The library in the big house was much too small, Nico thought, to hold this many books. Weathered oak shelves stretched from the scuffed floor to the ceiling, with ladders on tracks leaning against them. A heavy oaken table stood in the middle of the room, with a few straight-backed chairs surrounding it. Mismatched armchairs cluttered a corner of the room, blocking some bookshelves. A single bowl shaped lamp hung from the ceiling, struggling to illuminate the room.

The furniture, though, wasn't what caught Nico's eye; It was the sheer number of books crammed into the room. Dusty tomes with peeling gold letters lined the shelves, and paperback copies of young adult series (all translated into ancient greek) were crammed into the spaces in between. Piles of novels perched precariously on the arms of the armchairs, and twenty different editions of the Illiad crowded the steps of the ladder closest to him. The surface of the table could have been fuchsia, for all he knew - not an inch of it was visible.

"This room is a mess," Nico said, kicking aside a sheaf of papers that had fallen to the floor sometime ago. "Why doesn't anyone bother to clean it up? There's no way you could find anything in here quickly. Surely the Athena kids would do something?"

"They did, before the Titan War. After that, when all the new cabins were being built, the Athena campers decided to expand their cabin to build a huge high-tech library for themselves." Will slid a book off a shelf, checking to see if it was what he was looking for. He looked at it for a second, then put it back and kept walking. "This library is mostly unused now, because the Athena kids were the only ones who regularly came here. Now there's just a lot of dust." Will said, swiping a finger along a shelf and leaving a line of clean wood behind.

"What book are you looking for?" Nico asked, watching the way Will's quick fingers skimmed over the spines of the books.

"The works of Sappho." Nico stopped, raising an eyebrow at Will. "Umm..." Will fumbled with the book he was holding. "Annabeth recommended it... and I've been studying Plato, and he thought Sappho's writing so eloquent that he considered her one of the muses." Will said the last part very fast, and heat had started to rise in his cheeks, but Nico pretended to not notice.

Nico stuffed his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "Whatever." Will busied himself with fitting the book he was holding back into the gap on the bookshelf that was much too narrow to hold it. "And it's there." Nico nodded with his chin to the top shelf, where 'The Works of Sappho' stood, hidden in shadow, among other books that looked like they hadn't been opened since Chiron was a foal.

"How can you see that?" Will asked. "I can't even make out the books, much less their titles."

"Hades," Nico replied, gesturing toward his eyes. "Darkness is less of an issue for me. But don't expect me to reach it for you; you're the tall one."

Will's cheeks reddened again. "Umm... right," He mumbled. "I'll just..." He gestured towards the bookshelf, before turning toward it and reaching for the book.

Nico watched as Will's fingers scrambled to gain purchase on the thick spine of the book, not missing the way Will's Camp Half-Blood t-shirt pulled up to show a slice of the tanned skin on his back.

Will pulled the book off of the shelf, and turned to find a scarlet faced Nico. Nico quickly turned, and tried to clear a spot on the table. "I've got it," Will said, stepping up next to Nico with the book. Nico turned too fast to respond, sending a stack of books tumbling to the floor.

"Tables are overrated," Nico muttered, stepping back and crossing his arms.

"How 'bout the floor, then?" Will said, plopping down with the book in his lap. Nico raised his eyebrows incredulously, but sat down next to Will.

Will opened cover of the book to a yellowed table of contents. He ran his finger down the ledger, almost purposefully, until he found 'Untitled, page 239' halfway down the page. The heavy paper arched through his fingers as he turned to the middle of the book.

Nico looked down at the poem, and then back up at Will with a slight frown. The poem was short, and the words were exceedingly simple, something a brand new camper might start with. He knew Will could read this; why wasn't he practicing Greek with a challenging poem? Still, he scooted up next to Will and pulled the book halfway onto his lap.

"Um... You read the first stanza, and I'll read the second?" Will asked.

"Sure."

Nico stared down at the verse 'Δεν έχει νόημα, Η μητέρα αγαπητέ, I

δεν μπορεί να τελειώσει μου ύφανση', then read in a clear voice, "It's no use, mother, I can't finish my weaving." He looked over at Will, who was staring determinedly at the text.

"You..." Will coughed, and continued softy. "You may blame Aphrodite, soft as she is." He swallowed, and his voice trailed off as he finished. "She has almost killed me with love for that boy."

Nico's eyes became fixated on chair leg in front of him, suddenly hyper-aware of where their knees and elbows and shoulders touched, and how he'd been leaning over Will to follow the words on the page.

The book shut with a loud snap. Will stood up more quickly than normal, and put the book back on the shelf as Nico desperately tried to find his composure.

Will turned around, catching Nico's gaze, and dropping it just as quickly.

"It's, uh, getting late," Nico said, checking the time on his nonexistent watch.

"Yeah, um, we should, um," Will gestured toward the door, and Nico nodded.

They walked through to the front of the big house, and paused for a moment on the porch. They were standing next to each other, but looking anywhere but.

"See you at dinner then?" Will asked the peeling paint by his foot.

"Yeah," Nico told the hanging plant, and then both boys stepped off the porch, heading opposite ways.

Nico headed toward the lake, a hesitant grin creeping onto his face.

Will rounded the Big House, his smile so wide and bright it was blinding.