Part 2

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot.

It wasn't very hard. Love was written about every second of every day since civilization started. It was over used, but there was also so many angles to write it from.

Every once in a while, Will would spare Nico a glance. He'd end his stare by shooting out his tongue or winking. It was good inspiration.

"Time's up!" Will said excitedly as he waved his paper proud and high. Nico chuckled under his breath how rigged this contest was. Nevertheless, he quickly finished up and looked at Will out of the corner of his eye. "Okay. You first?"

"Why?"

"Because you're losing anyways."

"Wow, you're competitive."

"Hell yes I am when I'm passionate about something."

"You're passionate about high school poetry?"

"No, I'm passionate about you. Now let's go."

Nico wasn't sure how to take his words. His giddy, small but hopeful gay boy inside him wanted to take it in a romantic way. Luckily, the realistic side of him knew Will Solace was a normal straight jock, even if he had more depth than Nico expected. Honestly, how often did jocks write stellar poetry?

"I'm about to wipe the floor with you, Solace."

"Hmm, I'd love to see you try, di Angelo. The floor is yours."

Nico took a breath and spared Will one last glance. His eyes were very bright and hopeful, which made his nerves jump even more. It wasn't often that Nico truly tried in poetry, and it was even rarer that he'd ever share it with anyone.

"I'd like to meet on a summer's day
The sun pulls you out so you'd have to stay

Hair the color of daises and eyes sparkling in the sky
I can't breathe you take me so high

Laughter like a drug
Arms meant for a hug

Leave me not my love
Strength and struggles disappear thereof"

Silence filled the air. He didn't want to look up. Will's eyes were so heavy on him. "Nico," Will stuttered. His hand fell on Nico's knee, forcing Nico's eyes up to Will's. "That was really good."

Nico rolled his eyes. "It was shit, but it was better than my food poem, sure."

Will grinned. "Who was it about?"

Nico's eyes went wide. "No one."

"Obviously, it was."

"It could be about anyone."

"Jason? Annabeth? You're around them a lot," Will said eagerly, like he was hoping it was one of them. Nico blinked.

"Gross and gross. They're both in relationships, by the way," he shuddered even at the thought. Nico ran a hand through his hair and looked at Will expectantly. "Your turn."

"Not fair," Will muttered. He cracked his knuckles before clearing his throat.

"Like rainfall he walks
heart enclosed by rocks

Dark and mysterious
My love for him makes me delirious

Both broken and shattered
I can't hope for him to think I mattered

But in my dreams he sees me
Only because we're meant to be."

So much was exposed by that short poem, and all Nico could manage to think is, "You're gay?" Which he spoke as loudly as possible. Will's eyebrows shot to the sky.

"Shit. Yeah? I - you care? Because I really thought I saw you staring at Percy's ass all through the swim-meets last year." Will said in a nervous rush. He scooted away and pulled at his hair. "Sorry! Just please, don't tell anyone, okay? I -,"

"Will! It's okay," Nico breathed, reaching out and grabbing his shaking hand. "Yeah, I'm, uh, gay. I didn't think many people knew..."

"Well, I think for you...it takes one to know one," Will shrugged. "Kind of like me."

"Okay, no. I get by, but you? It's hard to imagine you as anything but straight, even now, Sunshine," Nico admitted with an unspoken challenge.

Will scoffed, moving a little closer again. "Well, that's a little insulting." Nico shrugged, holding back a smirk.

"Nah, don't get me wrong, you're hot. Just...so masculine."

"Masculine guys can be gay!"

Nico nodded, failing to hide his impish smile. He knew all this, but damn, an annoyed Will was so hot. "It's just different."

"How?"

"Like, if I kissed you I think it'd feel just wrong. Like when I kissed Percy."

"You kissed Percy!?"

"Yeah. He's very straight, by the way. It felt like kissing cardboard."

Will was fuming. His face was actually turning red. Nico wore a smile to his ears. "Stop comparing me to Percy."

"I'm not! I'm just assuming-,"

His eyes were angry balls of blue. Nico grinned expectantly. "Can we agree I won?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Sure," Nico shrugged.

"Good. My task for you is to kiss me so you'll stop assuming I'm like Percy Jackson!" Will huffed, eyes full of a challenge. Nico licked his lips, satisfied.

"Took you long enough," Nico muttered as he moved to his knees. Will frowned, as if he didn't expect that to actually work. But when Nico leaned forward, so did Will.

Will's lips were soft. At first, they tasted salty, which should have grossed Nico out, but it only turned him on. Hands tugged at his shirt, pulling him closer. Nico smiled into the kiss, and suddenly, Will kissed him harder, using more force and leaning forward until Nico fell back on the floor.

