#in Solangelo we trust

[kazucee]

Jump then fall by Taylor swift is so Solangelo coded stfu rn TTT.

Well, I like the way your hair falls in your face You got the keys to me I love each freckle on your face, oh

—Nico Di Angelo to Will Solace

Cause every time you smile, I smile And every time you shine, I'll shine for you

—literally just Solangelo

Whoa, oh, I'm feeling you, baby Don't be afraid to jump then fall (into Tartarus with me)

—Anyways TSATS reference 🤪.

[starryluminary]

It's my honor to present our latest collaboration: Lights, Camera, NoCo!

And here we are again! Words cannot begin to express my pride and joy for being able to host another collaboration celebrating noco. I could try but that would make a huge mess, so you're gonna have to trust me on that. I hope you all share my pride and joy, cause you all made this event what it is and I wouldn't have it any other way. Thank you all so much for another beautiful collab!!

Artist Highlights | Author Highlights

Tags under the cut!

Artists: @criminalcinnamon @asyathefoileater @codysninthtoothbrush @lasidahorphanchild @i-dont-need-socks-mom

@vxzii @dovepaw3000 @mikatoonist @notdailynoco @ghostxalien

@d1g1tald1saster @ukiharavara @throwawaycan @x-emogonemad-x

Authors: @aaliyahsthings @starlight-tequila @hardcore-solangelo-19 @i-dont-muggle

[ginnyluna]

Thinking about the parallels between Solangelo and Patrochilles (specifically The Song of Achilles's version), because turns out it's so much more interesting than i first thought it'd be. Cause at first glance, we obviously think Will = Achilles (gold and sunshine aesthetic, extremely lovable, charismatic, optimistic, trusting, admired) and Nico = Patroclus (darker aesthetic, soft, sensitive, shy, abandoned and rejected backstory, very strong emotions). And it does fit pretty well, at least for their personalities and physical characteristics.

But thematically, it's the complete opposite, which is what makes it so interesting for me. Will is the one (like Patroclus) who chooses to heal instead of fighting, who desperatly wants to save EVERYONE, who needs to learn to take care of himself before taking care of anybody else. Meanwhile, Nico is the one (like Achilles) who is this insanely powerful, mythical fighter who could absolutly destroy anything or anyone in his path, who always only rely on instincts (even though they have been wrong many times before and he should really learn to listen to other people's inputs), who doesn't always think of the consequences his actions might bring, and who would and actually has gone berserk from despair over the death of a loved one.

Yes, Solangelo parallels Patrochilles, but it's not necessarily how you think, and that just opened up a whole bunch of new story possibilities in my mind...

[bagerfluff]

Riordanverse Master List

🌶️ = Smut

Percy Jackson x Non-Binary Reader

Claustrophobic

How About A Movie Night?

Sirensong

Drugged Love - Blurb/Short Part Two

Rare Mornings

I Want To Be Like The Birds

Early Mornings and Snow Angels

Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Warm

Annabeth Chase x Non-Binary Reader

Date Night With A Cutie

Nico di Angelo x Male Reader

I Notice You

Can't I Just Love You?

Take My Jacket (And My Heart)

Ti Amo

I Know Monsters (And You're Not One)

Poem Of Love

The Cowboy And His Boyfriend

Trapped By Your Hate (And Snow)

Sleepy Cuddles

The Big Bad Puppy

Cupid Sucks, But Chocolate Doesn't

Feelings and Flowers

Nicknames

Dancing At Sunset

Heart Eyes

You're Sick

I Was Scared, And That Made You Cry

The Fox and The Wolf

You Drew Stars Around My Scars

The Ghost and The One Who Can See Him

Bat Boy

Kitten's and Confessions

Your My Rose

Leo Valdez x Non-Binary Reader

Fire And Feelings

Your Music Is The Best Lullaby

But Your Beautiful

Gloomy Coffee Date

Solangelo x Male Reader

Chaos Follows You, But We Don't Care

Percy Jackson x Male Reader

Son Of Aphrodite

Annabeth Chase x Non-Binary Reader

Convinced To Rest

Under The Bed

Percy Jackson x Non-Binary Reader

Sitting By (on) Each Other

Zoned Out Kisses

I Adore You (But I Hate You)

Percy Jackson x Male Reader

Jealousy = Affection and Cuteness

Nico di Angelo x Non-Binary Reader

Tracing What I Can't Say

You Got Scared By A What?

