Nico

I grumbled and made my way from the car, avoiding the stampede of twenty four-year-olds that were flooding out of Hazel and Frank's cars. How they managed to fit them all in there was still a mystery to me. Thankfully, they had allowed me to take my own car, promising that I would go directly to the building - what was this called? Pump it Out? Something overly cheesy like that - and not anywhere else.

"Hazel, are you really sure you still need me? Aren't some of the parents coming to watch over their kids?" I asked, not caring enough to keep the whine out of my voice.

"...Twelve, thirteen, fourteen...What? Oh, yes, we definitely do. It'll be fun!...Seventeen, eighteen... Besides, you know how much it means to Gwen to have you here. She was begging Frank and I to let her send you an invitation you know."

I grumbled. 'Great,' I thought, 'now she really is guilt-tripping me.' "Fine," I said aloud. "But on one condition: no one is to see me hanging around a bunch of little kids."

"Of course I can't promise that, Nico - no, Rose, don't put your hand in the trash can that's yucky. Frank, can you please lead them all indoors? - there are people working that will be there!" 

"Hold on, what people-?" In lieu of a response, she kissed my cheek and herded the rest of the children through the big doors with a scribble on it. Wait, was that supposed to be a person, god that's awful.

First, all the kids went into this big room with several blow-up bounce houses, slides, and even a boxing-type ring with giant, exaggerated gloves in the shape of fists. I stood off to one side, keeping a careful eye on Gwen. While she may be annoying at times, I do care an awful lot about my niece. Her skin today was a medium shade of brown, glowing with happiness and her black and gold eyes were dancing with happiness at having a day all to herself.

At one point I sat down next to Frank, hoping to see if I could bully my way out of the celebrations that followed. I was one of the rare people who dared do it, knowing that underneath his big, footballer body he really was just a giant teddy bear.

But before I could say anything, Hazel said, "Hey, Nico, have you looked at that guy over there?"

I sighed. She's always trying to do this to me. Set me up I mean. Frank would occasionally try but he backed off when I told him to. He also ended up pointing out every guy in the premises, so Hazel made him promise he wouldn't help anymore. "What guy?"

"That employee over there, with the blonde hair."

"What about him?" I tried to play dumb, I really did, but my sister knows me too well.

"He's pretty cute, isn't he?"

He was, but there was no way in hell I was going to admit it, especially not with him right there (and Gwen within eavesdropping distance). "No. He's too...smiley. And bright."

"Oh, you're just being picky. Go talk to him! He seems to be about your age." She gave me a little push towards him, but to my dual relief and dismay, the blonde worker announced that we should all follow him into the party room for cake and presents. 

Turns out giving nearly two dozen first graders a practically unlimited supply of cake and ice cream was a bad idea, and even more so when they are given said cake at a location that is not their house. "Luke, stop it!" I shouted to one particularly wayward imp. "Gwen, please control your friends and remind them that we don't own the place, so we have to keep it neat."

"Oh, let them have fun, stop worrying so much." Hazel reprimanded.

"I'm not worrying, I just feel bad that the people have to clean up all of this mess!" And that, ladies, gentlemen, and other assorted peoples, was a gigantic lie and she knew it, but she decided to let it slide. 

"Sure thing, Mr. Neato," she replied skeptically.

After the horrendous experience that was the present giving, Gwen reveled in standing on my lap (yes you read that right - standing) and jumping up and down whenever she got a new present. There were twenty gifts in all, so my thighs were quite bruised by the end of that ordeal. 

After we had ushered all the kids out of the building and into the cars waiting there, I went to hop into my car and drive off, but before I could Hazel caught my arm and said, "Wait, I thought you hated leaving messes. You should help them clean up!"

Caught in my lie, I had no choice but to return to the newly-dubbed "building of torture" and clean up after the treacherous kids. I went back into the room where the party was held and to my horror, the blonde employee was there as well, trying to tackle the mess himself, which even I could see was a lost cause.

Hoping he wouldn't notice me, I began picking up the many scraps of wrapping paper that littered the ground. Unfortunately, I've never had such luck. "So are you the guy who was in here a few minutes ago?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, that was me. I mean, it wasn't for me. It was for my niece. She's my sister's daughter. She's six. Not my sister, my niece."

As I was ready to go jump off a cliff in embarrassment, he laughed, which only added to the mortification. "You don't have to help you know, it's part of the job."

"Yeah, but it's a lot of work for one person to handle, you know? Besides my sister told me to so I guess I'm here." I'm rushing my words so he can probably tell I really don't want to be here, talking

"Are you nervous?" He says it with a twinkle in his eye, as if he's holding back laughter.

"What? No! Of course not." Again, with the rushing. I really need to learn how to stop and think before I embarrass myself further. 

"Mhm, so I see." I turned away, turning a bright red, and started picking up more garbage and throwing it away. "So, where do you go to school?"

"The City College."

"No kidding that's where I go too. What do you do?"

"...I'm studying to become a coroner."

"No way that's so cool!" He smiled brightly and I gave him my best death glare, the one my friend Jason says could raise the dead, but he didn't seem to get the hint. His smile widened (if that was even possible), and he noted, "You're not much of a talker, are you?" When I continued ignoring him, he went on. "Well I'm in med school so it's possible we have some of the same classes together; how cool would that be? My dad is always talking about me 'following in his footsteps' and it annoys the heck out of me, especially since he wasn't even a part of my life for eighteen years and then suddenly it was 'son, I'm so glad you're becoming like me, here's a haiku I wrote for this occasion.' How about your parents? Are they okay with your aspirations?"

"Well..." I started off slowly, trying to figure out how to put my thoughts in the least creepy way possible. "I've known my dad for most of my life, after I came to America he found me, he had come for work or something when I was a baby, and he always had this weird obsession with the dead so I guess that kind of rubbed off on me."

"Is that why you're wearing all black and a skull ring?" He asked, half-jokingly.

"Of course not, that's just stupid, thinking that death is this over-romanticized concept where everything is rainbows and kittens."

"Hey, don't make fun of kittens, kittens are the greatest, Death Boy."

"Death Boy?" No one had ever called me that, even Jason. He made fun of me once for it but stopped pretty quickly once he learned his lesson.

"Well yeah, since you seem to think you're super dark and mysterious," he answered, winking at me.

I gave him another glare but this time it only served to make him laugh. 

"Oh shut it, Sunshine. There are plenty of things I can use against you."

He started laughing even harder when he heard me call him "Sunshine", but managed to gasp out, "I think we're done cleaning." I looked around and sure enough, the room was spotless. "So I noticed you like kids," another glare, "or at least can stand to be around them, so why don't you think about getting a job? We always have plenty of openings." I opened my mouth to argue, but he had already placed a business card in my hand and held open the door for me. "The name's Will Solace by the way."

"Nico di Angelo," I replied, walking over to my car.

"It was nice talking to you!" He answered with a cheeky wave as I drove away, back to Hazel and Frank's house, where they were waiting with Gwen.

Later that night, as I was talking with Hazel and Frank, I took out the card from my pocket and looked at it.

"What's that?"

"Oh, just a business card. The guy there gave it to m-" I stopped mid-sentence as I saw that he had crossed out all of the company's information and written in his own.

I looked up and saw Hazel giving me a big grin and looked back down, saying, "Well I guess I have a call I need to make."

A/N: I have them both going to the City College of New York (in NYC) since that's where they live (yes, I know driving isn't practical in the city but it goes with the story). I also want to write a second chapter to this, but I don't know whether I should continue it in Nico's POV, or if I should make it in Will's. Tell me what you think!