The dying sun streamed through the dark windows of cabin 13, shining a dim light on Nico as he got ready for his birthday celebration. He really didn't want a party, but Will had insisted and was stubborn so here Nico was, getting ready.
He would never admit it, but Nico was excited; his friends from Camp Jupiter would be coming and he hadn't seen them for what felt like forever. He was also really nervous; Will had been acting fidgety all week and when Nico confronted him on this subject, Will said he would find out at the party.
As soon as Nico finished getting ready, he left his cabin in search of his friends.
When he found his friends, they were huddled in a group talking in harsh whispers. He couldn't help but notice that Hazel and Will weren't there. He felt a brief flash of disappointment before deciding to scare his friends. Being the son of Hades had its perks; like being able to blend into the shadows.
Nico faded into the shadows and reappeared a few inches from where Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Leo, Calypso, Frank, and Reyna were whispering. Nico wondered what they were talking about so he leaned in and whispered "what are we talking about?" He immediately knew that that was the stupidest thing he could have done; if he didn't have such fast reflexes, he would have been dead. Six of them had pulled out blades with lightning speed while Leo caught fire and Frank turned into a grizzly bear. When they saw it was Nico, they put the weapons away and returned to normal.
"Hey Nico, what's up?" Percy said nonchalantly, as if he hadn't just tried to kill Nico.
"I was wondering where Will was."
Percy smiled at this, "He's probably at the party, setting up."
"Oh, right. What about Hazel?"
"She's probably there too. We should get going if we want to get there before the sun sets." They all agreed and set off towards the beach. As they walked to the beach, Nico once again wondered what they were talking about but all those thoughts abandoned him as they arrived.
It was beautiful. The low sun illuminating the scene in front of him made everything even more perfect. The surrounding trees had twinkling lights adorning them; in the middle of the beach sat a table filled with goodies. Piles of birthday presents surrounded the table and in the center of everything was a delicately crafted cake with the words Happy 18thBirthday Nico! The words were written in a black frosting that shimmered when the light hit it.
The most stunning surprise was the fact that the 12 Olympians plus his father and Persephone were standing awkwardly around the birthday decorations. The gods straightened and put on superior faces when they saw Nico and his friends approach. Nico looked around to see stunned faces on everyone in his group and decided it would be best for everyone's sanity if they figured out what the gods were doing there.
"Umm…" was all Nico got out before he saw Will Solace rushing towards him. Nico immediately felt as if all his problems melted when he saw the blond running his way.
When Will arrived he was smiling that gorgeous, heart stopping smile that took Nico's breath away. Nico was surprised that after three years of dating, Will's smile still made skeletal butterflies flutter in his stomach.
"Happy birthday, Death boy" Will said giving Nico a small peck on the lips while grinning like an idiot.
"What's gotten into you Sunshine?" Nico asked with a grin of his own.
"It's your birthday, duh" Will answered with a fake exasperated undertone. Suddenly Nico didn't care about the fact that his friends or the gods were watching; all he cared about was the fact that Will was standing in front of him with that adorable grin on his face. Without really thinking about it, Nico leaned forward and pressed his lips to Will's. They broke apart a few seconds (or minutes) later to see Aphrodite squealing over how cute they looked. Nico rolled his eyes at her antics and turned his gaze back to Will.
"Why are the gods here?" he asked, now suspicious.
"Because it's your birthday" Will said as if it answered everything. Nico just laughed and shook his head at his boyfriend's weirdness. While Will and Nico were talking, the rest of the campers and Chiron arrived.
When the sun finally set, the lights in the trees turned on and the sight was breathtaking; the lights were reflected in the gentle sea and the stars twinkled with happiness. For a few moments Nico forgot everything he'd been through and he was so happy; and then he remembered. He remembered the Lotus hotel, Bianca's death, his hopeless crush on Percy, the second titan war; he remembered Tartarus, and the giant war. He remembered all of this but it seemed distant and numb.
Nico decided to stop thinking about the sad things and focus on the party.
He looked up and spotted Will talking to Chiron about something so he decided to join them. As he approached he heard them talking about fireworks and Nico rolled his eyes; Will had done too much for this celebration. They stopped talking when Nico approached.
"Hello!" Will exclaimed cheerfully.
"Happy birthday" Chiron said with a calm voice but with eyes full of excitement. Nico decided not to ask and instead said "I think it's time for a game!" Will looked positively enchanted by the thought of a game.
"What game?" Will said whilst bouncing up and down like an excited puppy.
