A/N: This is based in ~canon~ but doesn't really take much from The Hidden Oracle into account. If you're just here for Solangelo fluff, then you're in the right place.

I'm Falling for You (Literally)

Will Solace was positively sure of two things.

1. He was unwaveringly devoted to his boyfriend of nearly a year, Nico di Angelo.

2. Of all the demigods at Camp Half-Blood, the Aphrodite kids were not to be toyed with.

It was a clear, blue-skied autumn afternoon. Dry leaves crunched softly underfoot as Will walked along the outskirts of the forest that usually constituted as part of the capture the flag playing field. It wasn't very like him to be alone, hunched under the shade of trees on a perfectly sunny day, but it had become a habit – an annoying habit – that he tended to take on when Nico was gone.

Will walked with his hands bunched up in the pocket of his orange camp sweatshirt, hood pulled up over his blonde fly-away waves to protect his ears against the chill of the breeze, and it was quiet. A nice, solitary quiet, shared with rustle of trees and the last of the leaves shivering loose from their branches.

Will wished he could feel as peaceful as the nature around him sounded. Instead, his gaze wandered to the shadows behind trees, the dark shelter of the rocks.

Nico had been gone for only a week, and Will was pathetic.

If it was summer and there were more kids at camp practicing archery, brandishing swords at one another, fooling around in the lake, fighting monsters and having eating contests, he would be preoccupied at the infirmary. He wouldn't give Nico's absence a second thought.

Okay, maybe he'd give it a second thought. And a third. But he wouldn't be doing this.

Unfortunately it was the off season, November, just before Thanksgiving, and there were far less campers around than there were during the summer months. Which meant less organized activities, less injuries, and more free time for Will.

Nico was visiting Camp Jupiter. It was a trip he'd taken a few times over the last year since the war, and Will was always glad. Glad that Nico went out of his way to see his friends, glad that he'd come to realize that he not only had a home at one camp, but both. He had even taken Will with him on his last trip this past July. Now that was a great vacation, even if Reyna had eyed him like a hawk.

"No funny moves, Sun Boy," she had said to him when they had arrived.

"Too late, Nico's already seen me do the Macarena." Will smiled widely at her.

Nico rolled his eyes. "Exactly why you should listen to her." A moment later he discreetly took Will's hand and squeezed his fingers briefly before he let go again, which took Will by surprise and happened so fast he almost wasn't sure it had happened. Nico was never inclined toward public displays of affection (especially in complete daylight). No one had noticed except Reyna, who caught Will's eye with a much softer expression, and Nico was already walking away to talk to Jason like nothing had happened.

This time, however, Will wasn't entirely sure Nico had even planned on telling Will he was leaving. If Will hadn't gotten out of the infirmary earlier than he'd expected after Paulo broke his nose (for the fourth time in three months, mind you. Will was now exceptionally good at healing noses), and decided there was time for him to stop at the Hades cabin before dinner, Nico may well have just left without a word.

When Nico opened the door, Will didn't think much of the reluctant expression on his face. "Hey there, Death Boy," he said cheerfully, leaning on the doorframe. "You. Me. Dinner?"

Nico ignored his question. "I thought you were in the infirmary."

"Paulo's good as new," Will said, holding up his hands. "I think I'm getting a knack for noses."

"Oh."

"Oh?" Will said, standing up straight and putting his hands on his hips. "I put all my energy into healing a poor boy's face, while preserving his good looks, I might add, and all I get is oh?"

Nico raised an eyebrow. "I knew you thought Paulo was hot," he said, and walked back into his cabin.

"Hey!" Will followed him inside and letting the door fall shut behind him. "Hot's one thing, but if he was brooding, then you'd be in troub - are you going somewhere?"

There was a tiny pile of clothes on Nico's bed, set beside a small black, warn backpack.

Nico walked over to his bed, careful not to meet his eyes. "Yeah," he said, opening the backpack and putting some of his things inside. "I'm going to visit Camp Jupiter."

Will stared at him. "What? Now?"

Nico nodded.

