The Day He Accepted Himself

Wow… guys. This is the best. YOU guys are the best. 4 reviews, 22 followers, and 13 favorites! This is amazing! Thank you guys so much for your support! I apologize for not updating as fast as I should be… I'm currently going out of town for vacation, so I won't be updating that often. However, I WILL continue writing this by hand :). I already worked on a few chapters already. Anyway, enjoy! :DD

Chapter 2

After School: Rachel Dare's Office

Nico shut the door behind him. He peered around the room as he slowly stepped in, his hands shoved inside his pockets. The air was slightly dusty and thick, and the room definitely looked extremely old and worn, coming from the creaky door and the squeaks on the hinges. The wooden floors were dark and a mahogany color. They were slightly faded from all the toil and time, and scratches were visible. There was only one window, which was slightly covered by red curtains so only a crack of sunlight leaked through. The lights were on low, and a yellow-ish color. The furniture was well-taken care of, but the leather looked old and worn. Beautiful artwork surrounded the room.

Near the corner of the room, there was a desk, beaten up, yet well-organized. A thin woman was working there, one of her hands scrawling on a notepad, and the other pushing her wild and curly flame-red hair that glowed under the light. Her green orbs had a slight tint of turquoise, She was wearing a simple blue collar shirt and black denim jeans with flats.

She looked up, "Nico, welcome back! Sit down and we can begin." He did as he was told, and the lady then pulled a chair in front of him and sat down, crossing her legs.

"How's your new school going?" she asked, and Nico shrugged.

"It was okay," he responded. But in reality, it was actually a good experience, and it's not because of that stupid blond haired boy.

At least, that's what he'll tell himself for now.

"Did you make any friends?" she continued. Nico then thought of Will.

Highschool, Lunch time

"Meet your new friends!" The blond haired boy, Will pointed at a cafeteria table.

It was barren and empty, with just a piece of lettuce and a dried ketchup stain on the table.

Nico raised an eyebrow, "It's fucking empty,"

Will rolled his blue orbs, and Nico's stomach fluttered. Nico made a note to himself to punch himself in the stomach after school so he wouldn't have that feeling ever again.

"Just wait." Will sat down and Nico joined in, in front of him. Nico didn't want to start a conversation, so he just stared at the piece of lettuce that laid there on the cafeteria table.

Will sighed, raising his eyebrows. "You seriously had no experience with friends before. Let me see that papercut."

Nico rolled his eyes as Will stared at his finger. His face was extremely concentrated, as his hands warmed Nico's cold ones.

"Will. I'm fine," Nico said. Will looked up.

"Mr. Underworld," he pointed at his finger, "Does it look like you're okay? You have a band-aid on."

"A band-aid, not a fucking cast," Nico argued.

"Nope. I'm not going to accept it." Will stubbornly refused, and Nico groaned.

"Is it normal for somebody to freak out so much? It's a fucking band-aid, did they not see it before? Why does he even care so much?" Nico asked, to no one in particular. Will stopped talking, and Nico suddenly felt uncomfortable. Was he already used to Will's constant blabbers and worried comments? No, he can't be. He just met him in Biology class-no way that he could already miss his voice.

Not only that, Nico swore never to even consider being close to someone ever again. Why should he? Friends don't 'have your back', and friends definitely don't care about Nico. He doesn't even want to talk about boyfriends…

Will made a 'tch' sound. "Dense. Just as I thought." Nico's eyes widened, surprised by the sudden disappointment.

"What?" Nico asked. Will leaned forward towards him. He could feel Will's heat radiating on to his pale skin. His blue eyes glowed, and everything else faded out. Will's smile elevated Nico's body. He tried to shake that feeling off, but his mind isn't exactly focused right now.

He's straight. I'm gay. It doesn't work, Nico. Just give up.

Will backed away and crossed his arms. "I work at a fucking hospital. My dad's a huge and famous doctor, so I work beside him. I've seen so much worse than a stupid papercut."

"What are you saying?" Nico asked.

Will facepalmed himself. "Mr. Underworld, clearly, you are oblivious." Nico's face turned red.

"Shut up. Just tell me."

He grabbed Nico's wrists gently. "Can't you see that I genuinely want to be friends with you? Did your dark thoughts fog that up? You're so dense. You should go out more."

"Oh."

After School: Rachel Dare's Office

"Nico? Are you okay? I guess you didn't make any friends?" Rachel asked, waving a hand over his face. Nico's mind went back to focus.

Nico admitted it. Will Solace was annoying, he's annoying as hell, he doesn't know when to shut up, but somehow, he felt more comfortable around him. Will Solace is too optimistic for his taste, always looking at the bright side, and everything he does is majestic, and swift.

And yet, Nico's mind always whirrs, and feels woozy every time he's around.

