Gunshots like Fireworks (AU)

For as long as Nico could remember, he hated the Fourth of July. The holiday was his least favorite, right there next to Arbor Day and April Fools. He hated the smell of firecrackers, the obnoxious pop-pop-pop of sidewalk poppers and the lazy oohing and ahhhing of family members who were only there to get drunk and set things on fire. 

He hated his neighbors for making a big deal out of it.

He hated his family for trying to make a bigger deal out of it.

There was still a couple days left before the holiday of America while Nico trudged outside a step behind his cousins (who were only in town for the holiday, go figure). They were all older than him by a couple years but insisted that Nico needed to "get outside more". 

Jason on his left, wearing his american flag swimming trousers and a white Tshirt that blinded drivers in the cars passing by. His blond hair flowed in a fake breeze; it was a hundred million degrees outside and Nico was beginning to think he was having a heat stroke. Jason was mid conversation with Percy who didn't even bother with a shirt, but strolled along casually with a beach towel around his neck and flipflops on his feet. His swimming trunks were bluer than the ocean but his cheap dollar store sunglasses held enough American pride to make even the most obnoxious Americans wince. 

Nico chose to do black. All black. He also had no plans of going outside at all, so now he was regretting not going with grey. Or maybe a pair of shorts? He could feel the sweat plastering his jeans to his legs and his face was burning from the exposure to sunlight.

"This year we are so going to one up those neighbors!" Percy was saying. His grin was something of a maniacal smile.

"Well as long as you don't set anymore boxes on fire." Jason shrugged and pushed his glasses back up his nose.

"It was one time!" 

"You ruined the show!"

"At least I didn't stick a sparkler in a lawn chair and catch the seating on fire!" Percy jumped in front of Nico just enough to shove Jason. The blond boy shoved him back.

Nico sighed and turned up the volume on his music. He was streaming some playlist from YouTube that he had found last night, but didn't recognize any of the songs. The Melodies were calming, low beats mixed with voices and matched with hazy alteration between high tempos and low tempos. It was almost enough for Nico to drown out the rest of the world.

Almost.

Nico stopped in his walk as his cousins wrestled across the sidewalk in front of him. They were still arguing over the stupid firework displays of years past. This would be their second year each setting the fireworks off, in a show directed by Thalia, Jason's older sister. They had spent long hours with the adults weaving together a show of smoke bombs and roman candies and showers and fountains. Every year was something different. Every year they battled against Nico's next store neighbors for the title of the "Best Goddamned Firework Show". 

And Nico could hear it all from his bedroom, when his lights were out and the doors were locked and a pillow over his head as he tried to sleep. 

He hated the Fourth of July Fireworks.

"Will you two knock it off, already?" Nico scowled at the two teenagers before him. Percy had Jason in a headlock, but Jason was already wrapping his foot around Percy's ankle for a take down that would result in both of them showing up at the Di Angelo house with broken bones. (They'd done it before; the police and firemen and hospital staff were all very familiar with them.)

Percy offered and unsteady truce and Jason got up. Percy picked up his towel from wear it had fallen and threw it over his shoulder. Then he slapped Nico on the shoulder. "Hey Neeks, speaking of Fireworks--"

"No."

"Oh come on!" Jason picked up his cue like they had been rehearsing the conversation all day. "Nico, I've never seen you at the display. Aren't you even a little bit curious about them?"

"Not at all." Nico wondered if he could get his dad to pay for a new set of headphones. He had seen a really nice set of sound blocking ones the other day.

"I don't think I've ever even seen you even hold a sparkler." Percy insisted, "I mean, I know you don't like the Fourth of July, but shouldn't you be outside with us? Dude, the day honors your dad! At least watch the beginning with us  this year."

"We wont make you set off anything," Jason held up his hand, "Scout's honor!"

"Only you would make a Scout's Honor about that, Grace."

"Shut up, Jackson."

Percy waved him off, and turned back to Nico with pleading green eyes, "Fine, don't even stay for the fireworks, just stay outside until the show starts and then you can go mope or whatever you do when you hide in the house during the holidays."

Nico scowled at the lamppost behind Percy's head. Of course Percy wouldn't know what he really did when he was left by himself in the house in the dark. Percy didn't have the memories that Nico did. He'd never seen the inside of a military camp or rode in a military convoy. He'd never had a sister either.

