Chapter Text
NICO POV
Nico stared at his dining hall food. His sister kept telling him he needed to gain weight but how could he when this was what he ate. It was three in the afternoon and he hadn't eaten anything yet so he didn't care much about the taste. His tray had a slice of pizza and some pasta. He poked at it with his fork and took a bite. It was lukewarm and tasteless. Grimacing, he pushed the plate away with a sigh.
“I’m pretty sure prisoners get better rations.” A voice spoke behind him, he turned around in his chair to see a tall, blonde, jock looking type giving Nico a casual smile. The first thing Nico noticed were his striking blue eyes. They weren't Icy or cold, but a deep ocean blue that popped against his tan.
“What? Oh, uh- yea hah.” Nico tripped over his tongue, he wasn’t an expert at social interactions to begin with. Throw in a pretty boy and the element of surprise? He didn’t stand a chance.
“Is this seat taken?” The stranger gestured at the open seat across from Nico.
“Oh, no go ahead.” Nico picked up his phone, expecting the boy to take the chair back to where he came from. Instead, to Nico's surprise, he sat down. Nico looked up from his phone confused and the boy held out a hand for him to shake.
“I’m Will.” He gave Nico a blinding smile, his teeth looked as perfect and straight as he did. Nico tentatively shook his hand. “Nico.” He stated. He looked around to try and figure out why this was happening.
“What year are you?” Will asked, digging into his food. Nico noticed it was much healthier than his; steamed vegetables and chicken breasts.
“Um, Third.” Nico felt rude with the short answers but didn’t know if he was supposed to just jump into a full conversation. What did this boy want from him?
“What about you?” He decided to show some cordiality.
“Third year too, pre-med,” He grinned proudly, “and as a pre-med, I should probably tell you that lunch has no nutritional value.” He said solemnly, then responded to himself before Nico had the chance. “Actually scratch that, negative nutritional value.”
Nico looked down at his plate, then to Wills. “I think I’ll take negative nutrition over whatever it is you have going on.”
Will laughed. “Hey, it's not like yours tastes great either. When I came up, you looked like you were being held hostage by that spaghetti.”
Nico scoffed and Will followed up before the conversation could go dry. “What are you studying?”
“English and education. I’m planning to be a Professor.” Nico wasn't quite sure why he was telling Will this. He wasn't someone who opened up to strangers, ever, but something about this boy just seemed so innocent. It was hard to not let his guard down a little.
“Wow, the one profession that will be in school longer than me. What made you choose teaching?” Will leaned forward, as if he was afraid to miss a word of what Nico said. The boy was even prettier up close, his face was covered in freckles that went down his neck and disappeared below his collar, Nico wondered how far down they went. He grew hot, looking down to hide his blush.
“Uh, I’m not sure, I really like to read and it was always my favorite subject. I guess I like the idea of spending my career just getting to talk about my interests.” Nico spoke quietly, suddenly feeling like he was on some first date. Will nodded along and smiled, Nico felt small under his gaze. He looked up and met his eyes timidly.
“I never thought about it like that, that's really cool. What do you like to read?” Will seemed earnest, like he was genuinely interested in what kind of books Nico liked of all things. Nico wasn't used to being talked to much at all, he almost always wore all black, kept his head down, and has been told by his friends that he has a resting bitch face. He was certainly not used to beautiful boys asking about his passions.
Maybe Will was just really friendly and felt bad that Nico was eating alone but he was perfectly fine on his own. He wasn't some charity case that Will needed to pity. He hated the idea of Will thinking he was doing some grand moral act by talking to him, as if he was some martyr shaking hands with a leper.
Nico furrowed his brow. “I’m sorry I actually have to go.” He stood up quickly, throwing his bag over shoulder and grabbing his tray.
Will's face fell and he stood up with Nico. “Oh, ok that's fine. Well it was nice to meet you Nico, hopefully we’ll run into each other again soon!” Will had plastered back on that dazzling smile, placing a hand on Nico's shoulder. Nico tensed, expecting the physical contact to make him uncomfortable like it always did. Instead, it sent a burst of sparks through his stomach, taking his breath away for a moment.
Nico froze, looking at Will who had developed a blush that turned the tips of his freckled ears pink. His blue eyes were wide and mouth slightly agape.
Nico must’ve had a weird reaction and freaked Will out, he turned beet red and stepped away. “Yea- uh, I will, um, see you again.” Nico turned away and grimaced at how much of a mess he sounded. He quickly put his tray away and left the dining hall, hungrier than when he arrived.
