Chapter 7: First Songs or The time that the members of Apollo's cabin realised that Nico might just have a bit more of Apollo in him than they'd realised.

"…and I'll a-sail onwards upon mine ship,

I will forever sail.

"Till homely shores at last I'll reach,

To see my walls of every reach,

Of warmer winds,

And kinder men,

I will forever sail."

The burst of jubilant applause that followed the repeat of Ode to Odysseus sounded as the final note was struck. Will obligingly added his own clapping to the midst, and couldn't withhold the smile that spread across his face as he did so. He could sing the song in his sleep – likely did, if Nico's grumbles as to his apparent sleep-talking were to be believed – but the frequency he partook in such repetition didn't still his tongue any more than it usually did. Besides, as one of the oldest at camp, it was his solemn duty to lead each round.

Bursts of laughter ran around the campfire as the nymphs and children of Apollo alike lowered their makeshift instruments. The brief intermission that always followed every song was immediately flooded with friendly exchanges, with banter and teasing, giggles and exclamations. As always, there was a significant number to their ranks in the summer break and the feeling of community, the warmth of crowded bodies, drove away the shadows of the surrounding night.

After dinner campfire talk was one of Will's favourite moments of the day. It always had been, and not only because it involved the easy conversations and casual camaraderie of peers who knew exactly what you were going through, what with being a fellow demigod and all. That was a big part of it; Will had always struggled in his childhood to find friends who fit just right, had struggled to fit himself to others and failed. Those moments around the campfire… they meant more to Will than he thought he could ever explain.

That, and the singing.

They didn't sing every night – it would ruin the specialness of doing so if they did. Throughout the holidays, however, when their number was more expansive, they would host a repertoire of numerous campfire diddies and traditional folk songs, spearheaded – naturally – by the Apollo cabin. And, as cabin counsellor, Will was most often right in the thick of it when deciding what songs to be sung.

If they were given the chance to decide, that was. More often than not, the wood nymphs who joined them, plucking at their instruments with dextrous fingers, would choose the song. Or, well… they would pick the song. That was the way it worked; the collective, unspoken request of the most or most demanding minds would trigger the playing of a tune, and it was up to the demigods to sing along to it. It was a wonderful kind of magic, with the joviality of the most wanted songs lightening the moods. Unfortunately, it did result in many repeats of the same songs as passing thoughts and fond memories of previous nights or rounds at the campfire urged the nymphs into playing that which tickled enough people's fancy.

Hence, the classics such as 'Ode to Odysseus", "Down By The Aegean" and "Who Wore My Toga?" were frequent contenders for prime playing position, alongside slightly more modern strains such as Michael Jackson, Lorde, Fallout Boy and Adele that somehow sprung forth. Will had heard more ear-splitting renditions of Beyoncé than he had ever thought he could handle.

Still, even with the occasional poor taste in music – or at least mediocre in his occasional opinion – Will wasn't complaining. He never complained about singing or music, even if it wasn't his forte when it came to gifts from his father. There was something about becoming caught up in the collective sound of chorusing voices, in the rippling undulations of tunes, in the shuddering quivers that tickled his auditory senses with a zapping thrill, that Will would never get enough of. He sung with the enthusiasm of the youngest members of camp, just as his half-siblings did around him, regardless of whether he struggled to hit the higher notes that Mariah Carey reached with apparent ease.

Apollo cabin members always led the songs. It was as simple as that. And Will always led along with them.

"Alright, come on, people, I'm counting on you for this next one. Gimme some Disney, I'm looking for some Disney!"

A scattering of laughter sounded throughout the members of Apollo's cabin as Sammy Harper made her demand. Will shook his head, grinning. Sabotage, it was, undermining the delicacy of the choosing system that was supposed to be objective and unexpected. Sabotage, but everyone did it.

"What is you with your obsession of Disney," someone half hidden by the darkness laughed. Will thought it sounded like Sebastian.

"It's not an obsession –"

"Yeah it is."

"No it's not! If it was an obsession then you'd have heard nothing but Disney songs all night and you know it." Sammy raised her eyebrows in the direction that Sebastian had called from. Will had to agree with her sentiment. The one time that little Monique, Amelie's younger sister from Aphrodite's cabin, had gone through her My Little Pony phase had been exhausting for everyone. Will had heard more renditions of Friendship is Magic than he had thought he could survive. The nymphs seemed to think the combined agony of most of the demigods was funny.

