The Sun in the Shadow

Chapter 17

"Please tell me you have a suit," Will begged when he stopped Mitchell in front of the Aphrodite cabin. At the word 'suit' Mitchell froze and turned to look at Will questionably.

"Why do you need one?" he asked and Will sagged a bit with relief.

"Please tell me that means yes. For the gods sakes it seems like no one does here at camp." Will grabbed Mitchell's arm and walked over to the seats that ringed the campfire.

Mitchell watched Will drop down on one of them and said, "Will, I'm from Aphrodite. It's almost in our contract as her children to own formal wear and have it ready for any moments notice." He sat down next to Will and added, "And as your friend I'd be happy to give it to you," he looked Will up and down, "But it doesn't look like you need one."

Will sagged a little more in his seat. "It's not for me," he replied while holding his head, as if the relief were actually causing him more pain. "It should be for you, I need to bring someone to my mom's wedding in like an hour and no one here has formal wear."

Mitchell raised an eyebrow and laughed a bit when he asked, "Are you asking me to go as your date to your mother's wedding?"

Will's head shot up and he looked at Mitchell with wide eyes. "Gods no!
Mitchell I don't mean- Holy Hades I didn't mean it like that!" He watched Mitchell laugh for a few seconds and calmed down a bit. "I just need a plus one, my mom is making me bring "my closest friend"."

Mitchell gazed at Will for a second and asked, "How in Olympus does that sound like me? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love you, but I really wouldn't say I'm your closest friend." He said 'I love you' like he would say 'You're my BFF' or something, but Will wasn't fazed by the really confusing sentence that contained the word 'love' and 'friend' directed at the same person. He was used to the word love being over used with children of Aphrodite. You'd think they would take the meaning more serious than anyone, but it seemed that after being taught by Drew that love wasn't super special, this generation of Aphrodite's children misused the word quite a lot.

Will looked out to the fire pit and asked, "Then who do you think I should take that also happens to have a suit?"

Mitchell laughed again and replied, "Nico Di Angelo you twat."

Will jumped and Mitchell couldn't tell if it was from the name or the insult. He laugh again though.

"Nico has a suit for all the formal, proper burials he has to attend. I can't believe you didn't ask him first."

Will blinked and asked, "Do you really think I should ask Nico? I mean he's already almost died because of me." His voice was hushed and he watched his shoes.

"You almost died because of him too. You two are even now, so make right with him and bring him to the wedding as your plus one." Mitchell smiled and added, "I honestly can't think of anyone you'd be happier with at a wedding."

Will punched him, hard, but Mitchell just fell over laughing and rubbing his arm. When Will didn't reply, Mitchell stood and brushed himself off, walking off to his cabin with a, "Cheers and good luck Will Di Angelo! Oops! I mean Solace!" And then he shut his laughter off with the shutting of his cabin door.

That left Will sitting, starring at his shoes and his mind racing at the thought of him and Nico at a wedding. Against his will his mind slipped into imagining the wedding wasn't his mother's and that maybe the last name he would be adopting wouldn't be his stepfathers.

"What the hell did Mitchell just say, Solace?" Nico asked with a flaming tone only children of the underworld could produce. It was like angry fire and cold calculation at the same time.

Will cussed but didn't dare look up. He was either going to die by sword in the next few seconds or die by embarrassment.