N i c o
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So apparently Will can't operate any sort of technology.
Nico would've found it hilarious if it weren't so frustrating while trying to do the project. Will could recite human anatomy facts off the top of his head and took a course load of advanced math and science classes, but he could barely figure out how to make a PowerPoint presentation.
The pair had chosen the story of the Minotaur for their English class project. While writing the actual argument had been easy enough for the pair, it was creating the presentation for the class that made the project so much more difficult.
"So you click on this to create the next slide?" Will asked Nico, pointing curiously at the laptop screen on the desk. "And then just start typing here?"
"How you made it through all of high school without figuring out how to make a PowerPoint is beyond me..." Nico muttered, rolling his eyes at Will's cluelessness when it came to operating computers.
"Hey!" Will exclaimed defensively, holding his hands up in front of him as if he was bracing himself against an attack. "All my high school ever talked about was Jesus, and they didn't have much in the way of nice technology like Goode does."
"Where the hell did you go to high school?"
"A tiny town in Texas," He answered before turning back to the computer and messing around with the different features on the PowerPoint app.
The slight, yet cute Southern drawl suddenly made a little bit more sense to Nico. Nico averted his gaze away from Will, praying that he wouldn't notice his embarrassed face.
"No offense, but most places in Texas sound like the absolute worst," Nico eventually said, earning a nod of agreement from the blonde-haired boy. "Anyways, did you type your argument up last night? Or did you need my help with that too?"
"Hilarious," Will glared, which seemed to intensify when Nico began to laugh at him for struggling to switch tabs between the PowerPoint and the document where he had typed up his argument. "Do you ever shut up?"
"Unfortunately, no. Anyways, you never answered my question from before."
"I got it typed," Will answered, but not without rolling his eyes again. "Minos was the one at fault. He never sacrificed that bull for Poseidon after making that agreement, so he should have been punished instead of his poor wife."
"Thanks for telling me your argument," Nico joked as he began to work on the PowerPoint slides. "Now I know exactly how to take you down."
Will raised an eyebrow and began to laugh at Nico in almost a mocking way. "You'd be lucky to take me down. I'll have you know I'm an excellent debater."
"You can't even create a PowerPoint on your own," Nico shot back. "Don't even try to come for me right now."
"That's low, di Angelo."
After a few laughs, Will and Nico fell quiet as they began to focus on their individual aspects of the presentation. Nico was thankful that Will wasn't someone who procrastinated and left projects until the very last minute unlike some people Nico knew – aka Leo. The person in question was sitting a few seats in front of Nico, poking Frank in the shoulder and annoying him to the point where Frank smacked him in the shoulder to shut him up.
The rain battered on the classroom window, drowning out the quiet conversations between classmates around Nico. For some weird reason, Nico couldn't help but sneak small glances at Will as he worked. Despite the grey outside world and dingy classroom lighting, Will's blonde hair still seemed as bright as ever, which Nico found to be incredibly strange.
"What are you staring at?"
Nico snapped to attention to see Will staring expectantly at him and awkwardly fidgeted in his seat. "Uh...nothing. Nothing at all."
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Leo and Frank's bickering had seemingly carried over into the lunch period that afternoon.
"Stop staring at Calypso, idiot," Frank pointed out with a loud laugh, snapping Leo out of his daze and causing him to raise his head from where it had been resting on his chin. "You're going to scare her off before you even talk to her."
"You're one to talk," Leo grumbled, crunching on a few potato chips as he gestured with his head in what Nico assumed was Hazel's direction. "And I'm not scaring her. I'm pretty sure she hasn't even noticed me."
Nico glanced at Leo's bright orange suspenders on top of his white t-shirt and his wild brown curls. "It's no wonder why. You're the perfect image of subtlety."
Leo narrowed his eyes at Nico. "I detect sarcasm."
"Was it that obvious?"
"Oh, shut up," Leo threw a chip at a laughing Nico's forehead, but even he couldn't help but crack a smile. "Anyways, is it just me, or is that English project an absolute nightmare?"
"Well, my partner sucks, so it's definitely just as awful for me."
"Well, fuck you too, Frank!" Leo shot back as Percy snorted with laughter. "Is today 'Attack Leo Day?'"
"That's every day," Percy chuckled. "You didn't know?"
"We sometimes plan insults the night before," Jason teased as he looked up from his Physics textbook for the first time that lunch period. "But you just make it so easy."
"I need new friends."
The conversation turned away from making fun of Leo to the awful Pre-Calculus test most of them had taken earlier that day. Nico wasn't really paying attention, as he had spotted Will across the lunch room, sitting at an empty lunch table in the corner. He was intently studying out of a huge anatomy textbook, and Nico couldn't help but feel a little bit bad that Will was sitting all alone like that. Frankly, Nico saw Will as the type of guy to be constantly surrounded by loads of friends.
At that moment, Nico made a sudden and impulsive decision. He stood up and picked up his lunch tray off the table, ignoring his friends behind him asking where he was going as he walked away towards Will's table.
Will didn't notice Nico until he slammed his tray down in front of him. "Are you seriously sitting alone?"
"Well hello to you too," Will muttered as he closed his textbook. "Why are you here?"
"I'm not allowing you to sit alone at lunch anymore," Nico told him assertively. "Starting right now, you're coming to sit at lunch with my friends. They're cool. You'll like them."
"And you're doing this because...?"
"We're friends. And even though you can annoy the crap out of me sometimes, friends don't leave each other to sit alone at lunch."
Will raised an eyebrow, but Nico could see the corners of his mouth turn up as if he was fighting back a smile. "We're friends now?"
Nico nodded, despite the small twisting feeling in his stomach that made him think that he might not see Will as just a friend. "Now are you coming or what?"
After thinking about the offer for a moment, Will grinned brightly and answered, "Why the hell not."
Across the cafeteria, the guys noticed Nico and Will walking over. Jason raised an eyebrow as Nico sat down at the table with Will beside him. Knowing him, he'll be teasing Nico about this for the next month – or more.
Whatever. Nico knew that he could just bring up the fact he'll be kissing Piper multiple times on stage, and Jason will shut up right away.
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