I was at the hospital. It’s the first one I ever got. Then, these fish here are Percy’s. He made them himself at the camp he works at, so they’re hand-drawn. They came out a bit ugly, so naturally he gave them to me. Then… These are from a friend of his, Rachel. She makes her own too, sells them on Etsy. This one’s Toph from ATLA, again a gift from Percy…”
He kept going, explaining all of them. There was a bunch of vintage tapes and cassettes, courtesy of Piper, a whole lot of Moomin and Snoopy ones from Hazel, some cute animal ones from Frank, who had also gifted him Mythomagic ones… He had his favorite starter from each generation, something Leo and him had put special dedication to, and some Animal Crossing neighbors that Beth had given him. There was, obviously, the sun Will had just gifted him, sitting close to the star.
“What else do I have…” He mumbled, looking for something he hadn’t mentioned. “Oh, there are these cute ghosts. These are from Jason.” Nico said. His hand, pointing at one of the ghosts, moved upwards to a possum that he was pretty sure was from Leo, but he didn’t mention it. Instead, he moved his hand to his face and began scratching close to his mouth.
“Neeks.” Will called. “Are you alright?” He nodded. There was nothing wrong; he was just trying to decide whether it was a good moment to bring up the topic or not. He still owed Will an explanation. “Has he done anything to you?” Will whispered, genuinely concerned.
That made him lift his head up, shaking his head no almost instantly.
“No. He wouldn’t do anything bad to me.” He rushed to clarify. He couldn’t help but feel partially guilty that that was the idea Will had about the other. “I just… I have to tell you something.”
“I know.” Will said, quietly, before talking again. “I’m sorry, did that sound angry? I’m not angry, not at you. Just, I talked with Leo about it, and he was so confusing. Something about the guy having a super serious reason to lose contact. He said we should talk about it, but I didn’t want to push you.”
“You didn’t need to. I can’t keep a lie, I would have told you the moment we had a minute. That’s what I’m doing.” As he spoke, Nico placed his crutch on the grass alongside the other so he could take his knees to his chest. “I lied to you. I’m so sorry.”
“What about?” Will asked, instead of jumping to whatever negative reaction Nico had expected.
“I knew they’d lost contact before you told me.” He whispered. “I only pretended not to.”
“Can I ask why?” The blonde asked. Again, rather than angry, he just sounded worried. One of his hands was on Nico’s back drawing circles, and his voice made him sound like he felt sad about how regretful the other seemed.
“I didn’t want you to think I just didn’t care that he was ghosting Leo and Piper.” Nico explained. “Of course I cared.”
“I know that.” Will said, giving him a slight squeeze. “You told him to fix things, right?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I did.” Nico groaned into his hands. “I don’t want you to think he didn’t mean it. He did, I can promise you that. Just… Look, Jason didn’t choose to be unable to go out with his friends, he just couldn’t, because of a serious issue. The only reason he didn’t tell Piper and Leo was not to worry them. He hates worrying people or being the center of attention. To a certain point, it scares him. But he never meant to hurt anyone. He’s not a douchebag, I promise.”
“Are you sure he apologized genuinely?” Will asked.
“I am.” He answered. “I know you don’t trust him, and I get it, but he’s a sweetheart. There’s a reason Leo and Piper and I like him so much. And I know you doubt him, but I swear he cares a lot about all of us. Out of everyone involved, I’d say he’s the most hurt with everything going on.”
Nico patiently waited for a response, which he anticipated to be Will walking away or similar. It never came. Instead, the other brushed his hair out of Nico’s face, making him look up to where he was smiling softly and forgiving.
“It’s alright, Neeks. I trust you and Leo, and you both said the same thing, so…”
“Aren’t you upset?” The boy interrupted him. “I lied to you.”
“Don’t do it again, of course.” Will said. “But I’m not angry. You said there’s a complex issue at hand, so I get that it’s not always easy to communicate about it. Thank you for telling me now.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I didn’t find the moment.” He apologized, shifting inside Will’s embrace. “Did I ruin the date?”
“Of course not, don’t be silly.” As if to prove his point, Will pressed a kiss to the top of his head. Nico chuckled against the boy’s chest. He loved their height difference allowed for those kinds of kisses; he really loved them. “We’re fine, alright? And I love you.”
“I love you too.” He replied, the words getting muffled by how he was hiding his face against Will’s body.
Like this, it was hard for him to believe he had been the first one to say “I love you” in the relationship, or even the first one to confess. Nico felt shy, vulnerable and small… He was all of that, or at least the first two. Will squeezed him, causing him to smile into the hug. Nico was glad he had someone like him to pull the braveness out of him.
. . .
On the next Friday, as usual, Nico and Hazel got home before their parents. The first thing he did was collapse on the couch, throwing his backpack on it. Nico was devastated. He had woken up in pain on Wednesday and skipped school both that day and the next. In the morning, he had promised Hazel that he was totally alright to go to school, but in reality he just didn’t want to miss three days in a row just a week before midterms. So, he took an ibuprofen, left to school, and managed most of his classes with the only consequence that now that the pill was wearing off he was starting to feel bad again.
“Do you want me to carry your back upstairs?” Hazel asked, noticing him.
“Nah.” The boy shook his head. “I’ll do it later. Or I’ll just study here.”
“Wanna help me with World History?”
“Yeah, sure.”
The time it took for Hazel to go upstairs and come back with her textbook and notes was the same Nico needed to mentally and physically prepare to go from the couch to the big table in their dining area. His sister turned the TV on, using it to play some compilation of relaxing jazz for studying. She sat with him after asking if he wanted anything from the kitchen, which he didn’t, and they began studying.
World History was their first exam coming up, and also easily one of Nico’s favorite subjects. Growing up, he had gone through different history-related obsessions: alongside the still persisting Ancient Greece special interest, he had had his fair share of hyperfixations on pirates, medieval knights, the Italian Renaissance, pirates again, the resistance movements against fascism, the music scene through the 80s and 90s, pirates again… Overall, he was good at the subject because it was the only one that interested him. Part of the reason his days-long flare-up had annoyed him so much had been that it had ruined his chance at tutoring Will on it.
Their parents arrived home once they had already finished eating and moved on to another subject, around 17:00. Surprisingly enough, they arrived together, without the usual 30 to 60 minutes of distance that Nico was used to. He raised an eyebrow in Hazel’s direction, whose confused face indicated that she found it weird as well. Just to add to their confusion, the marriage didn’t disappear into their room or office either. Instead, they greeted their children and went to where they were studying.
“Had a good day?” His father asked. Nico had to check into his memory to make sure that that one shared therapy session his doctor kept insisting on hadn't happened.
“Yeah.” They said almost at the same time.
“Good.” The man said, taking off his jacket and carefully bending it over his arm. “Do you have your planners there?”
“I do!” Hazel said, immediately opening hers. Nico hummed, guessing they were probably about to have a fancy dinner sometime soon. “What is it?”
“Your mom and I will be going on a trip while you’re on spring break.” He said. “You’ll be staying alone with Giulia the whole week.”
“Alright.” Hazel said, shuffling through the pages to note down their absence on the right dates.
“Where are you going?” Nico asked, genuinely curious.
“It’s a business trip, it doesn’t really matter.” His father said.
“You’re going on a business trip together?”
“I’m just going as a plus one for some of the events.” His step-mother explained as she grabbed her husband’s arm.
“To where?” He insisted.
“Nico, I said it didn’t matter.” His dad said sternly.
Nico knew he probably should let go of it, but the fact his father was insisting on him not knowing bothered him. One of the possibilities, the most upsetting one, settled in his head. Knowing it wouldn’t leave until he found an answer, he kept asking.
“Why not?”
“It’s a business trip. We didn’t choose the destination, and we won’t do much sightseeing.” The man said. “It does not matter.”
“Then, just tell me.”
“You’re being impertinent.”
“I’m asking a harmless question.”
“Nico…”
“I’m gonna find out at some point.” Nico said, growing more confident on what he had thought the destination would be. He bit his tongue after he was done talking, not wanting to risk sounding too angry too soon.
“He’s right, darling.” Said Hazel’s mom. The man’s mouth itched, annoyed, and he went to scratch around his lips before replying.
“It’s in Milan.” He admitted.
Nico’s world stopped for a second. His father was going to Italy and he was taking his wife from New Orleans rather than his Italian son who hadn’t seen his family there in a year. Cool. Lovely. Great. He kept biting his tongue for a few seconds before he finally snapped, sitting up from the chair despite the fact his legs still hurt.
“It’s in Milan?” He repeated, basically shouting. “And you’re not taking me?”
“They’re mostly no-minors-allowed events.”
“I don’t care about the events! Do I look like I care about those?” Nico asked. “Why can’t I go with you and just stay in Venice?”
“Because we are going to Milan.”
“It’s two hours by train! And I haven’t seen my grandparents in months, and…”
“And you have midterms right after.” His father argued. “Plus, it would be unfair for your sister to stay by herself.”
“Hazel can come too!” He argued. “She came last summer.”
“Have you asked her if she wants to come?”
Nico turned around towards his sister. His eyes were starting to tear. Maybe he was overreacting, but he missed Italy and the fact there was a perfectly good chance for him to visit getting wasted right in front of his eyes was upsetting him too much.
“You want to come, right?” He asked her, hating how angry he sounded. Nico didn’t mind it towards his dad, but towards Hazel was a different thing. She didn’t deserve it, so he tried again. “You want to, right?” Without the anger, his voice was just pure vulnerability, sounding hurt about not having been included in the trip and sad about not going. Nico hated it too.
“I would rather stay and study.” She replied, tilting her head. Nico’s eyes watered more, aware that he couldn’t blame her or force her to change her mind. “But I don’t mind staying by myself. Nico’s got part of his family there, he should go.”
“We are flying to a completely different city.”
“ El treni xe vìnti euro! ” Nico shouted, too upset to keep to English. His dad was literally rich and he couldn’t spare 20 euros on a 2-hour long train trip to Venice for him. That was about as much as he could take, and perhaps the language switch would help his father remember who in the family was actually from Italy.
“We’ll go to Venice in summer and you’ll see your grandparents all right. All you have to do is stop being impertinent and wait…”
“ Testa da caso.” He mumbled, frowning as hard as he could and gnashing his teeth as if that would help to hide the fact he had started to cry. His dad didn’t care about the frowning or the teeth, not more than he cared about getting Nico with him on the plane, and definitely no more than he cared about his son crying. He cared about the insult, though.
“Don’t talk to me like that.” The man raised his voice.
Nico wanted to argue back, wanted to tell him that he wouldn’t even change to English until his father took him out of the states, wanted to go for a heavy insult… He didn’t have it in him. He was too upest, too annoyed and too hurt by everything. Hazel’s relaxing jazz music compilation on the background was starting to stress him out, and the fact he was gonna have to spend a whole week at his dad’s house rather than at his grandparents’ home was breaking him down too fast. He had spent weeks trying to deny that his dad not paying attention to him had a serious effect on his mental health just for his dad to actively ignore the fact he had an Italian son to travel to Italy with. He started to cry harder, finding it hard to breath and hearing himself scream over the jazz music from the TV. His head hurt, and he realized lately that he was pulling at his hair. Hazel’s hand went to his arm, trying to get him to let go of his hair.
“Neeks, you’re hur…”
“Don’t touch me!” He shouted at her, regretting it immediately.
Nico did let go of his hair, just to cover his face in embarrassment for having shouted at his sister, something he did too fast to see if the girl had reacted to his words. He wanted to kick himself, and he wanted to kick his dad, and he wanted to apologize to Hazel but all he could manage were loud whines and cries that weren’t getting him anywhere.
“For the love of God, Nico.” He heard his father say. “It’s not the moment for a tantrum.”
His intention had been to shout “it’s not a tantrum!,” but he just shouted at his dad, hands flying back to his hair as if to prevent himself from actually punching the man. At his side, he heard Hazel speak.
“It’s not a tantrum.” She said, crossing her arms before pointing upstairs. “Leave him alone.”
“He can go to his room if…” This time, Nico managed to articulate something that remotely sounded like “get me a stairlift” before his dad could finish his sentence. “Nico, I swear.”
“Love.” That was Marie’s voice. “Let’s go up, the kid needs a moment to himself.”
“We can’t keep getting him everything he…”
“I said the kid needs a moment to himself.” She stayed firm. “We’ll talk about it.”
“Alright.” The man ended up conceding. “We’ll talk about this once you calm down.”
“I didn’t mean him and you.” His wife said, grabbing him by the arm and basically pulling him upstairs.
By the time they were out of sight, Nico had collapsed on the ground, struggling to breath and punching the floor as a way of not punching himself. His legs hurt, and his hands were starting to follow suit. His head was a mess and he was getting overstimulated, even if Hazel had been quick to turn off the lights and the TV. She knelt by his side, holding a pillow and handing it to him. After a split second in which he decided whether to scream onto it or punch it instead, he hugged it closely and hid his face on it as he shouted and cried for some good 5 minutes before his body gave up, falling from his knees to just lying on the floor, head on the pillow. The plushie one Percy had given him for his birthday was upstairs, he thought as he wished he could have it with him as well. He choked out a weak whine at that.
“Do you want me to get you a glass of water?” Hazel asked.
She was by his side, still kneeling. She had chosen to wear a skirt, and her knees were probably hurting from being against the hard floor for so long. The fact he had shouted at her earlier made him want to puke.
“Mhm.” He said, nodding. “‘M plushie.”
“I’ll go get it for you.”
She came back in less than 5 minutes, which wasn’t slow by any means but was certainly longer than Nico had expected, with a glass of water and his pillow plushie for him to hug. He held it tightly, rocking back and forth on the ground to soothe himself. As he emptied the glass, his sister started to tidy up the table they had been studying at. After a while of rocking on the ground, Nico sat with his back towards the back of the sofa, pulling his knees to his chest. Hazel sat by his side, close enough for him to rest his head on her shoulder as she whispered calming sentences to him. It was peaceful for some seconds before Hazel’s phone began to ring.
“He must be here.” She mumbled so quietly Nico doubted it had been meant to be said out loud. He frowned when she stood up to open the door, upset at the idea that his sister had called someone over when he had just had a meltdown. “He’s behind the sofa. Don’t be loud.”
If he hadn’t felt completely unable to speak, Nico would have complained about being talked about like he wasn’t in the room, but he didn’t have the words or the energy for it. He listened quietly as two sets of steps approached his location, and looked up once they stopped. The sight surprised him —it would have been enough to make him smile if he hadn’t been so tired of everything: Will was standing in his living room, hair damp and sticking to his forehead, dressed in an orange hoodie that Nico recognized as the Centaurs training clothes and torn jeans. At his side, was the best step-sister Nico could have ever asked for, smiling proud of herself. She had called Will, he realized, wanting to tear up at the thought.
“Hey, sweetheart.” Will said. They hadn’t talked about nicknames, and they hadn’t used them before, but Nico didn’t mind it. “How are you feeling?” He lifted a hand to do a “so-so” gesture, even if he was feeling rather bad. “Wanna go out for some fresh air?” His boyfriend asked. “I’ve got the car here, if you wanna go somewhere. The cinema, or the park… My house, even. Or we can stay here.”
Nico frowned and shook his head no, standing up and grabbing his backpack in the process. He pointed towards the front door, making it very clear he wanted out.
“Anywhere but here, then?” The blonde asked. Nico nodded. “Got it. Thanks for calling, Haze.”
“No worries, just treat him well.” She said, tone between sweet and threatening. “Text me when you can, alright?” She asked Nico, who gave her both a nod and thumbs-up in response. “Have fun!”
Nico attempted a very forced, very weak smile that mustn’t have been very reassuring before following Will outside. Although he couldn’t properly convey it, he was happy. Happier, at least, than he had been 10 m inutes ago. He was still very pissed, and he had a conversation pending with his dad despite what Marie had said, but at least he had Will ready to take him out in their impromptu second official date.
Notes:
everyone !! there's a rrverse halloween trade that's taking sign-ups at the moment !! i've signed up and i'm so excited !! go check it out and sign up as well if you can (the event can't run if not enough people join!)
yesterday was the most stressful day of my life and i'm still in recovery from it so i don't really know what to say about this chapter but guyyyys they got their first official date ^0^ and also their second one ig but that'll have to wait for next week! the idea for this chapter started as a side story i told myself to sleep one day and then i went "ACTUALLY!!!" and now here we are! i've been meaning to have nico talk about his stickers for so long too i'm so glad i could write it it even if it wasn't super long <33
sabrina carpenter and maisie peters are touring in north america at the same time and i'm here in southern europe. this is so sick and fucking TWISTED!!! sick and twisted. i'm still delusionally hoping sabrina will add more dates. maybe if she does a deluxe or something idk. i've completely given up on maisie, just hoping mp3 tour will have spain.
EITHER WAYYYYY !! next week's chapter might come on thursday/friday bc i've been so fucking busy guys it's not even silly this is not even funny why did we invent schools why did we invent eduroam why did we invent paperwork WHY!!! on a more positive note my friend gifted me a maisie peters friendship bracelet today so there's that o7
Chapter 17: " tiny dancer "
Summary:
“Your mom calls you ‘sunshine.’” Nico pointed out. It came as a shock until Will remembered they had been around some weeks ago at her concert. “‘S so fitting.”
“You think?”
“Mhm. You’re bright, safe and warm.” The boy nodded. “Can I call you that?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Thanks, sunshine.” Nico said at the same time he closed the sketchbook and turned to look at Will. “For everything.”
Notes:
hello hello hello !!
tw for mentioned past character death (bianca's and maria's)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
so hold me closer, tiny dancer.
count the street lights on the high way.
lay me down in sheets of linen.
you had a busy day today.
Will didn’t really know how to feel about everything. He had gotten the call from Hazel when he was at the school’s locker room, following a match. He had picked up and tried his best to hold his phone between his face and shoulder as he buttoned his pants, and as much as it had been a struggle to not drop it, he had managed. After all, the call had been short-lived. Hazel had only told him the essential —Nico was really sad and probably not really excited about spending the day at home—, and she had sounded worried enough for him to tell her he would go pick him up before she even got to suggest it. Luckily, his family hadn’t been able to come see him, both of them at work, so there hadn’t been any needed explanation about borrowing the car. All Will had needed was texting them that he was gonna go see his boyfriend, which had gotten him a thumbs up from both men with just some minutes of difference.
Now, he was driving away from Nico’s house with the boy sitting in the passenger seat, hands clutching to the plushie he had gotten for his birthday and looking absolutely deflated. He hadn’t even gone through the CDs, which for him was worrisome.
“Hey!” He said, trying to cheer him up. His hand left the steering wheel for a moment to hand his phone with Google Maps opened to Nico. “Why don’t you think of somewhere you wanna go and run it through that?”
He waited, seeing Nico type from the side of his eye, until the text-to-speech voice came through the phone.
“ You choose. ”
“Are you sure?” Nico nodded at his side. “Hm… What do you say we use the coupon for the MET?”
Nico didn’t reply. Instead, he picked up his back from the ground of the car and began searching for something inside until he picked up a red piece of paper, slightly wrinkled and with the words “TEEN PASS” written on it. After a futile attempt at making it less creased by pressing it with his hands against the glove box, he turned to show it to Will with a smile that didn’t look very natural but that the blonde could guess wasn’t entirely fake.
“It might be a bit loud.” Will realized once they got closer to the building. “And there’s a queue…”
At his side, Nico shrugged before the text-to-speech voice talked again: “ That’s fine.”
“Are you sure?”
Nico nodded again, but Will frowned. The boy had forgotten his crutches in his house, and while he didn’t always need them, after two days of missing school over harsh symptoms, he wasn’t excited about the idea of having him stand in a queue for too long, especially when he was still in distress. The boy still had his face wet with tears, even if he had stopped crying, and his hair was undone.
“Can I touch you?” He asked, looking at the other.
Nico nodded, and that was Will’s cue for covering his hands with the paws of his sweater and using them to cup the boy’s face and dry his tears off. He didn’t attempt to fix his hair, fearful touching his head would distress him, but Will still reached out a hand to tuck a rebel strand out of his eyes, red from crying.
“Thanks.” Nico thanked him, choking out the word while Will still held his head between his hands.
“You don’t need to talk. Don’t force it.” He told him, watching as his boyfriend closed his eyes and titled his head, as if trying to rest. “We can just rest in the car if you’d like.” Nico scrunched his nose with his eyes still closed and shook his head no. “Just for a bit. I can go grab something to eat and we can wait in the back seat until the queue is shorter. Does that sound fine?”
Nico nodded, finally opening his eyes again and moving away from Will’s touch. Pulling out his phone, he googled something on it before showing Will a specific cookie brand that he wanted. The blonde left him waiting in the backseat and placed a kiss on his forehead before leaving for the closest grocery store. He was back in less than 10 minutes, slotting right by Nico’s side and handing him his food.
“I forgot to ask what you wanted to drink so I got water.” He said. “I’ve got a coffee, we can swap if you want.”
“‘S fine.” The other told him, grabbing the bottle of water and emptying almost half of it in one go. “Thank you.”
“Are you feeling better?” Will asked, shifting his position so Nico could lie against him as they ate.
“Yeah.” The boy replied. “Your hair’s wet.”
Will had forgotten about that. Truth be told, it was almost dry by now, but it was still humid enough for Nico to notice.
“I went to pick you up after a match.” He explained. “The Stolls kept making fun of me for being so eager to leave.”
“Sorry…”
“No, no, it didn’t bother me!” Will rushed to say. “They weren’t being mean, it wasn’t anything serious.”
“Were you worried?”
“Of course I was.” Will immediately replied. Nico’s face scrunched up upon hearing that. “I care about you. I love you, Nico, of course I worry that you’re fine. I’m glad Hazel called me.”
“Me too.” Nico replied. He didn’t apologize for worrying Will, which the blonde took as a victory. He deserved to have people caring about him, and he was ready to hammer it into his brain as many times as needed, but it was nice to see there wasn’t need for it at the moment. “Thanks for coming.”
“Don’t thank me for that.”
“But I wanna.” Nico complained. Will guessed that if he were more comfortable speaking, he would come up with a better argument, but it wasn’t the case.
“You would have done the same for me.”
“I can’t.” His voice sounded miserable, making Will look down at where he was frowning. “Can’t drive, can’t walk to your place…”
“You would if you could, right?” The blonde interrupted him. Nico nodded immediately. “Then that’s it. You help me in other ways.” He placed the candy bar he was eating on his lap to go grab Nico’s hand. “I feel safe at home, really safe, and I feel really scared when I’m outside. So maybe you can’t come pick me up when I want to leave, but there’s no need, because I never want to leave… But you’re always helping when I’m freaking out, and you know how to make me feel better. You pick me up when I need someone. Maybe not literally, but you do.”
