Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There's a knock but it's not on the door. It's the sound of gloved knuckles knocking against his desk, trying to earn his attention. A man has entered the room quietly enough that he escaped Garcia's attention.

Noah Garcia looks up from where he's sat behind the desk, dropping the pen that he had been twirling between his fingers, and is surprised to find a man towering over him. He's attractive, his jaw is chiselled, his eyes are bright and full of life. They're blue like electricity sparking.

"Can I help you?" He wonders aloud. He's startled because most clients call ahead, place their appointments. Most of them at least knock on the door. None of them sneak in. He rarely finds himself confronted like this by good-looking strangers, being the unpopular and unsuccessful detective that he is.

"Sure. Why not? I got a murder that needs solvin'." The man shrugs and takes the seat opposite him. Sitting down, he's considerably less intimidating and he presses his hands together as he thinks. "Your name's Garcia? Noah Garcia? I know people and people said that you could help solve my case."

"People say a lot of things. Especially about me. You said you had a murder you needed solving?" Noah raises an eyebrow, surveying the man and wondering why he seemed so calm. Most people that came to him were in a state of panic or fear but this man hadn't so much as blinked when announcing he had a murder that needed to be solved.

"I did. A murder of somebody rather close to me, in fact." For the first time, the man looks away from him and his hand drifts to his pocket, as if he were intending to pull something out of it. His hand fell back to his side, the picture of his sister in his pocket (as Garcia later found out) remaining untouched in his pocket.

Garcia leans forward. "Your name, sir?"

"Callidus. Gerard Callidus."

They shake hands over the desk. "I think we'll be good friends, Mr Callidus."

~ Extract from "A Strange Man", Chapter One of Callidus and Garcia

Chapter Text

Sometimes, Nico dreams about it.

Not all the time- if he dreamt about it all the time, he'd be living constantly in fear- but sometimes he dreams about it.

The screeching sound, the crushing sound of metal making contact, the scream of fear. He's had a long time to think about it but he still hasn't been able to decide if that scream belonged to him or his sister. It definitely came from one of them because it was so loud that it hurt his ears and all he could think was make it stop, make it stop, make it stop. He just wanted the sound to stop, for all of it to stop, for all of it to go away.

When he dreams about it, he wakes up soaked with sweat and never knows if he's been sleep-talking or not. Sleep-screaming, whatever. His friend, Reyna, once told him that he talked in his sleep and that it had been more concerning than amusing.

Of course, she didn't know everything about Nico but she knew an awful lot. Since they'd spent a lot of time together, when they'd both attempted to run away from home. Knowing she wouldn't get far on her own, Reyna had asked Nico to join her and he'd been quick to agree. They'd been together for six long months, travelling the country, surviving off joint rich-kid fortunes that they had in the bank, and he'd ended up telling her a lot of things that nobody else knew.

Now, she knew that his mother and sister were... Simply gone. It was hard for him to tell her about that because as soon as he said it, he realised just how real it was. They were gone, faraway, and they weren't coming back. Both his mother and sister were in the ground and had been a long time. They had just left him alone with his dad and his nasty stepmother.

Nico had also informed her about his stepmother, who was nice enough but seemed to harbour a disliking towards him. They didn't argue but they scowled at each other over the breakfast table and made passive-aggressive remarks. One thing that he didn't need to tell Reyna about was his phobia of cars.

He made it clear on the very first day of their escapade that he was not stepping foot inside a car and hadn't done for four years now. Much to his surprise, Reyna didn't push him and they took their bikes as a compromise. On occasion, they took a bus. And they ended up travelling across the country in those six months, enjoying their freedom. They went wherever they wanted, ate whatever they wanted, did whatever they wanted. Reyna liked the sunlight (Nico did not) and the beaches and joined several martial arts clubs.

