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The bonfire crackled, casting flickering shadows across the sand as Camp Half-Blood’s beach party roared on. Laughter and shouts filled the air, Leo had somehow set his sleeve on fire (again) and was now sprinting into the waves like a human torch, while Clarisse arm-wrestled Sherman Yang over a bottle of stolen nectar. Will Solace sat with his siblings near the medical supply stash (just in case), absently plucking at his guitar strings, when he realized something—or rather, someone-was missing.
His eyes scanned the crowd before landing on a lone figure at the edge of the shoreline.
Nico.
Will frowned and stood up, weaving through demigods until he reached him. The son of Hades was hunched over, knees drawn to his chest as if trying to make himself smaller than he already was. Sand clung to his dark jeans like shadowy fingerprints.
The bonfire's glow barely reached the stretch of sand where Nico sat alone, knees pulled to his chest like armor. Will's shadow fell across him before the son of Apollo dropped down unceremoniously.
"Hey," Will said softly as he plopped down beside him. Nico didn’t jump, of course not; death itself probably couldn’t sneak up on him, but there was a shift.
"Demigod party rule #1," Will announced, bumping their shoulders together. "No brooding within 50 feet of festive activities."
Nico didn't smile. "I'm not brooding. I'm..." His fingers curled tighter around his shins.
"Plotting world domination? Communing with crustaceans?" Will nudged him again, softer this time. "Or just remembering that people suck?"
A muscle jumped in Nico's jaw as he finally turned, only to find Will much closer than expected, freckles silvered by moonlight and eyes holding none of their usual teasing.
"Nico di Angelo," Will said quietly, all camp medic steadiness now, "do you really believe nobody likes you?"
The waves filled the silence for three full breaths before Nico muttered, waving his hands, "Evidence... suggests—"
Will caught his wrist mid-gesture with surprising gentleness. His thumb started to rub circles.
Nico pulled back sharply, his breath ragged. "Don't," he whispered, voice raw. "You don't know what you're saying."
Will's hands hovered between them, frozen mid-reach. The party's distant laughter felt miles away now.
"I know exactly what I'm saying," Will insisted softly, but Nico was already standing, black eyes glinting with something panicked and wild in the moonlight before he dissolved into shadows right before Will could grab him again.
Will’s fingers tightened around Nico’s wrist before he could shadow-travel away. "Wait—just wait." His voice cracked like dry kindling.
Nico froze, shadows writhing at his feet. The party sounds blurred into white noise behind them.
"You don't get to vanish," Will breathed, stepping closer until their shoes touched in the sand. "Not when you're doing this...not when you're lying about how I feel." He dared to brush his thumb over Nico’s knuckles, sticky with sea salt and tension.
Nico jerked back like he’d been burned. "You pity me." A razor-blade laugh tore from his throat. "Or worse, you think kissing the broken Hades kid makes you some kind of hero."
Will flinched as if struck, then surged forward, gripping Nico's face with both hands. Their foreheads pressed together, breaths mingling in the charged space between them.
"You idiot," Will whispered fiercely, "I'm trying to tell you I've been falling for you since you nearly passed out in my infirmary and still threatened to stab me with a straw." His thumbs traced Nico’s cheekbones, wiping away saltwater tears or ocean spray, neither of them knew.
Nico shuddered but didn’t pull away this time. "Yeah sure. Prove it." A challenge edged with raw vulnerability.
Will exhaled shakily before closing that final inch between them, but stopped just before their lips touched, hovering until Nico growled and yanked him the rest of the way down by his camp necklace. The kiss was messy with teeth and unsaid things; Nico biting like he wanted to carve himself into Will’s skin while Will held him like something precious he refused to lose again.