Lullaby(Solangelo High School AU)

Otto

What terrified Will most was the fact that he would have to be near Nico for the next bunch of hours.

Sure, he had been near Nico for a bunch of hours for a few years of his life, but not after they both just shared a chat about their dead sisters. No thank you, he would rather not face Nico again.

Will wasn't actually sure why he was so scared. It wasn't like Nico would tell anyone about Kayla, seeing as how he had lost Bianca as well. But how was Will supposed to settle with that? A dollop of distrust and anxiety prickled into his usual indifferent feeling.

He tried to hide his anxiety as he and Luna silently walked to school. In his hand was a bag of donuts he had managed to buy before anyone had gotten home after Nico left for Octavian.

He was pretty disappointed Lou Ellen and Cecil weren't able to walk with him, but that was okay. They wouldn't need to know about Octavian demanding food from Will anyway.

"Hey Will!" Catherine chirped when he walked inside the school. Luna raised an eyebrow but sauntered over to her friends. Will gulped and waved as Catherine skipped over to him.

"Are you eating those?" Catherine asked, yanking the bag from Will and peeking inside it. She made a tsk tsk noise as she handed it back. "Don't you think you have enough fat on?"

Will glanced down at his body. "Uh, yeah. B-but I skipped breakfast and..."

Catherine's frown didn't lift but she nodded. She reached up and pecked Will on the lips. As she was still close she whispered, "People are looking at me weirdly because I'm dating a murderer."

Will felt a massive amount of terror surge through his body and he flinched. "I-I..I didn't k-k-kill anybody.."

"Loose some weight. Get popular. I don't wanna be a freak." Catherine smiled sweetly, kissed his cheek, and left to her locker.

Will stood rooted to the ground for a couple of seconds before he finally took a shaky step forward. He clutched the bag of donuts so hard he was worried the bag might rip.

With just his absolute amazing luck, Octavian snuck up behind him. He punched his back. "Oi, loser."

Will whirled around and shoved the bag into Octavian's chest. He didn't even wait to see his reaction before he zapped out of the hall.

He found himself running up the stairs and burst through onto the roof before he could even comprehend where he was going. Will's eyes drifted up into the blue sky. People say to not look at the sun. But Will never found pain flare his eyes whenever he did it.

Instead of sitting on the edge like he always did, Will flopped onto the floor, closing his eyes. He never stayed anywhere that wasn't the edge of the roof.

He didn't want to loose weight. Yesterday, he came home hungry and never wanted to do it again. He was leaning on the skinny side of normal weight anyways.

Then again, he didn't want Catherine to be called a freak. He didn't want anyone to be called a freak. But if he had to loose a couple of pounds to accomplish that...

Will shook his head. He could stand to loose a few pounds.

The bell squealed inside his head. Will wrinkled his nose, eyes reluctantly opening. The bright blazing stared back down at him. The distant muffled sounds of other reminded Will to get to class. Begrudgingly, Will slowly rose from the dirty floor and made his way back down.

He walked into English class, trying to ignore the taunts from Octavian and his friends.

~•~

Will bumped into Nico and the two fell to the floor.

Catherine, Lou, Cecil, and Hazel were there.

"Um, hey," Will greeted. Which is something perfectly normal to do when you just knocked over someone and is now towering over. Seriously, are they acting out a scene from an anime? Nico was sprawled on the floor while Will was on all fours on top of him.

"Hey." Nico's eyes glanced up to stare into Will's.

"Quit fucking with your eyes and get up!" Cecil laughed.

Will felt his face go warm. He stood up and offered a hand to Nico, pulling him up. His cheeks were dusted a light pink, but his expression was blank.

Catherine was frowning. "His girlfriend's right here," she announced, sending a pointed look at Cecil.

"I was kidding." Cecil rolled his eyes. "It was a joke."

"Um, so do you wanna come over again today?" Will blurted. It was said through his anxiety, so you can't blame him.

Nico blinked. He glanced at Hazel. She smiled and sent him a thumbs up. "Sure," he murmured to Will. Then he raised his voice to a normal talking volume. "Well, I'm heading to class. Bye."

Will watched as he and Hazel walked down the hall, Hazel throwing a wave behind her. Cecil jabbed his ribs. "Hey man," he said, "you're staring."

"What?" Will tore his eyes away. His gaze flickered from Cecil, to Lou, then finally landed on Catherine.

She didn't look happy. Really, she looked about ready to explode. Her face was red and her arms were crossed tightly. Will felt a strike of fear run down his spine. His heart began to beat faster and his breathing quickened. Catherine took a step toward him, and he felt his chest tighten.

"Can I come over tomorrow?" She asked sweetly, which was the opposite of what Will was expecting.

He hesitated. But Catherine was his girlfriend. And she's never been in his house before. "Sure," he said, nodding.

~•~

"So what do you want to do today?" Will asked as Nico followed him inside.

"You have an Xbox," he said, looking at the TV. Will nodded. "You ever played?"

"Plenty," Will answered, walking over. "With my brothers." He fiddled with a controller. "I..I stopped. It's been a while."

"What games?"

Will reached into the box sitting besides the TV. He opened it and pushed it towards Nico to look through. The box was pretty small, but was almost overfilled with games. It was Lee's favorite thing to do.

Nico fished one out. "Ever played this one?" He asked.

"All of them."

"I've seen this before," Nico opened it and handed it to Will, "but I've never had the chance to actually play."

"You poor unfortunate soul."

Nico paused. "That's a reference to something, right? Percy says it is."

Will's hands froze on the controller. "You've never watched The Little Mermaid?"

Nico shook his head.

Will Solace was offended.

"I can't believe this," he muttered, watching the screen as it began to load. Nico shrugged, hopping onto the couch. Will followed suit.

"Then believe it."

"We are having a Disney marathon."

"A what now?"

"Shut up and play the game before I explode."