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Nico was pretty sure he was the only son of Aphrodite who was absolutely hopeless at love. All of his siblings were naturals at crushing, flirting, dating—well, he couldn’t get the hang of it and he didn’t really want to, thank you very much.
Sometimes he felt like he wasn’t supposed to be in cabin 10 at all. When Aphrodite claimed him, a scrawny 10-year-old in a ratty aviator jacket with messy hair and not an ounce of charm to his name…Well, it all seemed like a mistake, and it felt like his siblings thought the same.
They’d tried. They’d brought him in, given him a bunk—Hades, they’d given him a makeover. They taught him how to do makeup, how to have fun with it, taught him the most bearable ways to make the orange camp shirts work in an outfit. But after Bianca joined the hunters…he couldn’t help but feel it was because being in cabin 10 was just too much for her. And he couldn’t help but agree. He was just glad no one looked disgusted by his jacket anymore. One mention of the word ‘vintage’ and suddenly he had to sleep in the thing so no one ‘borrowed’ it.
It wasn’t awful, though, living with them. The older kids, the ones who went on runs into the city with Argus, could always hook him up with eyeliner. One of his brothers said he ‘appreciated the sick grunge aesthetic.” No one bugged him about his wrinkled camp shirt and baggy jeans. And like it or not, you were never alone in cabin 10. Someone was always there and…well, at least Nico could appreciate that he didn’t have to live alone in creepy cabin 13 like Jason Grace did. His sister didn’t even stay there with him when the hunters were in town—but then, neither did Bianca. Hunters stayed cabin 8 and that was that.
It didn’t do any good to focus on that, though. He and Jason had found that out early on. It’s not that their sisters didn’t love them, it’s just…Nope. Nope, nope, nope. He was not falling into that rabbit hole today. Not a chance. Not today.
Will had flicked a note at his head during dinner last night. (Like they didn’t sit next to each other at every bonfire—he just liked to show off all the origami folds he knew. This one was a frog. What a show-off.) It was cryptic as Hades, too, because all the note had said when he opened it was ‘meet me by Zeus’ fist after breakfast.’ Will refused to elaborate. Nico hated not knowing things, so of course, he was there bright and early, arms crossed and foot tapping in anticipation when the son of Hephaestus finally turned up, coming not from the dining pavilion but from deeper in the forest.
There were bags under his eyes and soot in his hair. He was spattered in thick globs of oil, grinning away.
Nico tried to keep the smile from creeping onto his face. (He failed miserably.) “Okay, I’ll bite, what’s this all about?”
“You’re gonna love this—well, maybe. I dunno. You might not care at all, actually, but I mean I hope you love it,” he rambled.
“Will, dude. What in Hades are you talking about?”
Will grabbed his hand and began to drag him deeper into the trees. “I can’t explain, I have to show you.”
But all Nico could focus on was Will’s hand on his, warmth enveloping his cold fingers and Will gently tugging him along, completely oblivious to Nico’s pulse going haywire. Thank the gods he wasn’t a child of Apollo or Nico’s secret would be out in a blink.
Oh, Nico may have had…a very big crush on Will Solace, son of Hephestus and his best friend. Because of course he did. Of course the only Aphrodite kid that couldn’t manage to comb his hair would crush on the only Hephestus kid that couldn’t even take a pen apart and put it back together. They were both completely useless—they were perfect for each other. Even Nico could see that, but he couldn’t risk losing their friendship. If Nico made a move and Will didn’t feel the same, well…With Will was the only place Nico didn’t feel less than. He…he couldn’t give that up. He wasn’t going to risk it—no matter how much Nico wanted free-license to hold Will’s hand whenever he wanted.
He hadn’t even noticed they’d trailed deeper into the woods than Nico had ever been before when Will finally skidded to a stop in front of a…well. A literal well.
“What is it?” He asked, inspecting the mound of bricks that, judging by the steeple, might have once been a well. Now, though, it wasn’t much to look at. Collapsed, covered in moss, Nico couldn’t figure out what was so special about it.
Will just grinned. “You’re never gonna believe this.”
He walked over to what must have been the handle for pulling up the water bucket and began to turn it. Nico half expected a jack-in-the-box clown to pop out of the ground—and to his surprise, something did happen.
