Archive of Our Own

1. The Princess Bride

Nico was sick– both physically (it was only a cough, and congestion, and maybe a small fever) and emotionally of Will Solace, Head Medic, who’d taken it upon himself to shower Nico with blankets, cold medicine, and microwaved soup. Will had all but threatened Nico into taking as many naps as possible, and Nico was surprised Will hadn’t found some way of locking Nico inside his cabin until he got better.

The longer Nico’s cold dragged on, and the longer Will’s relentless mother-henning continued, the more Nico wished whatever vengeful god was making him suffer like this (Eros, probably, given his past experiences) would die a slow, painful death. And then Nico heard a knock at the door of the Hades Cabin, and his mind immediately jumped to bright blonde hair and a sunny smile, and he wished he could blame that on Eros, too. 

He pulled himself out of his bed, ignoring the dull ache in his head. His fever had passed, but that still didn’t mean he felt good , no matter what he tried to tell Will. He opened the door, and sure enough, Will was on his porch, clad in his usual attire of a bright orange camp t-shirt and khaki shorts. 

“I promise I’ve been drinking enough fluids, Dr. Solace,” Nico grumbled, hoping Will wouldn’t hear the clear hoarse scratchiness in his voice. “If you’ve come here to hook me up with a Gatorade IV–”

Will laughed, and Nico wished he was still feverish, so he could blame the sudden warmth pooling in his stomach on something other than Will. 

“No, this is actually one of my mom’s remedies,” Will said. He held up something– a movie case, with swirling gold letters that read ‘The Princess Bride’ on the front. “My mom always watched this with me when I was sick, so I was wondering if you might like it.”

Nico froze. Watching a movie, side by side with Will Solace, all by themselves in dimmed lighting? Nevermind the cold, Nico was sure that would be the thing to kill him. The prospect sounded so nice that it was almost terrifying.

“Aren’t you worried you’ll get sick?” Nico croaked.

“Apollo kids have good immune systems. I’ll be fine for…” Will glanced at the back of the DVD case, “an hour and thirty-eight minutes.”

“I guess that would be okay.”

Will beamed and walked in, already rambling about the movie. When he finished setting up the movie, he sat down on one of the unused beds facing the TV, and Nico had the strange– and infuriating– desire to go sit next to him. 

The movie began to play, some prologue about a grandpa and his kid. Only a few minutes had passed– with Nico already contemplating drifting off, if only to escape the headache– before Will spoke.

With a small chuckle, casually as ever, as if he had no clue he was about to break Nico’s world, Will said, “You know, Wesley– the farm boy– was my first crush on a guy. I’m pretty sure my mom knew my sexuality before I did, because of this movie.”

That settled it– Nico sure as hell wasn’t going to sleep now. 

“You’re gay?” He knew the words sounded accusatory, but he couldn’t help it. 

“Bisexual.” Will glanced at Nico, suddenly looking nervous. “That’s not, like, a problem for you, is it?”

Nico’s heart was pounding in his chest. He wasn’t sure if he could form words even if his mouth didn’t feel completely dry (he may have been lying a bit about drinking enough fluids…). It was so easy to think of Will as unattainably straight, but if he wasn’t – if Nico had a chance–

“I’m gay,” Nico said.

Will beamed, “Awesome.” 

He turned his attention back to the movie. Nico didn’t.

Will said it was awesome that he was gay. But did that mean “awesome” like he was glad Nico wasn’t homophobic, or “awesome” because Will had a crush on Nico? Did Nico even dare hope for that?

He tried to force his attention back to the movie, but his eyes kept flickering between Will and that farm boy character. How was he supposed to pay attention to revenge plots and giants when Will had a crush on a guy. Did Will still like the farm boy? Maybe he imagined it, but it seemed like Will was watching more intently while the farm boy was on screen. Was that still Will’s type in guys?

The farm boy was apparently very good with a sword. Nico was good with a sword. The farm boy wore all black. Nico glanced down at his own shirt; it was pure black, just like the skinny jeans he was wearing, just like most of his closet. And, okay, Nico had never pretended to be dead for five years, but he’d spent seventy years in the Lotus Casino. So maybe that was close enough. What if it was close enough?

