Chapter Text
Nico di Angelo did not like Christmas. Call him a Scrooge or a Grinch, but he was resolute in his opinion. Christmas was lonely, overrated, and stressful, and Nico downright refused to give in. Of all the holidays, Christmas was the least tolerable, with the garish decorations, godawful music, and overly cheery atmospheres that everyone seemed to love. The only reason Nico even celebrated Christmas was for his family and friend group, which had somehow grown to an enormous size despite his best attempts at keeping himself closed off.
So when Nico settled on an admittedly rather small house in sleepy little street, he was practically overjoyed. He loved living alone; in the past he’d lived in various friends’ spare rooms and had had several roommates, but none of the arrangements had brought the peace and quiet he desperately wanted.
Right now, Nico was not feeling the whole ‘peace and quiet’ aspect. He had the house keys in his hand and seven excited people behind him, trying to stack boxes and deposit furniture on the strip of grass leading from the front door to the mailbox. Someone was yelling a question about exactly how breakable the breakables were, and someone else was jokingly trying to convince Nico to pay them for their services.
“You’re using our car, after all,” Percy argued. “It’s only fair we get some-”
“Stop being stupid, Perce, it’s a favour for a friend,” Annabeth said with an easy grin, pushing Percy away from his fake-pleading stance in front of Nico. Percy pouted and slouched off to unload Nico’s kitchenware from his car.
“You ready to go in? We should probably put all your furniture in your house instead of on your lawn.” Jason appeared at Nico’s shoulder, startling him out of his contemplating.
“Yeah, let me just find the key.” Nico fiddled with the ring of keys in his hand, trying to remember which one opened the front door.
The jangling of the metal must’ve alerted Hazel, as she popped over his other shoulder not a second later. “It’s the red one." Curiously, she remembered which key opened which door better than he did.
Nico muttered a thanks, grasping the metallic red key and slotting it into the lock. It took a bit of jostling, but the lock clicked, and the door creaked open. Nico was about to step inside when someone grabbed him from behind. “What- Leo, let me go!”
Nico struggled, trying to get out of Leo’s arms, but the other boy was not to be dissuaded. He picked Nico up off the ground to the sound of his furious shrieks, shifting an arm beneath Nico’s knees and holding him around his waist. “Nope! Someone’s gotta carry you over the threshold of your new home.”
“Your legs are shaking,” Piper pointed out.
Nico squirmed in Leo’s arms and violently cursed him out as the scrawny boy refused to let go. He stumbled into the entryway, bumping into the wall and unceremoniously dumping Nico on the ground. Nico shoved Leo back into Piper, who squawked and stepped aside to let Jason catch him and save him from falling on the ground.
Jason and Piper were intermittently nudging each other in a strange display of affection while Percy and Annabeth were talking to each other quietly, no doubt about the mountain of boxes Nico had accumulated. Hazel was laughing in the background as Leo complained at Nico’s supposed cruelty, and Frank was assuring Leo that Nico did in fact love him, he was just tired from all the unpacking. Nico bit back a remark about his emotions toward Leo and ventured further into the house.
Leo had only carried him into the entryway; as Nico walked through, it opened up into a small open-plan living room space, which then continued into a kitchen floored with offensively patterned vinyl tiles. A back door stood just to the left of the kitchen, along with a narrow laundry room barely big enough to hold a washing machine, dryer, and sink, with a door at the end leading to a toilet. Nico wandered out to tread up the wooden stairs, quickly peeking over the railing at his friends, who had also begun to explore his house.
Upstairs, the first door on the left revealed a medium-sized bedroom that was soon to be Nico’s. A large window let in the plentiful sunlight, illuminating the floor and lighting up the otherwise dark room. The other bedroom down the hall would be used as an occasional spare bedroom and study so Nico could have a space to work from home and structure his lessons. The bathroom was neat and compact, exactly what Nico had wanted.
Nico descended the stairs, emerging back into the chaos of his friends. He was soon caught up in moving boxes and directing where furniture should be placed, barking orders at Leo and Percy to stop fooling around and thanking the rest of them for actually doing something.
After a few hours, everyone was exhausted. Most of the furniture was in the general vicinity of the right place, and there were stacks of boxes piled around the house in the room they belonged to.
