Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The morning breeze made the leaves of nearby trees dance to the noise of the wind, the sun just starting to hit them, giving them a golden hem. The streets were mostly empty and the night was just now giving space for the day to begin. Although winter was starting and the summer heat was long gone, the sky was clear with a light blue color.

No one wishes to wake up early for work on a cold Tuesday morning. Perhaps that’s why the train station was desolate except for a very small number of people. Two men were sleeping: one on the floor and the other on a bench at the center of the place. A young woman was getting a snack from a bending machine near the corner. She had most likely skipped breakfast and was preparing for when hunger would, inevitably, hit her. A few people, probably students, were slowly coming into the station and talking loudly while waiting for the train to arrive.

A blond man with sky blue eyes was checking something on his briefcase, which was filled with papers. None of them was especially important, but he was still assigned to carry them around. He was young, nearing 20 years old, and while if you asked him what he’d like to do with his life, working in an office wouldn’t be near the top 20, he felt guilty not helping his parents pay for him to attend medical school, and so that’s what he found himself doing. The job was easy, if not way too easy, the pay was good, although he couldn’t say the same about his coworkers, and it was a fair deal, so he couldn’t complain.

The man, William, shivered through his big coat. While he personally didn’t mind working so early, Will much preferred hot, sunny days. Many people would make fun of this and its correlation to his last name: Solace. it didn’t bother him though. He couldn’t help his preferences. 

As more and more people filled the station, Will wished he had stopped to get that coffee he had thought about buying earlier, at least to have something to do while he waited. A strong wind came, making Will tuck his free hand in his pocket and tighten his grip around the briefcase. Then, something hit him.

Literally speaking.

Will was startled and it took him a second to finally lift his hand and pull the sheet of paper away from his face. They were notes, probably from one of the students nearby. It was then that he noticed someone running over to him.

“Mine! That’s mine, sorry.” The man came to a stop right next to the blond. He had his hands on his knees and was panting heavily. 

‘ He must have run here’ Will thought. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” With a smile, he extended the paper to the other man, who finally looked up at him.

He had pale skin and seemed to be the same age as him, if not a little younger. He was wearing many layers of clothing, but Will could still notice how thin he was. Suddenly it made sense for him to be so drained after a run. The man stood up straight, proving to be shorter than the blond, and took the paper before wiping some sweat off his forehead. His dark hair was sticking to it and a few strands had come loose from his short ponytail.

There was something about his disheveled appearance that Will found surprisingly charming.

“Thanks” the man moved from where he was standing in front of Will to his side. The stranger had a slight Italian accent, the blond noted.

“No problem. Tough morning?” Maybe it was a little forward to strike a conversation just like that, but Will’s interest peaked and he couldn’t help himself.

“Every morning’s tough.” The blond chuckled at that and the stranger seemed to find that as a sign to keep going, “I forgot to revise my notes last night so I had to wake up earlier than usual today, though. So yeah, not doing great.”

Dark circles could be noticed under the man’s chocolate brown eyes. ‘So that explains it.’ Will smiled slightly. The raven stared at him.

“...You’re a morning person, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, is it that obvious?”

The stranger sighed, the cold turning his breath into fog “Only a morning person could smile so much so early”

Will almost laughed. Almost . Really, even though he did love mornings, he didn't usually smile 'so much so early'. He had just happened to find someone pleasant to talk to today.

“I just feel more productive when I wake up early,” the blond shrugged. “Plus, I like watching the sunrise.”

The stranger hummed, but his expression clearly showed how terrified he was at the mere idea of waking up to watch the sunrise every day. Silence sat between them and Will just couldn’t seem to take his eyes off the other man. He kept throwing glances at him, noting the way his hair moved with the breeze, how he was turning a skull ring around his finger on his left hand and how dry his lips were. 

He kept subtly looking his way until he caught the stranger’s eyes, who seemed to have been glancing at him as well. They held each other's gazes for a moment before bashfully looking away. Suddenly Will felt very aware of himself. He needed something to keep himself busy. Attempting to appear calm and collected, he opened his briefcase and started checking if everything was in order for the tenth time in the past hour. From the corner of his eye, he saw the stranger pull out his phone.

‘ Alright’ he took a deep breath. Despite the cold, he was suddenly feeling a little warm. ‘ Everything's fine, just calm down.’

