Oh, just in case you were wondering, I'm neither Rick Riordan nor William Shakespeare resurrected from the dead so I don't own Percy Jackson or Romeo and Juliet.

Chapter 2:

Will Reads Under a Table

Normally, finding Will Solace reading under his desk in Advanced Math wasn't abnormal. He wanted to be a doctor, and seemed to think that studying medical volumes now would get him there faster.

It was, however, definitely not normal for Will Solace to be reading William Shakespeare with a bright blush on his face and his phone sticking out of his pocket that maybe had one or two photos of Nico di Angelo on it.

"Uh, Will?" someone beside him asked. Will jumped in his chair and shoved his thumb between the pages of Romeo and Juliet to mark his spot before turning to his neighbour, a fellow Apollo kid named Lee Fletcher. Lee was looking at him oddly.

"Dude, I understand the medical volumes and the notebook full of bad math puns and doodles, but you cross the line of 'What The Hades' when you read Shakespeare and your face is flushed as a toilet."

"Wha?" Will replied intelligently. Lee rolled his eyes.

"You're blushing so hard you'd think someone had tried to give you a swirly," Lee said. Will covered his cheeks, losing his page in the process. They did feel hot.

"I'm… uh…reading"

"Romeo and Juliet, yeah, I got that. For English. But why are you reading it in class and red as Apollo's sacred cows?"

Yes, their cabin had sacred cows that were bright crimson. It was sad, really.

"I just- just want a head start on it," Will stuttered. "I want to do well in this unit."

Lee raised his eyebrows.

"You don't care about English, Solace. What's so grand about this term?"

Will took a deep breath. He wasn't afraid of people knowing he liked guys – in fact, a bunch of people had already come out of their own proverbial closets and no one gave a plop. The bottom line is if your school is obsessed with a civilisation that worshiped gods who went for any pretty mortal regardless of gender, you got over it pretty darn quick if you weren't already.

Will just wasn't sure he wanted to tell Lee who he had the hots for.

"I dunno," he said stupidly. "I just… feel like it?" He unconvincingly held up the book. "It's a good play."

"Uh huh," Lee hummed, completely unimpressed. "I don't have to be an Athena kid to see you're doing this for a reason, and I don't have to be from Aphrodite to see that the reason probably breaths air, and is in your class."

"What?" Will asked again. Lee sighed.

"You like a dude in your class and you want to impress him. End of story." He shifted a little closer. Neither of them had been paying attention for the last fifteen minutes. "So, who is it?"

Will waved his hands in front of his face, blushing.

"N-No, you've got it wrong man. I don't like anyone in the class like that."

That wasn't even a lie. Nico di Angelo wasn't in this class. Lee didn't seem to buy it one bit, but he turned away to face the board and jot down the new notes that had appeared there in thick black marker.

"Whatever, man," he mumbled, scratching out an answer.

In his cabin that night, Will stayed up late reading Romeo and Juliet. He was nearly finished – he was up to the part where Romeo kills Paris and enters the Capulet tomb to find Juliet's body. Will had already called dibs on Romeo's part. Nico had all but agreed that afternoon when he called him Romeo. Will felt a dumb smile come onto his face.

He would get to be the Romeo to Nico's Juliet. It was basically his dream of three years come true. Maybe, too, he could find some way to tell Nico he liked him. Will was afraid of rejection, yes, but anything to alleviate the pangs in his chest whenever he saw the Italian boy. It was getting to the point he felt physically sick whenever Nico did something cute: tucked his hair behind his ear with the tip of a pencil, bit his lip, smiled. Gods, he's do anything to see Nico smile. He'd probably have cardiac conniptions if Nico laughed. But it would be worth the heart attack to see that adorable bit of Hades kid be happy. He never saw Nico happy before unless he was around Percy or Jason.

Will flipped onto his back and held the play above his head, still reading. He couldn't help comparing Percy to Paris – the courter of Juliet in the play. If Juliet in love with Paris and Paris was an oblivious idiot like Percy was and Nico was still Juliet. Will felt a weight in his chest at the thought. Yes, he'd seen how Nico talked about Percy, the light that came into his eyes at the mention of the Poseidon kid's name. Will didn't know for sure, but he thought Nico had a crush on Percy and if that was the case Will had no chance. Percy was an idiot sure, but he was a prodigy at Camp Half-Blood.

Will decided to call it a night and stuck a bit of colourful paper in the pages to mark his spot. Then he switched off his secret reading light, slipped Romeo and Juliet under his pillow and fell asleep.

The next day Will had double English after morning break. He'd finished Romeo and Juliet during Advanced Math previously, and the last line haunted him. It was by far his favourite part in the play, not including the little scenes between Romeo and Juliet. Those two were made for each other. He'd wondered in Math whether he could get away with kissing Nico during practice.

"Helloooo class!" Ms Dare sang as she entered the room after her students. Will sat his butt down on the chair beside the one that held Nico di Angelo. Will secretly envied that chair.

"How're you all going with the play?" Ms Dare asked. Before anyone could answer she continued. "Great! Because I'm sending you out in your pairs to read through it together today. I want you to go through the entire play before picking a scene to perform for the class as assessment. In each pair your characters need to co-exist together in the play. Examples being Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio and Benvolio, or even Mercutio and Tybalt. You decide, as long as they have a scene together." She clapped her hands and waved them at the door. "So get going!"

Will picked his play up and smiled at Nico as he stood, also clutching his play. They started for the door.

"Do we smell or something?" Nico suddenly asked. "She wanted us out pretty bad."

Will laughed as he and Nico branched off from the other drifting pairs. They headed for the woods next to the English room.

"We're boys," Will said. "I think we smell by default."

Nico smiled, looking up at him, and Will literally felt his heart stop. If Nico had told him to die right then he would have. And he would have died a happy man for making the Hades kid smile again.

"Two smiles in two days," Will joked, nudging Nico a bit. "You must be feeling generous."

Nico rolled his eyes.

"Don't get used to it," he replied, walking further.

Too late, Will thought.

"You should do it more often," Will said as Nico bent a fern plant back so they could enter a clearing beyond it. Nico gave him a small frown.

"What?" he asked. "Bend ferns?"

Will shook his head, smirking.

"No, I mean smile."

Nico wrinkled his nose, which Will thought was one of the most adorable things that kid could do.

"Why?"

Will couldn't find it in himself to regret what he said next.

"Well, you never know who's going to be falling in love with it."

Nico stopped where he was, which was half-way across the little clearing they'd come to. He turned to look at Will.

"People don't fall in love with me," he said, and to Will it sounded so bitter it was verbalised vinegar to his ears.

"You're Juliet," Will reminded him. "Everyone's falling in love with you."

"Yeah? Well then, Romeo, open your book to Act One and we'll see how fast you fall in love with Juliet."

Will is someone who keeps the books their reading under their pillow and no one will convince me otherwise.

This is my first romance based story and I don't know what I'm doing. I'm sorry if this sucked. I'm not a feelings person really I'm going off what my friends have inflicted upon me. See you next time!

Jasmine Out!