Percy and Annabeth were the first to go, as they had their weekly dinner with Sally, Percy’s mother and generally everybody else’s, too. Sally exuded so much motherly love and care that most of group, being physically or emotionally motherless, ended up becoming her surrogate children. Percy swept Nico into a constricting hug, ignoring his grumbles, then messed up his hair and was out the door before Nico could kill him. Annabeth did her best to fix Nico’s hair before bidding him goodbye, telling him they’d see him later.
“We’re only a short car ride away, you can always come hang out and give Percy someone else to bother.” She waved, following Percy outside to their car. Nico heard their car engine start up as he flopped back on the couch, quickly joined by Hazel, Frank, and Jason. Piper left soon after for a meetup over coffee with her half-sister, but Leo stuck around to poke through Nico’s miscellaneous boxes.
Nico groaned, raising himself from the couch and stretching. “Okay. I need to assemble some furniture and make the bed before tonight. You’re all welcome to leave or stay and help.” Everyone chimed in with their assurances of being useful, which Nico was deeply thankful for. He did not want to assemble furniture without Leo’s experience as a general extraordinaire with any hard materials.
Frank and Jason unpacked kitchen boxes while Nico and Hazel found places for the things to go, but it didn’t take very long for Leo to construct the bedframe, so they soon switched jobs. Nico started heading to his room to make the bed, but was stopped by Hazel before she and Frank left.
Frank shook Nico’s hand warmly, and Hazel gave Nico a big smile and a bigger hug. “Enjoy your new house!” She said, kissing him on the cheek quickly. “Remember me and Frank are only a few blocks away and that we’re always happy to help with anything-”
“I get it, I get it!” Nico laughed, pushing her out the door. “Love you too, thanks for your help.”
Nico waved them off, then finally made his way to his room, followed by Jason. “Leo and I will stick around for a bit; I think he’s having too much fun building your furniture.”
Nico rolled his eyes good-naturedly, ripping open a box and checking it for any important items. He found the bedsheets and pillowcases, but no luck with the comforter or pillows.
“Bet Hazel’s glad you’re finally out of her house so her and Frank can… have more fun together as an engaged couple. Speaking of having fun-”
“Shut up, Grace, we’re not doing this,” Nico ordered, rifling through another box in search of the elusive pillows. “Also, please don’t mention my sister and her fiancé’s… personal activities.”
Jason burst out laughing, only stopping when Nico kicked him in the side on his way to make the bed. “Ow, okay, okay! Jeez.” Jason snorted, picking up the fitted sheet and helping Nico wrestle it onto the double mattress. Next Nico tucked in the top sheet and comforter, and Jason slipped the pillowcases onto the pillows and gave them to Nico to arrange them how he wanted at the head of the bed.
“Not horrible.” Nico declared, exiting the room with Jason and kicking an empty box aside. He was going to have millions of them by the end of this.
“Glad to see all our hard efforts have pleased you.”
They came into the study to see Leo finished with the desk and messing around with Nico’s laptop.
“Hey! Quit messing with that, I don’t want to have to get anything weird professionally removed again.”
“I was just trying to hack the neighbors’ Wi-Fi,” Leo protested.
“Well, thanks, but I’ve already paid for my own,” Nico said, unimpressed. Leo backed off, watching as Nico plugged his computer in and left it to charge.
“So, I think I can handle everything else on my own. Thanks for staying, but it’s getting late and you should probably go home. I appreciate the construction, too.” Nico said, directing the last sentence at Leo. Leo nodded, sharing a significant look with Jason.
“We’ve got one last thing for you,” Jason said, pulling Nico outside and popping the trunk of his car. Leo unloaded a small garden table and two chairs, displaying them with a grand gesticulation of his hands.
“It’s a table and chairs! For friends.” Leo said, already handing the table and one of the chairs off to Jason, who carried them through the house and out the back door. Leo picked up the other chair and locked their car again, leaving Nico to bewilderedly trail them out to the area behind the house.
It wasn’t large by any means; it was fenced-off and about half of it had a brick ground, transitioning into dirt and dying grass. Jason set the table down and he and Leo positioned the chairs beside it, then turned to Nico to see his reaction.
