Archive of Our Own

So if I stand in front of a speeding car

Would you give your little heart?

Say the word?

I’ll do it too, just me and you

This way everyone would know

Cause this secret’s all that we’ve got so far

The demons in the dark, lie again

Play pretend like it never ends

This way no one has to know

Speeding cars by Walking On Cars

*****
*****

Will swears all of this isn’t his fault. But all the evidence seems to point at him. To be fair, he did do it. But that does not mean it was intentional!

It all began with an altercation with the vending machine, a maths teacher he doesn’t particularly like, and several cans of diet coke. The fact that Mrs Dodds is in the infirmary with a black eye is a complete coincidence.

Let’s just leave it at that.

The thing is that Will now has detention after school for two days.

“You have what, now?” Coach Hedge screams when Will tells him the news. Will leans back a little. He is kind of afraid of Coach, just like the others on the team. Although he’s the captain, so you’d think Will would be less afraid. But no. Coach Hedge always refers to the players as ‘cupcakes’ and swings violently with his baseball bat, even though he’s a soccer coach. It doesn’t make any sense! The coach tells him to “ please not get into any more trouble. Two days of detention is bad enough, we don’t need more .”

Anyway, his French class comes to an end and the bell rings. Will has been dreading this moment the whole day. He slowly packs his books and makes his way to the detention classroom.

The last time he was in this much trouble was middle school. The counsellor told him he had some problems with his attitude, so he cleaned up his act so he could become captain of the soccer team, while also keeping up his grades. He has to get into med school some way, right?

The language department is in the left wing, while the place Will has to get to is all the way in the right wing. Will tramps with his head down. He’s ashamed that people have to see him like this. He can already hear the gossip filling the halls of the school. “ Did you hear about the soccer captain? I heard he got in detention. I know, I’m never coming to any of his games ever again .” He shudders and keeps his shoulders low. Despite what many think, being the captain of the soccer team can be pretty stressful. And with Will also trying to keep up his biology grade high and managing dyslexia, his life is hectic enough of itself.

He knocks on the door. “Come in,” a man’s voice says. Will slowly peeks his head around the door.

“Hi, uhm, is this the detention classroom?” he asks. The teacher gives him a curious look.

“Yes, Will, but I don’t think you should be here,” he says. Mr D obviously doesn’t expect Will to actually come here. After all, the normal Will would never do something so scandalous it’d get him into detention.

“I actually should. You see, there was this incident with the vending machine and Mrs Dodds,” he begins. He nervously taps his fingers against his thigh.

“Oh my gods, that was you?” A boy in the middle of the classroom with messy black hair stares at him. “That was amazing, dude!” Will recognises him as Percy Jackson, the guy who is well known to be the best swimmer of the whole school.

“Uhm, thanks?” he says. He’s not sure whether to take it as a compliment or not. “Although I didn’t do it on purpose…”

“You’re ruining it.” Another boy with tan skin and curly hair waves his hand dismissively. “I only want to hear about what happened to her. The only thing I know is that she got hit in the head multiple times with cans of soda.”

“Was it diet coke?” Mr D asks curiously.

Will has to stop and try not to laugh at this ridiculous conversation. “I don’t think so, sir.”

Mr D nods. “Okay, then. Take a seat.”

Will looks around the classroom. There aren’t many students here. Percy and the latino boy are sitting next to each other by the window. Will also recognises Clarisse La Rue, Travis and Connor Stoll (because why wouldn’t they be here) and two kids he doesn’t know. In the back of the classroom sits another boy. Will’s breath hitches when he spots him. He’s like a literal angel. Gorgeous hair, pretty lips and huge dark eyes.

Tone it down with the poetry, Solace, Will says to himself. He navigates around the tables and drops his bag at the seat behind Percy and in front of the Angel. The kid has dark hair and has only looked up once since Will has entered the room. He’s doodling on his paper, the desk and his arms.

After a couple of minutes, Mr D leaves the classroom to get Diet Coke and print some papers. Will is not sure why you would leave a class full of kids -- in detention, for the gods’ sakes -- alone for such a long time. As soon as Mr D is gone, Percy and the other boy turn around. Will, who actually was trying to get some extra biology homework done, looks up.

“Isn’t it weird that the captain of the soccer team is here?” Percy asks. Will just shrugs.

“It really wasn’t on purpose, you know. So stop bothering me about Mrs Dodds and let be finish biology.”

“Are you good at that?” the other boy asks. “I never understand it. I’m better at building stuff. My name is Leo, by the way. I don’t think we’ve met.” He speaks fast as if he is trying to tell Will all in one breath.

“Nice to meet you.” Will smiles at him.

“You are such a softie,” Clarisse tells him from the row next to him.

Unlike many other people in the school, Will is not intimidated by Clarisse. “Nice to see you again, Clarisse.” Will winks at her and she grins.

“Wait, you know each other?” Leo glances between the two of them. Clarisse nods.

“I was late because of wrestle practice before school. A teacher caught me while I was sneaking around in the hallways without a hall pass, but Will covered for me.” She looks at him. “I don’t even remember what you said to that guy. I only know that he let both of us go.”

Will laughs. “I don’t really remember it either. But we became friends after that.”

“It’s good to have you around. I need a doctor every now and then,” Clarisse says.

“You’re a doctor?” Percy’s eyes widen. Will smiles shyly.

“Not yet. But I am applying to med schools, so I hope to be one someday.”

“That is awesome,” Leo says in awe.

They chat some more after that, until Mr D is back with his drink. But Percy assures Will that he doesn’t mind it if they talk.

“Like, not at all?” Will frowns. “I thought that detention was super ‘follow the rules and listen to me. Also, don’t speak a word’.”

“It was like that for us in the beginning of the year, but after a while Mr D began to soften,” Percy whispers.

“I think he likes us,” Leo adds.
“No, I don’t,” Mr D says from behind his desk. Will chuckles and so does the boy behind him. Oh right, Will had almost forgotten about him.

“Do you have anything to add, Nico?” Percy leans on Will’s desk.

The boy, Nico, blinks slowly. Will is intrigued by him. From his black skinny jeans, large hoodie and ring with a skull to large dark eyes and fluffy hair.

“Nah. Don’t worry about me, Jackson,” he says and hello accent . He puts his heavy Doc Martens on the seat next to him and crosses his feet at his ankles. “Why are you smiling, blondie?”

The corners of Will’s lips quirk up a little more. “My name is Will, you know. Will Solace.”

Nico snorts. “Wait, Solace ? Are you kidding me?”

Will innocently cocks his head. “No. Why?”

“Because it fits you so well,” Nico says. He stares intensely at him for a few seconds, before saying, “I’m Nico di Angelo.”

Nico di Angelo. That’s a nice name.

In return, Will smiles at him. “Nice to meet you.”

“Cinnamon roll,” Clarisse whispers.

Will throws a stump of paper at her. “Shut up, or I’ll tell Chris that you’re humiliating me.”

Clarisse glares at him, but doesn’t say anything. Percy, however, is instantly more interested. “Who’s Chris?”

“Oh, just this boy who Clarisse --” Will starts with a mischievous smile.

