Found Family (HoO, Mortal AU)

NICO DI ANGELO

The days that followed kissing Will Solace were unbelievably awkward. Not in a bad way, necessarily. The evening after they kissed, Will FaceTimed Nico, but they barely talked, neither of them knowing what to say. Will gave Nico a driving lesson the next morning. Although they tried to act natural, they were both acting weird. It didn't take long for their friends to catch on, either.

Nico told Hazel straight away, of course, but even if he didn't, she would've known. It was painfully obvious. Especially at lunchtime. They'd sit beside each other, but not speak a single word, just glance at each other. If they made eye contact, both of them would look away in a millisecond.

"This is painful," Piper muttered, sitting across from them.
"Literally," Leo replied.
"What?" Will asked.
"It's easy to tell something happened," Piper said, pointing at Nico and Will. "And now, after months of trying to get you two to kiss, you won't talk to each other."
"We do talk to each other-" Nico said. "And we didn't kiss!" He didn't know why he was lying, but Will didn't seem to care.
"Never," Will nodded.
"I didn't say you did kiss," Piper smiled. "You admitted that yourself."
"No!" Will said quickly. "That's not what he meant-"
"Hazel!" Nico sighed. "Did you tell them?"
"No?" Hazel said. "It's just obvious."
Leo grinned. "WAIT, SERIOUSLY?" He looked over to Hazel. "DID THEY ACTUALLY?!

Everyone started shouting at them, asking them millions of questions. Will buried his head in his hand.
"Well-" Nico suddenly wished the ground would open and swallow him whole. "It- uhm-"
"Awww!" Leo put a hand to his heart. "They grow up so quickly!"
"Shut up. I will rip your throat out."
"Wait-" Percy said. "So Will is your type?"
"No shit," Annabeth whispered to him.
Nico slammed his head onto the table. "Stop being mad because I said you weren't my type like two months ago."
"Yeah, Percy," Rachel said. "You were just a phase."
"William ain't though," Reyna nudged Nico.
"Can you all shut up?!"

Everyone stayed silent for a second before bursting into fits of laughter. All apart from Will and Nico. They didn't laugh.
"I'm sorry," Will mouthed to Nico.
"Lighten up," Jason said, patting Nico's back. "Based off experience, it's easier to admit you like someone and kissed them."
"You denied it when you started liking Leo," Nico replied.
"So you admit you like Will?"
"I hate you all," Nico stood up. "I have to go to my locker."

• • •

He was at his locker for a while before Will Solace came along.
"Nico-"
"Yeah, I'm coming now."
"We don't have to go back to them."
"I don't mind. I know they're joking."
"Were you joking?" Will asked.
"About what?"
"About liking me."
"I never said that. Jason did," Nico closed his locker but didn't look at Will.
"Yeah, well-"
"Well?"
"Well I like you too."
"I never said I like you," Nico said with a smile and he finally turned to face Will.
"Hmm. But?"

Nico stood on his toes to kiss Will's cheek, knowing there was no one around, but not really caring if someone was. "But I can tolerate you."
"That's good enough for me."
"So?"
"So wanna come over on Friday and watch Star Wars with me?"
"I might've kissed you, but I'm not watching Star Wars with you," Nico laughed.
"What?! My life is ruined."
"But we can make a compromise. I'll hang out with you minus the Star Wars."
"Hmm," Will jokingly thought for a minute. "I guess. If you insist."
"Good. Now come on, our friends will start suspecting something."
"They're suspicions are usually right."
"True. But if we deny it, they'll never be right."
"Sure," Will nodded. "If you say so."

• • •

That weekend, Will took Nico for another driving lesson then they went for a walk in the park together, obviously taking Cerberus. Nico was worried about it being awkward, but it wasn't. Sure, he was abnormally nervous, but it was fun. Being with Will was fun. Fun to an extent. There were a lot of things bothering Nico, though.

"You okay?" Will asked.
"Uhm- yeah. Yes. Well- what is this?"
"What does that mean?"
"Is this a date?"
"Do you want it to be?"
Nico shrugged. "Do you?"
"I guess."
"So- do we go on more dates?"
"Well- if you want to. Why?"
"It's just-" Nico paused. He didn't want to say something to upset Will. "I'll need some time."
"Right."
"No- I just- so, Percy and Annabeth- like the second they started dating everyone knew. They're just so obvious and-"
"You don't want people to find out?" Will asked.
"No! It's not like that. I don't care who knows. I- okay. I don't like liking people."

Will didn't answer for a minute, letting Nico continue talking.
"It's just- okay. People know I'm gay, I seriously don't care about that. But everyone who I've let myself care about-"
"I get it," Will said.
"I mean, I care about our friends but this is different. Apart from Hazel, anyone I really cared about died. I know you're not going to go and die or anything but I still- I don't trust myself to care."
"Yeah, I understand. It's okay to be worried. But hey, you're right. I'm not going anywhere. Seriously though, we can take things slow."
"Yeah," Nico picked up Cerberus' tennis ball and threw it before holding onto Will's hand. "That'd be good."
Will smiled at him. "Good."

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Word Count: 914

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A/N: short cringe Solangelo chapter 🥺🤞

I'm so sorry xox

Anyway, in one of the most recent a/ns, I mentioned a fanfic I was writing for my drafts (wasn't planning on posting it) and a few people were asking what it was about/ saying they may be interested so I guess I'll tell y'all a bit about it here and then decide whether or not to publish it in the future?? It's kinda cringe tho lol

Okay, so it's mainly a Solangelo fic, with a royalty au. It's hard to explain, but there's three kingdoms
-kingdom one, we'll nickname it 'Zeus' kingdom for now for convenience purposes, with Princess Thalia and Prince Jason (lol. I warned you this shi cringe)
-kingdom two, 'Poseidon'. Prince Percy yas 🤩
-kingdom three, 'Hades' princess Bianca and prince Nico (oh, and princess Hazel though that's more complicated lol)

So, Nico has to marry Thalia because royal status and all (they're closer in age than in the books) but he falls in love with Will who works in a tavern. So basically him and the other princes/princesses (+Will) practically lead a revolution to stop the three kings. Also there's magic powers. Betrayal, romance, angst, fluff, badass women, pirates, whatnot.

So yah lemme know if any of you would be interested