FIVE

"What time is your exam?" Will asked Nico as they were sat at the island, both with multiple papers in front of them. They each had their own pair of headphones in because Will wanted to listen to eighties music and Nico insisted on classical.

Nico didn't hear him, so Will decided to scare him. He grabbed his textbook and dropped it loudly on the table right in front of Nico. He didn't get the response he was looking for though, as Nico simply looked up after a minute and removed an ear bud. "Sorry, what?"

Will sighed in defeat. "What time is your exam?"

"It's in..." Nico looked at the time on his phone. "Shit! I have to go right now." He jumped up from the counter and grabbed his keys, putting on his hoodie while he slid on his shoes and headed out the door.

Nico drove as fast as he could to the university. Thankfully it was a short drive and he stepped into the classroom just in time to get his pens out before the exam started.

The test paper felt incredibly thick, but thankfully this teacher was fond of multiple choice and short answer. Nico hated when teacher's included questions requiring a page or more of writing. Sadly, that was a large part of university, so he just dealt with it.

Time ticked away slowly. Several students had already gotten up and turned in their exams, and Nico followed suit shortly. It was great to step out into the cold air after sitting in a room full of anxious, stressed students. Soon the cold air stopped being enjoyable and was simply cold. He stopped by The Moose before heading home, grabbing a coffee for himself and a drink for Will.

Will was in the exact same spot as Nico had left him, except now there were a package of cookies by him as well. "How was it?" He called out without looking up.

"I don't think I failed, but I honestly have no idea how I did. I have a good grade in that class though, so it shouldn't be too bad. I brought you a drink." Nico handed Will the to go cup and pulled himself up onto a counter.

"Thanks. How many midterms left for you?"

"Only one more, thank goodness." Nico sipped at his coffee and watched Will study, bored. He should start studying for his exam in the morning, but if he looked at one more textbook at the moment, his brain would melt. Will looked like he felt the same. "How many exams do you have left?"

Will had already written several, as it was nearing the end of mid terms. "I have my last one this evening. I need to leave in an hour." Nico decided he would make supper now so Will would have something to eat before his exam. Nobody wants to write an exam on an empty stomach.

He had made enough dinners in his life to be able to do so somewhat efficiently. Tonight he decided stir-fry, wanting to try out a new recipe he had found online. He got to work chopping vegetables and slicing the meat while he could hear Will typing away at his laptop and flipping through pages. The room was otherwise quiet.

Nico pushed a plate in front of Will. "Eat. All you've eaten today was cookies. You need to get real food into your system." Will was in no position to decline, nor could he refute the statement. The apartment had been chilly all day, so he was grateful for the warm food.

"What are you doing for Thanksgiving this weekend?" Will tried to make conversation while they ate. Nico shrugged.

"I usually go over to Hazel's for the day. Nothing special, but I cook and she makes a homemade pumpkin pie. We usually just watch movies the rest of the day."

"That sounds fun. Mom is making me come over for the weekend, which isn't horrible, but your plan sounds much better."

"How far away is home for you?"

"This is home for me." Will smiled. "But my mom and Victor live two hours away. I really could go visit them more often cause the drive isn't bad, but I just haven't got around to it. School's been hell this term."

They finished the rest of the meal in silence. Will went straight to studying for the last fifteen minutes before he had to leave for the exam. "I'll clean up when I get back, don't worry about it." Will insisted, but as soon as he left for the university, Nico washed all the dishes and cleared the island. Finally, he forced himself to sit down and study for his last exam.

Nico's brain was anywhere but on the papers in front of him. As hard as he tried, he just couldn't get his brain to focus on what he was reading. Yelling out in frustration, he closed the textbook and went and grabbed his sketchbook.

He wanted to get the picture done before Bianca's birthday. He would have the weekend to work on it too, but if he couldn't study, may as well still be productive. He was glad he abandoned the textbooks because drawing was exactly what he needed to finally get his mind to shut up and give him some peace.

He didn't realize how much time had passed, and he had headphones in so Nico didn't hear Will come home. Nor did he notice Will staring at his drawing. "Who is that?" Will asked loud enough for Nico to hear him over the music.

