I'm back! This time it's a Percy Jackson fanfic centered around Will and Nico, 'cause I'm Solangelo trash (; The title and lyrics are from Sun in the Night, by Lighthouse Family. I recommend it if you like easy listening/pop music.
"Gets too much after a while trying to always hide your feelings
When the world is going crazy and you keep it to yourself
How much it hurts, though you try, try to get on with your life
And tell yourself that worse things happen and just hope it goes away."
It crept up on him, Nico would always say.
It was so different to when he had that crush on Percy (but those feelings are dead and buried now). With Percy it was abrupt, love at first sight, a bit of hero worshipping mixed in there.
With Will it was slow, but overpowering and intense, unlike anything Nico had ever felt before.
It was hard to get Will Solace, with his shaggy blond hair and cerulean eyes and sunkissed skin, out of his mind. And then there were the little things that stuck with Nico too: the mole on his left shoulder, the gentle, yet firm hands that had saved lives in the infirmary, and his wide, contagious grin.
But Nico hadn't exactly acknowledged his feelings for Will yet.
No, it was the infuriating Jason Grace who did that for him.
Nico had been relaxing in the shade of a tree, two months after Gaia was defeated, when Jason bounded up to him. The little scar on his lip disappeared when he beamed at Nico.
"Hey, Nico!" the son of Jupiter greeted, taking a seat beside him. Nico smothered the instinct to edge away (he still wasn't a big fan of contact) and smiled back at Jason.
Jason tilted his head to the side thoughtfully. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," answered Nico. "Just thinking."
"About Will?" Jason queried, cocking an eyebrow.
Nico choked, his dark eyes widening to the size of saucers. "What in Hades? Of course not!"
"You just seem to be spending a lot of time with him . . ." mumbled Jason sheepishly. "At least, that's what Piper said."
Nico cursed Piper mentally, as he frantically prayed to whatever Greek god protected half bloods from severe embarrassment. "She was probably exaggerating," he lied.
"Mmmm-hmmm . . ." Jason seemed unconvinced, but he got to his feet anyway. "If I didn't know better, I would've said you had a crush on him, or something."
Before Nico could die from mortification, Jason had ambled off, his bomber jacket flapping in the wind.
Nico leaned against the tree trunk, tilting his head back to stare up at the sky. It was mostly cloud today; deep steel blue-grays that mirrored the hues of the nearby lake. Everything was a muted shade, like one of the matt photographs that hung in the Big House.
Crush on Will, crush on Will, crush on Will, crush on Will . . .
"No!" Nico yelled out loud, attracting an odd look from a passing Hermes kid.
Nico scowled, huddling in his aviator jacket, which he staunchly continued to wear despite the growing heat.
Did he really have a crush on Will? Sure, he couldn't get the blond out of his mind most days, but that didn't necessarily mean that -
Oh, shit.
Nico sprinted towards the Apollo cabin as fast as he could, his feet thumping against the ground, his breath coming in short pants. He needed to find Will and - well, he wasn't quite sure about what he would do next, but he needed to find Will.
Bathed in sunlight, the Apollo cabin looked like solid gold, and was hard to look at directly. The front door was carved from a laurel tree, with a laurel and a bow and arrow scratched into the middle.
Without waiting to knock, Nico dramatically burst in, inciting complaints from the campers lounging around inside.
"What are you doing in here?"
"Oi! Get out!"
Will, who had been rummaging through a large wooden medicine cabinet, straightened up calmly. "Cool it guys. It's just Nico," he said soothingly, picking his way through dirty laundry towards the son of Hades.
Just Nico? What did that mean? Nico thought, slightly offended.
Will slammed the door and leaned against the doorframe, eyes half-lidded like a sleepy cat. "What's up, Death Boy?"
"Don't call me Death Boy!" grumbled Nico.
Will rolled his eyes. "Yeah, okay. What do you want?"
Nico opened his mouth and closed it again, flushing furiously. "Um, ah, er -"
Will stifled a laugh into his sleeve, causing Nico to glower at him.
"I just wanted to say," Nico continued, by he was cut off. The words were stuck in his throat.
Oh, and Will was kissing him.
Nico froze in shock, and he felt Will smile against his mouth. He smelt like camphor, bay leaves and sunlight, and his lips were warm. Will's hands were cupping his face gently, and his eyes were closed. Eventually, after a few moments, Nico relaxed into the kiss, looping his arms around Will's neck.
There was catcall from across the field, and the two broke apart. Percy and Leo were whooping at them from beside the lake, egging Nico and Will on. Leo was near hysterics, rolling around on the grass, clutching his stomach.
Nico blushed and gave Will a nervous sideways glance. Why did he kiss him? Did he like him? He had never shown an attraction to Nico before. Why so sudden?
Nico's mind was going into overdrive, and he felt like Will could sense that. The teenager smirked mischievously at him.
"Sorry 'bout that," he apologized, winking at Nico. "Couldn't help myself."
Then Will meandered off, leaving a spluttering Nico behind.
"Hey! You come back!" bellowed Nico. "Don't you dare wander off, Solace! Are you smirking?!"
Yes, it had crept up.
But what crept up had to eventually pounce.