"You choose."
"How about truth or dare?"
"Perfect."
The demigods gathered the others (including the gods) and started playing.
"Who wants to go first?" Will asked. Nearly everyone answered "Nico" at the same time.
"Okay then; Nico, truth or dare? Will asked.
"Umm…" Not wanting to die he answered, "Truth."
"Is it true that you love me?" Will smirked, leaning in a little closer.
"It might be." Nico answered inconspicuously, getting a tiny bit closer
"These are yes or no questions." Will whispered with their noses touching.
"Yes." Nico answered and closed the space between them with a passionate kiss.
The kiss lasted several moments before Hades had enough and cleared his throat. The two separated looking aggravated that the lord of the dead interrupted their moment.
At that moment, Hades spoke up,
"William Solace, truth or dare?" Will looked extremely frightened but answered "dare" in a steady voice." Nico had wide eyes when he thought of how stupid his boyfriend was, and flopped on the ground in exasperation and humor when he heard his father's dare for Will.
"I dare you," Hades spoke slowly because he is a drama queen, "to kiss Artemis." Everyone looked stunned, and then burst into laughter at the thought of Will kissing the maiden goddess. Will put on a brave face and walked over to where Artemis was sitting, and ignoring her death glare, kissed her on the cheek before quickly walking back to his seat.
"Nicely played, son of Apollo." Hades said with a little disappointment, seeing as the boy completed the dare without getting hurt.
"So Hades, truth or dare?" asked Apollo. Hades looked like he wanted to do nothing but leave but responded "dare."
"I dare you to give your wife a list of all the people that you've slept with" Apollo declared with an evil glint in his eye. Hades gave him an evil glare that would've put Nico to shame as he created a list from thin air; it was a long list. Hades gave it a once over before handing it to Persephone and the look on her face would've been hysterical if she wasn't a goddess that could easily kill you.
"YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS" she screamed, much to the delight of everyone except Hades.
While Hades tried (and failed) to calm Persephone, they continued the game.
The game lasted for about an hour until Zeus got mad and declared the game "extremely stupid" because Artemis dared him to name his favorite child. To the surprise of no one he ended the game then and there.
"LET'S PLAY SPIN THE BOTTLE" yelled the very drunk sons of Hermes (A.N. Travis and Conner Stoll). No one could think of anything else to do so they agreed; it was a mistake. The Stoll brothers 'found' a bottle and everyone (even the gods and Chiron) gathered around it to play the game; a few people didn't know what the game was about and boy, they were in for a surprise.
Nico reluctantly went first because it was his birthday; he hoped it landed on Will. It landed on Percy. Nico groaned and face palmed while Percy did the same. Nico turned to Will with his adorable pouty face on and whined "Must I?"
"Yep," Will said, popping the 'p'.
"Sunshine."
"Yes, Death Boy?"
"You suck."
"I do not, you just have stupid luck."
"Ugh. Fine."
Nico went over to where Percy was sitting, kissed him, and returned to his seat.
"Happy?"
"Very."
"Your turn."
Will spun the bottle and it landed on none other than Chiron. The demigod and centaur looked at each other with equally horrified looks and had a silent agreement.
"Cake time" Chiron announced. Will made to get up but Nico pulled him back down and said, loud enough for everyone to hear "not until Will kisses Chiron"; everyone shouted in agreement. Will sighed and much to everyone's surprise crossed the beach and kissed Chiron full on the mouth. The entire camp burst into hysterical laughter, along with the hunters that had chosen that exact moment to arrive.
"Do I want to know?" Thalia asked when she recovered from her laughter. Nico responded, slightly out of breath; "We were playing spin the bottle and now it's time for cake!"
"Cake!" Everyone screamed with only slightly maniacal expressions.
They all gathered around the table with the cake and Will took his rightful place beside Nico. He gave him a little kiss and mumbled something about his last kissing experience being terrifying. Nico giggled and said "Sucks for you." in a sing-song voice. Will kissed him one more time and then announced that it was time to sing 'happy birthday' to Nico.
Simultaneously, every kid at camp began to sing the familiar song; Nico wondered how they did that but decided that he didn't want to know.
"Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to Nico
Happy birthday to you!
CAKE"
Will chuckled at the camp's eagerness for cake. Within minutes, the nymphs cut the cake and everyone got a piece. Nico took his and went to sit under a tree; Will went to join Nico "Are you having fun?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Maybe"
"Hmm, how inconspicuous of you…"
"I know"
Will leaned in and kissed Nico for a few seconds and when he pulled back he had a mischievous glint in his eyes and a giddy smile on his face.
