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“Do you think Jack Kelly is gay?”
Nico nearly spit out his water all over his pre-calc homework. “What the hell, Solace?”
Will Solace was lying on the black stage of the theater, head on his backpack, perusing through a script. “I was watching the recorded version and there’s a scene where Jack Kelly slaps Davey’s ass and I’m not sure if it was like a no-homo move or what.”
Nico blinked at him, not even sure what to say.
To be honest, Nico wasn’t even sure of anything anymore, especially not why Will Solace was asking him questions about Jack Kelly’s sexuality. He wasn’t sure why Will Solace was even here at all. Only weirdos and loner emo kids skipped class to hang out in the empty theater room during the last period of the day. And Nico was only here because it was better than staying in the much-too-loud study hall room, and he was going to have to come here after school anyway for rehearsal. He wasn’t entirely sure why he, as head of the lighting crew, was required to attend every practice, but it’s not like he had anything to do.
But Will Solace was definitely the kind of person who had better things to do than hang out in a dingy high school auditorium. Will Solace was popular, and sunny, and could actually act and sing (but not dance, which Nico believed was probably the reason he was casted as Jack Kelly in their spring musical), and was definitely not the kind of person to skip class, ever. He was pretty sure Will was taking three AP classes, and was the team captain of one of the sports, and was friends with everyone in the theater program. He knew the names of everyone and their pets, and he always made cheery small-talk in the hallways in between classes.
He was exactly the kind of person Nico should’ve found annoying and completely unbearable. Infuriatingly, Nico was about as immune to Will’s Southern charm and blinding smiles as those freshman girls that giggled whenever Will passed by them in the hallway.
Without knowing how, Nico had gone from being an emo loner who blended in with the shadows to being an emo loner that Will waved at in the hallway. And now, Will was spending every other day in the theater, talking to Nico on those days he didn’t have lab class for AP Bio.
“I’m pretty sure Jack Kelly isn’t gay, seeing as he ends up with a girl at the end of the show,” Nico said dryly, forcing his attention back onto filling out the unit circle, and not on the way the stage lights made Will’s bright curly hair look like a golden halo.
Golden halo? Save the poetry for English class, di Angelo, he thought. He hated the way Will made him feel, all sappy and warm with butterflies in his stomach. Well, he wanted to hate it, and that was close enough. Nico was fairly sure he could never really hate anything about Will.
“This show takes place in, like, the 1800s or whatever. He could very well just be repressed. Or maybe Catherine’s his beard so he can hide his secret feelings for Davey.”
Nico snorted. “Just go get a Tumblr account already.”
Will sat up, script falling into his lap, blonde curls rumpled from where they were smushed against his backpack. “No, hold on, I’m serious. Almost every line in ‘I Never Planned On You’ fits Davey much more than it fits Catherine.”
Nico raised an eyebrow. “It’s a generic love song. I’m pretty sure it can fit anyone you want it to.”
“Fine, I’ll prove it!” Will jumped off stage, plopping his script down in Nico’s lap, pointing at the lyrics. Nico tried not to blush furiously as he stared at Will’s finger practically in his lap– uh, as he looked at the words on the page.
“‘Girls are nice, once or twice, ‘til I find someone new. But I never planned on someone like you.’ Doesn’t that phrasing make it sound like the ‘you’ is not a girl?” Will pointed out triumphantly.
Refusing to give Will the satisfaction of Nico agreeing with him, Nico pushed the script back into Will’s hands.
“You’re thinking way too much about this,” Nico replied shortly.
Will sat on the ground by Nico’s feet, flipping through the script again as if looking for something. Probably for more evidence of Jack’s massive crush on Davey. “Well, when you watch Newsies three times in a weekend, you tend to–”
“Who watches Newsies three times in a single weekend?”
Will let out a breath, looking slightly sheepish. "Well, honestly, I hadn’t even watched it before auditions happened, and the show is in a few weeks. I figured I had to make up for lost time.”
"Why did you audition for the main lead if you hadn't even seen the play?" Nico asked. He didn’t understand why anyone would want to audition for a big role, much less without even knowing the part. Though he supposed Will must love the feeling of the hot stage lights as a hundred people stared you down, expecting you to perform. Everyone knew Will wanted to go to med school, so Nico supposed he was used to that kind of stress.
"Well, obviously, I didn't expect to get the lead role."
Nico snorted. "Really? You didn't expect to get the lead role?"
"What are you implying, di Angelo?" Will asked, looking afforted, stupidly adorable pout on his face.
Nico sighed, counting on his fingers as he listed off, "You were Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, you were Sweeney Todd in The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and you were Hamlet in Hamlet . And that was just our last few shows.”
"None of those were singing roles," Will said dismissively.
"Are you really telling me you can't sing?" Nico asked disbelievingly.
