Welcome to a little fluffy thing I've been chipping away at for a bit. I'll be adding to this sporadically (unlike Burning, which has a posting schedule) but I needed something light to counteract the darkness of my other fics. This fic is partially inspired by the anime Given, but no knowledge of that anime is necessary to understand this. If you like music and gay media, definitely go watch that! It's one of my favourites.

At the moment, each chapter will take place in one season, with the possibility for having two or three chapters in a season in case the inspiration strikes. Do comment if there's something you'd like to see! I love writing fluffy things like this.

"No."

Nico gave Percy a blank look as he absentmindedly chewed his sandwich. His knees were folded up to his chest on the steps outside the computer science building, the dark shadows under his eyes threatening to take over his entire face. He blinked once.

"C'mon, Nic," Percy whined. There was something so unbecoming about a grown man whining. It set Nico's teeth on edge.

"I said no." Nico ate the last bite of his sandwich and stood, brushing his hands off on his jeans. Crumbs drifted towards the chipped concrete. "I don't play anymore."

Percy reached for Nico's wrist, then thought better of it and dropped his hand. "We need the help. Even if it's just for the gig so we can find another drummer after. With Leo going on his year abroad early, we'll have to pull out."

Nico turned to look Percy dead in the eyes. "Then pull out."

He gave him a look. "You can be such an asshole, you know that?"

A smile cracked through Nico's facade. "Yeah. And?"

Percy scrubbed a hand across his face. "Listen: I found a new lead singer. He's great, but needs a little work. I can't focus on that and on finding a new drummer and teaching them our songs. You know them, you know how I play and how Frank plays."

Nico turned away from him with a shrug. "Still not my problem, Percy."

"Nico—" Percy went to grab for Nico's wrist, but he wrenched his arm out of Percy's grasp.

"I said no." Nico said with venom in his voice. "I told you I don't play. Not anymore. Don't ask again."

Percy pressed his lips together and took in a deep breath. "I'll give you any favour. Anything. Just sit in for one of our practices, meet this guy. You'll want to play, I promise."

Nico paused and looked over his shoulder. "You're stupider than I give you credit for."

"Ouch," Percy said flatly. "Does that mean you'll at least feel it out?"

He tilted his head to the side and looked off into the distance. "Anything I want? You mean that?"

Percy swallowed. He nodded.

Nico nodded in return. "Then yes. One practice."

"Thank you—" Percy started.

Nico waved him off as he turned to go. "Don't mention it. This kid better be good."

"Trust me," Percy said, more to himself than to anyone else. "He is."

Will Solace was having a great start to his year. His transfer to the university in the city had gone through, and in the same month he arrived to campus, he scored a spot in a local band. He'd sung plenty back home, especially with his mom, but he was expecting to have to pay his dues for a little bit longer before being snatched up.

In all honesty, he wasn't even sure if these guys could play. They'd heard him singing a few snatches of a song between classes and Percy Jackson had materialized seconds later.

Voice of an angel, he'd said.

Will hesitated to believe it, but who was he to argue with an upperclassman? His new roommate told him Jackson was positively venerated on campus, as much as someone could be when it came to college. His father was a big donor or something of the sort, even if Will had never heard of him.

He didn't think he had the voice of an angel. He had the voice of an angel's underling; an angel intern, perhaps.

With the last vestiges of his self confidence in hand, he stood before the doors of the music rehearsal rooms. Somewhere in there, the band was getting ready to practice, and he hoped to the gods that he didn't disappoint them.

"Will!" Percy Jackson burst through the front doors of the practice hall with an unnervingly charming smile on his face. He clapped Will on the back. "Happy to have you with us. One thing—"

Will gulped.

"No, no, no," Percy waved his hands. "It's nothing bad. We, uh— our drummer has to leave campus early, so we're subbing in someone else."

Percy navigated Will through the lobby of the building by the arm over his shoulders. The tone of his voice did not help ease the roiling ball of anxiety that churned in Will's gut.