Except everything wasn’t fine, because at that very moment a gush of wind came and suddenly he wasn’t holding his papers anymore.

Shit.

He struggled to catch as many sheets as he could before they were out of his reach. The stranger had his eyes open wide watching the scene when one of the papers flew in front of his face and past him, towards the stairs to their left. Quickly, the raven rushed forward and grabbed it from the center of the page. 

Will could feel his soul coming back to his body the second he grabbed the page and counted them all again. The page the man had handed him was wrinkled from where he had caught it, but it didn’t matter. They were all there. He sighed in relief.

“Pfft-“

Will turned around to find the stranger smiling, trying to stifle a laugh behind his hand. 

And suddenly he couldn’t see nor hear anything else. It then hit Will that this was the first time since they’d met that he had heard the raven laugh.

Will felt something funny in his stomach.

He was definitely feeling warm now .

Too busy with his inner turmoil, he must have been staring, because the stranger looked at him and his smile went from amused to shy. Gods, he looked adorable. 

Will wanted to say something. Had to say something.

He opened his mouth to speak and the man looked at him.

“Ehrm… I-“

But he was cut short as the train arrived at the station. In a matter of seconds, the previously empty car started being flooded with people and Will had to stop and wonder when the station had gotten so full. 

The stranger took a deep breath and started heading towards the doors. Seeing how the blond wasn’t moving, he turned and waved goodbye with an awkward smile before taking a seat. 

And just like that, he was gone.

Will was still frozen in place, processing what had happened.

When he came back to reality, he realized that he had forgotten to ask the cute stranger for his number. Or his name, for that matter. He sank to the floor in frustration.

He then also realized that he should have boarded that same train, and now he had to wait half an hour for the next one to arrive alone with his thoughts.

Chapter Text

In the end, William Solace was half an hour late for work, a fact that his boss was not happy about.

The blond worked in an office in the center of the city that belonged to a very successful law firm. Will himself did not have any experience or knowledge on the subject, but he had managed to get a job because of his father’s connection to the CEO. That didn’t sit very well with the other people in his department, who always gave him the cold shoulder when he would pass them by. William didn’t fully understand though. 

He supposed if he was in their situation, he’d feel the same way. Anyone would. But this department was pretty much the charity case of the company. They just appointed the useless employees to that dark room full of dust to sign meaningless papers all day and paid them to keep them satisfied and make them feel like an important asset to the company.

Of course he’d never bring this to anyone’s attention. No one likes feeling useless. Will didn’t mind being disposable, though. Sure, the job was boring, but it paid and if he finished quickly he could even work on his assignments. Med school ended up being harder than he thought, but he liked it either way.

With his briefcase in hand, he walked over to his desk next to the window, greeting his coworkers (who not-so-kindly ignored him), and let himself fall into his chair, defeated. 

The walk to the building from the train station had ended up being one of the worst experiences of his life. His head would keep going back to the stranger from earlier.

‘ I should’ve asked for his number… ’

He had beat himself up about that fact ever since the raven boarded his train. Will could’ve at least asked what his name was. He felt like smiling as he recalled their interactions. 

And now Will would probably never see him again.

He sighed, feeling awful already. He wanted to go home. Will shook these thoughts out of his head and decided to just start working already, laying his briefcase on top of his desk and pulling the sheets out. He couldn’t help but notice that someone had laid another pile of papers on his desk. Great.

Will stretched his hands over his head, preparing for another long day, and as always, looked out the window for a while. The building stood just in front of the Elysium university, a prestigious technical school that had been there for over 200 years. Truly, the city’s pride and joy. The classrooms were usually empty as classes took place at night, but it seemed there had been a change to their schedule, because they were now being filled with students.

Will would have just passed it off as a fun observation and gone on with his work if he hadn’t spotted a familiar mop of black hair through the window across and 2 floors down from his own. Will had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.

Oh gods, it was him .

The stranger from the station sat down next to a girl who was already seated by the window and he could finally get a look at his face. Will was far away, but he could have recognized him anywhere. Hell, that face hadn’t left his mind for the past hour and a half.

What was he doing standing there? He had to do something.

Will started moving his hands out the window, trying to get the raven’s attention. Seeing as it wasn’t working, he got back inside only to be met with strange looks from his coworkers. Embarrassed, he tried to laugh it off and everyone casted him one last judgemental look before going back to work.

But Will couldn’t.

