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“An 80s-themed night?” Nico frowned at the poster on the wall of the dining pavilion. “That sounds like it’s gonna suck.”
Will looked at the poster in question. It had a black background and big, bubbly letters spelling out 80S NIGHT. BE THERE OR BE SQUARE, and a nightclub sort of theme with an image of a disco floor lit up in neon colours taking up the middle of the poster. Nico probably thought it was tacky.
“C’mooon, it’ll be fun,” Will drew out the word just long enough to irritate Nico, hanging over his shoulder. “Think. Like… fun 80s music. Fun 80s costumes. Fun 80s food.”
“They had the same food in the 80s.”
“Whatever. You’ll still go with me, right?”
Will batted his eyelashes temptingly, silently hoping as Nico was momentarily transfixed by his big, blue eyes. Nico blinked as he snapped out of it. “Maybe.”
“Yes!” Will shot up, wrapping Nico in a hug from behind and lifting him off the ground. “Thank you!”
“I said maybe!” Nico squeaked, struggling against Will furiously. “Now let me go-”
Will was so. excited.
The whole camp was buzzing about the 80s night. It was only a few days away now, and Will, as well as everyone else in camp, had been talking about it almost incessantly. You’d think it was the biggest event of the year rather than a one-off thought someone had, with the way everyone was chattering about it.
Will had been rambling endlessly about his 80s-themed outfit to his boyfriend. Nico knew every single detail of it, from the sweatband to the tutu to the, quote, ‘offensively coloured’ shirt. But every time Will asked Nico about his costume, Nico insisted that it was ‘a surprise’. Will was going insane with the suspense, but still, Nico refused to let slip a single detail about his plans for the night.
The Apollo cabin, of course, had been preparing for the 80s night nonstop. Austin had made at least three playlists of “only the classics, Will!”, and Kayla had been helping the Aphrodite cabin organize decorations for the dining pavilion, which had been decided as the best location (and Kayla’s assistance definitely didn’t have anything to do with her infatuation with one of the cabin members). Will didn’t know who had orchestrated the party, but he’d have to ask them what their secret was; he didn’t think he’d seen Kayla and Austin so hyped up about something in a while.
Will himself was in charge of making sure everything was set up correctly. Will didn’t know when he was made to be the head of this party-organizing committee, but he wasn’t complaining too much. It was mostly entertaining, and when Will got frustrated by the Hermes cabin trying to implement a disco floor that sucked the partygoers into the Labyrinth as a ‘fun surprise’, Nico was there to threaten Connor Stoll into dropping the idea. It was all going to be fine.
“So, what do you think?” Will asked, doing a little twirl in front of the mirror. His tutu flared up with the movement, showing off his very short cut-off denim shorts. Nico eyed him, nibbling on his lower lip.
“I think it’s gonna blind me.”
“Seriously?”
“It’s a genuine concern!” Nico protested, raising his arms in defence with a slight smirk on his face. “What if all the colour overwhelms my eyeballs and makes them explode? Then I won’t be able to enjoy the night at all.”
“You’ll cope.” Will bounced over to where Nico was lounging on his bed, leaning down to wrap his arms around Nico’s shoulders and fall back onto the bed. Nico landed on the mattress with an oof, letting Will smother him in a flurry of tulle.
“Hey!” Nico laughed, wriggling around beneath Will until Will rolled off of him.
Will hummed at Nico, still refusing to let him go. Nico rolled his eyes, succumbing to Will’s grasp and settling down. The warm sunlight spilled over the two of them, pooling between their legs and making Will’s hair shine.
“You gonna let me see your costume now?” Will murmured, his head laid atop of Nico’s.
“Mmm. No.” Nico yawned leisurely and wound his arm tighter around Will’s waist. “’S a surprise.”
“Not even a little peek?” Will whined, nuzzling into Nico’s hair and pressing a feathery kiss right behind his ear. Nico squirmed. “Just the smallest hint?”
“Nope!” Nico pushed Will away and sat up, his face flushed bright pink. “It’s a surprise. You know what that word means, right?”
“Alright, insult me to hide the fact that you’re flustered,” Will followed Nico as he got up from the bed to pick up the pastel blue leg warmers Will had dropped on the ground earlier. Nico straightened and turned around, and Will met him, pulling him into a quick kiss. Nico melted, sighing.
“You’re sure you won’t let me see?”
“No.”
After only a couple weeks of slightly rushed planning, tonight was the night. It felt like only yesterday that Will had seen the flyer for the event, but here it was: the Camp Half-Blood 80s Night.
