The Great Techno-Pop Debate of 2011. PG, Will/Nico + Apollo kids, romance/fluff/friendship, post-ToA.
[Kayla] directed her attention toward Nico. "You're saying that you don't like emo rock?" She looked absolutely baffled. "Like, at all?"

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"No. No way. You're messing with me."

"Why would I be messing with you, William?"

This was the scene Austin and Kayla walked up to as they made their way to the Apollo table one morning in late August. At first glance it didn't look overly confrontational— their older brother and his boyfriend were still sitting side by side and occasionally picking at each other's breakfast the way they sometimes did because they were sickeningly cute that way— but Will was pouting and Nico looked like he was starting to get annoyed, so it was enough of an unusual sight that it caught them by surprise. "Oh, man, did we walk into a lovers' quarrel?" Austin asked as he sat on the opposite side of the table. Kayla waved at someone over at the Aphrodite table before doing the same.

The bickering twosome did not reply to his quip, but Will turned toward him with a determined expression on his face just as Nico picked up a piece of toast and bit into it impassively. "Good, you guys can confirm that I'm not going insane. Nico here..." Will signaled toward his boyfriend like Vanna White would gesture toward the board on Wheel of Fortune. Nico looked at him as he silently chewed his breakfast, clearly unimpressed by the theatrics. "...says that his favorite genre of music is techno-pop."

It took a second or so for that information to process, but once it did, both Austin and Kayla turned to stare at Nico, utterly baffled by this revelation. Techno-pop? Nico? Not that people weren't allowed to like many different genres, Austin thought, but while he wouldn't put it past Nico to like a few techno-pop songs, it would never have occurred to him that it would be Nico's favorite genre. It simply did not compute.

Will gestured triumphantly at their surprised expressions. "I know, right?!"

Kayla shook her head. "There's no way," she said, before diving into the breakfast plate that she had set down in front of her.

"I was not expecting that," Austin commented in a similar tone before scooping some hash browns off his plate with a fork.

"What?" Nico asked, noticeably defensive, as he put the last quarter or so that was left of the piece of toast he'd been eating back down on his plate. "I'm European." He stretched a hand to steal a blueberry off the top of Will's oatmeal bowl. Will let him.

"Yeah, from the 1930s!" he retorted instead. He pointed at his boyfriend with his empty spoon. "By that metric, your favorite music should be, like, polka or something."

Both Austin and Nico gasped audibly at that, but only Nico directed a dark glare at his boyfriend. "I am offended by that," he declared. So much for drama being an Apollo trait, Austin mused.

"Hey now," he intervened, raising his hands in front of him as if trying to pacify a growling hellhound. "There is no music that is bad." And he truly believed that— even if there were some genres or songs he liked more than others, all music involved some level of artistry that deserved pride and admiration. "Well, except that one song with the lady singing about her humps. That's just— that's just bad," he added quickly. All right, even he had his limits.

Nico frowned at him. "I don't know what that is."

"You don't want to know," Kayla muttered before lifting a forkful of eggs to her lips. Austin didn't know how she managed to participate in the conversation while still eating; his hash browns had still not made it up to his mouth.

Nico seemed to take her word for it, thankfully, because he went back to his initial point without any further comment about the Dutchess. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure back then we used to listen to a lot of jazz and swing. Even some American stuff, I think, before nationalism really started taking hold. You know, big band stuff."

"My man!" Austin extended a hand for Nico to high five, which the Italian boy easily returned. It never ceased to amaze him that Nico had probably been around when some of the OG jazz musicians were hitting it big. What Austin wouldn't give to have experienced that!

"Yeah," Nico continued. "I don't remember very many of the songs now, but Mamma and I used to really love Alberto Rabagliati. I think... I think he had a show on the radio and we used to listen to it every week." He had a wistful expression on his face.

Kayla's eyes widened. "Oh my gods. Say his name again," she all but demanded, eagerly leaning forward in her seat as if to hear him better over the din of the breakfast crowd. She had a thing for the way Nico rolled his r's when he spoke Italian. Not because of Nico personally, but because she liked the way the language sounded.