His eyes would just go back to that man, who was intently staring forward as he listened to the lecture and would occasionally take down notes. 

He needed to talk to him.

He really wanted that stranger to smile at him again.

Will desperately looked around, trying to find a way to get him to look over to him. That was when something on his desk caught his eye: One of his sheets, crooked in the center where the stranger had grabbed it. He recalled how a flying piece of paper had brought this man into his life.

And suddenly, an idea popped up.

Grabbing one paper from the pile, he folded it once, and twice, then one more time, and he kept going until he was holding a paper plane in his hand.

‘ This is so stupid ’

But he couldn’t come up with anything better, so he gave it a shot either way. 

Aiming for the classroom’s window, Will threw the paper plane.

And missed.

The blond watched as the little plane flew off with the wind. He hadn’t put enough force into throwing it. Damn it.  

He prepared another one.

——————————————————

Leo was not having a good day.

He walked out of the university’s building feeling dejected. He wasn’t a student there (not yet, at least), but he’d just had a meeting with the head of the board of trustees to try and talk his way into getting a scholarship. Usually, his amazing performance in both maths and physics during his school years would have been enough to get him into any other institution free of charge, but of course Elysium was different.

If any of his old classmates looked at him in that moment, his normally messed up, curly hair brushed in an attempt to make it look nicer, his dirty clothes replaced by the only good shirt he had, which had once belonged to his father, and his ever present smile gone, they wouldn’t believe their eyes. 

In the end, it was all for naught. 

He was pissed. At the board, at life, at himself. Leo Valdez had always been an outspoken, confident person, so why did he get so nervous back there? He’d barely managed to utter a coherent sentence, much less a correct equation. Then again, he was always better at practice than at theory.

Leo needed this scholarship. Granted, he could always go to another technical school, but attending Elysium wasn’t just his lifelong dream, but his mother’s too. And, sure, the orphanage had taken care of paying for his education and new clothes every now and then, but even if he used every single penny he had saved up over the past 10 years he’d never be able to pay tuition in such a place.

Therefore, a scholarship was his only way in.

And he had busted it.

Leo clenched his fist, crushing the small trinket he was playing with inside of his pocket. He felt angry, exasperated and so, so humiliated. He had acted like such a fool that, in the end, the boy had had to throw himself to the floor and beg for another chance to prove himself. Luckily, no one could say no to the ‘poor orphan boy’ act, not even the merciless Elysium board of trustees. But that didn’t make them any less ruthless, as apparently their idea of a “second chance” was giving him one day to make a model of his choice and defend it in front of the university’s professors.

It wasn’t that he didn’t have the skill to do it, but they were demanding something big from him, some great idea, and he had none. None good enough anyways. 

As much as Leo wanted to stay positive, he couldn’t find it in him to do so. 

So he walked, slowly, with his head down and started heading to the bus stop. He just wanted to go home.

But in that very moment, something fell from the sky, on his head. Leo yelped, jumping, and then looked around hoping no one had been there to witness such an embarrassing reaction. Curious, he raised a hand to his head and pulled the object away from his dark curls. 

It was a paper plane.

Despite himself, Leo smiled a little. He remembered loving planes as a kid and pestering his poor mother all day for her to make dozens of paper planes as he always broke them in less than a second.

He could recall the first time he was given a plane toy. Not a paper one, but an actual, miniature plane his mother had built specially for his birthday. 

Leo felt puzzled, but his mood had been lifted quite a bit. He adored his mother and he loved remembering his time with her as a troublesome child. His eyes stung.

Leo blinked the memories away and tried to find whoever had thrown the plane, but there was no one around. He couldn’t fight the smile that rested on his face. ‘Welp, if nobody wants the plane back then might as well keep it.‘

Later that day, as Leo sat down at his work table, messing with some mechanism he decided to try out, his eyes drifted over to the small paper plane. He grabbed it, threw it and watched it fly for a bit before landing on the floor of his room. As he went to pick it up, he couldn’t help being a little fascinated. Now that he thought about it, Leo had always felt drawn to things that fly. Right after his plane obsession ended, he replaced it with a new object of interest: dragons.

Even as an adult, Leo still found dragons cooler than planes. They fly and throw fire? Now that’s what he’s talking about.

Then again, planes were real and something that could actually be built so…

‘Hold up.‘

Leo’s eyes widened. He rushed to his desk, tripping over a dirty shirt that had been tossed on the floor some time in the past month, and pulled out a sheet of paper.

