Disclaimer: I don't own PJO.
"Have you suffered from prolonged exposure to the sun? Because you're hot!"
Nico doesn't know why the world's worst pick up line has been scrawled onto the sleeve of his coffee cup, but he figures it has something to do with the blonde who served him. He can't decide if it's a joke or not. Like maybe the blonde with the fluttery eyelashes and whoah-blue eyes writes bad pick up lines on all of his customers cups. Maybe that's the shop's thing.
Or maybe he did it specifically just for Nico because maybe he does think Nico is hot. Hah. Sure.
He's not used to situations like this. He never dated in highschool due to the whole trying to suffocate himself in the closet thing. Now in college he's too busy not failing to kick up any relationships. In short, he hasn't yet learned how to tell the difference between flirting, joking, and just being nice. He figures that the blonde is probably(definitely) joking. Nico drinks his coffee and pretends that he hasn't even seen the message. When he's done he tosses his cup away and definitely does not take the cardboard sleeve off and put it in his pocket before doing so.
It's three days later when he goes back to the shop. That same blonde is working and he smiles at Nico when he serves him. It's just good customer service, Nico thinks, that's all. He sits down at a table, opens his laptop, and tries to examine the sleeve without drawing any attention to himself. Takes a sip, turns the cup as he sets it down, and oh- there it is. Written neatly in black marker, "Do you mind if I stare at you up close instead of from across the room?". This time when he leaves he takes the whole cup with him.
He returns the very next day and the blonde isn't working. Good, Nico totally planned this. He orders from a girl with bleach blonde hair who glares at him nearly the whole time. It's definitely not a proper show of customer service. Back in his car he pulls the sleeve off of the cup and looks it over, Nothing, no bad pick up line, no anything. All that means, he tells himself, is that the blonde is in the business of finding bad pick of lines online and sharing them with probably laughs at the people who take them too seriously. It's probably how he handles having to work at a place where he serves coffee to tired college kids and uptight business men. That's the only proper explanation for all of this.
Hazel meets him there one day and because the world is not a fan of his the blonde, who's nametag Nico had read to be "Will", is working. That day's line is extra terrible "Excuse me but I think I dropped something. My jaw!".
Nico is trying to carefully maneuver his cup and the bad line out of Hazel's sight when her eyebrows shoot straight up her forehead, "the blonde guy is staring at you."
"What? No he isn't," Nico replies trying really hard to keep himself from turning in his seat to see if he actually is. He doesn't want to embarrass himself.
Hazel squints, "Yeah, he is."
"Maybe he spit in my drink."
"Nico"
Nico takes another careful sip of his coffee. He's shrugging off Hazel's suggestions but really he's thinking (and hoping) that maybe these pick up lines aren't just jokes. He considers asking Hazel if her cup has a line, but realizes he'll feel incredibly stupid if she says yes. So he drinks the coffee and this time he throws the whole cup out, but that's only because Hazel is watching.
He goes to the coffee shop nearly everyday for a week before it happens. Will is working and Nico is inspecting his cup . He takes a sip, turns it as he sets it down, and oh- There's nothing. There's no pick up line on his cup, bad or otherwise. First he thinks that Will forgot to write one, then he thinks that Will ran out of pick up lines, finally he thinks that he shouldn't really even care.
He doesn't even finish the drink before he's moving to throw his cup out and leave. When he turns away from the trash can the blonde- Will- is standing there. He looks as uncomfortable as Nico feels, which is to say that his ears are tipped red and he's fiddling with his shirt."I'm sorry about the pick up lines, "he says before Nico can do anything, "but in my defence you could have told me if you weren't interested after the first one, you know?"
"Excuse me?" Says Nico but really he means, what?!
Will sighs, "You didn't even read them did you?" Nico is still trying to wrap his mind around the parts of the first sentence that implied Will's interest in him when Will starts sputtering another apology and turning away.
"Wait, I thought those were jokes," he finally that wasn't the right thing to say because now Will looks even more uncomfortable. Nico has never claimed to be smooth at anything let alone smooth at talking so really, it's not his fault.
"No I uh, thought they were pretty clever," and okay no, now he's not embarrassed, he's just blushing.
"Oh", Nico says.
"Yeah," says Will.
Nico kind of wants to laugh but Will already looks like he's about to go slam his head on the counter in a fit of embarrassment. Nico knows how that feels so instead he responds with what he hopes isn't the most lame thing ever. "Well my name is, Nico, and um, Do you come here often?"
Will is still blushing but now he's also smiling and Nico thinks it's kind of awesome."Yeah, but I wouldn't mind going somewhere else with you."
Three weeks later when Will's arm is thrown around Nico's shoulder as they engage in a serious talk about cats, Nico finds himself thinking that yeah, maybe those pick up lines weren't the worst after all.
AN: This was just for fun but I hope it's alright. Thank you for reading.