Thank you clicking on this story!
So, here's a little guide to the text messages:
Nico: DeathAngel
Reyna: Praetor Girl
Bianca: BinnyArrow
Thalia: PineConeFace
Percy: SeaweedBrain
Annabeth: WiseGirl
Jason: SparkingGrace
Piper: BeautyQueen
Frank: ChineseCanadianBabyMan
Hazel: GoldDigger
Leo: RepairBoy
Sorry about the really awkward line spacing in this chapter. I had a bit of Microsoft Word issue.
WizardingWhovian: Ah, sorry, Sir, but you're going to have to wait quite a long time before that happens! For now, be content with Solangelo best friend cuddles! I like writing instantly close and adorable best friends, so, buckle up, it's going to be a long and bumpy ride.
Enjoy!
"Well, Castellan was being a total dick, as usual," Will stated simply.
Thalia tossed a small pack of Pringles at us. "Elaborate, Will."
"Well, Nico showed his picture to the class," he began.
"I painted Bianca, then I edited it to look like Mama," I sighed. "When I said it was Mama, Luke said, 'Cheat. Your mother's dead'. I said, 'Th… thank you for that, Luke. I know. My sister modelled for me and I altered her features according to photos.' Then… what did he say?"
"Something about her being worthless," Will replied, squeezing my hand when he saw sadness in my eyes. "Which isn't true." I traced the words 'I'm alright' on the back of his hand.
"I said how I painted it, then…"
"He said, 'thank you, I know that.'" Will continued, tracing 'you sure?' on my hand. I replied with, 'sure', smiling at him and nodding.
"I nearly ripped up the picture," I finished.
And… Bianca almost crashed the car.
"I had a fight with him. He insulted Nico and - don't laugh - called him my boyfriend. Luke knocked me down, then Nico when he tried to defend me. Nico knocked his feet from under him, and… Zoe, was it?"
"Yeah," I nodded, tangling my hair in front of my face and breathing in the strong smell of my shampoo.
"Zoe gave him a detention. He also got another for pulling my chair from underneath me in science."
"So," Thalia ventured. "Zoe sorted it out?"
"Yeah." We nodded.
I saw Bianca smile in the rear-view mirror. "You two have made exceedingly fast friends. It takes Nico bloody ages to establish any sort of friendship."
I blushed. "I guess we have. We just… sorta… clicked."
Thalia laughed. "Say what you want about him, Bi, but his face is always that colour!"
We all laughed. "Wow!" I giggled, and it was Will's turn to blush.
"I guess we have," he grinned.
15 minute car ride. In Hazel and Frank's case, 15 minutes to make out…
oOo
When we got to my house, I instructed Will to take off his shoes on the scruffy grey doormat. We walked across the fluffy grey carpet into our absolutely dazzlingly clean kitchen. We sat down at the pristine white bar (not a literal bar, just Google 'bar seats') and I watched as Will sat back on the black leather stool, trying not to slide off of the shiny material. Bianca got out a seven-dip thingy (seven-layer dip?) and we all dug in.
"Will, you've got guacamole on your nose," I chuckled. "Nope. Nope, nope…" I sighed as he poked at his face with his fabric napkin (rich parents - yay!), trying to get it off his nose. "Here, let me."
I took it out of his hands, still warm from his clutch, and reached forward, swiping it off his nose. We both flushed bright red.
Bianca laughed. "Yeah, you're right, Thals: his face is always that colour!"
I smiled softly. "Shall we get started on the project?"
We went up to my room. Will pulled out his laptop and opened the video editing programme. After a while of finding facts and editing the video (we managed to make another minute or so of it), I spoke up. "C… can I have a go? Y'know… editing?"
He grinned, patting the bed beside him. I perched beside him and he balanced the laptop between our knees. "It's touch screen, so no need to worry about the scroll pad."
I nodded. "So, what are we going to do?" I asked.
