No sexual content in this fic.

I HAVE NOT read TOA yet and in the fandom I only keep track with Jercy, Travis, and Connor's tag. This fic is probably gonna be inaccurate to how they act in TOA as I am basing off what I read in HOO.

Also I know Travis should be two or three years older than Will and Nico in canon but I don't like that so now we're going to pretend they're the same age and all three are juniors in Rome University :D

Also if there are squicks you would like to know are in the fic, feel free to PM me!

Summary: Once again, Travis is in trouble. That's nothing new. Except, Connor is missing and Travis is getting hurt pretty badly. That's new. That's very new and very concerning.

Starting Again From Zero

Chp 1: Meeting

Will Solace is not a snooper. Nope. He's a good boy. He has morals. He has standards. He respects people's privacy. He really does. Except if there is danger involved. Then he is a snooper. A big whooping creeper. A gigantic dickhead as Nico likes to put it.

And when it comes to Travis Stoll, there's always danger involved.

It all started last week when he saw Travis entering their apartment complex, taking the stair to the 7th floor, taking out a key, and entering Apartment 709. Entering… not breaking in. Which means Travis lives there. Which means Travis lives a floor directly above his and Nico's apartment. The move-in date is in September so that means Travis has been living above them for three whole months now.

Three whole months… he can't believe it.

Travis is loud. He's inconsiderate. He loves pranks. He loves trouble. He loves chaos. For the past three months, there has been nothing except for complete and utter silence from the apartment above theirs. And that is absolutely impossible.

Sure he hadn't seen Travis in the two years since Will moved out of Camp for college and people change, but Will knew Travis since they were both ten and the son of Hermes has always been a lighthearted, easygoing prankster with a knack for getting into the deepest shit possible without really much effort.

You're starting to see why that's concerning, right?

Travis Stoll is definitely up to something and that something is definitely not good. And in the name of being a good Samaritan, he needs to find out why and how and what trouble Travis is getting into.

"You're going to get arrested," Nico deadpans beside him.

Will waves for him to be quiet. "This is for the good of humanity."

"Travis's neighbors are going to see us," Nico continues, "They're gonna see two freaks crouching in the fake bushes like burglars, see one freak with binoculars, see the other freak carrying a bike tire because freak one broke his bike, and call the police."

"I'll deal with it when the time comes," Will says, zooming in on the blinds with his binoculars. They're open just a bit and with the help of the setting sun, he can see a lot of boxes scattered randomly over the floor. One of the boxes is definitely Top Ramen as the outside features the cup noodles. The others though… just have the Amazon symbol and nothing else.

Will lowers the binoculars and bites his cheeks. The management for the complex is doing an apartment check this week. Travis's apartment isn't going to make the cut. Does Travis even know there is a check-up coming? Connor is usually the one who keeps track of the dates.

"Do you have proof he's doing anything illegal?"

Will hesitates. "No… not yet. But I am certain Travis is doing something unlawful."

"Intuition isn't proof," Nico sighs, head leaning onto Will's shoulder blades. "Solace, be a normal person for once and just knock on the door. My McDonalds is calling me and I still have to study for my midterm."

Will stiffens and feels a twinge of guilt. Not just for roping Nico into this, but also for… well. Nico will have to live with the news.

"I dumped your McBurger," he admits after a second pause.

Nico pulls away quickly, hissing, "You what?"

"It's unhealthy for you," Will defends, "It's literal garbage. I'll cook you something instead."

"There's lettuce and tomato in there. It's not unhealthy," Nico argues.

"One small piece of lettuce and there was no tomato," Will corrects.

Will can see Nico's wheel turning, trying to form an argument but Will is right. Nico knows it. And he settles on grumbling a low, "It's not shit."

"It's shit."

"It's not."

"Shit," he says with finality.

Nico opens his mouth but didn't say anything and Will thought he won, but Nico's eyes are staring above him. They widen slightly and Will is about to turn around when a voice not his and not Nico asks,

"What are you guys doing?"

Will stares at Travis Stoll's very serious face for maybe three seconds before Nico is elbowing him in the ribs to say something and Will being the brainiac he is, did.

"Hey, how are you doing?" he squeaks as Nico groans.