Laughing alongside the rest of his siblings, Will glanced towards Nico. His boyfriend caught his eye and gave a roll of his own, though there was the faintest of smiles upon his face, a smile the turned into another long-suffering eye roll when Will leant into him and hooked an arm around his shoulders. He didn't pull away from Will, though, which was saying something of how much things had changed since they'd first officially become boyfriends.

"Requests?" Will asked.

"What, for Disney songs?" Nico glanced up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Out of my vast knowledge of Disney songs, you want me to choose?"

Will snorted. It was a bit of a running joke, Nico's persisting and spotty ignorance of what was largely considered to be cultural norms. Will – and the rest of his cabin, for that matter – had been horrified with the discovery that Nico had never watched a single Disney movie in his entire life. They'd set to remedying that fact, much as they had with his resistance of video gaming or their marathoning of TV series, or owning a cell phone despite the fact that it was largely too dangerous for a demigod to use one when staying in one spot for too long.

"Not so much 'choose' but have a preference. You know you're good at pushing requests."

"I have no idea why," Nico muttered, plucking at the grass at his feet. His eyes drew towards Sammy as she spoke to Fionn at a million miles an hour; when the both of them talked like that no one could understand what either said. "I don't even like singing."

"I have noticed that about you," Will nodded. He'd never actually heard Nico sing, nor even seen him mouth the words, and Will wasn't all that convinced it was because he didn't know the songs. "But I have a theory about the requests."

"Oh, really?" Nico arched an eyebrow at him. "And what might that be?"

Will grinned. "Because you're a stubborn little shit who wouldn't accept anything but your own request. That, or it's the intimidating-son-of-Hades thing. I think even the nymphs are scared of you sometimes."

Far from scowling at Will's words – for which Will was a little disappointed for; h still liked provoking such from Nico and he'd been sure he'd elicit at least a little bit of a glare – Nico seemed satisfied by his contemplation. Only in a subtle way, of course, because Will knew that Nico would never be caught dead actually grinning at wider than a contained smile. Not unless it was by accident. "Well, in that case I suppose I have a duty."

"Since when have you ever adhered to your 'duties'?"

"Since I felt like it, that's when."

"Which is practically never."

"I'm just selective about what I consider to be worthy of my time," Nico explained.

Will snorted, shaking his head. "Worth your time? That sounds a little harsh."

"You should take it as a compliment that I spend so much time with you," Nico said without even shooting Will a glance as he leant around him to call out a demand for the choices from Sammy. Will smiled once more, dropping his chin to Nico's shoulder; offhanded the words might be but they were genuine nonetheless and he felt the familiar blossoming of warmth spread through him at the realisation. That Nico and his scarcely gifted attention was offered to him. It hit him all over again once every while and he was left blessing the fact that he'd kissed Nico for the first time years ago, despite the debacle it had temporarily elicited.

Sammy, scooted out before her siblings to squat before them all, was directing her deliberate request with arms raised like a conductor. "Alright, people, I don't want any of the oldies – no Pinocchio; Reggie, I'm looking at you – and dear Gods not another Frozen song. I'm thinking Lion King, maybe Aladdin, chuck in a bit of Phil Collins if you've a mind for it." She clapped her hands. "Come on, people, I need suggestions here."

"That's a bit of a unspecific request, you know," someone said.

"What about Beauty and the Beast? Or Pocahontas?" Someone else suggested.

"Oh, or Mulan!"

"What about Cinderella?"

"Ew, no, not Cinderella, those songs are so boring –"

"How about -?"

"What if we -?"

"We haven't tried –"

The requests came thick and fast and, as Will had anticipated, when they narrowed their choices down Sammy turned towards Nico and put it to him. He obliged with barely a hint of long-suffering and within minutes the nymphs had jumped upon their communal request and their instruments sprung to life with the bopping tune of "Dig a Little Deeper". It would have been almost embarrassingly comical to see so many teenagers bellowed out lyrics from the The Princess and the Frog had not Will been singing along with them. He couldn't help but grin and jig along to the music in his seat as he drew his gaze around the campers. The good-natured laughter broken by chorusing words – mostly off-pitch but perfect in its enthusiasm – and the general bouncing of every other seated demigod seemed to brighten the merrily flickering flames further.

