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When Nico agreed to join Piper, Jason, Percy, Annabeth, Leo and Calypso for a ‘sleepover’- situated in his cabin, mind- he did not expect the extra person. It had taken Piper hours to convince Nico to let them use his cabin for a 'fun night with friends,’ as she described it, though he knew she hadn’t spent the night with Jason in months; nearly since getting off the Argo Two. It took her even longer for her to convince Nico to actually be present, but eventually he complied, hoping his presence would refrain them from doing anything too awful in his cabin. What he wasn’t expecting was to find his seven friends at his door, with Will Solace in tow.
“ Will?” Nico asked.
“ Hello, Nico. Piper asked me along.” Nico’s eyes trained on Piper, who was blushing and looking awkwardly at her shoes.
“ and you came?” Will only shrugged as the others shouldered their way past Nico, who stood shocked in the doorway, and found themselves a patch of ground to sit on. Will awkwardly passed Nico and sat by Piper, who smiled at him encouragingly. Nico scowled, seeing everyone had sat themselves around a circle. He squeezed in next to Jason, who had Piper by his side, and Percy, with Annabeth to his right. Next to Annabeth was Calypso- the two had become quite good friends over the months- and then Leo, who completed the circle by flanking Pipers left after Will. This situated Will directly across from Nico, who was staring at the carpet. Piper looked between the two of them, and deciding to break the awkward silence, spoke up
'So, I brought some stuff Hermes cabin stole for us,’ she proceeded to pull out packets of snickers, Mars Bars, Gummy Worms and Snakes. As well as some cans of soda and something that looked suspiciously like alcohol. Nico scrunched his nose up at the amount of sugar that had piled in the middle, remembering the last time he’d eaten so much sugar- he’d been sick for days. He felt eyes on him and looked up to find Will looking at him, a smile tugging on his lips. Nico pulled a sour expression as Leo shoved a handful of Gummy Worms in his mouth, and Will laughed aloud. Embarrassed, Nico looked at the ground again, but he felt Will’s eyes on him still.
An hour had passed and they’d eaten most of the lollies in the middle, bar around 5 snakes. Jason and Percy had also taken it within themselves to crack open the glass bottle- which was in fact alcohol- and share it around. Nico refused, but Will had taken a swig or two, before deciding he didn’t like the taste, and passed everytime Leo offered. By that time, most of them were tipsy, and decided they should play a game other than the half-assed truth or dare they’d been dragging out the whole night.
“ What about Never Have I Ever?” Leo suggested, hiccuping slightly. Calypso laughed lightly at Leo.
“ Leo, dear, you’re too innocent to play Never Have I Ever.” Leo blushed, but decided she was right. Nico was secretly pleased, he hadn’t done anything particularly interesting, either.
Not that he hadn’t thought about it, of course. He was a growing boy, a maturing man- a hormonal teenager. He remembers the second night he’d spent at the infirmary. He had promised Will he’d stay three nights, getting back his energy and making sure he hadn’t developed any major health issues. He remembered seeing Will, running around with his siblings tending to other patients, and the heat had just gotten too much, he had thrown off his shirt and ignored it as it fell on the floor somewhere. Nico felt pathetic getting so worked up over Will shirtless, but Will had no ordinary torso. It was strong, and muscular and solid but soft and-
Nico was pulled away from the memory by Jason, who was elbowing him.
“ Sorry, what?” Nico replied to Piper, who was looking at him expectantly.
“ I said,” she sighed, though she wasn’t really upset, “ I was thinking we should do spin the bottle, I asked if that was okay with you.”
“ No one else minds?” Nico asked doubtfully, of all the people here, only he and Will were single. I don’t know how Nico would feel if the bottle landed on someone like Piper, Or Annabeth, or Percy! Nico suddenly didn’t like the idea very much.
“ Everyone’s cool.” She replied.
“ But- I mean, are you sure?” Nico stuttered out, panic rising.
“ Nico, it’ll be fine, it’ll be fun.” Piper said, coolly.
