Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, just the plot.

Btw: this is not beta'd. If you want to be my beta reader, I'd greatly appreciate it. PM me if so.

Nico was sitting at the back of class. He had only two more to go and then he could release his crappy day out on practice dummies at the range. Greek Mythology was something he was pretty well versed in. Nico debated if he could get away with listening to music the entire class period.

Then Chiron walked in, and Nico knew there was no way he could sneak anything on him. The punishment would be cleaning the horse stables, and Nico didn't feel like giving out free labor. He tucked away his phone and ear buds just as somebody sat down right next to him. He gritted his teeth and looked up, preparing to scare away whatever unintelligent boy it was that decided sitting by the person in black at the back of the class was a smart move.

But then he saw the way the sun was reflecting off of Will's eyes, and anything he was about to do fell through. Will turned to him and frowned. "Are you okay?"

Nico shook his head and went back to glaring at his notebook. "I'm fine. Why are you sitting here?"

Will pointed at the board. "Chiron wants us in partners so studying is easier. A promise is a promise, Death Boy. You're my partner."

Nico looked up at him and almost choked on his own breath. Will seemed to understand five seconds too late.

"Not like – I didn't mean…" Will scratched the back of his head with chagrin.

Nico rolled his eyes. "Alright, stop blushing like a tomato. It's embarrassing." Will broke into an embarrassed grin. He ducked his head and then looked back at Nico. Nico pretended not to notice. In the back of his mind, he thought Will was sort of adorable at times. He quickly shoved that thought aside. At the most, he could be his friend, but that was testing his patience a lot.

Chiron began class by blowing a horn. Since everyone took new classes each semester, he started off with the basic introductions. "For those of you who don't know, call me Chiron."

"What do you think his real name is?" Nico muttered, leaning close enough so that only Will could hear him. Will seemed surprised to hear Nico speaking directly to him, without having been prompted.

"Mr. Longbeard." Will said with all seriousness. Nico almost laughed. His lips turned up in a small, undeniable smile. Will grinned back at him immediately.

"Every Monday we will have a test on the next ten gods and goddess of Greek mythology on the list provided. You'll also be required to know their Roman name and any major difference they have. State what their basic realm was and whatnot." Chiron began. "For the first week, we'll be covering…"

Nico zoned out after a while. Will paid extra close attention, and he figured if all else failed he could ask him for help. Will definitely wasn't the worst of his cabin mates to talk to. He didn't look like he ever had anything better to do than speak to Nico, which struck him as kind of odd, but he ignored it. It was almost nice.

Will and Nico walked to their next class together. It was Apollo's Anatomy. Will forced him to take the lab table at the front. He didn't know why he agreed. Maybe he still felt a little guilty from earlier in the day. Of course, he wasn't going to bring that up. He never apologized for something if he was slightly true. Also, he didn't want to see that sad angry look in Will's eyes.

"Alright boys! I'm professor Apollo." The professor was unusually young. "Welcome to AA." He burst into laughter. Will snorted, and Nico couldn't help but compare the two. They looked unusually alike. They both had blond hair and a wicked tan like the sun had kissed their skin just perfectly. Nico didn't like how much they looked alike. Apollo's smile was much more arrogant than Will's, though. Nico decided he'd prefer Will.

"Really, this class is more medical training than Anatomy. Shh, don't tell anyone." Apollo grinned, like he knew we wouldn't. "We'll do a mixture of both. Today, we're going to jump right in it and just examine each other's bodies. Take measure of everything. Find things. Check off this sheet. Return it to me by tomorrow. Since it's the last class, you can all do this on the field. Pair up and have fun."

Nico decided he could tolerate this teacher if he continued to let them out early everyday. He and Will were about to leave, but Will directed Nico to the teacher. "Will Solace!" Apollo grinned.

"Apollo," Will met his grin, and the similarity was uncanny. It made Nico's stomach uneasy. "Nico, this is one of the other archery coaches."

"Other? I'm the best! If Chiron weren't older than me, I'd be head coach." Apollo said with enthusiasm.

"You guys are related, right?" Nico said, stepping back from their blinding smiles. It was getting overwhelming.

Will snorted. "If he's my dad, I'd be quite ashamed of my mother."

"You don't know your dad?" Nico accused, a bit too harshly. Will shrugged, obviously untouched by the subject.

"Nope. My mom is young, but that would still make her a pedophile." Will laughed.

Apollo rolled his eyes. "I'm 34, kid. I just look hot, so you automatically wish I could be your age and see me as young." He crossed his arms over his chest. "I minored in psychology. It's a thing."

Nico felt sort of disgusted. "Why would we want that?"