"Percy and I will buy you the new expansion pack of Myth-o-magic," Jason added, "And we'll play with you."

"What?" Percy shot Jason a shocked look, "I mean, yeah, yeah. We'll do that." 

Nico shoved his hands in his pockets. "Hard pass."

He shoved himself between them and continued on their way home, ignoring the poorly disguised irritation on his cousin's faces. They were used to Nico being stubborn, and probably thought he was doing it this time out of spite-- Nico did it often to them. But not this time. He was sure Percy and Jason  could promise him the world and he would just crank the music louder.

"That's Un-American, man." Percy grumbled. Jason batted his shoulder.

"Lay off," The blonde boy said. There was a reason Nico liked Jason just  bit more. Jason recognized when Nico needed them to stop, Percy and his single mindedness would press on until Nico had him pinned on the ground and there was blood on both their fists.

Nico slid his phone from his pocket and checked the time. Thalia had said they weren't allowed back at the house until dinner at least-- correctly assuming that if she left her dumb cousins in the house with the fireworks the fire department would be stopping by today-- but Nico had no clue why he was being punished too. He did nothing to encourage or hinder their show; he remained a shadow in the corner with a gloomy aura and a curled lip.

"LOOK OUT!"

Even with his music playing, Nico's head whipped up to the warning. He saw it immediately, a palm sized sphere bouncing down the side walk. It was dark colored with a flashing, hissing, stub that was quickly  disappearing in a cloud of smoke behind it.

Nico threw himself from it, before he even knew what he was doing. It was instinct, violent, horrible, ugly instinct. He stumbled back behind his cousins, tripping over his own feet and then when the sidewalk fell away, Nico tumbled into the empty street.

His palms screamed when they caught him. His headphones rocked off his head. The smoke bomb let out a tiny screech and exhaled another burst of colored smoke before it harmlessly finished at Jason's feet.

"Dude," Percy said, kicking the firework with his sole (which was like the one thing you weren't supposed to do) and a chestier smile on his face, "Smoke bomb!"

Jason gave Nico a frown, "Are you alright?"

"Fine." Nico gritted out, rubbing the raw skin of his palms.

"SORRY!" There was a crashing of feet and the next thing Nico knew a party of three had shown up. 

Percy and Jason, despite how much they poked and prodded at each other, were suddenly shoulder to shoulder and glowering. It didn't take a lot to make them fight, but they other three kids would do it. 

The first and foremost, was the one Nico saw all the time: Cecil Markowitz. He was a scruffy, lanky kind of kid, with shaggy sandy blond hair and more freckles than anyone could count. He had a loud mouth, and-- not unlike Percy-- often said things without thinking of the consequences. He was also Nico's neighbor. 

Cecil was one of four kids that lived next door, but he was the youngest, and Nico's age. They had been in classes together since Nico had moved in three years ago. Nico might even tentatively calm him a friend, but the truth was they were more of acquaintances. Nico didn't really have friends.

"What are you doing here?" Percy growled out at the younger boy.

Cecil raised his chin, "I live here. Unlike you, Jackson." He grinned sharply, "And that's my smoke bomb under your foot."

Beside the boy, was another familiar face Nico knew well. Lou Ellen Blackstone, Cecil's best friend. She was a whimsical person, who liked everything and anything exciting and thrilling. It figured that she spent every Fourth of July with Cecil's family, as she got to watch things explode up close. She also had a taste for sleight of hand, dirt bikes, and tarot card readings. Nico only knew that because she had once tried to get to know him when they were stuck in an boring presentation in a class together.  

She wildly dyed hair looked like a firework had gone off in her face. "This year we are so totally going to beat your asses!"

"As if!" Jason scoffed.

"We did it last year!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!" 

"Did not!"

Nico rolled his eyes so violently he jerked his head to the side. He hefted a breath, pressed his raging palm to the ground was about to use it to push himself up when another hand reached down to him.

It was connected to an arm which was connected to the living embodiment of the sun. Go figure. He was tall, tanned, and splashed with freckles. He had dimples, cute ones, and a brilliant smile that made something in Nico tighten. His blonde hair danced in the sunlight, like a halo of warmth. 

"Are you okay?" He asked, kindly, "Sorry about the late warning." 

Nico hadn't seen him around before, he knew that. Nico would have remembered eyes that crystal blue and a smile so simply friendly. He was wearing red shorts and a navy blue top, like he was trying for the national colors but couldn't find clothes with them on it. He didn't seem to care anyway. 

