AN: This chapter is all Nico! It takes place at about the same time as last chapter!

Kairos

Chapter Four

Nico has chemistry with Will Solace—actual chemistry, not epic-love chemistry. Well, maybe a little bit of the second, but only from Nico's end. He's not entirely sure if Will likes him at all or it's just Nico projecting and looking way too far into things. He thinks. Nico isn't actually that good at reading people. At all. He once thought Grover was having an affair on Juniper. With Travis. Yeah, in hindsight that didn't make much sense, but at the time, Nico was thoroughly convinced that something fishy was going on. You know, despite the fact that Travis is utterly in love—like, complete sappy, flowers and chocolate love—with Katie Gardner, and Grover being the single nicest and most devoted boyfriend in the entire damn planet. There's no possible way that Grover would ever cheat on Juniper.

Especially not with Travis Stoll, of all people.

So, yeah. That was not Nico's finest moment. When he went to Percy with his concerns, the older boy laughed so hard he started to hyperventilate and Nico was panicking because they were the only one's at the shop. He almost called an ambulance—the thought better of it because Percy is broke. Luckily, that's when Will showed up and well, the rest is history.

Actually it's chemistry. Because Will freaking Solace makes Nico want to stand up on a table in front of everyone and start spouting disgustingly sappy and romantic love poetry and that is not a Nico thing to do. Actually, that's kind of a Percy thing to do, considering he's a dramatic hoe. (He means that in the nicest way possible, of course. Percy is like an older, slightly crazy brother to him and, well, frankly Nico loves him. He really does. Percy helped him and Bianca when they were the new kids in school, and he was the one that took care of the bullies when people learned that Nico is gay back in his Freshman year. He's Nico's best friend behind Jason and Hazel.)

Anyway, chemistry. He's never liked chemistry. Mostly because he always—always gets paired up with Connor for experiments and they always, without fail, end with something exploding and Nico receiving a failing grade on the assignment. He doesn't even want to work with Connor. He actively avoids having to work with Connor but somehow they always end up paired together.

Nico is pretty sure that Mr. Geryon hates him for some reason, even though Nico has never done anything wrong in his entire life. Not once. Nope.

So, yeah, chemistry completely sucks between Connor making things go boom at completely inappropriate times, his terrible teacher that hates him for no conceivable reason, and the fact that Will freaking Solace sits directly in front of him and sometimes Nico finds himself staring at his hair because wow he's never seen hair that gold before and wow he's turning into a sap like Grover.

Nico doesn't want to be a sap. Even though Percy says it's very punk to be a sap. (Nico takes that with a grain of salt because Percy—who wears leather jackets and has a lip piercing and can take on guys three times his size in a fight—just needs a valid excuse to coo and fuss over tiny kittens and cry when dogs die in movies.)

Nico huffs, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms, not really paying attention to Mr. Geryon at the front of the room droning on and on about how mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell—because that's definitely going to help him succeed in life. Never mind learning about how taxes work or really anything to do with the real world that could help them succeed in life, thank God they know that mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.

He thought Percy and Travis were just messing around when they told him about this. He thought it was all just a joke—the dead look in their eyes and blank expressions as they murmured the phrases ominously, perfectly in sync, as if the phrase was wired into their brains. But no, mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell is like some Avatar there is no war in Ba Sing Se shit. It's like brainwashing.

He shudders, glancing at Jason in the seat beside him—half asleep and chewing on the end of his pencil, nose still bruised and puffy from when he accidentally slapped himself in the face the day before. Nico cringes, less because of Jason's ability to injure himself in any given situation, and more because of how awkward he was around Will yesterday. He was all blushes and stuttering and decisively un-Nico like. It was horrible. It was awkward. And he's pretty sure Percy caught him staring at Will's butt as he walked out of the shop.

