Work Text:
Nico ran his hands through his already messy hair and sighed at the lack of customers. He had never particularly enjoyed being forced to socialize with customers, but as much as he hated to admit it customers kept him busy. Time moved faster when he was occupied. Since his was the afternoon shift the shop was mostly empty. His co-worker and room mate, Jason, was furiously texting someone, most probably his girlfriend Piper. When he noticed Nico Glaring at him he grinned and gave him a thumbs up.
“I’m so bored.” Nico deadpanned.
“And?”
“Stop with that texting and entertain me.”
Jason rolled his eyes.
“You know you sound like a dictator ” then continued in a mock imitation of Nico “Entertain me you peasant or I shall break your legs-”
“I will break your legs if you don’t stop speaking right now Grace”
“You know you love me” Jason said blowing kisses at him.
“Shut up” Nico rolled his eyes but smiled thinly anyways.
Just then a customer made his way through the doors. His hair was blonde and framed his face in messy waves. His eyes were startling blue. Not like Jason’s. Jason’s eyes were an electric, steely blue gray. This guy’s eyes were soft bright blue and felt like kindness. He wore a soft v neck blue sweater over a white shirt along with grey jeans and red sneakers. As much as Nico didn’t want to admit it, he was freaking cute. But if he were to hit on every cute guy that walked through the doors he probably would have been fired by now. He walked up to Nico scrolling down his phone as he did. When he reached the counter he stuffed his phone in his pocket.
“What can I get you today?” Nico droned out the formalities.
“Um can I get a tall drip?”
Nico took up the order. Once that was done he picked up the marker and asked the blonde his name.
“Naruto”
“Excuse me?”
The blonde grinned and it was as if someone had shone a torch in his face.
“Naruto Uzumaki”
Nico regained his composure gave him a strange look. Cute or not this guy was weird. Jason was trying not to giggle and it looked like he was having a seizure, but thankfully his customer didn't seem to notice. His entire attention seemed to be on Nico and that irked him. Also there’s no way this guy’s name was Naruto, right? Either that or his parents were some hardcore Naruto fans.
“N-A-R-”
“I know the goddam spelling. I used to watch the anime.” He said trying not to outright laugh as he wrote down the name in caps. Cause that would be rude.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about” ‘Naruto’ quipped and gave Nico a wink before making his way towards the seats.
Jason gave Nico a look. Nico shrugged. “No one can blame them though. Naruto is a classic”
“Blame who?” Nico asked.
“His parents dude” Jason said as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.
“You don’t actually believe that his name is Naruto?” Nico said frowning at his best friend and questioning his sanity.
“Hey it could be. Anything is possible.” Jason said doning a mock serious face.
“Bah I don’t think so He’s a nerd with a good sense of humor. That’s all.” He said as he pushed the order on the table.
“Naruto Uzumaki” he called out and nearly died from the second hand embarrassment as what little customers they had looked at him strangely.
“A good sense of humor, huh?” Jason said raising an eyebrow “You like him”.
Nico sent him his best glare which effectively shut him up just as the blonde made his way to the counter.
“ Thanks..” The blonde smiled as he picked up his order, his eyes darting to Nico’s name tag. “Nico”
Nico felt his breath catch as the blonde shamelessly checked him out. Jason coughed not so subtlety hiding a grin behind his hand. The blonde blushed like a high school-er and proceeded to rush out with a quickly mumbled 'have a good day’
Nico stared after him part dismayed part embarrassed.
“Have a good day” he repeated, dazed.
Jason burst out laughing.
“Fucking whipped. Ohmygosh. He was totally checking you out. I have to tell this to Piper. My god” as he continued to laugh like a hyena.
Nico flipped him off and ignored him for the rest of his shift.
___________________________
The next time he saw the handsome blonde was a week after their first encounter. This time the blonde wasted no time as he waved at Nico as if they were long lost childhood friends. But as protocol deemed them to not be rude to their customers Nico awkwardly waved back at the blonde. He thanked the universe for Jason not having a shift today because the blonde was looking particularly hot today. And Nico wasn’t sure he had the self restraint. He wanted to jump this guy there and then.