Affection In 10 Different Ways

Annabeth's Version

Nico di Angelo x Mortal Male Reader

Cookies and Cuties - Chocolate Kisses

Nico di Angelo x Son of Eros Reader

Anger At First Sight - I Won't Say (I'm In Love) - Trust Over Love -

[mrsoftthoughts]

Usually When i say that i like Solangelo, i mean what they could have been, instead of what we end up getting

I really don't like TsatS (i don't hate it, i just don't like it, in fact i wouldn't mind this existing if wasn't canon)

And during Toa i have a bittersweet taste in a lot of the scenes were they appear ( especially the first because i feel Nico a bit ooc here) and feels a little rushed

But I love both Will and Nico as their individual characters, and despite the bad execution of their relationship I'm happy everytime that i remember that they are a couple, because they deserve to be happy and knowing that they can do that together it's pure joy for me

I like the couple or friends that can help each other or at least tried to do it

I love see how both are fuked up and have not the most healthy cope mechanisms in so opposite but sometimes similar ways, but can try to help each other or be side by side while they learn how to be better for themselves

I love the couple that due to not have been in immediate mortal danger while they were knowing each other can choose to show a vulnerable side whe they are ready, instead of being forced to do it, and that would take a while ofc, but the bricks of trust need to be placed carefully in order of the wall don't fall in the future, but most important they-can-choose

The boy that was outted by the god of Romantic love himself in front of someone that he didn't trust at the time, and the boy that after see the bridge were his brother was being destroyed and immediately was pulled out to accomplish his dutty as a healer ,without a chance to go and look for his brother. Now they can have the chance to chose what to do and what to show and when, without pressure.

The couple that maybe would have communication problems at the start, because both are bad asking for help and are even worse for believe that someone apart from their family ( the ones that least want to bother ) would grant it, that maybe could pass a hard time for that, but they have two options; or they drop the things there, or grow up out of this together because no couple is perfect at the start and learn things how it's required may be hard but it's worth it

The couple that may need to reassure the other that it's not for convenience or Charity that they are together but because they love each other and despite all the bad toughs that say that those words are just a gentle lie, deep in them knows thats the true

But i also love the fact that they can be one of the most "normal" couples around, just teenagers in love being teenagers in love

I love the cringing teenagers with a crush on each other that aren't in immediate danger to die like other couples in the series, just silly puberts that probably had made a storm in a glass of water trying to be perfect due to the nerves while talking to each other, that maybe sometimes were catch up looking for a little too long the other because both find the other beautiful, or that maybe like a lot of teenagers had Catch up themselves thinking things that make them feel embarrassed because hormones

The teenagers in love that maybe had nights of not sleeping in order to organize their thoughts talking with their siblings or friends about it or just because they where daydreaming about each other, that probably were on the cloud nine the first week after they started dating

The sarcastic and little a bickering teenagers that love each other deeply and often joke bettwen them

The idea of Will flirting in jokes with Nico but don't dare to go serious because he's so oblivious to not notice that Nico has been courting him the last weeks

That would have to deal with their parents comments, not because they don't like the relationship, but because they got the version of 100% approval and are embarrassed about Hades Apollo or Naomi always asking about their boyfriend

[apollosgiftofprophecy]

RRVerse Fandom, Please Hear Me Out...

Message to the wider Riordanverse fandom:

Please correctly tag your fanfics with the correct fandom tags.

I am getting tired of seeing non-Apollo fics cluttering up the Trials of Apollo tag (such as Percy/Annabeth. like. what. they're barely in ToA. why are they there.). If your fanfic does not deal with Apollo, Meg McCaffrey, or the story of ToA or the consequences of it, please do not tag it as such.

I have seen fics tagged as ToA and not even have the MC, Apollo, tagged as part of the cast. So please. I am begging you. Please stop. You have the Percy Jackson & the Olympians - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, AND The Heroes of Olympus tags.

Solangelo writers, you now have the Sun and the Star tag, as well as the All Media Types one. Unless it happens during or alongside something to do with Apollo & his story, please refrain from tagging it as ToA.