The credits began to roll, the black screen plunging the Hades Cabin into near-darkness, and the only thing Nico could’ve said about that whole movie was that Will had a crush on the farm boy character, and Nico and the farmboy had enough similarities that those hopeful little butterflies had returned in full force. 

2. Tangled

Nico’s first mistake was ever telling Will he was born in the 1930s. Because then Will started asking about what he did and didn’t see in the Lotus Casino, which led to Will asking about if the Lotus Casino let him watch Disney movies, which led to Nico asking “What’s Disney?”, which led to Will looking aghast and announcing he’d be kidnapping Nico on Thursday night for education purposes.

Thursday night rolled around, and Nico found himself sitting on his bed after dinner, staring at the door, waiting for Will to appear. It was stupid how much he was looking forward to this movie. He barely even liked movies, much less what was apparently a musical meant for kids. But Will wanted to watch it with Nico, and Nico couldn’t say no to that.

Even if it didn’t mean anything. Even if they were still just friends who sometimes watched movies together. 

At eight o’clock sharp, Will knocked on Nico’s door, and Nico counted a full minute in his head before getting up to answer. He didn’t want Will to think he was trying too hard, after all.

Will must’ve just come from a shift in the infirmary, because he smelled faintly of antiseptic. His hair was a halo of messy blonde curls, like he’d run his fingers through it one too many times, and there were faint bags under his eyes, like he hadn’t been sleeping enough. Half of Nico wanted to roll his eyes and mock Will for being a hypocrite; the other half wanted to drag Will into his own bed and wrap him in blankets until he fell asleep. 

“Hey Neeks!”

“Don’t call me that,” Nico grumbled, letting Will inside. 

Will was humming under his breath as he went straight into setting up the movie, probably a song from the musical. 

“What’s this movie about, anyway?” Nico asked, sitting cross-legged on top of his sheets. 

The TV flickered to life, and Will stepped back triumphantly, using the remote to play the movie. “Don’t worry, there’s a whole exposition dump in the beginning that will tell you everything.”

As if Nico didn’t prefer Will’s voice over anything else. Will moved to sat down, and Nico shifted almost unconsciously, waiting with bated breath to see if Will took the obvious offer to sit on Nico’s bed, or if he sat down on the unoccupied bed again. 

The movie started, and Nico tried not to hide his disappointment that Will was basically across the room from him. He leaned back against the wall, his concentration once again split between the flashy, saturated colors of the screen, and Will’s presence in his room. With how much Nico’s eyes tended to drift towards the Son of Apollo, you’d think he’d be the one glowing in the dark, instead of that magical flower or whatever. 

The movie was…entertaining, sort of. Nico was glad Will didn’t have a gay crush on the Flynn guy because he and Nico weren’t alike at all. Nico did see the resemblance between Will and Rapunzel though– both with blonde hair, both able to heal people. He could totally see Will Solace fighting off monsters with a frying pan, and the sight of it would be so endearing that Nico would probably die of being too gay. 

Will mumbled something under his breath, and Nico swore his ears perked up, every cell in his body programmed to observe whatever Will was doing. 

“What?”

Will turned to face Nico, looking slightly sheepish. “Sorry, just ignore me.”

Nico didn’t think he was physically capable of that. “No, tell me.”

Will motioned towards the screen, where the girl was wrapping her long, glowy hair around the guy’s hand in order to heal it. “She’s been dragging her hair along the bottom of a forest floor all movie. There’s probably leaves and dirt all over it, and she just wrapped it around an open wound. There’s no way it wouldn’t get infected.”

Will’s voice lost its sheepish tone as he talked, his hand gestures becoming more energetic. Nico couldn’t help but smile. “Of course you’re nitpicking how the magical healing works.”

“If I tried that on you, it would hurt you more than it would help.”

“That’s because you can’t glow.”

“Yes I can.”

Nico did a double-take, looking over to see that Will had, in fact, starting glowing, a soft golden light that permeated the Hades Cabin like the early rays of sunrise. “You can glow?”