“Solace, if you finish that sentence, I swear I will kill you and then you won’t even have the chance to tell Chris,” Clarisse hisses. Will quickly shuts his mouth.

The rest of the hours are spent with Percy trying to get more information about Chris, Leo asking Will over and over again to explain biology, and Will trying to get Nico to talk. Needless to say, they all failed.

When the final bell rings and they’re dismissed, Percy stops Will when he walks to his locker. “You’re a funny guy, Will. Are you here again tomorrow?”

Will nods.

“Good. See you later!” With that, Percy makes his way to the exit. Will turns around and sees Nico talking with a small girl. She has frizzy brown hair and dark skin. Was she girlfriend? Will frowns. Gods, he doesn’t hope so.
“I’m just saying that if you didn’t get detention every day, I won’t have to wait for you.” She crosses her arms. Will doesn’t mean to eavesdrop, but they’re standing awfully close.

Nico rolls his eyes. “Hazel, I don’t get detention every day.”

“Only every other day, how could I forget that?” The girl -- Hazel -- throws her arms in the air. “Dad doesn’t even want to pick us up anymore because it’s getting so late every day.”
Okay, so she’s definitely not his girlfriend. Will feels some weird sense of relief wash over him, although he doesn’t exactly know why.

“He wouldn’t want to pick us up if we’re done with school by two p.m. Also, I drive us home every day. If I didn’t have Jules we wouldn’t we able to get home at all,” Nico says. Who the fuck is Jules?

“Please don’t call your car that ever again. It’s weird enough Percy calls his car Riptide. And Jason calls his Ivlivs, which doesn’t even make sense because that’s Latin for Julius and that sounds way too close to Jules for my comfort,” Hazel says. “I only confuse them with each other.”

Nico smirks. “I actually named his car Julius, you know. Then he called dibs on making up a name for my car. So you should go complain to Jason, not me. Cut me some slack, yesterday Persephone kept bugging me, asking me if I had made my homework,” Nico complains.

“She actually wants the best for us, you know.” Hazel puts her hand on his arm.

“I know,” Nico sighs. “I know.”

Will decides it’s best if he stops eavesdropping here. From what he has heard, Nico and Hazel got a pretty stressful life going on. And who was Jason?

He tries to get it out of his head as he walks to the bus stop. But trying to get this weird group out of his head is harder than one might think.

Will is not really paying attention to his French class the next morning. He barely slept last night because he was up all night finishing homework that didn’t get done during the day. And after that, he stayed up even later watching Youtube. He regrets his decision very much. He is so tired he could rest his head on his desk and fall asleep. He hazily follows the conversations that happen in class, but most of it goes right over his head.

The teacher clears her throat in an attempt to silence the class. “Alright. So we’re going to write a slogan for a product. Travis, do you know a good product?”

Connor startles and looks up from whatever device he was fumbling with under the table. It looks suspiciously like what Leo was fiddling with yesterday, Will registers. He chuckles when Travis quickly drops the note he was passing to Katie Gardner, in fear of getting caught. “Uh… A toothbrush?”

The teacher nods. “Do you know what a toothbrush is called in French?”

Travis smirks. “Le toothbrush,” he says with a lot of hand movement. Kind of like when Nico passionately talks about something, Will thinks.

Mitchell, Connor’s boyfriend, rolls his eyes. “You can’t just say ‘toothbrush’ in a French accent and hope you’re right.”

“You can always try,” Travis says to him, as the teacher says: “It’s une brosse à dents.”

“Oh. Yeah, I totally knew that,” Travis brags. The whole class collectively sighs.

The teacher writes the translation on the whiteboard. “And what’s so special about this toothbrush?” she asks.

“It is recycled!” Connor exclaims. Will stifles his laughter, but others don’t do such a good job.

Piper bursts out laughing. “Oh, a second-hand toothbrush, who doesn’t want that?” she says sarcastically. She makes the others laugh more, and after a while even Connor joins in.

For the remaining part of the class, Will just tries very hard not to fall asleep.

*****
*****

Nico groans and drops his bag on the ground. He is back in detention today for some silly thing. He goes to sit in the back of the classroom, like he always does. No matter how many times a week he’s here, he still hates it. Of course, if Nico doesn’t want to get into detention, he shouldn’t do stupid stuff, right? But he swears that he only picks fights that are really worth it. Well, most of them are worth it. Like the fights that were about defending his friends, family or others. The rest of the fights were quite pointless, he would be the first to admit that.

Percy and Leo enter the room and sit on the seats two rows from Nico, in the same place they sat yesterday. One by one, seats are filled with students who are all evenly grumpy about getting detention. And then there’s Will Solace. He’s like a human golden retriever, Nico decides. Loyal, blond and always happy.

“Hello everyone,” he chirps as he sits in the same seat as yesterday. Nico grumbles a greeting and folds his arms. When he met Will for the first time, he actually thought Will was a lot like a laid-back cat, with the surfer aesthetic and that faint hint of a southern accent. He still thinks Will is like that, only it has intensified.

Chiron enters the classroom in his wheelchair. “Good afternoon everyone. It’s Mr D’s day off today, so I will take over this class.” His eyes scan the students that are there. “Ah, Travis and Connor, I see you’re here again? And Clarisse, pleased to see you too. But remember to try to pick less fight, okay? Percy and Leo, lovely to see you again. And… Will?” Chiron frowns, but seems amused nonetheless. “What did you to end up here?”

“I, uh, kind of destroyed a vending machine that then threw soda cans at Mrs Dodds. Long story,” Will tells him. The tips of his ears grow red. He’s clearly very embarrassed by what he did.

But Chiron just nods and lets him. “Alright. Well, if everyone is here, you can start your homework. Or read.” He looks very pointedly at Nico, who already has his book on his table.

Will turns in his chair and faces Nico. “What are you reading?” he asks. Nico simply shows him the cover. “ A darker shade of magic . What is it about?”

Nico rolls his eyes and accepts his fate. Will truly is an eager puppy, willing to make contact with whoever is the closest. “It’s about this boy, Kell, who is a magician. He lives in a different world where there are different versions of London,” he explains. “You’ve got Black London, the one without magic. White London is very corrupt. Red London is where he lives. In Grey London, magic is something secret, like a myth. Kell travels between the different versions of London, he is one of the only two people who can do that. But he’s a smuggler -- which is against the law -- and one day he smuggles the wrong stuff to the wrong London.”

Will whistles. “Sounds intense. Do you like fantasy?”

Nico shrugs. “I guess. The author of this book, V.E. Schwab, has a very interesting writing style. I like it.”

“Is it a series?” Will asks. Nico nods before he goes back to reading. Or, at least, he tries.

“Do you read a lot?” It’s like the waterfall of questions never stops.

Nico puts his book down again. “Yes, I read a lot. I like it.”

“Why?”
Nico grunts. He is going to kill this boy. “I don’t know why. Why do you like football?”

Will frowns. “It’s called soccer.”
“No, it is not,” Nico simply says before raising his book at eye level and slumping in his seat.

