Thanks so much for the reviews everyone, I swear they keep me going! Shoutouts to Must-Think-of-Username, bluelove22, TheGirlWhoRemembers, Child of Hypnos, Calea and Liz :) Now, without further ado, the next chapter!

I don't own the characters.

Will chatted with Hazel and Nico as he moved around their kitchen. A pot of bubbling broth was already simmering on the stove as Will chopped up vegetables. His hair was neatly spiked as usual and he wore a too tight yellow T-shirt that was making Nico's eyes hurt.

Nico and Hazel were perched on bar stools around the island, Hazel flipping through Will's record collection. "Frank Sinatra? I didn't know you were so classic Will." Hazel teased.

Will grinned, turning to pour a plate of carrots into the soup. Nico's nose twitched appreciatively as the room filled with a homey smell. Will spun around dramatically and began to sing "You're so classic." Nico's jaw dropped open because Will's voice was so…

BAD

It was off tune, off key, cracking on every second word. Nico couldn't understand how someone with such a lyrical and gentle voice could sound worse than a dying cat. He began laughing, and even snorted. Nico paused, mortified for a moment, but Will was still warbling away and Hazel was begging him to stop, tears of mirth streaming down her face.

Nico allowed himself a small smile, and blushed as Will came around and wrapped his arms around both him and Hazel.

"You don't have to cook for us," Nico muttered, but his voice didn't hold nearly the same bite to it as it usually did. Will ladled out some of his soup into a bowl and passed it to Nico, and was it Nico's imagination or did Will's hands brush against his for longer than necessary?

Will shrugged and doled out some soup for Hazel. "Hazel said since your parents work a lot, you usually don't get healthy meals. As an aspiring doctor, I couldn't just let you guys have McDonalds every day."

Nico sniffed, "There is nothing wrong with McDonalds." After tasting Will's soup though, he was convinced that he would gladly give up McDonald's for this any day.

Hazel sipped her soup and hummed in approval. "Thanks Will."

Will smiled, eyes flickering to Nico, although the boy was so invested in his soup he didn't notice the quiet longing and sadness in Will's blue eyes. "Any time."

Nico watched everyone laugh and splash about in the water. It was an exceptionally warm Saturday and the entire group plus their Goode friends (A/N: Get it? Goode Friends? Hehe) had decided to visit a park just outside the city. There was a large pool of water, stream fed and currently most of his friends were taking turns swinging off a tire attached to a tree into the pool. It was relaxing being away from the city, and Nico watched in satisfaction as Frank and Hazel chatted on the bank of the river, heads close together.

He heard a strangled cry and saw that Jason had knocked Percy off a fallen tree that acted as a bridge over the river. "I'm King of the River!" Jason hollered, only to have Piper stealthily nudge the back of his knee causing him in splash in as well.

Nico snickered and lounged back in the shade of an oak, dressed head to toe in black as usual despite the heat. He got up and stretched, wanting to explore the forest some more. He considered telling Hazel, then decided that it wasn't worth interrupting the couple. Melting into the shadows, he began to follow the river downstream.

As usual, Nico's thoughts flickered to Will. For the last three months, Will had made it a habit of coming over to his house every Sunday to play board games and cook for them, not to mention he'd started having them and Frank come over once a week just to study. He claimed he needed help from Frank with math, but seeing Frank and Hazel awkwardly flirting with each other, Nico suspected Will was trying to set them up.

This confused Nico to no end. Will had made it pretty obvious before that he liked Hazel, so why now was he encouraging Frank and her to get together? It made no sense. He shook his head, trying to think of something else besides Will, but a small group of clovers clustered along the river triggered a memory from last month.

"I can't believe I lost!" Nico groused, as Will bankrupted him. Hazel grinned and moved her piece along the Monopoly board.

"I guess I shouldn't leave you to our finances," Hazel teased. Nico huffed.

"This is just a game of luck, and I have terrible luck."

He was too busy pouting to notice the pained quick look Hazel and Will exchanged.

"It's a genetic disease." Will read to Hazel. She nodded, sniffling.

"I guess Nico just got the short end of the genetic pool," she said sadly. "Poor boy. First he lost his sister to an accident and now this."

The next day, Will had run up to him in the hall just as Nico was closing his locker. "Here." He shoved a square package at Nico, wrapped in newspaper. "See you tomorrow!"

Nico stood there in surprise as Will wove through the crowd and disappeared out the doors. Later that night, when he unwrapped the package, he found a light glass frame half filled with four leaf clovers. From the colour of them, it seemed that Will had collected the four leaf clovers over a lifetime. A sticky note was stuck on the face.