“Worst Apollo kid power ever, right?” Will snorted, as the glow died out.

“I think it’s cool.” The words tumbled out of Nico’s mouth before he could stop them, and he was just glad he didn’t say “cute” instead.

A small smile worked its way onto Will’s face. “You think so?”

Nico nodded, feeling a rush of heat rising in his cheeks. Will turned his attention back to the screen, and another question bubbled up in his throat. Anything to get Will to talk again, all excited and passionate and adorable. 

“Speaking of, is there any chance a magic healing flower happening in real life?”

Will’s eyes lit up, and Nico tried to hide his triumphant smirk as Will launched into a ramble about the healing properties of plants and how Apollo turned most of his lovers into flowers so it wasn’t completely out of the question to think there was an all-healing flower, but if there was such a flower– and, yeah, Nico really hoped Will wouldn’t test him on the events of Tangled, because he’d long since stopped watching it. 

3. Hamilton

Will was spinning in his office chair, filling out paperwork. Nico had no idea why Will had invited him to help with inventory, but it wasn’t any worse than what Nico already had planned for the day (mainly, beating Percy in sparring, redirecting the conversation whenever Jason brought up his relationship with Will, and napping). 

Nico wasn’t sure how or why, but somehow the conservation had devolved into Will asking more questions about Nico’s weird history. 

“You should watch Hamilton! It’s basically a history lesson and cultural icon rolled into one.”

Nico rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t help the smile that was playing on his lips. He couldn’t exactly say that he disliked Will forcing him to watch movies, even if he was determined to keep feigning reluctance. “I do know what happened during the Revolutionary War, Solace.”

Will waved his hand, eyes flickering up to Nico as he kept scribbling down whatever information medics were supposed to keep track of. Nico was starting to wonder if Will could fill out paperwork in his sleep, and if that was something all Apollo kids could do, or if it was just another thing unique to Will Solace. 

Nico couldn’t physically stop himself from watching the clock when Thursday night came around. The minutes ticked by almost painfully slow; seven-fifty-eight…seven-fifty-nine...eight o’ clock. He stood up from his bed even though there was no knock at the door. 

Gods, he was ridiculous. He didn’t even necessarily want to watch whatever weird historical musical this was, he just wanted to see Will. It had been so long since he’d actually had something to look forward to, and this almost-tradition of weekly movie nights was just…it was really, really nice. And it was different with Will than if it was Hazel or Jason or Reyna.

There was a knock at the door and Nico all but raced to open it, barely concealing his smile.

“Okay, there wasn’t technically a DVD for this, but luckily for you, I bribed the Stolls into burning it onto a disk, because I really don’t think Chiron pays for Disney Plus.”

“Aw, Solace, I’m honored.”

“Anything for you, especially when it comes to making you watch rap musicals about the Founding Fathers.”

Will’s shoulders brushed against Nico’s as he walked in, but Nico barely registered the touch, his mind too hung up on ‘anything for you ’. How was he supposed to pay attention to singing and dramatic choreography when Will was flinging around phrases like that ?

Nico sat down on his bed, watching Will set up the movie. Will probably didn’t mean the words literally, Nico told himself sternly. He said it so casually. Surely if it was romantic, he would’ve said it…more romantically, right?

Yeah, that was it. Will just meant it platonically.

Will sat down next to Nico on his bed and hit play.

Wait, he was what ? Nico did a double-take, glancing at Will, who seemed thankfully oblivious to any of Nico’s inner gay turmoil. Will never sat on Nico’s bed with him, but there he was, barely a foot away. So close that Nico could basically hear him breath when there was a lull in the singing. 

He seemed engrossed in the movie, which Nico was grateful for, because hopefully it meant Will wouldn’t notice the blush Nico was sure was steadily taking over his face. Will’s lips were parted, his mouth making tiny movements as if he was mouthing along to the lyrics.

Nico swallowed, suddenly finding himself incapable of pulling his eyes away. He hadn’t been so close to Will for this long since those three days in the infirmary; all of Will’s features seemed suddenly in sharp, glowing focus. There was a line of freckles leading across his cheeks, down his neck, under the collar of his well-worn sweatshirt. Nico wanted to wear that sweatshirt. It probably smelled like Will, too, like antiseptic and sunshine and that weird honey chapstick he brought along with him everywhere.

