Will startles when he feels someone drop down onto the log beside him, turning his head towards them. Darkly lined cat eyes gleam back at him, and he shrinks back a little bit, overwhelmed by the smell of her perfume.
"Drew. Hi." He says, and the older girl hums, flicking her dark ringlets over her shoulder.
"Will. How are things?" Will blinks at her, and she stares back, one eyebrow raised. "What? We made a truce. This is friendship now."
"Okay…." Will says slowly, still eyeing Drew. She huffs, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh please, I know you don't clam up like this around anyone else. You're a chatterbox." She complains, and Will can't help but laugh.
"I 'pose that's true. I just didn't expect…" He motions to Drew. "Alla this all at once." She shrugs, leaning in closer to Will. He leans back more, his eyes wide. Uhh…what? "What are you doing?"
"Shhh, my Aphrodite senses are tingling." She shushes him, squinting at Will with a calculated look in her dark eyes. What the heck is she talking about? No way it's… Will's gaze slides over to Nico for just a second, the younger boy quietly speaking to Hazel who is sitting next to him, his sister's cinnamon curls glowing like hot coals in the light of the fire. Drew follows his line of sight, and her glossy lips curl into a grin. Shit. "AHA! Nova owes me FIFTEEN drachma!" Drew cries, and Will squeaks, covering Drew's mouth with his hand. A few campers look at them in confusion, and Will gives them an awkward smile. Katie just gives him a questioning look, shaking her head and continuing her conversation with her sister Briar.
"Drew Tanaka, you will shut your dang mouth." He hisses, glaring at the older girl. She just bats her eyelashes playfully, and Will narrows his eyes, before sighing. "He's not out, Drew." He says, his voice hushed. "I may be, but he's not, and you know better than to out someone forcefully, as a daughter of the goddess of love."
She sighs, prying Will's hand off her mouth. "You're fucking up my lip gloss, Solace, gods. I won't say anything, I promise! I do know that, and I also know that di Angelo would probably vaporize me or something if I did that. I'm not STUPID, contrary to what people think about me and my siblings." Will frowns.
"I don't think your cabin is stupid. Just because you don't wanna fight doesn't mean you're stupid. Your cabin's gifts lie in other venues, like mine does." Drew stares at Will for a second,a small smile tugging up her lips.
"Wow, you really are as nice as people here say you are." Will frowns at her again.
"Did you think otherwise?" He questions, and Drew shrugs her shoulders, her ringlets cascading down her back with the movement.
"People talk you up like some bonafide Disney Princess, and I thought there was no damn way you were that nice, but shit, you are. Kudos to that, I guess." Will can't help the laugh that bubbles out of his chest.
"Well… uh thanks I guess? I just think that bein' nice to people is a good thing. Plus, I'm a healer, so…" He trails off.
"I do know that, you've healed my nose, remember? Saved the camp too, I suppose." Drew teases, and Will snorts.
"Did not. Just healed some people up. Doin' my job." Drew shakes her head tapping her long nails against the wood of the log they are sitting on. The sound is oddly comforting to Will, reminding him of Melody when she's had way too much caffeine.
"You downplay yourself too much, Solace. Have some fucking confidence or something. You're hot, you're powerful, act like it." She stands up, dusting off her dark jean skirt. "Now before your siblings break out the guitars or lyre or whatever and start singing some cheesy shit, I have to go fight Piper for the last marshmallow. Toodles." She turns, stalking away and leaving Will in her wake.
Her leaving attracts Nico's attention and he looks over at Will, a questioning look on his face. Will just shakes his head.
Later. He mouths at Nico. Nico nods once, his dark eyes gleaming in the firelight before he continues his conversation with Hazel.
Will sighs, burying his face in his hands. This is not good. He's been trying to protect Nico, but if he's that easy to clock…
This could go very wrong very fast.
Damnit.
—
There's a cacophony of shouts as Will enters his cabin, and he stops in the doorway, blinking in confusion. Anteros has dramatically thrown himself onto the nearest beanbag, Melody is practically running laps around the cabin, crowing something at the top of her lungs in French, while Austin looks on, plucking at his guitar while laughing.
