Trigger Warning: Mentions of abuse

Saturday morning I dressed quickly and quietly and slipped out the backdoor to the forest behind us. The drizzle of rain made my hair slick down and stick to my neck and face. The sun edged over the mountains to the east, spilling red orange light across the sky. Everything in front of me looked dewy and wet, from the help of the rain and the raindrops collecting on my lashes. I finally reached my destination. It was a treehouse made by my father and my mother for me when she was still alive and my father was sober.

I climbed the worn rope ladder to the safety of the treehouse. After my mother died, I stopped coming here until about 3 months ago when my stepmom's abuse got worse. I come here for one reason now, to cry because there is no other place for that to be done. I slid my back down the wall and landed with a thump on the floor. I laid down, pressing my red swollen cheek to the cold ground. Hot tears filled my eyes and slipped down my face. A sob shuddered out of me and closed the hand with my skull ring tightly.

"Hello?"

I bolted straight up, my heart beating loudly. The pounding of rain disguised the voice, so I couldn't tell who it belonged to. Had she found me?

"I'm coming up. Are you hurt?" the voice called. I could tell it was male, and I sighed in relief.

All relief disappeared as I found myself staring into familiar blue eyes, belonging to Will Solace.

"Nico?" he questioned in disbelief.

"Why are you here?" I attempted to sound threatening, but my voice wavered, and my swollen face and teary eyes probably didn't help.

"I could ask you the same question," Will shrugged.

His nose was red from the cold, and his hair was darker and curlier than usual from the rain. He had on a white long sleeved shirt with a pale blue t-shirt over it, along with the usual white jeans he wore. What was unusual though, was the fact he looked like he had gotten caught in a tornado. He was soaking wet, and mud was splattered across him, rips in his clothes.

"What happened?" I asked softly.

"I could ask you the same. Cute treehouse." he commented, changing the subject.

We were both in obviously terrible condition, sitting in my childhood treehouse, sopping wet. I might as well share a bit.

"I had to get out of my house. My stepmom is... not good. Don't tell Hazel. Or I mean, anyone."

"I won't," he assured me.

Will crawled across the floor, and sat next to me.

"Why doesn't Hazel know? Or more, how does she not know?"
"It's complicated. What brings you here?"

"I don't have the best sense of direction." he said.

I shook my head, a small smiling finding its way on my face. I leaned back against the wall and looked up at the ceiling.

"I know what it's like to lose people you love. If Hazel doesn't know what a fucking bitch her mom is... why would I tell her. Why would I ruin that for my own sister? I just put up with everything. Try and make sure Haze has the best. Or at least better than me which isn't saying much."

"I get that," Will said, surprising me. The confused look on my face must've been apparent because he then added, "It'd just been me and my mom until last year. It was hard, and I knew it was even harder for my mom. I was always trying my best to shield Kayla from what was going on."

"What happened last year?" I asked.

"Oh, my 'father' came back last year," Will explained rolling his eyes, "That's why we moved here."

"Oh, that's... cool." I said awkwardly. I didn't really know how to respond.

"Yeah, it's weird. He's pretty busy though because he's a doctor."

"A doctor? That's fancy. My dad is- was a businessman." I replied, crossing my legs to sit more comfortably.

"What do you want to be when you're an adult?" Will asked.

"I don't really know. Time will tell I guess."

"Oh. I want to be a doctor, or a nurse actually. Doctors are too busy, and I want to be able to spend time with my future family," Will said.

"I want a family, too. I like writing. Maybe I'll be a writer."

"You'd be a great writer," Will complimented.

"Thanks," I hugged my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them in an attempt to warm up.

"Are you cold?" Will asked.

"I'm fine."

"You're shivering!" Will exclaimed. He placed a warm hand against my sleeveless arms and yelped, "You're fucking freezing- here."

He removed the hoodie tied around his waist and stuffed me in it.

"Ah- I can do it myself- oof-" the arms of the sweater were too big, so you could only see the tips of my fingers.

"Aw! You look adorable!" Will squealed.

"Shut up! No I don't!" I huffed.

Will had one of those weird smiles, the ones that look like :3. He reached out and poked my cheek.

"Stop it!" I exclaimed, becoming increasingly flustered. He was quite annoying which was somehow adorable.

Will laughed then leaned back besides me.

"Have you eaten breakfast yet?" Will asked, breaking the quiet.

***

It was a small cafe, about a 15 minute walk from Nico's house called The Hearth. A curvy woman with dark hair stood behind the counter. When she heard the door chime she looked up and waved.

"Welcome! I see you brought a friend, William."

Will nodded and stepped forward to the counter. "This is Nico."

The woman smiled, "Hello Nico, I'm Hestia."

"Nice to meet you," I said politely.

"What do you want Nico?" Will asked, reaching into his pocket.

"Uh, I left my wallet at home..."

"That's fine, I'm paying for you," Will assured me.

"You don't have to do that."

Will rolled his eyes and turned back to Hestia, "Two of my usual to go, please."

Hestia nodded and then leaned down to retrieve two blueberry scones and then turned to make some sort of hot beverage.

"Would you be fine with going back to my house, or do you want to stay out longer?" Will asked me.

"Your house if fine," I said, trying to hide how pleased I was that Will was taking me to his house.

Hestia gave us our drinks and scones, and WIll and I left the shop. I sipped the drink testingly. Mexican hot chocolate.

"Thank you, Will," I said, feeling oddly vulnerable.

"You said it," Will said.

I cocked my head to the side, "What?"

"My name. That's the first time you called me by my first name!" Will said excitedly.

"Whatever," I sipped the drink again.

Will laughed, and led me down the street, umbrella in one hand, drink and scone in the other.

"How are you not dropping those," I commented, biting the scone- delicious.