Nico took his hand and ignored how warm it was. He would definitely be perfectly calm before this stranger. Part of him was annoyed that he already made himself look like an idiot by jumping away from a smoke bomb. Another part of him whispered that it was better safe than sorry-- better to be alive than...not alive.

"I'm Will," He said. Like Nico should care-- because he didn't! His chest didn't simply warm at the sound of his voice.

"Nico," He croaked out. 

Will gave him a smile anyway. "You're Mr. Hades son, aren't you? Cecil's neighbor?"

"Unfortunately," Nico said, wondering why he couldn't seem to get more than a single word out. Maybe he was having a heat stroke.

"Oh dear," The blonde boy glanced back at the other kids, just in time to see Percy go down with Cecil on top of him. There was a flurry of fists, a bunch of grunts and yells before Jason and Lou Ellen managed to pry them off each other.

Somehow-- Nico was not surprised-- the conversation had escalated from bickering to a fist fight. That was how it always ended when Nico's family was involved. It always ended in a fight.

"I hope your fireworks are better than your punches!" Percy yelled, "Because I'm not going to be surprised if both suck!"

"You're a dick!" Cecil shouted back.

"What are you, twelve?" Jason asked Percy but from the scowl, Cecil must have thought it was directed at him.

"We are going to blow you away this year!" He swore, "Lou, Will, come on." He gave a poisonous look at Nico's cousin's, but when he saw Will and Nico his gaze flickered to something like surprise. Just for a second, then he was back to scowling and walking away.

Will huffed under his breath, and offered a half shrug at Nico. "See ya around."

Then all  three of them were marching away down the road of the calm neighborhood. 

"Neeks, are you staring at his butt?" Percy asked.

Nico whipped his head to Percy, at once mortified and filled with dread. He knew his face was red, even as he tried to deny it.

"Shut up!" Nico hissed.

"Come on!" the older boy jeered, "He's the enemy!"

"I said shut up!"

Jason and Percy shared a look, one that Nico didn't like. He gnashed his teeth and turned away, because there was simply nothing that he could say that would make them stop. He pressed his headphones over his ears again, swallowed the immense embarrassment, and blared the music as loud as he could.

***

Thalia didn't knock on his bedroom door. Granted she didn't knock anywhere so Nico wasn't quite surprised. She had left at least three boot marks on his door from where she kicked it open in her signature violent fashion. 

Nico liked her as much as Jason: Thalia didn't treat him like a little kid unless it was to get crayons at restaurants, she had already promised to pay for his first piercing and tattoo when he was eighteen, and she sometimes let him drink her alcoholic drink when no one was watching at the family parties. 

Nico was on his bed surfing through his Netflix list to find something loud to watch during the show-- something that would cover up the noise of the stupid fireworks that were that night. 

Thalia threw herself on his bed without asking. 

"Tell me why you hate America."

Nico hadn't been expecting anything but she still surprised him, "Excuse me?"

"You never come out during the show, and I want to know why."

"That's not the same as hating America--"

"Don't change the subject."

Nico puffed a breath. The house was silent but he could hear the faint chaos outside as his family set up for the show and traded insults with Cecil's family next door. The sun was still high in the sky, but it wouldn't last forever. The sparklers would start at seven and the explosions would begin at eight. Nico hoped to be deep asleep by that time.

He tapped his laptop, "Why do you care? You never asked before."

Thalia had the same crystal blue eyes as her brother, but she used hers as a weapon to pin people in place. She stared down Nico, unimpressed with his attempt to change the point of the conversation. She knew him too well.

Nico looked away, "I just don't the show, okay? Don't you have something to do."

"It can wait." Thalia bounced herself on his bed, "Why don't you like the show? You've never even seen it. You're always up here in your room, that doesn't even face the show, and even when we try to bring you down stairs you're always wearing these stupid headphones. We have to shout just to get your attention--"

She stopped. Nico refused to look at her.

"You don't like the sound," She stated. Nico didn't confirm or deny it. He couldn't remember a time when he wanted her to leave so badly. "Is it because of your Dad?" 

Nico's breath caught, and Thalia must have known she stumbled on the truth. Nico dug his hands into his comforter, trying to will away the thoughts.

