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It started off as a joke, mostly. Nico hadn’t actually intended to be seen in these clothes by anyone other than his boyfriend, but when he’d stepped out of his cabin expecting Will to double over in laughter and instead found him staring up at Nico as though he’d hung the stars in the sky, Nico had to make sure Will was just an outlier. An outlier with a really, really horrible taste in clothes.
Because Nico had chosen to embrace his future of farm life, and had decided to dress for the role. He was, as Will would describe him, all dolled up in cowboy get-up, which included the hat he’d been gifted by the trogs, as well as one of - yes, one of - Will’s jean jackets and a pair of cowboy boots that Nico had gone out and bought special for the occasion. He’d just thrown the ensemble on over his usual t-shirt and ripped jeans, though he’d added a bandana around his neck for an added flare, and even looped the cattle rope he’d been given by Will’s grandpa through a belt loop. He had to be the grungiest cowboy in all of New York, but somehow, Will wasn’t laughing.
No, instead his jaw had dropped open, and his eyes were sparkling in that way they did whenever Nico did something particularly romantic. But this wasn’t romance! This was a joke!
Nico decided he would have to try a little bit harder. He stepped through the door, making sure to step evenly across the porch of his cabin, and kept his chin tilted up to stare down his nose at Will as he leaned against the porch railing. “Howdy, partner,” he said in his best imitation of Will’s accent - which was still horrendous. “What brings you ‘round to these parts?”
Will took a step closer, and his dropped jaw sprang into a huge smile. “Just came to pick up the love of my life for breakfast,” he replied, almost sounding breathless. “Are you ready to go?”
Nico pouted, immediately dropping his act. “Why aren’t you laughing?”
Will climbed the first step up toward Nico’s cabin, bringing them to equal height so that when Will tugged on the front of Nico’s bandana, he almost drew the other into a kiss. The tips of their noses brushed together instead as Will answered, “Because you are the most attractive person I have ever laid my eyes on, and you know that seeing you in my clothes always makes me feel like I’m walking on air.”
“I’m literally making fun of you,” Nico pointed out.
Will’s fingers traced along the edge of Nico’s jaw. “And you look so good doing it.”
Nico huffed, but then Will was kissing him, leaving him almost breathless when he pulled away a few seconds later, his smile softer but not any less filled with love. “You’re a dork,” Nico told him, but he had a hand fisted in the front of Will’s shirt to keep his dork from moving away.
“Your dork,” Will corrected in that lovesick voice of his that made Nico feel like he was experiencing a sugar rush.
“That’s what I said.” Nico rolled his eyes as if to hide the fact that he was blushing up to his roots. “I thought you wanted to get breakfast.”
Will slowly took his hands back, leaning out of Nico’s space as soon as he was able. “Right, I did. Are you ready? Did you want to change first?”
Nico crossed his arms and shifted his stance so that one hip jutted out - which just happened to be the hip that the cattle rope rested on, and he could practically see Will begin to vibrate when he caught sight of it - and replied, “No way. I put all this work into trying to get you to laugh, and you didn’t even have the decency to chuckle. No, I’m going to prove to you that I look hilarious right now.”
Will stepped off the stairs, grinned up at him, and held out a hand for him to take. “Whatever you say, darlin’.”
Nico dropped his hand in Will’s and started down the stairs before lacing their fingers together. They were running late for breakfast, as they usually did, though they would make up for lost time by lingering at the pavilion long after the rest of camp had gone off to their own activities. Chiron had stopped trying to tell Nico - and by extension, Will - what to do, meaning that they had almost free reign to do whatever they wanted, within reason. Will still tended to the infirmary for the most part, and Nico still taught his classes at the arena, but if he wanted to have a quiet breakfast with his boyfriend, then nobody was going to stop him.
Most of the Apollo campers had finished eating by the time Nico and Will sat down at their table, and one look at Nico had them all bursting into laughter.