There was a creaky sound, like old gears twisting together, shifting beneath the ground. The grass under the collapsed well began to rise and slide, revealing a hole in the ground with pegged steps leading down into the dark.
“Holy Hecate,” Nico cursed. “What is this, Will?”
Will was practically shaking from the excitement. “I think I found one of the lost secret passages to Bunker 9.”
Nico’s mouth dropped. There were legends at camp, of course, about how the Oracle of Delphi became a mummy, about what exactly Mr. D did to get himself sentenced to sober-living at Camp Half-Blood—but none of them were quite so real and yet so out of reach as Bunker 9. The Hephestus cabin knew it was real, they just…misplaced it.
“No way.”
“Oh, way.” Will grabbed his hand again and pulled him towards the hole, one foot already on one of the pegs leading downward. “Come on, you’ve gotta check this out!”
If this had been anyone else, Nico would have turned tail and ran straight back to camp. This was some serious ‘cask of the amontillado’ shit right there.
Will’s face softened. One of his eyebrows crept up his forehead, slightly wrinkling the freckles there, and his grin had settled into his usual crooked smile. “You trust me, don’t you?” He asked.
Nico nodded, squeezing his hand. “With my life.”
With that, Will disappeared down the shaft and when Nico leaned over to peer into it all he could see was black. “Will?”
The son of Hephestus answered with the sound of a match being struck. The tunnel below was suddenly illuminated by the brilliant, green Greek fire torch in Will’s hand.
“C’mon, Slowpoke!”
Nico was able to breathe a sigh of relief as he scrambled down after his friend. He wouldn’t admit it, but even at the ripe age of 17, he was scared of the dark. Maybe letting Will in on that one secret wasn’t such a bad decision on his part after all.
The passageway was older than sin and cold enough to chill Nico to the bone. It was long and seemingly never-ending—and since it was underground, despite the thrill of holding Will’s hand, he was starting to wonder about…he shuddered. It was bad luck even to think about them.
Will squeezed his hand. “Don’t worry, I rehomed all the spiders. I know how much they squick you out.”
Nico practically swooned, gosh he was perfect.
He noticed the ground beneath his feet slowly transition from an uneven, bumpy terrain to something more level and smooth.
“Are we there yet?”
“Soon, but we’ll have to be careful because there’s a—ahhhh!”
The ground beneath them entirely disappeared, he landed tangled up with Will on the dusty floor, the torch knocked from Will’s hand. When he tried to sit up, he noticed their fingers were still laced together and Will was holding onto him for dear life.
“Careful,” Will continued, his voice squeaky and embarrassed. “There’s um, a drop.”
Nico rolled his eyes and removed himself from Will’s chest so they could brush themselves off and continue. They came to a dead stop not more than ten feet later.
“Is that…a door?” Nico asked.
Will scratched the back of his curly blonde head. “Yep.”
Nico grabbed the torch and inspected it. It was a plain door, heavy-looking—no knob and no keyhole.
“Don’t touch it, the things slathered in oil. Can’t push it aside, either. I…can't figure out how to open it,” he admitted. “I just know it leads to Bunker 9. I know it—if we can just figure it out I know this’ll blow my siblings' minds. They’ve…” He trailed off. But Nico didn’t need to hear him say it to know exactly what he meant: ‘If I can do this, they’ll finally accept me, once and for all. They’ll have to.’
Nico understood. If there was some sort of lost relic he could find that would compensate for every little thing about him his siblings found undesirable, if there was something that would excuse his black sheep’s wool without having to shear it—well, he’d be as desperate as Will looked right now.
“You’re the smartest person I know, Neeks. I know we can figure this out if we just put our heads together.”
Nico hoped the green glow of the firelight offset his blush. He pushed down any romantic thoughts—now was not the time to be selfish and savor Will’s praise, now was the time to actually come through for his best friend.
His brows knit together in thought as the gears in his head turned. “Bunker 9 was a Hephestus cabin exclusive, right? No other campers had ever been in it?” He asked.
Will nodded. “It’s like, 200 years old or something. An old war relic where cabin 9 thought up the best ways to protect the camp—no one’s seen it since like, the seventies.”