Nico shot up, surprised. Quickly, he shut the sketchbook and cleaned up his supplies. "Nobody." He pushed everything aside and grabbed his textbook, opening it to a later chapter, reading the material and ignoring Will.

Nico heard Will gather up his schoolwork and go to his room. He heard him come out again and head to the living room, but the TV didn't turn on. Pushing Will as far from his brain as possible, he eventually managed to focus on studying.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed until he felt he knew the material, Will had made two cups of tea, and was in his room again. Looking at his phone, he saw it was three in the morning. No wonder Nico was starting to feel tired. On the bright side, he felt super confident about his procedural exam in the morning.

Leaving his stuff out for a last minute review in the morning, he stuck his mug in the dishwasher and headed to bed himself. He was so exhausted that no dreams came.

- - - - -

As Nico stepped out of the classroom, done with his exam, his phone rang. "What's up Hazel?" He walked to his car, but didn't start it yet.

"Frank invited me to his house for Thanksgiving." Her timid voice said on the other end of the line.

"Well you said no, right?" Nico fidgeted with the center console, opening and closing it.

"Not exactly?" Hazel started to say more, but Nico hung up, not trusting himself to stay calm if he stayed on the line with her.

It was only right that Hazel spends the holiday with her boyfriend, and he suspected fiancé soon. He was just upset because Hazel and him had always spent Thanksgiving together. And now he was stuck alone. He supposed he could spend it with Winona, but she had her own family. He probably wouldn't be welcome.

He started the car and drove home. Will was out with some friends so he had the house to himself, but after last night, he didn't want to risk Will walking in again. He would have time to paint when he was at his families this weekend.

And Nico was glad he decided not to paint because Will came home with Kayla, the couple they had met at the party, and two others he was unfamiliar with. One was a girl with long, blonde hair. Her intense grey eyes felt like they looked right through him as Will introduced them. They other who had introduced himself as Percy, had dark hair and eyes that looked like the ocean. Nico found him attractive, but squashed that as soon as he realized he was dating the blonde, who Nico now knew was Annabeth.

"Sorry, I hope you don't mind. We missed the movie because someone-" He paused to glare at Jason "-doesn't understand the whole being on time thing." Jason just smiled unashamed at being called out. "Wanna watch a movie with us? You're finished midterms, right?"

Nico nodded, and they all headed into the living room. The couch was instantly claimed first, so Nico and Will were stuck on the floor. Nico liked Jason and Piper well enough when he met them at the Halloween party, they were fun to hang out with. He didn't know Kayla very well, and he was pretty sure he ruined her impression of him when they first met outside of class. He didn't know Percy and Annabeth well enough to have an opinion of them. Who knows, maybe Nico hanging out with people other than Hazel and Reyna would be good for him.

The only problem was that they were watching some dumb action/flick that didn't interest Nico at all. His phone buzzed with a text from Hazel. He read her apology, but couldn't find it in him to reply just yet. He would be mad at her for the rest of the day, he'd get over it, and they would be all good again.

"You should answer her." Will leaned over and whispered to him. Nico knew he was right, but Will had no right to read his text messages. "Sorry, I know it's not my place, but she's your sister. She deserves an answer."

Annabeth shushed Will and Nico pulled his phone out again. 'Hey, sorry. I'll be fine this weekend, don't worry about me. Have fun with Frank.' He hesitated for a moment before hitting send. He wasn't sure if his text would read as sincere or passive aggressive, but that was the problem with texting. He ignored Will's smile and went back to the movie.

Credits rolled onto the screen and Percy leaned over to flick the lights back on, blinding everyone. He and Annabeth left fairly quickly because they had a decent drive to his mom's house for Thanksgiving. After a card game, Kayla left as well. Nico took this moment to excuse himself to his room.

"Hello?" Nico heard from the other end of his phone.

"Winona, it's Nico. How are you?"

"Oh! Nico! You haven't come seen me in ages son. I am doing just fine, dear, how are you? How's that sister of yours?" Winona's voice was a tad muffled by the sounds of the shop, and he heard the bells above the door chime.