Apollo raised an eyebrow. "For you two in particular? It's kind of an obvious answer. But if you truly are that daft, I can write a haiku for you."

Nico stumbled back. "I'm good."

"How old was your mom when she had you?" Apollo trained his attention back on Will, looking somewhat interested, but there was something off with the glint in his eye.

"Sixteen."

"Hmph. Send her my way, then, kid," Apollo winked. Will rolled his eyes and shoved his shoulder.

"See you at training," Will chuckled and led Nico out of the room. Nico couldn't help looking back, and he noticed the way Apollo was staring after them, namely Will.

"I think he's into you, dude," Nico hissed.

"Ew, not my type," Will choked out. He pushed through into the open air. It was still very cold for New York. In fact, the hardest part of the winter hadn't truly hit yet.

Nico miniscule hopes deflated. Will was straight. It shouldn't have surprised him. Most guys were. Now he really couldn't let his secret slip. If he was going to survive his last two classes, he had to remain at least general acquaintances with him, possibly friends for a time until Nico scared him away. There was no faster way to freak him out than by keeping his sexuality a secret and him finding out by secret, as if there was a reason he shouldn't know. Nico loathed the fact that there was a reason to keep it secret.

"I know a secret spot," Will said when he didn't stop in the field. Nico let out a loud sigh, alerting him to his disdain. "Don't give me attitude, Ghost King."

"What did you call me?"

When Nico stopped walking, Will grabbed his hand and pulled him into the woods. He didn't speak until they reached a clearing. It was small, really only as wide as a walk in closet. But it left a lot more privacy than in the field. Nico didn't know what to think of that.

"Ghost King?" Will asked as he leaned against a tree. "It's my favorite song from the Death Boys."

Nico truly almost choked. He leaned on the other side of the tree, staring at Will incredulously. "You don't listen to the Death Boys." Will rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone. He scrolled through a long list of music and stopped it at a list of about ten songs. Scrolling through them all, Nico was surprised to see they were all from one of the older albums of the Death Boys. Nico grabbed his hand and stopped him on a certain song. Nico wasn't prepared for the shock that ran through his body when he did so. Will looked up curiously, and Nico's eyes spared a glance at the same time. Instantly, he looked back down and cleared his throat. "This is my favorite song."

"Hell and Back." Will shook his head. "Of course you would."

For whatever reason, the amusement in his voice made Nico blush. He never would have imagined he'd be…not rude enough for a person to say that with such endearment. "Uh, anyways, we need to do the anatomy assignment."

Will nodded. His eyes lit up. "Can I examine you first?"

"How will he know we even did this?"

Will shrugged. "Doesn't matter. I'm curious where the…femoral joint is."

Nico rolled his eyes. "By my groin, doctor genius." Nico almost smirked. "Wanna check it out up close and personal?"

Will's eyes went wide.

"Don't worry, I'm just ki…"

Will was flushing and hiding his face as he forced his eyes upward. He scratched the back of his head, something he did when nervous, Nico picked up on. Nico blinked a couple times, just to be sure he was seeing correctly. Why had such a comment bothered him? Unless, he thought Nico was serious, but still it didn't make sense to Nico.

Will shook his head and looked at the paper. "I knew that, by the way." Nico opened his mouth to respond, but the flustered Will couldn't stop talking. "I work in the clinic. My mom's a surgeon and kind of taught me like major doctoring skills. That and I've taken college anatomy in the summers-,"

"Why are you taking this class then?"

Will shrugged. "I've completed all other courses and Apollo is really cool. Let's us out early a lot, I hear." He glanced at Nico and seemed surprised to see him already looking at his face. Instead of looking away, though, he just smiled lightly, like there wasn't a reason not to. That thought made Nico want to laugh. "Your eyes are really…like obsidian." He said it so wistfully, as if it was something to swoon over. Blushing, Nico looked away, glancing over his shoulder as if expecting somebody to come and pull him out of this uncomfortable yet thrilling situation.

"This is all basic stuff. We don't really need to do this, if you don't want." Will said, and Nico's shoulders visibly relaxed. He wasn't a fan of fingers running over him, doctor or not. "If you want my shirt off that bad, you're gonna have to take on a date first, di Angelo." Will snickered. "I'm going go train. See you at dinner."

Nico watched as he nearly ran from the clearing. Nico frowned, unsure what exactly just happened. He knew he'd scare him away eventually, but that was one hell of a way of saying goodbye.

Nico's cheeks were still hotter than Hades.

. . .