"But- aren't Hazel and Jason and Percy and everyone coming here next week? For Thanksgiving?" Will knew this wasn't something Nico had told him, and he'd forgotten. He never forgot what Nico told him. The problem was, Nico didn't always tell him everything.

Nico nodded again. "I just have to go there first."

Will raised his eyebrows. "Why?"

"I need to talk to Hazel," Nico said, still not meeting his eyes.

"So…you need to go all the way there? You can't wait a week?"

Nico looked up and met his gaze. A piece of dark hair fell over his left eye, and Will fought the urge to step forward and brush it back. "Nope."

"Why not?"

"You ask a lot of questions."

"Because you're being very vague."

Nico dropped one last pair of socks into his bag and zipped it shut. "I just need to go."

Those words, with all the lack emotion he'd said them with, felt like a brick dropping to the bottom of Will's stomach. "Away from you" might as well have been tacked on to the end of that sentence. It's what Will heard, anyway.

It had taken a while for Nico to open himself up to Will, and Will was well aware there were many things Nico had yet to share about his past, his life, and the inner workings of his mind. That would come in time and, as far as Will was planning, many more years of dating. Still, sometimes he felt a bit wounded when Nico wouldn't explain something, when he retreated away from him in the way he seemed to be doing now.

Nico looked up when he didn't say anything, and his expression softened, eyes a bit guilty. He swung his backpack over his shoulder and walked up to Will. "I'll be back in a week. I just need to spend some time with my sister." He paused. He stood up on the tips of his toes and pressed a kiss to Will's lips. When he pulled away, two rosy patches colored his cheeks. They'd been together nearly a year, but Will hoped Nico's reaction to their kisses would never go away.

It made him feel a bit more relaxed. He smiled at Nico, and pressed another kiss to the soft hair draped over his forehead. "Be safe, okay?"

Nico nodded, a smile flitting over his face, and then he was gone.

So, Nico was supposed to be back today.

After his walk around the forest, and then the entire camp, Will still felt restless. The afternoon was wearing on, and soon it would be dark much too early, an unfortunate side effect that came with the colder months. And Nico still wasn't back.

He'd tried not to let Nico plague his mind that week, but it was difficult and bickering with Cecil, or Lou Ellen, or any of his siblings just wasn't the same. Mostly because no one had quite the brand of sass that the son of Hades had, and none of their stupid remarks made him want to kiss them.

"Where have you been, man?" Austin said when Will made it to the dining pavilion. Will dropped down onto the bench beside him. "What's with the hood? Are you coping with Nico's absence by trying to morph into him?"

Kayla snickered as Will pushed his hood back. "No, it's just cold," he said.

"Hey, isn't he supposed to be back today?" Kayla said. "With all the Romans and Percy Jackson? They're joining us for Thanksgiving, right?"

"Yup," Will said. He looked around. Dinner wasn't quite ready yet, but his stomach was grumbling beneath his sweatshirt.

"Why didn't Nico just wait a week?" Austin asked.

"Good question," Will said.

"That's what you get, going for the mysterious type," Kayla said.

Will sighed. The sun was beginning to set over the water in the distance. "The heart wants what it wants."

Will heard footsteps pause behind him. "I love when I hear poetry coming from the Apollo table."

Kayla looked up and Will and Austin turned around. Drew Tanaka, daughter of Aphrodite, stood behind them. Her long, sleek black hair fell over her shoulders in ringlets, and she held a giant, floppy hat in her hands. A bright pink ribbon was tied around it, knotted into a big bow in the back. It was sort of hideous.

"What's that for, Drew?" Kayla asked, pointing at it with a derisive smile on her face. "Latest Aphrodite fashion? Trying to scare someone away?"

Drew stuck up her nose and narrowed her eyes. Then, without warning, she dropped it on Will's head.