"What the hell?" Will questions, and Nico looks up at Will with a slightly dazed expression, but there's warmth, and dare Will say, happiness, in his brown eyes.
"Nico's a LOVER girlie!" Anteros wails, and Will can't help the laugh that bubbles out of his chest. Oh, dramatic, dramatic Anteros. Never change.
"I'm not a girlie." Nico frowns at Anteros, and his brother just sighs dramatically, holding the back of his hand to his forehead like he is checking for a fever, or fainting.
"It's a figure of SPEECH di Angelo. I KNOW that." Anteros says, and Will just laughs plopping down next to Nico on a beanbag.
"What's alla this about?" Nico shrugs his shoulders, leaning into Will slightly.
"Nico said he liked LOVER the best. LOVER. HER WORST ALBUM!" Anteros cries, and Melody just laughs.
"I knew he would! Behind all of this… black hardened exterior is a very soft person, I could just tell." She croons, and Nico makes a face.
"Melody's favorite is Lover." Will laughs softly. "If this is about what I think it is, the battle of the Taylor Swift albums." Nico nods, fiddling with a stray hangnail.
"I just… I liked the lyrics. Reminded me a lot of… things." Nico says quietly, and Will nods. He gets it. "Do you have one?"
"A favorite Taylor album?" Nico nods, and Will shrugs. "I like most of her music, but my sibs say that Fearless is very… me coded." Nico hums. "It's one of the more country ones, and it's very fairytale-esque. So I haveta agree with them."
"I have to admit, I'm starting to get the obsession your siblings have with it. Music. Pop music, I mean." Nico says. "It just… it feels weird learning everything like this. It feels backwards." Will hums, resting his chin on Nico's shoulder.
"Eh, not everyone is as in tune to pop culture as we are. I don't think this has much to do with your delayed aging at all." Nico makes a noncommittal noise, not saying anything back.
They've not talked about it much, honestly.
Everything that Nico had gone through.
"Hazel wants to meet you properly." Nico says after a minute of watching Anteros and Melody still bickering.
"Mm? You told her about us now?" Will asks, and Nico nods, fiddling with the ring on his middle finger.
"It was… a lot. But Frank was there too, so he helped a lot." Nico admits. "I… I should have taken you up on the offer to be there too." Will sits up a bit.
"It went well though?" He asks gently, and Nico nods.
"Just a lot of explaining and stuff. She's happy though. Nothing… untoward."
"Untoward." Will snorts, and Nico swats his shoulder.
"Stop making fun of me." He says, and Will just laughs.
"But you're so cute when you get embarrassed, your ears turn all red!" He says, and Nico just rolls his eyes, pushing Will away from him.
"You're annoying." Nico says, and Anteros laughs from across the room.
"Woah, we really do understand Italian, don't we? That's fucking cool." Nico sighs.
"I need to learn another language so I can shit talk your siblings in peace, Will." He complains. Anteros launches a rubber band at Nico's head, but the younger boy avoids it easily, flipping off Anteros from his seat on the bean bag.
"Ah, I see we are at the fighting with my siblings part of the relationship." Will says solemnly. "Maybe I should get into a fight with Hazel just to even things out." Nico laughs softly, the sound echoing through the front room.
"Nah. She's going back to Camp Jupiter soon anyway." Nico frowns, and Will tilts his head. He can tell Nico is sad about it.
"Middle of September, yeah?" Nico nods. "You still have a few weeks with her, don't worry, Neeks." Nico shrugs his shoulders, but Will can see that he's just trying to brush off his actual feelings about the topic, his dark eyes looking away from Will.
"I was just used to having someone around, I guess." He says quietly, and Will feels his heart break a little bit for his boyfriend.
"Hey, she's always an Iris away. Plus when you're stronger, I don't see why you can't practice shadow traveling." Nico snaps his head up, looking over at Will with wide eyes. "What? I didn't say you could NEVER shadow travel again! Just when you're stronger! Until we know what's going on with your powers." Will says and Nico just stares at him.
"I thought you banned me completely." Nico admits and Will rolls his eyes, sighing deeply.