"Present time!" he announced and ran towards the presents. Nico rolled his eyes but smiled as he followed. When they arrived at the pile of presents, everyone was already there and were barely containing their glee; Nico had no idea what they were so happy about but he decided to ignore it.
"Open mine first!" Hades exclaimed, surprising everyone; even Zeus looked startled.
"Umm… okay" Nico didn't want to anger his father so he accepts the square shaped package from him. As he opens it, he instantly notices the olive skin and silky black hair as Bianca's; the present is a framed picture of Nico, Bianca, their mother, and Hades. Bianca looked about ten and Nico eight, his sister was standing behind him with her arms wrapped around his waist and they both had goofy smiles on their faces. Hades and Maria were off to the side smiling fondly at their children.
As Nico looked at the picture, his eyes got misty; he looked towards his father with tears in his eyes. "Thank you" Nico said, it was barely a whisper.
"Happy birthday my son"
Nico smiled at him and returned his gaze to the picture before putting it down and saying "What's next?" with a forced smile. Percy and Annabeth went next; they got him a Fall Out Boy CD, then: all the other campers, Chiron, the hunters, and the gods took turns giving him presents. Nico was astounded that they had all come, much less them all getting him presents. When the pile was gone and wrapping paper was everywhere, Nico asked "did we get all of them?" Will answered "Nearly, just mine now."
People were practically jumping up and down now, further confusing Nico. He gestured to the ecstatic party guests and mouthed /why?/ at Will.
Will smirked, "You'll see."
"Now who's inconspicuous?"
"Nicely played."
During this conversation, they somehow got closer and closer until they were nose to nose and then there was no space between the two. A short time later they broke apart because the campers, gods, and hunters were getting restless.
"So, what's your present?" Nico asked excitedly.
"Well," Will started "first, I want to tell you how perfectly amazing you are. When I met you, you were a geeky child, and then you were a powerful, sad, and lonely hero. After the giant war you started to come out of your shell and I already had a little crush on you and as I got to know you better, you took my breath away. You were everything that I ever imagined the perfect person to be, and more. You are kind and funny, you are the son of the lord of the dead and yet you shine brighter than Apollo. You are stubborn and adorable and I love the way you rant in Italian when you get angry; you make me happier than I thought possible and I don't know how you do all this because you had been to hell and back by the time you were fourteen. You have lost more than I could ever imagine and I love you all of you so much and I want to us to spend the rest of our strange, dangerous, wonderful lives together."
Nico stared at his boyfriend with astonishment and love as the blond pulled out a black and gold ring and got down on one knee.
"So, Death Boy, will you marry me?"
Everyone waited in tense silence as Nico stared at Will with wide eyes for about ten seconds before nodding his head and choking out a "yes".
Will stood up with the biggest grin imaginable and was met with deafening applause as he placed the ring on Nico's finger and kissed him for what felt like hours. They separated Aphrodite and her children (minus Piper) who were jumping up and down, squealing. The rest of the camp was doing something that Nico didn't really care about; all he cared about was Will. Nico couldn't believe it; he was going to marry the most wonderful, bright, annoying, and perfect person in the world. Nico only removed his gaze from Will's captivating smile when Percy, Annabeth, Frank, Hazel, Jason, Piper, Leo, Calypso, and Reyna ran next to them and strangled him with hugs.
Percy, Jason, Leo, and Hazel started asking him a bunch of questions at the same time; "When's the wedding?"
"What kind of flowers will there be?"
"Can I be the flower girl?" Nico rolled his eyes but smiled giddily at his best friends and he was happier now then he had ever been; life was perfect.
The only thing to bring him out of his golden thoughts was the bright fireworks detonating above them. The sky was filled with blues and reds, greens and purples; the colors made pictures of beloved faces and scenes, battles lost, and wars won. Nico thought for a moment before it all came crashing on him; the wars were over, he was going to spend the rest of his life with Will Solace, and he would be happy. After all the horrible things that had happened to him, after all the misery that he had gone through, his life would be safe, (or as safe as a demigod's life can be) safe and happy; if only Bianca could see him now, she would be so proud.
She would be happy that he had what she couldn't, she would approve. Nico thought about what life would be like if his older sister was still alive; Will noticed Nico's sudden change in mood and looked at his fiancé with concern and Nico waved him off as he leaned his head on his best friend's shoulder and thought of all the amazing things to come.