Chapter Text
Clip two : the burqa confusion
It’s Monday, 9:41, that weird timeless space in between arriving at school and first class and he’s sat at the bottom of some staircase waiting for his guys. They stroll through the doors in a veritable explosion of sound and colour, always so loud always so bright his friends. He has to double take them today however as they look even stranger than normal. They are all dressed as modern kids playing at being hippies, Jason in a flower crown and yellow clout goggles, Percy with a dream catcher slung round his neck flowers behind his ears and rainbow peace sign glasses and then Leo with his rainbow headband and circular blue tinted glasses. They look like a hilarious mess, why they look this way doesn’t hit him until they get right up to him.
He face palms, ‘fuck it’s theme week.’ Part of that stupid plan piper had. Percy beams at him and clasps their hands together ‘yeah dude! Last five days ever!’ He’s very excited. They all are. ‘That’s if we don’t have to repeat.’ He’s teasing but Percy pouts ‘dude, we won’t will we.’ He points to Jason and himself ‘we won’t, but you two. Well, we’ll have to see.’ Percy and Leo make pathetically indignant squawks of ‘no!’ Which makes him chuckle.
Leo takes off his sunglasses and fixes him with a look that he might think is intimidating or maybe pleading, either way Nico can’t tell, and says ‘dude where’s my weed?’ He’s whining a bit and maybe sounds a bit like a petulant child. ‘I’m on my way to get it but your not getting it back.’ He says it with a decisive pat to Leo’s shoulder but it doesn’t stop the whiny ‘dude why’ from the boy. ‘I said I’d give it back if you all went to that stupid senior prank thing with me but you ditched, there were trust circles dude with hand holding and talking.’ Percy and Leo are laughing but Jason pulls on his sleeve with a nervous look in his eyes.
‘So, was piper there?’ He rolls his eyes, because really Jason was supposed to be smart. ‘Yes, it is her idea, she kinda has to be there.’ He winces and Percy looks concerned. ‘Dude is everything ok between you two?’
‘Nah bro, she won’t even talk to me anymore.’
‘Aw man, I remember when Annabeth used to do that the whole passive aggressive thing! I used to hate it cuz I could never understand it.’ They’re both sort of pouting at each other and continue chattering about their problems and he manages to zone it out until Leo puts in his stupid two cents.
‘I heard if a girl doesn’t talk to you that really means she wants to fuck you!’ He sounds way too serious to be funny and Nico tries his best to drown out their mundane chatter in his thoughts. He’s rudely snapped present when drew comes right up behind him says hey to the group and kisses him on the cheek. ‘Er why didn’t you text back yesterday?’ Shit excuse excuse ‘er, sorry, I meant to text but kinda forgot. Then I feel asleep, so. Yeah?’ He can see the boys biting back their giggle and really kind of hates them.
‘It’s just I was a bit worried, anything could’ve happened to you. You know?’ He huffs and shakes out his shoulders before replying ‘er, well, everything’s fine. So. Yeah?’ The boys are still choking down laughter and he’s about to hit one of them. She kisses him again says a quick goodbye and is running off towards her friends.
‘Everything alright with the two of you?’ Percy is mirroring the tone he used earlier on Jason which, dick move much. ‘Yeah its all good, I just don’t understand why I have to answer straight away.’ This is what finally gets them to laugh and Percy forces out around his giggles ‘bro, you’ve got so much to learn!’
After that they split off in the various directions of their respective classes, he has to go to his locker first. He keeps his locker unlocked, he doesn’t keep any valuables in their and combinations are a pain to remember and enter. He hooks his coat over the door and is halfway through grabbing his books when he sees him. Will.
Will is crouched Infront of his locker block shoving things into a black rucksack, he doesn’t spot him until he stands and turns in the direction of classes. They sort of just stare at each other for a moment before going back to their respective tasks. Nico thinks that may be all they do but then will is wandering over to him fixing him with a smile and a wave of ‘Hey’ it catches him a bit of guard so he stumbles over his reply ‘Oh Hey, you, um, everything alright?’ Wills smile is softer this time, ‘of course you?’ ‘Uh yeah’. There’s a bit of an awkward silence for a beat until lacy pushes her way in.
She’s also dressed up in a flower crown and too large sunglasses, she sounds a little overeager and she’s bouncing on the spot when she shyly addresses will ‘hey’ it’s will who rushes out his reply this time and is all but running away from the two of them.
Lacy watches him round the corner before pouncing on him ‘do you know if he has a girlfriend?’ He shrugs ‘how the hell should I know?’ She ponders this for a second before she looks all droopy and sad ‘I’m sure he does, he has to have a girlfriend!’ He shrugs again and walks off. Why should he care.
His first class of the day is biology, which is borderline inhuman this early in the morning, and Reyna is a minute late to class. Her hijab is a fetching pink today with little Daisy’s on it to match her comically large daisy sunglasses, she’s also dressing up it seems, and they exchange mundane pleasantries before just looking expectantly at one another until someone breaks.
It’s him, he leans in close and asks ‘do you have it’ she just rolls her eyes and nods and, of course she does. ‘So, can I have it?’ She gives him a pointed look over those stupid sunglasses ‘you broke your promise, I was promised four boys I only saw you. And you left straight away!’ He’s rolling his eyes now ‘yeah, as if I’m about to participate in trust circles and I don’t control the boys’ the continue to bicker until the teacher walks in with a loud good morning that cuts them off.
‘Please can I have it back.’ He sounds a little too pathetic and she sighs. ‘Fine but only because it’s not funny anymore, kick your bag over to mine.’ He does and she starts to try and inconspicuously transfer the little baggies of weed from her bag to his. The teacher notices ‘Reyna, Nico what on earth are you doing over there.’ Reyna doesn’t even panic as he says a smoothish ‘nothing’ she just drops the weed back into her bag and pretends to tuck something in her hijab.
The teacher walks over ‘Reyna, what did you tuck into your burqa just now?’ Reyna looks mildly insulted as she snaps back ‘what, you think this is a burqa.’ The insult in her voice is mostly genuine but sounds a little over exaggerated, he gets what she is doing. The teachers sort of floundering now ‘well, your niquab then?’ He takes it this time, all half mock outrage and genuine judgement. ‘Niquab? Are you serious? You don’t know the name of a garment like 10% of your students wear?’ The teacher looks properly cowed and she’s seemingly forgotten about the object.
‘Well what is it called then’ Reyna rolls her eyes and in a voice fit for teaching a five year old says ‘this, this is called a hijab.’ She purposefully slows down on the last word to humiliate her some more. Flustered and defeated all she can say is ‘well finals are very soon you both need to make sure to pay attention so you can pass and graduate.’ She storms off and they both collapse back sighing and giggling a bit.
It’s not until he’s out of the class and on his way to his next period when he realises it. She never actually gave him back the weed.