“Why do you call it soccer?” Will’s hand shoves the book down a bit so he can look in Nico’s eyes. Why is Will like this? Nico has hit people for doing as much as staring at him, that boy should be glad he still has his hand. Nico glares daggers at him.

“Because I am Italian. Now shut the fuck up so I can read.” With one last glare, Nico tries to read again. Why the fuck does the captain of the football -- soccer -- team want his attention? Yesterday, when they were introduced to each other and Will was so upbeat, Nico just thought Will was having a good day. But apparently he’s like this every day.

“But…” Will tries carefully. “Do you know why you call it football?”

Nico sighs. “Because you kick the ball with your feet. You use your feet, capisce ? Why do you guys call it American football if you’re not allowed to use your feet?” He angrily puts his book down and throws his hands in the air. “Americans are so weird!”

Will chuckles. “Just look up why it’s called soccer.”
“You could also ask Annabeth,” Percy chimes in from the front row. Nico and Will turn their heads toward him.

“Huh?” Nico asks. To be honest, he had totally forgotten where he is at this moment, and who is with him.

“I am saying that Annabeth probably knows why it is named soccer,” Percy repeats.

“Who is Annabeth?” Will asks Nico, who in his turn nods to Percy. “That dumbass’ girlfriend.”

“Hey!”

Will nods slowly. “Alright. But I think I’m just going to google it.” When he has checked if Chiron is not watching, Will digs an iPhone out of his pocket with a bright yellow case. “Let’s see,” he mumbles. A few moments later, he punches the air. “Aha! I told you so!” He shoves his phone over the table toward Nico, who reads the article.
“It says that the English used to call it soccer too, but stopped using the word around 1980. The word comes from “association football”, shortened to soccer. So you can’t blame Americans for using ‘soccer’.” Will grins wickedly.

Nico rolls his eyes, something he does a lot when Will is around. “Okay. Cool. Are you done now?”

A look of hurt flashes in Will’s eyes, but it’s gone so soon that Nico thinks he must have imagined it. “Yeah, alright.” He slowly turns back to face forward again, participating in the conversation that Percy and Leo are having.

Nico’s book is rather interesting. He loses himself in the world of magic and adventure for a while, but then he catches something Leo says to Will.
“This is your last day, right?” Leo asks Will, who nods.

“Yep. What I did was apparently not so phenomenal.” He laughs and seems to realise something. “Wait, what did you guys even do to be here?”

Immediately, the tension in the room is so thick you can cut through it with a knife. Nico is prepared to get his stuff and run away if he has to.

“Dude,” Percy says, “you can’t ask people why they’re in detention.”
Clarisse nods. “Look, we’ve all done stupid shit. We don’t talk about it.”

Will looks confused Nico almost feels sorry for him. “But you all know why I’m here, right? So why won’t you tell? It’s probably a lot cooler than my reason.”
Clarisse shares a look with the Stoll brothers. He has a point , her gaze says. Percy catches her attention and nods.

“I’ll go first, then. I’m here because I tried to flush a toilet roll down the toilet, but it couldn’t hold the roll so the toilets overflowed,” Percy explains.

Nico snickers. “That was why you were in detention last week, dumbass.”
“Oh.” Percy looks genuinely confused. “Then I don’t know why I’m here.”

“Travis and I tried to break into the staff room, but we were caught,” Connor says from across the classroom.

Will props his elbows on the table and rests his head on his hands. “Why did you want to get into the room?”
“Because the coffee is better there, of course,” Travis says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“It’s true.” To everyone’s surprise (and his own, too), Nico engages in the conversation. “The crap in the cafeteria is not worth drinking.”

“When were you in the staff room, Nico?” Chiron asks not unfriendly.

Nico just gives him a blank stare. “That’s for me to know and for you to guess.”

Will laughs and Nico really tries not to feel better at that.

“I tried to set something on fire,” Leo confesses. “As I usually do. Two weeks detention.”

“I already told you I was here for picking a fight in gym class,” Clarisse says. “She was asking for it.” She stares everyone down, as if saying if you laugh, I will murder you .

Will twists in his seat. “And you?” he asks Nico. Suddenly, the world around him spins and Nico is definitely not able to answer that question, not now.

“That’s none of your business, Solace,” he grumbles.

“But everyone told their story.” Will puts on what can only be described as a puppy face, one Nico is almost not able to resist. But somehow, he manages.

“No.” He goes back to reading. “And please get that look off of your face. You look like a kicked puppy.”

He doesn’t know if he can trust Will enough to tell him the reason to why he’s here. How do you explain that you punched some guy in the face because he insulted you for being gay? Nico is not sure Will will understand.

“Okay,” Will suddenly says. Nico raises an eyebrow. He didn’t expect that Will would accept no as an answer. Will sees his confused look and says, “If you don’t want to tell me, that’s okay.”

Dumbfounded, Nico stares at him. “That’s… really considerate of you, Solace.”

Will smiles. “Thanks.”

“You’re way too nice to be a football player,” Nico comments.

Will furiously turns around. “It’s called soccer, damn it!”

Nico just laughs at the stupid face Will makes. “That article you read to me made it sound otherwise.” He knows he is wrong, but it’s funny to see Will’s face get all scrunched up. It’s definitely not his best look, but somehow Will still manages to look adorable.
Will does that thing with his face just then. “No, the article said that it was perfectly fine to call it soccer because the English fucked up once and then…”

Percy snickers at the bickering behind him. “Those two sure know how to make a scene, don’t they?” he asks Leo, who nods.

“Ten bucks they’re sucking face next Friday,” he says. Percy raises an eyebrow.
“Are you sure about that? I’d say in two weeks.”

Leo rolls his eyes. “Don’t you see the UST? They’re not gonna keep up this act for long, I’m telling you.”

“I am the matchmaker here, Valdez,” Percy brags.

“Please, you only say that because you brought Hazel and Frank together. Something that would have happened anyways.” Leo doodles on his maths homework. “Please don’t involve yourself in this --”

“Too late,” Percy interrupts him. “I’m already working on a plan.”

*****
*****

For some weird reason, Nico likes history. He can’t really explain why, he is just interested in everything that has happened. Like all those smart philosophers said, learn from the past to make the future a better place.

Or something.

This lesson is extra interesting, though. His teacher talks about the ancient Greek and how they are the definition of modern civilisation. Nico already knew a lot about the Greek and their culture before he came into this class, but the teacher still makes it interesting to listen to.

“So, the Greek had huge ships with three levels of citizens who rowed the ship. The ship itself had a tiny sail, so the citizens had to do all the work. Sometimes, they even rowed forty kilometres a day! Can you imagine?” He looks around the classroom excitedly.

Valentina Diaz writes all the information down. She’s scribbling so furiously that she doesn’t notice how Alice Miyazawa and Julia Feingold stuff her backpack with pink paper stumps.

“They used the ships to conquer neighbouring cities. Athens was the most powerful city of all, because of all the ships they had. They mainly used them to collect taxes, fight other civilisations or transport products.” The teacher looks around the class, picking his next ‘victim’. With victim, Nico means the next person who has to answer an incredibly difficult question.

“Leo, can you tell me what the Greek mainly transported?” he asks.