Will, however, did not seem as enthused as their sister about the prospect of Nico idolizing some famous Italian singer. "Okay, that's enough," he interrupted before Nico could comply with Kayla's request, an annoyed frown marking his expression in a way that wasn't commonly seen with Will.

Austin snorted at the obvious jealousy. "Seriously, Will? The guy's been dead for like forty years." Austin couldn't remember any of the man's songs, if he had ever heard any, but he was pretty sure he'd heard his mother mention a Rabagliati once or twice in the past.

Will wasn't having it. "And I happen to be dating the one person who could look him up in the Underworld, aren't I?" he retorted somewhat bitterly, which, again, didn't suit his usually sunny and cheery disposition at all. And sure, Austin had to concede that point— but just because he could, didn't mean that Nico would, right?

As if to confirm Austin's thoughts, the son of Hades rolled his eyes. "You're being dumb," he declared, not dignifying Will's silliness with any further denial.

Kayla interrupted before Will could dig himself in further. "Why are you being so intense about this, anyway?" she asked their older brother, bringing the conversation back to its initial lane as she scooped up the last bit of her eggs. Her plate was nearly empty now, and Austin was mystified by her ability to multitask. "You get mad all the time when people assume you like country music just because you're from Texas."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I don't like country!" Will replied, his oatmeal completely forgotten by now in his agitation. "Of course I like country. It's what my mother used to play!" He shook his head emphatically. "Who doesn't like country? That's, like, un-American!"

Kayla shrugged as she took a bite of her bacon. "I'm Canadian."

Nico narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend. "She's right, though," he pointed out smartly. "You also get all annoyed when people think you like ska just because you look like you were born in Malibu Beach."

Will let out a huff. "Yeah, well, ska sucks," he grumbled almost brattily. The Apollo cabin head counselor, everyone.

"Dude! Come on!" Austin complained. Hadn't he just said that no music was bad? He shook his head, disappointed that he couldn't manage to get through to them in this matter. Seriously, with siblings like these, who even needed enemies. He looked up at the sky, picturing the top of the Empire State, with Olympus floating above it, in his mind. "Forgive him, Dad," he chimed as if in prayer. "He doesn't know what he's saying."

Will tsk-ed at him. "Hey, just because I'm a healer doesn't mean my opinions about music are invalid." He gave Austin a pointed stare. "Our father is the god of everything but the kitchen sink; I dare say there's more than enough divine blessings for each of us to get more than one."

"You're going to get yourself smitten," Kayla warned as she took the last bit of bacon into her mouth.

Austin frowned. "That can't be right. Smited? Smote?"

Kayla shook her head confidently. "Nope. Smitten. I looked it up." Austin grimaced.

"So you admit you're being a hypocrite, then," Nico said to Will, ignoring the decidedly inane tangent the conversation had just gone on. He was going in for the kill, apparently. "You don't like it when people assume things about you because of the way you look, but just because I like skulls and the color black, that must mean I like emo rock?"

Will shook his head again, looking like he was about to refute that assertion, but Kayla spoke up first. "Wait, wait," she said, leaning forward again, pushing her hands against the table in front of her. Her plate was now empty, so she could do that without spilling anything. She directed her attention toward Nico. "You're saying that you don't like emo rock?" She looked absolutely baffled. "Like, at all?"

Austin lifted his hands to his temples. He didn't know what his own expression looked like, but he felt as confused as Kayla looked. "My head is going to explode," he muttered to himself. He could get used to the idea that Nico enjoyed techno-pop more than other genres, but his actively disliking emo rock was almost unfathomable.

Nico's face scrunched up in a grimace. "It's so whiny," he muttered, then paused as if recognizing that the three Apollo children were staring at him with their eyebrows raised in concert, a "yeah, exactly!" hanging unsaid in the air.

He scowled at them. "I am not whiny," he said defensively. The stares continued. He huffed and straightened up in his seat, gesticulating a lot with his hands as he spoke. "Look, I've been through a lot of shit in my life, okay? But that doesn't mean I'm going around complaining about it every five minutes." He shook his head. "When everything is terrible, you suck it up and keep on moving. It's the only thing you can do." He crossed his arms and glared at them as if daring them to disagree.

