A/N: the f slur and some hateful language mentioned again, just wanted to let you know before you read on.
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Nico was sitting in the bed in the nurse's office. The nurse was in but Will told her that she should probably go after Octavian instead and that he could handle taking care of Nico. The nurse was skeptical at first but she went ahead with a first aid kit to take care of Octavian first.
Will had found some tissues and some plasters to put on Nico's face. Will went over and he sat down next to Nico on the edge of the bed, facing him.
"A fight with Octavian. What were you thinking, Nico?" Will slightly scolded, bringing the tissue up to clean off the dried blood around Nico's nose and lips.
Nico stayed silent as Will cleaned off the blood and threw the tissue away.
"Octavian started it." Nico huffed.
"No excuse." Will said.
Nico rolled his eyes.
"Right, okay, so why did you go ahead and punch and kick him in the balls?" Nico snapped back.
Will opened a plaster and he looked at Nico's face. He used his free hand to tilt Nico's face slightly away so he could place the plaster on Nico's cheek where it seemed to be a little scratched up.
"Because I couldn't stand the sight of seeing him just beating you up right into the fucking wall, Nico. And he deserved it." Will huffed as he gently placed the plaster on Nico's cheek and smoothed it out on his skin.
Nico bit his tongue, slightly grimacing.
Nico looked back at Will once Will had finished putting on the plaster. Will looked at Nico's face, not detecting anymore injuries but he looked down at Nico's hands. Will took one of Nico's hands and saw that his knuckles were a little bruised, maybe a little swollen. Will frowned as he ran his thumb over Nico's knuckles.
"That was completely reckless, Nico." Will said quietly.
"He called me a fag, Will." Nico said, his voice slightly breaking. "A cocksucker."
Will instantly looked up into Nico's eyes. Nico's eyes seemed to well up a little and Nico scoffed as he looked away from Will and took his hand away from him.
Nico looked down at his hands, and he began to fiddle with the skull ring around his finger.
"I haven't... No one has ever called me that before. Yeah, people have insulted me in previous schools, the kid whose nose I broke just because he was being homophobic didn't even go that far. He was just taunting me and the anger just built up so I punched him." Nico said, his voice quiet and fragile. "How- Will, I couldn't just stand there and take it, I..."
Nico felt his eyes beginning to well up, indicating he was about to cry, but he didn't want to. He was on the brink of tears but he tried to hold it back.
Nico felt the warmth of Will's hand cup his cheek and turn his face to face him. Nico looked at Will and Will had shuffled closer, looking directly into Nico's eyes with the most softest, caring gaze in the world.
"I'm sorry." Will whispered. "Nico, I am so sorry that Octavian went to such lengths, and I am sorry for...scolding you, I know that... I just care about you and I really don't want you to get hurt."
Nico felt a lump in his throat and he tried not to blink to not let a tear fall down from his cheek, but he couldn't stop himself. Nico blinked and he felt the tear stream down his cheek. He felt Will's thumb wipe away his tear and Nico leaned into the warmth of Will's palm against his cheek.
"Think I'll get expelled?" Nico asked quietly.
"Nah, I don't think the Principal will even find out." Will said softly. "Plus, you're not getting rid of me that easily. Magnus, Alex and I would totally convince the Principal to let you stay."
Nico let out a soft laugh and he smiled at Will. Will smiled back at Nico.
"I'm glad I met you." Nico whispered softly as he leaned in a little.
Will felt his heart skip a beat as Nico leaned in.
"I'm glad I met you too, Neeks." Will whispered back as he slightly leaned in too.
They both met each other's gaze as they leaned in, their faces extremely close and lips inches apart. Will glanced down at Nico's lips as Nico glanced down at Will's.
Just as Nico was about to close the gap, the door swung wide open and Nico instantly backed away, as did Will. Will's hand left Nico's cheek and they both looked over to see a good few people there.
"Holy shit, Nico!" Alex exclaimed, instantly rushing over. "You were so good at the start of that fight!"
Nico blinked as he looked at Alex. Magnus quickly came over and wrapped his arm around Alex's shoulder. Magnus also set down something onto the ground, but Nico didn't pay much mind to it.
"We did want to interfere, but we couldn't get through the crowds. They kept shoving and pushing and just being so loud-" Magnus began.
"Ah, so Will can shove through the crowds, but you two can't?" Nico raised an eyebrow at Magnus.
"Well-!" Magnus began.
"I'm messing with you. It's totally fine." Nico rolled his eyes.
