Chapter Text
Nico headed to the student union after his last class. It wasn’t too far from his usual routine because it was a short walk away from the art building, but that didn’t stop him from grumbling angrily to himself the entire way. Jason had been annoying him via texts for the last hour to make sure Nico was going to come. Nico would not have gone just to spite Jason, but there was no avoiding him since they lived in the same house. If Nico ghosted Jason, he would have brought it up and would have roped Percy into it too, which would have been a million times worse.
At least the little coffee shop in the basement of the student union made absolutely incredible coffee, which was why Nico usually went after class. Nothing beats a good cup of coffee at the end of the day.
He took the stairs outside the building that led to the basement where the coffee shop, a small convenience store, and a sandwich shop were all located. Stepping inside, Nico almost immediately noticed Jason standing by the entrance of the coffee shop holding a cup in each hand. At least he had gotten Nico a coffee so he wouldn’t have to wait in the long line.
When Jason noticed Nico approaching, he held out one of the cups that Nico took without comment. Nico skipped all the usual social niceties and got straight to the point. “Why did you want me to meet you here?”
Jason took a sip from his own drink, and Nico immediately thought he was buying time. Jason wasn’t much of a coffee drinker, so the fact that he had gotten himself one at all was suspicious. “There are a few clubs having info sessions that I wanted to check out,” he explained in a well-practiced way, “I thought you might want-”
“No,” Nico interrupted flatly before sipping at his drink. Jason got his order right, so the drink was dark, warm, and a perfect level of bitter. It was the ideal way to end his day.
“What do you mean, no?” Jason questioned, sounding completely bewildered even though Nico knew that he knew exactly what he was saying. That was Jason. Whenever Nico protested about doing something, Jason would play dumb, and Percy ignored him and usually dragged him along despite his continued protests.
“When you say you want to check it out, you really mean you want me to check them out, so I’m telling you no,” Nico explained simply, “I have no desire to join any clubs.”
“Come on, Nico,” Jason sighed. He gave up the dumb act relatively quickly, which was unusual for Jason but a nice change. “You’ve got to want to make some new friends; ya know, people you haven’t known since high school.”
Nico was extremely tempted just to turn around and walk away without addressing that particular statement. Everyone seemed to have opinions about Nico’s social life and how he was doing it wrong. That was annoying enough, but they also felt like it was entirely acceptable for them to tell Nico what he should be doing. Jason was captain of everything in high school, and he was dating the girl voted friendliest (which was high school speak for a real social butterfly). Percy was a bit of a troublemaker, but he seemed to have friends in every social group, and his girlfriend was class president. They all felt the need to socialize all the time, which was their thing, not Nico’s, and Nico really wished they could accept that.
“No, I don’t,” Nico replied flatly, “Why would I want that?”
Jason let out a heavy sigh, “Piper is starting to get worried about you, and you know how she gets,” he explained. How that was Nico’s problem, he didn’t know. Nico might have been friends with her, but she was Jason’s girlfriend and, therefore, his problem. “All you have to do is look. You don’t have to join anything, and you would be doing me a real favor.”
“I don’t see why Piper is worried about me,” Nico grumbled. He knew exactly why, but it was just stupid. Just because Piper was a social butterfly didn’t mean Nico had to be. He could have said that, but the fact was he had plenty of times in the past, and it hadn’t changed anything. He guessed that was the problem with having the same friends since high school. Although by now, he would have thought they would know they couldn’t make Nico do things he didn’t want to. “Or why your girlfriend is my problem in the first place,” he pointed out sharply.
“It’s Piper,” Jason answered with finality. It wasn’t an answer at all, but it was more than clear that was all Nico was going to get. “We can just look around for a little while and then leave,” he started to reason, and Nico guessed that it was meant to be a reassurance. “It will be an hour of your time, tops.”
Nico didn’t want to go at all. He had no desire to hang around a bunch of strangers, and he wasn’t joining one of the stupid campus social groups. The thing was, while Jason was pretty nice, he was also persistent as hell. He wasn’t going just to let it go. Nico recognized that his choices were just to go and get it over with or argue about it for a while and then probably get dragged along anyway.
