Thanks for all the favorites and reviews! I'm not sure how long I'm going to make this, but here's another part!
The next day, they sat together in the infirmary again, brushing hands purposefully, until Will grabbed Nico's hand again. Nico didn't protest.
"So, how are we doing this?" Will asked. There was a pause, then he went on. "I suppose it's going to be awkward any way, so I'll just go for it. Will you be my boyfriend, Nico?"
Nico coughed. He looked around the room, not at Will's face.
"Nervous, sunshine?" Will teased.
"Oh, shut it," he muttered. "Yes, okay? Yes."
"Yes to which one?" said Will slyly.
"Both," Nico clarified.
"Did I manage to make the most powerful son of one of the Big Three nervous?" Nico didn't respond, so Will took that as a yes. "I'm going to go practice archery in the shooting range, okay?"
Nico stood up. "I'll come with you," he said to Will's surprise. They walked out of the building on the cloudy day, passing a few minor gods' and goddesses' cabins before reaching the archery fields. Ten targets were set up across a line, each about fifty yards away from the edge of the field. A few Apollo demigods were already there. Will grabbed a bow for himself and tossed one to Nico. He loaded an arrow, locking his vision onto the farthest-right target, and pulled back the bowstring. He released it with a satisfying twang, and it impaled itself onto the edge of the target a moment later.
"You can do better than that!" laughed one of Will's cabin mates, Natalie. She shot her own arrow and hit the target much closer to the center.
"Don't worry." Will rolled his eyes. He shot again and hit blue. He turned to Nico. "Give it a try," he encouraged.
Nico looked uncomfortable holding the large bow. Still he nocked an arrow and pulled it back, but his shot landed several feet away from the target. Will turned to help him, but Nico pushed him away. He tried again, this time taking several seconds to carefully aim and shoot. The arrow whirred through the air and thwacked solidly into the red zone just outside the bullseye. Natalie whistled. "Wow, Solace, you've got competition!"
"Oh, shut up. That was totally a lucky shot."
Nico kept shooting, and repeatedly hit the target closer than Will had. Will tried again, but wasn't doing as well as Nico. He began to doubt himself, and started thinking that he wasn't worth anything. He couldn't believe he was doing badly. Nico suggested that they leave, but just as he did, the sun peered out from behind the clouds, lighting up Will's face like magic. Will shot his final arrow, and it struck home. The tip stuck in the bullseye so deeply Will could barely pull it out.
The conch shell sounded, and they went to dinner. Afterwards, Will walked up to Nico, and asked, "Nico?"
"Yeah?" muttered Nico.
"D'you want to go watch the fireworks outside tonight?" Nico looked slightly panicked. He didn't reply right away, so Will quickly added, "We don't have to if you don't want-"
"No! I mean, no, it's fine, I mean, I want to," Nico blurted. "Just I was supposed to be on kitchen duty tonight."
"Oh, I'm sure I can find someone else to do it," said Will, running his hand through his hair. He jumped up, saying, "I think Percy's free," as he left.
Nico immediately ran after him. "No, Will!" he shouted. Will didn't look. "Will, STOP!"
"It's no problem, Nico!" called Will back. "I don't mind asking someone else." Nico grabbed at his hair in frustration.
Will spotted Percy talking to Annabeth by a bright fire. Percy was eating a blue bagel and casually tossing pieces into the fire as he talked. "Hey, Will, what's up?" asked Percy.
"Not much, just wondering if you could swap kitchen duty with Nico tonight." Will remembered too late that Nico had liked Percy. That was what Nico had been saying.
Percy looked surprised. "Uh, yeah, sure, Nico," he mumbled. "Are you guys, like, um.."
Will reddened. The words got caught in the back of his throat. "Yeah," he managed. "Gotta go, thanks." He ran back, silently cursing himself.
"I am so sorry, Nico," were the first words out of Will's mouth when he reached Nico again.
Nico looked like he was about to raise skeletons out of the ground. "I can't do this, Will," he said between clenched teeth.
"I-" Will couldn't think of anything to say. Nico walked away silently.