Happy pride month everyone!!

Will's POV

There's some strange sort of thrill he gets when he's pressing Nico up against the walls of the locker room after everyone's long gone, his hands around Nico's waist and his tongue slipping in and out of Nico's mouth. Nico's hands are in his hair, clutching his head and Will can hear the beating of Nico's heart against his own chest. He's never been this close to anyone ever in his life, not his friends, not his last girlfriend. But, then again, there turned out to be a reason for that. 

"Hey." Nico pulls his head away, his fingers still buried in Will's hair. "So, this has been going on for a few months." 

"Yeah." Will is grinning as his eyes sweep over Nico's face, his skin glowing in the dim light of the locker room. The school above him is quiet; with summer so close, no one wants to be in the building after 2:05. It's just him and Nico, slammed up against the walls of the locker rooms with nothing to worry about, no chance of anyone walking in. Nothing but sheer excitement. He can hear the quiet beating of Nico's heart. "It's been great." 

"Yeah, so I was wondering," Nico says, pausing. His finger traces a pattern on Will's chest and his heart leaps, and he does his best to control his excitement. What had started out as a casual fling between two people who otherwise had nothing in common had turned into something so passionate he didn't know what to do, but he doesn't want to be so excited that it scares Nico away. "The pride parade is coming up. The one in New York is pretty nice." 

"Oh." Will's heart plummets and he glances at the floor, at the light bouncing off of the linoleum. "Yeah?" Nico frowns, and Will immediately feels bad. 

"I was hoping we could go together." Will fights the urge to wince. Nico presses his lips together, scratching his head and avoiding Will's eyes. "I think you know that this has turned into a little more than we both expected, but it's nice, right?" He grabs Will's hand, giving it a tight squeeze, and Will half-smiles. "What is it, four and a half months?" 

"Five next week." Nico smiles. He looks so beautiful when he smiles. His cheeks brighten and there's a tiny gap between his two front teeth that his tongue presses up against. Will runs a hand down Nico's cheek, feeling the warmth of his body underneath his skin. He's never known what love feels like until Nico. 

"See?" His hands drop down from Will's head to around his neck, fingers curling around Will's arms. "There's something here that neither of us expected and I just- I don't know. I was hoping maybe we could celebrate it." He gives Will a tight smile and Will's heart sinks; it had been so hard for Nico to break down his walls, bring their relationship from nothing more than making out behind the school to nights spent in each other's arms, confessions of love whispered as the moon sheds pale light above them. It had been Will who had pushed for a relationship, Will who had begged Nico to look into the possibility of a real, emotional connection. And here he was, suddenly doubtful of everything that's about to happen. 

"Listen, Nico." His hand wraps around Nico's wrists, staring down at the smooth skin of his arms to avoid Nico's piercing eyes. "You know I love you." He hears Nico sigh but he still doesn't look up. He doesn't want to see the look in his eyes. "But it's fun just sneaking around, isn't it? Like, the thrill of keeping it a secret and everything?" He forces a smile onto his face but when he cautiously glances up Nico's mouth is twisted into a frown, his eyes glassy. "Nico?"

"No, I get it. You don't want people knowing we're together, do you?" Will blows out a shaky sigh, reaching for something to say. "You don't want all of your slightly homophobic but not too much to raise any eyebrows friends to know that you like boys." 

"Nico-" Will reaches to pull him in closer. 

"No, I get it." He jerks away, hugging his arms to his chest. "You don't have to explain. I get it if you don't want to be seen with me." He's about to walk away but just before he's walking up the stairs, he throws a false smile over his shoulder. "It's fun just sneaking around." He marches up the stairs, leaving Will with his hands hanging at his side watching him go. He doesn't move until he can no longer hear his footsteps and when he can't he sinks down against the wall, burying his head in his hands. He feels his back hitch but he can't cry; he won't let himself cry. He presses the heels of his hands into the bottoms of his eyes as if it'll push the tears back in, hoping more than anything that it'll work. He feels a hint of moisture on his skin and he wipes it away with the collar of his tee shirt, blowing out a shaky sigh. 

"Will?" His head snaps up, hoping that it's Nico, but when he sees a tall, muscular body with a blue pair of swimshorts hanging from his waist, his hopes are dashed. "You good?" 

"Yeah." His voice is raspy and when he catches a glimpse of his face in the mirror across from him, his eyes are rimmed in red. 

"Are you sure?" Percy takes a seat next to him, glancing at Will as Will does his best to avoid his gaze. "Because people don't normally cry in the locker room an hour after school is over, just saying." He pauses and Will can hear the sound of the air conditioner blowing through the window. It's never been louder. "Is it Nico?" 

"How'd you know about that?" A tremor runs through his body. 

"Nico told me." He glances at the floor, playing with a string bracelet wrapped around his wrist. "I know that no one was supposed to know but I think when things started to get a little more serious, he couldn't keep it in." He smiles a little bit. "You're really good for him, you know." 

"Not anymore." Percy raises an eyebrow, and Will takes that as a cue to keep talking. "He wanted me to go to the pride parade with him but I said no because I didn't want people to see us and then- and then he got upset. And left. And I feel bad, but what if someone saw us, Percy?" His voice drops off, growing quieter. "I'm not ready for that." He picks at a stray thread hanging off of the stitching of his jeans, twisting it around the tip of his finger until it turns purple. 