He blinked a few times. "Well, that shouldn't really affect—"

"It will." Percy stopped suddenly and faced Will with an extremely serious expression. "He's my cousin. Don't worry about him, he'd just a little prickly around strangers. He won't bite, I promise." He sucked in a breath. "Maybe keep yourself out of arm's reach if you can, alright?"

Will contemplated many choices in his life that led him to this place.

The corners of Percy's eyes crinkled as he smiled. He clapped another hand over Will's shoulder. "Great. Let's go!"

Percy steered him through the door of the studio and into a room that had seen far better days, but was at least functional enough to serve as a decent practice space. The bassist was plucking away at a few notes as the drummer enthusiastically balanced a drumstick on his nose like a seal with a beach ball.

"Frank— Frank! Look at this!" He shifted from side to side as the drumstick wobbled, his eyes crossed.

"Mhmm," the bassist, Frank, responded as he continued his warm-up.

"I feel like you're not looking." The drummer let the drumstick slide off his nose and into his hand as his mouth pulled into a frown.

"That's because I'm not." Frank stuck a toothpick between his teeth and concentrated on adjusting his tuning.

"Frank," the drummer whined.

Percy cleared his throat.

They both turned to look at him. Frank raised an eyebrow.

"Everyone! Meet our new lead singer, William Solace." Percy slid to the side and showed Will off like he was a prize cow.

Frank grunted in greeting. The drummer nodded with wide-eyed curiosity.

"Um," Will cleared his throat. "It's just Will, actually."

He stood awkwardly with his hands at his sides and looked between Percy and the rest of the band. Percy was observing their reactions with a thin veneer of pleasantry that masked his uncertainty. He clapped his hands together and nodded.

"Alright, you guys will no longer have to listen to my vocals going forward," Percy said.

The others groaned in relief.

"Finally."

"Hey!" Percy narrowed his eyes. "I wasn't that bad."

Frank tilted his head to the side. "If you have to say it, yes. Yes, you were. Can the new guy sing?"

Percy shrugged. "Yeah."

Will blinked. "Thanks for the inspiring confidence."

"I think you can sing, but apparently my skills are not to be trusted." He glared at his band mates. "Regardless, we're missing one."

"I'm here."

The door swing shut revealing someone sitting on the ground behind it.

Percy jumped. "Jesus Christ. How long have you been sitting there?"

They were sat with their legs pressed to their chest that unfolded like the bellows of an accordion when they stood. Everything about them felt like a smudge charcoal sketch, smoked and pressed beyond recognition. Dark clothing, dark hair, dark circles that threatened to take over their entire face. They regarded Will with a blank stare, then turned to Percy.

"Long enough to hear all of your dumbassery." Their voice was devoid of emotion, bored beyond belief. They fiddled with the studded bracelet they wore over one wrist. "This your new man?"

Will wanted to be swallowed up by the Earth. Their stare was piercing; he felt as if they could see into the depths of his very soul and found it wanting.

"Be nice," Percy said with the intonation of a kindergarten teacher. "Will, this is Nico. Then we have Frank on bass and Leo on drums. Nico, this is Will, the new singer."

Will held his hand out to shake. Nico stared at it.

"Alright then." Will dropped his hand and stuffed it into his pocket. "What do you play?"

"Drums."

A man of few words, then.

"Good to see you back, man." Leo clumsily stepped over his drum kit to high five Nico. "Didn't know you were still playing."

"I'm not." Nico sighed and turned to Percy. "Can we get on with it?"

Percy rolled his eyes. "Play nice."

Nico scoffed. "I promised you I'd watch, not kiss ass."

"Play nicer, at least," he grumbled back.

Nico went to the corner and dragged a stool out from the wall to observe them. Percy began to orient Will to the space and the beginning of the first few of their songs. They were decent, that much Will could see. They had heart and a good beginning when it came to musicality. From years of touring with his mom, he had a bit of a handle on what could make or break when it came to music. He liked to think he could tread water with these guys until he learned how to swim.