The song completed with another round of applause and raucous laughter, hoots of "Really, Sammy? Disney again?" called from other cabin members and Sammy merely replying with a cheery grin. Poke and object the choices as campers did, almost without fail everyone joined in. They even had with Monique's affliction of My Little Pony. Even people like –

"You're staring again."

Will glanced towards Nico and raised his eyebrow. He hoped his confusion appeared genuine. "What?" Nico simply raised his own eyebrows and blinked slowly, so Will figured his play of complete ignorance might be pushing it just a little far. "Staring at who?"

"You know bloody well who. I swear you do it on purpose."

Of course I'm doing it on purpose, Will thought. How could he not when it got such a fantastic rise from Nico? He didn't like making him jealous exactly but – no, wait, maybe he did just a little bit. Not only was it amusing to see Nico get disgruntled – honestly, there must be something wrong with Will that he still thought like that – but the possessiveness and jealously was oddly… nice. Will wouldn't be able change a thing about Nico, even the things he sometimes – sometimes - found some of his antics a little hard to live with, but it was nice to be reminded at times when Nico was struggling to wriggle from under his arm that he cared enough to object about who Will happened to be watching during campfire song hour. Finding that flicker of jealousy in his boyfriend had been like a gold mine for Will.

And if his eyes drifted once more to Paolo Montes as though he couldn't help himself… well, it did serve to make a flash of irritation dart across Nico's dark gaze once more.

Will shrugged with deliberate casualness, as though he didn't really understand the problem. "He's a good singer."

"How would you know? He sits about as far away from where you do pretty much every song night."

"You can tell from the way he holds himself. Drops his shoulders, lengthens his neck, the way he holds his jaw… Besides, he looks like he gets really into it, too." Will pretended not to notice the deepening glare that Nico pinned him with at his listing of features. Yes, that may have been more than a little bit deliberate, but it was entirely worth it. He cocked his head slightly as though contemplating the son of Hebes across the glow of the campfire, as though his attention was focused anywhere than solely upon Nico in his periphery. "As a kid of Apollo, it's sort of a skill to be able to read things like that from other people."

"You can tell someone's a good singer just by looking at them," Nico said dubiously. It wasn't a question so much as a sarcastic statement.

"Obviously. My dad is the God of Music, you know."

"What utter bullshit, Solace." Nico shook his head. "Demigods can't just do that – "

"Oh, and that applies to you too, does it? You can't tell when someone's about to die when their time gets close or whatever?"

Will wished he hadn't spoken the moment the words had slipped from his mouth. He sorely wished he could retract them, for Nico's face slipped instantly into a blank mask, the disgruntled but admittedly light-hearted expression fading abruptly from his face. His gaze trained upon Paolo across the ring of campers but Will doubted he even saw them.

One thing Will had discovered that Nico hated was being reminded of how closely linked he was to death.

Clearing his throat and attempting to bulldoze through the sudden upwelling of tension, Will squeezed his arm more tightly around Nico's shoulders. He was relieved when Nico gave a half-shrug as though to attempt to dislodge him; that at least was normal. "It's not like I'm looking at him, you know," he said, attempting to distract Nico. "Kids of Apollo just have a thing for singing."

"A thing for singing?" Nico turned towards him slowly and Will was relieved to see that his expression had become faintly derisive. Anything was better than that blankness.

Will smirked. "It's sort of like hypnosis. Or like, I don't know, a basketball player really appreciating the game of a pro."

"You're preaching to the wrong crowd here, Will. Basketball? Really?"

"I'm just saying," Will said deliberately, "that if you were so worried about me listening to and watching someone else singing, then maybe you should sing yourself and then I'd watch you."

Nico turned fully towards Will and it was with relief that Will saw his momentary melancholy fade completely into derisive exasperation. "You're still pushing for that?"

"Of course. Until you finally cave I'll keep pushing it."

"Because you're a stupid son of Apollo who has a thing for music?"

"Obviously."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Not going to happen."

"Why not? What do you have against people hearing you sing?"

