New Rome- A Solangelo School Fanfic

Chapter 6

"Neeks? Neeeeks." Nico was chewing on his pencil eraser before Will began calling his name.

Scowling, Nico glanced up from his calculus homework. "What?"

Will poked his head in, appearing bashful. "Help."

"Will, what did you do?"

Sheepishly, Will stepped in with a Chinese finger trap connecting his two index fingers.

The sight of his adult boyfriend getting stuck in a device made for young children sent Nico into a fit of laughter. Now it was Will's turn to scowl, although his ever-present grin still lit up his eyes.

"You idiot! Did you try looking it up online?" Nico coughed between breaths.

Will held his hands up in response, stifling a snigger.

"Oh yeah." Still snickering, Nico got to his feet to assist Will.

Nico inspected the trap. "Ok, just press your fingers together and I'll keep it in place so you can escape."

After Will followed Nico's instructions, Nico held the trap in its constricted form, allowing Will to release his fingers. The expression of relief on Will's face threw Nico into another laughter induced spasm. Nico fell back on his bed, still holding the fingertrap. But as he was rolling around, the trap got caught on his middle finger. When Will noticed, he began to chortle as well. In response, Nico flipped Will off with the fingertrap, still giggling like a tipsy girl who just got out of a bar.

Nico removed the trap independently and reached out for Will, pulling him onto the bed on top of him. Their lips briefly made contact, a quick peck. Smiling, Will went in for another kiss, this one longer. Nico embraced Will and they remained this way for an undefined amount of time. It could've been a second, it could've been an eon, Kronos froze time for them to get lost in each other.

Will pulled back, grinning, and flopped beside Nico. Their fingers entwined and rested on Will's chest.

"Will?" Nico turned to Will. "I really missed you while you were in California, I missed everyone."

"Don't worry, you're gonna see them again soon." Will hid a smile.

It took a moment for Nico to process what Will said. "Wait, for camp?"

Will beamed like the sun. Suddenly excited, Nico propped himself up.

"Really? Wait, everyone?" The elation in Nico's eyes was worth losing the fact that Will would no longer have Nico to himself.

Immediately, Nico jumped off the bed and ran to the other room. Knowing that he would be back soon, Will remained where he was and allowed his eyes to wander around the room. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't completely black. Of course, the furniture all had Nico's signature black coloration, but the walls were blue. Navy blue but blue nonetheless. It reminded Will of his own eyes.

Just like his own room, furniture wasn't abundant. Simply populated by a desk, a matching chair, a rug, and a bed, a closet containing his clothes. The room itself wasn't too large, certainly not as big as Will's room. Still, it would feel very open if not for the band posters that covered the entirety of one of the walls. Surprisingly enough, he spotted record covers from 1940's jazz artists like Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald compiled with posters of Led Zepplin, Coldplay, and Pink Floyd, the combination was certainly strange. But sensible, considering the era he came from and the people he was trapped with in the Lotus.

It wasn't long before Nico returned, a grin overtaking his face, hands behind his back.

"I was planning on giving her to you once I got to California but I want to be able to show everyone her tricks."

Will realized that he was saying "her". "Her? Nico, did you get me a zombie?"

Laughing, Nico's eyes shone. He withdrew his hands from behind his back to reveal... a pile of bones. Little bones, like bones of a kitten or a rabbit.

Will's face split into confusion, attempting to decipher what was presented to him. "Sweet, but I'm the son of Apollo, not Hermes. I can't make musical instruments out of bones."

"That's not what it's for, idiot." Nico chanted something beneath his breath, then set the bones on the bed. Immediately, they began to fuse together, creating a creature. A cat. It flicked its tail and twitched its ears, looking around the room.

"Oh my gods, she's beautiful!" Smiled Will, scooping her up in his palms. She was so small and light, it was like holding a stuffed animal that wasn't stuffed.

"That's not even the best part." Nico snapped his fingers and Will realized that there was a thin membrane coating the tiny vertebrae. Suddenly, she was covered in fur, bright orange like a tangerine.

Will recalled something Percy and Annabeth had mentioned before, sabertooth tigers that were also skeletal kittens.

"Hey Nico, did you happen to dig this out of Tartarus?" Nico laughed.

"Of course not, I'm not stupid... But I might've dug it out of somewhere else." Puzzled, Will inspected the kitten further, gasping upon realizing exactly what it was.

"Holy schist, Asha?" Asha meowed at the mention of her name.

"I remembered when you told me that your kitten was hit by a car when you were 10, so I snuck into your backyard and dug it up." He paused. "Also, you might want to tell your mom that I'm not a demon. I probably shouldn't have come at night."

Will laughed, imagining his mother's expression upon discovering a dark, hooded boy, digging up a skeleton before disappearing into the shadows.

Asha mewed, jumping down onto the bed, padding around the bedding before curling up beside Will.

Looking up, Nico saw the tears of joy in Will's eyes. "Thank you, Neeks. She was my first and last pet. Twice over now, I guess."

He pecked Nico on the lips, before stroking Asha's back, making the tiny critter purr.

"No problem, Sunshine." Whispered Nico, smiling.

Enjoying it? Hopefully. I know that Solangelo is typically snarkier than this, but I imagine they'd be super lovey-dovey if they'd been away from one another for so long.

Also, note, I just realized that people are actually reading this. I didn't expect that. Truly. So... Thank you! Especially to that person that voted for me, I didn't even know what that was! I just thought it was a like, although same thing I suppose!