No matter how lightly they'd gotten into this, this was hot. Nico's hands latched onto Will's biceps, his tongue running along his lips. A soft whimper escaped Will as he lowered his lower half onto Nico's. Instinctively, Nico wrapped his legs around Will's waist, enjoying the almost animalistic growl Will made as his tongue danced with Nico's.

Then, Will pulled away just enough to look into Nico's eyes. "So?"

Breathless, Nico laughed. "Hmm. We're getting there."

"Getting there?" Will shouted. "What - I swear, Nico -,"

"Yeahhh, we're going to need more practice," Nico licked his lips, eyes bouncing between Will's puffy red lips and his blue orbs that were very heated.

"I -,"

Nico grabbed Will's thin tank top and pulled down so hard there was a ripping sound. They ignored it. Their kisses were harder, teeth clashing against each other's from time to time. Then, Will moved down to Nico's neck, kissing his supple skin with as much energy as his lips. In seconds, Will had taken off Nico's shirt and was making his way down his toned stomach. He whimpered into Will's bite when he came back up.

"Oh gods," Nico gasped, eyes flying open as Will found his sweet spot back on his neck. With a dirty chuckle, Will sucked on that spot, nipping it lightly here and there. He had Nico gasping for air, clutching at his body.

"Well it's about damn time you came out, son!"

Nico and Will broke apart screaming. They scrambled away from each other, panting and staring with wide eyes at the man sitting on the far edge of the couch.

"Dad! I told you I was having a friend over!"

Will's dad looked like a spitting image of Will with more smile lines and a bags under his eyes. That didn't keep the man from grinning like he'd won the lottery.

"Yes, but you never told me you and your friend would need privacy privacy," he reasoned, tapping his chin as he thought. "I called this a year ago."

Will shot Nico a panicked look. "You're okay with it?"

He waved a hand. "It doesn't affect me, Will. Why would I care? Now, I do care as to who the boy who looks ready to kill me is. Hello, Apollo Solace, and you?"

"Nico di Angelo," he muttered hesitantly. Will mouthed an apology. "I should go."

"Oh, don't mind me. I'll be out of your hair," he looked pointedly at Will. "Next time, introduce me to your boyfriend sooner, will you?"

"Oh - we're not, uh, boyfriends," Nico protested, but Apollo only sent him a wink.

"Sure."

"Keep this quiet, Dad! Neither of us have come out!" Will shouted, to which Apollo nodded in agreement.

He purposefully shut the basement door loudly, as if announcing his departure. It made Nico flinch. "Sorry, I didn't know what...we are, you know?"

Will nodded scooting back and brushing hair away from his face. Nico hadn't even realized he probably hardly heard what Nico even said. Hesitantly, he crawled next to Will, nudging him lightly. "You okay?"

Will snorted. "I thought for sure he'd find me disgusting! And it was just this easy? I'm stupid."

Nico shrugged. "Not really. Most parents have trouble. My dad refuses to acknowledge sexuality in general, so..."

Will snorted blearily, looking at Nico with slightly wet eyes. Quickly, he darted in and kissed his lips. "You're the best."

Nico shrugged.

"So...this poetry thing..."

Nico sighed heavily. "I'm just so bad. We might have to keep at this all year long."

Will beamed as bright as Times Square and tackled him in a bear hug and thousands of kisses.

. . .

Nico was working on a poem. It wasn't something for English, though. It was in Italian, which probably defeated the purpose of it since it was written about a certain blonde who spoke strictly English. Still, it sounded nice, but he was stuck. He'd gotten along fine, but now he couldn't think of what would come next. The obvious option was to go visit the inspiration itself, Will Solace, but he couldn't. He had a stupid basketball game.

Suddenly, his intercom buzzed. He lazily got up and pressed the talk button. "Who is it?"

"It's me!"

"It's Annabeth, Piper, and Percy. We're dragging you to Jason's game whether you like it or not," Piper said with glee. They did this with every game, and their threat was never serious because of the giant black gate that stood in their way of getting to Nico. However, he wanted to see Solace. After all, there were worse things in life other than watching your hot hook-up guy play a sport all sweaty and on fire.

"Okay."

"Wait, really? You'll come?" Annabeth asked in shock. "Are you sick?"

"No. I want to go. Give me a second."

Nico threw on some jeans and a t shirt that was almost one of their school colors. He ran his hands through his hair and decided it wouldn't matter. Will would probably not even notice that he showed up, but that was fine. He wanted to watch Will in his element.

Downstairs, he told the butler to let his dad know that he was going to a tutoring session with Will. He nodded with a rueful smile. Nico knew why; he'd been going to tutoring session with Will every day this week.

Piper squealed excitedly as he climbed in the car beside her. "You're going to love it! He's so hot when he shoots! And-,"

"Piper, he's not going for Jason," Percy snickered. "He's going to -,"

"Shut it Jackson or I'll shut it for you," Nico leaned forward and smacked him upside the head. Percy snickered but held back his words. However, that got Piper and Annabeth to turn on him with shit-eating grind on their faces.

