Roommates//Solangelo AU

38

Will and Nico had driven in Will's yellow Volkswagen to the paintball war. Will wasn't really sure what to do, so he just trailed behind after Nico, as he seemed to know everyone there.

Nico was talking to some girl that Will vaguely remembered him saying was Hazel, his half sister. She was stealing glances at him and smirking, though Nico didn't seem to notice.

"And we move in in a week!" Hazel gushed. Though he wasn't paying attention (he was too busy staring at Nico), the blond concluded that Hazel was moving into a new home with (her boyfriend? Fiance? Husband?) Frank.

"Damn, Hazel," Nico said. "Look at you, moving into a house and all, and I still live in an apartment with a shitty roommate."

Hazel snickered. "Is he now? Or is he your boyfriend?" She wiggled her eyebrows mischievously.

"No, Hazel." If Will wasn't mistaken, he swore he heard nervousness in his friend's voice. His own face was probably beet red.

"Whatever you say, big brother."

Suddenly, the voice of Perseus Jackson rose above the rest of the sounds. "Attention!" He yelled. Once he was sure everyone was paying attention, he said, "Okay, so, I'm going to be going over the rules."

"So, I'm going to be giving everyone a special outfit to wear. You know, so you don't ruin your clothes. I've decided that this is gonna be a free-for-all; I'll let you guys decide for yourselves if you want alliances or not...

"Anyways, everyone is going to receive a paintball gun loaded with fifteen paintballs. Once you're out, you're out. Unless you get hit before you're out of paint, of course. First hit and you're done. Head shots count. Any questions?"

Will raised his hand awkwardly. "Um, how exactly do you shoot a paintball gun?"

"Oh! I forgot the mention that," Percy said. "So what you do first is you make sure the safety lever thing is off. You'll then need to cock the gun. But don't do those things until you're ready. You shoot it like any other gun, (hopefully none of you have experience in that department, haha). Anyways, if a white mist starts to come out of your paintball gun, it's the CO2 running low.  The CO2 is in the barrel of the gun with your paint balls. I have already loaded all of the guns; I used light colors so you can see the colors on the black outfits."

Everyone nodded, and Percy then said for them to come up and get their outfits. He also stated there was a bathroom where they could change. Will trailed after Nico, grabbing a shirt and long pants of the correct size to wear.

Before the teams were declared, Nico whispered to Will, "I'm gonna beat your ass." And then he smiled and walked off.

He then saw Hazel approach him. She had a smirk on her face, as if she knew something he didn't. "Hey," she said, "I just wanted to say thank you. Nico seems happy because of you. He...had been iffy before you came into his life. So thanks."

Will blinked a few times. "Oh, yeah, no p-problem," he replied awkwardly.

She nodded, dismissing the subject. "You ever go paint balling?"

"Nope. This is my first time."

"Prepare for some fun," Hazel said, winking mischievously.

Percy went over a few more basic rules, and then everyone went to their starting positions.

"Three...two...one...go!" Percy yelled, and all hell broke loose.

Will dashed behind a tree, barely missing a whizzing gray paintball.
He suddenly heard Calypso mutter a curse as she'd been hit. Meanwhile, Piper and Hazel high-fived. Apparently, this game went by quickly. He wouldn't know; he'd never played.