Nico tried to give Will a proud I told you so smirk, though Will was still staring back at him with hearts in his eyes, so Nico knew it wouldn’t have any effect on him. A second later, though, he watched as Austin wiped a tear from his eye and said, “Sorry, dude, but-- Oh my gods.”
“Did you lose a bet, or something?” Kayla demanded, still practically doubled over in her seat.
“Did Will put you up to this?” Gracie asked, nearly shrieking with the force of her laughter. “Blink twice if you need help!”
“This is all of my own volition,” Nico told her, and happily stuffed a bite of pancake into his mouth.
“Oh, gods,” Yan gasped across the table, “Will’s brainwashed him!”
That set off another round of laughs through the group, which gave Nico a rush of satisfaction. At least somebody was laughing at the joke he’d worked so hard to put together - now he just had to find some way to get Will laughing, too.
Before he could think of anything, though, he heard a sharp intake of breath beside him, and glanced over to see Will staring wide-eyed at something just past Nico, or maybe behind him, or--
“Oh my gods,” Will whispered, his eyes beginning to shine, “look at your little ponytail!”
Nico sighed, resigned to his fate. “You’re hopeless.”
Will rested his chin in his hand, and reached out to curl Nico’s stubby ponytail around the fingers of his other hand, a dreamy expression on his face. The touch sent shivers down Nico’s spine in the best way possible. “I have never been more in love with you than I am right now.”
Nico pointed at him with another forkful of pancake. “Like I said: hopeless.”
Will darted forward and ate the bite off his fork before Nico had the chance.
When they finally managed to drag themselves out of the dining pavilion, Nico insisted that Will go with him to the arena instead of heading straight for the infirmary, claiming that he had something important to show Will. The arena was empty when they arrived, which was all a part of Nico’s plan - the next class wouldn’t start for at least thirty more minutes. He had Will help him arrange the practice dummies throughout the room, and then told him to stand back with a wink that had Will’s cheeks turning pink.
Rather than reaching for the sword on his belt, Nico’s hand went to his other hip, unwinding the rope tied to his belt.
He let his mind drift back a month or so as he prepared the rope, back to the week he’d spent in Texas with Will and his family. After spending so much time feeling useless - killing crops, scaring animals, attracting monsters, and later recovering from the wounds he’d received while disposing of those monsters hadn’t exactly made him feel like a very useful farmhand - Will’s Papa Vernon had insisted on trying to find something that Nico could do.
With a mind and body trained for combat, Nico wasn’t suited for a lot of the low-stress activities that needed to be tended to on the farm. Even shooting practice at Grandat’s house - at their new home - had proved difficult for Nico, since he couldn’t relax himself enough to hit a target.
The one thing they’d found that Nico could do was cattle roping.
Or so they thought, at least. Vernon hadn’t actually let Nico practice on the cattle, insisting that he needed to perfect the skill before he could join the crew the next time they needed to do some tagging. And so, before Nico and Will had left at the end of their week-long visit, Vernon had handed Nico a cattle rope in exchange for the promise that he would be the best cattle roper those yankees have ever seen by the time he returned.
And Nico had been practicing.
He expertly roped each and every dummy from halfway across the arena, pulling them off balance with a swift tug before quickly moving on to the next one. In ten minutes, Nico had successfully taken down all ten dummies while hardly moving from his spot in the center of the arena. As he wound up his rope at the end of his demonstration, he spun around to face Will with a proud smile on his face, and found his boyfriend already running toward him.
“That was amazing!” Will praised, setting one hand on Nico’s shoulder and the other on his cheek. “I can’t wait to see what you can do with moving targets - and on horseback!”
Nico recoiled at his words. “What do you mean, on horseback?”
Will’s smile dimmed, and his head tipped to the side in confusion. “You didn’t think cattle roping happened on your feet, did you? That’s way too dangerous - you’d get trampled in a heartbeat!”
“So now I have to learn how to ride a horse?” Nico shrugged Will’s hands off of him and shook his head. “No, never mind. I can’t do this anymore.”
