Archive of Our Own

“Okay, Nico, this is it. This is the outfit.”

Nico only briefly glanced up from the Agatha Christie novel he was reading as his roommate came charging out of the bathroom for the sixth time in the last half hour.

“That is certainly an outfit,” he replied, giving Will a quick once over before returning his gaze to the book.

The blonde was wearing a pink button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, light blue skinny jeans, and white sneakers. The shirt was a little wrinkled, but not enough to look disheveled. They didn't have an ironing board in their dorm room, anyway, so tastefully wrinkled was really the best he could hope for.

“Come on, Nico!” Will whined. “I need your honest opinion. This is important!”

Nico’s lips turned up in a smile, but he didn't look back up from his book. 

“You seemed pretty confident when you came in here that this was the outfit, so what do you need my opinion for?”

Nico actually thought the ensemble looked really nice on Will, but he'd thought that about every outfit the boy had shown him so far. He'd told Will what he thought of the first couple options, but the blonde was convinced Nico was just saying he liked them to be nice, so Nico had given up on sincerity and was now trying to tease the other boy into making a decision.

“Ugh! You're no help!” Will turned towards the full length mirror on the back of their door. He frowned at himself and smoothed down his collar several times before twisting and turning in an apparent attempt to check out his own butt. 

“Your butt looks fine, Tinkerbell,” Nico called from his spot on his bed. 

“Ha!” Will spun around and pointed at Nico. “I knew you weren't actually reading!”

“No I am, I am. Your preening is just very distracting,” Nico laughed. “Seriously, though, those jeans are tight in all the right places. She won't be able to look away, trust me.”

Will furrowed his eyebrows like he wasn't sure whether Nico was being serious, but before he could say anything, there was a light knock on the door. 

Will’s eyes widened, and he turned back towards the mirror (and the door). He ran a hand through his hair a couple times, making it just the right amount of messy, before putting on a bright smile and swinging the door open.  

Nico almost laughed when he saw the girl waiting outside. She had blonde, curly hair, tan skin, and a smile just as bright as Will's. Her eyes were gray — much lighter than Will’s piercing blue ones — but Nico still couldn't help but think his roommate’s taste was, apparently, just himself but taller.

Nico would have filed that thought away to tease Will about later, but then he thought about himself and his own crush: dark, unkempt hair, skinny but muscular build, constant mischievous smirk. Again, different eyes and heights but… Well maybe it was best to leave that observation unspoken, actually. 

The girl — Annabeth, Will had said earlier — immediately wrapped Will in a hug, rubbing the top of his head with her knuckles. 

“Will! I haven't seen you in ages! How have you been?” She said, after eventually releasing Will from the hug that looked a little more like wrestling than a display of affection. 

“Good, good!” Will swatted her hands away as she kept trying to lightly punch him on the arms. “I'm doing good! How are you?”

“Great! I just finished moving into my new off-campus apartment that I'm sharing with some friends from last year, and I could use a break. Where are we going for lunch?”

Will threw out some ideas as he grabbed his wallet and phone off his desk, and the two of them stalled in the doorway while they debated between Thai or Mexican food. They eventually settled on Thai and were about to head out before Will stopped himself and turned to Nico, as if suddenly remembering he was there. 

“Oh, by the way, Annabeth! This is my roommate, Nico. He's from Italy! Well, most recently Los Angeles, but still. Nico, this is Annabeth, my friend from summer camp that I told you about.”

Nico and Annabeth exchanged pleasantries, and then the two blondes were gone. Nico stuck an old receipt in his book to mark the page — having given up on actually reading a while ago — and headed into the bathroom. 

He had his own maybe-a-date to get ready for. 

——

Nico and Will had only been roommates for about a week — having both decided to move in early so they could adjust to the city before classes started for their freshman year — but they had hit it off immediately. Will had ADHD, and Nico was pretty sure he had undiagnosed autism, and — although they had entirely different special interests — they were both happy to sit and listen to the other infodump for hours on end.

Their first night in the dorm, Nico had ranted for over an hour about the terrible-looking Mythomagic movie that was coming out next month, and Will had then explained everything that was wrong with the Star Wars sequels. By the next day, they had both explained their childhood traumas — which were surprisingly similar, actually, seeing as they both had dead older siblings and terrible dads — because it came up in passing when Will was talking about his old summer camp, which his mom had started sending him and his younger siblings to the summer after Will's older brothers died, because she was too deep in her grief to properly care for her remaining kids when they weren't in school. 

Talking about camp had also led to Will talking about Annabeth Chase, his best friend at camp who he had been in love with since his second summer there, when Will was 12 and Annabeth was 13. He admitted, kind of sheepishly, that Annabeth was actually a big part of the reason he had decided to travel all the way to New York for school, even though he'd convinced his family and friends in Austin, Texas that it was just because the med program at this university was so good. 

Nico had then jumped in to excitedly explain that he had done almost the exact same thing: following Percy Jackson to New York for college by convincing his dad that this school has the best business program in the country, even though Nico fully intended to drop his business major as soon as he could figure out how to do so without his dad finding out. 

Nico shuddered at the thought of the intro to business class he was going to be taking this semester, but he pushed it out of his mind as he finished applying his eyeliner and stepped back from the bathroom mirror. He would have never been caught dead with makeup a few years ago, mostly because he was worried about people finding out he was gay, but his friend Jason had encouraged him to start going to therapy again after he broke down and came out to Jason and Percy the night before Percy and his mom had moved to New York two years ago, right before Percy's senior year. Nico had really come to accept and embrace himself since then — including the fact that he really liked the way he looked with a bit of eyeliner — and now he was excited to introduce Percy to the new Nico. (And to finally settle his long-standing theory that Percy Jackson was definitely bi and would totally be into emo Italian boys.)

(“You don't even know for sure if he's into dudes?!” Will had said, after Nico explained that, yes, Percy had only ever dated girls in high school, but he just had the vibe of a bi guy, okay?

“Look, Will, my gaydar is impeccable.”

“Oh yeah? What's my sexuality?”

“Straight.”

“Bi, actually.”

“Oh. Huh.” Nico paused. “Okay, well, you said Annabeth has never dated anyone, as far as you know. So, how do you know she's into guys? Or romance at all?”

“Oh. Well, you got me there, I guess.”)

He heard a loud knocking and rushed out of the bathroom, pausing to breathe and school his face into a neutral expression before opening the door. 

“Hey Per—” Nico was cut off by strong, tan arms wrapping around him and lifting him off the ground in a bear hug. His face was pressed against the other boy's pecs, but he barely had time to be embarrassed (or thrilled?) about it before he was released and Percy was instead rubbing his knuckles on Nico's scalp. 

That's a good sign, right? Annabeth had done the same thing to Will, so it was probably a flirty thing, right?

“Nico!” Percy yelled, far too loudly. “My man! My bro! My dude! My guy!”

Nico laughed, turning his head to try and hide his blush. He probably should have been more concerned about the man, bro, dude, guy of it all, but all he heard was mine, mine, mine, mine . It had been too long since he'd looked into those sea green eyes, and he'd almost forgotten how pretty they were. They made it easy to feel wanted.

“Come on in, you doofus,” Nico said, pulling Percy into the room by his arm and closing the door. “Do you want me to crush you at Mario Kart or Smash Bros while you tell me about your first year in college?”

——

Lunch with Annabeth was perfect. She showed Will her favorite Thai place near campus and he felt like he was on cloud nine all through the meal. They just clicked so well. They hadn't seen each other in person in about two years, since Annabeth didn't come to camp the summer after she graduated high school, but they'd stayed in touch over text and Snapchat and it didn't take long for them to fall back into easy conversation. 

Annabeth seemed surprised when Will offered to pay for both of their meals, but she didn't fight him on it, so he figured that was a good sign. Neither of them had really said this was a date, but Will was hoping they were on the same page about it.

He had never had the guts to officially ask Annabeth out when they were at camp because, one, how are you going to go on a private date when you aren't allowed to leave this tiny camp? And two, they only saw each other during the summer so it probably would have been hard to maintain a romantic relationship, right? 

But now, they were adults. Now, they were going to be living in the same city for the foreseeable future. Now, it was only a matter of time. 

They walked back towards the dorms after lunch — because Annabeth had complained one of her roommates was having her girlfriend over all day, so Will had invited her to come chill at his place until it was safe to go home — and Annabeth graciously let Will hold the door for her as they entered the building.

Will knocked as he opened the door to his room, but walked right in without waiting for an answer. Nico and another dark-haired boy were in the middle of what appeared to be a very intense game of Super Smash Bros. Nico was sitting cross-legged on one of his two bean bags, which he had pushed right up next to each other in front of the tiny T.V. they'd set up in the corner of the room. The other boy — Percy Jackson, probably, if Will had to guess — was laying on his stomach across the other bean bag, his legs kicking anxiously behind him. 

“Neeeeeeeeks,” Will said, dropping to the floor in front of Nico and leaning his head back onto the other boy's lap. “Can we crash your video game party? Annie doesn't want to go back to her apartment, yet.”

Nico hummed, but didn't take his eyes away from the video game. 

“Did you bring me any Thai food?”

“No… But I'll order pizza for dinner later.”

“Deal. But you better not put pineapp—” Nico cut himself off to let out a cheer just as Percy groaned and slumped forward to hide his face.

“That's six in a row, dude!” Percy's voice was muffled against the bean bag.  “We've gotta play something else. I'm just embarrassing myself at this point.”

He turned his head to look up at Nico, who had leaned down to stick his tongue out at the older boy. Will felt Nico freeze as his and Percy’s faces suddenly came very close together, but it didn't last long. Percy glanced over at Will — who was still leaning on Nico's lap — and smiled before rolling onto the floor and pushing himself into a sitting position. Will scrambled to sit up as well, hoping he hadn't just intruded on a moment between Nico and his crush. 

“So, you must be the roommate,” Percy said, sticking out his hand for Will to shake but turning to look at Nico. “How come he gets to call you ‘Neeks’?”

“He doesn't,” Nico said, shoving Will lightly on the shoulder and making him miss Percy's hand, which he had just reached for. “I was just distracted when he came in.”

Will laughed and introduced himself, giving Percy a high five instead, and then turned to introduce Annabeth, who had made herself comfortable on Will’s bed. 

(He tried not to think too much about that. )

“You're Percy Jackson, right?” She said, before Percy could introduce himself. 

“Oh, um, yeah.” Percy seemed almost nervous all of a sudden. “Sorry, have we met before?”

Annabeth looked down at her lap, and Will thought he saw a little bit of pink coloring her cheeks. It was kind of warm with all four of them in here. Maybe Will should open the window. 

“Oh! No, it's just, uh, my cousin Magnus is on the swim team with you, so I've been to a few of your meets.” She got quieter as she spoke, not looking up from her lap. “You're really good.”

“Oh.” Percy chuckled and scratched the back of his neck, not quite looking at Annabeth. “Thanks. I, uh, really like it. Magnus is pretty cool, too.”

“We should all go sometime!” Will said, glancing at Nico, who was looking back and forth between Percy and Annabeth, frowning. “I'm sure Neeks would love to see one of your meets.”

Nico rolled his eyes and elbowed Will in the side, but Will noticed a very slight flush on his roommate's cheeks.

“Yeah, whatever. Are we going to play Mario Kart or what?”

——

[Percy <3 - 10:45 p.m.] sooooooo

[Percy <3 - 10:45 p.m.] he's pretty cute ;)

[Percy <3 - 10:49 p.m.] I see that typing bubble 

[Me - 10:55 p.m.] Who? Will? 

[Percy <3 - 10:55 p.m.] ;) ;) ;)

[Me - 11:02 p.m.] are you? into blondes?

