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Nico never cared much for soulmate marks. The reason for that eluded most people- why wouldn’t anyone be excited to meet their other half? He, however, knew the answer: because he did not have another half. It was as simple as that. Or, if he did, that other half could be stuck in the twentieth century.
No one ever cared enough to ask him why he thought that because Nico had never been close enough to anyone to tell them in the first place. He may have voiced that concern to Bianca a long time ago, but those memories are still fuzzy. Jason Grace, however, was an odd specimen. Ever since the Eros fiasco, Jason had taken it up as his life mission to befriend Nico. Whether it be purposefully including him in Argo II bonding activities or sneaking up on him when he thought he was alone, Jason wouldn’t rest until Nico admitted they were friends. And Nico wouldn’t rest until Jason let go of him.
The soulmate discussion began one rainy day on the Argo II. It didn’t take Nico too long on the ship for him to realize that no one spent too much time on deck during rainy days. He immediately took advantage of that information. So on this rainy day, Nico found himself hiding under a small roof on deck, one of Hazel’s books in hand, only the sound of rain pattering on the floorboards to keep him company.
That didn’t last for long.
Somehow, Jason found him. Nico won’t ask too many questions because that would get Jason talking. Instead, Nico sits with his book in his lap, staring at the page and not reading a word as Jason plops himself next to him. “Hey, Nico!” he says once comfortable.
Nico only wrinkles his nose. “You’re damp,” he says as a greeting.
Jason shrugged. “That’s what the rain does to you, I guess. What are you reading?” Nico pulls the book closer to himself. “Hey, no need to hide.”
“What do you want, Grace?” Although Nico asks, he already knows the answer well enough to say at the same time as Jason, “To be my friend?”
“Wow, Nico! Look at us, so in sync.”
“That’s not a good thing.”
“Well, in actuality, I wanted to hear your thoughts on something.” Nico rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything. “What do you think about soulmates?”
Nico actually has a lot of thoughts about soulmates, but he would be keeping them to himself. “Why do you ask?”
Jason shrugged in a way that said he didn’t have a real answer. “You seem like the kind of person to have a lot of thoughts on them.”
You’re right , Nico thinks, but he won’t voice it. Jason is looking at him now with those stupid eyes. Nico didn’t know eyes could be stupid until he met Jason Grace. He squints at them, but they squint back until he groans. “Fine.” Nico puts the book down, cover still hidden. “I don’t care for them.”
“Why not?”
“Why not? Please, Jason, are you my therapist?”
“Please, Nico,” Jason says in a tone that isn’t exactly mocking, “is getting to know you such a crime?”
Nico bites his lip as he thinks. “Sorry,” he decides to mutter. Jason only nods in response. Great, now it’s Nico’s turn to talk. “I guess… I don’t know, I never really thought about it before.” That’s a lie. “I mean, okay, maybe I have. I just don’t have good thoughts on them.”
“Why not?” Jason says in the exact same tone as before. This time, he adds, “Just because you’re, you know-” Jason mouths the next word here, gay, before continuing- “Doesn’t mean you don’t have a soulmate.”
Nico laughs without humor. “Please, that’s not the only reason I don’t have a soulmate.” Though the comment was offhanded, Jason stared at him. “Why are you staring at me like that?”
“Because you definitely have a soulmate, Nico.” Jason’s tone was full of hurt, like Nico had just slapped him in the face, but absent of pity.
“That’s not even true. Not everyone gets a soulmate in the first place.”
“Okay, fine. But that doesn’t mean you have to be alone all the time, Nico.”
Nico rolled his eyes so hard that Jason laughed. “You could start a side hustle of making motivational posters.”
Jason winked. “I’ll remember that.”