Nico didn’t reply at first. Instead, he moved their intertwined hands close to his face to press a soft, really quick kiss against Will’s freckled skin before moving them back down. He took it as a last “thank you” before they changed topics.
“What did Hazel tell you?” Nico asked, looking up at Will.
“Not much.” Will admitted. She had hung up too soon to go into detail. “She said you were having a meltdown because your father and you had argued and he had been really shitty. I don’t know anything else. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to…”
“He’s going to Italy.” Nico started, interrupting Will. He shifted, changing his posture until he was more vertical and not as sprawled over the other. “He’s not taking me.”
“Oh.”
Will could understand why that was frustrating. If his father had told him he was gonna be visiting Austin and not taking him, he would have gotten mad too. If that’s how he felt about another city in the same country to which he could get by car if he tried, he could only imagine how it was for Nico, who hadn’t lived in his hometown for the past 7 years if not during holidays, and who was completely dependant on flying or sailing if he wanted to see it.
“Did he… Did he say why? Maybe there’s a good reason.” He said, though he was really sure there wasn’t. Will had never heard anything positive from that man, and he was confident he wasn’t about to.
“No.” Nico replied, confirming his theory. “Wasn’t gonna tell us. Said we had exams after, but I could study there. I don’t wanna sightsee my own fucking town. I wanna be with my family.” The boy groaned, his tone completely venomous. “Tried to use Hazel as an excuse. Completely ignored her when it didn’t work.”
“I’m sorry, Neeks. He’s an asshole.”
The words escaped him before he could stop them, and he immediately made a face after noticing. Thankfully, Nico was no longer looking at him, so he didn’t see it. A few weeks ago, he had gotten a call from a really, really sad Nico talking about his therapist, his dad and himself. If he was honest, he hadn’t been really able to follow, attention split between calming Nico down and understanding the story, but Will had gotten the basics: Nico’s dad sucked —which he had guessed already—, Nico obviously knew but didn’t like the idea it seriously affected him, and he didn’t like it when other people noticed.
“I know.” The boy admitted, which shocked Will. When he looked down at him, he saw him pulling out his phone and unlocking it, just to turn it off again. “Hm… Should I tell my therapist?”
“About this?”
Nico nodded. “I think I need a session just for this, but I know it’s a bit petty, but…”
“It’s not.” Will cut him off. “Your dad completely overlooked your feelings on something really, really personal and you’re really reasonably upset. Did he tell you you were being petty?”
“Not directly.” Nico said, which didn’t make Will any less angry. “Said I was throwing a tantrum and that he always gets me everything I want.”
“He’s a piece of shit.” He said, unconsciously throwing an arm around Nico’s shoulders and squeezing him. “You should tell her something happened with your dad and you would like to focus on it the next time you see. She’ll understand.”
While he decided whether to follow Will’s advice or not, Nico started to turn on and off his phone, looking at nowhere as he played with the device or its case until he talked again.
“Do you mind if I make a call?”
“Not at all, go ahead.”
He moved, letting Nico space to sit properly so he could call more comfortably, and picked his food up from where he had left it to finish it. Meanwhile, the boy hit the dial, looking at the ceiling as he waited for the other person to pick up.
“Haze?” He said after a while. Will had assumed he was gonna call his therapist, but it didn’t phase him to be wrong.
“Neeks! How are you?” Her voice came muffled from where Nico pressed the phone against his ear.
“I’m doing better.” He replied, nervously playing with the strings of his hoodie, which was the same one Will had gifted him. “I’m sorry I shouted at you.”
“That’s okay, I know you didn’t mean to.” She told him. “I am not angry at you. I’m sorry dad was like that.”
“Has he said anything?”
“He noticed you’re gone and asked where. I told him you were with Will, and then he asked if I knew where you were gonna be back and I said no.” She explained. “When are you gonna be back?”
“Uh…”
Will reached a hand to grab Nico’s, pulling it away from the hoodie strings. He made sure he had caught the boy’s attention before speaking.
“You can come back to mine if you want.” He whispered, not really knowing where he had gotten the courage to. Nico nodded in understanding.
“I think I’m gonna spend the night at his place.” Nico said into the phone. “Can you tell that to your mom?”
“Yeah! I’ll tell you if they’re not fine with it, but…”
“But they’ll probably not care.” Nico finished for her.
“Yeah.” She agreed. “How’s Will treating you?”
“Really well.” Nico smiled as he spoke, making the blonde match his expression. It was nice to see him happy after such a low day. “Thanks for calling him.”
“You owe me a day of bringing Frank over!” Hazel said. Nico rolled his eyes, but remained smiling. “Bye! Have fun!”
“Bye…”
Instead of hanging up and lying back against Will, the boy dialed another number almost instantly, never once letting go of his hand. Differently than with Hazel, it took multiple rings to go off before someone picked up.
A voice finally came from the phone. “ Pronto.”
Will didn’t understand anything from the call other than some Italian city names whose names in English were similar enough for him to notice or the fact that, from time to time, Nico’s grip on his hand tightened. He didn’t speak when that happened, not wanting to disrupt the other’s call, but whenever he noticed a squeeze, Will made sure to return it. Whatever Nico was saying, he was there to back it up.
“ Baxi.” Nico ended the call after saying that, leaning back on Will’s body. “My grandma.” He explained, pointing at the phone now lying on his chest.
“You sound really good in Italian.” The blonde told him.
He had been trying to say something that would distract Nico and help him relax, and his heart talked before his mind could. Whether he was embarrassed at the random confession or not —he kinda was—, it didn’t matter. Nico seemed to like it, judging by how he chuckled and closed his eyes with a pleased smile on his face.
“Thank you.” He said. It was only two words, but something shifted in the melody and cadence of his voice, his accent a bit stronger after having slipped in fully during the call. “That wasn’t Italian, though.”
“Really?” Will asked. Nico nodded, still smiling. “Are you trying to fool me?”
“It’s Venetian.” The boy explained. “It’s its own different thing from Italian. There’s a bunch of regional languages in Italy. Technically they’re dialects, but Jason says the constitution doesn’t have linguistic authority and that linguists consider them to be actual languages.”
“I didn’t know that. I thought you just spoke Italian.”
“And I do.” Nico replied. He let go of Will to turn around. At this point, they were both basically laying over the backseat and cuddling, and Will had to mentally thank his dad for buying a car with tinted windows because they were still parked in a random street too close to Fifth Avenue to not be crowded. “I speak Italian with my dad. He understands both but he studied Italian specifically, just learnt Venetian from exposition. I speak Venetian with my grandparents, and I did with Bianca and mom.”
“Which one do you prefer?” Will asked. Nico was lying on his chest, face so close he could barely concentrate on what he was asking.
“Hm… Venetian, I think. When I’m angry or stuff… When I’m not thinking properly, it’s what’s easier.” Nico reasoned. The proud smile that had been on his face for the past minutes faded as he hid his face on Will’s orange hoodie. “I’m afraid of losing it.”
“Why?”
“When my grandparents die, I won’t have anyone to speak it with.” He said, so matter-of-factly that Will had to wonder whether his dad’s workfield had desensitized him a bit from death. “‘S okay, I guess. Some things don’t last forever.”
Nico’s tone made it very obvious that he didn’t feel like it was okay. Will frowned, reaching a hand to caress the back of the boy’s head. He had left his birthplace when he was just a kid. His mom’s life had been cut too short, and his sister’s had been even shorter, their relationship had a deadline… He feared Nico had gotten used to things ending too soon.
“Don’t say that.” He mumbled. “You don’t have to lose it.” You don’t have to lose everything, he wanted to say.
There was no reply. Instead, Nico just buried his face on the boy’s shirt again, sighing and hugging around him for a bit until he talked again, words muffled because of the proximity.
“Can I tell you about my sister?”
“Of course you can.” Will replied, words filled with honesty. He had been dying to hear about her, not only because he would like to hear about Nico’s life before him, but also because he feared the other had been bottling up about her death.
“Can you pass me my bag?”
As sad as it was that they had to separate, Will moved until Nico was no longer on top of him and he reached towards the boy’s bag, which waited in the leg space of the passenger’s seat. At his side, his boyfriend sat properly, grabbing the bag once Will offered and pulling out his sketchbook to skim through the pages until he landed on the one he wanted. Nico held the notebook open, showing to Will, who was now resting his head on his shoulder, a beautifully done pencil sketch of a girl with long, wavy hair held in a low ponytail and a vintage fisherman’s hat’s side profile. He recognized her as the girl from that very old photo dump of Venice pictures at the bottom of Nico’s Instagram feed.
“This is Bianca.” Nico started, pointing at her. “I called her Bibi sometimes.”
“That’s really cute.” Will mumbled, earning a nod from Nico.
“She thought so too. When we grew up, I thought she would stop liking it, but when I stopped using it for a bit it made her sad.” The boy explained. “She liked it. She liked astronomy, and Animal Crossing, and silver jewelry. She had a collection of badges that got lost in the accident. She learnt to cross-stitch when we were kids, but never finished a cross-stitch project. The last one she started got lost too.”
He turned the page. The next one was covered in pencil sketches of Bianca in different clothes, caught in different scenes. One had her in overalls picking up an apple from a tree. Another showed her singing a song in front of what seemed like the screen at a karaoke. There was one of her with a cat and one of her sitting cross-legged and tuning a bass.
“Our grandparents used to live in a farm before moving in with mom to the city. We still visited sometimes to make sure everything was alright. She liked going to pick berries and fruits and stuff. I didn’t. I thought it was really annoying. Now…”
Nico didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t need to for Will to guess what he was going to say: either he missed it or he regretted not having enjoyed it. Or both, which was the most likely option. Instead, he just moved to the next one.
“The week before she died, she got her driver’s permit.” Nico mumbled. “Mom was really proud of her. I was too, but I didn’t tell her. I told her I was just glad she was gonna be able to drive me to school, but she never got to. Whatever… Mom took us to a karaoke to celebrate. Percy and Jason came too. Some months ago I realized I forgot which song she had sang, and I called Jason crying because I felt awful. He found a pic he had taken and it had the lyrics on the screen.”
“Which song was it?” Will asked.
“‘Need You Now.’ Not really my thing, but I downloaded it after Jason told me.” Nico said. His hand brushed over the remaining drawings. “These never happened. She had always wanted a cat, but she was allergic. We had just met Piper a year before she died. They got along really well, and Piper was in the process of getting her into punk music. After the funeral, they said they had imagined forming a band with her. I don’t know if they remember, or if they meant it. I haven’t asked. I like to think they did.”
“I’m sure they did, love.” He said, pressing a soft kiss to Nico’s temple. “Can I call you love?”
“You called me sweetheart earlier.” Nico said, avoiding a direct reply.
“Did you dislike it?”
“I didn’t mind. It’s cute, but I’m not sure if it’s my thing.” He said. “Is that alright?”
“Of course it is.” Will told him. “I’ll stick to Neeks.”
“Your mom calls you ‘sunshine.’” Nico pointed out. It came as a shock until Will remembered they had been around some weeks ago at her concert. “‘S so fitting.”
“You think?”
“Mhm. You’re bright, safe and warm.” The boy nodded. “Can I call you that?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Thanks, sunshine.” Nico said at the same time he closed the sketchbook and turned to look at Will. “For everything.”
The eye contact lasted for a second before Will felt himself being pulled in for a peck. When they pulled away, he was about to ask Nico if he was feeling better, but there was no need to. The boy was smiling, bright and genuine, and he seemed calm, at peace. One of his hands was clutching at Will’s sweater from when he had pushed him into the kiss, and the other rested over his notebook caringly. Nico seemed better. Nico seemed happy, and there was nothing he wanted more. He got lost on him, on the way a side of his mouth went up right before he asked.
“So, wanna see the museum?”
. . .
On the way to the end queue, one of the staff members noticed Nico’s sunflower lanyard, which he had found after searching in his bag for a few minutes after they decided they should get going. They got redirected to a different line with way less people, most of them with reduced mobility. Nico hadn’t said anything about it, but Will could see the relief in his face after it had happened.
In spite of being obviously tired both physically and mentally, the boy immediately became a personal guide for Will as they were inside. Without ever letting go of Will’s hand, Nico drove them through the rooms dedicated to Ancient Greek and Roman art, explaining every myth he could remember to him. Occasionally, he commented on the stories and how they had learnt them. He knew his boyfriend had a lifelong fascination with Greek mythology, something he had learnt after the videogame he was playing got an update with new characters, which had led to a late call whose only preface had been a very eager “I need to talk to you about this.” When they moved to the European art rooms, Nico instantly led them to the statues with mythological themes.
He was currently explaining Eros and Psyche. The statue they were standing close to, a copy of the original according to its plaque —and to Nico, who had told him the original author was from the same region as him—, was stunning. Sculpture and paintings weren’t very high on Will’s list of favorite art manifestations: music, films, musicals and plays and comics took most of his interest. In spite of that, Will had seeing eyes and could very clearly appreciate when something was well done or not. Still, as much as he agreed with the people circling around the artwork had good taste, he couldn’t pull his eyes away from Nico.
Nico wasn’t looking at Will. His eyes were down, looking at to where he was moving his arms as he explained. The boy had dedicated a few minutes to the life of the original author, listing off as many pieces by him as he could, occasionally using the Italian name for them and correcting himself just after. Now, each of his hands was a character in the story, though one of them had to multitask as Psyche and her three sisters.
“And then she has to go steal these sheeps but first off, they are Helios’, and you just don’t steal the Helios’ sheeps, and they were also horribly violent, so naturally her go-to is drowning herself in the river.” He explained, very passionately and clearly into the story. “And then the literal river, or, well, its god, told her not to because that would dirty the river. And then she has to go to the Styx which I cannot stress enough how dangerous that is. Like, 0.1 stars on Google Reviews kind of place! It’s basically suicide itself.”
“Mhm.” Will nodded along, letting him know he was listening.
“But Zeus helps her out by flying her up with a bird or something.” Nico continued. “And then Aphrodite gives her this box she has to take Persephone and she tries to kill herself again, but again she doesn’t. So, takes the box to Persephone and Persephone tells her to send it back but Psyche goes and opens it and it puts her to sleep. Literally sleep, I mean. She doesn’t die, just naps for eternity.”
“She did all of that just to half-die?” He asked, genuinely surprised by the ending.
“No! There’s more!” Nico lifted his head for the first time in the past 10 minutes. His eyes were shining, with excitement rather than with tears, and Will couldn’t help but smile at it. He liked standing so close that he could see his eyes shine. Will tried to pay close attention to it, fearful that a phone camera wouldn’t be able to showcase it properly on a video call. “So!”
“So?”
As he spoke, he reached a hand out, trying to grab one of Nico’s before they went back to gesturing. Once he had it in his, he squeezed it, mentally noticing how he couldn’t be sure of whether he had successfully taken it quick or whether Nico had purposefully let him grab it.
“So Eros recovers, finds her and awakes her and goes to explain to Zeus what happens, and Zeus agrees to help them in exchange for later favors.” Nico started, rocking their arms together. “They call an assembly with all the gods, they tell Aphrodite to leave Psyche alone, and then they give her ambrosia so she can become immortal! They got married and had a child. Happy ending!”
Once he was done, Nico let go of Will to be able to reach one of the benches in the room quicker. He patted the empty spot at his side for the blonde to go with him, and stretched his back as Will sat.
“That was a really beautiful myth.” Will complimented.
“It’s one of my favorites.” The other confessed as his eyes studied the sculpture from afar.
“Is there a moral to it?”
“There are interpretations of it.” Nico said at the same time he went to rest his head on Will’s arms. He suppressed a yawn before speaking again. “Got christianified by some authors.”
“Christianized.”
“That.” The boy closed his eyes. “She’s the goddess of the soul. I’ve read that some people think it’s about how the soul can go through horrible stuff, change and still remain beautiful and get a happy ending. That’s the one I like the most.”
“I really like that.” Will mumbled, more to himself than to Nico.
Change scared him. When he had to start basketball, he had broken down. A few months later, he could say he had been one of the most useful players in some matches. He had feared being lonely and disliked, now he was terrified of not being able to keep in contact with everyone. When he moved all those months ago, he had been petrified. Now, he was just as scared of leaving.
Will wanted to turn to Nico, push his hair out of his face and get him to open his eyes. He wanted to whisper to him that he was scared of leaving. He wanted to be held and told it was gonna be okay, that they were gonna be okay. That his life could remain beautiful and happy through this. He didn’t say anything, unable to bring himself to that when Nico was so softly lying against him and resting.
“Your heart’s beating fast.” His boyfriend mumbled without even opening his mouth properly.
“I’ve got a cute boy leaning on me.” He tried to play along.
“Are you getting nervous?” Another tone or another context could have made it come off as flirting, but with the concern in his words, it was obvious Nico just hadn’t bought Will’s little white lie. He didn’t reply instantly, and that was enough for the other to lift up from his arm and softly grab Will’s chins to move it until they were eye-to-eye. “Sunshine, do you wanna leave?”
“It’s not about the people.” He said, in reference to the crowd in the room. A guided tour group had just entered and were getting a briefer explanation of the same statue, but it wasn’t bothering him.
“That’s not what I asked.” Nico said, no annoyance in his voice whatsoever. “Would it calm you down to be somewhere?”
“I don’t wanna leave.” Will said, hoping to ease him. If he did, he didn’t get to enjoy it for too long, seeing as the words that had left his mouth had been exactly the ones his heart was clenching about. He felt himself tear up just over muttering them. “I don’t wanna leave, Nico.”
The boy pulled him into a hug immediately, rocking both of them slightly as they embraced. Thank the Lord they were the least noteworthy thing in the room and that the people would much rather focus on the art than on then.
“I know.” Nico whispered into his ear before they pulled away. His arms remained on Will’s shoulders. “Look, I still don’t really fully know what I’m gonna do with my life in the future, but I know I want it to be by your side. And I’ve never really fought for most things, but I wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t fight tooth and nail for this. I like you too much to lose you over some dumb kilometers, so I’m not gonna.”
Will didn’t know what to do with himself. He knew there were a tear or two running down his face by now, but he couldn’t tell whether they were from sadness or love until Nico reached out to dry them with his sleeve and a soft “don’t cry on me, sunshine.” By then, he knew they were tears of love, and a really quick and tender kiss to the forehead confirmed it.
“I’m tired.” He said after a bit, not wanting to say the word “leave” again and hoping Nico would understand what he meant.
Judging by the way his eyes rolled up dramatically before nodding slowly in a “I get it” gesture, the boy did. Nico grabbed his hand.
“So, back to yours, rights?”
. . .
The ride to Will’s was quick, though once he realized it was gonna be his first ever time bringing Nico home he kinda freaked out and considered driving them the wrong way to drag it out so he could process his feelings. Even if he didn’t, he realized he had forgotten to tell his parents and advance only after parking, and staying in the car as he called just to make sure wasn’t driving in the opposite direction, but it had the same effect.
“Hey, dad?” He spoke into the phone once it was picked up.
“Yes, love?” The man said. “How was the match?”
“Eh, we lost, but it was fun.” Will replied.
“Are you still out?”
“I’m almost home! Just, I was wondering… Can Nico stay the night?”
“With us?” His father asked after a brief silence. “I mean, are his parents okay with it?”
Will shot a look at the boy, who was resting his head on the back of the passenger seat and had his eyes closed and a hand around his plushie, playing with its ears. His other hand came out to give him a thumbs-up.
“Yeah! So, can he stay?”
“Sure.” His dad agreed. “Have you two had dinner?”
“Not really.”
“Will!” That was not his dad, but Hyacinth, whom Will guessed was hearing as much of the call as Apollo. “That’s not romantic!”
“We went to the museum!” The blonde fought back. Nico giggled at the interaction.
“Aw, that’s cute.” His dad said, quiet enough to make him believe that the words had escaped him without realizing or without meaning them for Will. “We were gonna order take out to celebrate something about my job today. Is pizza fine with both of you?”
“Do you feel like pizza?” Nico nodded at the same time he went to place his plushie inside his bag. “Yeah, pizza sounds good! We’ll be there soon. Bye!”
Soon was an understatement. They were there in less than 3 minutes, having parked really close to their building and taken the lifter, because there was no way in hell Will was about to make Nico take the stairs when he was grimacing with every step. By the time he knocked on the door, the other was literally using his body for support.
“It’s not as big as yours, just so you know.” Will prefaced, waiting for one of the adults to open the door.
“Why would that matter?”
“I don’t know.”
The blonde shrugged at the same time the door swung open. Standing on the frame was Hyacinth, who instead of letting them in was studying both of them, looking up and down with a confused face that Will didn’t understand.
“Are you wearing my boyfriend’s hoodie?” He asked, in reference to Nico.
“It’s my boyfriend’s hoodie.” The boy replied instantly.
He let them in after that. Will let Nico walk in first, meaning that he didn’t catch the way Hyacinth smiled at him proudly or how he gave him a supportive pat on the back. His dad was leaning on the kitchen counter with the house’s phone on one hand and a menu on the other.
“Kids! Which one do you want for dinner?” He asked, handing the menu in their way.
“Can I sit?” Nico whispered in Will’s direction tugging on his sleeve at the same time the boy picked the item.
“You don’t have to ask.” He replied, even if what he truly meant sounded more like “if you don’t sit right now, I swear to God…”
Will didn’t like how seemingly shy Nico was all of a sudden. He figured it was a mix from wanting to make a good impression, being tired and still vulnerable from the long day. He was quiet, not really looking up and asking about everything, almost as if he didn’t feel safe. The blonde frowned.
“Do you wanna go to my room?” He suggested quietly while his dad talked on the phone and Hyacinth laid the table.
“No, it’s fine.”
“Are you sure?” Nico nodded. “You seem nervous.” Nico nodded again. “Does that mean that you are sure or that you are nervous?” At that, he raised two fingers, indicating that the answer was both. “Why?”
Nico shrugged. “I don’t like eating in new places.”
“We can…” Will started, though he wasn’t sure what to suggest. Cooking something else had been his first idea, but he could see how that would still stress Nico out.
“‘S okay. I’m gonna try. I’ll say it if I can. I’m just anxious.”
“Just tell me if you need something, okay?”
“Alright.” Nico nodded one last time. “Actually, can I have a painkiller?”
Will went to fetch a glass of water and an ibuprofen pill, putting them on the table in front of Nico just as his dad is done ordering. The boy thanked him for the medicine and Will took the chair by his side while his dad sat in front of them. Hyacinth excused himself, placing a quick kiss on his partner’s temple before quietly telling him he was gonna shower.
“What are we celebrating?” Will asked, wanting to fill out the silence as soon as possible. “You said something happened at work.”
“Oh!” The topic made his father’s face lit up and caused him to smile brightly and give some quick, tiny claps. “We finally got to announce one of my artist’s albums. It’s her second one, but she’s got a pretty dedicated fanbase. We’re hoping some of the shows sell out.”
“When’s the tour?” Nico asked.
