Hey y'all! Just finished exams and had surgery so this is how I've been spending my time when I should have been sleeping and studying. I've been reading books like crazy over the past few days: Fangirl, One Man Guy, and about to pick up The Maze Runner. This one was supposed to be a one shot, then a two part thing, four part things, now I'm not too sure how long it'll be. *awkward laugh*

Enjoy

DISCLAIMER: Names Kitty, not Rick, so I don't own these sons of bitches.

Sometimes keeping a secret a secret is the only option you have when it seems like the entire world is out to get you. Well, not the entire world, but it does feel like it. Sometimes it's best to keep closed up from the world and just block out the rest. It's most useful to hide it when the secret could change your life and you're not too sure if it's going to be a good thing or not.

Nico had been at this for long enough to make sure he wasn't caught. No, it wasn't like he had some intense secret that had to be hidden; he just chose not to let the whole world know. Since like forever, it has been said that when you turn the age of sixteen, you receive a number written in roman numerals on your left forearm and the person you are destined to be with will have the exact same number written on theirs on their sixteenth birthday and if anything is to happen to them then your number shall disappear and a new one would come forth. Sometimes people will receive no number, indicating that they will be happy on their own or they are destined for someone in the future (mainly the people who lose people later on, as sad as that sounds).

For starters, Nico wasn't hiding the fact he had no number, he was hiding the fact he did have one. Now as weird as that sounds, Nico had a perfectly good reason to hide it and he was determined to keep it that way.

On the way to his first block class, he was stopped by the sound he grown all too used to. The sound of their voices sent shivers up his spine, turning his blood to ice. Ducking out of the way, he made a sharp turn down a hall that was not on his way to his English class.

The voices belonged to the kids that practically run this school. The group had boys and girls and he didn't want to run into anyone of them at any time. The boys consisted of Jason, Will, Percy, and Luke; girls consisted of Callie, Katie, Piper, and Annabeth. Nico didn't mind Annabeth because she was nice to him for they knew each other sense elementary and only really 'turned' when she started dating Percy. He didn't really mind him either, but he still had his moments.

As he made his way down the wrong hall, he decided he was just going to go the long way and avoid all chances of running into them. His locker was on the way, so he just dropped by it once last time, picking up supplies he needed for his block two class. Hey, two birds with one stone, he thought to himself.

Barely making it on time, he sat down in his desk, organizing his textbooks. He shook off the looks he received from his classmates and teacher and got his pencil out. Note after note, Nico's hand started to cramp up, but he ignored it. He shook his wrists to try and loosen them up and his sleeves started to roll up on him. He quickly pulled them down and franticly started looking around to see if anyone saw his number.

Nico had a strange number. Written in roman numerals, it is a simple X. Written on his wrist was the letter X, a number so strange and rare to come a crossed, it stood out. He remembered the day it appeared, the day of his sixteenth birthday. It had been a happy day. He didn't have it during the day though because he was born at night. He stayed up so late to see what it was, but because of a few late nights studying, he fell asleep soon after nine. When he awoke he expected it to be like Christmas, but what he found was not what he had wanted. A few months previous, he had overheard a few people talking (mainly because everyone was) about someone having a strange number. A number so singular it stood out. He had overheard that a boy from the popular group had gotten their number in the morning and it seemed quite odd. Apparently Will Solace had gotten the number X written on his forearm, because of the simplicity of it and because of his popularity, people started to talk about it.

So, when Nico awoke from his slumber and found that his number was the same as Will's, he did everything within his power to prevent anyone (especially Will) from finding out. From that day forward he wore long sleeve shirts; sometimes he would wear way too much bracelets; sometimes he would wrap his wrist to hide it; sometimes he did all three. If anything could be said from that was that Nico was determined to keep this secret to the grave.

Nico was snapped back into reality from his thoughts when his teacher had asked him to read a passage from Romeo and Juliet. The part he had to read was small, but he didn't really like reading. English wasn't his first language and being slightly dyslexic didn't really help all that much. He struggled through it, but he managed to pull through in the end. He put the book down and stared at the notes he had copied only a few minutes previous then started doodling until the bell rang. The moment it did, he was out of there, books and all.

