Author's Note: Yes I'm working on a new story, please don't judge me x'D. This is my first Solangelo story, and my first PJO/HOO story in a while, so please be gentle.

Sadly I don't own any of the Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus series, those all belong to Uncle Rick.

Chapter 1: The Hawaiian Shirt

Nico and Jason had been bickering back and forth for the last fifteen minutes. Nico was extremely annoyed by the son of Jupiter, and Jason was incredibly frustrated with the overly complicated son of Hades.

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty pleaseeee-"

"No."

"What if we-"

"No."

"But we would look-"

"No way in hell, Jason."

Jason's smile disappeared as he fell to the ground with a loud thud.

"Jason!" Nico screamed. "What the Hades was that all about?"

Nico's eyes grew large with concern at his friend's sudden state. When Jason responded, though, his concern quickly turned to annoyance once more.

"You-you," Jason choked out as if he was dying. "Refuse to… To… Wear this floral shirt. If you don't wear it-" he suddenly burst into a coughing fit, "-it takes away my life force. I'm- I'm dying Nico! Aren't you going to save me?"

The son of death signed while silently asking the gods why they were punishing him. It's not that he didn't want to wear the shirt, (actually, no, he despised the shirt, it's meaning, and it's colors) but he didn't want to do anything that would draw anymore attention to himself.

After all, he was the only living son of Hades at Camp Half-Blood, and that already gave him enough unwanted attention. And if he were to walk around in that, well, he was most certainly screwed. Especially if Jason followed him around all day.

Nico gave Jason his best death glare, but before he could open his mouth to respond, Percy burst the door open and strutted into the room. Nico's jaw instantly dropped from the shock of seeing the son of the sea god.

"Oh dear gods. What in the name of Hades are you-"

Nico couldn't bring myself to finish that sentence. The scene before him was much too horrifying for words.

"Do you like it!" Percy hollered while striking a pose. Percy's hip was out stretched, his hand behind his head, his chest popping out, and an obnoxious kissy face was plastered across his normally goofy one.

Here was Percy Jackson, Hero of Olympus, savior of the world, the most powerful son of Poseidon, standing in the doorway of the Hades cabin, wearing a dark blue Hawaiian floral shirt, sunglasses, khaki shorts, and matching dark blue flip flops.

"Why?" the son of Hades begged. "Why do you guys hate me?"

Percy sauntered over like a model, swaying his hips in an over dramatic manner, and doing a little turn once he reached Nico and Jason.

"Does Annabeth know what you're doing?" Nico asked in disbelief.

"Yup!" Percy chirped with his stupid grin. "She actually encouraged it! I think her exact words were, 'I would love to see all three of you in cheesy Hawaiian tourist clothing. It would be quite entertaining to see how that escapade would end.'"

Percy reached his hand out to Jason and lifted him back to the ground. Jason and Percy were wearing identical outfits, except Jason's shirt and flip flops were an annoyingly bright yellow color. He looked like a giant walking ball of sunshine, and not the good kind. Ugh… Just the sight of it made Nico want to vomit.

"Jason. You're shirt is giving me a massive headache," Nico complained while rubbing his temples.

The son of Hades' two "best friends" exchanged a knowing look before creeping up on him like the cat from Alice in Wonderland.

"Oh, is that so?" Percy purred while prancing around Nico.

"I think it's a lie, don't you, my dear cousin?" Jason purred while also circling the son of death.

Nico's eyes grew wide at the strange encounter. Sure, he knew his friends were a little crazy, but this was just a bit too much. In fact, it seemed slightly sadistic if you were to ask the son of Hades.

"Woah," Nico said while defensively raising his skinny hands in the air. "You guys are starting to creep me out, and my father is the god of the Underworld."

Both boys' faces were covered with equally enormous smirks. Nico was afraid their faces were going to split in half right before his eyes.

"Neeks, it's just ridiculous that yellow gives you a headache-" Jason began.

"When you spend all of your time staring at a certain child of Apollo," Percy finished.

At that moment, the skeletal butterflies had returned to Nico's stomach, and he could feel his cheeks turning a dark shade of red. There was no way in Hades he was going to let Percy and Jason know that.

Gods, if they ever found out about his crush on Will Solace, he would never hear the end of it. Nico would spend the rest of his life living in constant embarrassment by the hands of his two best friends.

Not only that, there was also the fact that neither Jason nor Percy could keep a secret. Within a few hours the whole camp would know about his new love interest and then… He didn't want to think about what would happen then.

