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The microwave in the Big House’s kitchen said 2:17 when Nico stepped out of the shadows. It was boring how easy it was for him to sneak in here. It used to be a thrill, to know that he was out past curfew and no one could catch him, but now it just felt lonely.
His nightmares had been worse than usual tonight, flooded with glimpses of Tartarus raging and fire in his father’s eyes and his sister and– and all kinds of memories he’d rather forget. There was only one remedy for waking up in a cold sweat like that, and it was stashed in a freezer that was supposed to be off-limits to campers: chocolate cookies & cream ice cream. The gelato he had as a kid was better– by a significant margin– but this was a close second.
Nico crossed the kitchen, feeling the cold tile through his socks, and opened the freezer door. The sudden light hurt his eyes, and he had to squint for several seconds until he adjusted to it. Even when he could see, he still couldn’t find the pint of contraband he kept hidden in the back.
Just beyond the hum of the fridge, he heard something creak in the hallway. Nico slammed the freezer door shut. Even as his heart gripped his whole rib cage with a painful squeeze, he called the shadows to his hands, ready to fight or disappear.
“Who’s there?” he called. It was a constant marvel that he could still manage to sound intimidating when he felt like he might start crying.
There was another creak, and then a voice whispered, “Nico?”
“Who’s asking?”
A head of shaggy blonde hair popped out from behind the corner and smiled at him.
Nico scrunched his eyebrows together, confused. He released the shadows from his grip and just stood there. “Will?”
“Hey,” Will answered, stepping into the kitchen and leaning against the big metal table in the middle of the room. “What are you doing up so late?”
Then he set something on the table next to him. It was an empty pint of ice cream, with a paper towel wrapped around it and a spoon handle sticking out.
Nico frowned at the carton. “Is that my ice cream?” he asked.
“Depends,” Will replied, crossing his arms. He had on a big sweatshirt that bunched up around his arms and hung well past his hips. “What kind of ice cream do you like?”
“Just show me the carton,” Nico said, and reached for it.
Will pushed the carton out of reach just in time and caught Nico’s wrist. When he looked down at him, a touch of moonlight from the window caught on his eyes. As soon as Nico realized it, he jerked his hand away and backed up to the fridge again.
“That’s a little rude, don’t you think?” Will teased. Nico could feel himself blushing.
“It’s more rude to steal someone’s ice cream.”
“Maybe it’s not yours,” he countered.
“I think it probably was.”
Will looked up, pretending to think for a moment. He bit his bottom lip and dragged his teeth across it. He knew exactly what he was doing, and it infuriated Nico. They had almost kissed that one time– one time – after campfire, and now Will spent every spare second he could find trying to remind him of it.
Being reminded of it now, standing in a dark kitchen, alone with Will Solace, sent something thundering through his chest.
“Hmm,” Will mused. “There must be some way to tell what kind of ice cream it was.”
Nico rolled his eyes, forcing himself to look literally anywhere except Will’s face. Or his neck. Or his hands, half-buried in fabric across his chest. “Yeah, you could show me the pint.”
“Or,” he suggested, and pushed off the center table. “I might have a better idea.”
He backed Nico into the counter, hands placed on either side of him. They were close now, painfully close, and Nico thought he might spontaneously stop breathing at any second. Will was going to have to do CPR on the kitchen floor.
Nico swallowed the lump that had caught in his throat and resolved not to back down. The only thing he could do was try to look scary, though, and he didn’t know if that would work very well in this context. There was no way he could bring himself to ask Will what his idea was. He was too busy trying not to pass out.
This close, he could see all the finer details of his face. The light purple shade of the skin under his eyes, that little dimple that showed up on his right side– and a smudge of chocolate ice cream at the corner of his lips.
Nico frowned again, suddenly much less distracted.
It was enough to make Will take a step back. “Hey,” he said softly, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, I just thought we had, like, a thing going on, but–”
His words trailed off into nothing as Nico reached up and wiped the little smudge of chocolate off his lips, and his cheeks went red.
Nico examined his thumb, which now held the evidence in question. Then he showed it to Will and asked, “Is this chocolate cookies & cream? Yes or no.”
Will didn’t look at his thumb even for a second. His eyes were locked onto Nico’s, looking excited and afraid and confused all at once.
“Yeah," he confessed. At least he had the decency to look sheepish. "Sorry. I. . . I didn't know it was yours. I'll replace it."
Nico raised an eyebrow. "Promise?"
"Promise."
He liked the way Will just stood there, waiting for him to make the next move. Maybe he liked it a little too much.
