Nico slipped into the seat next to Piper. The whole lot of them- Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Leo, Calypso, Hazel, Frank, Reyna, and himself- had gone out to a bar. The ten of them slid into a circular booth, with Nico and Percy on each respective end. The sounds of the bar crowded Nico's head as he tried to make conversation, so much that he could barely focus. Still, he thought, he should try to enjoy this. It was rare that they could all get together, now that most of them were out of college. But Hazel, the youngest in their crew, had just recently turned twenty-one, which meant that they could finally go to bars without excluding someone.

Despite the fact that she was now of legal drinking age, Nico was determined to watch his sister like a hawk, like he always did. But that plan was interrupted by a certain blond stumbling over to their table.

"Heyyy, pretty stranger." Will slammed his hands down on the table in front of Nico and gave a lopsided grin.

"Will?" Nico asked. "What are you…?"

"'S there enough room for me to sit here?" Will continued, gesturing to the bit of open seat next to Percy. Percy moved confusedly, and Will plopped himself down.

"What are you doing?" Nico asked softly. Will shook his head.

"Dunno. Can't even feel my fingertips." He stared at his hands, as if making sure his fingers were still there.

"Oh my god. How much did you drink?"

Will shrugged.

"Did you come here with anyone?" Nico asked, knowing that Will was way too hammered for them to just leave him be.

"No. No, sir, 'm single as a pringle," he said, shaking his head slowly. His words slurred together.

"I meant did you come here with friends, idiot." Nico laughed a little, ignoring the blush on his cheeks.

"Oh! Oh, yeah, I did, but… I donno where they are." Will looked around sort of cluelessly. Then he returned his attention to Nico. "Can I buy you a drink?"

"If you can remember how credit cards work, sure." Will stumbled off towards the bartender, and now Nico's friends, who had been silent the entire time, stared at him in disbelief. "That's Will," Nico told them. "He's in my law class. I should probably, ah… drive him home."

"I can," Percy offered. "I'm the designated driver, anyways."

Nico waved him off, standing up. "I already know his dorm. Hey, I'll text you when I drop him off. If things are still going, I'll come back."

Will now staggered back over, placing the drink he'd gotten proudly on the table. Never mind that he'd spilled almost half of it on the way over from the bar. Nico shook his head and slid the drink over to Piper. "You're a mess," he mumbled, looking at Will's tousled hair.

"You're not gonna drink it?" Will pouted.

"No. I'm going to take you home."

"Wow, already? That was fast."

Nico smacked his shoulder halfheartedly. "To your home, idiot."

"Oh."

They were both silent on the drive back. So silent, in fact, that Nico assumed Will had fallen asleep, until he said: "You are really pretty, though."

Nico glanced at Will out of the corner of his eye. He was facing Nico, staring at him intently with those shining blue eyes. "Am I," Nico asked without humor.

"Yeah. Your, like, your nose… n your hair… 's pretty."

Nico coughed to cover up his laugh, feeling his cheeks heat up again. "You are so drunk," he muttered.

Will didn't say much else for the rest of the way, but Nico could feel his eyes resting on him the entire time. It was distracting, to say the least. So Nico was glad when he pulled into the parking lot outside of Will's dorm.

Nico sat for a minute before getting out of the car. He glanced over at Will, who was now trying to get the door open while not realizing it was locked. Nico bit his lip, grinning, and grabbed a pen and napkin resting in a cup holder between the driver and passenger seats. Leaning forward to use light from a streetlight outside, Nico scribbled out: If you feel the same way tomorrow as you did tonight, text me. He then wrote his number, and stepped out of the car, folding the napkin down enough that he could hold it in his palm.

As Nico helped Will out of the car (the poor boy couldn't even stand up on his own), he slipped the napkin into Will's back pocket. Then the two of them were off, Nico with an arm slung around a stumbling Will's shoulder.

At one point, though, when they were on a path going through a grassy, tree-filled quad, Will stopped. Nico looked at him questioningly, but found himself closer to Will's face than he'd intended. The blond's eyes were inches away from Nico's; he'd tilted his head to get closer. Nico could almost taste, and definitely smell, the alcohol on Will's breath. Will's eyes fluttered shut as he pushed forward a little more, but Nico jerked his head to the side just before their lips met.

"Y-You're drunk," he stammered, leaning back and trying to think of anything but how his brain was on fire. "That's- that's weird."

"'S weird that I'm drunk?" Will mumbled.

"No! It's weird to- to kiss you when you're drunk," Nico whispered, positive that his face had burst into flames by this point.

