Chapter Text
Will Solace was completely and utterly fascinated by the boy who sat in front of him in English class. The boy–Nico di Angelo–never seemed to actually pay attention in class. He always had his head down and he never answered questions in class and for some reason, he was never specifically called on by the teacher. Will also noticed that Nico always seemed to by drawing on his hand. It didn’t matter if they were supposed to be working on classwork, or listening to the teacher lecture, Nico always left that class with new art on his hand. There was actually a rule against drawing on your hands, but Mr. Blofis never seemed to call Nico out for it.
Will knew that it was definitely creepy how he watched Nico everyday, but how could he not? It had originally started as a slight interest in a boy who never even cared to look up at the teacher, but slowly grew into a full blown, big fat crush. Will noticed more and more how handsome Nico di Angelo was. How he pushed his black hair out of his face, how his hand moved as he made delicate lines across his pale skin, how he slumped in his chair day after day, already exhausted after a grueling couple hours of school.
Even though they wore uniforms, Nico stuck out like a sore thumb. Something about him just gave off some weird vibes (but that never deterred Will). He always had some sort of scowl on his face and would glare at anyone who tried to talk to him. He always had a black hoodie on in the morning before being forced to take it off by some bitch teacher who cared way too much about the dress code.
Nico was a new student this year and, since it was a pretty small school, there were dozens of rumors a month into the school year. Some said that he was mute because know one ever heard him talk, or that he couldn’t speak English. Other rumors said that he was an orphan or a drug dealer. Will wasn't really sure where people got the idea that he was a drug dealer, but that rumor was a popular one-
“Mr. Solace!” Will was snapped back to the present. Had Mr. Blofis been calling on him this whole time? Was he really that deep into his day dream that he couldn’t hear his name being called?
“Huh?” Will said. He could hear the quiet giggles of his classmates, but ultimately decided to ignore them. It was definitely embarrassing, but he didn’t really know anyone at all in this class and it didn't matter all that much what the others thought about him. Well, maybe that wasn’t true for everyone. Will certainly cared about at least one person in this class’s opinion-
“What was your answer for number 4?” Mr. Blofis sighed.
Will was relieved by the time the bell rang, signaling the end of English class. It wasn’t the worst class, but Will still preferred anatomy or math. It wasn’t that he didn’t like to read or write, it was just that he didn’t like being told what to read or being forced to analyze and write an essay about three sentences from an old poem. Will actually read a lot outside of school and enjoyed it, but he just couldn’t be bothered to care about English class. It was boring.
As Will packed up his stuff, he watched Nico do the same in front of him. Will always hoped to be able to sneak a glance at the drawings he had done, but Nico never took off his school regulated quarter zip, even when it was hot outside. It was also oversized on him so the sleeves fell down to cover his arms and most of his hands. He even pulled the sleeves down to make sure they fully covered the drawings, probably so he didn’t get yelled at by other teachers for the ink on his arms and hands.
Will noticed he had been staring for a bit too long again, and most of the class had already made their way out of the room and had started walking to their next class. The only people left in the classroom were him, Nico, and Mr. Blofis. Nico was already by the door when Will finally slung his yellow backpack onto his shoulder and started to walk towards the door.
Will risked a glance at his teacher, and saw a slight smirk on the man’s face. Will walked a little quicker out of the room.
Goode High School did an hour long study hall every other day and at different times for each grade level. It was meant to be used as a time to be able to talk to teachers, or make up tests, or just work on homework, but a lot of people used it as a time to talk with their friends. That’s exactly what Will usually did, but he had been up all night doing homework and hadn't had time to study for the history test he had next period, so he decided to go to the library instead.
When he arrived, most of the tables were taken up by others studying or quietly talking with their friends. Will scanned the room, looking for an open seat. His eyes finally locked on one, but there was somebody sitting in the chair next to it. Will’s heart skipped a beat when he realized who was sitting there. This could be his chance. He could finally start up a conversation with the boy that had been occupying his mind for the past few weeks.
“Is this seat taken?” Will asked quietly when he finally made his way over to Nico.
Nico jumped a little at the sound of somebody next to him, but quickly replied by shaking his head. He had earbuds in but was still able to hear Will. Nico had been doodling something in his notebook but quickly closed it when Will came over.
Will pulled out his computer and opened up the notes that his history teacher had posted. Will took notes in a notebook in class, since they were forced to, but he couldn’t actually read his own handwriting. Thankfully, the teacher always posted the notes online later.
The boys sat in silence for a while. Will desperately wanted to talk to Nico, but that seemed harder than it should be. Nico obviously didn’t want to talk to anyone, and Will wasn’t an asshole, he didn’t want to annoy him, but Will was also having a hard time staying quiet.