It's weird to see Travis not wearing his Camp Half Blood. Weird? Travis actually looks like a normal human being. His normally bed hair is combed. His beige trench coat looks well maintained and orderly with no weird stains. His jeans have no holes. His smile is completely cordial and polite.

If Will's going to be frank this doesn't look like Travis.

"Nico? Will? Why are you guys hiding in the bushes?" Travis asks again.

Will bolts to his feet with Nico getting up slower, patting his knees free of dust. "We're getting arrested," Nico mutters beneath his breath.

"Travis! Hey, it's nice to see you. How have you been?" Will says, trying to slide the binoculars slyly behind him but Travis's eyes slide to them and an eyebrow raises.

"I can explain," Will says, stuffing the binoculars into his backpack. Except the zipper is caught on the sleeves of his backpack and it won't open no matter how hard he tries to tug it free.

Travis is still staring.

Nico isn't helping.

And okay, Will see now that he should have made a backup plan. Abandoning his backpack and stuffing the binoculars in Nico's backpack ("hey!"), Will raises his hands up defensively, "See, I was…I was… bird watching."

Oh gods. What kind of excuse was that? Bird watching? At sunset? At an apartment complex? Nico snorts behind him. "Nice going, Solace."

But Travis smiles weirdly and nods, not saying anything and sends off a dozen alarm bells in Will's mind. Travis is a talker. He's a teaser. He's a near bully when it comes to making fun of people. Where's the ridicule? Where's the smirking? Where's the 'oh my gods, Will. You're such a bird brain!' But there's none of that. Something is wrong with him.

(Or maybe it's late at night and he's tired, Solace. Ever thought of that?)

"Right. Good luck with that, Will." Then Travis turns to Nico and in a very orderly, very stiff way, nods to the son of Hades. "Nico, nice to see you. I'm going to turn in for the night. You two should probably head back to your apartments. It's not safe at night."

Travis turns around and shoves his hands in the pockets, the loose sleeves of Travis's trench coat riding up his arms as he did so. Rides up just barely enough for Will to glimpse the beginning of scarred tissues on the interior wrist.

Will swears he's trying to be better about people's personal space. He swears. Making friends and okay, strangers as well, uncomfortable isn't his intention. But sometimes, things catch his eyes and he just wants to observe it up close.

So when Will spots that scar, his hand moved before his tongue could. Will snaps forward, snagging Travis's wrist with his hand.

Travis pulls his arm back expectedly. What he didn't expect is for Travis to lunge back, spins to face them, and growls, eyes dark in a way they never are. But they soften just as fast and that unnatural politeness slides back into place, the fists relaxing.

"Sorry, um, yeah?"

Will stares at the fingertips that touch the bare wrist.

He is a medic, gifted well by Apollo. He can sense pain and illness with just a single touch. Vitals like heartbeat and blood sugar and blood pressure show up right beside a person's face. His own personal monitor that's accessible with just a single touch. It helps him many times back when he served as Camp Half Blood's lead medic. It was always reliable. It never failed him. It never gave him false numbers. Never.

"Uh… Will?" Travis says, smiling like he always does when confused. "Is everything okay?"

Nico elbows him in the arm and that snaps him out of his stupor. Snaps him out of his stupor straight into another brain-fart moment.

"You're dying," Will blurts.

Travis's grin is almost painful to watch. It's so fake. So forced. Something is wrong.

Travis hides his wrists behind his back as his face becomes strained. Controlled. Unreadable. None of these adjectives he ever used to describe Travis but they're the only words he can use now.

"It's midterm season. I need to study. Bye," Travis says curtly, backstepping as he talks. He gives a sharp nod before booking it for his apartment door. Will would have followed but Nico stops him with a hand on the shoulder. Will can only watch the door opens and shuts, the lock clicking into place

"Let's go home, Will," Nico says. "We're just going to get arrested."

Once Will gets into something, he goes into it hard. Nothing will stop him from seeing it through. Nico knows this so well. Last year, it was him and his tendency to despair alone. Three months ago it was Annabeth and her stress over her summer project. Last week, it was Percy and his study habits. And now this time it is Travis. Nico just lets it be. In a day or two, Will will figure out how to help Travis and on day three or four, everything will go back to normal.

"I just know Travis is getting into something dangerous," Will says, ranting as Nico opens the door to their shared apartment.

