Solangelo One Shots

A Special Welcome(Part 2)

A request for @CilasArya who wanted a part two of a one shot I did a while ago. If you want to go back and reread it you can, and if you don't all you really need to know is that Grover was introducing a new camper and her first experience was Nico chasing Will with his sword. Anyway, hope you like it!

Will's POV

It was strange to see Nico's cabin empty of the grumpy teen but the door was ajar and when I pushed it open further I found it abandoned, a comic book lying on the bed. I frowned, closing the door and stepping back into the warm spring air. Colors surrounded me, pale pinks, yellows and oranges but I couldn't see the familiar mass of black fabric anywhere. "Nico?" I called, scanning the camp for my boyfriend. "Nico!"

"He's over in the arena," Grover said, passing by me. "With Angela. I swear to Pan, he's going to get her killed. Then it'll be my fault, and the Council of Cloven Elders will replace me." His face twisted in worry and he pulled a coke can out of his pocket, the aluminum crunching as he bit into it. "Please, please, go make sure he doesn't do anything." I almost laughed as I saw the worry in his eyes, as if he thought that Nico would truly do something risky with a ten year old, but then I looked back on all of the things Nico had done and I could start to see where he was coming from.

"Yeah, I'm going over there now," I said. I could see Grover's body sigh in relief.

"I can't thank you enough," he gasped. He gave me an awkward pat on the shoulder, trotting quickly away from me with his hooves clopping against the pavement.

I drew closer to the arena and soon I could hear Nico's voice carrying out over the breeze. "This sword is probably too big for you," Nico was saying. "You can give it a try, though." I began jogging and I hurried to the arena, hoping to get there so that I could reach Nico in time before he did something that would make Grover hate both of us forever.

Angela looked happy in the arena, running around with a sword half her size clutched in her hand. Nico was leaning against the wall, watching with a satisfied expression on his face. I joined him at the side of the arena, throwing him a smirk. "What are you doing?"

"Breeding the next generation of warriors," he said, nodding at Angela, who was sticking the hay mannequin with the sword. "I have to say, she's the most violent child of Demeter I've ever met." He turned to me, a frown settling across his face. "Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"Grover sent me," I said. "He thought you were going to get her killed."

"You know, I honestly have no idea why he would think that," Nico muttered. "She's safe. We're just having fun." He looked back at her to see the mannequin falling over, nearly crushing her with the sword poking out of its chest. "Angela!" he called. "How's it going over there?"

"Good!" she said, giving him a wide toothed grin.

"Do you want Will to teach you how to arch?"

"Yeah!" she said. She pulled the sword out from underneath the dummy, running over and handing it to Nico. She turned to me expectantly, staring at me with big brown eyes. "You're going to teach me how to arch?" I glanced at Nico to see him grinning, reaching behind him and pulling out a bow and a sheath of arrows.

"Go ahead," he said. "Show her what you know." I rolled my eyes but grabbed the bow and arrow from him, leading Angela over to the archery targets, thick red lines looping inside the circle.

"So you're going to nock your arrow like this," I told her, bringing it up to my cheek. "Once you've gotten your aim, just release it." The arrow went zipping through the air but it was stopped just before what would certainly be a bull's eye by a green vine wrapping around it, yanking it to the ground. Angela was giggling and when my eyes fell over to Nico he was flashing her a thumbs up. "I hate you," I muttered to Nico as I slammed the bow and arrows down next to him.

"Sorry, I can't help it that she likes swords better," Nico said. He turned his focus back to Angela. "Come on, let's go to the armory. You can get a sword that fits you."

"Will it be mine?"

"All yours," Nico laughed. Angela danced out of the arena with flowers popping up wherever her feet landed and Nico turned to me. "You coming?" I groaned, rolling my eyes but I followed him out, my hand brushing up against him as we made our way to the armory.

Angela was already there when we arrived, running her hand over a blade with light glinting off of the smooth surface. "Do you like this one?" she asked, turning to Nico. I felt a small flutter in my chest when I saw the kindness in his eyes, the tender smile on his face.

"Do you like it?" he asked. "It's up to you." Her gaze fell on the blade she had been looking at and then turned to face the rest of the room, her eyes widening when she saw the options that lined the wall.

"I'm gonna keep looking around," she decided. "I'll let you know when I find one I like. Then we can have a sword fight!"

"Yeah, sure." Angela spun around and pranced to the back wall and Nico turned to me, shaking his head. "There's no way I'm having a sword fight with her," he said. "I'm scared I would hurt her even if I was barely holding my sword."

"Really, because Grover seemed to have a different opinion. I don't think he would let you fight her with a kitchen knife."

"Hey!" he protested. "I would never do anything to hurt her, he knows that. I'm good with kids. Well, I'm good with one, at least." Angela spun around, brandishing a five foot spear.

"Nico, look at this one!" she called. "It's so cool!" I felt a smile coming to my face as she looked at him with shining eyes.

"Yeah," I said. "Surprisingly enough, you are." He punched me lightly in the shoulder once Angela had turned around, but I could see him smiling.

We were lying on the bank of the lake, the setting sun bathing the camp in gold. In the distance we could hear Angela yelling, and a small smile appeared on Nico's face. "You really are good with her, you know," I said.

"Angela?"

"Yeah. It's sweet, how she's like your little sister."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah," I said. "I think she likes you, too. I think it helps that she almost beat you in that sword fight, though."

"I wasn't trying," Nico said. "I was going easy on her."

"That's your story, but I could see you sweating," I smirked. "You just don't like to admit that you almost got beat by a ten year old." Nico rolled his eyes and there was indignation written across his face so I pulled him closer, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. "I'll still love you no matter what," I said. "Even if a ten year old did almost beat you."

"That's it, I'm leaving." He pushed himself up, walking away from the lake without looking back.

"Nico!" I called. "You don't really want to leave me, do you?" Silence. "I'm coming after you, you know."

"Do it!" Nico said, his voice ringing out through the air. He was pretending to be angry but he stopped walking, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he waited for me. I laughed, standing up and jogging over to him with the sunset at my back.

Hi guys, I hope you liked that one! Also, if you have any requests, I'd appreciate it if you would hold onto them for a few weeks because I have some things planned for the next few weeks that I'm really excited about.

Nina