PJO/HoO oneshots

5. Solangelo - The Imposter

Will steeled himself, ready to face whatever may come, and rung the doorbell.

The house he stood before was grand. It looked out of place in the countryside among the small, dainty houses lining the streets. The blinding whiteness of the place seemed completely averse to the emo kid that he once had feelings for.

Sorry, I meant still has feelings for.

The door opened and he was met with a tall person. He looked similar to Nico, his former boyfriend, but Will knew that this wasn't him. They shared the same messy black hair and olive skin but Nico's frame was smaller, his shoulders weren't that broad and their eyes were a different. Nico's brown eyes were so deep a shade that one may even mistake it for black. This guy had hazel eyes.

Maybe his brother, thought Will.

"What do you want?" The man asked. His tone suggested that he didn't want Will there.

"Uh... hi. I'm looking for Nico di Angelo." He said, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"You're lookin' at him. Who are you?" His eyes were narrowed at Will, who doubled back.

"You... are not Nico." He said, staring him straight in the eye.

"Yes, I am and you still haven't told me who you are."

Will could hear his heart beating loud and fast in his ears. Did Nico give him the wrong address, all those years ago? No, he decided, that wasn't possible as this man seemed to be impersonating him or something.

"The fact that you don't know my name tells me everything I need to know." He didn't need to tell this imposter anything.

Suddenly, the fake-Nico's eyes grew wide and his mouth formed an 'o' shape.

"Is your name... Will Solace?" He asked.

Well, so much for not telling the man his name. If this had been the real Nico who'd said this, Will might have become a tiny bit heartbroken, but it wasn't. He was sure of that.

"Why? Would that change something?" Will countered, narrowing his eyes at the person in front of him.

"Yes, actually, it would."

***

And then, Will was told the complicated story of the di Angelo's.

Honestly, it was messed up but who was he to judge. Apparently, the real Nico's father had some one night stand thing with his mom and, after his mother's death, the father took him in. The person he was talking to, originally named Peter, was diagnosed with autism at 11 months and wasn't at all comfortable with being touched. He was given help and support from a very young age but his mother, wanting to retain the family name, did not tell anyone about Peter and sent Nico to school instead. He was home schooled until college when suddenly he showed the desire to go out and meet people. That was when they decided to chuck Nico out of the picture and give Peter his name.

Before Nico left, he had given Peter a letter. Nico had told him to give this to a person named Will Solace, if he ever came knocking on their door and- well, here they were.

"He gave this to me, I didn't understand why. I thought he didn't have any friends, with his sulky, gloomy attitude but... he had changed a bit- OK, that's an understatement, he had changed a lot the last year that he was here. I couldn't understand why. Later, after he'd given me this, I started to wonder..." Peter said, as he searched for the letter in his cupboard. "Were you the reason for the change?"

Peter found the envelope buried underneath old textbooks and papers. He handed it to Will.

"I'd like to think so." Said Will, his cheeks heating up at the thought. He saw the mirror and chuckled at the stupid smile on his face.

The letter read as follows:

Dear Will,

If you have recieved this then I take it that you have come looking for me. I would advise you not to come but there is a paper with the address on it, in the envelope, if you wish to see me. I assume that Peter has explained everything to you.

I don't know why I've written this. You'll probably never come looking for me anyway. But my stupid, naive mind would like to believe that there's even a small chance of meeting you again. That's what love does to a person, I guess. I hope you're doing well.

Love,

Nico

Will's breath caught at the word love, the first one. He thanked Peter and rushed to his car, his heart beating wildly. He took the paper out of the envelope almost greedily and almost sighed when he saw the messily scribbled address.

A long trip awaited him. Seems he was going to be driving to Berkeley.

***

It took him three days.

He found himself knocking on the door of a neat, two story house near the coast, in the evening of the third day. It was more to Nico's style than the other one and Will couldn't help but be a little nervous. This could be it.

Will had been completely distracted as he drove there, occupied in his thoughts. That's what love does to a person. He kept replaying those words in his head like a mantra. It kept him going, kept him from backing out.

It was also the reason that he went there in the evening, instead of waiting for morning.

The door opened and revealed a fairly short girl, probably a year or two younger to him. She had pretty, amber eyes, chocolate coloured skin and curly, brown hair.

Great, he thought. How many people do I have to go through to find Nico?

"Hi. Is Nico here?" He asked the girl.

"Yeah, he's inside. I'll get him." She replied, looking at him with narrowed eyes.

She walked inside and he could clearly hear her shouting, "Nico! Someone's here to see you!"

"What?" A familiar voice called from the top floor. He felt his heart speed up.

"Come down! He's at the door." He heard footsteps stomping down the staircase.

And then his life changed completely.

He saw Nico, the real Nico and he probably had the biggest, most stupid smile ever on his face but he couldn't care less. He wrapped the smaller boy in a hug.

"Hey." Will whispered. He pulled away and laced his fingers with Nico's and saw the boy with pink cheeks, looking at him, surprised.

"Will..." Nico looked into his eyes like he couldn't believe he was here. "You got the letter?"

Will nodded and grinned sheepishly. Nico's ears turned red and he refused to look up. He leaned in next to the dark haired boy's ear and whispered, "I... I love you too."

Nico's sharp intake of breath served as encouragement as he pulled back to join their lips. Nico's hands moved up and came to rest on his chest. Will's hands cupped his face and pulled away only when they heard a squeal of excitement from inside.

"Oh, come on, Hazel. Can't you be a little mature?" Said Nico, turning towards her. "Will, this is my distant cousin, Hazel."

He gave her a dashing smile, which she returned, unlike the first time he had smiled at her very moody cousin in college. She then turned to said cousin and explained,

"No, Nico, I can't be any more mature than this because I have been waiting my whole life-" Nico rolled his eyes. "-for you to finally find someone and then, when you do, you have to leave him becuase of your... *complicated* family. And now he's back and this is just SO romantic!"

"Sure." Said Nico, rolling his eyes again and leading Will inside. "You're staying here tonight, right?"

"There's a hotel nearby, I checked it out on the way here. It's not that far" He said, not wanting to test their patience.

"No way." Started Nico, holding his hand. "You're not going anywhere, Solace."

"Yes, you must stay." Added Hazel.

"Er... OK, if you insist." He mumbled, a little distracted by Nico rubbing little circles on his knuckle with his thumb.

"Come, I'll show you my room." Nico exclaimed with the excitement of an 10-year-old.

"Use protection, boys!" Hazel called, when they were half way up the steps. Nico stuck his tongue out at her when they reached the landing, then he pushed open the door to his room. And he made sure to keep it so.

"I like your cousin." Will said, chuckling. He looked at the floor trying to hide his blush.

"Yeah, she's like that." Said Nico, his cheeks also burning.

Will wrapped him in another hug. "I missed you, Sunshine."

Nico sighed and buried his nose into his neck. "I missed you, too."

And, that night, they fell asleep in the same manner; entangled in each other's arms...

~

A/N : OK, Solangelo. Yay. Also this AU was inspired by the legendary hindi movie called 'three idiots'. I changed lots of other stuff too but the concept is basically the same. I hope you liked it. Also I take suggestions. Please tell me if you want any oneshot. Anything.

Yours Truly, 

ReynaLovegood2:)