Immediately something warm and intensely pleasant washed over him, he felt his shoulders relax, droop almost, and his head was suddenly filled with some of his very loveliest memories. That time at the lake after Nico had been discharged after three promised days at the infirmary and Will had finally had a day off, and Will stood up to his knees in the water, calling for Nico, who stood on shore with a dumb sweatshirt on even though it was eighty five degrees out, until Will just marched up onto the sand and grabbed the boy's hand and pulled him in himself because you're going to get heatstroke, you idiot, and before Nico's ripped his hand out of Will's, his fingers had tightened around them, just a second long enough for Will's heart to skip a beat. The first time Nico had kissed him – not their very first kiss, that had been Will's doing – but the sudden, aching bliss that had come with a peck to the cheek from the boy, soft lips that were gone before Will could even register they were there, but Nico's face was so intensely red and he wouldn't meet his eyes, and Will could burst and he was beaming, beaming at him until Nico met his eyes and gave a tiny, helpless smile back. That day in the Hades cabin last winter, when he and Nico had spent hours playing Mythomagic and even though Nico had played it cool at first, it didn't take long for competition and passion such as Will had never seen in him before to take over, and for the first time he actually looked like the young teenager he was, in love with a nerdy game that Will would have played forever, because he was in love with a nerdy, wonderful boy.

Then he realized, remembered, that he was sitting in the dining pavilion and Kayla and Austin were sitting with him and he looked at them, and they stared back with wide, incredulous eyes, and the only thing Will could think to say –what else in the world even mattered? – was, "Guys, I love Nico."

And then, all at once, the feeling was gone, dimmed significantly, and he could feel the cold of the breeze on his ears and he blinked as his vision came back into focus. Drew had the hat back in her hands.

"Yes," she said, a tiny, sinister smirk on her face. "I can see how that might scare someone away."

Austin looked at Will, mild amusement playing on his face. "Wow, I knew you were into Nico, but I didn't know you were that into him."

Will felt himself blush. "What- what did you just do?"

Drew held up the hat again. "This hat," she said, "reveals the inner workings of the heart, makes us relive our most cherished memories, and, in short," she smirked again, "is a great way to force people to reveal who they're crushing on."

Kayla looked wary. "Sounds kind of evil."

Drew scoffed. "It's not evil, it's a gift from my mom!" she said. She held it out to her dangerously. "Would you like to try it on next?"

Kayla blanched and pushed herself away from the table. "Don't you dare, Tanaka, unless you want that pretty face of yours looking a little less pretty."

Drew just shrugged. Her eyes found Will again and her eyes suddenly twinkled. "A few Aphrodite kids put it on, but your reaction was the best yet. It was positively precious," she sighed wistfully. "I wish Nico was here to see it, he'd be blushing down to his toes."

Will felt his own face flush again. For the first time that week, he was kind of glad Nico wasn't here. He had probably looked like a lovesick goon.

Austin chuckled. "It was rather adorable."

Case and point.

"Doesn't really matter," Will heard himself mutter before he could help it. "He's the one that left camp for a week so he could hang out with other people."

Drew looked at him, pensive. "Unfortunate side effect of the hat; when taken off, doubt seems to set in." She paused. "Or anger."

"Aphrodite does always seem to come with a catch," Kayla said, still eyeing the hat like it was a poisonous bug. Then she looked at Drew. "Does it have anything to do with wanting to filet the hat bearer alive?"

Drew narrowed her eyes at her.

A sudden commotion came from the front of dining pavilion, and for a moment Will thought dinner was finally ready, but then he heard a familiar voice, and his heart froze.

"Is dinner ready? I'm freaking starving!"

"Are you ever not starving, Seaweed Brain?"

Percy's voice, and Annabeth's. If they were here, then that meant…

Royal purple came into view, and there was Jason, and Hazel, and Frank, all fresh from Camp Jupiter, and-

"You know, I'm curious," Drew suddenly murmured beside him, and a dreadful foreboding filled Will's stomach at her words, but before he could say anything, she'd disappeared.

Luckily, the food had chosen that moment to appear, and moans of relief filled the dining pavilion as everyone surged forward to grab a plate. Will got to his feet, equally starving, but more eager to find that underworld boyfriend of his, even if he did leave for a week with without a good explanation. Curse Will's soft heart. And Aphrodite's hat. Those memories had reawakened an intense need to feel Nico's smooth, cool fingers between his own, far more than he wanted to hold a fork.