And no. I do not think just being Solangelo should qualify all Solangelo fics to be tagged as ToA. If anything, they should be The Sun and The Star tag or even The Heroes of Olympus tag because that's when it all began! However, if, say, it's during The Hidden Oracle or takes place in the ToA timeframe then sure! ToA tag it!

But if it's just like an AU or something that only focuses on Solangelo? Then please don't. It's not ToA then.

This is what the ToA tag looks like btw:

I know, Nico, Will, and Percy are all popular characters, but COME ON. This is Apollo's tag, please give him this! It's so hard to find fics I want to read because it's so cluttered! Apollo's not even in the top three most-tagged characters in his own fandom tag.😒

And look at the gap between the number of fics Apollo's in compared to Percy! A 354 gap! And there's 1,616 gap between Apollo and Nico! And I can say with certainty that not all of those fics Percy - and even Nico and Will - are in are related to ToA.

Meg McCaffrey, the second MC of the series, is not even on the board. And she's a very close second MC.

And trust me. I know a bunch of these fics have nothing to do with ToA. I have scoured the tag many times and have figured that out.

So please, please, please leave The Trials of Apollo tag be unless you are writing for The Trials of Apollo. We are our own fandom and frankly, it's getting annoying having to shuffle through a bunch of fics that have nothing to do with ToA just to find ones we want to read.

Fic authors, it would be such a big help if you could remove the ToA tag from your fic if it doesn't have anything to do with ToA. I know you want your fic to be seen, and use a bunch of tags to do so, but this really inconveniences the ToA fans who just want to read about our favorite loser god and his gremlin adopted sister. ☹️

Sincerely,

A ToA fan who just wants to read fics about her favorite character but can hardly wade through the fics even with the filtering system.

Thank you. It needed to be said.

[daffy-not-a-duck]

Yes, I'm Solangelo's kid. No, you can't meet them. No, you can't call me Daffy Duck. No, I'm not friends with a bunny! Shut up!

NAME: Daphne Naria Solace-di Angelo (think that's long? hah. yeah, test papers are a pain.)

ALIAS: Daphne, Daph, Nari, Solace-di Angelo, Scary Blonde Girl, Daffy, Daffy Duck (sigh)

AGE: 17 years old (December kid here 🤘)

WEAPONS: A 36 inch sword made of Stygian Iron, as well as a bow and assortment of arrows (Stygian Iron, Silver, Celestial Bronze, Imperial Gold, Lethe Water tipped, etc.)

RELATIONS: Will Solace (father - dad), Nico Di Angelo (father - papa), Hades (grandfather), Apollo (grandpa), Persephone (step-grandmother), Maria di Angelo (grandmother - mama), Naomi Solace (grandma) (you know the rest. i am NOT listing the whole olympian family tree)

PERSONALITY: Acts like a little angel in front of adults, a little mean towards her friends (it's her love langauge). Unpredictable, sometimes she's all smiley and then she's kinda bitchy. Rebellious, stubborn, acts like she doesn't care but actually does too much.

FATAL FLAWS: Trust Issues, Loves too hard

FEARS: athazagoraphobia, claustrophobia, cleithrophobia

HOBBIES: reading, practicing first aid, studying psychology, arguing with Charlie

SEXUALITY: Straight (no really. why are you laughing? stop it. i am!)

APPEARANCE: long, slightly curly blonde hair; soft features; 5'5; cold, dark, almost black eyes.

"you love too much, and trust too little. why, child, why such a toxic cycle? it will only cause pain to you and those you've chosen. you will never know when to stop, when it's too much, and when you open your eyes all you will see is the dust of your carefully built up walls, empty within and without."

PEOPLE I TOLERATE:

@ghost-king-and-thebones papa!

@doctor-sunshine-andcarebears dad!

@olivernothere little brother. (LET ME PLAY WITH YOUR CAT SMH)

@percy-jackson-xxx uncle perce. (sir your wife is a milf- ouch pa!)

@chasing-that-jackson charlie. percabeth kid. (again, your mom is a- OKAY OKAY ILL STOP.)

@sincerely-anniejackson aunt annie. (umm. please look away)

@ineedtoescapefromreality echo and rosalyn. shelper kids.

@leo-repairguy-valdez uncle leo.

@iggy-mini-miny-moe iggy. valgrace kid.

@notwillingtobefound will. also valgrace kid.

@violent-cinnamonroll aria. ruegard kid.

