Chapter Text
nico sat on the floor of his apartment with his notebook open to an empty page.
“UGHHH,” nico groaned when the page was still empty and not magically filled up his is depressing as hell song lyrics he usually wrote. he had the most responsibility in his band of three. he was the guitarist, vocalist, and song writer. greek scum turned out less than a garage band and more of an “omg there’s percy!!” as he and his friends walk down the street to get coffee.
nico’s two best friends were in the band, jason grace and percy jackson. jason was the brains behind the three and was the one who held up the whole team with his basslines. he kept everyone in rhythm and was the glue for them. his pale blonde hair that was shaven on the sides, his sky blue eyes, and his glasses didn’t really make him “look” like a bass player, but he definitely was. he was a serious but also unserious guy who joked around with percy, but was also very chill. he had a scar on his lip from when he tried to eat a stapler when he was three, which percy always berated him about.
percy, on the other hand, was the more colorful one. he was the chaotic drummer who could whip out an improvised solo but couldn’t read drum notation or drum charts if his life depended on it. he looked more like a skater boy who you would see in the mall and would think that he’s trouble with his messy black hair and green eyes. truth was, he was probably the best guy you could’ve met in this batshit world. he was incredibly loyal and his friends say it was his fatal weakness. anyone who met percy immediately knew that he was adhd, just from they way he would first greet himself. percy went to about seven or eight schools in his life, but is in college with his incredibly smart girlfriend, annabeth, of about seven years.
nico was not like his closest friends. he was the one who always looked like he hadn’t slept in seven years, with his messy curly black hair and black eyes that always had bags underneath that he could never get rid of. people usually looked at him and walked in the opposite direction. the losers probably thought nico was going to do a ritual to steal their souls just because he dressed in all black and was emo. well, he probably would have if they were shit people.
“what’s up, di angelo?” nico flinched and got pulled from his thought bubble when percy looked down over nico’s head while nico was sitting on the floor. nico wasn’t expecting him to be home. “i think that the people in china could hear how loud you groaned. still can’t think of anything good for new songs?” percy asked while flopping onto a nearby beanbag chair.
“yeah,” nico murmured while resting his head onto the couch behind him. his curly black hair was getting in his eyes. again. he refused to cut it because it “was cool”, so he just was prompted by annabeth to keep a hair tie on him, then used said hair tie to put his hair back into a ponytail.
“take a break from this, man. you deserve it,” percy told him as his phone dinged.
“annabeth?” nico asked percy when he checked his phone. he felt a pang of resentment but he made himself calm down. it wasn’t annabeth’a fault. it was nico’s fault for his past crush on percy.
“nah. hazel. she said she’s on her way and to be prepared because she’s bringing us quote unquote ‘glam’ for our gig tonight.”
“can’t wait to see you all glammed up, jackson,” nico smirked then went back to staring at his lyric notebook.
•••
after about fifteen more minutes of nothingness, the front door opened. jason walked in and took off this raincoat, the water free falling onto the floor. “jesus christ, it’s raining cats and dogs outside!” leave it to jason to use old man sayings.
“yeah, i heard there’s a stor-“ nico stopped suddenly after looking at jason and examining the crime scene of his freshly cleaned floors. “YOU’RE DRIPPING WATER ALL OVER MY CLEAN FLOOR!”
“shit! sorry, neeks!” jason said running into the kitchen to get paper towels.
“yeah, you better be sorry, grace,” nico rolled his eyes and sighed, going back to his losing staring contest with his empty notebook. “it’s fine. sorry for snapping.”
“it’s all good, man. not enough coffee?”
“okay, i take back everything i just said. you’re a bitch.”
before they could fake argue for any longer, percy’s phone dinged again. “yo, jay. hazel’s coming over in a few and she just said she’s bringing piper,” percy teased with his eyebrows dancing.
“p-piper??” jason asked dropping the soggy paper towels he was using to undo his terrible crime.
“yeah, your girlfriendddddd-“ percy was singing before he got smacked square in the face with the wet paper towels from his so called best friend.
even though jason hadn’t really explicitly told them, both percy and nico knew that he had the biggest crush on piper since they first met in middle school.
“whatever. i’ll make some snacks for the girls,” jason proclaimed, trying to change the subject.
“i can cook,” percy offered, but they all knew it was a joke.
“dude, you can’t cook for shit. and i also don’t want to burn down our apartment, please and thank you.”
“chilllllll, i was just joking,” percy laughed as he turned on the tv for cartoons. nico didn’t really understand the hype about blue and orange australian dogs, but that was an adventure for another day.
“i’m gonna go shower,” nico said as he stood up from the floor, his back popping as doing so. when had he turned forty?
•••
when he exited the bathroom after his shower, hazel and piper were already there. somehow annabeth was also there, though no doubt it was percy’s doing.
