Chapter Text
Nico woke up to the sound of somebody knocking on the door of his cabin. He rolled over with a groan and called out, “What do you want?” but when there was no response, he forced himself out of bed and threw the door open with a glare.
There was nobody there.
Nico looked around, but there were only a few campers out of their cabins so early in the morning, and they were all so far away that they couldn’t possibly have been the ones to knock. Nico started to shut the door, but at the last moment, he looked down to see a small box wrapped in decorative paper sitting atop a white envelope. He picked them up - and recognized his own name written on the envelope so there was no confusion that this was definitely left behind for him - then glanced around once more before retreating back into his cabin.
He sat down on his bed, legs criss-crossed with the gift box sitting on his lap, and he carefully opened the envelope. There was a letter inside, written on regular lined paper, though all that Nico could make out was his name at the top of the paper. He didn’t know how long he glared down at the page before there was another knock on his door, though this time, a voice followed shortly afterwards.
“Hey, Nico,” Will called through the door, “are you awake yet?”
“Yeah.”
Nico looked up when the door creaked open, and saw Will poke his head inside. “Are you ready to head to breakfast?” Nico shook his head, so Will entered the cabin fully. “Whatcha got there?”
“It’s… I don’t know,” Nico said, and held out the letter. “Did you do this?”
Will frowned. “Uh, no?”
“Can you read this to me?”
Will hesitated before accepting the letter, and he sat down beside Nico on the edge of the mattress. Will cleared his throat and started to read. “Dear Nico, I’m too much of a coward to tell you how I feel about you in person, so I decided to write to you instead. I like you, Nico, more than I’ve ever liked anybody in my life, and to prove it to you, I’m going to write you letters and give you gifts every day until Christmas. Hopefully by then I’ll have the courage to reveal myself to you and tell you how I feel in person, but until then, I hope you enjoy this gift. Oh, and one last thing: every Sunday, I’m going to give you a little hint about myself so that you get a chance to learn a little bit about your secret admirer, and since today’s Sunday, I’ll ease your mind and let you know right away that I’m a guy, so you don’t have to worry about turning a girl down at the end of the month. I’ll write to you again tomorrow, Nico. Signed, your secret admirer.”
Nico had tried to follow along over Will’s shoulder, but still hadn’t been able to read most of the words. “I have a secret admirer?”
Will shrugged, looking up from the letter with a confused pout. “I guess so. You should open the gift.”
Nico turned his focus back to the box in his lap, and carefully peeled away the wrapping paper to reveal a simple black box. The box split in half on a hinge, and when Nico pried it open, he saw two small, skull-shaped pieces of metal inside. “What are they?” he asked.
Will leaned closer to peek over Nico’s shoulder. “They look like earrings.”
Nico frowned. “But...I can’t wear earrings.”
Will almost looked a little disappointed by that statement, but perked up again almost immediately. “I bet somebody in the Aphrodite cabin can pierce your ears! I can ask them about it, if you’re ever interested.”
“Yeah, sure. Maybe someday.” Nico set the letter and earring box on the nightstand.
Will stood up and clapped his hands, rubbing them together. “So! Breakfast?”
Once Nico was dressed, the two went to breakfast together like they did every morning, and sat down beside each other at the Apollo table.
When they were settled in, Will leaned in close and asked, “Do you have any idea who your secret admirer might be?”
Nico shook his head.
“Did you say secret admirer?” Kayla asked as she sat down across from them, shooting Will a look. “You know, I bet I have a guess as to who it might be.”
“No you don’t,” Will shot back with a glare.
“The only hint I have is that he’s a guy,” Nico told her. “That doesn’t exactly narrow it down all that much, considering how many people are at camp this year.”
“Alright, well, who do you want it to be?” Austin asked from beside Nico.
Nico ducked his head to hide his blush, and to hopefully prevent anyone from seeing the way his eyes darted toward Will. “I, uh, I don’t know that either.”
With his gaze locked on the table, Nico missed the pointed looks shot at Will by every other member of the Apollo cabin.
“Okay, that’s enough, leave him alone,” Will announced, and Nico finally looked up again. “Let’s talk about today’s infirmary schedule instead, like… Who’s going to come up with a bad excuse to make me take their afternoon shift today?”
“We don’t do that!” one of his siblings called from the other end of the table.
“But…” another one started, “I did promise Billie that I would help her with her archery…”
Will rolled his eyes with a smile, and nudged Nico with his shoulder. “I guess I’ll see you at dinner later, since I’ll be in the infirmary all day. You’d better keep me updated on this secret admirer thing, deal?”
With Will smiling at him like that, Nico couldn’t help but think that he wouldn’t mind if Will did end up being his secret admirer.