Chapter Text
Fuck.
He had missed. Again, and again, and again.
No matter how many times he tried, how many planes he made, how carefully he aimed. He missed every single time.
After another failed attempt, Will rested his head on his hands. He could feel a few coworkers staring, but he ignored them. His head was throbbing and his arm was so tired he could barely even move it anymore.
He glanced out the window. His stranger was still there. He hadn’t written much on the paper in front of him, Will’d noticed.
A hand ran through golden locks and rested on his forehead. He could try as much as he wanted but if the fates were against him, what was he supposed to do?
Will leaned back on his chair. A rush of wind came through the open window beside him and he wanted to scream. It was all because of that goddamn wind. Will already hated winter, but now? He despised it. He thought that if he had a genie, he’d ask him to make winter disappear. He’d also wish paper planes were never invented in the first place.
Frustrated, Will took a look at his desk. It was a mess. His pens had been tossed aside to make space for his plane making and there were a few drops of blood here and there from the cuts on his fingers. The tray previously full of paper was now completely empty. Will’s eyes lingered on it and he could feel something boiling in him. He was mad. He was upset, frustrated, annoyed, he was sick of this.
There was only one page left on his desk. It was unsigned and full of boring text. It was also crinkled in the center.
He held it. What was even the point of keeping it anymore? He’d probably forget that stranger in a few days anyways. And even if he didn’t, it’d just be a funny story to tell at parties: “ I once met a cute guy at the station and then threw like 50 paper planes out my office’s window! Haha I know, so ridiculous.”
All of this was just a waste of time.
Without thinking, Will turned that last page into a plane, a motion that had become almost mechanical to him by now, and threw it out the window just like he had with the others.
Without even bothering to look back at it, he grabbed his stuff. He needed some air.
“I’m going on my break,” he offered a quick explanation to one guy who was looking at him, puzzled. And so, Will got on the elevator, coat on, and left.
Unbeknownst to him, though, the wind seemed to have calmed down and, for once, be in his favor.
——————————————————
Nico could remember many things from his childhood.
A memory that particularly stood out in that moment was when he went to an amusement park with his sister and mother back in Italy, his home country. By then, he was around 7 years old. Nico had been so excited to finally hop on a roller coaster for the first time that he hadn’t shut up about it the whole time they were there. But when the moment finally came, he couldn’t ride it. He felt nervous, scared. And so, he stayed down.
Later, he would cry to his sister and mother in regret. He wanted to go back and get on the rollercoaster, at least just once. He whined and kicked and cried. He really was a handful as a kid.
He could recall his sister, Bianca, getting annoyed: “Stop it, Nico! Stop moping! You had your chance and you missed it. We’re not going back. Move on.”
Maybe it sounds harsh, but she was also a kid back then. And in a way, she was right.
Right then, sitting in class with a pen in his hand and his head in the clouds, those words kept repeating themselves in Nico Di Angelo’s mind.
His day had started off terribly. He hated waking up early. Now add “waking up early to revise uni notes” to the equation. To sum up: he felt miserable.
And then, the day had turned just a bit better.
But it was in the past now. He was back to feeling awful, but this time for a whole different reason.
When he arrived at Elysium that morning, the first thing he’d done was asking his best friend Reyna to switch places with him. Usually, Nico would sit by the window, but he needed something to get his head off things and paying attention to class seemed like the easiest way.
Needless to say, it wasn’t working.
Nico really wanted to talk to someone. He first thought about Reyna, but as much as he loved her he just couldn’t see himself going to her for something of this nature. The next option were his cousins Percy and Jason…
Never mind, they were not an option.
So that only left his sister, half sister, technically, Hazel. She’d told Nico their dad wanted to talk to her, though, so he guessed she wasn’t available.
Therefore, he kept this misery to himself.
While he may have seemed composed at the moment, Nico was very much not. Mentally, he was slamming his head against a wall. Because of course Nico couldn’t bring himself to ask the pretty blond, with bright blue eyes and a blinding smile, for his number. Or his name.
He’d been so close to it too, after their initial conversation, which was shocking in itself. Nico wasn’t one to talk to strangers. Or anyone, really. He didn’t know what it was about the blond that got him to do it, and then to take out his phone and try to muster up the courage to ask.
He was sure Reyna had noticed something was wrong. She kept throwing glances at him as if she wanted to ask but didn’t know how.
After many long, excruciating hours, classes finally ended for them. They remained sitting down as Reyna and Nico took their time to put their things away.
“So… Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.”
That was apparently enough for her. Nico knew she wouldn’t make him say anything he didn’t want to. He just wanted to go home and sleep. Suddenly a gust of wind came by and made them both shiver. The classrooms were mandated to keep the windows open at all times.
