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It was the beginning of autumn. Leaves started changing from green to red and gold, most plants were already dried, and days became shorter. It wasn’t even 8 p.m., and it already started being dark. Will was about to go to his cabin and start getting ready to go to sleep, but firstly he wanted to say ‘goodnight’ to his boyfriend. The problem was that he couldn’t find him anywhere. Nico wasn’t in his cabin, in the Big House, or on the training field. Will was a little bit worried, so he started looking for him everywhere and asking everyone if they’d seen him.
“Oh, wait, I’ve actually seen him.” said Kayla “I thought he was going toward the forest.”
“Thank you a lot,” he answered and headed there.
The temperature started going down, and Will was only wearing a T-shirt and shorts, but he wanted to find Nico no matter what. Then he saw him, sitting next to the wood and hugging his knees. Will noticed that he was playing with his ring, and when he got closer, he heard that… Nico was singing. Solace obviously knew that song, as it was ‘Ave Maria,’ one of the most recognizable operas. And performed by Di Angelo, it was just perfect. The combination of his pure Italian accent and gentle voice just seemed like he was born to sing it.
He went towards him and put his hand on his boyfriend's shoulder.
“Hey, sunshine” He whispered.
“Holy shit!” Nico gasped, hiding his face in his hands. “You scared me.”
“Sorry.” He laughed and sat next to him. “I didn’t mean to.”
“One day you’ll put me into grief.” Nico sighed. “So how long have you been there?”
“Long enough to hear you singing.” Will said. “And I think that was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard, and I am a son of the god of music.”
“Crap.” He leaned his forehead on Will’s shoulder. “I hate when someone hears me singing.”
“What a shame.” He grabbed his hand. “I’d love to hear that again.”
“You definitely won’t.”
Nico got closer to his boyfriend and laid his head on his chest. Will hugged him and kissed the top of his head. I was already cold, and another gust of wind made a thinly dressed boy shiver.
“Will, aren’t you cold?” Nico asked.
“No, I’m not.” He lied. “It’s perfectly fine.”
“Will,” The son of Hades looked into his eyes. “don’t lie to me. I can tell you’re cold.”
“Okay, maybe a little b-” He saw Nico taking off his jacket. “What are you doing?”
“Saving your stupid ass from getting sick” He put it on Will’s shoulders. “Much better. And don’t you even try taking it off.” He came back to his previous position.
“But now you are going to be cold.” He indeed tried to take it off, but Nico stopped him.
“Can’t you see I’m wearing a hoodie and long pants?” He measured him by sight. “…and you’re wearing shorts and some lame shirt with a cat wearing sunglasses on it, not to mention flip-flops.”
“Do you have any problem with my cat wearing sunglasses?”
“Nah, it just looks stupid.” He mumbled. “It suits you.”
“Nico!”
Will ran his hand on the coat he had on his shoulders. The aviator's jacket Nico had since he was a child, so since the 30s, was some kind of inseparable part of his appearance. He was always taking it everywhere and making sure he wouldn’t lose or break it. So Will just knew how important it was for Nico, and even so, he gave it to him. It may sound crazy, but it smelled like a cemetery but in a positive way: wet grass, cold marble, old wax, and a note of lilies of the valley.
The ‘Ave Maria’ after Nico’s singing just stuck in Will’s head, so he automatically started humming the melody.
“What are you doing?” Di Angelo asked, looking at him, but he just continued, and after the prelude ended, he started singing.
“Ave Maria,
Vergin del ciel,
sovrana di grazie e madre pia”
Will noticed the confusion on Nico’s face, but he kept going.
“che accogli ognor la
fervente preghiera”
But then, on the line that means “don’t deny my broken heart, spare me pain,” Nico unexpectedly joined him.
“Non negar a questo straziato mio cor
tregua al suo dolor”
And the rest of it they sang together. It might be a Christian song, and none of them were Christians, obviously, but it didn’t change the fact that it was beautiful. And for some reason, Nico seemed extremely delighted. When the song ended, he said.
“I didn’t know you knew that.”
“As I told you before, I am the son of the god of music.” He answered. “And don’t forget my mom is a musician too.”
“Right.” Nico smiled. “You know, my mother used to sing it for me and Blanca when we were kids. And it just reminded me of that when we were all singing it together.”
The son of Hades looked away and started playing with his ring again, but Will noticed he was still smiling. And it was the first time when he saw him smiling while talking about his sister and mother. He felt like it was a big step for him.
“Then” He grabbed his arm and hugged him to himself, kissing his temple. “if you ever want to do that again, I’ll be here.”
“I’ll…think about that.” He hid his face in his chest. “Also, your accent sucks.”
“Oh, I’m sorry I’m not Italian like you.” He mocked smiling and added after a while. “I think we should head back to the camp; it’s pretty late.”
“Yeah, I think that too.” Nico stood up and extended his hand to Will. “Come on, sun boy.”
Solace grabbed his hand, and they started walking out of the forest. Even though he still had his boyfriend’s jacket on his shoulders, he felt the cold all around. When they arrived at Hades’ cabin, he reached for the coat to take it off, but Nico stopped him by grabbing his wrists.
“I could feel you’re still cold. You can…give it back to me tomorrow, I guess.” He climbed up on his toes and pulled him by the collar, kissing his nose. “Buonanotte, tesoro.”
Nico came into his cabin, leaving Will completely flustered and blushing. Nico lent him his jacket. NICO DI ANGELO gave him his jacket he had never parted with. And then this Italian valediction, oh gods. How he loved those moments when Nico was trying to be ‘the caring and romantic’ boyfriend. Will just couldn’t stop smiling all the way to his cabin. And because of all of that, he completely forgot why he was looking for Nico; he wanted to say goodnight.