Chapter 16:

Check Yes, Juliet

Having tattooed the lines of Juliet into his brain so they would probably be imprinted there forever, it would take a lot to wipe Nico's thoughts completely clear.

Thank you Will Solace, for being that one thing that could possible blow his mind beyond what could be recovered from, and therefore making him forget everything he was supposed to be doing.

It was possibly the most cliché first kiss one could have. They were playing the young lovers of the most romantic play in history, dressed the part, and were both hiding secret crushes for the other. Any more cheese and the moment would be a margarita pizza. This, Nico didn't dwell on.

The Hades camper had always known Will was a warm person. He didn't realise that warmth extended to the way he kissed. It was like he'd just gotten into a spa bath – his whole body tingled and seemed to heat up at once. Before he could stop his arms, and as if he wanted to, Nico lifted them from where they were resting on his chest and carded his hand through Will's blond locks, finally feeling them and finding that they were exactly as soft as they looked.

Will made a noise of surprise and opened his eyes. He and Nico stared at each other for a moment, before a grin broke their kiss and Will laughed. He laughed in utter joy, and suddenly everyone else in the clearing – who were committing intense voyeurism and didn't seem to care – faded out of Nico's head, along with almost everything else. Will's poison vial tinkled as it hit the ground and he didn't waste time in pretending not to know what to do with his free hand, cupping Nico's cheek and brushing the hair out of his eyes. Nico opened his mouth to say something.

A loud cat-call made the two freeze.

Nico's eyes darted to the side to see Leo Valdez, an unbelievably wide grin on his face and gleeful twinkle to his expression. Beside him up the tree, Percy was forking over five bucks to Jason but not looking all that bothered about it as he watched Nico and Will's English performance crash and burn-

The English performance. Nico wanted to die right there. He wished he was Juliet and had actually died. Oh my god, we messed up. What do we do? What do I do!?

He couldn't look at Ms Dare even if he wanted to. Will was in the way. In fact, Will seemed to suddenly be everywhere in the way – Nico couldn't even see Percy anymore. Then his chin made contact with a collar bone and a triumphant cry right beside his ear made him jump.

"Oh my love, you have awakened!"

If his brain wasn't working before, it definitely wasn't now. Nico wasn't even sure what was going on anymore. All he could do was stare dumbly at the shoulder he was pressed to.

"Death is far kinder than one can presume, as he has… um… given over his passion to keep you for himself and returned the stars to your eyes."

"What?" Nico said, and the audience in the clearing giggled. Will bent in closer.

"Play along," he whispered. Then, pulling back, he said louder, "If it is confusion of me my love has, I will be brief, for there is certainly a guard coming to disrupt this place of rotted rest."

Biting his tongue so he wouldn't laugh or ask Will if he even knew what he was saying, Nico made a show of blinking dopily. He could vaguely understand what was going on now. Vaguely.

"Romeo?" he asked. Will ended their embrace, taking a step back, his hands still on Nico's shoulders.

"Yes my lady," Will said. Nico breathed in, thinking quickly of something to say. He needed Juliet-Nico now more than ever.

"O, Romeo, I wondered once where you may be," he said, grimacing slightly as whatever train of thought he'd been following took off without him. Ah shit. "Um…"

"Well wonder no more of me than the moon might of the sky, my love," Will announced, "for I am with thee now. The kiss…" he trailed off for a moment "…which I gave your lips as a sealing act in my, er, despair hath brought you back from the icy affection of death."

"Do you even know what you're saying?" Nico hissed to his partner. Will have a noncommittal shrug.

"No idea," he whispered back. Nico rolled his eyes, and caught sight of the discarded vial on the grass. He pretended to jerk back in surprise.

"What's here?" He pointed to the pseudo-poison. "A cup at my true love's side." Getting to his feet in the unsteady manor that he assumed someone who was recently dead would have, Nico plopped down beside the flask and opened it, taking a sniff. He recoiled instantly.

"Poison?" he yelped. He glanced up at Will, an expression of fear on his face. "With what was my Romeo doing in company of the apothecary's work?"

Will struggled not to giggle as he knelt down beside Nico. Posiedon's underpants this was hard.

"I thought thee dead," he said, biting his lip in a way that looked like despair, but Nico knew he was trying to find something else to say. "I hasted to join you, to… er… keep the dim light of the Underworld from touching your skin."

Nico snorted loudly, unable to keep it in. He ducked his head and managed to turn it into a choking sob. Will touched his back soothingly.

"But neither of us have entered the realm of the spirits, dear Juliet," he said. "The world… The world believes me gone beyond the borders, and you beyond mortal eyes."

"We can away," Nico finished, fighting to keep the laughter out of his voice. Will looked like he was about to cry from holding back his giggles.

