Work Text:
Will wasn’t quite sure what he’d walked into, but what he did know was that the mess hall was...well, a mess.
Just about every table was covered in... stuff that Will didn’t know how to describe in any other way, and there were mountains of cardboard boxes piled up throughout the room. Every counselor - besides Nico, who had walked in with Will and was still holding his hand - was already elbow deep in... stuff, whether they were seemingly sorting things into piles or stuffing garbage bags full.
Whatever they were doing, Will didn’t think it was going to be done in time for camp to start tomorrow.
“Uh, what’s going on?” Will asked, leaning down toward Nico’s ear.
“Think of it like spring cleaning,” Nico answered, “if nobody had bothered doing any cleaning since, like, the eighties.” He squeezed Will’s hand and started pulling him toward the kitchen, away from all of the mess. “C’mon, breakfast first. Then we can help.”
Seeing as every table in the mess hall was being used, they had to eat standing up at the kitchen counter, and when they finished, Nico and Will ventured back out to see where they could be of help. For the most part, everyone seemed to be partnered up as they unloaded boxes or sorted through piles or threw things into garbage bags. Will joined Frank and Jason on the garbage team, running bags out to the dumpster as they filled up, and Nico joined Leo and Piper as they sorted through one table.
They worked until they had one table cleared off - which took them longer than it probably should have - and broke for lunch now that they all had a place to sit and eat. With peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in hand (which gave Will horrible flashbacks to the end of last summer), they finally got a chance to relax.
“Hey,” Percy said suddenly, addressing the entire group, “now that Annabeth and I are in charge--”
Will shot Nico a confused look, but Nico just waved him off in an I’ll tell you later sort of way.
“--we should bring back some of the old activities that got phased out!”
“Don’t you think they probably got phased out for a reason?” Rachel asked between licking jelly off her fingers.
“Some things, sure,” Annabeth replied, “but I think there were things that new rounds of counselors just didn’t know how to do, so they got left behind when the older counselors left. Just think for a second: are there any activities that you remember doing as a kid that we haven’t done since you became a counselor?”
Reyna nodded. “We used to do more scavenger hunts.”
“And Clue,” Nico added.
“And nobody’s gotten married in a few years,” Jason commented.
“Married?” Will repeated.
“All good ideas,” Annabeth said, and side-eyed Jason when she tacked on, “mostly. Keep trying to think of stuff, but I think bringing back Clue and making a few scavenger hunts is a good start. Grover, you were a counselor for a game of Clue, right? Do you remember how to set it all up?”
Grover shrugged. “It was usually Charlie who did the organizing, but I’m sure I can figure it out. Still, let’s hold off on adding that to the schedule for now. Next time we go into town, I’ll call Thalia and see if she has any pointers.”
“Aw, I miss Thalia,” Percy said with a little too much sweetness to his voice to seem totally genuine, and turned to Jason to ask, “how is the little punk ass?”
Jason shrugged. “I dunno, I haven’t heard from her since Christmas.”
Reyna lifted her sandwich to her mouth, pausing just long enough to say, “She’s fine,” before taking a bite. A few heads spun to look at her, though she ignored all the strange looks.
Will glanced out toward the rest of the cluttered room as if surveying the area and trying to calculate how much time they had left to clean it all up. “So, what are we doing with all the stuff that isn’t getting thrown out?”
“Good question!” Percy exclaimed, and then paused. “Uh, Annabeth?”
She sighed. “We need to try to repack everything so that similar items end up in the same box. Like, if there’s extra crafting supplies, box those all up together, then mark the box as crafting supplies, and...then we’ll find someplace to put all the full boxes.”
“Great,” Piper said, “but there’s no way we’re gonna get that done before the camp opens. So, what are we doing about all of this?” Without looking away from Annabeth, Piper raised an arm and gestured outward to all of the other tables.
“Shove it all back into whatever box is closest,” Leo suggested, “and we’ll start over again after the first session.”
Annabeth winced.
“It does kind of sound like our only option right now,” Rachel said, patting Annabeth sympathetically on the hand.
“Can we at least try to group everything together?” Annabeth asked.
Nico reached over to pat her other hand. “No promises.”
Annabeth seemed more stressed than Will had ever seen her. It probably had more to do with the fact that her and Percy were now almost fully in charge of operating the camp than the way that half of the mess hall was still stacked high with poorly-packed boxes, but that part probably didn’t help either.
What also didn’t seem to be helping was the way that Percy kept pestering her about something.
The three of them were at the obstacle course, Will having met them there when one of Annabeth’s campers fell and scraped her knee, and for as long as Will had been there, Percy hadn’t strayed far from Annabeth’s side.
“Come on, Annabeth!” Percy pleaded, the kind of grin on his face that reminded Will of a pair of pickpockets he’d gone to high school with. “It’ll be so much fun. And it’s hilarious! Let’s just do it!”
Annabeth huffed, crossing her arms. “We’ve talked about this, Perseus. Not until after grad school.”
Percy rolled his eyes. “It’s not like it’ll be legal. Just think of it as a practice run!”
Will really was trying his best to mind his own business, but sometimes even he could keep his mouth shut. As soon as Annabeth’s camper ran off to rejoin the rest of her cabin, Will said, “What the hell are you two talking about?”
Percy’s grin turned to one of excitement as he exclaimed, “We’re getting married!”
Annabeth jabbed her fingers into Percy’s side, causing him to flinch and giggle. “All that talk about bringing back old activities reminded Percy that he had more ways to make my life difficult.”
“Hey!” Percy said. “Jason brought it up, not me!”
Will frowned. “So, when Jason said that nobody had gotten married in a while, he meant...counselors actually get married sometimes?”
Annabeth shook her head. “Not legally, no. It’s sort of a game that counselors used to play with each other, where they try to get as close to legally married as possible without actually getting married.”
“We have a whole ceremony with rings and everything,” Percy explained. “It’s fun! And it’s also totally fake, which is why I can’t believe that Annabeth won’t just fake marry me already.”
Annabeth leveled Will with a challenging look. “If you were me, and he was Nico, would you do it?”
Will felt himself flush. “Um. I think that would be a very different situation, just by, uh, comparing the duration of our relationships.” Also, he didn’t add, I’m still not entirely sure what’s going on here.
Grover and Jason drove into town between sessions, both for the traditional booze run and so that Grover could get the information he needed about the game of Clue. It wasn’t long after they returned to camp that the other counselors gathered around a campfire and started drinking.
Will, ever the responsible (read: anxious) guy that he was, had abstained from drinking to ensure that there was at least one sober person there, though he’d watched Nico down a few shots with some of the others before he finally settled against Will’s side with some kind of mixed drink in hand. Will had been trying to listen to what Grover was telling Annabeth and Percy about what he’d learned from his phone call with Thalia, but Nico kept trying to steal his attention.
Eventually, Nico grabbed Will’s chin and turned his head until they locked eyes. “What’s up?” Will asked.
“Have I ever seen you drunk before?” Nico asked, his eyes narrowing and his head tipping to the side before the rest of his body started to follow. Will caught him with an arm around his waist and pulled him upright once more. “I think you should be drunk right now.”
