Will first realized he was gay as he watched Nico di Angelo lead an undead army into combat along side his father, the King of the Underworld.
From a great distance in the impromptu medical tents in the high grounds of Manhattan in a non-combat zone, Will saw the once excitable and obnoxiously dweeby boy now as brave and strong and courageous and heroic and powerful and hot and se—
Well, those aren't straight thoughts... Will inner-monologued.
After the battle and the war were over, Will was far too busy to revel in the celebrations, needing to get back into the groove of regular camper life.
He led the infirmary in caring for those injured during the battle and then for those newly injured during overzealous camp activities after boosts in campers egos from surviving a war. His siblings needed his emotional support after the loss of yet another brother and head camper. They needed his physical presence just as much as his emotional presence. Every tiny ounce of him left, after giving so much to so many people, went to coming to terms with his newly developing sexuality.
Of course, he had liked girls before. He would think a girl is cute and then the moment that girl did a single nice thing for him, he had a crush, and, due to his laid back tendencies as well as not feeling as if it was that big of a deal, Will had a few hand-holding girlfriends. At thirteen, it had never occurred to him to think very hard on why he didn't really care to do more than hug and hold hands. It had never even occurred to him to consider boys in the same way, but never before had he felt such an attraction. He finally understood what the movies and songs and his own father went on about.
He remembered how his blood heated up as he watched the Son of Hades cut down enemies with ease and agility. He was unstoppable, and the thought made Will's skin tingle.
He had intended to try to see Nico again in camp. The infirmary was the best place in camp to get the juiciest gossip (part of why the Aphrodite campers were always happy to lend a hand in there), so Will heard tidbits here and there about how he was doing. He didn't feel any urgency to find the other boy. Yes, he opened Will's eyes to his developed attraction, but Will didn't know enough about the guy to decide that he officially had a crush on him. Will also knew he had the rest of the summer to hang out and get to know Nico. He wasn't going anywhere, right?
After all the injured campers from the battle had been healed and sent on their merry way to injure themselves again, the waves of new injured campers cycled through.
He was treating a Son of Ares with a nasty gash in his bicep. The injured boy howled and screamed death threats at Will and glared daggers at him from the apparent agony of the stitch work. He was the only healer willing to treat these patients, since he was the only one unphased by their intense and scary demeanor as well as their threats and glares. There was just something about the angry looks that he couldn't take seriously. He didn't believe a word the Ares boy said, so he didn't think there was any reason to fear them.
He was half way through stitching up the boy's jagged wound, when he heard the door to the infirmary open and close followed by scurried steps and low whispers.
Will turned to see that Nico di Angelo, aided by another camper, limped in on one foot while also clutching his arm to his chest. Will turned back to his patient and made a note to stop by whichever bed Nico would be put at to say hi and catch up. Will wanted to know more about this attraction of his.
A tap on Will's shoulder revealed to have come from his sister. She looked anxious and tried to whisper something in his ear. He leaned his head down to her, never ceasing his stitching.
She anxiously whispered, "It's Nico di Angelo," as if that explained it all.
"And?" Will replied, looking at his sister in confusion.
She looked over her shoulder back at the newest patient then back at Will imploringly, "And he's scary and looks really angry. Can you take him? Austin said he'd take over for you here."
Will was a bit thrown by the reaction Nico di Angelo got from his sister but agreed nonetheless.
"Let me finish off these last few stitches then Austin can bandage him up. I'll be right over," he assured his sister.
She gave his arm a grateful squeeze and then walked away.
Will tied off the last stitch and patted the Son of Ares on the shoulder, to which the boy flinched and threw another angry glare at Will.
"Alright. Your stitches are done. Austin will wrap you up then you'll be done. Don't forget to finish that nectar," Will reminded the boy who, in a fight, would decimate him.
The Ares boy grunted. Will took that as affirmation. With a final firm pat on the shoulder, which resulted in another yelp, Will made his way to his next patient, Nico di Angelo.
As Will approached, he saw the camper who had helped Nico in trying to joke with the boy. Nico clearly didn't want to be joked with. Each time the other camper would elbow him when Nico was supposed to laugh, Nico would slide a glare to him that wiped the smile off his face.
