a/n: Bear with me guys, its been forever since i've written anything but poetry…

The city of Chicago breathed its own sort of life. It was 7:00 on a crisp fall night, that perfect time when the sun starts to set and the city gets bathed in orange light as store owners start to flick on their fairy lights. It has a magical sort of air; made even more exquisite by its rarity, seeing as though the dark and mysterious nighttime lurked just after.

The subway was bustling with all different forms of life, most of which had just finished up at their jobs for the day. Among this crowd there was a pre-med student named Will Solace, running to make his schedule and shouting apologies at anybody he might've accidentally touched in his hurry.

Will was absolutely exhausted from his lectures and his hospital observations. Before becoming a doctor he had a hard path in front of him; paved with many exams, observations, all-nighters, and even some brown-nosing. It was hard-set routine for him, he duly noted, after making it to buy his traditional L-line subway ticket. Sleep for a few hours, go to school, observe at the children's hospital, and then go home and study until early hours in the morning.

He boarded the train to sit on his traditional seat (9th to the right of the door, a nice multiple of three), and almost sat directly onto somebody. He spun around in surprise, drinking in the sight of a person occupying his seat. The criminal had a pale olive complexion, dark hair pulled into a short ponytail, multiple piercings and tattoos, and smoking obsidian eyes. Which were, currently, intensely glaring at Will.

"Sorry" Will mumbled, moving towards the 12th seat. He had to try to recover some semblance of his pattern, anyways. Today had already messed him up too much, he thought, closing his eyes out of exhaustion. After his schedule today Doctor Ginerva Griffith had pulled him aside for a talk, hence him being late and almost missing the ride. Though pleased with his results, his superiors had decided to force him to take a week off: stating that he could not be as effective in classes while this exhausted. People thought he had been "pushing himself too far," and they considered forcing a weeks vacation to be his medicine.

Medicine, his ass. Will groaned into his hands, taking a deep breath in for three seconds. He considered this a failure, not being able to cover up his shortcomings. How could he possibly become as great as his dad while taking a week off? This threw a major kink into his routine, and his pattern orientated brain did not appreciate it.

Will was so out of it and engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't notice his stop chime by. He didn't notice the sky as it gradually faded to darker hues, and he was not expecting the two men to approach him.

"Hey there, sunshine. You don't look familiar to me." The first gruffly said, leaning against the subway pole.

"Uhm," Will uneasily stuttered, racking his brain. He couldn't find an effective solution to end this conversation, hell, he didn't even know what the problem looked like.

"What's in that little suitcase?" The second sneered, greedily looking over the leather object.

"That sure is a nice watch," the first added. "Did mommy buy it for you?"

Will's heartbeat sped up. This must be an unhealthy number of beats per minute, he faintly thought. He knew he wasn't helpless, measuring in at 6'4" with a fair amount of muscle. He simply felt uneasy hurting people, and he didn't like two against one. He nervously scanned over their bodies, considering fast and easy pressure points to quickly and harmlessly take them out if the situation became dire.

However, he never had to break his code. The boy who stole his seat shifted his eyes to the men, and glared at them with disdain. Will almost shivered from the aura of darkness he managed to put off.

"Get out," the boy muttered.

The men gulped, and instantly scattered. In a trance, Will even started to raise himself out of his seat.

"You," he shifted his eyes to Will. "Are you okay?"

Will gulped, and then nodded his head "Uh, yeah, totally. Thank you so much for, uh, stepping in? I really didn't want to have to do anything…"

The man exhaled lightly, cutting him off. "You shouldn't be so incurante. You should get off now and pay for a cab."

The doors chimed, seemingly backing up the man's statement. Will hastily stood up, and started walking over to the doors before composing himself and pausing before the man.

"Thanks again, I really could've gotten into some trouble. My name's Will!" He held out his hand for a handshake, and awkwardly ran his hand through his hair instead after a few seconds of the mans piercing stare. "Uh, see you later, death boy?" Will tried to tease, pointing at the guys black skull shirt.

The man simply raised an eyebrow. Will could've sworn he heard him mutter "inverosimile" under his breath, but he promptly had to run as the doors started closing.

It took Will 120 well-paced steps to make it to a cab, and 24 long minutes to ride back to his quaint apartment. He walked up his stairs, and crumpled to the floor right after he shut his door. His thoughts were spinning, and he couldn't make it all stop. He had failed to keep his composure, and was (in his mind) fired for a week. He almost missed his line. His seat had been taken. He missed his stop.

His 6-9-6 deep breathing sets finally started kicking in, and he miserably crawled into his bed to marathon some hospital-drama show on TV. When the fog of sleep started to claim him, his brain caught on the black hair of the protagonist. So pretty. Almost like that smaller man on the subway with all those interesting tattoos who managed to scare people away.

Needless to say, he dreamed of smoking black eyes.

On the opposite side of town, Nico di Angelo brushed dirt off of his pants and started to walk home. He had been sitting at his sister Bianca's grave for quite a while, as he tended to get lost in his thoughts. It had been over ten years since her death, but it still hurt. However, it was nothing like the blind rage and hate he had when she had first died. He had been unstable then, a dangerous mess. Nico had been well on the road to a life in and out of jail; because, hey, people do crazy things when their whole life gets ripped away from them. One time he had half-heartedly tried to steal an expensive card game from a store, and the judge gave him the option of a camp or prison.

He chose to go to camp, which might have been one of the best decisions of his life. While there he met several new kids, learned how to channel his rage through punching bags, and received an education. He had a brighter future now, and was making his way through college.

Nico just wished Bianca had been able to be with him. He still felt an emptiness, a sort of lonely aching he couldn't seem to fix. He came to talk to her often to try to make up for it. Bianca had been buried on the rougher side of town, where the two of them had grown up with their mom. He had needed to take the L-line pretty far down, which he never liked doing.

He smirked, thinking of the dork who had ridden the train too far. The cardigan-wearing giant was a fish out of water that far down, drawing attention. It was a good thing he had been there, he didn't think the man would've done anything to hurt the guys bothering him. Which was a little funny, because it was hard not to notice the firm lines underneath the guys cardigan that suggested some nice biceps. With that much muscle and height, he could be dangerous.

Will, he absentmindedly thought, remembering the guys name.

Idiota.

A/N- Hopefully it wasn't trash! I felt so formal writing this... I'll have to work on that. I really need to practice, and what could be a better way than solangelo amiright ;) I definitely want to write fluff. Soon.