Will hummed, as if mulling it over. “Nah, I’m okay. I don’t need to get drunk.”
“Okay,” Nico replied, nodding as though satisfied with that answer. “Do you need to get high?”
Will bit the inside of his cheek, trying not to laugh. “I think I’m good there, too.”
Nico tipped his head onto Will’s shoulder. “Are you sure? ‘Cause I can hook you up if you change your mind.”
Will couldn’t stop himself from chuckling at that. “Are you some kind of drug dealer now?”
Nico shook his head, which felt more like he was nuzzling into Will’s side. “Nah, but Rachel always has tons of stuff.” He lifted his head. “Do you want me to ask her? I can ask her.”
Before he could fully get to his feet, Will pulled Nico back down onto the bench beside him with one arm, and used the other hand to turn Nico’s face toward him. Will dropped his forehead against Nico’s and asked, teasingly, “Are you trying to get me high so you can take advantage of me later?”
Nico gasped. “I would never! I’m just trying to make sure you’re having fun! You’re having fun, right? It’s only fun if it’s fun for everyone, and I love you, so I want this to be extra fun for you.”
Will’s heart melted, and he pressed a kiss to Nico’s forehead. “Of course I’m having fun. And I love you, too.”
Nico beamed at him, about to say something in response, but then somebody threw an arm around him from his other side and Nico was yanked back.
“Nico!” Jason exclaimed, and Will could practically smell the alcohol on his breath even from a few feet away. “I gotta tell you a secret!”
Nico pushed Jason back and told him, “Jason, please, I have a boyfriend.”
Will wasn’t able to contain a snort of laughter, though the other two didn’t seem to notice.
Jason looked up at Will, as if just realizing he was there. “Can I tell your boyfriend a secret?”
“He’s his own person,” Will answered, “but sure. Knock yourself out.”
He watched as Jason cupped his hands around Nico’s ear and whispered something to him. Will saw the way that Nico’s eyes widened as he processed the words, and then turned to grin up at him.
Will briefly wondered if he should be worried.
Nico woke up with something pressing into the side of his face. He was hot and covered in sweat, and he felt so squished that he was trying to remember the point last night when he’d decided that sleeping in a shoebox would be a good idea.
Then, he opened his eyes, and remembered that he was in Will’s bed, and some of his irritation melted away. He pushed Will’s elbow away from his face, and felt himself relax once more. Nico’s gaze landed on Will’s still-sleeping face, and he couldn’t remember why he’d woken up grumpy to begin with.
No matter how rude the awakening, it was always worth it to wake up with Will beside him.
Nico leaned over and pressed a kiss to Will’s forehead, unable to hold himself back from doing so but hoping that his actions wouldn’t wake the other man. All Nico wanted to do was curl up - in some position that wouldn’t have him wake up with Will’s elbow in his face again - and fall back asleep, but as soon as he shifted, Will’s eyes fluttered open.
Nico loved watching Will wake up.
He loved the way that Will’s eyes slowly came to focus on him, only to slide shut once again as Will moved to curl himself around Nico. He loved the way that Will breathed in deep, like he hadn’t gotten enough air during the night, and the way his whole body relaxed again as he exhaled. Nico loved the feeling of Will’s lips moving against the base of his neck and the sound of his sleep-rough voice as he said, “Good morning.”
Nico was so in love with him.
“Did I wake you up again?” Will asked, his words soft and slow like he was falling back asleep as he said them.
Nico hummed and reached up to play with the curls at the back of Will’s neck. “Do you consider your elbow to be you?”
After a moment of hesitation, Will lifted himself up until he and Nico were nose-to-nose, and he stared down with narrowed eyes - not quite a glare, but more like he was too tired to open them any further. “What.”
“If you were sleeping and had no control over your limbs,” Nico explained, “and yet your elbow found its way into my eye, would you still consider that to mean that you woke me up?”
Will lowered himself back down to Nico’s chest with a groan. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Well, for one, my boyfriend’s elbow has a mind of its own and won’t let me sleep for more than a few hours.”
With a huff, Will pushed himself up again to see Nico’s smiling face, and he demanded, “Where does it hurt?”
Nico pointed to his eye, and Will reached up to brush Nico’s cheek with his thumb. “Turn toward the light,” he instructed, and then leaned in closer to examine Nico’s eye. “Open your eye wider. Okay, now close it.” Will darted forward and pressed a kiss to Nico’s eyelid. “There. All better.”
Nico laughed as Will lowered his head back to Nico’s chest once more. “You’re so cheesy,” Nico told him.
“You love it,” Will mumbled into his skin.
When they finally managed to wander out of the infirmary after another hour or so of dozing, they went to the mess hall for breakfast, and found most of the other counselors already inside. Piper, Hazel, and Frank were eating at one table, while the others were spread out through the mess hall, once again repacking boxes and shoving them into corners to get things out of the way.
As soon as Nico and Will were seated - and once Leo finally wandered inside and got himself a cup of coffee - Grover called for everybody’s attention, and they all gathered around the table.
He clapped his hands together and shifted on his feet awkwardly now that everybody’s eyes were on him, taking a few moments to gather his thoughts before speaking. “So, uh, as you know, I called Thalia a couple nights ago to get the details squared away for Clue, which means that, uh, we’re gonna play Clue next week!”
Piper cupped her hands around her mouth and whoop ed, causing Jason to flinch beside her.
“So, uh,” Grover continued, “obviously I’m gonna give the kids a rundown the morning of the game, but you guys need to know how it works, too, so… Basically, I have the who, what, and where written down, and sometime during freetime, the kids are gonna get a chance to run around and ask you guys for clues to solve the murder - but you can’t just give them the clues, okay? Make them do something, like, sing a song, or...pass a note to another counselor, or something. Then you can give them the clue - and, uh, I’ll write down the clues that you can give them so that you’re not all giving away the same exact information. And, uh, the first cabin to come to me with the right answer gets...popsicles for now, because that’s what I found at the store, but we might try something else, depending on how this first round goes. Any questions?”
Will had never had so many kids seek him out in one day. He supposed it was a good thing that none of them were injured, but they all kept requesting bandaids from him, just as something that they could bring back as proof that they’d talked to him.
All of a sudden, nothing at camp mattered aside from Clue.
Grover had handed out hints to each of the counselors that morning, though he and Will both agreed that Will shouldn’t be responsible for his own hint. (Nico had teased him, claiming it was because Will could barely remember where his walkie was half the time, though the real reason was that Will couldn’t have that distraction if he needed to run to someone’s aid at the drop of a hat.) Still, it would appear that the other counselors were making sure to keep Will included in the game, which meant that the first aid kit he’d put in his backpack was nearly out of bandaids, and after only an hour, he was going to have to head back to the infirmary for more.
“Will!” a little boy from Jason’s cabin called out, preventing Will from heading back to the infirmary for a few more minutes. “Do you have a bandaid?”
Will held himself back from sighing. “Are you hurt?”
“No, it’s for Clue,” the boy answered, bouncing on his toes impatiently. “Piper needs an emoji bandaid, and she said that if I bring her one, she’ll give me her hint!”