[Percy <3 - 11:03 p.m.] bro I didn't mean for me

[Percy <3 - 11:03 p.m.] I mean I'm not … not into blondes

[Percy <3 - 11:04 p.m.] but idk I thought you were cute together

[Me - 11:04 p.m.] Percy no

[Percy <3 - 11:04 p.m.] unless he's dating that girl, Annabeth

[Percy <3 - 11:05 p.m.] they’re not dating right?

[Me - 11:05 p.m.] Percy 

[Me - 11:05 p.m.] I'm not into Will

——

[Beth,Anna <3 - 10:45 p.m.] so you and Nico seem to be getting along well

[Me - 10:45 p.m.] ya he's super cool! I really lucked out with my randomly assigned roommate

[Beth,Anna <3 - 10:46 p.m.] I'm happy for you :) My friend Piper and her girlfriend were randomly assigned roommates last year. 

[Me - 10:46 p.m.] that's fun 

[Me - 10:46 p.m.] you should introduce me sometime to all your new friends 

[Beth,Anna <3 - 10:47 p.m.] totally! We were thinking of having a movie night this weekend to break in the new place. You should come! 

[Beth,Anna <3 - 10:47 p.m.] and bring Nico

[Beth,Anna <3 - 10:50 p.m.] and if Nico wants to bring his friend, that would be chill 

——

Nico had been expecting a slow burn romance this year. It's just that, he was sort of hoping he was going to be part of it. 

He was able to delude himself for the first few months. After all, he was no stranger to completely misinterpreting social cues — even if he had spent most of his life studying how people interacted with each other and memorizing all of the rules, the neurotypicals still managed to surprise him with new ones on a pretty regular basis — so it was totally possible that the almost-touches and soft glances and constant blushing didn't actually mean what he thought they did. 

But this… this couldn't be misinterpreted. 

Will hadn't seen yet. 

He'd been the one to suggest this outing, pointing out to Nico that the most direct path from campus to their favorite Thai restaurant went right through a small park that was decked out with lights for Christmas. If they all went to dinner together — one last hurrah before Christmas break — they'd be walking back right around the time the lights turned on, and it would be the perfect romantic setting for Nico and Will to both make their move. 

Neither had gotten much alone time with the object of their affection this semester. Every time Nico had invited Percy out on something that could be construed as a date, Percy had asked if Will and Annabeth would be coming, and insisted that Nico should invite them. Annabeth had been doing the same thing to Will, and the four of them had quickly become a sort of package deal. 

Which is why tonight Will and Nico had been prepared with a plan to casually split the group up. But when Will stopped to tie his shoe just as they entered the park, Annabeth didn't stop to wait with him like she was supposed to. Instead, she grabbed Percy by the elbow and dragged him off toward one of the light displays, leaving Nico to decide between following them and leaving his roommate alone, or getting separated from Percy during what was supposed to be a romantic double date. 

And so they got separated. And now, as he watched Percy blinking down at Annabeth with his beautiful green eyes as she pulled away from their kiss, Nico realized that that's exactly what Percy and Annabeth thought this was: a double date. It was Nico and Will who had gotten the pairings crossed. 

Nico heard a sharp intake of breath next to him, and then Will's hand was tightly grasping Nico's arm, fingernails digging into his skin. Nico didn't pull away. 

He waited until the tears in his eyes clouded his vision enough that he couldn't distinguish Percy and Annabeth from the people standing around them, then turned and started walking back towards the dorms, pulling his roommate along with him. They didn't say anything as they walked, but Will moved his hand into Nico's, and they grasped each other’s fingers tightly, painfully, the entire way. 

——

“Percy won't stop texting me,” Jason said without preamble as he swung open the door to Nico's childhood bedroom without knocking. He tossed a plastic bag of something onto the bundle of blankets that he had apparently figured out was Nico and sat down on the end of the bed. “He said I have until the end of Christmas break to find out why you're mad at him.”

Nico's hand darted out from the bundle just long enough to find the bag and pull it inside, where he was delighted to see he'd just been given a bag of Kit Kats. It was Nico's favorite candy, so naturally a couple seconds later he popped his hand back out to flip Jason off. 

“How did you get in my house?” the bundle that was Nico said. 

“I let him in,” Hazel’s voice came from the direction of the open doorway. Nico heard the sound of the door closing and felt another weight settle on the bed next to Jason. 

No one said anything for a while, and the room was filled with the crinkling sound of Nico opening up Kit Kat packages one at a time. 

“You know perfectly well why I'm mad at him,” he eventually grumbled, sticking just his face out of the blanket bundle so he could glare at his little sister and his best friend. 

“I'd like to hear you say it,” Jason met his glare with an unimpressed gaze. 

“Why? So you can tell him all my deepest darkest secrets?”

“I've never told him you liked him before, and I don't plan on breaking your trust now,” Jason sighed. “I just think it would be easier to figure out what I can say to get him off your back if you would talk to me about it.”

Nico didn't like how logical that was. He stuck his head back under the blankets and huffed before he started talking, hoping the fabric would muffle his voice enough to make this whole ordeal less embarrassing.

“I just feel like an idiot, okay? I've been pining after Percy for so long, and I just really thought I had a chance, you know? We'd been spending so much time together, and every time he smiles at me I just… ugh I can't even think straight.”

Hazel snorted at that, and Nico stuck his head out just long enough to stick his tongue out at her before continuing.

“I've been convincing myself those smiles meant something and all the while he's been falling in love with some girl that I introduced him to.” Nico paused to open another Kit Kat while he organized his thoughts. “A girl who, by the way, should be dating my amazing roommate, who is totally in love with her, and who is also super attractive, and just as nice as Percy, and definitely smarter. I mean, the guy wants to be a pediatrician for goodness’ sake. And the worst—”

——

“—worst part is, apparently, everybody but us saw this coming.” Will knew that he was talking in circles, and had been since he got off the plane in Austin yesterday, but he couldn't get himself to stop.

“I ran into Grover at the library the day after the kiss and he was so excited, like he'd been waiting for them to get together forever. And Nico said Piper told him she won thirty bucks off Leo because it happened before Christmas break rather than after, but Leo won fifteen dollars from Travis who thought—”

“Will! William! Brother dearest,” Kayla grabbed Will's face with both hands to make him stop talking. “I need you to understand that I don't know who any of these people are.”

“I know! I know! It's just, ugh,” he pulled Kayla's hands off his face and flopped down onto the couch. “I can't believe we were both so oblivious. We thought we were going to have a double wedding!”

“Is he still going on about this?” Austin piped up, walking into the room holding a bag of doritos. He sat down on the arm of the couch and put a hand on Will's leg for a moment, before taking his hand back to grab another chip. “Look, dude, from everything you've told me, I don't think a double wedding is entirely off the table.”

Will just scoffed, but Kayla looked over at their younger brother and raised an eyebrow. 

“You really think Annabeth is going to dump the hot swimmer guy for Will?”

“She could!” Will defended, glaring at his sister.

“No, no, it's not that,” Austin chuckled. “It's just, uh… Will, tell me again about Percy’s part in all of this?”

“Well, that's the other thing!” Will sat up with renewed energy. “Like, look, I understand why he's into Annabeth, obviously . I mean, I'm in love with her, too, of course I get it.” Will's hands were flying wildly as he talked. “But, but, the guy is completely ignoring Nico. Nico! He could be dating this beautiful Italian man, who just has this passion for everything he does. Except for business, he hates business. But! He still passed his intro to business class with flying colors! Because he's a genius! And when he's learning something he's actually interested in? Man, you should see the way his eyes light up, and the way his accent starts to come out while he's talking about it. And speaking of his eyes, it's insane how pretty they are. Like, I literally cannot understand how Percy can look into those eyes and not just melt, you know? He's just, ugh, he's just such an idiot for passing that up. Nico really deserves everything and I can't believe Percy doesn't see that.”

Will had slumped back down onto the couch towards the end of his rant, and his siblings were silent for a few seconds after he finished. 

He heard a gentle oh from Kayla, and looked up to see her looking at Austin like he'd just solved a particularly difficult math equation and the answer was 80085. Will, for the life of him, couldn't figure out what was so funny, but Austin just nodded at her, looking like he was trying to hold back a laugh himself. 

“I'm telling you, double wedding. ”

——

Apparently the kiss actually could be misinterpreted. If you were Percy Jackson. 

“But how are you so sure that she likes me, though?”

Nico shouldn't have been surprised. After all, he'd been trying to flirt with the boy for years now and had gotten nowhere. Of course Percy would be dense enough to think a girl might have kissed him — on the lips, in a snowy park, surrounded by magical Christmas lights — as a friend.

“Percy, my guy,” Will piped up from where he was laying on his bed, looking thoroughly disgusted with this conversation. “I mean this with all the disrespect in the world: are you an idiot?”

Nico was feeling very unsympathetic toward Will's obvious distress. After all, he was the one who had opened the door when Percy knocked (“because what if it's something important, Nico!”) and now they were both stuck here pretending they weren't absolutely heartbroken about the situation that Percy was apparently oblivious to. 

They'd both been back in the city for less than a day after Christmas break, and Nico had been low-key hoping he could just keep avoiding Percy for the rest of his college career. Unfortunately, Jason cared too much about Nico being self-destructive and pushing away friends, so he had convinced Percy that Nico was only ignoring his texts because he was stressed about telling his dad he was switching his major to classical literature. (Which was ridiculous, because Nico didn't plan on telling his dad that fact, ever.) And now Percy, bolstered by the belief that he and Nico — and by extension, Will, for some reason — were still best platonic bros, had decided to make his love life Nico and Will’s problem. 

As if it wasn't already. 

“I know, I know, it's just … she kissed me, yes, but it was like a goodbye kiss. She was about to go home for Christmas, you know?” Percy pulled his legs up to his chest as he spoke, leaning back on Nico's bed — where he had sat himself entirely without Nico's permission, by the way, forcing the Italian to stand up and start pacing around the room to avoid sitting next to him.

“She's never platonically kissed me goodbye,” Will’s voice was edged with bitterness, but Percy seemed completely oblivious to it. What else was new?

“And then she didn't text me at all over break, and I just don't know what I'm supposed to think,” Percy continued, like Will hadn't said anything.

Nico sighed, dropping down onto one of the bean bags in the corner of the room. 

Why am I in love with this idiot? 

Why am I about to help him?

“Percy, what did you do after she kissed you?” Nico said, burying his face in his hands. 

“I don't know, I just kind of stood there. Like, I was so surprised, my mind just went blank, I think.”

Nico felt buzzing in his pocket, and he looked over at Will to see the other boy furiously typing on his phone. 

“You didn't say anything?” Nico asked, ignoring the buzzing.

“I was going to! But, I guess I waited too long, and then she was telling me she had to pack because she had a flight in the morning, and then she left.”

“And you spent the break waiting for her to text you? And you didn't text her?”

Nico continued to ignore his phone vibrating in his pocket. He knew Will probably thought he was out of his mind for giving Percy advice, but… the guy was still his friend. He obviously didn't know he was hurting Nico, and as stupid as it was, Nico wanted to see him happy. 

“Oh. I should have texted her, huh?” 

“Completely ignoring someone after they kiss you is typically a pretty bad move.”

“Crap. I should go talk to her, right?”

Nico shrugged, all his energy already spent on this conversation, but Percy seemed to take it as confirmation. 

“Right, right,” Percy jumped off the bed, seeming rejuvenated — maybe that's where all of Nico's energy went — and headed out the door. “Thanks guys, you're honestly the best.”

Nico could feel Will’s glare as Percy left the room, but he didn't look up. Instead he pulled his phone out and stared at the several texts Will had sent him. 

——

[Billy the Kid - 8:44 p.m.] what in the world are you doing

[Billy the Kid - 8:45 p.m.] Nico!

[Billy the Kid - 8:45 p.m.] don't help him! 

[Billy the Kid - 8:46 p.m.] you deserve better than this Nico

[Billy the Kid - 8:46 p.m.] he hurt you!