"But I-"

"Let's just get you home," Nico insisted, pulling Will along towards the building.

When they reached Will's dorm, the knock on the door was opened by a girl who looked just as drunk as Will.

"Ohhh, there you areeeee," she said, pulling Will into the dorm. "We were wonderin' where you went. Tried to text you, but-" she hiccupped, "-phone's dead." She turned to Nico. "Thanks." Then she turned back to Will again, who was stumbling down the hallway. "Don't go in the bathroom, Cecil's pukin' his guts out!"

"So I take it you all didn't have a sober chaperone, then," Nico muttered as the door closed in his face. Oh, well. He'd done the most he could.

Quickly texting his friends that he was coming back, Nico jumped in the car, eager to get plastered himself.

.

.

Will groaned as he sat up on the couch, pushing off the blanket that was haphazardly thrown over him. His head felt like it was splitting open, and the pounding in his ears made it hard to hear anything else. Still, as he spotted Lou Ellen making her way into the kitchen of their suite-style dorm, he decided to try to make conversation.

"Lou?"

Lou Ellen spotted him and grinned. "Ah, he's finally awake."

"What happened last night?"

She laughed, somewhat bitterly. "Too much. I've already had to restrain myself from knocking my head in with a hammer at least three times this morning. Hangovers suck. But hey, at least we're better off than Cecil. He got well acquainted with the toilet seat last night."

"I don't remember… we got, separated, didn't we? How did I end up at home again?"

"Oh. Some guy brought you home. I don't really remember."

"Some guy…?" Will held his head in his hand, trying to clear up the foggy memory. "Who?"

"Dunno. But he seemed nice. You were jabbering on about how kind it was of him to drive you home, even if he didn't drink the drink you bought him."

"I…" Will pulled himself up to a standing position, stumbling and using the wall for support. As he stood, he heard something crinkling in his back pocket. He pulled out a paper, and tentatively started unfolding it.

If you feel the same way tomorrow as you did tonight, text me.

Following the message, a phone number was written. The letters were shaky and uneven; it looked like it had been written in the dark. In a bar, maybe? Will didn't know. But there was something about the point of the ws, the way the ys curled at the bottom, that seemed familiar to him. But with his head pounding, he couldn't figure out what it was.

Finally, after staring at it for a half an hour, it popped into Will's head. That was Nico's handwriting!

"Oh, man," he mumbled.

"What?" Lou Ellen asked.

"It's Nico."

"The boy who sits next to you in law class? The one you totally have a stupidly obvious crush on?" Cecil, who was now sitting on the ground with a bottle of Ginger Ale and a bucket, teased.

Will blushed. "Yes, that one. This is definitely his handwriting. He must've been the one who drove me home yesterday."

"Well, what are you waiting for, then?" Lou rolled her eyes. "The note's got his number, yeah? Text him!"

Will fumbled his phone out, turning it on and plugging the number in.

Hey, he texted. It's Will.

Hey, came the reply less than five minutes later. It's Nico. How do you feel? You must have a monster hangover after last night. I know I do.

Yup. Can't actually remember last night, though.

You don't remember anything?

Not really. From the note you left, I'm guessing I probably hit on you?

Quite a bit, actually.

Oh. That's embarrassing.

Nico didn't reply for a while, and Will wondered if it was a mistake telling him that he didn't remember anything. What had happened last night, anyways?

But around fifteen minutes later, three dots appeared on Will's screen. He held it close to his face in anticipation.

You also tried to kiss me, the message read. Will buried his face in one of his hands, wanting nothing more than to crawl into a hole somewhere and wait for death.

Oh my god I'm so sorry, he typed back quickly.

It's okay. It was kinda cute.

Cute? Had Nico seriously just called him cute? What on earth did that mean!?

So you stopped me then? Will asked.

Yeah, because you were drunk.

Will's heart started beating faster. Just because I was drunk?

Consent is important, Solace.

Will laughed a little bit, but he had a feeling that Nico knew as well as him that's not what he'd been asking. He'd been asking: Would you kiss me if I was sober?

Will you kiss me now that I'm sober?

Please?

Will shook his head before he typed something as ridiculous as that into the message bar. Instead, he stared at the blinking cursor, trying to figure out what to say. Eventually, he wrote: Do you want to grab coffee? I hear it's great for hangovers.

The few seconds in between when the dots popped up to tell Will that Nico was typing, and when Will could actually see his reply felt like hours. Eventually, though, Will could see:

I'd love nothing more.