“I’m gonna fail this test,” Will said. It was mostly to himself, but he also hoped that it would maybe start a conversation.
Will watched Nico take a small glance over at his computer, and then do a double take. The boy’s eyes widened and his head fell into his hands.
“You good?” Will asked.
Nico nodded. “Didn’t know we had a test,” he said quietly, almost too quietly, but Will still heard it
Will was shocked. He had honestly started to believe the rumors about Nico being mute. To be fair, Will wasn't sure he had even talked at all the whole month they had been in school. Nico had an accent, it was subtle, but definitely there. Will wasn’t able to place what kind of accent it was. Not American at the very least.
Will didn’t even realize that meant they were in the same history class. He was almost certain they only shared English class, but then again, the blonde sat in the front, so he didn’t really know anyone else in his history class.
“Yeah, Mr. Brunner has been talking about it all week,” Will replied.
“I’ve been asleep,” Nico said sheepishly.
“Well, we can fail it together then,” Will smiled. “Maybe if everyone does bad Brunner will let us do corrections.”
Will was about to say something else, but the bell rang before he could. Nico got up and left before Will could even say goodbye.
The test went about as well as he expected it to, which was, well, bad. It got to the point where he had to count the number of questions he was 100% sure he got right, which was not a lot. Mr. Brunner wasn’t that harsh of a grader, so hopefully he would get at least half credit on the half-assed sentences he wrote for the short answer questions that he totally made up all the information for.
When the bell rang at the end of history, Will watched everyone as they left the classroom. He was looking for one person, to be specific. Will was made aware earlier of the fact that Nico was in his history class. Nico had been one of the first people to turn in their test, so either he did really good or really fucking bad.
Will watched Nico leave the classroom and not look back. It was strange how much he cared about the school’s designated emo boy that was the perfect target for bullying. When people talked about Nico, it was usually to make fun of him. People will pick on anyone who is slightly different from them, it’s sad.
At lunch Will scanned the cafeteria for Nico, but, like always, he wasn't there. The only time Will could manage to spot his crush was during class. It almost seemed like he just disappeared into thin air the second he left English class. Will huffed a sigh and made his way to the table where his friends were sitting.
“Hey, he said, sitting down next to Lou Ellen. He pulled out his lunch box from his backpack.
“Will!” Kayla exclaimed. “You got here just in time, I was just about to fill everyone in on the latest drama.”
“Oh how I would have hated to miss it,” he said sarcastically.
“Come on, you know you love it!” she replied. Will huffed in disagreement. “Anyways! So basically, You guys all know Piper and Jason, everyone’s second favorite otp right behind Percy and Annabeth. Right so apparently they broke up and-”
Will zoned out after that. He loved Kayla, but in all honesty he really didn't care about the latest drama. He cared a lot more about figuring Nico out. He was like a puzzle you were trying to put together without having any idea what the finished piece was supposed to look like. Will may not be the best at puzzles, but he was determined to put this one together.
Even though he knew better, Will still searched the cafeteria. He hoped that maybe Nico would show up and then he could invite him to their table. Maybe he would get the chance to learn more about him.
By the end of lunch Nico still hadn't showed up. WIll just stuffed his lunchbox back in his bag and started walking to his next class.
After school Will had basketball practice. It wasn’t his most favorite thing in the world, but playing a sport took his mind off of school, even just for a little bit. His school also put pressure on the students to play sports, both by the staff and by the students themselves. If you didn’t play a sport, you were automatically seen as weird and an outcast. It was strange, Will pretended not to care what others thought about him, but deep down, he did. A lot. He knew people liked him - as much as he wouldn't admit it, he was popular, like really popular–but he was always worried he would do something to make people hate him.
The second he opened the door when he got home, Will was greeted by his labrador retriever, Holly. He pet her, obviously, and let her outside to use the bathroom before setting his stuff down. Will was exhausted. All he wanted to do was lie in bed and sleep forever, but he had so much homework. His mom, Naomi Solace, tended to work long hours, so he was alone for most of the night. It had been just them since Will’s father left, and Naomi did everything so that Will could have a happy life, but that also meant he was alone a lot. Will didn’t blame her, she was an amazing mother and someone has to pay the bills, but he sometimes wished she was around more.
After doing his math homework, Will heated up some leftover lasagna, and let Holly back inside so he could feed her. Whenever Naomi was home, she made sure to cook extra food so Will had something to eat when she wasn’t there for dinner. He usually did homework while eating or watched whatever weird show was on TV. Today the TV decided he should watch HGTV. He and his mom loved to watch it together and make fun of how ugly and basic the houses always ended up looking like, even though they literally both knew nothing about houses and had no right to make fun of it. It was fun, good memories too. Holly jumped up on the couch next to him. She wasn’t allowed to be on the couch, but who was Will to tell her no?