“Wow… thanks, guys.” Nico said, still a little in shock. This seemed to be enough for Leo, who went to start his temperamental car with a slap to Nico’s back and a ‘see you around’. Jason approached him, slinging an arm around his shoulders and looking at the table with him.
“Think you’ll like it here?”
“Let’s not get too excited yet.”
Jason shot him one last smile before slipping away. Nico went to lock the door behind him, flipping Leo the middle finger as he revved the engine and drove off down the road.
Nico spun around, throwing the keys on the couch and pulling his hair into a tiny ponytail, able to let loose now that everyone was gone. He scrolled through his music library to an old classic: ‘Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge'. Nico let a slow smile spread across his face as he tipped his head back to Gerard Way’s low, raspy voice on the opening of ‘Helena’, revelling in the feeling of having his own home. The song burst into the first verse in a clatter of drums, and he shook the emotions off and got back to work. He still had a lot of unpacking to do.
The first few weeks in his new house went by smoothly. After unpacking his essential items, Nico got his desk set up, since he had to go back to work only a couple of days after the move. Such is the life of an underappreciated Ancient Histories professor, he thought frustratedly as he hunted through a half-empty box for a specific piece of paper that had vital information on it. I really need to organize my files better. Ten minutes of searching later and Nico remembered that he’d stuffed the paper in his computer case so he wouldn’t have to search for it through the disorderly boxes. With a groan, Nico yanked it from his computer case, flattening it on the desk and parsing over it.
At least the commute was easy. Every morning, Nico would wake up somewhere around 5:30, shower, make breakfast, then drink a nearly scalding cup of coffee before collecting his things and driving to the college twenty minutes away. Nico was lucky; the earliest he had to be at the university was at 7 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when he taught an early class, so he could afford to sleep in most days.
Nico didn’t hear much from his neighbors. He knew the neighbor to the right of his house to be a lovely old lady with a large, fluffy cat. He often fed Tommy titbits of food in return for being able to stroke him, though it usually resulted in Nico being covered in orange fur, which showed up starkly against his dark wardrobe. Nico received a home-cooked meal from Ophelia upon his arrival in the neighborhood, which he thought was very sweet of her. Nico returned the favour with a lasagne when he went to thank her for the much-appreciated food, but she insisted that it was no trouble. Nico had only talked to her a couple more times in the weeks since then, but he knew that at least one of his neighbors was nice.
The morning when Nico first saw his other neighbor, he’d been up earlier than planned. A nightmare had pulled him from sleep at fucking five in the goddamn morning, and Nico was exhausted. He had a whole class’s worth of papers to grade and an early morning lecture, so without his usual coffee, Nico would’ve been falling asleep before lunchtime.
After fruitlessly trying to concentrate on grading one of the essays, Nico had gotten up from bed and run through his morning routine, figuring that if he got to work early he’d be able to focus better in his regular work environment. Nico walked out of the tiled corner of the kitchen at around 6, stirring an unhealthy amount of sugar into his steaming hot cup of coffee. The weather was nice, chilly enough for him to wear a heavy, comforting sweater, but not so cold that he needed a proper coat. He decided to drink his coffee sitting in the armchair next to the living room window; there wasn’t much of a view, but the slowly rising morning sun was soft and pleasant, which was reason enough.
Or at least, he’d thought there wasn’t much of a view until he gazed out the window and spied his neighbor exiting his house to the left of Nico’s.
Nico was almost struck dumb by the sight of his apparently smoking hot neighbor getting in his car in a rush. Ticks all the boxes, Nico’s brain thought absentmindedly. Nico mentally slapped himself, though he couldn’t fault himself for noticing. His neighbor was very tall (He’d probably have to lean down to- Nico cut himself off before he could finish the thought). And very blonde (It’s like he was blessed by the fucking sun god). And he was very, very hot. Nico didn’t think anything this time – he just marvelled at the sheer beauty of this man who happened to live right next door to him.
It was only when the man peeled out of his driveway that Nico remembered that he, too, needed to get to work. Nico flushed bright red, standing up and crossing the room to dump his coffee out in the sink, despite having finished only half of it.