"Listen, I might be biased because I love Nico," Percy says. "But I think you should go." 

"But what if-"

"I know it feels like people care a lot," Percy says, cutting him off. "But they don't, really. Some of the guys on the swim team are the worst people I've ever met and yeah, sometimes they talk. But it blows over by the end of practice, and it's never brought up again. And besides, Will, you're a popular guy. People like you." He pats Will's shoulder and it's awkward, but somehow it's comforting. "Not to mention the fact that if anyone who really hates gay people sees you, they were still at the parade." This makes Will laugh. "You can call them out just as easily as they can call you out." 

"Thanks," Will says with a small laugh. "I didn't think you'd be able to help, but you did. Somehow." 

"I'm a little insulted, but that's fair." He's quiet. "So, what are you going to do?" He presses his lips together, letting the silence hang on.

"Not sure," he says. "I should go, though, right?" 

"I'm not here to tell you what to do." 

"That's what it feels like you've been doing." 

"Ok, yeah, I think you should go," Percy says. 

"You're right." Will pushes himself up, brushing the dirt off of the back of his pants. He's sure he smells of sweat and dirty clothes, but it's his fault for deciding to wallow in the grossest place of the school. "But I need your help." 

"Will, I have to go to swim practice. The only reason I'm in here is that I forgot my bag, I'm already late." 

"So it doesn't matter if you don't go." He throws Percy a glare. "Please, Percy. I need your help."

"Fine. It's not like I wanted to go to practice anyway." He stands up, grabbing a tee shirt from his backpack and pulling it on. It'll be strange going out in such an odd combination of clothes, the tight blue swim shorts, and the threadbare shirt, but Will needs him. He needs his car, too.

"You have a car, right?" 

"Yeah. Where are we going?" Will smiles, ideas already running through his head. If he's going to do something for Nico, he needs to go all out. It'll be the grand gesture that every person dreams about. 

Nico's POV

As soon as he had gotten home he had crawled into his bed and passed out, exhaustion pulling him into a dreamless sleep that held him tight. It's dark outside when he wakes up to music blaring outside of his window, and a rainbow light dancing across the houses outside. He can hear yelling and when he glances at the clock, he can see it's nearly ten. No wonder people aren't happy. The old people on his street are asleep by eight. 

When he listens to the music closer he can hear the lyrics to Born This Way and he frowns, picking himself up. The strobe light is still flashing and when he listens harder than he ever had before, he can hear what sounds like Nico being yelled out from a megaphone. He rolls his eyes, standing up. His friends are idiots, that's something that he's always known, but this is more insane than he ever thought they'd go.

When he sticks his head out the window there's a car parked outside, an off-brand rainbow strobe light parked on the top of Percy's clunky car as a rainbow blob stands on the top, screaming the lyrics to Born This Way and pausing occasionally to call out to Nico. He isn't sure which of his friends it is until the light illuminated a shock of blond hair sticking out from underneath a rainbow cowboy hat and he realizes that it's Will. "What are you doing?" He yells over the music. He can just barely make out Will's grin. 

"Come down here!" 

"No. What are you doing?" 

"Come down here!" Nico knows that it'll be hard to communicate two stories above Will, with Born This Way playing on a loop in the background so he rolls his eyes, slamming his window shut and pounding down the stairs. 

"What's going on out there?" Hazel asks, frowning from her perch on the couch. 

"If I knew I'd tell you," Nico says, rolling his eyes. When he pulls the door open, Will is standing on the stoop, decked out head to toe in rainbow clothes. Nico isn't sure where he found everything. He's managed to find a onesie in his size with rainbow high tops hitting just above his ankles. His face is completely painted and it's tied together by the cowboy hat, probably about three feet long with the most vibrant colors he's ever seen. He has to give Will some points for devotion, he supposes. "You look ridiculous." 

"I thought you'd like this." In the car, Percy turns down Born This Way, and they're able to talk normally. "It's my way of saying yes." 

"Yes to what?" Nico crosses his arms over his chest. "You really don't have to go to pride. I get why you don't." 

"Yeah, but I do. And I'm coming dressed like this, and we're going to have a great time." 

"You're going to get made fun of. You look like an idiot" 

"Doesn't matter," Will says with a shrug. "Do you want me to go?" 

"Yeah, but not like that." 

"What if I let you wear the hat?" Nico frowns, his eyes trained on the hat. 

"Really?" Will smiles, taking off his hat and setting it on top of Nico's head. His hair is sticking up in the back and the paint is wearing away on his skin but somehow, he still looks beautiful. "You really don't have to do this, you know." 

"Yes, I do. I'm proud to be with you, Nico, and I don't care who knows it." He leans in for a kiss and the paint rubs against Nico's skin and his body is boiling underneath the layers of clothes but it's still more comforting, more special than any kiss he's ever gotten and he wraps his arms around Will's neck, doing his best not to let the hat bump Will in the face. He's had amazing feelings before; acing a test, getting out of school for the summer, staying up until the early hours of the morning with friends. But this, having Will be proud of him, that's the best feeling in the world. 

Hi guys, I feel like that one wasn't quite as good as it could have been, but I'll blame it on studying for finals. Next Friday is the start of my summer break, though, so I'll hopefully start to improve the quality. Also, we're 8k away from 300k which is absolutely insane, and I'll probably do a series on a different day of the week like I did for 200k, so hopefully look out for that in a little while. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and once again, happy pride month!

Nina