A.N.
So, this is my first fanfic…constructive criticism is welcome and such…
Enjoy, all of you fellow Solangelo lovers!
Disclaimer: If I was Rick Riordan, the brilliant and probably incredibly rich author who wrote the PJO/HOO series, then do you honestly think I'd be some sad person writing Solangelo fluff?
[The answer is no.]
Nico
It was March 19th. One day before the special day. I couldn't wait. I just couldn't. But at the same time, Will didn't seem particularly different... He was, of course, nice as ever, and always fussing over my health and well being. But… the anticipation of the day that I felt was something that I didn't see in Will. Of course, he could possibly just be very good at concealing his emotions, though I doubted that; I'd always been able to read him, and the thought of him hiding his feelings from me was one that I didn't want to think about. Was something going on that I didn't know about?
Yet, nothing seemed at all off about him lately. …Was it possible that he had forgotten?
Will
I couldn't believe it had been this long. All these months, finally coming together to make a solid year. I had a hopefully brilliant and meaningful date planned, but there were so many things that could go wrong. I had been so nervous, with the constant worry and stress of planning, but I'd been extra careful to hide it from my boyfriend. If this was going to be a surprise, then there could be no sign of what was slowly coming together. Plus, I would never want to burden Nico with the added stress of my doubts.
But now, everything was ready, and all I had to do now was ask him. The first time I had asked Nico out on an official date, it had seemed surprisingly easy, with minimal awkwardness, and lots of kissing. After that, I'd asked him countless other times. Now, I found myself constantly procrastinating, for some reason nervous about asking my boyfriend of exactly 11 months and 29.5 days on a simple date. This wasn't even the biggest question I'd ever have to ask him in my life, anyway. That though bolstered my courage, and right then and there, I decided to go find Nico and ask him.
It was my lunch break anyway, even though I never usually left the infirmary until the end of my shift. I set off, leaving my half finished lunch on my desk.
Nico
Sitting around in the Hades cabin, refusing to go outside in the hot and sunny 25°C weather, I was busy watching my favourite cat compilations on replay when Will barged in, the door letting in a perfect rectangle of sunlight that perfectly framed my boyfriend in a halo of golden afternoon sunlight. Absolutely gorgeous, I thought.
"Fine, fine, I'll go outside," I mutter, shutting my ValdezApproved™ laptop and getting off my bunk.
Completely ignoring my statement, he blurts out, "Will you go on a date with me?" all in one rushed question.
I took one look at his expectant face, noticing how he was holding his breath, probably without knowing it, and how his lips were pressed into a tight line. "A date? Where? The prom?" I tease affectionately.
He blushes. "No, just tomorrow evening. The strawberry fields, at 7:00PM? It's… kind of important." I shoot him an affectionate look, while butterflies suddenly awaken in my stomach at his nervous tone. Will never sounds nervous, except if something is extremely important.
"Of course Will," I say, going over and giving him a light kiss, before taking his hand and leading him out the door, closing it behind us. I grab his other hand. "...Don't you have an infirmary to get back to?" I ask, somewhat hesitantly. I didn't want him to leave, not right after he'd arrived, but he would be incredibly upset if he missed the beginning of his afternoon shift. I hated seeing him upset. He had this weird thing about being late...
Will glanced down at his watch. "Hm. I have about ten minutes. I'm a fast runner. Want to just go back inside and cuddle for a bit?" I let go of one of his hands instantly and opened the door, then practically dragged Will inside, slamming it closed behind us.
Will
It was 4:45PM. It was the day. And I still apparently hadn't attracted any suspicion from my boyfriend, which I personally found very suspicious. Nico, surprisingly, was quite sentimental, especially when it came to milestones in our relationship. If I asked him, he could probably rattle off everything from the exact time, to the temperature, to the first thing I'd said to him on our first date. ...Could he have possibly not remembered? That thought made me very sad, so I simply refused to think about it.
Now, I had an hour and fifteen minutes to get ready, which was probably unnecessary, but still, I would probably spend about half an hour just fussing over the contents of my closet, without even touching anything. Why couldn't I just look effortlessly attractive like other people? Like-... like...Nico. He was the only person in the world that I thought was truly and effortlessly beautiful and attractive. *Sigh* I really do love him… I flopped down on my bed face down. "Ughhhhhhh… I have at least a dozen plaid shirts to look through..."
Nico
Right about now, I was thanking the gods that I'd had the foresight to ask Piper over to help get ready for my date with Will. Without her, I would probably at this moment be standing in front of my closet, frozen in place, repeatedly sighing, clueless.