Nico stayed inside, mainly retreating to libraries and losing himself in books. He spent a lot of time in one particular library that summer, hunched over one particular book series. Callidus and Garcia was a thick book, around a thousand pages, and he was certain that it was the greatest thing ever written. The sequel Callidus and Garcia Do It Again lived up to expectations. The third book was yet to be released but he was so ready for it.

The series focused on two detectives, Noah Garcia and Gerard Callidus, who solved murders together in modern day New York. That was the basis but it was so much more than that. Garcia had a complicated backstory that meant he struggled to open up to people and often felt very lonely, unless he was around Callidus. The two were close friends but Nico and the rest of the world suspected that the relationship between the two men was much more romantic than that. There were rumours that the upcoming third book would end with the two of them together but Nico wasn't going to believe everything he read on the forums. Still, he hoped.

Day after day, he shut out the sunlight and hunched over his books every night in whatever hotel they were staying in. They were mystery books, murder mysteries, but Reyna laughed it off and couldn't take it seriously. She was one of the many people that had gone to see the movie adaptation and had come home certain that Callidus and Garcia were secretly in love. (As she said: "they spend way too much time staring at each other"). She teased Nico about liking the books, calling them raunchy novels.

"Are you reading about gay detectives again, Nico?"

"So what if I am?"

She just laughed and slapped him on the back good-naturedly. "That's cute."

Obviously, Reyna didn't understand the complexity of the novels. Still, when she laughed, he shrunk a little into his shell and took to reading at night when she was sleeping. It helped fend off the nightmares at least. During the day, he made it his mission to read other books and wandered through the libraries for hours to find any that could match up to his beloved Callidus books. But none could replace his true love.

Everything had seemed all but perfect in those six months and it seemed like they'd gotten away with it. Reyna was reunited with her sister, Nico got some peaceful time to himself. Everything was going according to plan. Until Reyna caved under homesickness and called Jason Grace, of all the people, to talk to him. The call was tracked back to them and next thing Nico knew, his dad was dragging him back across the country on the most awkward plane flight he had ever experienced. Him, his father and his stepmom all sat in stony silence and refused to talk to each other. They still hadn't spoken about it and it had been weeks. All he knew was that he was in big trouble.

Sometimes, he wonders if his Dad wished that he'd stayed away.

When Nico had gotten home, he had immediately hidden away in their local library and spent as much time as he could there. He even got a job there as an assistant, which meant that he could spend all his hours there. All his time was spent with his beloved books. And that's where he was right now, sitting behind the desk and reading the second book in the Callidus series for the third time. It was a good one, the thrilling story set in London. A famous actor had gone missing whilst on the London Eye and so far, all the clues pointed towards him never getting on the first place. But Noah Garcia thought otherwise and-

"Uh, excuse me?"

Nico drops his book and it landed with a thud on the floor.

Standing at the other side of the desk is a tall boy, probably around Nico's age, with a dark tan and blonde curls framing his face. His blue eyes weren't sharp, they were soft and he wasn't lean, he was muscled. Immediately, the person that came to mind was Gerard Callidus, who was just as beautiful. Or so he thought, judging from the description. Anyone with a chiselled jaw had to be beautiful, right? He hopes that he doesn't look as flustered as he feels.

A bookworm at heart, Nico prefers not to talk to people. He finds that he always says the wrong thing and ever since the accident all those years ago, has done his best to avoid other people. The reason he likes the library is because he can just point people in the direction of the books they want but this guy clearly wants to make conversation.

"Can I help you with something?" He says, hating how croaky his voice comes out sounding. He was extremely late hitting the wonders of puberty and has only recently started to shoot up a few inches. The added height is definitely a bonus but the cracking voice and the acne he's getting on his face definitely is not. Gods, now he doesn't just look like a loser but he sounds like one too.
"Yeah." The boy smiles at him and it's kind of crooked, like one side of his mouth is putting in more effort than the other side, "I'm looking for some books."

"So, you came to a library?" The sarcastic words escape his mouth before he can even think to stop them, "Genius."