Something burned in Nico’s chest, yearning for the kind of domesticity that went along with shared sweatshirts and chapstick. Will had said anything. Maybe he meant it. Maybe Nico could…

Feeling suddenly shameful for even thinking about it, Nico averted his attention right back to the movie. He stared at the screen, pretending to be just as engrossed in the yellow-orange lighting and swishing of blue and red coats as Will surely was. But he couldn’t help the way his mind or his eyes kept drifting right back to Will, as if they belonged there. Will shifted, and the bottom hem of his sweatshirt rode up, exposing a thin sliver of golden skin right above the waistband of his khaki shorts. 

Nico gulped, eyes fixated on that little patch of skin. He wanted to touch it, to feel it. He didn’t think Will’s ‘anything’ covered that, though. 

Before Nico knew it, the musical was over, and Will was standing up, no longer a foot away, tugging down the hem of his sweatshirt. Nico’s eyes tracked the movement, unable to meet Will’s gaze as they said goodnight.

As soon as Will left, Nico dove for his bed, burying a groan into his pillow. He knew his dreams were going to be full of sunshine-scented sweatshirts and exposed slivers of tantalizing skin. He also knew that he was so, so screwed. 

4. Heathers

Campfires weren’t nearly as bad as Nico remembered them. The fire, the crowd, the singing, the s'mores…even the biting cold of the late autumn air didn’t seem as bad when Will’s knee was pressed against his, Will’s body heat seeping through Nico’s jeans. 

Will looked down at Nico’s s’more and rolled his eyes. “It’s not a real s’more if you’ve barely even toasted your marshmallow.”

Nico scowled, seeing the sticky black mess that was leaking out from in between Will’s graham crackers. “At least I don’t burn mine.”

Will pouted, and it looked unfairly adorable. “Burning them is the fun part, though.”

“You’re like that one blue girl from that musical.”

Will’s eyebrows furrowed. “Blue girl…you mean Heathers? Have you even seen Heathers?”

“No offense, Solace, but I’m pretty sure the main character’s name was Alexander Hamilton, not Alexander Heathers.”

That was apparently the wrong thing to say, because Will’s mouth fell open in a look of exaggerated horror. “You haven’t seen Heathers the Musical? That’s it, Thursday night, I’m kidnapping you again.”

Nico was grateful that the red-orange light from the campfire would hide any blush on his cheeks. “Again?”

“Doctor’s orders,” Will said. “It’s vitally important that you watch this movie with me, Nico.”

Watching Will lick the gooey marshmallow remnants off his own thumb, Nico had to disagree. He was pretty sure his feelings for Will Solace were more like a health hazard.

Screw ‘health hazard’, Will Solace was toxic, and he knew it. Come Thursday night, Nico learned he’d been lucky during Hamilton. Then, Will had been a whole foot away. Now, Will was sitting on his bed, pressed right up against Nico like they were on the verge of dying of hypothermia and needed to share body heat.

Will’s body heat was seeping into Nico’s skin even through the layers of clothes. He was basically a space heater, and Nico wished he could just use that to explain the sudden warmth curling in his stomach. But he knew better than that by now.

Nico’s poor heart was pounding so loudly that he wouldn’t be surprised if Will could hear it. Here lies Nico di Angelo, and the cause of death was Will Solace. 

He tried to keep his eyes fixed on the movie, even if every cell in his body was hyper aware of every fidget of Will’s hands. That little charade collapsed twenty-seven minutes into the grainy bootleg Will had tracked down, because Nico’s situation had somehow gotten even worse – a weight landed on Nico’s shoulder, and something fluffy was tickling at his neck. 

Nico swallowed. His eyes darted to the side, trying to make out Will’s form in the semi-darkness. Sure enough, Will had curled into Nico, his head on Nico’s shoulder, his chest rising and falling in a gentle, steady pattern. 

