Solangelo One Shots

Fall

Will's POV

Chiron handed Nico and I each a rake, giving us a stern look. "This should be done by the end of the day." He glanced up at the October sun, sitting high in the sky. "Ah, you have plenty of time." He turned his back and trotted away. I could tell he was relieved that we would be raking the leaves instead of him this year. He claimed it was because we had broken the rules by staying out past curfew, but Nico and I both knew that Chiron only wanted to be rid of the job. We gazed at at the mounds laying before us. The trees shed their leaves earlier than most places at camp, and piles of red, gold and orange were scattered before us. 

"Should we get started?" Nico asked nervously. I could tell by his voice that he wasn't any more excited to rake the leaves than I was. In response to Nico's question, I waded into the pile of leaves, and Nico followed. 

The gods tried to help, but little effort went into it. If the camp was lucky, a wind would sweep in one day, blowing all the stray leaves into one part of the camp, so by Halloween there were knee deep piles of leaves behind the cabins. That is, until someone bothered to rake them. 

I ran my rake through the leaves, gathering a foot deep pile of them and throwing them into a bag. It was slow, pain-stalking work. Each pull of the rake took a ridiculous amount of effort, and only yielded a small amount of leaves. It was Nico who came up with the idea that made the whole process easier. 

"Since the leaves are already in piles, can't we just pick up handfuls of leaves and put them in the bags?" I mentally beat myself up. If only I had come up with that idea two hours ago we could have been close to finishing. I reached down and scooped up a large pile of leaves. Nico did the same and we piled them into the large brown paper bags. I did another armful of leaves, and another. It was easier now, and I figured that we'd be done in half an hour, which was just as well. The sun was already beginning to sink over Long Island Sound. 

I was shoving a pile of dead looking leaves into the bag when I felt leaves being tossed onto my back. I turned around to see Nico crouching behind the bag closest to me, about two feet away, throwing leaves at me. I felt my face heat up. 

"So, you think you can trow leaves at me and get away with it, huh?" I slowly stood up and put my hands on my hips. 

"Yeah, pretty much," Nico giggled, chucking another small pile of leaves at me. I grsbbed a handful of leaves in my right hand and heard them crunch in my grasp. 

"Oh, it is on!" I yelled. I tossed the leaves at Nico, who dodged them and hit me square in the face with another pile of leaves. His wiry frame was good for hiding, but he couldn't last forever. I bundled up some leaves in my arms and walked over to Nico. He looked up at me and I dropped a pile of leaves on his head. Slowly, he pulled the leaves out of his hair one by one. He gave me a death stare, slowly standing up. He reached into the bag of leaves, pulling out a huge armful. I saw what he was about to do and started to run, Nico sprinting after me. Finally, he tackled me. He was on top of me, propping himself up on my chest with his elbow. 

"I win," he gasped. He dropped the pile of leaves on my face, got up, and walked away. 

"Come on," he yelled. "We should finish up." 

The sun was bathing the sky in purples and golds by the time we bagged the remainder of the leaves. We sunk down behind the Zeus cabin, tired form our day of work and throwing leaves at each other. Nico tucked his knees into his chest, shivering a little bit as a breeze washed over us. 

"Are you cold?" I murmured, pulling Nico in closer to me. He snuggled into my chest and wrapped his arms around my waist. 

"Should we go to dinner?" He mumbled into my shirt. I shrugged. 

"I like it better out here with you. Just the two of us, watching the sunset." Nico turned his attention to the sunset and watched it sink down, down, down so we couldn't see it anymore. 

"I like spending time out here with you, too." I sunk against the cabin, quietly watching the stars glitter in the night sky with my boyfriend wrapped tightly in my arms. We fell asleep out there that night to the distant howls of monsters in the forest and the night sky glittering above our heads.

Hi! I'm so sorry that was so short, and also if it wasn't the best quality. But i finally wrote that Fall one - shot in honor of Fall, so that's a big plus! I hope you liked it even though it was short. 

-Nina