"Ay," he agreed. "We can away."

This seemed like as good a spot as any to finish, so by silent agreement they both went still.

It wasn't like the end of Percy and Jason's performance, where it took a moment for everyone to realise they were finished. Storming applause erupted the moment Will and Nico stopped, making several flocks of birds in the branches above take flight from the noise. There was whistling and banging on the trunks of trees, but loudest of all was Ms Dare's raucous cackling. Tears were streaming down her face as he held her stomach and fell off the stump she was sitting on. Percy was in no better condition, crying out that his abs had become twelve packs from laughing so hard.

"My face hurts from watching them," Will muttered to Nico, whose own cheeks were aching from trying to restrain a grin. He nodded.

It took a long time for the clearing of boys to calm down, and by then Ms Dare had reclaimed her seat. She still snorted occasionally, which set off a chain reaction of giggling around the class. She'd even forgotten to turn the camera off, which was occasionally flashing a red light that indicated it was still filming.

"I want a copy of that, Ms Dare," Jason called out, pointing to the camera. "Piper'll never believe me otherwise."

Nico buried his face in his hands as Ms Dare reached over to turn off the equipment. She was still snickering.

"Oh my gods," she grinned, fanning her face as she turned to Will and Nico. "Never, ever, have I seen something to utterly adorably hilarious."

Will shuffled his feet in embarrassment. Nico hid his face in his blue sleeve.

"I'm going out on a limb here that the both of your forgot your lines," she continued, smirking now. Will nodded, not making eye contact. "Both of your forgot your lines after Romeo smooched Juliet?"

Nico's cheeks were now hurting, not from smiling, but from the heat pulsing from them.

Ms Dare just giggled again.

"That was the best improvisation of Shakespeare I've ever seen," she declared. "Take an A-plus, both of you, for keeping it in character, sticking to the script and then completely decimating it in a stampede of rainbows."

Will was mouthing rainbows with a confused look on his face, but Nico just clamped his tongue between his teeth so he didn't run away or laugh out loud.

"Class dismissed," Ms Dare said. "You're all free to go. I have twenty dollars to collect from a certain gym teacher." She winked at Will. "Coach Hedge seemed to think you'd never make a move."

"Are you kidding me?" Will yelped. Nico remembered the money changing hands between Percy and Jason.

"Who wasn't betting on us?" he asked the clearing. Everyone exchanged shifty looks and only Frank Zhang raised his hand. Nico rolled his eyes, the blush creeping down his neck now. "Lovely."

"Speaking of which," Will said, touching his hand to Nico's, "can we talk?"

His voice was lower than before and Nico nodded. The rest of the class was filing out of the glade, costumes in hand, or in Leo's case, original clothes, since he hadn't changed out of his pink dress yet. Nico gathered his own outfit from the floor with Will, before they started following the groups out at a distance. Will looked down at the Hades camper, who looked up at the same time. Is this it? This is it, isn't it. Oh my gods. Nico, keep it cool.

"I'm sorry," Will said quietly. "I messed up our performance and k- um, did that without asking."

Nico stared at him for a moment before punching his arm.

"I swear to all the gods, Solace," he grumbled, "you're the thickest Romeo I've ever met."

"It's just, Piper said you liked me," Will continued, apparently not having heard anything Nico had said. "And I've had a huge, intense, festering crush on you for-" he counted on his fingers "-three years now."

Nico, for once, was silent. What Will was saying was sounding very familiar.

"And last time we did that scene I nearly did kiss you and this time I just had to- Nico?"

Dropping his bundle of clothes on the ground and not bothering that they were going to be covered in dirt, Nico grabbed the sides of Will's head and pulled him down slightly, connecting their lips again.

"Shut up," he mumbled. "I'm not mad, idiot. I… kind of knew you liked me, anyway."

Will's eyes closed and he ditched his uniform too, letting it fall from his arms as he wrapped them around Nico's waist.

"Wait," he said suddenly. "You knew?"

Nico smirked and petted Will's wavy hair. He was feeling ten times more confident than when he'd asked Will to hold his hand.

"You need to be more careful where you vent your crushes," Nico told him. Will groaned and covered his face. They gathered their dropped belongings and started back out of the clearing, Will's slightly red cheeks and Nico's tiny smile the only evidence that something might have happened between them while they were stopped.

"Hey, Will?"

Will glanced at Nico, who was looking contemplative.

"Does this mean tomorrow's leave trip is technically a date?"

Will tapped his chin before dropping his hand to his side and catching Nico's in his grip, entwining their fingers.

"If you like, my lady," he replied.

Next chapter's the last one, people! I hope it's alright, because the end-game line has been planned since the beginning. And I'm proud of it. Quite proud.

Jasmine Out!