"And we cuddled as well. I mean, I don't know if I'm reading into it too much but to me that is a sign of-" Reyna was rambling on Skype about her evening with Thalia to an amused Nico, who happily listened to her childlike twitter.

"Okay okay, I get it 'you're so in love, she obviously likes you, you actually have a chance.'" He teased, feigning boredom. "How much of Supernatural did you actually watch?"

She averted her eyes. "Well, actually, only the first season." She admitted.
"Oh I see, so after all of your bravado it turns out that I definitely wasn't underestimating you, am I correct?" He grinned.

"Just wait until tomorrow, I'm gonna punch you so hard." She threatened, pointing at him threateningly. But her threat was broken up by a yawn. "I'm tired so, goodnight."

Nico pouted. "I'm not tired."
"What about Bee? Are we not disturbing her?" Reyna asked. Nico smiled. He loved that Reyna's concern for his sister was genuine.
"No, she's up late studying."

Reyna yawned again and stretched her limbs out like a cat. "You should make her some tea or something. Tell her not to stay up too late. Goodnight, Neeks."
She smiled sleepily before the screen went dark and the call finished, leaving the Skype homescreen up on Nico's laptop. He sighed and closed it, sliding the tattered old thing under his bed.

With effort he opened the stiff window and perched on his windowsill. He had a desire to climb out onto the fire escape that wrapped around his building, but the rush of traffic and the danger of falling from a fatal height held him back. Instead, he looked out across the skyline, listening intently to the sound of the streets, and thought. He thought about Bianca, and about Percy, but mostly he thought about the blonde haired boy who had donated his umbrella.

•.*☆*.•

The first rays of sunshine filtered in through Nico's window, casting a golden glow over his room. Nico sat up abruptly, woken by the intense light. He usually kept his curtains drawn, an seeing his room illuminated made him feel like the god Apollo has blessed the dark haired boy himself.

It was early. Too early. Bee was still asleep in the room next to Nico's, and he decided he would let her sleep in a little bit. He adjusted her alarm clock and set about doing what Bianca usually did every morning. He went through the apartment and opened every window, before going back to the sink, which had a lovely view of a brick wall through the window opposite.

He cleaned the dishes, and then the clutter on the breakfast bar, before making a start on breakfast. Despite their little income, it was very important to Bianca that Nico always had a large breakfast, as he used to have an eating disorder and became painfully thin.

He put the bread in the toaster and began frying the eggs and the bacon. The aroma of the food hung over the apartment as he plated up the food, just in time to hear Bianca's alarm ringing. He heard a groan and mumbling, before Bianca came rushing into the room, her hair tied up haphazardly in a bun and hanging over her face.

"Crap I've slept in, what happened to my-" She paused as her eyes made their way around the room, before landing on Nico, who was perched on a stool and attacking his bacon.

Bee's eyes teared up and she blinked them away desperately, before pulling Nico into a suffocating hug. "You little minx. You did everything! I'm going to do the laundry this evening, then."

Nico shook his head. "It's a teacher training day for me, so I have all day to do the laundry. Bianca pulled away, slumping into the stool beside Nico and digging in to her breakfast.

"Are you going to be okay home alone all day? There's going to be a thunderstorms, so if there's a powercut the landline won't work." She asked, despite knowing that even if Nico said he wouldn't be fine, there was little she could do.

Nico perked up at the news of a thunderstorm. "Don't worry, I have a cellphone, so if I need you I'll be fine." His eyes shifted to the yellow umbrella in the corner of the room, a plan forming in his mind.

"Alright, I trust you. You know Mrs. Davidson across the hall will help if you need it." She rose from the stool, breakfast finished, and kissed his forehead.

•.*☆*.•

The sky was darkening rapidly, and excitement bubbled inside Nico. In fact, he was to distracted to even scold himself for being excited to see this boy.

It was stupid, the boy might not even show up; it might have been a one time thing. But something felt sort of right today, the beautiful sunrise Nico had witnessed this morning, the impending storm. It was like a sign from the gods. (A/n Apollo is the best wingman (Unfortunately Icarus wasn't such a good wing man :/ ))

As the sky got as dark as it could go, Nico closed all of the windows and locked up, grabbing the yellow umbrella and making his way down(town, walking fast) the stairs two at a time.

The streets were lined with people holding sleek black umbrellas, and Nico suddenly felt self conscious of his fluorescent yellow one, but their was no turning back; Nico feared he might miss him. The first droplets of rain plummeting from the sky, and as if in synchrony, the pedestrians opened up their umbrellas at the same time.

People where silhouetted as the lightening arced across the grey sky, followed by angry thunder that bounced off of the towering buildings either side of the street.

Gripping the umbrella tightly, Nico set off into the street, taking the route he had met the boy upon. It was the weirdest thing, walking down the street with a bright yellow umbrella; everyone passing Nico smiled at the Ray of colour in a sea of darkness.

This must be why blondey bought the umbrella, Nico thought to himself, and his chest swelled at the thought of the boy purely happy because he made everyone smile.

