Solangelo ✔

Second Attempt

The next week, Will made the habit of cooking an Italian meal for Nico every evening and brought it too him in the dining pavilion. It's polite to say he's not the best cook, but again, Nico was feeling grateful. However, three days in he could no longer stand the overdone spaghetti or raw carne pizzaiola or burnt garlic bread and to the whole camps' surprise went to the kitchen and cooked by himself several Italian dishes and brought them out.

Everyone tasted them and they were delicious!

Nobody expected Nico to be able to cook; it was shocking, but a good shock. However, nobody was more shocked than Will who sat through the entire dinner eating Nico's food with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

'Wow,' he thought to himself, 'this makes me love Nico even more. Is there anything he can't do?'

The next few days after that were quite normal. There was no serenading or singing and Nico felt he could breathe again and not need to check every corner to see if a certain tanned demigod was waiting to ambush him. But he knew that he started this whole game. He needed to know if Will was serious: to give someone his trust was a big deal.

Will knew that.

But soon his freedom ran out...

Bright and early Monday morning was a new opportunity for Will. Unknown to Nico, the gang had spent several nights previously coming up with funny pick up lines, cute comments, anything that Will could say to Nico at any time. By Monday Will had a whole stack of ideas in his head and he grinned. Let's see how Nico would react.

It was disappointing to say the least. Every time Will came out with a funny comment Nico would ignore him completely or sigh and walk away shaking his head. Several campers cheered Will on whenever they walked past. Everyone wanted to see him capture the heart of the Ghost King.

The whole camp had become particularly fond of Nico since the wars. He was a kind and caring and honest and charming and smart and strong and powerful kid who had seen and endured so much, too much... They cared for him as if he was their younger sibling and everyone wanted to see him happy. And who better to make him happy than the ball of sunshine that is Will Solace.

There was a particular one, line that is, that he dared to say on top of the Apollo table in the dining pavilion during Thursday lunch. He took in a breath to calm his nerves and spoke to his siblings.

"I'm gonna do it." he declared.

He was met with words of encouragement and pats on the back from his siblings and climbed onto the table.

"Nico di Angelo!" he shouted.

Everyone became silent and looked over at Will. They were all intrigued as to what he was going to say. Even Chiron and Mr.D were invested in their love story. They then, in sync, looked over to Nico and saw him leaning back across the bench and table with a curious glint in his eyes. What was Will going to do now?

"Nico," he repeated, "how does it feel being the most handsome and beautiful person in the room?" he asked with a sincere face.

"I don't know, how are you?" Nico fired back casually and took a sip from his glass without breaking eye contact. He smirked. The campers all 'ooh'd and looked at Nico with respect.

That was smooth.

"Well then," Will carried on, stepping forwards on the table, "it must have hurt when you fell from Heaven?" he asked with a smile.

Heads turned from Will to Nico once more.

"Actually, I crawled out of the pits of Hell." he replied nonchalantly.

Will blinked once then grinned.

"That's why you're so hot."

Everyone gasped. They didn't expect a comeback. Even Nico looked mildly impressed. He wasn't going to lose though, not today.

"Hmm." he replied with a nod. Then he stood up from the bench and walked up to Will's table. Neither of them had broken eye contact. Neither of them planned to.

"Nice to know you're looking, Will." he finished and winked.

He winked at Will! Nico freaking di Angelo just winked at Will!

Will had never blushed so hard in his life. His eyes widened and his cheeks blossomed a rosy red. Everyone laughed quietly at him but not meanly.

With that Nico displayed another smirk and walked smoothly past the Apollo table and out of the dining pavilion. Immediately everyone started talking amongst themselves at how much of a challenge Will was facing from Nico. Everyone's heads turned to the blond demigod to find him smiling to himself as he sat down on the table.

"I love him." he whispered out loud, though it was meant for himself. All of the campers gathered around the Apollo table discussing what happened and the nature of Nico's reactions. This was the best drama any of them had ever watched in their lives.