He made a point to groan dramatically before giving in. “Fine, but I’m not staying an hour.”
“Okay,” Jason exclaimed, sounding a little surprised. He must not have expected Nico to agree so quickly, which in fairness, history supported that assumption. “I can work with that,” he assured far too excitedly. Nico was already regretting agreeing.
Nico made sure to make a show out of essentially being dragged from one club’s table to the other. Jason ignored his theatrics for the most part and kept stopping at tables. He did not attempt to hide the fact that he was only going to tables of clubs or organizations he thought Nico would like.
Some of them did look mildly interesting, but Nico never admitted that out loud. He wasn’t looking to join any clubs, and he wasn’t looking to make new friends. He just wanted to go to class, and maybe during his free time, he would hang out with people he knew. He didn’t get why everyone wanted to make a big deal out of that. If he was fine with that, they should have been too.
They had made a loop around the large room, and Nico’s patience was definitely giving way. They had to have been there for at least forty-five minutes at that point. That seemed above and beyond anything he had promised Jason.
“Alright,” Nico declared as they stepped away from the last booth, “So we’re done, right?”
Jason looked down at the information packets in his hands. He had accumulated quite the stack on their pass through the room. He had taken one from every club while Nico hadn’t taken a single one. Looking up, he looked around the crowded space; what he was expecting to find Nico hadn’t a clue because they had seen everything already, and none of it had been interesting. When his eyes finally settled on Nico, he gave what had to be the worst possible answer. “Just one more,” he stated.
Nico’s patience was already worn thin, and the crowd in the room seemed to grow thicker, which only worsened the situation. He just wanted to go home. “Jason!” Nico growled in protest.
“It’s just over at the lounge,” Jason offered like that was some sort of reassurance.
It wasn’t a reassurance at all, but Nico still looked toward the doorway that led to the student lounge Jason was talking about. He could tell that something was going on over there, but he couldn’t make out any of the details. It honestly could have been ice cream and strippers, and Nico still wouldn’t have been interested.
He turned back and looked at Jason with genuine outrage, “Seriously?”
“We can check it out real quick and then be on our way,” Jason assured. It wasn’t like Jason didn’t know him. He knew Nico wouldn’t want to do that, but there he was, talking like Nico had already agreed.
Nico was ready to tell Jason to fuck off, potentially in multiple languages, but….Nico was pretty sure if he played along, he would have something he could use to hold his whole group of friends at bay when they got all hot and bothered about what they perceived as his lack of a social life.
Nico huffed as he gave in for his later good. “Fine,” he declared, making it clear how much he didn’t like the idea, “Let’s just go already.”
They walked across the hall to the student lounge. It was clear pretty quickly that whatever was going on in that room was different than across the hall. The first room Jason had dragged Nico to had been filled with tables, and each table was very clearly labeled for each of the student groups. A few different tables were set up in the lounge, but there weren’t any signs hanging to indicate what they were for. People were milling around and chatting with each other in a way that people in the other room hadn’t been. Nico got the general impression that whatever was going on in the lounge was for one group. Nico wouldn’t say it out loud, but he liked the general vibe of whatever was going on in the lounge much better.
A few people were hanging around the table closest to the door. They all were clearly very familiar with each other, and one of the girls appeared to be staffing the large and cluttered tables if the way they were talking and laughing was any indication.
Despite her socializing, the girl behind the table noticed Nico and Jason enter. “Welcome community member or ally,” She greeted brightly as she pushed a strand of hair that was bright purple at the ends behind her ear. “Can I interest either of you in a pin,” she questioned as she ran her hand over the table like a salesman displaying her wears.
Nico hadn’t thought much about the various bowls and dishes laid out on the table when he had walked in, but once the girl pointed them out, he figured they were worth a look. Boy, had he been wrong.