Will nodded and swung his backpack off one shoulder, unzipping the main pocket to bring out his first aid kit for at least the twentieth time that day. “An emoji bandaid?” he repeated as he held the kit with one hand and dug through it with the other. He winced as he realized that he’d just given away his last emoji bandaid about ten minutes earlier. “Uh, what about a Frozen bandaid?”
“It has to be emoji,” the kid insisted.
“Sorry, I don’t have any more with me,” Will said, “I’ll have to go back to the infirmary, and--”
“But I need it now!” the boy cried, drawing the attention of a few surrounding campers and counselors.
Percy jogged over, stuffing his own hints back into his pocket after handing out a slip of paper to a group of girls. “What’s up, dude?”
“Piper needs an emoji bandaid, but Will doesn’t have any!” the boy whined, looking ten seconds away from a temper tantrum.
Percy stuffed his hand into his other pocket and produced a handful of bandaids - easily half of what Will had been carrying around - and started flipping through them like they were trading cards. “Emoji, right?” he asked as he took one out of the stack and handed it over to the kid.
The kid took it, barely calling out a thanks as he ran off, presumably towards wherever Piper was hanging out.
Percy turned to Will and handed over the stack of bandaids. “Sorry, I guess I wasn’t the only one that thought this would be a good task for the kids to do in exchange for hints. I didn’t realize you’d run out of stuff so quickly, but here, take those back, and I’ll try to think of something else to make the kids do.”
“Oh, uh, thanks,” Will said, and placed the bandaids inside the first aid kit. “It’s fine, though. I mean, it’s a good task, I guess. I just didn’t realize how underprepared I was gonna be today.”
Percy grinned. “I don’t doubt it. These kids are going crazy over this game. I’m glad we brought it back!”
Will smiled in return. “Yeah. Good call.”
Another group of kids came rushing toward Will, calling out their need for bandaids, and Will sighed. Percy clapped him on the shoulder. “Well, good luck, man! Really, though, I’ll try to think of a new task so you stop getting swarmed so often.”
“Thanks,” Will breathed in relief, and dug out his first aid kit once more.
After doling out bandaid after bandaid, Will finally made it back to the infirmary, where he grabbed about ten unopened boxes of bandaids and stuffed them into his backpack - which meant he had to lose his sunscreen, emergency raincoat, and one of his extra water bottles.
Not ten minutes after leaving the infirmary, and trying to decide who he might want to hang out with for the next few hours, Will was surrounded once again. This time, not with kids begging for bandaids, but with kids giving him back the handfuls that they’d taken. Apparently Percy had gotten word out that Will was low on supplies. Now, his bag was practically bursting at the seams.
Will started debating whether or not he should leave a few of the new boxes back in the infirmary, but was stopped by one little girl running up to him with a piece of paper in her hand.
“Hi,” Will greeted, trying to smile. “Did you need a bandaid, too?”
She shook her head and held the note out to him. “This is from Nico.”
Will felt himself perk up. He hadn’t heard anything from Nico since breakfast that morning, and he had hardly had any interactions that morning that didn’t revolve around bandaids. He took the note and unfolded the paper, reading what was written inside.
It said, Marry me?
Will’s heart stopped. That couldn’t possibly be a real proposal, right? They hadn’t even been together for a year!
“He says you have to answer it,” the girl told him. “If you don’t answer, then I can’t get my hint for Clue.”
Will managed to tear his eyes away from those two words to see more written further down: two check boxes, one next to yes, and the other beside no. He fished a pen out of his backpack, hesitated over both boxes before moving his hand off to the side and scribbling ??? in one corner.
He folded the note back up and handed it over, feeling as though his face was bright red as he tried to pretend this wasn’t happening.
“Thank you!” the little girl said, and ran off toward the arts and crafts tent.
Will walked the other way.
At dinner that night - after Annabeth’s cabin had won the privilege of being first in line - Nico caught Will’s arm and tugged him into an empty chair at table thirteen.
“Hey,” he greeted Will with a smile, “you didn’t answer my question earlier.”
Will flushed. “Uh, no.”
Nico’s head tilted to the side. “Why not?”
Will glanced around, checking to make sure that nobody nearby was listening, and then leaned close to Nico to whisper, “Because you asked me to marry you!”
Nico rolled his eyes. “Not legally!”
Will’s arms flailed out between them. “You didn’t make that very clear!”
Nico caught one of his hands out of the air and pulled it down to the table so that Will wouldn’t accidentally hit someone as they walked by. “It’s just another one of those old traditions that we haven’t done in a while. It’s fun!” He squeezed Will’s hand. “C’mon, sunshine, just marry me.”
Will thought his heart might have skipped a beat at hearing those words straight out of Nico’s mouth, even in such an unromantic setting such as this. “Can I think about it?” he asked, wincing at the sound of his own words. “I mean, we haven’t even been together for a year, and I--”
“Will,” Nico cut in, “it’s fine. You can think about it. Take all the time you need to think about this very fake wedding ceremony that nobody outside of camp will ever know about.”
“Thanks,” Will croaked after Nico stopped, feeling like Nico wasn’t quite done yet.
He leaned closer to Will, practically whispering in his ear as he continued, “But, just so you know? If I ever ask you to marry me for real, and you ask if you can think about it…” Nico leaned back and met Will’s eyes, letting the unsaid threat hang in the air between them, and Will gulped.
“It’s a good thing we have this practice run, then,” Will muttered, and as soon as Nico started smiling again, he felt himself relax. Will turned back to his dinner, already letting himself think about what it would be like to marry Nico, even if it was in some fake ceremony, and he let himself process the conversation they’d just had. “Hang on, you would want to marry me?” he asked, but when he looked up, Nico’s chair was empty, and Will saw him halfway across the room, in line for seconds.
He still had a lot to think about, but… Yeah, Will could see himself marrying Nico someday.
In between sessions, they all went into town to do laundry and get lunch. They watched as Leo tried to flirt with the waitress - Calypso, Will thought her name was - just like he’d done last summer, and turned to Jason for comfort when he got shot down once again. At some point, Percy and Frank disappeared with Frank’s van, leaving the rest of them stranded without an explanation. After nearly an hour, they returned and refused to say where they’d gone, but some of the counselors were more eager to get back to camp than to pry the information out of either of them, so the topic was dropped.
After returning to camp and hanging out at the beach for a few hours, they all gathered for their usual bonfire. Will, Rachel, and Hazel had all gotten into some heated argument about something art-related, which left Nico off on his own beside Jason, until Percy dropped down on Jason’s other side.
“Dude,” Percy stage-whispered to Jason, meaning it was plenty loud enough for Nico to hear, “I got the papers today. We’re totally gonna break that record!”
Nico leaned around Jason and asked, “What’s up?”
Percy grinned wildly and put his hands on Jason’s shoulders, giving him a shake. “Jason’s gonna help me and Annabeth break the record for the marriage game!”
Nico raised an eyebrow at Jason. “That’s why you got ordained?”
Percy smacked Jason’s shoulder. “Dude, you told him? It was supposed to be a secret!”