Suddenly, the big, floppy hat appeared again, and Will nearly choked.

"Wh-what-" Percy Jackson's eyes went glassy, and then a sudden goofy smile lit up his face.

Will hoped to all the gods that he hadn't looked that stupid when Drew had put it on his head.

A ripple of laughter spread among the campers. "Trying to go for that Southern Belle look, Jackson?" someone called out.

"Looks good on you!" said another voice.

Then Percy staggered, just slightly, but caught his balance on Annabeth's shoulder. She turned around, and when her gaze found the hat, her eyebrows rose.

"Wise Girl," Percy breathed. It was like he had never laid eyes on anyone, or anything, so intensely magnificent, like he had never beheld anyone so beautiful, as if just looking at her filled him with the energy of the sun. "Annabeth. I love you."

And then he threw his arms around her and drew her into the most passionate kiss Will had ever seen.

Wolf whistles and cheers rang out among the crowd, and before he'd even pulled away the hat was swiped from his head. When they broke apart Percy looked confused, dazed, blissful, and Annabeth's face was red as a tomato, but not entirely displeased.

Will had a bad feeling about this.

He pushed himself into the crowd, eyes open for the familiar bomber jacket and black hair of his favorite ghost boy. Luckily it didn't take long to find him standing beside Jason, laughing together at a now scowling and red-faced Percy.

Will sighed in relief. "Nico!" he called out, and just as Nico's gaze found Will's, warm and brown and full of laughter, something appeared on his head.

Nico's eyes widened in vague, dreamy surprise.

And then his legs went out from under him.

Will watched in a mix of horror and fascination as Nico just - collapsed. Fell straight to the ground with a small "oof!" and the hat, a touch too big and too floppy for him, slipped over his eyes.

Jason's laughter at Percy was immediately replaced with alarm. He swooped down to help Nico up, but Nico's limbs seemed to be made of rubber, dead and boneless as Jason heaved him up by the armpits.

"What the- what is this hat?" Jason said as the hat tipped back from Nico's face again.

Nico's eyes found Will's again across the pavilion, and the biggest, doofiest smile Will had ever seen in his life came over his face.

Will's heart may have skipped a few beats.

"Will," Nico gasped, and lifted his hands out toward him, like he wanted to walk to Will but he still wasn't quite sure how to get his legs to work. "Will-"

And then the hat was gone again.

Nico nearly slipped out of Jason's grasp and back to the ground.

"Now that," Drew said, a hand on her chest and eyes positively aglow, "was the best reaction to the hat I've ever seen." Then, incredibly, she looked at Will and winked before disappearing again.

Will looked back at Nico, who blinked, and when his eyes opened again, there was murder there.

"Oh no," Will muttered.

"Drew!" Nico shouted.

Nico shrugged away from Jason and curled his hands into fists, whirling around, looking for the (truly brave) Aphrodite girl, who (intelligently) seemed to have flown the scene. His face was red as fire and he looked like he may spit flames while unleashing the entirety the underworld on Camp Half-Blood. "Drew! Show yourself or I swear to Hades-!"

A hand fell on his shoulder, and he jumped.

"Cool it, Death Boy," Will said, "or you might make a scene."

"Get away," Nico said, shrugging out of his grasp, face burning. He didn't meet Will's eyes. "I need to find Drew, so I can kill her."

"I think that might count as 'making a scene,'" Will said, and instead of grabbing his shoulder again, he slipped fingers around one of Nico's tightly coiled fists.

"Will-" Nico sputtered, trying to pull away again, but then Hazel conveniently walked by and accidentally bumped directly into him. Nico stumbled right back into Will.

Will securely looped his arm through Nico's and grinned at the shorter boy. He glowered back.

"Come on, we haven't seen each other in a week, we need to catch up." Will pulled him toward the food.