@daredevil-larue lucine. also ruegard kid.

@hey-guys-its-sam sam. frazel kid.

@yourfavoriteadoptedkid eloise. also frazel kid.

@not-a-panda pandora. tratie kid. (we share the same pain sigh)

@drea-and-nico andrea and nico. my... aunt...? and my uncle who's.. name is like my dad... (shit's confusing ik)

@praetor-ambrose-asher ambrose. new rome praetor. (dude ur ripped af)

@regulus-a-star regulus. son of ares.

@overwhelmingly-his-son lukas.

@evan-is-here evan. son of nike, legacy of ares.

@the-poison-and-the-sky donna. percabeth kid from another universe. (still wrapping my head around that)

@morningstar-of-the-night kallisto. adopted by the hunters. (we, also, share the same pain)

@estxiell-e aunt estelle. (even though she's like 5 years older than me)

TAGS:

daffy's sunrise - ic posts

daffy's nightfall - ooc posts

daffy actually replies - asks

overprotective mode - ft. solangelo (will , nico)

SONGS:

ooc: i have basically no music taste so if u have suggestions, pls lmk!

[little-princes-things]

2022-02-24 twitter thread

a lot of people nitpick solangelo but i think its nice that nico got a really straightforward relationship, he didnt need an emotional rollercoaster or years of angsting, he just needed someone who would make him comfortable and happy

also i would like to mention nico is like really mature? all the ppl close to him notice his wisdom and competence so it makes sense that when he started to get to know will he was kinda open with his emotions? esp since will is so easy to trust and honest

and obs will cant lie to save his life and is such an obvious flirt everytime we see him theres no way he would do slow burn&:& but yeah solangelo are not percabeth and i love that for them

[theroyaldarkcrow]

I'm curious, why do you like Solangelo so much?

hey, sorry I was gone so long. Tumblr doesn't have time stamps for messages on my laptop.

I like the idea of Solangelo because I see myself in Nico di Angelo. We all know Nico's story. We know what happens to him. He's a gay kid who knew nothing but the trauma he endured and harbored issues with everyone who tried to get close. After the death of his sister, he didn't really let himself get attached to anyone. I don't remember whether or not it was stated in TSATS, but to me, perhaps throughout the series because the idea of even strong friendships was so foreign for him, the idea of romantic ones seemed impossible, especially in the time period Nico is from. So the fact that he decided to accept Will as someone he could trust and wholeheartedly love, is amazing to me.

[an-exasperated-hades-kid]

Ranking pjo ships cause why not :

1.Percebeth: 9.5/10

They're so cute, and I loved watching their relationship develop through out the percy jackson series like they have the I don't like you to ig we're friends now to besties who have obvious crushes on each other to lovers like this is the only slow burn that didn't make me wanna pull out hair. I love that these two would do anything for each other and are mostly supportive of each other and the seaweed brain and wise girl nicknames that went from insults to terms of endearment and I also love that they're not afraid to call each other our on their bs like I've seen stuff where percy doesn't say shit to annabeth and like have we Been reading the same books cause in MoA and HoH percy stands up for what he believes and even before that he doesn't bend to annabeths will and wishes like in botl and literally all the time in tlt like bro stands up for himself and expresses his opinions and so does annabeth and I love that ?? It's a balanced relationship in which there are years of getting to know each other and then getting together like they are bffs before lovers

But it has some issues, tho like they're wayyyy too codependent on each other which isn't that healthy but this is my opinion and I could be wrong

2. Solangelo: 8.75/10

I love them ok they're so cute like they're all about balance , acceptance, and understanding which is something nico needs in his life he doesn't need someone who'll worship him or sugarcoat stuff for him he needs someone who will be real with him about stuff like will has always been real towards nico and he has always taken care of nico wether you like it or not. Nico has always had issues that people are creeped out by him and afraid of him and will is someone who has never been afraid of nico and has treated him normally like he jokes with him and isn't walking on eggshells around him and makes him realize that not everyone hates that he can find a home in chb and nico says this tsats and even before that you can tell how nico feels and is extremely supportive of him and reminds nico that he's safe and is extremely understanding of nico . In tsats, we see that they complete each, like nico is the warrior and will is the healer, and both roles are important like nico protects will from physical harm and will patches up nicos wounds and protects him from mental and emotional harm. It also shows that no one is perfect, like Will isn't always able to understand nico so he asks for advice and this shows that trying is the best you can do for someone you love , trying to understand them and support them . They also have alot of potential in general as we've only seen them in their honeymoon stage and their developing stage we haven't gotten the established stage and sure tsats isn't perfect in the adventurous sense but the point of this book was to show healing , moving on and making peace with stuff and it did that pretty well .

