Chapter Text
When Nico woke that morning, just before his alarm, he immediately realized what day it was - 10th of August - the day that Will is gonna leave to go to college. The boy rapidly left his bed and took a quick shower, put on the fist clothes that he found in the floor of his bedroom and left his house. He knew he didn't need to knock next door, so he just went ahead to find out if the door was unlocked, and it was. He entered respectfully, saying good morning (even if he didn't know if there was people awake), and headed to Will's room, and then he knocked.
"Nico?" Will's voice from the inside asked. Nico's nervous hand opened the door, and he let himself fall on the undone bed. "I figured", chuckled the blonde and then made a serious yet kinda sad face, "so. Last day, huh?". Those words stood in the air while silence crushed them. They just couldn't look at each other, trying to conceal the feelings overwhelming them. Nico looked at the ceiling, 'stay calm, Di Angelo'.
"You, Solance, are gonna rock it". He put himself together and looked at Will "this does not have to be so sad, we'll see each other on Christmas", he tried a smile that wasn't very convincing, but Will smiled as well. He could understand.
"I'm gonna miss it here, the memories of all my life are here .."
"Stop that! You are following your dream, you are lucky to have one so don't let memories or whatever stop you, make new memories, you have a future ahead, stop doubting!" Will smile widely.
"How can you be younger than me and be so wise, sunshine?" then his gaze fell to the ground. "I am really going to miss you"
Nico felt those words stabbing him. Sure, Will was gonna miss him, but just like a big brother misses his siblings. Nico was sure that's not the way he was going to miss Will.
Ever since Will got accepted in pre med school, Nico had reassure what he had suspected for years; what he felt for the blonde was not only a friendly familiar feeling. He thought of Will as the only person he could really trust and show the real Nico to. Imagining his life without Will was impossible, and yet there they where, in the old boy's room with him having all packed up to fly away from Nico. He just wondered if he was the only one who felt this sad and incomplete.
Because Will had made him feel complete for years. And now he was going to leave, and the young boy would be all alone.
~
Finishing high school without Will was as horrible as he thought it would be. The only good thing that came into his life was Hazel. She was a very good friend and to be honest, they only had eachother. Hazel's mom had a weird reputation so nobody came close to her, and at first, neither did Nico. But destiny called and they had to work on a biology assignment together. After that, they've been inseparable.
At senior year, Hazel wanted to make a pact with Nico so they would go to the same college. But, what the hell, Nico already had a college he wanted to attend.. no real reason, not al all.. But she insisted and did her research to found out that THE college that Nico wanted to go, to had a really good geology department, so she just limited the pact to that particular university because even though she did not know Nico's reasons to be so stubborn about the whole thing, he seemed like he wasn't gonna change his mind about it. Those little years of friendship was something she was unwilling to lose. So, just like that, senior year was all about studying and preparing for their common goal. They really wanted to achieve it, and they worked hard together.
The same say they got their letters they started packing.
Nico was so, so excited but he did not want to show it. He felt 10 again, when Will came to his house with a new game or a very rare card of Mythomagic. You know, the happy days, when Bianca was alive and the family was complete and sane. When they could just knock next door to play with Will, and Nico could stay overnight and fall sleep because he was too exhausted for having played games until way passed their bedtime.
When Bianca was here. And Will was here. And his mother was not depressed. When life had meaning and was going somewhere.
But now, with the whole college situation, he finally felt like his life was finally taking course again. He had someone to share it with, and, hopefully, someone will be waiting for him. Or at least, will be happy to see him.
~
The dorm room was smaller that he had pictured, but large enough to live and study comfortably. He hadn't met his roommate yet but, the girl who had shown him the room, told him that he was a third year, wich was very unusual (freshman sharing room with another freshman was the usual) but the boy - Jason, she said - had refused to leave the room for gods know what reason.
It was still early, so Nico started unpacking. He was about to get to the half of it when he heard a knock on the door. Nico was going to atend it but then it opened to reveal a tall blonde boy with glasses and a orange t-shirt. He had a the little scar on the lip that Nico couldn't help to stare, to then look away because it was kinda weird. The blonde did not seem to notice.
"Hey there! You must be Nico di Angelo". He said and looked at the younger boy with a smile. He seemed so happy to have him there that Nico was a little perplex at the older boy's enthusiasm. Jason, seeing no response, added a little ashamed "did I get the name right?"
"Yeah" answered Nico, finally snapping out of it, "sorry, nice to meet you, ..."
"Jason! Jason Grace" he walked over to shake hands. Nico shook it shyly, still looking at the golden-haired boy. He always had had struggle with talking to people, but he decided to try to socialize. 'You are going to live with this boy, so, be friendly, Nico'
"The girl that show me the room told me that you are not new here" Nico said to start the conversation. And because he was very curious about it
"Yeah, that". He put his hand in the back of this neck and look at the floor, "well, I don't know if you think it's weird, but I'm really fond of this room and I just don't want to leave it. And well", he looked at Nico with a smile, "after last year I found it very interesting to live with a freshman. Don't know man, I just really like to help them, we all got here so clueless and a little help is always good."