He tapped the screen lightly. "We're going to animate a page of the newspaper."
We had a virtual newspaper (it was a VIP editing option) with all the facts in place of the writing, pictures we found online in place of the photos, and a huge blank space where we would put a title.
"So, how do I animate it to turn over?" I questioned, my accent totally butchering the word 'animate'.
He ran a finger along the edge of the current page, bringing up a white long separated by dots. He told me to pick one of the 'turning' effect at the bottom the screen. I pointed at the second time, and our hands brushed. I blushed brilliantly. "Oh, erm, sorry."
Will smiled. "Not a problem, di Angelo."
He slowly guided me through the editing. I got frustrated and sad, but I managed to help him with 45 seconds of footage.
"You did good, Neeks," he complimented.
I turned a stunning scarlet (and thesaurus . com is running out of ways for me to describe blushing! Good gods, why did I blush so much?!) and rubbed my rosy cheeks. Bianca called me that. Hazel called me that. Reyna called me that. And Mama called me that. Of course, Bi, Hazel, and Rey still call me that, but… reasons. Namely impact and repetition.
I shook it off. "Yeah, right." It was just an innocent nickname between friends, right? Well, incredibly fast friends that 'just… sorta… clicked…' according to me.
"No, really, you did great! You picked it up faster than anyone!"
His smile just made me melt. Even after everything that happened, it still does. "Thanks."
He grinned like crazy. "No problem, Neeks!"
My stomach flipped.
oOo
I was weighing whether or not to tell Will about my secret room. "Hey," I muttered eventually. "I have something to show you."
I lead him down to the under stairs 'book nook'. He was so excited he almost bashed his head on the low 'ceiling'. "Wow… this is amazing!" he shrieked.
I pulled out a chair and started to look for the Henry VIII books, mostly to hide my face. "I knew you'd like it."
"How long has this been here?" he asked.
I jumped down, nearly slipping on a throw as I checked the shelf behind it. "Since my 'pops' moved here with my Mama and us. Mama thought it was too modern, so she installed this room." I squinted to look at a scruffy book spine. "Don't you think it's funny and babyish that I say 'Mama'?" I asked, excepting a lot of laughter.
Of course, I was surprised to see Will shake his head. "Not at all. It's sweet and affectionate."
I let him really snatch away my heart, didn't I? My heart just melted when he said that. I turned bright red. He gave me that amazing smile. "You really loved your mum, didn't you?"
I pulled out the old books I had found and sat down on the huge beanbag beside Will. "I did. Can I tell you a story?"
He nodded enthusiastically, not knowing exactly how much I was going to open up to him. "Of course, I'd love to hear!"
I frowned, to concentrate on the moment I was retelling. Then, I opened up, my accent thick and my voice high and fluty. "Well, we moved to 'merica when I was six, so, eight years ago. Mama went over to Italy when I was ten to go to my great grand-mama's funeral, who I never knew," I began, taking a breath to hold in the sobs that were threatening to break from my throat. "On the way back, the plane crashed at the airport because the landing gear wouldn't extend. We were waiting there to pick her up. When we heard her plane had crashed, we ran out onto the tarmac. The security was blocking it, but I managed to slip past them because I was so small. I made my way inside the wreckage, getting scraped and bruised, but I found out that there was only one death: Mama." I was sobbing had now, tears pouring from my eyes and soaking my shirt.
Will's warm and comforting arm was around my shoulder in an instant. I felt him tense when I buried my face in his other sleeve. "Shh, it's alright," he chided. "Do you want to talk about it?"
I nodded, although I never opened up to anyone. "I… I saw her," I whispered. "I wish I wasn't such a stupid, nosey little brat."
Will squeezed my arm. "You're perfect just the way you are. What are the books for?"
My heart leapt. He called me perfect. I shook the thoughts from my head and opened the first novel, showing him what Mama had written as a little girl. 'This book belongs to Maria di Angelo. Hands off!' "Mama wrote these when she was little," I explained.
