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If Nico woke up one morning and found out that some fancy scientist somewhere had developed a time machine, the first thing he would do is track down his high school self and strangle him before he could ever even apply to freaking Cold and Windy State University.
He stuffed his hands deeper into his jacket pockets, his irritated huff being carried away by the chilly winds currently blowing past the exterior of his dorm building. He hadn’t realized he’d forgotten his keys until he was halfway through his chem lab. He’d texted Jason, his roommate, while walking back, but Jason was still coming back from…wherever he liked to be at nine o’clock at night (Nico had plenty of guesses, of course, ranging from Leo’s dorm to the library, but he’d never asked).
Nico was hoping someone would’ve come through by now, so he could at least follow them like a lost puppy into the warmth of the dorm building’s lobby, even if he wouldn’t be able to get back inside his room. But apparently, Nico’s luck wasn’t that good, because throughout the painstaking three and a half minutes he’d been standing out here, plotting his revenge against his high school self, no other student had entered the building.
“Hey, Nico, right?”
Finally, Nico thought, the end of his freezing isolation.
He turned at the voice, his heart skipping a beat as he recognized the figure standing in the orangey street lights– Will Solace.
The same Will Solace who Nico had had a thing for ever since they were paired together in writing class freshman year.
(He still cringed thinking of the exact moment he had the realization that he wanted to kiss Will Solace’s stupid face. Nico had always had bad taste in men, but, really, liking the guy who brought up Star Wars during their discussion on classic literature was a new low for him.)
“My name’s Will, we had–”
“Writing class together, yeah, I know who you are, Solace,” Nico said, hoping the use of Will’s last name projected cool, nonchalant vibes, instead of Nico coming off as a creepy stalker who actually bothered to memorize Will’s name even when he barely remembered their professor’s. He cleared his throat, and– with his hands still pathetically trapped in the warm cocoon of his pockets– motioned towards Will’s phone, the white-blue light casting odd shadows on his stupid freckled face. “Are you locked out of your room too?”
Will didn’t hesitate to turn off his phone and shove it into his hoodie pocket. “Uh– yes. Yeah, I definitely got locked out, I was just texting my friend to come get me.”
Nico would’ve preferred someone with a key card, but, all things considered– he thought, trying to fight the traitorous blush making its way to his cheeks– being stuck on a cold sidewalk with Will Solace for company wasn’t the worst fate in the world. Maybe, if things got really bad, they could cuddle together to preserve body heat.
“So, what are you up to tonight?” Will asked, sidling up closer to Nico.
“It’s the stupid late night chemistry lab.”
Will shot him a sympathetic grimace. “I had one of those freshman year. Promised myself I’d never do it again. You’re an English major, right?”
Nico was surprised Will remembered. Aside from being the two most active participants in their school-mandated writing class– and despite Jason’s frequent attempts at encouragement– they never spoke much, and when they did, it was usually about the coursework. Or Star Wars, even if Nico had never seen any of the movies.
“Yeah, I’m just trying to get my science credit out of the way. Are you still pre-med or did you crumble under the pressure and drop out?”
Thankfully, Will found the comment funny, his lips quirking up in a smile. “Nope, I’m still in the program. We’ll see if I can survive organic chem this year, though. I swear my professor is just talking nonsense.”
“Is it better or worse than Professor Roman’s nonsense on why the Earth is flat?”
Will actually laughed at that, and Nico was holding back his own smile, so absorbed in watching Will’s carefree smile that he almost forgot to be cold and irritated.
“Definitely better. I’d give anything not to be in his class again, even if he was a really easy grader.”
In the distance, Nico could see the tell-tale light-up flag of one of the little food delivery robots that were always swarming campus. As the little white robot wheeled itself closer to them, planting itself right in front of Nico, he couldn’t help but feel just a tiny bit disappointed. Sure, he’d be saved by whichever frat boy wanted their late night Taco Bell fix, but he’d lose his chance to talk to Will.
Nico wrinkled his nose. “At least we didn’t have to do lab reports in that class.”
Will groaned, dragging a hand through his hair. “Don’t remind me. I still have to power through a lab report for physics that’s due tomorrow. My group found the acceleration of gravity to be negative twenty meters per second.”
“Right,” Nico said. “And that’s–”
“Way off,” Will supplied. “Speaking of groups, how did that group for your one poetry class ever turn out?”
Nico groaned, launching into a story about how his group members attempted to sabotage their final project with their sheer stupidity. Will jumped in with his own funny comments and stories, and just like that, Nico remembered how easy Will had been to talk to. He barely even minded the cold wind anymore; with Will smiling like that, eyes sparkling and crinkled up, Nico’s chest was plenty warm enough on its own anyway.
When the conversation did lull, though, Nico couldn’t help but point out the elephant– bulky white robot tall enough to ram him in the shins– in the room (sidewalk).
Nico frowned down at the robot, still parked by his feet. “Is anyone gonna come and open this thing? They do know the robots leave after, like, ten minutes, right?”
“Well, technically, they still have…” Will checked his phone, eyes widening, “A minute. Oh.”
Nico looked around, not seeing anyone except him and Will. Poor robot, delivering food to ungrateful students who didn’t bother to pick it up. Nico would be more than happy to eat that poor sucker’s Taco Bell.
Will exhaled, his eyes flitting between Nico and the robot. “Yeah,” Will started, his voice more of a sigh than an actual word, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “Yeah, there’s no way this doesn’t get awkward.”
Before Nico could ask what his problem was, Will awkwardly stepped forward, dodging Nico’s personal space in favor of unlocking the robot.
It was official. Nico thought, if anything, it would be the Star Wars obsession that broke him free of Will’s spell. Apparently, all it took was cold weather and a food robot.
“Are you serious?” Nico said, as Will stood up, sheepishly holding up the takeout bag.
“Look,” Will started, but his pathetic attempt at excuses was cut off by the robot’s chipper “Goodbye!” before it wheeled away, getting dangerously close to running over Nico’s feet.
Nico glared at Will, using two fingers to tug Will’s lanyard from the confines of his garish orange hoodie. The offending key swung freely, practically glittering in the dim light from the streetlamps.
“When did that get there?” Will offered up, still smiling.
Nope, he didn’t get to do that, he did not get to make Nico smile. “I’m going to kill you,” Nico said, as seriously as he could muster. It was kind of adorable, in the same way that every weird thing Will did was adorable, even if Nico was way too tired to properly appreciate the gesture.
Apparently, Will thought Nico was worth standing out in the cold for, while his late night dinner grew steadily colder right in front of him. Adorable.
In front of Nico, Will deflated slightly. “Look, I’m sorry–”
Nico sighed, holding out his hand. “Give me your phone.”
“Why?” Will asked, even as he placed his phone in Nico’s palm.
“Because,” Nico said, pulling up a new contact. “You’re going to have to buy me dinner to make up for this.”
“Okay,” Will said automatically. “Yes.”
Nico handed Will back his phone, and allowed himself to smile. “Good. Now take me inside.”