Each dish was filled with what looked like little pins, which was fine. Nico didn’t have anything personally against pins or anything. The themes of the pins were the problem. They were pride pins, and each dish seemed to be designated for a different pride flag.
That was enough of a clue. Nico knew exactly what type of group was recruiting in the lounge, and the true extent of Jason’s plotting became painfully clear. “A gay-straight alliance!” Nico exclaimed with unhidden outrage as he turned on Jason, “Really!?!”
“Yeah,” Jason replied. He didn’t sound particularly apologetic. Actually, Nico couldn’t help but notice that Jason sounded very much like a child that had gotten caught with his hand in a cookie jar.
That alone was enough to have Nico seeing red, but when he actually looked at Jason, it only worsened. Jason was in the process of affixing one of the offered pins to his shirt. It was a simple black and white pin that Nico recognized as the pride flag for allies because straight people just had to have a pride flag even though pride had nothing to do with them.
“The point of joining a group is to be around people you have something in common with,” Jason explained far too matter-of-factly for Nico’s liking considering the situation as he made a few final adjustments to his pin, “So I thought-”
This was an all-time low, and if they weren’t standing in a room full of strangers, Nico would have told Jason just how fucked up it was. Nico wasn’t the type to make a scene because he hated being the center of attention, especially from strangers. So, he didn’t tell Jason off even though he deserved it, and instead, he just stated plainly, “I’m leaving.”
With that, Nico turned on his heels before Jason could argue because Nico knew he would try to convince him not to leave. He had every intent to storm out and walk back to the house. Maybe once he got there, he would start looking for a new apartment.
Nico made no more than half a step. He hadn’t even completely turned his head from Jason, which was how he almost walked into a person carrying an absurd stack of boxes. They didn’t collide, but it was so close that Nico put out his hands partially to protect himself and partly to prevent the boxes from toppling.
“Shit,” Nico exclaimed as he did his best to steady boxes, “Sorry.”
“No need to be sorry,” The person carrying the boxes declared. The voice was male which made sense, considering the person’s height and his board shorts, but Nico couldn’t see much more of the guy because of the boxes. Or at least Nico couldn’t until the guy shifted the boxes so he could look around them to smile at Nico. “I’m pretty sure that was me,” he admitted in a friendly way that seemed to be accentuated by the southern accent Nico thought he was picking up on.
Oh, wow, Nico thought, and he was so glad that he had enough control not to say it out loud. The guy was extremely cute. He had bright blue eyes, strong but kind features, a strong nose, caramelly skin, and freckles. The guy had freckles for days.
Maybe Nico’s self-control was too good because not only did he not just blurt out that he thought the guy was hot, but he also said nothing else. He was pretty sure that he was staring intently enough that his lack of talking became more creepy the longer it went.
“God, Will, did you grab every box?” The girl with the purple hair from the first table exclaimed as she approached. She took three or four boxes off the top of the guy’s stack so that his face could no longer be hidden. “How many people did you run over on the way up here?” she questioned with clear disapproval.
“It was more efficient,” Freckles defended as he readjusted his grip on the boxes he had left in his grasp, “And I only came close to walking into someone once.” Freckles turned once again to Nico and smiled a truly amazing smile. “Sorry about that again,” he assured. He shifted again, this time lowering the boxes he was carrying to the ground before standing back up and offering Nico his hand. “I’m Will,” he introduced.
Nico hesitated for a moment before accepting the guy’s hand for a quick handshake which felt weirdly formal, but also Nico couldn’t help but notice how big the guy’s hands were. “I’m Nico.”
The guy’s smiled widened. “Cute name.”
Nico felt his face grow a little warm and hoped it didn’t show. He heard the girl with the purple hair huff, “Subtle.”
Freckles shot her a quick glare, and Nico recognized the type. It was the kind of glare you gave a good friend when they were their patented blend of annoying. There was annoyance in it but also a little affection. “Didn’t ask for the commentary, Lou,” he pointed out flatly, to which she just shook her head and walked away.