Which is just great. Nico just loves giving Percy the chance to tease him about something—especially Nico having a dorky little crush on the "bane of Percy's existence," which is kind of a big title for a sixteen-year-old that just wants to buy ice cream. Everyday. In the middle of Winter.

Not that Nico minds. Will Solace is one of the reasons Nico actually likes his job—which is a miracle, really, because Nico hates everything, according to his friends. Whatever, Nico can dislike whatever he wants to dislike, it's not like it—

There's a resounding thump—well, more of a slam as Jason's head hits the table—apparently having fallen asleep in the middle of the lecture. Two rows ahead of them, Connor whips around in his seat, eyes wide with a spoon and a cup of jello in his hands. Why does he even—you know what, Nico doesn't want to know. It's not worth it.

Jason jerks back awake as soon as his forehead makes contact with the table top, and straightens so quickly that he almost topples backwards onto the floor, obnoxiously shouting "I'm awake!" rather unconvincingly and drawing the entire rooms attention to the two of them.

Thanks Jason.

The entire room swivels in their seats to look at them, peering at them curiously, a few boys in the second row snickering as Jason rubs his forehead casually, trying not to seem suspicious. Well, it's a little late for that, Jason, don't you think? It's not like you just screamed in the middle of a lecture and gained the attention of the entire class and their mothers.

That is exactly what Nico wanted today. He just loves being stared at by the general populace as they point and laugh at him. It's his… favorite thing.

His eyes slip shut and he sighs heavily, silently asking why the world hates him so much and why he always gets dragged into situations like this. Granted, this is a very tame situation compared to others, but it's a situation nonetheless. It's a situation and Jason is probably going to end up with an after school detention because Mr. Geryon is a dick. That, or Nico is going to end up with an after school detention because Mr. Geryon is a dick that has it out for him. Or both.

Both is the most likely situation.

Nico opens his eyes slowly, only to come face to face with Will Solace. Nico gasps, eyes widening just the slightest as their gazes lock and Will sends him a small, slightly crooked grin, the right corner of his mouth tugged up just a bit higher than the other. Nico absentmindedly notices that Will has super white teeth, like blindingly white and shiny and that's a really weird thing to notice about someone—and he is totally not glancing at Will's lips—nope.

Nico is pretty sure his heart is going to beat right out of his chest and that would be super embarrassing. It would also be super messy and Jason would probably faint because horror movies make him sick, even though it's just cornstarch and food dye. Plus, Janitor Bob would have to scrub Nico's blood off the floor and that's not really fair to Bob.

He frowns slightly, grimacing internally as he realizes how dramatic he's being. His eyes widen. Maybe Nico's the dramatic hoe.

Nico flinches as an earsplitting crack sounds throughout the room, inches from his head. Beside him, Jason squeaks, slipping down in his chair. For a moment, Nico is confused, but then he catches a look at Will's rapidly paling face and how the other boy isn't looking at Nico anymore.

That's when Nico notices Mr. Geryon standing in front of him and Jason's lab table, hands braced on the worn edges covered in doodles and little messages written in pencil. Nico also notices the broken yardstick in his hand, the other half laying in splinters between him and Jason.

Oh, he thinks, well, that's not good.

Mr. Geryon squints down at them, practically growling—actually growling like a goddamn animal—and leans forward so he's only inches away from the two of them. "Is there a problem back here, boys?" he asks lowly, the words hissed between his teeth, jaw clenched.

And this is the story of how Nico dies.

Nico looks past Mr. Geryon's shoulder, this time making eye-contact with Connor, who merely shakes his head and—spoon still in hand—makes a cross across his body, mouthing what Nico thinks is "I'll miss you" before raising his jello in a silent "cheers!"

Very helpful Connor.

There's another cracking sound as Mr. Geryon slaps the broken half of his yardstick against the table, making Nico jump in surprise and causing Jason to let out another little whimpering sound. Nico's gaze jerks back to the teacher standing in front of him—still scowling and looking like smoke is about to erupt out of his ears—which would be quite a sight to see.