Leo, who is doodling an outline for some new kind of repair tool, looks up. “Uh, wine?” he guesses.

Their teacher makes the well-known ‘go on’ gesture. “And?”

Now Leo is definitely panicking. “Maybe… beer?”

The teacher sighs, defeated. He spins around in a circle and says, “We’ll try again. What did the Greek transport in the jugs on their ships?”

Leo is still speechless. The teacher mouths, “Olive oil.”

Suddenly, as if the teacher didn’t give him the answer like a ‘souffleur in a theatre’ as Nico’s French teacher likes to call it, he brightens and says: “Olive oil!”

The teacher clasps his hands together. “Good. Good.”

The class snickers at this interaction and Nico sighs. Just when he thought Leo couldn’t get any weirder...

That afternoon in detention, Nico settles down with his book and waits for other kids to arrive. The Stoll brothers are there again, but this time Mitchell is with them. He’s not quite sure why, but he assumes Mitchell decided to help the brothers. Joining Travis and Connor Stoll in a prank war is never a good thing, everyone knows that. Poor Mitchell.

There are also a couple of other kids, like Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Billie Ng, Holly and Laurel Victor, Nyssa Barrera and Ellis Wakefield.

Nico tries to read in his book a bit, but every time the door opens, he hopes to see a certain blond entering the room. But of course Will never arrives, because he doesn’t have detention anymore. Nico knows he shouldn’t be so worked up by this, but still. He would never admit this to anyone, but he kind of likes Will’s company, even though he was a bit annoying sometimes.

Silently, he continues his reading without glancing up at the door another time.

*****
*****

Soccer practice has just finished when Will gets an idea -- no, a plan. He’s not quite sure how to execute it, though. Then he gets another idea. He turns to the other boys in the locker room, all of them changing out of their soccer outfits and into their daily clothes.

“Cecil, what do you need to do to get into detention?”

For a moment, it’s dead silent. Cecil stares at Will like he’s gone mad. “Why do you need to know?”

Will shrugs. “Just… I didn’t know you could get into detention for accidentally breaking a vending machine, so I was wondering what else could happen that you could get into detention,” he lies.

His friend seems to buy it, although he gives Will one last suspicious look. “I think you just need to do stupid shit. Travis and Connor can probably come up with a million examples if you ask them. My mum says they’re there almost every day.”

Travis and Connor are Cecil’s cousins, so of course his mum knows what they’re up to. Their own mum is probably desperate for help with all the shit her sons get themselves into.

Will’s cousin, Austin, interjects himself into the conversation. “Pissing off teachers always gets you in detention, sometimes for multiple days. Last year, I made the mistake of bugging Mrs Gaia and believe me, I didn’t hear the end of it. She was furious at me.” Austin shudders. “Never piss off that woman. If she had the power to do it, she would probably destroy the world or something.”

Will nods. “I’ve heard of her. She teaches geography, right?”

“Yep,” confirms Damien White. “She gave me extra homework once, so I tried to get revenge. But Chiara told me not to, because Gaia was her geography teacher and Chiara was sure that if I did something, she would be suspected too.”

“That’s because you’re always hanging out together, Damien,” Cecil says. “You mean Chiara Benvenuti, that girl with the Italian dad? Dark pixie cut and brown eyes?”

Damien nods. “Yeah, that’s her.”

“Didn’t she get a mild concussion last week during PE because you dropped her or something?” Will asks Damien. He can vaguely remember Chiara coming to him and asking for remedies for headaches.

Damien looks uncomfortable. “She got a concussion when we were doing the three-legged death race. But later, during music class, she got mad at me for breaking the string in a guitar. Let’s just say it wasn’t a good day for the both of us.”

Malcolm enters the room. He frowns when he sees that most of the team is still not dressed yet. “Coach Hedge says you all got to get out of here, he wants to close the gym.”

Quickly, Will tied his shoes and sprinted out of the room, followed by the others.

No one wants to piss off coach Hedge.

*****
*****

When Nico thinks of Will Solace, he thinks of lip biting, raspberries, whispers, sculptures, the sound of laughter, genuine compliments, sunshine. Maybe not everyone would think those things when they see Will Solace. They’d think of soccer, white teeth, freckles, blond hair, a necklace with beads. And Will is those things too. But somehow, Nico has managed to look beyond the surface. Will has that effect on him.

And Nico is almost afraid of how much he likes the boy.

He has only known him for a couple of weeks now, and he’s already head over heels. But he knows that it’s unlikely that he’ll see Will again anytime soon, because he is not someone who is in detention every day, like Nico.

So when it’s time for detention at the end of the school day, the last thing Nico expects when he enters the room is Will sitting in his usual seat, looking up at him.

“You come here often?” he grins.

“What the fuck, Solace?” Nico exclaims.

“Nico, language,” Jason scolds him, entering the classroom after Nico. Percy, Leo and Frank are with him.

“Oh no.” Nico groans and rests his head on the desk. “What did you do?”

Jason huffs. “It’s more: what did Percy and Leo convince Frank and me to do?” He flops on a chair and Frank sits next to him. “Somehow, they convinced us it was a good idea to pull a prank on Annabeth.”

“You know she is going to get you back a hundred times worse than what you did to her, right? Reyna is like that too,” Nico says. He and Reyna used to be best friends when she was still in high school, but now she’s studying at the university of San Francisco and Nico doesn’t speak her as often as he would like.

Jason nods. “Thalia once told me that you tried to scare Reyna, but she was so alarmed that she smacked you in the face,” he chuckles.

Nico rolls his eyes. “Oh, come on! That was two years ago!” He narrows his eyes. “And how does Thalia know about that? Did Reyna tell her?”

“I’m assuming she did,” Percy interjects. “Those two tell each other everything.” He sits in the row behind Jason, in front of Will.

Frank gets his maths homework out of his bag. “Reyna told me that she sees Thalia a lot. I mean, it makes sense, since they’re in the same university.”

“I almost never talk to her anymore,” Percy murmurs. “I know you and Reyna used to be buddies,” he points at Frank, “and that she and this blond superman over here were childhood best friends.”

“Hey!” Jason grumbled. “I told you not to call me that.”

“Because if you do, I get to call you waterboy,” Leo claims.
Percy snorts. “Yeah, I never agreed to that.”

Nico rolls his eyes at the interaction. “Or you just stop having nicknames altogether.”

“You know that’s no fun,” Will interjects.

Here we go again , Nico thinks. Will is always so outspoken and confident. Nico should find it annoying, but surprisingly, he finds that he does not mind at all.

“What do you have to do with it, anyway?” Nico asks. He still doesn’t know why Will is in detention again. Hopefully Will didn’t do anything stupid.

“I’m just saying that friendships are fun when you get to give each other silly nicknames, death boy,” Will explains, completely ignoring Nico’s question. He has a smug grin plastered on his face.

Nico whacks his arm. “Don’t call me that, idiot!”

“What about Hot Topic, then?”

“No.”

Will sighs. “Would you prefer ‘Rejected Panic! At The Disco member’?”

“I’m just saying, Brendon Urie would have loved having me in the band!”