He had an idea.

It took Leo an all-nighter and 13 cups of black coffee to finish the blueprints and the miniature model of his new project. And while, based on their expressions, a flying, flame throwing mechanical dragon was clearly not what the board had in mind when they had given him another chance, they seemed pleased with his job.

And so, Leo Valdez would be able to add “graduated from Elysium technical school” to his resume in just a few years.

Chapter Text

Will must have thrown five more airplanes before he started drawing his coworkers‘ attention. Normally, he would give them an apologetic smile and go back to work, but right then, he couldn’t care less. All he could think about was him and getting his attention.

It was almost mechanical now: grab a paper, make a plane, aim, throw. And every time, he would miss. The wind was still strong and the window was hard to reach. But he didn’t stop. He wouldn’t.

Hope warmed his heart and made him keep going.

‘Alright’ Will told himself ‘ just one more’

——————————————————

Piper was cold.

She had seen the forecast before leaving her house but, naturally, she had just assumed they were exaggerating. Letting out a puff of air, the girl sank her face into her hand-knitted scarf. Her hair, usually tucked in a loose braid, was now falling slightly under her shoulders, her messy and unevenly cut strands standing up in some places and flying around with the wind.

After being stuck inside for a week helping her mom out with her latest clothing line, Piper McLean had a need for some fresh air. 

She was sitting down on a bench in a park in the city center. She didn’t live far away but was still driven there (privileges of having famous parents) along with her boyfriend.

Speaking of her boyfriend…

Piper looked up at the man pacing in front of her. He was talking seriously on his phone, the scar above his lip moving with every word he uttered, occasionally running a hand through his short, blond hair. This had been going on for over 20 minutes and, needless to say, Piper was really bored. If she had known she was just going to sit around waiting, she would have gone there by herself.

Finally, the blond hung up the phone and sat next to her on the bench. He didn’t put away his phone though, instead tapping on it furiously.

“Jason.” 

“Mhm?”

“Can you put the phone away?” she asked, “please.”

Jason sighed “I’m sorry, Pipes, I just need to finish this email.”

The girl knew better. Their conversations always went like this, and it was never just one last email. 

Piper loved Jason. She had known so far before they even started dating. Before loving him as a girlfriend, she loved him as a best friend, and even before that she had always thought of him as a great classmate. She found his shyness endearing, she enjoyed when he would feel confident and stand up for himself, she’d adore him in any way, shape or form. 

But lately, she’d begun wondering whether he could say the same thing about her.

Resigned and upset, Piper sunk into the seat and contemplated leaving right there, right then. If she texted her driver now, they’d probably pick her up in no time. She stood up and looked back at Jason. He didn’t even spare her a glance. ‘ Yep,’ she decided ‘ that’s enough’ and then she took a step forward, ready to take her leave.

That’s when she spotted something falling from the sky a few meters away from her.

“What the-“

Jason looked up at the sound of her voice, but by then Piper had already left his side and was instead walking towards the mysterious object.

“Piper!” He hurried towards her.

The blond came to a stop behind the girl. Piper was kneeling on the ground looking at something intently and it seemed she had grabbed the object in her hands. 

“… what is it?” He questioned.

She stayed quiet. Jason grew worried.

“Pipes?”

Suddenly, she turned around and threw something at him that barely missed his head. Startled, Jason fell backwards with a sharp breath. He turned around to look at the object, expecting to find it laying in the ground but instead, a paper plane was flying in the space behind him and slowly came to a stop on the ground.

He could hear Piper laughing at him. ‘ Oh, it’s so on. ’

Before Piper could process what he was doing, Jason had recovered and ran towards the airplane, then grabbed it, aimed it at her and threw it. Piper had to throw herself to the floor to avoid it.

They kept going back and forth, running, rolling in the ground and laughing. It felt like they were kids again, when their only worry and responsibility was having fun. At some moment, Jason’s phone slipped from his pocket and onto the ground. He didn’t care.

After a few minutes, they were laying on the grass, breathless from all the running and jumping, yet they were still chuckling. Jason got up from his spot on the ground to lay down next to Piper and grab her hand. 

When Piper looked over at him, she didn’t see the busy, dismissive blond she was starting to get used to, but the Jason she had befriended. The one she had fallen in love with. Perhaps it was that thought that made her finally confront him about it.