“What?” Will demanded, chasing after Nico as he started to walk away, righting the dummies to put them back where they belonged before the next class started. “No, Nico, you can’t just give up! You were doing so well! I promise, it’s just like riding a pegasus, just without the wings - it’s easy!”
“Pegasi hate me,” Nico reminded him, “and I’m pretty sure horses do, too. It’s fine, I’ll just…find something else to help with on the farm.”
Nico hated how pathetic he sounded in his own head, and he knew exactly what Will was thinking even if he wouldn’t say it. There wasn’t anything else that Nico could help with; they’d tried everything. Cattle roping was only supposed to work because the cows ran from all of the ranchers, so Nico would be on an even playing field with everybody else.
Will stepped between Nico and the nearest dummy, catching Nico’s hand in his own and giving it a squeeze. “Just… please don’t give up yet, okay? Maybe we can figure something else out - you can ride Mrs. O’Leary instead of a horse, or something.” Nico snorted at the image that appeared in his head, of Mrs. O’Leary towering over the horses in the stable, of her barking loud enough to knock all of the cows off their feet - yeah, she maybe wouldn’t be the best choice. “Start practicing with moving targets,” Will continued to suggest, “and we’ll figure out the rest later. I promise, Papa’s going to be so impressed by how well you can rope already, so he’ll make sure to work something out.”
Nico sighed, and rolled a section of the rope between his fingers. “Alright. For you,” he said, just to make it clear that he wasn’t going to fight this hard for anyone else - because he didn’t love anybody else the way he loved Will. He tilted his chin up expectantly, and Will met him for a kiss, his head bumping into the brim of Nico’s hat briefly. “Get to work,” Nico told him when he pulled away, giving Will a light shove in the direction of the exit. “I’ll stop by to see you after lunch.”
Will beamed. “See you then!” He started to leave, though just before he could get out of sight, he spun back around and called back, “Capture the flag tonight, don’t forget! I could always use some extra help organizing the storage room beforehand, if you know what I mean.” He added overly theatrical wink to punctuate the sentence, which had Nico laughing even as he rolled his eyes.
“One of Medusa’s statues would know what you mean,” Nico shot back, “you’re not exactly being subtle. Get out of here already.”
Nico hadn’t always been a fan of capture the flag. After surviving so many things that no teenager should ever have to experience, he couldn’t understand why the other campers enjoyed participating in a fake battle - especially the ones that had already seen real wars.
As his and Will’s last summer closed in on them, though, they decided to try to make the most of what was left of their childhood. And they couldn’t always go to the movies or hang out at the park or loiter in shopping malls or whatever mortal kids their age were doing, so they tried to have fun the way teenage demigods did. Which mainly included avid participation in capture the flag and the campfire singalongs, but in their case also included sneaking out of their cabins after lights out, stealing snacks from the camp store, and making out in the infirmary’s storage room when they were supposed to be reorganizing.
Nico and Will wound up being a few minutes late to each of their teams’ pre-game strategy meetings, having gotten too caught up in… organizing before they realized that the outside world had seemed suspiciously quiet, spurring Will to finally check his watch. Nico figured it didn’t matter whether he showed up on time or not, considering he was always stuck on defense ever since a majority of his powers had been banned from the game. So he was surprised when Malcolm called him out for being late and announced, “You’re taking offense today.”
“Me?” Nico asked, certain that he’d misheard. And even after Malcolm nodded, Nico still found it necessary to triple check. “You remember that my powers are off-limits, right?”
Malcolm raised an eyebrow until it was visible over the frames of his glasses. “You can still use a sword, can’t you?”
Nico kept his mouth shut after that, and listened intently to the rest of the Athena cabin’s directions.
Minutes before the game began, Nico set up near the creek, crouched behind a bush that would hide him from enemy sight. He tried to keep Malcolm’s plan in mind even as his own brain kept reminding him of the defensive strategies that had been drilled into his head, telling him to lie in wait until someone from the opposite team came charging across the water.