Once Will arrived, Nico looked up at him unimpressed.
Will greeted him, "Hey, Nico. So, what happened?"
Nico looked at Will appraisingly for a long few moments. Will didn't know how to interpret the look, but he knew he liked the boy's eyes on him. Will smiled despite himself. Nico's eyes went straight to that smile then he looked back down at his feet.
Will was about to ask Nico again, when the boy finally spoke, though mostly to his feet.
"I was climbing the lava rock wall by myself. I fell. I yelped. Jake heard as he was passing by. Now I'm here, burned," he raised his arm without flinching to show Will the nasty bubbly burns along Nico's forearm, "and broken," Nico jostled his leg to indicate it was injured.
Jake placed his large hand on Nico's slight shoulder and opened his mouth to talk. Nico shot him another look, and Jake moved his hand to his own hip instead, saying his piece anyway. "This is the toughest kid I know! He says yelp, but it was more like a whoosh. And after that, not a single complaint. This kid's intense, I'll tell you that." Jake smiled at Nico. Nico didn't glare back, but he also didn't look too pleased.
"It's not that bad. Really," Nico insisted quietly.
Will began his healing, "Well, let's check it out then. Which hurts more, arm or leg?"
Nico seemed to consider the question. "Leg," he replied.
Will crouched down to Nico's leg. Nico tried to lift the leg to give Will better access to it, but Will told him to relax. He rolled up Nico's pant leg to reveal purple and black bruises already forming. Even without X-ray vision or his own actual healing powers, Will could tell the ankle was broken. Gently laying his hand just above the bruises, Will assessed the full damage. He closed his eyes and could sense the severity, or lack there of, of the break. He looked up at Nico, who stared right back at Will.
Will's words were caught in his throat. This bed was situated right bedside an open window. The bright sunlight illuminated Nico from behind in a way that made him look far more angelic than any human ever should. The halo of light around his head was made more intense by the stark darkness of his hair and the intensity in his eyes. The boy's soft features were made ephemeral by the shadows of his expression. Will had never and would never again describe any boy or any other boy as beautiful. Will felt his ears turn red as he realized that not only was he staring at his patient, but he also couldn't believe how lame he had just become. Apparently, he was not only gay, but also a romantic sap.
Will broke the spell Nico had put on him, when he looked at Jake Mason, who didn't seem to have noticed a thing. He had lost interest in the procedure and was instead inspecting some medical equipment.
Will looked back to Nico who had turned his head to observe the other campers with little interest.
Will tapped Nico's leg to get his attention back. He easily explained the situation with Nico's leg, "It's definitely broken, but it's a clean break, so I can heal it with a hymn and an ace bandage. You'll be ready to climb again by this time tomorrow. You ready?"
Nico nodded his head, his eyes never leaving Will's. The intensity in Nico's stare made Will's hands shake. He had to tear his eyes back to the task at hand and take a deep breath to calm his nerves from the boy on his table.
He wrapped his hands around Nico's ankle and sang a hymn to his father. When the song was over, the bruises were almost completely gone, and he could sense that the brake was entirely mended. He grabbed an extra ace bandage from the medic pouch on his hip, wrapped, and secured it around the newly repaired ankle. He rubbed soothing circles into the flesh and looked up at his patient.
Nico's eyes were shut in relaxation and his shoulders were slumped.
Will explained as he continued to rub Nico's ankle, "It's completely healed, but it's going to be sore until tomorrow." He asked, "How does that feel?"
Nico opened his eyes and pulled his leg from Will's grasp, though not ungently.
Accepting Nico's lack of a verbal response, Will stood up to inspect the burn. As he turned Nico's arm over and around, he made conversation with Jake.
"So, Jake, where were you headed when you found this damsel in distress?"
Jake laughed, as Nico retracted his arm and threw a particularly sour look at Will, to which Will smiled. He reclaimed Nico's arm and began treating it with anti-septic to prepare for the healing.
The less magical energy he had to exert on each healing, the less drained he'd become and the more patients he could treat.