Right, he asked them a question.

Shit.

He sends a sideways glance Jason's way, but can't meet his friend's eyes. "No, Sir," he says, plastering a too bright smile on his face. "No problem here at all! Sorry to disturb your lesson." The sarcasm is thick on his tongue and he almost winces when he realizes how mocking his tone was. Yeah, really great way to get out of trouble, Nico. Just sass the teacher why don't you.

Percy would be so proud of him.

Mr. Geryon isn't quite so impressed. And it's in that moment that Nico begins to regret all of his life choices. He had a decent run, life was good most days. He just wishes he had punched Connor this morning one last time.

"What Nico means, Sir—" Jason shoots him a nasty look out of the corner of his eye, ignoring Nico's half-hearted shrug in response "—is that there's no problem at all." Jason sends the teacher his megawatt, golden boy smile, laying the false sincerity on pretty thick. Nico rolls his eyes. Jason might as well bat his eyelashes while he's at it. "I just smacked my elbow on the table."

Mr. Geryon purses his lips, his eyes narrowing dangerously. Jason just smiles though. He's always been good at this, Nico notes, getting out of trouble, that is. He flashes a smile and gives a false apology and suddenly everything's okay. Nico kind of wishes he had that talent. It would be nice to have a get out of jail free card that he could whip out whenever he needed it.

Then, after several long second of dead silence, Mr. Geryon nods and turns around, heading back to the front.

Nico sends Jason a grin and he winks back, flashing him a discreet thumbs up.

"Di Angelo!" Mr. Geryon barks, whipping back around and glaring at him. Nico's head snaps around, his eyes wide. "Detention after school!" He opens his mouth to argue—because technically he hasn't done anything detention worthy. The sass was a little much, but he blames Percy for being a bad influence. "No arguments!"

Nico scowls and goes back to his notebook, but not before Will sends him a little smile.

Nico has never been quite so thankful that Chemistry comes right before lunch, because at least now he can bitch about how unfair his detention is—and how Mr. Geryon is the worst teacher ever and Nico is so glad that he's not going to have him as a professor ever again—and stab at his lunch in peace. Well, relative peace. It's never quite a peaceful lunch when Leo Valdez is there. He's loud and slightly obnoxious and talks too much and can be kind of an asshole sometimes. Honestly, Nico kind of wishes he had just gone to hide in the library and sulk by himself, but it's too late now.

At least Nico isn't going to be in detention alone. Connor will be there too, considering he finally did what he was planning to do with that spoon and jello cup. Nico isn't entirely sure what he did, because he was too busy keeping his head down in the back, but there was a thump, a crash, and shriek, and then he looked up and Mr. Geryon had lime jello dripping down his face and staining his crisp, white shirt.

Connor is a good friend. Nico's lips pull up at the edges. No matter how annoying he is, or how often Nico wants to punch him in the face, he's a pretty great friend when it comes down to it. He's always got Nico's back, even when Nico doesn't think he needs his help. Plus, he's willing to do something stupid and get in trouble just to keep Nico company in detention—though, he was probably going to end up in detention anyway. Nico is choosing to ignore that fact.

Jason slips into the seat next to him just as Nico sticks a fork into his goop—he has no idea what this lunch is, but it looks toxic. Like it might come to life and strangle him. Seriously, it's kind of a greenish-brownish color and he thinks it's supposed to be mashed potatoes, but he's not entirely sure. (Across the table from him, Leo shovels more of the goop into his mouth, seemingly ignorant of how utterly disgusting it is. Well, better him than Nico. He wants to live, thank you very much.)

Piper sits down on Jason's other side, starting up a conversation with her boyfriend and Leo, and Nico just rolls his eyes and continues to poke at his food. He's sulking, he knows, but he's allowed to sulk a little, considering he's been given detention for literally no reason at all other than the fact that the chemistry teacher hates him. That's kind of Bianca's fault, but not really. She was always a star student: top of the class, honors, Valedictorian of her class. And Nico? Nico is just, well, Nico. Average grades—not poor, just—average. His teachers expected more from him, but he's not Bianca.