With his friend gone, Freckles turned back to Nico and smiled his captivating smile. “So, are you already all signed up or-?”
He looked so hopeful, Nico almost wanted to lie and say yes. “No, I’m not,” he admitted, “I was just dragged here by my friend.” Nico paused to look and point at Jason only to find that Jason wasn’t there. “Who has apparently now abandoned me,” he commented.
He had no idea where Jason had disappeared to, which was a little alarming, to say the least, especially considering Jason was his ride home. “Great,” Nico sighed. It wasn’t like he wanted to stay and talk to some hot guy, but even if he did, that option was gone now because he had to find Jason. “I should probably-” Nico finished his thought by pointing toward the door.
“Wait,” The cute guy called and sort of stepped in Nico’s way but not in an intimidating way. That didn’t mean Nico wasn’t tempted to glare at him, but then the guy smiled at him, and Nico just couldn’t. “You don’t have a pin,” he pointed out, sounding so disappointed it was almost heartbreaking.
Nico would entirely blame the guy’s great smile and cute freckles, but he was at a complete loss for what the guy was talking about. “Huh?”
The guy’s smile widened to the point that it was practically blinding. “You can’t go without a pin,” he stated insistently as he gestured toward the welcome table Nico and Jason had been standing at before.
Nico would have rather lit himself on fire than touch one of those pins, but the guy was too cute and too nice for Nico to say that out loud. Nico just flashed a quick apologetic smile as he replied, “Sorry, but clubs aren’t really my thing.”
“You don’t have to sign up to take a pin,” Will assured. He was so damn insistent, and with his southern accent, it managed to be charming. Nico imagined that it wasn’t often when anyone was able to tell the guy no seriously.
“And look,” Will declared as he gestured to his chest where he had a pin affixed to his shirt with a flourish, “They are so cute.”
The pin was small and not nearly as captivating to look at as Will’s smile or blue eyes, so Nico wasn’t surprised he had missed it, but he wished he hadn’t. The little round pin had three stripes of color, serving as a direct translation of the bisexual pride flag. It was about the most disappointing sights Nico could have imagined.
Cute and charming guy, so of course, he couldn’t have just been gay. Nico knew all too well from personal experience that supposedly bisexual guys were nothing but trouble. That wasn’t a mistake he ever planned to make again.
At least that knowledge helped Nico reestablish his focus around the goal of getting out. He let out a heavy sigh, turned, and walked to the table. He was so tempted to take an ally pin and hopefully end the whole exchange, but after everything Nico had gone through coming out, he couldn’t lie about being gay even if it would have been more convenient. He grabbed the traditional rainbow flag pin, turned, and held it up for Will to see as he asked maybe more sharply than entirely necessary, “Happy?”
“A little,” the guy admitted with a bit of a shrug. He was still wearing that easy and friendly smile, and Nico wondered if that was just a southern thing. “I would be happier if you’d consider signing up,” he stated as he reached out and grabbed a clipboard off the table and held it up for Nico to see.
The group caught a lot of interest because Nico could see that a lot of people had signed up to be emailed more information or about group gatherings. Still, there was plenty of room left for Nico to sign up if he wanted.
He didn’t have the slightest bit of interest, and a cute guy wasn’t going to change that. Nico tucked his arms over his chest in a show of digging in his heels on the subject, not that the guy would know that. “You’re persistent, aren’t you?” he grumbled because the guy was too nice and cute to be openly rude to.
“Well, I am chapter president, so I sort of have to be,” he admitted. He returned the clipboard to the table, and something about his posture changed. It wasn’t like he had been overly formal before, but suddenly, he seemed more casual. “But we really do have a lot of fun, and there are a lot of cool people involved,” he explained. He didn’t sound like he was trying to sell Nico on something but instead like they were old friends, and he was letting Nico in on a little secret. “Who know-”
Nico wasn’t going to be sold, and it didn’t matter how charming Will was, but he was still going to listen. That was until his phone issued a text message noise from the back pocket of his jeans. It wasn’t just a text message noise either. It was the most embarrassing text message alert in the history of time because Nico had had the bright idea to give Percy and Jason their own text message sounds so he could easily avoid their texts if he wanted to.
