Solace Through Darkness (Solangelo One-shots)

I Don't Dance (Happy 2017!)

The last words Nico expected to hear at the local school's after school social massacre scene referred to as the "Winter Prom" were "Wanna dance?"
Something more appropriate for such a young, closeted, depressing (emo, as dubbed by his peers) man as Nico would be "Get lost" or "You're still alive?" People had stopped caring about Nico in sixth grade. He had no longer been considered important, relevant, or in the least but interesting. All the rumors about him and Percy Jackson, a handsome upperclassman, had quickly become the only thing that made anyone in his Tartarus of a high school remember his existence, that fact that despite several attempts, he had not yet managed to commit suicide... Yet. The scandal had kept him up a social class from forgotten to terrible human being. See, Percy had a girlfriend. Of course, as soon as he heard of the gossip, Nico consulted her, making sure she knew the words as said by meddlers, for lack of a better term, was completely untrue. They were friends, luckily, and she confirmed she had never doubted her boyfriend or friend from the beginning.
Worse? Percy and Nico were cousins. Ugh.
Nico had promised himself he wouldn't further degrade himself by making his pride vulnerable by attending such a place of drama and mischief as his academy after hours, with minimal supervision, and maximum number of dirtbags taking advantage of the situation by cornering girls or pushing around victims. Stereotypically, those people would be classified as "jocks". They were on sports teams, after all. Maybe there was some kind of scientific connection between athletics and the tendency to be a (full in your favorite swear word here). It could be primalism. The need to compete in order to demonstrate superiority is something developed by early people. Quite a savage tradition, Nico thought. The need to do things like have intercourse and exert authority was also very primitive. Perhaps the two had a common factor anatomically. Anyway, Nico was not one to put himself in a situation in which their primativity would peak. Yet, here he was.
He had no clue what compelled him to be here, sitting on the sidelines in the bleachers were legs spread wide apart (come to think of it, the people who noticed really got a free show) with the right elbow on the right knee, holding up his chin as the other arm lazily was strung in between his black-leather right pants. Hey, that was fancy for him, okay? He watched the people in the gymnasium below, grinding and bum-shaking like there was no tomorrow. To him, a demi-to-asexual (he had never gotten far enough in a relationship to tell), seeing otherwise dignified scholars embarrass themselves. It was gut-rentching, perceiving such an upside-down thing. In fact, Nico almost thought he might throw up.
Suddenly, a warm... Thing grabbed Nico by the shoulder.
"Heyyyy!" a voice interjected itself into Nico's thoughts, causing him to jolt violently. Rapidly, he shot his eyes toward the source of the noise. Sitting next to him was an unfamiliar person with an unfamiliar face, surrounded by unnotable mousy brown hair. The guy was wearing a polo along with an extremely obnoxious grin, which, Nico noted, was not a very attractive combination.
"Hey," the boy repeated, waving his hand in front of Nico's face. "You in there?"
Nico blinked as he processed the words. "Uh," he said, shaking his head, "uh, yeah. What?"
The kid looked over the gymnasium of people dressed their finest, acting their worst. "I know why I'm not dancing. What's your excuse?"
Nico, questions crowding his mind, simply suppressed them to answer with a huff. "I have no need to explain myself."
"Please do anyway," the boy suggested, gesturing to the painted lines of the floor being trampled by hundreds of pounding feet.
"No obligation," Nico leaned back against the step of the bleachers behind him, "no information."
"That's catchy," the kid admitted. "But c'mon."
Nico shifted, suddenly uncomfortable. "What's with the thirst for knowledge... Uh..."
"Oh, Cecil," the boy held out his hand to shake. "Et vous?"
"Nico," Nico answered begrudgingly, taking a hold of Cecil's hand.
