Chapter 2
Nico had been at the mall relaxing by the fountain when his sister Hazel called him on facetime and he decided to show her the fountain behind him when the timed spout cut off and Hazel had noticed something, someone had just tossed a coin into the water and seemed to be looking in Nico's direction. He was using the little window on his phone to see who it was and his heart sped up.
It was Will Solace from school, he didn't really know him personally but they had gone to school together for a few years. Nico had moved away for a couple of years and had changed quite a bit since the last time he had lived here so he doubted Will even knew who he was. He didn't even think Will knew he existed, but he was clearly looking at him.
But then the fountain came back on and Will was gone.
"Who was that, someone you know?" Hazel asked as she saw the expression on her brother's face, he was clearly distracted right now.
"Uh… sort if, we go to school together but I don't think he knows me, I haven't seen him much since I moved back."
Hazel nodded, she knew what a drastic change Nico had gone through over the past couple of years and it wouldn't surprise her that no one would recognize him after he moved back.
"Well maybe he'll remember you if you talk to him." Hazel said.
Nico knew she was trying to be helpful but he doubted Will would know him even if they did talk. Too much had changed in the past couple of years.
"Not likely." He muttered. "I'll let you go for now Hazel, talk to you later." After she said goodbye Nico closed facetime and went back to listening to his music.
He had his head down and didn't see when Will walked by and glanced at him again.
…
The next day while at school Nico was lost in thought as he walked through the hallway, he had a test next period and he wasn't sure he was fully prepared for it. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going and ended up walking right into someone as they turned around. The impact ended up sending him to the ground.
"I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" Will asked as he knelt down to help Nico up from off the floor and pick up his books that he had dropped.
Nico felt his breath catch in his throat for a second before replying.
"It's fine, I wasn't paying attention either." He said as he collected himself.
Now what? Nico thought as he looked at Will and saw the same golden hair and tan skin sprinkled with freckles that he remembered from before he moved away. Will hadn't changed much in the past few years, not really, but he still managed to take Nico's breath away when he looked at him.
He was dressed in light jeans, and a faded blue t-shirt and he looked so relaxed even when he seemed embarrassed about bumping into someone.
Nico was a bit flustered himself; he never really spoke to Will before so he wasn't sure what to say to keep this going or if he wanted to get this over with quickly.
"No it was my fault, I'm sorry about that. Here are your books by the way." Will said as he handed the books over. Before either could say more, the bell rang and they both realized that they were going to be late and had to hurry. "Gotta go, again I'm sorry for knocking you over." Will said before rushing off to his next class.
Nico watched him leave before rushing off to his own class a couple of doors down.
Well at least he had spoken to him; maybe he'd talk to Hazel about it later. He knew she'd want an update.
…
Over the next couple of days Nico had seen Will around school but didn't know if he should say anything to him, because what were you supposed to say to the attractive guy you've only exchanged a few words with after running into them, quite literally, in the hall after not seeing them for over a year?
"Hi, not sure you remember me but I used to be a complete dork until my life fell apart and I left for a year and came back as the new Prince of Darkness.
"Oh and I used to sit by you in math class. Wanna get together for coffee sometime to catch up?"
Yeah, that wasn't going to happen…
…
He had told Hazel about the little run-in in the hall and she had asked him a bunch of questions about if he's tried to talk to him more or if Will knew who he was or if he was too head over heels to talk to the guy again to which Nico nearly choked on the cola he was drinking at the time.
"What?!" how had she known? He wondered as she gave him a knowing smirk.
"Oh come on, I know you well enough that I can tell you're really into this Will guy, and from what you've told me I say go for it, he sounds like a real sweetheart."
Nico's face felt like a bonfire.
"What do you expect me to do? I'm not really the type to just ask someone out, I can't even figure out what to say to him." He saw no point trying to deny the truth so he just went to looking for advice. His sister was really good at seeing through him.
"Knowing you it would probably be best to take things slow and just try to find a reason to talk to him in a way that's not uncomfortable for you, maybe if you run into him outside of school or something." She said giving her sagely sister advice that Nico had missed since moving back.
"Okay. But I'm only taking your advice because you have experience dealing with 'sweethearts', speaking of which how is Frank doing?" Nico asked thinking of Hazel's boyfriend that even after his growth spurt still somehow resembled a cuddly panda bear and easily flustered which made it fun for Nico to tease him while knowing that the guy really cared about his sister and he was really grateful for that.
"I trust he's taking good care of you way over on the West coast?" Nico almost missed California but aside from the few people he had gotten along with he had nothing to truly miss from there so he had decided to try and get back to his old life as best he could and moved back to New York.
"Everything is fine, Frank's doing really well right now, he just got a big promotion and I'm really proud of him." Hazel smiled wide as she spoke of her boyfriend and how well he was doing, Nico was happy to hear it.
"That's great; tell me more about it next time okay? I'll let you go for now, it's getting late over there." He said as he checked the time.
"Will do, and you better keep me posted about things on your end, and remember I want to meet this Will as soon as possible so I can get to know my future brother in law."