Jake shuffled on his feet for a moment before he started talking. He reexamined the nearby medical supplies as he spoke. "Ah, well, I was headed to Bunker 9 to gather all my campers to clean our rooms together. It's been getting out of control these days. I let it slide since we just returned from battle, but now it's too much." He paused for a long moment. He looked over his shoulder at Will, and Will held his gaze, sensing there was something troubling Jake. "Plus, you know, it's still hard sometimes. Telling my siblings what to do all the time. Leading a cabin, it's not all about being the most gifted. There's a lot of responsibility and a lot other skills involved."
Will thought on what Jake had said, as he began to sing a hymn to his father to heal Nico's burns.
He had just come into being a cabin counselor himself. He too was learning all the different metaphorical hats he had to wear to fully care for his siblings. When he finished the song, he turned to Jake and leveled him with his eyes, one hand on his hip, the other unconsciously still wrapped around Nico's wrist.
"I totally get what you mean, Jake. I've only been Apollo Cabin's counselor for a few weeks, and I'm still getting used to it. I'm not even the oldest child of Apollo. I think you're right that they choose us for the position based on how much power we have from our parents instead of how well we'd be suited to leading our siblings and the camp. But, I'm learning a lot about myself, like how much I actually like telling people what to do-," this earned a chuckle from Jake, and though Will didn't see it, Jake sure saw Nico crack a wry smile, "-and being the support system and backbone of my family's well being. And, I admire you even more for doing it despite not being comfortable with any of that. Your siblings need someone and you stepped up for them. Courage isn't only found on the battlefield, Jake. And, from what I can tell, you sure have a lot of it." Will stood, dropping his hand from Nico's, to place a firm hand on Jake's shoulder.
Jake smiled at Will and thanked him for his kind words.
Will turned back to his newly healed and almost ready-to-go patient. He put a hand on one hip again and spoke as he walked toward the windowsill. "You're all healed up, di Angelo." He grabbed a potted plant from the sill and brought it back to the two boys.
"This here is an Aloe Vera plant, courtesy of the Demeter cabin. If you would do the honors of slicing off a leaf, please." He held the plant near Nico, so he could use his blade to perform the task.
Nico hesitated for a moment. Will assumed it was nervousness to use such a large blade for such a small task, but Will didn't carry his own small blade unless he knew he was going into combat-zones. Nico cut off a decent sized leaf and held it.
"Slice it open when you get back to your cabin. Use the flesh inside to lather where the burns were. The wound itself is healed, but there is still residual damage to the cells, and this will fix that right up," Will explained.
"Thank you," Nico said, as he inspected the succulent.
Will returned the pot to the windowsill and returned once again.
Nico sat there for a few moments, seemingly in thought. His eyes bore an intensity that Will found disarming. Will realized that his want for that feeling increased the more he experienced it.
He looked closely into Nico's eyes and wondered about their color, thinking they were black and not believing that was an eye color.
He grabbed Nico's ear with his thumb and fore finger, leaned his face inches away from Nico's, and held on tight as Nico tried to pull away. Will stared deep into Nico's eyes, determining their true color. Nico scowled while he returned the gaze, daring Will to look away or incur his wrath.
Nico opened his mouth to protest the closeness, but Will spoke before him.
"Brown. Huh," Will mused.
"What?" Nico demanded.
Will looked at Nico's eyes for a moment longer before releasing his hold on Nico's ear. As he pulled his hand away, he noticed that the sides of Nico's hair stuck up like a bat's wing. He tucked it behind Nico's ear. His fingers tingled from the action as he returned it to his hip. "Your eyes. I thought they were black," Will shrugged, tingle still strong in his fingertips against the fabric of his jean shorts, "but they're actually really, really dark, dark brown. Did you get that color from your dad? Though I haven't met him, I know I have Apollo's eyes. My mom has dark green eyes, not sky blue."
Nico hesitated for a moment, his eyes darting to Jake, who was listening with friendly interest. "My father has pure black eyes. Which are..." Nico pulled a face. Will assumed Nico didn't want to insult his father in case he was listening. "... Nice," Nico finished skeptically, holding onto the last consonant sounding like a snake. Will and Jake chuckled at Nico's unconvincing compliment to the God of the Underworld. Recovering from his quick save, Nico continued his thoughts on his eye color. "My mom had pale brown eyes. I suppose they combined to make dark brown," Nico gestured to his face to emphasize his point.
