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"Nico, hurry up. We're going to be late," Will called nervously from outside the bathroom.
"I'll just be a few more minutes. I'm sure Hazel and Frank won't mind if we are a little late," Nico responded as he applied a glob of toothpaste to his toothbrush.
"No," Will exclaimed nervously, "That's going to mess everything up. We have to go now."
Nico couldn't understand what was going on with Will. He had been acting strange all day. They were just going out to dinner with Frank and Hazel. It wasn't anyone's birthday or a special holiday, but Will had insisted that they go to one of the nicest restaurants in New Rome. He also had asked Nico to put on his nicest dress shirt. Nico knew that Will never kept secrets from him, but he couldn't help feeling like the whole situation was a little weird. He very quickly and sloppily brushed his teeth and combed his hair. When he opened the bathroom door, Will let out a noticeable sigh of relief before grabbing Nico's hand and practically dragging him out the front door.
"Will, why are you acting so weird?"
"Uh ... I just want us to have a nice time with your sister and her boyfriend."
Nico rolled his eyes. "We go out to dinner with them at least once a week, and half the time we go to Mcdonalds. Why are you insisting we go somewhere so fancy tonight?"
"Maybe I'm getting tired of all the Mcdonalds. Why not change things up once in a while?"
Nico silently accepted Will's excuse, but he couldn't help feeling that it wasn't completely true.
Hazel wanted to scream when Nico and Will entered the restaurant. At first she had been confused about why Will had picked such a nice place for an ordinary dinner, but now she completely understood. She couldn't stop smiling as Nico came over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Hey, Hazel. Anything exciting happen this week."
Hazel wanted to explode. Something exciting was happening right now, but Nico couldn't know that. She couldn't ruin it.
"No, not really," she said with a wide smile.
She felt a nudge on her arm and looked over to see Frank staring at her oddly.
"Why are you suddenly so excited," he whispered.
"You know that my powers let me sense jewels and metal right?" she asked.
Frank nodded.
"14k white carrot gold, size nine, in Will's pocket," she whispered excitedly.
She watched excitedly as Frank's eyes practically popped out of his head.
"Hey, are you guys alright?" Will asked as he and Nico sat down on the other side of the table.
"Oh, yeah. We're fine," Hazel replied as she tried to calm herself down, "Have you guys tried a breadstick yet. They're really good."
Will grabbed a breadstick and him and Hazel continued talking about how great they were. Nico wasn't paying attention to their conversation. All he was focused on was how weird everyone was acting.
"Can someone please tell me what's happening?" Nico asked abruptly.
"What are you-" Will tried to respond, but Nico cut him off.
"Will, you've been acting really weird all day, Hazel hasn't been able to stop smiling since we walked in her, and Frank looks like he just saw a ghost. What the Hades is going on? Are you all keeping something from me?"
Will stood up from the table.
"I knew you were going to ruin this," he said with a smile.
"Ruin what? Solace, can you stop being so cryptic?"
Will rolled his eyes. "Hey, you know how you always call me Solace when you're annoyed with me?"
Nico huffed, "You mean like right now? Yes."
"I want to be able to call you Solace too," he said with a grin as he knelt down and pulled a little black box out of his pocket.