Darkness Within

CHAPTER I

NICO

August 12th

It has been nearly two weeks since the end of the second Gigantomachy. Nico was considered a hero for bringing the Athena Parthenos to camp, almost dying in the process. But as expect as the days have gone by, the campers have seen to forget all about, gone back to ignoring him as always. Not like he would complain, he would rather be left alone then having people all over, complimenting him, it was good being recognized for once, but he was never a people person.

Nico usually kept to himself, and rarely talk to anybody, except for Jason, Percy, Hazel, Frank and Will. But since the Romans have returned to New Rome, Nico have been spending most of his time with Will Solace his... boyfriend? Nico didn't like the idea of labelling their relationship. After he confessed to Percy, he got his friends together and came out to them. He was quite afraid of rejection, but they all were happy for him, Jason and his knowing smirk, Piper simply smile and said she always had this gut feeling, only to be confirmed now. Reyna probably already knew since when she shared her strength with him, she could almost feel his feelings. Frank was almost comically confused, but when he realized he simply nodded with a warm smile. Hazel in the other hand seemed very troubled, and couldn't look him in the eyes. He expected that, after all, like himself she was born in a different time, when being openly gay would be a crime. He had time to accept that, he was in a different age now, and people were different too. And he knew she would need time to understand that, even though it hurt a little the look in her eyes, and being distant the rest of that evening. But the next day she came looking for him, to apologize for her reaction, and said that Piper and Frank spend the night talking with her all about how people have changed since the 30s, and how the Lgbtq+ community are more accepted, or mostly.

The past few days, Nico spend mostly with Will, he really liked the guy, but deep down he was unsure of himself, if he was really committed to their relationship. Will in the other hand was very sure of himself, calling Nico his boyfriend to everybody who could hear him, even when Nico chided him, Will would just find other names, like calling him his significant other. He was getting clingier and handsy each day passed, Nico wasn't very pleased with that. He liked Will, but he didn't feel ready for that, and he didn't know why.

Until this very afternoon, Will was free from his healer duties and so was Nico from his activities, knowing that, he dragged Nico to a secluded clearing in the woods, and started kissing him, caught by surprised, he yelped but decided to give in and kissed Will back, even though he had this nagging feeling in the back of his head. They kissed for a while, and things started to get heated, he felt Will hands in his back started to get uncomfortable low but decided again to let his mind flow, he should have been feeling good at this point he thought. Will then started to descend his kiss into his neck, Nico's mind was foggy and he let a moan scape his mouth, with that Will stiffened and pulled back, looking Nico with confusion, and a little hurt in his eyes. With that Nico was confused too.

"What happened?"

"Nico... you... you moaned p..."

"What?"

"Nico, you moaned Percy's name" Will relented, looking at the Italian boy with sad eyes.

Nico's heart almost stopped at that. His throat was dry and his hands felt clammy. He looked at Will with startled eyes, and was a loss for words. He couldn't have said that, he was sure he was over Percy, dammit, why would he screw his relationship with Will like that? But in the bottom of his heart, he knew... He knew why he had felt uncomfortable under Will's touch, or why he couldn't call himself his boyfriend. Because he wasn't over Perseus freaking Jackson. Fuck!

"Will... I'm sor.."

"It's okay Nico" Will cut him.

"I get it... You have this crush on him for a long time, maybe is more than a crush I suspect. Even I had a crush on him, and took a while for me to get over it." He confessed.