Nico stilled, worried any movement would wake him up. Even his racing heartbeat seemed to slow. The light of the musical was casting a faint glow over Will’s features. In his sleep, he looked so…Nico wasn’t even sure how to describe it. Peaceful, maybe. Beautiful, in a way that made Nico want to do something about it, instead of just watching him.

“Will?” Nico whispered. He nudged Will with his shoulder, but the Son of Apollo didn’t move, and his eyes didn’t flutter open. He was fast asleep. This was Nico’s chance. “I…really like you. I like watching movies with you. Someday…” he took a deep breath, his voice barely above a whisper. “I’d like it if you took me out on an actual date. If you want. If I’m lucky enough for that.”

Will still hadn’t moved. His head was tilted in just the right way that Nico could probably kiss him on the forehead, if he craned his neck a little, just like the way Bianca would kiss Nico’s forehead sometimes when he was really young.

And, suddenly, there was nothing Nico wanted to do more. Will was fast asleep. He wouldn’t even notice. 

Giving in, Nico leaned forward, eyes fluttering shut as he lightly pressed his lips to Will’s cool forehead. He pulled back quickly, the peck lasting all of a second, yet he could still feel a fierce blush building in his cheeks. 

He leaned back, a smile creeping up on his face, Will’s weight warm and familiar and comfortable at his side. 

Will didn’t wake up until the musical ended. He jerked upwards, almost smacking Nico in the face as Nico quickly averted his eyes back to the dark screen, feigning interest in the standing ovation the cast was getting as if he hadn’t just spent the whole musical staring at the way Will’s blonde curls had fallen onto his forehead, fluttering slightly every time Will exhaled. 

“Gods, I hope I didn’t drool on you,” Will said, chuckling awkwardly. 

If anyone was drooling, it was probably Nico, but he wasn’t going to admit that. 

“Uh, no, you were fine.” Did that sound too much like Nico enjoyed it? “You looked like you needed it, and I would’ve woken you up if it was annoying.” 

“Still, sorry for fallin’ asleep on you like that,” Will said, and wow, he must be tired, because his Southern accent was creeping back into his voice. 

And just like that, Nico was blushing again. How was it that thinking stuff like that felt so much more intimate than those make-out dreams Nico had had? 

“How was the musical?” Will asked, standing up, running a hand through the halo of curls that were just on Nico’s shoulder. 

Nico opened his mouth, and he was surprised that he could still form an actual, coherent sentence. “It was great.”

Will muffled a yawn behind his hand, and Nico felt a sharp pang of disappointment that their little– no, it wasn’t a date, it was just a movie, Will spent most of it asleep, for gods’ sake– thing was coming to an end.

“I’ll  see you at breakfast tomorrow, right?” Nico asked.

Will grinned, hand lingering on the doorknob of the Hades Cabin. “As you wish.”

Nico wasn’t sure what that meant, but there was comfort in knowing things wouldn’t change. He wasn’t sure what kind of painfully sappy ghost was now possessing him, but he couldn’t stop himself from saying, “Thanks, Will. You’re a good friend.” It almost felt like a reminder to himself more than anything, that just because he was daydreaming about all these things with Will that Will wanted anything to do with Nico.

“Yeah, you are too, you know. Goodnight, Nico.”

5. Doctor Strange

“It’s Thursday,” Nico said, as he sat down next to where Will was sitting down in the Infirmary. 

Will just looked confused, and a pit started to form in Nico’s stomach. After the past four weeks, had Nico been wrong to assume that the whole Thursday movie night thing was a routine? Was it naive of him to think Will wanted that?

Unless…the anxiety started to boil in Nico’s stomach, thinking back on their last movie night. What if Will had heard Nico’s love confession? Or, even worse, what if he knew that Nico had kissed him on the forehead?

Nico felt suddenly queasy. He didn’t think he could stand the thought of Will rejecting him, of suddenly being disgusted by him and unwilling to even watch movies with him anymore. 

Will just looked up at Nico, surprised.

Nico was already starting to eye his exits. “Nevermind, you’re probably busy, I’ll just–”

“Wait!” Will stood up, catching Nico’s wrist before he could run away. Was it just Nico’s imagination, or did Will actually look nervous? “I didn’t realize you… liked that.”