Will shakes his head. “I highly doubt that.”
“It’s not like you have any musical talent either, Solace. And you’re just jealous because you know they are more famous than your musicals will ever be,” Nico says. He smirks when Will gasps offendedly. Bingo .

“Well, at least Lana isn’t a one person band,” Will retorts.

“Too soon, Solace, too soon!”

At the end of the row of tables, Jason watches as Nico grows more and more agitated. “What is going on. I have almost never seen him so passionate before when talking to people,” Jason whispers to Frank, who shrugs.

“I have literally no idea what is going on.”

Percy leans over his table to talk to Jason. “But I do,” he grins. It’s his trademark mischievous grin, Jason notices. Oh no .

“We ship them. Leo and I even have an ongoing bet, which I realise he has almost lost.” Percy grins even wider as he turns to Leo. “Time to pay, Valdez.”
“If I promise to get more people to bet money, can I reset the date I chose for them to be together?” Leo begs.

“Who do you want to add to our pool?” Percy asks.

Leo glances quickly to Jason and Frank. “Those two here. And I already informed Piper, who will share the news with Annabeth. I trust Frank to share the news with Hazel, although I’m not sure if she’ll be in. Furthermore, the Stoll brothers and Clarisse also want to join the bet. And I’m trying to get a hold on Will’s friends, Lou Ellen and Cecil. If they’re anything like us, they want in too.”

Percy’s jaw drops. “That’s fucking amazing.”

Jason is still hesitant. “I mean, we’re still talking about two people here, are we sure --”

“Jason, please. Don’t act like you don’t want to see what happens!” Leo interrupts.

“I do, I just want to --”

“Just give me the money, Grace.”

*****
*****

What Will has to do to get in detention is… not his proudest moment ever. He pranked Mrs Gaia so many times he can’t count, and he’s not even in her class. She had to look up his name in the student archive before she could give him a punishment. And honestly, Will is glad it’s not something worse than detention, because he definitely would not have survived that . He doesn’t exactly know why he keeps doing this stupid shit, just to see Nico di Angelo again. It’s not good for his school record. Or his mental health, because Coach Hedge keeps getting angry at him and swears he’ll kick Will out of the team. Will knows he (probably) won’t do that, he’s the captain after all. But still. The thought is scary.

At the end of the day he enters the detention classroom while he’s on the phone with Lou Ellen. She has called him because she wanted to ask this girl out, but Will is still not sure exactly who she is talking about.

“But I still don’t know if she likes me back,” Lou Ellen whines. Will sighs and sticks his phone between his right shoulder and ear, and grabs a pen.

“Look, I’m sure she likes you. Who doesn’t? And if she does not know you well enough, then she’ll get to know you. That’s why you are asking her out on a date, dummy.” He checks his name off of the rollcall-list that’s lying on the table. Sometimes (almost every day) when Mr D is too lazy to do a name-call, he just ends up placing the list with everyone’s names on a table and everyone needs to check off their name when they enter.

Will hikes his backpack higher on his shoulder. “Also, who is this mystery girl you’re talking about? I still didn’t catch her name.”

“Valentina Diaz,” Lou says.

“Oh damn,” Will whispers. “You have a good taste in women, Lou.”

“Please don’t say it like that. It sounds creepy.”

Will laughs has he dumps his backpack on the ground. “Okay, I won’t. But you have to promise to ask her out soon, otherwise Cecil and I are going to sing ‘ Kiss the girl ’.”

Lou Ellen gasps. “You won’t.”

“We totally will! We even practiced it, you know.”

“You guys are so embarrassing,” Lou Ellen groans. “And how did you get Cecil to sing that song?”

“There may or may not have been blackmail involved,” Will simply answers. He hears Nico snicker behind him, so he sticks out his tongue to him.

“And why are you rooting for me, anyway?” Lou Ellen suddenly asks. She sounds very uncertain and Will realises that she must be very, very afraid to ask out Valentina.

“What can I say, I’m a sucker for a happy ending,” he grins. He can practically hear Lou roll her eyes.

“Oh my gods, did you just quote Heathers ?”

“I will always quote Heathers when the opportunity comes around. Scratch that, I will quote every musical, especially A Very Potter Musical . And to answer your former question, Cecil wanted to ask her out too, and I told him not to because I knew you had your eye set on her,” Will admits. He tries to get his books out of his bag with one hand, which does not go as smoothly as he would like.

“Again, please don’t say it like that. And Cecil will find some other girl, so he shouldn’t whine about that.”

Will leans back in his chair and gives up on his books. “Since he’s the only straight guy in our friend group, cut him some slack.” He hears a weird noise behind him, but does not bother turning around.

“True. Also, could you give your phone to Connor and slash or Travis for a second? I need to ask them something,” Lou says.

If Lou were here right now, Will would have slapped her for bringing this up. “What? No. I am not giving my phone to the Stoll brothers.”

“Why? It’s only for a second or so.”

“Because I would like all my possessions to stay mine, Lou Ellen. You know that they steal everyone’s shit, right?. And they will probably change my settings on my phone, or change the default language to Japanese, or --”

“Then you give them this message: I would like if they know where to get specific items for a motorcycle for the least amount of money. I know they have connections all around the city and I already asked Nyssa for help, but she only knows expensive places or places she told me I shouldn’t trust. Also, if they won’t help me I will talk to Katie about this.” Lou Ellen sounds very smug with herself.

“I don’t know if Katie Gardner can be held responsible for Travis’ actions,” Will carefully says.

On Lou’s end of the line, a door is opened and shut. “Neither can Mitchell, but he was in detention last week anyway. And he only helped Connor, he didn’t really do anything.”

Will straightens in his seat and beckoned Travis and Connor to come over here. “How do you know he was in detention? I didn’t mention it.”

“Because I saw him in there, Will. Now get the Stoll brothers for me.”
“I’m trying.” Will is currently having a stare-off with Connor. “He doesn’t want to come over here.”

“Then get out of your seat, Solace,” Nico sighs. “Sometimes you’re so dumb it hurts me.”

“I am not losing this, di Angelo, so shut up. I’m trying to concentrate,” Will says without looking at him.

“I know you can’t see me, but I am rolling my eyes at you for doing this,” he comments.

“Of course, sunshine.”

A snort on the other end of the line. “Really? You have a nickname for him?”

“Shut up, Lou Ellen.” Will ends the call.

Finally, after a couple of seconds, Travis gets tired of watching his brother and Will and drags Connor to Will’s table.

“What do you want, doc?” He leans on his elbows while Travis sits down on the chair next to Will, who repeats Lou’s message to them.

“She is not dragging Katie into this! The last time Lou told on me, Katie went all mad at me for dying the headmaster’s toupet blue.” Travis throws his hands in the air. “And we didn’t even do it alone, we had help from Jackson over there.” Percy innocently waves.

“She won’t tell Katie if you give her the names of those stores for motorcycle parts,” Will told them. “Lou already asked Nyssa, but she didn’t exactly have any good ideas.”
“Did I hear motorcycle parts?” Leo turns around and beams. “Then I’m the man you’re looking for.”

“You’re more of a kid,” a girl with choppy brown hair teases. She and another girl with curly blonde hair sit in front of Percy and Leo. “I’m Piper, by the way. Jason’s girlfriend and Leo’s bestie.”