Nico immediately felt his body and mind relax and nodded in agreement. The game began and Piper spun, it landing on Percy. She shrugged and kissed him on the cheek, which caused a load of uproar from everyone else, and blushing from Percy. Nico found himself laughing when Percy had to kiss Leo, who in turn had to kiss Jason, who- suspiciously- landed on Piper. He kissed her quickly, and handed the bottle to her. She spun and it landed on Nico. She crawled across the circle and kissed his forehead fondly, like he was her little brother. He didn’t mind, he hadn’t wanted to particularly kiss her, or anyone. Well, he thinks to himself, maybe one person.
He spun the bottle, shaking, and watched as it slowed. It came to a stop, and his eyes followed the bottle to meet a pair of blue eyes.
“ Will..” Nico breathed out in relief, before snapping his mouth shut and burying his face in his hands. He heard people laugh around him, and looked at Piper suspiciously. She simply shrugged in response, but a smile tugged at her lips, and he wondered if being the child of the goddess of love gave you the power to influence games like this.
“ Uh, okay..” Nico said, getting to his knees and shuffling across to kneel directly in front of Will. They were so close he could feel the heat radiating off of him, and the slight blush that tainted his freckled face.
“ I can just like.. kiss you on the forehead- or.. maybe. I don’t know, where-how- I mean, do you,” The words got caught in Nico’s throat. The thought of kissing Will send shivers up his spine and made his whole body tingle. He wanted to, but at the same time was unsure. He’d never kissed anyone before, what if he was no good? What if Will didn’t want him to? Was Will even interested in men? Did he like Will or was he just dizzy from the attention Will gave him.
He was about to back down, when he heard Pipers voice, cool and calming again, “ It’s okay Nico.” Nico suddenly felt like he was fine, like this was something he did every day- like it was something he wanted to do everyday. The words were no longer stuck in his throat, but his voice came out husky and deep.
“Do you want me to kiss you?”
Will made a sound in the back of his throat, which Nico took as a yes. He placed his hands on either side of Wills face, slowly and calmly, like he was savouring this moment forever. His eyes scanned Will’s face, as if trying to commit the lines of Will’s face to his memory. Everyone watched in anticipation, as Nico edged closer and closer to Will. Impossibly close. The distance was covered quickly as Will surged forward, grabbing Nico’s wrists and pressing his lips against Nico’s, firmly, feverishly. He seperated Nico’s lips, and they began moving in unison. Nico shuttered at Will licked his bottom lip, and Nico opened his mouth to allow Will more. That’s all that was going through Nico’s mind, more more more more. He nipped Will’s bottom lip, and the low groan Will emitted demolished any fear that Nico had, that maybe he wasn’t a good kisser. Maybe he was wrong, maybe Will didn’t want to. Will fell back against the space and Nico followed, barely allowing for a space to breath. They were so enveloped in each other, neither of them heard Leo protest against the ending of the game. Neither of them heard Piper scold Leo, and pull them all to their feet, ushering them out. Her job was done.
Nico sat up at the sound of the door closing and found everyone but he and Will gone. Somehow Will’s legs had become hooked around Nico’s hips, and Will was lying flat, breathing heavily. His face was red and his lips were pink and swollen, and Nico thought he was beautiful. He told Will as such, and Will laughed breathlessly. He got on his elbows, facing Nico. Nico’s black hair was ruffled and messy from all the times Will had ran his hands through his hair, his lips were swollen too.
“ I could say the same for you.”
“ You think I’m beautiful?” Nico asked, he was blushing more now than he thought possible. Will sat up properly, placing one hand on Nico’s cheek, who leant into the touch, closing his eyes.
“Of course, my angel.” Nico chuckled, his voice still husky and deep, not from embarrassment but something else. Something he hadn’t felt very often.
He opened his eyes, staring at Will. He stood, pulling Will up. Will looked at him curiously, and Nico only smiled, pulling Will to the bed on the far side of the corner the cabin. They fell together onto the dark sheets, and Nico brushed his nose against Will’s.
“Nico..”
“Yes, Will?” Nico looked into Will’s eyes, waiting for his question. But he only shook his head, smiling softly.
“Nothing. Just.. let me stay?”
"Of course." Nico replied.