Author's note (AN): I'm not sure what the exact definition of a oneshot is, fact is, I spent my evening writing this at a stretch. Took about two to three hours or so. I'm not sure whether this is adorably fluffy, or despisably cliché and cheesy. You decide. Let me know what you think which one applies to this story!

Disclaimer: I own neither PJO nor HoO, only the OCs. PJO and HoO belong to Rick Riordan.

Month II, Day I

By now, the job of a travel agent, or maybe a taxi driver, sounded really tempting.

Two months ago, I had already wanted to leave Camp Half-Blood. Back then, it was because I had no friends. Right now, my friends were the problem. Or rather, one of them. Said friend was at least eight feet tall, had blonde hair, and blue eyes. His father was Apollo, and his name was Will Solace.

Two months ago, Will Solace had been one of the reasons why I stayed at Camp. In the meantime, I had learned about various sides of him. One moment, he was all stern and ordered people around, saying this stupid 'Doctor's Orders'-line of his. Then again, he laughed loud and often, and could be the either funniest or dorkiest (or both) person I knew. And then there were moments when his emotional side came out, when he sat at the campfire when everybody else had gone long ago, and played touching songs on his guitar, his voice the sweetest sound in the world.

All that wasn't a problem. What was a problem: Will was also very attractive, handsome, pretty and any other synonym for good-looking. And he was bi, so that wasn't a problem either. I was totally sure that he considered me his friend, and two months ago I had been glad about this. But I was also pretty sure that he considered me nothing more than a friend, and that was the reason why I always was so miserable during the past few weeks. Serious, of the plenty of cute boys and girls at camp, how much were the chances that he'd pick me? Maybe if we were the only human beings on Earth's surface. Maybe.

So that was why I once again contemplated the pros and cons of leaving the camp. It wouldn't be the first time. Between the two wars, I had rarely been at any of the camps, not to mention during the war. I had spent more time in hell (well, in the Underworld and in the Labyrinth) than at Camp Half-Blood.

And, given that my fighting skills had significantly decreased recently (you can't behead a dummy when you're thinking of your best friends adorable freckles), any job in the mortal world was tempting. Being just an average young man, make an apprenticeship, learn a job, get some distance between you and the guy whom you love… preferably a few hundred miles, at the very least.

"Nico!" yelled said guy from behind. Wow, Solace, perfect timing. Showing up when I am pining for you. And why for everything in hell do you have to look so damn good today? As much as I despised Artemis' Hunters, I wished that there was a similar organization for men. But gods, who are eternal maidens at the same time, are very rare these days. Not to say: Nonexistent. It's a fact, the Olympians aren't the best at staying in their own beds. I inwardly sighed. Right now, a bunch of immortal boys who'd keep me away from dating would come in handy. Well, actually, a bunch of boys would be really bad. Another sigh. Would the Hunters accept me if I explained that I was gay and needed to be kept away from men to prevent my heart from breaking? Probably not.

I raised the bow that I had been holding during the last five minutes and continued my target practice. Why had I decided to learn using a bow in the first place? To impress Will said a voice in the back of my head, but I decided to ignore it. I had decided to learn using a bow so that I would be better in combat, and that was the only reason. And that's that. Not because I wanted to impress a certain son of the god of archery, who couldn't use a bow for the life of his, by the way.

Will arrived at the archery range, out of breath as if he'd ran all the way from his cabin. He probably had. It took him a few moments to recover his breaths, moments in which I missed the target another five times.

"Since when do you practice archery?" Will asked, still panting. And, shame on me, all that left my mouth was a stuttered 'um' instead of my well-prepared argumentation of how useful it could be to be able to handle both a bow or a sword. When I was close to Will, there was no sign of the cool and confident Ghost King. More like a teenager who is in love for the first time. Scratch that, for the second time. Not much better. I forgot what I was about to say when he was nearby. And don't even get me started of how annoying and attractive at the same time it was when he ran his fingers through his hair like he just did… you get what I mean. I tried to focus on the bow, but after I hit another camper's target instead of mine, I gave up.

I walked for the Hades cabin, and, of course, stupid, adorable Will Solace followed me. He wasn't wrong when he stated that I was in a bad mood and needed to be cheered up, but he didn't know that he was the reason for my bad mood. Of course, him leaving wouldn't cheer me up either, but at least I'd be able to get my heartbeat below 200 bpm. If he'd come any closer, I'd most likely suffer a heart attack. And I didn't want to test out Apollo's son's healing & reviving powers. Not least because he was bound to notice how fast my heart was beating if he touched me (and that was most times necessary to treat serious injuries).

I didn't pay the slightest bit of attention when Will listed all the things that he thought would brighten my mood. I enjoyed and cursed his presence at the same time. I was startled out of my thoughts when Will ungently shoved me.

"Where you even listening?" he demanded to know. "Well, not exactly" I admitted, and he rolled his eyes. Did I already mention that he looks cute when he—yeah, I most likely mentioned it. For the record: Will looks cute when he rolls his eyes. (Scratch that last part, Will looks cute, no matter what he does. Unconditional cute-i-ness, I guess.)

"—and we could play a card game, or we could go swimming, or we could go to the climbing wall, or we could play Truth or Dare—" I interrupted him when a thought came to my mind. "Can you teach me how to play the guitar?" I asked. Will looked surprised, and I already regretted asking him. "Forget it" I mumbled, looking at my feet in shame, but Will laughed this laughter that made me so dizzy. "Of course I can. I was just surprised 'cause I didn't expect that question. It will take time, though. You don't learn an instrument on one day. But if you are willing to practice regularly, there's no reason why I couldn't teach you." I nodded. That settled the matter, Will dashed towards Cabin Seven to get his guitar.

"Okay, Nico, put your index finger here and your middle finger here, and you are fretting an E-minor chord." My face was a dark shade of red, and I was sure that my body temperature was ten times higher than normal. That was probably due to the situation and the compromising pose: Will sat behind me, his arms reaching past my body and guiding my hands and fingers around the fretboard of his guitar.