"Um, hi."
Nico looked up from his book to see a short, petite girl blushing heavily under her large eyeglasses.
"So, I really like that book your reading, and my friends over there told me to go talk to you," the girl said, staring intensely at the book while still blushing.
Nico looked at her, then at her friends near the window of the coffee shop they were in, then at the cover of the book he was reading—Emergency Doctor in a large sans serif font was plastered on it.
"So, um, are you planning on going into medicine? Or are you just, you know, interested in what happens in emergency rooms? 'Cause, you know, I am. Interested… In emergency rooms, I mean. But I'm also taking premed next year…" she laughed nervously. "Is it—um, would it be alright if I sit here?" She pointed to the empty chair in front of Nico.
Nico only blinked at her for a moment, then looked at the empty chair before glancing at the line by the counter where he could see a blonde head at the front. He replied to the girl, "That seat's taken by the actual owner of this book. He's just getting our drinks."
"Oh, I see. Um, but maybe I could stay until he got back?" She looked at him hopefully.
Nico didn't really want to talk to the girl even though she seemed like a nice person. He knew that she was trying to flirt with him in an innocent, shy sort of way, but she did seem like someone who he could have an interesting conversation with—if he actually cared about the book in his hands. But he was only holding it for Will and was only looking at the first page of the book.
"I don't think you'll have much time. He's on his way now."
Will was staring curiously at the drink in his hand as he headed to Nico's table.
"I swear I only gave our orders to that girl at the counter but somehow she mistook it for flirting and wrote her number on my cup," he said as he placed Nico's espresso on the table and sat in the empty seat, oblivious to the girl standing beside it.
"That's because you smile at everyone and try to flatter them and look hot while doing it," Nico replied drily.
"Aww, is someone jealous?" Will asked, sipping his sugary drink.
Nico scoffed. "No. And for your information, this girl was flirting with me while you were there not flirting with the barista."
Will seemed to notice the girl for the first time. She blushed even deeper. He smiled brightly at her, "Hi, I'm Will. This is my boyfriend, Nico. We appreciate your interest in him, but he is, unfortunately, taken. However, if you are interested in making new friends, we'll be happy to entertain you."
"I—um…"
"She's interested in your book," Nico said.
"Oh! Emergency Doctors? It's a really great book. You have great taste. Are you going into medicine? Well, even if you aren't it's still a great read. I plan on being a paramedic in the future—not exactly like an emergency room, but you know, still adrenaline-fueled," Will rambled.
"Um…yeah, I plan on becoming a doctor. But, um, I should really go back to my friends now. And, um, I don't really want to disturb you guys anymore on your date," the girl said.
"Oh, okay. Bye then!" Will said. The girl rushed back to her friends who howled with laughter after she sat down. "She seems like a nice girl."
"You wanted her to leave," Nico said.
Will sighed. "Yeah, but if we weren't on a date right now, I would like to talk to her. I don't really get to talk to anyone about my medical books besides my siblings."
"Is that why you want me to read this?" Nico asked, setting down the book on the table.
"No, I was hoping you'd pick up some medical knowledge so you'd actually be useful whenever you hang out in the infirmary."
"I help. I get you bandages. And I report the life forces of the more critical cases."
"Yeah, and you whispering 'She only has an hour to live if you don't fix this' while I do my job is so stressful. And when I ask you if you think doing this procedure will suck out the patient's life force more, you shrug and say 'Dunno, I'm not a doctor' then leave me alone." Will pouted as he sipped his strawberry frappe.
"Hey, you do your thing, I do mine." Nico stared at the numbers sprawled on the cup in Will's hand. "This is the third time this week that a girl has given you her number."
Will shook his head. "Second time. That girl at the mall last Tuesday asked for my phone so she could put my number in, but you know I don't have a phone, so I told her I left it at home. But she wouldn't stop bothering me, so when you got back with your pretzel, I made out with you, so maybe that's why you don't remember it clearly."
Nico blushed. He was not used to public displays of affection at all. He was barely even used to kissing Will even though they had been going out for over a year. Will kissing him in the middle of a crowded mall was probably his most embarrassing moment of the year. Yet it was also strangely the most enjoyable.
Nico looked at Will's lips as he remembered the incident. "I think I wanna head back to camp."
Will raised his eyebrows, seemingly surprised, but he had a smirk on his face. "But we've only been here a couple of minutes. You haven't even touched your coffee yet."
Nico drank his espresso shot, then stood up. He grabbed Will's hand that wasn't holding his frappe and dragged him to the exit.
"Hey, wait, are you sure we didn't leave anything?" Will looked back and saw the girl that tried to flirt with Nico sitting by the window. He saw her look back at them, and he waved.
"Yes, I have my sword, and we didn't bring anything else that couldn't fit in our pockets." Nico quickly found a dark alley where they could shadow travel.
Will's eyes widened. "Wait! You—"
Before he could finish, Nico had already transported them back to his cabin.
Will staggered, and leaned against the wall until the dizziness faded. "—forgot my book."
Nico sat on his bed. He only travelled a short distance—only about six miles and the maximum distance Will would allow—but he knew that it would be too risky to shadow travel again to get the book.
He grabbed the cup threatening to fall from Will's grasp, then got the emergency monster-resistant phone that Leo built for him from his nightstand drawer. He wrote a text telling the barista to keep the book and that they would go back for it the next day. He sent the message, put back the phone in the drawer, and set down the cup on the nightstand.
"Taken care of."
"You really shouldn't try to lead her on."
"You do want that book, right?"
Will rolled his eyes. "Fine. Now, while no one knows we're back yet," Will walked up to Nico and pulled him in for a kiss.
A/N
Thank you so much for reading this fic! Please review if you have any comments, and please make sure they're constructive.
I'm not sure if I can continue this. I want this to be a collection of one-shots, but I'm usually too busy to write fanfics nowadays. I just finished an internship, and this is just a short project so I was able to write this one-shot. Also, I'm not really a romance writer, so it might be harder to get inspiration for this than for my other stories. Hopefully, I'll be inspired to write another one-shot for this before I get swamped with other projects. I hope you enjoyed though!