accidents don't just happen (accidentally)
Summary: Someone messes around with Aphrodite's sacred bow and the wrong son of Apollo falls in love with Nico di Angelo. Whoops. It was an accident!
Or where Octavian turns his heart-shaped eyes onto Nico, Will didn't need any 'Arrows of Love' in the first place thank you very much, and Nico is just creeped out by the whole ordeal.
Pairings: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, unrequited Nico di Angelo/Octavian
Status: Chapter 1 of 3
Author's Note: Cross-posted on Ao3 under Moons-and-Glassware (Porcelain Echo). This fic is an outcome of my insanity. The title is a quote from Supernatural's Dean Winchester. This takes place in an AU post-BoO where Octavian is alive. (However, this also takes place before Leo's implied return to the camp)
Disclaimers: Because some people are extremely nitpicky, I have to state that I obviously don't own or make profit off these characters even though we all know that.
This has got to be the weirdest thing to ever happen to Will.
It started off like this: Will was in the Hades cabin helping Nico redecorate the place and spice it up a bit so it no longer looked like a vampire's funeral home. They were alone, and having a great time 'redecorating' (Fine – that was a lie he was using to fly under the radar, shut up.) until someone starting banging on the cabin door and yelling for them to get out of there.
Nico and Will jumped apart, their eyes wide and both out of breath. They looked at each other, and Nico furiously tried to flatten his hair so it looked less like they were making out for the past twenty minutes. Will on the other hand flashed him a sheepish grin and straightened his t-shirt and running his hand over his slick lips to rid himself of the extra sheen from their saliva. (So they weren't the best kissers, who even cared.) They weren't really hiding that they were in a relationship, but it seemed like people hadn't noticed it yet and they didn't want to make it such a big deal, and now they were more or less having a secret relationship and sneaking around to see each other under lame excuses. Nico stepped out of sight when Will opened the door before whoever was on the other side could bring it down with the obstinacy of their thumping. "What is it?" he asked without looking at the person, his voice coming out husky and sore. He coughed into the fist of his hand, clearing his throat as inconspicuously as possible.
He finally looked up from his hand to see who it was, and his eyes narrowed. "What do you want, Octavian?" His voice became less polite and his posture stiff with guardedness when he regarded the older demigod. "Aren't you supposed to be in the Big House?" After the war, Octavian had been rightfully confined to places where other demigods could watch the creep at all hours of the day. He had a lot of penance to do after his actions during the war, and Will doubted he would ever earn back the trust and respect the other demigods once held him in. He quickly scanned Octavian's vicinity, looking for other alert demigods but there were none. Everyone was conveniently absent. He could see a figure far off in the distance, but they were too far away to help if Octavian decided to be violent. Warning alarms went off in Will's head and he gripped the edge of the door.
Octavian scowled at him, taking a single step forward. It was enough for Will's hackles to rise, but not close enough that Will could scream an obscenity about Octavian being a trespasser slam the door in the anemic loser's face. "This is the Hades cabin," he said, managing to say Pluto's Greek aspect without distaste in his tone, which was quite strange. "Why are you here?" he sneered. The former augur's hands were hidden behind the dirty toga he was wearing, and Will had a feeling he was sporting his favoured sacrificial knife in there.
"I'm helping redecorate," he said slowly, the lie still managing to coax a blush out of him even though he was standing before his least-favourite half-sibling (or maybe quarter, since Octavian was birth from Apollo's Roman aspect. Whatever it was, it didn't make Will happy at all to call him his relative.).
Octavian scoffed. "Whatever kind of loser activity you're doing, I'm not interested," he said, despite having asked Will just moments ago. "I'm here to see Nico," he declared, "I'm on official business. Now move out of my way and I'll escort him to where he's meant to be right now."
Like most demigods with common sense, Will didn't believe a word that came out of his mouth. "No," he said, standing in the middle of the doorway. Octavian narrowed his eyes at him. While Will was healthier than Octavian by a long shot, the pale loser was older than him and possibly had a knife too. Still, Will wasn't going to let his boyfriend alone with the creep.
"I don't think that's a very good idea," Octavian said in a low voice and, expectedly, slid out the slender knife from under his toga. One would think he would have learned his lesson, but no, the guy was still at it with the threats and manipulations. Will glanced at the knife for a brief second before looking back at Octavian. While he didn't want to let Octavian in, he also didn't want to start an unnecessary fight with a guy known for sadistic urges.
"All right," he said begrudgingly. "But I'm coming with you guys." Before Octavian could protest, he called out, "Nico! Someone's here to see us." At the cue, the son of Hades stepped out from the place he had disappeared to and walked to his place beside Will.
Nico frowned at the augur. "What are you doing here?" he asked coldly. His hand automatically drifted to his waist for his Stygian sword. "You're not welcomed here."
Octavian's eyes went round, and he eyed Nico up and down appreciatively. Will fought the urge to step in front of his boyfriend like a territorial hound; Nico had been dealing with all sorts of monsters for the past few years, surely he could deal with Octavian by himself with Will looming over his shoulder.
The look was not lost on Nico and he gripped the hilt of his sword. "You're hurting my feelings," the augur said once he snapped out of his lustful gaze. To Will's surprise, he actually did sound hurt, but he suspected that it was just because Octavian had played at deceitful for so long that it was second nature to him. "Nico," Octavian whined, not sounding like his usual creepy self at all but like a completely different sort of creep. "You're going to break my heart if you keep your cold attitude up.
