Chapter Text
“Would you get off!?”
“How about you fuck off.”
“You kiss your mother with that mouth?”
“If you’re not careful, I’m going to kiss you with that mouth.”
Nico jabbed an elbow into Will’s side and dove over the son of Apollo’s back from where he had flung himself across Nico’s legs. Nico only halfway made the lunge and Will let out a brief: ‘oof’ as Nico clumsily flopped half on Will’s back and half still squirming to get away. The two of them scrambled, pushing the others limbs away but Nico continued holding his videogame controller in the air, dodging Will’s attempts to block his view of the television. Nico had already beaten Will three times, and when Will realized he clearly wasn’t going to win fair and square, he resorted to dirty tricks which included (but certainly were not limited to) tackling, kicking, and attempting to disable Nico while they were playing.
Nico sped forward to another victory and Will threw his controller down onto the mattress, sending it bouncing over the edge and onto the floor.
“How is this even possible?!” Will groaned. “Televisions were barely invented when you were born!”
“Barely? For like ten years, genius.”
“Whatever. My point stands. How are you good at this?”
“Quick learner,” Nico smiled, attempting to weasel the rest of his legs out from underneath Will. The son of Apollo made a face and pressed all his weight down, keeping Nico’s legs trapped. Nico pushed at his shoulders. “Oh, come on. Get off.”
“No,” Will said. “I’m beaten and broken. You’re just going to have to let me sit and bitch for a while.”
“So the usual then.”
“Screw you.”
Nico snorted, surrendering his attempts to move. “Your vocabulary is actively devolving.”
“Shut up. It's all the mortals. When you hang out with them you start to pick up their slang and it’s not like most sixteen year-olds are particularly eloquent anyway. I can’t exactly say stuff like: ‘Holy Hera!’ without one hell of an explanation.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“Takes one to know one.”
Nico rolled his eyes, but didn’t stop the smile that crept onto his face as he dropped his head back onto the couch that the mattress was pressed up against. Will shimmied himself into a more comfortable position, and once he was settled, Nico flopped his head to the side and looked over to find a pair of bright, blue eyes staring at him expectantly. He reached over and flicked him in the nose, and Will stuck his tongue out indignantly before batted his hands away. Nico chuckled and looked up at the ceiling.
It felt good to be back at Will’s mother’s place. The apartment was small, but it was cozy. Will had taken to dragging his mattress out into the living room whenever Nico was over, arguing that it made sense because the television was there and one of them (usually Will) fell asleep on the couch anyway. This way, instead of Nico trying to kick Will off the couch and back into his room, one of them could either roll off onto the mattress, or climb up onto the couch.
It was a decent system, and Nico didn’t think to complain. It felt like home.
The first few visits had been awkward even though Will’s mother was always willing to have him. It had been a little difficult to remember where Will’s and his boundaries had been, but once they remembered how infuriating the other was, things seemed to fall into place. It started with brief visits to Will’s home over holidays, but once Will was convinced Nico could shadow travel without fading away, the visits came more often and soon Nico was there almost every weekend.
Shadow travel, in small bursts, wasn’t as taxing for Nico as it once had been. Two years ago a cross country travel would have sent him into a coma for days, but now a quick nap seemed to take the edge away. He attributed most of it to Will, who had been (not always so) subtly monitoring Nico’s health. It took a good few months after the rise of Gaea before Nico had gained his appetite back, but once he had, he was insatiable and as a result, sprouted up several inches in height. Will was still taller, but not nearly as much as he used to be.
Will jabbed him in the thigh and Nico opened his eyes, not realizing he had closed them. “What do you want from me?”
“Love and adoration, Nico di Angelo. That’s all I ever ask of you.”
“Right. And I’m sure this has nothing to do with you losing tragically at Mario Buckets-“
“Kart. Mario Kart.”
“Yeah, whatever. You still suck at it.”
“Mario Buckets? Are you serious right now?” Will sat up, freeing Nico’s legs. “How is that fair? You can’t even remember the name.”
“I feel like that has nothing to do with winning. It’s completely irrelevant.”
“You are completely irrelevant.”
“And you a sore loser.”
“I don’t like you.”
“Nope, but your mom does.”