The game-starting horn sounded somewhere in the distance, but Nico didn’t move. He wasn’t going to let himself get caught the second he crossed the creek, so he would have to wait until he heard movement elsewhere, and then he would take off.
It would all be so much easier if he was allowed to shadow travel.
He felt a cool breeze against his skin, enough to raise the hairs on his arm, and Nico tensed. He strained to hear anything around him - could a camper from his own team be breaking so many twigs behind him in such a few steps?
His focus was shattered when he heard the unmistakable sound of fast feet against the dirt, and Nico looked through the leaves of the bush he hid behind just in time to watch someone from the other team leap across the creek.
At the same moment their feet landed on the other side, Nico heard a low growl from somewhere behind him.
He didn’t give himself a chance to think. Nico jumped out from his hiding place and tackled the enemy camper at the waist, taking them both down until they were camouflaged in underbrush.
“Stay down,” Nico hissed, not daring to move a muscle even as he laid halfway on top of the other camper, and tried to listen to his surroundings over the pounding of his own heart in his ears.
“I know you haven’t played offense in a while, but don’t you know this is the part where you’re supposed to take me to jail?” the unmistakable voice of Will said in his ear, too loud considering what else Nico had been hearing just seconds before.
“Shut up,” Nico told him, though he still couldn’t hear anything around them over the sound of Will’s breathing in his ear. Cautiously, Nico started to push himself up, moving slowly and listening intently as he turned his head as far as it would go. Still nothing.
Could he have been imagining things?
“You know,” Will said, letting a bit of his drawl slip into his voice as he folded his hands behind his head, “if we get caught in this position, we’ll never hear the end of it.”
Nico glanced down, and saw that he was almost fully sitting in Will’s lap. He wasn’t fast enough to stifle a snort. “We’ve been caught in worse ways.”
Will pushed himself up, one hand propping him up against the ground while the other went to the back of Nico’s neck. “I could make it worse.”
Nico scrunched up his nose. “That’s not as sexy as you think it was.”
“You’re still gonna make out with me, though,” Will pointed out with a grin, and Nico didn’t fight back against being pulled in for a kiss. Will hummed in contentment at first contact, but that wasn’t the sound that Nico’s ears zeroed in on.
“Did you hear that?” Nico demanded, his head whipping around to look behind him, though he saw nothing but the growing darkness caused by the setting sun.
“What?” Will asked.
He turned to look over the other shoulder, scanning his surroundings, but he found nothing - just trees, dirt, and the steadily flowing creek. “I thought I heard something growl.”
Will ran a hand up and down Nico’s back. “It’s probably just your battle reflexes playing tricks on you. It’s been a while since you played offense, after all, so your brain might be mistaking this for a real battle.”
Nico took a deep breath, but it didn’t help with slowing down his heart rate. If anything, it felt as though his pulse had spiked. He hated the thought that his mind and body could play tricks on him so easily - it messed with his anxiety. “You’re probably right,” Nico told him, but he was still staring over his shoulder.
“Hey,” Will said gently, guiding Nico’s chin back to front so that Nico would meet his eyes. “Do you need to step out? I can walk you to the sidelines if this is too much.”
“You’re just trying to get out of going to jail,” Nico tried to joke, though his heart wasn’t in it. Even though he knew how well his mind could play tricks on him, something about that moment still felt so real.
“No, me? That would be cheating! When have you ever known me to cheat?” Will asked, and Nico appreciated his attempt to lighten the mood, even if he wasn’t really responding to it. Will brushed his thumb across Nico’s cheek and continued, “C’mon, let’s take a walk, and--” He cut himself off, his eyes locking on something over Nico’s shoulder as his expression changed.
Nico heard the sound of a twig snapping underfoot - no, bigger than that. Maybe even a whole branch. But he didn’t dare move. Will’s eyes flickered back to Nico’s, and Nico shot him a look that said, did you hear that?
Another growl, too close behind Nico for comfort, and then Will was shouting, “Hellhound!” He rolled them both to the side before Nico could react, and Nico pulled them both into the shadows half a second before the hound’s claws could rake across Will’s back.
