Chapter Text
Nico didn't even know when they had started arguing.
The last thing he'd remembered, they'd been choosing a movie. Will had made popcorn (how, Nico had no idea) and he'd been trying to get Nico to watch Star Wars with him - again.
Then suddenly they were arguing.
He didn't even know how the conversation had started.
All he knew was that he felt like screaming, crying, breaking apart.
"Nico, I care okay?!"
"When did I ever say that you didn't?"
Will sighed. "You made it pretty obvious by pushing me away," he snapped.
"Will, what the fuck are you talking about? I'm not pushing you away!" Nico cried.
"Maybe you don't realize it, Nico, but it's hard when you don't talk to me okay? You just- You just stop talking entirely and I don't know what to do and it hurts because I feel like I'm doing something wrong!"
Nico tried to push down his frustration. "Will, I'm not- I need time okay?"
"Time for what, Nico? Time for what?"
"I'm not like you!" Nico exploded. "I don't have my whole life figured out or whatever. My life's been crap and I don't know what I'm doing half the time, but you've got your whole future planned out and- I just need space sometimes!"
Will went quiet. When he spoke again, his voice was eerily calm. "You think I've got my whole life figured out? You think I know what I'm doing half the time? You think I've got my future planned out? Don't you dare say that, Nico! Half the time I'm just a fucking mess and- And I don't even know what to do with you!"
"What to do with me?" Nico said incredulously.
"You shut me out. You don't talk. I don't know how I'm supposed to help if you don't let me in!"
"Well, maybe you don't have to make everything your problem!" Nico yelled.
"My problem? We're dating! Of course it's my problem!"
"Well, don't make it your problem, if you don't even know what to do with me," Nico mocked. "Maybe you should know that I need space every once in a while. I don't have to tell you anything! So if you're not ready to give me the space, you can get out of the house."
Will stared at him in shock. "Nico, wait- No I didn't mean it like that, I-"
He laughed humorlessly. "It's okay, Will, I get it. Really. I warned you before we started dating that I wouldn't be enough for you. I told you that I would be difficult, but you put up with me, didn't you? You can go now. It doesn't matter, if I'm that much of an issue."
Will scrambled up from his perch on the couch. "Wait, Nico, please, that's not what I meant-"
"Will, just leave." Nico waited for him to move.
"No, you- You don't mean this-"
"Yes, I do! Do you want me to spell it out? Get the fuck out!"
Will stared at his feet. When he looked back up, his eyes were red. "Okay. Okay."
Nico didn't wait for him to leave. He stormed to his - their - room and slammed the door shut. A couple of seconds later, he heard the front door close gently.
He wasn't sure how long he stayed like that; with his hand curled around the door knob, staring off into space. It took a solid minute for what he'd don't to sink in. He'd kicked Will out. Nico had told him to leave. Fuck. He'd practically broke up with Will, hadn't he?
Fuck, what had he done?
. . .
Nico didn't leave the house for three days.
And Will didn't come back either.
The only reason he actually stepped out of the house was because his friends had demanded to see him. They had agreed to meet up in a cafe close by, but Nico had no idea what they'd say when Will wasn't with him.
He entered the cafe after staring at the door for a good two minutes.
"Nico!" Percy shouted, waving him over frantically. They were all seated at the back, somehow managing to cramp around a single table. Nico pulled up a chair next to Piper and Frank.
"Hi," he muttered.
"Dude...are you okay?" Jason asked carefully.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"That doesn't sound much like a yes," Reyna noted.
Nico shrugged, and he saw Hazel and Reyna exchange a glance.
"Nico," Hazel started. "Where's...Where's Will?"
Nico felt like he'd been punched in the gut. "He-" His throat closed up around nothingness. He what? What was Nico supposed to tell them? He left? I messed up and I told him to leave? I haven't seen him in three days?
"He-" Nico attempted. "I- I don't know."
"What did you mean, you don't know? Nico, what happened? Did he do something?" Piper demanded.
Nico broke down.
He felt Hazel wrap her arms around him soothingly as he cried.
"Nico, what happened?" She asked softly.
"I messed up."
He told them about the argument, about him asking Will to leave, everything.
"That's pretty messed up," Leo noted. Jason and Annabeth glared at him. "What? I'm just saying!"
"No, it's okay," Nico told him. "Besides, I should...I should go."
"Nico-" Percy tried.
"No, really, I'm fine...I'll be fine, anyway. I should go."
They all nodded farewell and when Nico arrived back at his house, all he could think of was how empty it felt.
. . .
By the eighth day, Nico couldn't stand the silence anymore.
So he called.
He didn't pick up for the first two tries. On the third try, though, a hesitant voice answered. "Hello?"
"Will."
There was a stretch of silence. "Do you have to say something?" Will asked. "I'm kind of in the middle of something."
"I-" Nico swallowed. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry doesn't really cut it, Nico."
"I know." He felt like crying.
"You told me to leave," Will said flatly. "And you're telling me that you're sorry?"
"I don't know what to do," he said softly. When Will didn't answer, he built up the courage and asked, "Are we- are we done?"
Will sighed. "I don't know, Nico. I don't know."
"Will, I- I'm sorry, I was just mad. I'm sorry, I didn't mean any of that."
"I have to go," was all Will said.
"Wait, please. Don't- don't hang up," Nico rasped, and he knew how pathetic it sounded.
"What do you want me to say, Nico?"
"I don't know." Nico squeezed his eyes shut, trying to stop the flow of tears as a sob build up in his throat.
"Nico? Are you there?"
"I-" Nico let his head drop onto the counter as he cried.
"Nico?"
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he cried.
There was a heartbeat of silence. "It's okay."
"I- I need you here," he choked out. "Please."
Will is silent for so long that Nico worries that he'd hung up.
"Half an hour," Will says, before hanging up.