“hey, guys,” nico greeted the girls. all three of them looked over at the sound of his voice.
“hey, nico!” annabeth returned the greeting. she was. unsurprisingly, sitting right next to percy on the couch. apparently, nico had caught the happy couple in the middle of a spat on whether cartoons or documentaries were better, as annabeth had the tv remote and had flipped one on.
“nicoooooo!” hazel exclaimed while tackling him in a hug. “i would’ve come over to see you sooner, but the bakery needed someone to fill in some shifts. as my apology, i brought some cupcakes! your favorite, of course.” she smelled of cinnamon and frosting and had a bit of flour on her forehead, but nico didn’t say anything.
nico loved hazel more than anything. she’d been by his side for his hardest days, and his best days. the cupcakes were just a perk.
she let nico go from her hug and smiled at him, her golden eyes gleaming against her dark skin that was much different than nico’s deathly pale complexion and colorless black eyes.
“what’s good, neeks?” piper asked nico. she was sitting on the couch with jason, and was leaning against his shoulder which made the poor guy look like he was bluescreening. piper was watching tiktoks with jason on her phone, but everyone knew that jason wasn’t really fully paying attention to them and rather the girl who was using him as her personal headrest.
“nothin’ much. still can’t think of any new lyrics, so i’ve just been wasting my time sitting on the floor staring at an empty notebook and my back is protesting,” nico explained while going into the kitchen to get some pre-show coffee.
“have you tried having your back not hurting?” piper suggested then went back to her tiktoks.
percy snorted from the other couch, then went back to arguing with annabeth about how great children’s cartoons are.
“alright! glam time!” hazel exclaimed excitedly. “annabeth, you do nails. piper, you do hair. and i’m doing nico’s makeup!”
the three girls all grabbed their needed supplies from hazels caboodle of “glamour” and went to work. annabeth found a light teal color of nail polish and went to work on percy’s nails. next to them, piper was combing jason’s hair, which was making the fella turn a neon shade of coral, but he was trying to hide it and play it off as “pre-show nerves”. no one believed him.
hazel got out her eyeshadow palette and some brushes.
“so. what look do we want today, good sir?” hazel asked nico, examining his face as she sat in front of him on the floor.
nico sipped his coffee, black of course. “mmmm, just the usual, haze. the black eyeshadow.”
“boring! can i try something new tonight?” she gave him her puppy dog eyes that sparkled in the light of the ancient rome documentary annabeth put on the tv.
“you would still do it even if i say no, right?”
“you know me well,” hazel smiled. “i’m going to make you so irresistible so all the boys are gonna oogle and stare at you tonight while you’re doing your rockstar thing.”
“…that was a horrifying sentence,” nico stared at his sister, which made her giggle.
“maybe he needs a haircut before he gets any boys,” percy laughed, making his hand shake which resulted in him getting slapped by annabeth.
“well, i think nico looks lovely, thank you very much,” hazel said matter-of-factly. “i suppose you could get your ego trimmed as well as those split ends?”
“damn, okay. harsh.”
hazel looked proud of his reaction. she started nick’s makeup, which nico had no say in what it was going to look like. he could end up looking like a scarecrow that had been drawn on with markers.
“…just no sparkles,” nico begged.
“mhm.”
•••
there was sparkles. of course there was. nico had to admit that he actually liked what hazel did. there was still black, but also red. the red was on his inner eyelid and blended into a black smokey eye, which was the sparkly part.
nico looked into his full length mirror in his room. he hadn’t styled his hair, which was his way of styling his hair. his nail polish from about a week ago was chipping but it matched the makeup look nicely. red on his left hand, black on his right. nico had his usual black band tee on and his black jeans with his studded belt with pant chains. he worse his silver necklace that had a skull, one that matched the same skull on his ring. the ring that was the last gift from his sister before she died.
he shook away those thoughts and went back to his question of is he should wear his bomber jacket or his leather jacket. he figured his brand new, never before worn gay pin would stand out less on his brown bomber jacket rather than his black leather jacket.
he’s made himself buy the pin after months of contemplating. the blues and greens scared him but also comforted him in a way. if he were still in italy and wore this, he would’ve been either smacked or stared at by everyone he passed. nico was glad he moved to the us before the age of 9.
nico never explicitly told the greek scum fans he was gay but he was tired of everyone asking him if he’d have a girlfriend in the interviews their manager, reyna, makes them do. damn reyna.
he took a breath and silently went through the list of songs he was going to preform tonight. spacing out. fallen shadows. maybe one day. have u heard? icarus. reflections. don’t worry, but please do. walk it off. the existential crisis of my everyday life.
damn… maybe his songs were depressing. it would also explain the fans that showed up at gigs.
nico put the pin on his bomber jacket he’s had since he was a teen. he now had three pins, his new gay one, a skull, and an italian flag.
he inspected his face one last time, taking in the light, barely noticeable freckles around his nose and his black eyebrow piercing before exiting his room and going into the car.
