In the morning, Nico woke up feeling refreshed and better than yesterday. Even though he did not have a lot of sleep, he felt much better than a couple of hours ago. Luckily, no dreams plagued him, which was unusual but also a relief. Since their quest started, the son of Hades had almost no pleasant nights due to nightmares. Will had ordered him not to do any magical tricks anymore but since it was for Leo, Nico told himself he was okay.
Lost in his thoughts, he did not hear Will entering his Cabin, who stood around and looked at the son of hades from behind. Nico's shaggy black hair needed a haircut, Will observed, but otherwise he looked fine. To avoid any embarrassing situations like Nico changing his clothes (although Will would not mind that at all, he admitted), Apollo's son knocked on the wall and coughed. Nico yanked his head around, his hand rushing to his sword. You're not in the wild anymore, he reminded himself, his hand floating over the hilt, you're safe and surrounded by friends who protect you.
"Hey", Nico said, looking to the door. "Oh h-hey!", he stammered again as he encountered it was Will leaning against the gray wall.
Smiling about Nico's blushing face, Will responded, "You look better today! I mean, you always look good but you know what I mean", he teasingly added with a wink.
Will flirting with him confused Nico, he did not know if he was being serious or just playing with him because he was one of his patients. "So, what are you doing here?", he asked, skipping Will's comment.
"I wanted to check on you since you weren't there for breakfast. I was a little worried…", Will admitted.
"What do you mean for breakfast?", Nico interrupted, "Is it over already?"
"Over?", Will raised his voice, "It's almost 11 am! You are lucky that I listed you as one of my patients to Chiron and told him that you need your rest. Otherwise would you have a day kitchen service with the wood nymphs… You can thank me later"
Will smiled his flirtatious smile which Nico loved but also hated. It made him melt, willing to do anything that the son of Apollo desired. As he told Percy that he is over his crush on him, he didn't even have to lie, now that Will was there. Unlucky for Nico since he couldn't figure Will's sexuality out.
The son of Hades had secretly asked Annabeth if she knew anything about Will and previous girl- or boyfriends. He tried to make it sound casual but the daughter of wisdom instantly knew what Nico meant. She teased him, calling Will his crush and making jokes about getting over Percy so quickly. Nobody could be mad at Annabeth for long though and Nico actually enjoyed her talking so open about it. Athena's daughter could not help him and instead started talking about other boys at Camp Half-Blood. She noted some cute boys from the Aphrodite cabin, which Nico did not find that attractive. Their skin was too smooth, their faces and bodies too symmetrical and all in all they were a little bit too perfect. Nico preferred a little rougher type, not as broad as frank but still defined muscles. A little scruff on the face and silky hair… So practically Will. Okay, that's enough, Nico had told himself. Yet, he had chatted a little with her until the bells rang and everybody migrated over to the dining pavillion.
Nico noticed Will looking at him with a questioning look, and Hade's so shook his head to organize his thoughts.
"Thanks for covering me, Will. I was up late", Nico stated, "So what's today's plan?"
"Not really much besides practicing and doing our normal chores. There will be no campfire tonight, though, because tomorrow's going to be Capture the Flag again and Chiron wants us to get some rest before the game. By the way, have you thought about joining us and the Athena cabin for tomorrow yet? As long as you're not summoning any skeletons out of the ground, I'd permit you to play with us.", Will said.
"Oh thanks, Dad.", Nico replied sarcastically.
"Well I could also order you to the infirmary with a bed quarantine and not allowing you to shadow travel away.", Will said in a serious tone but with a wide grin so Nico would know it was a joke.
"But you wouldn't do that, would you?", Nico challenged.
"Who knows?", the other boy replied, pushing himself off the wall and coming dangerously close to Nico, whispering "Would I?"
Nico blushed and his face became as red as the strawberries in the field. "I-I don't know…", he stammered.
For an endless second Nico thought Will was about to kiss him. His full lips, the scruff on his cheeks and upper lip and the piercing light blue eyes taunted him immensely. He couldn't decide if he wanted it to happen or not, in the end his question got answered by Will drawing his head back and making Nico's heart twitch.
Yes, he would have liked a kiss, he admitted.