Will groaned and fell back onto the mattress, refusing to argue. His mother had adored Nico from the moment they met, and if Nico was being completely honest, the feeling was pretty mutual. She was beautiful and gentle, and Nico was constantly reminded that Will’s calming presence hadn’t come from Apollo at all; it had been from his mother. She worked late nights at the local hospital, and the long hours left an almost permanent look of exhaustion on her face, but her eyes were bright and there was something about them that reminded Nico a little of his own mother.
She cared for him as if he were her own, and Nico was more grateful than he let on.
Will turned and looked at him, squinting his eyes. “I’m not sure why I hang out with you.”
“Because you have no other friends?”
“That is grossly inaccurate,” Will replied. “As a matter of fact, the two of us have been invited to a movie tonight.”
Nico raised an eyebrow. “The two of us?”
“Yeah. Like, you and me.” Will paused. “Or is it: you and I? I think it’s: you and me-“
“Will. What are you doing? Focus. Who invited us to a movie?”
“Holly and Pip. Well, Holly did, but Pip will be there too.”
Nico’s stomach churned.
Mortals, he thought. Will’s friends.
Nico knew the inevitable meeting would happen one day. Will talked about them every time he talked about school, and while Will had alluded to the introductions happening one day, Nico hoped he might have been able to just always casually avoid it.
Will looked up expectantly from where he was laying. Nico toyed with the ring on his finger.
“What?”
“Well?”
“Well what?”
“Do you want to go?”
Nico shrugged. Want was certainly not the right word.
“I think it would probably be fun,” Will said. “I mean, it would be a good opportunity to meet them, and it’s a movie so it’s not like you would be forced to sit and talk for ages.”
“Why does that matter? You afraid I’m going to say something stupid?”
“No,” Will replied, voice calm, neutral, and not giving in to Nico’s bait. “I’m just saying that I know meeting new people can be hard and it would be a good introduction.”
Nico was quiet as he continued to spin the ring around his finger. Will was watching him and Nico could tell how much he had wanted to introduce him to his friends, but Nico couldn’t stop the sense of dread that was sitting heavy in the pit of his stomach.
This is stupid, Nico thought. What could be so bad?
And then: Everything. Everything could be so, so bad.
Nico groaned inwardly. He physically shook his head to rattle his thoughts before taking a breath. “It’s a movie?”
“An outdoor movie,” Will clarified. “They have them down by the boardwalk every once and a while. It’s actually pretty fun. You dig yourself a spot in the sand, wrap up in a blanket, eat a whole bunch of bad food… It’s fun.”
“Is it a good movie?”
“The Goonies. You’ll like it. It’s on my list of movies you need to watch. There are pirates.”
Nico’s eyebrow twitched involuntarily and then he shrugged his shoulders again. Will rolled his eyes.
“Stop being such a downer. It’s a good movie and they’re good people. They really want to meet you. Worst case scenario all you have to do is suffer through an awesome movie.”
“And you,” Nico said. “I have to suffer through you being unbearable.”
“You say that like my being unbearable isn’t the only way I know how to be.”
“Good point.”
Will went to poke at Nico’s sides but the son of Hades caught his hands before they made contact. Will groaned dramatically. “Come on. Please? You won’t let me win at Mario Kart, you won’t let me win wrestling matches, my mom likes you better than me, and now you won’t even go to a movie with me? What is the point of even living? I, literally, have nothing left to live for. My life is an abyss of misery and-”
“Oh, for crying out loud. Fine,” Nico conceded. “We’ll go watch this stupid movie, but you have to promise you’ll stop whining for at least five minutes.”
“Okay,” Will said, immediately abandoning his drama and reaching over the side of the mattress to retrieve his controller. “Ready to lose at some Mario Buckets?”
Nico snorted and grabbed his own controller. “It’s Mario Kart, Will. Don’t be stupid.”
After countless crushing victories, two bags of popcorn, and one tournament loss (which Nico was sure he was never going to live down), Nico was mercifully rescued by the sound of Will’s mother’s bedroom door opening. It was late in the afternoon, but Will’s mother appeared with sleep bleary eyes and her graying, blonde hair pulled into a ponytail that looked as if she had rolled straight off her pillow and onto her feet.
She blinked at them both several times before a slow smile spread across her features.
“I should have known you were here,” Will’s mother said, motioning for Nico to get up and hug her. “Will is never quite so dramatic around anyone else.”