"I know it. I can feel it in my guts."

Nico tosses his backpack on top of the couch.

"Maybe he's involved in a god's whims."

He stripes off his shirt.

"Or maybe he's in a cult."

And his pants.

"Oh God, what if he's in a cult?"

And presses into Will for a kiss.

Will stutters into silence, protesting for a second before melding into his arms like butter. Compliant. Yielding. Nico pushes Will back, until his back hits the wall and hands sliding to grip the back of soft hair. Nico tugs, waits to hear one weak moan. Two. Three. Then Nico pulls away to mouth at the neck.

"Do you want more?" He whispers and Will hisses an eager yes, own hands trying to remove his shirt.

Nico smirks and mouths the shell of Will's ear, delighting in the little shivers that run up Will's back.

"Then cook me dinner for tossing my McBurger."

And with that, Nico steps back, put his shirt and pants back on, and goes to the living room to start studying.

Will sputters but Nico is unrelenting and opens his notebooks and laptop. When it becomes clear Nico is being serious, Will moves to the kitchen grumble and annoyed. It was hard to stifle the smirk as Nico scrolls through his playlist on Youtube.

Will zero and Nico one.

After the whole Gaea fiasco and Leo coming back with the Titaness Calypso, life has been relatively quiet. There have been a few monsters here and there, but no immortal wanting to destroy the world. No great prophecy detailing the end of the world. No gods busting in through their doors begging for their help to save the world.

It's been nice. Quiet. Peaceful.

It's been so fucking peaceful and Nico is scared that's all going to change soon. Nothing in his life has been this still for long.

Will said not to worry and he tried not to but it's always there. That premonition. That potential. That foreboding everything is going to come tumbling down and he'll have everybody he loved taken away from him again.

"Done!"

Nico jumps in his seat as a steaming plate of pasta is placed in front of him. His mouth waters as the smell wafted to him but he put a lid on it. If he dares show he likes it, then that means Will was right and his McBurger deserves to be in the trash and Nico is not all about that.

A quick glance up confirmed that Will is smug. He probably knows Nico likes it. He definitely knows.

"That was fast. I hope it's good."He closes his laptop and puts away his books, crossing his arms. "What am I looking at here?"

"A beautiful chicken pesto fettuccine. You're welcome and enjoy."

"I still preferred my McDonalds to this."

"You prefer literal shit over this masterpiece?" Will says affronted, sliding into the bench beside him. "I'm concerned for your palate then."

"My palate is fine. What you need is to try a happy meal."

"I rather starve."

Nico rolls his eyes and mutters "drama queen".

Will responds by blowing a raspberry and starts digging in his own plate.

Nico takes the fork into hand and stares down at the meal, so carefully and lovingly made by his boyfriend.

This.

He doesn't want to lose this. This domesticity he shares with Will. The casual jives he has with Will. Will's ever-present care, the way he talks about his day, the way he knows when Nico wants a hug despite him not saying anything, his life-giving grins, when he wakes up for his crazy early goddamn 8 am classes and kisses his cheeks and murmurs 'I love you' into his neck every day.

He doesn't want to lose any of it.

"Hey." Will leans forward and stares at him with his pensive blue eyes. "You okay?"

"I'm fine."

Will squints, but he must have sensed his silence is nothing concerning and smiles with a hint of mischief in it.

"Since I cooked you dinner, do I finally get my long-awaited, well-deserved kiss?"

"Only if it lives up to the McBurger standard."

"I feel like you like the McBurger more than you like me."

Nico shrugs. "It depends really on my mood."

"You ass," and Will laughs.

Nico digs into the pasta. Yeah, it tastes fantastic. It tastes amazing. It's a lot better than any McBurger. And Will absolutely does not need to know about this ever.

"You up for a movie after this?" Will comments.

"What about your midterms?"

"Studied for. Not all of us procrastinate till the day before the exam."

"Nerd," Nico mutters. But he nods nonetheless and says, "I'm down. Which movie?"

"The nutrition documentary about fruits on Netflix sounds pretty—"

"No."

"Then how about the one about animal welfare of breeding dogs? It seems kinda—"

"Something noneducational."

