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Whenever Percy showed up late for his shift, Nico had to run the register in the Mystery Shack, which meant that he was essentially a sitting duck to Hazel’s journal-shaped gun. She’d found the journal on the edge of the Mystery Shack’s property, and hadn’t taken her nose out of it since, and Nico was sick of getting dragged into the woods to look for “monsters” because of it.
There hadn’t been a single customer yet that day, which only allowed Nico to appear as more of a target to his sister, until finally the door opened, and Nico had something to turn his attention to.
Unfortunately, it was only Percy, and not a gullible customer that could be suckered into paying for a tour of the museum or who could wander around the gift shop for hours and then only buy one thing - while still spending a fortune (Say what you want about him, but Nico’s uncle sure did know how to run a business).
Nico groaned when Percy walked through the door, and he dropped his forehead onto the counter. “Where the hell are all the people?” Nico asked to no one in particular.
“Didn’t you see all the signs?” Percy replied. “They’re all over town, kind of creepy looking. Apparently some psychic’s moved into town, but I don’t know for how long. He’s set up right across the street in a bunch of tents, so it kind of looks like the circus came to town or something, and that probably means he won’t be here for long. That’s my guess, at least.” He shrugged. “I was gonna head over there on my way here, just to see what it’s all about, but I figured I was already going to be late enough. Might go after work, though, if you wanna come check it out with me.”
“Pass,” Nico said.
“I’ll go,” Hazel called from across the shop. “Sounds cool!”
Once the shop was closed down for the night, Percy and Hazel walked down the Mystery Shack’s long driveway and across the street to where a series of blue and white tents had been set up - the ones that Hazel notices immediately were the merchandise tent and the main tent, the biggest of them all, with a name over the entrance: Will Solace.
They had some kind of deal with first time guests where they could take a free ten minutes to meet the psychic and decide afterwards if they were interested in paying for a full reading - probably for the skeptics who wanted to see what they were getting themselves into.
Percy went in to talk to the guy first, coming out even more psyched up than he had been when he went in. “This dude is like, crazy good, Hazel, it’s awesome!”
And so she went inside the tent.
It seemed too big for how little there was inside - just a small round table with a chair on either end. Sitting in the furthest chair, the one that was facing the entrance, was a blond boy who couldn’t have been more than a couple of years older than Hazel. His hair was curly and his eyes were such a vibrant blue that Hazel could see them from halfway across the tent. He wasn’t dressed how one would expect a psychic to dress, wearing jeans and a buttoned-up flannel, but he certainly fit in with the Oregon style.
He stood up once Hazel got close, and smiled brightly. “Hey, I was wondering when you were going to stop by!”
Hazel frowned, hesitating on her next step, and then laughing a bit awkwardly. “Oh, um, is that, like, a bit that you do? You make it seem like you foresaw everyone coming, or something?”
“Oh!” he said in surprise. “No, actually, it’s not, but I can see why you might think that. Sorry, Hazel, sometimes I just forget that I know people before we actually meet. My name is Will, it’s nice to finally meet you.” He held a hand out to her to shake, which she did. When she grabbed his hand, she noticed Will’s eyes flashing an emerald green for half a second before they returned to their natural blue.
Will returned to his seat and gestured for Hazel to sit across from him. The table was covered by a navy blue cloth, but otherwise the table was empty, until Will set his phone on the edge, a timer counting down from ten minutes.
“So, how does this work?” Hazel asked, folding her hands on the table.
“Well,” Will started, “you can ask me whatever questions you have about your future, if you want. Sometimes people will ask for anything I’m willing to tell them, or anything that I might already know. Usually, I don’t know much about a person unless I make contact with them - which is why I like to shake someone’s hand when they first enter. If I know something about someone before making contact, that generally means that they will somehow be important in my own future.”
“You know me, then,” Hazel said. “Like, you’ve known about me for a while. Why?”
Will smiled. “I mean, I can’t really know why I know about anyone. And I don’t like to overshare about people’s futures, because, you know, people get freaked out and try to change things that won’t ever change, so I can’t tell you everything. But I can tell you that we end up spending some time together, just as friends, searching for things from that book you found. Actually, something I don’t know is what that book is. You keep that thing guarded pretty well.”
“Did you learn anything new about me from that handshake?” Hazel asked.
Will ducked his head and ran a hand through his curls. “Like I said before, I don’t like to spoil the future.”
Hazel leaned back in her chair, sighing disappointedly. “That’s what I was expecting you to say when I first walked in.”