He was starting to think his luck had run dry because upon making it to math class, he run into (quite literally) Luke square in the back, causing him to drop his books. Apparently Luke had been talking to Thalia; Jason's sister, and seemed to be quite pissed about being interrupted mid-conversation. Nico froze in place looking into Luke's icy eyes. When he finally was able to pick himself up, he scrambled to collect his books before picking Luke's up.

Nico was about mid-apology when he was stopped dead in his tracks from the death glare given to him by the older boy. He handed Luke his book like a scared little mouse, quietly trying to apologize to him again for the millionth time in a row.

For a short second, Nico thought he was a dead man. The way Luke scowled at him seemed almost like the way a predator would stare down its prey. Nico was saved when Thalia put her hand on his shoulder and smiled slightly at him. It seemed like that had a silent conversation between the two of them, in the end, it seemed like Luke had lost because he grabbed his books back from Nico aggressively.

He thought he was in the clear until Luke handed his books to the girl and grabbed Nico by his collar.

"Really, Luke?" she asked.

"You think I'll let this nerd off without a little threat, now did yeah?" Luke shot back.

Thalia rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"I thought you said you were going to try and be nice. Thought Jason got through to you, but I guess not," she shrugged, almost like admitting defeat. Nico thought this girl was going to be his saving grace, but it appeared he thought wrong.

The bell rung: the signal the start of class. Luke seemed to have a change of heart and loosened his grip slightly. Thalia laughed slightly and started to walk away. In defeat, Luke sighed, but before releasing his death grip, he shoved Nico back against the wall and threatened him before walking off to meet up with Thalia.

Nico was done. He wanted nothing to do with that group and since the gods hate him so much, they had to throw his life into theirs, getting him mixed up in it. They have been nagging him for years. Threats weren't a new thing; names were where it started. The main reason for it was because Nico was so closed out from the world, making the way he was so secretive only another reason they targeted him. The topic of their aggression is usually his number. The way he hides his wrist was what started it. They had thought he was hiding it because of lack of a number present, but nobody had ever seen his wrist after his birthday so they just assumed.

Nico was late to yet another class. Great! This one passed a lot faster than the last one; in and out. He just had to make it through one more class before lunch then after band. Being a band nerd didn't bother him because he loved it. It was the one class were he could escape into his own world and nobody would bat an eye, because everyone else was in theirs.

Bio was simple and easy. Nico loved the class for some reason, it just made sense. He ran into nobody unwanted (except Annabeth, but he sat by her in class and she was pretty chill) and he was completely okay with it. Last half of class was study time. Being beside Annabeth, naturally they became partners.

"Heard Luke got to you on your way to class," she whispered while scribbling down notes from the textbook.

Nico shook his head, "Nah, just met him in the hallway, that's all,"

Annabeth could tell he was lying. She examined him from head to toe then fixed her gaze back to her paper. "Then where did those scratch marks come from? You know, the ones on your collarbone."

Nico tensed. He must have been so scared that he didn't feel it when Luke must have scratched him when gripping his collar. He gave in.

"Alright, I lied. But I do that all the time, so it shouldn't matter."

"Nico," Annabeth hissed in a hushed tone then looked around to make sure she wasn't too loud, "You have to be more careful, at least around him. I don't know why they all have it out for you, but they do, so you have to be more careful, please. I've known you for a long time and I care for you," she paused before pointing to his wrist. "And why won't you tell me about that? You've blocked me out since then and I've been worried."

"Oh, I can just tell how worried you are about me, by the way could you help me out the next time I'm getting beat up?" Nico spat back sarcastically then put his focus back on his homework.

Annabeth remained quiet for a while until she whispered, "Why? Why do you shut everyone out?"