[Billy the Kid - 8:46 p.m.] and Annabeth! He managed to hurt both of you in one night and you're going to help him fix it?

[Billy the Kid - 8:47 p.m.] I can't believe this

——

“What did you expect me to do, Will? It's not like I can win him over now, anyway. He only has eyes for Annabeth.” Nico climbed into his bed and laid down on his side, facing the wall instead of looking at his roommate. He noticed the slight scent of chlorine that Percy had left behind and felt tears start to burn in his eyes. 

Will didn't respond, so Nico continued. 

“And you aren't going to win her over, either. You know that, right? Or did you forget it was her that kissed him three weeks ago?”

At that he heard a soft breath come from Will's side of the room, like the boy was stifling a sob. He rolled over, opening his mouth to apologize, but Will spoke first, his voice watery. 

“Bu- But then he ignored her, Nico,” the blonde whispered. “And if I had just texted her during the break, if I had gone to talk to her just now, before Percy could get there—”

“Do you really want to be her rebound? Her shoulder to cry on while she figures out that Percy may be an oblivious idiot but he does actually care? She's smart, she’ll figure it out, eventually. And then where would you be?”

Will let out a sob then, and Nico felt his heart break all over again on behalf of his roommate. He cursed softly, regretting being so callous, as true as he knew his words were. He climbed out of his bed and padded over to the other side of the room, sitting down and pulling Will's head into his lap. Nico let his own tears fall then, rubbing circles into his roommate's hair until they both fell asleep. 

——

It wasn't the last night the two spent crying together, but those nights were becoming less and less common as the months passed. Will knew now his crush on Annabeth was a lost cause, and he was trying to move on — he had even joined the betting pool for when she and Percy would finally make their relationship official — but he couldn't quite get rid of the bitter ache under his ribs every time the four friends hung out together. 

Things were awkward, mostly because it was May now and Percy and Annabeth still weren't dating, even though they'd been dancing around each other all year. Apparently that first night after Christmas break, when Percy had run off to Annabeth’s apartment, he'd gotten there at the same time as their friend Leo and his new girlfriend, Calypso, who Percy had dated in high school. 

That night was a comedy of errors when Leo told the story, but more of a tragedy when Annabeth or Percy did. The gist of it was that Calypso and Percy had dated for two months right after Percy moved to New York and now everybody knew about it. Their breakup had been amicable enough and probably wouldn't have been a problem, except that Percy had been ignoring Annabeth for three weeks before he showed up at her door standing next to his ex-girlfriend (and Leo). It didn't go over very well, and things had been weird between them since then. 

Will had heard the story from both Annabeth and Percy, because for some reason they'd both decided to make Will and Nico their confidants about all things love-related. It sucked for both Nico and Will to constantly be hearing about Annabeth and Percy's relationship woes, but for some reason neither of them could say no when the objects of their unrequited crushes came knocking. 

That bitter feeling settled into Will's stomach again as he walked next to Nico on the sidewalk, a few steps behind Annabeth and Percy. The four of them had gone out to dinner again to celebrate finishing their finals, and were now heading back home early so Nico and Percy could finish packing. They were flying out to LA together the next day so that Percy could stay with Nico and his family and see some old friends during the first couple weeks of summer break. Will and Annabeth were both leaving later in the week to stay with their own families for break.

Percy grabbed Annabeth's hand and abruptly stopped walking — almost causing Will and Nico to crash into them — when they reached the place where they would all have to split up to head back to their various apartments. He pulled Annabeth to the side, and waved at Nico and Will in what was clearly a silent plea for them to keep walking. 

Will glanced at Nico, who just shrugged half-heartedly. Will shrugged back, and the two of them turned to head toward their dorm. They were almost out of earshot when Will heard Percy start talking. 

“Don't I get a kiss goodbye? It's kind of a tradition, right?”

——

[Niccolo Piccolo - 9:13 a.m.] if he says one more thing about Annabeth, I'm going to drop dead before we even land.

[Me - 9:17 a.m.] did you pay for Wi-Fi on the plane just so you could text me that?

[Niccolo Piccolo - 9:17 a.m.] Will, I'm dying

[Niccolo Piccolo - 9:17 a.m.] the thing is, I'm better than her in every way

[Me - 9:19 a.m.] how dare you

[Me - 9:19 a.m.] Annabeth is perfect

[Niccolo Piccolo - 9:20 a.m.] I'm perfect+1

[Me - 9:20 a.m.] what are you, seven?

[Niccolo Piccolo - 9:20 a.m.] yeah, seven seconds away from jumping out of this airplane if Percy doesn't shut up about your female doppleganger

[Me - 9:21 a.m.] gross, we look nothing alike

[Me - 9:21 a.m.] she's way prettier than me

[Niccolo Piccolo - 9:22 a.m.] literally not true

[Me - 9:23 a.m.] you can't tell me we look alike, Nico, I wanted to date her. Ew

[Niccolo Piccolo - 9:23 a.m.] wanted to? 

[Me - 9:23 a.m.] I'm working on it

——

“Who ya texting?”

Will looked up from his phone just as Annabeth blew a straw wrapper at him from across the table. The two had stopped at a little diner for breakfast after dropping Nico and Percy off at the airport, and Will was desperately trying not to feel like they were on a date when he knew that wasn't how Annabeth saw things. 

If this were a date, he definitely wouldn't be looking at his phone. Which is why he had forced himself to answer when Nico first texted him, and then he'd apparently gotten so absorbed in the conversation that he hadn't noticed their food getting dropped off. 

“Just Nico,” he answered, grabbing the syrup to pour over his waffles. 

Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

“He paid for Wi-Fi on the plane so he could text you?” Annabeth took a slow sip of her orange juice. “Couldn't survive a few hours without talking to you?”

“He paid for Wi-Fi on the plane so he could complain about Percy.”

That just made her smile more. 

“Oh? What about Percy?”

“According to Nico, he won't shut up.” 

He left out the about you, but he had a feeling Annabeth figured it out anyway. 

The girl just chuckled and went back to eating, but after a few minutes the silence was making Will uncomfortable, so his mouth decided to ask the worst possible question.

“You didn't kiss him again last night, did you? After that awful line?”

Annabeth blushed at that, but tried to hide her discomfort behind another laugh. 

“No, no I didn't.” She stuck a bite of eggs in her mouth a little too forcefully before looking up at Will. She met his eyes, but Will got the feeling she wasn't really looking at him. “But I will, I think. Eventually.”

Will looked down at his waffles and didn't say anything. The silence was still uncomfortable, but he didn't trust himself to break it again. Unfortunately, Annabeth apparently had more to say. 

“Now, speaking of not kissing someone, what's going on with you and Nico?”

——

[Billy the Kid - 9:47 a.m.] if she doesn't stop talking about Percy's eyes, I swear I'm gonna puke

[Me - 9:57 a.m.] ok but to be fair, have you seen his eyes? 

[Me - 9:57 a.m.] sent an image

[Billy the Kid - 10:01 a.m.] have you seen mine? 

[Billy the Kid - 10:01 a.m.] sent an image 

[Me - 10:02 a.m.] touché

[Me - 10:02 a.m.] honestly I wish your eyes were the ones I'd have to keep looking at for the next two weeks instead of his

[Me - 10:05 a.m.] wait

[Me - 10:05 a.m.] that came out weird

[Billy the Kid - 10:05 a.m.] no I know what you mean

[Billy the Kid - 10:05 a.m.] it must suck having him in your house 

[Billy the Kid - 10:06 a.m.] I'm already overwhelmed hanging out with Annabeth without you two as a buffer and I only have to do it for another day, plus she's not sleeping in the same house as me

[Me - 10:06 a.m.] wild how we would have killed for this situation in like, October

[Billy the Kid - 10:06 a.m.] lol right?

[Me - 10:07 a.m.] how did you even get on the topic of Percy’s eyes anyway

[Billy the Kid - 10:07 a.m.] ok so I might have brought him up

[Me - 10:07 a.m.] solace

[Me - 10:07 a.m.] why

[Billy the Kid - 10:08 a.m.] well she keeps trying to ask about my love life and it's the only distraction I can come up with

[Me - 10:08 a.m.] psh what love life 

[Billy the Kid - 10:09 a.m.] exactly! she seems to think I've got something going on with someone else and she keeps bringing it up, so all I can do is point out that she's being just as obtuse with Percy

[Me - 10:17 a.m.] wait who

——

“Who's got you making all those faces at your phone?”

Nico whipped his head up to see Percy with his arms on the edge of the pool and his head tilted, staring at Nico where he was sitting on a lawn chair in the shade.

The Italian had barely managed to restrain his friend from jumping in the di Angelo’s pool fully clothed when they'd gotten into LA the night before, late in the evening after a several-hour layover in Austin (they hadn’t left the airport, but Nico had texted both Will and their friend Leo to tease them about how he got to Texas first for the summer). And because Nico could never deny Percy anything, swimming was probably going to be their main activity for the next two weeks. Nico's little sister Hazel was over on the other end of the pool, looking like she was trying to drown her boyfriend, Frank, who was fighting to stay on top of his giant goldfish floaty. 

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Nico said, tucking his phone into his pocket. “I don't make faces.”

“Right,” Percy smiled. “So you definitely didn't just smile, then blush, then giggle, and then frown all angry-like, all while staring down at your phone?”

Nico could feel the blood rushing to his face, but he kept his expression neutral. 

“No.”

“Uh huh. Sure. I believe you.”

“How long have you been watching me, anyway?”

“How long have you been texting whoever's making you blush like that? Is it Will?”

“I'm not texting anyone!” Nico's phone buzzed loudly then, almost causing him to drop it as Percy started laughing loudly and fell backwards into the water.

Nico glanced at the new text from Will ( oh, nobody, she's just making stuff up ), and barely managed to stop himself from frowning at his phone again in confusion. He glared at Percy instead as the older boy pulled himself out of the water and grabbed onto the wall again. 

“That was just Jason, letting me know he's on his way over, finally,” Nico lied. 

“Nope, try again!” Nico did drop his phone this time, jumping at the voice coming from behind him. He turned around to see Jason, leaning against the back door of the house, which he had probably just closed behind himself. “Persephone let me in. You know I never text before showing up here.”

Luckily, Jason's arrival was enough of a distraction that both he and Percy forgot to ask about who Nico was really texting. Percy jumped out of the pool and ran over to give Jason a hug, soaking the other boy, who returned the gesture with a chorus of bros and dudes.

Nico picked up his phone and turned on the camera, taking a short video just as Percy started wrestling Jason's shirt off so he could push the blonde into the pool. 

——

[Me - 10:24 a.m.] I'm telling you, this man is not straight

[Me - 10:24 a.m.] sent a video

[Leoooooo - 10:24 a.m.] uhhhhhhhh

[Billy the Kid - 10:25 a.m.] oh.

[Billy the Kid - 10:25 a.m.] ok you may have a point

[Me - 10:25 a.m.] Oops, sorry Leo. Meant to send that to just Will, didn’t realize I opened the make-fun-of-texans chat

[Leoooooo - 10:26 a.m.] so I know you were talking about Percy, but do you know if that other guy is straight

[Leoooooo - 10:26 a.m.] cause

[Leoooooo - 10:26 a.m.] um

[Me - 10:26 a.m.] Leo you have a girlfriend

——

The summer passed pretty quickly after those first two long weeks with Percy, and soon enough Nico was back in New York, hauling boxes into the apartment he was renting this year with Will and Leo. 

Percy and​ his friend Grover had met them at the apartment to help them move in, and afterward they were all going out for pizza with Annabeth and her roommates, Juniper and Piper, and Piper's girlfriend, Shel. 

It was the first time Percy and Annabeth were going to see each other since last school year, and Percy was visibly nervous. Nico had finally made the older boy stop helping carry things after he tripped over his own feet for the third time and almost dropped the box that had all of Nico's Mythomagic collectables. Now he was sitting on the sofa bouncing his leg while he watched the other boys bring in the last couple boxes. 