"I can sing ," Will said. He flopped down on the ground, staring up at the ugly tile ceiling. "Just not well. And certainly not as well as Austin, or Kayla, or anyone else in theater club." He paused, turning his head to face Nico. “Do you really know every part I’ve had?”
Nico could feel his face heating up. "I'm the head of the lighting crew, it's half my job to know who's playing who."
Will made a tiny noise of acceptance, looking back up at the ceiling. A beat passed and he suddenly shot up, looking at Nico with an excited grin.
"You've seen the show, right?"
"Seeing as I have to be at all the practices, yes."
Will got to his feet. "You can help me run lines!"
Nico could feel his face heating up as he stammered out, “I’m not really an actor, Solace.”
“You don’t have to be, you just need to read the lines. Please?”
Nico swallowed, looking at Will’s bright blue eyes and the way they sparkled in the auditorium lights. Deep down, he knew that he could never really say no to Will Solace.
“I guess I could do that.”
Will’s grin brightened, and his hands were warm and calloused as grabbed Nico’s wrists and pulled him out of his seat, sending a new flock of butterflies straight to Nico’s stomach. Nico joined Will on stage, allowing himself to be placed by Will on top of an X mark made of tape on the stage.
“Okay, so obviously we don’t have the roof prop out, but you kind of stand here, and I start over here,” Will explained. He cleared his throat. “Start whenever you’re ready, at the top of the scene.”
Nico glanced down at the script Will had placed in his hands. “That was some speech you made.”
When Will spoke, his faint Texan accent had been replaced by something believably New Yorker. “How’d you get here?”
“Specs showed me.”
As the scene continued, Nico thought it sounded vaguely familiar, though he couldn’t figure out why Will had chosen this scene, out of all of them. It seemed to be an argument between Katherine, who Nico was pretty sure was the love interest, and Jack about how Katherine betrayed Jack.
As much as Nico wanted to claim he wasn’t an actor, it was hard not to get swept up in the emotions of the lines and Will’s performance. Despite Will’s earlier comment, Nico could clearly see why Chiron had casted him for Jack Kelly. Nico could almost believe that Nico really did break Will’s heart and betray his trust.
“My father has eyes on every corner of this city. He doesn’t need me spying for him. And I never lied. I didn’t tell you everything…”
Like how I have a massive crush on you, Nico thought.
“If you weren’t a girl, you’d be trying to talk with a fist in your mouth,” Will hissed.
“I said I was working for the Sun, and I did. I told you my professional name is Plumber, and it is. You never asked my real name.”
“I wouldn’t think I had to unless I was dealing with a backstabber!”
“And if I was a boy, you’d be looking at me with one swollen eye!”
“Don’t let that stop you!” Will goaded, stepping closer, “Gimme your best shot.”
Nico glanced down at the script, heart hammering in his chest as he read the words.
KATHERINE, out of nowhere, grabs JACK and kisses him full on the lips.
It was a kiss scene. Nico’s mouth went dry, hands suddenly sweaty where they were gripping the script, as he realized how close he and Will actually were. The scent of sunshine and honey was all Nico could smell, and he was very aware that he could grab Will and kiss him full on the lips, if he wanted to. And he did, oh gods, did he want to kiss Will.
“Um,” Nico said, eyes transfixed by Will’s lips.
Will took a step back, slipping back into his normal voice. “And that’s where the kiss would be. It’s going to be a fake kiss, obviously. I’m pretty sure it’s against some kind of law to force two minors to real-kiss.”
The bell rang, and Nico jolted into action, jumping off the stage and shoving his long-forgotten math homework into his backpack. Watching students pour into the theater, Nico slipped away into the lighting box, trying to calm his heart rate.
Of all the scenes Will could have chosen, why did he have to pick a kiss scene? Why not any other scene?
Nico couldn’t let go of the idea that Will somehow knew about how Nico felt about him. The thought festered in his stomach like a sickness, his mind spiraling with what ifs. He’d never been very good at hiding his crushes, if what Jason said was right. Will spent so much time with Nico…and Nico wanted to believe that Will was just a friendly guy with nothing better to do, but was that even really true?
From his position in the lighting box, he could see Will talking and laughing with Kayla and Austin as they waited for Chiron to start practice. Will had plenty of friends to hang out with, probably people he liked a lot more than Nico.
No, but instead Will decided to spend his time with Nico, who was sarcastic and annoying and clingy and needy and emotionally stunted and closed off and eight million other things that Will wasn’t. And then Will decided to pick that scene. To do what? Goad Nico into finally snapping and kissing him? Was that all this was?
Logically, Nico knew Will wasn’t that kind of person. Will probably had perfect innocent intentions. It probably didn’t mean anything. But that didn’t stop his brain from dragging up Percy, or Eros, or–
“Di Angelo.”
Nico spun around, watching as Mr. D entered the lighting booth, a sour expression on his face.
“Chiron told me you would be up here. You want to explain why you weren’t in study hall today? Or the day before that?”
