Solace, Solace

Chapter 7

Nico and Will were sitting on Nico's couch in silence. Will eventually broke the ice by saying "Hey, I know this is unoriginal but are you OK?" He glanced at Nico with a worried look.

Nico took a deep breath and said: "Look, I don't need your solace, Solace."

Will smiled sheepishly looking down at his lap, he needed to comfort Nico, but it was impossible not to smile at what he had just said. Nico was biting down on his lower lip, trying to contain his smile because it would interrupt his feeling of complete and total depression.

"Hey," said Will, turning serious again and inching closer to Nico. "I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have taken you onto that float, and it was my fault you were uncomfortable."

Nico still didn't look at Will and said: "Yes, that is correct."

Then, Nico turned his head to face the son of Apollo, their eyes meeting. "But I don't want to be seen as some weak, fragile demigod. Sure I have anxiety issues but I'm still a warrior." Nico sighed and leaned his head back "I'm not just some traumatized, scrawny teen. I can do shit." He returned his glance back to Will, who put caressed his cheek with his thumb.

"You," he said, "Are the strongest  demigod I know."

Nico was shocked and amazed at what Will had just said. Without thinking twice, he leaned forward and kissed him. He didn't care if what he had said was a lie, he didn't care about what would happen next. 

The kiss had caught Will by surprise, but he quickly relaxed into it, pressing his warm lips pressing against Nico's cool ones, and began to run his hands into his thick, black hair. Will was the first to pull away.

Nico looked at him nervously, but Will soothed him by lightly putting his arm around him and rubbing his shoulder gently. Nico's cheeks turned pink wich Will found absolutely adorable and he pulled Nico into a hug. They laid down on the couch, still hugging, Nico curled up on top of the son of Apollo.

They laid there in silence. Nico liked the feeling of Will squeezing him with his body. He wasn't thinking about tomorrow, about the others, about himself, no. He was thinking about now: about Will.

He sat up slightly to rest his head on Will's shoulder. He locked their fingers together and they both readjusted so that their noses were basically touching.

"Nico," said Will  "I'm sorry"
Nico smiled and said: "Don't be."
Will pecked Nico's lips, who then leaned his head against Will's chest and fell asleep. There were no spiders to keep him awake.

+++

Nico woke up groggy and sore because he had slept in a weird position on the couch. Will was gone, but he knew it had not been a dream. He looked out the window and saw all the floats. He dropped his head into one of his hands thinking that today was a new day, and therefore he had to deal with all of yesterday's crap. Between sleeping with Will (in a non-sexual way) and running off the float at the parade, he didn't know what he would do. He got off the couch and took a shower, letting the cold water caress his skin.

He wrapped a black towel around his waist and looked at his bare chest in the mirror. He felt insecure about his scrawny arms and lean torso. He tried to flex his muscles but nothing really changed. He sighed thinking about Will Solace's body: his strong arms but not too bulky, his perfectly sculpted six pack, his athletic calves...

He wiped away some drool and grabbed his toothbrush. As he was brushing his teeth he heard the horn for breakfast. "Crap!" he thought "Why am I always late!" He spat out his toothpaste, rinsed his mouth and face, and scrambled into a dark Grey shirt and some black jeans (perfect for pride month).

When he got to breakfast he could feel the eyes on him. It hadn't gotten completely silent, for people were whispering about him. Nico took a deep breath in, avoided eye contact, and quickly got his food and sat down. He wondered if Will had said anything about last night, he figured the whispering was about him running off at the parade.

He began to eat his fried egg when Jason approached his table. 'I can never eat in peace!' Nico thought to himself, lifting his head to look at the son of Zeus.

"Uhm, is this a bad time to talk about yesterday?" he asked, contorting his face into an embarrassed look. "I mean, to be honest, I'm thankful you're still here. I was sure you'd shadow travel last night."

Nico sat in silence, finishing to chew his egg and swallowing it before speaking. "Jason, any time is a bad time to talk about yesterday." he said monotonously.

Jason nodded but sat down in front of him. "So, Frank sent me a message saying he and Hazel will be arriving this afternoon."

"Okay? What am I supposed to do, decorate the cabin?" replied Nico sarcastically. He actually was really happy to see his sister again.

"So, you and Solace?" asked Jason, looking down at his lap. Nico dropped his fork and looked straight at Jason, his eyes wide.
"What?" said Jason grinning. "I just had, you know, a feeling that things were moving forward.

Nico eyed him threateningly."Did you tell anyone about your feeling."
"No Nico, you can trust me. You're my little bro." Jason gently punched Nico on the shoulder, earning him a scowl from the son of Hades.

"Calm down. I just want to know the details. Spill the tea" Jason drummed his hands on the table, eagerly waiting for Nico's response, who rolled his eyes.

"You want me to gossip about my love life?" asked Nico scrunching his eyebrows together.
"Oooohhh!" said Jason clapping his hands "So you consider your relationship with Will a part of your love life."

At this moment, Nico found Jason absolutely ridiculous: him, one of the strongest demigods alive, on of the saviors of Olympus, the son of the king of the Gods, was acting like a fucking teenage fangirl. Nico rolled his eyes and let his forehead fall into one of his arms.
"You are so difficult," he muttered.

At that moment Nico was joined by another guest at the Hades table, only this time it was no son of Zeus but a son of Apollo. Yes, the son of Apollo had golden-blonde hair, ocean eyes, et cetera, et cetera: you get the message.

"Nico, can I talk to you?" said Will. Jason opened his mouth in joy at Nico, who rolled his eyes.
"Yes," said Jason, happily getting up "I was just leaving." He winked at Nico and gave him a big thumbs-up. Nico groaned and turned to face Will.

"Hey, uhm, about last night..." began Will, and Nico's stomach was immediately filled with spiders. Did Will not like Nico? Was he not actually gay? Was he just doing it out of pity? Nico's heart was racing.

"... did you tell anyone?" he finished and Nico gave a small sigh of relief.
"No, did you?" Nico hoped not, he didn't really want anyone knowing.
"No, that's why I came to talk to you. Are we telling people about what happened, because-"

"-No!" Nico didn't give Will the time to finish his sentence.
"I mean, not yet. I'm sorry, it's just-"

"-Good, glad we're on the same page." This time it was Will who interrupted Nico. Nico was extremely relieved.

"Oh, and uhm, are we going to sword practice today?" Will whispered looking over at the Poseidon table where Percy was communicating with Jason from across the room with passionate hand gestures.

"No, He told me today's session was canceled and we can have a small break." Nico lied extremely smoothly.

"OK," Will smiled. "Then I guess I'll see you around."  He winked at Nico before running a hand through his blonde hair and making his way back to his cabin. 'Why does he have to be so perfect' thought Nico, finishing his bacon and eggs without any more visitors.