Solace, Solace

Chapter 2

At dinner, Nico ate like a pig, which was very unusual for he normally left half his food on his plate for the Gods. He was trying not to look at Will, Jason, or anyone really. Hazel was in New Rome so he had no one to talk to at the Hades table.

He had finished two burgers and was now eating the last of his fries when someone grabbed his shoulders, making him jump.

"Jassssssoonnn" he hissed through his teeth. "Hey homeboy" he replied happily.
"So" he said putting one arm on Nico's shoulder, and one on the table. "Pride month" Jason said grinning from ear to ear making Nico groan and roll his eyes.

"Go away" said Nico sharply. Jason raised his eyebrows and took his hand of Nico's shoulder. "Go on, leave." said Nico, nodding his head to signal for him to walk away.

"C'mon" laughed Jason "Look, no pressure or anything, but I want to see you with someone, I want to see you be happy-"
"I am happy" Nico interrupted faking a smile. "I'm the happiest heir of death himself there is"
Jason tilted his head back in annoyance. "Just shut up with your stupid anxst teen death crap and listen to me. I want you to not shit your pants in fear and take a chance with Solace."

"Solace?" replied Nico trying hide his feelings for that son of Apollo.
He is an annoying, nerdy, overly caring, stereotypical blond boy with no charisma, good-for-nothing doctor".

Jason shook his head and said, "Yes, an annoying, nerdy, overly caring, stereotypical blond boy with no charisma, good-for-nothing doctor that you like". Jason smiled, proud of his reply, staring at Nico who was speechless.

"He is straight" Nico finally blurted out. He did not know if Will was straight, but nor did he know that he was into guys, and therefore he relied on statistics meaning he was most likely heterosexual.

Jason laughed at that. "Ok, being you live in your little bubble known as Cabin 13 and do not socialize with the outside world, I could understand some misunderstandings of some people's sexualities, but Solace? Oh my Gods, you'd have to be blind or incredibly ignorant to not tell he's into guys."

Nico stared at Jason with his mouth slightly open. Jason nodded towards the Apollo table and said: "I mean look at him."

Will was having some very animated conversation with some other girl, gesticulating his hands more than an Italian, and Nico knew very well how much Italians gesticulated. Will ran a hand through his hair quite frequently, which Nico found unbelievably attractive.
"Hey don't stare," said Jason slapping the back of Nick's head.

"How do you know he's gay?" said Nico looking at Jason straight in the eye. "Did he explicitly tell you?"

"No" replied Jason "But when he came out, which was not a surprise to anyone, I got to know from other people and general gossip."

Nico didn't know how to reply. He did not want to reply. He wanted the conversation to end.

Piper came and hugged Jason from behind, as if on cue. "Hey Baby," she said kissing him on the cheek.
"Thank the gods." muttered Nico under his breath, but Jason still heard him.

"Jay-jay, why don't we go sit by the fire, before all the good logs fill up. Nico, you should come too, you almost never stay for the campfire."
She must've been using her charmspeak because even though Nico didn't mean want to hear cheesy songs about myths, he ended up saying "Yeah, sure"

Jason was presently surprised by his answer. He locked fingers with Piper and the three of them made their way towards the bonfire.

Nico sat down several inches away from Piper and Jason who were passionately making out. He buried his head in his hands and thought about leaving as more people started gathering around.

He lifted his head up, considering leaving when he felt pressure on his hip and along the side of his thigh. He knew Will had just sat down beside him because those butterflies, hem hem spiders, had started to crawl in his stomach again.

"Hey," said Will, running his hand through his hair.
"Hi Solace," said Nico. He wanted to stay next to Will, he wanted to stay there but there were too many people, everyone was too close together and he was getting sweaty and uncomfortable.

"I'm going to leave," said Nico getting up and wiping his sweaty palms on his black jeans.

"Wait!" said Will grabbing his arm. "Stay, I'll get marshmallows."

Nico shook his head "I hate marshmallows." He turned on his heels and walked away.

Will hesitated, looking around, and then ran to catch up to Nico.
He caught up to him, but Nico started walking faster, good thing Will was taller and could keep up.
"Hey! Hey! Are you OK?"

"Better than ever" replied Nico sarcastically without slowing down his pace.

Will didn't reply but kept on trailing next to Nico until they were almost to his cabin.
"Leave me alone," whined Nico turning to face that beautiful son of Apollo. "I'm tired and get anxious around big crowds of adolescents."

Will smiled down at Nico, they were very close to each other. "That's totally fine. I respect that"

Nico didn't move away from Will, but he looked down at his feet. "Well, then can you leave me alone?" he said, kicking the ground.

They stood in silence, hips almost touching, until Nico said "I'll take that as a yes." and turned to walk towards his cabin.

He was nervous because Will continued to follow him. He sped up his pace and quickly walked backwards up the stairs to the cabin porch to face Will saying "You don't need to follow me, it's not like I need a private doctor to make sure I'm-"

Nico fell down on the last stair (out of 5) to his porch and scrunched his nose in pain.

Will knelt down and put one arm. on his shoulder, and one on his knee, and said: "Let me see."

"I'm fine." Nico managed to say through his teeth, wincing in pain.
Will took action himself and rolled up his jeans and looked at Nico's swollen ankle.

"I think you sprained your ankle, let's go inside." Will offered his hand to help Nico up, but Nico refused.

"There's no way, me, Nico di Angelo, a son of the big three, one of the most powerful half-bloods in existence is gonna get help for a sprained ankle."

Will sighed, lifted Nico up by his armpits, even if he was squirming, led him to the door and said "Doctor's orders."