Winter
The world outside the Hades cabin was covered by a layer of perfect, white snow. Nico wasn't one who often paused to admire to the view, but today he hesitated in front of the window. It was early in the morning, too early on a Saturday for most of the other campers to be awake. Outside his window, the snowy scene was absolutely serene, with the soft yellow sun peeking above the horizon.
Nico had always liked winter.
It took some time for Nico to get geared up. Long johns, thermal long sleeve shirt, thick socks, gloves, hat, scarf, coat – all extra components to his wardrobe. However, Nico didn't mind. There was something comforting with being wrapped up so thoroughly. Besides, most of his extra gear was a combination of his two favorite colors: black and gray.
Right as he was stuffing his gloves into his coat's pockets, the coffee pot began beeping softly. Nico couldn't help a small smile as he grabbed a thermos from his bed side. The morning was always better with a coffee, after all.
A few minutes later, the bundled boy stepped out of his cabin, his steaming thermos in his gloved hands. The chilly air tickled his nose, but otherwise Nico was wrapped up enough to not be bothered by the low temperatures. The ground crunched as he stepped out onto the lawn, his boots leaving foot prints in the pristine, crisp snow. There were no other tracks leading to or from his cabin; ever since Hazel had left to go stay in Camp Jupiter, Nico had had the cabin to himself.
The son of Hades quite enjoyed the privacy – relished it, even – but there were times where he wished he had someone else's company. With the exception of the other Big Three cabins, all the other cabins around camp were packed with life. Brothers and sisters, living and learning together.
Nico scowled. Bianca, his late sister, had chosen to be reborn, which meant he would never see her again, much less ever share a cabin with her.
A sip of delicious coffee helped take his mind off the past. As hard as it was, Nico was trying to live more in the present. It was easy to yearn for the past, but impossible to ever return to it. Anyways, there were plenty of living people for Nico to be concerned with... like Will Solace. The heat that flickered within him, as the name passed through his mind, wasn't due to the hot coffee.
Nico found himself mindlessly walking through the snowy camp, as thoughts churned in his mind. So much had happened in the last few months. It had initially been hard to adjust back to camp life, but luckily the blond son of Apollo had been more than happy to be supportive. He had even fallen into the habit of joining Nico at the Hades table for dinner.
As Nico turned a corner, he realized he had walked over to the Big House. It's baby blue walls were complemented well by the white snow on top of the roof. Unlike most of the other buildings around campus, the steps up to the front had several tracks of foot prints leading to and from it. That wasn't surprising; the Big House housed the camp's infirmary... the infirmary where Will worked.
Biting his lip, the son of Hades peered tentatively through the large window on the side of the house that looked in on the infirmary. At least two of the children of Apollo were awake, tending to patients, but neither of them were Will. Admittedly, Nico was a bit disappointed.
Not that I have a reason to be disappointed. He chided himself quickly. Him and Will were just... friends.
"Whatcha looking for, sunshine?" The cheery, familiar voice caught Nico completely off guard. He nearly choked on his sip of coffee. Sure enough, a certain blonde haired boy was leaning over the railing of the Big House's porch, a lopsided grin plastered on his face.
It took a couple of coughs for Nico to clear his lungs of the treacherous coffee. Meanwhile, Will easily hopped over the porch railing and sauntered on over to the black clothed boy.
Will was pretty thoroughly wrapped up too, but much more colorfully. His winter hat (complete with a ridiculous puff ball on top) and scarf were bold orange, while his coat was a nice shade of navy. While it wasn't black, Nico couldn't help but think that the colors looked good on Will. Well... honestly, everything looked good on Will. As much as Nico didn't like to admit it, Will Solace was extremely good looking.
"I was just passing by." Nico finally managed to reply as Will stopped only a foot away. As always, Nico started to feel stupidly nervous.
