Chapter Text
When Nico was younger, he caused a lot of trouble. Not your usual trouble though, he—oh, why am I beating around the bush? Nico was a bully. A cold, hard, 1980s-style bully that would beat you down. He tormented kids and mostly got away with it. I mean, who expected the son of Hades di Angelo to be such a troublemaker in class?
Nico's teachers and peers have thought about hundreds of reasons for him to act out like this. Is something going on at home? Is he struggling internally with mental health issues? Is the death of his mother and sister finally taking its toll?
Nico's freshest victim, however, was not like the rest. He was special and unique—externally and internally. Nico can still recall to this day what happened on October 15. It was his 6th grade ELA class, and even though it was eight in the morning, the class could not be louder. Papers were being thrown, kids were standing on decks, and people were blasting music from their phones... it was just disgusting, really.
It was a nasty, sticky, plain old room filled with disgusting 6th graders. But Nico didn't care—Nico, in fact, loved school. School luckily always came easy to him, so he didn't have problems with grades like his sister did. Not only did school come easy to him, but friends also came easy to him. And school gave him a place to express himself, much of the expression being harmful, but he expressed himself nonetheless.
The room didn't even seem to get quieter when the teacher walked in; Nico swore it even got louder. "Hey, guys!" the teacher yelled. "Hey! One, two, three; eyes on me." The room had finally complied, turning silent. Kids started to file their decks, sitting down and finally behaving. "Everyone, I have a surprise for you." The teacher had stepped over to reveal a boy.
He had blond hair and blue eyes, and he was tall for his age, coming in at around 5'1. His eyelashes were long and curled. And his hair—to this day, his hair might be Nico's favorite attribute. His hair was curly, and it was wild. Sticking up in all the wrong places, but still, Will managed to make it look okay. He even managed to make it look good, pretty. He was perfect. He was the classic American dream.
He was everything Nico was not.
Not only was he everything Nico wasn't, but he was also pretty. Like Disney show child actor pretty. H&M teens model pretty. He was exceptionally pretty to Nico. The way his eyelashes had a natural curl; the way his hair was going everywhere and going to everything all at once. Even his cargo shorts, which Nico would call dorky, looked good on Will.
So now Will was not only something Nico wasn't, but he was also something Nico had tried so hard to repress.
His eyes were wide, showing off his big blue eyes when the teacher moved out of his way to reveal him. "Go on," the teacher said, nudging his side. "Introduce yourself." The teacher handed him the marker and pointed to the board. The boy gladly accepted the marker. Turning around to write on the board.
Nico's friend, Drew, turned to him. "Why doesn't he just... talk?" She whispered.
Nico shrugged. "I don't know, maybe he's like mute or something."
"Whatever he is, it's freaky."
Nico had turned his attention away from Drew, focusing back on the board. Soon, Will had stepped away from the board, revealing what he had written.
'HI! im 12 years old. i am from texas, and i moved here for my mom's job. i was born with deafness, and i can't really talk, so we all communicate through my notebook. i hope we can all be friends.' Next to his letter was a drawing of a notebook, the outlying of Texas, and what Nico assumed to be a dog...? It had a body, four legs, a head, and a tail; really, it could be anything.
"Wonderful Will, you can go sit next to..." The teacher had trailed off, looking around the room for a spare seat, "Nico!" The teacher had finally decided, pointing at the empty seat next to him.
Top ten worse decisions of the 2010s
Will nodded at the teacher, walking to his seat. Once he had made it, he smiled at Nico and sat down. The teacher continued with her lesson while Will unpacked his stuff from his bag. Now up close, Will looked even better to Nico. So much better, in fact, that Nico had to physically pull his eyes away from Will. But before he could tear his eyes away, Will waved at him.
Will waved at him.
Nico put his head down, praying to whatever god would listen that nobody saw his red flushed face.
It was going to be a hard year.
"You should've helped him." Jason said, picking at his school-provided lunch of mashed potatoes and what he hoped was meatloaf with his fork.
"With what?" Nico said back, shuffling through his Mythomagic cards. He glanced over to Will, who was sitting alone. He had his nose in a book, and his left hand held an apple. "Please enlighten me."
"He can't hear Nico. You could've helped him take notes or something."