“And I am Annabeth,” the girl with blonde hair says. Will recognises her from seeing her around school with Percy’s arm around her.

“I’m Will Solace,” he introduced himself.

Annabeth raises an eyebrow. “Oh, I’ve heard a lot about you.” She shoots a pointed look at Nico, which Will thinks is weird, but he doesn’t comment on it. He misses how Nico glares at Annabeth behind Will’s back.

“Leo, do you know who Lou Ellen is?” Will asks Leo.

He nods. “I think I have met her once. The girl with the pink hair, right? What does she want me to do?”

“I’ll text her that you know where to look for motorcycle parts, so could you give me your number? Then she can text you.” Will gives his phone to Leo, who types in his number.

“Wait, does this mean we still have to fix the motorcycle stuff too? Because if we don’t have to, I’m going back to our table. Mr D is getting kinda antsy,” Connor says. His eyes dart between Will and Mr D at the front of the room, who keeps sending them weird looks.

“It’s all good,” Will assures them. “I’ll tell Lou it’s okay, so you don’t have to be afraid of Katie or Mitchell being mad at you.”

“Thanks, bro.” Travis pats Will’s arm and follows Connor to their table.

Will takes his phone back from Leo before he starts doing weird shit and sends a quick text to Lou Ellen.

baymax: so i fixed the motorcycle thing. the stoll brothers weren’t very helpful, but leo valdez was able to help. i’ll send you his number and then you can talk it out, okay?

the witch from next door: thanks!!

the witch from next door: wait is it the valdez kid from detention

baymax: … maybe

the witch from next door: he better helps me bc otherwise i will slap you

baymax: calm down or i’ll change your name to ‘the bitch from next door’

the witch from next door: you’re already stretching it with this into the woods reference in my chat name, don’t push it any further

baymax: yes ma’am

“So who is this Lou Ellen?” Leo asks. “Like, what kind of person is she?”

Will glances up from his phone. “Not dateable, if that was what you were going for.”

“Nah man, we all heard your phone conversation. I know that she doesn’t like dudes. But what kind of motorcycle does she possibly want?”

“I don’t know anything about motorcycles and Lou Ellen didn’t tell me anything about her plans. You got to figure it out with her yourself,” Will says. He knows he’s not being very helpful, but he definitely does not want to be caught up in this.

“What did you do this time to get into detention, Will?” Percy asks. He leans on the desk and behind him, Piper and Annabeth are joining in the conversation as well.

“I was just being stupid. Cecil and a couple of other guys in the team dared me to prank Gaia and let’s just say it didn’t end well.” Not the whole truth -- or a little bit of the truth at all -- but Will can’t exactly say he is here to flirt with Nico. Speaking of, why is he always so quiet? Will turns around and sees that Nico is reading, for a change.

“Hey, Neeks. How are you on this afternoon?” he grins.

“What the fuck.” Nico looks at Will like he can’t believe what he’s doing. Will observes the other boy’s face, the barely present freckles, long eyelashes and gorgeous lips.

“Just making an attempt at conversation,” Will says as he drapes himself over Nico’s table. “Whatcha reading?”

Nico raises an eyebrow. “Do you want me to go into an in-depth summary of this book? Because when you keep asking questions like this, it’s bound to happen.”

“Tell me all about it.”

Nico seems unsure what to say about that. Will guesses people never actually said ‘yes’ to Nico’s question and it makes him feel a bit sad.

So as Nico tells Will about the book he’s currently reading, Will really tries to listen. He really does. But he gets distracted by the way Nico gestures widely, because apparently when he’s excited about something he has to be excited with all of him, from the tips of his fingers to the way his face lights up. The way Nico lightly shakes his head in an attempt to get the hair out of his face is adorable. As Will rests his chin on his hands and looks at Nico, really looks at him, he can feel himself more and more beginning to like Nico, which isn’t a bad thing, he realises.

“Will?” Nico worriedly waves his hand in front of Will’s face.

“I was totally paying attention!” Will exclaims. Nico frowns.

“If you don’t want me to talk about it, you can just say that. I won’t get mad or anything,” he says. His eyebrows draw together and it’s almost like Nico’s whole posture changes; like he folds into himself or something.

Will rubs his hand over his face. “No, I want to listen to you, I really do, but this week has just been rough. And Coach Hegde snapped at me today because I keep landing in detention and I just…” He sighs. “I don’t know what to do.” It’s weird to admit this to Nico, especially since he’s the only reason Will is here.

“Then don’t. Stop doing… whatever it is you’re doing that gets you in here,” he simply says.

“It’s as easy as you make it sound,” Will pouts.

Nico asks the question Will wants to answer the least of all of them. “Then why are you here?”

Will sighs. “It’s complicated. And I cannot explain it to you, I’m sorry.”

Surprisingly, Nico nods. “That’s okay. Last week I didn’t want to tell you my story and you respected that. So I respect your reason. Although I have to admit you are acting a bit weird.”

“That’s just me being me, don’t worry about it,” Will grins. He softly kicks Nico’s foot with his own. “Thanks.”

To his surprise, Nico smiles back. “You’re welcome.”

*****
*****

The bell rings after the fourth period to announce the end of English class and Nico makes his way to the great hall. He makes a short stop at his locker to retrieve some books and joins the table where Percy, Annabeth, Leo and Will are sitting. Nico is not sure how Will ended up with this ragtag group of people, but he can’t say he dislikes it.

Nico sits next to Annabeth, who is sitting by the window, and across from Will, who is making homework. Percy sits at the head of the table, playing games on his phone while Leo is leaning against the window and solving a silver Shengshou Mirror Rubik’s Cube. Percy occasionally shoots a glance at the cube, as if he is trying to solve it in his head.

“What are you doing, Annabeth?” Nico asks.

Annabeth quickly looks up from her laptop before she starts typing rapidly again. “I am coding and setting up websites. You can earn quite a lot of money with coding, you know. But that’s not why I do it. But I’m sure more people do work like this…” Her voice drifts off as she speaks.
“Wise Girl, the fact that you design websites for fun is not something a lot of people do,” Percy says matter-of-factly.

“One day, I am going to hack the school’s intercom,” Annabeth says determinedly. “Just you wait.”

Leo grins and rapidly taps his cube with his index fingers. “With my help, of course.”

Looking up from his homework, Will frowns. “Should I be worried?”

“I see you’re replacing Jason as the mum friend,” Nico mutters, at the same time that Percy assures Will everything is fine.

“Annabeth and Leo have been planning this for a while. They hope to hack the school one day, just to prank people,” Percy explains.

“Travis and Connor would like that,” Will says. Then he looks Nico in the eye. “Also, I am not going to become the mum friend in this friend group, I’m already the one in another group.”

Nico has never actually met Will’s other friends. He has heard their names, of course. Lou Ellen, the girl with the pink hair who loves magic. Cecil, who is apparently related to the Stoll Brothers somehow, which Nico isn’t sure is a good thing. Kayla, Will’s cousin with the brown hair and green dip dye. Austin, who is on the soccer team with Cecil and Will and is also related to the latter.