Will let out an indignant “whose side are you on?”, but Nico just grinned and hopped off the mattress, abandoning his controller and embracing Will’s mother. She smelled like the disinfectant and antiseptics, like the hospital she worked long nights at, but then something else entirely buried beneath all the chemicals that reminded Nico of home.
She looked at Nico with fond eyes, her hands on his face. “I swear, every time I see you, you’re a little bit taller.”
“Hey!” Will called again. “Don’t encourage him.”
“Oh stop. You’re just going to have to come to terms with the fact that one of these days he’s going to be taller than you.”
“Mom, why would you lie to him like that? That’s just rude.”
Will’s mother rolled her eyes and planted a kiss on the top of Nico’s head. “It’s good to see you. Are you with us long?”
Nico shook his head. “Just a day or two, if that’s all right.”
“Of course. Will just mopes when you’re away anyway.”
Will looked at his mother, unamused. “No, it’s cool, mom. Keep going. Just show him all my cards. It’s fine.”
“As if you aren’t easy to read anyway,” she replied, letting go of Nico and planting a kiss on Will’s face. “Good morning, sweetheart.”
Will mumbled a "good morning" and Nico chuckled to himself as Will’s mother headed toward the kitchen. Once she was past, Nico raised an eyebrow at Will and mouthed: “you miss me?” which was followed quickly by a deft pillow to his face. Will took advantage of the temporary distraction and seized Nico by the waist, pulling him down and attempting to disable him. Nico was typically quicker than Will but the son of Apollo still had the advantage of his size. The two of them tussled, kicking and pulling at the other’s limbs until Will managed to sit sideways across Nico’s stomach and shove another pillow into his face. Nico laughed from under the fabric, and blindly continued trying to shove Will away.
Nico’s fingers managed to find Will’s side, and the healer yelped, abandoning the pillow, but still refusing to move from where Nico was pinned.
“What are you boys doing today?” Will’s mother asked from the kitchen.
Will opened his mouth to respond but Nico’s hands dove for Will’s ribs again. He dodged the attack and smirked, managing to trap one of Nico’s arms against the mattress. “Busted.”
Nico squirmed and jabbed his knee into Will’s hip.
“Ow, hey!” Will crumbled over onto his side, still keeping Nico’s arm down.
“Boys?”
“Yes?” Will called absently, trying keep Nico’s elbow from anywhere dangerous.
“Did you hear what I just said?”
“Yup.”
“You sure?”
“Totally.”
“So is that why you’re continuing to irritate poor Nico?”
Will’s jaw dropped and he looked over in the direction of the kitchen, affronted as Nico snickered and stuck his tongue out.
“Why is it always my fault?” Will cried.
“Because it usually is.”
Nico stifled his laugh and Will gave him a hard shove into his shoulder before letting him go and glaring. “I won.”
“Don’t get too cocky. I let you.”
“Ahem,” Will’s mother said, now back in the living room with a cup of coffee in her hand. “I repeat: what are your plans for today?”
“We’re gonna go down to the boardwalk and see a movie with Holly and Pip.”
Will’s mother’s eyebrows shot up, and her eyes fell on Nico. “Oh really? The time has finally come, hm?”
Nico gave an annoyed hum, trying to mask his discomfort, but it was pointless. She was a mother and when it came to things like this she just inherently knew. Thankfully, she said nothing, instead smiling and saying: “You’ll have fun. The outdoor movies are always really great.”
“They’re playing The Goonies.”
“Oh, you’re going to love it, Nico. There are pirates."
“Told you”, Will muttered from next to him. Nico tried his best to humor her with a smile, but the look in her eye told him she knew better.
“They’re just girls, Nico,” Will’s mother teased. “Surely the Prince of the Underworld can handle a few teenage girls.”
Nico made a sour face and Will’s mother laughed.
"Fine. Fair enough. I’d keep your eye on Pip though, Will. Nico seems like he might be her type."
Nico raised his eyebrows and looked over at Will who snorted and flipped the gaming console off before turning the television on, absently flinging a leg over Nico's lap and saying: "Yeah right. Over my dead body."
“That can be arranged, ya know,” Nico said, pushing Will’s leg off only to have it immediately reappear.
“Empty threats, Neeks. I know you won’t let anything happen to me.”
Will’s mother chuckled from over the edge of her coffee. “He’s on to you, Nico.”