"Really?" Asked Will, still with his dorky grin. Before the smaller boy could reply, Will leaned forwards and said huskily, "Cause this is awfully out of the way for you."
Chills ran down Nico's spine. Will's face wasn't far from his own. The black clothed boy stubbornly met Will's gaze... his beautiful, blue eyed gaze. A blush warmed Nico's cheeks.
It was ridiculous how nervous he felt around Will. Nico was the son of Hades, for crying out loud! No one should be able to unnerve him, not even stupidly handsome demigods. Yet, regardless, he'd never been able to shake these feelings. Feelings that, at current, he didn't really know what to do with.
"I like walks." Nico replied defensively. Even with his crush, the son of Hades had reasonable control of himself. While he couldn't help but indulge in how nice Will's eyes looked, he wasn't about to act on his indulgences or, gods forbid, share any of his accumulated feelings. Nico wasn't really into sharing his feelings.
Opening up to Reyna about his French zombie chauffeur had been hard enough.
Will snorted. "In this weather? It's freezing!"
"I like the cold." Nico mumbled in response. He was still distracted by how close Will was. Their steamy breaths mingled in the space between them.
Those slow, steamy breaths turned into quick, light puffs as Will laughed pleasantly. "Well, lucky for you, this winter is only going to get colder." He paused, before placing a gloved finger thoughtfully on his chin and stating innocently, "If only I had someone to keep me warm at night!"
Nico sucked in his breath as a wave of embarrassment rolled through him. A suggestion for whom might be good for keeping Will warm sprang to his mind right away. But Will just teasing… we're just friends... His doubts were like his lifeline to trying to keep his cool.
Ever since Nico had spent those three days in the infirmary several months ago, Will had been slowly acting more and more friendly towards the son of Hades. Sometimes, some of the things that Will said were downright flirty. Nico dealt with it as best as he could – sometimes he felt like a broken machine, unsure of how to properly respond and afraid of how he wanted to respond. A combination of fear and apprehension kept him from approaching the subject. But, there was no denying that there was a yearning building up within him.
Sometimes, the easiest response was a snarky one. "Well, I'm sure you could find a pretty Aphrodite girl to join you."
There was a playful glint in Will's eyes. "Probably." He replied mischievously, before taking another step forward and further closing the space between him and Nico.
The shorter boy's heart began to speed up, his blush growing stronger. His eyes darted between Will's blue eyes and Will's lips for a few moments, before his gaze retreated to staring down at the ground. When the son of Apollo got this close, Nico found it hard to breathe. What's worse was that, recently, Will had taken to encroaching on Nico's personal space quite often. He almost seemed to take amusement in making Nico freeze up.
Will said, "But I don't want that." Before Nico could risk another glance up at his crush, he felt a hand wrapping around his – Will's. Will's fingers slipped between his own – orange and black gloves intertwining. The few times that they'd held hands before, the son of Hades had marveled at how warm Will Solace's hand had been. This time, the gloves prevented the exchange of heat.
It was still nice, though.
"You're got a fireplace in your cabin, right?" The question caught Nico off guard, and caused his gaze to drift up from their clasped hands and up to Will's inquiring gaze.
"Uh... yes." That was an awfully random question. "Don't most cabins?"
Will didn't bother replying. Rather, he flashed an excited grin at Nico before setting off in the direction of the Hades cabin. Due to their hand situation, Nico found himself towed along. If he didn't already know the son of Apollo pretty well, he might have been surprised by this. Instead, the shorter boy simply rolled his eyes at his friend's antics.
"You're weird." Nico huffed as he purposefully dragged back a bit and cradled his thermos against his chest. Like I'm going to make things easy for him. He wasn't even going to humor Will by asking what his plan was, being it was so obvious. For some reason, Will was overly excited to start up a fire on the hearth.
"Thanks!" Will laughed in reply.
