August 27

Nico

Nico got to the clearing early. It was the last day of his physical therapy with Will and he was nervous. They hadn't talked at all about Will falling asleep in Nico's cabin the other night, but Nico didn't think he was imagining that their arms kept brushing up against one another or that Will was visiting him during meals more or that they seemed to find each other during every break.

Piper had talked to him again, trying to prod him into doing something to show Will how he felt. Nico insisted that he wouldn't be able to actually say anything, but Piper had started listing off all sorts of things he could do instead. Finally, Nico agreed to take Will on a date for their last day of PT. He hadn't told Will he was doing this, and he wasn't about to say that's what it was, but he was supposed to do a long-distance shadow travel with Will today as a final check of strength. Will thought they would just travel from the forest to Thalia's tree, but Piper had encouraged Nico to take him into New York.

"Go to one of the museums, eat some ice cream, it'll be soooo nice," she said. Nico had given in and Piper immediately started telling him about all of her favorite museums and exhibits that they should see. She also offered to cover for them in case Chiron noticed their absence, and, finally, gave Nico some money.

"Piper, I'm not, like, your kid. You don't have to give me money for the movies or something," he said, rolling his eyes.

"No it's fine, I'm going to be at my dad's by next week anyway so it's not like I'll need it." Nico suspected she used some charm speak because he couldn't bring himself to argue.

Nico was lost in thought when Will got to the clearing. "Hey! Drachma for your thoughts?" Will said, smiling.

Nico just shook his head and they started running through the basics. Nico brought out his favorite raccoon and a few human skeletons, then sent them back. He moved some earth around, opened and closed a fissure, and bathed the clearing in darkness. After shadow traveling from one side of the clearing to the other, Will nodded and walked over.

"Well, just the long distance shadow travel is left, but really I think you're totally fine."

"Cool. I'm ready. But I was thinking… have you been to the American Museum of Natural History?"

Will looked confused. "Uh, no. Why?"

"Well, I thought we could go."

Will was quiet for a few seconds. "You mean, right now?"

"Yeah, you said I was totally fine, right? And the city isn't really that far, not like what I was doing a month ago. I have some money - we can get food when we get there and you can make sure I'm not about to disappear or whatever and if you don't want us to shadow travel back I can always just call Jules-Albert." Nico did his best attempt at puppy-dog eyes, but wasn't sure how well he pulled it off.

Will caved though, and smiled. "Ok fine, but any sign of disappearing or being tired or anything and you're calling your zombie."

Nico just grinned and took Will's arm, stepping into the shadows.

They arrived at the edge of Central Park and Will immediately fell to the ground. "You do that all the time? I feel like I was just on a rollercoaster, but it was all ice, and ..."

"Right, sorry, I forgot to warn you. You get used to it, I promise," Nico looked worried and kneeled down next to Will.

"No, it's fine, I just wasn't ready for it." Will sat back in the grass. "I might need a second though."

Perfect. This was probably the worst start to a date ever. Did it make it better or worse that Will didn't know he was on a date? It was probably best he didn't know.

After a few minutes Will stood up, less pale, and they walked into the museum. Nico got them tickets and they decided to wander through the rooms with gems and minerals first. The museum wasn't very busy, and the hush over the exhibits meant they didn't say much to each other, just pointed out something interesting now and then.

Nico was glad for the quiet, because he couldn't get Piper's advice out of his head. Tell him how you feel. You two obviously connect. He obviously likes you, and maybe he doesn't want to make the first move because of stupid Matteo or your zombie army or something. Don't fall into some holding pattern where you're both waiting for the other to do something, trust me. You hardly even talk about anything else, so please just do me a favor and tell him already. Nico suspected that she had been hangry when she told him that last part.

They moved on to the fossil halls. "So," Will leaned over, talking softly in Nico's ear so the guards couldn't hear, "if you wanted to, could you make that T-Rex and Apatosaurus chase each other around?"

Nico suppressed a shiver from Will's breath against his neck. "Hm… maybe? It feels like some of their bones are actually casts though, so I'm not sure how well it would work."

"Oh, bummer. What are those powers even good for then?" Will said as he bumped his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'll talk to my dad about that."

They walked through a few more exhibits before Will sighed, "We should probably head back. I told Lou Ellen that I'd let her practice some mist stuff on me later."

"Oh, right," Nico was disappointed. As much as he didn't really want to say anything to Will, he also couldn't get Piper's voice out of his head. He knew that he might not get a better chance to tell him, and Piper's warning about getting stuck in some sort of friend/not friend limbo seemed worse than just getting it over with.

"Um, want to get food in the cafe first?" Nico said, in a way he hoped sounded very casual and not at all desperate.

"Yeah, sure. Maybe it'll make the return trip easier."

They picked out some snacks and found a corner table. Nico felt panicked. Should he just say it? No, he should sort of steer the conversation in that direction, right? How would one do that? Especially since they were just sitting there in silence.

"You ok? Your ice cream is … freezing," Will said, poking the side of the paper bowl. "Like, it's colder than when they gave it to you."

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

"Because if you don't feel ok, we should just call Jules-Albert."

"No! I mean, no, it isn't that. It's nothing."

"... ok."

They went back to silence. Great. Tell me to go fight Kronos, no problem. Tell me to say a couple sentences to Will, I literally freeze. He took a deep breath.

"Thanks for coming today. I know we were supposed to just stay around camp."

"Yeah, it was cool. I hardly ever get to leave, it was nice." Will smiled at him and Nico tried to get his nerves under control.

"If you ever want to do this again, like, as a date? Or, you know, not as a date. Or whatever. I'd like that." Nico swallowed and was suddenly very interested in his ice cream. Will didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"Yeah."

Nico looked up. Will was blushing and staring at the table. "Yeah?"

"Yeah, a date. Um, I'd like that too."

"Really? I mean, ok. Yeah. Awesome."

They fell back into silence, but both were very obviously trying to not grin and they kept glancing up at each other. A few minutes later, both boys had finished their food and they stood to leave. They ducked in a deserted hallway and Nico brought them back to camp.

Will handled the return trip much better. "So, I need to go find Lou Ellen, but … see you later?"

"For sure, later." Nico was still elated and didn't trust himself to say more than a few words at a time. Will just nodded and headed off toward the cabins.

Nico found Piper at the archery range. He didn't even have to say anything. She just looked at him for a second, squealed, and then hugged him and said, "Ohmygods finally. You're going to tell me everything that happened."