Oh, it's you", Nico said, feeling a red-hot heat fill his cheeks as suddenly his thoughts, which had been dropping farther and farther into the abyss of self-loathing, slowed down, stopped, and began circling around the blonde boy who stood in front of him.

For some reason, Nico couldn't tear his eyes away from Will ("Well, that wasn't entirely true", a treacherous inner voice whispered, "You know exactly why you can't tear your eyes away from him". The heat in Nico's face only intensified at the implications of that statement). He was, admittedly (though Nico would die before he said this out loud) attractive. With shaggy blond hair, brilliant blue eyes that sparkled with joy as he looked at Nico, and a surfer-body that most men would die for, he was basically a smaller version of the father, with none of the arrogance typical of the gods (and yes, Nico had to begrudgingly admit, that included his father).

There was something about Will that made Nico feel nervous. It wasn't a monster-aura per se, just a strange aura that surrounded Will, that silenced Nico's tongue when he looked at Will, that made skeletal butterflies fill his stomach when he talked to Will, that made him find Will so fucking attractive... no wait, he meant, find Will so ... so... enthralling, yes, that's right. Oh all right fine, Nico was aware of his growing crush on the young son of Apollo, but he was not ready for another relationship. He likely wouldn't be for months. And even after that, so what ? Once Will got to know Nico, he would become increasingly annoyed with him, until eventually, he left. They all did, in the end

And to Nico, that would be worse. To see someone's love for you lessen is far worse than there simply never being any love in the first place. And so, Nico would pluck the blossom before it had a chance to bloom, he would kill the child...(wait no no no , use a better analogy, better analogy), he wouldn't leave any chink in his armor, through which tricky things like heartbreak and emotions could stab him.

Then Will smiled, somewhat confused at why Nico had been staring at him for three straight minutes, and Nico was enthralled. He felt hypnotized by the way Will's skin folded right at the corner of his lips when he smiled, or the way beads of sweat shimmered on his collarbone like a pearl necklace, or the way his eyes seemed to catch the light and reflect it at Nico, like diamonds or sapphires (the non-cursed variety), or the small scar just above his lip, a paler shade than the rest of his skin. An earring dangled from one of his ears - a sun, made from a citrine, with golden stylized "rays", and a small music note dangling from it (Nico had no idea what it was. Will probably did though. I mean, Nico hoped he did, since it was hanging from his ear). He wore a Camp Half-blood T-shirt, which rode up slightly, revealing his lightly muscled stomach. As Nico stared at said stomach, he felt like his final braincells had just died, sacrificing themselves in the name of Will Solace's majesty ("So much for "plucking the blossom before it blooms"", a small, sensible part of his brain mourned. The rest of his brain ignored this remark in favor of admiring Will)

Was he even attracted to men ? Gods, Nico hoped so. Although, with Nico's track record, chances are he wasn't, simply because luck was practically never on Nico's side.

As he pondered this dilemma, Will's expression transformed from a slightly confused smile, to a more concerned look. He tapped Nico on the shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts and igniting a few dozen more, and asked in a concerned voice, "Hey, Death Boy, you okay ?"

That completely snapped him out of his trance-like state. "Huh ? What do you mean ?". Will silently pointed to a spot directly behind Nico. He turned and saw a positively vast pile of rotten flesh, practically forming a small hill

"Huh... I'm.. I'm sure it's fine. It.. it probably fertilizes the land..."
"Nico, you pulled it out of the land"
"I brought it to the surface, where it can fertilize... more ?"
"Nico"
"I'm fine !"

Will didn't look convinced. In fact, he looked even more worried after Nico's vehement denial. A small amount of warmth blossomed in Nico's heart at the thought that Will was worried about him, which was quickly overshadowed by indignity. Before Nico could start trying to figure out what to do, or how to remove the mass of rotten flesh now perched on the shore of the Camp Half-blood lake, a voice distracted him

Another camper ran into the clearing. Nico vaguely remembered seeing him during the camp's many games of Capture The Flag, maybe on the Ares team ? Nico wasn't quite sure

The camper leant forward, gasping for breath. Nico felt sympathy for him. It couldn't have been an easy feat, running all the way from the camp-centre (presumably) to the lake.
"There you guys are", he managed to gasp out, "Chiron's looking for you"
Will stepped forward, looking worried, "What happened ? Did someone breach the defenses ?"
"Worse. Rachel just collapsed. A prophecy is about to be issued"

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