Solangelo One Shots

Ugly

This was a request from @SolangeloDemigod for a one shot based off of Ugly by Nicole Dollaganger, and I decided to set the one shot in a high school au, just for reference. I put the lyric video above in case anyone wants to listen, but it deals with body image stuff so if that makes you uncomfortable don't watch it. This one is also going to deal with bullying, just to warn you. With that said, enjoy!

Will's POV

I hadn't seen Nico since lunch, and I was starting to worry. Using the bathroom didn't usually take an hour and a half. I was uncomfortably aware of his lack of presence in history, the class quiet and lonely without him cracking jokes in my ear every five minutes. When he didn't show up for math last period, I went looking. I maneuvered my way through the hallways, doing my best to avoid the eyes of suspicious teachers as my thumbs flew over the screen of my phone, sending text after text to Nico. He didn't open a single one and every time I called the phone rang and rang until I was directed to his voicemail, the same robotic voice of the generic mailbox that I almost never heard from Nico, because he always picked up his phone. I had hoped that he had just been skipping history, seeing as he always complained about it and he had a free period after but he had always loved math, and I knew that he would never skip math, not unless something was wrong. 

I slipped out of the building, managing to evade any administrators as I stepped out onto the sun-kissed campus. The newly grown grass was green underneath my feet, yellow dandelions spotting the green all the way to the road. A breeze danced through the air, the breeze that came when winter had just ended and spring was right around the corner. Ideal boyfriend hunting weather, I thought to myself as I began my hunt, keeping my eyes peeled for a small dark haired boy darting around the campus. The ideal situation, however, would be the two of us sitting next to each other in the dimly lit math room, our hands bumping underneath the desks as we wrote out the math problems with the other. 

The campus, as far as high school campuses went, was huge, with three brick buildings containing nearly four thousand students dominating the green with flower beds and fountains scattered between, along with what must have been dozens of little nooks and crannys, each one a hiding spot, impossible to search every one until the doors opened and the students flooded out of the building. At that point it would be easy for Nico to slip inside the wave and get carried away with the current. If Nico didn't want to be found he wouldn't be found and at that point it would be hopeless to even look. I heard the gong-like sound ring through the campus, signaling the start of a new period. Fifty minutes, I told myself. You have fifty minutes to find him. I walked faster. 

He wasn't underneath the stairs of the arts building. I had hoped he would be underneath the stairs of the arts building. During our sophomore year, when we had the same free period we would spend it underneath the stairs of the arts building, talking and laughing the time away. If he had been there it would have saved forty five minutes of time, but most of all it would have meant that Nico had wanted to be found, knowing that underneath the stairs of the arts building would be the first place I checked. But the only thing I found was a tiny heap of broken gravel and a soda can blown in by the wind. I bit my lip, chewing as I mulled over my options. My time was slowly ticking away, and I needed to find Nico before the school day ended, before he was swept away. There were still dozens of places to check, and I had no idea where to go. I glanced up at the sky, shielding my eyes from the sun as if the blue sky and clouds lazily drifting along would give me the answer. They were silent but my eyes caught something, a huge tree, thick with branches with the top brushing the sun. Through the branches I could see something, a small figure clad in black halfway up, head tilted down at the ground as they clung to the trunk, their arm wrapped around it and their legs dangling off. It was hard to see, from such a distance but I could recognize that unruly mop of black hair anywhere. Just barely I could see the base of the tree from where I stood, through a vegetable garden and behind a tool shed. I was careful walking through the garden at first, doing my best not to step on any dirt but halfway through I threw caution to the wind and took off running. 

The tree trunk hurt my hands, the splinters digging into my palms and the weaker limbs groaning and bending underneath my weight. A quarter of the way up I could begin to make out the features of they boy on the branch and by the time I pulled myself up onto the branch next to him, my limbs burning, I was sure it was Nico. He didn't acknowledge my presence but kept staring straight ahead at the horizon, almost like he had a question and the only way to get an answer was to keep staring. After a quick once over my eyes settled on his face, and although they had long ago stopped I could still see the faint trail where tears had traced down his face. 

"You're like a squirrel," I laughed, trying to lighten the heavy mood. "I don't know how you got up here. I almost didn't make it." He didn't say anything, didn't even move. If he wasn't breathing he would be a statue. "What's wrong?" I asked. This drew something, a shaky breath and a hand moving up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind his ear. 

"Everyone here hates me," he whispered, his voice nearly carried away by the wind. 

"Hey, that's not true," I said, inching closer to the trunk so that I could put my hand over his. "You have friends. Me, Percy, Jason, Annabeth-" 

"Yeah, and for each person who tolerates me there are ten more who would like nothing more to never see me again," he said. I could see a tiny tear forming in the corner of his eye. 

"What happened?" 

"Ten people cornered me in the bathroom," he said. I watched the tear fall, and because of the way his head was still tilted downward I watched as the tiny droplet fell past the branches, somehow untouched before it exploded onto the ground. "Called me ugly, told me that I looked like I had crawled out of a dumpster. He reached into his pocket, pulling something out but I couldn't see it, his fist still tight around whatever it was. "They even started to cut my hair, until I escaped." He opened his fist and I could see a clump of black hair sitting there before the breeze picked them up and carried them off. Looking back up I could see that a small part of his hair was gone, a clump missing just above his ear. 

"Neeks, that's awful. Did you tell anyone?" He didn't talk, only shook his head as more tears splattered from his eyes like diamonds falling to the ground. 

"They all hate me here," he said in a chocked whisper. "I'm a loser, an outcast and no matter what I do they'll always hate me." 

"You'll always have me," I told him gently. "Whoever did this, they'll pay." This earned a small laugh from Nico as he flicked a tear from his cheek. 

"Yeah? What are you going to do?" 

"I'll beat them up," I said. 

"No you won't," he said. "You're too nice." 

"Well, I'll do it, I promise," I said. I lifted my hands from the tree trunk, feeling as if I was going to fall forward as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He let out a shaky sigh but after a few seconds I felt his hand curl around my forearm as he rested his head on my bicep. 

"I wouldn't doubt it," he said, gazing out at the horizon. I heard the gong noise sound through the campus, and heavy chatter filled my ear as the doors were flung open and four thousand students stampeded out of the school. I knew that somewhere in that crowd were the people who had hurt Nico and I knew that they would be sorry for what they did, that one day soon they would regret it. But here, high above the crowds with one of dozens of braches holding us up, we were hidden. One day I hoped it would change, that Nico would one day be able to stand up for himself instead of running off to a branch high above the campus and I knew that until that happened, I would be there every step of the way, defending him as he found his voice. But for now hidden was where he wanted to stay and I would let him stay like that, at least for a little while. 

Hi guys, I hope you liked that one! I know I strayed a little far away from the song, but I hope it was still okay.

Nina