Will pouted before leaning in conspiratorially, whispering, “I learned about your husband.”
“My what?” Hazel asked with surprise clear in her voice.
“Future spouses are the kinds of things I don’t like to tell people about, generally, because then they’ll only look for someone with a specific name or personality trait, or whatever,” Will explained, “but I’ll tell you this much: he’s going to be able to terrify people with a single look, but he’s actually going to be one of the sweetest people on the planet. That’s all I can say without telling you too much.”
Before Hazel could respond, the timer on Will’s phone went off, signaling the end of their ten minutes. “I’m sorry, I wish we could talk more, but I’ve got appointments scheduled for the rest of the evening so that people can get full readings. It was great to finally meet you for real, though!”
“Yeah, I agree,” Hazel told him, rising from her seat. “I should be getting home anyway, but I would love to stop by here again sometime.”
“Yeah, you should!” Will said, and once Hazel had reached the entrance, Will called out, “You should bring your brother with you next time!”
Percy walked Hazel back to the Mystery Shack so that they could compare notes on Will. It wasn’t until Percy had dropped Hazel off that she realized that she’d never mentioned her brother to Will.
Will knew that Nico would be too stubborn to visit a psychic on his own, so he took matters into his own hands and wandered over to the Mystery Shack while on his lunch break one day.
The gift shop was mostly empty when he entered, aside from Nico behind the counter and Hazel restocking some of the shelves.
“Hey, Hazel,” he greeted as he walked inside.
“Oh, hi, Will,” she replied with a smile. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you still super busy?”
“Yeah, but I thought I’d sneak away on my lunch break,” Will explained. “I’ve been wanting to see this place with my own eyes for a while now, and I figured there was a better chance of me coming to see Nico before he came to see me.”
Hazel laughed. “Yeah, you’re probably right about that one. He’s right over there behind the counter, if you wanted to go introduce yourself. And don’t forget to actually introduce yourself, this time.”
“Of course,” Will said with a smile. “I’ll be sure to do that.”
He spun around, leaving Hazel to continue her reshelving, and turned toward the counter instead, where his beautiful future boyfriend was completely ignoring him.
Will stepped up to the counter and said, “Hi. I’m Will.”
Nico raised an eyebrow at him, glancing up from his phone. “Okay?”
“You give the tours of the museum, right?”
“The next tour starts at two,” Nico told him, gaze dropping back down.
Will should have known that Nico was going to be this difficult. “Do you think you could make an exception and give me a private tour?”
“Why would I do that?” he asked in a monotone voice.
Will turned his smile up to eleven and said, “Because I’m asking nicely?”
Nico’s eyes flickered up to him once again, and Will noticed that his cheeks gained a bit of color when he looked at Will. “Fifty dollars.”
Progress. Will pointed to a sign propped up against the register. “This says that tours are only twenty dollars.”
“Yeah, and I’m making an exception, so it’s fifty,” Nico told him. “Take it or leave it.”
Will rolled his eyes, still smiling softly as he reached for his wallet. He didn’t know what it was about this first interaction he had with his future boyfriend, but something about him had Will falling in love already. He pulled fifty dollars from his wallet and handed it over.
Nico looked surprised, either because he’d been expecting Will to give up and walk away, or because he hadn’t expected some teenager to just have fifty bucks cash on him. Or maybe it was both.
“Oh. Um. Follow me, I guess,” Nico said, and led Will toward the museum’s entrance.
Nico didn’t actively try to give a shitty tour, but that’s what had happened. He was too distracted by the pretty blond who was always standing too close and listening too intently to the bullshit Nico’s uncle had forced him to say about each of the attractions. His smile was too soft and his eyes were too blue (or green? Nico could have sworn he’d seen both, but maybe it had just been the terrible lighting of the museum). He looked better in a flannel shirt than anybody had any right looking.
At the end of the tour, Nico hurried back behind the counter, just so that there was a barrier between the two of them again.
Will leaned against the counter, lessening the space between them, and smiled brightly - why did he have to smile so bright? Nico was going to go blind from it if he had to keep seeing it. “Thanks for the tour,” Will told him. “I’d love to see you again sometime. Maybe you could come across the street for a reading, like, during your break, maybe? I can leave a slot open at three tomorrow, in case you decide to stop by.”
“Whatever,” Nico stammered, feeling like his face was on fire from the unwavering attention Will was paying him.
“I hope I’ll see you then,” Will said, and finally moved away, saying goodbye to Hazel before walking out the door.