"Why would I do that? It's your powers. I'm your boyfriend, not your keeper. I just don't want you to DIE, Neeks!" He says, and Nico looks a bit taken aback, like no one has ever said that to him. "You worry me sometimes, you know that right? Sometimes it's like you have less than zero regard for your safety or nothin'. And that WORRIES me! I've already had so many people I care for die—"
"I know that, Will." Nico interrupts, an unreadable expression on his face. "I don't know if you noticed, but the same thing has happened to me."
"Yet you have zero regard for yourself!" Will exclaims, and Nico's eyes harden.
"Yeah, I wonder why that could be. Maybe it's something to do with everyone avoiding me because of my dad and treating me like an outcast." Will sighs. They are not getting into this fight again.
"I don't want to fight with you about this, Nico." He says softly, his shoulders deflating. His siblings had rightfully fucked off long ago, leaving the two of them to their conversation.
"You can't keep treating me like I'm breakable then." Nico says, and Will looks at his boyfriend for a long minute. Memorizes the hardened brown of his irises, the frown setting his mouth in a line.
He finally gives in. "I'm sorry. I'm trying too." Will admits, running a hand through his hair. "But we've talked about this. Letting the people I care for go is an… issue of mine. My control issues. We both have to give each other some grace about this, Neeks." Nico pulls his knees up to his chest, resting his chin on them, his gaze a bit far away.
"I'm not used to people caring about the things that I say." Nico admits.
"When you get a bit too… I don't wanna say suicidal but surely reckless?" Will says gently, and Nico nods.
"Yeah, that." Nico's still not looking at him, his voice low and barely audible. "It'll take some getting used to, but you don't have to worry about me, Will. I told you I'm not going anywhere, and I meant it. I don't know how many times I have to say that before you actually finally believe me. It frustrates me because it feels like you don't trust me."
"I do trust you." Will says, and Nico turns his head, resting his cheek on his knees, his dark eyes searching Will. It's always so hard for Will to know what's going on in Nico's head. Sometimes Will wishes that he had the power of mind reading, just so that he could understand Nico.
"You don't always act like it." Nico points out, and Will sighs, his fingers tap tap tapping on the floor next to the beanbag he's resting on.
"This is still new, Neeks. And something neither one of us have done. Like I said, grace. We both need it." Nico nods, chewing on the inside of his lip. Will watches his boyfriend for a minute. "C'mere." Nico sits up, a frown on his face.
"Why?" Will laughs, shaking his head.
"Can't I want affection from my boyfriend without questions? Damn." Nico rolls his eyes, but he sits up and scooches over, pressing his side into Will, resting his cheek on Will's shoulder.
"You smell nice." Nico says quietly, and Will blinks, looking down at Nico.
"Yeah?" Nico nods, thinking for a minute.
"Citrus? And a little bit like grass, like the meadow clearing you've taken me to a few times. Sunshine? That doesn't have a scent, though. Also… what is that you use to clean in the infirmary?"
"Antiseptic?" Will asks, and Nico nods.
"That's the strongest, but not all the time. Just when you've been in the infirmary for a long time and haven't showered off the smell. Sunshine and citrus is more you." Will laughs softly.
"I've always thought you reminded me of Texas." Nico frowns, his nose scrunching slightly. "Don't give me that look! It's like… you know the smell of the air after it's rained?" Nico nods, a curious look on his face.
"That's me?" Nico asks, and Will nods. "So I remind you… of your home?" A scarlet blush burns its way up Will's neck and face, and he knows how visible it is even with his tan getting deeper over the summer.
"Yeah." He says quietly, clearing his throat. Nico sits up, facing Will, and Will just looks back at him, his eyes tracing over the freckles on Nico's cheeks, the mole under his lip.
"No one's ever said that to me." Nico says, his voice a little bit wobbly.
"Neeks…" Will starts to say, but Nico just shakes his head, leaning forward and pressing his face against Will's collarbone, wrapping his thin arms around Will's waist. He doesn't say anything further. Will rests his chin on top of Nico's head, hoping his heartbeat doesn't give too much away about how much he likes this.
It's not like that would matter anyway. Nico already knows.
—
"Neeks, be an angel and get me a bandage, would ya?" Will asks, his gaze not moving from the side of the camper he's currently tending to, one of the older boys. Kit, if he remembers correctly.