Now, however, I was being shuttled back and forth from the bathroom to the mirror to the closet, as Piper tried to find a suitable outfit for me to wear. "Honestly Nico, you've been going out with Will for what now, a year? And you've never asked me to help you get ready for a date once. I am both offended and astonished. What changed?"
"I don't know really," I say quietly, "I can just...tell. Today's important to our relationship, somehow."
Piper gives me a wise look. "You can tell when something major is about to happen between you and your partner. I'm pretty sure that's a good sign for the long run."
"Well, he's actually been pretty hard to read lately," I confess.
"Has he been distant?" she asks, in that exact voice that teachers use when they are trying to get a student to reach an apparently obvious solution in a class lesson.
"No… I guess it might have to do with the fact that it's our one-year anniversary of dating... " I concede, hardly daring to let myself hope.
"Ohmygosh Nico did you seriously just say that?! Of course-!" Piper cuts herself off abruptly. "Okay, calm down, calm down..." she says to herself before continuing. "Obviously, if you can tell something is going on, and it's your one year milestone, and your boyfriend is planning an important date, then this is going to be a really special night for you Nico! Oh, there are so many possibilities..."
"Wait, what?" I ask, suddenly feeling overwhelmed.
"Oh, of course," assures Piper, realizing that she was probably scaring me with her big Solangelo plans, "it could just be a sweet little date, watching the sunset in the strawberry fields over a picnic..." It was easy to tell that she thought this wasn't the case.
I finally decided to give voice to my a small voice, I asked the daughter of Aphrodite, "But...You don't think he could've forgotten? And that this is just some random date?"
"What?" asks Piper. She then rolls her eyes, and I can tell what she's thinking; "Back to square one..." "Nico, you read the signs right. If Will was distracted, that's just a common sign that someone's busy. Most likely, he's been planning this for a while. Besides, Will is such a caring boyfriend, he couldn't possibly forget something this important."
"...I guess you're right," I say, hesitantly accepting her words, though I had a strong suspicion that she was using just the slightest bit of charmspeak on me.
"Just. Relax." Yep, definitely charmspeak.
Will
After digging through my entire wardrobe, twice, I'd finally decided on the perfect outfit. Nico knew my wardrobe inside and out, literally, since one of my sisters had "accidentally" locked him in my closet [don't ask], and figuratively, after being my boyfriend for the past year.
I was almost completely sure, however, that he'd never seen me in this particular outfit combination before; I mean, this was an almost completely new jacket! I was wearing my semi-casual white T-shirt, one that I've worn to 'work' quite a few times underneath my medical scrubs, and which had miraculously never gotten stained. Paired with my casual and slightly faded blue jeans, I would probably look like a country music artist just coming down from their prime, no thanks to my blond-wave hair. Topped off with my red and black plaid flannel kind of jacket, however, my "adorable Southie accent", as dubbed by Nico, would be nicely accentuated. Dang, I am good at this! I should moonlight as a fashion specialist!
But as I turned the corner, the "Delphi Strawberry Farms" sign came into view, and my breath caught. There stood Nico, in all of his Death Prince glory, looking around expectantly, though I could tell that he was also quite nervous. (Medical stuff. You wouldn't understand.)
"Hey Nico!" I say with a smile once I was within conversation distance.
"Hey Will," he says back. For some reason, he seems oddly shy. "What if he's figured it out? Could he have figured it out? He couldn't have figured it out…right? I was being so sneaky and everything…" Now, don't get me wrong; my Nico is shy around lots of people, though mostly only around strangers. Around me, however, it was considered very strange for him to act shy. In the end, however, I decided not to comment; if Nico wanted to talk about something, he'd tell me. Right?
I took his hand, locking our fingers, and started walking along the winding trail. Tonight, I personally thought Nico looked stunning. He'd swapped out his long sleeve, black T-shirt for a short sleeve, light grey T-shirt, which was a colour that I thought contrasts nicely with his hair and eyes, and gave his skin a certain glow, instead of the deathly paleness I'd become accustomed to. He'd stuck with his skinny black jeans though, which I thought looked rather…"nice" on him.
Inside, all of my excitement and anticipation for the night to come was jittering around inside me, making me have to force myself to not start making hyperactive movements in my surplus of energy. Deep in thought, I looked over at Nico, only to see him already looking at me, a fond smile playing at his lips. His eyes had such a reflective look to them in the moonlight, a look I wanted to love forever.