•••
nico, jason, percy, and the girls all left the apartment at around 7:30 pm, which was about only 30 minutes before their gig. on the car ride there, piper drove and turned on crushcrushcrush by paramore and sang it perfectly.
“pipes, why can’t you join our band? we need some cheerfulness instead of mr. dark rainy clouds over here,” percy whined from his back seat in the car.
“keep complaining and i’ll kick you out, bitch,” nico glared at him.
“i prefer surfing and singing only with close friends rather than thousands of randos,” piper answered while pulling into the parking lot of the venue they were performing at. “anyways, reyna is probably fuming at you guys.”
“fuckkkkkk, you’re right,” percy groaned as he got out of the car and started unpacking amps. “she’s gonna whoop our asses. we better get in there before she does that.”
percy took the box he took out of the car and started basically running towards the side entrance nico hoped he would trip and break the amps he saved up to get a few years ago.
nico exited out of the passenger side and got dizzy and had to catch himself by grabbing onto jason’s shoulder.
“you okay, nico?” jason asked warily raising his eyebrow, making it rise about his glasses. “when was the last time you ate something?”
“ugh, like either last night or this morning. i’m fine though,” he shook his head, making the stars that were flying above his head fly away like he turned into medusa. he tried to take his guitar case but piper grabbed his hand when it was an inch away from the handle.
“no. you go order something from inside. we don’t need you passing out while onstage. that’ll make yall even more famous than you already are,” piper told nico, letting go of his hand and taking his guitar case.
“fine. only so i don’t embarrass myself,” nico grumbled as he walked inside towards the counter where people were at.
•••
“heya! what can i get you?” the blonde, curly haired person said from behind the counter, walking over to go serve nico. he had warm sky blue eyes that were soft and also made nico entranced by them. the boy had freckles dotted all across his face, like stars in a clear night sky poking out.
“uhh, sir?” nico popped back into reality from his intense gaze at the boys face.
“oh, uh, sorry. can i just get a cookie or something please?” he asked the boy who then smiled at nico. that smile made nico feel a bit less uncomfortable, but he was probably just being nice.
“of course! yknow, they’re my mom’s recipe, so they’re guaranteed to be good,” he said with another smile before walking into the back room, coming back a few seconds later with a brown paper bag that had a cookie inside. “here ya go!” he handed it over to nico who took it hesitantly.
“uh, thank you…” nico said as he handed the boy five dollars. “you can keep the change,”
“thats so sweet, thanks! by the way, i really like your makeup,” the boy said as he put the money in the cash register. nico was convinced he was just another fan of greek scum, so he didn’t know how to feel about the compliment. how could someone like something about him?
“oh, my sister did it for tonight. she normally does it for me,” nico explained, not making eye contact. why did his cheeks feel warm? “i should probably go, but thanks again,” he said walking away from the counter.
•••
will was excited to hear the band that was playing at his mom’s venue that night. he’d seen the flyers but he had never heard of the band “greek scum”, but will liked all music.
his mom, naomi, had asked will to work that night because the band that was playing was more famous, so that meant more people. will had agreed because he loved people.
he had served a lot of people on that night, but one stood out more than the others. the boy with black messy hair and piercing deep almost black eyes. the eyeshadow and sparkles around his eyes really did something to make him look even better (if that was even possible).
“yo, will!” yelled a voice that will knew well. his half brother, austin, had snapped will back into reality from his daydreaming. austin was sitting down at one of the tables next to the counter where will was standing at. “i’ve been tryna get you to make me a milkshake, man.”
“oh, sorry!” will scrambled away to the kitchen to make austin his milkshake, humming as he did. when he came out with it, he went to the table and sat down next to his half brother. “here,” will slid is to him.
“sweet, thanks!” austin said as he started drinking his strawberry milkshake. “have you heard of the band that’s here tonight?” he asked while leaning back in his chair.
“no, but i’ve seen the flyers around here. mom wanted me to work some extra shifts because apparently they’re a bigger band, so here i am,” will answered. “have you?” will got up from his thirty second break and began to wipe off tables while talking to austin.
“nah. i’m waiting to see how they sound in person before i decide on anything.” austin tipped his chair onto its back two legs and put his legs up on the table, one arm behind his head, the other one holding his milkshake.
“dude, get your feet off my clean tables or i’m gonna make you pay for that milkshake,” will glared at him from across the room.