Nico expected Will to be similarly nervous, or at least somewhat dejected-looking, but the blonde was surprisingly calm considering his crush’s crush was sitting on their couch looking like he was about to explode. Nico was also a little surprised at how nonchalant he, himself, was feeling about the whole situation, finding himself more annoyed with Percy's complete ineptitude with women than he was bothered by his (alleged) lack of interest in men. Something in their relationship had shifted over the summer, but Nico wasn't quite sure he could put a name to it just yet. 

His eyes flicked over to Will, who had set his box down in the kitchen and was humming under his breath while pulling dishes and silverware out of it. He'd gotten tanner over the summer, and had developed a few more freckles across his nose and chin. There was one right above his lip that Nico wasn't sure had been there before and he felt a sudden urge to reach out and touch it. He fiddled with his ring instead, pausing to hoist himself onto the kitchen counter, where he sat cross-legged and continued watching the other boy unpack.

There was a loud thump and Nico jumped, spinning around to see Leo had dumped his box, labeled bathroom , on the floor in the middle of the living room and flopped onto the couch. He put his head on Percy's leg to stop the incessant bouncing. “Dude, you seriously need to calm down. She's not going to, like, hit you or something.”

Percy's other leg started bouncing as he looked at the boy in his lap. 

“Have you met Annabeth? She might.”

“Touché.” Leo swung his legs up onto the backrest so he was almost upside down with his head still on Percy's leg. 

“Have you done something that would make her want to hit you?” Grover asked, plopping down on Leo's other side and leaning his head against Leo’s knee.

“I don't think so? But she's kind of hard to read sometimes,” Percy scratched the back on his neck. “I'm just not sure if she's as excited to see me as I am to see her.”

Will turned to look at Nico, then, but Nico knew if they made eye contact neither of them would be able to hold back their laughter, so he avoided the blonde’s gaze and looked down at the ring on his hand instead. Still, he couldn't stop himself from cracking a smile, and he knew Will was doing the same. 

Annabeth was excited to see Percy, and Nico and Will both knew it. If they had thought going home for summer break was going to give them any reprieve from the Percy/Annabeth situation, they were quickly proven wrong when less than three weeks into summer they had been put into two separate three-person group chats — one with Percy and one with Annabeth — which the not-couple used almost exclusively to send screenshots of their personal text chain and ask for advice. Several of the conversations between Annabeth and Percy that summer had been almost fully crafted on both sides by Will and Nico.

Add to that the constant jokes and chatter in the already existing group chat, that all four of them were in, and Nico and Will’s personal messages, where they went to poke fun at their obnoxious straight friends/ex-crushes, and Nico's phone had been busier that summer than ever before in his life, and it was all focused around Percy and Annabeth's​ budding relationship.

It had been frustrating at first, but he and Will had turned it into a sort of game, making bets about the weirdest things they could get the other two to say to each other. Percy was much easier to manipulate than Annabeth, but they'd managed to talk both of them into sending enough confusing one-liners and cryptic responses to cause a case of mixed-signals on both ends. 

Now that Nico thought about it, it was probably his and Will’s fault that Percy was so anxious right now. 

“Well, there's only one way to find out, right?” Will said, abandoning his half-unpacked box of dishes in the kitchen and walking over to stand in front of the boys on the couch. “Let's go get pizza!”

——

It finally happened on Halloween. 

Annabeth and Percy had been especially flirty all night, looking at each other with big doe eyes and using the jumpscares in the bad horror movies they were watching as an excuse to cuddle. 

Leo kept fake gagging every time they clung to each other unnecessarily, but Will knew he was just sore about coupley stuff since Calypso had dumped him a couple weeks ago, before dropping out of school to go backpacking across Europe. Annabeth and Percy weren't the only couple in the room, but they were certainly being the most obnoxious. Piper and Shel and Grover and Juniper were both a little more settled in their relationships and didn't feel the need to canoodle quite so much in public. 

(Well, in Will, Nico, and Leo’s apartment, which was basically public considering there were nine people trying to share one couch)

Will really should have been feeling more annoyed about Percy and Annabeth's shenanigans. After all, he'd been bitterly trying to mess with their budding relationship all summer over text, but that had sort of stopped being about them at all when it turned into more of a silly game between him and Nico. 

And that was just the thing. Nico. Will should have been gagging right along with Leo as he watched the girl he'd been in love with for seven years making goo-goo eyes at another guy. But Will wasn't watching her. Not actively. He knew she was there, sitting on the armrest of the couch, leaning into Percy’s side. But Will was paying far more attention to Nico, who spent most of the night sitting next to Will on the ground, and digging through multiple bags of assorted Halloween candy to pull out all the Kit Kats — which he set in a pile for himself — and the pumpkin-shaped Reese's — which he handed to Will. Will didn't even remember when he had told Nico that Reese's were his favorite.

So, when Annabeth called Will at almost the exact same time Percy called Nico — about 20 minutes after Percy had offered to walk Annabeth home — Will knew what the conversation would be about. He stepped back out into the living room before answering, so Nico could talk to Percy in their shared bedroom, and watched as Leo ducked into his own room down the hall. 

As predicted, Annabeth squealed into the phone as soon as he answered, then announced that Percy had finally kissed her and asked her to be his girlfriend. Will played the part of the supportive bestie — squealing along with her — and he found it wasn't as hard to do as he expected. In fact, he realized he was actually happy for her. As much as he had wished to be the person that made her this excited and lovesick, he knew now that had never been an option. And for some reason, he wasn't mad about it anymore. 

The conversation didn't last too long because Juniper and Piper got back to Annabeth's apartment and immediately demanded she hang up and give them all the juicy details. The other two girls had both decided to walk their own significant others home after the movie night, probably because they anticipated Annabeth and Percy's breakthrough might finally happen if they were left alone. 

Will let Annabeth get pulled away by her roommates, although she did promise to update him more thoroughly the next time they saw each other in person. He couldn't say he was exactly thrilled at the idea, but he figured it was unavoidable, so he agreed. 

He sat on the couch after hanging up and just stared at the wall for a while, hoping to sort through his feelings about the whole situation, but all his thoughts just felt fuzzy, like they weren't quite aligned right.  Eventually he sighed, figuring he'd be able to make more sense of things after a good night's sleep, and stood up to go into his and Nico's room.

He was surprised to see Nico was already in bed — he hadn't realized he'd been staring at the wall that long — so he tried to be quiet as he changed into his pajamas. But it turned out he didn't have to worry about waking the other boy up. As soon as Will was comfortably under his covers, Nico spoke up, softly. 

“Hey, Will?”

“Yeah, Nico?”

“Are you still in love with Annabeth?”

Will stared into the darkness above him. It wasn't any more helpful than staring at the wall had been, in terms of kicking his brain into gear, so after a few minutes, he answered truthfully. 

“I don't know, Nico.”

Nico didn't answer. Will waited for several minutes before speaking again, almost hoping that Nico had fallen asleep before he asked his next question. 

“Are you still in love with Percy?”

“No.” 

The reply came immediately, and Will felt a sudden surge of emotions he couldn't name. 

“I still love Percy,” Nico continued, and the unnamable emotions shifted unpleasantly. “But, not in the same way, I don't think. I care about him. I want him to be happy. I'm glad he's in my life. But, I'm not in love with him, you know? And, I'm glad he has Annabeth, I think. Although it sucks that that means you're being hurt.”

Will sunk down into his pillow. Was he being hurt? He didn't feel like he was hurting. In fact, he felt a lot lighter than he had in a while. But that didn't make any sense. It should hurt. 

“Why do you love her?” Nico whispered, so softly Will almost didn't hear him. 

That fuzziness was back in Will’s head. This answer should be easy. He'd had this answer ready, on the tip of his tongue, for years. But none of the things he normally said felt right anymore. 

“Why do you love Percy?” He asked instead. 

“We have a long history,” Nico said after a few moments. “He was in the car with Bianca, my older sister, when she died, and I blamed him for a while. But we both got counseling, and we talked, and we started spending a lot of time together. And at some point, I don't know. It shifted. I wanted him to be more than just a close friend. I guess that's what happens when you get really close to someone who's attractive and funny and cares a lot about the people around them.”

“What changed?”

“I think I just realized that he was never going to see me the same way, and…” Nico trailed off, like there was more he wanted to say but he was having trouble finding the words. Will waited for him to find them. “And there are other attractive, funny guys who care. Smarter guys. Guys who actually think a little before they act. Guys who are actually attracted to men.”

Will chuckled quietly at that, forcing it out around the heart sized lump that seemed to be taking up space in his throat and melting slowly into his lungs.

“I don't know, that video you sent me over the summer just about had me convinced.”

“Right?!” and then Nico was laughing, and Will was laughing, and the lump in his throat got a little smaller, and he felt a little lighter. 

——

Nico was laying on his bed, bouncing his foot and pretending to drum along to whatever music was playing through his headphones, when Will walked into their shared room after Christmas break. A travel suitcase was sitting open at the foot of Nico's bed, but he clearly hadn't made much progress in unpacking it. 

He looked up and smiled at Will when he came in, but went right back to his silent drum solo, so Will made his way over to his own bed to start unpacking. He paused when he noticed a small gift bag sitting on his pillow. 

“Hey Nico, what's this?”

He looked over his shoulder when he didn't get a response to see that the other boy had closed his eyes and was swinging his arms so rapidly Will worried the imaginary drum set might be fighting back. 

Will jumped onto his own bed and pulled his pillow into his lap, gently setting the package down next to him. He watched for another minute while Nico air drummed like his life depended on it, before taking aim and launching the pillow across the room, smacking his roommate right in the face. 

Nico cursed and sat up with the pillow clutched in his arms. He glared at Will, who just smiled back at him until he eventually rolled his eyes and took his headphones off. 

“What?”

“Well, it's good to see you, too,” Will chuckled. 

“Yeah, yeah, I'm glad you made it back and all that,” Nico waved his hand dismissively, but he was smiling while he spoke. “Did you need something or are you just assaulting me with pillows for fun?”

Will held up the gift bag. 

“What is this?”

“It's your Christmas present.”

“I was afraid of that.” Will sighed. “I didn't get you anything.”

Nico shrugged.

“I wasn't expecting you to. It's not like I went out of my way to get you a present. I just saw it, and I thought of you.”

“Nico!” Will would have thrown another pillow if he had one. “That's so much worse! That means it's, like, a good present. Like, it's all thoughtful and stuff.”

Nico snorted and raised his eyebrows. 

“I really think you should open it before you start saying stuff like that,” he said between laughs. 

Will furrowed his eyebrows at Nico suspiciously, but started pulling the tissue paper out the top of the bag. He reached inside and pulled out a light blue scarf with some sort of silver design on it. It was really soft, and Will wanted to immediately wrap it around his neck, but Nico had started laughing, so he squinted his eyes instead and looked a little closer at the design.

“Is this a stethoscope?”

Nico’s laugh got louder. It had a musical quality to it that made Will want to keep listening forever.

“Wait, wait,” the Italian managed between giggles. “There's more in the bag.”

Nico's laugh was contagious, and Will found himself giggling along as he reached back into the bag and pulled out another soft, blue piece of fabric. He held it up and realized it was a matching hat, with another silver design across the front.

“Is this supposed to look like one of those headband things you only see on cheap doctor costumes?”

“Yeah!” Nico took a few deep breaths to try and tame his laughter. “It's a matching set!”

“I take it back. This is the worst Christmas gift I've ever gotten—

“I told you!”

“—but I will be treasuring it forever, thank you very much.”

Nico's smile softened slightly as Will pulled the hat firmly onto his head. 

“You know, the headband thing is actually called a head mirror. I read about them on Wikipedia after I bought the hat, because I realized I've never actually seen a real doctor use one,” Nico reached for his phone, and started typing something into the search bar as he talked. “Apparently they're pretty much obsolete now, because we have better ways of focusing light, but they used to be really important for ear, nose, and throat examinations.”

