A/N: Obligatory beach episode is here! XD I wanted to get this one out fast because of the long delay for the last one, so I hope you guys like it ^-^

25

Will

"Here we are!" Will practically leaped out of his car and spread his arms out wide, closing his eyes and inhaling a deep breath of the salty ocean air. "Smell that, Nico? That's the smell of freedom."

Nico—who had just gotten out of the car and was leaning against it with his arms crossed, wearing an awkward grimace—pursed his lips. "No, I'm pretty sure that's the smell of dead sea creatures and sunscreen." His nose crinkled up adorably. "And also... seaweed? Yep, that's seaweed, Will."

Will shot him a look and crossed his arms poutingly. "Nico, it's freedom. Salty air, the sun on your skin, sand beneath your feet!" He waved an arm to encompass the entirety of the beach. "It's beautiful!" He turned back to the dark-haired boy—who was still scowling—and clasped his hands together with a pleading look. "At least try to look like you don't want to grab the nearest plastic sand shovel and dig your own grave, okay?"

A loud, drawn-out sigh; an eye roll. "Fine. But don't expect me to have any fun. I told you already; water, sunlight and I don't mix."

"Whatever you say, Nico." Feeling like this was still a small victory on his part, Will beamed and went around to the back of his car to grab the multitudinous beach equipment he'd stocked it with when they stopped by his house earlier. "Nico, come help me unload, would you?"

The Italian grumbled something in response and walked around, watching as Will popped the trunk and started gathering armfuls of random things—sand-castle-making tools, goggles, sunblock, and a beach ball, to name a few. While he started arranging them into a more comfortable carrying position in his arms, Nico grabbed the cooler, chairs, and umbrella, struggling under the weight of it all, stumbling and careening back and forth. Will would've offered to take some of it from him if Nico didn't look so adorable and his hands weren't already full.

"Let's go find a spot!" Will exclaimed this with perhaps a bit too much enthusiasm, but he didn't care. He needed to get Nico excited. This was his first trip to the beach, after all; Will wanted to make it as special and memorable as he possibly could. It was also their first trip to the beach together... He wanted to have as much fun as possible.

Nico sighed and nodded, and Will started walking down the wooden path leading to the sand, Nico struggling along behind him, precariously balancing the objects he was carrying, barely able to see above the cooler, which was perched in his arms, under which the two chairs were held, the umbrella sandwiched loosely in the crook of his armpit. "Will, hurry and find a spot before I drop all this," he complained, nearly running head-first into a wooden post and careening around it, barely managing to avoid tripping and sending all of his stuff flying.

Will held back the insane urge to squeal how adorable he was to the whole universe and instead assured him he was looking for a spot, but that they had to be close to the ocean because the view was better. While Nico continued stumbling along behind him like a newborn deer, muttering curses under his breath, Will kept his eyes out for a suitable spot to set up. "Oh, I see one!"

Doing an awkward shuffle-run, Will plunked down the beach toys to mark the spot as theirs. "Nico, you can set down the—" Before Will could finish, there was a large wet splattering sound as Nico unceremoniously dropped all of the contents of his arms onto the moist sand, letting out a huge relieved breath.

"Well... okay then." Will started arranging the chairs and Nico reluctantly helped organize the beach toys into piles and set up the umbrella over the chairs when Will had finished. When they had finished, Will stood back, surveying their work with a proud smile, hands on his hips. "Alright!" He dusted the sand off his hands with a wide smile Nico's way. "Let's beach day the shit out of you!"

"Will, I'm not so sure about this," Nico said nervously, shifting from foot to foot as if he were ready to make a break for it. Will stood in front of him, feet already in the tide, and turned to give him an unamused look. "Nico, get over here. The ocean is not going to kill you."

"Mmm..." Nico made a noise of disbelief but took a half-step towards the water anyway. Will, growing impatient, grabbed him by the hand and pulled him out into the ocean. Nico let out a kitten-like squeal and backpedaled, causing him to trip over a sand dune and tumble backward. He looked up at Will, who was struggling not to laugh, and shot him a glare. "This isn't funny, so don't you dare laugh."

He stood up, dusting the sand off his swim trunks and black shirt—which he'd refused to take off—irritably. "I've just... I've never been in the ocean before. It feels... odd." He looked at the aforementioned body of water as if it had personally offended him and took another step away from it.

Will smiled at him fondly. Gosh, sometimes Nico was way too cute for someone so emo. (Then again, Will wasn't sure he could classify him as that anymore, considering he was afraid of the beach and loved Disney movies.) Nico was still shaking the sand off of himself with a small annoyed scowl. Getting a sudden idea, Will grinned mischievously and, while Nico was distracted, snuck up on him and scooped him up bridal-style.

Ignoring the boy's shouts of protest, he sprinted to the water and chucked Nico in like a sack of flower. The Italian let out an inhuman-like scream, popping up out of the water like a jack-in-the-box. He was soaking wet and his eyes held a note of disbelief as he turned to look at Will, who was wearing an innocent smile, already holding up his hands, as even an idiot could see where this was going.

"WILLIAM SOLACE HO INTENZIONE DI CAZZO OMICIDIO VOI! I SWEAR TO FUCK GET OVER HERE!"

Will turned with a loud squeal of laughter as Nico started chasing him around screaming bloody murder, waving his fists back and forth like a senile old man yelling at some kids. "WILL I SWEAR TO THE GODS YOU'RE SO FUCKING DEAD WHEN I CATCH YOU! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME?! I TRUSTED YOU!"

"I'M SORRY!" Will yelled back, voice full of laughter. People were watching them, some with raised brows and others with amused smiles, and Will felt unnaturally happy because of it, though he probably should've been fearing for his life considering some of the threats Nico were shouting. This was actually... really fun.