Now, I would've been content to just keep walking like that forever, but tonight was the night. I knew what I had to do.
Nico
I locked eyes with Will, wondering what he was thinking about, with such a far away look in his eyes. Honestly, I was pretty much just desperately hoping that tonight went well; I wanted to have a perfect date to remember our first year anniversary. But my mind ran a blank once we fully stepped into the fields. I'd been so preoccupied along the way that I haven't even realized where we were going.
Laid out before us, a candlelit scene made my heart melt. Candles, a little blanket, and a basket of strawberries were all laid out underneath a single tree, bent and twisted, but perfect in its own way.
"Will," I breathe in awe. The pure romanticism of everything in that moment made me want to kiss him senseless then and there. However, he took my hand, gently leading me towards the base of the tree. "This is beautiful…" I knew I would remember every detail for a lifetime.
Sitting and getting comfortable, Will gave me a sweet kiss that emptied my mind of any thoughts to speak of. Offering me some strawberries, I could finally see the stress he was carrying about this evening.
"Thank you, Will," I say quietly, nibbling on a strawberry. "I can tell you're really anxious about tonight." I looked up, staring warmly into his bright blue eyes. "Don't be. It's already perfect."
Will
As he looks at me, I can barely keep my thoughts straight, with those dark eyes practically gazing into my very soul.
"Oh my gods oh my gods oh my gods get yourself together…!" My mind races, as I struggle to remember what I'm supposed to be doing.
Reaching behind me, into a darker spot of strawberry plants that I purposefully left unlit by the candles, I pull out a black rose, its petals a shade of onyx that reminded me of Nico's eyes more than anything. I gingerly pass it to my boyfriend. "I removed the thorns, you know, just in case…" I tell him, more than a bit awkwardly. Fondness softens his expression as he accepts the flower with grace.
Taking a deep breath, I muster my courage.
"Nico, you know I love you. I love you more than anything," I start. "You can make me smile like no one else, even after a terrible day in which I was lit on fire and stabbed with a scalpel." Ah, the wonders of nursing trainees. That gets a chuckle out of him, so I continue on. "I also know for a fact that you love me too." He blushes at this. "And I've been doing some thinking. I want to keep making you smile for as long as I can." His eyes widen at what it seems I'm implying, with something akin to panic. "I know how this looks, where this seems to be going, but I honestly did think. I know, we're young, and demigods, and still working a lot of stuff out, and most likely not ready for that kind of commitment just yet, so…" I reached into my pocket. "I thought of the next best thing." Fishing out two rings, I held out one to boyfriend, whom I'd shared so much with, good and bad.
As the two small stones glittered in the small silver band, citrine quartz and obsidian, I asked the question I'd been thinking about for months. "Will you accept my promise that one day, we'll make what we have official, exchange rings and vows properly, and that up until then, we'll wear these rings as a symbol of that promise?"
My heart swelled with immeasurable joy at his next words.
"I accept that promise. Absolutely. One hundred percent. Totally-" with each word, his elated smile grew and grew, until I just had to cut him off with a kiss.
I slipped on the ring, right above the silver skull ring that I'd come to associate him with. His eyes glistened as he put the matching one onto my index finger, I swore I could feel some kind of magic in the air. I just hoped that Aphrodite wasn't interested in making our love life interesting…
As Nico buried his head into the crook of my neck in a rare hug, his lips lightly brushing my skin in a smile, I opened my mouth to speak. However, Nico beat me to it. "I am not crying."
I was perfectly content to stay there, in that moment, with my Nico, smiling and alone together. And this time, I did. We were there, under that one twisted tree, long after the view changed from the brilliant setting sun to the starry night sky.
*Seven years later*
"It's been so long," Nico breathed, taking in the scene for the first time in seven years. The soothing scent of strawberries on a warm afternoon washed over the couple.
"Come on." Will entwined their fingers and started walking towards their destination, the warm band of metal on his left ring finger a reminder of why they had truly come back after so long.
Once there, the two stopped.
"You know I love you," says Will, his lips curving in a reminiscent smile.
"And I love you," Nico responds without a second of hesitation.
The two share a look that communicates more than words ever could.
Later that day, as the sun sets, casting its golden rays across the fields of strawberries, two silver rings glisten in the boughs of one twisted tree.
A.N.
Did you like it? Did you not like it? Did it make sense? If you don't think it did, I don't blame you!
And did anyone get the ending?
…If anyone actually sees this…
-timetocreate