They emerged with their shoulders pressed to the wide trunk of a tree. “It’s real?” Nico asked, and Will nodded frantically.
“Very real,” Will told him. “Very, very real. I’m sorry, I really didn’t think there was anything there, I shouldn’t have said--”
“Will,” Nico cut in, taking Will’s face in his hands. “Shut up. It’s okay, I forgive you. Now help me kill this thing before it kills one of us.”
Will nodded - as much as he could, considering the tight hold Nico had on his face. “Okay. What’s the plan?”
“I’m gonna go kill that thing,” Nico told him, and pressed his lips to Will’s for a split second before jumping to his feet. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I should be saying that to you!” Will hissed in response, but Nico was already moving.
For a few moments, all Nico could do was dodge as the creature tried to swipe at him or snatch him up in its jaws. He wasn’t able to get a single hit in, too focused on rolling away at the last second. The hound was quicker than any Nico had ever faced, and it didn’t even seem to be tiring out.
The hound raised one paw, ready to swipe at Nico, so Nico dodged a second early, thinking that he was finally one step ahead of the monster. But the hellhound faked him out. The next thing Nico knew, he was gagging at the hot puffs of hellhound breath that washed over him, those sharp teeth milliseconds away from ripping into him.
Then, like some miracle, the hellhound was backing away, shaking its head and growling as it seemed to lose focus. It took Nico a second to notice that the beast was swiping at its own ears, and another second to realize that his own ears were ringing - or, no, the sound came from an exterior source.
Nico risked a glance over his shoulder to find that Will had come out from his hiding place to make use of his ultrasonic whistle, which had the hound incapacitated long enough that Nico could regroup and take a breather. Will pulled him back to safety behind the tree and demanded, “Do you have a better plan?”
Nico leaned against him, breathing heavily. “Yeah,” he lied, “just give me a second.”
“You haven’t landed a single hit,” Will pointed out. “Let me help. I’m faster than you are - I can distract it so that you have a chance to strike.”
“No,” Nico argued, shoving at Will’s shoulder, “I’m not letting you play human sacrifice. I’ll figure something else out.”
“I’m not asking for permission,” Will shot back, and then the hound let out a horrifying howl. “And I think that means our time is up.”
Will darted out from behind the tree, ignoring Nico’s frustrated calls of his name to bring him back. With a huff, he tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword, and ran the opposite direction. If Will was going to insist on playing distraction, Nico wasn’t going to let his work be in vain.
Nico tried to push Will out of his mind as he crept up on the hound, though it was hard to forget about him when he was constantly spewing taunts and running in zig zags to avoid the monster’s attacks. He seemed to be holding his own well enough, though, so Nico continued to advance. Once he was close enough, he raised his sword, and--
The hellhound lunged forward. Nico heard a human cry of pain, though his brain refused to believe it was Will. Before he could even process what he was doing, Nico stuck his thumb and forefinger in his mouth, giving his best cab-hailing whistle. A second later, the hellhound was knocked aside by a shadowy mass, seconds before its teeth could tear Will’s head from his body.
“Good girl,” Nico gasped, watching as Mrs. O’Leary kept the other hellhound occupied so that Nico could run to Will’s aid. He dragged his boyfriend to his feet and pulled him away from the action. “Are you alright?”
“A little crushed,” Will wheezed, leaning heavily against Nico’s side, “but I’ve been worse. Good call, summoning Mrs. O’Leary.”
As if responding to her name, Mrs. O’Leary yelped, and Nico’s blood boiled at the thought of his dog in pain. He turned to watch as Mrs. O’Leary retreated a few steps, something inky black dripping from a wound in her shoulder.
“That thing needs a fucking muzzle,” Nico growled.
And he got an idea.
