Chapter Text
Nico was having a horrible day.
The type of horrible where all the little things pile up and leave you irritated and irrationally angry at everything.
It had started with spoiled milk and therefore skipped breakfast. Then his bike got a flat tire halfway through his commute to work and he had to drag it to the nearest gas station, effectively making him late.
Then there were the customers. Nico was no stranger to rude customers, it was all part of working in retail, but for whatever reason whatever god or deity or higher being was out there decided to make Nico’s life 10 times harder by sticking him with the cream of the crop. The dumbest and most entitled people Nico had ever met who seemed to derive some sort of sick pleasure out of tormenting poor, underpaid, retail workers.
He’d skipped lunch completely on accident after getting into a 20 minute debate with a woman over the company’s return policy, which only served to sour Nico’s mood.
Returning home was even worse. Nico dragged himself up the 13 flights of stairs to his shitty little apartment, starving and annoyed. He opened the door to find his roommate making out with his boyfriend shirtless on the couch. Nico froze. His roommate froze.
Hesitantly, Nico closed the door again, unsure what else to do. So just great, now he’d been sex-iled from his own apartment.
Starving, tired, and angry with nowhere else to go, Nico dragged himself to the park, which is where he found himself now. He was slouched on a park bench, arms crossed in frustration as he scowled at happy passers by.
The cold evening air seeped through his hoodie, only severing to make him cold and more upset. In his pocket, his phone buzz.
Jason now
‘Neeks! Please come home, it’s late’
Nico scowled at the message, opening the text thread.
‘Little lover boy left?’
‘Leo’s gone’
‘I’m so sorry about that by the way, u didn’t have to leave’
‘I prefer to not watch u make out sloppy style with ur boyfriend on our couch thanks’
‘And I’m still mad at u’
‘Bc I forgot to buy milk or this about Leo?’
Nico paused, his mood still sour. Smugly, he typed back.
‘Yes.’
‘U can be mad at home’
‘Come on Neeks, pls. It’s late’
No response.
‘I’m sorry about the cereal’
‘And Leo’
No response.
‘Where r u anyways??’
‘Nico’
‘Did u bike to micky D’s?’
No response. Nico was just being spiteful to be spiteful now.
‘Nico’
‘Nico’
‘Neeks’
‘Nicoooooo’
‘I’m going to spam u until u respond’
No response.
‘Nico’
‘Niccolo Di Angelo’
‘Did u get murdered???’
‘Dude reply’
‘Pls’
No response.
‘Pretty pls’
‘R u actually that mad at me?’
‘Nico’
‘Nico’
‘Come home pls’
‘I’ll buy you a pizza’
And that was what broke him. Because as fun as it was to spitefully ignore his roommate, he was starving.
‘Throw in some garlic cheesy bread and I’ll consider it’
‘He lives!!!’
‘If I buy u food will u come home?’
‘Mayhaps. Will u get garlic cheesy bread?’
‘I feel like I’m trying to coax a runaway fat home with treats’
‘*Cat’
‘Autocorrect sry’
‘Okay how about a sausage and black olive pizza w/ a doctor pepper’
‘….’
‘I accept’
And that’s how 30 minutes later, Nico met his soulmate.
Okay, well maybe that was an exaggeration.
Nico was splayed out on the couch, Jason sat beside his feet. The apartment was warm, which Nico was thankful for. It scared away the chill of the park. Jason scrolling on his phone, trying to find a pizza place that was open at 10:15 PM.
There usual place closed around 9:00. But Jason had been….busy at the time. Now, the pair had slowly gone from trying to find some place with good reviews to just trying to find something that was open.
“How about this, ‘Jim’s Greasy Pies’, closes at 2:00”
Nico wrinkled his nose, turning his attention from Family Feud on the TV to Jason, “Wow, sounds so appetizing” he remarked sarcastically
Jason rolled his eyes, “It’s open, is it not?”
Nico shrugged, “Fine, I guess it’s better than nothing”
Jason scrolled the website and his face fell, “Dammit, they don’t deliver to this part of town”
Nico frowned, “Pick up?”
“Dude if you think I am driving half way across town at 10:00 at night for a shitty pizza you’re insane”
“You’re the one with a car!”
Jason sighed, “Okay okay, how about this, ‘Apollo’s Pizzeria’. Closes at 11:30”
“Delivery?”
Jason beamed, “Runs till 11:00”
Nico perked up, shifting into a more upright position, “Perfect”
So, Jason punched in their order for what the blonde had dubbed an ‘apology pizza’. Nico thought it was better classified as a bribe.
“Success” Jason announces, “Wait time’s 15 minutes”
Nico glances at the clock, because yes he’s old fashioned and insisted on hanging an actual analog clock on the wall. 10:26 PM. They’d probably be the last delivery of the night.
“15 minutes too long” Nico grumbles, hangry.
Jason snorted, reaching for the TV remote, “Drama queen”
The blonde flipped through TV channel after channel while Nico scrolled mindless on his phone, which of course was almost dead because the universe was against him today.
Half way through whatever game show Jason had settled on, he excused himself to the bathroom, just in time for the delivery boy to arrive.
“Jason!” Nico called in the direction of the bathroom, “The pizza’s here!”
“I’m busy!” Jason shouted back, “Can’t you get it?”
Nico huffed, “Your going to make me pay for my own apologize pizza?”
“No dumbass! My wallets on the coffee table, just take that!”
Nico turned, scanning the coffee table, “Where?”
“Next to the remote!”
“Found it!”
Nico proceeded to the door, hoping he looked at least decently presentable after the day he’d had and yanked it open.
On the other side was the hottest human being Nico had ever laid eyes on.
The pizza boy was tall, 5’9 at least, with tan skin and toned muscles. He was freckled too, like constellations had been painted across his skin in warm sunny dots. His eyes were sky blue, deep and warm in a way Nico couldn’t describe. But best of all, truly best of all, were his curls. Fluffy and blonde, just brushing the boys shoulders ever so lightly. They were tussled in a way that should have come across as unkempt but instead just added to the boys charm.
Nico didn’t even register that he’d been standing there, silent and red faced, for nearly 2 minutes until the pizza boy cleared his throat.
“Um, hi. Did you order a pizza?”
Nico swallowed, snapping him out of his daze, “Uh, y-yeah we did. Um, sorry how much do I owe you?”
The blonde smiled warmly, handing Nico his order, “That’ll be $35 please”
“R-right” Nico said, already fishing the money from Jason’s wallet. Internally, he was fumbling through pick up lines he wasn’t bold enough to use, “Here you go”
The blonde accepted the money and nodded, “Enjoy your food”
Nico opened his mouth to reply, but the only thing his brain could come up with in that moment was ‘you too’. So he shut his mouth before the words could escape and embarrass him and simply nodded stiffly as the pizza boy left.
Nico didn’t know even register he was standing there like an idiot until Jason emerged from the bathroom, wiping his damp hands on his jeans.
“Nico?”
Nico blinked, “Hm?”
“You….okay?”
Nico swallowed, “Jason, I think I’m in love”