"Wait, do you have a crush?" Piper asked. Nico rolled his eyes.

"Okay, who's hot on the basketball team, Piper?"

She thought about it for a second. "Hmm, well, Beckdorf isn't bad. Leo is - ew, gross. It's not him. Austin, Michael Yew, and Lee Fletcher are all hot. There's not many more."

Nico's eyes grew wide. He didn't say anything, though. It would give him away, even if he felt like strangling Piper.

"Please tell it it's one of them," Annabeth agreed. "The rest are just...gross."

"Yeah, it's like they don't know hygiene."

"Or fashion."

"And they aren't that fit either," Piper mused.

Nico shouted hysterically, "WILL SOLACE IS A RIPPED HOT PIECE OF ASS SO SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU BLIND BITCHES."

Silence captivated everyone while Nico breathed deeply, looking from Annabeth to Piper to see which would hit him first. Instead, they burst out laughing, clutching their stomachs.

"There it is," Annabeth chortled.

"Took you long enough," Piper gasped for air.

Nico faltered as he wrapped his mind around what they just said. His brain was still mentally listing off endless reasons as to why they're wrong.

"What?"

Percy started laughing. "We told them you were studying with him and came back with sex eyes the next morning."

His heart was racing. "Y-you did?"

Piper slung an arm around his shoulders, nuzzling her face into his neck. "He's a cutie, isn't he?"

"Gonna make a move on him?" Annabeth asked from up front. He swallowed deeply. So they didn't know. Good.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure he's straight."

Piper scoffed. "I saw him at a party once. Long story short, my shirt was off-,"

"As usual," Annabeth snorted.

"He didn't look down at my boobs for a second!" Piper said as if Will passed up free money.

"Maybe he doesn't like your boobs," Nico said and instantly regretted it. In seconds, Piper pulled up her shirt and turned to Nico. She shoved her full D cup boobs in his face, to which he grimaced and looked away. "Well, I wouldn't know!"

"They're good, trust me," Percy said. Annabeth gave him a nasty slap on his face, and Percy began his long list of apologies. He didn't stop even as they parked and began walking in. Their timing was impeccable. After they paid, they walked toward the gym just as the basketball team started walking out.

Piper, who'd been latched on to Nico since Annabeth and Percy were currently arguing ahead, gasped and dragged Nico back into the team, separating them. They didn't care; they'd already made their way out once for the crowd to cheer. Now they were just grabbing a few shots before it started.

"Jason!" Piper squealed, bouncing into his arms and peppering his face with kisses. "Good luck, baby."

Nico's eyes slid behind him to Will, who feigned to be stopped by Jason and Piper. Their eyes connected with a storm brewing. His friends were so happy together, celebrating their love and eagerness toward one's goal openly without fear of ridicule.

Will's eyes darted to his left and right, noticing that most of the team had dispersed. He made a move toward Nico, but then one lone member of the team came out of the locker room and wrapped an arm around Will.

"Let's go whip their asses, dude!" He started pulling Will toward the floor.

"Alright," he muttered, shooting Nico an apologetic glance. Cold washed over Nico. It wasn't like he'd come expecting to kiss and hug Will. He came to just watch him, but still. It hurt a little. He wanted to be able to do what Piper did with Jason.

The buzzard rang a one minute warning, and Jason stepped away from Piper, still holding her hand. "Nico! You came!"

He shrugged. "I hear we're pretty good. You better not disappoint."

Jason grinned, eyes traveling to Will, who was hanging out around the basket but not trying to get a ball, just passing them back. Every now and then, he'd look over at them.

"You good?" Jason asked Nico. He rolled his eyes.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Looking unconvinced, Jason nodded. "Okay. See you guys after we win."

"You cocky son of a bitch!" Piper shouted, smacking his butt as he jogged onto the court in time to join the team's last minute huddle. Piper turned to Nico. "Come on. You'll love tip off."

For whatever reason, the Half Bloods did not have their 6'5" forward jumping. Instead, Will Solace walked out wearing the coveted number 7. He walked up to center line and grinned into the eyes of his taller opponent. Granted, Will was 6'2", but three inches normally meant a lot.

Not for Will. He crouched down, waiting for the blow of the whistle, and when it blew, he bounded upward like a kangaroo. It didn't sound sexy, but it could have brought Nico to his knees. He was biting his tongue the entire jump, even as he smacked the ball away to Jason.

The game was intense. The entire crowd was on edge for the first quarter. According to Annabeth, the Half Bloods normally had a good lead by now. If it weren't for Leo's insanely quick rebounds and Will's fast breaks, they'd never be hanging in there. Jason had trouble shaking the guy put on him, and eventually it was Will taking the ball up the court. Surprisingly, it helped them. He was able to get more shots up, scoring more three pointers than Nico thought was possible.