“It kicks on in May, right here. First night is in Webster Hall.” Apollo replied. “You wanna give her a listen?”
“Yeah! How was it producing the album?” Nico said before he could remember to ask the name of the singer. “What would you describe your style as? What are your producer trademarks? How did you choose this career?”
He began rambling off. Will was confident he was just staring at him dumbfoundedly, but he couldn’t help it. He was glad that at least the topic of music had made him feel less shy, something he should have probably guessed. Nico and Apollo got lost talking, and were still discussing production when Hyacinth came back from the shower.
“It gets better.” The man said as he squeezed Will’s shoulders before taking the seat by Apollo’s. “Or worse, it depends.”
“Hey!” The other adult replied, rolling his eyes. He turned to Nico afterwards, just at the same time their door rang. “Oh, I’ll…”
“I’ll go, you rant about your passion.” His boyfriend said, standing up and heading towards the door, leaving Apollo with a bright, soft, in-love smile.
“So, I didn’t ask what music you listen to.” The man asked Nico.
Will was pretty sure he had mentioned the boy’s music taste exhaustively for the past months, but he understood his father wanted to hear for himself. Either that or he wanted Nico to be able to talk about it, which, with the way he got excited and shiny-eyed about the topic, Will understood.
“I really like The Cure. I’m very big on post-punk and goth music, or proto-goth if you will.” Nico started. “Love Joy Division, and Paralyzed Age, and I am not the biggest Bauhaus fan but I really appreciate their influence. I also really like My Chemical Romance and The Used. Foo Fighters too, especially their earliest albums. Ah! And my cousin and friend are in the same punk band. They’re really good.”
“What’s their name? It’s been a while since Will mentioned them.”
“Olympia Grrls! They’re playing next week at Butch’s garage on Saturday.”
“I’ll give them a listen.”
That was the last thing his dad said before the food arrived at the table, although the pause between the next conversation about music was very short-lived. It lasted enough for everyone to grab a slice, Nico included, and though sometimes it seemed like excitement made him forget about eating, he was eating. That was all Will needed.
“It’s a shame I don’t have room for an in-home studio.” Apollo pitied. “I could show you the basics. Have you considered going into music?”
Nico shook his head.
“I like the theory more than the practice. I’m a passive enjoyer.” He explained. “Plus, I think… I think I have something else in mind.”
It took the world for Will not to immediately stop their conversation to pull Nico into a hug and celebrate it. After having heard how the idea of not knowing where to lead his life was stressing him out, he could only be elated with the news that there was a clearer path ahead of him. A part of him couldn’t shake the idea that maybe it was just a way to dissuade Apollo and get him to propose another topic, but there was something in the slight hesitation of his statement, on the faint pride in his tone and on the recent memory of the museum, where Nico had said he “didn’t really fully know” instead of “I have no idea” or any full negative that made him believe otherwise. He would ask once they were alone, but for now, it seemed clear to Will that Nico had something in mind and he couldn’t wait to hear about it.
The opportunity presented itself not much later. With how tired they both were, specially Nico, they went to Will’s bed very soon after eating. The blonde changed in the bathroom, wanting to make his boyfriend move the least possible amount, and when he came back to his room, Nico was wearing the clothes he had given him to sleep in. The warm and pastel colors looked weird on him, but Will still wished he could take a picture to save the moment. He didn’t, though, instead just simply sitting on the bed with him and resting his head on his shoulder. Rather than just letting him rest there, Nico started to move his shoulder up and down, causing him to raise his head back up.
“What’s that for?”
“Revenge.” Nico said, pointing at the spot in the wall in which Will had hanged the portrait he had gotten on their first date. “You promised it would stay in the drawers.”
“You’re right.” He admitted, bowing his head a bit and lifting his hands in the air. “What can I do to make it up?”
“Hm…” The other pretended to be lost in thought for a bit. “You once promised me a Star Wars marathon.”
That was barely a punishment, but Will was smart enough not to point that out, not when he was risking losing a marathon of his favorite films (or, as he liked to call them, the best films ever) with his favorite person in the world. He had never been happier to have pirated the whole series at the age of twelve than he was when he went to pick his laptop and put it in front of them. It was barely a marathon, with how Nico ended up falling asleep on his arm half-way through The Empire Strikes Back before Will could ask anything about his career idea, but it was enough. He had ages ahead of him to find out, ages ahead of them to watch films together, and in spite of the hard day before them, Will went to bed with a brighter future in his head and with the fear of separation muffled by how close Nico was lying next to him.
Notes:
- my perceptions of angst and fluff are completely fucked up but this was fluffy, right, guys? this felt very fluffy when i was writing it. i love me some cuddling. this was mostly a filler episode but i'm excited for next week's (even though i haven't started to write it yet,, yikes). btw next week's chapter will be posted some hours earlier !!! i'm travelling the day after posting it and i wanna be well-rested ^0^ !! i'm kinda worried about the chapter bc it has to fit a lot of stuff in it but trust !!
- this chapter featured some things i have been wanting to write for the longest time which is nico showing his sketchbook to will and them going to his place (AND WATCHING STAR WARS!! the cuties ever). also i had planned for them to go to the museum again for ages but i had no idea what to mention about it but then i saw they have a copy of eros and psyche and omfg guys i love that statue so much (or sculpture? idk the difference)
- i've started writing this fic which tbh i don't even remember if i mentioned here but it's a streamer/singer college au and i've got 2 chapters already and i'm so excited about it !!! that and my band fic (did i guys tell you i was writing a solangelo band au ? i dont remember that either) are in my mind so often!! i can't wait for you to see them <3
- most important thing to ever happen: ETHEL CAIN 2 SEEMS TO BE COMING GUYS. maisie peters 3 marina 6 and ethel cain 2 in the same year are gonna be the death of my wallet but they're about to give me so much life !!!
- nothing big going on in live other than the fact that today a girl was sticking BRAT signs on my garage o7
Chapter 18: " aurora "
Summary:
"I need you to be proud of you as well.”
Nico wasn’t sure if he wanted to kiss him because of how sweetly he was speaking about and to him, how soft and gentle his soft was or how passionate his blue eyes turned when trying to hammer the words into his brain, or because he just couldn’t take it and wanted something that he knew would shut Will up. He took a deep, slow breath. Take the positive attention, he reminded himself, you can do that. You’ve been learning.
“Thank you.” He replied. It was simple, but he thought it was the most effective way of expressing himself. Nico let himself fall on Will again, head against his chest, heartbeat in his ear. The pace was slow and calm, making it easy to relax. “I hope you know how much better you’ve made my life.”
“You did it yourself, I was just here.”
“You helped.”
Notes:
casually drops a 12k long chapter o7
EITHER WAYYYY i recommend listening to "dreams" by the cranberries or "aurora" by foo fighters when reading this chapter but that's just my suggestion :D
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
take me now, we can spin the sun around
and the stars will all come out.
then we'll turn and come back down,
turn and come back down.
Nico had had the chance to wake up in the same bed as Will twice now, so he considered he could die a lucky man. There were multiple differences to when it had happened after homecoming: this time, he was at Will’s house rather than his, and he was the one wearing clothes that weren’t his, for instance. Most importantly, they were dating now (something that, in moments like that, he still struggled to fathom even after a month together), which meant he could allow himself to hug the blonde close to him instead of getting out of the bed immediately to avoid anything awkward. His eyes remained closed as he embraced Will from behind, spooning him and hoping he could fall back asleep like that.
“Neeks? Did I wake you up?” Will asked, sounding so clear and awake that it was obvious he had been up for a while.
“Hm?”
Will hadn’t woken him up per se, but with the way he spinned around to face him, something Nico only saw through half-opened eyes, he finished pulling him out of his slumber. Not really content with it, he turned around as well and groaned. The fact he was being a bit petty didn’t cross him until he realized he was turning his back on the other, but Will just laughed at it from behind him before shifting around on the bed. The boy was sat up now, placing a hand on Nico’s shoulder to get him to look at him.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”
“‘S okay, don’t worry.” In spite of the words, Nico still made no effort to wake up.
“Are you still tired?”
He thought about it for a bit. He had slept really well, not having any nightmares or waking up overnight. Still, he had been in a lot of pain by the time they had gone to bed, even if the painkiller had helped. It still lingered, and he wasn’t sure he would be able to walk without his crutches, still at home.
“I don’t think I can walk.” He admitted to Will.
“That’s alright, I’ll bring you breakfast.” The boy said, excited, before leaning down to kiss his temple really fast before leaving. He was back in the door not a minute later, with nothing to eat. “I forgot to ask what you wanted to have.”
“Ibuprofen?”
“You can’t run on just a painkiller.” The blonde said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning on the door of his room. The sunrays coming from the window were falling on him, making him look golden where he stood. Despite still being a bit sleepy, Nico forced himself to open his eyes fully. “We’ve got toast, leftover pizza, fruit, Greek yogurt, and I think we’ve got store-bought muffins.”
He went with yogurt and fruit, and Will brought him his food in less than 5 minutes. They shared a plate of strawberries with the blonde’s laptop in front of them, resuming Star Wars where they had left it the night before. After about 10 minutes, the blonde’s dad knocked on the door and shouted from the corridor that he would be ready to drive Nico home in 30 minutes.
“Okay!” He shouted back before leaning his head back against the wall and sighing. At his side, Will paused the film. “You don’t need to…”
“It’s okay.” He interrupted the other. “Don’t wanna leave yet?”
“Not really.” A soft hand fell into his and Will’s thumb started to caress his skin. “I’m still angry. I’m still sad. Not like you didn’t help, just…”
“I know, don’t worry.” Will moved, sitting closer so Nico could rest his head on the boy’s shoulder. “You forgot to tell your therapist yesterday.”
“I didn’t forget.” Nico admitted after a few seconds of awkward silence. “I avoided it.”
Not really wanting to, but not really feeling like he deserved to stay, he moved his head from Will’s body and buried it in his hands to drown out a groan. He felt like he was admitting to committing a crime: his boyfriend had run to his house after a match and driven him around, even letting him spend the night, all to make him feel better, and he couldn’t even do what he was supposed to and tell his therapist. A part of him wanted to cry, but he hated crying in front of people and had already spent a bunch of yesterday sobbing in front of Will. He managed to avoid it, but Nico could barely take the bitter feeling in his chest and the mean voice in his head telling him he was being a disappointment. As much as he was dreading going home, he wasn’t sure he wanted to stay just to upset Will.
Nico wasn’t really expecting the hug when it happened. When the warmth of Will’s arms around him, pulling him close, and the kiss to the top of his head registered, he wanted to push the blonde away and reject it, but he allowed himself to stay there, safely embraced, after taking a deep breath.
“Aren’t you angry?”
“No? Why would I be?” The surprise in Will’s tone was so obvious and genuine that there was no chance for Nico to not take it as honest.
“I never put effort into myself.” He whispered. It was too vulnerable to admit it any louder, but too certain to just not say it. At least, with how close they were, the quiet words were no issue with it.
“What do you mean?”
Nico shrugged as his head filled with the same memories he saw 5 out of 7 days a week when trying to fall asleep: going entire days without eating a full meal because he just couldn’t push himself to it, shouting at Jason and Percy on Christmas over basketball, crying after overhearing Hazel and her mom talk about her dream college, all the months he had spent rotting at home, the times he had third-wheeled for his sister because otherwise he wouldn’t have left the house the whole summer, the drawings he had lost before getting his sketchbook because he refused to treat himself to something that weren’t random sheets of paper…
“I don’t know.” He knew too well. “I don’t speak to my therapist about my dad. I don’t eat enough, and it scares me to think that maybe I’m not trying enough. I don’t always rest when I’m in pain. I let my social health go to hell, and my academic life…”
“You do try.” Will stopped him, holding his hand. “Ever since I’ve met you, I could see you were trying. Remember that time we went to the mall and you hadn’t eaten the whole day? I came back home to a picture of your dinner. At the beach, you let me carry you back, and you’ve always let me know when you needed to rest. Maybe at the start of the year you didn’t do much, but look at you! You’ve got a boyfriend, and you go on dates with me, and before that we went out almost weekly, and with Leo, and you’ve gone to Piper’s gigs, and you’ve gone drawing with Hazel, and you still go to Percy’s swim practice. You’ve got a life! And I know it wasn’t easy to build it or to build up the courage to live it, but you did it, and I’m so proud of you. I need you to be proud of you as well.”
Nico wasn’t sure if he wanted to kiss him because of how sweetly he was speaking about and to him, how soft and gentle his soft was or how passionate his blue eyes turned when trying to hammer the words into his brain, or because he just couldn’t take it and wanted something that he knew would shut Will up. He took a deep, slow breath. Take the positive attention, he reminded himself, you can do that. You’ve been learning.
“Thank you.” He replied. It was simple, but he thought it was the most effective way of expressing himself. Nico let himself fall on Will again, head against his chest, heartbeat in his ear. The pace was slow and calm, making it easy to relax. “I hope you know how much better you’ve made my life.”
“You did it yourself, I was just here.”
“You helped.” Nico argued. “And Haze, and Leo, and everyone else.” He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and then speaking almost without thinking. “I used to not understand why people didn’t give up on me. I think I had given up on myself a long time ago.”
“And…?” Will tried to make him continue. It worked.
“And it didn’t work. All of you waiting for me and believing I had a chance was contagious.”
“You know…” Will placed a kiss to the top of his head before speaking again. “Yesterday, when you talked with my dad… You said you had thought of something to do in uni. I forgot to ask yesterday.”
“Oh.”
Nico lifted himself from the boy’s chest, though he didn’t let go of his hand. He remained looking at him. If he was being completely honest, the decision had been recent, and it was still too fresh for him to be fully confident about it, but he was starting to believe in it, to see himself in that future… So, as much as he was a bit nervous to admit it, he was sure that just the thought of it was making him smile.
“Don’t laugh, okay?”
“I could never.” With a tone as serious as the one Will used, he had no chance but to believe him.
“I thought about it. I’ve been thinking about it since January.” He started. “Ever since Hazel started to get me to draw more, I just… I don’t know, I realized I like it more than I thought. Maybe it wasn’t my passion at first, but it is now. Card games, video games, and now drawing. Those are the things I like to do, and that’s what I want to do. I know maybe it’s too niche, but I want to go into Game Design. I want to be able to draw and animate my own game, to code it and to dev it… I probably could never get good enough to produce the music, but I could find someone for that, and work with them in a way or another. Just me, my drawings, my game and a bit of music. I’ve got ideas already, and characters that I feel drawn to, some things are just so clear in my mind and, well, on the paper… I don’t know. It’s not the safest career, but for once, I have something I can look at and say “I want to make this work.” And I want to think that I can do it.”
For a few seconds, silence took over the room. In any other context, with someone else, Nico would have guessed the other person was just trying to find a way to politely change his mind and dissuade him from it, but with Will, who was looking at him like he was some sort of precious stone, there was no chance of that. It just seemed like he had frozen for a bit, processing what Nico thought could be considered “good news” before throwing himself at Nico and making them both fall on the bed, feet pointing towards the pillow, as he smooched his face all over.
“That’s so perfect for you!” Nico heard from time to time and through his own giggles. “That’s literally the best option ever! I’m so proud, Neeks. You’ve got no idea.”
Nico was so happy he couldn’t even remember to thank him properly. Will was the second person he had told, only after Hazel, and the positive reaction brought him a sense of relief and joy Nico wasn’t used to feeling. For once, he had a choice he was confident in, and there were people agreeing with him.
He wished he could stay like that forever, just hugging Will in an awkward position and laughing while the other kissed him and talked sweetly to him, but that was sadly not the case. After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door.
“Nico, are you ready to go?” Will’s dad called.
“Fuck.”
He had completely forgotten about needing to go back home. Will pulled away from him, making him mourn the loss of his warmth, and found his clothes from the day before to throw them at him for Nico to change while he scavenged through his closet to find something for himself.
“Are you dropping me home?” Nico asked as he took off his shirt —he was running too late to overthink the fact they were changing in the same room.
“Yeah! Also, I can carry you out if you don’t feel like walking.”
“What a gentleman you are…”
They got dressed in record time and, in less than 10 minutes, Will was princess-carrying Nico inside his dad’s car. They both sat in the backseat, which Nico hadn’t expected, but it made him happy and made him feel relaxed on the way home.
“There you go, boy.” Apollo told him, stopping the car in front of his front door. “Call me if you ever need a vinyl.”
“Thank you for driving me. And for having me at night.” He started to say as he unbuckled himself and turned to Will. “See you on Monday.”
“See you.” Very quickly, so fast that he doubted Apollo ever saw it, Will pressed a quick peck to his lips. “Good luck, Neeks.”
“Thanks, sunshine.”
With the kiss in mind, it was easy to walk the pathway to the door without thinking about his dad and the discussion from the day before. Still, the memory faded as soon as his hand knocked on the door and his relaxation faded into stress and leftover anger. Thankfully, it was Hazel who answered the door. She gave him a small squeeze before letting him in. Nico was already heading to the couch, ready to collapse on it, when he spotted his dad in the kitchen rather than at his office or room.
“Hi.” He said, tilting his head in the man’s direction.
The man took a sip from the cup of coffee he was holding before dropping it on the counter and crossing his arms.
“Your grandma called.” He said, almost disapprovingly and not bothering to greet his son back.
“What’d she say?” Nico asked.
“You told her I wasn’t taking you to see her.” Well, Nico fought the urge to say, that’s ‘cause you aren’t taking me to see her. “She offered to pay for the plane and the train to her house. She kept insisting, over and over. I told her that, if she really wanted you to come, we could just buy your tickets with the money you made from the jewelry shop.”
“So, I’m going?”
He wasn’t sure about how he felt about his ticket himself. A flight to Italy and back could easily be worth half a thousand —he had googled it, many times—, and it wasn’t fair that he had to pay it with his partial job salary while his successful business owners' wealthy parents sat and watched.
“Mom didn’t like that.” Spoke Hazel from where she stood, quietly watching the conversation.
“Marie didn’t really agree with me.”
“She said he was being an asshole.”
“Hazel, would you go to your room?” Despite the question, she didn’t move from where she was, just shaking her head no. “Marie didn’t like it. So… You’re only paying for the train, and you’re taking all your textbooks. If you fail any of your exams when we come back, you’re paying for half of your plane ticket. Or, well, we’ll take it from your salary.”
“So, I’m going!”
His dad was saying something about how they were leaving on the weekend and how he needed to have his suitcase ready by Friday, but Nico could barely listen. He was too busy hugging Hazel, processing the news and starting to plan the things he wanted to do other than study. Their father seemed unimpressed with his and Hazel’s joy and disappeared back into his office after a last sip to his coffee. Nico didn’t care, mind elsewhere. He couldn’t wait to tell Will, whom he was sure would be elated to hear even if they had considered going on study dates over the break, and he couldn’t wait to see his grandparents and spend a week at their house, by himself, without his dad there to bother him. He needed to call his grandma and thank her, and he needed to tell Will, and he wanted to tell Jason and Reyna… There were so many calls he had to make.
“Do you want me to go get your crutches from your room?” Hazel asked once they stopped hugging and he finally got to sit on the couch.
“Yeah, please.”
Nico picked his phone up just after she disappeared upstairs, opening his contacts app. He took a deep breath and dialed his therapist.
. . .
The trip was short-lived, but Nico recognized how much he needed it. His father had been annoying him and, though he was only properly realizing it now, hurting him for a long time, heavily influencing how he felt about his dead sister who had been his closest friend for ages. His boyfriend and his best friend were both about to leave the town, and Nico didn’t have any friend he could tell about Jason leaving. He was about to enter exam season… Sometimes, a guy just needed a bit of peace and comfort, and that was how he felt about his grandparents and his hometown.
Even with how little his parents were at home or around him, the tranquility that they were in a whole different town and that he could actually forget about them was a relief. All he had to do in relation to them was studying to make sure he didn’t have to pay them anything back —something that, once they had been alone, Hazel had told him was bullshit, and that all his friends had agreed with. Even his grandparents had been vocal, and not particularly well-spoken, after hearing. Still, it wasn’t like he had much to do other than study. Nico had been serious when he had told Will he didn’t need to sightsee his own town, so he had no problem staying indoors more than the average visitor.
Time zones were pretty annoying, but they didn’t stop him from calling basically everyday. He checked on Hazel multiple times. A part of him kinda believed what his father had said about him going alone being rude to her, more than he believed her saying that she was happy for him and completely unbothered. It had gone away soon enough, seeing as she was clearly enjoying having the house to herself. Will got the most calls after her. With it being Nico’s first trip home after they had met, he felt the need to send him a picture of literally everything, including but not limited to his grandparents, a house tour, his old school, his old church, the grocery store, the Ponte de Rialto, the place he went to buy candy as a kid…
Despite the ocean of distance, they had ended up having the study dates they had talked about. They had had hour-long video calls for Will to explain Maths and Economics to him, and Nico had rambled the entire World History subject to him multiple times just to ensure that he had it memorized —which he did, in multiple languages, seeing as he had explained the whole thing to his grandfather too over lunch on one of his days there— and Will had it understood. Nico had also had a studying call with Leo, for the sake of his AP Spanish class that he regretted more and more daily. It hadn’t gone as well as with Will, because apparently being back in a romance-speaking country somehow made his Spanish simultaneously better and worse, but it had surely been fun. There had even been a call with Hazel, Leo, Will, and Nico over Discord for Leo to explain the hardest math problems for them, that had ended up with Nico falling asleep on his desk and the three of them taking turns shouting through the mic in an attempt to wake him up.
If he was honest with himself, he had never put that much effort into studying before. Sure, he had some good ol’ 250 dollars threatening him to pass, but there was more to it. He had a motivation now, something he wanted to do with his education, and the clear finish line was making the race easier. For once in his life, Nico felt he had a reason to study. There was a meaning to his efforts, and there was fulfillment in seeing himself try hard for something. Will had been right: he had built a life he was excited to live.
His grandparents noticed it too, how much happier he was in comparison to last summer. Nico hadn’t been at his worst during his stay during summer —Leo had been slowly recovering, and he had gotten to show Hazel around Venice for the first time, so overall it hadn’t been as bad as other years—, but he couldn’t deny the difference. When his grandma asked during their last breakfast together before the flight back if anything had changed, Nico had told them he had found both a career, which he said with great pride, and a boyfriend, which he had mumbled weakly, too worried about blushing. The walk from their house to Sunday mass was barely 15 minutes, but Nico lost count of how many times during it his grandma stopped to remind him to bring Will over for summer, something Nico would probably not be able to do. At least thinking about it was nice.
The topic of Will died as soon as mass started, obviously. Nico still had a complicated relationship with christianity, and he didn’t consider himself religious anymore, but his grandparents had paid for the mass to be in honor of Bianca and Maria. Plus, a part of him still believed heaven was real to some extent, and he liked to think his family was there. So, he went, sat, and prayed with the rest of the congregation, and then a bit more after the service was over. His prayer was quiet, and not on his knees, and not really proper, but he hoped it would reach his sister wherever she was and let her know he was doing better.
