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Beach days: the sun shining down, the beauty of the waves, the gentle breeze and the feeling of sand beneath your feet.
All things Nico hated.
Percy and Annabeth were playing chicken fight against Piper and Jason in the water, Reyna was reading a book, Frank and Hazel were chatting away whilst relaxing on a large float, Leo was trying to set the water on fire and Nico was being pestered by his boyfriend.
Will rubbed the sunscreen on Nico's back as he talked about how fun beaches were. Incessantly. Loudly. Persistantly.
"Look, I just don't like them," Nico tried to reason.
"But they're so much fun!" Will objected. "Splashing people, sandcastles, picnics."
"Shark attacks, jellyfish, drowning."
"Okay, there's only about nine shark attacks that are fatal per year."
Nico raised an eyebrow and twisted around to face his boyfriend. "People are dead, William."
Will rolled his eyes and tackled Nico onto the blanket, positing himself so that Nico was trapped under his arms. He kissed Nico’s nose and grinned.
"We are at the beach with our friends," he said slowly. "And you will have a good time."
Nico shook his head.
"You will!" Will encouraged. "I'm sending good vibes your way and there's nothing you can do to stop them."
Nico scoffed but in the end he couldn't deny the adorable look on Will’s face.
"Fine," he said. "But only because you're here."
Will’s grin widened. "Wouldn't expect anything else. Now come in the water!"
Nico’s eyes widened. "Hang on, I didn't say I would do that!"
Will dragged him to his feet. "Too late, you shall."
As he was pulled towards the beach, Nico half heartedly tried to pull back, part of him already accepting his fate. So this is how he would die. He wondered whether the shark attack fatality rating would go up after this. He wondered if his dad would grow back his leg for him when he was a ghost.
"But I have a doctor's note!" he yelled as Will scooped him up in his arms and chucked him far into the water. Nico spluttered, treading water as elegantly as possible, which is to say not at all. Will laughed and swam towards him.
Annoyingly, Will was still tall enough that he could stand where Nico couldn't.
"Cheer up, darlin'. Relax!"
"You say that after being yeeted into a watery grave."
Will pulled Nico to him, kissing his head. "You're so dramatic. I love it."
"Hey!" Percy waved enthusiastically from a short while away. "You guys wanna chicken fight?"
Will glanced at Nico. Before he could even open his mouth to object, Nico was sitting on a pair of shoulders advancing towards a cheerful Percy and a smug Annabeth who had just sent Piper to the bottom of the ocean.
"This is it," Nico said to himself. "I am dead."
He was not dead but his dignity was.
He lost, although he blamed it on Percy cheating, and found himself wrapped in a towel on one of the blankets scowling at Will.
"I hate beach days," he said but, as he looked around at his friends laughing and messing around for the first time in a long time, he smiled to himself.
They would still pay, though.