Nico kept talking, and Will felt himself relaxing as he listened to the other boy. He leaned back on his bed, holding the scarf up to his cheek, and closed his eyes, letting Nico's voice wash over him. 

It didn’t wash him very well, though, since almost immediately after Will closed his eyes Nico stopped talking and Will was hit in the face with his own pillow, which Nico must have thrown back across the room.

“You’re not listening! This is important doctor stuff, you know!” Nico was laughing as he spoke, so Will laughed along with him, pushing his pillow to the side and sitting up. 

“I am listening,” he said between laughs. “I was just, also, resting. It’s been a long couple of weeks.”

Nico’s laughter quieted at that and he turned his head to look Will right in the eyes.  

“How was seeing your family?”

Will sighed, running a hand through his hair. 

“It was good, mostly. My mom can be a lot sometimes, but she really does care.” Will looked away from Nico. The other boy’s concerned stare seemed like it was going straight through his eyes and tugging gently on the tangled web of thoughts in his head. “Actually, speaking of doctors, I, uh, I talked to my mom — since I’m on her insurance — about, maybe, going to see a therapist? I don’t know if I mentioned, but I never really talked to anybody after Lee and Michael… yeah.”

“I think that’s a great idea, Will,” Nico’s voice was soft, almost a whisper. “I’m really proud of you.”

“It was, uh, it was kind of because of you,” Will said, not looking up from his lap. “I kept thinking about what you said on Halloween, about your relationship with Percy, and talking with him after you both got counseling. And then I thought about Annabeth, and how she was the first person outside my family that I got close to after, well, after. It made me wonder if, I don’t know, if I just got attached to her because of the circumstances? You know? Because she was there for me, and she helped me feel better, and I thought, I don’t know, maybe being with her romantically would somehow fix, um, everything?” Will put his head in his hands. “Wow, that sounds really stupid when I say it outloud.”

Will stayed that way, with his head in his hands, for about ten seconds, before he heard Nico shifting around on his bed and then felt something soft land next to him.

“Oh. I missed.”

Will looked at the new pillow sitting next to him on his bed, then looked up at the other boy. He was surprised to see Nico smiling at him softly, blinking rapidly like he was trying to stop tears from falling. 

“It’s not stupid, Will. You’re not stupid.”

Will didn’t know what to say to that. So, he just watched as Nico wiped his eyes on his hoodie sleeves and then pulled out his phone again. 

“Do you need help looking for a therapist? I know some websites where you can cross reference specialties you’d like to focus on, like grief, with the insurance plans they take and whether or not they offer remote services.”

——

Nico desperately wanted to ask how therapy was going, but he knew it was a topic he had to let Will bring up on his own. 

The other boy had seemed reluctant to talk about it since their conversation in January, but Nico knew he was still meeting with someone once a week over zoom. Every Friday at 4 p.m., Will would lock himself in their shared bedroom, leaving Nico to hang out in the living room with Leo or find something to do outside the apartment.

Sometimes Will stayed alone in their room until late in the evening, even though Nico was pretty sure the therapy sessions were only one hour long, but Nico didn't mind. He knew how important it is to have space when processing grief, so he always made sure to grab anything he needed from the room beforehand. Sometimes, when they didn't have too much studying to do, he and Leo would use the time to cook a nice dinner for themselves and Will.

Will didn't always talk with them when he came out after sessions, but he would always smile and sit with them to eat, and anything that made Will smile was a victory in Nico's book.

Nico had been thinking about Will’s smile a lot this year. And his laugh. And that freckle that Nico wanted to touch right above his lip. And the way his hair would stick up all over the place when he first woke up in the morning. And the way his eyes would open wide when he was listening closely and scrunch up when he didn't understand. And. And. And. 

And Nico knew what this was. And he couldn't believe he was doing this to himself again. 

How many times was he going to make himself compete with Annabeth Chase for a boy's love?

A sharp sting on his hand brought Nico back to the present, where a drop of hot olive oil had just jumped out of the pan he was frying chicken in and landed on his thumb. He dropped the spatula he'd been using to stir the chicken pieces — or, more accurately, stare at the chicken pieces while thinking about Will — and stepped back from the stove, instinctively putting the side of his thumb in his mouth. 

“Ew, dude,” Leo looked up from where he was chopping vegetables at the counter. “You better wash your hands before you touch anything again.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Nico said, stepping over to the sink to run his hand under cold water and wash it. “Can you just stir the chicken? I'll finish cutting the vegetables when I'm done.”

Leo mock-saluted him and stepped over to the stove. 

A few minutes later, just as Nico finished chopping the last onion, he heard the creak of their bedroom door opening and snapped his head up. He made eye contact with Will, who smiled softly at him as he shuffled into the living room. The weeks where Will emerged after therapy with red-rimmed eyes and a faraway gaze were becoming less and less common, and Nico was glad to see it. Not that he begrudged Will the opportunity to feel his feelings in any way, but he knew that Will was much more likely to participate in dinner conversation when he didn't come out feeling overwhelmed. And Nico loved listening to Will talk.

Oh, he was so far gone. 

Leo suddenly appeared at Nico's side, grabbing the cut vegetables off the counter so he could dump them into the pan with the cooked chicken and the sauce they made earlier.

“This'll just take a couple more minutes of stirring,” Leo said. “Should be done by the time the rice cooker goes off. Can you two set the table?”

A few minutes later they were all sitting around the table, passing the pan around to serve themselves some of the stir fry. Will seemed nervous, but not in the way he normally was when he came out of therapy. This was more like an anxious excitement. He was bouncing his leg and tapping his fork on the table and kept glancing at Nico, then looking away with a small smile when they made eye contact. 

Nico was debating whether or not to say something when Leo spoke up first. 

“So, Will,” he said, slowly. “Did you need to ask us something?”

“Huh?” Will jumped slightly and looked over at Leo like he'd forgotten the other boy was there. “Oh! Right! Uh, so, I was wondering if maybe you guys would be willing to, uh, not be in the apartment next Friday while I have my therapy session? I promise this won't become a normal thing, but I think next week's session is going to be extra, um, emotional, so I might need the space for a little while.”

Will had looked back at Nico when he started asking the question, but was looking at the barely-touched stir fry on his plate when he finished. 

“Absolutely,” Nico said, immediately, trying to catch the other boy's eye again. “That's not a problem at all, right Leo?”

“Definitely not,” Leo agreed. “You just text us when you're ready for us to come back.”

Will looked up then, smiling a little when he made eye contact with Nico, and some of the tension left his shoulders. 

Oh, Nico was so far gone.

——

[Billy the Kid - 6:15 p.m.] Hey, you can come back to the apartment now if you want. Thanks for giving me space

[Me - 6:17 p.m.] of course! No worries

[Me - 6:17 p.m.] I'm just finishing up some studying at the library, so I'll probably be back later tonight

[Billy the Kid - 6:17 p.m.] how much later? 

[Me - 6:18 p.m.] idk, like a couple hours probably

[Billy the Kid - 6:18 p.m.] and if I asked you to come back now? 

[Billy the Kid - 6:18 p.m.] you can study here

[Me - 6:25 p.m.] but I can also study here

[Billy the Kid - 6:26 p.m.] …

[Billy the Kid - 6:27 p.m.] I miss you? 

[Me - 6:40 p.m.] Solace I literally saw you this morning

[Billy the Kid - 6:40 p.m.] pls?

——

Nico had already packed up his things and was leaving the library when Will texted that he missed him, but boy if that didn't make him want to start running back to the apartment.

He settled for a brisk walk that cut the normally 20-minute trip almost in half, but paused to send a quick response to Will before climbing the stairs to their third floor apartment. 

His phone went off again just as he was pulling his keys out to open the door, but he ignored the text in favor of just going inside. 

Will appeared in the entryway as soon as Nico swung the door open, and the Italian found himself wrapped in a tight hug. It took Nico's brain a second to catch up to the situation, but by the time he thought to lift his arms and return the gesture, Will was already pulling away. The blonde was blushing slightly as he kept a hold on Nico's shoulders and smiled at him.

Nico smiled back, but tilted his head a bit in confusion. Why did Will look so happy? Didn't he just have an intense, emotional therapy session? 

“I lied,” Will said, like he was reading Nico's mind. “You're not going to be able to study tonight.” Or maybe he wasn’t. 

“What do yo—” Before Nico could get the entire question out, Will was grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him around the corner into the living room, where they were met by far more people than should be in the apartment when Will is supposed to be having a therapy-induced mental breakdown.

“Surprise! Happy Birthday!” several voices yelled at once. Nico suddenly found himself surrounded by silver and black confetti that seemed to have come out of the loud party poppers everyone was holding. He blinked, eyeing the decorations hung about the place — several of which had “Happy Birthday!” scrawled across them — and then taking stock of who all was in the room: Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Juniper, Piper, Shel, Leo, and—

“Jason?” Nico stared at his friend, who blew a party horn in his face before stepping forward and wrapping the smaller boy in a hug. “Jason, what are you doing here?”

“Celebrating your birthday!” Jason stepped back and held Nico by his shoulders. “Percy mentioned your roommate was planning a surprise party, and well, I don’t have classes on Fridays, so…” Jason shrugged. “I flew in this morning. Hazel wanted to come, too, but she had an important midterm today. She sent a gift, though. I left it in your room.”

Nico gaped at Jason for a few seconds before pulling him in for another hug. After a few seconds, he pulled away and turned to Will, who was still standing next to him, only to find the other boy smiling brightly and holding out a chocolate cupcake, which had a single candle sticking out of it. 

“Will, you planned all this?” Nico said, reaching out slowly to take the cupcake. Will nodded, and as soon as Nico was holding the treat, put a hand on the dark haired boy’s lower back and pushed him gently toward the kitchen table, where Leo was waiting with a lighter for the candle. “But, my birthday is next week.”

“Yeah, on a Wednesday,” the blonde said. “In the middle of the week, when people have school and work and all that. Plus, this way, we got to surprise you!”

Nico obediently sat down at the table, where there were a couple boxes filled with more cupcakes. Leo leaned over with the lighter, but missed several times and almost burned Nico’s finger before managing to find the candle and light it. Realizing Leo was not watching what he was doing, Nico followed the other boy’s line of sight to where Jason was standing next to Percy. Jason wasn’t looking back, but his cheeks were weirdly red and Nico had a feeling if he kept watching for a few minutes he might catch a glimpse or two in Leo’s direction. 

Nico turned back to Will, wondering if he had noticed whatever was happening between Leo and Jason, but found the blonde already looking at him with a slight blush of his own. 

“What about therapy?” Nico found himself asking.

Will shrugged and waved his hand dismissively. 

“I still had my session today, but it wasn’t all that intense. I just needed a reason to keep you out of the apartment.”

Nico didn’t have much time to mull that over before Percy, noticing the candle had finally been lit, started leading everyone in the Happy Birthday song, but as he prepared to blow out the candle, he couldn’t help thinking about how much he liked seeing Will happy. 

——

A couple hours later, Nico stepped out onto the balcony for a bit of peace and quiet. He was enjoying the surprise party his friends had put together, but there was a lot of energy in the apartment and he needed a bit of a break from it. He closed his eyes and leaned against the railing, focusing for a couple minutes on the feeling of the cold metal against his arms, before he heard the door open behind him and turned around.

Will was stepping out onto the balcony with a small smile and one hand behind his back. He shifted awkwardly to keep his one hand hidden while he slid the door closed with the other.

“Can I join you?”

Nico smiled. “Of course you can.”

Will stepped over and leaned against the railing next to Nico, bringing his hand forward to reveal a fairly large gift bag. 

“I got you a present!”

Nico eyed the bag warily before looking into Will’s eyes. 