Will stared at him like who the heck would want something like that. Nico has long ago resigned to the fact his boyfriend is a nerd and will forever be a nerd. But damn it. He's going to instill some kind of pop modern into their life. He has almost six decades of media to catch up on if he's ever going to understand the references his classmates make.

"We're going to continue the Star Wars films," Nico states. Will's nose wrinkles in disgust, but he shrugs in defeat.

"Fine. I'll set it up. You finish your dinner and your studying."

But Will isn't getting up. Instead he remains sitting, staring at Nico with a hand on his cheek and this look in his eyes.

"What?" Nico says, raising an eyebrow.

"Can I kiss you?"

Nico's face warms. Fuck. Even after a thousand kisses, even after a couple of handjobs and a couple of blowjobs, even after having sex several times, he still blushes at Will being considerate.

('Considerate? It's just being a normal person,' Will would undoubtedly say if he Nico ever tell him.)

Their first few months of dating were uncomfortable.

Will is affectionate. He is not.

Will likes to spontaneously cuddle. He does not.

Will likes to pull him into a bone-crushing hug and twirl them in a circle, an action he can no longer do as Nico finally hit that growth spurt and grew to be the same height as Will much to Will's dismay.

Will likes to cup his cheeks and say the most cheesiest, most cliche things you only ever hear in movies despite his firm refusal to only watch educational films.

Will likes to hold hands. Will likes to press their foreheads together. Will is... Will is affectionate.

And he is not.

But it makes Will happy and he wants Will to be happy. So he puts up with it.

Until 3 months in, Will started to ask if it's okay to hug him. If he can hold his hand. If he can play with his hair. If he can borrow his hoodie.

It's infinitely nice and he would rather die than admit it, but it makes him melt. Will caught on quickly though that he likes it. So now that's their relationship.

Nico tried to do the same but Will only shook his head and said he can touch him whenever. He liked being surprised.

"Can I kiss you?" Will asks again, blue eyes sparkling.

Nico averts his gaze but nods as a hand cups a cheek and a thumb roves over his cheekbone. He waits.

And waits.

And waits some more before peeking over to find Will snickering.

"This is payback for earlier. Now we're even again." Then Will is standing and taking his plate to the sink.

"You ass!" Nico hisses, tossing a chair pillow and hitting true in the back of the head. But Will only laughs and opens the faucet.

Will is also infuriating, annoying, a total pain in the ass, but Nico supposes he would miss this too if life stopped being quiet.

He hopes life will stay quiet forever.

He finishes studying with little distractions an hour later. There were a couple bangs and crashes from upstairs but nothing too concerning even though Will did look up in concern.

Nico closes his notebook, done with his intro to genetic course. There's just so much to learn and at this point he's just rereading his notes rather than active studying. If he fails his midterm, he fails his midterm.

"Let's watch the movie," he says as he bounces down on the couch beside Will who spent the better half of the hour watching a historical documentary on silent.

"Finished studying?"

Nico didn't answer. Will has a built-in lie detector that's easily solved by avoiding talking to the blond. Instead he switches from the history channel to the DVD.

"You didn't finish, did you? I'll help you! I'm really good at — ahh."

Nico leans forward and sucks on Will's neck, just right above the pulse point and effectively distracting him into pliant silence. A hand threading into the blond hair and a slightly tight grip had Will moaning. And a hand sneaking up the shirt had Will leaning back onto the couch as Nico straddles toned hips.

No matter how many times he sees it, he still can't get over how easy it is to get Will flustered. Normally so composed, so confident, so unruffled… well, when he isn't doing something bad. Like spying on a friend. Going against his moral compass seems to make all of Will's brain cells leave the building.

"Want to do it on the couch?" he purrs into the shell of Will's ears.

"Our friends visit and sit on this couch, Nico," Will gasps, hips rolling up to meet his.

"So that's a no?"

Will chews his cheeks, before giving in. "We need to Clorox wipe the heck out of this when we're done."

The front door rattles. Keys jingle. A man's voice, high and whiny, is outside the door. "You have got to be kidding me."

Nico and Will share a look. The door rattles again, harder this time.

"Is someone trying to break in?" Will whispers with wide eyes.

Nico narrows his eyes and makes sure his sword is still on his belt. It is. He doesn't know which idiot is stupid enough to break into his apartment but they're going to learn a lesson pretty quick about breaking into apartments, especially in complexes housing demigods.

