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Day 6: God Swap
Nico hated Valentines Day with a fiery passion. Not only because it celebrated his father, Eros the god of love, but because everyone in the camp seemed to think it was the perfect time to be over affectionate in front of everyone. He did not enjoy seeing everyone constantly kissing and pushed up so close to each other they might as well be dry humping each other in public. What made matters worse was that his father had been constantly leaving him ‘love notes’ (as Eros likes to call them). These annoying pieces of paper suggested that he should confess his feeling to a certain son of Ares, something he was not ready to do. Being the son of Eros allowed him to sense that said son of Ares did have feelings towards him, but he was still scared. He didn’t want to risk his friendship with Will for anything, even a chance to be his boyfriend. Too many times he had seen friends become more than friends, then their relationship turned sour and they couldn’t remain friends afterwards. There was no way he was going to let that happen to his and Will’s friendship, even if it hurt to be so close, but not at the same time.
“Nico!” Hazel, his half-sister, shouted into the cabin. “You can’t just mope in the cabin all day!”
“I’m not feeling good,” Nico answered as he threw the covers over his head and turned his back to the door.
“Bullshit!” Hazel said as she stomped over to his bed to roughly pull off the covers. Nico sat up and glared at his sister. “Look, I get that you and dad don’t get along, but there is no need to throw a temper tantrum on Valentines Day! It is the busiest day of the year for us and we need your help.”
“You don’t need MY help making sure everyone’s Valentines Day goes perfect.” Nico argued, upset that his glares no longer worked on Hazel. His other siblings yes, Hazel no. It was probably why his other siblings sent Hazel. They were just as conniving as their father.
Hazel just put her hands on her hips. “Nico DiAngelo, if you don’t get you ass out of this cabin to help your siblings, I will send William Solace of the Ares cabin a Valentine from a secret admirer and say they are from the Eros cabin.”
He glared, “You wouldn’t dare.”
She smirked, “Try me.”
Nico knew when to admit defeat. He knew that while Hazel would threaten to expose his feeling to Will, that she would never actually go through with it. She just used it as leverage because they both knew that if she didn’t threaten it, their father surely will. In fact, he already had on multiple occasions. As much as he hated his siblings sometimes, they had come to his defense when their father wanted to practically force Nico to confess his feelings to Will. It was because of his siblings’ interventions with their father that Nico would get to choose what he wanted to do with his feelings for Will. Even it annoyed all his siblings that he wouldn’t just ask the boy out.
“I hate you,” he hissed as he grabbed some clothes on his way to the bathroom to get ready.
“You love me!” Hazel laughed with a triumphant smile. “I AM your favorite sibling after all.” He flipped her off before he closed the door to the bathroom. Of course, this only made Hazel laugh.
***
Nico frowned as he manned the Eros booth outside the cabin alone while the rest of his siblings helped people make sure their Valentine dates went perfectly. The Eros booth was just there for people who wanted to make a Valentine date at the last second. It was why his siblings had given it to him since it was rare that anyone would wait until the last second. Which is why it was so shocking to see Will Solace as he approached the booth. Nico could only hope that he wasn’t going to have to give the boy of his dreams Valentines Day advice. Especially if he was going to have to suffer watching Will taking said advice and using it on someone else. He had been lucky so far that Will had turned down all the people that had asked him out, but he should have known it was just a matter of time.
Will was amazing. Despite being a son of Ares, he refused to hurt others and would only fight if necessary or for training purposes. He was also very well known to be almost comically terrible with weapons. Most thought this made Will weak, unfit to be a part of the Ares cabin, but he proved them wrong. With his extensive knowledge of the human body, he was able to create a technique the would leave his opponent incapacitated, but not injuring them at the same time. He called it ‘Chi Blocking’ after his favorite ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ character Ty Lee. It was also because of this technique that he remained the undefeated champion in not only the Ares cabin, but the entire camp. No one wanted to be on Will Solace’s bad side.
“Hey Love Dove!” Will greeted with his usual bright smile that made Nico’s stomach do flips and snapped him out of his day dream of Will.
He glared, “Don’t call me that!”
Will laughed, completely unaffected by his glare. “Need some company? You look miserable for a son of Eros on Valentine’s Day.”
“Um...sure.” Nico stuttered, surprised that Will wasn’t here to ask for help with a last second Valentine’s Day date. He let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding as Will went inside the cabin to get a chair to sit next to him. Will put his elbows on the table so he could rest his head in his hands and smiled.
