soulmates ⋮ heroes of olympus au

twenty-five.

W i l l

☼

Will had absolutely no idea whether his 'hangout' with Nico was a date or not. A part of Will wanted to think it was just two friends hanging out. He didn't want to look too much into it and assume that Nico thought of him the same way that Will thought of him. Will was frankly scared of getting his hopes up only to be rejected by Nico.

Basically, Will wanted to know where he stood with Nico. He wanted to figure out whether he should start getting over his budding feelings for Nico or try and see if he could get into a relationship with him – which Will really wanted.

When Will asked Nico to the movies, he had wanted to say outright that it was a date. He wanted Nico to know that they were going out on a date. But Will ended up chickening out and saying that they were hanging out, which he was still kicking himself for.

However, Will couldn't focus on that right now. Partly because if he kept thinking about his feelings about Nico, his brain might explode, but also because Will was supposed to pick Nico up in twenty minutes, and he had no idea what to wear. Will wasn't normally someone who put too much effort into his outfits.

"Will?" He heard his mom call out from the hallway. "Why can I hear all your clothes being thrown everywhere?"

"Can't talk! In crisis mode!"

He could hear his mom run down the hallway and then a loud knock on his door. "So you can't figure out what to wear, and you're freaking out so much that you can barely talk to me?" She questioned, and Will could practically hear the smirk on her face. "Who's the boy?"

Will sighed. He knew his mom wouldn't leave him alone until she got an answer. "His name is Nico," He admitted, and before his mom could say anything else, he quickly added, "But I don't even know if it's a date or not!"

"Doesn't matter! This is still really exciting!" She exclaimed. "What's his name? What's he like?"

"His name's Nico," Will responded. "We have a class together, but I met him because he came into the nurse's office with a bloody nose. He ends up in the nurse's office a lot because he hates gym class and he tries to find any way to skip it."

"Just to skip gym class or because he wants to see you?"

"I'm really hoping it's the second option, but it's probably the first thing you said."

"Don't give up hope, alright? If he ends up just wanting to be friends, then that's okay. But fingers crossed he wants to be more than friends!"

"Fingers crossed," Will repeated with a smile. "Thanks for the little motivational talk."

"That's what moms are here for," She responded before beginning to walk away. After a few seconds, Will could hear her turn back around and come back to his door. "By the way, I always love your green flannel."

"Thanks, Mom!"

Will put on his green flannel and grabbed his phone to check the time. He cursed when he saw the time was 5:55, and Nico lived about ten minutes away from him. Running down the stairs, Will yelled out a quick goodbye to his mom before getting out to his car and pulling out of the driveway as quickly as he could.

When Will eventually pulled into Nico's driveway, he parked the car and texted Nico that he was outside. Nico eventually came outside and sat in the passenger seat, looking as if he was about to laugh. "You're late."

"Stop it," Will shot back with a laugh as he pulled out of the driveway. "I had to talk to my mom for a little bit. She came in while I was getting ready."

Technically, that wasn't a lie. But Will didn't want to share the real reason why he was late, which was because he spent so much time panicking about whether this was really a date or not.

Nope, he was not letting Nico know that.

Next to him, Nico raised an eyebrow. "While you were changing?"

"First of all, she was standing outside my closed door. Second, ew. Who do you think I am?"

"I don't know! All I knew was that I was really starting to reconsider this...hang-out."

A small spark of hope ignited in Will's chest. "You hesitated before that last bit."

"Well..." Nico began, and out of the corner of his eye, Will could see a nervous look begin to form on Nico's face. "I was kind of hoping this was a date. But I didn't know whether you were asking me on a date or not, and I didn't want to say anything to make it awkward."

Will had to fight back a huge grin that was itching it's way onto his face. "Trust me, it's definitely a date."

"Oh thank God," Nico breathed. "I was really hoping that this was a date."

"Cool," Will replied even though he knew that he was the complete opposite of 'cool'. Will pulled into a parking space in front of the movie theatre. "And...we're here!"

"With..." Nico checked the clock on his phone. "Twenty minutes until the movie is supposed to start, which is probably the earliest I've ever been to a movie."

"Are you just chronically late or...?"

"Most of the time, Percy is the one who usually drives me to the movies when I go with my friends. And if Percy is the driver, you're bound to constantly be late," He said with an eye roll. "I don't know if I've ever gotten to a movie when the ads are actually playing."

Will laughed and held open the door to the theatre so Nico could step inside. Raising an eyebrow, Nico commented, "I see chivalry isn't dead."

"Hilarious," Will said as he approached the ticket counter, where a girl with short curly-brown hair stood. "Two tickets for It please."

"Didn't realize that you were such a horror movie fan," Nico commented. He then attempted to give the girl at the register money, but Will smacked his hand away and handed the ticket girl his debit card. "I could've paid," Nico mumbled as we entered the theatre, trying his best to act annoyed even though Will noticed the corner of his lip quirking up as if he was about to smile.

"Well you know what they always say," Will winked. "The guy always pays for the first date."

"We're both guys."

"Do you ever stop being a menace?" Will joked. "And if you feel so bad, just buy the snacks. I'm pretty sure those cost just as much as the movie tickets."

"I'll buy you a whole large bag of popcorn to shut you up."

"You know what? I think that'd be great."

☼

Within thirty minutes, Will discovered that he absolutely hated horror movies.

He had tried his best to stay completely normal throughout the movie. Next to him, Nico very rarely reacted to the jump scares or terrifying moments. Nico looked so invested in the movie, and didn't seem to care about all the gory moments.

Will, on the other hand, was absolutely terrified. It took everything in him not to jump at every scary moment or just straight-up scream with fright. He didn't know if Nico could tell the distress he was under, but Will did not want him to know. Will wasn't going to admit anything if he didn't have to.

Unfortunately, one scare came out of nowhere, causing Will to jump in his seat and let out a small, scared noise. In the process, he accidentally grabbed onto Nico's hand on the arm rest in between him. Nico looked over at him and let out a small laugh. "You alright there?" Nico whispered.
"Fine," Will lied. "It just came out of nowhere."

Despite the terrifying scene playing out in front of them, Nico couldn't help but smile. "Don't worry. We can choose a less scary movie for our second date."

☼