Nico shook off the lingering thoughts about the man and packed his laptop and papers into his work bag, throwing it in the passenger seat of his car and getting in the driver’s seat. Nico let out a breath, relaxing his muscles and putting the neighbor out of his mind. He had an Ancient Philosophy class to teach in an hour.
Only a couple of days later, on Halloween (maybe the only holiday that Nico didn’t dislike), Nico’s neighbor was giving out candy. Nico noticed because he’d gone outside to check the bowl of chocolate bars he’d left outside (with a little slip of paper reading ‘Take 1’ taped to it), and seen a blonde head of hair and a white doctor’s coat ruffling in the slight breeze as his neighbor waved goodbye to some kids. Nico had quickly slammed his door shut, his face bright red and his hands shaking slightly. He didn’t put the candy bowl out again.
Nico did his best not to spy on the neighbor, but sometimes he couldn’t help it. He wasn’t the most social person – or a social person in general – but something about the man made Nico want to get to know him, in a… less than innocent way.
Nico hadn’t ever noticed anything too out of the ordinary; his neighbor tended to get up early and come home in the mid-evening, and had Sunday and sometimes Saturday off. In general, he seemed like a pretty normal guy.
It was only in early November that Nico realized that his neighbor was fucking annoying. Seriously, who the fuck plays Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ at 8pm on a Thursday night on the 2nd of November? Nico’s ridiculously hot neighbor, that’s who.
Nico rolled over on his bed where he’d been scrolling through social media on his phone, grabbing a pillow and holding it over his head to try to muffle the noise. The music continued playing, switching to Brenda Lee’s ‘Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree’, then Elvis Presley’s ‘Blue Christmas’, then some other Christmas song that Nico really didn’t care to remember. This had gone on for too long; it was time to take action.
Huffing, Nico dragged out the small but expensive speaker he’d received for his birthday a few years ago. Though it was little, it was loud, and would surely be enough to combat the insufferable Christmas tunes that Nico could hear through his walls. Just to be contrary, Nico played something he was sure his neighbor would despise – Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’.
Nico opened his window, making sure the music would be audible to the neighbor. He seemed to be frustrated by this, because Nico distinctly heard the volume of the Christmas music increase.
This only caused Nico to turn his speaker up louder. It escalated until Nico could barely hear himself think, the guitar of some other pop punk song reverberating through his chest, the faint undertones of ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ carrying on in the background. It got to the point where Nico swore he could hear faint yelling, though he thought it was probably just the backing vocals on his song.
But as his phone played the next song in the queue, the shouting didn’t stop. Nico turned the music down, listening out for a voice.
“For Christs’ sake, it’s 9pm! Some people are trying to sleep around here, and if you can’t respect that-”
Nico’s eyes widened as he recognized Ophelia’s angry voice, and he turned the music off completely. He waited in his room, cringing, hoping that would be the end of it. Thankfully, the Christmas music stopped soon after, and Ophelia went back inside once she was sure that there would be no other loud interferences with her sleep.
Nico sighed, switching off the speaker and storing it back in its drawer. Well, he knew one more thing about his neighbor – he was an absolute jackass.
From then on, Nico decided that there was absolutely no way he was going to continue to think about his neighbor. If the other man was as annoying as he seemed to be, then obviously a relationship wouldn’t result in anything, except maybe a headache.
Despite his consistently horrible musical tastes, Nico still couldn’t resist the inescapable pull he seemed to feel toward his neighbor. No matter how many glowers Nico directed at the mailbox next to his, there was a tiny pocket of warmth in his chest every time he thought about the man (which was far, far too often). It didn’t help that Nico could hear quite a lot of what went on in the house, due to their walls not being very thick and their houses being almost right next to each other.
This was why Nico was able to hear the sound of clattering metal and several curse words coming from next door just as he slid his homemade quiches into the oven. Nico rolled his eyes, leaning against the counter and pulling out his phone. There was another, louder utterance of “Fuck!”, and Nico bit his lip. He was not going to go over and see what was happening.
There was a slamming noise, and a groan of annoyance. As if being forced to, Nico set his phone down and strode across the room, wrenching open his door and glancing up and down the road quickly. No one was visible, so Nico begrudgingly tugged on a pair of boots and made his way over to the neighbor’s house.
