𝕀 𝕄𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕂𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕄𝕪 𝔼𝕩 (𝓢𝓸𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓵𝓸)

Chapter 1.4

"How are you supposed to get a boyfriend?" Hazel questioned, staring down at the texts in the group chat. "And this last minute, I might add."

Nico shrugged. "The regular. Go to Starbucks, find a cute guy, give him my number. Hopefully he'll text me, ask me out, go into public with me on a date, get Percy to go there at the same time as us so he knows. Act all lovey-dovey with the new guy."

"At this point, you might as well plan your marriage with this mystery guy," Hazel snorted.

Nico shoved her away lightly. "Shut up, Hazel. This plan is going to work, alright?"

"It better," Hazel rolled her dark brown eyes. "If it doesn't, the entire meeting last night was for nothing and Annabeth's help won't be needed."

"Yeah, we can't let her down," Nico added, nodding his head. "She really wanted to help us get back at him, so this had better work out."

Around the corner of the street was Will Solace, a cup of steaming hot coffee in his hands. His eyes were glued to his phone, scrolling through something with an expression of intent.

"Hot guy at 12:00," Hazel whispered.

Nico's head whipped up, face-to-face with the blond. The cup slipped out of Will's hands, spilling onto the sidewalk. "Oh, fuck!"

"Sorry, Will-" Nico apologized, shoving a few dollars into Will's hands to replace the coffee. "That was my fault."

"You already know each other?" Hazel narrowed her eyes on Will, almost sizing him up. "How?"

"You must be Hazel." Will outstretched his hand to shake hers. "To answer your question, Nico and I were friends in High school. After college, we parted ways and drifted apart slowly."

"Huh." Hazel tapped her chin, wiggling her eyebrows. "Nico, that's funny. We just ran into someone you already know."

"I know what you're thinking," Nico scowled, shaking his head. "No, that'll never happen. Don't even think about it."

"What's going on?" Will chuckled, staring at the two of them with a confused expression. "Am I missing something?"

"The friend group is still together," Hazel blurted. "They got together last night to explain the situation between Percy and Nico."

"Oh, yeah," Will cringed. "I'm still sorry about that, Nico."

"It's alright," He grumbled. "Hazel-"

"We decided to get revenge on Percy by trying to hook him back in," Hazel continued, gaining Will's interest and attention. "Nico's plan was elaborate, but we're missing one thing."

Will frowned. "And what's that?"

Hazel smirked. "A boyfriend. If Nico were to get another partner, then Percy would be jealous and want him back."

Will opened his mouth to speak, but Nico cut him off before he could. "Hazel, we can't ask him such a thing. He has his own life now."

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Hazel batted his eyelashes at the taller male, clasping her hands together in prayer for added emphasis.

Back in High School, Will was notoriously bisexual. The group was really popular, so nobody bullied him for coming out. After speaking to his friends, they all realized he preferred boys over girls, but was still attracted to women.

"No, but-"

Nico interrupted him yet again. "Hazel, stop! You can't pry like that! This was a mistake, we should just go home."

"Nico-" Will pressed a hand against his old friend's shoulder. "It's okay, really. If it's not too much trouble, I want to help you get revenge. Percy hurt a lot of people in high school, but nobody seemed to notice."

Nico furrowed his brow at Hazel in confusion. "What did he do?"

"This was while he dated you, so I didn't want to be rude and tell you guys how rude he was being," Will shrugged. "Percy came to my house one night after drinking a lot and made himself at home. My mom wasn't there, so I just let him stay the night."

"I don't see the problem here," Nico grumbled, crossing his arms at his chest.

"That happened almost every day for a month. He never asked for permission, so I stopped trying to take care of him when he was drunk," Will continued. "Percy got mad at me when his hangover was basically splitting his head in half. He trashed my house when I was at band practice and got me grounded for three weeks."

"And you didn't say anything?" Hazel squeaked. "He destroyed your house and you stayed silent?"

Will nodded, pursing his lips. "I thought you'd get angry at me."

"But you weren't-" Nico paused, remembering everything from High School. He rubbed his forehead, staring at the ground. "You're telling me that you didn't want me to get mad about my boyfriend being a fucking dumb-ass, so you idly stood by my side even when I ditched you?"

"You did what?" Hazel squealed. She raised her hand and slapped her brother upside the head. "Tell me why your friendship went downhill!"

"Ouch!" Nico winced, holding the spot on his head where Hazel's hand touched.

"Nico and I were never best friends, but we were in the same friend group and trusted each other," Will started to explain. "He and Percy started dating at some point, and that was when Percy began making us regret befriending him. The majority of us stayed silent to protect Nico, but that was what broke us up."

"Thalia, Rachel, and Will left our group after enough was enough," Nico added. "Did Percy really cause that, Will?"

Will nodded silently. "I didn't want to be the one to tell you, but he was a jerk to the rest of us."

"What happened next?" Hazel demanded.

"Well, we all went our separate ways after college," Will shrugged. "I stayed far away from them because I was afraid of getting hurt again. My life has been normal ever since. Until Nico finally called me back and drunkenly entered my car, that is."

Nico buried his head in his hands with embarrassment. "I'm still ashamed of that, you know."

"This is perfect, Nico!" Hazel jumped for joy, clapping her hands together. "Percy knows who Will is, so if you two dated, then he'd be extra jealous!"

"I can't just ask him to-"

"I'll do it," Will replied firmly.