They stood outside the cabin overlooking the dining area. Demigods from every cabin were gathered for dinner, laughing and joking about the earlier fiasco with the campfire.
Will turned to see Nico frowning- not an unusual sight.
He studied Nico. With his dark eyes and constant brooding expression, it was no wonder other campers shied away from him. But Will felt something different when he looked into the eyes that saw Tartarus. He saw the struggle between pain and hope, always fighting to see which was stronger. Nico had some bad days. Those were the days when pain won and anger took over.
But still, Will loved him. It was silly. They barely really knew each other. But the connection was too strong. Will was confident they could have a relationship. He wanted to be there for Nico. He wanted to be the shoulder to cry on and the hand to help him up. As a healer, he always wanted to help people. But with Nico, there was a deeper need to help.
"Solace?"
Will snapped out of his thoughts. "What's up?"
"You're staring at me."
"It's because you're so gosh dang beautiful, di Angelo."
Nico pretended to gag. Well, being Nico, it might've been an actual gag. "Stop being such a flirt. It's not a good look on you."
Will spread out his hands in protest. "I beg to differ! My dad is quite the romantic and he just so happened to pass down some of those awesome qualities to his favorite son."
Nico cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah, I guess Trace can be pretty romantic at times."
"Trace? What- no, me! Wait, what has Trace said to you?!"
Nico simply locked his eyes on the campers below and said, "We should probably grab some food before Percy takes it all." He eyed the son of Posideon scarfing down three slices of pizza and blue coke. Man, where did he put it all?
"Uh, right after you tell me what you mean by that!"
Nico looked at Will innocently, which Will assumed was difficult for a son of Hades to do.
"Mean by what?"
"The thing about Trace!" Will said cried.
Nico gave him an evil smile. Gods, that was creepy. And strangely cute.
"It was nothing, Solace. Just wanted to see your heart rate rise."
"You're mean."
Nico shrugged. "Comes with the godly parent, I guess. So, hungry?"
"You bet." Will reached down and slid his hand into Nico's. Immediately, Nico recoiled and pulled away.
Crap. He was sure he did something wrong.
Nico saw the look on Will's face and quickly stammered, "I-I'm sorry, this is just all so new to me. Physical contact isn't really my thing."
Oh. Thank the gods. This was something Will could play with.
"Hey, no biggie man. I'll only hold your hand when you're in need of medical attention."
Nico looked relieved. Then it dawned on him.
"Don't you dare-"
Will grabbed Nico's hand and squeezed it tight. The demigod tried to yank his hand from Will's grasp to no avail. "Sorry, Ghost Boy. You're under my care, remember?"
"Ghost Boy?"
Will ignored him. "For three days," he continued. "It's still only day one." He gave Nico a devilish grin that Hades would have been proud of.
