Chapter Text
Will scrubbed the tears off his face as his trembling legs took him onto the plane and away from Texas. He hasn't stopped crying since the accident that took his mother, people started to get annoyed with the usually sunny boy being so depressed, but he couldn't bring himself to be happy anymore, his mother, his whole world was gone and people just wanted him to smile? What hypocrites. Even foster care was sick of him and shipped him off on the first plane after his mothers funeral to live with his dad who he barely got to see and his dad’s boyfriend who he’d never even met. Will flopped down in the small annoying economy seat with blank silence, not waving to his seat neighbor, completely ignoring the flight attendants, and spending the whole flight staring at the blank screen and absentmindedly rubbing tears away as the old man next to him stared like he was a charity case, pathetic, was the only word ringing in his mind.
3 hours later Will was landing in a rainy Manhattan, he was the last person to exit the plane, moving slowly as his hands tightened their grip on his backpack strap. He stared at the ground until suddenly a loud cheery voice cried out “Savannah!” Will flinched slightly at his deadname being screamed and looked up immediately to see his father waving erratically with a huge smile on his face, the older man has loose blonde curls and gorgeous blue eyes just like Will although he was a touch paler and some wrinkles adorned his skin, Will smiled slightly until he froze at the man standing next to his father, slightly shorter with silky black curls past his shoulders, dark black almost purple eyes and tan skin like Will’s, he was also smiling although Will couldn't begin to fathom why.
The blonde boy slowly trudged over to his dad when the older man suddenly threw his arms around him, Will flinched slightly but allowed it to happen. He’s your dad, he loves you, It’s okay. The blonde man smiled widely and pulled back, pressing his palms against Will’s cheeks and flashing a grin so bright the sun could be jealous “Savannah oh my precious girl, you’re even prettier than in those silly pixels over the phone! Oh how you’ve grown incredibly!” Will nodded slightly, swallowing the lump in his throat as his father blabbered on, completely unaware of his child growing increasingly uncomfortable “anyway, how was the plane ride? Was it comfy? Sorry for putting you in economy, I think it’s a good airline though. You look quite thin. How are you feeling? Oh, do you remember Hyacinthus, my boyfriend? Oh this’ll be perfect we emptied a room for you and everythi-!”
“Dad”! Will suddenly yelled, cutting off his father with a sharp huff, then immediately recoiling slightly at the people that looked over at him. Eyes, too many eyes staring. “I…look I’m fine okay? I don’t want to talk right now…can we just get my bags?”
Apollo’s smile softened as he gently squeezed Will’s shoulder, nodding and standing up straighter “Of course yeah…we’ll get you settled real nice…have any ideas for dinner?”
“It’s 3:00pm, my love” Hyacinthus reminded the two from behind him, Apollo just smirked
“Hey, whatever she wants she gets, nothing but the best for my daughter” Will shrugged Apollo’s hand off his shoulder fully and stepped back, immediately curling in on himself slightly and trailing his eyes back to the floor.
“I don’t care…we can eat whenever.”
“Oh” Apollo whispered softly, nodding again “Yeah of course, you just say the words and we’ll be ready” Will answered with a simple nod and walked for baggage claim quickly. Too nice…too touchy…he should hate me…hate hate hate. Will was quickly snapped out of his thoughts as Hyacinthus reached past him and started gathering Will’s bags off the machine with a soft smile.
“Only three bags? You travel light, although I can see two more bags under your eyes, I run a flower shop that sells herbs as well, maybe we can find something to help with those” Will blinked, obviously frazzled at how kindly and how simply the older man was talking to him, he…doesn’t hate Will? That’s new…he’ll learn soon enough…
Apollo clapped Will on the back, smiling yet again with his endless onslaught of kindness before turning towards the parking garage “Come on Savannah, let’s go home and we can show you your room!” Will nodded just barely and followed the two men, his father talking on and on about random nonsense as Hyacinthus just smiled and nodded along, one hand holding Apollo’s while the other dragged two of Will’s suitcases. They got in Apollo’s gorgeous car, a pastel yellow McLaren, which almost made Will’s jaw drop, and drove home quickly. Will still said nothing as they arrived at the home and Apollo brought Will upstairs to a large room, completely bare besides a queen sized bed in the center and two windows on either side, by the door they walked in was another door leading to a semi-large closet and some boxes with some of Will’s stuff from times he’s visited in the past.
“Well here it is…it isn’t much but I really hope we can be happy here” Apollo said truthfully, his eyes almost sparkling, Will just nodded, pushing his three suitcases into the room and staring at one of the windows, maybe..? “So!” Apollo suddenly said loudly, breaking Will out of his dark thoughts “Pizza? Do you still like pepperoni?”
“Uh…yeah…that’s fine…”
“Great! I’ll go call it in right now! Do you need help decorating?”
