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Sue him, Will hadn’t taken Nico breaking up with him well.
Starting at New Rome University wasn’t supposed to be long distance, what with Nico’s ability to shadow travel and familiarity with New Rome in general. Sometimes things didn’t go the way they were supposed to.
Who was he supposed to turn to in a time of trouble but his siblings? Who was he to deny their brilliant advice, especially when echoed by their Godly father?
He’d expected it to be harder than it turned out to be, and before long he’d had a list of names written down that anyone could be proud of.
Except one.
No one expected to pin Percy Jackson down though. He was Will’s, and everyone else at NRU’s, white whale.
Needless to say, Will walked into the party in search of a beer and someone pretty without any thought of taking Percy Jackson home that night. Of Apollo’s many domains, Will had not inherited prophecy.
He didn’t know the particulars, he’d buried his head in the figurative sand as he slept his way through the population, but when he’d emerged it was to the opening ceremony of the newly erected house for the Gamma Rho Kappa fraternity.
Jason had cut the red ribbon with much ceremony, which was immediately ruined by Piper throwing him and Leo a beer. It’d been his idea, apparently. He’d heard something about so-called Greek life from the spoiled rich kids at his boarding school and decided it sounded perfect for NRU.
It didn’t take long for the fauns to realize the Gamma Rho Kappa house was a great source of empty cans if you didn’t mind the leftover flavor of cheap beer.
He’d just opened his can when Leo appeared out of nowhere.
“Will!” Leo practically screamed, raising his arms above his head and splashing a bit of whatever cursed concoction he was drinking. “I knew I could count on you!”
“Count on me for what?” he asked, wary of anything that had Leo this excited this early in the night.
“To distract Annabeth!” Leo answered, just as loud. “I have a plan, and it’s going to be totally awesome, but first—”
“Distract me from what?” Annabeth cut in, appearing from nowhere to smirk down at Leo. “This won’t have anything to do with the fireworks in the basement that I did not budget for, will it?”
Will didn’t think he’d ever seen Leo freeze up so fast.
“No?” Leo said, finally lowering his arms. “Um, actually, about that, I’m just going to go and—”
“Okay,” Annabeth said, taking a sip from her own drink. “Go do that.”
Leo swallowed and then was gone as quickly as he appeared.
“Hey Will,” Annabeth said, only a little bit less scary. “What’s up?”
He smiled at her and shrugged. “Nothing too much,” he said. “Just the usual.”
Percy snorted from his place tucked against Annabeth’s side.
Will jumped. How had he not noticed Percy there? He should have known better; Percy was always with Annabeth.
“Hi Percy,” he squeaked.
Annabeth laughed. For his own sanity, he did his best to ignore it. “Your usual?” she asked. “You have anyone in mind?”
He felt his face warm and hoped upon hopes he was just blushing and not literally glowing. Before he could answer—and he definitely wasn’t going to tell Annabeth Chase anything that even hinted at his crush on Percy—Piper turned the corner and stood in the spot Leo had just vacated.
“My darling love of my life, who gives me purpose, such beauty has never been replicated—”
“What?” Annabeth interrupted, but this time she was smiling the smile she only reserved for Piper.
“Jason and Nico challenged me to a game of pong,” Piper answered, grinning. “And who am I to accept without my dime-piece of a partner at my side?”
Annabeth rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she said. “But you’ll owe me.”
Piper’s grin turned filthy. “Oh baby doll,” she practically purred. “I’ll owe you whatever you want, anytime you want.”
The girls walked off, arms around each other’s waists.
Percy turned toward him. “I’m going to go watch,” Percy said. “Come with?”
“Sure,” he answered, trying to look like he was totally keeping his cool and not freaking out because this was the closest he’d been to making those far-fetched dreams a reality. Maybe he had a one-track mind, maybe that was a problem for later. “Why not?”
WIll would follow Percy Jackson anywhere, as evidenced by the fact that he was now less than five feet away from watching his ex-boyfriend make goo goo eyes at Jason Grace.
“Ah,” Percy said, bumping into him and catching him off guard. “Sorry.”
Will blinked. “What are you sorry for?”
Percy looked meaningfully toward Jason and Nico.
He grimaced. “It’s fine,” he said, bending down so Percy could hear him over the music. “I’ve dealt with worse.”
“You can say that again,” Percy said. His eyes were sparkling with amusement, and maybe the beginnings of an idea, and it was one of the best things Will had ever seen. And he’d fucked a lot of Aphrodite and Venus kids.
“Over under on Piper and Annabeth winning?”
Percy looked at him like he was crazy. “She’ll know if I even think about betting against her,” Percy said. “Nice try.”
Will shrugged and took another sip of beer. “Fair enough.”
Around them, the crowd cheered as Piper made another shot. Percy pressed close enough that his front was completely pressed against Will’s side. He felt like he was having an out of body experience the moment Percy’s hand came up to his chest.
“What are you doing?” he asked, glancing out of the corner of his eye to see if this was step one in a plot of some sort. What were you supposed to do to check if you were dreaming? Look at a watch? “Is something wrong?”
