A/N: FINAAALLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! I GOT CHAPTER ELEVEN DONNNEE! I totally busted my ass because ily guys so much (❤), so I hope you like it! (And no, complete Solangelo is not achieved this chapter, but we gettin' close. Also, sorry this took me so long guys. I'll try to update next week to make it up to you c:)
11
Nico
They wandered around the mall without any real destination, and Nico was still slightly annoyed that Jason and Percy had come along. One of them he could deal with, but when they were together, they were about a thousand times more irritating. No, scratch that; probably a million.
But, of course, as soon as Jason had heard that Nico had roped Will into another "date", he'd somehow let it slip to Percy, and the idiots had both decided (against Nico's wishes, mind you) that they were to act as his impromptu chaperons. And so there they were.
Nico and Will were walking slightly ahead of their group of bumbling idio— friends, and Nico and Will kept shooting glances back at them. Lou was walking between Jason and Percy, her arms crossed and face expressionless, but any time Jason or Percy tried to talk or touch or even look at each other, she would shoot them both a fierce glare that put them off trying anything again for a few more minutes.
It was all very entertaining to watch, really.
"So," Will said, drawing Nico's attention away from their friends' antics. "Where should we go first?"
"Where do you want to go?" Nico asked, raising an eyebrow and sticking his hands in his pockets. He honestly didn't care where they went, as long as Will was embarrassed and his pride was spat on a good few times. And honestly, he had no idea where to go in the mall. He'd only ever been there to buy books, as he wasn't really the social type.
"Hm..." Will's brows furrowed as he thought, and Nico found it oddly adorable. He cursed himself and scowled. Shut up. But you know it's true. It's not, shut up. Admit it. I won't. Do it. No! Come on! Never! This inner argument continued until Will made a decisive sound, holding up a finger. "I know! Let's play laser tag! There's a huge arcade just around the corner, with a really nice arena, too."
Nico stared at him for several seconds while Will just looked at him with wide eyes and an innocent smile. Nico held a hand to his mouth, trying to stop himself from laughing. It didn't work, and soon he was giggling like an idiot, holding both hands over his mouth attempting to stop the flow of laughter. He just couldn't help it.
"Only y-you would want to p-play laser t-tag on a d-date," Nico gasped out between peals of laughter as Will glared at him. However, the harsh look dropped seconds later as he grinned, his face brightening enough to blind Nico for several seconds. "So you admit this is a date?"
Nico's face reddened and his laughter died off as he waved his hands in denial. "N-no! Who said anything— I was just— Shut up, Solace!"
Will laughed and turned around happily, his smile irritatingly cheerful. "You're just afraid I'll destroy you at laser tag," he said teasingly, tossing a sunshiney look over his shoulder that made Nico scowl as he scurried to catch up with the blond, crossing his arms. "As if. You want to play laser tag? Let's play."
When they arrived at the arcade a few minutes later, Nico had to admit he was slightly impressed. The place was plenty large, just as Will had promised, with several rooms full of both new and classic arcade games, a snack bar, a huge prize booth, and, of course, an enormous laser tag arena. Nico could already see the neon lights flashing from inside, and hear the mechanical pew-pew of laser-guns.
"Oh, are we playing laser tag?" Lou asked cheerfully, shoving past the boys, who shot her annoyed looks. "I'm on William's team!"
Nico rolled his eyes, but couldn't hold back an amused smile at the use of William. "Fine by me. Jason, Percy, you're with me."
"Aren't we short a player?" Jason pointed out, raising an eyebrow. "We have three, and they have two."
"Oh, rest assured we only need two to beat you three," Lou said sweetly, and Jason and Percy glared at her.
"Oh, it's on, green eyes," Percy said, glaring at her as he grabbed Jason by the arm and started towing him towards the laser-tag booth. "You're going down."
As they walked past her, Lou called out, "You have green eyes too, fish boy!"
Nico snickered as he faintly heard Percy yell at Jason, "HOW DOES SHE KNOW ABOUT THE NICKNAME?!"
"C'mon, di Angelo," Will said, walking past him and tossing a challenging smile over his shoulder. "Unless you admit defeat already?"
"Keep talking, Solace," Nico replied, jogging to catch up with them as they entered the laser tag line.
They had to get the customary light-up vests and laser guns, and they were split into two teams; Lou and Will were yellow, while Nico, Jason, and Percy were blue. The man in charge spouted off the rules in a monotonic voice, but Nico barely paid any attention, instead trading competitive looks with Will while Jason and Percy continuously slapped each other on the back and hooted, getting psyched up like a couple of 5-year-olds.
When they were finally allowed to enter the large arena, though, all hell broke loose, and Nico really wished he'd paid attention during their briefing. There were two other teams playing against them, besides Will's—the green and the red—and as soon as they got inside, a volley of people started shooting at them. Jason and Percy immediately started doing barrel rolls and somersaults to avoid the shots, while Nico clumsily ducked behind a pillar.
He thought his two friends were taking the game way too seriously already, but then he saw Will. The boy was performing ninja-like stunts as he made his way across the floor, taking out rounds of people with multiple shots from his laser gun. Clearly this wasn't his first game of laser-tag.
Nico sighed loudly and rolled his eyes. Well, might as well give it my all, he thought, before ducking out of the safety of the pillar and sprinting for a large tower-like structure in the center of the arena. Immediately people started shooting at him, and, to his surprise, he found himself reacting, doing a cartwheel—a fucking cartwheel—to avoid the volley of shots, twisting in mid-air to return fire, taking out all of the assailants.