In his next class Nico found himself distracted. He thought of Will; His smile, his eyes, the way his touch made Nico shiver. Nico was shaken out of his own head by the class getting dismissed, he didn't realize how long he had been thinking about this boy. When Will said he hoped they saw each other again, it seemed…genuine.
That frustrated Nico. There was no reason someone like that would be excited to speak to him, so why put in all that effort to appear that way?
The next day he went to his classes until about two, when his stomach started yelling at him for skipping breakfast. He walked back home to drop off his backpack. Since he’s already there he figured he might as well change into something other than the black sweats and an oversized sweatshirt. He put on a pair of black skinny jeans, a band tee that showed off the intricate skeletal horse tattoo on his bicep that he was especially proud of. He even put some earring in his piercings that he's usually too lazy to fill, across his ear and his nose piercing too.
When he was about to leave Jason came in and threw his bag on the ground Looking over to Nico he did a double take.
“You going on a date or something?” He asked, plopping down on their futon and opening a diet coke.
“No,” he replied defensively.
“What are you all dressed up for then?”
Nico looked in the mirror, he was more cleaned up than he could remember this semester. He shrugged. “Dunno, just felt like it.” He had half a mind to just throw on that sweatshirt that wouldn't attract any attention to himself.
Jason eyed him suspiciously. “If you say so.”
Nico shot him a glare. It's not like he was trying to impress anyone. Ok fine, maybe he wanted to look nice in case Will saw him, but that's just so he could prove that he wasn't some bum loser.
He grabbed his backpack and took one last look in the mirror which resulted in another four minutes of him messing with his hair. He finally stopped when he saw Jason through the mirror watching with an amused smile.
“Shut up.” Nico grumbled, deciding on throwing it in a small ponytail. His hair wasn't at shoulder length yet but still below his chin.
“Whats his name?”
Nico scowled and left with Jason laughing and apologizing behind him.
Making it to the dining hall he found himself looking around for Will. The realization made him kick himself. He grabbed some food that was a little healthier than his usual choice but not by much. He grabbed a salad drenched in dressing and some sweet and sour chicken. Taking a seat at his regular table he pulled out his laptop to hopefully get some work done. Before he had the chance to get a bite to eat he heard Will's voice from behind him.
“Is that a salad I see? Looks like my impromptu after school special yesterday got to you.” Nico hated how his stomach fluttered for the boy.
Nico looked over his shoulder and didn't miss how Will's eyes widened.
“Oh uh, you did something new with your hair.” Will said, stumbling a bit. Nico reached a hand up to brush some behind his ears, a little self-conscious.
“Yeah it's getting pretty long, I need to get it cut soon.” He looked away, not trusting himself to be coherent with Will looking at him like that.
“I like it long, it looks nice,” Will said with a twinkle in his eye. Nico blushed, he needed this gorgeous man to stop making him feel silly and leave him alone.
“Thanks.” Will nodded in response and didn't say anything right away. Nico watched his eyes flick up to his piercings, to his tattoo and down his body in an instant. It made him feel uncomfortably perceived.
“Everything about you looks nice today, dressing up for something. Someone?” his tone teasing. Nico scowled, his face growing hot red, he didn't come here to be mocked. Obviously Will thought Nico had some kind of thing for him, Nico wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing that wasn't all wrong.
“No, this is how I usually dress,” Nico lied, “You just caught me on a bad day yesterday. I'm not trying to impress anyone.” He glared, turning back to face his food. He hoped that would've been the end of it but Will just came and sat across from him. “You think yesterday was the first time I had ever seen you around? That's a lie and you know it.” Nico looked to Will like he was certifiable but Will just casually took a bite of his food.
“Are you stalking me now?” Nico's face twisted. He put on a mean face but he couldn't help the butterflies in his chest. Wills grinned, irritating Nico more, and leaned in ever so slightly.
“Im not stalking you, Nico, you're just a hard person to miss.” Will spoke softly, disarming Nico entirely. Nico didn't have any witty comeback, he just sat there with a dumb look on his face. Will's smile tendered and he leaned back to keep eating, obviously satisfied with Nico's reaction. Will's smug attitude got under Nico's skin. As if his feelings were some entertainment for bored straight guys to tug at. Will “noticing” Nico was probably just him and his buddies making fun of the quiet emo kid.
Before Nico assumed Will just pitied him, now he had a pit in his stomach, realizing that it was probably worse than that. Will saw how flustered fake flirting would make him and was just having fun riling him up. Nico burned with embarrassment knowing that he, not only, dressed up for Wil, but that he noticed it too.