Several months ago, no one would have dared to enter the Hades cabin other than the children of Hades. If the solid obsidian walls and perpetually burning green flames didn't scare them off, the large skull over the doorway usually did the trick. Unfortunately, Nico had designed and built the cabin several years earlier, when his tastes hadn't been so... mature.
Will didn't hesitate for a moment on his way in. That wasn't surprisingly though – the blond had already visited the cabin several times. Will had gotten into the (frustrating) habit of waking Nico up in the mornings on week days so that they could walk to breakfast together. On a unrelated note, Nico didn't really mind mornings so much any more.
Will released Nico's hand once they got inside. As ridiculous as it was, Nico found himself a bit disappointed. He shouldn't like holding hands with his friend, but... well, he did.
Since the cabin was so much warmer than the outside, both boys began to peel back layers. Gloves, hats, shoes, scarves, coats, and the thermos were ditched by the door. Nico was wearing an olive sweater that Hazel had bought him. She had mentioned something about him needing more colors in his wardrobe when she gave it to him.
Will was wearing a soft blue sweater that matched his eyes and fit his frame snugly. Nico had to remind himself not to stare.
Beside the fire place, there were several stacks of wood. A layer of dust had settled upon the wood, as Nico hadn't bothered using the fire place this season yet. This didn't seem to bother Will, as he dropped to his knees and began to carefully pluck wood and place it within the fire place. While he was busy with that, the actual inhabitant of the cabin got to work pushing the only couch in the room closer to the fire place.
Once all the wood was in, Will used some blank parchment for kindling. Using the knife of his multitool (Why don't all demigods carry one? Nico wondered), the son of Apollo easily set a fire. A few feet back, Nico plopped himself on one end of the couch and pulled his legs to his chest.
Once the flames began to lick energetically at the tinder, Will hopped to his feet. "Winter has now officially begun." He declared solemnly.
Nico raised an eye brow at the blonde. "What, your act of lighting a fire place is what makes winter official?" He almost wasn't ready for the playful grin that Will shot at him.
"Damned right it is." Will answered proudly, before turning on his heel and strutting over to the couch. "It's not winter until you sit around a fireplace and enjoy the warmth." Nico rolled his eyes.
Before Nico could make a snappy remark, Will plopped himself down onto the couch. But, rather than sit on the other end of the couch, or even on the middle portion of the couch, Will sat himself so close to Nico that their sides brushed. However, Nico had no room to retreat – he was already against the arm of the sofa. The blush in his cheeks returned.
Then Will made it worse by throwing a lazy arm around the back of the couch behind Nico. The malfunctioning metaphor applied well here: Nico wasn't sure what to do with himself, so he simply focused on staring at the fire as heat spread through his body.
A pressure on his wrist caught the attention of the black haired boy. Will's hand was wrapped delicately around Nico's wrist, lightly tanned fingers pressing gently into his olive skin.
"Hmmm." Will muttered thoughtfully, "Your pulse is fast… maybe I should do a full examination?" Snapping his eyes over to stare in surprise at Will, Nico found himself faced with a cocky grin. Will's eyes were dancing with amusement. It's not fair for him to say those things… Nico felt entirely too flustered.
He replied with a stubborn scowl, at which Will started to laugh.
Even with the fire growing, Will's laugh made Nico feel warmer than any fireplace ever could.
At the same time though, the blond's laughter was quite annoying. Nico wasn't sure if he was being toyed with. While Will had taken to acting dangerouslyfriendly recently, he had never done anything that would truly clarify if… anyways, Nico was not one to jump to conclusions. Which left him flustered and unsure of himself around Will.
"Sorry Nico." Will apologized happily, when he finished laughing. "You're just too much fun!"
Fun!? Fun was not a word that applied to the son of Hades. Nico was not fun. He was dark and dangerous, and perhaps still a little broken from all that he went through when he was young. He killed Bryce Lawrence and let Octavian get launched by an onager, for crying out loud! Most people gave him a wide berth. Nico found anger rising up in him. He didn't appreciate Will mocking with him by making these grand exaggerations.