Instead of staying silent and giving himself away, Nick shoved them both back aggressively and gave them his most threatening death glare.

"Since when did you guys finish each other's sentences? If I didn't know any better, I would think that you guys were together or something!"

Percy and Jason hugged while giving each other fake kisses. Those two had a very interesting bromance, for lack of a better word.

"Oh please, dear cousin-" Percy began with his arms still wrapped around Jason's waist. The action made Nico visibly shudder.

"We were simply observing your behavior," Jason finished, his head lying against Percy's chest.

Nico rolled his eyes and let out an annoyed groan.

"Can you guys please stop acting like the cat from Wonderland With Alice!" Nico shouted.

It was by that point that Jason and Percy broke away, neither of them able to take the ridiculous situation any longer, and erupted into their own uncontrollable fits of laughter.

When a minute or two had passed, Nico realized that they weren't going to stop anytime soon. Like an angry child, he crossed his arms around his chest and hung his head down.

"What?" Nico huffed. "What's so funny?"

"Y-you!" Percy exclaimed. "It's Alice in Wonderland, not Wonderland with Alice!"

The son of Hades could feel his jaw and fist clenching. He absolutely hated making himself look like a fool, especially in front of these two idiots that he called his best friends.

"Well, excuse me for not being up to date with your pop culture references!" Nico shrieked.

Jason wiped a tear away while Percy managed to stand up on his feet again.

"That's it, I'm leaving. Lunch is going to start any minute now."

Nico spun on his heel, completely prepared to walk away, until Jason's strong grip clasped onto his bony wrist.

Nico's eyes filled with terror at the sudden encounter. On instinct, he elbowed Jason in the ribs, flipped him over, stomped on his throat, and ran to the other side of the Hades cabin.

Jason fell to the ground with an oof while Percy sat by and watched, clearly impressed.

"Great timing, dude!" Percy remarked.

Nico rolled his eyes, but a blood curdling scream broke him away from his thoughts.

"NEEKS PLEASE!" Jason screamed while still lying on the hard mahogany ground. "Wear the damn shirt! We'd all be matching, we would look so cute!"

Jason looked like he was about to cry at this point. Nope, no way. He was not going to make Nico di Angelo crack.

"You're never going to convince me."

And with that, Nico gave the two one last glance before making his way towards the cabin's front exit.

"Wait!" Percy called after him. "What if we asked Drew Tanaka to curse you and reveal your crush to the entire camp?" Percy screamed before Nico could fully exit the Hades cabin.

Nico's breath caught in his thought. Sure, all of his close friends knew about his former crush on Percy, but he completely denied the fact that he way gay. He had convinced them all that Percy was merely a phase all adolescent boys go through. Everyone bought it, except his sister Hazel.

Being the amazing sister that she is, she kept Nico's secret, and denied all the accusations that he was gay.

After all, they were both born around the same time period. They knew what happened to people who were homosexuals. They were tortured, shunned, feared… All things Nico had already experienced. He didn't need anymore pain.

Nico and Hazel weren't dumb. They had learned what happened to gays during World War II. Hitler had forced them to wear upside down pink triangles on their clothing, abducted them from the only life they had once known, and sent them off to the slaughter at one of his concentration camps.

Neither of them knew how the world worked now, but they weren't willing to risk the exile.

"Give me the damn shirt."

~Page Break~

"Ugh," Piper gagged while glaring at the Aphrodite table. "Sometimes I really hate Drew. She's pretty but that's about it."

"Oh come on, don't be so harsh on your sissy," Will joked playfully. "We're all big kids now, it's time to play nice."

"Solace, if you don't shut up, I will stab you with my fork."

"That's not nice!"

"Yeah, well-"

Piper was cut off by a very audible gasp. Every camper, from every table, was staring in the direction of the cabins.

"No," Piper breathed silently.

From the look on Annabeth's face, she couldn't comprehend what was happening either. Right now she was currently howling in laughter while tears streamed down her face. The sight was actually very rare. Will had never seen the daughter of Athena look so… Carefree before.

With Percy Jackson as her boyfriend, you would expect Annabeth to be more laid back and chill, but she's the complete opposite. Will guessed that opposites really do attract.

Walking towards the dining pavilion was Percy, Jason, and Nico. They all wore Hawaiian floral shirts, khaki shorts, flip flops, and sunglasses. Percy and Jason had several Hawaiian necklaces wrapped around their necks, while Nico only had a single black one hanging from his pale neck.