She slowly retreated her hand from Jason’s hold and he regarded her, puzzled.

“Are you ok?”

”It’s just…” She hesitated “Can I talk to you for a second?”

Jason grew worried and sat up, trying to meet Piper’s eyes. She looked away.

Piper let out a sigh. She didn’t know how to go about this.

“It’s just that- well… you’ve been distant lately. Very distant.”

Oh

“I know that you’re working hard for your dad, but you don’t need to overwork yourself. And… I-I don’t know, I guess I’d like to be able to hang out with you and have your full attention instead of sharing it with your job.” She almost spat out that last part, but tried to contain herself a little. Nothing good would result from them getting angry at each other now.

“Pipes…”

“Look, I know it’s dumb ok? But sometimes I just want to hang out with you and actually feel like you’re with me and not somewhere else,” She hugged her knees to her chest. “It feels like your job is more important than me sometimes.”

“N-No, that’s not true at all! Piper,” Jason exclaimed, “I love you more than anything. I… I’m sorry,” And he was. Jason wasn’t dumb, he had noticed his constant working bothered his girlfriend, but he didn’t think it upset her this much. Jason had believed he had been balancing his time decently overall. Clearly he’d been mistaken. “You’re right, I know you are, it’s just…” He buried his head in his hands. Piper listened intently, “It’s all just- been a lot, you know? And dad has been pressuring me a lot to get more involved with the company and everything and… I just don’t want to disappoint him.”

“You won’t disappoint him, Jace”

“I know,” he rubbed his eyes, “but I feel guilty. He’s putting all this work into my future and my homeschooling and it isn’t that I don’t like it, I really want to become the next CEO, but-” Jason lowered his hand and turned to Piper. She noticed he looked exhausted, “it’s all too much, Pipes” His voice broke.

Piper was quick to engulf him in a hug. She had known this couldn’t have been easy for him, but Jason had never said anything about it out loud before. 

“I know, I know, you’re okay, Jace,” She kissed his forehead. “I’m sorry”

Jason stood up straight, holding her by the shoulders, “Don’t be,” he said, sternly. “You were hurting too. I don’t… I don’t like making you feel bad, of course I’d want to avoid it. Thank you for telling me, I’m sorry.”

Piper felt her chest warming up and she smiled. Jason had always been a firm believer that Piper’s smile was the most beautiful thing in the world, and he had yet to be proven wrong. He looked into her eyes, which almost seemed to change colours depending on when you’d look at them. 

Right then, with the sun shining over the two of them, giving her eyes a bluish hue, and the breeze messing with her hair, Jason Grace realised once again that he was the luckiest man to ever exist.

Chapter Text

Another miss.

How many planes had he thrown so far? 10? 15? Will couldn’t remember. He let out a groan and slammed his head on his desk. It wasn’t supposed to be this hard. He reached for the pile and-

Hm?

Will looked up. In the space where there once were a bunch of papers waiting to be signed, or, well, turned into planes, there was now… nothing. The only paper he had left was the wrinkled sheet the stranger had caught for him. Will started to frantically look around, opening drawers and checking under his things, for any available piece of paper. He turned to his coworkers.

They all met his eyes and, slowly, pushed their respective paper piles away from him.

Well, asking for more sheets was definitely not an option.

He sank in his seat, trying to come up with a solution. He really didn’t want to use that paper because, in case he did not manage to see his stranger again, he wanted to keep it as a memory.

“Mr. Solace, is something the matter?”

Will jumped out of his skin as soon as the monotonous voice reached his ears. It seemed the head of his department had finally decided to come out of his office (a rare occurrence) and was standing behind him. He was half a meter away from Will but the smell of the man’s cologne hit him as if the blond was pressing against him. He felt a rush of disgust going through his body.

“No, sir,” he stuttered, “everything is just fine.”

“Hm…” Will turned to look at him. From where he was sitting, one could easily forget that the man was around a head shorter than him and the blond could have a clear view of his bald spot when standing up. He didn’t seem to believe him. He also didn’t seem to care. “Then go back to work.” 

And with that, Will now had a brand new pile of papers to use up. After he successfully delivered them, his boss walked back into his office. If the blond had a little less self control, he might have just stood up and kissed the head of department.

Actually, nevermind. Will felt repulsed by that thought.