"Oh, well, I don't know, Anna. Maybe I just wanna conceal my problems away till everyone knows my big secret and I run away and sing about! Just let it go, Anna, let it go!" everyone raised an eye when Nico picked up his voice. He calmed down slightly; Annabeth listened and dropped the subject. What Annabeth didn't know is that she and Nico had more connected to the story than what he led on.

…

Lunch was all that stood in the way of Nico and his small piece of heaven. Lunch was never the problem, what was the problem was that it couldn't end fast enough. To be honest, lunch wasn't that bad, he got to hang out with his younger sister, Hazel. She was pretty chill for being a half-sister.

On his way over to Hazel, he got stopped by Luke. He had come back to finish what he had started and Nico knew he was screwed. Following Luke was the rest of the group. Jason to Callie, everyone was there. Nico knew there were a lot of blondes in the group, but it didn't really sink in until they were all standing together there.

Luke had pinned Nico to a wall. Nico tried to stomach his fear, but it seemed to come right back up.

"Oh, well isn't it my old pall, Neeks," Luke spat with a deadly under tone. His eyes seemed almost crazy with the smirk he had plastered on his face.

"Can you just leave me alone, Luke? It's not like I've done anything to you," Nico shot back with whatever fight he could muster.

"Luke, can we just go and eat? You can finish this later," Thalia said plainly.

Luke looked at her and smiled. His eyes still on her, he spoke to Nico, "You see Neeks, that's my girlfriend. And do you know how I met her?" his eyes drifted back on Nico, "First, I met her brother Jason," he pointed to Jason, "Then I turned sixteen," he pointed to his left wrist, "That's when I got a number. Then after Jason's sister turned sixteen," he pointed to Thalia, "she got her number and it matched mine. What's yours Neeks?"

Silence fell on the crowd. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife.

After a couple of seconds of silence, Luke laughed a little to himself then tilted his head and put on an artificial sympathetic look, "Oh wait, you don't have one, do you Neeks?"

Nico found the strength within him to fight back, "I do have a number and it's none of your business what it is."

"Now you've peaked my attention," he raised an eyebrow.

"Alright Luke, let him go," Will said slightly annoyed.

"Hey now, I kinda wanna know what his number is, don't you?" Jason asked politely.

Will just rolled his eyes, crossing his arms across his chest.

As Luke began to pin Nico to the ground to rip off the wrapping he had around his wrist, he spotted Annabeth who looked a mixture of scared and curious. He knew she wanted to know his number, but under his trust.

Just as things were getting intense, Annabeth decided to step in, but only with words.

"That's enough, Luke!"

"Hold on, I'm almost…" he carried his last word until he removed the wrap. "There!" he sounded in joy. "Now let's see what that number is of yours," he raised Nico's wrist which was now limp as he gave up struggling halfway through.

Nico was sitting on the ground avoiding all eye contact from the others. He knew Luke would be aggressive, so he just let him because he knew it was going to happen whether he fought back or not.

Luke was crouched next to Nico when he lifted his forearm into view. When he turned it over, his face became a mixture of shock, curiosity, and amusement. His face changed from multiple emotions rapidly and if Nico wasn't being forced against his will to reveal who he was destined to be with, he would have laughed at it.

When Luke didn't say anything, Jason walked over slightly, but when Luke started shaking his head, laughing just enough to have his shoulders rise and fall, that was when Jason knew something was up.

"What's up, Luke?"

When Jason made his way over, he saw Nico's number, X. His face went pale. He got up and walked over to Will.

"What?" Will asked his friend.

Jason patted Will on the back and whispered, "Good luck" then walked away.

"Huh?" Will was really confused.

He made his way over slowly, not sure of what to expect. When he got there, Luke moved out of the way and Nico stood up, face to face with Will. They just stared at each other until Will made the first move.

"May I?" he asked.

"What nice manners," Nico muttered under his breath while turning his head, looking away from Will's gaze.

Will looked down at Nico's wrist and took it in his hands, turning it ever so slightly to see what was there. When he looked, his eyes grew twice in size. He tried to open his mouth and say something, but nothing came out.

"Didn't know you were gay, Solace," Luke joked.