Nico's palms were bleeding. His hands were tired and hurt, and so was his body. He trained with Leo, whose sword had been fire flowing around it, and the two superstars. Dealing with Jason was one thing. He flew around Nico faster than anyone before him. Then, Percy had more moves than he'd ever even heard of. Sure, Jason did, too, but the way with which Percy dealt each move made Nico sure he'd used it in a real life situation. It was ridiculous, but the energy flowing off him was unnerving.

Of course, Nico wasn't any untrained swordsman. He had more practice in slipping away than anything. All their competitions were different. Nico always excelled in Capture the Flag. He was the one who got the flag and handed it off. He would try and cross the designated line with it, but Percy was always much better when the numbers weren't in his favor. But he always got to it first. He slipped behind the shadows and lost anyone on his trail, sneaking up and stealing it before they even noticed.

However, in training, it wasn't that easy. Sparring was the best practice they had to sharpen their skills. Nico always needed work on his. His sword was powerful, but his muscles sometimes strained under, oh say for example, Jason's strong arms. Or Percy's. Or, if Frank felt like trying something new, his as well.

Jason helped Nico up off his back as Leo and Percy stepped into battle. "We get to rally with the girls soon." Nico wasn't terribly surprised to hear that. Jason laughed giddily. "They aren't going to know what hit them."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Don't underestimate them. If it's capture the flag, we're dead. Our best cavalry rider can hardly handle one jump over a creek. Hazel Levesque is one of the best in the nation, rivaling her partner Reyna."

Jason snorted. "Please. Percy can practically talk to horses. He knows how to distract them." Nico highly doubted that. If he was going to put his faith in Percy's knowledge of anything but fighting, he would forfeit then and there. "We get to use just about everything. Archers. Traps, thanks to Leo. And of course, our dashing good looks will stop them in their tracks."

Nico scoffed at that just around the time Percy threw Leo over his shoulder and onto his back with a triumphant grin. Percy, having heard their banter, came jogging over. He slung an arm around Jason. "It will be in the bag. My girlfriend is a badass, but we'll out muscle them."

Leo came bounding over, and it just occurred to Nico that he was actually having a conversation with his cabin mates. He didn't particularly like that idea. "I'm just in it to flirt with them. Plan of attack: you guys attack, I capture a girl or two, and we win. It's a two in one deal!"

Nico leaned heavily against his sword. His body was aching and all he wanted was to skip dinner and sleep in his room, without the constant snoring from Frank and Leo. "I'm sure they'll be thrilled to see you," he muttered and began packing up his gear. Just around that time, the horn signaling dinner blew.

"Don't you think it's weird that all of the scholarship kids are the best warriors here?" Leo spoke his thoughts as they settled down with food at the table. "It's like…the poor makes you stronger."

Frank's face twisted into anguish. "We aren't 'warriors,' Valdez. And more like our lack of funds make us work harder. Stronger…well that doesn't apply to you."

Leo scoffed. "I am actually average for my age group. If anyone's weak, it's Nico."

Nico sneered, "And yet I disarmed you every go." Leo flipped him off and sulked into his food. Will sat beside Nico suddenly, causing him to jump. He was close enough for their legs to be touching. Nico tried scooting over, but that would have meant falling off. He glanced at his plate and no longer felt hungry.

Nico clenched his hands overtop the table and tried to ignore the touchy boy sitting beside him. Every inch of his body was very aware of their legs touching. Will caught sight of his hands.

"Nico! What did you do?" Will grabbed his hand and yanked it into his face. Nico felt the urge to slap him. Will inspected his hands as if he had burned them to the bone.

"It happens when you don't practice for a month," Nico shrugged and yanked back his hand, clenching and unclenching them. He had the urge to add, 'Why do you care?' But he didn't. He was very aware of the eyes watching the display.

"You can't play like this on Friday!" Will gushed animatedly. Nico rolled his eyes and glanced at the fire.

"Well don't go ratting me out or our whole team with suffer," Nico hissed snarkly. He turned his glare onto the boy beside him. Despite Will being two inches taller than Nico, the intimidation rippling off Nico was visible. While he didn't cower in fear or even look away, his muscles relaxed with a glum nod.

"Just…stop if it hurts," Will insisted. "And I'm fixing them up every night. Got it?"

"You're not touching me."

"Yes, I am."

"No, you're not, Solace. Leave me alone."

"You're letting me fix them every night. Doctor's orders." Will said the words with such power, as if he held everything overtop of Nico's head, calling all the actions. Nico's eyes burned brightly with anger, but Will didn't back down. He grit his teeth.

"Fine."

The table had fallen silent. Nico turned his fiery glare on them, and they immediately burst into random conversation. Of course, it was Percy who blurted out the first thing on his mind. "Annabeth is hornier than me!"