"Cool," Will said. He turned to Jake, asking, "What color are your eyes, Jake?"
"Hazel," Jake replied with a smile. "Never met my dad, but my mom has hazel eyes, so…" he shrugged.
"Very cool," Will observed. "Well, you're all set, Nico. Rest your leg and arm for about a day, and you'll be good as new. Come on back if you need anything. See you around camp." Almost as an after thought, Will added, "Oh. It gets boring around here sometimes, so stop by sometime for a chat or something. That goes for both of you." Will regarded them both with an open expression, fully expecting them both to take him up on his offer. "Injured or not, come by. You're always welcome."
Jake smiled wide at him, "Yeah, man. Totally. I love the forges, but sometimes it's nice to see a friendly face."
Will nodded his head emphatically, "Exactly!"
He and Will shook hands saying goodbye. Will turned to Nico waiting for a reply from the newly healed boy.
Nico just nodded, not meeting Will's eyes.
Will waved both boys out.
Jake stopped by regularly to chat Will up. Will liked how friendly and talkative Jake was, but the smaller boy's absence still always gave him a tinge of disappoint every time Jake came by.
One day a few weeks later, Nico finally showed up, uninjured. Unfortunately, a satyr had just brought in a brother and sister from Tennessee. All three were cut up and bruised. There was nothing serious, but there had also been a brawl in the Ares Cabin and an explosion in the Hephaestus Forge. No one was mortally wounded, but every healer was needed, including Will. So, when Will called to Nico that he was busy and asked if he could come back in a few hours, Nico nodded.
When everyone was treated and released, Will looked around for Nico, expecting him to be back around then. When Will left the infirmary, he asked around if anyone had seen Nico. No one had since earlier in the afternoon.
It wasn't until two days later that the camp had concluded that Nico had left completely. There was no sign of him, and no sign of a struggle. His possessions were gone from his cabin, and his bed was made.
Will was very disappointed. He never got to know the boy who had stirred his feelings so fundamentally. He didn't dwell on it, though. There were plenty of boys out in the world.
Will noticed boys in his school. He noticed that some were cute. Some really cute. He would get distracted during gym class, when older boys would change into gym clothes. He liked how their muscles strained in their backs and arms. He liked their strong legs. He officially confirmed in his mind that he was indeed gay.
Unfortunately, whenever he'd try to approach a particularly cute boy with perfect hair and a dazzling smile, he'd lose interest when he thought about how they had never faced down hundreds of foes without fear. He thought about how his hair was perfect, because he paid more attention to his appearance than he did about his combat skills. That perfect smile looked practiced and was too easily given away. Will didn't feel as if he earned that smile, not from a frivolous boy who didn't seem to care about anything in the world. He thought their hair was too light or their eyes were too pale. He would bore with their conversation and tire of their sultry looks (as sultry as a middle schooler could look).
One time a girl asked him out. He didn't have the heart to turn her down with no excuse, since he wasn't ready to tell anyone outright that he was just simply only interested in his own gender. Her soft curves just didn't make his eyes wander or his blood warm.
He took her to dinner then a movie. It was pleasant. She was nice. It wasn't her fault he didn't lean in for a good night kiss at the end of the evening, even though he knew she wanted one.
What really threw him for a loop was when he went on a date with a boy. He was nice and cute and his dark hair and lithe frame pleased Will, but his heart still wasn't in it. Will didn't know why even now he still couldn't muster the desire to lean in to touch his lips to the other boy's.