"I have big hands. You know what they say about big hands," Will said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"No?"

"...Nevermind."

I shrugged and ate more of the scone. We turned the corner onto Sunshine Drive, and walked up Will's driveway.

"My mom's probably at work but Kayla might be home," Will said, unlocking the door.

"Okay."

Will opened the door and called, "Anyone home?" there was no answer.

"She probably has a cheer thing. They go shopping and have hangouts all the time," Will explained, kicking off his wet shoes, and putting the umbrella in the hall closet.

"Mmh, makes sense."

"C'mon, let's go to my room, I'll get you a change of clothes because yours are soaked."
I followed him to his room, where he got me black sweatpants, and red v-neck, and a towel. He also got me his team sweatshirt, because it was kinda cold.

"You can get dressed in here, I'll be in the kitchen. Come in when you're ready." Will left the room, shutting the door behind him.

I pulled off my wet shirt, and then there was a knock on the door.

"Can I come in? I just realized I should probably get clothes for myself."
"Yeah sure," I said, wiping my chest off with the towel.

Will walked back in, then stared at me.

"I thought you were still wearing clothes!" He exclaimed.

I rolled my eyes. "We literally see each other half naked every school day."

"Oh yeah, huh. Well this is different," he sniffed, selecting clothes for himself from his drawer.

"Sure, whatever you want to think, Solace."

I turned to get the clean shirt, and then waited for him to leave before changing my pants. All the clothes were too big, as expected, and I made my way out of his room, and into the kitchen. Will stood in front of the stove, an orange apron tied around him.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey, you hungry, I'm making pancakes."

I wasn't all that hungry, but there was no way I was going to pass up pancakes. Will served me a plate of the fluffy disks, then offered my honey to top them with.

"Sweet tooth?" he asked, a smirk tugging at his lips.

"Maybe," I shoved a bite of pancake into my mouth.

It was fluffy, sweet, and it melted in my mouth perfectly.

"I didn't know you could cook," I said, "this is really good."

Will shrugged, turning his head to the side, a light blushed spreading across his face. "I mean, I'm okay, I just cook a lot for Kayla and I when my mom isn't around."

Will was now fully turned to me, and I could see what he was wearing over his sweater and leggings. Kumabear, it read, with a little brown bear head on it.

"Are you... are you wearing Isshiki's apron from Food Wars?"

Will blushed brighter, laughing, "You recognize it?"

"Uh..."

"I won't tell the other if you don't," Will said winking.

I smiled, "Sure. Do you like anime?"

"I mean, some of them. You?"
"Yeah, a little, but not as much as Hazel," I said.

"Do you want to watch some after we eat?" Will asked.

"Sure. Have you seen Voltron..."

Will and I talked more over pancakes, then I helped him do the dishes. We went into his room, and I turned the first lovely episode of Voltron on. Kayla came home after 3 episodes, then she made popcorn and we all watched Legally Blonde.

At 4:30 I decided I should head home so I wouldn't be late.

"Thanks for..." I didn't know what to say. Well, I did actually. Thanks for helping me, for having me, for being there for me.

And Will seemed to understand, because he hugged me tightly and said, "You're welcome."

And the whole walk home, I could still feel his warm embrace, and his soft hair against my cheek.

******************************

Monday morning, we thankfully didn't have morning practice, I got to school at my usual time. Then I went to the bathroom to fix my eyeliner, which had suffered a terrible death on my walk here, due to the moist air. As I smudged the wing around the edges, I heard a too familiar voice say, "fucking emo."

I looked into the mirror at the culprit, the ever annoying Leo Valdez.

"Can I help you?" I asked, moving on to the other eye.

"I'm here to officially invite you to the team party Piper will be holding at her house next week," Leo announced, sitting on the sink next to me.

"You're going to break the sink," I deadpanned, snapping the cap back onto the pencil.

"Are you going to come?" Leo asked, then immediately added, "That's what she said."

I rolled my eyes, "Maybe, maybe not. I don't know yet."

"Mysterious, nice. Fits the aesthetic."

I left the bathroom before I literally went insane. The bell letting you know you have to go to your first class rang as I walked down the hall. I arrived at my first class, and looked over to my usual seat. Next to Will, a guy was leaning on my desk chatting with him. Who the fuck?

"Will, you did so good at the game!" I heard the guy saying as I came closer.

"Ah, thank you, Micheal," Will laughed.

The dude, Micheal, I assumed, smiled sweetly, and brushed his dirty blonde hair from his eyes. "Anytime."

I walked up to my desk, and pulled my chair out and dropped my bag on the floor. Loudly.

"Hey, Solace," I glanced at Micheal, "Who're you."

Micheal blinked. "Uhm, Michael. We've gone to school together since 9th grade...I'm in all your classes.."

"Oh. I'm Nico di Angelo," I said.

Micheal smiled, and blushed, probably nervous or something. "I know that, you're literally the best player on the basketball team."

Micheal glanced at Will apologetically. "Uh sorry."

Will shrugged, smiling easily. "No problem. Can't get offended by the truth."

Micheal leaned against my desk once more, and leaned towards Will again.

"Will, you're so kind," he purred.

I scowled, and glared at Micheal. "Why are you even here? Last time I checked you don't sit here."

"I was just talking to Will.. but I'll go now cause class is starting soon. Toodles!" Micheal squeezed Will's bicep, then sashayed away. The audacity.

The bell rang, and I got out my notebook and pen.

"What was that about?" Will asked.

"What was what about?"

"Waving Micheal off."

"Uhm, he was annoying? And on my desk?" I opened the notebook up to a fresh page.

"Okay, whatever you say," Will laughed, getting his notebook.

"The fuck that's supposed to mean?" I scoffed.

Will just shook his head and laughed again.

Will knows what's up.

2,307 words

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