The flight back to New York was long and boring, and Nico hadn’t downloaded enough films for it, so he just slept the majority of it. It turned out to be a good idea, seeing as Hazel wasn’t the only person waiting at the airport with him.
“Surprise!” She exclaimed when he spotted her, Frank, Will and Leo standing outside security.
“Haze, what?” Nico hugged her real tight before going to hug Will, who kissed his forehead after murmuring a quiet “I missed you.”
“Hazel, what in…?” His father’s words died in his mouth after seeing his son and his boyfriend being clearly affectionate to each other. The man sighed, exhausted from whatever —probably from sitting the 9-hour flight with a stick up his ass, if you asked Nico— and rolled his eyes. “Are we meant to drive the five of you?”
“Will’s got his car here.” She explained.
“I’m Will, by the way.” The blonde said, letting go of Nico’s hand to hold it out in front of the man. “We’ve seen each other before, but never actually talked. Weird how that works.”
Nico didn’t have it in him to elbow him and tell him to shut it, finding it too amusing to see his father reluctantly shake his hand. A part of him wondered whether his friends and Will had practiced the encounter while waiting.
“You two have class tomorrow. Be back before eleven.”
They were all home before eleven, after going to the cinema together and having dinner together.
Exams started not the day before, but on Tuesday, and lasted the whole week. It was a stressful period, as always, but Nico had never gone through it so confidently. Results started to come out with April already half-way gone. Time really seemed to move faster when one was having fun, something Nico had never believed to be true, but soon enough, he was getting an overwhelming amount of good grades —and some Cs on English and Maths, but he was happy to ignore those. He had never done so well in an exam season, and he had never been so proud of himself.
For some weeks, the ideas of Will and Jason leaving felt far away. Nico had enough free time to go on dates almost weekly, and to call almost daily. The fact time was flying away from them felt foreign. On Jason’s front, Piper and Leo were bringing stories about their time together just as often. Nico had lost count of how many times they had gone to the cinema or even out partying over spring. Unless Piper said something like “where was this Jason over winter?” or “he’s been coming up with plan after plan!,” he didn’t actually remember the whole situation. Unless that happened, he could pretend things were better than they were, much like the blonde was doing. As far as he was aware, he had yet to tell anyone other than him, and Nico couldn’t help but wonder whether it was eating Jason alive as much as it was eating him.
“Neeks, are you listening?”
Percy’s voice pulled him out of his train of thought about Jason. Their schools were playing against each other again, and luck had wanted it to be the last match of the season. Both Jason’s and Will’s last time playing in New York, he had realized mid-convo, before starting to spiral about it.
“Not really.”
“I asked if Frank’s driving you too.”
“Is he?” He said, looking to Hazel and then to Will, his driver’s-license-owner boyfriend, who lifted his hands in the air.”
“I gotta be there one hour earlier, but I can drive you if you’re fine with it.”
“Do you mind if I go with Frank?” The idea of spending an hour by himself waiting for the place to get crowded while Will and Jason were both busy warming up wasn’t an idea he was really a fan of.
“Not at all! As long as you come see me.” The blonde told him, grabbing his hand where it rested on the table.
“Heartwarming.” Leo deadpanned from in front of them. “He can drive me too, right?” He asked then, looking at Hazel, who nodded in response. “Man, I’ve been looking towards this match for ages.” He sighed, stretching his arms out. “Everyone’s got a ride, right? And we all agree to go have dinner later?”
“Percy and I are taking Piper, Frank’s got the four of you covered, Thalia…” Annabeth started listing. She had been keeping a list with everything on a notebook opened on her table, though Nico could swear she had been more focused on another paper she had been covering regarding the quickly-approaching prom.
“She should arrive in time for the last two quarters.” Piper said from where they were sitting.
“And Jason can come in Perce’s car. That should be all.” She finished, copying Leo regarding stretching and sighing. “I can’t wait to finally have a day for myself, ah… Thank God there’s no more planning after this is done.”
“Hey, Beth.” Piper called. “Can we take people from outside of class to prom?” The other girl nodded at the same time she gave them a thumbs-up.
“Who are you taking?” Leo tilted his head. “Please, tell me you didn’t leave me alone in the single nation.”
“I was just asking.” They shrugged. As they did, Will’s phone started to ring, but the boy ignored the call and let Piper keep talking. “I thought about taking Jason, but I don’t know. He’s busy planning theirs, you know. I might have to find a date.” Will’s phone rang again. Nico took a look at it, and saw it was his father calling. “But, like, I’ve managed to pull 0 girls the whole year. Seriously doubt I can pull one within next week.”
“That’s not the spirit, Pipes.” Leo complained as Will got the third phone in a row. “Dude, you should pick up.”
“Yeah, it must be important.” Piper agreed.
The blonde picked it up, muttering under his breath that usually it was his mom who delivered important news, and pressed the phone to his ear.
“Is everything okay?” He asked, looking confused. “Wait, what?” Will shifted, leaning in to look at Piper looking even more confused before taking the phone away from his ear and handing it out. “He wants to talk with you.”
“What the…?” Piper started to say as they grabbed it hesitantly.
“Put it on speaker, put it on speaker.” Leo hushed.
“Hello?” Piper said, putting the phone into the speaker. “Mister… Not Solace?”
“Hello! The name’s Apollo! I’m talking to Piper McLean, right? Frontperson of Olympia Grrls?”
The whole table was leaning in, trying to listen closely to the phone in curiosity. Even Leo had moved to sit directly by Piper’s side. They probably made for a silly picture.
“Yeah, that’s me.” They replied.
“Do you have a team that I can contact?”
“Not really?” Piper shrugged. “Why? Is something the matter?”
A long sigh came from the other side of the line before the man talked again.
“You’ll see, this is very unprofessional, but one of the artists I work with is starting her US tour this Saturday here in town and the opener just got sick and canceled last minute. No one’s picking up our calls or available on such short notice, which, understandable.” Apollo started to explain. Piper’s hand started to shake with excitement. “I’ve been listening to you guys, and I really like your stuff. I showed it to the girl whose show we’re talking about and she agreed, and we both think her audience could resonate with your sound. So, I completely get it if you’re not available or don’t want to participate for whatever reason, but I was wondering if you would be able to take the position of the opener for the show in New York.”
“I…” Piper’s hand holding the phone was basically trembling now, and their other one was covering their mouth as words struggled to come to them. “I, I mean, I have to talk about it with the guys, but I’m pretty sure we’re all free… At what time is it?”
“The doors open at 8 PM and the main act starts at 9:20 PM. Your set should last about 45 minutes, but you should come early for a sound check with the venue.”
“We can do that.” They said. “I am sure we can do that, yeah! I’ll tell the rest. Where is it?”
“Webster Hall! It’s basically sold out, but I’m sure I can move a few strings and get your friends some free tic…”
Apollo didn’t get to finish. The words made Piper literally jump out of their seat, repeating the quotes “a sold out Webster Hall” and “more than a thousand people” in different volumes. Leo was grabbing their arm and shaking it in shared excitement, while the rest of the table had stood up to surround them in a celebratory hug.
“I’m gonna go tell Nyssa and Drew!” They said after the hug and the call were done. Will was already sending their contact to his dad and Piper had their own phone in hand, ready to phone Thalia. “And I want to see all of you Saturday night!”
“We’ll be there!” The table shouted almost in perfect unison. “Won’t miss it”
Nico watched them run through the cafeteria, unable to hold back a smile at the memory of Apollo telling him he’d give the band a listen.
. . .
Friday afternoon arrived just one day later. It had been a while since all their friends, Reyna and Frank included, had spent time together like that, and the overall good feeling that came with just being there, monopolizing the top strand, was hard not to notice. Nico sat on the ground, cross-legged, with Leo by his side.
“So, who are we cheering for?” The boy asked him.
“My boyfriend’s playing.” Nico replied, leaning back with a smile on his face. He had to bite his tongue in order not to make a comment like “and so is yours.” “Who are you cheering for?”
“Whoever plays best?”
“So, Jason?” A new voice, Reyna’s, added at the same time she sat by Nico’s side and offered a cookie out of a red pack.
“We’ll see.” Nico said, taking one of the cookies before she offered to Leo as well. “Thank you.”
“‘Course. Hey, Neeks…” She started. He had his mouth full, but moved his head to let her know he was listening. “Are you free this time in two weeks?”
“I should be.” He replied. “What for?”
“Our prom’s a week later than yours. Outside of people in class, you’re my best friend, and it would mean a lot if you could come.”
Nico was gonna accept it as that, but before he could say yes, Leo’s hand went to his shoulder and shook him slightly.
“Dude, you should go!” He said, adding to it before Nico could reply that that was the plan. “Hazel’s going with Frank!” Nico knew that already. “And I’m going with Jason!”
“You what!?” Nico asked, turning around perhaps too dramatically. He couldn’t believe Jason hadn’t told him. “Since when?”
“Since last week! I thought Will would have told you.”
“Why would Will tell me that?”
“I talked to him about it, I don’t know. I was… Pretty intense. Thought he would have mentioned it.” Leo shrugged and started to scratch his arm. Nico could swear he was blushing. “Either way, see you there?”
“Yeah, of course.” He replied, turning to Reyna. “Thank you for thinking of me.”
“Hey, guys!” Percy caught their attention. “They’re starting!”
True enough, the players were already on the court. In the center of the place, Jason and Will were ready to jump. One of the guys in Jason’s team was tying up his shoe, giving them enough time to look around at their team and take one last glimpse at the audience. Leo and Piper waved in their direction. Will waved back. Nico smiled in his direction and gave him a thumbs-up before his eyes went to Jason, who was looking at them as well, but with a lost look in his eyes. He seemed to be counting them, and the result seemingly disappointed him. Nico’s heart clenched, realizing it probably was because Thalia was missing. At least, the initial whistle caught his attention not too much later.
The match was pretty equal, and whoever lost could at least go home knowing they had fought really hard. Both teams were perfectly synchronized, barely missing passes and hardly ever losing balls to silly mistakes. Whenever one of the two got ahead of the other, it lasted less than 1 minute, sometimes less than half. Will was doing amazing, thriving in his position and playing for a good 80% of the time. Nico couldn’t help to think back to his first match, where he had been told that the blonde was a basketball player, but not necessarily a good one. No one could deny he had gotten better, no one could pretend he wasn’t one of the best, and Nico couldn’t say he wasn’t his favorite. He was screaming his lungs out for him everytime he successfully did anything, and he basically went crazy the two times he scored points. At his side, Leo was pretty similar, though Nico could tell he was cheering for Jason with as much passion as Nico was for Will.
The day was going great, especially with the knowledge they were all having dinner later and going out the day after to Olympia Grrls’ biggest gig to date in a 1,500-capacity venue. Then, Piper’s phone rang.
“It's Thalia!” They said, excited. “She should be on her way! Wait…”
“Huh?” Percy said from where he was sitting. “She drives a motorcycle… She would crash.”
The realization that Thalia driving and calling at the same time wasn't possible and could only mean something was wrong seemed to set in on Piper, judging by the way their face shifted and the worried tone which they carried the call with. They sat down on the strands, deflated, after about a minute, turning their phone off and groaning in disappointment.
“Her bike broke down. She can't come.”
Nico felt frozen for a second. His eyes, still on the court, lingered on Jason as his mind replayed the disappointed look on his face after noticing his sister’s absence. Around him, the rest of the group kept talking, and Nico could hear stuff such as “bummer, she couldn't come to any this year,” or “I'm sure he'll still play in uni or something, we've got next year!” Except, Nico thought, they definitely didn't have next year and Thalia was about to miss her last chance at seeing her brother play before he left for California. Fuck.
He stood up, heart beating fast and stomach feeling sick at the idea of Thalia not being able to come, and walked to Percy, who was sitting with Annabeth by his side and holding her close. He didn’t want to bother them, but the second half of the match had already started, and they were running out of time. Nico poked him in the shoulder.
“Hey, Perce…”
“Hi, Neeks. What is it?” He said. “Will’s playing really well.”
“Yeah, true.” Nico played with the strings of his hoodie. “About Thalia…” The other’s face changed, looking bittersweet, probably just as sad as him about their oldest cousin not being there. “I think Jason would have really wanted her to come.” The other nodded, with his face looking between pouty and upset at the situation. “Do you think you could pick her up?”
“Do you think we could make it on time?” Percy replied, sounding like he had been considering it already. He bit his lip, eyes torn between the court and Nico, and divided between watching the match of the year peacefully with his girlfriend or risk missing it over bringing Thalia, maybe not even on time.
“It's worth a try.” Nico said, even if part of him felt bad over making him leave.
Percy’s eyes went from Nico to the court and from the court back to Nico once, twice, then three times. Down there, Jason scored three points, turned to them and smiled quickly before it faded and he went back to the match. Percy sighed audibly.
“Fuck it.” He squeezed Annabeth, placed a quick kiss to her temple and told her and Nico she would be back soon before standing up, phone already in hand and ringing, a feminine voice going “Perce?” from it as the boy rushed through the door. “Where are you? I'm picking you up!”
They had about 15 minutes to make it back, Nico noted, looking at the timer. He couldn’t say they were the worst 15 minutes of his life, but they certainly weren't the best. The boy could barely focus on the game anymore, eyes constantly traveling from blonde to blonde and then to the timer, each time closer to 0. The third quarter ended before any updates from Percy or Thalia and with a 2 points difference on the markers. Nico was getting more stressed out with every second that passed, heart going more frantic, time seemingly quickening up its pace. Will got a hold of the ball, passed it to Fletcher, and the team got three more points. Percy wasn’t back. A whistle bleared; double dribble. The ball went back to their team, then to Jason’s, then back. Jason got a lay-up. Michael Yew lost an entry pass to Dakota, Austin intercepted a rebound before it could reach the opponent teams. Percy still wasn’t back. There were 5 minutes left, then 4, then 3, and there was no sight of Percy or Thalia. Nico bit his lip.
“It’s okay, he won’t be mad.” Annabeth told him, noticing his distress.
That wasn’t the problem, but he didn’t have the time to explain. He only had 2 minutes and 1 second, then 2 minutes on the nose, then 1 minute and 59 seconds… Nico had never felt like he had such little time. The scores were still pretty close, with only two points of difference and the Wolves winning. A minute and a half. The ball went back to Goode’s team, and one of the opponents stole it right after. An exact minute, and Reyna was cheering one of her classmates on even after he had missed his shot. Austin had the ball again, then one of the Stolls —Nico couldn’t tell which—, then the other Stoll. Fletcher received a perfect pass and tied the marker, with just 20 seconds left.
Jason got the entry pass after Lee’s basket, and ran with it like thunder. Percy and Thalia weren’t there yet. Each one of the Stolls were chasing after him, one on each sideline. Percy wasn’t gonna make it on time. There was no chance any of the siblings could reach the blonde. There was no chance of Thalia and Percy arriving. Jason almost tripped, not stopping but needing to reduce his pace. Connor, or at least Nico thought it was him, didn’t calculate the distance, time or impact properly. They collided just when Jason was in the middle of a lay-up. He missed the shot, and he hit the ground loudly from where he had been jumping. The referee whistled, the timer stopped on 7 seconds, and Thalia and Percy made it inside the gym just in time to see the blonde complaining on the ground.
“Thalia!” Piper and Nico said it at the same time.
They ran to their bandmate, Nico just watched from his place, not really knowing what to say. Other than Jason, who probably hadn’t noticed their arrival, he was probably the happiest to see the woman, but he and his cousin weren’t that close and him initiating a hug out of nowhere would throw her off. So, he just looked at her. Seeing her side by side with Percy was comical on occasion. Other than the different eye color and height, they looked almost the same, with their fashion sense not contributing. There was nothing fun about seeing them with the matching tired from rushing to the gym and in shock about Jason’s fall, both frozen in awe.
“That’s gotta be a free-throw.” Percy talked after the initial shock wore off. His eyes went to the timer and marker. “Oh, man, he could make the difference.”
Thalia still wasn’t saying anything, just taking in the sight of her brother in the court. It was her first time of the year seeing him play, and, unbeknown to her,the last one of her life, and it was gonna be 7 seconds only, but she got to see him be the possible difference between at a derby.
“Thalia!” Nico called, not sure of where he got the energy to speak after such a stressful time. She turned her way and he pointed towards the area close to the basket Jason was meant to throw at. “There’s room if you wanna see…” Up close. The words died in his mouth. No reason to say them when she was already running down to where he had pointed.
She was quick, making it before Jason stood up again. The Stolls were holding him up, and he was surrounded by team members from both teams and the referee, asking him if he was okay and able to throw. He seemed disoriented and in pain, eyes not stopping on anyone and not giving any response.
“Jason, are you okay!?”
If Nico could hear his sister’s worried shout, there was no chance Jason couldn’t. His blue eyes finally found somewhere to settle at, Thalia, and he gave her a nod before actually letting any of the men in court know that he was good to go.
He got two free-throws. The first one missed by a bit, teasing the crowd by almost falling into the basket before going the wrong way. Jason was given the bound by another one of his teammates, and bounced it three times before grabbing it and holding his breath. The crowd from both schools held all the air possible in their lungs, watching quietly. Nico was sure they all missed the way his eyes flashed at Thalia one last time before shooting, but at least they were quick to celebrate loudly once the ball went inside and Jason won the last point of the match.
. . .
As they made their way into the diner, Someone commented Thalia should get a raise for bringing in so many customers, and Nico had to agree. They had never had such a big group eating together at Pine ‘n Bite. They needed three whole tables for everyone to properly fit. He slotted himself between Will and Jason, both of whom fell into their chairs tired after having such a long match.
“Hey.” Jason said, leaning in to talk to Will despite Nico being in the middle and holding out his hand. “Already said it, but good game.”
Nico held his breath for a moment. The two of them hadn’t interacted since Montauk, and the topic of Jason’s existence hadn’t really come up between him and Will since their first date. He wasn’t really sure of how the boy would feel about the other, but his worries went away once Will stretched his hand back.
“Good game! You’re really good. It felt like watching the NBA.”
“You watch the NBA?” Percy asked from the other side of the table, mouth already stuff with fries. He was wearing the same Knicks shirt he wore to every match he went to, as well as a look of excitement in his face at the possibility of talking to Will about one of his interests.
“Not really.” Will admitted, barely holding back a giggle when Percy basically pouted at the answer. “But you’re so good! Are you gonna keep playing during uni?”
“Eh, I don’t know.” Jason shrugged, tensing up at the mention of university. “I really like it, but I don’t know if I wanna do it my whole life.”
“What are you going into? Photography?” Will asked, completely unaware of the way Jason’s breath hitched after the topic of university didn’t die immediately.
“Linguistics, right?” Leo said, poking his head from behind Jason. He was playing with the strings of “his” hoodie, which was actually Jason’s training one that the blonde had given him after coming out of the locker room. It was huge on him, but the joy in his face looked awesome.
“Yeah. That's it.”
“Hey, you never told me what college you got into!” Percy asked.
“I am still deciding between two.” Jason lied.
“You tell us if you need help with the decision.” Annabeth smiled at him at the same time Thalia came back to the table carrying a tray with her and Piper’s food. Even if she wasn't on shift, it was late and she wanted to do her coworker a favor.
“I can't believe you're already going to uni…” The woman lamented as she reached out for her chair. Her sibling interrupted her, extending an arm to try and tap her. Jason didn’t get to, but it still caught her attention.
“Hey, can you come outside with me? I've got something I want to give you.” She nodded and stood up and they left after Percy gave him the car keys.
Nothing seemed to change once they left. Reyna and Annabeth kept talking about being part of the student council, Piper was still talking with Leo, complimenting his new hoodie once Jason wasn’t there while Will joined them, and Hazel was still asking Frank for advice when she started getting driver’s license. Still, Nico couldn’t help to feel out of it, mindlessly reaching for Will's hand under the table as he looked at the siblings through the windows of the diner.
Jason handed something that looked like a magazine to Thalia. When she held it close to her face, Nico got a chance to see it better. It wasn’t a magazine, but an old-looking Superman comic. They talked, more calm than most of the times he had seen them talk. It was mostly Jason’s back that Nico could see, but it seemed like the boy was the one carrying the conversation. Thalia just listened, her face going from focused to confused and then to just pure pain. At some point, she started to cry and shake her head no slowly, stuck in denial. She asked something Nico had no way of hearing, just like he had no way of knowing what Jason replied, but it must have been painful for her, judging by the way she almost fell to her knees and broke down in sobs. Nico looked away, eyes going to his no-longer-appealing plate.
“Hey.” Will’s voice caught his attention. “Do you feel alright? You look down.”
“Yeah… Just not feeling the food anymore.” He lied, though it was partially true.
“You can try mine if you want.” Nico looked at his plate, which held a burger with fries, and shook his head no. “Alright! Just try to have something before going to bed.”
“Thanks, sunshine.”
Nico let himself lean a bit on the blonde, trying to let the comfort wash away the sad memory of Thalia breaking down outside.
. . .
Nico worked the next day, something he would never admit he was grateful for. His shift ended about an hour before the concert, taking into consideration that Will’s dad had agreed to sneak them inside the backstage until sound check was over. That and the fact he had woken up late meant he had barely had time to stop and think about yesterday, with Thalia and Jason. It was getting harder to ignore the pressing memory now that he had closed and was just by himself, sweeping the floor. A knock to the door pulled him out of his thoughts, if only for him to roll his eyes as bittersweetness towards Jason’s situation melted into frustration.
“We’re closed!” He shouted to the person still knocking. “I said, it’s closed!”
“But it’s me!” Said from outside a voice he could recognize anywhere. It was, after all, his favorite sound.
“Will?”
Nico dropped the broom to the floor and walked quickly towards the door, opening it despite the “CLOSED!” sign hanging from it to reveal his boyfriend, holding two cups of coffee and smiling awkwardly at him.
“Surprise?” The blonde said as he walked inside the jewelry shop so Nico could close the door again. “Was I too late?” He asked, handing Nico his cups of coffee. “I think this is yours.”
“Thank you.” The boy smiled before taking a sip and finding it was much bitter and stronger than how he liked it. He scrunched up his nose, quickly shaking his head no. “Nope, yours.” They swapped immediately, with Nico getting his very sweet decaf after giving Will’s his cup back. “I just need to finish the floor, then we can leave.”
“Should I go get the car? I parked a bit far away…”
“Nah, don’t worry.” Nico shrugged, leaning down to take the broom again, careful not to spill his drink all over. “You can sit at the register while I finish, if you want.”
“I don’t think you should clean and drink at the same time.” Will told him, though he was already heading towards the chair at the register.
“I don’t want us to be late!”
