Hey everyone,

I am sorry this took so long to complete but this little three-part story is officially done. Thank you very much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Any criticism or feedback is greatly appreciated.

For those of you who are reading this on the day of publication happy Juneteenth Emancipation Day and World Sauntering Day.

PART 3

Nico was staring angrily at his alarm. Surely it could not be time to get up yet. He had just gone to sleep. Asking Hazel to help him visually improve his presentation had turned out to be a mistake. He had forgotten how much of a perfectionist Hazel was when it came to anything artistic. So, they had spent hours making changes to the presentation he had created with Will. She had finally been happy at one in the morning and Nico had gladly kicked her out of his room. He had fallen asleep almost immediately and based on how horrible his mouth tasted he had forgotten to brush his teeth last night.

"You two need to go to bed earlier. What were you both up to last night?" His father asked when Nico appeared at the breakfast table. Hazel looked like she was going to fall asleep over her cereal any minute now. Persephone handed him a cup of coffee and looked worried at him and then Hazel.

"She helped me finish a school project last night." Nico yawned and took a sip of his coffee. Maybe he should skip breakfast and sleep an extra 15 minutes instead. "I forgot how much of a perfectionist Hazel is."

"Just thank me when you get an A."

"I would have been happy with a B and a full night sleep though."

They kept bickering until they had both finished their breakfast. The coffee was slowly starting to wake Nico´s brain up and he managed to pack all the essential things into his school bag. He quickly sent the finished presentation to Will because he knew he would take a nap the second he got home from school.

"Glad you are looking more awake, son. You´re egg needs an attentive parent." Nico flipped his father off and started to walk to school together with Hazel. Both were still too tired to make any conversation. Frank was already waiting for Hazel at the school gate and Nico walked towards Will´s locker to pick up their egg for today. Will was already waiting for him looking perfect as always.

"Good morning sunshine, you do not look well rested." Will was holding the box that contained their egg.

"It´s all Hazels fault. She kept me until she was happy with our presentation." Nico took the egg and yawned again.

"Thank you for taking one for the team then." Will gave him a bright smile that made Nico´s stomach flutter. Why did he have to look so perfect on a morning where Nico looked anything but. When he left for school, there was still a pillow imprint on his face. He really hoped it was gone by now.

"We better get an A for this assignment, otherwise I might kill Ms. Dare."

Nico felt too exhausted today to keep up with much of the chatter that was happening around him. He confided in Piper that he and Will had talked about the party and that they had both agreed to think about it. She just gave him a thumbs up. Will tracked him down at the end of the day and handed him the finished note cards. Nico groaned internally when he thought about all the homework and practicing, he had to do this afternoon. At least he wasn´t on any sports team like Percy or Jason.

He walked home alone since Hazel had decided to spend her afternoon at Frank´s house. His parents weren´t home yet and he decided to take a quick 30-minute nap. He set himself two alarms just to make sure he would get up and ended up sleeping through both of them. He woke up when his parents came home and cursed. He decided to eat dinner while doing his homework and managed to practice the presentation twice before he fell asleep again. When he woke up on Friday morning, he felt very nervous but more rested than the previous day. He made sure his face was pillow print free and his hair looked decent. On his walk to school, he practiced the presentation again with Hazel listening to her feedback and trying to remember it all. He first went to Will´s locker but the other boy was nowhere to be found. He shrugged his shoulders and decided to see if Jason was at his locker.

He saw him and Piper holding hands and whispering into each other's ears. Nico rolled his eyes at that much display of public intimacy and cleared his throat loudly to break the couple apart. Piper laughed and Jason just looked annoyed when he turned around to face Nico.

"How can I help you this morning, Nico?"

"Well, if you can tone down the PDA this early in the morning that would actually be very helpful."

"Or I could help you find Will and you two could also engage in some PDA and leave me and Piper alone." Nico shot Jason a death glare while Piper giggled.

"Your egg has made it this far, Grace, it would be a shame if it died a gruesome death this morning."

"You wouldn´t dare."

"Try me."

They kept going back and forth with Percy joining them once they had reached their class until the teacher put an end to it at the beginning of their class. As the day progressed Nico was getting more and more nervous. He was not the biggest fan of public speaking, and he knew his friends would be observing him and Will closely. He could not wait for today to be over, and he could spend his weekend on the couch fighting with Hazel about who got to control the remote control. But first he had to get the A that he deserved after spending way more effort on the project than he would have done if anyone else had been his partner.

Will was waiting for him in front of the classroom, reading through flashcards and glancing up every few seconds looking out for Nico. When he spotted him, he smiled brightly, and Nico could feel his ears turn red again. He really wished that would stop happening.

"How are you feeling?"

"Tired, excited for this to be over and decently prepared. What about you?"

"Probably the same. Cannot wait for the weekend to start honestly."

"Same, any particular plans?" Nico waved at Annabeth and Piper as they both passed them and made their way to their desks.

"Trying to gain control of the TV and keep my siblings at bay so I can watch whatever I want."