"Will's really good," Nico muttered as he sent in another three points.

"This is one of his best games," Percy agreed. "Normally, they'll shift between him and his half brothers to see whose shooting is on. Today it's him."

Will made it look effortless, especially compared to Leo's jacked up shot. Frank, the forward, got a lot of points despite getting double teamed here and there.

The second quarter was a little different. They picked up on Will's shooting and doubled up on him. That left Leo open, but he'd been running for so long he couldn't get a shot up with good form. Jason was calling play after play, but not many worked. They resorted to just running down the clock.

At the end of the second quarter, Will got past his guards and ran into the middle for a layup, but their center, to put it simply, laid him out midair.

Nico's heart constricted, but Will slowly climbed to his feet as the other team ran with the ball towards their basket. The buzzard sounded just after they scored.

The Half Bloods were losing. He watched as they sluggishly filed into the locker room. At the last second, Will looked into the crowd, searching for someone. Finally, he found Nico and stared. Then, Leo ran into him and he vanished into the locker room.

Seconds later, he got a text on his phone from Jason.

Follow him.

Nico frowned, but then it made sense as Will quickly exited the locker room. His eyes darted to Nico with urgency. He abruptly stood. Piper and Annabeth were smirking.

"Shut the fuck up."

Will disappeared down the hall and into s janitor's closet. Nico hurried after him, heart racing. The moment he opened and closed the door, Will's hands grabbed at Nico and slammed him against it.

"Hey, Neeks," Will spoke against his lips, body pressing onto his.

"Hey," Nico snorted, kissing him back eagerly. Will's hands slipped under Nico's shirt, running all over his chest.

"Sorry about earlier," Will breathed, pulling back just enough to look Nico in the eye. "I wish we could do that."

Nico bit his lip. "I know. But we can't."

Will grimaced, eyes grazing over Nico's face. "Thanks for coming for me. It means a lot."

"Psh, I didn't come for you, Sunshine. Jason's my friend, too," Nico laughed nervously, avoiding looking into his eyes. Will was beaming, though.

"Sure, Death Boy, sure," Will smiled into the kiss. Nico whimpered as his hands came into contact with Will's biceps. In seconds, Will lifted Nico off the ground and had his legs around Will's waist. He ground his hips into Nico, need as desperate as his desire to win was. "Can you come over after the game?"

Nico was almost too breathless to speak. He nodded quickly and went back to kissing down Will's neck, grinning as Will tightened his hold on his hips.

"Shit," Will pulled back. "My dad's home."

Nico didn't know what he had planned, but if it included something without Apollo around, it sounded exciting. And terrifying. But he wanted to make Will happy. He wanted to give him everything in that moment.

"My dad won't be home until late," Nico said, wondering if he'd even be home at all. "Stay the night."

Will pulled back, eyes wide. "Seriously?"

He nodded. "I haven't come out to him and it's Friday..."

Will bit his lip, smiling so widely it made Nico's heart swell. "You're the best!"

"Only if you win, though," Nico said, running his hands through Will's sweaty curls. "You're so hot out there."

Will made a pouting face. "Not fair."

Nico hummed as he leaned in and gave him a kiss. His phone buzzed in his pocket. "Jason texted. You have to go."

"Fuck," Will said, dropping Nico back to the ground. He stuck his hand in his pants and adjusted without any shame. It made Nico smirk. "Wait for me after." Will leaned forward and pressed his lips to Nico's.

"Good luck," Nico called after him as he jogged back to the locker room. He made it just in time to run back out to the court, sending a wink in Nico's direction.

Piper was pretending to hide her cheesy grin. Annabeth laughed into Percy's chest, but Percy was wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Got some red lips there, Nico," Percy snickered, to which Annabeth slapped him lazily.

"Yeah, yeah, shut up," Nico wanted to be angry, but he couldn't stop smiling.

"Sooo, Nico, when did this happen?" Piper asked. He shrugged.

"First night of tutoring."

Piper and Annabeth exchanged satisfied smiles. "Well, if he hurts you, just know we'll both kill him. No questions asked."

Despite his eye roll, their words were nice to hear. He had friends who seriously had his back now. Stepping foot into high school as a gay rich kid with socializing issues, he never expected that to happen. It was comforting to say the least.

A/N: Aww I loved the feedback! I'm glad so many of you enjoyed this! Let me know what you thought of this chapter! Just to let you know, this isn't all fluff. In a five part work, there's got to be a little struggle. Can anyone guess what that might be? How do you like the way I've portrayed the characters? I don't ever promise to be just like the book because 1) I'm not that good and 2) I like to put my own spin on them, but this is more or less me being close-ish in human world.

Leave me some love for the next part! Five reviews? PLS?