Chapter Text
Will Solace always figured life would get easier once he moved out on his own and started college in preparation for med school. College was great, even applying for med school seemed easier than it needed to be. Since he started med school though, things seemed to get harder and harder.
First, his roommate moved out, leaving him to find a new one. That was a whole ordeal in itself. Next, his dyslexia was acting out of control and he had such a hard time with the hours of studying and having to focus. Now, he has a new roommate who stayed in his room the whole time and barely talked to Will.
His new roommate was Nico di Angelo. And that’s all Will knew about him. Will didn’t know how old he was (but guessing by his appearance, he’s around Will’s age). Will didn’t know if Nico did anything for school or work. He also didn’t know what Nico always did in his room all day and all night. Sometimes Nico would come out to grab some food, but he’d just go back to his room right after.
One night, after a long day of studying at the school’s library, Will was walking back to his apartment from the campus building. The streets of New York were always scary to Will, but they seemed even scarier at night.
Plus, he started to feel like he was being watched. Will looked behind him and saw someone following him. Will started darting through alleyways and taking random turns, just to make sure he was in fact being followed.
He started to panic once he realized he was being followed. He just hoped, maybe, he’d run into someone before the person caught up with him. He looked forward to see that he was now in a dead end alleyway. He silently cursed at himself for not being careful.
“Where do you think you’re going?” The man mocked as he stepped closer to Will.
“Look.” Will started to say. “I don’t want any trouble. I’m just trying to get home.”
“If you don’t want any trouble, I suggest you give me all the valuables you have.” The man made a show of pulling out and unfolding his pocket knife, trying to show Will how serious he was.
No matter how silly this display was, Will couldn’t help but shake in fear. He hasn’t been robbed before and, frankly, he also didn’t have a lot of valuables on him. He was a broke college student.
He slowly slid off his backpack and opened it up to look for his wallet. He had a little bit of cash on him, but that was his food money for the week. But, it was either that or getting stabbed, and Will was pretty sure he was allergic to getting stabbed.
As Will took out his wallet, it was snatched from his hand and the robber started thumbing through the loose bills in his wallet. “That’s it?”
Will couldn’t help but shrug. “I’m in college.”
“You know what.” The robber flashed his blade again. “Just give me the whole bag.”
Will could feel his eye twitch. His backpack held all his textbooks, notes, and laptop. And he had a few tests to study for, plus a paper due next week.
When Will didn’t automatically comply, the robber stepped forward with his blade extended. In response, Will instinctively clutched onto his bag and started backing away until his back was against the wall.
The robber matched Will’s steps so they were still the same distance apart. The robber raised the knife above his head and Will squeezed his eyes shut. He waited for the blade to pierce his skin, but it never did.
He started hearing the sounds of struggling and the sound of metal hitting the ground. When Will opened his eyes, he saw the robber tied up against the opposite wall with…was that webs? A figure jumped down from above, landing in front of Will and his eyes widened at who he saw.
The figure was wearing a suit of black and gray. There were webbing designs on the gray parts and a spider across his chest, somehow the bottom of the spider looking like a thin skull. It was Spider-Man. THE Spider-Man.
“Are you alright?” The man behind the mask asked. He held out a hand towards Will. It was then Will realized that he had fallen on his butt in during the scuffle and was cowering in the corner of the alleyway. Will took Spider-Man’s hand and was helped up.
“You’re…” Will started to say then realized he had to look down at Spider-Man. “Shorter than I thought you’d be.”
Will was surprised when Spider-Man let out a short laugh. “Sorry to disappoint. But, are you alright? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
Will nodded. “I’m okay. He just took my-” Spider-Man held up his other hand, there was Will’s wallet. He handed it over and Will quickly put it back into his bag. “Seriously, I can’t thank you enough.”
“Let me escort you home.” Spider-Man offered. “Where do you live?”
“You don’t have to.” Will shouldered his bag.
“I want to. Gotta make sure you get home safe.” Spider-Man then asked again where Will lived. And, this time, Will answered.
Without warning, Will was scooped up into Spider-Man’s arms and suddenly they were swinging through the air. Will instinctively squeezed his eyes shut and held onto Spider-Man as tight as he could. Before he knew it, they were back at Will’s apartment.
“Okay, let’s never swing around like that again.” Will said as Spider-Man let him down onto the fire escape at Will’s apartment. “Thanks again.”
“Try to stay out of alleyways in the future.” Spider-Man said as he turned away. “Especially at night. I would hate for you to get hurt.” And with that, he pointed his hand up and shot out a web and swung away.
Will couldn’t help but wave goodbye at the rapidly shrinking figure of Spider-Man. Then, he turned towards the window to his apartment, opened it, and stepped in through the window. He slumped down at the table in the kitchen and took a deep breath. With the adrenaline from swinging around finally running out, he started shaking. He really could’ve gotten hurt.
But he was saved. He could feel a smile playing on his lips, and his face started heating up as he thought of the short masked figure maybe seeing him again if he ever needed it.
Maybe it was because Spider-Man saved him, but Will was pretty sure he was in love.
Nico di Angelo wasn’t planning on becoming a superhero. Even after he got bit by that radioactive spider. Frankly, the whole Spider-Man thing was an accident. You save a few stray people without showing your face (because Nico frankly liked his privacy), and suddenly, you become the neighborhood superhero.
He always thought Spider-Man was a lazy superhero name, but there wasn’t really anything he could do about it. It was up to the people.
The suit was Hazel’s idea. She even helped make it.
After a while, he started warming up to the whole ‘anonymous superhero’ gig. It felt nice to do something good for other people. Plus he gets his privacy in public without the suit. Sounded like a win-win to him.
Now, he just needed a stable base of operation. Hazel was moving in with her boyfriend and that left him to move in with them (which he didn’t want to do. Hazel deserved her privacy), or find a random stranger online to move in with. (He’s also broke, no way he can afford rent on his own.)
His new roommate was sunshine incarnate, Will Solace. It almost annoyed Nico how happy Will could be. In his opinion, Nico thought he knew too much about the guy. Will was a Med Student, wanted to be a doctor or something. He was around Nico’s age. He liked Star Wars. Nico even knew he had a sun tattoo on his chest. (He’d accidentally walked into the bathroom while Will was getting undressed one time. Never again.)
And one last thing Nico knew about Will: he studied way too hard all the time. The poor guy looked sleep deprived, but still managed to keep his award winning smile. Nico was never surprised when Will arrived home late from the nearby university.
One night, Nico got curious when Will didn’t arrive home before he went on patrol, so he decided to head towards the university, just in case.
Nico didn’t know what to expect, but he didn't expect to save Will Solace from a mugger. He moved fast once he saw the blade in the mugger’s hand. He made quick work of the mugger by tying him against the opposite wall from Will.
“Are you alright?” Nico asked as he held out a hand towards Will, who was cowering on the ground. Will was looking up at him with amazement and wonder in his eyes as he took Nico’s hand and helped him up.
“You’re…shorter than I thought you’d be.” Will blurted out.
Nico was surprised when the laugh escaped his lips. He gave Will back his wallet and then surprised himself again by offering to escort Will home. After some resistance, Will finally accepted.
He figured swinging would be faster, he needed to get back on patrol.
“Okay, let’s never swing around like that again.” Will let out a breath as Nico set him down on his feet. “Thanks again.”
Nico quickly left after giving Will a warning of not going into alleyways. As he was swinging away, he realized the last thing he said to Will.
“I would hate for you to get hurt.” Sure, he wouldn’t wish for anyone to get hurt, but he really didn’t think he cared enough to say it out loud to Will.