Jason isn't wrong. Will shared most of his classes with Nico, and throughout all of them, Will seemed to be struggling. During class Will would write down the wrong things and he had to ask for help (via notebook of course) at least 4 times that day. Nico could've helped him, he really could've. But it was just so much effort, Nico is a busy man after all.
"That's him right?" Percy said, pointing at the blond across the lunchroom.
"Yea.. oh my gods Percy don't point," Nico said, pulling Percy's arm down.
But it was all too late, Will had caught Percy's pointing. He looked up, wide-eyed. Just when Nico couldn't think it would get worse, Percy began to signal Will over to their table. Nico attempted to stop him but again his advances were too late. Will began to move towards their table. Nico sunk down in his seat, not knowing what to do. Will had sat in between Percy and Jason, his book and apple still in his hands.
"Hey, I'm Percy that's Anna-"
"Percy, are you stupid?" Annabeth had asked.
"What?" Percy said, looking around genuinely confused.
"He can't hear you seaweed brain."
"Oh... um." Percy began to say, when Will handed him his notebook. Percy grabbed the pen that was in his pocket and flipped to the first page.
'hiii im percy, annabeth is the girl with the box braids, and jason is the one with the glasses. i know u alr met nico.' Percy wrote, handing the notebook back to Will.
'hi im will' Will wrote.
Percy and Will began to pass the notebook back and forth, laughing and giggling as they did so. Nico hated it, he simply couldn't watch it. That's why he got up, and walked away from the table.
"Nico, where are you going?" Jason called after him.
"To sit with Drew and Octavian," Nico replied back, strutting his way to the table.
Class with Will was... difficult, to say the least. The teachers had to accommodate for him more, playing videos with captions on them and drawing pictures more in class; some teachers even had students help Will in class. Because of this, many of the students avoided Will.
At work time, class, etc., nine out of ten times Will was alone. Will never seemed to complain, as he had many people to talk with at lunch. Those people were Percy, Jason, and Annabeth. They seemed to like Will, and Will seemed to like their company as well. It was nice to have somebody to talk to, even if they were upperclassmen. Nico, however, hated it.
He hated it so much. He hated the fact that a new kid could swoop in and take the friends that Nico had tried so hard to make. Why was this kid stealing his friends? Why couldn't he make his own friends?
But what Nico hated more than anything was the fact that Will was a surprise academic weapon. Will was the new smart kid in class, getting only good marks. A's, 100's, 90's. A score in the '80s on Will's report card was unfathomable. But that was Nico's thing. School came to Nico quickly; he was the boy in class who would always get good marks. He should still be that boy.
It was like the atmosphere in the classroom had changed. Nico used to be the one teachers would congratulate in class. Now it was Will. Nico was the one whom teachers would say to look out for. Now it was Will. Nico was the only one who would pass the test all the other students would fail. Now he had to share the first-place medal with Will.
Why couldn't Will find things on his own? Why did he have to be such a bloodsucker? Why was he such a parasite, a leech on Nico's life?
Nico already saw the special treatment Will would get in class, and now Will was stealing Nico's friends and his grades. Oh, Nico was livid. This hatred was evident. In class, Nico would pour water on him, make fun of him with Drew, pull his hair, trip him, etc. But unlike Nico's other victims, Will never snitched. He even showed Nico kindness, smiling and waving to him in class.
And the crush—the attractiveness Nico saw in Will—never left. Every other action that Will would do in class made Nico blush. Whether he drank out of his water bottle, wrote his notes down in class, or simply answered a question (via notebook, of course), Nico was blushing. He was blushing badly too. You'd think it was 105 degrees out and he was wearing all black—he was that blushing bad.
But this wasn't right; this wasn't natural. This was something Nico had to repress and hide in the deepest pit of hell, next to a pit of fire, hopefully to burn up and turn into straight ash. This was something that Nico had to stuff at the bottom of his junk drawer, never to see the sunshine again. This was something Nico had to shove 6 feet under the ground, right next to his mother.
This love for boys was wrong.
Being gay wasn't right.
At the end of a particular day, Nico was walking home with Drew and Octavian when he saw Will. Will was walking as well; his face was nose-deep in a book, and he kept his head down.
Right then, Nico felt all the hatred and anger he had felt throughout the course of school. And Nico knew he shouldn't have; it was already late, past school hours. But he had to get one last jab in to let this bloodsucker know his place.