The only bad points about it is that one scene in boo which shows that will had good intentions but bad execution in expressing his pov and I want them to talk about it cause what he said wasn't nice and it was quite rude ik he didn't intend it but still it was not OK . Next, I want nico to set up boundaries for himself because Will isn't a mind reader and can not know what to not do unless he's told . I want rick to tell us more about Will as a person like we know more now, but still I want rick to flesh out as a character even further

3. Jasiper: 6.5/10

They weren't well developed, and it was kinda forced by hera even tho I know that at one point they truly loved each other but it wasn't well executed and they were bad as showing it I honestly wish that they had more time to understand themselves and then into a relationship like it would have been much better that way yk

4. Frazel : 8/10

They're cute together, they make each other happy they're comfortable around each other and they trust each other hence they're a good ship

I don't see why the age gap thing is a problem because it's just 3 years and where I'm from, that's a pretty normal age gap between lovers like my grandparents have a 10 year age gap but they're happy and love each other but ill add it since some people see it as problematic. They're underdeveloped and kinda rushed, and whole I get that they knew each other before SoN but still

5. Caleo : 4/10

It came outta nowhere dude like they were together for 2 chapters and then kiss kiss fall in love like wth 🤦‍♀️ but they have potential to be good ship ig I'm being generous with 4 because of that also the age gap thing isn't a problem because mentally and physically calypso is like 15-16 but if you see it chronologically calypso is older than apollo who is 4 thousand five hundred years old and that's 🚔🚨👈😄

6. Valgrace : 7/10

So so much potential they would have been soo cute and the most un problematic 🤧

7. Percico : 3/10

No, just no percy literally strangled nico when he was 12 even though he knew that nico didn't mean to betray him and honestly just wanted to know about his mom which percy should have understood because his mom means the world to him and it was clear that nico didn't expect hades to double cross him and percy had a right to be mad but strangling nico is too far . Bro also implied that nico doesn't belong in chb at the end of botl, and bro was silent during the negotiation of whether to save nico or to let him suffocate inside a jar which un excusable he also kept giving nico responsibilities like dealing with hades's wrath which could result in death during tlo and then the whole doors of death thing when nico was extremely weak. so yeah, no, they'd be toxic asf oh and I forgot mention percy never apologized for anything and never thanked him ( from what I remember, it's been a min since I read tlo ) also nico had a case of hero worship crush on him which would make a power imbalance in that relationship soooo

8. Jasico : 5/10

I see them as bros and so does rick and it's written in a way that people would see them as friends like it's clear that nico doesn't like jason like that and in tsats it's said that he missed the feeling of Jason's protective arms around him because he trusts jason and if he was to say something about Reynas hug it would be the same thing or even hazels hugs because that's how he sees them In a platonic/ familial way ( not saying that jason is his brother here ) and he also said something like a part of him died when jason died and that's because he cared about jason like he was his 1st actual friend and he felt him die so this is understandable he's allowed to grieve his friend and miss him . Also, jason is kinda unfortunately dead 😕 😔 so it's outta the question. And if he ended up with jason the whole I can belong thing wouldn't happen because it was will who made him realize that he can have a place in chb jason tired to tell him that but nico didn't really believe him . But hey, I understand the jasico shippers and respect the ship. I don't ship it, and I never will, but I can see why people like it because jason does care about nico and nico cares about jason .