"I told you to be careful, didn't I?"
Nico, Will, Magnus and Alex looked over at Reyna who made her way over. Reyna stood in front of Nico, causing Magnus and Alex to step over to the side. Reyna crossed her arms, looking down at Nico.
"...I mean, I technically was?" Nico shrugged. "My beautiful face wasn't super beat up?"
Reyna glared at Nico but Nico saw a hint of worry in her gaze.
"Pfft, oh I like this kid!"
Nico looked over and saw Leo grinning at him. Piper was leaning against Leo, smiling at him too.
"You were quite good in that fight. And blondie!" Piper looked at Will.
Will blinked as he looked at Piper.
"Good on you, protecting your boy like that."
"My boy? Well-" Will began, his cheeks turning red.
Will stopped himself as he felt Nico's hand snake into his. Nico interlocked their fingers and glanced at Will before looking back at the people who came to visit him. Will stared at Nico and his heart instantly began to beat faster.
"I did tell you to never judge a book by its cover." Jason said, going over and standing next to Reyna. "You said that Octavian was weak, I mean, honestly, did you see how you were losing near the end? If Will didn't come to save you, I have no idea what would've happened."
Will blinked as he realised Jason knew his name. He didn't expect the popular kid to know his name.
Nico looked at Jason.
"... You're telling me, all six of you, and only four of you who have shown slight concern for me, didn't help out when I was in trouble?" Nico questioned, glancing around at the four standing nearby him.
"... I was curious to see how you'd handle yourself. You did seem cocky when we met." Reyna said.
"And Reyna told me to not do anything because of that reason." Jason added.
Nico blinked and he sighed.
"Oh whatever. I'm fine, you guys can leave." Nico said, waving his hand to dismiss them.
Reyna and Jason glanced at each other.
"... Be safe, Nico." Reyna said before walking off.
"And don't get into any more fights." Jason added before following behind Reyna.
Jason and Reyna left the nurse's office, Piper and Leo seemed to follow behind, whining at them about something.
Nico looked at Magnus and Alex.
"You did do quite well though." Alex shrugged. "But next time you're fighting someone? Let me also fight em, it's been a while since I've gotten the chance to do that."
Like that, Alex walked off.
"I- she's joking." Magnus said, looking at Nico. "But seriously, you held your ground, Nico. Just be careful from now."
Magnus gave Nico a small smile before quickly following after his girlfriend out of the nurse's office.
Will and Nico were alone. They both looked at each other.
"... So-" Will began.
"Thank you for patching me up, Will, but I'm gonna be struggling to walk a little. Octavian did get me in my gut a couple of times, so I think I'll phone my dad to get-" Nico began. "... And I think I left my bag at the back of the school-!"
Will squeezed Nico's hand.
"Magnus brought it when he came." Will said, pointing down at the floor nearby Nico.
"Oh, thank god!" Nico sighed out, grabbing his bag with his free hand onto his lap.
Nico let go of Will's hand and Will felt strange as Nico rushed to get his phone out of his bag.
"Are we not going to talk about-?" Will began, tilting his head at Nico.
"It's getting to the end of lunch, Solace. You should get outta here, get ready for class." Nico smiled at Will.
"I'll be fine here. Go on."
Will stared blankly at Nico.
"I-" Will began.
Nico looked at Will, as if he had no idea what he was on about, no idea what he wanted to discuss so desperately about.
"... Okay." Will sighed as he got up from the bed. "I'll see you tomorrow then, Nico."
Will stuffed his hands into his pockets as he walked out of the nurse's office.
Did... Was what just happened just a figment of Will's imagination? Was there not something about to happen between him and Nico? Were they not about to kiss? Did Nico not subtly imply to Will that being called 'his boy' didn't seem to bother him because that could become true once they had a moment to talk about what they were?
Nico fiddled with his phone as he was thinking about how he just dismissed Will like that. Was that too harsh? I mean, Nico... yeah, okay, he liked Will. Yes, Nico thought Will was his soulmate and yes, Nico thought that they were destined to meet, like a crazy person. But... Nico felt weird.
Will didn't know everything about Nico yet. Will doesn't know about how Nico lost his mother at a young age and his sister a few years ago. Nico didn't like being vulnerable and sharing that stuff. But, if Nico wanted to be with Will, to be boyfriends, then... Nico had to be a bit more honest with Will.
Nico sighed as he began to tap on his phone, getting his dad's contact up and calling him.
Hopefully he wasn't going to be berated by his father when he found out what happened.
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Word count: 1796