Nico and Will exchanged bewildered glances before looking back up at Octavian. He had a coy expression on his face that did not suit the augur at all. And it was frankly starting to get really creepy. Will got the feeling that he wasn't kidding and something was seriously wrong with the guy right now. Octavian, true to his nature, took advantage of their confusion and grabbed Nico's hand, pulling it away from the hilt of his blade. It was a strange sight to behold: he was gripping Nico tightly in one hand and was holding a knife in the other. "Hey!" Will yelled angrily and yanked at Octavian's hand. The augur was surprisingly strong and swift for his slender form, and Will ended up with a knife to his throat. The sharp metal was pressed neatly against his pulse point, and Octavian tilted his head to observe Will through crazed blue eyes. "You're a psychopath," Will said, barely daring to move in case Octavian proved his diagnose right and slit his throat.
The Roman ignored him and then turned his attention to Nico, who was frozen in his spot and staring at the knife in horror. "Come on," he said to Nico, his voice saccharine in a genuine way. "Come with me, and nobody has to die today."
"Nobody has to die today," Nico repeated, finally snapping out of his surprise. It sounded like threat, and he glared at Octavian. "Let him go, and I'll go with you."
"Wait!" Will protested, but the pressure of the blade was already gone from his neck and Octavian was smiling gleefully at Nico. His grip was so tight on the boy's wrist that Will was pretty sure he was cutting off his blood supply. "Stop! Octavian, what in Tartarus is going on?" he demanded, reaching out to grip Nico's free hand. The son of Hades squeeze his hand and he squeezed back.
Octavian glanced from Will to Nico when he noticed their interlocked fingers. His eyes grew cold. "Get your hands off of him. Nico is mine," he hissed. "I saw it in the augury and I felt it in my heart."
Will couldn't help the laugh that tore free from his throat. "Really? Are you claiming that you can give prophecies and write poetry now? I didn't even think you were gay!" The situation was just far too bizarre for him to take seriously. And from the utterly perturbed and muddled expression on Nico's face, he was feeling the same thing.
Octavian took a step closer that was probably meant to be threatening, but Will just couldn't even attempt to pretend he was sombre anymore. He fought back the laughter trying to break free. "I know there's something between you two, and the gods don't approve!" he said hysterically before jerking Nico forward harshly. The boy yelped and almost fell on his face. Octavian stepped in front of him and stopped his fall, wrapping his pale arms around Nico's waist and pulling his other hand out of Will's grasp. The sight was just too odd for Will to process it properly in his brain.
"Now I'll be taking Nico on a romantic picnic," Octavian declared in the same haughty tone he used back during the war to order other demigods around. "Don't bother to interrupt our passionate trip or you'll meet your fateful end with my blade."
Will was about to take a step forward and stop the ridiculousness before it could continue any further, but Nico strained his neck around to give Will a meaningful look that stopped him on his tracks. I'll handle it, Nico mouthed to him, and Will gave him a slight nod of agreement. But that didn't mean Will wouldn't be alerting the other demigods on the development and tracking the two of them down.
Octavian smirked in triumph, taking Will's silence as a victory. "Well I'll be seeing you…later. Maybe Nico and I will be married in the eyes of the gods by then. May we have Aphrodite's blessing," he said, all starry-eyed and looking up at the sky as if he could invoke all the gods to bless the two with holy matrimony. Nico looked a little green in the face and tried to inch away from Octavian.
"That…would be interesting…," Nico said cautiously. "I…would very much, um, appreciate it. A lot." He looked at Will, who was torn between laughing until his sides hurt or punching Octavian in the face for daring to lay a hand on Nico.
Octavian looked at Nico tenderly and literally dragged the younger boy away without a backwards glance. Will, on the other hand, ran straight for the nearest demigod.
A few hours earlier
"Hey," Connor said, nudging his brother lightly on the shoulder and pointing to the abandoned bow and sheath with a single arrow lying demurely in the attic of the Big House. "Do you think that's made out of real gold?"
Travis looked over from the box he was digging through to examine the weapon. "Looks kind of fake, if you ask me." However, he walked over and picked it up, weighing it in his hands. Connor inspected the arrows, and laughed out loud when he saw that the shaft was formed in the shape of an arrow. It was dulled at the end so it couldn't cause any real damage.
"Oh man, this! This looks like a trashy Aphrodite get-up," Connor said. "Do you think Drew would like this as a present?" he joked. The two of them cackled over the idea of giving Drew such a tacky weapon.
"Or maybe you could poke Octavian in the butt with this," Travis suggested. Connor laughed, tipping the sheath over to examine the inner workings of it to determine its' value. They weren't really up here for jokes and giggles. Once in a while, some valuable things were dropped off at the attic, and the Stoll twins made it their business to snoop through it once a week. Chiron didn't mind; it helped to keep the hoarding down.
"'…Pierce a son of Apollo…' the rest is too scratched out to read," Connor said. "Does that mean we'll actually get to smack Octavian with this? You know, he really needs some retribution, and not in the community service way."
Travis smiled and the both of them high-fived before heading downstairs with the fake weapon.
Unsurprisingly, the weapon turned out not to be fake, and not a weapon at all. The arrow bounced off of Octavian's chest when they hit him with it. They had expected a scowl and some tantrum-throwing by the former augur, but his eyes only went wide, and he proceeded to knock his guards and the twins out by some sudden godly strength and escape the Big House.
Well, it's only expected that love would give him strength.
Author's Note: Thank you for reading, and I hope to have chapter 2 out soon! Reviews, of course, are wonderful.
In fear that someone will point out that Octavian is ooc: yes, he indeed is. He's not quite fully himself at the moment.