Kayla was the first one to break. "I mean... he's got a point," she admitted, looking tentatively at Austin and Will. "He is more the type to bottle his grievances up inside."

Yeah, Austin had to give him that. "Well," he said with a nod, "at least until you eventually explode and end up killing all vegetation within a thirty-foot radius of you."

Nico turned his Prince of the Underworld (TM) glare directly on him. "You wanna switch lives with me, Lake?" Austin raised his hands in the universal sign of surrender.

Will shook his head yet again, more serious than the current train of the conversation probably warranted. "This is different, though," he insisted. For a moment Austin didn't know what his brother was precisely referring to, but Will continued a second later. "The people who think your aesthetic defines your music taste? Those are just strangers making assumptions." He pursed his lips for a moment. "I'm your boyfriend. I know you." He sighed. "Or at least I thought I did."

He sounded so dejected that the light teasing undercurrent that had run through the entire conversation promptly fizzled out. Austin and Kayla exchanged a look and wordlessly decided to stay out of it. Austin had been wondering, pardon his French, what had crawled up Will's butt that morning. He'd figured it was some kind of competitiveness fueling his "intensity," as Kayla had referred to it. It hadn't occurred to him that Will might be so insistent about this because he was feeling insecure about his relationship. Even with how much they bickered, Will and Nico always seemed solid, both individually and as a couple; it was easy to forget sometimes that they might not have it all figured out.

Nico visibly softened— for lack of a better descriptor— meaning, he dropped the prickliness and defensiveness and began to sound tentative, maybe a little bit concerned. "It's just one dumb thing you didn't know about me, Will," he started, clearly attempting to sound conciliatory. "Besides, half my memories are gone. There's plenty of stuff even I don't know about myself— why should you beat yourself up for not knowing one little detail? It's just music; it's not a big deal."

Austin had to bite his lip to stop himself from pointing out that, no, music was very important. Somehow, he didn't think his input would be well received at this point of the conversation. Thankfully, Will— the Apollo cabin head counselor, everyone!— voiced that thought in his stead. "Music says so much about who you are as a person, though," he said, and Austin would've put his hand up for another high five had his brother not been doing a flawlessly accurate impersonation of a sad golden retriever puppy. "There are so many songs, just off the top of my head, that I was so sure you would love, that you would relate to, and maybe they could help you deal with things you've been through that I... can't... help you with." He said that last bit almost like it hurt him to form the words. "But if you really hate the entire genre, then maybe... maybe I just misjudged things."

There was silence, and it was heavy, like someone had plopped a bubble around the Apollo table that suddenly isolated them from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the tables. Austin squirmed in his seat. Kayla was staring at the walking path that led up to the dining pavilion as if planning her escape route. Nico kept his gaze fixed on the table in front of him, tugged at his hair in a kind of reflexive manner, and sighed. "I mean..." he mumbled under his breath, almost begrudgingly, "I guess it's possible that I just haven't listened to the right songs."

At that admission, Will's countenance changed like someone had flipped a switch on the sun itself. His eyes brightened, he straightened up his posture, and his lips started to form into a grin so wide that it could only be described as beaming, pun absolutely intended. "Really?" he asked, as if to be 100% sure before getting his hopes up. (Austin thought it might be a little late for that.)

Nico did his best to remain austere, but they could all see that the corners of his mouth were crinkling up almost on their own. He rolled his eyes for effect. "Yeah, sure." He pointed a finger at his boyfriend as if warning him. "Just don't overdo it, okay? Pick just a few songs and we'll listen to them after activities." He shrugged. "I'll let you know if I like them or not."

"You'll like them! I promise!" Will was right back to his usual sunny self as he enthusiastically hugged his boyfriend to his side and dropped a loud, smacking kiss on the crown of his head. Nico squirmed and tried to push him off, but he was also smiling.

Will, still beaming, then turned to his siblings. "So, what do you think, guys? 'Black Parade'?" Austin and Kayla looked at each other and smiled, happy to see their brother happy, and relieved that The Great Techno-Pop Debate of 2011 did not devolve into a major blowup.

