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Nico sneaked past Cabin Seven as inconspicuously as possible, trying his hardest not to be seen by a certain son of Apollo. Jason had assured him that Will “totally had a huge crush on him!”, but honestly, there was no way in Hades that someone like Will would ever like someone like him back, let alone not be straight!
So, Nico chose the most rational and mature strategy after careful consideration: avoid him at all costs.
Fine, okay, maybe it wasn’t the most sensible plan, but what was he supposed to do? Tell Will he liked him? He’d never live it down, everything would be so awkward-
“Nico di Angelo!”
Schist.
“Um, hi Will!” Nico tried to smile, but it came out weak and nervous. “How have you been?”
“Well, you would know, if you actually bothered to come see me!”
“Look, I’m sorry, I-”
“Save it, di Angelo!” And damn, Will was pissed. “If you don’t want to be my friend, just tell me! But you need to stop running away from me, you either talk to me or you don’t.”
Nico’s mouth has dropped open. No, that wasn’t what he wanted. That was the exact opposite of what he wanted!
“No- n-no!” he stammered. “I’m really sorry Will. I’ve not been avoiding you, I promise.”
Will seemed to soften at his distressed face. “Okay, fine. But you’re going on a walk with me, right now.”
“Now? But I was going to go see Jason-”
Will’s glare cut him off. “Sure, a walk would be great!” he hastily corrected.
Will nodded, a half-smile flickering across his face. “Brilliant, let’s go.”
Slightly taken aback at the abrupt turn of events, Nico obediently followed the other boy past the cabins and into the woods.
.oOo.
Peeking around the side of her cabin, Lacy gasped at the sight of Nico and Will walking away together... alone... were they holding hands?! No, calm down Lacy, this was probably just a friendly action- but if it wasn’t, she was about to witness her favourite camp couple get together, finally!
So, of course she followed them. She couldn’t wait to tell her siblings about what she was maybe - hopefully- going to see...
.oOo.
Despite himself, Nico was enjoying himself immensely. Will was really funny, and seemed to have a talent for keeping any conversation going so there were no awkward silences. Gods, he was so great...
“And then,” Will chortled, dragging Nico out of his thoughts, “Austin said, "What do you mean guys? He just has some mild heat exhaustion!’” Will almost doubled over laughing, and his freckles seemed to glow. “And there Kayla and I were, thinking that Malcolm was going to die, and all we needed to do was cool him down!”
Despite having daydreamed for most of the story, Will’s laughter was infectious, and Nico found himself joining in.
“Oh- we’re here!” smiled Will - did he ever stop grinning? - dragging Nico past the final trees into a beautiful glen.
A sparkling river ran down the centre of it, with silvery fish jumping through the rocks and past the banks. There were birds singing in the trees, and light shone through the branches and hit the soft green grass.
Nico’s mouth dropped open. “Wow, Will, this place is amazing! How did you find it?”
Will’s eyes sparkled. “You like it?” Nico nodded frantically. “I’m glad. I made it my mission a while ago to make a map with every place in Camp; I found this place a few weeks ago.”
“When did you find the time?!”
“You’ve only seen me just after a war or Capture the Flag. Apollo kids do actually get time off, you know, not everyone goes on life-threatening quests or get injuries that need a healer.”
Nico smiled and walked forward, sitting on the banks of the river and watching the currents rush by, as Will sat down next to him-
-and put his hand over Nico’s.
Nico didn’t need to see his reflection in the river to know that he’d turned bright red, but luckily Will wasn’t looking at him and didn’t notice. But damn, this boy was going to give him a heart attack - they hadn’t even been there five minutes and Nico was already flustered.
“I really like this place,” Will said, still not looking at Nico. “It makes me feel really relaxed.”
“It’s probably all the sun,” joked Nico, trying to stay casual.
“Yeah, maybe,” chuckled Will. Then he turned to face Nico for the first time since they arrived, a small but nervous - why was he nervous? - smile on his face.
“It’s been really nice talking to you, Nico.”
Nico went from red to pale in about three seconds flat. “Um- me too! I enjoyed it.”
“I liked it. I-” Will cut himself off, took a deep breath, and turned his body around to face Nico. “I like you.”
“Me too Will, I-”
“No! I mean,” Will interrupted, “I like you. As in like-like you.”
“Oh.”
“Yes.”
“You like me?”
“I’m really sorry, please don’t hate me, we can pretend I never said that, let’s just be friends-”
Nico shut him up with a kiss.
.oOo.
Lacy clamped a hand over her mouth to stop from squealing, and/or passing out. Oh gods, this was really happening, she wasn’t dreaming, she had to tell everybody! It was taking everything in her to not start dancing then and there, but as the sole eyewitness, she had so much work to do.
She backed out from behind a thick tree and ran towards camp, rootling through her pockets for a drachma and wondering if she could Iris Message Mitchell with spray from the river.
BONUS:
“How long do you think it’s going to take her to tell everyone?”
“I’d give her ten minutes, at least.”
“Don’t be harsh! I’d say 6. At the most.”
“Wanna bet?”
“Oh, you’re on.”