“We’re arriving at sound check, there’s no way we’re gonna be late.” The blonde reminded him. “I can drive you to your house if you need to get anything.”
“It’s all in the employees’ room, don’t worry.” Nico replied. “Just give me like 10 minutes to change. You can go for the car then.”
“Sounds good!” Will chirped. “Can I do anything to help you while you sweep?”
“Not really.” Nico told him. “You don’t always have to help, you know?”
He had gotten used to Will’s caretaking personality and to see his boyfriend offering help whenever needed, but he knew it wasn’t healthy for him to offer every time someone potentially needed help. Either he would end up burning out, taken advantage of, or both. Plus, it wasn’t fair to have him do his job when it would only be Nico getting paid.
“People might need it.”
“Yeah, but you also might need time to just rest and let people do their things.” He said, emptying his cup and getting back to properly cleaning. “How… Did you end up telling your dad about how you stress out too often?”
There was a brief silence that instantly made Nico uncomfortable and fearful he had overstepped, but Will broke it soon after.
“I told him yesterday after coming home.”
“Really?” The broom almost fell back. Nico held onto it, thinking whether it would be too dramatic to drop it so he could run and hug Will to let him know how proud he was. It probably was. “How was it?”
“Hm… He asked about the match and going out with y’all after. I had a great time yesterday, and I told him that.” The boy started explaining. “And then I told him that for once I hadn’t felt like I was the odd one out, or that I was disliked. It worried him when I told him that.”
“He should be worried that you’re unhappy.” Nico pointed out, noticing how Will’s face had become sour around the last sentence. “What did he say after?”
“He asked if I had been feeling that way since moving in, and I told him it’s always been like this, and then he asked if he had ever made me feel anxious around him or done something that made me feel dislikeable. I told him neither mom or him ever had, nor Hyacinth for that matter, and then he hugged me and asked what I wanted to do about it.” Will said. “He promised me that he would get the best therapist he could find if I wanted one, and he said he could call mom and tell her if I didn’t feel safe doing it. So, we called mom, and that also went fine. I’m not seeing a therapist until, well… Until I’m back in Austin.”
Nico stared at him deeply and fondly. They had a month left, and it was approaching too fast. Still, he didn’t want the reminder to distract Will from the massive achievement he had done. Carefully, he placed the broom against the wall, considering the floor clean enough, and walked to where the blonde was. Nico threw his arms around him and pressed a soft kiss to the place right below his right eye.
“I’m so proud of you, sunshine.” He mumbled. “I hope your therapist will be great.”
“I hope so, yeah.” Will agreed, resting his head on Nico’s shoulder. “I’m a bit scared.”
“That’s normal, but you’ll find a therapist you’ll feel safe with.” Nico told him. “Just trust your gut, alright? Don’t settle for the first one if they aren’t working.”
“Won’t my parents be…?”
“No, they won’t.” Nico interrupted, knowing well the other was about to say “upset.” He caressed Will’s curls before moving away for a bit, placing a hand in his jaw and lifting his face up so they could stare at each other. “And, even then, it’s not about them. It’s all about you.”
“You’ve got no idea how happy I am to have you in my life.” Will started, looking at him with gratefulness and love all over his face. “I can’t believe it’s just one…”
Nico quieted him with a kiss before he could mention their deadline again.
. . .
Considering how Annabeth and Hazel had been out together at the same event from the macramé club they were both in, and how they would have to stop to pick up Percy after it was done, it made sense that they were the first ones to make it to the venue. Apollo was waiting for him outside, ready to give them some special passes and guide them into the backstage with him. Nico was having the time of his life, never having been at a stage so big even if he wasn’t gonna perform. As a matter of fact, performing would have made him wanna die, but learning what every machine did and how they all worked together had him in a rush.
He spent a good 20 minutes pointing at everything and just repeating the information they had been told about the devices to Will, who in return just nodded appreciatively. The blonde hadn’t looked particularly sad at the jewelry except for the parts in which the topic had soured him, and he was clearly doing better already after maybe more than one kiss and, now, a lot of happy Nico rambles, but the other couldn’t shake the idea of Will doing poorly outside his head.
Will had said he had fun last night, and Nico could only hope it could stretch itself onto this one. He couldn’t help to remember the other proper concert they had gone to together, Naomi’s, and at how it harbored one of his most precious memories with the blonde. There had to be a way, Nico thought, of making this into another memorable night.
The answer arrived at him once the main act when to run through her sound check while Olympia Grrls disappeared into the room they had been given to store their staff and have dinner. Nico tugged at Will’s hand.
“Hey! Do you mind if I go talk something out with Thalia? You know, family business.”
There was no resistance from Will, who believed the white lie easily and happily let Nico go. The boy basically stumbled into the band’s room, interrupting whatever conversation the members might have been having, as well as their dinners.
“Neeks!” Piper waved. “How’d you like the sound check?”
“It was great!” He said quickly, words coming out in a rush even if he still had a good amount of time until the doors opened and the band went on stage. “I was wondering, Pipes…”
“Yeah?”
“So…” Nico spoke so quickly it all faded into a single word: “Do you remember how back in September you got me to change my seat after a match so Jason and you didn’t have to sit together and then you said you owed me one and then I never actually spent that one favor you still owe me?”
Somehow, Piper understood what he meant.
“How the fuck do you remember that?” Nico just shrugged in response. “Alright, what do you want?”
“Can you do something… I don’t know, can you do a romantic song at some point? A cover, or something.”
“Oh, Neeks…” They frowned slightly after hearing the question. “We can’t add more to the setlist, I’m sorry. Or, well, we can change the cover if you guys are all fine with it.” The singer said, turning to their bandmates.
Nyssa and Drew nodded and shrugged, but Thalia, at the other side of the small room, seemed divided. Nico hadn’t wanted to look at her, somehow fearing that his face would reveal that he had seen her cry yesterday. As soon as his eyes fell on the woman, it became obvious that she had been doing horribly. He knew for a fact Thalia didn’t wear much makeup, but her huge eyebags would have clearly benefited from some highlighter, seeing as it was obvious she had barely slept.
“I really wanna do ‘Silver Springs’ tonight.” She spoke softly, almost broken. Nico had never seen her ask for something sounding so weak, and it clashed with his image of her so much it was destabilizing. “I’m sorry, Neeks, I just…”
“Hey, no, no, that’s fine.” Nico rushed to say. He wasn’t about to deny her anything when her spirit was clearly holding on by a single string. “I… If your heart’s with ‘Silver Springs,’ just do that. There’ll be more gigs.”
“Yeah.” Thalia said, looking out of it and not really confident in her words. “There’ll be more gigs.”
By the time he made it out of the backstage, Jason and Leo had already arrived. Nico, though sad from seeing Thalia down, couldn’t help to smirk at the knowledge they had come together. They were going to prom together, Leo was still wearing Jason’s hoodie, and they were going to concerts together, and they were both smiling and looking really happy as they talked with Will. Nico was incredibly glad to see them together like that, even if the knowledge they were stuck in the pining stage made it frustrating and the fact Jason was leaving made it painful. He waved at them from where he was before getting closer, but Jason walked towards him while Leo and Will remained talking.
“Can you show me where the bathroom is?” Jason asked.
He could have asked Will, and that made Nico realize he probably just wanted an excuse for them to be alone for a while before the concert started. So, they went to the bathroom, standing outside the door in silence and looking at each other. Nico was waiting for the blonde to talk, allowing him to set the topic and tone of the conversation, but Jason was taking his sweet time, fidgeting around nervously. It wasn’t like it bothered him, but it was a matter of time before the doors opened and the place started to fill up, so Nico tried to help him out.
“I, uh… Saw you and Thals talking yesterday.” He said, words hobbling outside of his mouth.
“I told her.” Jason quickly answered, as if he had been waiting to say the sentence his whole life. “I told her I’m leaving.”
“How did it go?” Nico asked, though he had a pretty good idea of that.
“She hates it.” Jason replied. “She hates it, but she knows it’s the right choice. Just like me. She understand it, I just don’t think she took it well.”
“I see…” Nico mumbled, looking down to his shoes just like the other was doing. “I’m sorry, Jason.”
“I told her…” The boy started, sounding just as lost as his sister had sounded just a few minutes ago. “I told her that maybe, in some years, we could try again.”
The wording made Nico look up and tilt his head. “Try what?”
“Being siblings again.”
Nico wanted to grab him by the shoulders, shake him and tell him they had never stopped being siblings, but he couldn’t. As much as he believed they had never actually stopped, he could guess why they both felt that way after the years apart and then the difficult reencounter and the weird months that had followed it. Even more, he wondered if growing up in a household like theirs had ever allowed them to feel like actual siblings. A part of him doubted it.
“They’re doing ‘Silver Springs.’” He said, not knowing how to reply to the statement. If he was honest, Nico doubted Jason even wanted a response as much as just letting it out. At least, if he couldn’t give comfort, he could give a warning.
“It’s my last concert of theirs.” Jason mumbled.
“I hope not.”
It escaped Nico before he could stop himself. He couldn’t say he had fully accepted that Jason was leaving, but he had made sure not to make it seem like he disagreed with him, because he didn’t and he would hate to make the boy doubt his life-saving decision. Nico was ready to correct his mistake when Jason gave him a sad smile.
“Me too.” The boy lifted himself up from the wall and pointed with his head in the direction they had come from. “Let’s hope it’s a good one, still. What am I saying?” He said after a brief pause. “They’re always great.”
Jason wasn’t lying. Olympia Grrls were always great on stage. Their show started 30 minutes after the doors to the venue opened, and the room was already pretty full and ready for a show by the time the guys made it on stage. Still, Leo and Will had kept their position on the first rows, with the rest of the group already by their side and ready to welcome Jason and Nico into the circle.
They had changed the setlist, or at least the order, from their last gig Nico had attended to, but it didn’t really matter. It was obvious they were the only people in the venue to know any of the songs, and they were the only ones to notice the change. Of course, they were the only ones screaming to the lyrics, even if a good portion of the venue was still paying attention and trying to follow the songs by dancing or clapping.
Piper’s charisma was unmatched. No one other than their friends had come to see their band, but Nico knew, and Piper knew, that by the end of the set, a bunch of the eyes in Webster Hall would be on them. Seeing them perform was always crazy. Olympia Grrls had never felt like a garage band to him, and he had always known they were destined to play big venues and big crowds. He couldn’t imagine anyone capable of moving around with as much confidence and power as Piper did, all while putting on a hell of a vocal performance and a whole show despite the lack of special effects or screens behind them. By the time they dropped to the stage for a certain part of the song, the cheers were so loud he could have sworn they were leading the main act instead of the opener.
“Man, I can’t believe we’re front row in their first big show.” He mumbled to Leo, who was contributing to the cheering at his side.
“Oh, I totally can!” The other celebrated, looking at Nico before turning his head back when someone else tapped his back to get his attention. Standing behind them was a short girl of around their age with a piercing and short, dark hair with purple highlights that matched her clothes. “Need something!?” Leo asked, making sure to be loud so she could hear.
“Do you know their name?” She asked, pointing at the band. “I got in after they said it!”
“Olympia Grrls on all platforms!” Leo shouted back.
“Thank you!” The girl smiled. “You guys seem like huge fans!”
“That’s my best friend right there!” The boy said, pointing at Piper, who was now at the other side of the stage.
“Oh my god, really? She seems so cool! What is she like in person?”
Leo stopped to think about his response for a bit, but the look in his eyes looked more calculating than anything. Nico tried to find a reason until Leo talked again.
“Why don’t you wait here until they’re done? I can introduce you!” He shouted, holding his hand out. “Name’s Leo!”
“I’m Shel!”
That was the moment Will chose to throw an arm behind Nico and pull him close, taking his attention from Leo and whom he suspected had just become, according to the brunette, Piper’s new potential prom date.
“How are you liking it?” Nico asked, leaning into the boy’s touch. He thought about pecking him before remembering how close they were to the stage and how Will’s dad was still backstage.
“They’re killing it!” Will replied as the music stopped and Piper reached for the mic stand to introduce their last song, ‘Silver Springs’. “Oh my god, I’ve been waiting for this one!”
Nico hadn’t. He had been dooming it, but at least, it was quick. He spent most of it frozen in time, trying to hide face on Will’s neck’s crook to avoid seeing how Jason’s face contorted in discomfort as his sister, on stage, painfully added to the back-up vocals.
“ Time will cast a spell on you…” He could see Jason mouthing. “ But you won’t forget me.”
His sister chanted back the replies until she got to the most painful one. Nico couldn’t look, and Piper’s voice was drowning the rest’s out, but he could still hear, somewhere, the siblings harmonizing.
“You’ll never get away from the sound of a woman that loved you.”
Nico had had a great night. He had danced around with Will and sang with Leo, they had been holding hands all the time, even through sound check, he had been shown backstage around and gotten to talk with experts in the field, and they still had the whole main set to go. Yet, he feared that the concert he had hoped would give him one good memory to remember with Will would just be the source of a ballad between the friend he was months away from losing and the sister who had lost him already.
“Don’t look so sad, Neeks.” Will told him. Nico didn’t get how he could say that at first, but then realized he meant regarding the set being done. “There’s still another one to go through!”
He was right. The lights on stage were already unlit, waiting for the main singer to come out. Still, a whole minute passed and all they could hear was just quiet mumbles on stage until the lights came back up to reveal Piper and their band still on stage.
“Okay, guys!” They started. “There are some wardrobe malfunctions happening, but we’re gonna keep you safe, sound and entertained for another few minutes until it’s all ready! We’ve got time for one more song, so…” Their eyes left the audience to focus exclusively on Nico, just so they could wink in his direction. “Now, this is a cover of one of my favorite songs, and I might be single as a pringle…” Nico pretended he didn’t notice Leo elbowing his new-found friend at the words. “I always imagine myself dancing with a special half to this one, so, if you guys have someone in this crowd that you like, share that dance for me! This is ‘Aurora,’ everyone! Sing it if you know it!”
Somehow, even if Nico had been the one to ask for a song with more romance to it, the one who could have expected it, the one who had gotten the wink… Somehow, Will reacted first. He was spinning Nico around before he could even register it, and there was barely any rhythm or coherence to their dance, if one could even call it that, but it was theirs and it was precious. From the back of his eye, he noticed Jason and Leo were together as well, dancing the best they could with Leo on the wheelchair.
At some point, between holding back laughter in order not to mess him up with the lyrics, Nico tripped and Will caught him. In a movie, he thought, they would have kissed immediately, but all he could do was bury himself in Will’s neck again and laugh at himself for tripping, just to end up laughing of actual happiness.
For the 6 minutes the song lasted, Jason could spin Leo around, Thalia could close her biggest gig with an up-beat song, and Nico could slow-dance with the love of his life. So what if each minute was one less before his new-found life went away? Until then, he could count the days and wait till the last one was done.
Notes:
this chapter. is bigger than my whole life. its 1 am and i need to go to bed so im not gonna say much other than i hope it was clear that this chapter is meant to be a throwback to chapters 2 and 3, mostly (foo fighters title that's addressed in the story, olympia grrls booking a gig after someone else cancels, the match, going to dine out after and jason and thalia gift and trauma-exchanging in the back... leo calling couple behavior "heartwarming" or percy noting that thalia cant use her phone on her bike,,,,) i love cyclic stories so i had a blast writing this.
we're getting so close to the end too!! this is just like phoebe bridgers said, "the end is near." the next chapter will be reyna's and jason's prom!! and then,,,, the end is here!! im saving my words for the actual ending but just thinking abt how far this fic's made it makes me a bit emotional, im so not ready to let go but also so happy to see it end !! buuuut there is 100% gonna be a valgrace sequel one-shot so stay tuned
my life's been shit this week. writing this was the only highlight lmao. im spending next week at france w no computer so no chapter until next next week (23/24 of oct) !! see u then <33
Chapter 19: " hounds of love "
Summary:
“You’re taking her to prom?”
“Pipes, it’s been one week.” Jason said after they nodded.
“But she’s so great!” Piper argued. “We’ve been talking so much on the phone, and we’ve gone out together twice, and she’s literally just my type… Can you believe she’s from Oklahoma too and we still met? It feels like fate a bit, doesn’t it?”
“Are you sure it’s not too soon?” The blonde asked again.
“We’re not getting married, we’re just going to prom.” Piper replied. “Come on! You would do the same if there was someone you liked…”
“True.”
It hit Leo too late.
Notes:
i am so sorry for making you wait so long for this chapter :(
no tws, but jason's situation is important (it's a leo pov again)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
his little heart, it beats so fast.
and i'm ashamed of running away
from nothing real. i just can't deal with this.
i'm still afraid to be there, among the hounds of love.
In comparison to the other only concert Leo had gone to so far in the year, Piper’s was being a much better experience than Will’s mom. For starters, there was no evil ex haunting him and his memories, but other than that, it was just special to enjoy the whole thing so close to the front with Jason by his side. There was also the fact that, after their friends’ set was over, they joined them in the front row and Leo got to introduce his newest friend, Shel, to Piper. If he was honest, he hadn’t had much time to talk with the girl, too focused on the show to do that, but she had seemed full of green flags and her vibe was very much like Pipes’, so when they started to talk during the actual main set, it didn’t surprise him. At the moment, they were both dancing together and looking at each other rather than at the singer, and Leo was looking at them hoping to see any sort of phone number exchange taking place.
“Hey!” Jason’s voice pulled him out from his thoughts. “I’m gonna go get something to drink. You want anything?”
“Eh…”
Leo stopped for a moment to think about it. As silly and down-bad as it was, a part of him was sad he couldn’t accompany Jason, but he didn’t want to risk the front row because the venue wasn’t adapted and he would barely see from anywhere else. It shouldn’t take Jason too long to go back, so he ended up deciding to let him go order a Fanta for him.
“Pipes, you two want a drink?”
Piper stopped from where she was dancing and jumping with Shel, whose hand Leo could swear was holding theirs, and turned to look at them. Their eyes went from Jason to Leo and back to Jason before something in their smile shifted.
“I’ll go, you two stay here.” They decided. “Pepsi and lemon Fanta, right?” Both boys nodded before they turned to Shel and pointed with their head towards the bar area. “Wanna come?”
“Yeah, sure!”
The two left, still holding hands with the excuse of not getting lost in the crowd, and Leo sighed at the sight.
“They grow up so fast…” He joked.
“It’s not like Piper’s never dated anyone.” Jason reminded him.
“Woah, I had forgotten about that.” Leo definitely hadn’t forgotten. He had never felt more like an outsider than back when Jason and Piper were dating, even if they had never done anything to make him feel like that —maybe he was just hard-wired to feel unloved, that was his best guess. Still, when he had learnt they had broken up, he hadn’t felt better. Until Piper had told him they were a lesbian, Leo had feared his accident or something had gotten in the way of their relationship and that he had ruined something good for his best friends. He had never asked, either, but now that he was circling the thought around his head, curiosity got the best of him. “Hey, how was it? Breaking up, I mean. Must be awkward to be told your girlfriend is a lesbian.”
“It wasn’t like that.” Jason said, barely thinking about his answer. “In a way it was relieving.”
“Really?”
Something in the blonde’s expression shifted, as if he had been caught in a lie, but he recomposed himself so fast it left Leo wondering whether he had imagined it.
“I don’t know.” He started. “I was also not into them anymore and didn’t know how to go about it. So, yeah, relieving.”
“Oh, okay.” Leo smiled. “Piper and Shel are taking a bit long, aren’t they?”
“Let them.” Jason replied, just as fast as before.
Leo mourned the fact he hadn’t worn a hoodie with strings, because he desperately needed something to fidget with at the delusional idea that the other was happy to share a moment alone with him. He wasn’t stupid enough to think that was the truth, of course, but he could close his eyes and pretend.
“Do you think Shel and them…?” He asked, guessing they were the actual reason Jason didn’t mind waiting for a drink.
“Maybe.” The boy answered. “Is Piper looking for someone to date?”
“Yeah, more or less.” Maybe it was because he had always been a bit stupid, and a lot reckless, and a huge fan of pushing his luck, that Leo asked: “What about you? Been single for almost a year now.”
“So have you?”
It sounded too shy for it to be banter, and Leo could see a faint blush spread over the boy’s face in spite of the artificial lightning and the dimly lit venue. God, he thought, almost forgetting about the conversation, he’s so pretty… With the way his eyes glowed with the shine of the stage’s light, Leo could barely process that Jason had dodged the question. That should have told him to change topics, probably. Should have been a big neon sign with the words “STOP ASKING NOW, PROTECT THE LEO” written all over it, but he still missed it.
“Come on!” He said, clinging to the dumb idea that Jason was gonna tell him he fancied him too. “What? Do you like anyone?”
“I… You could say so?”
The world stopped for a second. If Leo had to be honest, he would say that he was expecting it. He couldn’t help but wonder who it was that Jason liked. Maybe a girl from his class, or a friend of a friend, or something. Though, with how handsome and kind the boy was, Leo doubted he would have any trouble getting in a relationship if that was what he wanted, which made the fact he was still single a bit confusing…
What was just as confusing was the fact his heart didn’t feel nearly as broken as he had thought it would. Percy and Beth were probably gonna get married someday, Hazel had gotten a boyfriend last summer, Nico and Will were dating, and he was determined to have Piper and Shel go on a date. Jason, the guy he had been crushing on for ages, had told him to his face that he liked someone.
Last year, this same setting would have probably ruined him. Hell, he had cried himself to sleep thinking about how lonely his life was gonna end up being too many times. A year ago, he would have been sobbing at the news already. Still, he didn’t feel like crying. Maybe he did feel bittersweet, but, for the first time, it was sweeter than it was bitter. He wasn’t angry —hadn’t been last year, either. Just upset with himself—, and he wasn’t sad. Leo was just happy for the rest, albeit he couldn’t deny he still selfishly wanted Jason for himself.
“Can I know who…?” He started asking before being interrupted.
“Here’s your Fanta!” Piper jumped into the conversation, handing the drink to Leo. “And your Pepsi. Cheers!” They said, briefly hitting their cup with theirs before doing the same to Shel’s.
Leo looked shyly at Jason and smiled. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.”
. . .
Exams were already over, which meant Leo had almost all the time in the world and so did his friends. That, alongside the fact Jason kept trying to hang out as much as possible for some reason, as if he was afraid his parents would prevent him from going out again, meant their small rule-of-three friend group was seeing almost daily. The day right before Piper’s prom, they ended up being driven by Jason to the beach. It wasn’t as fun as it had been before Leo lost mobility, but he appreciated just being with them.
“So.” He said, biting off his popsicle and pretending to not hear how Jason called him a freak about it. “Can we see your outfit or does that cause bad luck?”
Piper playfully hit him in the arm before pulling out their phone and searching for the picture before flashing it to the boys. They looked awesome despite it being a selfie mirror in which their face was mostly covered. A lilac blazer rested on their shoulders, not properly put on, and failed to hide the white corset-style top they were wearing. The pants were the same lavender tone, and they had paired it with Doc Martens with purple laces.
