The Nico di Angelo experiment

Not the enemy he thought

Crushing Will, as it turned out, was much harder than Reyna made it sound.

Try as Jason might, he couldn't find anything wrong with the guy. He was nice to everyone he met, played a majority of the instruments available in orchestra, and won choir competitions every other weekend. He never turned anything in late, not even lunch money. In the past three days Jason and his friends had spent watching him, they hadn't seen him do anything even in the range of being considered "bad." Seeing his competition, Jason was psyching himself out with worries.

He'd been skulking down the hallway with Leo, discussing how irritatingly perfect Will was, when suddenly he felt himself being pulled into the janitor's closet, and heard the squawk that meant Leo was in the same situation.

"Why are you following Will?" Someone hissed, and Jason squinted.

"Lou Ellen?"

She rolled her eyes. Jason turned his head and saw Cecil holding Leo.

"I swear, Grace, if you plan on doing anything even remotely douchish to Will, I will personally grab a broken tree branch and-"

"Jason's in love with Nico!" Leo blurted, interrupting her.

"Leo!" Jason cried, seeing Cecil and Lou Ellen's eyes widen.

"He's jealous and thinks that Will wants to date Nico but he has dibs so we were following Will to see if it was possible for Nico to be interested in him and I must say that the guy is pretty perfect. Much more perfect than Jason-OOF!" He cried out as Jason's elbow dug into his ribs.

Cecil crowed and turned to Lou Ellen, dropping Leo's arms.

"I told you! I told you they weren't being douches, Jason's just an awkward gay nerd in love!"

"Bisexual, actually." He muttered under his breath.
"And wait- how did you know I liked Nico?"

Lou Ellen laughed.

"Jason, you have about as much grace and subtlety as a three legged cow in an ice rink. Anyone with eyes can see you're crushing."

"And probably some people without them, too." Cecil chimed in. "You give off some pretty lovesick vibes."

"I know, right?" Leo chuckled, turning to him as they laughed and conversed about Jason's, apparently obvious, lovesickness and lack of subtlety.

"Don't worry, Jason." Lou Ellen said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Will and Nico are just really good friends. In fact, Will already knows about your crush. He'd never overstep his boundaries and pull something on Nico. I bet he'd be really happy to help you get together......." She hinted, proving that Jason was not the only with a lack of grace.

"Although....The last irrationally flawless blond Nico befriended was Jason." Cecil mused. "And we can all see how that's turned out."

Three "Shut up, Cecil" 's later, the Nico di Angelo experiment had three new members.
______
Jason really needed to invest in a new basement. It'd be bigger, with more snacks and furniture to seat all the people who thought they could just invite themselves over with no consequences.

Nico had a dentist appointment that day, so they'd all gathered in the basement (without asking Jason) while he was on his way home. Jason was 99% sure they'd had a parade through the streets, just grabbing passerby to "join the cause" and helping themselves to his fridge.

All the usual suspects were on the floor, while Lou Ellen, Cecil, Will, Connor, Travis, Drew, Katie, and Mitchell sat on
the couch.

"What the heck?" He screeched as he came down the stairs and turned on the lights.