Snow drifts cluttered the sidewalk and the gutters, clinging to the cold and fed every night as flakes fell thick and dark. It was a heavy snow year and clumps stuck to Nico's boots as he kicked them against the worn edifice of the music rehearsal building.

Nico didn't want to make a big deal out of coming to practice, even though he knew that Percy would make it a big deal no matter what he did to convince him this was casual. There's nothing he hated more than seeing that smug look on his cousin's face whenever he got Nico to do something that he was already planning on doing, as if it were his idea all along. Nico despised it when others felt they had a hold over him; he was his own master, nobody else.

Nobody living, that is.

He swore when a clump wouldn't come off and kicked even harder.

"Having fun?"

Nico swore again when he turned to see Will Solace looking at him with the beginnings of a shit-eating grin. Pieces of hair escaped his beanie and he blew them upwards and out of his face. Nico put his boot down and settled for stomping them against the cold stone ground. A cigarette dangled from between his lips.

"As much fun as I can." He rubbed his hands together. "It's cold as balls out here."

Will chuckled and reached into his bag. He held a pair of mittens in front of Nico's face. "Wouldn't want our star drummer's widdle fingies to get cold, would we?"

Nico scowled and snatched them out of Will's hands. "I should beat your ass just for saying the phrase 'widdle fingies' in front of me. I've broken noses for less."

Will turned a laugh into a polite cough behind his own mitten-clad fist. "I don't doubt it, slugger, but I think you need me more than I need you."

Nico narrowed his eyes and slid the mittens on. He pinched the cigarette between a mittened thumb and finger portion to exhale smoke. "I hate you."

Will shrugged. "You could always go inside. Beat the bad habit and shape up."

That earned him a vicious glare that had him immediately backtracking.

"Or— or not!" Will rifled through his pockets. "I could rustle up some spare change, buy you more packs, even. Make the habit worse—"

Nico dropped the cigarette stub into the ashtray to his right and stared him down coolly. "You're worse than Valdez." He turned to enter the music hall without looking back.

Will straightened his spine. "I— thank you?" He tilted his head to look after Nico. "I think?"

Nico di Angelo was cool, Will thought. He was cooler than anyone Will had ever met, and that included most of the musicians his mother had introduced him to. There was something that exuded from the darkness of Nico di Angelo that made him magnetic, almost. Will wanted to impress him, even if he didn't really want to impress him. It was a sensation that left him feeling half-stupid. Half, if only because Will knew better. Guys like Nico came with far too much baggage to be worth it.

But by God, did Will want him to be worth it.

He trailed him into the rehearsal studio, shedding layers as he went. The mittens he gave Nico hung out of his back jeans pocket next to one of his many bandanas. He was tempted to ask for them back, but thought better of it.

"Look sharp, gentlemen!" Percy clapped his hands together at the front of the room. "The festival is a month away. Will's doing great so far on the vocals, but I want to fine-tune us with this shift in sound. Frank— speed up a bit to keep in line with Nico's drumming. He's faster than Leo by just a smidge and I like how it's turning out. Nico—" He pointed to the drums. "Keep doing what you're doing. Will—" Percy made finger guns at him. "I want you to meet up with Nico outside our regular practice to get the vocals down pat. He wrote all the songs in our current set list save for the covers and can walk you through them better than I can."

There was a noticeable shift in the air between Nico and the rest of the band. Will chose to ignore it and start warming up his throat as he arranged his winter gear where he dumped his bag. Nico and Percy had a silent argument for a moment before Percy broke into a smile.

"Great— awesome, even." He picked his guitar up and adjusted the amp settings. "Let's get this show on the road."

He heard them arguing when he came back from picking up coffees during a break. Will knew they were arguing about him; he could feel Nico's animosity through the music when they began practicing and it made his voice waver. He was mostly classically trained, save for what he did with his mom back home, and the harsher sound from Nico's drumming threw him off.

"You are such a fucking asshole sometimes." Nico's voice was terse as he argued with Percy, his register low.