“Of course I like the movies.”

“You never watch them,” Will said.

Nico crossed his arms, suddenly defensive, even though Will’s tone was far from being accusatory. If anything, he just sounded…disappointed. 

“Sure I do! What else do you think I’m doing every Thursday night for an hour and a half?”

Will huffed. “Name one plot point from Hamilton.”

Nico scowled. That was the night Will’s shirt kept riding up; bringing that up was basically cheating. Not that Nico was willing to accept defeat. “There was a scene where the guy in the ugly green coat sang a whole song about getting shot, and they had a girl be the bullet.”

Will was fighting back a smile, which meant he didn’t look sad or nervous anymore, which Nico was counting as a win. Nico had to force himself to not smile back.

“Okay,” Will said. “Eight o’clock, your cabin. If you promise to pay attention, then I promise not to fall asleep on you.”

In Nico’s defense, he almost made it through the whole movie. He was even taking mental notes in case Will decided to test him on plot points– and, no, of course 75% of said mental notes weren’t just how incredibly endearing it was that Will had started quoting the movie’s funnier one-liners. 

Nico was almost feeling proud of himself going into the climax. He hadn’t even spared a single thought to his and Will’s proximity, or how it had felt to have Will pressed against him the week before and how cold his side felt without Will’s space-heater-esque presence, or how it was still totally possible that Will hadn’t really been asleep and was just trying to figure out the best way to reject him. 

Nope. Nico wasn’t thinking about any of that. All of his attention was purely focused on this Strange guy. 

“Doctor Strange is a better guy than me, I don’t think I could ever go through a time loop like that.”

“Why not?”

Will shrugged. “I’d get too bored, doing something over and over again.”

Nico’s heart sunk deep into his stomach. Was that the real reason Will hadn’t wanted to do this movie night? Was he getting bored of Nico?

Now that Nico wasn’t just some broken, friendless loser who needed healing, Will had lost interest? 

Facing Will, he tried to swallow the lump in his throat. “Yeah, but…if you’re doing something you care about, or doing it with someone you care about, then it won’t really get boring, will it? Maybe love is just finding the excitement in doing things over and over again because you’re doing it with the person you lo–like.” Nico cleared his throat. “Or, you know, something like that.”

Gods, he was cursing himself for not shutting up. Will was now staring at him like he’d grown a second head.

“Nico,” Will said slowly. Nico was seriously considering making a break for it. “Are you saying you ship Stephen Strange with Dormammu?”

Suddenly, Nico didn’t care if Will kept giving him that weirded-out look for the rest of his life, he was taking the out. He wasn’t even totally sure what ‘shipping’ was, but what he’d piece together from the combined efforts of Leo and Will wasn’t exactly encouraging him to look more into it. “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

There was a beat of silence, filled only by the movie (which Nico had totally forgotten was still playing in the background), and then Will burst out laughing. 

“Still not the weirdest MCU ship I’ve ever heard of.”

Will’s laugh was better than any of the musicals he’d shown Nico. “It’s not weird, it’s true love, Solace. A Sorcerer Supreme and a plant-eating bad guy, it’s a match made in Heaven.”

“Aw, you did pay attention.” Will looked at Nico, and his blue eyes had gone soft with an emotion Nico couldn’t quite place. Quieter, he added, “Wonderboy, you are perfect.”

Perfect. Will thought he was perfect. Nico’s breath hitched in his throat. “What does that mean?”

Will must’ve realized what he said, because his eyes widened and he grew flustered, ducking his head and averting his eyes back to the movie. “Sorry, it’s a joke from Hercules.”

A joke…it hadn’t sounded like a joke. And if it was, Nico really didn’t think it was that funny. But if it wasn’t a joke…Nico couldn’t tell if he was just being hopeful and naive, but it didn’t sound like a joke. But there was only one way to say for sure, wasn’t there?

+1. Hercules

Wonderboy, you are perfect. Will’s words kept replaying in his mind, until Nico was sure they were seared onto his eyelids. Even if Will didn’t mean it like that , Nico had to know. Which is why instead of Nico waiting inside his Cabin, he was standing outside the Apollo Cabin at eight o’clock on Saturday night, clutching a highly-saturated DVD case in his hands. 