Percy shook his head and pressed even closer, going up on his toes. Will felt like he was going to faint, but he still brought his arm up around Percy’s waist automatically. “Nothing’s wrong,” Percy said. “But Nico is looking at us.”
Will’s breath caught in his throat. “Why—”
“He looks angry,” Percy continued. “He’s pressing closer to Jason. It’s funny. I knew he wasn’t over you.”
Nothing was making sense. He still hadn’t finished his beer. Too many things were happening right now.
“What?” he asked, instead of saying anything he was actually thinking. “Huh?”
Percy laughed. “I’ve heard a couple rumors,” he said. “About Nico freaking people out. I went to talk to him about it, thought it seemed weird, but he wouldn’t budge.”
Another round of cheers filled the room. Will didn’t even care to look to see who scored.
“Why are you telling me this?”
Percy shrugged. “Break ups suck,” he said. “And yours was weird. I didn’t like the timing of him getting with Jason.”
Will swallowed. He hadn’t either, but he also hadn’t made a big deal out of it. Nico and Jason didn’t need it.
“But what does that have to do with this right now?” Will asked. He needed an answer. If he didn’t get one, he might start doing something stupid like hope.
Percy’s smile turned mischievous. Will was saving this memory for later. “Call me nosy,” he said. “But he made a face when someone pushed you into me earlier. I wanted to test my theory.”
Will frowned. “What theory?”
“The theory that he’s not over you,” Percy said. Percy was still on his toes, whispering into Will’s ear. His hand was still around Percy’s waist. He wasn’t blind to what this had to look like to other people. “Jason’s been pining for what feels like forever. Everyone knew.”
He frowned “What?”
“I think,” Percy said, dropping his voice so Will struggled to hear him. “I think Nico picked up that Jason liked him, maybe got caught up in the feeling of being wanted, but I don’t think Nico ever stopped caring about you.”
“Why are you telling me this?” he asked. He was angry now. He didn’t want this; didn’t need it. If this was what standing close to Percy brought, maybe he didn’t actually like it.
Percy looked far too understanding. “Because I think you’re over Nico. It’s been almost a year, right?”
He nodded.
“People think you’ve just been sleeping around, but I know you’ve gone on actual dates. You’re friends with people,” Percy said, smiling again. “You’ve moved on. You’re dating again. You’re not just rebounding.”
Will didn’t think he liked being so seen.
He cleared his throat. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
“It means,” Percy said. “That pissing Nico off on purpose will just be fun for you instead of emotionally devastating.”
“And how are you planning on doing that?”
Percy pressed even closer. Will hadn’t known that was possible. Percy pulled on his shirt and said, “follow me.”
“Whatever you want,” Will said, because he was very weak.
The crowd cheered again, and even though Will saw Jason make the shot this time, he was far too aware of the burn of Nico’s glare as Percy tangled their fingers together and pulled him away from the table.
It seemed that Percy’s destination was the bathroom, the door to which was directly in Nico’s line of sight.
Percy Jackson was a complete bastard when he wanted to be.
Will liked it more than he should.
He liked it even more when Percy didn’t move away once they were inside the safety of the bathroom. It was only when he set down his can, still half-full, that he realized neither of them had drank enough to have an excuse. This was on purpose.
“So,” he said. “Now that we can actually talk, I thought you liked Nico? Why are you trying to make him mad?”
“I do like Nico,” Percy answered, looking up at him with wide eyes. “But I like you too, and what he did to you was shitty.”
“Oh.” Will didn’t know what he was supposed to say to this. He’d gotten pretty good at talking to people, but Percy felt different. Percy was too real. They were friends, maybe not good ones, but friends. “Thank you?”
Percy smiled and it was brighter than the sun; Will would know.
A frat house bathroom was the opposite of a romantic spot, but if there was ever a chance…
“Can I kiss you?” he asked.
Percy blinked. “What?”
He cleared his throat. “Can I kiss you?” he asked again. “It’s okay if you don’t want to, but—”
Will didn’t get the chance to finish, because Percy pulled on his shirt (his hand had never stopped grabbing it) and he knew first kisses didn’t actually make fireworks, but this one might as well have because Will could never have imagined something so perfect.
Which of course meant that it couldn’t last.
Loud knocks on the door were followed up by Piper called out, “open up,” she said. “I called dibs. I gotta celebrate my victory.”
Percy pulled away, rolling his eyes and laughing. “Come on,” he said. “If we ruin this for Piper she’ll murder us in our sleep.”
“Are you sure it’ll be Piper doing the murdering?”
“Come on,” Percy laughed, shaking his head. “We’ll find somewhere else.”
Will felt his ears perk up. “They could find somewhere else too.”
Percy shoved past him and pulled on his hand. “Nah,” he said. “Let’s go.”
They opened the door and a grinning Piper and giggling Annabeth wormed their way in past them. “Oh there you two are!” Annabeth laughed. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Percy laughed again. “I don’t think you have to worry about that,” he said. “Have fun!”
They made their way down the hall. “So,” Will tried, unsure if he’d imagined the past thirty minutes or so or not. “Uh, now what?”
Percy smirked. “I’m sure we can think up a few things.”