"So, Nico," Cecil continued, returning his gaze to the teenagers below, "if you aren't dancing, why are you here?"
Nico's lips poised themselves, but they had no thought or notion to speak of. "I... don't know. Just a feeling."
"Huh," Cecil replied. "You know, of you don't want to seem really creepy, you might want to take a break in the bathroom. If you're lucky, you'll be alone for a bit."
Nico glanced back at Cecil, honestly surprised with the helpful advice. Cecil caught Nico's eyes and grinned. "I'm not useless, you know."
The words did not at first come easily, but Nico croaked out a short and quiet, "Thanks."
...
Aside from the lovely couple making out on the counted with the sinks, the boys' bathroom was solely occupied by a Mister Nico di Angelo. And, to Nico's delight, they did not stay long after realizing his presence. As they left, he leaned on a place next to theirs with his hands grasped together. He leaned forward into the sink, his head turning on the automatic water dispenser. He lurched back at the chilled temperature of the water, knocking his head on the sink in the process.
Nico, being Nico, swore loudly in several languages.
He only ceased as he heard laughter.
The chuckles came from the door, next to which stood a boy, who Nico had to say was quite stunning. His eyes reminded Nico of a clear summer day, the air filling his lungs becoming dryly warm just reminicing. His hair looked like he had put lemon juice on it and fell asleep in the sun, a bright, surprisingly-unicolor yellow. Smooth facial features and all the right curves, accented by a daper navy blue suit. Suddenly, Nico felt underdressed.
"Clumsy much?" the blonde asked.
"Shut up," Nico retorted, bringing his focus back to his reflection is the mirror above the sinks.
The boy leaned against the wall, and Nico watched him scan him up to down and back again. Or... Wait, was that guy checking him out? It didn't seem likely. He must have higher standards with a body like that. Like, YOW!
After Nico realized his last thought, he decided not to say anything.
"Got tired of dancing?" the blonde questioned.
"I don't dance."
"Oh?" the blonde raised an eyebrow as his took a few steps to peer into Nico's reflection's eyes by his side. "Is that so?"
"Yes," Nico reinforced the thought with a "Never."
"Huh." The boy wrapped an arm around Nico's waist. A jolt shot up Nico's side. "Is that a fact or is it a challenge?"
"Fac..." Nico trailed off as he turned to face the stranger head on. Wow.
"I'm going to take that as a 'challenge'," the blonde looked at the florescent lights above. "I know you said you don't dance, but how about you give it a try?"
"I... Huh?" Nico said, confounded.
The guy rolled his bright blue eyes. "What I'm saying is, wanna dance?"
"Uh..." Nico attempted to speak, but found himself lost in the eyes of this near stranger.
"C'mon."
With that, the blonde took Nico in an embrace, one arm circled around his hips with the other clutching Nico's hand. They swayed gently to the resounding rhythm from the gym, quietly leaking in the closed door. And, for some reason, Nico didn't push off. Rather, he just scowled up at the other boy, just now realizing he was a good four inches taller. This resulted in the guy laughing, almost taking the grown off Nico's mouth.
"Hey," the boy said. "I'm Will. Will Solace."
Nico blinked. "Uh, nice name?"
"Gosh, you're dense. What's your name?"
"They call me Death."
Will giggled, pulling Nico closer. Nico let a smile befall his lips. "It's Nico."
"Hey, go you just wanna, you know, dance here all night?" Will suggested.
"Don't you want to get back to your friends and stuff?" Nico asked, breaking eye contact. Dam. He had gotten a crush.
"They won't miss me. Besides," Will grinned, "I like you, Nico."
Nico looked down. "Well, maybe I can dance... A little."
"Good," Will twirled him. "We're gonna have some fun, then."

A/N: Sorry I didn't have a Christmas special. Drama club started back up and I've been WAY busy (Got a lead role!). But I have been working on this and I spent the last hour (give or take) finishing it. It's not very good, but what the heck? I would love to just say happy 2017! I plan on plublishing at midnight (11:54 right now). Still taking song prompts!
Happy New Year,
Kris.