Will had been exhausted before, but lying in his bed, it was impossible to fall asleep. His mind was all over the place and it was hard to quiet it down. He was analyzing every moment that happened that day in his head. It kept going back to his not conversation conversation he had with his crush. He knew it was weird to obsess over a boy he didn't even know, but he couldn't help it. Something about Nico just fascinated Will. There was something special about the quiet boy in his English and history class. He was special. Why? Will didn’t know, but he was. He was also so goddamn pretty.
***
As Will trudged his way through the hallway to English class, he had to remind himself that he liked this class and it wouldn’t be insufferable. Well, he didn’t actually like this class, but he liked Nico and that was basically the same thing.
“Everyone stand against the wall, i’m giving you all assigned seats,” Mr. Blofis said as Will walked into the classroom.
He noticed that the seats were arranged in pairs, interesting. Hopefully he wouldn’t be paired with some dumbass who would cheat off him on every test. Will walked to the back of the classroom like everyone else was, waiting to be assigned a desk.
As the bell rang, signifying the beginning of class, Nico ran in just in time. A few people laughed at him, but Nico just glared at them as he joined everyone else in the back of the classroom.
Mr. Blofis clapped his hands together. “Okay this pair is going to be Octavian and Piper,” he said, pointing at the pair of desks in the front of the classroom. Piper groaned and walked slowly over to her new seat.
Mr. Blofis listed off a couple other pairs before reaching the two seats in the middle of the classroom. “Will in this seat and Nico in the one next to him,” he said and then immediately listed off the other seats around them, “Jason and Leo here, Travis and Nyssa over there…”
Will stood still for what felt like forever. God, how was he ever going to focus in class with his crush sitting right next to him. After a few more moments of shock, he finally got over himself and went to his new seat.
Nico was already sitting down in his seat. Will set his backpack on the floor next to him and sat down. He noticed that Nico was already drawing on his hand. This time he could actually make out the art he was doing. Drawings of various types of flowers littered his hand and probably his arm. It was impressive how good at art Nico could be on his arm. Will wondered what his drawings on actual paper looked like. They probably belonged in a museum.
Once he was done telling everyone their new seats, Mr. Blofis went back up to his desk in the front of the classroom.
“Okay everyone,” he said, “ you may be wondering why I made a seat chart.” There were a few mumbles of agreement. “Well, there were a few reasons, but the main one is that you all will be doing a group project this month.” People started to complain, but Mr. Blofis quieted them quickly.
“The person sitting next to you is going to be your partner for this project, so get used to seeing them a lot,” Mr. Blofis said.
Oh my god , Will thought. Was this a good or bad thing? On one hand, he would get to talk to Nico a lot more and maybe become friends with him, on the other hand, Will wasn’t sure he was going to be able to act normal around him.
Mr. Blofis started to explain the assignment, but Will was mostly zoned out and trying not to be creepy and stare at Nico. He vaguely heard what the project was about, something English, bla, bla, ba.
A few people had their hands raised to ask questions about the project and get more details on it. “Are we going to be working on it in class?” A blonde girl sitting in the front asked.
“I will give you a few class days to work on it, but for the most part you guys will have to find time outside of school to get it done,” Mr. Blofis replied.
That kind of sucked. At least he would be able to spend more time with Nico.
“I'll let you all get a start on the project for the last couple minutes of class,” Mr. Brunner said after talking about the project for a couple more minutes.
Will turned to Nico, who was staring at his desk. “Hey,” Will said,
Nico jumped, as if he forgot where he even was. “Oh- uh, hi,” he said.
“So… We should probably talk about the project,” Will said.
“Yeah,” Nico said, “That would make sense.”
They started to separate out the work and decided who would do what. There was only about a minute left of class when Nico actually said more than three words.
“Um, just to let you know, we won't really be able to work at my house, so I hope your house works,” he said.
“That's okay, my house will probably work,” Will replied.
The bell rang.
Nico nodded and started to pack up his things.
“Wait!” Will said before Nico left. He ripped out a scrap of paper from his notebook and scribbled down the number. “Here’s my number. We can text about it later.”
Maybe Will was imagining it, but Nico’s face seemed to go red. He quickly grabbed the piece of paper with a mumbled thanks and left.
***
Unknown number: [ 7:56 PM ]
hi
Its Nico btw
Will: [ 8:03 PM ]
Hey!!
What days work for you to work on the project?
Nico : [ 8:04 PM ]
im free pretty much everyday
Will: [ 8:04 PM ]
Great!
I have basketball practice monday wednesday friday till 5
So anytime outside of that works for me
Nico: [ 8:06 PM ]
this thursday? R we still doing ur house?
Will: [ 8:06 PM ]
Sure!!
yeah my house works
I can drive you if you want
:)
Read at 8:07 PM