Nico took a step back, staring at the old steel door as if that alone might unlock it for them. “Okay, so…why hasn’t anyone gotten in here in fifty years? We can’t be the first ones to have found an entrance…what did Hephestus campers have 200 years ago when this thing was built that we haven’t seen in centuries?”
Will’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Nico di Angelo, you are a genius!” He exclaimed, ripping the torch from his hand s.
“Stand back!” He yelled, and he looked too manic for Nico not to listen.
Will thrust the torch into the oily surface of the door and green flame engulfed the steel, turning it a blaze of white and blue and emerald and then finally, somehow, the door swung open.
Lights that couldn’t even have been invented by mortals the last time the bunker was open flicked on automatically overhead.
“Yes! Yes! Oh my gods, Nico, we actually did it!” He exclaimed, thrashing around wildly in excitement as Nico took in the airplane-hanger sized workshop.
Nico’s heart was skipping beats and trying to burst out of his chest from the shock.
“How did you know how to do that, Solace?
Will grabbed him by the shoulders, practically buzzing.
“Fire,” he said. “That’s what cabin 9 had years ago that we haven’t had since, a child of Hephestus that could wield fire, Nico. Like how Jason can split the earth straight to Tartarus and how Rachel controls the waves—no one has been able to control fire in centuries. That’s how you get into the bunker.”
“You’re amazing! You cracked the code, I can’t believe it—“
The rest of his thoughts were cut off as Will’s lips met his own, Will half leaning down and half pulling Nico up by the collar of his jacket so they could meet in the middle. His lips were chapped but warm and they moved against his own inexpertly but still stole his breath away.
All too suddenly Will’s hands disappeared from his arms and the warmth from his lips.
“Oh my gods,” Will squeaked. “I’m sorry, oh no, I just got caught up and now—oh now you’ll hate me. I’m the worst I—“
Nico pulled his harm and yanked Will’s mouth back to his own to stop his rambling, to stop him from doubting himself. There was nothing about this moment Nico could find fault with even if he tried. To breathe in the air straight from Will’s lungs, to feel the tip of his nose pressed into against his cheek—this was perfect. This was as close to paradise as he was ever going to get.
When they broke apart for breath Will was silent for the first time since they’d met. Nico reached up a hand to blush a blonde curl off of Will’s pink cheek. “I’m kind of in love with you.”
Will’s usual confident grin was replaced with a goofy smile that he covered with his hand to muffle the giggles. “You love me?” he asked. “Like really?”
Nico bumped their shoulders together. “Yes, dork, I really, really, love you.”
Will sunk his hands into his mass of curls and pulled as if trying to snap himself out of a dream.
“Oh my gods, I’ve had a crush on you since we were twelve, I could have asked you out years ago—we’re such dumbasses!” His exclamation echoed off the walls of the massive room they were in.
Nico grabbed one of his hands and laced their fingers together. “Two dumbasses who just finessed their way into Bunker 9, only the most famous legend at camp.”
Will opened his mouth to argue but seemed to think better of it. “True, very true.”
Nico tugged him towards the door. “Come on, we have to tell everyone that we found this place!”
As they walked back to the cabins hand in hand, Nico felt more at peace than he had, well, ever. Here they were, the two biggest misfits at camp and they were about to prove themselves to everyone. No more backward glances from their siblings, no more feeling like they’ve disappointed their godly parents. But his thoughts trailed back to Will’s hand in his, their shoulders brushing as they walked.
“We’ve always had each other, y’know.” Nico reminded him. “We never needed them to validate us.”
Will bit his cheek. “I know,” he said. “But they can’t ignore us now. They can’t say we’re not normal.”
He couldn’t ignore reality, though. “They might.”
“Then it doesn’t matter.” Will shrugged. “We have each other, right? We got this. Will and Nico against the world.”
Nico grinned. Everything was about to change—or it wouldn’t. They’d know soon enough. For now, he’d relish in the sweetness of knowing Will returned his feelings, in the bliss that came from knowing even if they never learned the skills their godly parents blessed their siblings with, they would still have each other. They’d always had each other, and nothing could change that, not even the thing Nico was most afraid of: Love.
“Yeah. Will and Nico against the world.”