The conversation stuck with Nico a full six months after that. Even after he had accepted Jason in his life as a friend instead of a pest, the same words kept ringing in his ears everytime soulmates were mentioned: Because you definitely have a soulmate, Nico. He knows believing that is naive. Really, he doesn’t need reminding. But the conversation would float to his mind whenever Percy had a red mark on his arm, or a random stranger passing by had one on their face, or a friend of his confessed to wondering who their soulmate was.
Jason was stubborn, yes. But he was also the first person in years- maybe ever- to want to talk to Nico about soulmates. Which is why, six months later on a February night, Nico knew he had to Iris message him. He was always receptive to Iris messages anyway, and when he figured out why Nico was calling, he’d go berserk.
Did Nico want Jason to go berserk? Well, Nico was going berserk right now by himself, so just maybe it’d be better with a friend.
Jason picked up after four rings. During that time, Nico fiddled with his ring, pulled at a hangnail, and fixed his hair in the reflection. When Jason picked up, he was in his dorm room at school, his desk surrounded by papers and textbooks and, of course, the infamous diorama to commemorate all the gods. Nico had teased it before, but he couldn’t find the energy to do so again.
“Hey, Nico, what’s up?” Jason said once the call had synced. He was fiddling with a pencil, completely casually. Maybe he wouldn’t be so casual once Nico told him what is actually up.
“A lot, actually,” Nico said in lieu of a greeting. At Jason’s confused expression, Nico rolled up his sleeve to show his wrist. There, out for everyone to see, was a bright, Sharpie red mark in the shape of a hand wrapped around his wrist.
“Dear gods, Nico!” Jason cried, likely shocking other students down the hall. He went through the five stages of grief and then some through his facial expressions alone. Finally, he settled on being an asshole about this: “So, who’s the lucky guy?”
“There is no lucky guy!” Nico rushed. Then he realized how stupid that made him sound. There was obviously a lucky guy (though he wouldn’t exactly call him lucky), and he had grabbed Nico’s wrist to drag him into the infirmary an hour prior.
“Just five minutes?” Will Solace had asked. Of course it was Will Solace. In hindsight, Nico knew it could be no other person, though he couldn’t explain why. Today, just an hour ago, Will was dragging him into the infirmary to help put up some posters Chiron had ordered. Instead of teaching sex ed, he had decided that posters about human anatomy would help. After all these years, Nico has no clue what goes on in Chiron’s head, but he does have a bit of an idea what is going on in Will’s. That’s because Will voices everything, for better or for worse. “Come on, I can’t do this alone.”
“And why can’t you get one of your siblings to help?” Nico asked, not noticing the burning feeling where Will was gripping him. He was too preoccupied by Will’s laughter- the noise that never failed to send butterflies through Nico’s stomach.
“Because I’ve been begging them all day and they refused! Plus, they’ve been helping me in the infirmary for a while, they deserve a break.”
“Please, and I don’t?”
“Okay, one, you’ve been skimping out on your infirmary duties-”
“What duties!”
“And, two-” Will stopped his walking to turn around and give Nico a smirk- “don’t act like you don’t enjoy my company.” Just like that, Will continued his walk, leaving Nico with a burning face just as bad as his burning wrist.
Wait, why was his wrist burning?
Nico yanked his hand away, expecting to find a bug bite. But, nope, there it was: the soulmate mark, in the exact shape of Will’s hand. He stared at his own wrist, examining it from all angles, until it hit him: Will Solace, the most frustrating, annoying, nerdiest person Nico has ever met, is his soulmate.
“Uh, Nico?” Will said in an uncharacteristic tone. Nico didn’t look up, but when Will repeated his name, he knew he had to. Right there, Will was holding up his hand, and his palm was just as red as Nico’s wrist.
So Nico ran. He turned around and bolted back to his cabin. The only thing stopping him from shadow traveling was that they were out in the open with no deep enough shadows to escape to. Sure, it wasn’t his proudest moment, but what else could he do? Talk about his feelings? Gross! He wasn’t the best runner, but he was able to outrun Will’s cries.