Nico smirked. “Oh, Will and I are definitely gonna beat you two, as soon as I get him to agree to it. Let me see those papers.”
Percy leaned back so Nico lunged forward, practically tackling Jason in an attempt to get to Percy, though Jason easily held him back. “Woah, I don’t even have them on me!” Percy exclaimed. “I hid them! Nobody but me could ever find them!”
Nico’s eyes narrowed. “Alright, fine.” We’ll see about that.
Will hadn’t seen much of Nico for the last few days, which shouldn’t matter all that much as long as Nico was still taking care of his kids, but since they’d been having free time, Will wasn’t even sure Nico was around his kids much, either.
Then, like a switch had flipped, Nico had reappeared at Will’s side like nothing had happened, a few folded-up pieces of paper sticking out of his back pocket. Before Will could ask what he’d been up to, Rachel’s voice came over the loudspeaker, saying, “Percy Jackson, we have your missing items at the arts and crafts tent!”
Nico grabbed Will’s hand and said, “C’mon, you’re gonna wanna see this.”
Nico led him to the arts and crafts tent, where there was already a small gathering waiting for Percy to arrive. Rachel and Reyna were standing just outside of the tent, and Percy went straight for them when he arrived. Will couldn’t hear exactly what Percy said as he tried to take whatever Rachel had in her hands while Reyna held him back, but he caught something that sounded like, “Annabeth will kill me if she finds out!”
“You know the rules, Percy,” Reyna said with an evil grin, and Rachel held the items up in the air for everyone to see - a set of folded-up papers, and a keyring. “Sing for your stuff!”
Percy’s shoulders sagged with disappointment, his head dropping to his chin as he sighed. He lifted his head, gazing over his shoulder and locking eyes with Nico almost instantly as he glared. He turned back to Rachel and Reyna and began to sing I’m a Little Teapot, with hand motions and everything, until Rachel handed over his belongings.
“Why did he look so mad at you?” Will asked as they dispersed with the rest of the crowd.
Nico grinned up at him. “I may have borrowed his keys so that I could make a copy of something. It’s no big deal.” He tugged on Will’s hand, changing their direction as he said, “C’mon, let’s hang out at the obstacle course.”
Will was enjoying the extreme cloud watching activity. It wasn’t something that was new that year, but he hadn’t heard anything about it last summer, so it was new to him. Piper was leading the activity that day, and had instructed each of the kids to spread out and lay back on the grass to look up at the sky. There were plenty of clouds and plenty of kids calling out the shapes they saw in the sky, but Will was content to lay back with his eyes closed until some kind of emergency arose.
He had almost drifted off to sleep when Reyna’s voice came over the loudspeaker, announcing that it was time to move on to the next activity, so Will forced himself to get up alongside the kids. If he napped all day, then he’d never be able to sleep that night. He only listened with one ear to figure out which activity he should go to next, his mind mainly focused on watching the kids run around to get from one place to the next.
“...behind the cabins, archery in the woods with Frank, Percy and Annabeth’s wedding behind the boat house, or arts and crafts with Rachel and Hazel,” Reyna said. “Activities start in ten minutes, and if you need help finding where to go, ask any counselor or junior for help.”
The loudspeaker clicked off, and Will looked toward Piper in confusion. “Did I hear that correctly?”
Piper shrugged. “I dunno, I wasn’t listening. I tend to ignore anything said over the loudspeaker if it isn’t a code.”
Will was about to point out that she should probably stop doing that when their walkies crackled to life, and Nico’s voice came through saying, “Hey, Will, can you meet me at the infirmary?”
Will jumped to his feet. “Gotta run. See you later,” he said to Piper, and then he was off. He jogged toward the infirmary, where he found Nico waiting outside the door by himself, grinning when he saw Will approaching. “Hey, what’s up? Is everything okay?”
“Fine,” Nico answered, “just didn’t know where you were. And I wanted to make sure you saw something.” He reached out for Will’s hand and started leading him away from the infirmary, down toward the lake.
“Abusing your walkie privileges to spend time with me?” Will asked as he bumped their shoulders together.
“Of course,” Nico answered. He glanced around quickly, and when he spotted a camper nearby, he slipped his hand out of Will’s. Rules were rules when camp was in session. “I feel bad for ditching you so much this past week. And, I mean, I really did want to make sure you saw this.”
“Saw what, exactly?” Will asked, and Nico grinned. He nodded toward the boat house as they walked up to the small crowd gathered behind it. “What’s this?”
“Just give it a few minutes. You’ll see.” Nico tugged on Will’s hand to pull him to the ground so that they were sitting in the grass behind the back row of campers. They were all facing Percy and Jason, who were standing near the back wall of the boat house, talking animatedly. After a few seconds, they suddenly stood at attention as Grover and Annabeth started to approach, their arms linked between them.
“Hang on,” Will whispered to Nico, “the wedding thing is real? And it’s just announced to the whole camp? Chiron doesn’t have a problem with this?”
Nico shook his head. “He knows it's just for fun. It’s usually not even couples who get fake-married, just friends who thought it would be funny. There is still a ‘no kissing’ rule, though.” Nico bumped his shoulder against Will’s. “Rules are rules.”
Will smiled and placed a hand over Nico’s. They turned and watched the ceremony unfold, with Jason officiating, instructing them to exchange rings, and finally seal their marriage with a “hug that lasts no longer than three seconds. I’ll be counting!”
“Okay, yeah, this is kind of cute,” Will said quietly to Nico, who beamed up at him.
Percy spun out of the hug and turned to the crowd with a shout of, “Whoo! Not legally married, baby!”
Annabeth rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling, so Will figured she wouldn’t fake-divorce him right away.
Nico squeezed Will’s hand and said, “C’mon, let’s get out of here before Percy tries to make us help with canoeing.”
Nico was spending a lot of time in the arts and crafts tent. Well, Will supposed that Nico always spent a lot of time in the arts and crafts tent, but this seemed like overkill. He figured that maybe Nico needed to make a bunch of friendship bracelets for his campers again, like last year, but when Will offered to help him, Nico brushed him off. Apparently, whatever he was working on was a surprise.
For the most part, Will had put it out of his mind, though he did find himself missing his boyfriend a little more than usual as the kids were given more and more opportunities for freetime as the session progressed. Normally, by the time they got around to playing Clue, Nico and Will would’ve already spent a few hours cloud watching together.
After the official start of Clue that morning, Will had started wandering around the camp - in search of Nico, really, though he would never admit it. He’d walked a full lap around the main part of camp with no sign of his boyfriend, and eventually decided to give up on his search, joining Frank on the sidelines of the obstacle course for a short while instead.
A few clusters of campers came and went, asking for clues from Frank and Annabeth - who was running the course - and only sometimes even noticing that Will was there. Then, as Reyna came over the loudspeaker to announce the end of the current activities and the start of the next ones, a boy that Will recognized from Nico’s cabin ran up to Will with a piece of paper in his hand.
“Will!” the boy exclaimed, practically shoving the paper against Will’s chest. “That’s for you. From Nico.”
“Oh,” Will said. “Another Clue thing?”