“Hey Nico” he smiled brightly. “Nice day today.”
“Hey Naruto” he nodded trying hard to keep his expression neutral. “It sure is”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure. Your order maybe.”
“Ha ha Nico” he said shaking his head. “I wanted to ask you how is it that you make this Starbucks uniform look so hot?”
Nico blushed a brilliant red. Ok so maybe Jason was right. This guy was into him? But he didn’t want to get his hopes high if this guy was only playing around. Even if that was true, two can play this game.
“Just the same way you manage to make the name Naruto sound hot”
“That’s not actually my name” He said staring right into Nico’s eyes, leaning in just a bit, nor invading Nico’s personal space but close enough to make it intimate.
“Hm is that so? Then I must ask, what is your name?” Nico said mischief glinting in his dark eyes as he too leaned closer. He could count the boy’s freckles from here. They somehow made him even more attractive than he already was.
“You really wanna know?”
Nico nodded smiling slightly.
“Batman” he deadpanned.
Leo Valdez who had been watching this exchange with great interest, burst out laughing.
Nico scowled at him, reeling back from the blonde in disappointment. “Seriously?”
He grinned at the frowning Italian. “Seriously”
Nico grumbled all the way through the order, scrawling down the word ‘batman‘ onto the cup with more force than necessary.
“BATMAN” he called out and once again the blonde picked up his drink , winked at him and left just as quickly leaving Nico very frustrated with his heart doing something very funny in his chest.
___________________________
Nico was sat in the library preparing for his finals. The gang had gathered for a group study. Jason, Leo, Piper,Frank and his sister Hazel were placed around the round table. Hazel and Jason on either side of him. Ever since Jason had spread the news about the 'flirty no name customer’ he hadn't heard the end of it from both Hazel and Piper.
“Was he cute?” Piper asked Leo.
“Cute? He looked like the fricking Greek God Apollo. Like one of those poster surfer boys at the California beach”
“Oooh” she cooed as she gave Nico a look very similar to the one Jason had given him a couple of weeks back. Hazel laughed and patted his back. No matter how much Hazel teased him about it he couldn’t seem to get mad at her. Nobody could get mad at a sweetheart like Hazel. Her golden eyes twinkled as she too interrogated Leo for details as they knew they were getting nothing out of him.
“You won’t believe it Haze, they were having eye sex right in the middle-”
“Shut up Leo!” Nico growled his eyes shining dangerously. “You don’t want me to tell them about that one time-”
“OK” Leo yelled “Uncle Leo will not be telling you guys any more stories. That’s it. Nada.” He said miming zipping his lips up.
“Good” Nico mumbled “You all better stop gossiping and get back to work”
“Yes sir” Hazel quipped teasingly, she turned her attention back to Frank who had been explaining a paragraph to her. Bless the guy for not saying a word between these embarrassing exchanges. After an hour or so of studying, Nico volunteered to go buy a couple of drinks for himself and the gang from the vending machine a couple of blocks away. He needed fresh air and a walk.
______________
“Nico?” His head whipped around to catch messy blonde hair and blue eyes staring at him with an expression that clearly said that he was not expecting him to be here.
“Um..hey” Nico said wincing at the awkwardness. “What are you doing here?”
“I was heading back from work. What are you doing here?” The blonde said studying him with a certain curiosity.
“Took a break from studying. I’m buying a couple of drinks for our group.”
He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a female screech. A young brunette about his age stomped her way towards the blonde and proceeded to hit him with her bag.
“Ow!”
“What the fuck-” He quickly placed his palm on her mouth.
“Lou please. Don’t make a scene here” he said rolling his eyes.
She slapped his hand away. He noticed that her hair was streaked purple and her eyes were an angry green. “You left without me again you jackass!”
“I’m sorry but you literally took half an hour to get changed. I was getting impatient.” The blonde explained flailing his arms about.