“No…I’m fine”
“Alright then, I’ll call you down when it gets here! He smiled even brighter if even possible and rushed out the door. Will stared out the window for another few minutes before slowly taking his hearing aids out and placing them in their container in his pocket. Silence was nice, he slowly walked over to his bed and flopped down on the comfy mattress. God his father was too kind to him, and that Hyacinthus guy…whatever his deal was…Will clicked his tongue and curled up tight, he missed his mom terribly…stupid stupid stupid…
20 minutes later Will’s eyes shot open as he registered his dad shaking him by the shoulders, his mouth was moving too rapidly for Will to read his lips so he quickly reached into his pocket and grabbed his hearing aids, slipping them onto his ears and glancing up at his father “Dad…you’re talking too fast…I can’t understand you...”
Apollo stared for a second before a slight blush crawled up his neck and he smiled awkwardly “Right, sorry Hon, anyway Pizza’s here, hungry?”
“Um…not really…sorry.”
Apollo stared at Will for a second, slightly confused before nodding slightly and backing off “Yeah of course…you know what I’ll just…give you some space for now okay..? You don’t have to worry about wearing your hearing aids okay? I’ll text you if I need something” Will nodded, his eyes following his dad as he stepped back and grinned sheepishly “alright then, why don’t you get some rest? You can come downstairs later if you’re hungry?” Will nodded again, watching as Apollo quickly rushed out and closed the door behind him, his poor dad was just trying to help and he was fucking it up…all because he couldn’t just be happy, dammit. He ripped his hearing aids out with more force than necessary and dropped them on the bedside table before curling into one of the blankets that was folded up neatly by the foot of the bed and hiding himself in the darkness, he hated the dark, but he liked the security it gave, nobody staring, nobody talking, just lonely silence, time to reflect…except when the silence became too much.
He dreamed of his mother, hugging her, letting her kiss his cheek and stroke his hair and call him by his real name…he knew it was a dream when that happened…he never told her…too scared of her reaction, but now? He’d give anything to tell her, to feel her acceptance and her love, if that’s even what she would give, he liked to believe she’d be supportive but he always doubted…he didn’t know what he would do with himself if she didn’t support him. He’d rather be unhappy and still with his mother than happy and alone but now he was unhappy and alone and he didn’t even tell her.
Before he knew it his two weeks of summer had flown by and it was his first day of school, he got up at exactly 5:30am and packed his backpack, fixed his hair and got dressed into the most masculine outfit he could find, he really had to get another haircut, it was starting to grow past his shoulders again. He quickly slipped his hearing aids on and covered them with his platinum curls before rushing down the stairs and freezing at the sight of Hyacinthus in the kitchen making pancakes, he turned at the noise and smiled warmly, placing the spatula down and signing ‘good morning’ Will was so shocked he almost didn't respond before suddenly shaking himself out of his thoughts and speaking “Uh I’m…wearing my hearing aids, you can speak.”
“Oh, sorry, I wasn’t sure because of your hair but I didn’t want to be rude and just start blabbering away…hm…is that rude?”
“Uh…not really…no”
“Okay great sit down then, pancakes for the first day of school! Apollo will be down to drive you in a minute” Will nodded and sat down silently, staring at Hyacinthus as he cooked.
After a while of silence Will finally asked the question that had been nagging at him since he walked downstairs “I didn’t know you spoke sign language…” he murmured softly.
Hyacinthus quickly turned and smiled widely like he had been waiting for this question “Oh I didn’t! When Apollo told me his daughter was deaf I took it upon myself to learn in case we ever met! I’m glad it didn’t go to waste!”
Will blushed slightly and glanced down at his fingers as he ripped at the skin there, Hyacinthus had learned sign language for him…without even knowing if he’d ever meet him? That was kindness he never knew existed…“Thank you…um…does Dad talk about me often..?”
“Oh all the time!” Hyacinthus said happily “On our third date he wouldn’t shut up about you! All ‘Oh my beautiful daughter, oh my perfect daughter, she’s so talented, she’s so amazing’ gosh at that point I just knew he was the one for me with how lovingly he spoke about you” Hyacinthus smiled warmly and placed down a plate of pancakes in front of Will.
Will stared down at them before slowly starting to eat, surprisingly they were delicious and easy on his weary stomach “thank you…they’re…good”
“Oh you flatter me! Ah crap I gotta head out now but have a great first day, I can’t wait to hear about it!” Hyacinthus smiled softly and waved before rushing out of the front door, Will stared at the door for a second before suddenly there was a loud crash and his head snapped towards his father literally hopping on one foot down the hall as he tried to tug on his shoe.
“Crap crap crap we’re late! Savannah, quick, grab your bag!” he yelped, fixing his hair while also trying to slip his heel into the shoe. Will quickly stood up and grabbed his bag, staring at Apollo as he stumbled out the door, Will quickly locked it behind him and rushed towards his father as he started the car. They quickly drove down the road and Apollo hummed to the music, tapping his fingers on the wheel along with the beat as Will just stared out the window, watching as the buildings slowly turned into greenery and then a large brick building, Will’s new school, High school Half-Blood.