Nico's POV

It's still surprising to him that even at eight in the morning, the coffee shop is empty. Percy's been wiping down the same table for the past half-hour, sipping on his iced coffee with dull eyes. There are stacks of their monogrammed cups in Nico's hand, the gold letters that spell out Cup 'O Happiness glinting in the dull lighting of the coffee shop. Percy keeps saying that if they keep the lights low to combat the burning sunlight, and if they keep the fan whirring to beat the heat, they'll draw in customers. Clearly, it isn't working.

"What time is it?" Nico asks as he stacks cups on top of each other, taking a sip of Percy's coffee. Despite the fan, it's still boiling in the coffee shop and the coffee tastes good in his throat.

"Eight fifteen. And don't drink my coffee." He snatches it away from Nico, sucking it angrily. "Why were you asking about the time?" There's a tiny smirk on his face, and Nico flushes.

"Just wondering."

"Really? It has nothing to do with the fact that this is the time that cute blonde runner boy runs by every morning."

"No. Shut up. I don't know who you're talking about." He chucks a pen at Percy and he doges it, the pen clattering against the floor somewhere across the store. His cheeks burn.

"You're crushing so hard. You watch for him every single day."

"You're imagining things." Nico inches closer to the window, peering out the glass. Far down the sidewalk, with the green expanse of the park behind them is the silhouette of a person, tight shirt moving with their muscles as they run. Even from far away, Nico knows who it is.

"Is that him?" Percy sidles up to him, peering over Nico's head. Nico smacks him in the stomach.

"Shut up." He presses his face into the glass of the window, watching as the boy comes into sharper view, his blonde hair gleaming in the sun. Droplets of sweat cling to his forehead, dripping down his cheeks and the muscles in his arms bulge. Nico almost swoons.

"You're being really obvious right now."

"You're making things worse. Get away from the window." He pushes Percy away and Percy grins, watching as the boy comes closer. It's at this point when Nico's heart begins to beat and he feels mildly nauseous and he always hopes that the boy will come in, get a coffee or water. But he never does.

"You should talk to him. You're clearly obsessed."

"You know I'm not going to do that."

"Fine. I will."

"Wait, what?" If Nico had felt nervous before, it wasn't comparable to the heart-stopping, vomit-inducing panic. Percy sticks his head out the door and Nico considers pulling him back in, but that would look too weird. But then again, so does a boy with unruly black hair sticking his head out of a coffee shop that's completely empty, asking a person he's never talked to if he wants to come in for water.

"Hey!" The blonde stops running, slipping an earbud out of his ear as he slows down. "You look hot." Nico chokes on his spit, and Percy glances at him, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah." The blonde puts his hands on his hips, glancing at the door. "It's hot out here."

"Why don't you come in for an iced coffee? On the house."

"What?" The blonde says.

"What?" Nico says, bile rising up in his throat. Maybe if he projectile vomits all over the coffee shop, he won't want to come inside.

"Come on." Percy opens up the door wider and the blonde steps closer. In his defense, the smell of fresh coffee is almost intoxicating, and he can feel the heat of the sun, even inside. "We need more customers, and after one taste, you'll be hooked."

"Thanks." The blonde steps inside and Nico throws himself into the wall, glued to the wood as he watches the blonde cross the floor, taking a seat at the counter. Nico would never have thought that blonde running boy would have been inside of his coffee shop but there he is, with his hands folded on top of his counter and the tips of his running shoes brushing against the floor.

"Nico, will you get-" Percy pauses, looking at the blonde. "What's your name?"

"Will."

"Nico, will you get Will a cup of iced coffee?"

"I have to go to the bathroom."

"No, you don't." Will is watching the conversation with a mixture of fascination and confusion on his face and Percy raises his eyes, nodding harder at Will. Nico sighs, scrubbing his face.

"No, I don't." He smiles tightly at Will when he pours him a cup of coffee, the ice rising up and bobbing in the deep brown liquid. "Do you want cream or sugar?"

"Both, please." Percy sets a plate in front of him, a warm muffin sitting atop the white ceramic.

