Hey everyone. This is a collab fanfic that I promise I will not ditch. Me and my friend Amy (you can find her at thatdamravenclaw at Wattpad) just finished Blood of Olympus and we both loved it and we just so happened to start to ship Solangelo. So here's a little Solangelo fanfiction. If you have any questions, message me. If you want to meet Amy, check her out on Wattpad. She also has a popular Percico story "Empty Closets" on her account. Basically we collaborated by going on Google Drive and just added on what we wanted. Most chapters will be 1,000+ words so they aren't short. Thanks, hope you enjoy!

-Sydney

Chapter 1

Will's POV

The night Leo came back, he set the camp on fire. Metaphorically, of course. Well, also literally too; he was the one who lit the bonfire. After all, the return of the Leo Valdez meant a large bonfire celebration. And who better to light it then a guy who could literally shoot fire out of his hands?

I plastered a smirk on his face as Leo shouted, "ARE YOU READY?!" I cheered along with the rest of the demigod crowd as the son of Hephaestus flashed his usual impish grin. His hands slowly began to smoke, and at the right moment, they set aflame. I cheered and accidentally dropped my Sunny D bottle in excitement. A familiar chuckle emitted from behind him, and Will whipped around.

It was Nico.

He picked up my drink as Leo placed his hands on the jumble of sticks. I suddenly felt as though thousands of rays of sunshine were beaming on me. I must've been blushing furiously.

"Umm… dude," I heard someone say.

I must've been drifting off, because I looked up to see Nico's dark eyes stare into mine.

"Why are you staring at me?" he asked.

"Oh uh… sorry I didn't mean to.. uh…"

I must've been going crazy. I kept stuttering; finishing a sentence was probably one of the last things I was going to be able to accomplish today. Nico looked at me, probably thinking I was being painfully awkward. It was good that Percy jumped in or else I would've totally confessed some things that are meant to be secret.

"Nico!" Percy pushed through the crowd with Annabeth by his side (which wasn't surprising). They looked madly in love, and for the first time, I could tell that Nico wasn't bothered by it. After Nico had confessed that he had a crush on Percy, he ran straight to me. Even though we had only known each other for like, two days, we seemed to be able to tell each other everything.

"We have an idea." Annabeth nodded her head up and down excitedly. "We want the seven to say something special to Leo. You know, now that he's not dead. Even though you aren't one of the seven, you were still there. So...will you?"

Nico looked at me sadly. "Well, are you sure? I mean, we didn't really get off on the best of terms when we first met each other."

Percy shook his head and said, "Of course! Leo would tell me all the time on the ship that he felt bad for you sometimes because you wouldn't really talk to anyone. He also had said that he's tried countless times to talk to you or at least say hi but he never did because he was afraid you would tell him to go away."

"Right," Nico replied in angry tone. "Because I'm the one who scares everyone away. And don't look at me like that; I saw your face when I told you -

"Told him what?" Piper and Jason walked over to where we were. Piper looked confused but Jason soon figured out what was going on.

Nico just shook his head. "Forget it. I should leave. No good for me being here anyway."

"That's not true!" Percy yelled as Nico started walking to his cabin. He started to run after him. "NICO!"

After what happened, I got really concerned. Was Nico okay? Where is he? Why am I so concerned about him? It's none of my business about where my friend went.

My friend.

The words suddenly felt like strangers to me. I started to think: When Nico came to camp, I did my best to make sure he was alright. I made him spend time with me in the infirmary. And most importantly, I helped him get over his crush on Percy.

Which meant he liked guys. I am a guy.

The realization fell over me and I felt that beaming sensation again, no matter how much I kept wishing it was from the heat of the fire. There was no way I… no, I liked girls. Or at least I thought I did. But when was the last time I liked a girl? I don't remember having a specific crush on one. Or maybe I did and I just don't remember it.

I saw two eyes gaze at me as I lifted my head and started to walk away like nothing was wrong. I had to get out of here; what if people started guessing?

As I made my way over to my cabin, I heard someone behind me say, "Hey, where are you going?"

I turn around and see my friend Trevor, a cabin mate of mine. Trevor's one of those guys that you can talk to about anything, and they won't judge you for a second. He's kind, generous, caring, funny, smart, athletic, and considerably handsome (I hope I didn't say that out loud. Plus, it would be weird, since I see him as a brother.)