As soon as the door was shut behind him, Nico turned to Hazel and said, “How the hell did he know that I take my breaks at three every day?”
Hazel shrugged, though it looked more like a wince. “Lucky guess, maybe?”
He didn’t exactly want to go, but he couldn’t fight his curiosity any longer, so at three the next afternoon, Nico was walking into a big white tent across the street from the Mystery Shack. Will was sitting at a table inside, and he beamed when he saw Nico enter.
He didn’t speak until Nico was sitting across from him. “I’m glad you decided to come,” he said softly, his smile just as gentle as his voice.
Nico crossed his arms and looked to the side. “I wasn’t going to, but I was bored and I didn’t have anything better to do.”
Will leaned an elbow on the table, resting his chin on his hand. “Uh-huh, sure.”
Nico frowned, though the blush rising on his cheeks gave him away. “How does this work, anyway? What kind of pre-written script do you have that I have to follow, where I can only ask about future careers or romance, or whatever?”
Will shook his head. “No script, you can ask for anything you want to know.”
Nico hesitated, trying to think of something that might trip Will up, something that he wouldn’t be expecting or that he hadn’t been asked before.
“Hazel has this journal that she found at the Shack,” Nico started. “She’s been dragging me through the woods almost every night, but we’ve never found anything.”
“You haven’t?” Will asked, frowning. “I could’ve sworn that by now--” He paused, and Nico saw his eyes flash green for just a second. “Sorry, I’m getting my days confused again. She’s just been looking in all the wrong places. Go up the river, and make sure you go with Hazel on Tuesday, you’re not going to want to miss that one.”
Nico frowned this time. “Well, what is it?”
Will grinned, his eyes sparkling. “It could be anything. I can’t spoil the surprise, now can I?”
Nico rolled his eyes. “I have to get back to work.” He stood from his chair and started to leave.
“Come back once you’ve found it,” Will called after him. “I can’t wait to hear all about it!”
Nico didn’t want to believe him, though he wasn’t sure whether it was because he didn’t want to stumble across some kind of ferocious beast in the woods, or because he didn’t want Will to be right. Except… of course he was right, he was probably always right, and Nico wanted to know more.
He went back to Will’s tent of telepathy just after closing that evening, ready to recount the event, and Nico found Will sitting at his litttle round table in the center of the tent.
Will’s chin was propped up on his hand, and he was smiling at Nico as he walked up. “Hey, I thought I might be seeing you tonight.”
Nico plopped down into the chair across from him. “Alright, so you were right about the mermaid thing.”
“A mermaid, really?” Will asked, looking genuinely surprised.
Nico frowned. “What, like you didn’t already know that? I thought you said you didn’t want to ruin the surprise, or whatever.”
Will shook his head. “I know a lot of things, but not all of them. Tell me about it.”
Nico sighed and slumped back in his chair, getting comfortable. “We went up the river, just like you said. It was just... right there, almost like it was all too easy. She - the mermaid - had gotten lost and she had no idea how she’d gotten so far from the ocean. She was all tangled up in an old, ripped-up fishing net, or maybe just something that looked like one, so she couldn’t even swim back down the river. Hazel and I cut her loose and helped her figure out which way to go, and then… Well, then I came here.”
“Wow, that must’ve been so cool!” Will exclaimed. “I wish I could’ve seen that for myself, but there will be plenty of other creatures for us to find together.”
“What’s that supposed to mean, for us to find together?” Nico demanded.
Will’s eyebrows shot up, like he’d said something he didn’t mean to say. “Oh, well, uh… I really shouldn’t spoil anything, you know?”
Nico leaned in, hands flat on the table between them. “No, tell me.”
Will set his hands in his lap, leaning away and dropping his gaze as color started rising on his cheeks. “Um. You and I-- And Hazel, too, Hazel’s there sometimes… We, uh, we end up spending time together? Like, a lot of time? Because, um, we-- You and I are going to...date.”
Nico’s eyes widened, and it was his turn to blush. “We... what?”
Will kept his eyes locked on his hands in his lap as he said, “I know I’ve already spoiled a lot, and I shouldn’t say anything else, but… You’re really cute when you smile, and I can’t wait to see it in person.”
Nico’s heart was pounding in his chest, and when Will looked up at him through his eyelashes, Nico felt like he wanted to bolt.
So he did.
Will sighed, propping his chin up on his hand once more and staring longingly across the tent as he watched Nico run away.
Will’s heart was aching from being so close to Nico yet still so far away. “I can’t wait to marry him someday.”