Percy and Jason looked like they had just defeated every single Titan, by hand, and blindfolded, while Nico had his arms crossed and his head facing the ground. The look on his face was absolutely priceless.

"I-I didn't think they would act-actually d-do it!" Annabeth explained between laughs.

"Wait," Will interrupted. "You knew about this?"

All she could do was nod her head rapidly while trying (and failing) to regain her composure.

The fact that Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena and head counselor of said cabin, most intelligent person at Camp Half-Blood, and fellow savior of Olympus, was involved with a stunt like this was an extraordinary surprise in itself.

"Oh gods, I can already see him brooding," Piper murmured.

And Piper was right. Even from this distance, Will could see the death glare Nico was shooting at every single person in his line of sight.

Annabeth concealed her laughter as the three boys sat around the table. It was at that moment that Calypso, Leo, Hazel, Frank, and Reyna also sat down at the table.

Leo roared with laughter, Hazel just snickered, Frank looked rather unaffected, Calypso was chuckling silently, and Reyna stayed as serious as ever.

"Hey Neeks," Leo called to him from across the table, a teasing tone in his voice.

"What do you want, Valdez?"

"You look a little more… Colorful than usual. Did the Aphrodite cabin finally enchant your closet?"

Another wave of laughter sailed across the table, and this time no one could hold themselves back.

"No, they didn't," Nico barked back between gritted teeth.

Nico's tone did not discourage the son of the forge god.

"Hey Neeks," Leo began once more. "You look a little… Heated. What's wrong? Is that shirt… NOT YOUR TYPE?"

This time, the table's laughter was three times as loud, and all the other campers at the surrounding tables were staring at them. Some of them even began to laugh at the random exchange, even though they had no idea what was actually going on.

Percy groaned loudly while Annabeth comforted him silently.

"Come on!" Percy shouted to no one in particular. "That was like, a million years ago! Besides, I'm everyone's type!"

*Cough* "Not Nico's!" Jason shouted over the group's laughter.

Annabeth let out a frustrated sigh while rubbing her temples. By the look on her face, she had been through this routine a thousand times before. She looked like an overworked mother comforting her child after a temper tantrum.

"Leo, his ego's already been bruised enough. No need to continue the assassination of his fragile ego."

"My ego is not fragile!" Percy yelled in a voice that was a tad bit too high pitched.

The sound of his voice caused the group to erupt in laughter once more, and the campers who had also heard his protest giggled and chuckled as well. Percy hid his face in Annabeth's shoulder, mumbling, but I'm everybody's type.

Everyone seated at the table let out a few more giggles before Frank decided to carry on the conversation.

"If the Aphrodite cabin didn't threaten you, then what the Hera happened?" questioned Frank curiously.

"I don't even want to know," Reyna said while dropping her salad fork with a dramatic clang.

"Wait, I want to know! How in the name of Pluto did you manage to convince Nico to wear that!" exclaimed Hazel. "I mean, it has more than one color! And those colors aren't gray or an off shade of black!"

While everyone at the table snickered at Hazel's examination, Jason and Percy shared a knowing look. If the fellow Greek and Roman campers didn't know any better, they could of swore they literally saw a blush spread across Nico's face.

"We threatened him of course," replied Percy nonchalantly.

"Hold on, you threatened him?" Reyna and Will quipped back angrily.

Within a matter of seconds Reyna was on her feet and glaring daggers at the now terrified son of Poseidon. Will, on the other hand, was scolding Percy and lecturing him that physical harm would not lead Nico towards a steady recovery.

"Wait, wait! Not like that!" Percy explained while hiding behind Jason. "We told him that if he didn't put on the shirt, we would tell Drew Tanaka to curse him and reveal his crush! No physical harm, I swear!"

For the first time tonight, the table suddenly went silent. No laughter, no snickers, absolutely nothing.

By this point, Nico was fuming and spewing a few curse words in Italian. If it wasn't for Will's doctor's orders, Nico would of opened the earth and sent both boys to the Underworld. Hades, he would of summoned a hundred skeleton warriors to take them away. Instead, he stormed off in a frustrated fashion.

"Great, now look at what you've done!" Hazel cried. "Nico, brother, please come back!"

"No!" he shouted over his shoulder as he stomped away.

A single tear streamed down Hazel's face. Frank wiped it away with his thumb and intertwined their hands together.