"Come on Will," he said. "The party's just getting started."

"Yeah I know but," I stopped and faked a yawn, "I'm getting kinda tired. I was thinking of just going back to my cabin and maybe watching a movie or something."

"Oh… okay. Well if you need to talk, I'm your guy." He pointed his thumb towards his chest as he said that.

I nodded my head and headed into the cabin. Once I was inside, I took off my shoes and plopped onto my bed. I decided to actually watch a movie because what else would I have been able to do since Dionysus took away my laptop?

As I put in the DVD for The Breakfast Club, I put a bag of popcorn kernels on the windowsill and asked my dad to pop the bag for me. Once it was ready, about 3 minutes later, I went back onto my bed, only to hear the sound of someone knocking on the door. I sighed, wishing that people would just leave me alone so I could think.

I opened the door and saw Trevor on the other side. Of course.

"HA!" he said to me. "I knew just from the way you were talking to me before that you weren't tired." He crossed his arms. "What happened at the bonfire?"

"Nothing happened at the bonfire," I attempted to convince him.

"Please stop lying to me! I saw your face when Nico left. Something must've happened."

I felt like a fool; I couldn't even tell the truth to my best friend. If anyone were to keep this secret about me, it would have to be him.

I looked up at him. "Promise you won't say anything?"

"I promise," Trevor nodded.

I took a deep breath. "The reason why I must've been blushing back at the bonfire was because of what happened with Nico. Just seeing him look hurt made me question things like is he okay? or what do I do? And when he ran off, well...I guess it affected me more than I thought it would." My face felt really hot.

"I don't understand what you're trying to say." That's when a look of realization crossed his face. He gasped and covered his mouth to cover the squeals that were escaping from his mouth.

"Looks like Sunny D's got a crush on DiAngelo!"

"SSSHHHHH!" I covered his mouth and whispered, "Don't say anything!"

"Relax! I don't have a problem with it at all! And your secret is safe with me. I'm shocked, yes, but it's totally fine!"

"Oh uh, are you sure?"

"YES!"

I smiled. Wow. The first time I imagined myself telling someone about my sexuality was not a sight I had wanted to think about. I had imagined being kicked out of the cabin. I had imagined people making fun of me and beating me up, because that's what I had heard happened. But now that I know I can tell someone and have them treat me the same way says a lot, and I'm glad that I have an amazing friend like him.

Suddenly, there was another knock at my cabin.

"Are you freakin' kidding me?" I muttered to myself. Trevor was kind enough to walk to the door and open it. Of course, it was the person that I acted the most awkward about.

Nico.

I wish I could've seen Trevor's face when he saw him, though. He couldn't hold back the surprise in his voice.

"Uh...HEY Nico." His voice cracked in the middle of the sentence and I had to refrain from laughing out loud.

"Hey...?" Trevor looked at me and I gave him the signal to leave.

"I uh...I'm missing the fire. You guys should tag along. Just saying. Life isn't the party without you guys." His cheeks flushed red and he awkwardly waddled out the door towards the cheering by the bonfire. The door closed, and the minute it did, Nico sighed and sat down next to me.

"We need to talk."

Do you ever have any of those moments when you feel scared out of your mind but you can't show it? That's what happened right there. I had about .05 seconds to put on a poker face and pretend that I wanted to pee my pants. That I didn't want Nico to find out the things that I had been discovering about myself.

"I just...you probably want to know what happened back there." I looked down at the ground, shaking my head.

"No, it's fine. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, because-"

"No. I'm going to," Nico demanded, jumping up. "Percy, he...he doesn't understand what it's like..." I watched him pace, holding his head like he had a massive headache. Nico was struggling to finish the sentence. "He doesn't...understand what it's like...to feel as though you are going to be rejected by...the entire camp. He...everything is perfect for Percy. Perfect relationship. Perfect looks. Everyone accepts him. NO ONE accepts a gay guy. No one. He doesn't know what it's like." His voice faltered and he stared at me, expecting me to talk.

I looked in his dark brown eyes filled with hopelessness and pain. Nico needed comfort. He needed me.

But I had none to give him.

"Yeah, I wouldn't know either."

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