Chapter 13:

Nico Gets a Note and a Dress

Will was acting weird. Nico wasn't stupid, he knew something was happening. The whole duration of his sword practice with Jason and Percy he was distracted, thinking about how Will had just run out of the lunch pavilion. Of course he still flattened the other two boys, but his heart wasn't in it.

Will had infirmary duty for the rest of the day, so after a few hours dodging blades in the arena, Nico excused himself and went to his cabin. He had some math homework he still hadn't done from Friday. This English thing was taking up a lot of his time. Not that that was bad.

His class was scheduled to do their performances on the coming Friday. Seeing as it was Monday, Will and Nico still had the rest of the week to memorise and learn their scene. It was long enough, if they read over it often.

Pacing the Hades cabin with his play in front of him, Nico started learning his lines from the moment Juliet awakes in the tomb.

"Where is my lord? I do remember well where I should be, and there I am. Where is my Romeo?"

He repeated that line over and over until it was ingrained in his brain.

Nico was quickly bored. It wasn't as fun by himself. He wasn't motivated enough to learn the rest. He had a whole week; he didn't need to do it now. Ducking his head out the cabin door to check no one was there he quickly set up his docking station, slotting his iPod onto it and skipping songs until he found the one he wanted.

"It's okay, cause I know you shine even on a rainy day..."

He started thinking about Will and what he'd said a few days ago. A small smile wormed its way onto his face. For the first time, Bianca wasn't what was on his mind as he listened.

He woke up some time later, limp as a slug and just as slow. He didn't even bother trying to check what hour it was on his phone. He just groaned into his pillow.

Something crinkled under his cheek.

Nico sat up, groggily rubbing his eyes. He flicked the lamp switch beside his bed, wincing his eyes closed as he did. Goddam light was just- ow.

Turning away from the brightness, Nico searched for what had made the noise. He found a piece of paper on the side of his bed, just on the mattress where he'd been sleeping. Unfolding it slowly, Nico squinted at the words on it.

Hey Death Boy, it began.

I got worried when you missed dinner – he'd missed dinner? – so I came in to check up on you, and you were asleep. I didn't want to wake you up, so I brought you some food. It's on the desk.

Nico looked over to see another little pile of potato bake – cold, mind, but it's not like that mattered. He felt a flutter in his stomach and the corner of his lips lifted.

I think that's it. The rest can wait until English class tomorrow. See ya, di Angelo. Sleep well.

Love,

Will.

Nico caught himself running his fingers over the paper, Will's spidery handwriting exactly the same as it had been on the card in class. Sleep well.

Warmth filled Nico's stomach and he rolled over, clutching the note as he fell asleep again.

The curse of going to bed at five in the evening was that you were bound to wake up at stupid-o'clock the following morning. That's exactly what happened to Nico, and he was none too pleased about it. He shoulders still hurt, but they were giving him more of a dull ache that could probably be massaged out or something. Nico growled at the world as he rolled out of bed, socked feet touching the stone cold floor of his cabin.

He finally checked the time. His phone told him, in thick white block letters, that it was four-forty-five in the morning. Thanks to his previous night wanderings, Nico knew the Harpies would be off patrol in fifteen minutes. He could shower and then go outside.

Stripping and dumping the clothes into his hamper – he'd been wearing them since yesterday; nice – Nico turned on the taps. The water hit him in the face like a high-pressure pipe and he coughed as some of it went up his nose.

"I did not sign up for this," he said grumpily, slapping shampoo through his hair.

Five minutes later he was washed, his hair was clean and smelled like pomegranates, and he was wrapping a towel around his waist before going in search of something to wear.

Monday, Monday, Monday, Nico mused. Chiron's Academy only had one compulsory article of clothing the students had to wear during the school day and that was their shirts. Their choice was between an orange tee with Camp Half-Bloodprinted across it, or a colour-coordinated shirt with their cabin number on it. Nico decided on one of the black Cabin 13 tops he had.

Tugging on another pair of black skinny jeans and his boots, Nico swathed himself in a thick dark jacket, flipping the hood up and starting for the door. He pocketed his iPod, headphones, the play and another book, because he'd get sick of Romeo and Juliet after going over their lines again.

As Nico touched the doorknob, his stomach gave a huge heave of hunger. He remembered Will's note, and the fact he'd brought food. Food Nico hadn't gotten around to eating last night. Crossing to the desk, Nico scooped up the plate of potato bake and the fork beside it, deciding to take it outside with him.