His face scrunched in confusion, and emotion and Rachel started to be worried.

"Nico, are you having another attack?" Rachel asked seriously. Nico automatically shook his head.

"No, not really. I'm fine." Nico responded and Rachel relaxed.

"So did you make any friends?" Rachel asked, "What's in your head?"

"Kind of," Nico shrugged, "And I wasn't thinking of anything, nothing important." Rachel smirked slightly.

Oh no, here we go. Nico closed his eyes, wishing for the best of him and his sanity.

"Really? What's his name?" Rachel pressed.

"Will Solace." Nico said.

"How did you meet?"

"Biology. We're lab partners."

"Do you… like...him?" Rachel winked and Nico's cheeks turned red.

"No! Of course not! He's annoying as hell and stubborn."

"Then why do you think he's your friend?"

"...I don't know," Nico answered honestly.

"Are you planning to open up to him?" Rachel asked, looking straight at him in the eye. Nico shook his head.

"Never again," Nico answered, more curtly that he expected. Nico didn't mean for it to be rude, but he wanted to push those thoughts in the very back of his head, dig a hole, and forget about it. If that were to happen, his life would be so much better, and he would never have to block off from everyone again. He kind of liked it. He loved that sullen feeling, and that security of not getting hurt. However, now that he met Will, he kind of missed that feeling where someone is always there to support him. He constantly was taking care of himself, or managing to, that he forgot about the feeling of friendship… or maybe something more…

Nope. Not going to go to that topic. Nico thought to himself.

"Well… hopefully you'll find someone, I know it's not going to be me." Rachel said wishfully. "I really do care about you Nico." She stood up and opened the door. Nico stood up and joined Rachel.

"Thanks, Rachel," Nico said, and she smiled.

"If you need anything, anything at all, feel free to contact me." she said and Nico nodded and left the building. The air was dry and moist, and Nico sneezed at the sudden temperature change.

Highschool, Lunch time

"Are you done staring?" Will smirked and Nico turned red as a tomato.

"There's nothing to start at, Solace." Nico said stubbornly. Will raised his arched eyebrow.

Nico knew, and perhaps even Will knew himself that there was indeed something to stare at.

"Are you sure?" Will leaned towards Nico until they were almost nose-to-nose, his blue orbs widening. Nico continued to shake his head. His fingers were tingling beneath the table.

"Not impressing anyone, blondie." Nico said. Will's eyebrow rose higher.

"Blondie?" He said, confused.

"It just came out, and your mop of yellow was the first thing I see every time I walk around the hallway. If you're trying to be noticed, you're doing a good job at it," Nico said, and Will blushed, and his blue orbs avoided eye contact, looking to the side.

"Whatever," Will said, and Nico resisted a smile, showing a small crack, but went back to his normal bored expression. Will seemed to notice, and his lips curved upwards too.

"Woah. Am I ruining a moment?" Nico and Will suddenly gave themselves a large amount of space, and Nico turned his head around.

He saw a tall, black haired boy, carrying his lunch, if 10 lunch trays counted as lunch.

He had sea-green eyes, and tan skin, but not as tan as Will's. He was wearing a swim team sweater and denim jeans, with Reebok sneakers.

Nico couldn't deny it, he was cute.

"Why is he staring at me?" the boy whispered to the blond-haired girl who just entered the awkward scene. Her piercing stormy grey eyes snapped Nico back to reality.

"You really have a habit of staring, don't you Nico?" Will teased, and Nico scowled.

"No, you were not interrupting a moment. There wasn't a moment to begin with," Nico told the guy.

Will rolled his blue orbs. "Nico, meet Percy and Annabeth. Percy and Annabeth, meet the new kid, Nico. He's going to sit on this table from now on, until his injury is treated,"

"First of all Will," Nico said over Percy's 'great!', "it's not an injury. It's a papercut. You even said it wasn't an injury."

"I never said it wasn't an injury. I just said I've seen much worse," Will retorted, and Nico rolled his eyes.

"You sound just like Rachel." Nico sighed, saying it more to himself than other people. Will stood a little taller and narrowed his eyes.

"Who's Rachel?" Will questioned dubiously, "Friend? Girlfriend?"

"No, that's disgusting!" Nico responded quickly, "First, she's like 10 years older than me. Second, she can't possibly be my girlfriend, I'm-"

Nico suddenly stopped himself from saying 'gay', and thank god he did. He regained his composure.

"She's my therapist," he answered. Will threw his arms up in exasperation.

"You need a therapist?! More reason to sit with me at lunch. You need to be on constant watch!"

"Oh my gods," Nico groaned, "Why did I even-"

"Uh, are you guys done?" Annabeth interrupted. Percy burped right after that.

"No, we're not done," Will said before he could respond, "Doctor's orders. You need to be with me now, as his friend and consultant."