"You can't have coffee on an empty stomach. Anyway, I have to go to the bathroom, but you two should get to know each other." He slaps Nico on the back and Nico almost falls on top of the counter, catching himself hard on the end. "Good luck," Percy murmurs into his ear, and Nico kicks his calf as he walks.

"Weird guy," Will comments nonchalantly, sipping on his iced coffee. He peers over the cup at Nico and there's a twinkle in his eye, a tiny smile hidden behind the ceramic. "Is everyone who works here so pushy?"

"I-" he flushes, playing with a longer strand of black hair. He feels like if he opens his mouth, he might vomit. "I don't know. Guess you'll just have to decide that for yourself." Will laughs, and the twinkle in his eyes brightens.

"Is that your way to tell me you want me to come by more often?" Nico's face is on fire.

"I- if you wanted to, I guess. It's nice here. We have nice-" he pauses, glancing around the room. He has no clue where he's going with his sentence. "We have nice chairs. Very cushiony." Will sets his coffee down, exposing his smile. It's bright, beaming, and it makes Nico's heart flutter in his chest. It's not the flutter he gets when he sees someone cute walking down the street, the flutter of raw physical attraction. It's the flutter he gets when he has a crush, a real crush. There's something about that bright smile that draws him in, makes him wonder about the person behind it.

"Yeah, I know." He shifts around on his stool, squeezing the cushion underneath it. "I'm sitting on it. Maybe I'll have to come back tomorrow, just for the seats." Nico laughs, and his heart gives the romance flutter again, the one that feels so much different from the pure attraction flutter. It's been such a long time since he's felt this one; not since his painful high school crush on Percy, the one that left him cold and sad and alone. He's missed it. "Although I'll probably have to pay for the food this time, won't I?"

"I wouldn't make you," Nico says, wiping his sweaty palms on the legs of his pants. It's hot inside and out, and he regrets wearing black jeans. "But I do need to get paid somehow."

"Getting paid is good," Will says, smiling. "I also like getting paid." He glances at the clock and his shoulders slump as he takes the final bite of his muffin before he drains his coffee. "I should get going. I have an appointment at nine. But it might be a good idea to have an iced coffee premade around eight-fifteen. And maybe one of those muffins, too. I run past here every day. But you already know that, of course." He grins cheekily as he slips off of the stool, stuffing a five into the tip jar. Nico feels his face go beet red and he wishes he could melt.

"Sorry," he says, playing with a loose thread on his jeans. "It's just- I didn't- I just thought-"

"Don't worry about it." He grabs his dishes, setting them gently into the bus tub and Nico sees every single muscle in his body move. The physical attraction flutter accompanies the crush flutter, and it's almost too much for him to handle. "It's cute. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow." Will steps outside of the coffee shop, slipping his earbuds in as he starts to run again. Nico watches him go, unable to take his eyes off of his body until he'd have to break the glass to look any further. It's at about this time when Percy reappears, smiling slyly.

"Looks like you two really connected."

"How long does it take you to go to the bathroom?"

"Oh, I wasn't peeing."

"Nasty." Nico shoves him on his way to the bus tub, light in his hands. He stares down at Will's plate, a couple of crumbs sitting on top. He looks back at the door that Will walked through and he gets that flutter again, the flutter that makes his heart beat faster.

------

At eight-fifteen the next day there's an iced coffee sitting atop the counter and he's toasting a blueberry muffin, a plate already waiting for it. He's peering out the window, washing the already sparkling window and waiting to see Will appear in the distance. He glances at the clock; eight-seventeen. He's late. "Where's Will?" Percy appears at his shoulder, half a danish in his hand. "It's eight seventeen. He's late."

"Yeah, I know." His voice is hoarse and he clears his throat, scratching at his chin. His neck is stiff and as Percy tries to make eye contact his gaze moves to the floor, to a coffee stain from two years ago that won't come out, no matter how hard anyone scrubs.

"Maybe he started late. Or maybe he's just slower than normal." He squeezes Nico's shoulder, and Nico rubs the back of his neck.