One second of silence occurred before they all burst out into laughter. Nico, of course, only smirked, but the rest of the boys were clutching their stomachs. Percy smiled nervously.

"Yeah? I bet Frank doesn't have that problem, huh?" Leo nudged Frank, who made to punch him and forced Leo to dig into Jason's side.

"Hazel's a good kisser, okay?" Frank mumbled like a kicked puppy. Percy took that as a challenge.

"Well, Annabeth's boobs got bigger." Again, nobody spoke a word. They all stared incredulously at the boy with no filter or shame. He grinned, like it was a secret prize. "Yeah, we only saw each other once break– and I didn't really notice they got bigger. It's hard to judge naked versus in a regular shit and-,"

"You're telling me she didn't wear a shirt to hang up with you at all?" Jason frowned.

Percy's grin magnified. "Surprise visit. Do you want the details or are we clear what happened here?" Jason flashed him the 'okay' sign and he nodded. "Anyways, and then I saw her before we settled in – this time she was wearing a shirt."

"Wow, never would have guessed that," Nico mumbled.

"Yeahhhh," Percy cooed as his toes curled in his shoes.

Nobody knew what to say. Except Leo. He always had something to say. "Alright dude! Up top!"

Percy's smile fell. He shook his head and crossed his arms. "If Annabeth heard I high fived you over her rack, I'd never get to see it again. Not risking it."

Leo shrugged. "That happened to me once."

Now everyone laughed, even Nico a bit.

"I swear. I mean I never saw them naked. But one summer she was a B, barely even noticeable, and then she was a full C! Boom! Never looked at my cousin the same after that."

"Leo?" Nico choked.

"Yeah, dude?"

"That's just wrong."

"Okay, cousin is a loose term! We don't know for-,"

"Just wrong."

Jason leaned back and fell forward, drawing all attention on him. "Who did you hook up with over break?" He paused for the tension, to which Nico had the urge to laugh. Jason's eyes went wide and he said in a hurry, "Not a fucking soul! Thank you, thank you. I'm awesome."

"It's okay. Not everyone is as handsome as me." Leo pretended to dust off his shoulders.

"Oh, and you expect us to believe you got laid?" Percy asked.

"Well, no. But I kissed a girl!"

"And did she kiss back?" Frank asked. He didn't even give him time to respond. "No. I was there. Grabbing the back of her head and forcing your lips on hers? Very romantic."

"Alright, fuck everybody!" Leo cursed as he stomped away from the table.

Everyone else stood up, Percy and Jason laughing, Will still looking plain disgusted at Leo's story of his cousin. Nico had heard worse than possible incest stories. Not in that department, but it wasn't anything that made him queasy, like Will. In fact, seeing the blond little sun dangerously perching over a trashcan was amusing.

"You handled that well." Nico snorted as he passed by. A few seconds later, Will jogged to catch up to him.

"Hey, where are you going?"

Nico shrugged. "Campfires aren't my thing."

Will huffed indignantly. "Well, at least show up to the one Friday. You can get your girl-flirt on," he winked.

Nico rolled his eyes. "Not happening."

"Why not?"

Nico stopped in his step. Will's pestering ability had worn thin on the boy in black. He regarded Will carefully, as if planning on how to annihilate him. For the first time, Nico thought he saw a hint of fear flickering behind Will's bright eyes. He stumbled back a few inches before regaining his footing. Will opened and closed his mouth, waiting.

"Stop trying to include me. Nobody wants me there, including myself. Stop pestering me. Got it, Solace?" Nico spat out with venom in every word. Will blinked. Nico's stomach dropped, along with the air around them. He wasn't scared of him. Nico wasn't particularly intimidating, but when he was angry, he was angry. Everyone knew it. Will knew it; he just didn't care. It was even more infuriating.

When he decided the stunned boy wasn't going to speak, Nico continued on to their cabin. Just as he opened the door, Will's faint voice called back, "You're wrong, di Angelo. We all want you there. Stop hiding behind your paranoia and give us a shot."

Nico's head whipped around, but Will was already walking towards the glowing light of the fire. He gritted his teeth. The little glowing boy disappeared in the orange hue radiating from within the crowd of people, leaving Nico even more confused than before. He didn't understand Will Solace. He was too nice to him. Even if people weren't rude to Nico, they were never nice. Will was stubbornly nice, refusing to let Nico fall in on himself, even if it was all he wanted to do.

Stupid Solace.

A/N: I'm glad some of you like this story. If we can get five reviews, I'll update on Christmas Eve evening. If not, Merry Christmas and happy holidays! Leave me your thoughts and ideas about this story pleaseee!