"Huh, I made the same plans earlier. At least I only need to fight with one sibling for TV domination." Will laughed and Nico gave him a mental pat on the back. It was definitely easier to talk to Will after their conversation on Wednesday. Maybe he could even muster up the courage to ask him out on a proper date after their presentation.

They made their way to their chairs and waited for Ms. Dare to start the lesson. She had a big fishbowl with a few white pieces of paper inside on her desk. She asked everyone to bring up their eggs and place them in the two egg cartons that were on her desk.

"Well, I guess I will be eating a lot of omelettes this weekend," she joked and garnered a few nervous laughs. It seemed like the rest of Nico´s class was also not looking forward to the public speaking. "In the interest of fairness, I have written each team on a piece of paper and will draw them at random. Remember your presentations are timed and if you exceed the time limit it will lead to a deduction in your grade. I will let you take a phone to the front so you may time yourself."

Annabeth and Percy were the first team to make their way to the front and Nico had to admire how well they were working with each other. They had designed an excellent presentation and Percy had come up with a variety of puns and jokes that made the class laugh and stay engaged as Annabeth was explaining the science behind a baby developing in the first three months in the womb. They were by far the best in the class even as Piper and Jason stepped forward and used their excellent speaking skills to present their topic. Every time Ms. Dare pulled out another piece of paper is nerves flared up only to calm down as someone else´s name was red. They ended up being the last pair to step to the front of the class. Piper reached out to squeeze his hand as they made their way to the front of the class. Nico plugged his USB stick into the computer and opened their presentation. He saw Annabeth nodding her head approvingly as the first slide came up and the gif that he and Hazel spent the better part of an hour creating started to play.

Will gave him one last smile and then started with the first part of their presentation. He didn´t even need the flashcards and just spoke freely to the class. When Nico´s turn came up he spoke much freer than he thought he would, but he came nowhere close to Jason or Piper. However, the perfectly designed presentation caused more reaction than any of the other ones and Nico felt confident that they would receive their A as they finished the presentation. Relief flooded through him when the class finished, their polite applause and Ms. Dare allowed them to return to their seats. She finished the class by highlighting some of the mistakes people had made and giving them all feedback on how to do even better in the future. Their grades would be done by the end of the day, and they could show up at her office to collect them. Nico hung back and let his friends leave for lunch without him. He was watching Will put his things into his bag slowly glancing up with every item to make sure that Nico was still standing at his desk.

"So, I think that went very well." Nico broke the silence.

"It did didn´t it. We make a very good team." They both started to slowly walk towards the cafeteria. "Do you have a tradition in your family to celebrate good grades?"

"Me and Hazel usually treat ourselves to some milkshakes at the end of the term. But don´t you think you´re jinxing us talking about a good grade already?"

"Please, we nailed that. There is no way we are not getting an A."

"I did not know you could be so arrogant Solace, is that god complex that doctors have already taking over before you even started college?" Will only laughed as a response.

"How about we discuss that over a milkshake after school?"

Nico didn´t have it in him to be jealous about how smoothly Will had asked him out. He was too busy trying to keep the redness only restricted to his ears and not across his whole face.

"As long as you actually drink a proper milkshake and not some weird fat-free version."

"It´s a date." They both smiled and then split up to head to their respective friend groups.

All conversation stopped as Nico sat down at his table and pulled his sandwich out of his bag. He tried to ignore the expectant faces of his friends and wondered if they would last the whole lunch break if he kept ignoring them.

"So, what were you two talking about?" Percy broke the silence and moved his chair closer to Nico. But Nico just bit into his sandwich and then grabbed a can of coke out of his bag.

"Oh, did you not hear me Nico, I can ask much louder about what you and your darling Will were talking about." Nico sometimes forgot how good Percy was at blackmailing information out of people. Jason and Leo exchanged smiles, knowing that Nico would do a lot to prevent the entire cafeteria from becoming part of the conversation. He sighed and looked up from his food.

"Fine, you guys win. We were talking about the A we were probably getting. Are you happy now?"

"Not even a little bit, what else were you talking about." Leo was almost jumping up and down in his chair again. He loved embarrassing his friends whenever he could, since he had the tendency to embarrass himself the most in the group.

"Maybe we shouldn't push Nico if he doesn´t want to share," Frank said, earning himself a thankful glance from Nico and an elbow in the ribs from Jason.

"Overruled." Percy and Leo high-fived each other.

"We will meet up to have milkshakes together after we collect our results. That´s all. Now can you guys let me eat in peace?"

Nico was thoroughly disappointed. His friends spent the rest of the break planning his and Will´s wedding, bickering about who would belong to the wedding party and naming their future children. He looked over at Will who seemed amused and Nico assumed that snippets of their conversation must have travelled to his table. Eventually he just gave up and buried his head under his arms, shutting out the chatter of his friends. When he emerged again Piper was shooing his friends away from their table.

"You, okay?" she asked when everyone had left.

"You know what, it´s nice to see them treat me exactly the same as they did treat Jason before you two started dating."

