ELYSIAN, the riordanverse

12

SIGNIFICANT OTHER

'Oh come on, Mr. Solace. You have to have someone.' One of his students called out from the first row.

'Alicia, my love life has nothing to do with the human anatomy. So I would appreciate it if you listened.' Will replied, turning back to the board.

As he opened his mouth to start explaining, 'But Sir, technically the human anatomy has a lot to do with your love life.' One of the boys in the back said as Will rolled his eyes yet smiled at the stupid joke.

'Shut it, all of you. Open your books to page 394 and Mark, start reading.' Now there was no reason for Will to keep Nico a secret, not telling anybody but it was kind of fun. And he knew it really riled up his students, it was the buzz of the school anyway... 'Who is Mr. Solace's significant other?'

-

'Hey Nico, Hey Bianca.' Will said, walking into the living room of their home. His daughter came running up to him, 'Daddy!!!'

Will smiled and knelt down as Bianca leaped into his arms. 'Hey Bi, where's papa?'

She looked up at him with her big brown eyes and grinned. 'Papa cooking... p-pasa!!!' Will chuckled a little and stood up, walking over to the kitchen as Bianca followed him.

'Hey, Sunshine.' Will said, wrapping his arms around his husband who turned back and kissed him on the nose.

'Hey tesoro, when did you get back?' Nico asked as Will started to play with his hair. Will simply loved Nico's hair, it was kind of long and Nico always tied it back in a small ponytail.

Will was sure he could spend the whole day running his fingers through his husband's hair and looking at those beautiful brown eyes he fell in love with.

'Just a few minutes ago.' Nico hummed in acknowledgement, giving Will a taste of the pasta.

'It's wonderful, Nico but your lips taste better.' Will said innocently as his husband smacked him on the arm with the spoon.

But turning off the flame, Nico moved so he could see Will's wonderful azure eyes. 'My lips taste better, huh?' He said, whispering into the slightly shorter man's ear.

Will gulped and nodded slowly as Nico moved closer to his lips. Before the black-haired man could get any further though, their daughter came running into the room, her hands covering her eyes. 'Ew!! Papa, Daddy... No kissing!!!'

Will groaned in frustration as Nico chuckled and pressed a quick kiss to his lips, picking Bianca up. 'What happened, Bia?'

'Sowone... phone' Will nodded and walked over to the living room as Nico and Bianca could be heard laughing behind him. As he picked up his phone, a familiar voice said hi.

'Alicia?' Will asked.

'Uh, hey?' She said, sniffling a little.

'What happened to you? He asked, sitting down on the couch as the girl started to talk on the other end of the phone.

'Um, I-I came out to my parents as lesbian and they threw me out b-because they're homophobic apparently? And uh, I didn't know who else to call... I um, saw a p-pride flag in your office once so I thought you would be o-ok with it and uh-'

'Where are you right now, Alicia?' Will asked, cutting off the girl.

'Oh, um, on Rhodes Street, I'm sitting on a bench by the bakery there.'

'Ok, I'll be there in five minutes. Stay put and don't hang up.' Will said, telling Nico that he would be back home soon. And with that, he grabbed his car keys and ran out of the house.

-

'Alicia, tell me what happened, ok?' Will said, handing the girl a cup of hot chocolate as she sat down on the couch.

Alicia gulped and answered as the whole story came tumbling out. 'I came out to my parents, like I said before. And I had absolutely no idea that they were homophobic, I mean, we've met a few gay people before but they didn't say anything rude. So, I assumed they were ok with and I told them I was lesbian. But then, my parents started to yell at me and told me to get out of the house. I sort of just walked till I came across some place I knew and then I figured I should call somebody.' She stopped, wiping a tear from her green eyes and continued.

'I was thinking of calling my friends but I had no idea if them and their parents were homophobic or not so I thought of calling you because I saw-'

'A pride flag in my office once. Right.' Will continued, sighing. The redheaded girl didn't deserve this, Alicia was only fifteen and kicking her out? That was a step too far.

'M-Mr. Solace, you are ok with all of this, right?' Alicia said as Bianca came running into the room.

'Daddy, daddy... Who this? Who you?' The girl questioned as Alicia smiled at the four year-old.

As Will took Bianca in his arms, Nico walked inside, muttering curses under his breath. Alicia's eyes widened as the girl yelled, 'Papa!!!' and ran into the man's arms.

'Bia, didn't I tell you not to disturb daddy?' The man, who Alicia assumed to be Mr. Solace's boyfriend? Husband?

'But I wanted to see red girl!' The little girl whined, her brown hair bouncing up and down. The black-haired man sighed and shook his head. 'Will, you ok if we stay down here?'

Will let out a chuckle and nodded as Bianca's face lit up and she sat down on her father's lap. 'To answer your question Alicia, as you can see... I have a kid and an husband so I think I'm fine with you being lesbian.'

Alicia let out a small chuckle as he curiosity got the best of her. 'So this is your significant other?' She said, motioning to the brown-eyed man who sat next to her teacher.

Will hummed in reply, 'Alicia, meet my husband Nico Solace-di Angelo. Nico, meet Alicia, one of my top students.'

Alicia grinned as she saw how Nico's mouth grew into a smile as Will introduced him. Nico extended a hand to her and shaking it, she turned to Will.

'Well, would you look at that? I finally solved the case.' The two burst into laughter as Nico sat there, shaking his head at his dorky husband. But the husband he loved to hell and back.