“That’s only because I don’t want anyone else having the pleasure,” Nico replied, darting a hand out to jab Will’s side again but Will managed to catch him by the wrist. Nico raised an eyebrow, impressed and Will looked quite pleased with himself. “You’re finally getting quicker. Nice job.”
“Thank you,” Will beamed. “I have an excellent sparring partner.”
“And don’t you dare forget it.”
“How could I? He usually won’t shut up about how much better he is at everything.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault you got the short end of the stick. Take that up with your dad, not me.”
“I might if he wasn’t still missing, dumbass.”
“Well then just come to terms with it. I mean, I get it. It’s unfortunate that you didn’t even get your mother’s good looks but-”
“Oh forget this, you can fend off Pip yourself. “
“I think I’ll be able to handle a single mortal. Thanks though.”
“Clearly you don’t know much about mortals or girls-“
Across the room, Will’s mother started laughing and both Nico and Will stopped mid-argument to look over and find her shaking her head. Will asked her what was so funny but she just continued shaking her head and smiled.
“I was joking. I don’t think you’re actually going to have to worry about Pip. She’ll probably take one look at you clowns and know better.”
“What?” Will squawked. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh nothing,” she smirked. “You’re bound to figure it out eventually.”
The sun began dipping below the horizon much sooner than Nico would have liked. He had felt safe in the cocoon of Will's mother's apartment, and when they said goodbye to Will's mother and that they would see her tomorrow, Nico was almost tempted to break his own arm in an effort to avoid going to the movie.
Unfortunately, he couldn't think of a reasonable enough way to make it look like an accident and the last thing he wanted was to hear Will go off on his no concept of self-preservation speech again (which he had heard more than a dozen times by now and was completely unnecessary because the last time he had heard it, the whole scenario had arguably been Will's fault considering he was the one he actually shot the arrow that lodged itself into Nico's arm).
Nico wanted to smile as he recalled the memory, but his stomach felt heavier with each step toward the coastline. Will hadn't said much since they left the house, and Nico almost expected some sort of behavioral run down before they arrived. Were there certain things he wasn't supposed to mention? How much did they know about Will? What did Will tell them about his father? What if they didn't like Nico? How was he supposed to fake being fully mortal? Was he supposed to shake hands, fist bump, do some sort of secret handshake when he met them?
Will knocked his shoulder into Nico's, as if sensing his discomfort and Nico didn't bother trying to fake a smile.
"I know you don't want to do this," Will said as the lights from the boardwalk came into view. Nico rolled his eyes and pushed his hand a little too aggressively against a crosswalk button.
"But you're going to make me do it anyway."
"I'm not making you do anything," Will said curtly. "You don't have to be here."
"Really?" Nico replied with a doubtful look. "So you aren't guilt tripping me into meeting your friends?"
“It’s not a guilt trip-“
“It sort of is.”
"Don’t you want to? What's so bad about it? They're just people. And they're nice people. I spend most of my time with them when I'm not-"
"Trying to save the world one injured camper at a time?"
"With you," Will said, narrowing his eyes and punctuating his point with a finger jabbed into Nico's chest. "Why are you being such a jerk about this?"
"I'm not being a jerk about this. You know I don't want to do this."
"I just don't get what the big deal is."
"Do you not remember how freaked out I was to meet your mom? My people skills aren’t exactly top notch."
"Well yeah," Will replied. "But that was a while ago and look how great meeting my mom turned out. Just give these guys a chance."
"Give these guys a chance," Nico repeated. "Right."
"Oh come on. I met Hazel, and Frank, and Reyna, who is hands down the most intimidating person on this planet. I can promise you none of my friends will even come close to how scary it was to meet her."
“You make it sound like she tried to interrogate you or something.”
“Um yeah. She kind of did. All that was missing was the isolated room and spotlight. I was practically waiting for her to hook me up to a lie detector.”
“But everything went fine.”
“Exactly,” Will said. “So stop acting like this is the end of the world. There’s nothing scary about this. Holly is really sweet and you and Pip are both like… some weird gamer prodigies. You’ll probably really like her. If you gave her a chance I’m sure you guys would actually really get a long.”
Nico made an annoyed sound and Will bumped his shoulder again.
“Hey. This is important to me but I’m not like… expecting perfection. I know this is hard. All I want is for you to try. That’s all that matters.”
