Solangelo One Shots

Little Italy

"Where are you taking me?" Nico laughed as Will dragged him by his hand into the waiting subway doors.

"You'll see," Will said with an all too familiar mischievous gleam in his vibrant blue eyes. Will was surprised that Chiron was letting him take Nico out tonight, considering how dangerous it could be for demigods to leave camp, especially with all the new monster sightings around the greater New York area. But it was Nico's fifteenth birthday, and the son of Hades was so rarely happy that Chiron had bent the rules for the happy couple just this once, and allowed them the night out in the Big Apple.

January in New York was probably one of the busiest, what with all of the tourists beginning to filter out from their holiday in the city, so there were no open seats on the subway once Nico and Will boarded. They grabbed one of the sleek metal poles, one of the ones at the back of the train where it isn't as crowded and held on tight. Every time the train would screech to a bumpy halt, or tumbled its riders around, Will's hand would slide down the pole onto Nico's much smaller one. He claimed it was the fault of the train, although Nico had a hard time believing that. Nico was ashamed to admit that he enjoyed the warmth of the older demigod's hand, even though he would die before saying it out loud. The ride was abnormally long and the train gradually emptied, finally leaving two seats side by side for Nico and Will. Nico didn't know what time it was, for even wearing a watch was dangerous for a demigod with his aura, buut he was sure it was getting late. Nico had just begun to nod off on Will's strong shoulder, Will wrapping an arm around Nico, when the conductor's loud voice came crackling over the loudspeaker.

"Next stop, Little Italy. Next stop, Little Italy." Nico sat up and stared at Will in shock.

"Is that where we're going? Little Italy?" Will groaned.

"I wanted it to be a surprise, but yeah. I couldn't take you to the real Italy, so I figured this was the next best thing. You haven't been in touch with your past for so long, I thought you might like to reconnect." Nico was quiet for a few minutes, turning his head slightly to the side so that Will would not see the tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. Will was chewing his nails, an old habit he thought he had broken, in anticipation for Nico's response.

"Thank you, Will," Nico said, suddenly breaking the nervous silence. "No one has ever done something this thoughtful." Nico had tried for years to block everyone who loved him out of his life and never show his emotions. No one had noticed when Nico had started skipping meals, or when he had cried into his pillow at night, quietly mourning his loss of his mom and Bianca. But somehow, in the time Nico and Will had been together, Will had slipped through the cracks in the wall that Nico had put up around his soul. And he wasn't mad, not like the times he had gotten mad when Percy or Jason had tried to help. This time he was okay.

They found a small Italian resteraunt shrouded in stars. They sat outside in the frigid night air on the patio covered in fairy lights, the chilly January wind dancing around their table. But the tiny fire kept them warm, just like the tiny fire in each of the boy's hearts.

They both ordered spaghetti, and Nico laughed as Will attempted to twirl the noodles on the tines of his fork as easily as Nico had managed to do.

"That's not how you do it," he chuckled as he guided Will's wrist in the perfect motion to twirl your spaghetti so that not even a single noodle fell off the oval of angel hair.