"What? I don't need-" Nico started, but Will shut him up again by covering his mouth with his hand.

"Nope. I will not allow it. No more doing 'underworld-y' stuff, and no more being a lonely sack of morphine. If you need someone to talk to, you talk to me."

Nico mentally sighed, why does he have to be so irritating, and so friendly?

"Fine! Whatever, I give up." Nico crossed his arms, and Will smiled brightly. And that smile kind of made up for the annoyingness he had.

After School: Leaving Rachel Dare's Office (Sorry if it's confusing)

Nico slammed the car door shut, and Hades, his father, joined him as he started walking towards his front door.

Suddenly, he heard another beep, and another door slam. Nico turned his head to the side and widened his eyes. A blond-haired boy with tan skin and freckles got out of the car. He was wearing a blue nurse's outfit and white sneakers. Another tall man, wearing a white doctor's jacket and sunglasses, also with blond hair and tan skin joined Will, walking towards their front door.

"No," Nico groaned and Will snapped his head towards his direction. Will's face suddenly turned brighter.

"Nico!" Will bounded towards him. "Why didn't you say Hi to me? Are you avoiding me? I didn't know we were neighbors,"

"Great," Nico responded sarcastically. Will made a 'hmph' sound.

Before Will could start talking again, Hades cleared his throat.

"Who is this, Nico?" He pointed at Will, and Nico sighed, trying to ignore Will's smirk and his expectation of a good introduction.

"This is my… friend, Will Solace," He said, lazily pointing at Will, "I didn't know we were neighbors."

Hades raised his eyebrows, "Oh, you're Apollo's son?"

Will nodded, "I am, sir."

"Nico, I didn't know you were friends with Apollo's son." Hades looked at Nico pointedly.

Nico sighed, "I didn't know either, father."

"Well, I have to go help my father. Talk to me later, okay Nico?" Will asked, and Nico locked eyes with him. He looked away from Will's eyes a few moments later so he could get rid of that bolts of electricity jolting his spine.

"Yeah, okay." Nico responded.

He's straight, he's straight, he's straight, he's straight.

When Will left his view, he continued walking to his front door. When he got in his house, he automatically went upstairs and entered his room. He softly shut the door and clicked the lock. His room was painted grey and black.

He's straight, he's straight, he's straight

Nico opened the curtains of his window and looked across his yard. He saw Will, his window directly across his. Nico slightly smiled.

I've never seen such a cliche scene in my life.

When Will spotted him, Will did the I'm watching you sign with his two fingers, first pointing at himself and then pointing it at Nico. Nico tried not to laugh. Will then took out a large piece of paper and started writing on it.

What is he doing? Nico wondered, narrowing his eyes.

Will then posted it on his window and then left, with his piece of paper left for Nico to see. His writing was neat and pristine, his numbers swirling swiftly.

Nico squinted his eyes to read it.

415-642-9455. Text me, or you'll regret it.

He looked to the side and saw a mad face with fangs and fire surrounding him and claws. Nico tried not to laugh again.

Wow, he's doing a lot of laughing recently, hasn't he? It's all because of… Will.

He's straight, he's straight, he's straight he keeps telling himself. But somehow, buried underneath his fear, he keeps hoping that… maybe he's not.

He probably is. Nico thought resentfully. There's no point in keeping hope.

I don't want history to happen again.

Damn, these chapters are short as hell. I'm so sorry that I haven't been updating! I'm out on vacation with my family, and I basically didn't come home ever since school ended, so please understand that I won't be updating as frequently.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading. I hope you can spend the time reviewing, and adding this story to your favorites and follow it! :) It really gives me a lot of motivation. There will be history about Nico in the next chapter, but not all of it of course, can't spill everything so early, can I? ;D

I would also like to tell you that there will be a little Percico (or, rather, more of Nico crushing on Percy, not the other way around, I ship Percabeth after all :P). I feel that it's appropriate to add because Nico liked (past tense) Percy in the books. But don't worry! Solangelo till the end! :)

Thank you to those who reviewed: 0fictionluver0 (thanks, 1st reviewer!), Dalton Wolfe (Thanksss :)), MyLifeIsALie (Honestly, your review made me smile so much! And it's great that you're passionate, we have something amazing in common :P), UnicornsAreDeadly (Yeah, my verb tenses are pretty screwed up. I tried fixing it, but I might of forgotten in the middle in this chapter lol. But thank you for telling me, I forgot about them cause I'm an irresponsible person!)

Thank you for those who favorited: Cambercancello, Dalton Wolfe, JoJoDragons, Mako27, MyLifeIsALie, S1T2A3R4, Solangelo126, TheDiamondDragon, UnicornsAreDeadly, , msw93, norealaccount01242002, rememberwhen233

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Alright, see you next time! :)

Cause I ship me and my pillow

~Cillow