Nico opened his mouth to respond, but before he could say anything there was a high-pitched squeal, a rush of ginger hair and then Will’s face suddenly disappeared as a girl flung herself into his arms. Will’s shock lasted only a second and then his previously serious demeanor instantly melted as a bright grin lit up his face. He gave the girl a tight hug and lifted her off her feet.
Something poisonous slithered its way into Nico’s chest and he felt himself go hot and cold all over at once.
“Will Solace,” the girl squeaked. “I have missed you.”
"Welcome home!" Will replied, setting her down. "It’s good to have you back. Jeez, look how tan you are! How was Hawaii? Did you even bother to save any sun for the rest of us?"
“Absolutely not! It’s not like you need it anyway though, Sunbaby. Hawaii was amazing! The water is so blue! It was, literally, all I could think about when we first got there. I just couldn’t get over it. I'm glad to be home though. Turns out that spring break isn’t really all that fun if you guys aren’t there. Pips could’ve come with but she just had to be a-" The girl stopped abruptly, looking at Nico as if she had just noticed he was there. “Oh! You came! You must be Nico!”
Nico instinctively took a step back, tempted to fold into himself and disappear as the new girl stared at him with open excitement. She wasn’t all that pretty. Her face was sort of plain, and even though her skin was freshly tanned and the freckles across her face were dark, she wasn’t particularly remarkable. Her hair reminded him a little bit of Rachel Elizabeth Dare’s but she didn’t have any of the spark that Rachel had. She looked like every other mortal Nico had ever seen and he would be happy to forget about her as soon as the night was over.
Just behind her was another girl. This one wasn’t smiling; she was just watching Nico with charcoal lined eyes that were dark and steady. She had sharper features, but she still wasn't what Nico would call pretty either. She didn’t look American, and she certainly wasn’t Italian, but Nico couldn’t quite pinpoint where she might be from. Her hair was a mess, like an unwashed mop with dark-brown roots and washed out pale pink ends that looked as if it had been done at home and then never done again. Nico assumed her entire thrown-together look was supposed to be an act of teenage rebellion, but it was still more mess than style.
He didn’t like a single thing about either one of them (especially how close the first girl was standing to Will, but that would be an issue he would deal with later).
“Um…” Nico said. “Yeah.”
“I’m Holly! And this is Pip,” she grinned, motioning a thumb behind her before sticking out her hand to shake Nico’s. The son of Hades raised an eyebrow at the outstretched hand but kept his own tightly against his side. Holly glanced sideways at Will and her smile slowly began to fade, dropping her hand hesitantly. “Well, we’re glad you could make it. It’s great to finally meet you. Will has told us a lot about you.”
“Yeah. So I’ve heard,” Nico said, focusing his eyes at Will who didn’t look particularly amused. Nico tried not to glare at him but even he could feel the air around him begin to grow cold.
“Well,” Holly started again, trying to get Nico’s attention. “We’ve got some snacks, and my brother is going to stop by with some blankets for us in a bit, but we might as well go find a good spot before the rest of them are all taken.”
Will stared at Nico for a moment longer before turning back to the others with a smile. “Good plan.”
Nico said nothing as they moved toward the beach. He stayed back from the trio and was hyper aware that Pip was staring at him up until Will slung his arm around her shoulders and asked her how she was doing. The moment Will touched her, her face changed into something softer and it left a sour feeling in Nico’s stomach.
This was a nightmare.
Holly continued to try to make polite conversation with him, but Nico ignored all of her questions. Will tried to make up for the awkward attempts by asking her about her trip but as soon as there was a lull, she was back trying to engage Nico. Eventually Nico relented and hummed a couple acknowledgements, just to appease her (no, he hadn’t seen the movie before, and no, he didn’t know who Sam Gamgee was) but he was more focused on the fact that if Will wasn’t talking to Pip she just continued to stare at Nico like he was some sort of imposter.
The two girls were an odd pair. Nico certainly wouldn’t have expected either of them to be friends with each other. Holly was plain and Pip looked like chaos. Absently he wondered why Will was drawn to either of them. They couldn’t relate to Will in anyway. They weren’t like him, they didn’t have the same sort of natural glow, and they were just… completely unremarkable. Nico couldn’t see what made them so special or why out of all the people he could’ve spent time with, he chose them.