The boy shook his head. “Nah, I don’t care about Clue. Nico said I could have an extra cookie at dinner tonight if I gave you that.”
Will smiled. “Alright, well, thanks.” The boy ran off again, and Will carefully unfolded the note.
Marry me? it said. Meet me at the archery range.
Will did as the note said, starting toward the archery range with a quickened pace and a smile on his face. He didn’t think that the range was supposed to be up and running that day - Frank probably wouldn’t have been at the obstacle course if that was the case - but he hadn’t been listening when Reyna listed off the upcoming activities, so he didn’t know for sure.
When he finally reached the range, it was nearly empty aside from three figures who stood in the clearing off to the side. Will spotted Jason and Hazel, and before his eyes could even land on Nico, his boyfriend was running toward him and pulling him into a kiss.
“Hey,” Nico said with a beautiful grin, his hands framing Will’s face even as he pulled away. “Happy anniversary.”
Will’s heart jumped in his chest. “It’s our anniversary? But-- How do you even know that? There aren’t any calendars.”
Nico shrugged. “Lucky guess. It’s, like, sometime this week.” He let his hands slide down from Will’s cheeks to his arms, and then further down to grasp his hands. “Anyway, wanna get fake-married? You’re here, so… I’m guessing it’s a yes?”
Will nodded and said, “Yeah, alright.”
Nico pulled Will toward the others, where Hazel was pulling out a piece of paper and a pen which she held out to Will. His eyes widened when he saw what it was. “A marriage license? I thought you said this was fake!”
“It’s part of the game,” Nico said quickly, squeezing Will’s hand in reassurance. We get as close to legally-married as we can without crossing the line. We can sign the papers, but as long as we don’t get them notarized, or whatever, we’re fine.”
“Oh. Got it.” Will took the pen from Hazel, but still hesitated, glancing at Nico once more. “You promise you’re not going to send these in behind my back?”
Nico rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. “I promise, I’m not trying to trap you in a marriage.”
Will took a deep breath, and nodded again. His eyes scanned the paper, looking for where he needed to sign, and saw that Nico had already signed as one half of the partnership, and Hazel had signed as a witness. That only left one space left for Will, which he signed with a few practiced flicks of his wrist.
As Will handed the pen back to Hazel, Jason said, “Are we ready, then?”
Will’s hand found Nico’s once more. “We’re ready.”
Jason guided them to stand across from each other, their hands linked between them, while Jason stood to their side, pulling a piece of paper from his pocket and beginning to read aloud.
“We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Niccolo Vincenzo di Angelo and William Andrew Solace--”
Will snorted, squeezing Nico’s hands as he cut in to ask, “Did you tell him to say that?”
“Dude, he wrote this whole thing,” Jason answered. “And this is my first time actually reading it, so hopefully there’s nothing gross in here.”
He continued to read, prompting Nico to repeat after him during the “vows” section - which mainly covered topics such as “I promise not to hate you for being a bed hog as long as you promise to make me coffee every morning,” - and then asking Will to do the same.
Jason said, “I, William Andrew Solace--”
“That’s how you know this isn’t legally binding,” Will joked, cutting in again, “because that’s still not my name.”
“We’ll make sure your name gets changed before we ever have a real wedding,” Nico said offhandedly, making Will’s heart skip a beat at yet another mention of a real wedding.
Will complied with the rest of the vows, repeating his non-legal name and promising that he’ll try not to elbow Nico in his sleep anymore. Then, Jason asked if they had rings to exchange, and Will immediately answered no, even as Nico started fishing in his pocket. “Not technically,” Nico told them, “but they are ring-shaped.”
Nico held two friendship bracelets in his hand, with colored beads of blacks and blues and yellows, and where the white blocks would normally spell out their names, both bracelets said husband.
Will’s breath caught, and he felt pinpricks in the backs of his eyes as tears started to form before he could scold himself for getting emotional at a fake wedding.
Nico slipped one bracelet onto Will’s wrist, and Will returned the favor with shaky hands.
“With that,” Jason said, “I am proud to pronounce you fake husbands. And, as long as there’s no kids around…” Jason and Hazel both took a second to scan the area, though Will couldn’t manage to pull his eyes away from Nico. “You may kiss your fake groom!”
Jason had barely finished speaking before Will was tugging Nico forward and slamming their lips together. After only a few seconds, he had to pull back, feeling like his chest was full of helium and that he couldn’t get enough oxygen into his lungs, but that didn’t stop him from peppering Nico’s face with kisses. “I love you so much,” Will whispered.
“I love you, too,” Nico replied, pressing his lips firmly to Will’s once more. “If you’re this worked up for a fake wedding, I can’t imagine what you’ll be like at a real one.”
Will wrapped his arms around Nico, pulling him to his chest and resting his chin on the top of his head. “You have got to stop talking like that, or else I’m gonna start thinking you’re about to propose.”
Nico scoffed. “We just got married! Is that not good enough for now?”
“It’s more than enough.” Will kissed the top of Nico’s head, and then turned his head to find Jason and Hazel. “Thank you both for being a part of this.”
“Happy to help,” Jason replied with a grin, and Hazel started fanning her face like it would keep her own happy tears from sliding down her cheeks.
“You’re just so cute,” she whispered, her face twisting up like she might start wailing any second, but before she could, she darted forward to join their hug. “You two can have this summer, but next year, it’s Frank and I’s turn!”
“Hey, hang on a second--” Nico started, but Will talked over him, waving Jason over and saying, “Get in here, man!”
Jason joined the hug as well, drowning out the sound of Nico’s complaints, until each of their walkies went off, and the feedback loop shrieked in their ears, causing them all to jump apart.
Jason winced, rubbing a hand over one ear while he pulled his walkie up to his mouth and said, “Come again?”
“We need Will at the arts and crafts tent,” Rachel said. “We had a slight mishap with the hot glue gun.”
Will lifted his own walkie and replied, “On my way!” He leaned down to press one more kiss to Nico’s cheek before he was off.
Hazel handed over the marriage license to Nico as soon as Will was out of the clearing, telling him, “You better do something with him before he realizes he’s too good for you.”
Nico rolled his eyes. “We just got married. What more can I do?”
“Not legally,” she replied, then tapped the papers in his hand. “But you could change that!”
“Sure, after I just promised him that I wasn’t going to send these in behind his back,” Nico said with a snort. “Besides, when I marry him, I want the whole world to see it.”
Hazel pouted. “You say that like I’m not your whole world.”
“That doesn’t count!” Percy exclaimed while they were gathered around the bonfire that weekend. “You have to make it open to the whole camp! That’s part of the rules!”
“Since when?” Nico shouted back. “The rules are that you have to get as close to legally married as possible without going over - like… Like the marriage version of The Price is Right! There’s nothing about letting the whole camp watch.”
“I signed as their witness,” Hazel said, “so legally, they did everything right. Not everybody wants a big wedding, either, you know.”
“Well, we had an ordained minister!” Percy said, snatching up Jason’s arm and raising it in the air like he’d just won a prize.
“He’s what?” Annabeth asked, her eyes widening. Will understood her worry - he hadn’t known that Jason was ordained, either, and now this was all starting to feel a bit too real.