He's never going to be Bianca.

Nico glances down towards the other end of the table, but Frank and Hazel aren't there yet, Connor is in the principal's office—where he'll probably be until lunch is over, maybe even longer, and Will isn't here yet either—not that he's expecting Will to sit with him. He just does that sometimes. He's kind of a drifter. Which is a shame, because now Nico only has two options: continue to sulk and be a downer, or actually try and converse with the other three. Frankly, he's rather sulk.

It's not that he doesn't like them. Jason is probably his best friend and Piper is nice enough, even if he doesn't really talk to her much—she'd got that whole hipster thing going on and Nico is too tired to keep up with that most days. And Leo is… Leo.

He doesn't hate the guy. He just really wants to punch him most of the time.

Huffing to himself, Nico continues to poke at his food, casually listening into the conversation his friends—acquaintances? He only ever talks to Jason and Connor outside of school, so—are having.

Piper heaves a dramatic sigh, rolling her eyes at Leo from across the table, her eyes narrowed slightly. "So why don't you just get a job at some shop then? You know, instead of complaining about broke all the time?"

Great. Another argument about Leo's broke ass, with Jason trying to mediate his two friends. Nico loves this conversation. It only happens twice a week, every week. It's always the same conversation. Leo complains about having no money. Piper tells him to get a job. Leo says something about it not being that easy. Then, Piper goes on a ten minute rant about how Leo isn't actively looking for a job and how one isn't just going to fall into his lap. After that, Leo will say something about how Piper doesn't get to talk, because money comes easy to her. Piper will get mad, and they'll start arguing viciously. Piper will storm off, Jason will follow, and Nico will be left with a sulking Leo.

Yeah, not exactly what he wants to deal with almost every lunch time. Alas, it's what always happens, without fail.

He should have just gone to the library. He should have run while he had the chance to get away. Now it's too late.

Leo rolls his eyes right back at Piper, making a face at her as he does. Nico can practically feel Piper glare back at him. "It's not that easy, Piper," Leo hisses back. "And before you start bitching at me about 'not looking hard enough,' I'll have you know that I have been looking, but it's almost winter break, and no one's hiring anymore." Which makes sense, the college kids are going to be on break soon, so any part time jobs that were available before have already been taken by them.

Piper just scoffs back and beside her, Jason sighs, placing his head in his hands and looking more like a tired parent than a seventeen-year-old. Well that's what Jason gets for being the mom friend. He brought this upon himself. Nico doesn't envy him at all.

"So why don't you get a job at the gelato shop?" Piper asks him, throwing her hands up in the air. She always has been one with a bit of dramatic flair. Though, that might have something to do with her father being an actor. Nico isn't sure. "It's not like Chiron isn't hiring," she snarks. Frankly, Chiron is always hiring. Not publicly, but if someone needs a job, his doors are open.

Nico snorts, shaking his head a little. "Yeah," he adds under his breath, "Considering some of us haven't actually been to work in a month," he murmurs bitterly. He doesn't get how Piper can nag Leo for not getting a job, despite the fact that Piper hasn't worked a shift in almost two weeks, and when she does, it's not a long one. He can understand that school comes first, but at this rate, she might as well just quit.

Percy, Nico, and Grover have basically the same amount of school work on their plates—maybe even more at the moment, but they're all practically working at the shop full time.

Leo cackles, bringing Nico's attention back to the conversation. "No thanks," he tells Piper, sarcasm coating the words heavily. "I don't want to work with delinquents."

Nico stiffens slightly, exchanging a quick look with Jason. Piper laughs, but Leo doesn't look like he's just teasing, and that doesn't sit right with Nico. He purses his lips, shifting awkwardly in his seat. Jason starts tapping his foot nervously. The other two don't seem to notice.