Unfortunately, Will couldn't keep running forever, and eventually, he tripped over his own feet and sprawled face-first in the sand, allowing Nico to catch up to him. He tackled Will, leaping on his back like a wild cat, and sending him back down with an oof. He struggled to his knees as Nico wrapped his arms around his shoulders, refusing to let him go, and coughed out sand, laughing. "Ahaha, Nico, you're strangling me!"

"This is what you get for tossing me in the water like that!" he yelled back. Will struggled to his feet, feeling water running down his back from Nico's wet shirt. "I said I was sorry! But you needed a little push." He shot the boy a smile over his shoulder, causing Nico to scowl.

"A little push?" he asked incredulously. "You call throwing me in the water a 'little push'?"

Will grinned. "Eh, okay, maybe it was a bit excessive. But you're not afraid of going in the ocean anymore, right?"

"No, but you should be because I now have a creeping, intense urge to drown you."

"Aw, you would never drown me," Will said, placing a kiss on Nico's wet cheek. "I'm too handsome to die."

Nico scoffed, flicking him on the side of the head. "You wish, sunshine. You must be delusional. I think you swallowed some sand."

Will chuckled, sliding his arms under Nico's knees and shifting so he could find his center of balance and walk easier wth the added weight. He started walking back towards their spot, squinting up at the sun as the sand squished between his toes. "Y'know, Nico, I just realized something."

"What's that?"

"I am starving. Let's go buy some food!"

"You are a dork," Nico proclaimed factually. "But I also happen to be hungry, so let's go."

"Alright, let's get back in the water!" Will exclaimed as soon as they'd finished eating and thrown their garbage away. "I feel revitalized and ready to swim!"

Nico shook his head adamantly. "Absolutely not. I read online that you're supposed to wait an hour after you eat before going swimming again." He crossed his arms and shot Will an incredulous look. "I figured you'd know that, being 'Dr. William Solace, MD' and all."

"Hey, you be quiet," Will said sternly. "That's just a myth, Nico. Nothing bad will happen if you go swimming after eating. I do it all the time and I'm still perfectly fine!" He gestured to himself as if to prove that he was indeed alive and in one piece. Nico rolled his eyes at this, shaking his head. "Will, why don't we just go sunbathe or something? We can go swimming later."

Will put on a fake pout. "Oh, fine. But sunbathing is so boring. Let's go make a sandcastle instead!"

"You are literally like a five-year-old trapped in a teenager's body," Nico told him as they started walking back across the beach towards their spot. Will laughed and bumped their shoulders together. "I know. It just adds to my quirky personality, don't you think?"

"Absolutely," Nico agreed with a smirk. "It makes you even more annoying."

"Oh, that hurts." Will held a hand to his heart with a melodramatic sigh. "Really, Nico, you wound me."

"Oh, be quiet." Nico shoved him lightly and Will glanced over at him with a smile. He was glad Nico appeared to be having fun. That had been the whole point of this beach day, after all. And the more time they spent together, the more things Will found out about Nico. It felt nice slowly getting to know him better and better, like digging in the sand to uncover a seashell. Each day they spent together, Will felt his heart growing bigger and bigger as his love for Nico just kept getting stronger.

It felt odd to love someone this much this quickly, but at the same time, it felt immensely right. Maybe it was a stupid thought, but Will felt like he and Nico had something special; the kind of special poets wrote about and epic romances tried to capture. Maybe it was naive, and maybe he was being a little too sappy, but somehow he could feel that their bond would only grow stronger from here...

They spent the rest of the day at the beach, right up to the sunset. They were laying out on their towels now, staring up at the sky, which was painted in pinks and reds from the dying sun. Will had sand crusted on his feet and in his hair, he'd swallowed at least a cup of seawater, and he was bone-tired from swimming and about 99% sure he had a sunburn he would definitely be feeling tomorrow, but somehow, the night was perfect.

"Hey, look." Nico pushed himself up on one elbow and pointed at the skyline to their left, where a trail of light sped up into the sky before bursting into a bright explosion of purple light, followed quickly by several others, filling the air with the sound of crackling and popping as colors exploded across the stars.

Will sat up next to him and together they stared up at the night sky, watching the fireworks. Sometime during the show, Nico shifted back to rest against Will's chest, he black hair somehow still soft after hours of swimming, tickling Will's chin. As the last firework went off, creating a storm of bright gold sparks, Nico tilted his head back to meet Will's eyes. "Thank you for bringing me here. I had... lots of fun today."

"It was my pleasure." Will smiled down at him, watching as the last vestiges of the fireworks cast a reflection like falling stars in the deep ebony pools of his eyes. He reached down to brush the hair out of his eyes, feeling Nico shiver, though whether it was from the breeze off the water or his touch, he didn't know, nor did he care at this particular moment. Nico had closed his eyes and Will bent down to close the gap between them.

He tasted of salt water, sunshine, and the ocean breeze, and the angle from above was awkward, but somehow, this was the perfect kiss, and Will couldn't be happier.

A/N: I gave you the Solangelo beach kiss, are you happy now? XD I hope you guys enjoyed this little fluff chapter. Next time we'll get back to the main plot. I'm kinda sad to see this story coming to an end. We only have a few chapters left. But I did decide to make a sequel so the story will continue on! Anyway, remember to follow and favorite if you enjoyed the story, and leave comments, corrections, and suggestions down in the review section. Until next time! Ciao~

Translations;

- HO INTENZIONE DI CAZZO OMICIDIO VOI! = I'M GOING TO FUCKING MURDER YOU!