Nico rolled his eyes and said nonchalantly, “So did we.”
“Maybe we should compare the papers,” Grover suggested. “One of you might have filled something out wrong, or missed a section. Otherwise, it sounds like we have a tie.”
“That’s a good idea,” Will replied, his foot starting to tap nervously. “Nico, what did you do with our papers?”
Nico grinned up at him. “They’re in a safe place.”
“That really doesn’t fill me with confidence,” Will told him.
“Where are our papers?” Annabeth asked Percy, who was raising his hands in surrender.
“I don’t have them!” he replied.
“What do you mean, you don’t have them?”
“I sent them back to the courthouse!”
Annabeth looked seconds away from pushing Percy into the fire. “You what?”
“The lady at the courthouse said that when we were done with them, we could give them back to her to take care of them. So, like, she’s gonna shred them for us, or whatever.”
Annabeth covered her face with her hands and leaned forward, groaning, “Oh my god, Perseus.”
“What? It’s fine!”
“It’s not fine!” Annabeth shouted. “She’s not shredding them, she’s notarizing them! She’s legalizing our marriage!”
Percy’s eyes widened. “Oh. Shit.”
Leo snorted from across the fire, barely able to contain his laughter as he told them, “I think that means y’all lost.”
Will turned to Nico, his anxiety nearly skyrocketing as he reached out for Nico’s hand and asked, “Where are our papers?”
“I told you, they’re safe,” Nico replied dismissively.
“Babe,” Will said, tugging on Nico’s hand and wrapping it in both of his own, “darling, I love you, but please tell me you didn’t send them to the courthouse.”
Nico grinned. “Of course not.” And then he winked.
Will’s heart skipped a beat - and not in a good way. “Did you-- Did you just wink?”
“No.” And he winked. Again.
Will took Nico’s face in his hands, forcing Nico to look him in the eye as he said, “Nico, listen to me. I’m not ready to be married yet, and I don’t want to end up like that.” He turned Nico’s head to face Percy and Annabeth once more, where Annabeth was now standing behind Percy, holding him in a headlock and demanding that he apologize.
For once, Nico didn’t wake up to an elbow in his eye. Instead, he had his head pillowed on Will’s chest, and woke to the feeling of fingers gently carding through his hair. Nico lifted his head, propping his chin on Will’s chest so that he could smile sleepily at the other man.
“Good morning, my wonderful husband,” Nico whispered, pressing a kiss to Will’s chin. “What would you like to do for our honeymoon?”
Will let out a puff of laughter as he rolled his eyes. Nico still hadn’t given him a straight answer as to whether or not they were legally married, but Will had certainly calmed down a bit from the night before. “You know, I’ve always pictured myself in Aruba, but something tells me that’s not going to happen.”
Nico grinned. “How about I take you out for a late anniversary dinner instead? I know this great little diner in town - maybe you’ve heard of it?”
Will smiled softly. “Yeah. I’d like that.”
Nico was enjoying calling Will his husband. It always made Will a little bit flustered, and the other counselors were starting to get annoyed by it, which was another plus in Nico’s mind. And for Nico, it was always another reminder of how much he and Will loved each other, which never failed to make him feel warm down to his toes.
He had spent most of the morning with said husband while Nico’s cabin ran through the obstacle course with Reyna’s, until a few too many campers ended up with cuts and scrapes from a few hard falls. Will fixed them up with whatever supplies he kept in his backpack, but afterwards, he had to run back to the infirmary to restock his first aid kit.
Shortly after Will had left, the activity timeslot came to an end, which meant that cabins two and thirteen had to part ways, and Nico got to his feet to lead his campers off toward the arts and crafts tent. As he stood, though, he noticed a walkie talkie on the ground where he’d been sitting, and knew instantly from the stickers decorating it that it belonged to Will.
Nico rolled his eyes fondly - Will had gotten better about not forgetting his walkie, but there had still been a few moments like these. Nico lifted the walkie toward his mouth and spoke into it, saying, “If anybody sees my darling husband, please let him know that he forgot his walkie again.”
He clipped the walkie on his pocket for safekeeping and took his campers to the arts and crafts tent. As soon as he saw Rachel inside, he got an idea. After making sure his campers were set up with everything they needed, he wove his way through the tent until he reached Rachel’s side, and held out Will’s walkie with an evil grin. “Wanna jump on the loudspeaker for a second?” he asked, and Rachel grinned right back.
They left a couple of juniors in charge while they ran outside. Nico held on to the walkie while Rachel opened up the control box for the loudspeaker. She switched it on and said into it, “Will Solace, please come to the arts and crafts tent. We have your missing item!”
Nico had to slap a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing loud enough for the loudspeaker to pick it up. Almost as soon as Rachel closed up the control box, a small crowd had started to form - mostly from the arts and crafts tent, but a few stragglers who had been passing by stopped to watch as well - because no one could pass up the chance to watch somebody make a fool of themself.
A few minutes later, Will jogged up to the crowd, confusion on his face at seeing so many people gathered, until he seemed to realize what it meant. Will walked straight up to Rachel and said, “Please don’t make me do it. Just give me whatever it is, and I’ll-- I’ll do whatever you want, seriously.”
Rachel held up her hands. “I don’t have it.”
Will’s eyes drifted toward Nico, and his chin dropped to his chest when he saw the walkie in Nico’s hand. Will clasped his hands together in front of his chest and said, “Babe, please.”
“Sorry, sunshine,” Nico said, “but rules are rules.”
“Sing for your stuff, Will!” Rachel said, loud enough for the gathered crowd to hear. “You can sing anything you’ve heard around the campfire, or you can sing the Little Teapot song, which is shorter than the others, but you have to do the hand motions with it.”
Will’s cheeks had started to turn pink before he even started singing, fumbling through the hand motions of I’m a Little Teapot as he did so, though he grew bright red when one of the nearby juniors called out, “We can’t hear you!”
Once he’d finished singing, the crowd cheered and Nico finally handed over his walkie. After another second or two, the campers began to disperse, and Rachel returned to the arts and crafts tent.
Will pouted at Nico while he clipped his walkie to his belt. “You know, I thought you loved me. Boyfriends shouldn’t embarrass each other like that.”
Nico laughed. “Are you kidding? Boyfriends should embarrass the hell out of each other at any given opportunity. I did that out of love. And a little bit as payback for you refusing to sing at all last summer.”
“You’re the worst,” Will complained, crossing his arms and looking something like a grumpy child, his face still red like he’d gotten a horrible sunburn. “Why do I love you?”
Nico grinned. He pressed his lips to his fingers, and then held his hand against Will’s cheek in an indirect kiss. “I love you, too.”
Will pouted again. Then, after a second or two, he turned toward Nico’s hand and pressed a kiss to the inside of his wrist.
Every time Nico used the word husband, Will thought he might lose his mind. Don’t get him wrong, he loved being referred to as Nico’s boyfriend or husband - it was just so gender affirming, and was a repeated reminder of how much Nico loved him - but if Nico didn’t stop dodging the question on whether or not they were actually married, Will might scream. Or cry. Or maybe Annabeth had the right idea when she put Percy in a headlock.