“You didn't have to do that,” Nico said, reaching out slowly to grab the gift and almost falling forward when Will released it. “Whoa! Why is this so heavy? What in the world is in here?”

Will laughed. “Consider it payback for Christmas.”

“Well, that’s reassuring, actually, considering how much you love your Christmas gift,’ Nico said gesturing at the hat and scarf that Will was currently wearing. 

“Yeah, yeah, just open it!”

Nico laughed and set the gift on the ground, pulling the tissue paper out of the top of the bag and handing it to Will. He then reached inside and pulled out what appeared to be a giant, two-pound Kit Kat bar. He couldn’t stop himself from laughing loudly as he looked at the box. Will laughed, too, pointing at the bag to indicate there was more. Nico leaned the giant candy bar against the railing and reached into the bag again, grabbing a DVD case. He turned it over and immediately started laughing again, seeing it was a copy of the awful Mythomagic movie adaptation that he had complained to Will about on the first night they met almost 18 months ago. 

“I hate you so much,” Nico said between laughs. “How am I even supposed to watch this? We don’t have a DVD player!”

“Do you really want to watch it?” Will’s laugh was musical, filling the air around them with the warm sound. Nico shook his head, laughing too hard now to get any words out. “I think it’s on Hulu, actually, if you wanted to hate-watch it. We could do it tonight, before everyone goes home!”

Nico nodded, calming down enough to poke Will in the side before answering. 

“Okay, okay, deal! But, first you have to help me figure out how to eat this giant candy bar.”

“Oh, that’s easy. Unfortunately, Hershey’s does not actually sell giant Kit Kats. They just sell a giant box of small Kit Kats, designed to look like it is a giant Kit Kat,” Will said, poking the candy with the toe of his shoe. Nico watched, amused, before looking at Will’s face again, only to find the other boy staring intently back at him. 

“How did you even know that Kit Kats are my favorite? I don’t think I ever told you that.”

Will raised an eyebrow. “You weren’t very subtle about it on Halloween.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. I didn’t, uh,” Nico glanced through the glass door of the balcony, to where Annabeth and Percy were cuddling on the couch, almost in the exact spot they’d been sitting on Halloween. “I didn’t think you were paying me that much attention on Halloween.”

“I was.”

Nico was surprised by the earnestness in Will’s tone, but when he turned to look at him, the other boy had already followed his gaze to Percy and Annabeth inside the apartment. Neither of them said anything for a couple minutes, and Nico was about to suggest they go inside and put the movie on, when the blonde spoke again. 

“Do you ever regret following them here?”

“What?”

“Annabeth and Percy. I came to New York for Annabeth, and you followed Percy. Do you regret it?”

“No.” Nico didn’t have to think about his answer, but he did pause after giving it to consider how to justify it without giving away his growing feelings for the boy in front of him. Will waited, apparently recognizing Nico had more to say. “I think I probably would have wanted to go somewhere far away from my dad no matter what, and even if things with Percy didn’t work out the way I’d been hoping, I did still have a built-in friend when I got here, which was nice. Plus,” he hesitated before continuing. Will had turned again to look at him while he spoke, and there was something in his expression that Nico couldn’t quite interpret. “Plus, I got really lucky with you as my randomly assigned roommate. Who knows who I would have ended up with if I had gone somewhere else? It could’ve been a psychopath, or a homophobe, or… I don’t know, anyone.”

Will nodded, then leaned back against the railing of the balcony and closed his eyes, turning his face up toward the stars. Nico took the opportunity to examine him closely. He wasn’t smiling anymore, but he didn’t look unhappy, either. The freckle above his lip twitched a little, as he seemed to be processing the conversation. After a couple minutes, he opened his eyes and straightened up, stepping towards the balcony door as if he was going to head inside. 

“Wait,” Nico said, before Will could reach the handle. The other boy stopped and looked at him, his face unreadable. “Do you? Regret it, that is?”

Will looked up again, thinking, then glanced over at Annabeth and Percy on the couch. 

“No.”

Nico waited, but the blonde didn’t seem to want to elaborate. 

“Are you still—” Nico started, but he stopped himself. He’d been about to ask the same question he’d asked all those months ago on Halloween, but he suddenly felt like he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer this time. He got it anyway, though, as Will must have figured out what he was going to say.

“I’m not in love with her,” Will said, almost a whisper, and Nico felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest and he could suddenly breathe again. “I think I haven’t been for a while.” 

Nico looked out towards the city, trying to force down the smile that had appeared involuntarily on his face. After schooling his features into something a little more neutral, he picked up his Kit Kat box and DVD, and looked back at his roommate.

“Well, ready to go subject everyone to my loud complaining for the next two hours?”

——

Will couldn't stop thinking about Nico. Summer break started two weeks ago and the Texan had yet to go more than a few minutes without his thoughts drifting to his school-time roommate. They had texted here and there, but they both had such busy schedules this summer, there just wasn’t much time to talk. Will was working at his family’s guitar store and applying to internships for next year, and Nico was pushing through his mountain of required summer readings and helping run his sister’s Etsy shop with the knowledge gained from that one business class he took. 

Will missed him.  

And it wasn’t like he was talking with his other college friends any more than he was talking to Nico — in fact, he texted Nico at least twice as much as anyone else in his contact list — but he didn’t miss everyone else the way he missed Nico. He didn’t need everyone else to be a constant in his life the way he needed Nico. He hadn’t accidentally fallen massively in love with everyone else and neglected to tell them all year because he was worried they wouldn’t be receptive and he would lose his best friend and the most supportive person he had in his life right now, like he had with Nico. 

Oops. That was supposed to stay in the ‘It’s not real if I don’t think about it’ box he kept in the back corner of his brain.

His therapist had told him to stop using that box so much, but, unfortunately, he really liked that box. 

And if he let his crush on Nico out of the box, where would it go? He certainly couldn’t tell Nico about it. At least not without first finding out exactly what Nico thought of him and whether there was any chance he had anything more than friendly feelings. Will was not going to let himself get stuck in another Annabeth situation. 

Annabeth. Huh. If Will knew anyone who could navigate a potential romantic relationship even when the other party was being confusing as all get out, it was Annabeth. But, then again, Annabeth wasn’t all that close with Nico. Maybe it would be better to talk to someone who had known the boy for longer, like—

No. Oh no. This is a terrible idea. 

Will pulled out his phone. 

——

You created the group chat

[Me - 1:53 a.m.] Guys

[Me - 1:53 a.m.] I need your help with something

[Beth,Anna </3 - 1:53 a.m.] William Andrew Solace it is 3 in the morning this better be important

[Percy :( - 1:54 a.m.] I didn’t know your middle name was Andrew

[Me - 1:54 a.m.] ok honestly I did not expect you both to be awake

[Percy :( - 1:55 a.m.] ha your initials spell WAS

[Percy :( - 1:55 a.m.] Will = future, Was = past

[Percy :( - 1:55 a.m.] so whats going on in the present my guy

[Me - 1:56 a.m.] Sorry, I didn’t realize how late it was. We can talk in the morning

[Beth,Anna </3 - 1:56 a.m.] nuh uh now I’m interested

[Beth,Anna </3 - 1:56 a.m.] spill

[Me - 2:01 a.m.] this was a bad idea

[Beth,Anna </3 - 2:01 a.m.] WILLIAM ANDREW SOLACE

[Percy :( - 2:01 a.m.] WAS

[Me - 2:02 a.m.] ok ok ok

[Me - 2:02 a.m.] I may or may not

[Me - 2:02 a.m.] have a crush on Nico

[Beth,Anna </3 - 2:02 a.m.] 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[Beth,Anna </3 - 2:03 a.m.] ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

[Beth,Anna </3 - 2:03 a.m.] FINALLY

[Percy :( - 2:03 a.m.] sick 

[Percy :( - 2:03 a.m.] Leo owes me 20 bucks

——

Nico was freaking out. Something had changed in the way Will was texting him, but he didn't know what it meant. 

They'd been texting a decent amount since school ended, and for the first couple weeks it had been pretty much the same as how they texted during the school year, if maybe a little more often since they weren't seeing each other in person anymore. For the most part, conversations started whenever one boy or the other had something specific to share: a meme, a funny story, a short hyperfixation rant, etc. And the other boy would reply appropriately, and then maybe share something about his day in response, and then the conversation would end until there was a new thing to share. 

But a couple weeks ago, out of the blue, Will had texted Nico good morning. And that was it. No meme, no joke, no rant. Just good morning with a smiley sunshine emoji. 

So Nico had texted good morning back, thinking Will was leading into something. But the other boy had just asked him what his plans were for the day, and then talked to him about life for a while. It was… really nice, actually. 

And it hadn't just been a one-off thing either. Will had texted him good morning almost every day since then, with different emojis each time. One day he'd even sent a heart emoji. A heart emoji . What was Nico supposed to do with that? 

There were other changes, too. He was complimenting Nico more, telling him he was funny and thanking him for spending time talking to him. And he kept using Nico's name way more often than was necessary, like “that's so cool, Nico” and “good for you, Nico” and “take care of yourself, Nico.”

If Nico was an optimist, he might say that Will was flirting with him. But Nico was not an optimist, so he was mostly just confused. 

He had mentioned it to Hazel, but she didn't have all the context of what texting Will had been like before — and she also didn't have the context of Nico's massive crush on the other boy, because Nico knew she would never leave him alone about it if she did — so she just thought Will was being a good friend. 

But Nico knew something was up. And he needed to talk to people who he knew texted Will regularly. If Will's other friends had also noticed a difference, then maybe Will was just trying to reach out more in general. If not, well then Nico wasn't totally sure what to think. 

——

You created the group chat

[Me - 3:23 p.m.] Hey do you guys text with Will pretty regularly

[Me - 3:23 p.m.] outside our group chat, I mean

[Female Will - 3:25 p.m.] you could say that, yeah

[Female Will - 3:25 p.m.] why do you ask? 

[Me - 3:25 p.m.] has he been weird recently? 

[Percy </3 - 3:26 p.m.] weird how? 

[Me - 3:26 p.m.] like, texting you good morning and saying your name a bunch? 

[Percy </3 - 3:27 p.m.] hmmmmm

[Me - 3:33 p.m.] Hazel says those are normal friend things, but she doesn't believe me that he didn't used to text like that. 

[Me - 3:34 p.m.] so I thought I'd ask people who also text him regularly

[Female Will - 3:35 p.m.] why us and not Leo?

[Me - 3:35 p.m.] last time I heard from Leo was last week and he said he was trying to ‘update’ his phone so he could charge it in the microwave

[Percy <3 - 3:35 p.m.] oh that's why he never responded to that tik tok I sent him

[Me - 3:35 p.m.] but what about Will? Has he been responding? Weirdly?

[Female Will - 3:37 p.m.] you know I think it might just be a you thing, Nico

[Percy <3 - 3:37 p.m.] yeah Will’s been totally normal on my end 

[Female Will - 3:37 p.m.] can you give us more examples of what he's doing that's weird?

[Percy <3 - 3:38 p.m.] how do you feel about the weird things? Would you say they make you miss Will? Do you want to spend more time with him when you see him next? Maybe hug him? 

[Me - 3:39 p.m.] what

[Female Will - 3:40 p.m.] look, Nico

[Female Will - 3:40 p.m.] you're into Will, right? 

[Me - 3:40 p.m.] no

[Me - 3:40 p.m.] why would you think that

[Me - 3:40 p.m.] no

[Female Will - 3:41 p.m.] well, I'm just saying, if you were into him, the change in texting behavior might be a good indication that he's into you too

[Me - 3:42 p.m.] …

[Me - 3:42 p.m.] really? 

[Female Will - 3:42 p.m.] Maybe you should start reciprocating and see what happens

——

“Will, I need you to slow down and breathe a little.” 