What was Will doing now? Sulking in the infirmary with Chiron’s sex ed posters? Nico didn’t want to think about that at all. Nico spent the next hour pacing his cabin, trying to wash off the soulmate mark in the bathroom, and wallowing in his own misery. A whole hour passed before he had the idea to Iris message Jason.
Which brings him back to the present, where Jason is laughing his ass off and Nico is still sulking. “This isn’t funny,” he tells him, though it doesn’t do much.
“Sorry, sorry,” Jason said after two minutes of straight laughing. “How did you get it? Tell me everything.” He now rests his chin in both of his hands like a young school-girl. Despite the annoyance, that’s what Nico does: he tells everything, from the posters to Will’s grip to running away. For the second time that night, Jason went through an emotional rollercoaster. Poor guy. Once Nico was done, Jason said, “Nico, how are you going to tell Will?”
Nico fiddled with his ring again, and accidentally spotted the mark. “Tell him what?”
“Tell Will that you’re in love with him! That you’re soulmates, each other’s other halves, whatever!” Jason said with a flourish. Nico only frowned at him. “Nico,” Jason continued, “it’s not like Will doesn’t already know. You said it yourself: he had the mark on his palm. So what’s stopping you?” Nico knew that, right at this moment, Jason wanted to grab him by the shoulders and shake him like a maraca.
“I just… don’t know how,” Nico confessed. How does one bring that up? Hey, Will, I’m in love with you and, if we’re being honest, I have been for a while now. Let’s go on a date! “How do you even start that conversation anyway?”
Jason paused to think long enough for someone to knock on the door. Both of them looked at each other with wide eyes. Although they were an entire country apart- Nico in New York, Jason in California- they were sharing a single thought: is that Will? They were silent until the knock repeated itself and was accompanied by a voice: “Hey, Nico? It’s me, Will.”
“Bye!” Jason stage whispered before swiping away the Iris message. And, just like that, with an unheard protest on his lips, Nico was left alone.
Nico knew that, if he waited too long, Will could leave. And, as sappy as it sounds, Nico didn’t want him to do that. In fact, he didn’t want to leave Will ever, and it hurt to know that he ran away from him so quickly. So, summoning all his bravery, Nico opened the door.
Will was there in his exact same outfit as an hour ago. (It was actually an hour and a half now, but who's counting?) He looked more nervous than Nico had ever seen him. “Can I come in?” he asked, and Nico nodded silently. Before long, they were both seated on Nico’s messy bed. “So,” Will said at the same time Nico burst out, “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?” Will asked in the sweetest tone. It was unfair how sweet he could be.
“Because I ran away from you,” Nico said, eyes fixed on a stain on his sheet.
“That’s okay,” Will said calmly. Then he held up his palm- the one with the soulmate mark. “It’s still here,” he said.
Slowly, Nico rolled up his sleeve to show his own. “So is mine. And…” he took a deep breath, “what now?”
“I have an idea,” Will said. Nico looked up for the first time to find a smile. “I don’t know if you figured this out yet, but I’m in love with you. And I’m not talking about a little kid crush, I mean something more than that. Therefore, I’d like to take you on a date. A real, proper one, if you’re up to it. But I’m not going to rush you, you can figure out what you want.”
Nico blinked. “Will, you are…” He waved his hand a bit before placing it back in his lap.
“Annoying?” Will filled in hesitantly.
“Such a gentleman,” Nico finished with a surprised laugh. “Yeah, I guess you could say I think you’re pretty cool.”
“Pretty cool? Is that a yes to my date or not?”
Nico allowed himself to smile for a second. A full on smile, bordering on a grin, before he hid it with his hand. “Yeah, yeah, sure, what kind of date?”
Will, much to Nico’s surprise, was wearing a tiny blush. “I was thinking of a picnic? It’s the most romantic you can get here at camp.”
“I’d like that,” Nico answered. He was already planning how he’d explain this to Jason.