Nico felt warm inside, like he just found a missing big brother. He looked at Jason and made a half smile ,"you seem nice. And I'm clueless, so I guess this could work". Jason made a wide smile. Nico tried to copied gesture. "Can I ask you what's your major?"
"Well, yeah roommate, we might as well start to know each other". He made a gesture to Nico that you can read as 'Can I help you unpack?', Nico nodded and Jason started to put things out of the box that was in from of him and left them outside of it, then Nico took them one by one and placed them in the different cabinets. "When I came here, I entered in the Meteorology department, I love it but I don't think I wanna do that forever, so now I want to be a teacher. Right now I'm just taking classes from the Pedagogy department".
"So, here you can change majors? Interesting."
"Yeah, I thought that I was going to have to leave, you know? Start over from scratch. And I didn't want to, I have a life here, a girlfriend, friends, memories, and being able to stay has made everything so easy, I'm really glad."
"Can everybody do it? I mean, you seem like ... a rule breaker, in a very unconventional legal way."
Jason laughed. "You say it for the room thing? Well, yes, I think everybody can but most of them are not willing to. It's a lot of paperwork and chatting with professors and authorities of campus".
"Sounds like something I'd like to miss"
"Exactly" he laughed, "what about you? What brought you here?"
"Not my major, if that's the question" he smiled, "but for now you don't need to know that. I'm majoring in History".
"I don't really know you, but that really suits you" Jason said smiling. He had finished unpacking the first box and he started to dismantle it to leave it flat under the bed. He was doing so, when there was a knock on the door. The blond boy left the box under the bed and moved to go open up. He laid his blue eyes in the young girl's in front of him. They where so... hazel, shining with a golden bright. "Hi"
"Hi back" she smiled a little shy, "are you Nico's roommate?"
"Yeah, Jason"
"I'm Hazel"
"Can't imagine why" he smiled
"I get that a lot" she said with a little laugh. "Is Nico here?"
"Yeah, yeah, come in." He moved from the door, letting her in.
"Oh my, this is a mess!" she said while looking around, "but wow, yeah, I thought that you would be like 30% of what you have now"
"Jason helped" Nico said, greeting Hazel with a smile.
"And now we have Hazel so we'll finish in no time" Jason added patting both their backs, then he grabbed another box.
In fact, it wasn't long until they had finished. Now the room seemed habitable and Nico was starting to feel comfortable.
"So Hazel, are you and Nico..." Jason looked at them both "you know, just friends?" he asked genuinely interested. The dynamic that they had was not very romantic but they did move in sync in a way that they sure know each other a lot. Hazel smiled and gaze at Nico, who smiled as well.
"Yeah, nothing going on here" she answered very lightly, "we get that a lot too, but no, we are like brother and sister maybe? I appreciate a lot our friendship so I followed Nico here" she laughed "but the program here is excellent, so, no complains."
"You said geology, right? I know some students from your department and they really like it here" Jason said, and they he added thoughtfully "so, nothing romantic between you two, OK, noted. But next time, when you meet my girlfriend, if she says you two are a thing, then you are. She is never wrong." Nico and Hazel smiled trying to picture Jason's girlfriend. They came to nothing, only that she must be really beautiful. "Hey!" Jason changed the subject, "Dinner is from 8 to 10, and after that there's a bonfire near the lake. I can take you guys, but I'm not gonna stay with you because I want you to meet new people, especially if it is people you are gonna share classes with."
"Okay, thanks Jason, you are being a good papa bear" Nico said before he could stop his mouth. Jason stared at him in disbelieve. And then he started laughing, both Hazel and Nico joined. Maybe this year was not gonna be a bad one either.
~
The bonfire was really big and loud, like they had lighted on fire two or three cars. Hazel and Nico started to walk around it so they could see the magnitude of it, also to try to recognize someone of the crowd. They where circling it when Nico bump into someone.
"Careful, little one, if I bump into someone like that again I might turn them into a human torch, and that would be against all I'm trying to learn here" the tall boy laughed.
Nico recognized the voice, the laughter, the high, the bright hair in the fire's light, the tanned skin that now looked extra yellow, the blue eyes that kinda looked green because of the light. He stared, he could not move or breathe. The chuckles stopped.
"Nico?" Will asked thunderstruck. He slowly, like Nico was going to disappear, put his hand in the shoulder of the black haired boy. Then he smiled, using every muscles that you need to form a smile to the maximum. That smile, Nico thought (when he could think again), was brighter than the huge bonfire next to them.
Then Will pulled him closer and they hugged, long and tight, putting their bodies together like if they knew the longing that both boys had felt. Nico forgot about the world around him, putting his head in the curve of Will's shoulder. When they pulled back, both had their eyes watery and looked at each other in discovery. Nico felt every feeling, every detail, that he had piled up for years coming back to him.
And then, out of nowhere, somebody hugged Will from the back and pulled him close. "There you are, babe, I was looking for you" The guy was almost the same high as Will, a little taller maybe, and he grabbed Will's chin and turn his face to kiss him on the mouth.