Will turned to look at his cousin, and then turned more when he realized she wasn't walking next to him, like he'd thought, but was several steps behind. He hadn't noticed how fast he'd been walking, or that he’d barely taken a breath since they got off the airplane, too busy debriefing Rachel on all of his New York friends, and the complicated situation with one New York friend in particular. 

He'd already told her about Nico at least a dozen times since she told him she wanted to move to New York with him at the end of the summer — to expand her reach as an activist as well as increase her opportunities as an artist — but he couldn't get himself to stop replaying all of his and Nico's recent text conversations in his head, and talking through them out loud made it easier to sort through all the potential meanings behind the other boy's words and actions. 

“Sorry, sorry!” He said, as he stopped and waited for her to catch up. “I'm just, like, really nervous about seeing him, you know?”

“You shouldn’t be,” Rachel put a hand on his shoulder. “From everything you told me, it sounds like he likes you as much as you like him. I mean, he’s been texting you good night on a daily basis for months now.”

“Yeah, but he didn’t start doing that until after I had been texting him good morning for like three weeks,” Will brushed her hand away and started walking again through the airport. “He’s probably just being a good friend.”

“A good friend who uses heart emojis on the regular?”

“People use heart emojis with their friends. And again, I did that first.”

“Just because you flirted first doesn’t mean that he isn’t flirting back.”

“I mean, maybe, but it’s just so hard to read meaning over text. That’s why I’m waiting to say anything until after we get to hang out in person for a while, and I can get a sense of how he’s feeling.”

“That’s a funny way of saying you’re a coward,” Rachel bumped Will’s shoulder, knocking him off-balance and stopping him from responding, before speeding up to disappear through the gate toward the baggage claim. Will flipped her off, even though she was facing away from him, and ran to catch up. 

He heard his name almost immediately after passing through the gate, and turned to see Nico and Percy waving at him from where they stood by the baggage carousel. Will tapped Rachel on the arm and pointed, then ran towards his friends, who were already moving in his direction. 

He met Nico halfway and dropped the duffel bag he was carrying to go in for a hug, but hesitated, suddenly wondering if the other boy would be receptive to the gesture. Nico seemed to realize what Will was going for, though, because he smiled and wrapped his arms around the blonde boy’s waist. They held each other tightly for a few seconds before stepping back.

Will let his eyes roam the other boy’s face briefly, noting his dimples and the very light freckles across his nose, before landing on the gentle curve of his lips.

“I missed you.” It took a moment for the meaning of the words to register in Will’s mind, even as he watched the lips form them. Once it registered, his gaze flicked up to Nico’s eyes, and he smiled back at the boy. 

“I missed you, too.”

They stood there for a moment, still holding each other, before a throat cleared next to them and they both jumped back about a foot. Will turned to see Rachel and Percy both watching them, looking like they were trying not to laugh. 

“Hey Perce!” Will gave Percy a quick high five/bro hug combo, before turning to introduce Rachel to the two boys. 

His cousin’s eyes lingered on Percy for a few seconds too long, before she asked if she knew him from somewhere. The older boy agreed that Rachel was strangely familiar, but neither could put a finger on how they knew each other. So, they shrugged it off and the group went to grab the rest of Will and Rachel’s bags and load them into Percy’s car. 

——

It wasn’t until a month and a half later that they figured it out. Their group of friends was having a study session at the apartment Rachel had moved into with Annabeth and Piper, after Juniper graduated last year and moved to southern California with Grover. The studying had gotten derailed after Leo decided to see if he could connect the girls’ TV remote to their light switches and had somehow managed to knock out power to the whole apartment. He kept fiddling with the wires, promising he could fix it, but in the meantime Nico suggested they whip out a flashlight and tell scary stories, like this was a high school sleepover. 

Will certainly wasn’t complaining, because Nico sat right next to him on the floor as everyone (except for Leo) gathered in a circle. Will could feel the other boy’s cold arm press against his, and he thought he saw Nico’s hand twitch in Will’s direction at one point, but it was hard to tell in the dark. 

Percy was halfway through telling a “totally true” story about the time he was chased through the Hoover Dam visitor’s center by a pack of rogue skeleton warriors when Rachel suddenly sat up straight and pointed at him.

“Camp Granite Lake!” she said, interrupting the story and making everyone jump slightly at her volume level. “We were 13. Your counselor, Luke, told this same story around the campfire on the last night, and afterward I told you that you were my camp crush and kissed you on the cheek!”

“Oh! Rachel! That Rachel!” Percy replied, pointing back at the girl with just as much energy. “Man, I remember being so pissed that you didn’t tell me until then, and then we went home and I didn’t even have your phone number!”

Rachel laughed. “I mean, it’s not like it would’ve worked out. I only did it because all the other girls in my cabin had picked camp crushes and I felt like I had to. Honestly, I can’t believe it took me three more years to realize that I’m aro/ace.”

The lights suddenly came back on — accompanied by an excited whoop from Leo in the hallway — just as everyone in the circle started laughing. Will felt eyes turn to him after a few seconds, realizing that he was laughing much louder and for much longer than everybody else, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop. 

“Will, you good?” Nico nudged him with his elbow, and when Will looked over he saw the other boy was smiling, slightly, with one raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, yeah,” Will gasped between laughs. “Hold on, give me a second.” Will took a few deep breaths to calm his laughter, and then turned to gesture at Percy on the other side of the circle. “How have you managed to attract every important person in my life? I swear, every single person that I love and care about has been in love with you at some point. Honestly, remind me never to introduce you to my siblings.”

“Well, I mean, look at him,” Leo said, appearing from the hallway and gesturing with a screwdriver at Percy, who was staring at Will and blinking like he didn’t know how to respond. “It’s not like he can control the effect he has on people. The man's hot.”

At that, Will started laughing again, joined by almost everyone in the circle — including Annabeth, who leaned over and kissed Percy on the cheek with a smile. Will was so caught up in the good mood that he didn’t notice the one person who wasn’t laughing, but was instead gaping at Will with his eyes wide, his mouth hanging open, and a dark red flush on his cheeks. 

——

Nico hadn’t said anything about Will’s declaration at the girls’ apartment a few days ago. What was he supposed to say? There’s not really a casual way to ask, ‘hey, you sort of implied that you love and care about me the other day, what exactly did you mean by that?’

Because, while it was true that Annabeth — who Will was in love with for years — was probably included in the group of Will’s ‘important people’ that Percy had wooed at some point, the blonde had also mentioned his cousin and his siblings, for whom Will felt a distinctly different kind of love. What if Nico made the assumption that Will loved him in the ‘Annabeth’ way, and it turned out he meant it in the ‘Rachel’ way? What if he hadn't even meant to include Nico in that group to begin with?

No, better to just not say anything. 

Luckily, Nico was briefly distracted from thinking about his own love life by Percy, who was once again making his relationship everybody else's problem. 

“It's in a week, guys, and I haven't planned anything!” The swimmer was nervously stirring a bowl of blue batter while pacing through the kitchen in Nico, Will, and Leo’s apartment. Nico didn't know who had let him in, but he was starting to suspect Percy had made himself a key at some point considering how often he seemed to pop up without warning. At least he made good pancakes, though Nico could do without the blue food dye. 

“You could make her pancakes,” Nico said, from where he was sitting on the countertop. Will was leaning against the counter next to him and watching Percy walk back and forth like he was a one-man tennis match, and Leo was sitting cross-legged on the floor, eating chocolate chips straight out of the bag.

“No, I can't, because she knows I only make pancakes when I'm stressed! She'll think I'm stressed about our anniversary!” Percy pointed his spoon at Nico while he spoke, flinging a bit of blue batter across the room.

“You are,” Nico deadpanned, trying not to react to the batter that was now dripping down his cheek. 

He felt something swipe quickly at his face and jerked his head to the side in time to see Will stick his finger in his mouth and lick the batter off of it. Nico's mind went fully blank for a second as he stared at the blonde, who gave him a lopsided smile and—

Did he just wink ?

When Nico's brain finally turned back on, Will had turned away from him again and was watching Percy dump a concerning amount of chocolate chips in his batter while debating with Leo about what kind of flowers Annabeth would like best. 

“My last girlfriend was really into moonlace.”

“Mine too, actually. Maybe—”

“Annabeth doesn't like flowers,” Will said, interrupting before Percy and Leo could remember they were talking about the same person. “Not live ones, at least. I used to give her flowers all the time at summer camp, until one of her cabin mates told me she threw them all away except for the ones I folded out of paper during craft time.”

Percy seemed to think about that while he mixed the chocolate chips in and then reached into the cupboard to grab a skillet. 

“The candy shop my mom used to work at downtown sells chocolate roses. What if I got her a bouquet of those?” 

“Yeah, she'd probably love that, honestly,” Will shrugged. “And then maybe you could take her on a picnic? She once told me her dream date was to eat fancy French cheeses on top of the Eiffel tower. I'm not sure you can achieve that in a week, but a charcuterie board in the middle of Central Park is probably close enough.”

Percy nodded, smiling and looking distinctly more calm as he turned to start pouring pancake batter onto the skillet. Nico leaned back on his hands and watched Will. He was surprised at how nonchalant the other boy had been about his relationship with Annabeth at camp, but he could see now that Will was fidgeting a little more than usual and staring resolutely at his shoes, betraying his slight discomfort with the conversation topic. 

Leo seemed to notice something, too, because he sat up suddenly and squinted at Will. 

“Wait a second,” Leo said. “Why were you giving Annabeth flowers and asking her about her dream dates?” 

Will froze in his fidgeting, and Percy seemed to stiffen a bit, too, though he kept looking at the pancakes he was making. The blonde glanced over at Nico — who tried to smile in a way that said, ‘I'll support whatever you're comfortable sharing’ — and sighed before looking back at the ground.

“I sort of had a huge crush on her from the age of 12 to like, 19.”

Percy stopped mid-pancake-flip and turned around, his eyebrows scrunched up. The half-cooked pancake on his spatula started dripping blue onto the floor, so Nico hopped up and walked over to grab the spatula from the other boy and mind the pancakes. He suspected this conversation was going to take a few minutes, at least.

“Really?” Percy asked finally. Nico was looking away, watching the stove, but he suspected Will had nodded, because Percy continued. “But you were 18 when we met, right?”

Will hummed an affirmative sound, and Leo gasped way more dramatically than was necessary, causing Will to chuckle a little.

“Don't worry, Percy. I'm over it. Have been for a while,” Will said, sounding like he was smiling. 

“No, no, it's not that. I just… I had no idea. I'm so sorry, dude, that must have sucked for you.”

Nico snorted at that and suddenly felt eyes on him from around the kitchen, but he didn't look up from the pancakes. 

“Hold on,” Leo said after a minute of silence “So, the other day when you said, ‘everyone I love and care about,’ you really meant—”

“Hey, hey, one of the people I was talking about was my cousin.” Will interrupted. 

“Sure, but Rachel was never actually in love with Percy like Annabeth is.”

Nico kept his eyes glued to the pan in front of him as he listened to Leo speculate about the exact thing that had been turning itself over and over in Nico’s head since Will had said it. He could feel his neck heating up, but he wasn't sure if it was from his own blush or from the three pairs of eyes he could feel on his back at Percy's next question.

“So, has anyone else that you have a major crush on ever been in love with me?”

Will didn’t answer. Nico flipped a pancake slowly onto the stack he was building on a plate next to the stove, and then turned around. All three boys were looking at him, like he'd thought — Percy and Leo with grins, and Will with his mouth hanging open and a blush on his cheeks that matched Nico's own. Nico tried to school his face into a deadpan expression, but couldn't bring himself to meet Will's eyes as he spoke. 

“Don't tell me you were also in love with Calypso, Will.”

——

Nico knew. Nico had to know. After the way Leo and Percy had acted — and the way Will himself had acted, but he was trying to forget the fact he'd eaten pancake batter off Nico's face and then winked at him, why would he do that? — there was no way Nico didn't know how Will felt about him.