"Yeah. Maybe." His voice is small, and he doesn't believe a word he's saying. Will is never late.

------

He isn't expecting anything the next day so when the bell above the door chimes and Will steps inside, slightly sweaty and flushed from his run, Nico's heart stops. The scone Percy's eating practically falls out of his mouth. "I can explain."

"You didn't go on your run yesterday." Nico wipes stray crumbs off of the countertop as Will takes a seat on the same stool from two days before, folding his hands on top of the enamel. "You always go on your run."

"I can explain." Nico turns around, biting his bottom lip. He feels his eyes begin to water and he sighs, pressing the heel of his hand in so that the tears don't spill over. "Is your silence a yes?" Percy is watching the interaction like tv, chewing slowly on his scone.

"That's a yes," Percy says, his mouth still full with the scone. Nico doesn't say anything.

"You remember that appointment I was talking about?"

"Yeah." Nico sniffs, wiping a single tear from his face and turning around, his arms crossed over his chest.

"It was for my foot cramps. I've been having them really bad after I run. It's fine while I'm running, but I can barely walk after."

"That sucks." Nico brings his arms closer into his side, hunching over. He still won't look at Will.

"Yeah. So the doctor gave me medicine for it, said it would fix it right up. But the medicine had side effects, you know." Nico's eyebrows raise involuntarily, and his shoulders un-tense. "Are you curious?"

"A little."

"Woke up the next morning vomiting everywhere, pounding head, dizzy, exhausted. I couldn't get up."

"Oh." He turns around, drumming his fingers on the countertop and giving Will a small smile. "That sounds terrible."

"It was. I didn't get out of bed the whole day."

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah. Called my doctor this morning, and he scheduled an appointment for next Monday at eleven. Didn't take the medicine last night and the symptoms went away. So I should be good to hang out with you if you want. Except, you know, next Monday at eleven." Nico's mouth drops open and for a second he's in a state of complete shock and the air is frozen around him until he smiles, and he feels the flutter from before. The flutter that comes alongside the flush that makes him slightly dizzy, the flutter that makes him want to come closer, the flutter that he's beginning to know as the flutter that he gets whenever he sees Will. Pieces of scone drop out of Percy's mouth.

"I'm free tomorrow night."

"Great. Dinner at seven?" Nico swallows hard, pouring a cup of iced coffee and pushing it to Will, the moisture from the cup mingling with the sweat. He smiles at Will but he's scared that it looks pained, stressed. Because it's not. Because he's completely breathless but, at the same time, he's shaking.

"Like, as a get to know you as friends thing? Or a get to know you on a date thing?" Will smiles, taking a sip of the iced coffee. A tiny brown mustache grows above his lip and he wipes it off, tilting his head at Nico. His eyes are glittering and Nico's found that he likes it. He hopes he'll get to see it more often.

"What do you want it to be?" Nico swallows hard, popping a blueberry muffin into the toaster and tapping his foot on the floor, his shoemaking a small slapping sound.

"Date, I think." He smiles and this time, he's not worried that it looks pained. He knows it doesn't. "I think a date sounds nice." Percy flashes him a thumbs up from behind Will but when Will turns, Percy spins around, poking at the napkin stack on one of the tables. Will smiles, raising his eyebrows at Nico and Nico laughs, passing Will the muffin. "You can ignore him, by the way. He'll be watching our every move from now until tomorrow night, but he's harmless."

"Not true," Percy protests. "I have better things to worry about than your date. I have classes for next year to think about, and Annabeth is coming back from her trip to Greece in a week and she'll want to show me pictures. And my brother might get a dog. So I have a lot to think about." Nico shakes his head, busying himself with brewing more coffee as he listens to Will tap a happy beat out on the floor with the soles of his shoes. Percy can pretend that he doesn't care about his date but Nico knows that just a few minutes after Nico is alone again, he'll get a text begging for every detail. And Nico will be happy to tell.

Hi guys, I know that this was a tiny spin on the classic coffee shop au but it was the most practical place for Nico to work and I like how it turned out so I hope you liked it too!!

Nina