"I'm not hungry," Nico said through his teeth. Will shrugged. They could just pilfer something later, and besides, food wasn't the first thing on Will's mind right now, anyway.

"A walk then, that sounds good," Will said, leading him away from the pavilion, from the other campers still watching and daring to snicker. Honestly, did these kids have death wishes?

Nico still looked ready to strike death to the first person who looked his way. Maybe Will had a death wish, too.

Despite that, he did manage to pull Nico away until he was willingly walking alongside him, arm still tucked neatly against Will's like some sort of child he was dragging away to have a time-out.

"If I let go of you," Will said when they reached the lake, when they could no longer hear the laughter of their fellow campers and instead just the calm waves of the water as they lapped against the shore, "are you going to run away?"

Nico was silent for the beat of a second. Finally, he muttered, reluctantly, "No."

"Good." Will slipped his arm out of Nico's and grinned. "Free at last! As long as you don't make any more murder threats."

The sun was setting over the water, oranges and yellows that slanted against the features of Nico's face, eyebrows still drawn and mouth pinched downward. He looked dangerously beautiful. Will almost wished he didn't have a thing for 'dangerously beautiful.' But.

Will poked him in the cheek. "Hey, come on, it wasn't that bad."

Nico met his eyes. Yellow sunlight turned the brown of his irises gold. His scowl deepened. "It was the most humiliating thing that's ever happened to me."

Will felt something inside of him wither in minor offense, but he only crossed his arms. "Really? One public display of affection and it's the most humiliating thing that's ever happened to you?"

"That wasn't just a kiss on the cheek, Will," Nico snapped. "I looked- I must've looked- if I looked anything like Percy-"

Will snickered despite himself, and Nico looked murderous again.

"Sorry, sorry," Will said, unfolding his arms and grinning at him. "Okay, so maybe you looked a little goofy, but-" He paused.

Nico looked up at him, still vaguely murderous. "What?"

Will was suddenly aware of the thudding of his heart. "It was kind of nice."

Nico didn't say anything.

"I mean, to be on the receiving end of it," Will said, because he couldn't just say nothing. "I know you were embarrassed, but, well."

The sea lapsed back and forth until Nico looked back up at him, pale face shadowed by the light of the sun.

"I literally fell on my face, Will," he said, and this time he didn't sound mad, just as embarrassed as he'd said he'd felt. "In front of everyone."

Will cracked a smile. "No one ever said swooning was graceful."

Nico sighed and ran a hand over his face, muttering something.

"What was that?" Will said.

"Why," Nico repeated himself, staring at the ground, face bathed in shadows, "do you have to make me like you so much."

Will caught his breath.

His heart was still thumping, and gods, this boy, this beautiful, wonderful boy standing in front of him, embarrassed and glaring at the sand, had literally been swept off his feet by what that hat had made him feel. For Will.

Will's hands were shaking, probably, as he leaned forward and touched Nico's chin to get him to look at him. He leaned down a bit more.

And then he was kissing him, softly, gently, until Nico relaxed, was kissing him back, every touch bringing his skin to life, filling him with starlight and fire.

He was sure, when they pulled away to catch their breath, that this was the best, very best, feeling in the world.

"Do you know," he said quietly, gently running his thumb along Nico's jaw, "just before you arrived back, Drew put that hat on me."

Nico's eyes lit up. "She did?"

"Yup," Will said, beginning to grin. "And she said it was the best reaction she'd seen, before yours. So I must've looked just as goofy as you."

The side of Nico's mouth twitched. "I wish I could have seen it."

"Yeah, well," Will said. "Austin and Kayla did, and they said I looked pretty dumb. Do you know what I said to them?"

Nico's mouth quirked into a full smile, anticipating something stupid, probably. It was the loveliest thing Will had ever seen. "What?"

"I told them I loved you."

Nico's smile faltered in surprise, turned into a small stunned "o." Will might have lamented that if suddenly Nico's hands weren't on either side of his face, pulling him back down again into the deepest kiss he had ever given Will.