“That’s stunning!” Jason complimented them.
“You look awesome! And the color’s lovely.” Leo added, handing them the phone back.
“Thanks! It matches…” Piper stopped themselves mid sentence just to finish it after, though shyer and with a slight blush. “It matches Shel’s hair.”
Leo couldn’t help to whistle at the information. “You’re taking her to prom?”
“Pipes, it’s been one week.” Jason said after they nodded.
“But she’s so great!” Piper argued. “We’ve been talking so much on the phone, and we’ve gone out together twice, and she’s literally just my type… Can you believe she’s from Oklahoma too and we still met? It feels like fate a bit, doesn’t it?”
“Are you sure it’s not too soon?” The blonde asked again.
“We’re not getting married, we’re just going to prom.” Piper replied. “Come on! You would do the same if there was someone you liked…”
“True.”
It hit Leo too late. Really, really fucking late. As in, it wasn’t until the clock hit 2 AM with him lying sleepless on the bed with his dog resting on him that his habit of replaying and analyzing the day in his head got him to notice that there was, indeed, someone Jason liked. That’s what he had told him in the concert, at least. Yet, he was the one being taken to prom as Jason’s plus one, which didn’t add up. He fell asleep after sending Will a very long, probably very crazy-sounding audio, dreaming of what he was —perhaps in futility— hoping wouldn’t be just high hopes and wishful thinking.
. . .
lightning mcqueen <3
Friday 17th, 4:01 PM
leo
cant wait to see u!!!!
lightning mcqueen <3
you know where i am, then!
see you in an hour. <3
el pequeño nicolás
Friday 17th, 3:05 PM
el pequeño nicolás
farnk juts piecked us up
be at ur place in 15
leo
arligth!!
im waiting oujstide
would
Friday 17th, 3:06 PM
leo
WILL IM STARTNGI TO FRAEK OUT
would
youve been fareking out for the whoel week tbh
leo
U R NOT HELPING
would
U ARE GONNA DO GREAT ^____^/
feel better?
leo
a bit
Leo put his phone back in his purse once he saw Frank’s car park in front of his house. It was Reyna, dressed in a beautiful tight dark purple dress, who came to help him get into the car. She looked great, hair perfectly styled in a simple but regal dutch braid and make-up subtle but effective, and for a second he wanted to ask for a second to go back inside and change his own clothes. He had chosen a light green dress with a flowy skirt, because it was the fanciest piece of clothing he owned. Yet, the fact he liked to wear skirts and dresses from time to time, and that a good half of his closet consisted of them, didn’t mean he wasn’t self-conscious. Jason had told him it would be fine, that people in his school wouldn’t mind —not like Leo really trusted that, seeing as he knew the students were mostly preppy rich kids, and he knew from experience those weren’t the kindest—, but he was still scared. At least, when he had texted Jason some days ago saying he was gonna go buy a suit, the boy had called him and specifically told him he looked great with a dress on, and that had boosted his confidence enough to not buy any other option.
“Hey!” Nico said, moving a bit to make space for Leo on the backseat. “You look great.”
“Oh, let me see.” Hazel spoke from the front, turning around to see before Leo could thank her brother. “That color is so pretty on you! You look awesome.”
“Thanks, guys.” He buckled up as he spoke so that he had an excuse to look down. “Y’all are all looking stunning.”
The ride felt quicker than it was, spent talking about wardrobe malfunctions and difficult textures. They were on time, but only for 5 minutes, and most of the students and guests were already inside the place the party was taking place. Jason was waiting outside, though, looking anxious and biting his nails. His face lit up once Leo got out of the car and was helped into his chair by Frank. The blonde basically ran to him.
“Leo, you made it!” He smiled, lowering himself a bit to be eye to eye. He had left his glasses at home for the occasion, which made Leo kind of sad, but it gave him a clear view of his blue eyes and… Thank God Jason moved to talk to Reyna, because otherwise he would have gotten lost on his irises. “You’ve got your part of the speech ready?”
“Got it right here.” She said, waving a bent paper sheet on the air. “They must be waiting inside, right?”
The group rushed inside, not wanting to make anyone wait for the speech and, most realistically, for the party after that. Frank, Hazel, and Nico were able to find some of the last seats available, while Jason and Reyna stood behind going over their papers for the last time. As Leo scanned the room for a good place to see from, Jason grabbed his wrist.
“Can you… Can you stay close to the front?” He requested. “I want you to be close.”
Leo could only nod as he mentally apologized to future Will for all the audios he was about to receive from future Leo. He placed himself in the front row, in a place that he could see Jason clearly and be seen just as well, but without difficulting anyone’s view or any of the students’ path towards their diploma. His two friends started to talk shortly after, with Reyna startin
Her part was beautiful. About 5 minutes long, it made a great description of the past years their promotion had spent together, adding some inside jokes that he didn’t get, but that the preppy rich kid crowd loved. The girl’s voice remained clear and firm throughout everything, as it usually did, but towards the end, it faltered once or twice and she had to stop to make sure not to cry from time to time.
After that, it was Jason’s turn. The theme and topics were basically the same, and Leo could tell they had probably written it together and split it up later. They had always been a great team, so it wasn’t a surprise. What surprised him was that Jason, who was usually a great orator —though not as good as Reyna, Leo could understand why the students and teachers would trust him with an important speech—, seemed to be struggling more than usual… Perhaps because he was crying way more than Reyna had.
“So…” He said towards the end, with tears running down his face. He took a brief pause to regain air before continuing. “Today is the day after which our paths split. Some of us might never see again…” The boy choked on a sob. Damn, Leo thought, I didn’t know he cared about these guys so much. “But after so many years, I’m confident that, independently of whether fate wants us to meet again or not, whether we remain in contact or just turn into a memory, that that memory will be just as happy as each of the steps we took together. So, yeah, this might be our last night all together, but to that, I say: ‘Let’s make it one to remember, just like we’ve been doing since day one.’”
Leo wasn’t sure if that was the end of the speech or if Jason had cut it short to save himself, but his sentence was followed by a general round of applause and the school’s headmaster proceeded to handing out diplomas, so it didn’t really matter. He had to wait about 30 minutes before each student was done and the party officially started. By then, all he wanted to do was go up to Jason, hold his hand, and tell him he had done great, and that’s what he did.
“Hey!” Jason was leaning against a wall by himself, looking sad and down even if his tears had dried out. “What’s the long face for?” The boy shrugged. “You know you can tell me.”
“I just got emotional.”
“You sure it’s just that?” Leo asked. Jason shrugged again. He decided it was futile to try to force an honest answer. Instead, he just grabbed Jason’s hand and tugged at it enough to catch his attention. “What happened to make this a night to remember? Let’s go to the photocall!”
They were able to take some pictures together before reuniting with the rest of the group. It was a bit of a struggle to convince Jason to appear in the pictures, mostly because of how determined he was that no one was gonna be able to handle his camera as well as him, but Leo managed to pull him in with him. After at least 3 pictures with the six of them, Leo started to move away from the photocall, but Jason reached out for him again, making him stop the chair.
“Wait! Hey, Reyna, can you take another one of us two? The other ones didn’t come along well.”
“Yeah, sure!” She said, grabbing the camera and moving in front of them. “Smile!”
Leo had started to advance earlier, meaning that he was standing ahead of Jason and probably should have asked for a second to get on his side again. Still, he didn’t have that second, so all he did was freeze and smile as he thought of how awkward the pic would come out. That was until he felt two arms on his shoulders and felt Jason’s fresh perfume hit his nostrils. A hug, he realized. It was far from being the first time they hugged, but it still took everything not to melt into it.
Leo hadn’t realized how much pressure and anxiety he had placed on himself regarding the night. From the dress, to the possibility of Jason liking him, to the fact it was an important day he didn’t want to mess up… Will had been right to tell him that he had been freaking out the whole week. Yet, with Jason’s arms around him and his face so close, practically nuzzling his neck, he felt all his problems and fears evaporating again. It was easy to believe he looked good when Jason —and all of his friends— had agreed with his gut instinct telling him to choose the dress, it was easy to believe Jason could like him back with how lovingly he was holding onto Leo, and it was hard to break the hug and left the photocall in order not to mess someone else’s prom by preventing them from using it.
Until then, Leo hadn’t allowed himself to enjoy the fact that he was Jason’s prom date… Stress about it? He had done that plenty, but now he got to lavish on it. With Frank and Hazel off dancing and Nico and Reyna talking close to the walls (as he had expected from them, seeing as one was disabled and the other would probably prefer to cross the Atlantic by swimming before engaging on a public dance), Jason and him were left to dance by themselves too. There was no live band, like their school had had for ho-co, but the playlist was great.
Although, as much as dancing with Jason was lovely, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that the other was acting tense. Sure, he laughed from time to time, but whenever Leo looked away from him, he could see his bright smile fading from his face, only recovering once Leo turned in his direction again. He bit the inside of his mouth, not sure of what to do to fix it… How could he help if Jason wasn’t even telling him he needed it? Leo didn’t want to overstep.
“Are you tired?” He said, taking his best guess.
“Uh?”
“I asked if you’re tired!” He repeated, louder this time so it could be heard over the speakers. “We don’t have to stay the whole thing if you don’t want to. I can call…”
“No, I would drive you.”
“Okay!” Leo had been about to say “my dad,” because he had promised himself he would never even utter the word “Uber” again, but the blonde’s offer was still nice to hear. “You don’t have to go to your place either! We can tell your parents you’re staying at mine, or go somewhere else and pretend we’re still at the party for some hours, or…”
“I don’t wanna leave yet!” Jason specified.
“Oh!”
“Just…” The blonde’s expression shifted, turning more serious. The smile faded definitively, not coming back even if Leo was still looking directly at him, and he looked down, as if unable to bear the eye contact. He bit his lip and scratched the back of his head before speaking again. “Can we go outside? I need…”
“Fresh air?” Leo tried to guess.
“No.” Jason replied. “I need to tell you something important.”
. . .
The shiny mid-May sky would have been beautiful if Leo’s heart hadn’t been beating at a worrisome speed. Spring had started to fade onto summer, meaning that the usual, light nocturnal breeze was becoming more and more usual, allowing nights to welcome in warmth. He didn’t have a jacket, but he didn’t feel cold. A shame, he thought, because otherwise he could have tested his luck and asked Jason for his blazer. His hoodie is in your closet back at home, he said to himself, remembering the sweater, which he had been using as many times as possible. Plus, he didn’t want to say anything that would distance Jason from whatever it was that Leo needed to be told…
He had his guesses. Or, to be more accurate, he had a wishful guess that matched exactly what he wanted to hear. Leo had never been one to dream high, painfully aware that he wasn’t as much of a pull as any of his friends, but he couldn’t help to allow himself the pleasure to do so. The conversations from the beach and the concert were playing on his mind, reminding him that there was a possibility his dream was about to come true.
“So…” Jason started, looking at him before giving some last steps of nervousness. Lep closed his eyes, letting the image of Jason pacing back and forth nervously on the staircase they had gone to to fade into black and let his mind be filled with made-up scenes. “God, I’m so nervous…”
Leo opened his eyes again, grabbing Jason’s hand and looking up at him with what he hoped was a tender smile.
“There’s no reason for that.” He reminded him. “It’s just me.”
In front of him, Jason took a deep breath. He raised his eyes up, reminding Leo of his speech, in which he had done the same thing as a way to try and stop himself from crying. It didn't worked then. It didn’t seem to be working, but Leo was more worried about why Jason would cry in the first place.
“Fuck…” The boy whispered. “I knew I should have taken off my contacts.”
“Jason…” Leo called for him, not really understanding what was going on. “What’s wrong?” What do you have to tell me?”
Jason took another deep breath and finally moved his eyes from the sky to Leo. He looked devastated, and he spoke so quietly it was barely audible for Leo.
“I…” The boy started. “I’m leaving.”
Leo tilted his head, not following. “What do you mean?”
“I’m going to study in California. And I don’t think I’m gonna come back.”
He was pretty sure he opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came out for a bit. His body was going crazy. Thoughts were racing through his mind, mostly rhetoric, very scared questions. Not coming back? What? What the fuck? What does that mean? Unfortunately, Leo was pretty sure he knew exactly what he meant word by word. That heartfelt speech suddenly made a lot of sense. Jason was saying it clearly, “I’m leaving,” and he knew first-hand what it was like needing to leave a house in which you’re not treated well. That didn’t mean he liked what he had heard, or that he wanted to believe it, so he played it dumb.
“What? Come on!” He said, playfully hitting Jason in the arm. “Don’t be dramatic. There’s the holidays, and the whole summer and…”
“I’m not coming back, Leo. Ever.” He said. Leo felt bad immediately. He bit his tongue, hard enough so that it hurted, hoping it would feel as a punishment of sorts. “I’m gonna find a job and get a place there. I don’t care how bad, I just… I can’t come back to a city that has them.”
His tone didn’t hide how close to crying he was. That alone would have been enough to make Leo cry too, and when paired with the harsh facts being plainly presented in front of him, he had to look down to his lap to hide the tears that started to run down his face. He took his hands, until then busy fidgeting to help him calm down (which wasn’t really working), and quickly dried his eyes and cheek off before taking a deep breath and looking back at Jason…
And then Leo wanted to cry again. Jason had her eyes wet, his lips tightly pursed and a look of confusion and fear plastered all over his features. He was used to seeing him calm and collected, even if during the past months he had gotten to a more vulnerable, more scared, less steady than what he was used to. But Leo had never seen him looking so lost and torn. If he was struggling to take in the news, he could only imagine how hurtful it was for the other to deliver them.
The next time the boy spoke, it came out in a weak whisper. “I’m sorry.”
Leo was shaking his head no immediately. Almost mindlessly, he reached out both hands, going to cup his cheeks. He stopped himself before he could do it, though, and instead settled them on the boy’s shoulders, possible because of the staircase despite their drastic height difference.
“What are you sorry for?” He pushed the words out, feeling himself tear up again.
Truth was, he wasn’t lying. There was nothing Jason could be sorry for. First off, the decision to leave hadn’t been made by him as much as it had been made by the two fuckers responsible of their son’s path of action. Second, he could never have it in him to resent Jason —who, beyond being the person he was infatuated with, was his best friend in the world— for doing what was best for him. He had teased him many times for being a massive nerd, despite the fact he was the same or worse, and Jason had always gotten excellent grades. If he was seriously planning to start paying for his life by himself, he must have gotten a really good scholarship to afford college. Leo wished Jason could be proud of himself for having earned it and for being brave enough to take such a big decision, or that he could be happy to finally be getting away from his parents.
He had heard really disgusting stuff in just three months, and he didn’t want to imagine what almost 18 years had looked like for him. Leaving them behind… They should be celebrating. Instead, they were crying outside of a party. Leo sniffled, trying hard not to cry again, and reached out a hand to move Jason’s hair gently.
“You’re doing the right thing.” He whispered tenderly. “Don’t be sorry… There’s a whole life ahead of you and it’s gonna be yours. I want you to be happy about it.”
“I don’t know… It’s really hard.” Jason started. “I’m… I’m really scared.”
“Tell me about it.” Leo said, trying to help the blonde, who still looked at the verge of breaking down, collect himself. “What university are you going to?”
“UCLA.” Jason said. Leo smiled internally. That was one of his dream schools, and though he knew their areas of expertise were very different disciplines, he was still proud and happy for the other. “Linguistics and stuff. You know. My thing.”
“Are you living on campus?”
“Yeah. Got a huge scholarship.” Jason said, voice out of breath and shaky. “It covers housing. And, well, I also wanted to find a job.”
“Anything in mind?” Leo tilted his head.
“No. I’ll take anything decent.” Jason replied as he sniffled. “I’m not sure what I would be good at.”
“Are you kidding!?” It came out louder than Leo had planned it, perhaps because it wasn’t something he was saying to help Jason calm down, but a genuine question born out of pure surprise. “You would be a great tutor, or you could referee basketball matches, or work as a librarian or in a bookstore, or a music shop… You could even get something about photography, I’m sure! You’re amazing at so many things. Anyone would be crazy not to hire you.”
Much to his liking, Jason sniffled and giggled at his enthusiasm. He was smiling, and when he opened his eyes after briefly closing it, the shine in them seemed to be a sign of life rather than just a simple reflection of the streetlights.
“You plan on getting your new place, right?” Jason nodded. “How are you gonna decorate it?”
“I haven’t thought about it. Probably hang some big art. Get a huge bookshelf too…”
“You’re gonna have to learn how to cook.” Leo reminded him. “I’ll give you a masterclass before you leave.” The direct mention of him leaving put a stop to his otherwise light-hearted string of words, and his tone turned serious and gloomy for a second as the conversation darkened again. “When…?”
Thankfully, Leo didn’t need to finish talking. “August. A week before the year starts.”
“Have you told your parents already?”
“No…” Jason turned his head down, as if ashamed. “I’ve told Nico and Thalia, and now you. I’m gonna tell Piper next, and then my parents. I don’t know how to tell them. I don’t want them to force me to stay, or… I’m scared they’ll follow me like they followed Thalia.”
“You don’t have to talk with them again even if they follow you.” Leo reminded him. “Look at Thalia. She hasn’t talked to them, has she? Los Angeles is huge. You’re not gonna talk to everyone in there. If they wanna go and waste their money on moving back just to become another set of unremarkable passerbys, that’s their problem.”
“Thank you…”
Jason moved a hand and took it to his shoulders, where Leo’s hands still rested. Fuck, he thought. He had completely forgotten he had been touching Jason during the whole conversation, and that they had been incredibly close. He hoped his face wouldn’t lit up at the realization, seeing how awkward it would be if it happened during such a bittersweet talk, but it was impossible to prevent the way he ended up blushing. It also didn’t help that Jason hadn’t just moved his hands, but decided to hold them both between his.
Leo’s mind short-circuited briefly before remembering what the other had said. The boy had thanked him. He squeezed his hands and returned the gesture.
“Thank you. ” Leo told him. “Thanks for telling me. About this and, well, about everything. It must have been so hard…”
“Don’t thank me for that.” Jason said with a soft complaint, almost as if Leo was thanking him for lending him a charger or carrying something rather than for opening up to him as the blonde had.
“Of course I’m gonna thank you for that!” Leo argued. “You have trusted me with something really important, twice. It means the world to me.” He stopped, partially mourning the fact he couldn’t fidget with his hands, though never complaining about the fact they were intertwined with Jason’s, and tried to decide whether his next words were worth it or not. They were. “You mean the world to me.”
Jason didn’t say anything. The silence between them was deafening enough for the music from the party to become noticeable again. The words were pretty muffled, specially for Leo, whose hearing wasn’t what it used to be, but it sounded like the lyrics were about love to a certain extent. It was ironic, in a way. Leo couldn’t believe he had exited the place thinking he was about to have a love confession handed out to him by the boy of his dreams. In retrospect, it seemed silly and childish.
The seriousness of their conversation and his need to make sure Jason wasn’t feeling too bad before making sure he himself was fine had almost made him forget how hurt he was. His best friend was leaving. The guy he had a crush on, whom he had spent a week freaking out about even if he was straight, whom he had spent hours gushing about on the phone to his friend… He was gonna move to the other side of the country, meet new people, and leave his past life, the one that included Leo, in it. Yeah, the fact he had been hoping for a declaration was pretty laughable.
Now, he was telling Jason how much he meant to him, and the deafening silence was making him fearful he had crossed the line of “things close friends say to each other” and ventured into “the feelings go beyond friendship” territory.
“You… Leo, do you mean that?”
He could consider himself a really fortunate man, lucky to have a friend lenient enough to give him a chance to take his words back… Leo could also consider himself stupid, because he didn’t miss the chance (or, rather, chose to miss it) and just nodded.
“Yeah.” He breathed out. “You’re really important to me. You know that, right?”
“You’re really important to me too.” Jason whispered back. He let go of his hands, which broke Leo’s heart in two, and moved away to sit in the stairs, which made him shorter than the other. He looked away from the brunette and took a deep sigh. “That’s the hardest part of all.”
“Caring about me?” Jason nodded. Not without lots of confusion in the way, Leo’s mind jumped to instant heartbreak as one of his biggest fears seemingly got confirmed in front of his eyes. He was hard to deal with, plain and easy. He took a deep breath, trying for the umpteenth time of the night not to break down into sobs, and opened his mouth to apologize.
“Leaving you behind… You don’t know how that’s ruining me.”
A bunch of air he hadn’t realized he had been holding escaped his lungs at the relieving words hit his ears. Leo placed a hand on Jason’s shoulder.
“It’s okay, man. You’ll make lots of new friends and…”
“I don’t like you as a friend.” Jason interrupted him.
Leo froze in place. He had been dreaming of it, hoping for it, thinking about it and about how sad, how pathetic, how silly and unrealistic it was to do all of that for days… And there it was, straight from Jason’s lips and impossibly different from how he had imagined it. His love confession didn’t happen like he wanted it to. Leo didn’t get the soft, sweet, tender scenario she had hoped for, but a bittersweet, almost rushed declaration of feelings uttered with the running-of-time mindset of someone who has to leave soon. But he didn’t care, because it was Jason’s and his, and in his book, that was enough. It wasn’t perfect, and he couldn’t deny that a part of him felt like life had played a sick joke on him by making the moment happen right after the devastating news of Jason leaving had been broken to him… But he couldn’t help the fluttering happiness at his chest or the way his smile widened as soon as he realized what was going on.
“You don’t…?”
“I like you, Leo.” Jason had turned to him again, and was looking into his eyes directly with a mix of passion and frustration. “I like you so much… I think you’re fascinating, in every way. You are so funny, so smart, so ridiculously kind and so special. I like the way you talk, and your accent, and I like the way you sing to literally every song even if you don’t know the lyrics, and I like it when you’re loud and it hypes me up, but I also like when we get to just rest together and… And when you fall asleep on me, and it hurts me to have to move you away, because I really, really, really like being close to you… And now I’m gonna leave and we’re not gonna be close and… And what am I even saying? You might not even want to be my friend after…”
Jason didn’t get to finish. Not with the way Leo had grabbed at his shirt and pulled him up to kiss him, letting the words die in his mouth. It wasn’t his first kiss, but with how messy and clumsy it was, it could have passed as one. There wasn’t much one could do when the other part only processed the fact the kiss was going on halfway through it, but at least, after Jason realized, he placed a hand on Leo’s face and cupped his cheek, guiding him for a few more seconds until they pulled away. The boys stared into each other intensely for a second, both blushed and breathing harder than before, before they both looked away.
“I’m so…” Leo started.
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence.” Jason said, preventing him from apologizing. “That was amazing.”
“Really?” His tone betrayed how he genuinely hadn’t been expecting the praise.
