My second Solangelo fanfiction! It's the Easter holidays so instead of revising I wrote this. This was also posted on my tumblr - link on my profile. I'm crazy excited for Trials of Apollo because Rick confirmed Will and Nico will appear in the first book! Enjoy!

~Charlotte~

Nico was definitely not one of those guys to feel. Period. He didn't like to show emotion and he didn't like to crush, other people became a burden because you had to worry and it just became difficult to hold onto. Getting people to like you took too much energy, and besides, who needs friends when your best ally is yourself?

This was Nico's outlook on life most of the time. But since living at Camp it was different, he had friends, and as much as he didn't like to admit it he always did. He always was lucky to have them and he sometimes would kick himself for denying them for so long.

He was also a pro at denying his feelings up until he had to admit it to Jason. Fair enough that Jason had figured it out himself but Nico was practically forced to spoon-feed him the evidence against his will, but secretly, and after a while openly, was glad that someone else knew. It allowed him to even admit to Percy that he was gay, and that was okay. Thank the gods that was okay.

For a long time Nico felt ashamed of himself, ashamed of what he was, and having been born in a different time he guessed the mind-set was difficult to shake off. But in the modern world, with friends that genuinely cared about him, coming out was easy and a big relief and couldn't believe he had suffered for so long for no reason. It wasn't a big deal, and that was the best thing he could ask for.

That was until Will Solace came around with his stupid smile, and his stupid sun-kissed skin, and his stupid perfect tossled blonde hair. It wasn't fair the effect he had on Nico, it hit him like a hurricane - and not the Percy 'son-of-the-sea/earthshaker' kind of way, it was ten times more than that. He got goosebumps when Will was around, he felt his muscles turn to mush and face go bright red whenever Will's grin was directed at him. It was torture and he felt like an idiot around him. Why would Will ever like him?

But Will seemed to hang around. He'd knock for Nico every morning and walk him to his first activity, and then meet up with him before dinner and walk him there. Will would smile and wave whenever he caught sight of Nico, and the way his eyes would light up was as if Nico was the best thing he had seen all day. None of that helped Nico's feeling-stupid situation.

Then, one day, if it was even remotely possible, Nico felt even more stupid than ever before and it was completely Will's fault. Will came to wake Nico up as usual, but this time because Nico clearly wasn't up he let himself inside and excitedly shook Nico awake.

"Nico, get up, get up!" Will practically shouted, leaning on Nico's bed and shaking Nico's body.

In response Nico groaned and curled himself into the covers. "Why?" he moaned.

"We're going swimming! It's a beautiful day, come on!" He gave Nico one final shove and pulled the covers off him.

"Was that necessary?" Nico said, rubbing his eyes are sitting up.

"Yes now get up," he said, grabbing Nico by the hand and pulling him up. "Get dressed I'll meet you outside in 5 minutes."

Nico wasn't a big fan of swimming. But then again, Nico wasn't a big fan of a lot of things, which included being rudely awaken with shoving and shouting. But what Nico was a fan of was Will Solace, so of course, like the great friend he was, he got dressed and met him outside.

Will was right, it was a beautiful day. The sun was hanging high over Camp, with the beginning of summer making the air feel warm but not sticky or heavy. It was a perfect morning for a swim at the lake. Nico tried hard not to focus on the way the sun glittered on Will's blonde hair, how if you looked close enough there was specks of red, and from an angle the light made Will's blue eyes sparkle. Only the best of Apollo's good looks were reflected in him. When Nico met him outside he noticed he was wearing swimming trunks and his usual orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. Orange wasn't exactly Nico's colour, so he wore his usual black t-shirt with a skull and black swimming trunks to match.

They walked together to the lake, where a few other early risers had the same idea as them. But it took Nico a moment, a moment of pure panic, to realise what swimming meant: Will – shirtless. He felt his face go red as Will said, "Ready?" flashing him with a smile and removing his orange t-shirt. Nico gulped, his heart raced, and his palms started to sweat. Not realising the effect it had on Nico, Will jumped into the lake.

"Are you coming?" Will called, throwing some water up and splashing Nico for good measure.