"Hey!" Nico yelled, but of course, Will didn't hear him. Nico walked a little faster, catching up with him. He then tapped Will on the shoulder, which finally got the blonde's attention. "You know, everybody's fed up with you already, right?"
Will looked around, his eyes large and popping out of their sockets. He tilted his head, clearly confused. "He can't hear you, Nico!" Drew yelled out.
Will reached for his bag, pulling out the notebook and a pen.
"You've got to be kidding me." Nico said, grabbing the notebook and pen from Will.
'stay away from my friends pls n ty.'
Nico flashed the note to Will. Nico then pretended to hand the notebook back to Will before chucking the notebook into the nearby water fountain.
"C'mon, guys." Nico said, walking away from Will.
Nico and his friends had begun to walk away, clearly over the interaction. But Nico looked back, and he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Ain't no way."
Will was in the water fountain, his cargo pants pulled up over his knees, and his arms reaching into the water. Nico stood there in awe; most people would've just left the notebook there. Nico didn't get it.
It wasn't like Will depended on this notebook for basic communication.
"Who does he think he is?" Aquaman?" Octavian playfully asked, walking away from the scene in front of him.
Nico joined the rest of his friends, walking away from Will and praying to whatever gods he got the hint.
Needless to say, Nico was almost gleaming with joy when he saw that Will wasn't sitting with Percy at lunch the following Monday.
Nico was in social studies the next time Will pissed him off. The teacher of the class had brought Will and the counselor to the front of the class.
"Good afternoon students!." The counselor had started, her bright smile almost blinding Nico. "So as everybody knows, Will here," She pointed to Will. "is deaf. Since he can't hear, he uses something called sign language." She had turned around and wrote 'sign language' on the board with a pink marker. "Since Will here uses sign language, we think it will be fun if the first five minutes of social studies you guys practice."
The room erupted in groans and moans. People started turning and whispering to their neighbors. It was a mess. The counselor, as counselors do, tried to mediate the situation. "Guys! This will be fun, and you'll all be helping Will."
Nobody in that room other than the counselor cared about helping Will.
Drew had stood up, "Miss, why can't we just use his notebook?"
"Er... this will be easier for Will. His whole family knows sign language, it's what's easiest for him."
"If his whole family knows it... why should we?"
This seemed to shut the counselor up, her face turning slack. She brought her hands to her face, covering her eyes. Though Will couldn't hear the commotion, he could sense it. He's eyes scanned the room nervously, and he rocked back and forth.
Now Nico could've helped Will. Changed his behavior for once, and helped him inside of annoying him for once. But Nico didn't. He actually loved this. he loved the class finally seeing Will in the same light he saw him in. He knew he wasn't alone for once in this hatred for Will.
But of course someone had to ruin his good moment.
"Me and Cecil volunteer!" Yelled a voice in the back. When Nico turned around he realized who it was, Lou Ellen. Next to her Cecil stood up as well, but he didn't look as... proud as she did.
"I didn't volunteer for any-" He began to say but was abruptly cut off by Lou kicking him in the shin.
"We can help Will." She said walking up to the front where Will and the counselor were.
"Thank you so much, Lou and Cecil." The counselor said. "As for the rest of you, think about this; you all had the opportunity to help out somebody in your community. I will be thinking about this when I pick our junior NHS members this year." She said, giving one last thanks to Lou and Cecil before exiting the classroom.
The rest of that day Lou and Cecil sat with Will throughout the day. Will had been teaching them the basics of sign language; how to sign ABCs, how to say basic phrases, how to say your own name, etc. And from that point on, it was like that every day.
Nico hated it. He hated how now he knew Lou and Cecil were going to be given the same special attention as Will. He hated how they got to sit with each other in class. He hated how Will would give them the answers in class. He hated how they were giggling and kicking and squealing at the back of the class every single day.
And Nico was secretly jealous. He was so fucking jealous of Lou and Cecil. Why couldn't he be with Will the way they were. Why did he have to repress any sense of affection or romantic feelings towards Will just because he was a boy.
"Oh my gods, I swear Lou just wanted brownie points to secure her spot on NHS." Octavian said, pushing his glass up. "I don't see any other reason anyone would want to hang out with this... social piranha."