"'Black Parade,'" they said in unison, for once in complete agreement. Will nodded, as if closing the deal, and the rest of breakfast was spent trying to put together a quick playlist to prove to Nico that mid-aughts emo rock could indeed be excellent. Nico himself pretended to be greatly annoyed by their energetic back and forth.

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Austin had been at the camp store buying some snacks (and none-too-subtly flirting with the daughter of Demeter who was manning the check-out counter) when Kayla burst in like the godsdamn Kool-Aid man and dragged him off in the direction of the docks. "Will is about to show Nico the songs we were talking about this morning."

"And you want to be there with them?" he asked, incredulous. "Dear sister of mine, have you ever heard the term 'third wheeling'? Because, believe me, I don't want to be around to watch my brother make out with his boyfriend if I can help it."

Kayla's bold strides did not falter in the slightest. "Neither do I; I'm just curious." Austin scoffed. "It's fine, we'll bounce right out of there if they start getting lovey-dovey. We'll hide in the bushes. They won't even know we're there."

"You want to hide in the bushes," Austin stated, more than asked. He shook his head. "You've been hanging out with Connor Stoll too much. I should put my foot down on this."

"But you wo-on't," she sing-songed in an amused way, "because you're curious, too. Admit it!" She tugged harder at his arm. "Come on, don't you want to know what Nico thinks of the songs you suggested?"

"Sure. But I could just ask him," Austin replied pointedly. "You know, like normal people would."

Kayla scoffed. "Normal. That's cute." She hurried her steps for the next few yards— forcing Austin to pick up his pace as well— before stopping abruptly when the dock came into view. "Oh, look! We're here already. Can't sidetrack me now," she told him in a purposeful stage whisper. "Can't yell at me, either, or they'll hear you." She pointed in the direction where Will and Nico sat at the end of the dock, maybe fifty feet away, each one leaning against one of its wooden posts so that they were facing each other.

Austin wasn't sure they could hear him from that distance, especially with a row of bushes separating him and his sister from the beach. He glared at her anyway. "I can't believe we're related," he muttered under his breath. Kayla winked at him before frantically shushing him as Will's voice drifted back to them.

"So... what do you think?" Will asked tentatively, and Austin peeked at them over the bushes just as Nico pulled the earphones out of his ears. The chunky, bricklike mp3 player they were using was clearly an old relic of the late 90s that had up until recently been stashed away in some corner of the Apollo cabin, and not likely to be able to hold more than seven or eight songs at a time. It was probably a good thing that Nico had vetoed their first impulse of a long playlist with all the big hits.

Nico dropped the earphones beside the mp3 player on his lap and thought about it for a moment. "It was... surprisingly not bad," he admitted.

Will grinned like he'd just been told his birthday would happen twice a year from now on, and raised his fists in the air in a gesture of triumph. "Yessssss!" he exclaimed.

Nico shook his head, and though he was too far enough for Austin to see it clearly, he had witnessed the gesture enough times since the son of Hades started dating his brother that he knew it was accompanied by an affectionate, if not slightly amused, eye roll. "Yeah, yeah. You can take your victory lap, all right."

Will laughed. "I knew you would like it. It's not whiny at all, right?"

"No, actually," Nico conceded, sounding properly surprised by this fact. "It's almost kind of... optimistic? I mean, it's not like it's all sunshine and rainbows— it is a song about a dead person, after all— but it's not dwelling on that pain like I thought it would be. It's more... uplifting." He lifted a hand to his face, and though Austin couldn't be sure, it almost seemed like he was wiping away a tear. "Like it's telling you to take all the good things you shared with that person, and use them to... to..."

"...carry on?" Will finished the quote for him, and it made Nico chuckle. Will leaned forward, stretching out a hand to momentarily touch Nico's cheek, and Austin figured his earlier instinct had been correct that Nico was getting teary, however subtle it was. It made him feel awkward yet again, like he shouldn't be witnessing this. Kayla, however, was entranced by the whole thing as she stood next to him.

Will pulled back so he was again resting against the dock's corner post. He smiled softly at his boyfriend. "It's funny: not many would take you for an optimistic person, but you can be... in your own way, I guess."