"Maybe I just don't have a good voice, did you ever think of that?"

Will laughed, shaking his head. "Do you really think that anyone else in camp cares that they haven't got a good voice?"

"Do I look like everyone else around camp? Seriously, Will, how long have you known me?"

"True. But maybe you just haven't heard the right song yet?"

Nico regarded Will flatly, and Will was given the very distinct impression that he thought he was an idiot for his words. Will didn't mind. Nico thinking someone was an idiot was sort of a term of endearment. "That sounds ridiculously romanticised."

"Doesn't it just?" Will grinned. Music was romantic; what could he say? "What would you choose, though? If you were going to choose a song to sing –"

"I wouldn't."

"No, seriously, if you could as the nymphs to play a song –"

"It'd be an instrumental one. No singing."

Will snorted, turning his gaze skyward in exasperation. "You're hopeless, you know that?"

"Because I don't like singing?"

"It's fun!"

"For you, maybe." Nico poked him in the ribs. "Not everybody in the world likes bellowing their lungs out for everyone to hear."

"I don't 'bellow'."

"Everyone in campfire song hour bellows, 'cause everyone's trying to make their own voices loud enough to be heard."

Will opened his mouth to reply and found that, realistically, he couldn't. He had to nod at Nico's suggestion – it was kind of true. Still, he felt like he was on a roll tonight and the next song hadn't started playing yet, so he persisted. "Seriously, though, what would you choose?"

Nico sighed long-sufferingly, like a parent would to their child's incessant questioning. "I told you, I don't –"

"Yeah, but f you had to pick one? Surely you've got a favourite, or a song from your childhood. Didn't you even used to sing any kids songs, or did that not happen in your time?" Will personally thought that the idea that children didn't sing along to songs together was absolutely ridiculous, but he had to ask. Maybe that was the cause for Nico's reluctance?

Because Nico was turned towards him with hooded eyes, staring at him directly, Will saw the exact moment that the shadowed boredom of his expression flickered thoughtfully. Only briefly, in the temporary glow or reminiscence, but it was very definitely there. Briefly, before being slammed behind closed doors once more. He deliberately glanced away from Will, as though sniffing at his suggestion.

Will would have pushed it – he was curious now – but an instant later Kayla nudged him with an elbow and drew his attention towards the playful bickering of Wesley and Jackson as they contested the superiority of electric over acoustic guitars. A serious argument, even if it was all in good-natured banter, and Will was naturally distracted. As the oldest cabin member of Apollo and cabin counsellor, it was his right and duty to sort it out.

Or at least he would have except that the next song started an instant later. Will blinked up inquisitively from the beginning of his attempts to quell what had slowly become a less good-natured argument and glanced towards the nymphs. In their little cluster alongside the children of Apollo, they'd eased themselves into crouches and sitting, rearranging their leafy skirts around themselves and assuming the distinctive stance of a quieter, calmer song. Fingers to strings and lips to mouthpieces, a soft, gentle and faintly haunting melody begun.

Will's wasn't the only one to turn curiously frowning eyes towards the musicians. He didn't recognise the song and if the stillness of the Apollo player's was any indication neither did any of his siblings. Nor any of the other campers for that matter, most of whom had turned towards the nymphs and let their conversations die just to listen.

Which was weird, because the nymphs never played something that wasn't requested by at least one person.

Understanding dawned upon him when, after barely seconds of playing Will felt Nico's shoulders tense beneath his arm. He glanced towards Nico to see his face downturned, chin tucked and eyes fastened upon where his fingers plucked sharply, almost viciously at the grass. The cuttings were making little piles of hay-like mounds but the unblinking glassiness of Nico's eyes suggested he didn't really see that either.

Leaning towards him and tipping his head down to peer at him, Will jostled Nico slightly with a squeeze of his arm. "This is yours?"

Nico remained unresponsive for a moment before he flickered his gaze sidelong to Will. He pursed his lips slightly and nodded. "Mm."

"It's… pretty," Will said, because really, it was. It sounded like a lullaby. Even the nymphs seemed faintly enchanted by their own music, if the gentle swaying was any indication.