"You are a delinquent," Piper snarks back, laughing and reaching across the table to swat at her friend's shoulder. And it's true. Leo gets detention just as much as Connor does, maybe even more.

Leo just grins, his smile all sharp, white teeth, wolf like, and Nico knows that he's not going to like what comes out of his mouth next. "Nah, Pipes!" he snickers. "I mean real delinquents!" He shakes his head, rolling his eyes slightly. "Didn't the manager—you know, the one with all the piercings and the motorcycle—like, kill a guy or something?"

Nico's spork clatters against the tabletop and others fall silent. Nico raises his head, sending Leo the nastiest glare he can manage. The grin slips off the other boy's lips, and Nico's hands start to shake so badly that he reaches under the table and grabs the edge of the bench to keep himself from lashing out. He can practically feel Jason's eyes on him: wide and nervous.

Nico sucks in a shaky breath through his nose, teeth grinding together. He really doesn't want to start a fight, but he can't just let Leo get away with saying that. Because he's wrong. That's not what happened at all. Percy would never— "Shut up, Leo," is all he says, going back to his food a moment later.

It's silent for a moment. Then—

"Hey I didn't mean to—"

Jason sighs, cutting Leo off. "Sometimes you take things too far," he murmurs, staring down at his peas.

The awkwardness is heavy in the air, and Nico thinks about just getting up and leaving, going to the library and staying there for the rest of lunch—because that would be better than sitting here with Piper and Leo and listening to them argue—but then someone drops down into the seat across from him, making Leo's head snap up.

"Hey," he meets Will Solace's eyes and the other boy smiles brightly. "Is this seat taken?" he asks jokingly.

Jason clears his throat, laughing a little awkwardly voice a bit higher than usual. "Nah, Will!" he laughs, waving a hand dismissively. "Take a seat, there's always one open for you." Will smiles again, and Jason continues. "Not sitting with your usual group today?" he asks, referring to the group of AP anatomy kids huddled up in the far corner of the room, all of them flipping through textbooks and muttering to each other, sometimes laughing to themselves.

Nico hopes they're okay.

He misses Will's reply, but figures it's not really important. The conversation starts back up again, the new arrival managing to lessen the previous tension, though not by much. Piper and Leo are much quieter now, heads bent close together as they mutter amongst themselves.

Nico rolls his eyes, but lets them be. There's no point in picking another fight today.

He glances at Will, then his lunch, pulling a face as he sees Will's identical lunch. Well, mostly identical. It's the same gross looking potatoes and what he thinks might be a ham and cheese sandwich, with peas and carrots on the side, but Will doesn't have any milk.

And there's nothing wrong with that. Will can do whatever he wants. Besides, it's not lie the lunch is any good anyway. It's just that the milk is the only good part about their lunch. So yeah, it's a little concerning that Will didn't get milk with his goopy mashed potatoes and dry sandwich with mystery meat.

The words leave him without him meaning them to. "You didn't get milk." It's a statement, not a question. Just a fact. Another thing for Nico to add to his collection of things he knows about Will Solace. Just like how he knows Will is blond, and his eyes are blue, and he looks best in his blue sweatshirt, because the color matches his eyes. It's just fact.

Will glances up at him, smile leaving his face, a confused look on his face—and maybe something else, too. "What?" he asks Nico, tilting his head to the side.

"You didn't get milk," Nico repeats, shrugging slightly, not all too concerned with Will's lunch habits. It's just conversation.

Will blushes. "Oh." He clears his throat, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "Yeah. I just… wasn't feeling it today," he finishes softly, not meeting Nico's eyes. Yeah, because that wasn't shady at all.

Nico frowns. There's something very strange about William Solace, and Nico is determined to find out what.

AN: Thanks for reading! Reviews are appreciated! :)