Sometimes, Nico swears, it feels like everyone on this school is related.

Nico opens his book, Clockwork Angel , and starts reading. He tries to focus on Tessa Grey as she discovers a world full of Shadowhunters who are unknown to her, but it’s hard to do so with Percy distracting him.

“Nico. Psst. Hey, di Angelo.” It goes on like this for what feels like eternity. In the end, Nico can’t take it anymore.

“Shut it, Jackson. I’m reading -- hence, the book.” He waves his book in front of Percy’s face.

“But I need to get your opinion, Neeks .” He pays special attention to the last word.

Nico grunts. “Don’t call me that.”

“Oh, so Will gets to do that but I don’t?” Percy rests his head on his arms. “I see how it is now.”

Nico turns bright red and hides his face behind his book. “Stop it.”

After Percy pouts for a while, Nico gives in. “Alright, what is it?”

“Is The Nightmare Before Christmas a Halloween movie?” Percy finally asks.

Leo drops his cube. “You heathen. It’s a Christmas movie!”

“There are already enough Christmas movies, I think we can do with one less,” Will mumbles while writing down an answer to his homework. Nico glares at him.

“Wrong. You can never have too much Christmas shit.”

Will sighs but smiles at him. “If you say so, Neeks.”

Nico is sure Will is going to give him a heart attack because of that smile.

*****
*****

Nico almost falls as he turns the corner. Will is following hot on his heels.

“You need to run faster, Will,” Nico puffs.
It takes a while for Will to respond. “It’s not my fault we’re so late.”

Nico is glad to see that their detention classroom pops into view. It’s a pity that the library is on the other side of the school than the detention classroom. “Yes, it totally is. You stole a French textbook, that’s why the librarian got angry. I was just trying to return my book.”

When they turn another corner, they almost throw Rachel off a ladder. “Guys, watch out!” Nico quickly looks and sees that she’s hanging up a banner advertising for the school’s art competition.

“Sorry, Rache, but we’re late!” Will yells over his shoulder.

They arrive at the classroom and Nico throws the door open. “Mr. D, sorry we’re late. We were just --”

But Chiron is there, instead of Mr. D. Nico’s not sure why Mr. D always seems to be missing, but he can’t say he hates it.

Chiron dismissively waves his hand. “It’s okay, you guys are not that late anyway. Go sit down quickly, then I can cross you off the list.”

Nico wants to sit at his regular spot behind Will, but then he notices that Annabeth and Piper have already taken his place. Nico had almost forgotten that it is their second day of detention. But since there aren’t any empty tables left, he had to sit next to Will. The only other table is at the front of the classroom, and it would be weird for Nico to just go sit somewhere entirely else. Weirder than sit next to Will.

Will, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have any problem with it. “I can already imagine what Lou Ellen is going to say! ‘Will, you are the only person I know that can be late for detention’. Well, she isn’t wrong.”

Nico has to fight off a smile. “It was totally your fault, though.”

Will groans and rests his head on the table, on top of his arms. “How could I have known she could see the book in my bag?”

“You opened it and dropped its content all over her desk. I think she would have noticed anyway,” Nico deadpans.

“Well, aren’t you a little ray of sunshine.” Will turns his head so he can look at Nico.

“Thanks, I try.”

His response is a heavy sigh and a chuckle afterwards.

Piper turns around. Nico notices the way she smirks and immediately knows she is up to something. “So why were the two of you so late?”

“We were in the library to return a book and Will thought it was necessary to empty his bag all over --”

“I was searching for my pencil case! I thought I had left it in the English Lit classroom,” Will defends.

Nico rolls his eyes. “You keep telling different lies everytime I ask, Solace, you’re not very convincing.” He grins as Will pouts.

Piper laughs. “Will Solace, you are not a great liar. I could hear you saying earlier how you lost you French book or something.”

“You are so mean, di Angelo. And you too, Piper.” Will fumbles with his phone, holding it under the table so Chiron won’t see it. “One day you will be nice.”

“Guess you’ll have to teach me, then.” Nico rests his head on the table.

“You would think with how many books you read that you know basic manners, sunshine,” Will mumbles.

“Hey!”

*****
*****

So Will is still not sure how Nico feels about him. Sure, Will knows he likes Nico a lot, but he doesn’t know if it’s mutual. Only one way to find out, right?

The bell rings and Will’s second-to-last detention class is finally over. Will wants to tell Nico, but he is already gone. When Will glances up, he just spots him disappearing.

“Nico, wait!” Will yells as he runs after Nico. He makes it to the hallway where Nico is still speedwalking.

Confused, Nico finally turns around. “What do you want, Solace? I swear, if you are going to tell me weird doctor shit again, I will definitely punch you this time, extra detention or not. That shit you told me was gross.”

Will laughs awkwardly. “No, it’s not about that. Actually, I wanted to ask you something for once.”

Oh gods, he thinks, I hope I am not going to ruin our friendship.

Nico curiously tilts his head, like a cat studying Will. “What is it?”

“You never really laugh,” Will blurts out. Shit, he was trying not to phrase it this way. “Sure, you behave as if some things are funny to you, but you never really laugh . Although you sometimes smile when you think no one is paying attention. And I was wondering why.”

Nico kicks the wall in front of them. “You’re right. But I don’t know what to say to that.”

*****
*****

Will stares intensely, like he is trying to look through Nico’s eyes and gaze deep into his soul. “What is the real reason you’re in detention every day, Nico?”

Nico knows he can’t lie anymore. He needs to tell someone the truth. And if he had to tell it to anyone, Will Solace would have been Nico’s first choice. Because Will is a good listener, and he’s kind, careful, loving and friendly. And Nico likes Will, more than he wants to admit.

“I get into fights a lot.” There’s no turning back now, is there?

“Fights? Like, what kind of fights? I mean, I already knew you did a lot of… edgy things, but --” Will stops talking when Nico shoots him a look.

“Let me explain, Solace.” Nico takes a deep breath. “I’m about to tell you something only a few people know.” He looks Will in the eyes, and once again, Nico is taken aback by how fucking blue they are. Deep as oceans, as clear as the sky on a summer day. Nico knows everyone and their mother romanticises blue eyes, but damn, there’s a reason for that.

“I’m gay,” Nico finally says. It feels so good to say, like a weight is lifted off his chest. “So I pick fights with people who yell slurs for no reason, because they bother me. Also, I pick fights with people who just piss me off.”

A beat. Then, a long sigh.

“I mean, that is a valid reason to deck Octavian in the face,” Will shrugs.
“Oh, man, he was crying so badly after that,” Nico reminisces. “That was actually one of my better punches.”

“But I still think you shouldn’t solve things with violence,” Will says.

Nico rolls his eyes. “You are truly a softie, you know.”

Will laughs, and for a moment, the world stops spinning and it’s like only the two of them exist. “Maybe I am.”

Nico leans against the wall. “Was the fighting thing all you wanted to ask me about?”

A flash of something, Nico can’t quite pinpoint what, crosses Will’s face. “No, actually not. I wanted to tell you something, to be honest. But you got to promise you won’t be mad.” He bites his lip.