Will smiled. "You should write 'This book belongs to Nico di Angelo. Do not touch on pain of death glare!' That would scare off any sane person."
I blushed, flicking him on the arm. "Oh, stop it, Solace," but my face broke into the hugest smile in the world. I curled down on the beanbag, hugging Mama's old throw to my face. "Don't you think I'm creepy?" I asked.
"Not at all. You're interesting. And just like me."
I sat up, touched, yet interested. "How?"
"My mother," he said, simply.
"It's fine," he insisted. "Would you mind if I told you?"
I shook my head, wanting him to open up. "Not at all."
"My mother died of Ovarian cancer last summer," he began. "She left my dad, so I only met her in her last year."
I couldn't bear to listen to his awful, heart-wrenching sobs. "I wish I could talk to her," he cried, kneeling on the floor.
I knelt in front of him, clutching his shoulders, digging in my nails. "Will, don't cry, I don't like it when you cry."
I wiped away the tears on his cheeks, crying too. "Please don't cry." I placed my forehead against his, just as Mama would do with me when I cried. He wiped my years away too, with his sleeves.
"I'm alright. Don't worry, I'm alright, Nico," he whispered at me.
I nodded, before giving in and burying my face in the shoulder of his hoodie. Will tugged my chin up, so I was staring into his eyes. "Hey, Neeks, do you want me to read something to you?"
I nodded. Will stood up and reached up to the highest shelves. "Have you read… Artemis Fowl?"
I shook my head slowly, counting up the shelves. "I'm just getting to that shelf."
Will sat beside me, studying the book. "It's about a 12-year-old Irish genius. He captures a… fairy?"
I forcefully yanked it off him and read the blurb. "Go on, that seems cool." I paused, getting an idea for a sketch. "Wait."
I grabbed a drawing pad, some pencils, and my art set. "Go on."
"How does one describe Artemis Fowl?" I began. "Various psychiatrists have tried and failed. He bamboozles every test thrown at him. He has puzzled the greatest medical minds and sent many of them gibbering to their own hospitals…"
I was distracted after a little while. I let my hand draw out a picture of me and Will with our heads together. I turned bright red when Will stopped the first chapter and saw my drawing. "Oh, sorry. I…"
He nudged me on the arm. "Hush your mouth, Neeks. It's a beautiful drawing."
I smiled, my stomach flipping. "Thanks. It's not that good."
Will traced a finger over the paper. "I love it, Nico, do don't you dare say that. Do you want it?"
I nodded. "We keep frames in here," I explained, getting up and walking over to the desk. "Let me get one." Will slipped the paper into the frame, before handing it over so I could hang it on the wall. "Do you want to carry on reading?" I asked.
Will opened the book. "By now, you must have guessed just how far Artemis Fowl was prepared to go in order to achieve his goal…"
I turned the pad back over to what I liked to call my 'eye drawings'. It was all of us, with a significant other below us. Percy and Annie, Jason and Piper, Frank and Hazel, Leo and no one, me and no one, and Reyna and no one. I had re done them several times, because of Percy's break-up with Rachel and Annabeth's break-up with Luke. I couldn't resist, so I started drawing Will below myself.
"That's absolutely amazing!" he exclaimed.
I flushed dramatically. "Oh, erm… See, it's everyone in my little gang and their best friends. I obviously couldn't put anyone already on here, because… they're already on here."
Will nodded, a smirk on his face. "So, it goes Jackson, Chase, Grace, McLean, Zhang, Levesque," he began, turning to the one I working on. Valdez, you – no shit, and… Reyna?"
I laughed. Then again, her surname is unpronounceable. "R-A. Her name is Reyna-Avila Ramirez-Arellano.
Will laughed. Reyna would've killed him if she had seen him. "Her initials are R-A R-A?"
"Yeah…" I stuttered. "Oh… Thanks."