“Sooo,” Will beamed brightly. “What do you say we when you’re done we go to the arena to train and get away from all the Valentine’s Day shenanigans?”
Nico couldn’t help but smile, “That actually sounds great.”
“Good!” Will grinned as he pulled out his mythomagic deck that Nico helped him make. “Now, while we wait, let me see if I can actually win this time. I have been practicing.”
Nico smirked, “Oh you are on Sunshine!” He went into the cabin to collect his own deck and board. As they set up the board up, he was never more grateful to have Will as his best friend.
***
“No!” Will shrieked as he dropped the cards in his hand. “I can’t believe how lucky you are! I almost had you this time! I was going to win!”
Nico chuckled, “You were never going to win. I knew exactly what your plan was from the moment you played your field card. You, my dear William, are very predictable.”
“Oh yeah?” Will smirked a playful yet devious look contained in his eyes. “We’ll see if you are still saying that in the arena. Get ready to beg for mercy.”
“I think being undefeated is getting to your head,” Nico chided with a click of his tongue. “Such a son of Ares. Always so arrogant.”
“And what are you going to do about it?” Will asked, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. “You really think you can beat me?”
“What are talking about?” Nico asked innocently. “I just did. You suck at mythomagic.”
Will broke into a fit of laughter. “Okay,” he wheezed after he somewhat contained his laughter. “You got me there. So how much longer are you chained to this booth?”
“Usually until dinner,” Nico grumbled as he crossed his arms across his chest. “You know, just in case someone decides to be dumb and try to plan a last second thing.” A bunch of emotions ran across Will’s face that Nico couldn’t even think of trying to decipher before they were gone and replaced by Will’s smile.
“Welllll,” Will grinned. “We have been here for hours and no one has come. I think you have earned a break.” He took one of the random Valentine’s Day cards on the table, and scribbled an almost illegible note 'be back in an hour’ on it. He taped his little sign on the front of the table with pride. “There! Let’s go to the arena.” He offered Nico his hand which he took nervously.
“You know if Hazel finds out she is going to be mad.”
“It’ll be fine,” Will chuckled as he practically dragged Nico across the camp towards the arena. “Hazel fucking loves me! Besides, I think she’ll give you a pass just this once.” He winked, Nico could feel his face heat up with a blush. Gods this boy was going to be the end of him.
When they arrived at the arena it was empty which wasn’t surprising with it being Valentine’s Day and all camp activities canceled to celebrate Eros and love. They both stretched and geared up. Will simply wrapped his hands in adhesive tape and took off his shoes and socks. Nico removed his jacket, knowing full well that he needed to be able to move quickly to even have a chance at beating Will. He chose to go with some arm and shin guards and shield. There was no point to use a weapon against Will. It only made you an easier target.
“Ready to lose for the first time in the arena?” Nico asked with a grin as he stepped into the middle of the arena.
“Depends,” Will grinned right back. “If you are quicker at learning martial arts than I am at mythomagic.”
“I did have an amazing teacher.” Nico said with a large smile as they bowed. While he was in fact a quick learner when it came to fighting, Will was still the master. Every time he had thought he was going to have the upper hand, the son of Ares would smile then counter him as if he could read his mind. It was one of the reasons why it made Will such a formidable opponent, the uncanny way he could read his opponent’s movements. Then there was his incredible flexibility and stamina. Most of the battles he won consisted of him dodging his opponent until they tired and then quickly ending the match by disabling them. Of course, there were times where he would just disable his opponent and the match would pretty much be over before it even started.
“You’re distracted.” Will chuckled as he flicked Nico’s forehead playfully. “I’m offended that you aren’t taking this seriously.”
“Neither are you,” Nico countered knowing full well that Will could have ended this ages ago.
Will smiled as he quickly and gently pinned Nico to the ground. “Easy to be distracted by someone as beautiful as you.” Nico blushed so hard he was sure it covered his entire body. Not only from the words that Will had just said, but because of how close their faces were. Without thinking, he quickly closed the distance between their lips. At first Will’s lips didn’t respond, but when they did, it was everything that Nico wanted and needed.
When they finally ended the kiss, both of them were breathing heavily. Will laughed softly as he rested his forehead against Nico’s. The two of them looked into each other’s eyes.
“You have no idea how long I have been waiting to be able to kiss you.” Will finally said with a victorious smile.
“Me too.” Nico admitted as he shyly went to kiss Will again. Nico felt Will smile into the kiss and he couldn’t help but smile back.