Nico knocked firmly, waiting impatiently in the chilly late evening air. There was a bang from inside, then the distinct thump of footsteps against a wooden floor. The door swung open, revealing the neighbor in all his dishevelled glory.
“Hello?” The blonde man looked up, a red-stained paper towel wrapped around his finger. “Hey, you’re the… you’re my neighbor!”
“Yeah,” Nico said, shifting from foot to foot. “I heard you from next door. Sounds like you need help.”
“Are you offering?” Nico shrugged in response. “Well, you can come in if you want.”
The neighbor (Nico really needed to learn his name) disappeared into his house, leaving Nico to follow. Nico shut the door behind him and toed his shoes off, then padded down the hall. He came into a space that was very similar to his own, the only difference being the shade of paint on the walls and the half-wall separating the living room from the kitchen, where the neighbor had retreated to.
An abrasive burning smell permeated the room, so the first thing Nico did was turn off the oven and retrieve the bread. Honestly, he was surprised it hadn’t caught on fire; the bread was burnt to a crisp, covered in a thick layer of black char. “Why were you cooking bread in the oven?”
“It’s a family thing,” the neighbor pouted. “My mom used to butter bread and then grill it. It’s amazing.”
“I bet it’s more amazing when it’s not blackened,” Nico said, poking at the bread and deeming it a lost cause. He turned to the rest of the kitchen, spotting a chopping board, a sharp knife, raw chicken, and several drops of blood on the kitchen counter. Nico wiped up the blood, washed his hands, and began slicing the chicken into strips. The neighbor leaned against the fridge, nursing his injured hand as he watched Nico cut the chicken.
“You should probably put a bandaid on that,” Nico glanced at the sliced-open finger pointedly.
“I know.”
“Okay,” Nico mumbled, his tone making it clear that he thought his neighbor was a complete idiot.
“Hey! I’ll have you know I’m a paediatrician; this is literally my job. I’m not just a pretty face.” To prove his point, the neighbor rinsed his finger in the sink and dried it off gently, then reached for a box of sticking plasters and wrapped one around his thumb.
Nico very deliberately did not respond to the ‘pretty face’ part of the sentence, instead focusing on the neighbor's career. “You’re a doctor and you can’t handle some chicken?”
“I’m fine normally, it’s just been a long week. What do you do for a living?”
“I’m a professor at Olympus University.”
He looked Nico up and down. “You look a little young.”
“I’m 28 and I worked hard,” Nico retorted, laying the chicken out on the oven tray so they would cook evenly. He carefully put the knife in the sink, then washed his hands again. “Do you have any seasonings?”
The neighbor gestured to a drawer, which Nico opened to reveal a spice rack. He rooted through the options, choosing a few and sprinkling them over the chicken, his movements familiar and practiced. Meanwhile, the neighbor tossed the ruined bread in the trash can, then quickly snatched another few pieces and covered them in a thick layer of butter. They worked quietly and in sync for a few moments, then Nico slid both trays into the oven and the neighbor set the timer.
“Thanks for your help…” the neighbor trailed off, obviously searching for a name.
“Nico di Angelo,” Nico said reluctantly. The words almost felt like a surrender.
“Will Solace,” his neighbor replied, a bright smile on his face. “Nice to properly meet you.” They stood in awkward silence for a second, then Will continued, “Since you helped me save my dinner and all, would you maybe want to stay and eat with me?”
“No, I’ve-” A wave of panic washed over Nico suddenly. “Shit! My quiches! They’re in the oven!”
Will burst out laughing, shocking Nico into silence. He couldn’t comprehend how something so mundane and regular could be so angelic and beautiful, but damn it if he didn’t have the feeling that he’d do anything to make Will laugh again.
Nico snapped out of it and gave him one of his best death glares, known to scare almost anyone into cowering terror. Will didn’t cave, only choking out a “Thanks, bye then!” as Nico hurriedly shoved his feet in his boots. He arrived back in his kitchen a minute after the timer went off, just saving the quiches from burning.
Nico breathed a sigh of relief, leaving the tray to cool on the bench and turning off the oven. Nico ripped off his oven mitts and threw them on the floor, exhaling another, angrier puff of air. Somehow, he didn’t think he’d be able to keep his promise not to think about the neighbor.