Nico stepped out of the Hades Cabin and into the heat of summer. The afternoon sunlight reflected off his ghostly pale skin and gave him a sense of vulnerability. Nico di Angelo hated being outside and he hated being in the sun. All he wanted to do was crawl back into his cabin like a turtle in its shell.
He imagined Solace coming and hanging out here instead of Nico being forced to go to him. But that would be weird and probably too suggestive and so Nico never asked about it.
As he walked past the Poseidon Cabin, Nico's thoughts immediately flickered toward his old crush. He hadn't seen Percy Jackson in months, probably because Percy didn't visit camp too often, and when he did, Nico was either in the Underworld or at Camp Jupiter. Jason had told him Percy still bugged him about talking to Nico, but so far the encounter hadn't happened. Thankfully.
Ahead of Nico, a curly haired, impish boy jumped out of the Hephaestus Cabin. Leo Valdez had the same small build as Nico, but the similarities stopped there. He was always too hyper, too friendly, and things didn't go wrong when he was around.
Leo spotted Nico and ran over to him, halting to a stop beside the son of Hades and sending up a cloud of dirt.
"Hey, Ghost King," Leo spoke at his normal pace, which was two times what was normal for everyone else, "You think you could do your little shadowy trick and zap me over to Jupiter real quick?"
Nico gave him a look. It wasn't like He and Valdez didn't get along, but they weren't close friends either. Sure, Nico had had people ask him to take them over to Camp Jupiter before, but mostly they just flew there, probably in no rush and too afraid to ask for help from a child of Hades.
"Camp Jupiter, I mean. Not the god." Leo studied him like a machine that needed fixing, which didn't exactly make Nico comfortable.
"What for?" Nico asked as he kept walking. Leo followed, twitching his fingers and realizing he didn't have anything in hand.
"Hazel needs me to fix something." Leo shrugged. "She didn't say what, just said it was urgent."
"Sure," Nico said, happy to end the conversation. "Later though."
He expected the son of Hephaestus to thank him and then leave, but Leo just trailed along behind him.
"How much later?" Leo asked.
"Before tomorrow," Nico deadpanned, tired of Leo. "Could you leave me alone now?"
He glanced back at Leo, whose eyebrows were knitted close together and his expression was like Annabeth's when she couldn't remember something. Thinking was not usually a Valdez thing.
Finally his face un-scrunch and he lit up. "You're going to see Will, aren't you?"
Nico looked away, heat rising to his cheeks. "I didn't say that," he muttered.
"You didn't deny it," Leo said in a sing-song voice. "Well, later dude. Tell Solace I finished his special arrows and he can pick them up whenever."
Leo Valdez waved goodbye and inserted himself into a group of passing Aphrodite girls. Nico could hear him saying "Hello Ladies."
Nico sighed and shook dark hair out of his face. Ahead of him was the archery field. He could see a few campers with bows lined up and aiming. Simultaneously, they all fired arrows which soared through the air and hit boards thirty yards away. One person, who looked like a Hermes kid, threw down their bow and stomped off in the direction of the volleyball court. Apparently, they had no talent for archery, probably the same as Nico.
He approached the field from behind. Beside him was an opened shed which held archery supplies.
Nico spotted Will Solace easily. His tanned skin and blonde hair made him stand out from the other present campers, all of whom were anything but Apollo kids. Nico leaned against the structure as he studied Will helping a girl aim properly. Jealousy surged in the pit of his stomach as Will's hands overlapped with the girl's. Was she blushing?
Nico looked at the ground and didn't return his gaze until a voice said, "Jesus Nico, you look like a goth ghost."
Nico glanced up. In front of him stood Will Solace, the only person at camp he could tolerate calling him ghost-looking.
"Shut up, Solace." Nico said, "You look like some out-of-place '80s surfer dude in that getup."
Will looked himself up and down. He wore cargo shorts and a sleeveless orange Camp Half-Blood shirt that was covered by a golden breastplate.
Nico jabbed at Solace's shielded chest. "This is archery, not sword fighting."
"Aw, you wouldn't want me getting hurt, would you?" Will feigned a pout then laughed. "What brings my favorite son of Hades to the archery fields?"
Nico hesitated. He had an answer to the question, sure, but he was taking a moment to process what Will had just said. my favorite son of Hades. It shouldn't have made Nico as happy as it did, since he was the only (known) son of Hades, but still.
"Leo asked me to tell you that he's done with your arrows." Nico always had an excuse to see Will. He wasn't feeling well, he had to deliver some archery supplies for Chiron, he was just passing by. This time, it was going to be something like I slammed my foot into the wall. Don't ask. Can you heal it? But Leo Valdez had provided him with a better one and so he went with it.
"Huh," Will scratched his head, "with all that boundless energy of his, you think he'd come tell me himself."
"W-Well, he saw I was already headed this way, s-so…" Nico hurriedly piled on the white lies.
"Oh, okay," Will watched Nico with a calculating look in his blue eyes. "You sure that's all?"
"Oh," Nico looked down again, "Yeah, that's it."
It wasn't much time spent together, but it was something. Nico turned to walk away, but Will grabbed his hand and said in a rush, "Hey, Nico, you want to try archery?"
Nico turned back to face the son of Apollo, unsure if he heard correctly. "What?"
"Archery, di Angelo. Do you want to try it or not?"
Will's suntanned cheeks were vaguely red.
"You do realize I suck at archery, right?" Nico raised an eyebrow.
"I how am I supposed to know that?" Will asked playfully.
"Well, I fight with a sword for a reason, you know."
"Alright," Will thought for a moment, "but what if you find yourself sword-less in battle, and lying beside you is a bow and some arrows."
"You forget I'm not powerless just because I'm weaponless," Nico pointed out.
"You and your freaky 'control the dead' powers," Will tease, and Nico winced as if it was an insult. "Say you're totally drained. Then what?"
Nico thought for a moment. "Then I trust that my favorite son of Apollo can protect me with said bow and arrows."
Will was definitely blushing now. The heat had returned to Nico's face too. He almost felt embarrassed because the red would stand out more against his pale skin, but then realized that emotion would make it redder.
"But what I do get in return?" Will teasingly asked.
Nico smirked. "How about when you run out of arrows, I'll protect you."
"You got yourself a deal, di Angelo," Will said with a wide smile.
AN: I always wonder how artist can start drawing and say it came out as something they didn't expect, but I guess it's the same as writing?