If only they knew how upset Nico really was. His sexuality was a very sensitive topic for him, and the idea of being outed by one of Drew Tanaka's curses was truly terrifying.

"I can't stand it when he's upset," she squealed while trying to catch her breath.

"We didn't think he would get that mad…" Percy murmured.

"We just wanted him to be a little more fun and social," Jason finished.

"Fun and social!" Hazel barked. "He's a son of Hades for Jupiter's sake! Of course he does not want to partake in things that would draw more attention to him!"

Hazel sank down in her seat and hid her face in her hands. Frank tried consoling her to the best of his abilities, but it was obviously no use. Everyone's heart broke at the sound of her stifled cries.

"Will," she finally muttered after a few moments of silence. "Can you please go and check on him? He actually enjoys your presence."

Will rose from the table and immediately sprinted off in the direction Nico went. Luckily for him, he left so fast that no one noticed the blush inching across his face.

Nico likes him?

The son of Apollo roamed around camp aimlessly until he finally spotted the son of Hades. He was sitting on the borderline between camp and the woods. He had removed his floral t-shirt, exposing his pale chest and scars. Gods, Will thought, he's so beautiful.

"Hey Death Boy," Will called to him.

After everything that had happened earlier, Will half expected Nico to flip him off and run into the woods. The other half of him expected Nico to break his doctor's orders and shadow travel to Zeus knows where.

"Hey Sunshine," Nico replied softly.

Will was pleasantly surprised by his tone of voice.

He plopped himself down next to him, trying to keep his gaze on Nico's face and not his body.

"I know Percy and Jason can be jerks, but they don't mean to be. Their intentions were good."

Will was right. Percy and Jason acted like five years olds, but they loved Nico like a brother. Both of them would go to Tartarus and back (literally) to keep the son of Hades safe. The thought alone made Nico crack a small lopsided smile.

"I know," said Nico. "But they still managed to embarrass me in front of you and all my other friends. It was mortifying."

"Having a crush is no reason to be embarrassed," Will explained in a small voice.

Nico sighed and yanked on his dark black hair. The son of Apollo could practically see the shadows swirling around him furiously.

"Well, for me, it is," Nico spat.

"Everyone gets crushes, Nico. It's a normal part of life."

"Well… My crush, it isn't normal," Nico explained awkwardly.

Will turned to face Nico, and the expression the son of death wore continued to mystify him. After all the time Will had known Nico, he had never seen him make a face like that before. It was a mix of sadness, pity, and fear? What could Nico di Angelo possibly fear?

Holy Hades, he's seen the Underworld, spent most of his life in a crazy casino in the center of Las Vegas, survived Tartarus, and his father is the god of the dead! Again, what could his Death Boy be so afraid of?

"Why?" Will questioned once he had recollected his thoughts. "Because you're a son of Hades? That has nothing to do with it. You don't have to be a child of Aphrodite to want love."

"Will, please," Nico begged, his voice cracking. "You don't understand."

By this point Nico's eyes were full of unshed tears. Will had never seen him look so… Broken.

He leaned in closer to the son of Hades. Will towered over Nico much more in comparison, making Nico's skeletal butterflies return and soar uncontrollably.

"I don't understand because you're not telling me the full story," Will responded gently. "I want to understand you down to the letter, but I can't do that unless you want me to. Do you want me to?"

"Yes…"

Will grabbed Nico's hand in the most platonic way that he could and forced the shorter boy to face him.

"Then tell my why it's so different?" he practically whispered, his face inches away from the other boy's.

That was the first time he had ever seen all the color drain from Nico di Angelo's face.

"Okay-" Nico began sternly, bringing back his tough guy persona. "- but there's a few rules we have to go over. First, you can't tell anyone about this. Ever. Not Piper or Annabeth or even Percy. Secondly, if you blab, I will personally escort you to the Underworld against doctor's orders. Capicè?"

Will immediately blushed when he heard Nico's Italian accent come out.

"Capicè," he responded like a child.

"Okay," Nico began silently. "The reason my crush is so different is because, well…"

He couldn't finish his sentence. Instead, the son of Hades pushed himself away from the son of Apollo and burst into tears, his tough guy persona completely erased.

Will slowly moved himself closer to Nico and wrapped him in a loving hug. Nico tried resisting at first, but eventually gave up when he realized Will wasn't budging. The guy was a damn rock for gods sake.