“C’mere, girl!” Nico called out, and Mrs. O’Leary ran to his side. He climbed onto her back, then reached down to pull Will up behind him. He kept a strong hold around Nico’s waist as the dog took off before the hellhound could take another bite out of her. “Will, hold this,” Nico called over the rush of wind, handing off his sword. Then, he reached into the nearest shadow - which was never far away when Mrs. O’Leary herself was practically made from the stuff - and pulled out his cattle rope. “Moving targets, right?”
He prepared the rope with the biggest loop he could manage, then tried to guide Mrs. O’Leary into position. It took a few well-timed shadow jumps, but eventually they were perfectly placed just behind the hellhound, and Nico was able to throw his rope just right so that it looped around the hound’s jaw, clamping it shut when Nico pulled the rope tight.
“Will!” Nico shouted, his voice strained from the effort of holding the rope with all of his might. “Kill it! Kill it, kill it now!”
His legs were clamped tight around Mrs. O’Leary’s neck. The rope was slipping against his palms, enough to burn but not enough to make Nico release it. He wasn’t sure how much longer the rope would last, or how long he would be able to hold on before his arms gave out, but he felt a hand on his shoulder. Behind him, Will pushed himself to stand on Mrs. O’Leary’s back, and then launched himself forward until he landed on the other hellhound, Nico’s sword severing the creature’s spine upon impact.
As the creature dissolved, Will fell to the ground below, where he rolled onto his back and laid with his arms outstretched. The rope suddenly went slack in Nico’s hands, and he knocked himself backwards with his own effort to hold onto the rope, and he found himself in the dirt. Mrs. O’Leary nudged him with her nose, and he reached up to scratch the top of her head. “Good girl. Thanks for the help - now go home and rest up, okay?”
She licked his face, which left his hair standing up funny on one side, and then melted away into the shadows. Nico forced himself to his feet just so that he could collapse once more at Will’s side, taking his time to survey the damage. Will had a few cuts and scrapes across his arms and face, and there didn’t seem to be any blood pooling up under his clothes, so he was probably fine. Still, Nico reached for the small medic pouch attached to Will’s belt, and started pulling out medical supplies.
“Moving targets,” Will whispered as Nico started cleaning one of the cuts on his arm, and lolled his head to the side, grinning up at Nico. “I’m so proud of you.”
Nico fought back a smile. “You could’ve gotten yourself killed,” he reminded him.
“Yeah, but you saved me,” Will pointed out, “just like I knew you would. Now quit cleaning - I should have a vial of nectar somewhere, and that’ll fix me up enough to get back to the game.”
Gods, Nico had forgotten they were in the middle of capture the flag. He shook his head. “Let me take care of you.”
“Babe,” Will said, and pushed himself to sit up with a wince - maybe there was something more than a few cuts and scrapes. “As soon as your adrenaline runs out, I’m gonna have to carry you back to your cabin, and I’m in no condition to do that unless I can get a shot of nectar in me. Plus, it’ll save bandaids.”
With a huff, Nico leaned back, allowing Will access to his medic pouch to pull out a small vial of amber liquid. He downed the nectar like a shot, and then, before doing anything else, he pulled Nico in for a quick kiss that tasted like fresh fruit and their first date in the strawberry fields. Nico licked a drop of nectar from his lips, and felt the tingle of rope burn on his palms begin to fade. He finally felt his heart rate beginning to slow, and with it came a wave of exhaustion.
“Do you need anything?” Will asked, already sounding like he felt better than before. “Nectar, ambrosia?”
“A nap,” Nico answered, and leaned his head against Will’s shoulder.
Will chuckled, wrapping his arms around Nico, giving them both a moment or two to relax. Then, just as Nico thought he might fall asleep sitting up, Will pulled away and lifted Nico to his feet. “Are you going to be able to make it all the way back to your cabin?”
Nico pouted. “Didn’t you just promise to carry me?”
Will started leading Nico out of the woods with an arm around his waist to keep him upright. “I don’t remember promising.”
“Pretty sure you did,” Nico told him.
Before Will could respond, Nico heard footsteps approaching from the side. He didn’t feel Will tense up, so he figured it was nothing to be alarmed about.