"I guess," Nico agreed. Then, as if something just occurred to him, he poked at Will's shin with the tip of his sneaker. "See? And you were worried you didn't know me well enough. You did good, sunshine!" Will smiled at that. "Guess I won't have to swap you with Rabagliati after all," he added in a cheeky tone.

Will responded with an exaggerated pout. "That's not funny," he declared, but all it did was make Nico crack up. Giving up the hurt act, Will watched his boyfriend laugh, a deep affection more than evident in his gaze. Austin wondered if maybe this lull in the conversation was the right time for him and Kayla to make their exit.

He was about to express this thought to his sister when Will spoke again. "Was it Jason?" he asked. Nico, his mirth just beginning to die down, threw a curious expression his way, as if he didn't understand the question. "With the song, I mean," Will explained further. "Did it make you think of Jason?"

It wouldn't surprise Austin if it did, though he wouldn't have asked, of course. By this point, Nico had been his and Kayla's friend for long enough that they were both well aware of how close he'd been to Jason, and how deeply he'd been affected when Jason was killed back in March. Nico was a very private person, self-isolating by nature, and though he'd opened up to them by virtue that he was going to be their brother-in-law someday (cough, cough), Kayla had made a good point that morning when she said Nico was more likely to keep his pain bottled up inside. Austin knew Will worried about this; worried that, if Nico couldn't tell Will these things, couldn't unburden his thoughts with him, that he would at least tell someone.

Nico's periodic conversations with Mr. D had helped ease Will's worry somewhat, and Nico seemed to be doing well these days— clearly, Jason's loss still hurt, but he wasn't letting it consume him. Austin wasn't sure how much Nico had opened up to Will about it, if at all; he didn't know the details of what they talked about when they were alone, at least not before Kayla's little spy mission today. But knew his brother, and knew Will still had to ask. He cared too much not to.

Nico was quiet for a moment, and Austin thought he might not answer or might change the topic, but neither happened. Instead, Nico answered the question directly, and Austin was glad to see that he was willing to open up to Will so easily. For someone as reserved and defensive as Nico, that said a lot about how much he trusted Will and how safe he felt with him.

Nico nodded. "Yeah... well, a little. Bianca, too," he added, and it somewhat surprised Austin that Nico would just volunteer a mention of his deceased sister in this context. Perhaps he was more open with Will about these things than Austin gave him credit for. Will might not have known of Nico's predilection for techno-pop, but the important stuff, the difficult stuff, that they had talked about before.

"But mostly it made me think of Mamma," Nico admitted. Will cocked his head to the side as if he hadn't been expecting that. Austin, too, would've figured Jason's death would've been at the front of Nico's mind considering the theme of the song. Kayla cooed lightly at his side, so he assumed she was touched by the revelation.

Nico's gaze grew wistful just as it had that morning, like he could just barely picture the image he was trying to grasp in his mind. "I don't have many memories of my life in Venice, but... as I was listening to the song, I had this vague recollection of holding Mamma's hand as we stood on the sidewalk on the way to pick Bianca up from piano lessons, and watching the soldiers march down the viale. I always thought they looked really cool." He paused for a moment and chuckled, though it sounded somewhat bitter. "Though now that I think about it, those were most definitely Mussolini's Blackshirts, so I probably shouldn't be saying that out loud." He shook his head. "Black parade, indeed."

Will stretched his arm out so he could grab hold of Nico's hand, clearly meaning to offer some comfort. "You were just a little kid. I'm sure you can be forgiven for that." Nico nodded and squeezed Will's hand back, but Will still looked concerned. "Is it okay, though?" he asked. "That the song is bringing back memories? I know I was all gung-ho about this earlier, but we don't have to listen to the rest if you don't want to."

Nico shook his head again. "It's okay. I wanna remember. The good bits, at least." He shrugged. "And this was a happy memory... fascists notwithstanding, I guess." He sounded somewhat amused by the end of the sentence. It made Will chortle as well.

The conversation quieted down for a bit, and this time Austin turned to Kayla to argue they were done. "Okay, he liked one song, at least. Is that enough to satisfy your curiosity? Can we go now? Clearly, this is meant to be a private conversation."