"Why?" Will cocked his head.
I growled, low, in my throat. Did I really have to explain it? "You… you comforted me. My… dad wouldn't even do that. So... thanks."
He flushed a brilliant red. "Likewise. It's crazy to think how close we've got in... What? Two days?"
It was true. I'd opened up to him more in a few days than I had to Percy in a year. "Shut up. It's a creepy thought.
He turned his attention back to the drawings. "However, I'm detecting a suspiciously couple-y set up..." He gave me a cheeky smirk.
"Oh, be quiet," I sighed, contentedly.
I finished adding colour to the hair and hung it up in a frame. "So, who should I put in the other two?"
"What about Callie? RED?"
oOo
I heard a curse from outside. "Nico!" Hazel squeaked sharply. I headed into our startlingly clean bathroom, light bouncing off every surface and right into my eyes. I'm not exaggerating, either. I'm surprised I haven't gone blind with the fourteen-going-on-fifteen years I've lived here.
"What is it?"
She pointed out of the window. "Someone's taking photos. Again."
Angry, I opened the window as wide as I could and the light of a camera flashed right in our eyes. "OW!" we both exclaimed, almost falling from the windowsill.
Will called out from outside the door. "Are you both decent?"
"Yes!" Hazel shouted.
Will came in. "What's up?"
I helped him up onto the ledge. "Look."
He tried to look through the window pane, but it was blurred to protect our modesty (I mean, hello? It's a bathroom?!), so he had to stoop slightly to get to my eye level.
"See that guy? He's taking photos. He's done it twice now."
Will frowned. "That's dangerous. Have you told anyone?"
I shook my head. "No. Why?"
"I have my experience with dangerous men. Hermes Castellan being one of them."
I turned to Will, frowning. "What's so bad about him?"
He knocked his head from side to side, as if weighing to consequences of telling me and not telling me. "Well… he was in prison for six years. He got out four years ago."
I jumped. "And how do you know this?"
Will shook his head slowly. "Luke and I used to be best friends. Then, I asked him out, and…" he made a 'splat' motion with his hand. "That happened."
I winced. "Ouch. When was that?"
"A year ago. He was like an untouchable god to me, though. It would never have worked."
Hazel had slipped away, and we were walking slowly back to my room. We sat down on the bed and Will opened up his laptop, editing a 3D model of Catherine of Aragon and Mary I onto the video, making them spin around while facts ran beneath them.
"Anything else?" I asked quietly.
"I do know what happened. Can I tell you?"
I sighed quietly. "Luke may have broken my friend's heart, but he deserves a second chance. I won't tell. Promise on the river Styx."
Will whistled, surprised at the height of my promise. "Oh-kay, then! So, when Luke was four… Hermes was a drug addict."
My eyes widened and I nodded. "He must have been particularly bad one day, because he tried to get Luke to hang himself. When Luke was only four."
I breathed in sharply. "Well alright then!"
We worked in silence for a while, until I heard the door bang open. I winced. "Dad."
He looked at me, concerned. I sighed. "Try to speak somewhat formally."
We headed downstairs and into the lounge, where Dad was talking to Hazel about this idiot man he had made a deal with earlier. She was nodding seriously, trying desperately hard to keep a straight face.
"Who's this idiot man?" I asked, smirking.
"Apollo Solar," he sighed.
And Will and I exploded into laughter. When we had calmed down, Dad said, "So, Nico, who's this young man?"
I rolled my eyes. "This is Will Solace. We're doing a history project together." I shot Bianca a look. "None of the sarky comments."
She snickered. "Wouldn't dream of it, Neeks."
Will shot me a look of realisation. "Nico, what did you think of the bit of footage I did?"
I nodded. "Awesome. You need to show me how to do more animating."
I shouldn't have said that word. Bianca loved animating. Bianca sat forward, asking what animating we were doing. We ended up describing the whole thing to her. When we got to the newspaper bit, she was hooked.