They were sitting around the bonfire in between the final two sessions, and Leo was acting as the bartender, trying his best to get everyone to drink up the last of the alcohol. For the most part, the other counselors were shouting their orders to him from across the fire, so Will wasn’t surprised when Leo shouted out, “Neeks, what do you want?”
Nico called back, “Rum and coke,” before tipping back against Will’s shoulder and asking, “Want anything?”
Will had already had more than his usual one cup that night, but he was trying to let loose a bit more than he had, and they really did have a lot of alcohol left over, so he was only trying to help. “Hm? Oh, uh, whatever you’re having.”
Nico turned back to Leo and said, “My loving husband will also have a rum and coke.”
Will started to hear a high-pitched whine coming from somewhere nearby, but didn’t realize that it was from him until Nico looked up at him in concern.
“You okay?” Nico asked. “I can get you something else if you don’t want rum.”
Will shook his head, too quickly considering how much he’d had to drink already, and said, “No, no, it’s fine. It’s-- You called me husband again!”
Nico paused. “Is that...not okay? I’ve been calling you that for, like, a month now, so I thought it was okay. But if it’s not, I won’t do it again.”
“No!” Will said quickly. “No, don’t stop, but-- I can’t tell if you’re being serious! I like being called your husband, way more than I thought I would, but are we actually married, or not? Because if we are, my mama’s gonna kill me when she finds out!”
Nico smiled, looking like he was trying hard not to laugh. “Sunshine…”
“Don’t dodge the question again, Nico,” Will said, “I’m serious!”
Nico reached out for one of Will’s hands and gave it a squeeze. “We’re not married. I’m sorry, I thought you knew that I was just joking around! I still have the marriage license in my cabin - I didn’t send them in like Percy did. But I am thinking about getting them framed, and maybe hanging them up somewhere. You know, as proof that we’re the new record holders.”
Will released a heavy sigh and tipped his head down to press against Nico’s. “Oh, thank god.”
“I bet there’s a nice spot in the infirmary that we could put them up,” Nico continued.
Will shook his head. “No, you’re not doing that.”
“Yeah, alright,” Nico said with a laugh. “Your apartment, or mine?”
It was a relief to know that, at the start of next summer, the camp would be less cluttered and far more organized than any of them had ever seen it. It may have taken them three whole months, but the mess hall was no longer, well, a mess of boxes. Every corner of the room was visible, and even the closets and staff room were clean and tidy. It was something of a miracle that all of those boxes were able to be condensed down enough that anything that had to be kept fit where it belonged - whether that be in the arts and crafts tent, the infirmary, or in any of the activity sheds.
At some point during the last round of sorting, Will had found an empty picture frame that looked like it might be the perfect size for the typical piece of printer paper. After making sure that it wasn’t something that Percy and Annabeth might need elsewhere, he took it, offering it as a gift to Nico.
After cleaning up cabin thirteen a day early, Nico moved his belongings into the infirmary to stay with Will one last night. As he sat on the edge of Will’s bed, he smoothed out the folds in their marriage license and carefully placed it inside the frame. “There,” Nico said, holding it up for Will to see. “C’mon, don’t you think this would look great up on the wall in here?”
Will plucked the frame out of his hand and started holding it up against the wall in a few different places, humming in thought as if he was actually considering it, before handing the frame back to Nico. “I dunno, I think it would look best on that wall over your bookshelf. You know, the one in your bedroom, next to the desk?”
Nico’s gaze fell, and Will dropped onto the mattress beside him. “What? Are my interior design ideas that awful?” he asked with a laugh to let Nico know he was joking, but Nico didn’t lighten up at all.
“No, it’s just-- You know I graduated,” Nico said quietly, “so… I’m moving. Back home, until I can find a job and a new place to live. So I...won’t be living in New York anymore.”
“Oh,” Will said. “So, I guess that means that we won’t get that extra week together after summer ends, like we did last year.”
“And I won’t be a short four-hour drive away from camp anymore,” Nico added, and then, in Will’s head, it clicked.
“You want to leave this here so that you’ll have a reason to come back,” Will whispered.
Nico’s lip started to quiver, and before Will could even react, Nico was sobbing into his chest. “I don’t wanna go.”
Will wrapped his arms around him. “Darling…”
“I have to leave, and get a real job, and I’ll probably be living across the country, and what if I can never make it back here?” Nico babbled. “I’ve been coming here for more than half of my life! I can’t just... stop!”
“I know,” Will said into his hair, “I’m sorry.”
He let Nico cry for a few more moments, until he was only sniffling and playing with the two beads on Will’s necklace - the yellow sun from last year, and a pair of gold rings that symbolized both Nico and Will’s record-breaking fake-wedding as well as Percy and Annabeth’s very nearly real wedding from this year. Will rubbed his hand up and down Nico’s back soothingly, and once he thought that Nico had cried himself out, he said, “We don’t know what’s next. You told me last year that you were thinking about becoming a teacher, and teachers get summers off, too, right? So you’ll be able to come back. Or maybe you’ll get some other job that lets you have summers off. But you’re not the only college graduate who managed to come back. I mean, me and Annabeth probably don’t count, because we’re still in school, and Percy doesn’t either, since he’s gonna run the camp next year--”
Will stopped himself. “Actually, are you sure you want to come back?”
Nico let out a puff of laughter. “Of course. He’s gonna need all the help he can get.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Will agreed. “But anyway, you shouldn’t worry about the distance, either. I’m pretty sure that at this point, more of us live outside of New York than in it, and if we’ve all managed to make the trip, then I’m sure you can, too.”
Nico nodded to show that he was listening, but didn’t offer any other response.
“And you know what else?” Will said, pressing his lips to the top of nico’s head. “If you’re moving back in with your dad, then you and I are only gonna be, like, an hour apart. So when summer comes around again, I’ll be close enough to, like, kidnap you from work, or something. If that’s what it takes.”
That was enough to get Nico to laugh and finally lift his head to meet Will’s eyes. “Thank you. I’m gonna miss having you around all the time.”
Will grinned. “Then it’s a good thing you’ll be in California.” He pressed a kiss to Nico’s forehead. “And, you know, if you really want to leave something behind, I might have an idea. It would involve a little bit of vandalism, if you’re okay with breaking a few rules.”
Nico snorted. “I love you so much.” He pulled Will in for a proper kiss, and then asked, “What did you have in mind?”
“Something cheesy,” Will replied, “like carving our initials inside a heart on one of these bedposts.”
Nico’s eyes widened in fake astonishment. “In this room that nobody ever comes into? You’re such a rebel!”
Will shrugged with an overconfident grin. “Yeah, I like to think of myself as something of a bad boy.”
Nico tossed his head back and laughed, reaching out for Will’s arm to steady himself as he started to tip backwards. “Okay, okay, I’ll pick the spot, but you have to do the carving, ‘cause my hands are still kinda shaky.”
Will’s eyebrows shot up. “You want me to do it?” he asked nervously, but before Nico could pick on him, Will grinned again and said, “I’m kidding. Where’s it going, babe?”