To his delight, the boy just laughs and then, shushes himself.

"You can't make me laugh in a library, I'll get in trouble with the scary librarian." That's enough to make Nico smile just a little, twisting the scar he's got cutting across his lip, though maybe he's smiling just because he's a little bit smitten. Looking him up and down, this boy is decidedly gorgeous and Nico... Well, his heart is hammering much faster than usual.

"Yeah, I might make you stay back here and sort books." Nico plays along.

"Can we make that a date?" Abruptly, Nico sits bolt upright and even though he knows that it's sarcasm or irony or whatever, the idea that somebody would even think about dating him is great. He didn't think anybody would ever think about dating him, especially a cute boy like that. He's definitely smiling now, if not grinning.

"Sure. So, there were some books that you wanted?" Nico says, finally bringing the conversation back around to the initial subject. After all, this is a job not just an opportunity to flirt with majorly attractive boys over his desk. Or fail to flirt. He doesn't feel like he's doing this whole flirting thing very well, actually, seeing as he's never done it before. The boy shifts and seems to remember that he came over here for a reason.

"So, I've got this school project, right?"

"It wouldn't happen to be the one that involves studying the Ancient Greeks, would it?" Nico raises an eyebrow at him. So far, this week, it seems like every single senior high school student has come in to do a project on the Ancient Greeks. Thankfully, nobody seems to recognise Nico from school because he dropped out long before running away. So far, his father is yet to say anything about sending him back there.

"That would be the one." The boy seems to smile a lot or maybe he's just one of those people that seems to be permanently happy; Nico struggles to understand people like that, "I don't suppose you have any books on the sun god. Apollo." He pronounces it like ae-poe-lo and it's enough to make Nico snicker a little at his botched pronunciation.

"What's so funny about that?"

"It's pronounced Ah-pol-o." He corrects him; the boy's smile seems to crumble away for half a second and he looks crestfallen. Then, he seems to remember that he's being watched and catches himself. The smile reappears on his face quickly.

"I'm not so good with words, myself." The boy shrugs, as if it's nothing, "They're tricky things, words. Books are even trickier because they're full of them."

"Are you trying to tell me that you can't read?" Nico says, in mild horror at the thought of somebody his own age- or around his own age, he's assuming completely here- not being able to read. Again, the boy looks upset at this for about a second and it makes Nico feel a little bit guilty for being so blunt about it. With a sigh, Nico gets to his feet and moves around to the other side of the desk. He knows his books and he's shown people the collection on Ancient Greeks enough times to know the section like the back of his own hand.

"Come on. Let's see what books we can find for you." The boy follows him through the shelves and Nico listens to the sound of their footsteps in synchronisation as he walks. He knows where he's going and find the books he's after in a matter of seconds, beginning to flick through them for ones that might be helpful.

"It's not my fault I'm not good at reading or writing." The boy blurts out suddenly, "I've got a thing. A mental.... Brain... Disorder... Thingy."

"It's fine, I understand. I know all about mental brain disorder thingys." Nico turns so that he can look at the boy, who grins back at him- properly this time.

"Yeah. Yeah, cool." He says, but somehow Nico can tell that there's a lot more that he wants to say; it's a long moment of quiet aside from Nico picking out books until the boy says, "Dyslexia. That's the mental brain disorder thingy. And I'm Will, by the way. Will Solace. Not intentionally pushing the dumb jock stereotype."

"And I'm Nico. Not intentionally pushing the lonely goth kid stereotype."

Will holds out a hand and Nico tucks the books under one of his arms, so that he can shake it. The blonde boy has much warmer hands and he sees him noticeably shiver at Nico's touch, sandwiching his hand between both of his.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm warming your hands up, you're freezing cold."

"Like a dead person." Nico says, a little bitterly.

"Like a snowman." Will corrects, grinning, "Gimme those books. I've got a project due in two days and I haven't done anything."