Nico felt a bitter anger crawl it’s way up his chest as he watched the exchange. Of-fucking-course he had a girlfriend. Of-fucking-course he was straight. Was it wrong to jump to that conclusion. They definitely weren’t siblings. They looked nothing alike. But they seemed extremely close and nothing felt right at that moment. Nico no longer wanted to stand there anymore and be witness to any more couple-y bickering. This guy had obviously just been playing around.
He turned to leave tuning out the his name being called. He stalked right around the corner when a hand closed around his wrist.
“Hey wait Nico-”
He pushed the blonde away roughly. “What the fuck do you want?” He said gruffly. He didn’t want to deal with this today.
The blonde looked startled for what it was worth, but stood his ground regardless .
“Why are you mad? I mean you just walked away. Did I do something-”
“Go ask your fucking girlfriend”
The blonde gaped at him. “Nico..” He began.
Nico growled at him. “I don’t want to hear your stupid explanation. You’ve been playing me. And her. You can’t just go around flirting with strangers if you have a fucking girlfriend. I thought-”
“She’s not my girlfriend! For fucks sake Nico! Way to jump to conclusions. She’s my childhood buddy. We work together and live close, so we take the same train back home. ” he seemed mad but also pleased and conflicted.
“Oh” Nico deflated. He felt really stupid for for being so quick to judge when he generally hated that in a person . “I’m sorry” he mumbled gently looking down at the floor.
“Nico..hey it’s ok” Nico coudn’t see his expression but his voice was soft. He gently grasped Nico’s hands again and pulled him close.
“You were jealous”
It was not a question. Nico didn’t answer.
He was scared of what he was feeling right now. He had never felt this strongly for someone since Percy. This felt different. It felt good. And it scared Nico because he had barely seen the guy twice and all he could think about was blue eyes and blonde hair and freckles.
Slender fingers grasped his chin and gently pulled his face up so that he could face the blonde. Nico gazed into his eyes worried that this could be the last time he could do so.
But then the blonde gazed at Nico’s lips before glancing back, silently asking permission. Nico leaned forward and slotted their lips together. The blonde’s lips were soft but chapped at the edges and it was driving Nico crazy. A hand slid across his waist pulling him closer while the other closed around his neck. Nico fisted his collar, deepening the kiss, his tongue darting around to rub against the blonde’s. The blonde moaned.
Next thing Nico knew was that he was being pushed against the wall and his lips were on Nico’s again, his hand slipping under Nico’s shirt tracing his defined back muscles, earning a gasp from him.
He heard somebody wolf whistle and immediately pushed the blonde away as quickly as possible, his face even redder than when they were making out. Lou Ellen stood with her hands crosses, a grin on her face.
“Damn that was some face sucking there Willy boy.”
Willy boy.
His name was Will.
“Lou please” Will nearly begged, he hadn’t yet noticed that his name had been revealed. Nico grinned back at Lou who waved her dismissal with a smile on her face.
“I’ll wait for you five more minutes hon. Then I’m leaving. Use protection.”
“LOU!” She chuckled devilishly before disappearing around the corner.He turned to Nico.
“I’m so sorry about that.”
“I think we should be the one’s who are sorry..” Nico for some reason was having a hard time controlling his laughter. “WILL”
“W-what? How!” He pouted. “It was Lou wasn’t it. Shit.”
Nico let out a chuckle and extended his hand. “Let’s start over WILL. My name is Nico di Angelo. It was nice meeting you.”
Will blue eyes shone with amusement and he clasped Nico’s extended hand. “And I’m Will Solace. It was nice to meet you too. Wanna go out with me ?”
“How very subtle of you William” Nico rolled his eyes.
Will visibly cringed. “Don’t call me that. Especially you. Verdict?”
Nico smiled. “I would love to go out with you.”
Will actually 'whooped’ and pulled Nico into a bone crushing hug. If Will had not been so lively Nico would have 'whooped’ too. But he settled with 'whooping’ internally. They exchanged numbers and parted ways with a little more kissing. Nico smiled at the number that had been messily scrawled down along with a name.
872-721-452
Love
Will Solace xoxo
Nico could not drop his smile as he made his way back to the library, not a care in the world. When he finally reached his table, the gang stared at him incredulously.
“What took you so long? And where are the drinks?”
Shit.