“Really.” Jason reassured him. He was looking ahead of them, with a pleasant and content expression. He seemed calm for a second until his face turned gloomy. “Is it… Is it bad that I told you I like you and that we kissed and that I… Forget it.”
“No, no, no.” Leo reached out and grabbed his arm to shake it. “Finish that thought, enlighten me.”
“I can’t. It’s unfair to… To ask you that when we both know I’m gonna be leaving.”
Unfortunately for him, Leo wasn’t as dumb as he usually felt he was, and he rapidly tied knots on what Jason was talking about.
“Ask me.” He insisted, tugging at his arm. “I want you to. I’ll decide if it’s fair or not. Please…?” He added, when it seemed the other wouldn’t budge. Jason didn’t resist.
“Would you…” The blonde stopped talking to take a deep breath. “Would you be my boyfriend?”
He probably shouldn’t be, seeing as Jason was still moving far away, but the happiness of the moment was making him forget about the sad, dark cloud hovering over his heart, which meant Leo was as happy as he had been in a long time.
“I would.”
“Even if it would be in the other side of the country with a 3-hour time difference and with the knowledge I will hopefully never come back again?”
“I have always wanted to study in California.” Jason opened his mouth and turned to Leo with a serious frown on his face, but before he could begin to scold him on how he couldn’t take important life decisions based on their newly founded relationship, Leo already had his phone opened in front of him, showing him the plethora of messages he had sent Will about wanting to apply to Stratford and UCLA. Jason closed his mouth. “See? I just have to get in…”
“You’ll get in.” Jason replied immediately. “There’s no one as smart as you.”
“Oh, shut it, you’ll make me blush.” Leo joked as he put his phone back into his pocket. “But, who knows… We could be together again in one year.”
“Well, then…” Jason told him, looking at him with the pure love in his eyes defeating any tear that might have been there before. “I’ll wait.”
Notes:
i am so so sorry it took so long to finish this chapter. i have been travelling (on one hand i went to toulouse for a week, and then i had a quick getaway to see my fav kpop group live and guys ,,, artms,,,, that was one of the best concerts of my life), and i have a ton of things to do for uni that have been pilling up, as well as a fic for the halloween exchange (which will be out between today and the 31st !!!). i dont really know when im gonna be able to put out the last chapter, since i really wanna do it well and it seems like its gonna be a bit long, but it will probably be in the 13th or at least in that week (my birthday is coming up so i might not be thinking about writing a lot :P) (also my room is under renovations and my bed is literally in the living room rn and i dont have a desk anymore and thats fucking me up)
that being said.
GUYS VALGRACE ARE DATING !!!!! se quieren de verdad. the fact there are 2 leo chapters is because the 2nd jason pov will be in a sequel one-shot which im really excited about !!! but its gonna be the peak of fluff
im really tired so im not gonna extend myself a lot but i hope you liked this and stay tuned for the next and last update! <3
Chapter 20: " you'll always find your way back home "
Summary:
“I’m sorry.” Will whispered as he returned the hug, clinging tightly at the boy’s clothes as if in hopes that, that way, he could stay with him.
“Don’t say that. It’s not your fault. It’s no one’s fault.” Nico was quick to reply.
He broke the hug to copy what Will had just done and picked the blonde’s head in his hands, examining it quickly before using his thumb to brush away the few tears Will had spilled and, then, kissing him all over but in the mouth. It wasn’t a cure-all, but at least it pulled a small giggle out of him.
“I’m gonna miss you so much…” He said, still teary-eyed. At that, Nico’s hands traveled back to his folder and started to open it.
“I made you a gift…”
Notes:
the last chapter is here and we could only finish how we started: with a hannah montana song
thank you so much for reading up until here !! i hope you'll enjoy the ending <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
you can change your style, you can change your jeans.
you can learn to fly, you can chase your dream
you can laugh and cry but everybody knows
you'll always find your way back home.
On the Monday of his last week in New York, Will woke up devastated. He lingered in bed for a bit longer than usual, clinging to his plushie and not making a single effort to get out and get ready for school. He didn’t even have real class anymore, just a bunch of documentaries or general intros to whatever they were gonna be seeing next year. He had been assisting either way, but he couldn’t say he had been paying attention. He went solely because of seeing his friends and Nico, because he had a no-return ticket to Austin for Sunday and he didn’t want to miss out on their last days together. Still, the closer he got to the end, the less optimistic he found himself. He wished the world would stop spinning as long as he remained in bed. That way, he wouldn’t have to leave, but obviously, it didn’t work that way.
“Will, you’re gonna be late!” His dad said from outside his bedroom door. Will just groaned in response. “Is everything okay?”
“No…” He let out, weakly and frustrated.
His father’s tone softened. “Can I come in?”
Somehow, his dad understood that his whine meant “yes” and opened the door, finding him closing his eyes to avoid being hit by the sunlight coming from the window, still in bed and not letting go of his plushie. He had started crying at some point after waking up, even if he had probably only been up for 5 minutes, but Will wasn’t surprised about that (he had anticipated that he was gonna be a mess for the entire week). It didn’t escape his dad.
“Oh, sunshine…” The man walked to him, sitting on the bed and placing a hand on his shoulder. “Is this about…?” Will nodded before he could finish talking. “Come here, sweetheart.”
Though still sleepy, Will sat up from the bed, resting his head against his dad’s chest and letting himself be enveloped by a warm hug. His dad started to whisper soft words into his ears, about how it would all be alright and that it wasn’t as scary as it seemed, but Will didn’t have it in him to stop crying, forcing his father to pull him away from his chest and cup his cheeks to dry them.
“It’s okay, love,” he said, pressing a soft kiss to his son’s forehead. “You’ll always have a room here! You can come visit whenever you want, and we can go visit you and your mom this Christmas, if you want…”
“I don’t even know what I want.” Will complained, making his father purse his lips. “I just…”
He chose to remain silent. If he started to talk about how he didn’t want to leave Nico, or how he couldn’t imagine Mondays without sitting with Leo for his first period, or how he was gonna miss all of Piper’s gigs and how he wasn’t gonna be there next week to play against Jason’s school again, he would be late for class. So, Will forced himself to stop crying, shaking his head and letting his dad hug him one last time before he finally pulled himself together and walked to the kitchen. Apollo followed behind, kissing his head and whispering “I’m proud of you” before preparing a quick glass of hot milk for Will.
In the end, he was still late to class, but the teacher didn’t scold him. She wasn’t even teaching a class, just going through a documentary, like Will had predicted she would be. So, he sat on his seat, basically throwing his bag to the ground without care, and dropping his head on the desk immediately later.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” At his side, Leo sneaked closer to him and placed a hand on his back.
Will turned his head around to look at the boy. Worry was visible all over his face, but there was something more. Some weeks ago, on the same night Nico had texted him about 6 variations of the same suit asking if it was good enough to take to a prom, Leo had called him at 3 AM. Will had been asleep, but had called immediately after waking up and seeing the missed calls. After all, Leo had spent days on his DMs tying thoughts together and theorizing on whether or not Jason was gonna ask him out. It either was it or not, but the shout of “I KISSED HIM” that Leo had let out as soon as he had picked up had been enough confirmation of how things had gone. For the past weeks, they had been dating, and Will had never seen Leo as happy. Even in moments like this, where his mind was somewhere else, there was a halo of joy following him around. It genuinely made Will smile a bit, even if he still felt like shit.
“You know what’s wrong.” He replied.
“Is it about leaving? Because if not, I’m gonna need you to elaborate.”
“‘S ‘bout that.” Will mumbled.
With the way he was sitting in a horrible posture and skipping letters, he couldn’t help that a voice inside of his head told him he was acting like Nico. The thought of his boyfriend rubbing off on him like that was endearing, but he also greatly valued his posture, so Will made himself sit upright before sighing and looking away from the documentary.
“You’ll visit us, right?” Leo tilted his head as he started to bit off the string of his hoodie.
“I want to.” Will said. “But I don’t know when.”
“It’s okay! We’ll be here all year.” Leo said before shrugging. “Or, well, not really. Piper, Perce and Beth are gonna be off in uni.”
“Man…” Will buried his head in his hands. “University.”
“What’s with it?” Leo asked, confused at his negative tone. Will didn’t blame him, seeing as he had always been eager about studying until now. “Did you change your mind about medicine or…?”
“Never.” Will was quick to reply. “Just… I thought maybe I could apply for university here rather than in Austin, but I also have my friends in Austin, right? Lou, Cecil and I have spent our whole lives talking about how we’re gonna get an apartment together when we go to uni, and how it’s gonna be the best time ever, and stuff… And I love them. I love them, and I do wanna live that with them. Just… I wanna live it with y’all too…” He sighed. “Do I sound like an asshole? I’m sorry, I don’t wanna be picking favorites or…”
“No one said you were.” Leo reassured him. “I get it, man. You’re in a hard position. Hm… Look, I don’t know about Hazel and Nico, but, eh… You know I’m gonna try to study out of state. If you wanna go to uni in Texas with Lou and Cecil, go! You’ve clearly dreamed about it at some point…”
“But I’ve also dreamed about being with all of you…”
“And you’ve been.” Leo cut him off before Will could keep making himself sadder. “Hell, you’re still with us! You’ve got a whole week! And it’s gonna be the best week ever. Trust me!” Will looked away, sad and pouting. At his sigh, Leo sighed. “William Andrew Solace, look at me right now.”
“Who gave you full name privilege?” Will jumped immediately, though he was nowhere close to angry.
“I’m scolding you!” The other replied. “Now, who is gonna have the best week ever?”
“Us?” He said, closer to a sigh than to a normal sentence.
“Didn’t hear it!”
“Us.” Will tried again. It still sounded sad, but Leo took pity on him and let it stay like that. He offered his hand for a high five.
“Now, fuck the documentary. Tell me about what Lou and Cecil are gonna do in uni, will you?”
Will took a deep breath. His mind went back to last year, in 10th grade, to a night in which they had spent the night in Cecil’s house trying to finish a group project. He estimated that 75% of the night had been spent fantasizing about university —the remaining 25% was split between emptying Cecil’s snack cupboard and doing the actual group project—. It had been a fun night, and Will hoped that the nights they were meant to spent together once university started would be just as fun.
“They both wanna go into Film. Lou wants to do script-writing and Cecil is more of a direction guy…”
. . .
Nico’s grip on his hand was so strong Will almost feared it would cut his circulation. The rest of the table was talking about something, and as lively as they seemed, he could tell their mood was slightly altered by his approaching departure. He would have said something to reassure them it was fine, or to shift the topic to the actually positive fact the three twelve-graders were gonna start uni next week, but Will had all of his attention on Nico, eyes set on him, as if trying to burn his memory into his retina to never risk forgetting him.
“Hey, Neeks.” He whispered, reaching out with his other hand to very gently pet his hair. “Everything alright? You’re not eating.”
Lunch was about to end and Nico had yet to have a single bite, only ever playing with the food in his bento box.
The boy shrugged. “‘M stressed.”
Will bit his lip, immediately feeling guilty.
“Is it because of me?” He said, just as quiet as before. Nico shrugged again. “I’m sorry…”
“Not your fault.”
“You don’t feel like talking, do you?” Will checked, noticing how his sentences were even shorter than usual. Nico shook his head no. “That’s fine… Do you wanna go out in the afternoon? What about a daily date until…?”
“Don’t finish.” Nico said, probably wanting to hear the words just as little as Will. Then, he squeezed his hand and nodded. “Okay. Time?”
“4 PM sounds good?”
Nico simply nodded.
. . .
Will showed up at Nico’s house 10 minutes before 4 PM, not wanting to miss out a single second of their remaining time together. He left the car and waited by the door for Nico to come out, rocking back and forth on his heels. When Nico opened the door, he was still talking with Hazel, who stood in the corridor, and Will’s presence caught him by surprise.
“Hey.” He said, sounding shy.
Nico looked down, holding a folder in his hands and moving it nervously. His crutches weren’t on him, but he had his lanyard on, the green and yellow design being the only drop of color in his otherwise full black outfit.
“Hey! Wanna get going?”
Truth be told, they hadn’t planned for a date at all, but Will would take anything as long as it meant to be together. Nico nodded silently, making the blonde wonder if he was still struggling to talk. He didn’t comment on it, however, and instead just offered his hand for Nico to hold on the way to the car. The other took it without hesitating and Will squeezed it as soon as he felt the by-now familiar warmth of his skin.
“Bye, Haze!” Will turned to say. At his side, Nico waved goodbye the best he could while still holding the folder.
“Bye! Have fun!”
They got inside the car shortly after, but Will didn’t start the gear. Instead, he looked at Nico, who had let go of him and was now fidgeting with his hands, the folder laid on his lap. With how concentrated he was on whatever pattern of stimming he was following with his fingers, he didn’t seem to notice that the car wasn’t moving or that Will wasn’t talking, so he allowed himself a few minutes to take in the view. Summer had only just started, but his skin was already tanner than it had been in September, when they’d met… It went to show how much his social life and his routine had changed. His hair was longer, and he probably needed a cut —Will kinda hoped he would let it grow out a bit more before cutting it—, and his face had gained some fat ever since he had started therapy. Overall, Nico seemed healthier. Happier. Will didn’t have words to properly put into thought how proud he was, and how happy he was to have contributed in a way.
“What’s in the folder?” He asked after a while of peaceful staring. Nico didn’t reply, just jumped at the sound of his voice, as if startled. “Oh, wait, I forgot to ask. How are you feeling? Better?”
“Yeah.”
“Is it still hard to talk?”
“No.” Nico turned to look at him with a confused look. “Why?”
“Well, it’s been 5 minutes since I’ve picked you up from the door and you’ve said 5 syllables.” Will said lightheartedly. “You can tell me if you aren’t up for talking. I’ll take you to the cinema and we can just stare in silence, or…”
“I can talk.” Nico cut him off. His stern tone took Will out for a second before he realized it was probably more aimed at Nico himself rather than at him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you. Just… I’ve been in my own head. Not because I want to, that’s for sure. That place sucks.”
“I understand. Is it about me leaving or is there some else bothering you?”
“About you.” Nico looked down, seeming defeated. One of his hands left his again and searched for Will’s, even if his eyes were pointing in another direction. “It’s been so long since I’ve been happy and now it’s ending… I feel so dumb too, because this time I knew it would end… But I’m so sad, Will. Next year is gonna be a big one, isn’t it? Uni apps, and then getting into actual uni…” As he talked, he crossed himself, as if politely taking the chance to ask for an acceptance letter. “And there’s prom, and all of that… And we’re not gonna be together for any of that.”
“Neeks…”
Will reached out for him, cupping his face and caressing lightly the scars on his cheek. When he pulled Nico closer and made him turn to face him, he noticed there were tears threatening to fall from his eyes. He had no idea what to say to make him feel better, though. After all, he was in the same predicament: sad and frustrated about leaving and at the verge of tears. He tried to blink them away before Nico could notice them, but it didn’t work. Instead, it only seemed to draw more attention to the fact he was about to cry. Nico frowned at the sight and pulled him into a hug the best he could.
“I’m sorry.” Will whispered as he returned the hug, clinging tightly at the boy’s clothes as if in hopes that, that way, he could stay with him.
“Don’t say that. It’s not your fault. It’s no one’s fault.” Nico was quick to reply.
He broke the hug to copy what Will had just done and picked the blonde’s head in his hands, examining it quickly before using his thumb to brush away the few tears Will had spilled and, then, kissing him all over but in the mouth. It wasn’t a cure-all, but at least it pulled a small giggle out of him.
“I’m gonna miss you so much…” He said, still teary-eyed. At that, Nico’s hands traveled back to his folder and started to open it.
“I made you a gift…” He started to say as he pulled the strings of the folder away. “It’s… Look, I just hope you like it.”
After he spoke, Nico carefully placed a sheet of paper bent in the middle on Will’s lap. On it, there was a sketch of Will’s face, smiling brightly and looking relaxed. And, contrary to all the other drawings by Nico he had seen before, it wasn’t done solely with pen and pencil, but also colored with watercolors in a way that made the features on the drawing seem warmer and softer.
“I did it from memory so maybe it’s bad.” Nico said. “But I just… I’ve gotten better since the one in your room and I didn’t want you to take a bad picture as your only physical memory of me. I can make another one if you don’t l…”
Will kissed him before Nico could finish. It was brief, though longer than a peck. When they pulled away, Nico seemed surprised at the action, which was honestly cute considering how many times they both had used the technique. Will smiled smugly, even if he had just been cried, and looked down at the drawing.
“It’s beautiful.” Will smiled.
Before he could say anything about how he was gonna hang it in his room in Austin, Nico scoffed at his side. “‘Course it is, dummy. It’s meant to look like you.”
“Oh, it looks just like me.” Will complimented the piece. “You’re so talented, Neeks… I can’t wait for the day you lead a character design room or something.”
Nico snorted. “Don’t be silly.”
“I’m serious! I’m gonna take a screenshot of all the credit sequences with your name on it and do a giant collage and…” Will didn’t get to talk. Instead of a kiss, though, Nico chose to push him playfully to shut him up. “Hey!”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” He joked. “I still gotta get the degree.”
“Where do you wanna study?”
“I don’t know.” Nico shrugged. “Community college, probably. Don’t think I could get anywhere big with my grades. Hey, Will…”
“Hm?”
“Are you gonna go to uni in Austin?” The boy asked shyly.
Will’s heart sank when he had to say yes.
. . .
The week flew by faster than Will had ever wanted it to. At least, he could say he had fun —even if every morning he went through a reenactment of Monday’s moment with his dad, still never in the mood to wake up and lose another day—. On Tuesday, he had gone out with Nico again, but also with Frank and Hazel, since she insisted that Will couldn’t leave before they went on a double date. On Wednesday, he had planned to go out with Nico and Leo in the afternoon, but after the first boy woke up with a flare-up and had to cancel, Leo had somehow managed to convince Will of skipping class —because he was responsible, but there were only so many documentaries the human psyche could take before breaking— and just spending the whole day together. On Thursday, the whole basketball team agreed to go out for dinner to see both the season together and Will off. To his surprise, they had teamed up to buy him a little farewell gift: a mug with the picture they had taken during homecoming and the beginning of the year and with the text “UGLIEST MUG EVER” written in small letters below it.
“Why would they write that?” His dad asked on the way back from the dinner, from which he had picked Will up just some minutes ago.
“I think it’s cute.” Will said, not really knowing why. “But it’s funny, though. I’m gonna miss them…”
“I know, sunshine. You get to keep your team clothes, right?” Will nodded. “Are you gonna keep playing next year?”
“I don’t know. I really liked it.” He admitted.
His friends had been right when they had called him a fast learner and not necessarily bad at the sport. In just some months, he could see he had gotten pretty good. Plus, the memories he had made with the guys were very dear to him: coming out to Michael and Lee before he had told anyone else, his first basket scored, the weekly bus rides with Austin in which Kayla sometimes tagged along… A part of him wished he could go back in time and tell first-week-of-classes Will that the team was actually gonna be one of the things he would miss the most about New York.
“Maybe if First Aid Club and practice’s timetables don’t crash, I’ll do both next year.”
“Tell me when you play the derby, then!” His dad smiled. “I’ll take a flight just to see you.”
Will smiled at the thought, suddenly getting distracted by a buzz in his pocket. He opened up, receiving the overwhelming input of multiple messages flooding his notifications from his chat with Lou and Cecil. He tried to skim over them, but most of them only said “WILL” multiple times with a variation of spellings. He looked at it with a confused face until the screen faded to black and it showed him an incoming video call from Lou. Will picked up before he could read any of the more elaborated texts.
“Guys?” He said, his camera already showing his car even before he could place the phone on top of the glove box.
The other two seemed to be in Cecil’s car, though it was Lou in the driver’s seat, and they had taken out bags on both of them. When they spoke, it wasn’t anything more coherent than the texts.
“Will! Will! Will, Will, Will!”
Both of them said at the same time and somehow still uncoordinated. His friends were basically jumping in their seats (thankfully, the car was pretty much stationed), visibly excited about something. Maybe about their incoming reunion? He didn’t have a better guess.
“What? What’s going on?”
“Will!” Lou said a final time before both of them stopped just shouting his name. She took a deep breath, which Cecil copied, and placed her hands together over her take out bag. “Remember when you came for Christmas?” He nodded, watching amused at how Cecil, the most reserved of the three, couldn’t hold it together and started to kick his leg in the small space that the passenger’s seat allowed. “Remember I talked about this film I wanted to make?”
“The 90s girl in Alabama? Yeah, I do.” It helped that she had talked about it sporadically through the months, but even if she hadn’t, he wasn’t one to forget her friend’s projects. “Why? Are you gonna make it?”
“More or less.” The girl giggled. Will smiled at that. The idea of spending summer with them working on it —even if he had no idea about film making, he loved making himself useful— made the gloomy feeling in his chest lift up. Even if he didn’t want to leave, he was happy to have that to look forward to.
“We did it already.” Cecil spoke. “Finished it some months ago.”
Will felt his smile falter before remembering they could see his face. He tried to smile again, telling himself they could do much better things this summer. Still, it hurt a bit that his friends hadn’t told them they were recording the short film, and the fact they were straight up telling him was making him pretty sad.
“Why’d you call, then?” He asked, trying his best to not let his sadness slip into his words.
“So!” Lou talked again. “We sent it to a bunch of awards and whatsoever just in case. There was a specific one we had in mind while doing the film. We didn’t tell you because we didn’t want to get your hopes up and then get disappointed if we didn’t win.”
“It was a tight competition.” Cecil added. “Very slim chance of winning.”
“But…?” Will started for them, already feeling the corners of his mouth shoot up again.
“But we won!” Lou jumped from her seat, hugging onto Cecil as she did so.
“That’s great, guys!” He said, mourning the fact he couldn’t clap without dropping his phone. “What’s the prize? How much money?”
“It’s not exactly money…” Lou said.
“Well, except it kinda is.” Cecil followed. Will lifted
“It’s a scholarship!” Lou jumped again.
“Wait, really?” His mouth opened in a mix of a surprised gasp and the remains of his smile. If his dad wasn’t in the car, he would have started jumping too, finally understanding why the other two were so happy. “What for? UT?”
“Better!” Cecil started to say. If he had gone for more words, he wouldn’t have got to finish… Not with the way Lou literally jumped out of her seat to hug him and push him to the side, almost sitting on his lap.
“It’s for NYU!” Lou shouted, met half-way through the sound with Cecil, who joined in excitement.
This time, it didn’t matter that his dad was in the car with him. Will would have sat upright if it weren’t for the seat belt. He barely registered whether he was screaming, or the fact he was about to cry. He didn’t notice how the car pulled to the side at the first chance they got until his dad’s arms were around him. Will wasn’t sure of how many minutes it took for him to actually process the information.