But with the image of kissing in his mind, Will's subconscious decided to play tricks on him and his boss’ face was soon replaced by a certain black haired guy, with dark brown eyes and an awkward smile.

…

Will got back to work. And by work, he, of course, meant building new airplanes.

——————————————————

Hazel always tried to stay positive.

Right now, with her father on the phone, she was finding it hard to do so.

It wasn’t that her father was a bad person. Not at all. Hazel Levesque loved her father and he was an amazing parent. But he could be a little clueless. Ever since her older brother, Nico, had entered technical school and Hazel mentioned she felt a bit of interest towards business management, her dad had been thrilled. For some reason, he had taken this as a sign that she wanted to eventually take over his company and had begun teaching her almost immediately, which Hazel found nice as she enjoyed spending time with him.

For the first few months, at least.

It turned out her dad was very passionate about this project, and ever since she had finished school he had become more strict. ‘ You have to take it seriously if you want to take over someday ’ he would say. And so, while her brother was now having class on a subject he actually enjoyed in the most prestigious engineering university of the state, she was walking around aimlessly with her phone to her ear and her father rambling about something related to finance.

Now, Hazel hadn’t lied. She did find business management interesting, but that didn’t mean that’s what she wanted to spend her life doing. Yet, the moment she saw how her dad’s face brightened up when she mentioned it, she just couldn’t burst his bubble.

So now she was stuck.

By then, she didn’t even know what her father was talking about anymore. She had just drowned out his voice. Walking down the street, something caught her eye. She turned her head and looked through the window of a shop. It was an art shop. Several supplies were on display, such as blank canvas of several different sizes, watercolor sets, acrylics, pencils, paints of so many amazing brands and colors. Hazel couldn't help but stare longingly.

“Sweetie? Hello?”

“Yes!” She snapped back to reality, “yes, I’m here, dad.”

She ripped her eyes away from the supplies and stared at her reflection. Hazel had always loved analyzing faces, whether that’d be their structure, their expressions, their factions… Framed by a mop of black, curly hair, her face looked miserable. Her eyes, of an amber color, were right above some light eyebags that she’d done her best to try and hide with makeup. Her skin, much darker than that of his brother and parents, was dry. She looked like a mess. Usually Hazel could make herself look more decent, but lately she’d been very busy with all the work her dad had given her to “prepare” her for her future

Suddenly, something else appeared in the reflection. Something far above her flew by, too quick to be a bird but too small to be a plane. She turned around, but it was gone.

She played it off as her imagination but just a second later, another one went by.

It looked like- ‘a paper airplane? ’

The thought made Hazel smile. 

Another came, and then tens of them were flying around over her head and past her, moved with the wind. She stared, amazed. Suddenly, she couldn’t move. 

It was beautiful. Messy, but beautiful either way. It reminded her of art in some way.

She didn’t know what it was about that sight that made her rethink herself. Because looking up at the sky to that paper show all she could think about was that she wanted that . That freedom, that expression. She wanted to make people feel like Hazel herself did in that moment: confused, moved, mesmerized and so much more.

What was she doing with her life? There she was, preparing to study something she wasn’t passionate about to get a job that she didn’t want just to make her father happy.

No, that wasn’t it. She wasn’t doing it for her father. She was doing it for herself. Because she was too scared to believe that she could actually do what she loved because it was easier to do what others expected from her. 

She turned towards the art shop’s window. What did she have to lose? Her family had way too much money so that wasn’t a problem. Her parents wouldn’t hold her accountable… probably. 

Hazel didn’t think much before blurting out “I’m sorry dad, I can’t.”

“Huh? Can’t do what?”

“This. All this. I… I don’t want this dad.” Hazel could feel her hand trembling.

“Hazel, are you ok?”

“No, I-“ she had to say it, and she had to do it now, “I don’t want- I won’t study business management,” she corrected herself. She had to be loud and clear about what she wanted for the first time in a long time. “I love art, dad, I… I can’t see myself doing anything else.” 

‘That’s right, keep going.’

“Haze-“

“I’m going to study art, dad,” there, she’d said it. “That’s what I want. I’m sorry...”

Before her father could reply, she hung up. 

Hazel stood there, staring at the black screen. She felt… 

The girl looked up. The sky was clear again. 

‘ What now?’