Since you don't have any luck Death Boy, you can have mine.

Nico leaned down and fingered through the cluster by the river. No four-leaf clovers here. Since he'd gotten the frame, he'd only managed to add one more to the collection. He couldn't imagine how hard Will must have worked to collect all the ones he'd given Nico. Continuing down the path, Nico noticed the river split.

He decided to follow the smaller stream as it wove deeper into the forest. Nico inhaled the scent of damp greenery as a serenity wrapped its gentle arms around him. The stream slowed to a trickle, and Nico considered turning back, but he forged on anyways. Pushing through the ferns, Nico saw the stream combine with other trickles and a few miles later, he heard the muted roar of a waterfall.

Interest piqued, he peered over the edge of a shallow cliff to see the water rush down about 10 feet into a small pool. He was surprised to see that at the base of the waterfall there was a boy with bright yellow hair.

As Nico leaned over to see who it was, he slipped on the wet rocks and gave an astonished gasp, tumbling forward. Luckily, he wasn't hurt. Unfortunately, that was because he landed on someone.

"Uhh," the blonde boy groaned from underneath Nico. Nico scrambled off of the stranger, but his apologies died on his lips when the boy rolled over, blinking in confusion.

"Will!?" Nico cried.

Nico almost didn't recognize Will. Gone were the tight clothes, and neatly spiked hair. Will was wearing a loose orange camp T-shirt with a blue plaid shirt thrown causally over top. Instead of tight jeans, he wore a pair of surfing shorts and flip flops. His hair was messy, as if he had just rolled out of bed and Nico realized it was longer than he'd thought, and fell in soft waves over his forehead.

Scattered around Will were medical textbooks and papers, and Nico realized with chagrin that he was stepping on one of Will's books. Will sat up, rubbing his head and squinted at Nico.

"Did it hurt you at all when you fell from heaven di Angelo?" he groaned, "Because it sure hurt me when I fell for you."

Nico hoped Will was too addled to see his face turn crimson. "I'm sorry," he muttered, glancing away. Then a thought struck him, "I thought you were too busy studying for your entrance exam to come to the lake," he accused.

Will grunted, "I was studying." He winked, "But you're a more than welcome distraction."

Nico shook his head and knelt down, "I hope you didn't get a concussion or anything."

Will pressed his lips together, "From my self diagnosis, I'll be fine." He grabbed Nico's hand and Nico instantly flinched away. But Will was adamant and Nico reluctantly let Will guide his hand to Will's head. "Feel that bump? It's on a non-vital part of my head. So there shouldn't be any problems."

Nico quickly withdrew his hand, already missing the feel of Will's soft curls. He hoped Will hadn't noticed his racing pulse. "Sorry anyways." He muttered.

Will flashed him that bright grin that Nico thought he'd be used to by now, but it still sent skeletal butterflies fluttering in his stomach. "No worries. So why don't you hang out with me for a bit, I could honestly use a break from studying."

Nico nodded, both terrified and thrilled to be spending time alone with Will. His initial awkwardness soon fell away though as he and Will began to banter about their courses and random topics.

"Apollo is the best god!" Will surmised. Nico shook his head.

"No way, Hades has an empire and army of the dead."

Scoffing, Will bumped Nico with his shoulder. "You only say that because you dress like a Prince of the Underworld." It was true, Nico was outfitted in dark jeans, a black T-shirt and dark brown aviator jacket. His converse were dirty enough that there was practically no white showing through as well.

Nico sniffed, "Then you dress like a sun god. That bright orange shirt is burning my eyes."

Grinning cheekily, Will puffed out his chest. "I am a sun god, can't you see that I'm so hot?"

"Even blind, I'd still know how hot you are," Nico admitted. There was a tense pause, as Nico desperately tried to think of a way to retract his words. Then Will began chuckling softly.

"Flirting di Angelo? I see I'm rubbing off on you." Will began to lean closer to Nico, his blue eyes tracing over Nico lazily.

"It's a side effect of being too close to you," Nico breathed, heart racing erratically as he tried to sort out whether he should go in to fight or flight mode.

"Mhmm, not close enough." Will murmured, bringing a hand up to brush Nico's hair out of his face. Nico involuntarily found himself moving in, their lips just inches apart.

BRRRRINNGGGGGGG

Ohhh, so close ;) I wonder who would call to interrupt Nico and Will? Please review!