"You know, some people just want to help!" Lou had screamed from across the room, hearing what Octavian had said. She swiftly turned back to Will signing what Nico assumed was an apology.
"Crazy bitch." Drew muttered.
It was 10 minutes till the end of the day, and Nico was tired. He was on the game with Percy until 2 last night, and he was exhausted. It wasn't helping that everyone else in his classed seemed to have so much energy.
Five minutes until the bell rang Travis Stoll rolled up the packet that the teacher had given him. Travis then proceeded to place the roll to his lips, lean over, and yell into Will's ear. Will's eyes went wide, and he covered his ears with his hands, backing away from Travis. Lou who was sitting in the seat behind Travis, reached over and smacked him across the head.
"Mr. Stoll, please refrain from annoying Mr. Solace until class is over." The teacher said.
Soon after the bell rang and Nico began to pack his things. He began to walk towards Drew and Octavian, but Drew had seemed to have different plans.
Drew basically skipped over to Will's desk, sitting on the desk once she's finally made it. "Will, earlier you seemed to react to what Travis yelled. Can you hear?" She said, cocking her head to the side.
Will nodded his head, and wrote in his notebook.
'barely, i got hearing aids last sunday. when travis yelled i heard it loudly. i can only hear when people speak directly to me tho'
"Really?" Drew said, her eyes lighting up. Many other people would've think that she was just curious, but Nico knew she had ill intent. She brushed Will's hair away from his ears, revealing the yellow hearing aids. She proceeded to pluck the aids from Will's ears, playing with them in her hands. "Nico catch."
Nico held his hands out and easily caught the hearing aids. "Drew... these have ear wax on them." He said tossing the aids out of the window. He pretended to gag, pointing his finger down his throat.
Will ran to the window after Nico had thrown his aids, his face turning red with embarrassment. He quickly grabbed the rest of his stuff, ran out out the door. When Nico looked out the window again, he saw Will holding up two broken hearing aids.
This became Nico's new routine. He would take out Will's hearing aids anywhere. Outside, in class, at lunch, at break, literally anytime. Sometimes he and Drew would play hot potato with the aid, before throwing it away. Sometimes he would pass it to Octavian, watching has Octavian would crush it under his shoe. Sometimes he would simply take it, and throw it out the window.
Nico thought this was the same thing like the tripping, the name calling, and the water pouring.
One time though, it didn't work out well.
Nico was in science, his most boring class in his opinion. Will was in the seat in front of him, diligently taking down notes that the teacher had on the board. Something about the water cycle... Nico didn't really know. Will looked back at Nico, smiling at him before turning back around.
Nico hated this more than anything. He hated how Will continued to show Nico kindness and affection even though Nico would torment him every class. That's what made Will different from Nico's other victims. They all ended up lashing out one way or another. But it had been at least five months of Nico doing this to Will, and he still showed him with kindness every time. And this smile that Will gave Nico pissed him off more than anything else.
He knew it was stupid. He knew he shouldn't have. But he did it anyways.
When the teacher walked out to use the bathroom, Nico found this as a perfect opportunity. He reached over to Will's seat and did as he's always done. He gripped Will's aids and tore them out of his ears. This time though, Will made a noise.
"Ngh.." Will grunted out, holding his right ear with his hand. When Will had pulled his hand away, it was covered with blood.
This was different
"Oh my gods..." Cecil said, walking up to Will's desk. He carefully touched Will's ear, making Will winch and jolt in pain. "Shhh, its okay."
"Nico, what the fuck." Lou said, "You've taken it way to far."
"I didn't know..." Nico trailed off, not knowing what else to say.
Will had turned to Nico. Tears were falling from his eyes and he had blood dripping down his wrist, down to his arm from his ear. But this time, Will hadn't smiled at him or waved. Will looked at him with pure anger and disgust in his eyes.
Nico walked towards Will, trying to figure out what happened, where did he go wrong? But Lou had stopped him, using her hands to push Nico away from Will.
"Class I'm back...." The teacher had trailed off when she say the scene in front of her. "Who do I need to send to the office?"
Nico's name could be heard from down the hallway.