"Please," he pleaded between tears. "Let me go, Will. I can't tell you anymore than I already have."

"I'm not letting you go," he replied while holding the sobbing son of death tighter. "I'm hear to listen to you. I'm not giving up on you."

Nico, now fully defenseless, grips onto Will's t-shirt as the tears continue to run down his face. Will rubs small circles on his back while singing soothing words into Nico's ear.. After fifteen minutes or so, the tears start calm down, and so does Nico.

"I know having a crush is scary, but you shouldn't be afraid of falling."

"But-but my crush is different," Nico insisted.

He stopped hugging Nico then. Thankfully, Nico didn't get up and run away. Will intertwined their hands together and once more forced the younger boy to look at him.

"Please talk to me. I want to help you, but I can't if you keep closing yourself off from me. We're friends, aren't we?"

"Yeah," Nico choked out. "We're friends. Just, just give me a second to prepare myself."

Will nodded his head sympathetically as Nico took in a deep breath.

"I'm… The thing is, I'm… I'm gay, and I have a crush on a boy."

Will couldn't help the little gymnastics routine his heart did. Ever since the Battle of Manhattan, he had fallen madly in love with a certain dark haired Ghost King. Up until this point, he never thought that he had a chance.

"Wait, are you serious?" Will pondered, still in a state of shock and happiness.

Nico's eyes filled with an emotion Will had never seen before. He pulled his hands out of Will's grip and stood up to walk away, but the son of Apollo grabbed his hand once more and pulled him back down before he could storm off.

"Nico!" Will shouted defiantly.

"Will!" Nico screamed back angrily. "See, I knew you wouldn't understand!"

The son of Apollo rolled his eyes at Nico's accusations. Damn, why did he have to be so complicated all the time!?

"Oh trust me, I understand completely!" Will retorted while trying to keep his temper down.

Normally, he was a happy go lucky person, but right now, he was peeved beyond belief. If Nico would just let him explain, the whole situation would be fine, but no. He has to shun Will out and ignore every word he says…

"No, you don't! There's no way you could ever know how painful this feels!"

Nico was crying and screaming again. Shadows were gliding around him at a rapid pace and Will could see his eyes turning a darker shade of black. The ground around them was trembling, and in all honestly, Will was incredibly concerned for Nico's safety at the moment.

"Hey!" Will yelled over the commotion the shadows were causing. "Nico, please, try to calm down! Please… Please! This isn't good for your health! You're going to disappear and turn into a shadow and I-I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that happened!"

Will threw himself at the son of Hades, engulfing him in an unbreakable hug. Nico's body was tense, but eventually, he managed to calm himself down. The shadows surrounding them had ceased their overactive activity.

"I'm sorry," Nico proclaimed between sobs. "Really Sunshine, I'm so, so sorry. I'm not one to apologize but… Well, I went crazy for a little while."

"Death Boy, you're not crazy. You were scared. It happens to the best of us."

"Oh yeah?" Nico sniffled weakly. "When other people get scared, they don't accidentally get the shadows to go wild, and they most certainly don't almost open the ground into the Underworld."

"Well," Will countered. "Those people aren't special like you."

"You think I'm special?" Nico asked, still wrapped in Will's arms, his head lying against the blonde haired boy's chest.

"Of course I do," Will responded sweetly. "You're amazing."

Nico could feel his heartbeat accelerating. Will Solace, his Will Solace, just called him amazing.

"Even though I'm gay," Nico choked out softly. "You still think I'm amazing?"

Will held Nico tighter and buried his face into his soft hair.

"What if I told you I was gay too? Would that change things?"

End of chapter one!

So, what did you guys think? I honestly have no idea where this story is going, so any suggestions are welcomed with open arms!

Also, let me explain a few things. 1. Since Nico was born in the 1930's, he has no idea what modern day pop culture consist of. 2. In the books, I know that everyone knows that our dear Neeks is gay, but for the sake of this story, he's so deep in the closet that he's in the garage. 3. I know Nico crying/breaking down seems a little AU, but I feel like he would be more open with his emotions when with Will. Also, his fear of being gay is very rational, so please don't judge my story choices. 4. Yes, there were a few Ouran High School Host Club reference in this chapter. A virtual cookie shall be awarded to whoever points them out first ^-^

Sorry if there were a few mistakes in this chapter /: I tried editing it to the best of my ability! As always, read, review, follow, etc etc. I love you readers so much!

~The OG Judicorn (Solangelo Shipper)