If you're patient, you might be able to make an entirely different (and much better) story from their memories.
As a character, I like Will plenty, as a name, I dislike it very much on principle. I spent way too long worrying on what kind of greeting Leo would go for, bc it was important, before I just gave up.
10. Encounter
Nico only has to worry so much about his family finding him out by now, which is of course when someone new gets thrown up in the mix; it happens because Styx and Karen joined forces in order to get all the 'younger folks' out to the town in order to get the last few things needed to prepare for the celebration, and Nico forgot how close his home is to certain people he hadn't the courage to face. So of course he bumps into Will Solace, because fate hates Nico.
Nico had really actually liked Will a lot at some point in their relationship, and the boy was still fairly attractive now, but somewhere along the way the blond had increasingly become less and less bearable; it wasn't that Will was a bad person, or that Nico resented him or anything, just that he was too much, and Nico found himself having to get alone time far more than really healthy, so he cut it off. It wasn't a bad break up per se, a little loud if anything, but if he'd gotten over it then surely Will had done the same.
The worst part was that, had the situation been any different, Nico wouldn't have minded bumping into Will; but it became a problem now, because the blond was the most likely to see right through their farce. He felt a hand brush against his once before it was taken into an incredibly warm hold, he looks to his side and finds Leo giving him his best reassuring smile before squeezing Nico's hand.
Nico realizes with a start, that Leo is most likely the only person outside of the relationship that knows what actually happened; and that's something Nico needs to process. While he does this, Will crosses the distance between them, eyes glancing at their joined hands before raising an eyebrow, and Nico feels anger coil at his chest at the look in his ex's face.
"Hi Nico, finally visiting for the holydays? Didn't see you last year"
Nico is perfectly familiar with the tone Will uses, and that's definitely what makes him say the next words.
"I spent them with my boyfriend"
It's not a lie per se, Nico had stayed back in the city trying to get rid of all bad memories tied to his apartment, and Leo had no one to visit so he helped out here and there when he wasn't working, mostly fixing things and annoying Nico into confessing what songs he does and doesn't like; and it's wild that it's taken him this long to realize he's in love with Leo, because if he hadn't been back then, he would've murdered him. Will gives Leo the side eyes, and Nico really wants to punch him, which is a new emotion concerning Will Solace.
"Valdez"
To his credit, Leo responds to it in the best way possible.
"Solace, how's medicine treating you?"
Will seems taken aback, and Nico has to stifle a laugh at the familiar ability Leo had to derail people. Will does eventually recover, something cocky in him, and that's also a new thing.
"Going great actually, how's the job?"
It's a poor attempt at a comeback but enough for Nico to make sense of what's happening; not only does Will not realize he's being lied to, he believes them enough that he's jealous of Leo, and that is a concept. Because, what does it say about them that the person who's supposed to know how Nico acts when romantically invested, believes their ruse? What are they doing? Because Nico's pretty sure it's not what they had planned.
He realizes he's tuned out the conversation, more focused on how Will acts towards Leo now as opposed to how they acted before, the sparse times they did interact; somehow he kept the two separate from each other despite never having done that with his other maybe-friends. It probably says a lot about his feelings towards the mechanic.
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Will thinks he's somewhat justified in spying on his ex and his new boyfriend, if only because that new boyfriend is Leo Valdez. It wasn't that Will had it out for Leo, but rather that, to his understanding, Leo and Nico barely interacted.
Sure, Leo was Hazel's childhood friend, and therefore knew Nico for longer than anyone else in the group; and Nico liked him well enough to trust him when it came to Hazel, they didn't spend much time together as a duo. That meant that Will hadn't had seen much of the Latino outside group hang-outs, so Will was curious on how the two ended up together.
He didn't know what he'd been expecting, but the way Leo joked around while Nico smiled in calm amusement, was not it. The clearly comfortable interactions, like they knew the exact way the other ticked, like being together was only natural; two years could change a lot, but this was too much.
The way the acted made it seem like something older than two years, something built over trust, something relaxed. And Will understood a lot then, because Nico had a knack for finding ways of avoiding him, and it made sense that he'd run to Leo, because Will wouldn't have even thought of looking; and because Nico's disappearances increased slowly but surely, but he'd always come back with an apology and the will to actually try, until the day he hadn't.
It wasn't a bad break-up, not really, but it had still hurt, and that hurt had been avidly voiced; but it had been a two-way street, and held an unchangeable sense finality. But people couldn't go from 0 to 100, and eventually Will realized that the break-up was only bound to happen; and Leo probably did too, though earlier than him, and had tried his best to slow Nico down.
It was the first time Will acknowledged that Leo Valdez had seen firsthand what that looked like, that the Latino could see it before him because to him the signs were blaringly familiar; because Leo had actually met Bianca.