"And why wouldn´t they, he had a crush and so do you. But it seems like you will start dating yours much faster than Jason ever managed to."

"Thank you, Piper."

Nico asked for a bathroom pass in his last lesson, just so that he could fix his hair before he met up with Will again. He tried not to think further than the next five minutes. He knew he could talk to Will and even make him laugh so there was no need to be anxious – at least that is what he was trying to tell himself.

He ignored Annabeth's smirk when he walked back into the classroom and just pretended to listen to his teachers´ lecture. He tried his hardest to not pack his bag any faster than the rest of his class when his last lesson finally ended. He walked to Ms. Dares' classroom together with his friends. While he and the rest of the class were waiting to be called in, he had to keep his hand on Percy´s mouth to stop him from making any embarrassing comments. Both Annabeth and Will were clutching their sides laughing watching his attempts at stopping Percy from talking. When Annabeth and Percy were called in, he finally got a break and slid down the wall panting heavily.

"So, who did you decide would be your best man?" Will was still holding his sides.

"I knew those idiots were way too loud."

"Well, thanks to your friends Cecil and Lou Ellen are now not talking to each other." Will had sat down with him.

"I don´t think I am following, sunshine."

"Your conversation spread to our table and the two got into a fight who got to be my best man. And since I thought it would be incredibly premature to have a conversation like that I didn´t engage."

"You guys are up next." Annabeth and Percy had stepped out of the room, both smiling brightly.

"So did you get and A or and A plus?"

"There are no A pluses." Nico could hear the slight disappointment in Annabeth's voice. "Have a nice weekend guys, we will see you on Monday."

"Enjoy the milkshakes." Percy called before the two were gone.

"Excellent job you two. Your presentation was great, the facts were correct, and you used a variety of sources." Ms. Dare was sitting behind her desk and reading her feedback form. She looked up at them and smiled. "I have deducted slight marks from you since your egg had something written onto it and you should not mark your child even if it protects it from other people."

"Shit, I was going to rub that off before we handed it in, sorry Nico." Nico just shrugged.

"So, I have given you an A minus. God work boys, could you call the last pair in please?"

"Seeing as you caused us to lose out on the full marks, I will insist that you pay for my milkshake." Nico had been teasing Will about his mistake the entire way out of school.

"Fine, fine, di Angelo, but only if you shut up about it afterwards."

"I´ll think about it."

They made their way towards the diner that was closest to the school discussing their classes and the internship Will was going to take over their summer break.

"I wish I knew what I wanted to do with my life half as much as you or Annabeth do."

"She wants to be an architect, right?"

"Yep."

"What about the rest of your friends? Does your sister know what she wants to be?"

"I think she would like to do something with design. You saw how good our presentation was. She also goes through several sketch pads per month. They are amazing. If you ever want a gift for someone, ask her to sketch them. She will love it."

"That´s good to know, I might request her services for the next Mother's Day then."

They had arrived at the diner and made their way to the counter to order their drinks. Will decided on a banana milkshake and Nico chose vanilla. The waitress pointed at a booth and asked them to wait there. When they sat down Will put his hand on the table and slowly tapped a rhythm that Nico didn´t recognize. He was too busy fighting an internal battle with himself about whether he should grab Wills hand or not. But this was a date and on dates people held hands, so he slowly etched his hand closer to Wills. When their hands touched Will looked up and gave him a bright smile. Their fingers were interlaced now and Nico´s ears were starting to heat up again.

"So has any of your memory comeback yet about Halloween?"

"Nope, but I think I can live with that as long as we might get to repeat it again; sober this time."

The redness had now reached Nico head and all he could do was nod to Will´s proposal. They kept holding hands as they returned to their previous conversation about the future of their friends. When their milkshakes arrived Nico reluctantly agreed to try Will´s and declared it undrinkable.

"Fruit really should not be a milkshake flavour."

"What about strawberry that is a classic."

"And also, a mistake. I don´t understand why people try to fool themselves that fast food is healthy by adding lettuce leaves or saying that the ingredients are organic."

"Well, you will not hear any argument from me. I think it fools people into consuming more of it. Yay capitalism." They mock toasted with their milkshakes.

When they finished, they had an argument about who got to walk whom home with Nico winning. They slowly started to walk towards Will´s home their hands still interlaced.

"So, what happens on Monday when we get back to school?" Will looked slightly nervous and Nico realised that he was asking whether they should keep their relationship secret just like his last one.

"My friends will insist that you spend your lunch break at our table and will drag you there kicking and screaming. I am sure you can bring Cecil and Lou Ellen though. Oh, and I will try to reign Percy, Jason and Leo in."

"And what about this." Will nodded at their hands.

"I am not going to stop holding your hand in school, if I can. But I am not going to make out at my locker with you. Sorry but I am not comfortable with that." Nico looked at his feet. They were almost at Will´s house now.

"That's absolutely fine Nico, as long as we don´t have to hide that we are dating."

They smiled at each other. Will stopped. They had reached his driveway. He looked nervous when he slowly leaned in. Nico smiled and closed his eyes. Kissing Will sober was so much better.