“sheesh, okay. don’t wanna make a broke man pay. i just bought a new mouthpiece for my sax and they’re expensive,” austin complained while taking his feet off of the table.
they went on for a bit, will wiping down tables and cleaning up and austin talking until will heard someone talk into the microphone on the stage.
“uh, hi everyone. we’re greek scum,” a nervous boy said as the crowd exploded in cheers. that voice sounded familiar to him, but he must’ve been imagining things.
will ran over to be able to see the one talking and to watch the band play. there was a black haired boy sitting behind the drums and a blonde tall guy with glasses with a bass. will looked to see the one who had the guitar and who was singing and his mind did a double take.
it was the boy from the counter.
the one with the dark brown eyes.
he was the frontman of greek scum.
•••
nico and the others had just finished about an hour of playing and nico was tired. he was honestly kinda glad that piper made him get some food before playing because if he was tired then, he would’ve been a corpse with a guitar and a microphone.
according to reyna, all the tickets had sold out for that gig and nico could tell. there were more people than normal but he just sucked it up.
after he went backstage, hazel was waiting for him. “nico!!! oh my god, you did so good!!” hazel exclaimed and wrapped her brother in a hug.
“thanks, haze,” nico said quietly. “i think i need to go get another snack. and maybe a drink as well.”
“can i come with you? i don’t want fans surrounding you, and frank can come with! he’s scary, hehe,” hazel asked nico, letting him out of her hug but holding onto his shoulders. she was shorter than nico by about five inches and hadn’t grown since middle school so she looked ridiculously small compared to her huge grizzly bear boyfriend, frank.
“okay, that’s fine.”
•••
nico, hazel and frank made their way over to the counter to order some snacks and drinks, making no eye contact with people surrounding them.
when they got to the counter, nico held back a cough. the cute blonde boy was still there and when he saw nico he gave him the biggest smile.
“oh my god! i know you’ve probably heard it hundreds of times before but you were so good!!” the boy exclaimed as nico walked up.
“thanks… um, hazel, you wanna order?” nico said embarrassed, shuffling to the side so hazel could step up.
“oo are you the sister who did his makeup? he told me earlier that his sister does his makeup but i didn’t know for gigs! it’s amazing by the way.”
“haha! i am, and thanks!”
after everyone ordered their food, the boy decided to introduce himself. “i figure i should introduce myself. i’m will! nice to meet yall,” will grinned.
“nice to meet you too, will. you probably know my name…” nico joked, looking away from will’s amazingly warm blue eyes before he could get sucked in.
“i actually don’t. i’ve never heard of greek scum before, but now im glad i know who you guys are. yall are amazing!” will admitted. nico tried to pay for the food but will stopped him. “no, it’s okay. it’s on the house.”
“are you sure..?” nico asked the smiley boy warily, but only got a hum and a smile in agreement. “thanks.”
“of course! you just gave everyone a great night, so it’s the least we can do for you,” will handed everyone their snacks and drinks before the three thanked him again and walked over to backstage again.
frank stepped in front of hazel and nico, as he was the biggest, strongest, most intimidating one in their group. nico found the fact that frank was acting like his bodyguard kinda funny. frank was one of the sweetest people he knew, but nico knew better than to get on his bad side.
“he was totally flirting with you, nico,” hazel smirked at her brother as they walked. nico’s face flushed and he looked away.
“no, he’s just a fan. he said it himself,” nico tried to counteract. how could a cute boy flirt with him? he wasn’t even attractive or outgoing and was just the weird emo kid in the corner no one wanted to talk to. “besides, i saw him talking to other customers and he acted just as friendly to them as he did to us.”
“sureeeee “ hazel dragged on. “what do you think frank? was that cute blondie flirting with him?”
“i mean, it kinda seems like he was,” frank mused, looking back over his shoulder giving nico a bashful smile. “but also what nico said, he might’ve just been a fan or an overly nice person.”
“see? just super nice, not flirting. he might even be straight for god’s sake,” nico explained to his smug sister who was giving him a look like “really?”
“apparently he thought you were cool even before you got on stage, nico,” hazel giggled as they finally got to the doors to go backstage.
•••
“guys, i’m glad i have this job and you three need me so you can make money, but i need you to be able to make it to gigs on time. not thirty minutes before,” a voice lectured percy and jason as nico walked backstage. that voice belonged to reyna, aka their manager who even percy was scared of. she had those scary obsidian black eyes that everyone swore could look into their souls and pluck their insecurities out. reyna turned around as she heard footsteps enter the room.
“hey, reyna,” nico greeted his manager before flopping on the nearest couch to eat his food.
“why can’t nico get flamed as well, rara?” percy whined from the other couch, sitting next to annabeth who then promptly punched his arm. “ow..”
“don’t call me that, jackson. i’ll slice your fingers off. i’m serious,” reyna threatened percy with her pointed glare.