Nico surveyed the bed, eventually deciding on one of the posts by the headboard, on the side of the bed where Nico tended to sleep. “Right here,” Nico said, tapping on one side of the post before he started pulling the pillows away to give Will room.
They traded places so that Will could start carving, and Nico leaned back against the footboard, hugging a pillow to his chest. “So,” Will said after a short silence, “how are you getting back to your dad's? I mean, are you driving, or flying, or what?”
“Driving,” Nico answered. “I had to pack up my apartment and ship everything before I left, but now my car’s full of everything I couldn’t manage to ship.”
“You know, that drive to California is pretty long,” Will commented. “It might be nice if you had some company.”
“Are you offering? ‘Cause, I mean, I’ll already have Hazel, but I wouldn’t say no to you.”
“Oh, well, if you have Hazel, then I’ll just fly back like I was going to. Sure, I might have to hang around in the city for an extra week, ‘cause I was kind of anticipating getting to spend a little extra time with you like last year, but whatever.”
“Alright, suit yourself,” Nico replied with a shrug.
Will glanced over his shoulder at him, and after a second’s pause, he said, “I’ll split the drive with you if you drive me back. I really don’t want to try to find someplace to stay for the next week.”
Nico kicked him lightly in the side with a laugh. “You could sleep on my mattress in the back the entire time, and I’d still drive you back, idiot.”
“Oh, really? Cool, I’ll just do that, then.”
“Nope, you already offered, so you’re not backing out now. Besides, I trust your driving way more than I trust Hazel’s.”
Before Will could respond, their walkies crackled to life, Jason’s voice coming through saying, “Hey, Will and Nico, where are you? We could use a hand with the last couple of boxes in the mess hall.”
Will glanced at Nico again and frowned. “I thought we were done in the mess hall.”
Nico shook his head with a grin. “Nope, this is something different.” He jumped up off the bed and held a hand out for Will. “C’mon, you can finish your vandalism later.”
Will didn’t think it was a very good idea to have so many people wake up at the ass-crack of dawn when they all had a lot of driving ahead of them that day, but he knew it was for good reason. They all crowded into the mess hall, talking in a mix of sleepy and excited whispers until the main doors swung open, and Grover led Chiron inside. They had opted against doing a jump-out-and-shout sort of surprise due to the man’s age and health concerns, and chose to clap and cheer as Chiron wheeled himself further inside instead.
Annabeth presented him with a small cake that said Happy Retirement across it in frosting, and as Chiron started to tell them that they didn’t have to go through all this trouble just for him, she said, “Oh, it’s not just for you.”
“Huh?” Grover said with a frown, and they all watched as Percy brought out another small cake that read Good Luck! Grover looked like he might burst into tears as he said, “Guys! I thought this was just for Chiron!” He nearly crushed the cake as he jumped forward to pull Percy into a hug.
They enjoyed one last breakfast as a group - though Will quietly argued that cake and coffee really wasn’t a very healthy breakfast - until, one by one, they started to say their goodbyes. Grover and Reyna were two of the first to go, followed by Chiron who requested that Annabeth and Percy join him in the office for a bit more administrative training.
As Piper and Leo started to leave, Nico pulled Hazel aside to say, “Hey, just so you know, Will’s driving back with us. We’re ready to go whenever you are, so just say the word.”
“Oh!” Hazel said in reply. “That’s great! Now I don’t feel bad about telling you that I’m actually going to ride back with Frank.”
Nico blinked. “Oh. Okay, well. Have fun, I guess.”
“You too,” Hazel told him, then winked, “but not too much fun.”
Nico crossed his arms with a huff. “Whatever. I should be saying that to you.”
Hazel shoved at his shoulder, and then pulled him in to kiss his cheek. “I’ll see you at home. As long as you make it there before I head up to school, that is.”
On his way back to Will, Nico said goodbye to Frank, Jason, and Rachel, and when he reached him, said to Will, “Hazel’s going with Frank, so it looks like we’re on our own. And I guess I’m ready when you are.”
Will nodded. “Just gotta put my walkie back, and then I’ll be good to go.”
“Oh, right,” Nico said, reaching for the walkie that was still clipped to his pocket. He gazed down at it, tracing one of the stickers with his thumb until Will grabbed his other hand and started pulling him toward the staff room.
Without any hesitation, Will switched off his walkie and set it on the charger, then turned and waited for Nico to do the same.
“What if I can’t make it back next summer?” Nico whispered, as if saying it too loud would make the words come true.
Will reached out for Nico’s hands, closing them over the walkie that he still held onto so tightly. “I will do everything I can to make sure you come back to camp.”
Nico chewed on his lip. “But--”
“Darling,” Will cut in, “I know this place is like a second home to you, but it’s important to me, too. This is where I met you, where I fell in love with you, and where I married you, even if it wasn’t totally legal. I don’t want to come back here if it’s not with you, and I’m not ready to say goodbye yet, either. So I will make sure you come back next summer.”
Nico took a deep breath, and nodded. Once Will released him, Nico shut off his walkie and placed it on the charger, the last in the row. Then, he grabbed Will’s hand, and they walked out of the mess hall together.
Nico appreciated that Will didn’t try to start up a conversation until they were a little ways down the road, taking that one straight road that led to the nearest town. When Nico finally relaxed his grip on the steering wheel and let one hand drop onto the center console, Will barely let a second pass before picking it up. Like he’d been waiting for the opportunity.
“So,” Will said, drawing out the word as he stroked his thumb across the back of Nico’s hand, “I don’t know what your timeline is for getting back to LA, but like I said, I have about a week. And I’m pretty sure it only takes about three days to drive across the country. You know, depending on how often you stop.”
Nico glanced at him briefly, one eyebrow cocked up. “Are you about to suggest we make this into a true roadtrip?”
Will shrugged. “I dunno. I just thought that - I mean, if you had the time - Texas isn’t that far out of the way. So, maybe we could stop in Austin for a day or two.”
“What’s in Austin?” Nico asked, having a feeling that he knew where this was going.
Will grinned. “Well, if you were serious about maybe getting married someday, then you’re definitely gonna have to meet my mama first.”
Even when he was expecting it, Nico still found his eyes widening in surprise. He just hadn’t thought they were at that point in the relationship, or maybe he wasn’t sure whether he and Will were on the same page.
“Yeah,” Nico whispered, squeezing Will’s hand and feeling himself start to smile. “Yeah, I’d love to.”
“Really?” Will asked, beaming right back. “That’s great! I’ll call her as soon as we get somewhere with cell service.”
“I’m gonna meet your mom,” Nico said quietly to himself, as if letting the words sink in, and he realized that he didn’t feel nervous at all - if anything, he thought he was excited. “If I’m gonna meet your mom, then--”
“I should meet your dad, right?” Will asked.
“Even better,” Nico replied. “You’re not gonna meet my dad, because I think that would ruin the good mood you just put me in. If anything, I think I might come hide with you for an extra night or two, just so that I don’t have to go home, because even I don’t really want to see my dad.”
Will lifted Nico’s hand toward his lips and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. “Darling, you can stay with me however long you want.”