Austin was the one who opened the door first, his face splitting into a wide grin. Before Nico could even speak, he called out over his shoulder, “Will! Your boyfriend’s here!”

“We’re not dating,” Nico said quickly. Was he just that obvious, or had Will told them something? 

Austin smirked. “Sure you’re not.”

Will hissed something at Austin, who rolled in eyes playfully in Nico’s direction before disappearing from the doorway.

Will smiled sheepishly at Nico. “Sorry about him. What’s up?”

Nico held up the DVD case for Hercules. “Want to watch a movie?”

Through the semi-darkness, Nico swore he could see the faint red glow of Will’s blush. Based on the sheer number of times Will had made Nico blush, Nico counted this as a good sign. 

“Right, Hercules. Yeah, sure, I’m sure you’ll love what your dad looks like in the movie.”

Nico led Will back to the Hades Cabin, with Nico growing more confident with every step. All he had to do was watch the movie with Will, which he’d been doing for weeks (sort of), and wait for the Wonderboy line, and figure out if Will liked him back or not. 

It’d be easy. Nico hoped it would be, anyways. 

The movie began to play, and Nico didn’t miss the way Will was squirming in his seat. The silence was awkward, when normally Will usually filled it with muttered commentary about whatever was happening. And when the Wonderboy line was said–

Will shot up like it was physically painful for him to keep sitting, pausing the movie. “Okay, yep, I can’t do this.”

“You can’t do what?” Had Nico gone too far somehow? Was this Will finally getting bored of Nico? 

Will was pacing the floor of the Hades Cabin now. “I realize that I was probably not as subtle as I thought and I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable with what my siblings said to you and with all the flirting–”

“The what ?”

It was almost funny how those three little words caught and held Nico’s attention more than any of the movies Will had tried to force him to watch. 

"The flirting. That I've been doing. With you." Will stopped pacing, looking at Nico, slightly bewildered. “Wait, why did you make me watch Hercules with you? Because if you're uncomfortable with what I said last week--"

Who cared about that? Will was flirting. “You’ve been flirting with me?”

Will looked like he was fighting a smile, and Nico wished he’d stop doing it. He liked Will’s smiles. Especially when they were so fond and directed at Nico and no one else. 

“We’ve been going on movie dates for the past month,” Will said. “I know you’re from the forties, but I would’ve thought that’d be an obvious hint. And then I did the whole ‘as you wish’ thing from the Princess Bride, and you said you wanted to be friends! And then you asked me why I hadn’t invited you to watch a movie–” Will sighed, forcing out a chuckle. “You’re giving me a lot of mixed signals here.”

“I didn’t understand the Princess Bride reference because I was too busy being jealous over the farm guy you had a crush on,” Nico blurted out. “Actually, I spent most of the movies watching you. How’s that for a mixed signal?”

“I– that’s great,” Will said, still looking adorably nervous. “Better than I was hoping for when I came over tonight.”

Now that Will had stopped pacing and they were both standing, Nico couldn’t help but focus on how close they were standing. 

“So what are you going to do about it?”

If Nico leaned forward now, they’d be within kissing distance. And not just a forehead kiss, an actual kiss, the kind of kiss that Will’s movies loved talking about.

Will smirked, his breaths coming out in tiny puffs that ghosted across Nico’s lips. His eyes drifting down towards Nico’s lips, he said, “I guess I have a few ideas. For one, I’m going to make you rewatch the Princess Bride.”

He leaned in to kiss Nico, but Nico stepped back, glaring at him. 

“Oh come on, Neeks, it’s a classic! You can’t just not watch it!”

Nico raised his eyebrow disbelievingly. He had a great talent for not watching movies. 

“I’ll make it a real movie date,” Will offered. “We can hold hands and everything.”

The thought of holding hands with Will, underneath a blanket, snuggling together in the semi-darkness of the Hades Cabin, just the two of them, alone, watching a movie…it made Nico’s stomach warm. 

“We better,” Nico muttered, before pulling Will down into a kiss.