He started by listening before jumping in feet-first. Percy had talent on the guitar. Vocals weren't his specialty, but he was competent and nowhere near as abysmal as his band mates made him seem. There was a rough quality to them that could harmonize with Will's lighter vocals well on some of the tracks. It was unfair to call them typical garage band rock; something simmered underneath the surface that he'd love to discover.

All the while, Nico sat on his stool, moments from becoming a victim to gravity, and watched. Will wasn't sure what he was watching for, exactly, but his eyes felt heavy on all of them.

"Do you play?" Percy asked during a break, gesturing to his guitar.

Will shook his head. "No. I can't do anything crazier than a tambourine."

Percy shook out his hair. "Definitely a lead singer. What do you think so far?"

"Good." Will nodded thoughtfully. "I think in that second track you guys played, you could do a key shift in the third refrain to make it have even more of an impact. Like this—"

"I don't see why you don't humor me here, Franky."

The door swung open as Frank and Leo come back in from their smoke break. Leo stunk of menthols and gestured wildly with his hands. Frank clapped him on the shoulder and steered him back towards the drums in the corner.

"I can't come live with you in Spain." Frank plopped Leo down on the stool and handed him his drumsticks. "As much as I'd love that, Hazel would be pretty mad I skipped out on our lease and I don't exactly have the funds to jet off to Spain for a year."

"Boo." Leo stuck his tongue out and gave Frank a thumbs-down. "You and your life. Who will keep me company in my lovely seaside apartment?"

"Try Percy." Frank snickered and picked up his bass.

Percy was absorbed in working with Will on the suggestions he had. Leo looked around the room before zeroing in on Nico, who was scrolling absentmindedly on his phone.

"Nico!" Leo's face split into a grin. "My man!"

"You're messing up the downbeat," he replied flatly.

Leo's face fell. "What?"

"I said—" Nico stood and pocketed his phone. "On the third track, you're messing up the downbeat going into the bridge."

He blinked, then stood and gestured to the stool with a flourish. "Then show me, oh esteemed one. Put me in my place."

Nico crossed his arms and glared at Leo impassively. "You've been playing these songs for how long, now? Two years? Three? You shouldn't be messing them up like that."

Leo remained taunting, unaffected by Nico's bluntness. He stepped further away from the stool and pushed his drumsticks into Nico's hands. "Like I said, have at it. I'm not the one who wrote them."

Nico stilled, his fingers choking the drum sticks in a bitter grasp before letting them clatter to the floor. He shifted to pull his own out of his back pocket and sat down behind the kit, adjusting pedals and placements as he went.

Percy seemed frozen in place, unmoving like one might be in the eyes of a predator. Frank hummed to himself as he tuned his bass in willful ignorance of the powder keg about to go off in front of him. He exchanged a glance with Percy.

"Who wrote them?" Will's voice cut through the silence. He peered at Nico curiously.

"I did." Nico fiddled with the stool before pulling his hair back into a small plait. Dark wisps fell over his forehead. "And some others. But I wrote the drums on all of them."

Will nodded. He shifted his eyes between everyone in an effort to decode the immense tension the room was coming under.

"And others," Percy said. "Don't forget who did the guitar."

Nico looked up at Percy with dark eyes and cracked what could be mistaken for a smile. "Yeah, your girlfriend."

"Hey! Annabeth just helped! I wrote most of it myself."

"Can you start me off for that one, nepo baby?"

"Who are you calling nepo baby? We're cousins."

Nico slammed one of his sticks against the nearest drum. "Go. I won't ask again."

Percy turned away, grumbling to himself. "Fine, fine."

Nico turned to Frank with a slight nod of the chin, then Will. "Just watch this one. I need to teach your drummer a lesson."

Will stared at him curiously, but took a step back all the same. Nico took on a different energy when he was behind the drums, something feral eating its way through his fingertips to explode out in a manic rhythm. He was faster than Leo, sharper, harder. Better, if Will were to be honest about it. Leo was a good drummer from what he had seen over the past hour or so, but Nico was something else entirely.