As though reassured – or perhaps provoked – by Will's words, Nico hitched his shoulders and seemed to shake himself slightly from his thoughts. "Yeah. My mum used to sing this to me all the time when I was a kid. It sounds a little different – she didn't have music or anything, and the only music I ever heard to it wasn't like this – but I can recognise the tune."

Will struggled to keep from whipping around to face Nico bodily. It wasn't so much because of the expansiveness of his explanation as for the explanation itself. Nico so rarely talked about his past, and Will had never really heard him speak of his mother but in passing and to learn that her name had been Maria. It felt like he'd been allowed a glimpse behind the curtains that blanketed so much of Nico's thoughts.

He wasn't the only one listening in. That much Will realised when Austin, on Nico's other side, leant into him slightly with his usual calmness and spoke the request that had been sitting upon Will's tongue. "It has words to it then, does it? Will you sing it?"

Nico glanced up from his grass piles towards him, and though Will couldn't see his face, turned from him as it was, he had the suspicion it was guarded, wary. "I don't like singing. I'm not good at it, not like my mum was."

"How do you know? Did someone tell you?"

"No one needed to," Nico said with a shrug. His words were an oddly contrasting tenseness to the lulling music. "No one sung around where I lived. Not in those times. It just wasn't done."

Austin blinked with the incredulity that Will felt. "No one sung? In Italy? You're trying to tell me that no one in your town sung in Italy."

Nico shrugged again. "If you did, people just frowned at you and told you to stop. Even the good singers were told to stop."

Then how do you know you're if you're a good or bad singer? Will thought, though he kept his thoughts to himself. He did have to wonder, though, that in a town where no one sung why Maria di Angelo apparently had. And why the song evidently meant something to Nico if he didn't like singing, why the song had arisen in his mind at all.

"It sounds like a lullaby," Kayla murmured at Will's other side, which, he realised from what he'd learned of the distinctive "Ninna nanna" lyrics, was a pretty likely supposition. Kayla sounded just slightly lost to the music and Will couldn't blame her. Slowly, she turned towards Nico. The firelight bathed her expression in half light. "Will you sing it?"

Nico frowned, though it was more of a worried frown that one of dispute. "I just told you I'm not a good singer."

"Good or not, a song deserves to be sung," Austin said from his other side. "If no one else knows it, then you should sing it. And besides," he gave a faint smile, "because no one knows it, you can't really step a foot wrong, can you?"

Nico didn't look particularly convinced by Austin's line of argument, so Will added his own contribution. He shifted slightly until he and Nico were pressed sidelong at the hip and dropped his chin to Nico's shoulder once more. "Will you? Please?" He murmured directly into Nico's ear, quiet enough to be unheard by anyone else.

Whether by peer pressure or simple inclination, or perhaps he felt a duty to sing his mother's song as Austin had hinted he had, Nico finally caved. He dropped his chin once more, but even with head bowed his voice was audible throughtout the hushed camping grounds. At least to the Apollo cabin members, all of whom turned liked sunflowers shifting towards the light.

Nico's voice was untrained. It obviously hadn't been used for singing, hadn't been practiced, in years if ever. The smoothness that would have resounded through a professional's was absent and though he was loud enough to be heard it wasn't through any resonance or echoing force of projection that Will knew from habit was characteristic of any singer.

But it was still beautiful. Maybe as much because Will had never heard Nico sing before as because of his actual voice, but he doubted that. It was soft, not too low, gentle and flowing in a way that Will had only come to realise was a part of Nico when he'd been gifted the glimpse of such from dating him. Wavering and light, then intense and thick, it mirrored the undulations of the lullaby as it drifted into repetition.

Will was learning Italian. He was making a concerted effort to do so and, though he wasn't particularly fluent in speaking it himself, whether it was simply that he was in tune with Nico himself or that his subconscious picked apart the words, he understood. What he could make out just made the lullaby somehow more enchanting.

"Ninna nanna, ninna oh,

Sleep, child, go to sleep.

Let shadows fall upon your back,

Wrapped snug from demons you'll stay.

"Ninna nanna, ninna oh,

Sleep, child, do not wake.

Diamonds light and steel black,

Ghostly fingers beckon deep..."

