Chapter Nine - Cloud Gazing

All credit goes to Rick Riordan for the amazing characters in this fanfic. I own nothing except the plot. (After the Three Days In The Infirmary) I also own Remi and Daxton, the two water nymphs that live at Camp Half-Blood.

Nico's P.O.V

"Nice practice, Nico!" Connor says, coming up from behind me. He pats me on the back and I flinch. Not very gently, I might add. And this is coming from someone who has a high pain tolerance.

"Yeah...nice practice…" I say awkwardly. Nice for me anyway...by the end of swordfighting, the score was 14 to 1. And I wasn't even trying very hard!

"Anyway, I'll see ya at the firework show then?" Connor says, walking away but still facing me. "Well actually I'll probably see you before then too like at dinner- AHH!" I watch him trip over a log. He scrambles up quickly. "Woah I did not see that log there! Anyway, I'll see you at dinner, and maybe even before that...Okay I'll see you later! Hey! Travis! Wait up!" I watch Connor run toward the Hermes cabin, nearly tripping over yet another log. I still have a good 15 minutes before lunch, so I decide to head to the lake. On my way, I pass the archery range where Will is using the straw dummies as target practice. He only sometimes hits the dummies, most of the time the arrows go flying passed and hit the wall behind them. I watch as another one of his arrows goes sailing passed the dummy.

"You know, for a son of Apollo, I'd expect you to be better at archery," I call. Will looks up, causing yet another one of his arrows to go astray. Will glances up at me.

"You startled me! It would have hit the dummy if you didn't surprise me!" He protests.

"Yeah...No you wouldn't have." Will slings his bow over his shoulder and crosses his arms.

"How do you know?"

"Because I've been watching and you haven't hit the dummy more than three times in the last minute!"

"Oh like you could do any better, Nico!"

"Yeah actually," I say. "I could."

"Okay," Will smirks. "Show me then," Crap. I've backed myself into a corner. I don't even know how to use a bow! I bite my lip and walk down slowly. Will hands me his bow and an arrow. As I'm raising the bow up to aim, Will puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Woah, No!" He exclaims. I glare at him.

"What am I doing wrong?!" I demand. Will gingerly takes the bow away from me.

"First of all, your feet are in the wrong place," He says and I instantly redden. "Second, you're holding the bow in the wrong hand. And third, you're aiming the bow toward your face..."

"Oh," Is all I manage to say.

"Here, put your feet like this," He says, demonstrating.

"What if I don't want to?" I retort.

"I know you want to, Nico. Just admit it," I just sigh defeated.

"I'll take that as a yes then!" Will says. "Put your feet here and here." I move my feet to the spots on the ground that he pointed to. "Good now hold the bow like this," He demonstrates before handing the bow back to me.

"Like this?" I hold the bow up, hoping I'm not holding it backwards again.

"Yeah, like that," Will then hands me the arrow back. "Put the arrow here, and pull it back slowly. SLOWLY! Relax your shoulder, Nico. You look like you're about to punch someone."

"Shut up, Will!" I snap. Suddenly, without warning, Will puts one hand on my shoulder. He should consider himself lucky that I didn't elbow him out of reflex. Then he brings his other hand around so he's holding onto the bow to keep it steady, so he's basically hugging me. You would think it would be awkward, but it was actually kind of nice.

"Okay, aim….and let go!" Will whispers into my ear. I let the arrow fly and watch as it hits the dummy right in the chest. "Yeah! You got it!" Will shouts. I nod, still completely aware of the fact that Will's arms are still around me. I clear my throat and Will immediately lets go, a bit of red creeping up his cheeks. I smirk at the sight of him blushing and he smacks my arm. I quickly dodge out of the way. Then I start running away as fast as I can.

"Nico!" Will shouts running after me. I slow down a bit so he can catch up. But as soon as he gets within five feet of me, I shadow travel away. Not away away because Will would yell at me, but just about 15 feet away.

"Catch me if you can!" I shout to him, while sprinting off. Will laughs and takes off after me. Gods, Will is really fast...he's almost caught up to me now...and I thought I was a fast runner.

"Haha! Gotcha!" Will says, pushing me over onto the grass by the lake.

"Gods you're fast, Will," I say once we've both caught our breath. Will smiles.

"I know," He smirks. I punch his shoulder.

"Hey I don't have very much experience running. If I'm faced with a problem, I choose to fight not flee!" I fake cough. "Unlike you…"

"Yeah, and shadow traveling away from broccoli totally doesn't count as fleeing," He says sarcastically. "Speaking of broccoli, will you tell me what happened that night, because I know that Nico the Ghost King isn't afraid of broccoli." I sigh. I don't know if I should tell him...eh I guess it's fine because I'm already going to the fireworks with him.

"I ran away because...because yourhandwasonmymouthandIsortofhadacrushonyou. And it was a little awkward."

"Because my hand what now? Say that just a tad slower,"

"I ran because your hand was on my mouth and I sort of had a crush on you." I repeat slower, gritting my teeth.

"Sort of?" Will raises an eyebrow.

"Okay fine, I had a huge crush on you! Happy?"

"Yes," Will says, leaning in to hug me. I glare at him and he gives me his puppy dog eyes. I shake my head...dang those eyes are hard to say no to. Will honestly looks like he's about to cry because I didn't let him hug me. So without thinking, I lean in to hug him. I have no idea what I was thinking. Will looks surprised, but hugs me back none the less. I lay back onto the grass and just stare up at the clouds. Will does the same. We just lay there for probably two minutes, in silence. Not an awkward silence, but a comfortable one.

"Do you see that cloud over there?" Will says, breaking the silence. I follow his gaze.

"Which one?" I ask.

"The one right next to the sun…" Will murmurs. "It looks like a skull and crossbones,"

"It does…" I agree. "Look at that one!" I point to another cloud. "It's a dog!"

"That's not a dog, that's an elephant!" Will argues.

"No it looks like a dog,"

"It's an elephant,"

"It's a dog, Will"

"It's an elephant, Nico!"

"Dog!"

"Elephant!"

"Dog!"

"Fine, you win. It's a dog," Will sighs. "It's a very fat dog," I smirk smugly. Don't argue with the Ghost King. I turn my attention back to the sky, scanning for more clouds.

Third Person P.O.V(I think…but I'm not sure so just go with it)

Nico and Will forget all about going to lunch. They end up falling asleep next to each other. Will's arm is around Nico, holding him in a light embrace and Nico is laying sideways with his hand on Will's chest. When they wake up, they quickly bring their hands and arms back to their sides, glad that no one saw them.