"Um, yeah." Gingerly, and very insecurely, Nico also took off his shirt. In comparison to Will Nico felt embarrassed – he was pale white, skinny, and still recovering from shadow-travelling which sucked all the weight and energy from him. But despite that he had muscles, so that was something he could be proud of. But Will was tanned and muscular and had a surfer body. Nico felt himself internally cringing at the thought of Will seeing him like this, how could he ever be attracted so such a deathly pale boy like him? Nico quickly got into the lake to hide his body under the water.

Will must have noticed something was wrong, because he touched the other boys arm and it sent a jolt of electricity through it. "Are you okay? You look angry." Nico instinctively pulled away.

"I'm fine," Nico snapped. He took a breath and tried for a smile, "Really I'm fine."

Will didn't seem so sure but he shrugged and half let it go. "I know you're not much of a morning person, Death Boy, and summer isn't your preferred time of year but you're not a vampire." Will flashed his signature grin, and without warning, splashed Nico with water.

"Dude!" Nico half-gasped, half-laughed, and flicked Will with water in return. The water went straight into Will's eye and the way he flinched and the expression on his face made Nico burst out laughing. He didn't do that often, but in that moment, with Will looking incredibly cute with specks of water in his blonde hair making it appear brown, and his blue eyes shining in the mid-morning sun, he wondered why he denied himself laughter and happiness. Because that's what he was in the moment with Will: happy.

In the moment Nico laughed, Will's expression went from shocked as the water flew into his eye to something softer, an expression Nico could only really recognise as a look Hazel had given Frank countless times. A look of affection and warmth, of hope and admiration. Will's musical laugh, blessed with the gifts of Apollo, made Nico's skin tingle. Will's laugh literally made the day feel brighter and made Nico feel stronger, his own laugh turning more carefree, truly enjoying his company.

After a small while, their laughter died down and their game slowed to a pause. Will, still with that strange expression on his face, looked directly into Nico's eyes as they both floated gently in the water and said:

"Go on a date with me."

Nico gasped and very unattractively swallowed water, resulting in him coughing and spluttering before he could say in a croaky voice, "What?"

"A date, with me," Will said slower.

"But why would you want to go on a date with me?" Nico asked, with general curiosity and confusion.

"Di Angelo, you can be a bit dense sometimes. Of course I'd want to go on a date with you, I like that you're the son of Hades, I like that you're stubborn and brooding and so unsure of yourself that it's cute. You don't know how much you're worth, you need to learn to be more accepting of yourself," he took hold of Nico's hands, "Seriously Nico, no one cares who your dad is, that you talk to skeletons more than real people, and that you can literally blend into the shadows. I care about you because I get to see this side of you, where you're actually happy and enjoying yourself. I like you, di Angelo, so come on a date with me because I want you to be as happy as you were today always."

Nico's heart would not stop pounding through the whole of Will's speech. He felt skeletal butterflies in his stomach and whilst he looked at Will, trying to decide what to say, the butterflies never stopped. He was sure his palms were sweating in Will's hands but that didn't really matter considering they were in the water.

He looked down at their hands, then back up to blonde boy's face. He couldn't think of much more to say than, "Okay," and nodded.

"Really?" Will grinned, and Nico couldn't help but return it. Will squeezed his hand, and announced they should probably go. More campers had turned up and the sun was hiding behind a cloud, and they'd already been there for so long their hands had turned into prunes.

They got out and dried themselves before putting their shirts back on and walking closely beside each other towards the infirmary. Will needed to prepare the instruments and stock up before the evening as Capture the Flag was taking place later on so he was the healer on call.

The stopped outside as Nico awkwardly looked around. Some of the girl from the Aphrodite cabin were looking and smiled fondly at the sight of Nico and Will together.

"So um…I guess I'll see you later," Nico said, shuffling his feet. He still hadn't gained confidence since finding out that Will liked him, it wasn't something that would sink in quickly.

"Yep, and then tomorrow night we'll go on our date." Nico met his eyes and saw the excitement on his face, and smiled in return.

"Yeah I guess so," Nico said with a little more confidence. He watched Will walk into the infirmary, with a ghost of a smile still on his face and the butterflies in his stomach still fluttering.

Thanks for reading. Please review!