Nico sputtered as she said goodbye and hung up. It was nice to know that she had so much faith in him but wasn't that a bit much? He had to be able to talk to the guy first.
…
It was Saturday and Nico had been out for the day to just walk around and get reacquainted with everything. On his way home he decided to stop off at a café he used to frequent and see what they had. As he walked in the bell above the door rang and he made his way over to get a look at the menu before placing his order. Things were quiet so at least he wouldn't have to wait, at least that seemed like a good thing until the blond working came over to take his order.
"Hi, what can I get for you today?" Will said and Nico had to focus because all thoughts of coffee had almost flown out of his brain, but at least Will wasn't looking at him to see him gawking so he quickly composed himself before speaking.
"Hi, could I get a large latte with an extra shot of espresso."
Without looking up Will punched the order into the till.
"Okay your total comes to $5.50." he looks up and freezes though Nico's too busy trying to remain calm to notice. "Can I get a name for the order?"
Well it seemed he didn't know his name, though this didn't really surprise Nico any so he just went with it.
"Nico." he says as he gets his change back from Will.
Will takes a cup and writes Nico on it but as he turned away Nico was too occupied with slowing his racing pulse to notice that Will had added something else to the cup before placing it on the counter for the order to be made.
After the drink was made Percy came over and started chatting with Nico, apparently his older cousin worked here now, also not surprising considering how much he used to frequent this place also.
"Hey Neeks, how's it going? You getting used to things around here okay?" Percy asked when he saw that it was him.
"Yeah, school is still the same so no worries, I still talk to Hazel often too; I'm just still easing myself back into the flow of things again."
Percy nodded, Nico was glad that he wasn't pressing him for more info.
When Percy handed Nico his drink he said,
"Okay, latte with an extra shot of espresso for Nico, 555- 2… Hey Will isn't this your number? ... Oh!" Percy paused after he started to read the name on the cup out loud as well as whatever else was scrawled on there, likely out of habit but it almost made Nico's heart stop but at the same time he knew that the heat exploding all over his face was the blood rushing from the rapid pace of his heartrate.
Will also seemed to be blushing like crazy too.
Nico took the drink from Percy as he tried to speak normally.
"Uh thanks Perce, and uh… Will." he said.
Will half-heartedly waved at him, though Nico saw that he couldn't even look at him.
After Nico left the café he wanted to jump and dance around but at the same time find a dark place to crawl into and hide because Holy shit Will Solace just gave him his number! And being the oh so articulate person that he was (not), all he had said was 'thanks'. There was no way Hazel was going to let him live that down…
Nico stared at the cup in his hand as he read the number over and over again and looked at the sun winking at him and couldn't help but smile like an idiot. But now what did he do? Did he just call Will? Did he text him? What the hell would he say?
…
When Nico got home he immediately called his sister praying that she was available and when she picked up he didn't even wait for her to finish saying hello before he blurted out what was on his mind.
"IGOTHISNUMBERWILLSOLACESGAVEMEHISNUMBERWHATDOIDO?!" He said it so fast he was sure he sounded like he was speaking in tongues.
"Again, hello, and could you repeat that but slower and hopefully in English because I don't know what that word vomit was." Hazel laughed on the other end of the line.
Nico took a deep breath and tried to get more self-control before speaking again.
"I got his number." Was all he could get out before Hazel was squealing into the receiver causing him to hold the phone as far from his ear as possible.
"Oh you have got to tell me how this happened!" she said excitedly and Nico smiled.
"I stopped by a café I used to go to and he was working and when he took my order he asked for my name and when he wrote it I guess he also added his number and this cute little winking sun to the cup as well and Percy was working there with him and when he was reading the cup he also read the number and asked Will why his number was on there and I think my brain died and all I could say was 'thanks' and I'm such an idiot, what do I do?" he said more slowly this time but still without pausing for breath.
He waited a couple of heartbeats before Hazel spoke again.
"Ask him if he wants to hyphenate your last names at your wedding?"
Nico sat there dumbstruck as he played that through his head.
"You thought about it just now didn't you?" Hazel said without bothering to hide her amusement.
"Shut up." He grumbled.
"But really, why don't you send him a text tomorrow or whenever you feel up to it and try to get to know one another, I know that if he got to know you he'd love you. Besides clearly he's interested so don't take too long, I know how shy you can be at times, you just try to act tough and scary."
"I am tough and scary." He muttered. He could practically hear Hazel rolling her eyes over the phone.
"You're staring at the 'cute little winking sun' right now aren't you?" her tone showed that she knew that that was exactly what he was doing.
"Shut up." he said as he placed the cup down.
She laughed. "You know for someone looking for advice you sure tell me to shut up a lot."
Nico huffed. "Yeah well for someone who is supposed to be giving helpful advice you sure aren't being very helpful."
"Just take your time. I'm sure everything will work out fine." She said with all joking aside now.
Nico let out a sigh. "I hope you're right."
Okay so this happened... I hope you like it.