“Dude,” Cecil said, “where have you been? We won like, five minutes ago, and there was this huge Greek fire thing, and--”
“Uh, did y’all not see the hellhound?” Will cut in. “It almost killed us. Where were y’all when we almost died?”
“Um, winning capture the flag?” Cecil replied. “I never heard anything about a hellhound. But c’mon, dude, the infirmary’s probably packed by now. They’re definitely gonna need your help tonight.”
Will sighed, and his arm dropped from Nico’s waist. “I’ll be right there,” he said to Cecil, who nodded and started off back toward the center of camp. Then Will turned to Nico and told him, “I guess I will be carrying you back. Will you be okay in your cabin by yourself?”
“I’ll be fine,” Nico assured him. “Just gonna pass out, anyway.”
Will nodded, then crouched down so that Nico could climb onto his back before he started moving again. “Don’t fall asleep on me.”
Nico’s lips brushed against the side of Will’s neck as he mumbled, “No promises.”
It was technically past lights out when Will was finally able to head back to his cabin for the night, though the harpies knew not to attack Apollo campers who were heading back from the infirmary. On any other night, Will might have swung by the Hades cabin to kiss Nico goodnight, but he had a feeling that Nico was going to be cashed out until morning.
As he passed by the Hades cabin, though, Will heard the whoosh of something flying past him, and then something hit his chest, tightened around his arms, and stopped him in his tracks. Before Will could even question what had grabbed a hold of him, he was nearly pulled off his feet by a yank to the side.
“What the--” he muttered, and glanced up in the direction he was being pulled. In a second, his confusion melted away to glee, and he almost started laughing loud enough to get him in trouble.
“Don’t you know it’s dangerous to be out in these parts alone?” Nico asked in a poor imitation of a southern accent as he dragged Will all the way up to the base of the cabin steps. He gave a firm tug on the rope until Will climbed the first step. “You never know who might be waiting out here in the dark.” Another tug, and Will took another step. “Lucky for you, I caught you before something worse could get a hold of you.”
Will took the last step on his own, which left him toe-to-toe with Nico, who was now wearing comfier clothes than he’d had on earlier, topped off with his cowboy hat. “You mean there’s something worse than the Ghost King having me in his clutches?”
“You almost died today,” Nico reminded him, “from being pinned down by a crazed hellhound. You think that this--” he gave another sharp tug on the rope, “--is the worst thing that could happen to you?”
Will grinned. “I guess that depends on what you plan on doing with me.”
Nico rolled his eyes. “I planned on keeping you safe from any other monsters that might be lurking in the dark, but you seem to think I have something much more evil in mind.”
In that second, the truth behind Nico’s intentions clicked in Will’s mind. He was playing it off as flirting, but Will could finally see what it really meant: Nico was anxious. They had both almost died earlier that day, during a plain old game of capture the flag no less, and while he’d probably been too exhausted to worry about it before his nap, Nico probably wasn’t going to be able to sleep that night without knowing that Will was okay. They had both had plenty of nights like those, especially after their quest to Tartarus. The two of them had been entirely inseparable for a full month after their return, so it made sense for Nico to want Will to stick around after another scary afternoon.
“What are you suggesting I do, then?” Will asked, trying to let Nico know that he was giving in while still playing along.
Nico tipped his chin up, rising up on his toes until their noses brushed. “I just don’t think you should walk all that way back to your cabin in the dark. It’ll be much safer for you to spend the night here.”
“For safety reasons,” Will added.
Nico nodded. “For safety reasons,” he agreed.
“Well, then I guess that all depends on one thing,” Will continued. “Are you going to keep me tied up all night?”
Nico frowned, like he hadn’t thought about it. “I dunno. Would you be into that?”
Will tried to suppress a snicker. “You know, I, uh, I don’t actually know.”
Nico huffed, and with one quick motion, he loosened the rope from around Will’s arms and let it fall to the floor. He turned to go inside without another word, leaving Will to scramble in after him.
“Woah, wait!” Will exclaimed. “Are you into that?”