He was a beast.

The beginning of the song took a moment to fall into place. Both Frank and Percy wanted to look nonchalant about it, but the stiff lines of their shoulders betrayed their nervousness in the presence of Nico playing. They were comfortable with each other by the time the chorus came around, and Nico paused going into the bridge.

"Like this, see?" He drummed a beat. "Not that other way you were doing."

Leo nodded numbly, his eyes roaming over the drum kit in an effort to take it all in.

Nico stood. He picked up Leo's drumsticks from where they lay on the floor and shoved them into his chest. "Now you do it."

Leo blinked. "What?"

Nico inclined his head. "Play the song, Valdez. I need to know you can play it properly."

Leo sat on the stool as if on auto pilot and began the song anew. Percy and Frank joined in while Nico observed in the corner on his stool, unspeaking. When practice came to a close, he left without another word.

"I thought he didn't play anymore," Frank said to Leo.

"Dude, I don't care what he says, as long as he plays like that when I'm gone." Leo turned to Percy. "He will play after I'm gone, right?"

"No clue." Percy shrugged. He turned to look at Will. "What do you think?"

Will's gaze was fixed on the closed door that Nico just left through. He let out a breath. "He— he's good." He gulped. "Really good."

Percy cracked a smile. "Yeah, he is."

Leo had a mostly impromptu going away party the next week. The banner hung over the booth at the Korean barbecue place was written in very bad Spanish, likely by Percy and Frank, and all of his friends piled into a small collection of booths, much to the chagrin of the staff. They ordered endless rounds of beef and soju and talked at a register that was just this side of socially acceptable.

Nico came, because Leo was his friend (all evidence to the contrary). He sat at the edge of one of the booths, keeping mostly to himself until in walked Will Solace.

The bright blonde of Will's hair made Nico flinch; it reminded him far too much of someone else in the worst way, and not enough to smooth over how different his mannerisms were to the ghost that haunted Nico. Will smelled different, that was the biggest sin. If only they smelled similar, maybe it would be easier for Nico to look at him.

He knew the answer to that already, unwilling to face the reality that even if they were clones, the hole in Nico's chest would still be gaping.

"Hey Leo." The corners of Will's eyes crinkled as he smiled, sitting down across from Nico. "Sorry I'm late."

Leo leaned over the sizzling grate of the barbecue to slap Will's hand. "No problem, man. Happy you're here. Find the place alright?"

Will blushed. "Yeah, the bus was delayed. Rain."

"Ah, yeah, that sucks." Leo gestured to what Will was holding. "A present? For me? Aw, give it over."

Will blushed deeper, stammering, "Um, yeah, so I didn't know what to get the man who already has everything so uh— here."

Leo snatched the gift out of Will's hands and tore into it voraciously. "Why didn't nay of you get me going away presents? Useless ingrates. Will you even miss me, I wonder? Will poor Leo have to go to Spain all alone-y, on his own-y, and be forgotten by the adoring masses?" He clicked his tongue in mock outrage. "I can't believe— Will! You shouldn't have!"

Leo grinned as he held up the gift, the proud owner of a pack of Merino wool socks. Percy dissolved into a mess of snorted chuckles and even Nico had to hide his smile behind his beer. Percy elbowed Will.

"Good gift," he said. Will grinned in response.

"William Solace, love of my life!" Leo leaned over everyone next to him to grab at Will's hands and leave innumerous kisses on his knuckles. "I will cherish these—" he paused to read the package. "—men's Merino wool hiking socks, for as long as I live! I should marry you."

Will laughed, his blush even deeper. "As long as I get the left side of the bed, I'm good."

Leo threw his hands up dramatically. "He said yes! Ah! I am a lucky man, indeed."

Percy rolled his eyes at his antics and shoved him off his lap. "Let me get at my food, dork."

Leo grabbed Percy's hand like a dying man. "I am so sorry to leave you in your time of need, Perseus. I leave you in the capable drumsticks of dear Niccolino here."