Mid-Autumn meant that the sun wasn't up just yet, so the camp was bathed in pre-dawn grey light and colder than it would be later in the day. Nico headed for the same tree he'd spent the last few days sitting under reading the play. As he sat down he looked up, remembering how Will had been up there before. He wasn't there now.

Opening his play, Nico started going through Juliet's parts again. "Where is my Romeo?"

He sat there till sunrise.

"Jeez Nico, you already know your lines?"

Nico shrugged.

"Not all of them," he said. Will looked unconvinced.

Their Monday English lesson was halfway over, and the two were back in their clearing in the woods. Nico had started calling it 'Nico and Will's spot,' and when he'd accidentally said, "We're going to our spot," to Percy, he'd gotten a pervy thumbs ups and a sinister grin in return. Nico and Will's spot was probably being watched by two people who were definitely not Nico and Will.

"So," Nico said, distractedly flipping through his play, "do we need costumes for this?"

Will made an odd choking noise and when Nico looked up, he noticed his friend was holding his lips in a straight line.

"Yep," Will replied, his hands all over his face, "but don't worry, I've already sorted them out."

Nico raised his eyebrows suspiciously.

"Sorted them out?" he asked. "What are they?"

Will just looked at him like he was waiting for a bomb to drop.

And then it did.

Nico's cheeks exploded a dark red and he had to turn away and cover them up. The more he thought about it, the hotter his face got.

"Y-You're kidding!" he almost shrieked.

"You are playing a girl," Will pointed out. "A girl whose time period had dudes running around in leggings and carrying swords."

Will's words just piled on a whole new hue to Nico's ears and neck, because now all he saw was Will walking gracefully towards him wearing a pair of maroon tights. He would have swooned if he wasn't currently trying not to be too mortified by the fact that he never thought about having to dress like Juliet for their assessment.

"Don't worry, Death Boy," Will told him, coming over. "You'll… look really cute." A hand slipped into Nico's and he looked up to see Will smiling nervously down at him. He then swivelled his head around and started fumbling in his pocket, pulling out his own phone. Nico watched as Will opened it up and then turned the screen towards him.

"Piper sent a picture over," he said. There was a pink tint on his cheeks as Nico selected the Saved Photos folder and looked.

"At least it has sleeves," Nico grumped, flicking the picture to the side to see Will's costume. He bit his lip as his imagination projected the outfit in front of him onto the blond beside him. That was hot.

"Wow," he breathed, before his brain caught up with what he was saying. "You're gonna look really good in that, Will."

Will beamed and squeezed Nico's fingers softly. Nico couldn't help but smile himself. He was smiling so much around Will. Around Will, thinking about Will, talking about Will. Percy had tactfully fold him he had a 'Will Face' that morning – like a particular expression when he thought of or spoke about the Apollo kid. Percy had been punched for that.

"We're going to be the best dressed couple in the whole class," the blond declared. Nico stuck on the word couple. He knew Will liked him. He knew it. Ever since he'd overheard the conversation with Lee Fletcher after the Apollo cabin's bitter defeat in Capture the Flag. He just wasn't cut out for this kind of thing – initiating it, that is. Taking the first step. Doing something other than second-guess every tiny thing that happened. Handholding was one thing. Full-on asking out his crush of three years was like facing the final boss in a video game – dreaded and nerve-wracking as all get out. You can't graduate from extensive pining and limited interaction to dating without something dramatic happening in between.

I don't think I can even apologise anymore. There's a list of excuses below if you want to know why this is so late:

-I've literally had some kind of assessment piece every week since term started

-I've had to work extra hard at maths lately because I'm really bad at it and what we're learning is incredibly hard.

-I'm part of a French Exchange program at school and I've been talking to my exchange partner most nights and I'm really bad at French so I've had to work hard for that too.

-Each weekend has needed to be spent studying.

-Writer's block.

-I don't know what story to write because I have four and that was a really bad idea.

I'm going to focus on finishing one story at a time, and this one's going to be first. I don't know when the next chapter will be out because exam block is a week away, but I'll try. Everything is very stressful right now.

P.S. If you see any mistakes tell me please. Doing French a lot has messed up my linguistics and sometimes I write a word in French instead of English. I almost did that in an exam the other day and it was awful. Also I had to get glasses recently to help with my reading problems – they can't tell if it's dyslexia yet.

Jasmine Out!