Nico was in class that following Monday after the incident. People in his class stared, but none of them really seemed to care. But it's not like Nico cared if they cared; he couldn't even be bothered. What did bother him however, was the empty desk next to him.
"You scared him off Nico." Drew teased in his ear.
"Shut up." He said quietly, shutting the conversation down.
Nico hadn't mean to shut Drew up so quickly, but he guessed he was just angry. Nico hadn't meant to scare Will off, Nico thought Will was more resilient than that. But yet again, Nico was wrong.
Other than that, the day seemed to be going normally. Kids were being loud, chairs were being pushed to the ground, paper was being thrown. All pretty normal for a 6th-grade class. What wasn't normal, was the assistant principle walking into the class instead of Mr. Brunner for ELA that morning.
"Class! Settle down." The AP commanded, and many kids followed suit, filing in their seats, "As you can all see, William Solace hasn't joined us yet this morning."
fuck
"William's mother had called the school, making some very serious accusations. She claims that William would come home with wet clothes, scratches, marks on his arms, and gum in his hair. Her most serious claim though, is that somebody has been messing with his hearing aids. Ms. Solace is fearful her son is being... bullied."
fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck
All of the students eyes turn into Nico. Everybody had known this was his doing.
"As anybody witnessed anyone harassing William in class?"
The room was silent, however. Even though every student in that room had witnessed Drew, Nico, and Octavian harassing Will, nobody said anything. Everyone in the room would rather die than be called a snitch.
"Lou, you help William right? Have you seen anything."
Lou stood up at her desk, her eyes nervously scanning the room. "Well, if I'm being honest-"
fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck
"I have seen some people teasing him."
The AP leaned in, "Who?"
Lou looked around, and locked eyes Nico, "I've seen Nico sometimes-"
Nico quickly stood up from his chair, pushing himself up using his hands on the desk. "That's not true."
"The way it literally is." Lou said.
"Nico.. is this true?" The AP asked.
Nico looked around, seemingly looking for anyone to back him up. "Look... I wasn't alone. You can ask Octavian."
Octavian shot Nico a look, before standing up himself, "I mean, it was just teasing."
"He's lying, I would never." Nico said, "Drew messed with him way more than I did!"
All eyes in the room went to Drew, but instead of her defending herself like the others, she put her head down. Her head was down on her desk and her shoulders were slumped over. That's when her shoulders began to shake and she began to whimper.
i know she's not fake crying-- Nico thought
Drew pulled her face back up to everyone, tears running down her face, "T-that's such a... cruel lie. I would never hurt anyone like he did."
"You're literally fake crying." Nico said, "Why are you guys lying? It wasn't just me." Nico said, seemingly pleading with the classroom.
But the students were silent. When Nico's eyes scanned the room, people turned their heads away. Avoiding eye contact with him like a disease.
"Well... we have a culprit. Nico come with me..."
"Dad! I'm home." Nico yelled when he walked in, dropping his shoes off at the door. Usually, Nico's dad would greet him, offering him cookies that he baked earlier that day. But he wasn't there. Nico had walked up the stairs when he finally found proof of other life in his house.
"Yes... thank you, I'll be there shortly." Nico had heard from the other side of his father's door. "I'm so, so sorry. I raised my son better than this." That's when Nico swiftly turned his heel, and ran to his room.
Nico just thought that this would be a one time thing, and that everything would be fine tomorrow. He didn't know that the school would call his dad. he already knew what his dad was going to say to him.
"Nico, what's going on at school?"
"Nico this isn't going to bring Maria back."
"This isn't what your sister wanted for you."
He shut his door behind him. Sliding down the door once it was shut. He covered his ears and shut his eyes, but his father's voice could still be heard over it.
"Nico." His father's voice boomed through the hallway. "Where are you?"
"In my room." Nico responded, opening his door and poking his head out of his room.
Nico's father looked tired, bags pilling up under his eyes after working for so long. He placed a hand on his son's shoulder, his eyes showing major disappointment. "Nico, have you been causing trouble at school?"
Nico sighed, turning his head away from his father. "I don't know."
Hades' grip tightened on Nico's shoulder. "Nico, c'mon. We're leaving.
"Going where?"
"The Solace's."
Nico furrowed his eyes in confusion, but nonetheless walked down to the garage with his father.
