Chapter Text
Maybe Nico had been reading to many sappy romance novels.
Maybe he watched the Notebook or Pretty Women a few to many times.
Maybe he listened to Daydreamin' by Ariana Grande a few to many times in a row. (He didn't even like her music but fuck that song was good).
Maybe Nico was just kinda a loser.
Maybe Will Solace was just kinda hot.
It was probably a culmination of all these factors, but either way, Nico had a crush, sue him.
Will was popular. Not 'daddy has money so be my friend and I'll let you stand next to my car that costs more then your parents mortgage' popular but 'I'm a genuinely nice human being that everyone wants to be friends with' popular. He was only a sophomore but he was bumped up to varsity soccer as a freshman, and from the rumors that have gone around the school, the coaches think they can get him a full ride on an athlete scholarship after he graduates, oh and he wanted to be a doctor.
He had
"He/Him
Bi :)
East high ⚽"
in his insta bio and no one gave him shit for it.
And he was just like, really pretty.
So yeah, Nico had a crush.
Nico was also a sophomore at East High, but he didn't really have anything else in common with Will, at least that he knew of, to be honest they weren't really friends. To be honest, they've never said a word to each other.
Nico went everywhere with a earbud in. He carried around a sketchbook everywhere. He wanted to teach High School history, he was currently trying not to fail high school math, English, and science. His only friends were his sister's and Jason. One time he got paired with Will's best friend for a art history project and Cecil kept calling him 'Rico', and he only figured out Nico's actual name when he signed his name on their research paper, and then spent 20 minutes apologizing. Nico thought it was kinda funny, but yeah, he wasn't necessarily known around the school.
To be honest, Nico liked it that way. He liked sitting with Jason and Jason's friends at lunch, while barely talking (unless someone's history homework came up, then he wouldn't shut up while they scribbled down answers). He liked meeting his sisters at the same place every afternoon to walk home while they carried the conversation. He liked doodling lava lamps on his notebooks instead of taking notes on Shakespeare. He liked his crush on Will Solace being from afar.
Apparently Mrs. Wallace didn't.
Nico and Will only had one class together, 3rd period US history. Nico sat in the second to last row, second column from the left, next to Leo, Jason's friend who insisted the most out of all of them to try to actually be friends with Nico, which was slowly working, but Nico was still convinced he chose that seat at least partially so Nico could help him on assignments. Will sat in the second row, surrounded by a group, eclectic in every way. Some of them were on the soccer team, Cecil and Conner, one was a cheerleader, Drew, one was probably gonna be their valedictorian, Annabeth, one came to school high everyday, Percy, and one was literally just a suburban kid that did absolutely nothing special and represented the normal student populace, Frank. Will knew them all, they all knew him, they all wanted to be around him, and this was just a fraction of who Will hung around. They were 3 weeks into the trimester and Nico and Will hadn't said a word to each other.
Nico was the last one to walk into the classroom. Everyone was awkwardly standing, lining the room. The desks had been rearranged into rows of two. Nico pulled out one of his earbuds and caught the last of the teacher's sentence.
"-seats for the rest of the trimester unless under circumstances such as needing a closer seat due to your eyesight, which you can come talk to me about after class," Mrs. Wallace started going down the rows, pointing at desks and quickly rattling off names.
"Leo and Octavian, James and Darcy, Addison and Asher, Will and Nico, Cecil and Annabeth, Percy and-" Nico didn't hear anything after that.
He realized Will had already sat down, digging through his bag for something. Nico quickly sat down at the desk pushed right next to him, not wanting to look like a idiot.
This was going to be fine, it was just a stupid crush he had had for like a few months. No big deal. Everything would be fine. Yep.
Will looked up from his bag, pulling out a pencil and setting it on his desk. Nico flipped through his notebook, not wanting to accidentally weird Will out by staring or something even more stupid when the blonde spoke up.
"Hi, I'm Will, I don't think we've met."