Will plastered himself against the wall to stay out of sight. Nico clearly didn't want anyone to overhear them, but Will couldn't push past his urge to be nosy.

Percy sighed. "I can't teach him the songs as well as you can. That's a fact."

"But you can still teach him." There was a rustling as Nico packed up his things. "I shouldn't have to be stuck in a room for hours teaching songs I wrote with him to someone who—"

"What?" Percy cut in. "Someone who what?"

"Someone who looks like that," Nico retorted. "I can't stand it."

"You're going to have to get over it some day, Nico," Percy said. "You can't avoid every blonde guy you see on the street—"

"Get over it?" Nico laughed mirthlessly. "Sorry, Percy. I can't just get over my boyfriend killing himself. It's a bit of a big ask, even from you."

Will stopped breathing. He couldn't will his lungs to work.

"Nico—" Percy bit his tongue. "You know that's not what I meant."

"That's just it, isn't it?" Nico sounded resigned. "You didn't, but you did. It'd be much easier for all of you if I just forgot about Jason and became good Nico again, happy Nico. But I can't. And you're fucking out of your mind if you think I ever can."

There was the harsh sound of Nico pushing his stool back to leave and Will panicked looking for a place to hide. The hallway was empty and footsteps were quickly approaching; with lack of a place to go, Will spun in a circle to make it appear as if he had just gotten back from the coffee run.

Nico burst from the practice studio and shoved his way past Will with a muttered sorry. He barely had time to jump out of the way and save the coffee in the cup holder. The dark swish of Nico's coat disappeared down the hall. A moment later, Percy emerged from the studio with a heavy sigh.

"Coffee?" Will offered with a weak smile.

Percy rubbed his temples. "I'll drink Nico's. He won't be coming back tonight."

He nodded slowly as if this information was new to him. "Oh, alright— um, should I stay or—?"

"Yes," the word came too quickly from Percy's mouth. He ran a hand through his hair. "We can— work on some lyrics or something." He gestured for Will to get back into the studio. "Do you write?"

Will stepped through the door and put the coffees down on a small table by the instruments. The winter chill stuck to his coat and he shook it out to give his hands something to do.

"Uh, sometimes." Will gulped down a too-hot coffee and cleared his throat. "I'm not that great, to be honest. My mom is the songwriter of the family; I got most of my musical talent from her, but my songs have been… decidedly mediocre."

Percy snorted, reaching for Nico's abandoned coffee. "I'm okay with mediocre. We should just—" His jaw twitched. "We should get some new songs, I think. It's time."

Will sat at the end of the edge of the stool, his hands wrapped around the coffee. One of his knees bounced with restless energy. He tried looking everywhere but at Percy until he couldn't take it anymore.

"Nico wrote all the songs, yeah?" he blurted out.

Percy stiffened. "Yeah. Him and Jason."

Will could feel himself wading into dangerous territory. "Jason?"

"Our last lead singer." Percy pulled his guitar into his lap and began to adjust the tuning.

"Oh." Will wanted to ask more, he wanted to know everything there was to know about Jason, but he couldn't ask without feeling like he was inserting himself where he wasn't wanted. "His songs are good. They write well together."

Percy didn't miss the present tense that Will used. His shoulders sagged a bit. "Yeah, they were good together."

Will gulped. He let the silence stretch until Frank entered the room.

"Coffee!" Frank threw his hands up. He plucked his coffee from the table and ruffled Will's hair. "Thanks little dude."

Will smiled sheepishly and attempted to fix his unruly curls. "Any time."

"Nico had to go," Percy said. "We can work without him for the rest of our time. It'd be a waste to leave now with an hour left on the reservation."

Frank nodded and sipped his coffee with a sidelong glance at Percy. "Want me to go after him?"

Percy shook his head. "No, it was my fault this time. I said something stupid."

Frank snorted. "When do you not?"

"Hey!"

"I'm not wrong. Sometimes it's like you've got seaweed for brains."

Percy shot him a good-natured scowl.

Frank looked at Percy, then at Will. "Was it about…?"