Kayla, still keeping her eyes on the couple on the dock, opened her mouth to reply, only to cut herself off abruptly. Her eyes widened and she quickly covered Austin's mouth with her hand, aggressively shushing him. Austin was immediately alarmed and looked out of the corner of his eye at Nico and Will again, afraid they'd been found out and were about to be attacked by angry zombies. Nico might like them well enough, but surely he didn't appreciate being spied on. Also, he really liked summoning zombies.

To Austin's relief, however, there were no undead creatures anywhere in his direct field of vision. He did look over just in time to see Will playfully tug at Nico's hand and say, "Hey, can I ask you a question?" which he figured was what Kayla was so intent on listening to that she had to shush him so she could hear.

"You just asked me a question," was Nico's wiseass retort, which prompted Will to flick the back of Nico's hand with a finger. The son of Hades quickly pulled his hand back from his boyfriend's hold, narrowing his eyes at Will's audacity. Will wasn't intimidated one bit.

"Another question, then," he corrected himself, sounding amused. Nico very magnanimously gestured for him to go on, and Austin had to hold back a snort. Will snickered lightly before speaking again. "I was just wondering... why techno-pop?" he asked. "I mean, it's fine if you just... like it. Gods know I like lots of different types of music. It's just... what is it about that genre that draws you to it? I can't quite wrap my head around it."

Kayla, back to being engrossed in the two's conversation, dropped her hand from Austin's face, so he was able to orient himself facing the dock again just as Will asked his question. Austin had been about to signal to his sister that he was outta there even without her, but now he had to admit to himself that he really was curious to hear Nico's answer. Damn it.

Nico took a few seconds to think about it. "I don't know, really," was the response he came to. He was tentative as he continued speaking. "I think... I think that was the first thing that made me aware that I wasn't... in my time anymore. Or just that something was really different. They played a lot of it over the speakers at the Lotus Casino. Or at least it felt like they played it a lot, I guess. My perception of time in there was... messed up, as you might imagine." He set the mp3 player to the side and pulled his knees up, wrapping his arms around his legs. "But it was unlike anything I had ever heard before, so it caught my attention." He took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "Bianca liked it a lot, too."

It was Will's turn to take a moment to process that information. "That... makes a lot of sense, actually," he said, sounding like he didn't expect that explanation. It wouldn't have occurred to Austin either that that might be the origin of Nico's affinity for the genre, and he didn't know as much as Will did about Nico's... timeline, so to speak, but he could follow the logic well enough.

Will shook his feeling of wonder off quickly and smiled brightly at his boyfriend. "Well, you'll have to show me some of your favorites next time," he suggested earnestly, because Will might not be the most musically inclined of Austin's many siblings, but he enjoyed a good bop as much as the next cabin seven camper. Bonus points if it made Nico happy.

Nico shrugged, unassuming. "You probably know more songs in that genre than I do, anyway."

Will shook his head. "Doesn't matter," he assured his boyfriend, not wavering for a second in his certainty. "All that matters is that you're sharing them with me. Even if I already know them, that's enough to make them special."

Austin heard Kayla coo again, and honestly, he wasn't about to judge her for it. Will and Nico were total relationship goals, and it made all the Apollo children— not to mention Apollo himself, wherever he might be at the moment— happy to bear witness to how deeply they cared for each other. It was there in the warmth of Will's gaze, which Austin could distinguish from a mile away as his brother looked into his significant other's eyes. It was there in the softness of Nico's smile as he silently basked in his boyfriend's affection, a small but rare, special kind of smile that seemed reserved only for Will.

"Yeah, that'd be nice," Nico replied quietly, and Will beamed at him. If Austin had any inclination toward the visual arts, he'd have made a painting depicting this exact moment, and he would have titled it "Heart Eyes by the Sound." Because they were ridiculous. Really, though he meant it lovingly.

Will drummed his hands against his knees and straightened up. "All right! Do you wanna keep going through the playlist, then?" he suggested merrily.

Nico nodded. He moved his hand as if to pick up the mp3 player he'd set down on the dock beside him, but halfway there he paused as if reconsidering his decision. He seemed to change his mind about it, instead pushing up away from the post he'd been leaning against this entire time.