"Let me check them out for you." Will is still holding Nico's hand, trapping it between his golden coloured ones, "If you could let go of me now... Please..." Then, Will seems to realise that he's still holding Nico's hand and drops it, drawing back abruptly. Surprisingly, Will doesn't look embarrassed at all about holding a boy's hand in public. Nico is staring at the ground as he walks, wondering what this means. Together, they head back to Nico's desk and he gets to work checking the stack of books out.

"So... Do you come here often?" Will asks, curiously, "You look pretty at home here."

"I might as well live here." Nico scans the first few books through, trying not to look up at Will, "But they make me leave at seven. That's when the library closes; you only just made it in time."

"You're leaving soon?" Will grins, "Oh, that's great. 'Coz I just found out that there's the coolest ice cream parlour round the corner from here and I think that sounds like a great place to take grumpy librarians."

Rolling his eyes, Nico scans the rest of the books through and stacks them neatly before handing them over the desk to Will. "These are due back in a week. Are you trying to ask me on a date or something?"

"Or something." Will's grin should be infuriating but it's not and Nico struggles to scowl at him, "So, are you coming or what?"

"Or what." Nico says, but he slides his copy of Callidus into his bag and shoulders it, scooting around to the other side of the desk. It is about time for him to be leaving and he makes sure to wave goodbye to the head librarian, who smiles at him. But Chiron has always been pretty chill with Nico coming and going as he pleases. He's also a counsellor of sorts and sometimes, after work, Chiron asks Nico about things. Y'know, things like having a dead mom and sister and having an overbearing dad and a dumb stepmother and not having many friends. More like, one or two tops.

Nico helps Chiron with books and Chiron gives Nico advice and the system works well.

"You're new around here, aren't you?" Nico says, as they step out into the cold and he pulls his army jacket on to fight off the winter weather, "Because everybody around here knows Khione's Ice Cream Palace. Best ice cream, scariest owner."

"I heard she locked some kid in the freezer once but honestly, I think that was Lou Ellen's idea of a joke." They cross the street.

"That's a legend." Nico says, "Isn't it too cold for ice cream, anyhow?"

Will's face seems to fall. "I think ice cream can be eaten year-round."

"... Why the hell not?" Nico snorts and turns the corner, spotting the white building with snowflakes painted on the outside. He swears that he can see Khione, scowling at them out of the window. He leads the way inside and reaching the counter, the owner herself is standing there with a (ironically) cold look on her face.

"Hey Khione." Nico says, "Rumour has it that Leo Valdez trashed your place last week." It's something that he heard from Reyna, who is one of his only friends right about now, who heard it from Percy. Nico would be lying if he said he wasn't curious. Leo Valdez is somebody he's never met but he's always hearing about, since the guy is apparently a walking disaster. Everything he touches seems to break or catch fire or something, judging by the stories that Nico has heard.

She growls. "What do you want?"

"Well, we'd like ice cream." Will says, dumbly. For all he says, he really does seem to push the dumb jock stereotype.

Khione looks ready to knock him out with an ice cream scoop. "What kind?"

"Two scoops of vanilla." Nico says, "He'll have..."

"Strawberry." Will puts in helpfully, "Please. Thank you. Ma'am. Uh."

Khione prepares ice cream with an equally icy look on her face and hands it to them, sighing when Nico pushes his credit card towards her. The whole exchange is rather unpleasant and Nico decides to leave a bad review on TripAdvisor later, which makes Will snort in amusement when he tells him. Will selects the table against the wall and they sit opposite each other in the all but empty ice cream parlour. Aside from one couple in the corner and icy Khione, it's just them. The quiet is normally reassuring to Nico but right now, it's almost unbearable.

"You didn't answer my question." Nico says, eventually, "You've got to be new around here, right?"