“So, I can apply for uni here?” He said, voice filled with excitement. “We get to go to uni here? The three of us?”
“With all your New York friends!” Lou nodded, still hugging Cecil.
“The best of both worlds!” The boy chimed, causing Will to laugh at the reference for a brief second before the bottled up (or, well, not all that bottled) emotions from the whole week spilled in the form of happy tears of relief and disbelief. “Will? Will, are you crying?”
“Oh, sunshine…”
His dad pulled him close to him again and kissed the top of his head. If it had been about anything else, Will might have felt self-conscious about sobbing on his dad’s chest in front of his best friends, but he couldn’t find it embarrassing. There had never been a piece of news that had made him as happy, and he knew Lou and Cecil would understand. Mentally, he thanked their decision to have waited for the award to tell him… God knows he would have been sobbing for the wrong reasons if they had told him and then hadn’t gotten it.
“Holy fuck… I gotta tell Nico! And… Oh, Leo won’t study here…” He said, talking the best he could through tears.
Apollo placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. “Let’s leave that for later, alright?”
Will nodded and did his best to clean his tears with the paw of his sweater before taking his phone from where he had dropped it to —he hoped Lou and Cecil had enjoyed the view of the car’s ceiling— and smiling at them. They had talked about studying together for ages, but now, it was all very different. They had a lot to plan.
. . .
“We’ll see before you leave, right?”
Nico’s soft voice woke up Will from the sleepy cuddle haze that had taken over him. Their timetable bunch had all gone down to eat as a goodbye dinner for him, and Nico was spending the night at his place for the last time. Revenge of the Sith ’s end credits were rolling in front of their eyes. It was getting late, and his dad and Hyacinth were already asleep, but they had trusted them to not thrash the living room with them at home.
“Of course we will.” Will said softly as he played with Nico’s curls. The boy was snuggled up, half on top of him. “Do you wanna watch the next one? It’s like a spin-off. Or, we can just go to bed.”
Nico groaned and scrunched his nose.
“Not yet.”
“Neeks, it’s 2 AM.” Will reminded him after giving a soft scoff. “Aren’t you tired? ‘Cause that’s unlike you.”
With a small frown on his face, Nico reached out a hand to grab a pillow and playfully used it to hit Will across the face.
“Meanie.” Nico complained, even if he had been the one to hit Will. “I wanna stay awake.” He said, even if he yawned as soon as he was done talking. He climbed up Will’s side and settled himself a bit more. “Don’t wanna miss out on our time left…”
“It’s just one year, and I’ll be back.” Will promised, kissing the top of his head as he did.
The look on everyone’s faces when he had told them that he was gonna apply for uni in New York only had been marvelous. He genuinely had never seen a crowd so big and so happy to be with him. In a way, he imagined it was what his mom saw whenever she got on stage, and he finally understood why she had chosen that career. Except for Leo, who was happy for him but still sad since they would not be able to see, it had been a bunch of smiles and celebrations… Nico had cried, just like Will had done when he found out. He had clang onto Will’s shirt and cried softly on him, and he had kept crying for a good multiple minutes while Will unapologetically engaged in their longest PDA yet. Still, they had a long year of long distance ahead of them.
“I know.” Nico said, though he still pouted. “I’m still gonna miss you.”
“It’ll fly right before our eyes.” Will reassured him.
Nico didn’t seem very satisfied with it, but he couldn’t complain either. He sat upright, struggling to find a comfortable position for a little while as his boyfriend watched in silence. In the end, he gave up. “Can I lie on top of you?”
Will didn’t answer, but shifted his position as well and moved Nico until the boy was lying comfortably on top of him with a smug smile on his sleepy face.
“Better?” He asked.
“Mhm.” Nico nodded before looking down and burying his head close to Will’s chest, sighing against his shirt and mumbling something unintelligible.
“What was that?” Will asked again.
“Can you kiss me?”
Once more, Will didn’t reply and instead jumped to fulfill Nico’s every wish.
. . .
They fell asleep on the couch, one on top of the other, which would have been fine if Apollo and Hyacinth hadn’t been in the house. It could have been worse circumstances, Will guessed, but he wasn’t really into his dad’s boyfriend walking in on him cuddling. At least Nico thought the heavily blushed face looked cute on him.
“I’m gonna drive Neeks home!” He said after breakfast was done and they were both dressed and ready to go.
Apollo had offered to drive the boy, but he had ended up choosing to give them a bit more alone time before the flight tomorrow.
So, they got in the car, kissed a bit before Will started the engine, chatted the whole ride and kissed for a bit more before Nico left.
“I love you.” Nico whispered softly against his lips before he fully exited the car.
It was far from being the second time they said the words to each other, but it still made Will flush and feel butterflies in his tummy. “I love you too.”
He threw his head back with a groan as soon as Nico had disappeared inside his house. Damn, he thought, it’s gonna be a long year. He thought about September, when he had landed in New York for the first time, and wondered how silly his face would have been if someone had told him there and then that he was gonna end up falling so hard for a guy in the Big Apple that he wouldn’t want to leave. He was really gonna miss seeing Nico everyday, driving him home, taking him out… Not to mention the physical contact, of course.
“Just one year.” He told himself before starting the car again and driving back to his street.
Will was half-way through the ride when his phone started beeping with an incoming call. At the first redlight he caught, he picked it up and read the text on the screen: “mom !!! <3.” He lifted an eyebrow, curious as to what it could be. She was meant to fly back to Austin from her last concert in Nashville today, and then they would see on the next day when his flight landed. He didn’t pick up, needing to have his attention on the road, but she called again, and again, and even sent a text telling him it was urgent. That made it for him. Scared something bad had happened (an accident on stage? A canceled flight?), he pulled over to a parking lot and picked up.
“Ma? Is there something wrong?”
“Sunshine! I just landed.” Oh, that makes sense, Will thought to himself. He should have thought about that. How was it urgent, though…? “I’m at the airport, can you come pick me up?”
“I leave tomorrow?”
“I’m in JFK!” She clarified. “I have to talk to you! Can you pick me up? Or, well, I can get a train! Tell me a meeting spot and…”
“You’re in New York?” Will asked, sure that he probably looked surprised out of his soul at the moment. His hand was gripping the steering wheel tightly, not sure of what was going on. “What’s…?”
“I’ll take the train! Or the subway! The traffic must be hell…” She reasoned. “Text me your address when you find a meeting spot!”
Will did as he was told, finding a relatively reachable by subway spot and waiting there outside of his car as he nervously bit his nails, thinking about what the fuck was a good enough reason for Naomi to have cancelled her flight to Austin hours before just to go to New York instead, only to urgently speak with him. He was putting himself in the worst case scenario, as usual, and a part of him was tempted to call Nico or Leo and ask for support. His hand was reaching inside his pocket for his phone already when a voice called his attention.
“Sunshine!”
He turned around and saw his mother, standing in a simple summer dress and boots and running towards him with a bright smile and her blonde mane held in a ponytail. In another circumstances, he would have run to meet her half-way and hug her, but Will was so confused he couldn’t help to freeze in place and wait for the woman to reach him and throw her arms around him.
“Hey, mom.” He said, voice nervous and trembling. “Everything… Did something really, really bad happen?” He asked before she could ask him how he was.
“No! Not at all, darling. Did I worry you?” She pouted, caressing his hair and putting a strand behind his ear. He nodded slowly. “I’m so sorry, sunshine. I just needed to tell you in person… Your dad should be there too, and I’m running on a tight schedule…”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, you know… Changing flights last minute and organizing it poorly… I’ve to fly to Austin in about 3 hours.”
“What!?” He asked, holding her wrist. “What even is going on?”
“I’ll explain! I promise I’ll explain, sweetheart.” She swore. Now, she was the one gripping his wrist, her other hand pointing to his car. “Can you drive us to your dad’s, love?”
The ride was as fast as Will could make it without inflicting traffic rules. He’d put the music on ( Disintegration, which Nico had played on the way to his house), but he couldn’t focus less on it. His attention was divided between the road, biting his nails, and asking his mom for the umpteenth time if she was sure everything was fine.
“Promise it’s all good?” He asked once they were in the building and going up the stairs.
“It is! It’s good news! Or, well, I think you’ll think that.”
“Ma, you’re not helping your case.” The boy complained, crossing his arms as his mom knocked on his apartment’s door.
Apollo’s muffled voice could be heard from the other side as he shouted “coming!” and, just a few moments later, he was opening the door and taking in the sight of Naomi in front of him. His momentary surprise matched Will’s overall feels about the situation, but when he just smiled and hugged her before inviting her in with no more questions than a suspicious “is this about what you told me?,” Will lost all hope of understanding whatever the hell the situation was. Was it too late to call Nico for emotional support?
“Naomi!” Hyacinth, sitting at their small breakfast table, waved hello as the woman walked in his direction to greet him. “Have you told him yet?”
“Seriously, what’s going on?” Will asked, looking around at the three adults with a look of pure desperation in his face. His anxious heart wasn’t enjoying any part of this. “Are you about to sell me to One Direction or something? Because I’m starting to think I’ve gone crazy…”
“Sit down, son.” His dad, who had moved from the hall after closing the door, patted the empty chair by his side. Hesitantly, Will did as told and sat by his side, toying with the zipper of his sweater as a way to calm himself down. “So,” his dad began explaining. He put a hand on Will’s back and rubbed big circles, trying to calm down his son, now visibly in discomfort. “Naomi called us right after you and Nico left and told us something that we thought you really would like to hear.”
“And I really wanted to tell you in person, so I might’ve put my manager through hell, but here we are.” She said.
Her hands reached out across the table and grabbed Will’s, who returned the hand-holding with sweaty palms and did his best to look her in the eyes. The woman was smiling brightly, so he tried to take a deep breath and trust her.
“What is it?” He asked shyly with a thread of voice.
In front of him, Naomi took a deep breath and gave a squeeze to his hands.
“The label has offered to extend the tour to Europe, starting in September.”
The words hit him one by one, settling in his heart before they set in his mind. Will was already letting go of her hands to cover his mouth and hide the way he was gasping. He felt himself tear up for the same reason as he had some days ago in the car. He was familiar with what touring meant by now. After all, it was his second time around. Will either chose to go, or stayed in New York with his dad. And, if it started in September, chances were it would last over the school year.
“I can stay?” Will asked, sounding so high on emotion that he barely recognized his own voice. “I don’t have to leave until uni?”
“We’ll spend summer in Texas.” Naomi replied. “But you can spend 12th year here.”
With teary eyes, Will looked around at the other faces in the room, all looking at him with a happy face. He got to finish high school with Hazel, Leo and Nico, and he got to go to uni with Lou Ellen and Cecil while not leaving behind his new friends, and… The three adults in the room enveloped him in a warm hug as soon as he started to cry.
. . .
boyfie <3
Saturday 8th, 4:59 PM
will
hey can u go out again today???
its impoartant
really really improtant
nicooooo
nico
nico nico nico
boyfie <3
i think i can
you cna text it ot me if u want
will
im busy rn im at the airprot
boyfie <3
wait what
what???
when does the plane leave
will
5:35?
boadring ends at 5:05 though
ill text u when i can ^___^
boyfie <3
will what
will
will ????
will i thgouht u left tmr???
will wtf
u r leaving now??
[ Unread ]
Naomi didn’t have much luggage, because most of it had been left with their manager team to flight with them from Nashville to Austin, but she still made sure to hurry through the busy airport in hopes to not miss her flight. The four of them had gone to send her off, and they had taken longer than expected, with none of them accounting for the horrible traffic they had had to deal with. She still make sure to hug them all goodbye before making it through security.
“Take care, dear.” She said, standing on her tippy toes to properly leave a platonic kiss on Apollo’s cheek.
Will had grown up used to see them being touchy despite being just friends, and it didn’t phase him, but he couldn’t help to worry about what Hyacinth would think… Which was probably not much, judging by the way he hugged Naomi just as tight as she had hugged his dad, or maybe more, enough to lift her up in the air a bit. She giggled through farewell, whispering something in his ear before pulling away and hugging Will tightly.
“See you tomorrow, sunshine.” She said as she rocked them both gently.
“See you, ma.” He kissed her forehead before she could do it. “Have a good flight. Also, you should really get going.”
The woman scoffed and ruffled his hair one last time before disappearing inside the security controls. After she left, Will watched her run towards her gate while his father slumped down in one of the benches, letting out a loud sigh.
“Man, we were so late.” He said, sounding extremely disappointed with himself.
“She’ll get it, don’t worry.” Hyacinth reassured, sitting by his side and leaning close to him before pulling back up. “Damn, your heartbeat is running a marathon… Will, can you go get him a bottle of water?”
“Why not you?” Said the boy, who was already walking towards the same bench.
“Because I’m sat already and you’re a youngster full of energy who is standing.” The man said, handing him a bunch of coins. “Get yourself a snack too, or something.”
Will rolled his eyes dramatically —Nico had rubbed off on him like that— and left in direction of the vending machines. He allowed himself to take it slowly. His heart was still racing from everything: from his mom appearing out of nowhere, to the fact he was now gonna be with his friends and boyfriend for more years than he had ever hoped for, to the rush of almost missing the boarding… Today had been a weird day. The fact he was staying still hadn’t settled, and the endorphins of the news hadn’t faded yet. He was happier than he had been in ages… Maybe since Nico asked him out! Thinking about the beach, about his boyfriend standing in the sunlight by the coast, and about the declaration, reminded him that he had just promised to text him when he could. Will pulled his phone out.
boyfie <3
Saturday 8th, 5:26 PM
boyfie <3
u r leaving now??
will?!??
will im going to the airport
guilia is drigivn me
can u wait for me
why arnet u anserting
fuck did u board
are u baordng
will pls pls pls
will ididnt say goodbye
will please tell me u havent boarder
Fuck.
His breath quickened as he realized that Nico had no idea his mom had come to see him and he had even less of an idea about the fact she was the one who had to catch a flight, not Will. He must have sended him into the anxiety attack of the century. He wasted no time in dialing once the realization had set. He had to do something to calm him down, tell him he was leaving tomorrow, that they could still see, and, most importantly, that they no longer had to wait for a year. Nico picked up.
“Neeks?”
“Will?” He sounded devastated, and similar to how he did when he cried. “Will, did you board? Are you outside security?”
“No, no, no… Nico, listen…”
“Where are you?” The boy seemed too stressed out and focused on seeing Will off from the plane he wasn’t gonna take that he didn’t let the blonde speak. “I didn’t even ask the terminal… I’m on terminal 1, you? Fuck, you’re past security, aren’t you? I can’t get there without a boarding…”
“Nico! Nico, I’m on terminal 1 too. Are you entering?”
“Are you past security?”
“Nico, I’m not leaving.”
The other boy didn’t reply for a bit. Will heard him suck in snort before talking again.
“You’re… not?”
Will was already rushing to the entrance of the terminal, which wasn’t that far away from where his father and Hyacinth were resting.
“No! I’m not, I’m leaving tomorrow, angel.” Will said, focused on not hitting anyone as he run to the entrance, wanting to hold Nico immediately and tell him everything was fine. “I’m sorry, you don’t like nicknames…”
“It’s okay, it’s fine, just… If you’re not… Then why are you…?”
“Nico! Turn around!”
He could see Nico standing in front of the line to enter security, holding his phone and drying off tears. A few feet away, but just far enough to be easy to miss, were Apollo and Hyacinth, just where Will had left them. Nico’s knees buckled when he spotted Will —he had neither the crutches nor the lanyard, which probably meant he had forgotten one of the two with how fast he must have left the house—. They both hung up at the same time, just before Will run in his direction and hugged him tightly, embracing him in what he hoped was comforting warmth.
“I’m here.” He whispered to him. “I’m here, Nico, I’m not leaving.”
“But why the fuck…?”
Either Nico hadn’t been very successful at drying his face or he was crying away. Will reached a hand to dry his scarred cheek as he peppered his face with kisses. Thank goodness they were in the airport and no one would blink twice at what could pass as an overly cheesy farewell.
“My mom came to see me.” Will explained. “But I’m not leaving. She did. My flight’s tomorrow.”
“Why the fuck would she come?” The blonde repressed a smile, even if the frustrated and confusedly angry tone Nico used was exactly how he had felt some hours ago.
“Had to talk to me.”
He separated their bodies just enough so they could stare into each other more comfortably. God , he thought, seeing Nico so sad was about to make him cry too. Hopefully, he was about to cheer him up in the best way possible.
“I’m not leaving.” He repeated. Nico nodded slowly, as if just taking the reassurance one more time. Then, Will talked again. “Next year, I’ll be here.”
“You mean for uni?” Nico asked, just as confused. Will shook his head no happily.
“12th grade. I’m finishing high school here. Mom’s gonna be on tour again.”
He had never seen Nico open his mouth and eyes so wide. His grip on Will’s hands tensed.
“You’re kidding, right?” Will bit his lip, happy to deliver the joyful news and delighting himself on the way that surprise seemed to make Nico’s Italian accent thicker. “Solace, are you serious? Will, I swear to God…”
“I’ll be back in September.” He said, pulling them close again once he was done telling him. Will lifted Nico’s chin and made Nico’s big, shiny doe eyes look directly at him as the sadness in them was slowly repressed with happiness and hope. “How does that sound?”
“So, we’re… You’re staying until you finish uni?” Will nodded, reaching a hand to Nico’s leg to pick him up. With a strength neither of them knew they had, the blonde managed to lift Nico and have him close his legs around his torso before he started to give little jumps of happiness. “Will, you’re gonna drop me! Stop!” He said between giggles until Will took pity on him and put him down, though they remained closely embraced. “So, we’re gonna be together?”
“For as long as we want, it seems.” Will replied. Nico clung close to him, pulling him impossibly closer. “And I really want to be with you.”
“Can you stay forever?” Nico asked, sounding so childish he laughed at his own question. Still, with the way he looked at Will, he couldn’t leave him unanswered.
“There’s nothing I want more.”
Notes:
and with that, the fic comes to an end !!
i have so much to say. in terms of the general ending... guys i never once in my life intended for these two to be separated at the end. i'm sorry i lied to all of you! <3
now, for the rest.
1. thank you so, so, so much to everyone who read it, kudo'ed or commented. this is the first multichaptered fic that i complete and i wouldn't have had the will to do it if it hadn't been given as much positive attention as it got. i celebrated each comment and each kudo and i have never felt as valued as a writer as i felt with this fic. thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. i really hope you liked the end.
2. i am so proud of myself. i never thought i could finish a long fic, and look at me! about 165k, 20 chapters... and it's complete! it's complete because i completed it! i did that! shout out to me!!
3. when i started writing this fic i genuinely hated everything about it bc i thought it was the peak of cringe and unoriginality while also being very personal regarding my hcs... seeing it receive so much love has been so beautiful. i ended up loving this and it's become a staple of my routine, and i know some people have gotten the chance to feel seen and understood while reading which is perhaps the best part of everything. i'm really glad i decided to push through which the fic i've so often called "my ugly firstborn"
4. i will hopefully put out some sequel oneshots by christmas or, if exams decide so, by february!
5. i have 2 other multichaptered fic ideas that are very important to me. they're solangelo as well and they're also aus (band au in one hand, college in the other), and i'm very excited to work on them and on some one-shots i really wanna write. as you could probably tell during this fic, though, i don't have a beta reader! i would love to change for my next fics so if any of you would like to help me proof-read my stuff, you can dm on tumblr
6. guys i got a job last week and moved back into my room which is sooo pretty now !!! hope life is treating you well too <3
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eachseparatedyingember on Chapter 1 Thu 13 Jun 2024 01:01AM UTC
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langatism on Chapter 1 Thu 13 Jun 2024 09:11PM UTC
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IWannaScreamEureka on Chapter 1 Thu 13 Jun 2024 01:03AM UTC
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Riskay22791 on Chapter 1 Thu 13 Jun 2024 04:01AM UTC
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headfirst4bullets on Chapter 1 Thu 13 Jun 2024 08:51AM UTC
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langatism on Chapter 1 Thu 13 Jun 2024 09:16PM UTC
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Taluvi_does_stupid_things on Chapter 1 Thu 13 Jun 2024 06:09PM UTC
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purple_hearth on Chapter 1 Thu 13 Jun 2024 11:01PM UTC
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langatism on Chapter 1 Fri 14 Jun 2024 10:11PM UTC
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ADHD_Seelie on Chapter 1 Fri 14 Jun 2024 12:29AM UTC
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wrongcaitlyn on Chapter 1 Fri 14 Jun 2024 10:21AM UTC
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langatism on Chapter 1 Fri 14 Jun 2024 10:10PM UTC
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wrongcaitlyn on Chapter 1 Sat 15 Jun 2024 07:37AM UTC
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Bljelly on Chapter 1 Tue 25 Jun 2024 03:04AM UTC
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langatism on Chapter 1 Tue 25 Jun 2024 10:41PM UTC
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ARandomApolloChild on Chapter 1 Wed 03 Jul 2024 04:54PM UTC
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langatism on Chapter 1 Thu 04 Jul 2024 09:27PM UTC
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cxQuette on Chapter 1 Tue 13 Aug 2024 08:23PM UTC
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langatism on Chapter 1 Tue 13 Aug 2024 09:52PM UTC
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levesqueerr77 on Chapter 1 Wed 21 Aug 2024 11:58PM UTC
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langatism on Chapter 1 Thu 22 Aug 2024 12:40AM UTC
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fanderfulforgetter on Chapter 1 Wed 09 Oct 2024 04:48PM UTC
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fanderfulforgetter on Chapter 1 Wed 09 Oct 2024 04:52PM UTC
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langatism on Chapter 1 Sun 20 Oct 2024 07:35PM UTC
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Confused_Sentient_Being (Iwantausername1) on Chapter 1 Wed 30 Oct 2024 04:01PM UTC
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langatism on Chapter 1 Thu 31 Oct 2024 08:57PM UTC
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OSolPediuALuaEmCasamento on Chapter 1 Mon 02 Jun 2025 05:36AM UTC
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IWannaScreamEureka on Chapter 2 Wed 19 Jun 2024 01:52AM UTC
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langatism on Chapter 2 Wed 19 Jun 2024 08:31PM UTC
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wrongcaitlyn on Chapter 2 Wed 19 Jun 2024 07:07AM UTC
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langatism on Chapter 2 Wed 19 Jun 2024 08:36PM UTC
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eachseparatedyingember on Chapter 2 Wed 19 Jun 2024 11:05AM UTC
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langatism on Chapter 2 Wed 19 Jun 2024 08:56PM UTC
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purple_hearth on Chapter 2 Wed 19 Jun 2024 05:14PM UTC
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langatism on Chapter 2 Wed 19 Jun 2024 08:58PM UTC
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Scarlet_XD on Chapter 2 Sun 23 Jun 2024 09:46PM UTC
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langatism on Chapter 2 Mon 24 Jun 2024 08:42PM UTC
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