"You know what?" he started, in a way Austin mentally described as "intentionally casual," as he purposefully moved closer to his boyfriend. "Maybe in a bit." Before Will could ask if something was wrong— and he'd been about to, Austin would recognize his concerned expression anywhere— Nico leaned in and kissed him.

...And that's when Austin and Kayla jumped three feet away from the bushes they were hiding behind, equally undignified yelps escaping their mouths that would've gotten them caught had the people they'd been spying on not been otherwise occupied. "Oh, hey, I think I hear someone calling me from the climbing wall," Kayla said hurriedly, looking in the direction of said wall like she could almost see some non-existent person waving at her.

Austin nodded vehemently. "Yeah, I think my shift at the infirmary's about to start," he said, looking down at his naked wrist where the imaginary watch he absolutely wasn't wearing would ideally be. "See you at dinner?"

"Yep. Dinner," Kayla readily agreed.

The two set off in opposite directions like they had dracaenae nipping at their heels. Within a few steps, however, Austin paused. "Kay?" he called out to his sister before she got too far away. She heard him, stopped, and turned around to look at him with a question in her eyes. Austin didn't say anything, just lifted his fist in front of him for her to bump.

Grinning, Kayla quickly covered the distance between them, fist-bumped him right back, and then the two children of Apollo parted to their respective activities, leaving their older brother and his boyfriend to their much-deserved privacy. The debate was over. Both sides won.

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Author's notes!—

Hey, so, remember when Rick tweeted an offhand comment about Nico liking techno-pop and the fandom had a collective meltdown because how could Nico— Nico, for the love of all that is holy— not have eau de MCR running through his very veins? Well, this is me sort of... processing that reveal.

You know. Five years after the fact. But any excuse is good to write fic about Will/Nico and the Apollo kids, so I regret nothing.

Anyway, Vanna White is a US model, actress, and television personality who gained prominence as a co-host of the network game show Wheel of Fortune. The show started airing in 1975 on NBC and eventually moved to CBS in 1989; it is still airing at present. The song "with the lady singing about her humps" that Austin mentions is, of course "My Humps," a 2005 song by the Black Eyed Peas. The "Dutchess" mentioned is Fergie, a member of the band, who used that epithet as the title of her first solo album. No offense to anyone who likes the song— cheers to you, but it's just not my thing (neither is ska, but I don't feel as strongly about that one). I was actually going to use that one song with all the animal sounds instead, but it turns out that one came out in 2013, so it didn't fit the time setting for this fic.

Alberto Rabagliati was an Italian singer and actor who hit the big time in his native land in the 1930s and 40s as Italy became increasingly nationalist. In 1941 he started a weekly radio show called Canta Rabagliati ("Rabagliati Sings") where he showcased his most popular songs. His style was actually heavily influenced by US music, but the fascist government, while shutting down foreign music, used his popularity to boost their own, using his songs in their campaigns and the like. He died in 1974, so Austin was more or less in the right ballpark. "Welcome to the Black Parade" is, of course, a 2006 song by the band My Chemical Romance, and one of the most iconic and emblematic hits of the emo/pop punk/alt rock scene of the mid-aughts. It has been included in several of the most prestigious top lists and was named one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's songs that shaped the genre.

The Kool-Aid man is the official mascot for Kool-Aid, a brand of powdered flavored drink mix owned by Kraft Heinz; he likes bursting through walls, though Kayla was a bit more measured in her entrance. Blackshirts was the nickname for the members of the Voluntary Militia for National Security (MVSN), a paramilitary group formed by volunteer supporters of the Italian National Fascist Party in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s who used violence and intimidation against opponents of Benito Mussolini. They did like to march.

I shouldn't need to point this out, but our times being what they are, I feel like I have to: Fascism is bad, kids. Don't be fascist.

Will says that his mother "used to play" country music because I tend to headcanon that Will's mom died. My Will goes over that backstory in Touch. His mom is also briefly mentioned in Light to the Darkness, though I guess with that one it's vague enough that you can pretend she's still alive lol. Either way, I thought I'd mention it in case anyone's curious. Also, is it obvious that I wrote this while I was hungry?

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