Title: Lessons
"You've got to dance like there's nobody watching,"
It's a party, or at least was supposed to be one. Will can't help his sigh when his blue eyes move from person to person, greek and roman. There's a buffet line ten feet long, there are balloons and party games of every kind. The Hephaestus children lead by Leo build amazing structures and gadgets to make the party all the more fun, but still no one is making an effort.
Will is aggravated. He did not come out here to sit around and make awkward eye contact with everyone like a middle school dance; if he has to be the one to start things so be it. First though, he has to find a dance partner. There's always the ever so beautiful Aphrodite/Venus kids, the earthly and pretty Demeter and Persephone children, or the kind of aggressive but still kinda sexy war children. They all have their advantages and disadvantages as dancing partners, but ehh. Will wants someone different.
He scans the crowd of demigods once more before he sets his eyes on the Hades kid. Will doesn't know how he missed him before, it was like he materialized from the shadows. But he doesn't spend too much time on how the kid suddenly appeared, he finds the boy perfect in a way he couldn't quite explain. His body makes up its mind before he actually does, and he's up and moving across the pavilion. The girls perk up and give him award-winning smiles, but he only has eyes for the pale boy.
All stares follow him to the corner where the boy sits. Up close he can see he has vampiric pale skin and shaggy black hair. To be honest he looks too skinny and frail like he'll blow away with the slightest wind, he's not outwardly attractive, but he has a sort of cool mysterious and darkness that draws him in.
"Hi," he offers a hand, "wanna dance."
Brown almost black eyes stare him down, to be honest it unnerves Will enough to lose some of his cool confidence. Those eyes were showed both madness and genius swirled into one vortex. Plenty of people, sane persons, would back away, but not him. "Do you want to dance?" he repeats.
The boy blinks. "Why?"
Will shrugs, "Why not."
The boy glances away, Will tsks under his breath. He grabs a hold of the boy's wrist and drags him out to the empty dance space. The music box is on a roundabout and he's ever so thankful it's playing a type of soft music, just right for slow dancing.
The boy, okay, really he needs to know his name, and why it eludes him causes him a bit of confusion. He can boast that he knows everybody at Camp, since everybody has stopped at the Infirmary at least three times. He sighs, dragging the nameless boy close, noting that he's cold. Cold like he's been sitting in ice-water for hours.
Will is polite though, he doesn't say anything. Instead, starts sway from side to side and tries to guide Nico with him, but the younger boy doesn't want to move. He just stays in the same spot, his limbs frozen.
"Loosen up a bit," Will says. "All you have to do is follow. I'll lead."
Whatshisname stares at him blankly as if he's asked the dumbest question in history. "I can't."
"Why not?"
"Everyone's staring," whatshisname hisses.
At that Will has to laugh because really, as an child of Apollo he's never really known shyness or embarrassment. He's an extrovert by nature, and like the sun he tends to draw everybody in by his innate warmth. He enjoys attention and he's never interacted with anyone that doesn't. So, his response to it is to force his dancing partner into a twirl sorta and then pulling him back.
His dancing partner snorts and Will comes up with the perfect name for him. "Zombie Boy! It's just you and me, dance!" he laughs.
Newly dubbed Zombie Boy, glares at him fiercely, "I'm doing this for your sake. You just dance with someone else, someone willing. And my name is Nico, idiot! "
"Tomato tomahto, Zombie Boy," Will says with a roll of his eyes, "don't be so stiff like the dead. You shouldn't care about other people think. I certainly don't."
"I don't either!" Nico retorts with an indigant edge.
"Uh huh, then show me," he leans down to Nico's eyelevel, challenging him. He absently notes that Nico has a smell of sulfur around him. Will is lucky, they're demigods, and demigods are always up for challenge. There's nary one that will back down from one.
"Can you do the jive?"
Will snorts. "Can he do the jive he asks. I've been dancing since I was three, I've won multiple competitions. Can I do the jive?"
Nico smirks. "We'll see."
They stop and Will says clearly, "Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire." Leo's programmed the music to change automatically to whatever song a user wants. It isn't public knowledge for obvious reasons, but Will is special so yeah. A couple of seconds, Jerry's upbeat song filters through Camp and Will looks down at dancing partner. "I'm leading."
Nico nods.
And then they start.
Holy Nuggets. It's starts off slow and then it their dancing becomes a literal competition between them. Nico follows him step-for-step and move for move, gradually, a smile makes his way on his lips as he dances in and out of Will's way. Their compatible and they pick up on each other's cues easily. He never thought the reclusive demigod was so flexible, it's exhilarting how they dance and kick, lift and spin, around and around. After three minutes, they stop in each other's arms, breathing heavily.
Will hears the other demigods clap in the background, but he can't really focus on them. Nico's smiling, and golly, it's enough to make his knees wobble and him to recite one of his father's haikus. Nico looks so much more childlike, human, when he smiles. He should do all day, everyday. His mouth opens to say something, but its interrupted when a horde of girls and boys crowd around Will.
They're all talking at once, each begging for his attention. He tries to push them out of the way and focus on Nico, but they block his vision. Nico slips out his arms before he tell him to stay. Finally, Will grabs onto the closest person to him. He twists away from the demigod crowd and starts to dance with the nameless person, a faux smile on his lips.
… Will wonders why he feels a sense of loss.