It really was beautiful, both Nico's hushed voice and the lullaby. Yet even so, even as he recognised that, Will felt a cold shiver trickling down his spine. The words were… haunting. Soft and gentle, but surely it wasn't the sort of song to sing to a child to urge them into sleep, to offer comfort. Except… diamond? Ghostly fingers and shadows? Maybe it was just by chance, but it almost seemed as though the words were spoken for Nico exactly. What could be more relevant for a son of Hades? Maybe being smothered by shadows and caressed to sleep by the dead was comforting to him?

When the music finally died and Nico's voice with it, an unnatural hush settled across the campers. Will hadn't been sure if anyone but the directly surrounding members of Apollo had even heard Nico's words – he had hardly spoken loudly – but almost every gaze was turned towards him. Curious gazes, confused gazes, slightly enraptured as much by the unexpectedness as by the song itself. Will couldn't help but tighten his arm slightly around Nico's tensed shoulders because…

I wonder if this is how Nico feels when he gets jealous?

Slowly the buzz of voices picked up to fill the silence and the tension Nico held eased slightly. Not that he looked up from the ground, from his intense staring that seemed retrospective as much as sullenly defensive and embarrassed. As though he was torn between losing himself to memories of the past and accusing those in the present for making him sing.

"That was awesome, Nico." Kayla was the first person to speak up and voice her thoughts, and there wasn't a hint of patronisation in her tone. Regardless of that fact, Nico flashed her a suspicious glance that faded just lightly into scepticism the longer he stared at her. The rest of the surrounding Apollo cabin members hastened to add their own comments.

"What was that song called?"

"It was a lullaby, wasn't it?"

"I didn't know you could sing. Maybe you should practice with us sometime?"

"See, I knew there was a reason you spent so much time in Apollo's cabin."

"Gods, Nate, you're a complete idiot if you think that's the reason."

Will largely ignored his siblings. Instead, he kept his chin rested on Nico's shoulder at that slightly awkward angle and watched his profile as he gradually eased from discomfort into his normal silent calm. Not that it eased completely, mind; Nico retained a very distinct aura of reluctance and Will was almost certain he knew what it was fuelled by.

"You don't believe Kayla, do you?"

Nico glanced at him sidelong with a raised eyebrow, as if to say "Isn't it obvious?" "Not really. You Apollo kids have always been weird. I've done my part, though. I'm never singing again."

Will smiled with a shake of his head and, though he knew it would likely draw a scowl from him, leant forwards lightly and pressed a kiss upon Nico's cheek. "Well, that would be a shame," he murmured, with absolute sincerity. In such a short time, after such brief exposure, Will had decided that he did indeed quite like Nico's singing voice.

Nico didn't object immediately. He didn't scowl at the kiss, and Will was rendered quite surprised by the fact. His famous glare only resurfaced, in fact, when the next song began to play and, alongside the rest of his cabin members, Will dragged himself and Nico to their feet to dance in a riot of stomping feet and waving hands to "I Wanna Be Like You". Sammy had evidently gotten her way once more with a Jungle Book classic. Even through his glare, however, Will was thought Nico might be enjoying himself just a little bit. Something even approaching a smile briefly arose when Will grabbed his arms and spun them both around in a dizzying circle. He shook his head and rolled his eyes but it was definitely almost a smile.

That night, in the privacy of Hades' cabin, Nico's pretences of a sour humour faded completely when he took Will with all of the tenderness and gentleness that he always did. Because that was the way with Nico; just as Will had discovered that, for all he might scowl and glare, curse and drop sarcasm and snide comments with the worst of them, he was so much more than that underneath. He was always slow and thoughtful in his motions towards other people – at least when he wasn't angry or shaking his head in ridicule – and often almost hesitant. Far from the usual careless grumbling that he usually voiced, when they slept together he was soft and gentle. Just like his singing voice.

When Will fell into sleep that night, it was to the sound of Nico's voice. Whether it was simply the memory of it or an actual rendition of that which Nico had already voiced, it hardly mattered. Nico didn't want to sing again, but Will would make it his personal vendetta to remedy that mar against righteousness. Something so beautiful, even raw and imperfect as it was, shouldn't be kept hidden.


A/N: Bit of a fluffy one, but I hope you liked it! If you did, didn't, or have anything at all to say, please remember to leave a review. Thank you!