He had been out for half an hour, and the rain was still coming down hard. His socks were damp from the rain soaking into his shoes, and his jeans were splattered with droplets from passing cars.

He sighed, deflating like a balloon. This was pointless, he knew it was. And yet, despite his dissolving hope, a little ray of sunshine filtered through the clouds, down the street, before disappearing again. Nico sucked in a breath, thinking of how impossible it would be, but maybe..

And then, he caught sight of an umbrella, sky blue adorned with tiny white clouds. He couldn't see the person beneath it, but he knew.

He quickened his pace, eyes glued on the arc of the umbrella. He accidentally stepped in a deep puddle, his shoes soaking up the water, but he continued on nonetheless.

Nico was so close, unbelievably close, and the umbrella disappeared down a street, Nico in pursuit. As soon as he turned the corner, he collided with someone else, someone who smelled like clean linen and rain drops.

"Woah, careful." The person said, hands flying out to steady Nico. The boy let his eyes drift up the the stranger's face, his jaw falling slack at the sight of the person before him.

"It is you." The blonde boy smirked. "I saw you following me a few streets back."

"Yeah, well you're the only person in this entire city with stupid umbrellas like that, so I knew it was you." Nico grumbled. The blonde boy laughed, retracting his hands from Nico's shoulders.

"It's so weird, there are thousands of people in New York and we happened across each other twice." The boy murmured, looking up at his umbrella.

"Call it fate and I'll hit you." He said, causing the blonde to laugh, which in turn made Nico smile.

"Where you.. looking for me?" The boy asked, raising his eyebrows in a condescending manner. Nico's cheeks heated up, but he narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah, of course, I went outside in a thunderstorm and got my shoes soaked just so I could find you." He scowled, folding his arms, yet the blonde boy just found it endearing.

"Well I was looking for you." The boy shrugged, looking away nonchalantly. However he didn't miss Nico perk up a little bit, his scowl softening and his folded arms coming slack.
"You were?" He asked, sounding hopeful.

The blondey nodded. "Mhmm, so I could get my umbrella back." He grinned devilishly, warranting a deeper scowl and a light smack on the arm from the angsty little dark haired boy. "What part of the city are you headed to?"

"Ah, the Upper East Side." Nico replied. (This is me trying to be geographical, wish me luck)

"Oh, I'm from Queens, I'll walk you." The boy smiled, but Nico gave him a confused look.

"Queens is in the opposite direction to my apartment." The blonde boy shrugged, still smiling. "Come one, it will be fun, I love Manhattan."

The two boys walked side by side, a spectacle of bright umbrellas. The rain was easing up finally, and the thunder and lightning had ceased long ago. A slightly awkward silence fell over the two, or maybe it was only awkward to Nico, for the older boy walked along happily.

They came across a wide but shallow puddle, one everyone was going out of their way to walk around, and Nico tried to dodge it as well. He probably would have done, had the blondey not ran straight through it, kicking water up at Nico as he passed, manically laughing.

Nico stood, gaping at his soaked jeans for a few moments, before counter attacking. He jumped into the puddle, sacrificing himself to make the blonde boy wet.

"Enough, enough!" The older boy pleading, laughing, as he gripped Nico's T-shirt. "Gods, you made me really wet."

Nico's eyes flickered up to his to check if the innuendo was intentional, and seeing the taller boy's confirming smirk, proceeded to kick water at his legs once more. "You're disgusting." He giggled.

"Oh, that's my place." Nico, straightened up, nodding to one of the complexes down the street. The blondey pursed his lips, almost as if he was measuring up the distance.

"Just as I thought. We might as well run it." He decided, causing Nico to laugh and shake his head.

"What sort of stupid logic is that?" He was caught off guard when the boy took Nico's wrist and set of, his heavy footsteps sending water droplets upwards, and tugged Nico along abruptly.

They ran to the apartment building, Nico cursing and laughing and trying to tug his wrist free, yelling things like "I don't run, ever!" and "people are staring!" while the other boy laughed it off.

Nico doubled over, wheezing, when they finally got to the apartment complex, the umbrella doing little to help the tiny flecks of rain splatter over his back. "I'm never...running...again...
ohmygods."

The blonde boy laughed, panting only slightly. "Well, as fun as it was, I should probably get back."
Nico straightened up, heart sinking. "Yeah?" The blonde nodded.

"See you later, maybe." The boy smiled, patting Nico's shoulder, before turning. "Hey, wait, what's your name?" Nico questioned, and the boy turned to him.

"Will Solace. And yours?"
"Nico. Di Angelo." Nico introduced and the boy smiled.
"'Til next time, Di Angelo." Will smiled, then turned and walked away. Nico watched him fade into the crowd, a single dot of blue, before realising he hadn't returned the umbrella.

•.*☆*.•

Howdy frens.

Shoutout to Lahewes valdez_1213 and xxDarkChildOfHadesxx for your comments and votes and support, as well as my Kouhai idekhalp
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