He licked the smudge of ice cream off his thumb. It tasted great. He would've been furious if he hadn't already forgiven him. Will thought they had a thing going on. He had absolutely no idea what that meant, but it thrilled him to know it was theirs.
Shrugging his shoulders, he jumped to sit on the counter bracing his hands behind him. "What are you doing here this late?"
"Technically it's early."
Nico rolled his eyes. "What are you doing here this early , then?"
Will shrugged, looking away from him for the first time all night. "Couldn't sleep. Had a lot of caffeine today."
"How much is a lot?"
A smile quirked at his lips. "Do you want that in milligrams?"
If he rolled his eyes any more they might very well pop right out of his head. It made Will chuckle though, so maybe it was worth it.
"I guess like four cups of coffee," he answered finally.
Nico raised his eyebrows. That sounded like too much, even for him– and he was Italian .
". . . and a Five Hour Energy."
"Will!"
"And that Diet Coke Mr. D threw at the med tent when he got pissed at Percy."
"Jesus."
Will just shrugged again. “Why are you still up?”
Nico bit his lip, trying to decide how much he wanted to share. Will clearly hadn’t given him the whole truth, so maybe he shouldn’t, either. “Nightmares woke me up. I thought a snack might help me get back to sleep.”
“Oh,” Will whispered. He appeared to shrink into himself. “Sorry.”
Ah, fuck .
“It’s okay,” Nico tried. “I didn’t say that to make you feel bad.”
They went silent after that. Nico desperately wanted Will to say something, just so they could keep talking. He was never very good at this, and it only got harder when he swore off using random nerdy shit as a conversation crutch. After Bianca, it only ever made him sad.
If he didn’t say something now, though, he might lose his chance.
“I should–” Will said at the same time that Nico asked, “You think we have a thing?”
Will cocked his head to the side. “What?”
Nico felt his face heat. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. It was too late to abandon the mission now, though. “You said you thought we had a thing.”
“Oh. Yeah. I, uh. . . I did say that, didn’t I?” Will’s face flushed red all the way to the tips of his ears. It was adorable.
“What, um. . .” Nico cleared his throat, trying to get the words unstuck. “What kind of a thing?”
“Well, I mean. . . After the campfire last week, after you– I mean we– I thought we had like a flirty banter-y thing going on, but clearly I misunderstood, and I’ll stop bothering you, I swear–”
“You didn’t,” Nico cut him off. His heart felt about a thousand times lighter in his chest.
“Uhm. . . What?”
“You didn’t misunderstand.”
Now he had Will’s full attention. It was intoxicating. It was almost too much to bear.
“I didn’t?”
Nico shook his head. He didn’t know what was supposed to happen next. He rarely let himself imagine telling Will how he felt, let alone anything that might happen after. Should he get off the counter? Should he try to kiss him? Wait, fuck, was he supposed to kiss him? The thought made his breath hitch in his chest.
Thankfully– mercifully– Will took a step forward, setting his hands back on the counter on either side of Nico, just like he had earlier. He’d gotten a lot taller since last summer. Even with both feet firmly on the floor, he was almost at eye level. If Nico leaned down, just a little bit…
“So. . . the other day, when you ran away from me behind the arts & craft shelter–”
“I did not run away. I was running late.”
“For what?”
“For, uhm…” Nico said, but he couldn’t think of anything. Will was so close, and he was smirking up at him like the annoying, arrogant–
“I’ll pretend you came up with a good answer,” Will teased, “because I have another question.”
It took a Herculean effort to stop his voice from cracking when Nico said, “What’s that?”
Will’s eyes kept darting down to Nico’s lips. The air crackled around them, achingly silent. “Do you want this to be more than just ‘a thing’?”
Gods, yes.
Like a man possessed, Nico took Will’s face in his hands and kissed him. When Will kissed him back, oh, it was everything . His lips were soft and warm and tasted like chocolate ice cream. Will’s hand floated up to Nico’s back, gently pulling him closer.
Nico pulled away first. Will smiled up at him, his face just as red as Nico’s felt. He stared down at this beautiful, golden boy, and tried to carve out the memory in his brain– every freckle, every dimple, every labored breath. He never wanted to forget this moment.
“I’ll take that as a yes?” Will asked, breathing out a relieved laugh.
“Yeah,” Nico said, and kissed him one more time. Then maybe one more time after that.
When he wandered back to his cabin, he knew his heart was racing too fast to even think about going back to sleep. He wasn’t worried about the nightmares anymore, though. Not tonight. Not when sunshine lingered on his mouth, so stunning and so radiant that his fears didn’t stand a chance at creeping back in.