However, this burst of adrenaline-fueled, adolescent stuntery caused Will to take notice of him, and the blond sprinted toward him with a wide grin, already aiming his gun at Nico's chest sensor. "GO NICO!" Jason shouted, appearing out of nowhere to his left and firing madly at Will, who was now performing serpentine maneuvers to avoid Jason's attacks. "WE'LL COVER YOU!"
Nico turned with a quick nod and started running for the tower, and he glanced back to see Percy and Jason continuing the assault on Will, which quickly branched into two separate scuffles as Lou leaped from the top of a neon crate, launching herself into the fray with a fierce battle-cry.
As Nico ducked inside the tower, taking the steps two at a time, he was starting to ponder his sanity. Obviously everyone there was taking the game very seriously, and normally Nico wouldn't participate in such child-like antics, but something about being in an arcade—somewhere he'd never really been interested in going before—brought out the inner child in him, and he found himself as deeply immersed in the game as his friends were.
Reaching the top of the tower, Nico quickly shot the two greens guarding it, and stood there trying to catch his breath, alternating between pointing his gun at the stairs, the open square in the wall that served as the window, and the two green members he'd shot, who would be buzzed back in any minute.
He heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and Nico ignored the window, keeping his gun pointed at the greens instead as he waited for the person to reach the top of the stairs. The footsteps grew closer. Closer. They were almost at the top now.
Nico took a deep breath, and two things happened; The two green members were buzzed in and they aimed their guns at him, and then the person reached the top of the stairs. Nico leapt to the side, avoiding the shots from the green members and any possible attack the person on the stairs might make, quickly taking out the two greens again, who cursed loudly in irritation.
He quickly whipped back around to see none other than Will standing at the top of the stairs, and cursed himself. "Fantastic job with the cover, guys!" he shouted sarcastically out the window before turning his attention back to the blond. "I guess it's just you and me, Solace."
The two stared at each other, fingers hovering over the triggers of their guns. Their gazes were firmly trained on each other, their eyes daring the other to make a move. Nico heard one of the green members whisper, "Are they serious?" to his friend, and he shot them the finger without looking, earning a scoff and most likely an eye-roll.
"Go on, Solace," Nico taunted, narrowing his eyes and spreading his legs slightly apart, bouncing on the balls of his feet in excited anticipation, ready to dodge any attack Will might launch. "Make my day."
"You first," Will replied evenly, returning his challenging stare.
"Oh, for the love of Christ, just shoot each other already!" one of the green members shouted, and Nico and Will raised their guns simultaneously and shot them both in the chest sensor. "Oh, come on! We were still out, man!"
Will and Nico went back to their stand-off. The air was tight with tension, and Nico was starting to contemplate making the first move when Will took a step forward. Nico's gun snapped to attention, his finger hovering over the trigger as Will moved closer, and closer.
They were standing nearly chest-to-chest now, and Nico could feel the hand that held his gun trembling slightly, waning to the side. "S-step back, Solace," Nico stuttered, glad that the darkness and the neon hid his blush.
"Nope," Will answered, grinning and looking down at Nico through his eyelashes. He was so close they were practically hugging, and Nico felt equal parts embarrassed and angry as his gun continued to shake, showing how nervous he really was.
"Get a room," one of the greenies murmured, and Will turned and shot them in the chests again, eliciting a loud groan. "Oh, well fuck you too. C'mon, Simon. Let's go get some pizza and leave the lovebirds to it."
That earned them two more shots in the chest each, and a mutter of, "Yeah, yeah, we're going!"
Will turned back to Nico, and he tried his best to stop his shaking hand. "Solace, s-seriously, um, m-move b-back... You're t-too c-cl-close."
"No such thing," Will replied, and he leaned forward so his lips were almost brushing Nico's ear, sending a shiver down his spine. "Guess what, Nico~ooo?"
"W-wh-whaa...?" Nico squeaked, his brain temporarily shut down due to over-heating.
Will's voice lowered. "Just two little words. Got. You." The words were followed by the little, depressed buh-buh-buhhhh! noise as Nico's previously blue sensor turned an angry red and Will stepped back with a smirk, twirling the laser-gun he'd just used to shoot Nico through his fingers. "Man, I totally got you. That was aw... Er, Nico?"
Nico's glare could wither grass or raise the dead as he stalked toward Will, his hands clenched into fists, his eyes dark and menacing. "Solaacccce," he growled, his face still beet red as he raised his gun. "You. Will. Pay. For. This."
Will laughed nervously and held up his hands as he started backing up down the stairs. "Whoa, Nico, h-hold up a sec! I was just j-j-jo— EEEEEEHHHHHH!" He squealed as Nico snatched at his shirt collar and turned, sprinting back down the stairs with Nico chasing after him, waving his laser-gun angrily. "I SWEAR TO THE GODS I'M GOING TO MURDER YOU WHEN I CATCH YOU!"
Jason, Percy, and Lou, meanwhile, watched them from the sidelines, as all three of them had been shot down and were waiting to regenerate. Nico was chasing Will around, his face tomato red as he screamed threats at the top of his lungs and waved his gun around threateningly, shooting laser beams at the blond as soon as the censor on his chest turned blue again. Said blond only laughed and dodged the frantic attacks, looking not at all troubled as he easily avoided the smaller Italian.
"I wonder what he did to elicit that reaction," Jason mused with a finger on his chin, watching his younger friend chase poor Will around the arena screaming bloody murder. "The last time this happened, Bianca stole all of his Mythomagic decks and replaced them with tampon boxes."
Lou gave them both a strange look as Percy started snickering. "Ha, I remember that!"
"Why would someone ever think to..." Lou shook her head. "You know what, never mind."
They continued observing the Will-Nico chase for a few more seconds before Lou sighed loudly. "I'm totally getting pizza after this, and Will's buying. Fuck laser tag."