But Nico hadn't said anything about it, and Will didn't know what to do. 

He had spent most of today’s therapy session ranting about it, although his therapist, Mr. D, had been less than helpful. He was glad that Will had moved past his trauma-related attachment to Annabeth and that he was feeling comfortable exploring new relationships, but kept saying that if Will wanted to know how Nico was feeling he would have to ask him himself, which Will very much did not want to do. 

He could tell Nico was cooking dinner when the session was over, both because of the sounds of dishes clanking in the kitchen and because of the heavenly smell that was permeating the entire apartment. It reminded Will of his favorite diner back home in Texas and smelled a lot more like butter and grease than Nico’s normal cooking style, which usually relied on olive oil and only olive oil for any necessary frying. 

Will poked his head out of their room and practically floated out to the kitchen like a cartoon character when the full scent, unimpeded by the door, hit him. Nico was standing at the stove, watching a frying pan filled with bacon on one burner, and a large pot filled with oil on the other, in which he was deep frying something. Will didn’t even know they owned a pot that big. He stood quietly and watched the other boy work for a few minutes, until there was a loud beeping and Will realized there was a waffle maker sitting on the counter that just went off.

“I’ve got it!” Will said, jumping into action as Nico started to turn around. 

There was a plate with several waffles already stacked on it sitting next to the machine and a bowl with just enough batter left for one more. Will grabbed a spatula and lifted the fresh waffle onto the plate then poured the last of the batter onto the machine and started it. He turned around, intending to go look over Nico’s shoulder at what he was frying, but was surprised to find the other boy right in front of him, holding out a small stack of plates and cups. 

“Set the table? I’m just about finished,” Nico was smiling, but he had a firm glint in his eye that said that wasn’t really a question. “You’ll need to grab the silverware, and there’s a pitcher of tea in the fridge. I’ve got everything else.”

Nico turned around quickly before Will could answer and went back to minding the pot. The dark-haired boy appeared calm, but Will couldn’t help but feel like something was off. The most obvious change was that this was not Nico’s normal cooking style. He didn’t usually make breakfast food and Will had never seen him deep-fry anything. Plus, he was usually more than willing to let Will jump in and help if the food wasn’t done by the time the blonde came out of therapy. It was a simple ritual, but that was honestly why Will loved it so much. Friday evenings had quickly become his favorite part of the week, because it always felt so domestic — cooking together and then sitting down to eat, like a family, or a couple. The romantic effect was ruined a bit by Leo, who was always bouncing around, but Will didn’t mind. 

Actually, speaking of Leo—

Will looked down at the plates and cups he’d been handed, realizing there were only two of each.

“Where’s Leo?” He asked, watching as Nico pulled multiple pieces of something out of the pot with a strainer spoon and dumped them into a large bowl that was sitting by the stove. The brunette reached up to turn the stove off and moved the pot off the burner before turning around to look at Will. He raised an eyebrow when he saw the blonde hadn’t moved since being handed the dishes 

“He’s out with Travis, I think?” Nico shrugged as he spoke, but it seemed just a little stiff, like he wasn’t feeling as cool and collected as he was trying to appear. He grabbed the bowl and the plate of bacon that he had set on the other side of the stove and started carrying them over to the table. Will followed with the plates and cups, stopping to grab two forks out of a drawer. 

“That’s weird. He never misses Friday night dinners,” Will said, setting his and Nico’s places next to each other at the table, and then walking to the fridge to grab the pitcher Nico had mentioned. “I mean, not that he’s not allowed to make plans or hang out with other friends, he’s just never done it before on—wait, Nico, did you say this is tea?” Will stared at the pitcher in his hand, which was filled with an orange liquid, sliced lemons, and ice. “Did you make sweet tea?”

Will slowly turned around and surveyed the table, taking in the plate of waffles, the bacon, and the bowl Nico had just set down, which he now realized was filled with breaded, fried chicken. Nico had also pulled out a bottle of maple syrup and a small bowl of blueberries and sliced strawberries from somewhere. 

“I tried to, but uh, I’ve never made it before so it might not be that good,” Nico was looking down at the table, sliding his fork around next to his plate and avoiding Will’s gaze. “I thought it would be nice, because you said it’s the only drink you ever order at that diner you're obsessed with, the same one where you always get the, um…” 

“Chicken and waffles,” Will could feel his jaw hanging open, but couldn’t bring himself to close it. The fridge door slammed shut behind him — he had let go of it at some point while Nico was talking — and he jumped, almost spilling the sweet tea.  “You made me chicken and waffles. My favorite comfort food that I always get from my favorite diner everytime I go home. How—I mean, what—Why? Is it my birthday?”

Nico looked up at that and smiled, but quickly looked back down at the table, a blush creeping up his cheeks. 

“Not unless you’ve been lying to me for two years, no. I just, um, I don’t know. I thought it would be nice.”

Will was still staring at Nico, dumbfounded, but he managed to unglue his feet from the floor and walk back over to the table, where he set the pitcher of sweet tea down and put a hand on the other boy’s arm.

“I feel like you’re buttering me up for something,” Will smiled and bent down, trying to meet Nico’s eye while the other boy continued staring at the table. “Is something going on? Do you need to—oh. Oh, wait.” 

Will pulled back, letting go of Nico’s arm as he suddenly remembered the situation he’d been worrying about all week. Nico’s head snapped up and he finally looked Will in the eyes, his smile gone. Will thought about his therapist’s advice and decided he would much rather have never found out what Nico thought. 

“Is this about what Percy and Leo said last week? About, um, people that I love and care about?” Will was backing away, already thinking about how quickly he could pack up all his things and move out. “Look, Nico, I’m—I’m so sorry if I, if I made you uncomfortable, or anything. You didn’t need to—I mean, if you wanted let me down easy, you didn’t have to, um, do all this, I just—”

Will didn’t finish his sentence, not knowing what exactly he was trying to say, and just turned around instead, ready to lock himself in their shared bedroom until he could take all his possessions and leave forever. Nico’s expression had darkened as he spoke, but Will turned too quickly to see the way the other boy’s eyes suddenly widened in realization at the end of his speech. He didn’t notice Nico start after him, two steps too late to avoid being locked out, as Will ran into their room, closing and locking the door behind him.

Nico knocked on the door a few times, calling Will’s name, but Will ignored him. He knew it wasn’t the other boy’s fault that he didn’t feel the same way, but he couldn’t face Nico’s pity right now. He put his headphones on and started playing loud music, then dug through his closet for a suitcase. He could feel the tears starting to burn at his eyes, but tried to force them down and throw all his energy into packing. 

It didn’t work, and fifteen minutes later he was lying on the floor crying, with his open suitcase still mostly empty on the floor next to him. The loud music in his ears stopped momentarily as the song came to an end, and he heard a sharp rapping sound. At first he thought Nico was knocking at the door again, but realized the sound was coming from the other direction. Sitting up, he turned toward their window, and jumped when he saw Nico’s face up against the glass. 

Nico stopped knocking and waved, gesturing for Will to open the window. Will scrambled up, wiping his eyes and throwing his headphones onto his bed.

“Nico, what are you doing!” he yelled as he pulled the window open. “You can’t do this! This is not what fire escapes are for! I think this is illegal, actually.”

Nico just chuckled and bent over, grabbing two plates from where he had evidently set them down at his feet and handing them to Will through the window. Each plate had a couple of waffles, several pieces of bacon and fried chicken, and a small pile of fruit.

“Well then you better let me in before any cops drive by, yeah?” he said, already starting to climb through the window. He dropped to the floor once he was through and closed the window behind him before turning to Will, grabbing both plates out of his hands, and setting them down on the floor. He pushed Will’s suitcase to the side and sat down in front of one of the plates, pulling two forks and the bottle of maple syrup out of his jacket pocket. 

Will just stared at the other boy, all of his gloom at being rejected momentarily shocked out of him by Nico’s cavalier attitude. 

“Your chicken and waffles are already cold, but it might still taste okay if you eat it now. Come on, sit down,” Nico gestured with a fork at the other plate on the floor at Will’s feet. Will sat obediently, but didn’t reach for the fork Nico offered him.

“Nico, I—”

“No, Will,” Nico sighed, leaning forward and setting the fork down on Will’s plate when the other boy still didn’t take it. “I need you to listen to me.”

“No, Nico, really, it’s okay. I don’t blame y—”

“William Solace!” Nico didn’t exactly raise his voice, but his tone didn’t leave room for argument. Will didn’t respond, but he felt tears start to form in his eyes again. He focused on the chicken on his plate, instead of meeting Nico’s gaze. 

He heard shuffling and glanced up briefly to see Nico had moved his plate to the side and was scooting over to sit next to Will on the floor. 

“Will, look at me,” Will felt Nico’s hand touch his cheek, gently wiping away a tear that had escaped out the corner of his eye. Reluctantly, he raised his eyes to meet Nico’s. The other boy was looking at him with such concern on his face that Will could hardly believe he was about to be rejected. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding. I wasn’t trying to let you down easy.”

“What?” Will croaked, blinking but unable to look away from Nico’s deep brown eyes.

“Will, think about this. Do you really think I bribed Leo to leave the apartment, bought a new pot big enough to deep fry chicken, and spent hours learning to make your favorite meal from home, in order to reject you ?” Will felt his heartbeat pick up as Nico’s words sunk in, but he couldn’t make his mouth open to respond. “ Tesoro , this was supposed to be a confession.”

Nico’s other hand came up to rest on Will’s other cheek as more tears came pouring out of the blonde’s eyes. He leaned in until their foreheads were touching, and Will let out a wet laugh.

“I’m—I’m such an idiot, aren't I? I thought—ugh I was just so worried that you wouldn’t want—that you didn’t—”

“But I do, Will. I do.” Nico was smiling, and Will couldn’t help but smile back. 

“Nico, can I—”

“Yes.”

Will didn’t know who leaned in first, but then they were kissing and all coherent thought was wiped from his mind for what could have been hours. Eventually, Nico pulled away, all too soon. 

“We really should eat this chicken before it starts attracting ants.”

——

Nico hadn't seen Will since they got to the venue several hours ago, so he couldn't help but smile when the blonde burst into the groom’s suite, despite the fact that Will was glaring at Nico and Percy like the only thing stopping him from murdering them right now was the fact the blood would stain his perfectly pressed, gray suit. 

“You're late.”

“The groom can't be late if the wedding doesn't start until he gets there,” Percy said, only barely glancing up from where he was — quite unsuccessfully — trying to tie Nico’s dark blue tie. 

“Oh yes he can!” Will said, grabbing Percy by the shoulders and pulling him backwards away from Nico before turning him around and pushing him towards the door. “Go get in your position, now. We'll be right behind you.”

Percy chuckled, but obeyed, and Will spun around to face Nico, who just smiled and gestured to his undone tie. Will scowled, but gently reached out to fix it.

“At least you’re not as bad as Jason and Leo. I pulled them out of a broom closet a few minutes ago, and I’ll just say, more than their ties were undone,” Will shuddered. A couple minutes later, he had finished Nico’s tie, and had calmed down enough that Nico felt comfortable leaning in to give the man a quick kiss. "Isn't there some kind of superstition about that?” 

Nico raised an eyebrow. “About what?”

“Kissing right before going on for the wedding?”

“A superstition about the best man and the man of honor kissing backstage?” Nico leaned in and kissed Will again, to emphasize his point before adding, “I think you're making that up.” 

“Hmm, you might be right,” Will grinned mischievously. “I guess I'll just have to save the superstitions for our own wedding. Which is… when?”

Nico's mouth fell open, but Will just winked and turned around to leave before Nico could think of an answer. 

Will was just teasing him, he knew, but Nico couldn't stop himself from smiling as his mind wandered to the little box tucked away in his sock drawer back home. 

Soon, he thought, as he followed Will to their places in the procession that would precede Annabeth down the aisle. Soon.