Everything belongs to Rick Riordan

It was understood that Camp Half-Blood was a safe haven for the children of the gods. The various protections around the camp, Thalia's pine tree, the golden fleece, the dragon, etc. were all there to protect the god's offspring from the various monsters that were drawn to them. Thus giving these children a chance to learn how to fight, to protect themselves and, perhaps, grow to adulthood.

However, there was far more to the camp than that. While it was a refuge, it was also a place where demigods could learn more about their (usually) absent parents and the glory that was Ancient Greece, the culture from which the gods arose and which many considered the height of western civilization. Philosophy, theatre, ethics, history, comedy, the arts, all of these were the heritage of the demigods.

So, Nico DiAngelo was in arts class learning how to draw.

He'd been taking the various classes for a while and while he was not particularly good at it, you could recognize what he was trying to draw, usually. In this he was like most of the other students. Some were better than he was, some not. Mostly, it was trying to draw a variety of shapes and then putting them together. The students used a variety of mediums, today was charcoal as the class had been working on shading for the past several sessions. Chiron, who was apparently an expert on everything Greek related, was teaching as usual.

Nico had taken up his accustomed place behind his easel, along with the dozen or so other students. They were from various cabins, a couple of Ares, one Demeter kid, six Hermes kids and a couple of Aphrodite teens. Once the budding artists were seated, the door opened again and Will Solace walked in. He wasn't one of the students in the class and Nico thought he was working in the Infirmary this morning, so it was a surprise to see him.

It was also a surprise that he was wearing a bathrobe.

Chiron also looked a bit taken aback by Will's appearance.

"Will, what are you doing here? You're not on rotation for this class and you're not scheduled for another several weeks."

"Hi Chiron, no. Austin was up all night with a patient and he's exhausted. I said I would cover for him this morning."

"Oh, well then, thank you for filing it. We'll be getting started in a moment, just sit down while I go over today's assignment with the class."

Will looked around for a seat. It was then he noticed Nico. With a broad smile he went over to his boyfriend and sat down.

Whispering, "Hi Nico, I thought you were taking the afternoon sessions. What are you doing here?"

"I said I'd help Percy with the afternoon sword training class, so I switched for today to the morning drawing." He paused, "What's so funny?"

The child of Apollo was obviously trying to hold in his laughter; he was practically doubling over. Letting out a snicker, he said, "So you don't know what today's lesson is?" The son of Hades shook his head. Will said to himself, "This'll be fun."

Confused, Nico returned his attention to the centaur up front.

"Students, so far we've been working largely with geometric shapes and shading. It's time for you to actually begin with a subject. Now, with regards to subject matter, our Greek fathers had very rigid ideas regarding acceptable artistic subjects. There was no such thing as "Landscape" or "Still-Life" as an artistic concept."

"To our forbears, art was dedicated to the gods. And therefore, the ideal was to show and represent the gods and their demigod offspring as the perfect beings that they are." This comment was answered with a number of snickers and coughs. With a bit of a wry expression on his face, Chiron continued "Be that as it may, it leads to what the Greeks believed was, largely, the only appropriate subject for art, the human body."

At this, there was a bit of a start from the students.

"Yes, in order to do this, you will need to be work with an actual model. Will here will be the subject."

Will raised his hand and waved at the class, a large grin on his face.

"Now, he will pose for the duration of the session and you are all to draw him as best you can. Since this is your first time with a live model, by no means do I expect perfection. The Greeks believed the human body the most perfect of all subjects and that it should be conveyed in all of its glory as a means of honoring the gods. I do not expect perfection from anyone here, especially given that this is more of an introductory class. What I will caution you, if you are not aware, is that when I state the human form in all of its glory, I mean ALL of the human form, as our ancestors believed."

There was a puzzled look from many of the students at first, then one of the Ares children seemed to understand the meaning. With a stunned look, he raised his hand and said "You mean he'll be…"

"Yes Cyrus, Will will be nude. The nude is a traditional art form and the only acceptable one for a subject for art as far as we are concerned."

There was a bit of nervous laughter (and throat swallowing) from all of the students. Save one.

With a look of horror on his face, Nico turned to Will.

Will waved his fingers, "Hi"

Jumping off of his stool and knocking the easel over, Nico shouted, "No, no, no, no. No way. No naked bodies, nuh uh. Absolutely out. Nope. We don't do that kind of thing."

"Nico," said Chiron, "this is part of the class."

"Sorry, no. Where I come from, no naked people. Lots of clothing."

"Nico," interrupted Will, "this is not the 30s. There's a lot more freedom in terms of showing the body today. Go to any beach, many of them are topless or completely nude."

"NO, we don't do this. Doesn't matter. I've been to the beach and that's sorta ok. Not here."

"What's the difference? It's private, just us students."

"How can you be all right with this?! Don't you have any modesty?"

"Nico, dad is the god of the arts. Apollo's children always do this, it's part of how we honor dad, by participating in the ceremony of all of the arts. Drawing, sculpture, music. I've done this before."

Another look of horror came over Nico's face, "YOU HAVE? When?"

"Last year, while you were missing I was the model for one of the arts classes then. I also posed for one of the sculptures."

The son of Hades looked taken aback, "What do you mean?"

"Last year Zeus got mad at dad for something and blew his statue to bits. We need a new statue of Apollo and I look most like him. So I posed for a few days."

"Hold it, you mean the statue of Apollo by the campfire is YOU?" Will nodded. "The nude statue that all the girls look at everyday is MY BOYFRIEND!? You mean EVERYONE in the camp has seen my boyfriend NAKED!" Will smirked and nodded again. Nico put his hands to the side of his face and began to breath hard.

"Nico, don't do that, you'll hyperventilate. Sit down, put your head between your knees. Do you want me to get a paper bag?" Nico sat down and shook his head no. Will sat down next to him. He spoke softly, "Nico, love, it's not a big deal in this day and age. We're the Greek gods children, this is part of our background. Apollo's children always do this and have for hundreds of years. We're often the subjects of the various nude paintings and sculptures. Rodin's Thinker is my great-great uncle Thomas"

"I think you missed a great in there, Will." Chiron interjected.

Will turned his head sideways for a moment, "Maybe, I lose track. Anyway, just stay here and get your breath back. I have to go up on the platform. I'll be back in a little while."

Will walked up to the platform. Chiron let out a breath and said "Thank you Will". He then brought a chair up onto the platform. They discussed the position that Chiron wanted Will to take, that he'd be leaning on the chair, one leg up on the seat, arm on his knee.

"Ok, I think I know what you want."

"Good, then you can take your robe off and assume your pose."

Will began to undo the sash of his robe and slipped it off his shoulders.

A wild cry of "NO NO NO NO NO NO" was heard and Nico DiAngelo was racing up to the platform, eyes wide and body trembling. He practically tackled Will and closed the robe in front of him. Then pushing him into his own shadow, the son of Hades shadow traveled the two of them out of the classroom.

There was silence in the classroom for a moment. Everyone stared at the now empty platform.

Chiron let out a long breath and put his right hand to his face. "It appears that Nico has cancelled class. We will resume again tomorrow. I suspect that Austin will be back to act as our model at that time. Class dismissed."

The students, still stunned, all looked at the centaur. Then they burst out laughing and left the room to spread the word over what happened to the other campers.

No one saw Nico or Will for the rest of the day.

That night, the statue of Apollo mysteriously disappeared.

There was a half-hearted search for it before the decision was made to make a new one. No one asked Will to model this time.

And no one looked in the Hades cabin for it.

…..

In the back room

….

In the closet

…

Under the blanket.