"Not my name," Nico said into the neck of his beer bottle.

"Take care of my beloved, Nico," Leo blew overwrought kisses Nico's way. "They will surely flounder without your guidance."

"Yeah, yeah." Nico waved him off. "Go bother the people in another country, Leo."

Leo nodded solemnly. "I will try my hardest. Spain won't be ready for me."

"That's for damn sure," Nico muttered. He drained his beer and set the bottle on the table and stood. "That's my cue. See you all later. Leo, see you in a full calendar year."

Leo saluted him. "Aye, aye, captain!"

Nico rolled his eyes. He tugged his jacket on and picked up his umbrella, leaving a few bank notes on the table to cover his share. "Bye, everyone."

Will stood up suddenly. "Wait!"

Nico paused, half turned towards the door. He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Um—" Will gulped. "Can you drive me back to the dorms? The bus stop here isn't covered and I— the rain—"

Nico's expression softened slightly and he nodded. "Come on."

Will grabbed his jacket and threw a hurried wave over his shoulder as he rushed for the door to keep up with Nico. "Bye! Thanks for the food!"

The bell over the restaurant door clinked as it closed behind him and he fell in step with Nico. He was clad all in black, a long, black rain slicker covering his otherwise unremarkable outfit. His hair hung in his eyes, the majority of it pulled back, the sides shaved. Normally, Will couldn't see the shaved sides when Nico had his hair down. His hair looked thick, soft. It shined in the light. He wanted to touch it, but kept his hands firmly in his jacket pockets. They reached Nico's car a block over and he slid into the passenger seat.

"So—" Will started.

"No talking." Nico replied crisply. He clicked his seat belt. "Prometheus Hall, yeah?"

Will gulped. "Uh, yeah."

Nico hummed in response and the car roared to life. They peeled out into the rain-drenched streets. Heat pumped in thick clouds from the car's vents as silence stretched between them. It was dark by this point, just after the socially acceptable time to have dinner. The days were getting shorter, the nights longer, and it made a sunshine child like Will feel immeasurably stifled. He figured Nico must thrive during this time of year; all the darkness a man could want.

He was a man, wasn't he? Will still felt himself a boy. He presumed he and Nico to be of similar ages, even if Nico was one year ahead of him in his studies. He was taller, broader, he carried himself with more self-assured confidence and was, for the lack of a better term, intimidating as fuck. He'd heard whispers about Nico di Angelo in some of his classes. The people on his hall knew who he was, how he drove fast cars and stuck to the shadows. It terrified Will a little bit to be in a car with him, having seen him drum that practice weeks ago.

He was a monster, in the best of ways.

"Here."

Nico's voice startled Will out of his reverie. He blinked. "Oh, right. Thanks."

"You're staring," Nico said. The corner of his mouth lifted. It could be a smile; Will chose to think it was one.

"Sorry." Will looked at his lap, his cheeks warm. "Thanks for the ride."

Nico reached over to stop Will from leaving the car right as his hand went for the door handle. Will looked up at Nico's eyes, endless pools of night.

"Y-yes?" Will squeaked out when Nico didn't speak first.

Nico searched Will's eyes for something. "Singing in the band. Are you serious about it?"

It wasn't the question Will was expecting. He nodded. "Yes. Absolutely."

Nico stared at him for a moment longer before releasing Will's arm. "Good. Get home safe."

Will managed a laugh. "I'm at the door to my hall. If something happens to me between your car and that door, something's very wrong."

Nico shot him an odd look and repeated himself. "Get home safe."

Will swallowed. "Right. You too, okay?"

Nico faced forward and grunted in affirmation. As soon as Will closed the door, he drove away without looking back. Will looked down at the wrist Nico had just been touching. It tingled with something he hadn't felt before.

The rain fell, soaking him to the bone.

Thank you for reading! Reviews really help me when it comes to motivation, so I would appreciate it if you left one. We're going to see some more band practice and music next chapter, as well as another hint at Nico's sad backstory. This fic is HEA, so don't worry!