"Hazel and I are good. Sorry I haven't been by, school keeps me nice and busy. I'll try to be by soon though, I promise."

"Got lots of movies lined up for Thanksgiving? You will have to make sure you bring me a slice of Hazel's pie." Winona chuckled.

Nico couldn't bring himself to admit that he and Hazel had different plans this year. "I'll make sure we save you a slice. I'll let you get back to work, just wanted to check up on you."

"You are too kind, dear. Alice is home right now, she's taking good care of me, don't you worry. Have a good day, and stop by the shop soon." She said sternly.

"I will, bye Winona." Nico hung up.

There was a knock at his door. He got up and opened it, only to find Will. "Piper and Jason just left, I just wanted to let you know I'm leaving in an hour so you don't come out of your room and assume there was a zombie apocalypse or anything."

Nico nodded and went to shut the door, but Will stuck his foot in, stopping him. "Are you okay?" Will asked. Nico hated that question. Sure, he was upset at Hazel earlier, but he was over it. It wasn't his first holiday alone, and certainly wouldn't be his last. This weekend would be a great opportunity to get caught up on his art.

"I'm fine." Nico smiled to prove his point. Will nodded and left to go pack. The next hour went by quickly and soon he was back knocking on Nico's door. "Come in." He called out from his position on the bed.

"I'm heading out. When are you going to Hazel's?" Will poked his head in, and Nico could see he had his backpack on, presumably filled with clothes for the weekend.

"She ended up having other plans. Have fun at your parents." Nico said sincerely, going back to his game on his phone. He looked up a minute later to see Will was still standing at his doorway. "I thought you had to leave?"

"So where are you going for Thanksgiving?" Will persisted.

"Nowhere. I am going to cook myself a feast and enjoy an empty house. You're going to be late if you just keep standing there."

Will ignored him and grabbed Nico's empty bag, and shoved some clothes in it. "Alright. Let's go."

Nico rolled his eyes at Will. "I'm not crashing your family weekend. I'm honestly okay here." But Will was having none of it. He shoved the bag in Nico's lap and remained in place.

"Mom told me to invite you earlier, but you had plans with Hazel. Now you don't so you can come. I'm not leaving without you, and do you really want to be the reason I miss this opportunity to hang out with my family?"

Will was stood there stubbornly, and after five more minutes, Nico figured he was being serious and stood up. He emptied his bag and packed clothes he actually wanted, then followed Will out the door.

They took Will's truck, and Nico was entirely prepared to sleep the two hour drive away, but Will insisted on playing his music because 'driver picks music, shotgun shuts his pie hole.' Or something along those lines anyway.

Seeing as it was the end of November, trees were mostly bare and the air outside was cold. It didn't help that Will's truck had no heater. "It has a heater," Will insisted, "it just doesn't work."

"What is your family like?" Nico asked after a while. He was going to have to meet them soon, and he didn't want to walk into the battlefield with no preparation.

"There's my mom, Naomi. She's a normal mom I guess. I don't really know. My stepdad Victor isn't completely terrible, but I don't know him very well. He moved in when I left for school a few years ago. Then I have a half sister, Aurora. She's one."

"One?" Nico wasn't sure he heard him right.

"She was a surprise, but she's really sweet. She's usually fairly shy. But yeah, that's my family." Will shrugged before turning off onto their exit. Nico knew better than to ask about Will's biological dad.

It wasn't long until the truck was parked in the driveway of an average looking house. Nico could tell that there was usually a large garden in front of the house, but seeing as it was late in the season, nothing was blooming anymore.

They grabbed their bags and headed up the front walk. Will opened the door, and they stepped into the house.

(A/N Sorry the the filler chapter, the next one will hopefully be better. I'm still trying to fix the really terrible spots without lowering my word count too much, so wish me luck. Next chapter we get to meet Will's family :) Also, I haven't read more than a chapter of TOA, because I am currently in a different continent and books aren't exactly light, so if anything is inaccurate, please let me know and I will fix it)