"Yeah. I used to live with my Dad in California but I decided to come live with my Mom instead. Nothing interesting." There's something about Will's creased forehead that causes Nico to suspect that he might be lying. But he doesn't say anything. "You?"

"I've always lived here."

"Really? Because I've been here for a few months and haven't seen you anywhere."

"May have been on a roadtrip of sorts." Nico shrugs, licking at his ice cream.

"Where do you go to high school?"

"Nowhere, right now."

"Nowhere?" Will's eyes widen so much that it looks as if they'll fall right out of his head, "But you're seventeen, right? Or eighteen?"

"I'm seventeen. What's with the twenty questions?" Nico raises an eyebrow, quickly getting off the topic of school before they can delve into it any further, "Are you going to ask my favourite colour next?"

"Is it black?"

"Winner. Ding, ding, ding." Nico says, sarcastically.

"You're really not helping with the whole date thing here." Will slumps forward, pulling a face at him, "Can't you just play along and tell me what movies you like or something?"

"I thought dating was about honesty. I'm being honest with you. Mostly." Nico shrugs again, which is his usual method of communicating.

"So..." Will struggled for a conversation topic, "You like books."

"I do."

"You like those gay detective books."

"I do- wait, what? You know Callidus and Garcia?"

"Well, I've seen the movie."

Nico scoffs. "Badly adapted. The book is so much better. I mean, what were they thinking changing the ending like that? And Noah did not look anywhere near that attractive in the book, they should have gotten a different actor-" He realises that Will is grinning at him and he shrinks back, "What?"

"It's really cute that you're really into something."

Nico hopes he isn't blushing.

For the rest of their maybe date, Nico enthusiastically describes the first Callidus book to Will and he nods along, asking questions in all the right places. It's hard to tell if he's genuinely interested in the book but he doesn't take his eyes off Nico for a second, which probably means that he is. He's grinning. Nico hasn't even covered half the first book when he realises that it's late and he panics.

"My dad is going to KILL me." He's not even exaggerating that much.

"If you really want, I can give you a ride home." Will says, "After all, you shouldn't have to walk in the cold. It's winter after all. You could turn into a snowman. I've got a car and-" Before he even finishes, Nico is shaking his head and trying not to look frantic. Screech, crash, scream plays over and over in his head. And he stands, hoping he doesn't look as panicked as he feels inside- like he's going to explode, his blood pounding in his ears, his heart in his throat, his stomach twisting, oh god, oh god- and picks up his bag. He's halfway towards the door, when Will finally seems to grasp the situation and hurries after him.

"Or I could walk you home? If you don't want to be driven?" He sounds a little confused.

Nico rolls his eyes, heart still beating hard in his chest and his palms sweating. "If you walk me, you'll have to walk all the way back here to get your car afterwards." They step outside into the cold and he zips up his jacket, "Besides, I have my bike."

For a long moment, Will considers this and then he says: "I could get a bus back."

"Take your dumb car, you idiot." Nico elbows him and it's the second time they've touched, making him inhale sharply, "I'll be fine getting home."

"I know. But I wouldn't want you to die of hypothermia before our next date."

"That's really romantic." Nico hopes his dark skin hides the heat rushing quickly to his face. This was a date then. And he was going to have another one soon? That was enough to keep him warm all the way home, surely.

"I'm serious. You still haven't told me what the deal is with Callidus and his sister. I need to know if she dies like in the movie."

"Okay. Another time. Right now, I really need to go. My dad's probably already mad that I stayed out so late."

"Bye Nico."

For a second, he thinks that Will is going to lean in and kiss him. They're certainly standing close enough. Instead, he pats him on the arm and turns away, heading back to his car. It's pretty nice-looking and shiny but it's still a goddamn death machine and Nico shudders at the sight of him getting into it. Just to make sure that he's safe, he watches Will drive until he goes around the corner out of sight. He lets out a breath that he didn't know he was holding and unlocks his bike.

That night, he doesn't dream of the accident. He dreams of Will.