"Hey," Will said. "You can title the paper, right?"
I nodded. "Think so."
"We need to title it something. Can't just leave it blank."
"You could do a mix of your names and stick 'history' on the end," Frank suggested.
I jumped. Damn that quiet guy! I forgot he was there!
We exchanged ideas for a while, until Bianca blurted, "Solangelo."
"What?" The three of us asked.
She rolled her eyes. "Sol-Angelo. Solace. Di Angelo."
I pulled a face. "I know that, but it literally means 'sun angel' and it sounds like a ship name."
We chuckled. "Eh, just use it," Will smiled.
I ruffled my hair. "Yeah, sure, Solace."
I gave him a smile, and Will froze for a second, then smiled back. Hazel beckoned me over. "Hey, Neeks, can I talk to you for a second?"
"Don't we need to get back to the project?" I asked, but Will shook his head.
"We're fine. We've got 'til the middle of next week," he replied.
I shook my head and went over to Hazel, while Will and Reyna chatted to each other.
"So," I asked in low tones. "What is it you need?"
She sighed. "You know your smile? The one you only do to me, Bi, Reyna, and Mama, when she was around?"
I nodded, not seeing where she was going. "Yeah… The smile I give to our little 'gang' is my genuine happy smile, but the one I give to family is… special."
She took my hand, leaning against the arm of the armchair. "I know that, Nico. Your other smile is genuine, but the 'family' one is special. We said this before."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I know."
"So, why do you give that smile to Will?" she deadpanned.
I jumped. "I do?"
She laughed and everyone in the room turned to look. I shoved my hand over her mouth, using my long, thin fingers to get her ticklish spot behind her ears. She squeaked quietly. "I give in," she panted.
I smirked. "Now, spill."
"You do that smile to Will. Why?"
I shrugged. "It feels… right. I'm comfortable with doing it."
She sighed, but she gave me a soft smile and squeezed my hand. "Good luck, Nico. Take it slow. I should know, after all," she smirked primly, winking at me.
I sat back down beside Will, who was still talking to Bianca. "His last wife was Christina Parr… Christina… you fucking muppet... It's actually Catherine Parr…"
I was laughing so hard I didn't actually hear the fact that came after it. "Fucking muppet?!" I spluttered.
"Nico, you're the person that calls me a 'Golden Nugget' on a regular basis," Hazel chuckled.
"Oh, it's not just his group he has incredibly strange names for?" Will asked.
I blushed. "Hazel is in my group, but, I see your point."
Bianca grinned. "Do tell."
I rolled my eyes. "Fine."
Hazel folded her arms. "We're waiting."
"Percy is Seaweed Brain or Kelp Head, Annabeth is Wise Girl, Jason is Superman or Sparking Grace, Piper is Beauty Queen, Frank is," I took a big breath. "Chinese Canadian Baby Man, Hazel is Gold Digger or Gold Nugget, Leo is Repair Boy or Fire Boy, and Solace here is Sunshine."
"I knew that would stick," he sighed, turning to Frank. "Also, what the fuck did you do to stick that nickname?!"
"I'm Chinese-Canadian, and I used to have a seriously stupid-looking baby-face," Frank sighed, going back to talking to Hazel.
Hazel put a hand to his mouth. "Wait a sec, Babe. He calls you Sunshine?"
Will grinned. "Yeah. I like it. It's a pretty nice nickname."
"Shall we go work on the project?" I asked.
"We've got the weekend and all of next week to do the audio for the video, then we can do the poster as well."
Bi looked really confused. "So, is the video or…"
Will gave a small sigh. "So, we had the option to do a poster, a PowerPoint, or a video, as we're doing. We decided to do the video, but we could do the poster for extra marks."
Bi nodded. "Okay, after dinner, who's up for some Pixar?"
Will looked at me. "It's a family tradition every Friday night," I explained.
He nodded. "So, what's for dinner?"