Lights had been positioned around the dining pavilion by the Hephaestus cabin, illuminating the space with an almost ethereal glow. A disco floor had been set up in the middle of the pavilion, but Will had made sure that the Hermes cabin hadn’t gone anywhere near it, and both Cecil and Lou Ellen had promised that no one had messed with it. There was a table of food and drinks, and a box of fun accessories to use throughout the night. Will had even roped the Athena cabin into scrounging up a photobooth from somewhere.
Now that the stressful part of the night was over, Will could enjoy himself. He hurried back to the Apollo cabin to throw his costume on – well, was it really a costume if the items were already in his wardrobe?
None of it matched. Like, at all. But that was the point; the 80s was all about doing what you want and having fun with it. Or maybe Will just wanted to wear some neon without being yelled at for ‘committing crimes against fashion’ for once.
His siblings had dressed up, too; Austin had on baggy, acid-wash jeans with a cropped shirt and jacket, while Kayla had chosen to go with the denim-on-denim style. Will muttered a word of encouragement to Kayla about her crush as he shoved her out the door, laughing as her face went red and she gave him the middle finger.
Will waved goodbye to his siblings, closing the door the moment they were out of sight to rush to the bathroom. Nico had told him to pick him up at his cabin at quarter past five, and Will only had ten minutes to get ready.
He felt just a little ridiculous as he slid his tight denim shorts on, then pulled a white, heart-spotted tutu on top of them. It was just translucent enough that you could sort of see the shorts beneath the tulle, but not so translucent that someone would really notice them. Will would save that as a surprise for later.
Will had decided to combine several different facets of 80s fashion to make a bright, clashing mess of fabrics and styles. The purple of his cropped shirt stood out against his tanned skin, his collarbones on full display with one sleeve hanging off his shoulder. The white tutu flared out from his waist, falling to almost his knees and disguising the denim shorts beneath them. For a final touch, Will tugged on a pair of blue leg warmers and snapped a hot pink headband on to keep his curls out of his face. There. Perfect.
Now, for makeup. He didn’t want to wear much – some of the Aphrodite campers had been planning to go full throttle on the 80s glam, and he didn’t want to go quite that far. Just some glitter over his collarbone, and some blue glittery eyeshadow to make Cecil cringe and Lou Ellen laugh, and a little bit of lip gloss for when he met up with Nico…
Will checked the clock and hastily set his supplies down, barely pausing to wash his hands of the leftover makeup and stuff his feet into a pair of white sneakers before he threw himself out the door. He was late.
Will skidded to a halt in front of Nico’s cabin at five-twenty, knocking quickly. “Just a second!” Nico called, then there was a thud and a quiet swear.
“Nico?” Will started to turn the doorknob.
“Wait!” Nico shouted. “I’m- fine, just these stupid-” he devolved into inaudible muttering while Will waited nervously.
“Okay.” Nico flung the door open, running a hand through his hair. “Sorry, I tripped putting the boots on.”
Will stood stunned, staring at Nico wide-eyed. From Will’s (admittedly limited) knowledge, it was a classic 80s punk outfit, and it looked good.
The first thing Will noticed was the leather jacket. It fit Nico well, and Will could see Nico’s favourite skull T-shirt behind the unzipped edges. Then there were the jeans… they looked like a pair of Nico’s typical black skinny jeans, but they were ripped to hell and back, and Will spotted fishnets beneath them, which- he had to stop thinking about the fishnets. The boots Nico had struggled with were large and chunky, giving Nico a good couple inches of height. Will’s eyes travelled back up to meet Nico’s, and he almost choked at the pitch-black eyeliner.
“So what do you think?” Nico asked, fidgeting with his skull ring.
“I think you’re hot,” Will blurted, then promptly slapped a hand over his mouth.
Nico’s cheeks flooded with pink, and he was the Nico Will knew again, easily flustered and sweet and lovely. Will reached up to touch the spiked choker around Nico’s neck, then run his fingers through Nico’s shaggy hair.
“I only just convinced Valentina not to give me a mullet,” Nico said, seemingly embarrassed.
“You know what else I think?” Will said.
“What?”
“I don’t think I want to go to the party at all.” Will stepped forward, his hand trailing down to rest on Nico’s shoulder.
“Why-?”
Nico was cut off when Will pulled him back inside his cabin, pressing him against the wall to kiss him hard.
“Mmm-” Nico drew back, his eyes dark and deep. “Did I tell you how pretty you look tonight?”
“Not yet,” Will mumbled, fiddling with the clasp on Nico’s choker.
“You look so pretty,” Nico whispered, and then Will got Nico’s choker off, and then they were kissing again.
When Will and Nico turned up to the party forty minutes later (to several people’s wolf whistles), it was with very smudged makeup and a serious inability to keep their hands off each other.
With a lot of begging and doe-eyed promises, Will even convinced Nico to dance.