So there he was standing in front of a cute guy with the ‘Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap’ bit from that Fitz and the Tantrums song issuing from his butt pocket. Why? Because it reminded him of the time Jason had tried to twerk to impress Piper in high school. If an individual could die from embarrassment, Nico was positive that he would have dropped dead right there.
“Sorry,” he muttered as he retrieved his phone as quickly as he could without seeming frantic even if he felt that way. No surprise, when he looked at his phone’s screen, he saw he had a new text message from Jason.
The bastard abandoned him and then embarrassed him, and he didn’t even have the decency to apologize. All his message said was that he had to meet up with Piper, but Percy could give Nico a ride home when he got out of his night class in about half an hour.
Nico wasn’t thrilled with pretty much anything he was reading, and he was sure it showed on his face. Freckles confirmed it when he asked with concern, “Bad news?”
Nico sighed and tucked his phone back into his pocket. “My supposed friend is an asshole, but I’ve suspected that for years,” he explained even though Freckles wouldn’t get it. Jason was known as the nice guy in their high school, but Nico always suspected that he could be just as meddlesome as Percy, he just hid it better, and this just proved it.
Will was giving Nico a confused look, but Nico had no intent to explain further, so he just shrugged. “Besides that, it looks like I’m waiting around for a little while if I want a ride home,” he admitted without hiding how unhappy about that he was.
“I know that I should probably say sorry,” Will commented with a little smile dancing on his very appealing lips, “But that seems to work in my favor.”
“How’s that?”
“Well, it gives us more time to talk,” he explained. It was probably in Nico’s mind, but it seemed like the guy stepped a little closer to him. Did he give him a look, like he was really taking Nico in? No, no, that wouldn’t have made sense. Will smiled almost coyly and pushed a stray piece of hair behind his ear. “Maybe get to know each other a little better,” he commented.
Typically Nico would have left. He would have found a dark little corner where he could sit and mindlessly scroll the internet on his phone until Percy got out of class.
But for some reason he didn’t want to. Nico couldn’t even really explain why he stayed. It wasn’t like he was usually the type to hang around and chitchat with strangers, but Will was charming and relatively easy to talk to, and it actually was kind of nice.
Will was a Sophomore. He was from Tennessee, which explained the accent, and he was in the pre-med program, which was impressive. He seemed genuinely interested in learning things about Nico as he asked Nico questions about himself, and he seemed absolutely captivated by every one of Nico’s answers. He didn’t get weird when Nico mentioned he was a freshman, and he didn’t make a joke out of Nico’s major like most people did.
Nico didn’t know precisely when he noticed the slight flirty undertone in their exchanges, but they appeared nonetheless. Nico would just have to add that to the list of things he wouldn’t admit but secretly enjoyed. He couldn’t remember the last time a good-looking guy had seriously flirted with him.
He guessed in all of that Nico just lost track of time. He was genuinely confused when his phone issued another embarrassing sound. At least Percy’s ringtone wasn’t quite as bad as Jason’s.
Nico made quick work of checking his phone to see a text message from Percy. He had just got out of class and would be at the student union in a couple of minutes if Nico still needed a ride. The if in that phrasing was interesting, but Nico chose to ignore it.
“Um, sorry,” Nico muttered as he tucked his phone back into his pocket, even though Will didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the minor interruption. It made Nico hate that he had to leave even more. “I have to go meet my ride,” he explained weakly.
Will gave him a little pout which should have been repulsive but was adorable on him. “You don’t have to,” he stated, and somehow the pout snuck into his voice, and that was sort of cute, “I have to hang out here for a little while longer, but I’d be happy to give you a ride.”