Adjusting her long, purple jacket, Hazel leaned against the wall. How would she face her dad when she went back home that night? She didn’t know. Still, something inside of Hazel told her she’d made the right call.

After a few seconds, another paper plane flew by. Where were they even coming from?

But Hazel really needed an excuse not to go back home, so she decided to try and catch the plane. 

She followed the piece of paper for a few blocks. It quickly left her behind, propelled by the wind, but she could see which direction it had gone in. Hazel started off walking. That walking turned into a sprint and then she was full on running, her boots hitting the pavement loudly. 

There, with the wind in her face, Hazel felt free.

She came to a stop after turning around a corner and finally spotting it. The plane was still, in the hands of a big man. He was staring at it curiously.

“Hey!” the girl could barely call out. She was out of breath.

Hazel seemed to have startled the man, though, as he turned to look at her with a mix of surprise, confusion and worry.

“S-sorry, would you mind if I keep that?” She asked after recomposing herself

“Oh, is it yours?” The man questioned. He took a few steps towards her and Hazel could clearly distinguish his facial features. His Asian heritage was evident from his face, and, although much taller, he seemed to be not more than a bit older than her, “it just kind of… fell from the sky. Sorry. You can have it back.” 

He extended it to her with a shy hand. Hazel couldn’t help a smile as she grabbed it.

“It isn’t. Someone started throwing a bunch of paper planes for some reason,”

The man let out a ‘oh’ but seemed unsure of what to do with that information.

“It was a really beautiful scene” Hazel remembered that moment once again. Paper planes looking like birds in the sky. Truly an amazing sight. Her eyes, dreamy, were locked on the paper in her hands.

After a minute of silence, she looked up wondering why the man wasn’t saying anything. He seemed to just have been staring. As soon as their eyes met, he averted his eyes and some color rushed to his cheeks “Sorry… Can I just ask you something? You don’t have to answer if it’s too weird.”

Hazel quirked her head, curious.

“… are you ok?”

“Huh?”

“I mean!” The man waved his hands in front of himself nervously. He started stuttering, “you just looked upset for a second so…”

Hazel was stunned into silence. She looked down at the airplane. The girl was upset, really. Those past 30 minutes had been a lot.

“Sorry, I’ve just” she looked up at him “been having a long day.”

The man held her gaze with a worried one. He seemed to be a really sweet person.

“Do you… want to talk about it?”

Hazel blinked. She didn’t know this guy, so the logical answer would beto say no and move on. But…

“Do you not mind?”

“Should I?“

The girl couldn’t help but smile. The man, who she’d later find out was called Frank Zhang, shyly smiled back.

“Alright then.”

Chapter Text

Will faced a small problem.

You, see, he had forgotten about the very small but very meaningful fact that his boss had windows in his office.

He had been throwing planes until one of Will’s coworkers coughed rather loudly, which caught his attention. When the blonde turned to her, she moved her head, signaling towards the general direction of the boss’ office.

His boss was there. Pressed against the glass. Glaring at him.

Granted, due to the distribution of the desks and the size of the room, Will was at least certain that he didn’t see exactly what he was doing. But it seemed pretty obvious Will wasn’t doing what he was being paid for.

Great, now he was in trouble.

As much as Will wanted to stay positive, the constant failing was getting to him. He only had a few papers left and no paper signed, which is what he should have been doing from the very beginning. With frustration, he turned back to his desk.

And now, he couldn’t even keep going because of that tiny, and honestly insufferable, man and his staring.

It seemed like fate was not on his side that day.

Until the elevator doors opened and a tall man walked into the room. His voluminous, electric hair tied back, giving an even more sophisticated and powerful look to his wardrobe choice: black pants, matching his coat, right under a perfectly fitted white shirt. Will remember that man from many visits he had paid to his dad. The last time he’d seen him, though, was when the man had welcomed him to his company.

When Zeus Grace met his eyes, he gave the blond a smirk and a playful wink. Will smiled slightly and waved. 

He followed the CEO with his eyes until he reached his boss’ office, who, seeing him arrive at his department, tore his face away from his window and was now putting on a façade of a perfectly normal, average height, man. He greeted Grace at the door and let him inside his office, closing the doors and the blinds.

Everyone stared at the closed room for a second before going back to work. Will glanced at the few pages left on his desk. 

‘ Might as well finish the pile’

——————————————————

Percy was panicking.

