Nico was nervous when he left his cabin.
He had asked the nymphs and satyrs if they could set up a picnic for him and Will. The part that made him nervous was that he planned on asking him out. That's usually how they do it in movies so he took it as a reliable source. And if this worked out in his favour, he would apologize to every fan of romance movies and books he ever made fun of mentally.
Nico already assumed that the son of Apollo showed some kind of interest in him. At least that would explain his staring which Nico only noticed after Connor Stoll had pointed it out to him. Back then he wouldn't have put as much thought into this as he would now. Only because Will took him into the forest to yell at trees and accidentally scaring some dryads away. And possibly some other living people who were close enough to hear them.
As he passed the dining pavilion he noticed Malcom Pace standing in front of the door with a tilted head to the side and a frown on his face like someone standing in front of a blackboard trying to understand the teacher's calculation. Nico stepped beside the son of Athena and began to understand his confusion.
'Chiron didn't mention a special event,' Malcom murmured. The dining pavilion was decorated with flower wreaths in more colours than Nico had ever seen in one place at once. Picnic baskets were set on every table. A bunch of nymphs were standing around, wearing their best greenery outfits.
'Gods of Olympus,' someone said behind them. Nico turned around to see Connor Stoll standing right behind them, a big smirk on his face. When did he get here?
'There you are!' Nico had spotted Juniper, who was coming up to him, holding a holly crown in here hands.
'Which one of us is she talking to?' Connor whispered to Nico and Malcom but neither of them answered as Juniper put the holly crown on Nico's head - which, by the way, did not fit with his aethetics.
'Are you ready? ' She asked excitedly, her eyes sparkling.
'Ready for what? ' Nico replied but instead of answering she pulled him to the head table. He could hear Connor calling out to the other campers to get to the pavilion. Nico was too irritated to wonder whether or not that was a good thing. Whatever this was it better be short or Nico would be late for his picnic with Will.
While Connor almost immediately sat down at the Hermes table, Malcom stood in the door as if debating whether he should get in or leave but as the other campers came closer he entered the pavilion and made his way to the Athena table. The dining pavilion filled. Nico spotted a few familiar faces like Jake Mason and Paolo Montes. And... Will Solace, who was dragged into the dining pavilion by two of his siblings. He said something that Nico couldn't make out but as soon as Will spotted Nico, he shut up and let his siblings drag him to the Apollo table.
After a surprisingly short amount of time the pavilion was filled, which made Nico wonder if the entire camp had been close by when Connor yelled for them to come. Mr D stood next to the door, watching carefully while sipping from the can of Pepsi in his hand.
'Now that everyone is here,' Juniper announced beaming and the muttering stopped almost immediately. 'I'd like to ask for your attention. Today is a special day and our friend Nico di Angelo has a big announcement to make.'
Oh, no. Now it finally dawned on Nico. This was the picnic. But instead of having a private one with Will, the entire camp was invited to watch him making a fool of himself. All eyes were on him and Nico was glad Argus wasn't here as well. The memory with Henry Whittaker crawled into his mind, but he pushed it aside. This weren't the 1940s anymore. Jason knew and he accepted him. Percy knew, and he... well, he seemed more confused with the fact that he wasn't Nico's type rather than the fact that Nico was gay. If they could be accepting, then maybe other people could be, too. And if Nico was being honest with himself, he didn't want to be around close-minded people anymore. Coming out wouldn't change whether or not the campers were accepting.
He didn't need to look around to know that Jason, Percy, Annabeth, Reyna or Coach Hedge wasn't there. The only few people who knew. Nico wondered what they'd say if they were present. He could almost hear Jason's voice saying, Own it. And with that in mind, Nico stood up and cleared his throat.
He stayed silent for a while, looking around the dining pavilion for familiar faces. Will was watching him carefully while two of his siblings, a red headed girl with dyed green hair and a boy with cornrows shaped like a double helix, smirking at him. Nico's gaze fell on Mr D who raised his eyebrows at him as if to say, What are you waiting for? Nico took this as a sign, took a deep breath and started talking without thinking much about what exactly he was saying. He just said whatever came to his mind.
'First of all,' he said. 'I'm not going to pretend like I don't know that everyone is talking about me behind my back. I know that I haven't been around much and that I've never been the most extroverted person at camp. And just so you know, I don't really care anymore.'
Most of the campers exchanged looks with their cabin mates. Nico's gaze drifted to the Apollo table where Will gave him a thumbs up. Nico took another breath before addressing the entire pavilion again.
'I'm gay', he said. 'And I'm tired of hiding. I have a crush on Will Solace.'
He dared to look at the Apollo table, where Will stared at him with an impressed expression on his face, while he was being watched closely by his siblings.
'And I want to go on a date with you,' Nico said, this time directly in Will's direction while still loud enough for the other campers to hear, who were probably looking at Will now to see for his reaction. Will closed his eyes for a brief moment, before he started smiling, looking up to Nico and answered.
'You did not have to throw a party, you know? I would have said yes if you had just asked me.'