It had been years since he let himself think about it, and he didn't like it being pulled back up every year like a scab everyone was ripping off. While everyone was out enjoying the show, watching the pretty, pretty lights, and trying to outdo each other, Nico spent the night trying to ward off the memories-- because he refused to call it trauma-- of his sister. 

Bianca who had been his only friend on the military based that they lived on every place his father got deployed too. They were army brats, and grew up surrounded by honorable people who he never knew the names of. He didn't mind that. It was cool to watch the vehicles move in and out of the base. Sometimes the men on the base would play myth-o-magic with him if they weren't busy and he asked nicely.

Nico's issue came from the day, some many years ago, but Nico remembered it so clearly, too clearly, when Bianca nearly killed herself.

There had been a shipment of guns from the vehicles, and they had been nearby even if they weren't supposed to be. Bianca wanted to watch. Her favorite Lieutenant was overseeing the process-- Zoe Nightshade, and the woman stone faced said they needed to keep out of the way, but didn't send them home. Nico had been watching the trucks and not paying attention until the yelling started.

One of them, a man Nico had never seen before, had casually walked over to one of the boxes, opened it, and took out a fully loaded gun. Zoe hadn't seen him until it was too late.

The man had been mentally ill, they said. But it didn't change the fact that he had open fired on the area and zoe had gone down in a flurry of sharp sounds and yelling.

Nico had grabbed for Bianca beside him, but she had gone leaping from behind the corner, throwing herself right in the line of fire to get to the Lieutenant. Nico heard the shots go off and Bianca hadn't gotten back up.

He had been certain she was dead.

The man had been subdued seconds after with a hard tackle. The medical had been on sight just minutes after that.

"Does Bianca know?" Thalia dragged him out of his memory with the simple question tha didnt have a simple answer.

"Why would she know," he snapped at her but his real angry was at his sister. Thalia gave him the knowing look and crossed his arms heavily.

"I never told her." He admitted, "She's got enough to worry about being deployed already. She rarely sends me letters, and when she does they just have concepts for myth-o-magic cards that haven't been created yet."

Thalia sighed, "Why didn't you tell any of us?"

Nico waved her off, "Because it's none of your business. You never pushed before. Why is this year different?"

Thalia shoved herself off the bed in an instant. Rather than answer his question, she flicked a finger at him, "Stay."

Like he was a dog. He opened his mouth to complain but she was already bolting out the door and down the hall. Her footsteps echoed loud in the quiet house.

Nico fumed for a few seconds before she returned, grinning and out of breath. She threw something at him and he caught it instinctively.

A set of headphones. With a sound cancelling switch on the side.

Nico looked up at her, mouth open but he couldn't seem to get a word out of his throat.

"They're nearly brand new." Thalia said, "I bought myself a pair and two days later I got that one as a gift. Skulls aren't really my thing, but it fits you doesn't it?"

Nico stared at the set. Then back at his cousin. Then the set again. She was letting him keep it?

He put them on over his ears tentatively in case this was a joke and she wanted them back. They fit extremely well; he couldn't hear thing from outside. Thalia grinned at him her lips moved but there was nothing but the blissful silence.

Thalia's head whipped to the window, with a scowl and she stalked over to it with an angry expression. Nico watched her unlock the latch and shove the glass pane up. Her mouth moved, heavy with effort.

She must have been yelling at the guys around back.

Nico didn't have a clue what had happened. He decided he liked that.

He took them back off, and found her unsurprisingly swearing at the top of her lungs.

She turned back to him hands on her hips. "Now then," she said, "that's settled, you better show up tonight. I won't hear the end of it if you don't."

"End of what?"

Her smile was vicious, "Percy and Jason said you found a Juliet. Even if we're gonna obliterate them in this competition, all of us wanna see you happy."

Nico blinked, "what?"

"Kelp Brains has not shut up about you meeting Will Solace." She clarified. "He's been at all of the firework displays-- cousins with Cecil actually-- but he lives in Texas. None of us realized you hadn't met him before a couple days ago."

Will, the blonde boy with the freckles and blue eyes and smile like the sun. Will who's warm hand had helped him to his feet. Will who made Nico curious beyond all reason and want to know more about him.

Thalia offered him a hand. "Come on loser," She said. "Let's go see the fireworks tonight."

Nico knew if he went he'd miss the show again because he'd be blatantly staring at Will the whole time, but he took her hand anyway.