A whiny growl escaped Nico before he snapped back, "Fun? I am the son of Hades! I am a child of death!" Huffing in annoyance, Nico stated flatly, "Most people are afraid of me, Will."
However, all that anger drained out of the son of Hades when the blond gently cupped Nico's chin and tilted Nico's gaze up to meet his own. Nico found himself staring into a pair of amused blue eyes. Too close. Was all that Nico could think. Without even thinking about it, Nico licked his lips apprehensively. His cheeks were burning.
"For the son of death, you sure blush easily." Will breathed huskily, his gaze unwavering from Nico's. In that moment, Nico was fully enraptured. Typically, Nico tried so very hard to remain objective and in as much denial as he could bury himself… but right now, he couldn't stop the intense feelings that whirled inside him. They were too close and everything was too lovely.
He really wanted Will to kiss him.
Will hesitated a just few inches from Nico. His brow was furrowed, but a charming smile played upon his face.
Nico waited, surprisingly ready from what he'd tried so vehemently hard to pretend could never happen. A guy he liked, wanting to kiss him? Preposterous, until this moment. Previously, this had been a thing for dreams alone.
And then…
Will tilted his own head upward and gave Nico a quick peck on the forehead. What? Thought Nico, blinking in surprise as Will adjusted himself, sitting up straighter. Warm arms wrapped themselves around Nico before the taller boy leaned his head over and rested his cheek on Nico's unruly black hair.
What the hell!? Unreasonable rage burned through Nico. He didn't appreciate being teased by the son of Apollo only to denied what he – uh. Even to himself, it was thoroughly embarrassing how he had wanted Will to close the distance between them.
Will, on the other hand, seemed quite merry. He snuggled himself closer to the grumpy Nico, humming pleasantly to himself. This only aggravated the shorter boy more. After about a minute of cuddling the pouting Nico, Will asked playfully, "Something wrong?"
"No!" Replied the other boy, too quickly and too staunchly. Nico crossed his arms (as best as he could with Will's arms around him) and stared at the fire in annoyance. Despite his anger, he was still blushing.
A few soft giggles tumbled out of the taller boy; Nico could feel Will shake softly as he giggled. What game is he playing at? Thought Nico, Ugh. Other people were so complicated.
"I don't understand you." Nico finally huffed in defeat. Maybe Will was as much of a dead end as Percy was?
"You've got to work for it too, Nico." Will commented lightly, a playful edge to his voice.
Will's soft words confused the dark haired boy for a moment. Work for it? He contemplated with a wide scowl, Work for what? But as he mentally questioned it, Nico realized what Will seemed to be implying. Wait, he wants me to make a move!?
Nico was filled with a combination of shyness and surprise; he started to push Will away, too abashed. However, Will didn't relent his hold on the shorter boy, which only gave Nico a few inches of distance. Will's arms were still linked around Nico as he twisted around to face the blond.
"W-work for-!" The words caught in Nico's throat. "I d-don't, uh, know what you're… uh." His flustered denial died half way through; he was too embarrassed to think straight. The corners of Will's lips were pulled upwards in a sly grin. A grin that really irritated Nico, despite the handsome face it adorned.
The thought was absolutely ludicrous – Nico could barely function when his crush got close. Acting on his crush required more chutzpah than Nico had. (He felt quite angry at that, as he was a son of Hades – the children of the god of death don't struggle with being too shy... except for him.)
The two boys stared at each other. Will's expression, much to Nico's chagrin, was one of cockiness. With his sly smile and narrowed blue eyes, Will's gaze seemed to challenge Nico.
Heat flushed through him. He was the son of Hades, gods dammit! He transported a statue half way across the world! His first kiss shouldn't be that big of an obstacle!
With new found determination, Nico acted.