“Of course not. But now I’m a little afraid of what you’re going to say. If you murdered someone, I’m not going to help hide the body,” Nico jokes.

“I didn’t murder anyone, Mr Black Hoodie. It’s something. I, er, quite like you, and I wondered if you wanted to out sometime with me?” Will says the last sentence really fast, like he’s trying to say it all at once.

“Uhm.” Nico’s brain suddenly doesn’t work anymore. What does Will mean, he likes him ? He isn’t supposed to do that!

Will must have seen his worried expression, because he begins to talk rapidly again. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to! I am really, really sorry if I just made this weird.”

Nico is still frozen, but then it occurs to him that he should probably say something. “No, no, don’t be sorry! I like you too, I just didn’t know what to say, because, you know, my crushes never actually like me back. I was beginning to think I was cursed or something.” He lets out a weak laugh. “So I’d really like to go out with you, Will.”

Will perks up. “You actually called me Will!”

Nico rolls his eyes. “Seriously, that’s what you get out of tha--”

But then Will kisses him.

And it’s fantastic. Amazing, even. After the initial surprise of “Oh my god, I am actually kissing Will Solace”, Nico relaxes. His lips move against Will’s and he brings his hand to Will’s golden locks.

Nico has never kissed anyone before, but he’s pretty sure that it wouldn’t feel this good anyway. Although he probably needs to work on his technique a bit, he makes up for it with enthusiasm. Will bites his lip and when Nico gasps, he actually slides his tongue in. Hands caress his back and Nico is pretty sure he never wants to stop doing this, ever again.

But of course, his friends have to ruin it.

“Holy fucking shit --” Leo exclaims. His other words get drowned by the words of the others.

“Talk about PDA, wow,” Jason says.

Percy laughs loudly. “Get yo man, Nico.”

Nico quickly stops kissing Will and turns around. He sees that Leo passes some money to Piper, Annabeth smiles gently, Hazel beams like she has seen the best thing in the world, and Frank just sighs.

“If you had just waited another day, I had won the bet.”

Strangely, this makes Will crack up. By then, Nico has had enough of it. He grabs Will’s hand and drags him into the closest classroom. Shutting the door behind them, Nico grins at Will. Wolf whistles can be heard from the other side of the door.

“Want to continue where we left off?”

Will grins. “Well, if you insist, Neeks.”

*****
*****

Nico smiles. An actual, full-on grin appears on his face. And to Will, it’s the most beautiful thing in the world.

*****
A month later

*****

“Why is it so cold tonight? I thought the weatherman had said that it was going to be ‘mild’, or something bullshit like that,” Will grumbles. Nico reaches out and grabs his gloved hand.

“We’re almost there anyway, Will. Percy’s apartment is only a couple more blocks away,” he says. Will sighs, cold air from his lungs forming little clouds. He swings their hands back and forth.

After a couple more minutes of walking, they reach the flat where Percy, Sally, Paul and Estelle live. They take the lift to the fifth floor.

After Will rings the doorbell, they wait.

“Do you think they didn’t hear us?” Will asks. Nico sighs.

“I don’t know, but knowing Percy, there’s always something weird going on here. I’m sure he’ll come in a second.”

In the end, it’s not Percy but Jason who opens the door to them. “Hey guys,” he greets. “Sorry it took so long, there is a, uhm, situation right now.” He awkwardly hovers in the door opening.

“Are you going to let us in or what?” Nico impatiently asks. “Come on, Grace, I think I’ve seen my fair share of so-called ‘situations’ with you guys as friends, haven’t I? Follow me, Will.” Nico enters the house and leaves his coat and gloves in the hallway, on top of the pile of coats that is already there. That is going to be a trouble to find out whose coat is where at the end of the night, Nico thinks.

As Jason disappears into the living room, Nico hears Percy yell: “Jase, I need your help to convince Leo that we definitely need to watch Shark Attack .” Followed by Leo angrily exclaiming, “Jackson, if you mention that movie one more time I will take The Hunger Games and shove it so far up your ass that you will only be able to speak in references for a week.”

Will physically pales. “Are the movie nights always like this?”

Nico laughs and grabs Will’s hand again. “Mostly. Not always, though. And don’t act so surprised, you knew what to expect. And your friend group is hardly better.”

“True. Lou Ellen and Cecil are quite the bunch,” Will says. As they enter the kitchen, Nico spots Sally feeding a baby Estelle with Paul reading something on his phone.

“Hi guys. I brought Will,” Nico says. Sally excitedly hands Estelle over to Paul.

“Nico has been talking about you a lot, it’s nice to finally meet you,” she says. Her face is warm and open, just how she was when Nico met her for the first time. It had been fun explaining how he met Will to Sally and Paul, because unlike Hades and Persephone, they actually loved the story. When Nico had told Hades how he met Will, he only got looks of disapproval. Although, Hades eventually had grown to love Will, as had Persephone.

“Nice to meet you too, ma’am,” Will says shyly. It’s amusing to see him like this, because usually, Will is always confident in everything he says and does. Nico likes seeing him vulnerable for once.

After the usual pleasantries, Will goes to coddle over Estelle. “Well, aren’t you a cutie?” He puts on a soft, high-pitched voice. Estelle actually giggles , for the gods’ sake, and it’s amazing to see her whole face light up.

“Well, you certainly got a thing for kids. Estelle has never done that the first time she sees someone,” Paul says. Will smiles.

“I think it runs in the family. My mother is just like me.” Just when Will wants to launch into the beginning of what is probably a funny story, Percy bursts into the kitchen.

“Nico, Will, we need you. I’m trying to win votes for Shark Attack and I’ve almost won,” he says. Nico rolls his eyes.

“And let me guess, you need two more votes to win? I don’t think so, Perce. I don’t like those movies.”

Percy pouts. “But Neeks --”

“And after you’ve called me that, you’ve lost all right to call on me. I’ll vote for whatever the other movie is.” Nico beelines for the living room, Will trailing after him.

“Sorry, Percy, apparently I’ve got monopoly on that nickname.”

“Like hell you have!” Nico says over his shoulder. Percy is still pouting in the kitchen, Sally silently chuckling next to him.

Nico drags Will onto the couch with him and snuggles up against him. “So what’s the other choice, Annabeth?” he asks.

Annabeth scrolls through the suggestions on Netflix. “Probably a Star Wars movie.”

“See, that’s my area,” Nico smirks.

Will laughs. “You’re such a nerd.”

“But I am your nerd,” Nico cheesily replies.

Will firmly wraps his arms around Nico. “And I’m damn happy about that.”

The rest of the evening progresses with more bickering between Percy and Leo, Jason and Nico making Star Wars puns, Frank braiding Hazel’s hair and Annabeth and Piper finally giving in to the popcorn war. It’s a mess to clean up afterwards, but it’s so totally worth it. Especially Will’s face as Nico dumps a handful right onto his head.

Nico is still very curious to what exactly Will did to the vending machine that made it spit out sodas into Dodds’ face, but he’s thankful it happened. Nico doesn’t know how things would have gone if he never met Will, but he is sure that his world is just a little brighter with Will by his side.