Will's POV:
Annabeth, Reyna, Rachel, and Lou Ellen waved him through the change rooms. He could hear them loudly discussing colors and and fabrics. The tuxedos came one by one through the flimsy curtain.
Black.
Grey.
White.
He lost count of how many he threw over his head. He came out, showing off each one, and every time he was sent back. They were either too flashy, too plain, or 'just not him'.
What the heck did that even mean? They all looked the same to him. As he was trying on a very sparkly gold one, his thoughts turned to Nico. How many had he tried on so far? Damn, he could just imagine his hot boyfriend wearing a tuxedo.
He must have looked pretty dreamy when he walked out of the change room, because Annabeth frowned at him when he came out.
"Will, what's wrong? You look like you're about to walk into the wall."
Reyna smirked as she studied him. "He's thinking of Nico", she announced with an evil grin.
Lou Ellen giggled when Will turned as red as the Camp's strawberries. He turned to Annabeth.
"Can we just get this over with? I'm going to start tearing out my hair if I have to try on another tuxedo."
The daughter of Athena looked him over critically. "No, Piper wouldn't like this one at all. Gods, Will, you look like a gold statue wearing that thing."
"What's wrong with gold statues?" Rachel protested.
Will sighed and returned to the change room to take off the tuxedo while the girls continued to argue. This was going to take forever.
Nico's POV:
It was a fight to get him into the first suit. The material was itchy, and he had to resist the urge to scream for a back scratcher. The tuxedo was inky black, with a tombstone-colored tie. It made him look as pale as milk, and Piper wrinkled her nose when she saw it.
"No. That's terrible. Try another one."
He didn't have much of a choice at this point, so he did what she asked. He wrestled the tuxedos over his body one after the other.
And every fucking time, Piper sent him back with another one, dissatisfied.
Just as he was thinking that they were practically cleaning out the whole store, he put on a silky black one. Heck, he wasn't even paying attention to what he was putting on now. He exited the change room, ready to enter it again with another one.
But just as he was about to leave, Piper yelled.
"Wait! Turn around!"
He did as she asked, heart pounding. She looked him up and down critically, so thoroughly it made Nico feel self-conscious.
She smiled. "This one! You look amazing!"
She made him turn around so he could show off all the angles. It made him feel pretty stupid, but the girls whistled and Hazel clapped her hands. They were folding the suit into a bag to buy, and Nico gave a sigh of relief.
They were done at last!
But Piper stopped him. "Hey, where do you think you're going? We're not done here."
"What!"
She pulled him back to the changing rooms. "Nico, we still have to find a tie for you, and we don't know if Will's done yet. Plus, we have to find matching dresses and tuxedos for everyone else."
Nico groaned out loud. He threw up his hands. "That'll take forever!"
Piper smiled. "Probably." Seeing his look of despair, she caved.
"Fine. We'll order the rest of the stuff online. But we're still looking for your tie, and i'm not leaving this store until Will has a suit too."
In the end, they ended up picking a dark purple tie for Nico. Piper said it brought out the color in his eyes, which he didn't understand. But it matched with the silky black tuxedo, and at least it wasn't choking him.
He checked himself out in the mirror. To be honest, he didn't look half-bad. The suit actually fit him pretty well, and it was comfortable, unlike the previous ones he had tried on, with their itchy collars and suffocating ties.
But he knew things were too good to be true. Piper swooped down on him, eyeing his hair.
Uh oh.
"Nico…"
The look on her face scared him. He knew she wasn't going to tell him anything good. He braced himself, and sure enough, he felt the tug of charmspeak.
"Can we cut your hair?" her voice was sweet enough, but he wasn't going to fall for it this time.
"No!" he grabbed his soft black curls protectectivly. Piper's face was full of disappointment. The charmspeak washed away.
"Okay. can we at least tie it up?"
Nico let go of his hair. "What do you mean?"
She reached for a stray navy blue ribbon she had in her pocket. She tied a clump of his curls together. Staring in the mirror, he realized she had made him a ponytail. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the mirror. He looked…..
Good.
"We can leave it the way it is, if you want", Piper promised. He shook his head.
"Nah, this is fine. Actually, I kinda like it better."
Piper clapped her hands enthusiastically. "Perfect! Let's go see if Will's done yet."
Will's POV:
It had taken them forever, but they finally found him something. He ended up wearing a simple but elegant white tuxedo, with a blue tie that matched his eyes.
He knew he probably didn't look half as good as his boyfriend, but hey, he was trying.
Speaking of which, Annabeth said they should probably go looking for the others, since the store was going to close soon. Damn, he didn't think it would take this long.
He heard Piper's voice ahead. Hazel and Nico's soon joined it. They walked in the direction of their voices. He only got to see a glimpse of Nico before Piper shrieked.
"What are you doing! Cover his eyes!" Immediately, Will could feel Annabeth's firm hands over his eyes, and judging by Nico's muffled protest, his eyes had been covered as well.
"Why aren't we allowed to look?" he asked impatiently.
"Because I want it to be a surprise. You'll see each other in your suits just before the wedding ceremony."
Nico groaned in annoyance. Will did the same. The girls ushered them into separate change rooms so they could take off the tuxedos. Once they both emerged, they found Piper grinning.
"I think that went pretty well! All we have to do now is find matching dresses and tuxedos for everyone else!"
Will was relieved. All he wanted to do was get back home and take a well-deserved nap.
Oh, and cuddle with Nico as well, of course.