He even shocked himself with his boldness. Nico reached forward and grabbed at Will's blue sweater – it felt very soft – and yanked the other boy closer. Squeezing his eyes shut, the shorter boy tilted his head up and pushed his lips against Will's. His attack was so swift and fierce, Will had to reach backwards and stop himself from falling back to the couch. A hundred emotions raged through Nico. Will's lips were soft, warm, wonderful…
About one and half seconds into the kiss, Nico felt a wave of utter embarrassment crash down upon him. He was kissing Will Solace! Like a machine short circuiting, Nico froze for half a second before quickly pulling away. His entire body felt like it was on fire. In an attempt to hide his red face, Nico twisted from Will and tucked his knees to his chest and wrapped arms around his head and knees.
The son of Hades was shy. There was no getting around that.
"Whoa." Will murmured so softly, Nico almost didn't hear it. Stubbornly, the boy in the olive sweater stayed with his face pressed against knees. He'd never felt so… embarrassed? Happy? Shy? Whatever it was, it was almost too much.
Almost.
Will started to giggle again. Nico ignored him, even when he felt hands brushing gently through his hair. As if having to initiate the kissing wasn't mortifying enough for Nico, now his crush was petting him… and, worse, Nico kind of enjoyed it.
A minute passed. The fire crackled. Outside the window, some of the other campers were beginning to emerge from their cabins and voyage into the snowy world.
Finally, Will spoke. "How ya doing there, Romeo?" His voice was giddy and flirtatious.
Nico huffed at the nickname, before stubbornly muttering in reply, "I'm fine." Embarrassed, but fine. Besides that, some of the solitary boy's embarrassment was slowly morphing into a sort of deep happiness. After all, he had kissed Will, and Will had kissed back.
The hand that had been brushing through his hair disappeared and gently grabbed Nico's wrist a second later. "Positive?" Teased Will, "Because you're heart is racing." He emphasized the last word by leaning in and whispering into Nico's ear (who, speaking of, couldn't help but peek at the playful blond). "Why don't you let the doctor take a look?"
Doctor? Nico rolled his eyes and let out a playful, exaggerated sigh. Why was the boy that Nico had a crush on such a dork? Just because Will Solace was cute didn't mean that he could make annoying (yet stupidly amusing) jokes all the time. This called for a snappy reply.
Swallowing what was left of his shyness, Nico dropped his guard and twisted to face Will. He began to speak truculently, "You are not really a doc-"
Will cut him off with a fierce kiss. Nico found himself pushed backwards, one quarter off the couch, with the son of Apollo on top of him. The kiss was surprising, yet undeniably passionate. His last fears were lost as the moment consumed him; Nico gasped and locked his hands into Will's mop of blond hair.
Outside, several of the Ares kids were building fortresses in the snow and amassing supplies of snowballs. Suffice to say, neither Nico or Will paid them any heed.
After what seemed like forever, the two broke apart. Nico was panting heavily, his entire face tinted red. Will's face was a similar shade, and his hair was completely disheveled.
A few moments later, Will smiled down at Nico and said. "Yep, you're definitely sick."
Nico blinked, confused. "What? Sick?" What on earth was he talking about?
"I'm going to have prescribe a full day inside – with me, of course! Doctor's orders." He added the last bit with a wink. The son of Hades rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but grin.
"You're a dork." Nico murmured warmly in reply. With most of the awkwardness dispensed by the kissing, Nico found himself unable to look away from Will's enchanting blue eyes.
"Am I your dork?" Will inquired with a raised brow.
After a moment of hesitation, Nico replied shyly. "S-sure, yea." Will's smile was blinding.
As the Ares kids started a full out snowball war out in the courtyard between the cabins, the two boys were distracted, lost in a world of young romance and kissing (lots and lots of kissing). Nearby them, the fireplace crackled, casting a warm glow on the inhabitants. As far as Nico was concerned, today was a perfect winter day.
Nico had always liked winter.