“Um…I had a doctor’s appointment?”
Mr. D looked unamused, crossing his arms over his ugly Hawaiian shirt. It was the kind of stupidly gaudy shirt that Nico wouldn’t be caught dead in.
“Nice try, but skip again and you’ll be banned from all extracurriculars.”
So Nico could either be banned from doing lighting for the show, or he give up his hour a day with Will, and not have to worry about wanting to kiss Will or Will’s inevitable rejection.
Nico had never been very good at facing his feelings (or rejection, for that matter), but he was very good at running and hiding from his problems. He knew what he was going to pick.
If he didn’t show up, then Will would find someone else to practice lines with, and Nico could find someone else to hopelessly pine after from afar, and everything would be okay again.
Nico had to be losing his touch, because it took all of two days of avoiding Will before Will literally cornered him in the hallway before first period.
“Are you okay?” Will asked.
Nico’s first thought was to wonder if he was bleeding, based on the annoyed and pointed tone of the question.
“I’m fine, why?”
“You weren’t at the theater yesterday. I missed you!”
Nico’s heart skipped a beat in his chest. He hadn’t anticipated this. Will wasn’t supposed to care, especially not that earnestly
“Mr. D got mad at me for skipping study hall. Said that if I didn’t go, he wouldn’t let me run the lighting board for the show,” Nico explained.
Will visibly relaxed. “Well, it’s probably for the best, then. Everyone knows the show would probably fall apart without you.”
A traitorous blush rose on Nico’s cheeks. “They do?” He squeaked.
Will laughed, and it was adorable, and it made Nico almost forget why he ever wanted to avoid Will in the first place. “I mean, yeah. You’ve been running the board since, what, freshman year? You’re really good at it. I mean, the lighting is always perfect. No one else could do what you do.”
“Thanks,” Nico choked out. “You’re essential too, you know. You’re a great Jack Kelly.”
“Thanks.”
There was a beat of awkward silence, and Nico was half-tempted to make a lame joke (like saying “line”, which Will would probably find really funny, and then Nico could hear that gorgeous laugh again–) when Will broke the silence.
“I’m sorry if the scene yesterday made you uncomfortable,” Will said. With a slightly self-conscious chuckle, he added, “For a minute I thought you were avoiding me because of that.”
“No, no, not at all,” Nico said quickly, lying through his teeth. “I didn’t mind it. But I’m definitely not going to be joining the cast any time soon. Not enough black clothing for me.”
Will laughed again, and Nico was quickly becoming addicted to the sound. “I’ll see you around, di Angelo.”
Nico watched him leave, mourning the idea that they wouldn’t see much of each other without their daily hangouts. They probably wouldn’t even see each other outside of the show. Nico found himself dreading the prospect of losing his connection with Will more than he thought he would.
Nico should’ve learned a long time ago to never underestimate the lengths Will would go to make new friends.
“Silena totally thinks I’m right about Jack Kelly being in love with Davey. And Kayla, too, for that matter.”
Nico looked up from his script to see Will Solace sitting down across the table from him in the study room.
“What are you doing here?”
“They let us out of Lab early today, so I figured I’d come to you. That’s okay, right?’
Nico wasn’t even sure what to say, besides– “What did Chiron say?”
Will laughed. “You’ve obviously never had him for English. He spent a whole class talking about all the signs of Achilles and Patroclus being gay. He’d totally be behind it.”
Nico snorted. “He should just let us rewrite the show at this point. Maybe Katherine can get a girlfriend.”
“Yeah, well, you really wouldn’t have to change much,” Will said, less playful and more serious, with a tinge of some emotion Nico couldn’t really place but didn’t really make sense for a conversation about shipping. “They’re already perfect together. They’ve got great chemistry and banter. They’re, like, total opposites but it works anyway because they balance each other out perfectly. And everyone already knows Jack likes Davey, it’s clear as day. Well, maybe Davey doesn’t.”
“Davey gets his ass slapped, he’d have to be blind not to notice,” Nico said.
“Okay, fine, so maybe Davey knows. I guess the real question is if Davey likes Jack back.”
There was that strange tone again. Nico glanced up, meeting Will’s eyes, and the soft, earnest expression there. His own eyes widened.
Oh.
Will wasn’t talking about Jack and Davey.
He was talking about them.
Will’s cheeks were bright pink and Nico was very glad he could make Will blush after all the times Will did it to Nico. So Will probably picked the kiss scene on purpose, then. Will wanted Nico to kiss him just as badly as Nico wanted to kiss Will.
“You’re a dork,” Nico said. “I can’t believe you tried to seduce me by writing fanfiction and making me act. ”
“Did it work?” Will asked hopefully.
“Does this answer your question?”
Nico, out of nowhere, leaned across the table, grabbed Will and kissed him full on the lips.
It was the best real-kiss he’d ever had.