It wasn't till the other boy gently twined their fingers together that Will realized why he couldn't bring himself to actually like this boy. The boy's hand was warm and ok in Will's hand, but there wasn't that tingle in his fingers that he had felt when he had touched Nico's face. His body didn't seem to light on fire when he imagined this boy next to him leaning up to Will to press their lips together as it would happen when Will imagined Nico doing the same. Will realized he simply wasn't impressed with these boys. He wasn't particularly attracted to them. Yes, these boys in his school had pretty mouths or broad shoulders or strong jawbones, but they didn't have any intensity in their stares that drew Will to stare harder. He didn't think the boy who sat beside him would be able to endure a broken ankle without even the slightest hint of pain, no wince nor whimper. Will hadn't been too impressed at the time, but spending time with boys who crumbled when they stubbed their toes showed Will just how tough Nico had been. Jake had been right when he boasted of Nico's silence.
When the school year ended and it was time to return to camp, Will hoped the smaller boy would be back. He missed that tinge of excitement he hadn't noticed till it was gone that he would get when he caught Nico's eye.
Unfortunately, there was a crisis that took away all attention from Will's soft longing for a boy whom Will would, against his will, describe as ephemeral. He heard that Nico had been stopping by the camp sporadically over the winter break. Those visits stopped when Percy went missing. Like every other available friend, Nico went out in search of the missing hero.
Will didn't see him again until much later, and boy had everything and nothing changed when he did see him.
Nico had been nearly consumed by the darkness within and around him. He refused to listen to any of Will's medical advice, and he blatantly disregarded Will, while at the same time, needed him desperately. Nico's skills and elegance had only magnified exponentially, since the last time Will had seen him. He even used those skills to aid Will in their battles. He made Will's usually level blood boil in frustration and excitement. So obviously, Will loved every second of it.
As the battle wound down and the time for healing the injured came up, Will spent all his time healing and tending to the infirmary and all those assisting in the infirmary. Every time the door opened, his heart would jump at the thought that it may be Nico coming to finally say hi to him. Each time his stomach would drop when he'd look to see a random camper rush in or out. After the second day and hundredth time this happened, Will was fed up. He stopped looking to see who entered, and he avoided looking at Nico throughout the entirety of the burial rites that Nico performed for the camp, focusing instead on his fallen comrades. On the third morning, as Will walked out of his cabin to start another busy day in the infirmary tending to the Roman campers who needed to be healed up fast before their long departure, he saw Nico chatting with another camper.
Fed up with Nico's refusal to stop by to say hi like the friend Nico had established himself to be the year before, Will stared Nico down until he finally noticed. Having given the boy an appropriate amount of time and space to make his own way to Will, he gave Nico his own stern stare, which he had honed while learning to be a head counselor for the most hyperactive and distractible campers. Nico visibly deflated in defeat, and Will felt victorious and felt his confidence growing.
He told Nico there were no ifs, ands, or buts about his deplorable behavior in the past as friends as well as his current lack of concern for his own health, which was clearly waning still.
When Nico hurried away with his promise to return, Will waited patiently. As Nico walked back to him with a spring in his step and with his back a little straighter as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, Will couldn't keep the small smile off his face.
He then had three days to help Nico recover as well as convince Nico that being a friend meant saying hi every once in a while.
He would never dream of trying anything funny with Nico during those days. To Will, intimacy was something that was to be reserved for someone you love. He recognized that Nico seemed to be the only person who could light his flame, but he also acknowledged that he barely knew Nico. He didn't even know if Nico could ever reciprocate his feelings. He understood that sexuality was something ingrained in people sometimes. For him, it was only boys. For Nico, it may not be.
Either way, the boy who wouldn't stop floating in and out of Will's short life had agreed to stay put for at least three days. Will would do his best to get Nico into tip top shape before he could drift away again, if Will was unsuccessful in convincing him to actually stay this time. Will had thought he would be staying last time, but look how that turned out. He didn't see Nico for another year! No. Will needed to figure out how to get it through Nico's thick head. Will wasn't too convinced yet. Nico was dense, Will knew. He would change his mind if someone didn't step up and do something.
Will took one more look at the boy beside him as they walked toward the infirmary in the warmth of the rising sun and decided he would be that someone. How else was he to get to know Nico and see if he could actually like the boy who made his stomach feel so funny without doing anything other than simply existing near Will. He refused to let his heart make any rash decisions without plenty of information to work with.
First step, get Nico to actually stay.
Second step, get to know Nico.
Third step, proceed with caution and make new step to reflect new developments.