Nico grabbed his phone and started texting Hazel. He wanted to know how her conversation had gone. Just a moment later, he heard a commotion next to him and something hitting the table.
“What…?” Reyna was backed up against her chair, staring wide eyed at whatever had just come through the window. It was…
“A paper plane?”
“A paper plane.” Reyna parroted, still confused.
Nico stared at the paper where it laid upside down on the table. The impulse had caused some of Reyna’s pens to fall to the floor, so Nico leaned down to pick them up for her.
“Where did it even come from? We’re on the third floor.” he enquired.
Reyna acknowledged his question by moving her head and leaned out the window. Had it been anyone else, Nico would’ve told them to be careful. Given this was Reyna, he knew she’d be fine.
“I have no idea…” she moved her head around. A moment later, she stopped as if the girl had spotted something. “There’s an open window over there. Maybe it’s a prank.”
She moved over so Nico could take a look himself. She was right. The window above theirs from the opposite building was open and seemed to have quite a clear path to theirs. However, “There’s no one there, though.”
Reyna shrugged as Nico went back inside and to his seat, “As I said, probably an unfunny prank.”
Still, something about this made Nico feel uneasy. He shook his head and tried to pass it off as tiredness. As Reyna copied a few notes from another classmate (despite his attempts at focusing, Nico had taken none) he absentmindedly grabbed the airplane.
It felt familiar for some reason. He read some of the words. He was sure he had read them before but he couldn’t place how nor where.
Until he felt the breeze coming from the window.
Then he could place where he had seen it before.
But there was no way.
Rapidly, he undid the paper plane. There, now with some new marks where the paper had been folded, he was holding a familiar sheet full of technical words he couldn’t fully understand. It was also crinkled in the center.
Nico remembered the paper threatening to fly away with the wind.
Remembered rushing to grab it.
Remembered feeling awful when the only way he had managed to do so was by wrinkling it.
Remembered giving it back to his owner: The blond man he had met at the station that morning. His relieved face when he got the paper back, the way he’d smiled at him even after being hit with Nico’s notes and laughed at his comments on the horrors of waking up early, the look on his face as he watched Nico leave.
Holy shit.
Nico stood up abruptly, making Reyna jump. Without even bothering to take his things, he tightened his grip on the paper plane and rushed out the door.
——————————————————
Will knew it made no sense to get himself worked up about this.
Ping!
The elevator came to a stop at the bottom floor of the building. In contrast to his dark, dead looking department, the rest of the place was modern and bright, probably due to Zeus Grace’s big investments in the interior designs of the offices to encourage employees to work better.
When he walked out and towards the reception, a bunch of people were sitting around drinking coffee. Will was just now realising how thirsty he was. Considering he had decided on a whim to go on his break, he could at least make it worth something and go buy something to drink.
He adjusted his coat, bracing himself for the winter cold.
Will walked through the glass doors and stepped outside. He felt so tired. Puffing a breath of air, he sighed ‘ I need a coffee’.
He then turned and began walking away.
“H-Hey!” a voice shouted from behind him. Will stiffened as he recognized it.
But there was surely no way.
Will tried to contain the small flame of hope that had lit up inside him as he turned around.
Outside the doors to Elysium university stood a man, slightly younger than him. His black hair was disheveled and strands fell from the ponytail that held it up. He was pale and had slight eye bags under his deep, brown eyes, caused by having to wake up earlier than usual despite his hate for mornings. He had his hands on his knees and was panting as if he had just ran down a flight of stairs.
In his right hand, he held a paper airplane.
They stood there for a moment staring at each other and Will just couldn’t understand what was happening but oh gods it was him.
Swallowing, his stranger crossed the street towards him. The raven was shaking. It was probably from the cold weather. When they stood face to face, silence enveloped them. The stranger then spoke while averting Will’s eyes, his Italian accent slipping through.
“Hi.”
…
“... uhm, we didn’t… I haven’t properly introduced myself have I? This morning, I mean.” His voice was shaky and his cheeks were slightly tainted.
WIll’s throat was dry.
The stranger, his stranger, extended his free hand.
“I’m Nico di Angelo. It’s… uhm- nice to meet you.”
The blond’s mind raced almost as fast as his heart because that was such a pretty name for such a pretty guy. Before, he was too stunned to smile. Now, he had to control himself not to smile too much. He took the raven’s hand.
“Will Solace. The pleasure’s all mine.”
For a moment, there they stood, looking at each other awkwardly but oh, so happy. Will decided to be the one to speak this time.
“I was actually just going to get something to drink. Do you want to come with?”
The invitation caught the man, Nico, off guard. He nodded slightly, face buried in his coat’s high neck. Will’s face hurt from smiling but he just couldn’t stop.
“Alright then, let’s go.”
Still with his hand on Nico’s, Will led the way.