The question lingered in the air. Will pretended to look at his phone.

Percy sighed. "Yes. I know, I know, it was stupid to ask him."

"Damn straight." Frank finished the rest of his coffee in a tremendously impressive gulp. He slapped his thighs. "Alright, let's get this show on the road. Little man, you're up. I want to hear that crooning voice again. Like a balm to the soul after Percy and Leo's wailing."

"Hey!"

"Again, I am not wrong."

Will smiled despite himself and stood to go to the practice mic. "You probably shouldn't piss off the guitarist, Frank. I can't play any instrument for shit and I don't think we'd sound good with just bass."

Frank chuckled. "So he's a diplomat, huh? Keep it up and maybe we'll get through a single practice without Mr. Small, Dark, and Grumpy stomping out in those boots of his."

Will rolled his eyes. "I don't think Nico likes me enough to play mediator."

Frank raised an eyebrow, but said nothing beyond a small hum.

Percy counted them in. "Five, six— five, six, seven, eight—"

Nico reappeared at their next practice a few days later. It seemed like this was par for the course on his behaviour, but what Will had overheard the other day couldn't stop playing on repeat in his mind. Nico was volatile, but he had a good reason for it.

Dead. Will reminded himself. His boyfriend was dead, and I'm standing where he stood.

No wonder Nico was icy on the best of days. He wondered what Nico was like before Jason died, if he was any different to how he was now, anger notwithstanding. He appeared to be a quiet person by nature, and Will was as well, if he were being honest. Of Will's family, he was always the shy one, the one in the corner reading a book. Next to Nico, he was positively boisterous.

Will was sat at the piano looking over some sheet music that Percy had given him and picking out the tune to one of their songs after the others had left for a smoke break.

"I thought you didn't play?"

Nico stood behind him, looming tall enough to blot out the overhead florescents. He tilted his head to the side as he read the title of the song. Without so much as a word, he sat down next to Will at the piano and readied his fingers.

"I remember this one," he almost chuckled to himself as his long, spindly fingers spanned an octave to add some depth to Will's playing. "I wrote it so long ago— Why does Percy have you learning this one?"

Will shrugged. "I asked for all of the band's songs just in case."

Nico hummed. "So you're in this for the long haul, then?"

He didn't know how to respond to that. "I— maybe. If you'll have me. I'd like to— I mean."

Nico smirked and continued playing slowly. "Alright."

Will blinked. "Alright?"

Nico's eyes were glued to the sheet music as his fingers struggled to keep up with his past muscle memory. "Alright, I'll help you out with the songs."

Words caught in Will's throat. He opened his mouth only to find nothing would come out without effort. "I— thank you?"

Nico waved him off. "Don't thank me yet. I'm a much harder teacher than Percy is."

Will tried to suppress a smile and failed. "That's okay; I can take it hard."

Nico raised an eyebrow at him.

Will's cheeks reddened when he realized what he said. "I mean—"

He laughed; a deep, full laugh that took all the air out of the room even as Will attempted to backtrack. His fingers slipped off the piano to clutch at where he was doubled over. The laughter bordered on hysterical, but it set something alight in Will that startled him.

"Ah, sunshine, you're going to fit in so well here." Nico grinned and hovered his fingers back over the keys.

Sunshine.

Will's cheeks stayed pink long after Percy and Frank came back inside.

He was sunshine after that. And little dude and Solace and Goldilocks, and more nicknames than he could count. But to Nico di Angelo he was sunshine, and that made the gloomy winter weather worth it. Nico was the moon and Will was the sun.

Will was the sun.

They noticed (of course they noticed) that any time Nico directed his attention towards Will, his face would flush. It wasn't as if Will was trying to cover it up, but he didn't feel like saying anything about it either. Saying things aloud made them real and real things could break.

So he stole glances back at Nico and sat too close to him on the piano bench and tried his damnedest to quell the butterflies that threatened to escape up his throat. He wondered some days if Nico could hear is heartbeat and how it shot up any time they were alone together. He hoped not.

He hoped this was something he could keep all his.