The car drive to Will's house was very silent. Hades had begged his son for information, but Nico was quiet, claiming he didn't want to talk about it. He sunk in his chair during the car ride, facing the window.
"We're here." Hades said stepping out of the car.
The Solace residence was very nice. It was a small three bedroom house, but it was very pretty. The house was painted yellow, they had pretty flowers in the front, the lawn was freshly cut, and there were kids playing out in the front. An older lady, which Nico assumed was Will's grandmother, was knitting in a rocking chair at the front. At the door was Will and his mom.
"Gods, the color." Hades muttered
Nico and his father slowly walked over to the house. Nico and his father approached the patio but Will's mother stopped them. "Right there is just fine, we'll come to you." She said walking down and greeting them on their lawn.
Will was hiding behind his mother, chewing nervously at his nails. His ear still had a bandage but instead of the boring brown bandage, he had a rainbow bandage on his ear. His hair was unkempt, more unkempt than normal like he had just woken up from a 36 hour nap.
Will was was wearing the same clothes he usually wears at school; tan cargo shorts and a yellow shirt.
"Hello Ms. Solace." Had said, holding his hand out for a handshake, which Ms. Solace proudly denied. "I am so, so sorry for my son, I had no idea what was going on. I wish I knew I could've stepped in and helped. I apologize."
Will's mom stepped forward, "Thank you, but I don't want to hear an apology from you." She said, her head turning to Nico.
"I beg your pardon." Hades said, his face turned up in confusion.
"I want your son to apologize to Will." She said, moving out of the way, putting Will on full display.
Nico had stepped up in front of his dad, and just then he realized how scary Will's mother was. She had looked just as tired as Hades was, her bags under her eyes almost doubling his. Her hair looked just as unkempt as Will's, however her eyes looks way redder than Will's.
"Will... I'm sorry for..." Nico trailed off.
Sorry for what? Honestly he didn't know. There were too many things that he did to Will. Too many for it to be shortened into an 8 sentence phrase.
Sorry for always picking you in popcorn reading, when I knew damn well you couldn't talk.
Sorry for pouring water on you that one time at lunch. And P.E. And reading.
Sorry for breaking like 7 pairs of hearing aids.
"I'm just sorry," Nico said.
Will stared at him. Full blank stare. Will's mother turned around to face her son, translating what Nico had said in sign language. Will smiled at this message, facing Nico, and moving his hands. Will pointed at Nico, then pointed at himself, then interlocked his pointer fingers together.
"Friends." Will had said quietly.
Will had said.
It was quiet for a while after then. Will waited and stared at Nico, waiting for a response. But Nico was in shock. He truly didn't know Will could talk. Nico slowly retreated from Will, hiding behind his father.
"Look, how much were the hearing aids?" Hades said, breaking the silence in the air.
"1,896."
Hades pulled out his checkbook from his coat pocket, swiftly writing up a check and handing it to Ms. Solace. "Here."
Ms. Solace looked at the check, looked back Hades, and looked back at the check. "We don't need your pity." She said, handing the check back to Hades.
Hades denied this, however, "This isn't pity, just take it."
"This check is more than three times the amount I said..."
Hades smiled at Ms. Solace. "Have a good day miss."
Back in the car, Nico was slumped in the passenger seat. "How much money did you give her dad?"
"Six grand."
"Dad, she didn't need that much." Nico said.
"Yea and she didn't need you bullying her kid." Hades responded back, staring at his son, "Why'd you do it anyways? Because he's deaf? That's just wrong--"
"No," Nico had said, "I didn't do it because he's deaf, I did he because he's taking everything from me dad."
Hades was silent for a while, before saying his final statement.
"None of this will bring Bianca or your mother back. They're gone Nico, acting out at school will never rise them up from their graves. Death is permeant."
Ever since that day in class the dynamic in the classroom had shifted. Nico was no longer this wannabe bully in his class; he was the bullied. He was now the one who was starched, hit, and talk about in class.
Even Percy, Annabeth, and Jason had seemed to keep their distance away from Nico, only talking to Nico when there was nobody else around. Nico's grades plummeted, and teachers were constantly calling his dad.
As for Will, his mother had changed his class, so now he was in Mrs. Dodd's HR. Nico hadn't heard much about Will after HR switch.
I guess whatever goes around eventually comes back to you.