The press of Nico's lips were like lightening, short circuiting his brain as Will just stood there, limp in the warm touch of Nico's hands, the feel of his mouth and his tongue and his taste, the press of Nico's chest against his own.

When Nico finally pulled away, Will's legs felt like jelly beneath him, and Nico laughed, a smile curling on his lips. "Don't fall," he murmured, pushing Will's hair away from his eyes with warm fingers. His gaze was bright and full.

Will only smiled at him weakly.

"Wait," Will said later in the Hades cabin, snacks they'd pilfered from the Big House spread out on Nico's bunk as a makeshift meal for the dinner they'd missed. "You never really told me why you needed to visit Camp Jupiter just a week before everyone came."

To his surprise, Nico blushed. He took a bite of Fruit Roll Up. "I did tell you. I needed to see Hazel."

Will rolled his eyes. "Why couldn't you just wait a week, though? She looked fine."

"There was nothing wrong with her," Nico muttered.

Will blinked. "Was there something wrong with you?"

Nico stuffed the rest of the Fruit Roll Up into his mouth.

"Nico…."

"Ugh, fine," he said, running a hand over his face. "It's really dumb, okay."

Now Will was interested. "What?"

"I- I knew our, you know, one year anniversary was coming," Nico started, flush on his cheeks deepening. "And I didn't know what to get you."

Will stared.

"So you traveled across the country just so your sister could help you get me a present?"

Nico looked at him meekly. "Yes?"

Will stared at him for another beat, then burst out laughing. "You are such a dork."

"I freaked out, okay!" Nico said, pulling his legs up to his chin. "I've never done this before! I mean, you know- " Nico looked at him. "I didn't want to get you something dumb and screw everything up."

"You didn't have to get me anything at all, you big dummy," Will said, but his heart was melting in his chest.

"I wanted to," Nico muttered.

Will beamed and leaned across the mound of junk food between them to kiss Nico's cheek. When he pulled away, Nico was blushing again, but he looked pleased.

"I know it's not for a few weeks," Nico said, playing with the Fruit Roll Up wrapper in his hands, "but can I give it to you now?"

Will nodded. "Sure, if you want to."

"I do," Nico said, and pulled his backpack from the ground where it was resting beside his bed. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small pouch. "Hold out your hand."

"Ooh, is it jewelry?" Will said, and a small smile flickered across Nico's face. He upturned the pouch, and out fell a tiny… skull.

"It's a bead," Nico said, face going red again. "I- um, I made it. Hazel helped me, she's good at this kind of stuff. It's, you know-" He nodded to the necklace of beads around Will's neck, the one that marked all his years at Camp Half-Blood. "I means one year."

Will stared at it, and then looked up at his boyfriend. "Nico," he said. He leaned forward and kissed him again, this time on the lips. "It's perfect, thank you." He looked at it again. The skull was smirking, he thought, just a little. He closed his fist around it and held it to his heart. "I love it."

Nico's cheeks were rosy and he looked sheepish, but happy. He looked even happier when Will untied the necklace around his neck to add the bead, positioning it right in the middle, between all his camp ones.

"I'll have to get you a sun bead."

"Shh, don't ruin the surprise," Nico said, settling himself back against his pillow and grabbing another pack of gummies. Will poked him in the ankle with his socked toe. Nico poked him right back.

Maybe they'd only been dating a year, maybe they still had a lot of work to do and communication issues to sort out, and maybe they hadn't shared all their inner demons and outer workings, but they were good, Will thought. They were just really good.

He touched the new bead hanging around his neck. The first, he thought, of many.

And he knew Nico was watching, but the boy still tried to hide his smile.

Will beamed.

Will Solace was positively sure of three things.

1. He was unwaveringly devoted to his boyfriend of nearly a year, Nico di Angelo.

2. Of all the demigods at Camp Half-Blood, the Aphrodite kids were not to be toyed with.

3. And if they tried to toy with you, well, you'd just have to deal with the consequences.

("Idiot. I'm still embarrassed."

"Whatever. I still loved it."

"You're a dork."

"Right back at ya, Death Boy.")