Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Avoid the rock. Breathe out. Think about what you're going to say to Will. Breathe in. Breathe out. Don't fuck up. Breathe in. Breathe—

The shiny, new red cross hammered onto the pristine white door glared at Nico as he arrived on the steps to the infirmary, hoping that he wouldn't mess up whatever he was about to do. What was he planning to say anyways, after leaving like that? "Sorry, I just felt a little woozy, and I needed some fresh air?"

Even if Will ended up nodding at Nico's unbelievable excuse, making his curly locks bounce up and down in the fluorescent lighting and then returning to his work, how would that help? What would apologizing do for Nico's situation? Will would just forgive him and then go back to doing what he was doing… and that was EXACTLY what Nico didn't want. What was he to do?

I could… just go up to him and tell him the truth. But what if… what if he doesn't like me back? Should I go back and ask Jason again? He seemed kind of… distant though. Is there something I don't know? Or is it just something else on his mind? Well, if I go back to Jason, he might think I'm annoying and that I should have just paid more attention earlier… No, I can't go back.

Nico looked longingly back at Cabin 1, reminiscing about approximately five minutes ago when he wasn't as pressed to make a decision. Well, I have a few options. I can never face Will again, run away from everything, maybe stay back down in the Underworld, seeing as he's one of the only reasons I'm here in the first place. I don't want to do that over something this trivial though… but it's not trivial to me. That's the only problem. And I don't want to be cooped up underground forever. I still want to see Hazel and Jason. And I can't really see both of them without the chance that I'll have to talk to Will again.

Nico rubbed his face with one hand, shook his head, and stepped off of the steps, turning towards his own cabin. It was pointless to just stand here and think without doing anything. He took a deep breath, as if going back in to confront Will, and then let it out again, shoulders slumped. He crouched down next to the wall and put his head between his knees, starting to let his mind wander along with his choices once again.

I can't really do anything about this right now though. I know I can't avoid Will. And I don't want to avoid Will. But if I go through and end up telling him… I might have to do that anyway if it turns out that he doesn't like me back… It would be so awkward around him afterward. I don't think I'd be able to stand that. But if I do tell him and he does like me back… what would happen then? If we dated… what would everyone else think? But does what everyone else thinks matter? If it matters to me, shouldn't it be enough? And my final choice… I can just not say anything about it. Try to keep it inside. Conceal, don't feel. But look how well that turned out for Elsa… I'll break eventually. And then it would probably be too late by then…

Nico stood up and shook his head to clear his mind of the thoughts as he stood up. He slowly, slowly, put one foot in front of the other, and made his way to the door. He put his hand on the doorknob and started to turn…

And fell forward, face-flat on the floor as the door suddenly jerked open. Nico spluttered a muffled "What?" before picking himself up… and ended up looking at the neckline of a bright, neon orange "Camp Half-Blood" t-shirt. He gulped and looked up at a very ticked-off Will. There was an awkward moment of silence before Will's deep, throaty voice rumbled sternly, "What do you think you were doing back there?"

Nico backed up a step, apologetically shrugging his shoulders as he replied, "Sorry about earlier… I sort of fe—"

Will grabbed Nico's shoulders and pushed him against the wall, successfully shutting Nico up and intimidating him by glaring at him straight in the eyes. Nico blushed from the close contact – One of Nico's recent daydreams had Nico and Will in this exact position. He hoped that Will assumed that Nico was blushing because he had been caught lying.

"I'm not stupid, Nico. Don't just stand there blathering on about how you 'felt dizzy' or anything because I know shadow traveling just makes it worse. Plus, you've tried to pull that one on me before. I'm not going to fall for the same excuse twice. Last time, you didn't even make it past the door after shadow traveling before fainting into your little puddle of darkness again. And I'm glad I was there for that because otherwise…"

Will's voice cracked on "otherwise", and he momentarily stopped, shook his head, cleared his throat, and tried to continue ranting, but Nico had pressed his finger to Will's lips. The abnormally pink-faced Nico sucked in a deep breath and said, "Can you let me talk?"

Will made a very, very exasperated face, sighed, and tensely nodded yes.

Nico started, "Well… To start off, I'm really glad that you've been here to talk to me and everything. You saved me from melting into a puddle of shadowy goop, kept me alive and kicking, and now I'm actually here to talk to you. But for a while now… I don't know what's gotten into me. Especially today. Watching you… walk around… kissing everyone… even if it was just for speeding up recoveries… I just couldn't stand it. I couldn't watch you go around doing that to someone…" Nico stopped to take a deep breath, and finished off his sentence, looking at the ground, "…that wasn't me. You mean so much to me, and I just want you to be mine. But I know that that can't always be. Will… I think… I like you."

Nico blushed an even darker shade of red before looking up at Will to see what he thought. Will was grinning with feverish jubilation that seemed to light up the entire hallway. He bent down to look Nico in the eyes and slid his arms around Nico's shoulders.

Will pressed their foreheads together, eyes closed, but still grinning like an idiot. "I've been meaning to talk to you about this too… But you got to it first."

Will leaned down further, pressing their noses together, and looked into Nico's eyes for consent. Nico, completely breathless, closed his eyes, and nodded, giving Will the consent he was looking for to complete the first and final step:

Nico felt a warm puff of air leave Will's lips a second before they enclosed themselves over Nico's, gingerly pressing their mouths together, leaving Nico's stomach turning cartwheels in his stomach and his brain fizzing like an ice-cold Coke. Nico trailed his hand up the warm back of Will's t-shirt to the back of Will's neck, weaving his fingers through those bouncy golden curls the way he had longed to for what seemed like eons, and pulled Will even closer to him.

Their lips fit together like two missing puzzle pieces scattered across a room; somehow they had been brought together, but once they were, they seemed as if they never would part. Nico pulled in a deep breath of air through his nose, as to not interrupt this blissful moment, but it proved futile, as Will pulled away to breathe through his mouth. Nico whimpered from the loss of contact and pulled Will back. Their lips met again, like the first time, crashing into each other and resuming the improvised slow dance that they orchestrated.

After what seemed like an eternity and a nanosecond at the same time, the two of them broke off the liplock, flushed and gasping for that sweet, sweet air, and looked at each other. They seemed to wear the exact same joyful and satisfied grin on their glowing faces. Will pushed himself off the wall (and off of Nico), and extended a hand to him.

"Well, it appears that I'm a little behind on checking up on patients… Do you want to come with me?" He queried, smiling softly.

Nico took Will's hands and interlaced their fingers. "Why not? It's the same as all the other days."

But they both knew it was far from the same.

Nico wandered behind Will down the white linoleum hallway, peeking into rooms with once-injured campers (now chatting with either an on-duty Apollo kid or a friend) lying down on white cots with blue sheets, every now and then unconsciously smiling halfheartedly at someone he knew.

Wait. What was he doing? Smiling at people he barely knew? It was like he hadn't learned anything from all those years on the run.

Nico, what are you doing? This isn't you. Stop smiling. But he couldn't really stop… Not with this realization that had finally settled in his heart.

Will.

Likes.

Me.

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