It was totally innocent thing to say except that they had been slowly escalating the flirting for the last thirty minutes, so it seemed almost suggestive. Nico didn’t mind, or he didn’t mind thinking about it. It had been even longer since Nico had slept with anyone and might not have ever been with anyone as good-looking.
Will apparently heard the innuendo too because he blushed and diverted his gaze bashfully, “God, that sounded…..a bit forward.” He took a second, pushed his fingers through his golden locks, and seemed to collect himself a little before explaining, “I meant a ride home.” He held up his hands and smiled before adding, “No strings or expectations.”
Nico typically wouldn’t have even considered such a thing, but Will did seem pretty nice, and it might shut Percy and Jason up for at least a little while. He usually wasn’t someone who people said was easy to read, but Will seemed to know what he was thinking and was very pleased with that knowledge. “Whereabouts do you live?” he questioned with the certainty of a man that knew he was getting what he wanted.
Telling that a guy you just met wasn’t a brilliant thing to do, and it didn’t matter how cute the guy was. Nico wouldn’t even consider such a thing under normal circumstances. “Just off Main Street on Second,” Nico answered without even thinking about it.
That was definitely going on the list of things Nico was never going to reveal to Percy or Jason.
“Oh, even better,” Will exclaimed with what seemed like genuine excitement. Nico admired that because it looked so exhausting. Nico knew he could never pull it off. Will should figure out how to bottle that because he could make some serious cash from exhausted college students. “I live right near that on University between Second and Homer,” Will explained.
Nico blinked with surprise. Will lived very close to him, almost impossibly close. Nico would have been surprised that they hadn’t met before now but he unfortunately recognized University avenue for what it was usually called around campus.
“You mean frat row?” Nico questioned. University avenue was known as the street that housed every single fraternity and most of the sororities, or at least the ones Olympus University recognized. Nico didn’t know of any student housing on University avenue that wasn’t Greek associated, but Will couldn’t be in a frat. He seemed too nice for that sort of thing.
Will shrugged his impressively broad shoulders, “I guess.”
Maybe he was wrong, Nico thought. He didn’t know the area around campus all that well, and he hadn’t made much effort to learn. There could have been a few small apartments on University Avenue that he was unaware of because the residents were quiet and studious instead of a bunch of beer-belching dudes. That seemed much more in line with the general vibe he got from Will.
Still, Nico wanted a confirmation just for his own peace of mind. “You’re in a frat?” he asked doubtfully.
“Alpha Omega Lamda,” Will answered with a nod, “Yeah.”
Nico let out a heavy sigh. It was more than just disappointment; it was frustration. He had made his fair share of poor judgments when it came to people, but he was pretty sure he had never been so far off about someone before.
It must have read on his face, which wasn’t much of a surprise because he hadn’t been putting much effort into hiding his reaction. What would have been the point in that? “Um, is that a problem?” Will asked with a nervous little laugh.
It was a cute little thing, and Nico found that infuriating considering the new information. He was more annoyed with himself because he should have known. His romantic history was just a list of horrible choices because they were manipulative dicks, or they were just playing at being gay while being on a break with their girlfriend, or - well, that was actually the entire list. Still, it was enough for Nico to learn.
“I should have figured you were too good to be true,” Nico muttered more to himself than Will. There was barely any point of talking to that guy as far as Nico was concerned, but he still made a weak attempt to be polite. “Listen, I have to go,” he stated, pointing toward the door.
“Okay?” Will replied uncertainly as he tilted his head slowly to one side as a show of his confusion. “Could I get your number, maybe?”
Well, the guy was bold; Nico had to give him that, although Nico thought he had just made it pretty clear that he didn’t have a chance. “No,” Nico answered flatly, and Will looked even more confused. The guy was fortunate he was seriously cute because typically, Nico would have just left, but he felt enough sympathy to offer at least some kind of explanation. “I don’t hang around frat guys; it’s a rule I have,” he offered plainly before shrugging, “But it was nice talking to you, I guess.”
Will’s mouth dropped, not that Nico cared as he turned on his heels and walked away to find Percy. What a waste of a night.