A sharp metallic clatter rings through the air, and Will looks up sharply, and catches sight of Nico sheepishly picking up a set of tools that had seemingly fallen to the floor.
"Sorry, sorry, I–" Nico looks up and his eyes slide to Kit, the tips of his ears turning slightly red. "I'm picking it up, I'll put them where Yan or Melody or someone can clean them later. I wasn't looking where I was going."
"You need to be more careful, Nico." Will chastises, tsking softly. "Those are sharp, you coulda hurt yourself." Nico straightens up, nodding, not deeming an answer worthy. He turns and walks briskly back towards the storeroom, and Will can practically hear the stomping. He can't help but snort, turning back to Kit.
The older boy is staring at him with wide eyes, one eyebrow raised. Will freezes, staring back at Kit.
"I won't say anything." Kit says in a tumble, running a free hand through his dark hair. "I swear it, Will! I saw nothing, heard nothing."
Will shakes his head. Nico had said that he didn't want Will to have to hide anything from his siblings, but they hadn't quite had the conversation about camp. Nico was still unwilling to even hold his hand in front of the rest of the campers. But surely, people were starting to catch on. Gods, they really needed to talk about this.
"Kit–"
"Nuh-uh, di Angelo scares the shit out of me, and I don't have my gift of foresight for nothing." Kit shakes his head. "I'm not about to get smited or something. My lips are sealed." He pretends to lock his lips and throws the imaginary key far away. Will can't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.
"Foresight?" He asks, and Kit nods, his black bangs falling into his eyes.
"From mom. Tyche. Subsect of luck or something. Chiara didn't really explain much but I can see like a bit into the future about the choices I make. Comes in handy when I think someone is gonna stab me in Capture the Flag." A laugh bubbles out of Will's chest at Kit's words, but the look on Kit's face tells him that the older camper is 100% serious.
"Gotta admit, that's a pretty handy feat." Will says, and Nico materializes by his side.
"Got the–"
"Geez di Angelo!" Kit cries, flinching. "Can't you warn a guy before you just appear somewhere? Maybe take some steps or something?" Nico shrugs, holding the bandage in his hand out to Will.
"-bandage." He finishes his sentence, and Will just laughs, taking the strip of fabric from his boyfriend.
"Thanks, Neeks. You put the tools that fell away?" He asks, and Nico nods, picking at a piece of his nail. The pinky nail of his right hand is black, a victim of Sohee and Gracie, clearly.
"Right where you told me to the first time someone knocked them over." He says simply, and Will nods, giving Nico one of his bright smiles.
"Hey, di Angelo, Solace." A feminine voice calls from the doorway, and Will looks over to see Piper leaning against the doorway, her eyes as bright as her grin. "Percy wants to have a lake day, something before all of us go our separate ways for the summer. You two in?" Will blinks, but Nico is already nodding.
"Wait, me too?" Will asks, and Piper barks out a laugh like she doesn't believe the question, but Will just looks at her, a frown tugging down his lips. She looks a bit surprised.
"Yeah, of course you too." Piper says, stepping more into the infirmary. "We're all friends." her eyes flicker to Nico, and Will suddenly understands. Nico had told them. He can't help the swell of happiness and a little bit of pride that fills his chest. Oh, Nico really is serious about this. And happy. Oh. He deflates a little bit, thinking further.
"But I'm on shift, I can't just—"
"If you finish that sentence, I'll put a snake from Lou Ellen in your bunk at night." Kayla says, appearing in the doorway. She pushes past Piper, a apologetic look on her face as she walks past the older girl. "You've been in here all day, and you deserve to have some fun with your friends before everyone leaves for the fall. Go, Will. I'll finish Kit up here and take over." She takes the bandage from his hands.
Will thinks for a second, and he knows Kayla can see his hesitation. But he relents after a full minute of having an eye contact fight with her, and he sighs, his shoulders falling. "Fine. Fine. Thanks, K." He leans over to kiss the top of her head. "Call Anteros if you need help, yeah?" She waves her hand, before pushing on his back.
"Go have fun. I can do this, you know that."
He does.