Since his mom had been sick the past few weeks, Percy Jackson had taken it upon himself to take care of his little sister, Estelle. He didn’t mind at all, as he loved his sister more than anything else. But it seemed like Percy’s mom felt guilty, for as soon as she recovered, she ushered Percy out of the house with way more money than he needed and told him to go have fun.

What her definition of fun was, he wasn’t sure. Maybe she meant hanging out with his friends, but they were all either already hanging out with their partners, studying at uni or busy with gods know what. So Percy figured he would just relax for a while and have a nice drink in a little cafe he had spotted around the center of the city.

So there he was right then. Except for the relaxing part.

Percy could have gotten a girlfriend if he ever wanted to. It seemed that, for some reason he didn’t get, both girls and boys found him attractive. Apparently it was something about his green eyes. The few times he had been confessed to, he tried to kindly turn them down and, even if he did ever go out with one of them, they usually got tired of his constant movement and dry humor rather quickly. Either way, Percy had never really had a crush on anyone.

But that was until a blonde girl with sharp grey eyes had approached his table and asked for his order.

Objectively, one could say she was not particularly attractive.

To Percy, she was the most beautiful girl he’d ever laid his eyes upon.

So naturally, he had done what any other 22 year old with a crush would do: he asked for the first drink he spotted on the menu and then frantically texted his best friend.

Grover listened to him rant about her for a solid twenty minutes before having to go back to working on a project with Juniper. They’d met during Percy’s first year of uni, as they had Cell Biology together. Percy was studying Marine biology while Grover, along with his girlfriend Juniper, were studying biology and were a few years older than him.

By then, he had already received his coffee, which was sitting there on the table getting cold. He didn’t even like coffee, but having a warm drink in cold weather was nice either way. From his seat in one of the tables outside the cafe, he regarded the blonde as she tended to the customers inside the building.

He wanted to talk to her so badly, he just didn’t know how.

Splash!

Percy drew in a sharp breath as some of his coffee spilled onto his lap. Cursing, he tried to clean himself up with some napkins. Apparently, the blonde girl had noticed the commotion as she approached carefully.

“Is everything alright, sir?”

“Ah, shit- yes, sorry. Uhm, something just fell on my cup out of nowhere…” 

Percy lifted his eyes to look at her. His first thought was ‘ wow, she’s pretty’ . His second thought was to question why she was staring at him like he’s just said the most obvious excuse ever. Out of the corner of the boy’s eye, he noticed something sticking out of his cup.

“What the-“

A paper plane, now tinted brown, had half of its body inside Percy’s coffee. The table was stained with the drink all around it.

The blonde sighed, “Sir, if this is some ploy for me to get you a new drink for free, I’m afraid it won’t work.”

“It isn’t! This just came out of nowhere.”

The girl was obviously not believing it at all. Placing her hands on her hips, right over her apron, she opened her mouth to say something.

Splash!

Coffee jumped up everywhere.

The two looked down at the cup where a second paper plane had just landed. The recipient was barely big enough to fit both of them.

“Huh”

“See?” He looked back at her with a smirk. It took him a minute to realize that saying ‘I told you so’ was not a great flirting tactic.

The blonde let out a huff “Where did it even come from?” she looked up as if trying to find some plane throwing weirdo watching them.

“Beats me. Plus, what are the odds of both planes hitting the same cup?” He let out a laugh, “Strange isn’t it?”

Putting a hand on her chin, the girl thought for a second. When she spoke, it seemed like she was talking to herself more than Percy.

“ Very strange. Considering the chance of even one of them hitting the cup, which must already be minimal, to then have to multiply them, as they are independent events, of course,…”

She went on and on about mathematical equations with stars in her eyes. Percy didn’t get anything, but he thought she had a nice voice. the girl seemed to notice she had been talking for a while and quickly stopped. The boy felt a pang of disappointment.

“Sorry, I’m rambling.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” he smiled at her. “I’m just not very… number smart, y’know?”

“Are you the humanistic type?”

Percy almost barked out a laugh “Biology. People are too complicated for me.” And finally, he saw an opening. Extending his hand, he presented himself, “Percy Jackson, great to meet you”

The blonde looked at his hand for a moment before smiling and taking it, “Annabeth. Annabeth Chase.”

They kept on talking for a while until Annabeth was called back to work.

That afternoon, Percy returned home with a coffee stained paper airplane, a wise girl’s number written on it.

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.