Nico must've been obvious with his stewing because Will took a drink of water and added something else. “I’m not saying that's a bad thing, in fact it's a good thing.” he cocked his head a bit observing Nico who still had his eyes down. Nico snapped his head up with a glare, Will looked startled for a second before his face melted into a fond smile.
“You gotta weird response to compliments, ya know that.” He spoke languid and amused, a southern drawl Nico hadn't recognized before creeping into his words. Nico huffed, he's used to people clamoring to get away from him when he glares, Will, though, seemed utterly unfazed.
“Nico,” Will said looking up in thought, “Is that short for Nicholas?” He asked, switching topics.
“No,” he grumbled, poking at his food.
Will hummed, “Nicole? Nicotine?” he gasped as if having an aha moment “Nicorette! Even better!” His face got solemn, “smoking kills, you know.”
Will smiled at his own joke, digging back into his food while chuckling.
Nico observed the boy in front of him quizzically. Every time he expected Will to zig, he zagged. Nico prided himself on being able to read people well. His little sister called it snap judgments but he considered it a strong intuition. Said intuition was, admittedly, almost always negative and suspicious but that's life, especially for someone like him. Will was dangerous, he was charming, attractive, hard to pin down, and worst of all, impervious to Nico's attempts to shake him off.
Will hopped back into conversations like the day before, Nico tried to keep his gruff attitude back but Will gave it as good as he got. He would call Nico out for being an ass and just laugh at his dirty looks.
“I’m a nursing assistant Nico. I deal with crotchety old patients everyday. Yesterday an elderly woman bit me while I was taking her blood-pressure.” He held out his arm, and sure enough there was a still visible bite mark. Nico winced. “She then asked me to grab the tv remote for her and promptly threw it at my head.” Will said bitterly as he pulled his arm back, Nico guffawed at that mental image.
“Whats your point, Solace?”
“My point is, death boy, lord of all darkness, you don't scare me.” Nico scoffed, taking another bite of food.
“What if I ask nicely, will you leave me alone then?”
Will observed him with a smile playing on his lips. “You don't want me to leave you alone, do you?”
Nico's nostrils flared and he stood up. “You’re an asshole.” He reached down to get his stuff when Will put a hand out gently, between Nico and his bag.
“I’m not mocking you Nico,” He said so gently it gave Nico pause. “Now sit down and eat your prison food so you don't wither away.” He said with authority, keeping eye contact with Nico until the boy grumbled and sat back down. He doesn't know why he listened, if it were anyone else bossing him around like that he would've thrown a punch.
Maybe it was morbid curiosity or a desire to prove that his first impressions were as accurate as he thought. The warmth in his stomach when looking into Will's eyes suggested another, far scarier reason, but he pushed that thought away.
After that he loosened up, accepting that for whatever reason, Will wasn't letting him out of this conversation. Like the day before Nico couldn't help but get charmed, Will was cocky and funny and looked at Nico like he was the only person in the room. He learned quickly that Will was also a total nerd who geeked on anything medical or sci-fi. He heard Nico's faint accent and wormed out the fact that Nico was from Italy.
Nico wanted to stay away from family and childhoods as he could, Will seemed to recognize this and didn't stay on the subject too long. Nico did learn, though, that he was one of four siblings. One of them, Kayla, goes to their school too, two years younger than him.
“What are your plans for the rest of the day?” Will asked casually.
“Taking my beater of a car into the shop.” Nico sighed, “It's making a weird sound and I can't afford to have it break down on me.” Nico grimaced, “not that I can really afford to bring it into the shop either, but I don't have much of a choice,” Nico said with an empty laugh.
“Why don't you let me take a look at it, I used to fix up cars back in Texas with my siblings. Odds are I can figure it out.”
Will said it like it was the most normal thing in the world, Nico looked at him like he had grown a second head. “You don't need to fix my car for me, Solace.”
“No it's not a problem, It’ll be fun, I haven't gotten under a hood since I came here, I miss it. I can come over this afternoon after class.” Will dug into his backpack to grab a pen and started writing on a napkin before Nico had time to protest. He slid the paper to Nico and stood up.
“I have to go but that's my number, text me when I can come and take a look.” Nico furrowed his brow and opened his mouth but Will didn't give him the chance to speak. “I mean it Nico, I’m looking forward to it now, don't stand me up!” He said, already walking away.
Nico picked up the napkin and just stared at it stunned for a few moments. Butterflies bubbled in his stomach while anxiety rose in his throat. What had he gotten himself into?