"I'm not, asshole," he shot back.

Will looked back at Nico and swallowed. He seemed nervous.

"Di Angelo, right?" he asked. Nico nodded.

"So you've been hiding this for a year? Why?" he asked again.

Nico shrugged, "Didn't exactly want to get involved with all this, so I stayed away. Not like it was easy to hide such an obvious number, you know?"

Will looked surprised and… hurt?

"Anyway, as you just said, you're not gay and neither am I, so I just stayed away and hid," and with that, Nico walked away from a stunned group of teens.

Nico didn't even make it all the way through lunch before he started to hear people talking about Will finding the other X. Rumours were already starting to popup that weren't even close to true. Some were about a model while others were more true saying it was a boy in the freshman class, but none were true. It wasn't till after lunch that all the rumours settled down and the truth bubbled to the top and people were starting to look at Nico with judgmental eyes.

….

After grabbing his flute (Nico didn't care how unmanly it made him look, he liked the flute), he sat in the section and started tuning. He didn't even make it ten seconds in until the other flute players bombarded him with questions. He just sat there, confused.

"Is it true that you've been hiding your undying love for Will because he could never love you back?" a dark haired girl asked.

"What?" Nico asked.

"Was it that you were secretly dating Annabeth behind Percy's back and you two stopped being friends when you two got your numbers?" said a blonde.

"Wait, no!" Nico answered.

"Is it true you two had a one-night stand after you found out your number and that's why you two ignored each other until now because of it?" a curly haired redhead asked.

"What does that even mean?"

More questions came at him, the next one more crazy than the last. He thought he was screwed until the conductor walked out and told the class to take out Pavane. With that, the class began.

…..

Because he got a double class of band today, they played through the five minute brake that was given to switch classes. Their brake was usually given later, most of the time they got it after the song they were playing.

By the time they got their brake, Nico was out of breath. He didn't mind the sound of the song Lord of the Dance (the new one they got), but god was it fast. They had to play in the auditorium because of classes over lapping, so when they went on brake Nico just rested back in his chair, examining the upper stage area. He was about to close his eyes when he spotted a mop of blonde hair at the back entrance. He shot up and ran over, hoping no one is watching him.

When he got to the top, Will was standing there.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Nico shot at him, trying to keep his voice down.

"You guys are good. I liked the last one," he smiled at Nico, leaning on the rail.

"I don't care about what you think. Why are you here?" he asked again.

"'Got English. Double. It sucks. Last part of it is study block, so I'm 'studying'," he quoted.

Nico asked a dumb question, "What are you studying?"

Will looked at him and smiled, "You."

"That's creepy," Nico informed.

"Well, I have a whole year to make up for, you know?"

"God you're weird. What's wrong with you?" Nico asked harshly.

"Nothing really. I just want to get to know the guy I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with," he shot Nico that sunny smile that seemed to light up the room.

Down on the stage, everyone was gathering again to get ready to play. Nico was about to leave, but Will had the same thought. He looked at his watch and scratched the back of his neck and sighed.

"Only told the teacher I'd be gone for a few minutes . Crap!" Will looked at Nico and stopped rubbing the back of his neck and smiled down.

Nico was confused. Everything about this guy was confusing and he wasn't ready to learn about it.

"Better late than never, I guess," Will mumbled then looked Nico dead in the eyes.

"What does that even mea-" he didn't even finish before Will kissed the top of his head, said he had to go and ran off back to class.

By the time Nico got back to his seat, he was beginning to get asked a bunch of questions because apparently they had seen him with Will and he wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

"Why do the gods hate me so much?" he asked, wishing he could be saved, and strangely enough, he would even take Luke running in to save him. Was he ever going to live this down?

Hope you enjoyed it. I already know where I'm heading for this one. Spoil alert, it's gonna be super cheesy so get ready!

Like to say thanks to my editor, Juliana. Thank you for putting up with my shitty grammer and I'd like to say thank you to all of y'all for sticking to the end. THANK YOU!

Kitty out!