"I'll deal with this. You go call the police and—"

The door shakes like someone slams their hand over it. "I hate this stupid, dinky apartment with it's stupid, dinky door. Screw it. I'll just use my powers."

The lock is undone. The door slams open. Travis Stoll strolls into the apartment, making it three steps in before pulling to a stop as his eyes lands on Will on his back and Nico still straddling Will's hips.

Then with a mouth that is definitely running without a filter, Travis flushes and says, "Oh my gods. What are you guys doing in my apartment? What happened to my furniture? Where's my furniture? These aren't my furniture. This isn't my apartment. Oh my gods. Oh my. God. I am so, so, so sorry. I'm just gonna— yes, gonna bleach this from my memory. Imma go— you guys just—okay just— before I go and die, I have to know, WHY ARE YOU GUYS PORKING IT OUT IN THE LIVING ROOM?"

"Travis," Nico says quietly, slowly. "If you don't leave within the next 3 seconds, I'm going to kill you."

"I-I-I, yeah! Oh gods, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to— I swear this was an a— oh my gods. This is a living room! A living room!"

Someone is going to die tonight.

But Will shocks him by grabbing his wrist holding the sword with one hand and the other reaching towards the bumbling idiot. "Travis, wait."

He knew it. He fucking knew Will Solace had some kind of voyeurism kink and this confirmed it.

Travis is still backing out of the apartment, tripping on nothing but his own embarrassment. "Nope! No, no, no. I'm not here to watch my two pals get it on. Peace out. I hope I see you two never. Bye. Sorry this happened. Bedrooms exist for a reason! You guys have a bedroom, right? You know what? I don't need to know. I don't need to know anything. Hahaha! I'm just going to forget this ever happened!"

"Wait, don't leave. You're bleeding," Will says. Nico squints and sure enough, there are dark blotches on his black long-sleeves shirt. His jeans are also cut and stain with red. But Travis isn't listening still backing towards the entrance.

Nico gets to his feet. "Travis—" he starts but Travis just starts shaking his head.

"No, no, no, no. Don't come any closer! I do not want to get in between your guy's love life. I saw enough already. Bye!" Travis is running down the hallway.

"Nico!" Will panics, letting go of his wrist.

I got it.

Travis may be fast but shadow travel is faster.

He intercepts Travis before he could reach the stairwell. Travis skids to a stop in surprise but not fast enough. Nico catches the upper arm and alarmingly, his hand grips something wet. The way Travis winces made Nico relinquish his tight hold just a bit. Too much it seems because Travis twists his arm free and is now backpedaling.

Nico glances at his hand, red with blood. Travis is bleeding and it's a lot, enough to warrant a hospital visit at least.

"You're coming back with me. Will is going to take a look at you."

Travis shakes his head and tries to sidestep him, but Nico blocks him. "No, no, no. I'm fine. A-okay! Never been better! Bye. See you never, Nico, my man."

"I'm not asking. I'm demanding," Nico insists, "You're hurt. " If he looks closely, he could see how ashen Travis's skin is. He may never talk with the son of Hermes all that much but he remembers enough from Camp Half Blood that Travis Stoll does not look like a freaking zombie. "Come on, Will is going to check you out."

Travis shakes his head again, blubbers something, and turns tail, running to the other end of the building.

Fine.

If this is the game Travis wants to play, he has no qualms restraining the son of Hermes.

Except Travis is gone now.

Nico blinks, eyes darting to every corner of the hallway.

Travis is gone for real. Shit. He knows children of Hermes are fast but he didn't think they could break the speed of light or teleport.

Will runs out of their shared apartment and to him. "Where's Travis?

"He disappeared," Nico says, looking down at his hand.

"What?"

"He disappeared. I blinked and he was gone."

Will runs a hand through his hair, exhaling deeply. Will must have known Travis has this power. He doesn't seem to be too freaked out over the disappearing act. Then Will's eye catches Nico's hand and he stills. "Is that Travis's blood?"

Nico nods, wiping the fluid on his pants. "He's hurt pretty bad."

Will exhales again, eyes steeling. "He can't have traveled far, especially since he's hurt. I'm going to bust into his apartment."

Nico could do nothing but nod.

He supposes the peace had been great while it lasted.