Will seemed to enjoy the two of them though. He was laughing, and when they talked, it was about things Nico didn’t understand. Will would squeeze their shoulders, bump their hips, and Nico had always understood that Will was free with his touches, that sometimes he had no other way to communicate, but it still struck Nico in a way that made him want to twitch. These weren’t behaviors that were distinct to their own relationship and something about the realization ate at him.
By the time they were down on the beach, Nico was fairly confident he was ready to disappear. The three of them grouped up, and when Will reached for Nico’s arm to bring him forward, Nico shot him a dangerous look, and Will glared.
It was worse than Nico’s worst case scenario. He had imagined Will’s friends not liking him, but what he hadn’t predicted was his strong dislike toward them. Holly was just as liberal with her touches as Will and it seemed as if she couldn’t say a single thing to Will without placing a hand on him. Pip still wasn’t saying much, but Nico wasn’t overly fond of the dirty looks she kept shooting him.
They found a spot, not too far from the oversized movie screen but a bit off to the side so they were closer to the actual boardwalk. The trio immediately began digging into the sand, slowly hollowing out a strip of the beach and stacking sand up at the back of it to create a type of backrest until they had ultimately created some sort of sunken bench. It went on for quite a while, and Nico did his best to stay invisible, but every once and a while, Will would flick him a glance and then look away with a scowl. When their creation was finished, all three dropped into it and Holly motioned for Nico to join them.
“Come sit with us, Nico,” Holly said cheerfully, scooting closer to where Pip sat on one end. “There’s plenty of room.”
Will shot him another look, warning him to be nice, but Nico felt petulant and irritated, so he disregarded Holly with a: “Yeah. No.” and after an icy glare, Will turned away. Not a moment later, Holly’s phone went off and she immediately answered, darting up and looking around the beach until she found what she was looking for. She clicked off her phone, tugging at Pip’s hands, but Pip seemed more interested in continuing to watch Nico.
“Pips, come help me get stuff from my brother. They’re here.”
“Take the Sunbaby,” Pip said, her voice surprisingly solid despite her previous silence. Nico could tell she was looking for something, a reaction – a response to Will’s nickname perhaps but Nico avoided looking at her despite the gaze that was fixated on him. Holly let out a sigh and gave her a disappointed look, dropping her hand.
“Fine,” Holly conceded, grabbing Will’s hand instead. “You’ve been volunteered, Sunbaby. Come help. These guys can hold down the fort.”
The son of Apollo stood up, knocked some of the sand of his pants and then followed Holly away without so much as a glance in Nico’s direction.
Nico clenched his fists and dropped his eyes to the ground. This was a mess. This was exactly what he knew would happen, just not in so many ways. He couldn’t explain the heat sitting in his chest and why he wanted to be away from everyone- everyone but Will. He wanted to rewind the evening and go back to when they were safe in the world that only existed within Will’s mother’s apartment.
Things were a lot simpler when it was just the two of them and he didn’t have to think about why he hated seeing someone else reach for Will’s hand.
“What’s your problem?” A voice asked, causing Nico to flinch at the unexpected sound. Pip was staring at him, not in the same way as before, but with an irritated, defiant look that was surprisingly reminiscent of Will. She didn’t look particularly frightened of Nico, and it occurred to him that she didn’t know she should be. She had no idea who he was or what he could do.
The thought annoyed him even further.
“Well?” she prompted. “Is there a reason you’re being such an asshole or are we just lucky? Who doesn’t even shake someone’s hand? That’s a real dick move, dude.”
Nico kept his mouth shut, but he glared at her darkly, enough to see her confidence waver until she realized what was happening and sat up sharply, even more frustrated.
“You don’t get to act like you’re better than us just because you go to camp with him. He’s been our friend for years and he deserves better than this. He’s just trying to include you. If you don’t want to be here so bad, just go.”
Nico tensed as if something had physically struck him. His insides turned cold and then after a moment they began to boil. She had no idea who he was, what he could do, or what he had been through. He had helped save the world for people like this but even she, a mortal nobody, could clearly see that Will existed on a plane completely separate from Nico.
Fine, he thought, pushing himself off the ground and getting to his feet. He wasn’t going to fight with her, wasn’t going to tell her she was wrong, and it wasn’t as if he wanted to be there anyway. He knew Will was already thoroughly disappointed and there wasn’t any reason to stay. Nico shook the sand from his hands, heading away from the beach and not stopping until the sounds of the boardwalk were long behind him.