Wait, I think it's canon that nico heard the sevens debate on whether he should be saved or not in his dreams, and if it is canon, then nico saw jason vote for him to die in a jar sooo

9. Jercy : 6/10

I don't ship it ship it but it's a fun thing to think about. It's my crack ship, but I could not see it happen in Canon at all

10. Pipebeth : 6/10

Annabeth was definitely pipers queer awakening, but same as jercy, it's my crack ship

11. Reyna with anyone is not my thing because rick said she's aro/ace, but if you ship theyna or jayna, you're cool because her sexuality isn't confirmed in the books, so you can interpret it in anyway you want

12 . Nico x any girl is ew because he's gay it's confrimed in the books and multiple times by rick himself and if you ship him with any female gtfo

13. Valdangelo : 2/10

I don't know how leo views nico now, but when we do get his pov, he always has something bad or rude to say about him and as much as I love leo it makes me wanna hit him

I'm sorry for the typos and mistakes. I still don't have my glasses, and if I'm wrong about something, please correct me

[cocrante]

I Start Over With You

[SOLANGELO FANFIC]

summary: After the great battle against the forces of Gaea, Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter had formed a long-lasting alliance. Everything had gone well, and everyone was ready to start anew. This included Nico, who, after confessing his feelings to Percy, was prepared to open a new chapter in his life—perhaps the happiest one the Fates had ever written.

note: the chapters will be updated every Wednesday. If you want to read upcoming chapters of the fanfiction in advance, I invite you to follow me on Patreon. Subscribing is not necessary, these chapters will be added for free on the platform on Mondays and Fridays. Following me there is just a kind and free gesture to support my work c:

Reblogs are highly appreciated c:

[CHAPTER 14]

THE CAMP JUPITER WAS JUST AS HE HAD LEFT IT, with the only difference being the new temples being erected, following the architectural patterns indicated by Annabeth. The Roman camp couldn't look better. It still bustled with nature spirits, lares, and fauns trotting through the camp's streets, occasionally hindering a hero in training. Some demigods strolled through the paths, discussing the upcoming war games. Others stopped and pointed at Nico, wondering why he had returned. With all eyes on him, he headed towards where Reyna was waiting.

The hall was bright, the tiles reflecting the sunlight, and the marble columns giving the building a regal appearance. Sitting there, waiting for his arrival, was Bellona's daughter, his adventure companion and trusted friend. She stood up, walking towards him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Welcome back to camp, Nico" Reyna greeted, leading him outside. "I found a decent place in the city, and you can come to camp whenever you want" she said, heading towards the Roman city that mimicked the style of the Italian Rome, with its warm and round colors, making it almost feel like being on the same European peninsula.

Bellona's daughter told him - during the journey - that things at the camp had improved since the new agreement with the Greeks. She had received messages from Camp Half-Blood that summer, announcing that in the fall they would receive visits, so combat techniques could merge along with culture and lifestyles. "It wasn't easy" the girl explained. "Many are tied to the Mos Maiorum, the senate itself started by saying it was sheer madness" she sighed. "But even they cannot go against the will of our gods" Nico nodded, understanding the difficulty of accepting something different. He had been through it himself, and only the gods knew how long it would take for others to accept him as a camp member.

"But enough about the camp" Reyna said, noticing a certain silence from her friend. "It's been a while since we talked, besides that conversation the other day"

"I've been busy" he briefly recounted the past few weeks at Camp Half-Blood, mentioning something about Apollo's son, avoiding telling her about the Capture the Flag game and especially the kiss on the hill. The girl didn't make a sound, just let him tell, noting a slight and thinly veiled smile every time he mentioned Apollo's son. "He's a good friend" he concluded, letting out an imperceptible sigh.

"Just a good friend?" she dared to ask, as she had seen well beyond the tough exterior that protected him.

The boy took some time before responding. "Well, yes" he confirmed, though not entirely convinced. Reyna simply pursed her lips, not asking him more about that boy. If he wanted to tell her, he would, she thought. "Okay" she said, stopping in front of a building. "First floor. Your school is just a block away, you can't miss it. I've also taken the liberty of getting your books"

Nico was truly speechless; he hadn't imagined she had done him such a big favor. "Thank you, Reyna" he looked at her with deep gratitude.

"Don't mention it! For anything, you know where to find me" she handed him the keys, giving him a final pat before returning to the Roman camp.

Nico twirled the keys between his fingers, anxious and terrified to go in. He opened the door, dragging his suitcases behind him, climbing up to the first floor. There, he entered the comfortable apartment Reyna had found for him. It was a bright and warm room, the walls painted in a matte yellow and divided in half by charming Roman motifs. It seemed completely the opposite of his gloomy cabin.

Having found the bedroom, he unpacked his belongings there, hiding the box he had taken from camp in a drawer. He put away all his clothes, the few that he had, in the wardrobe, and having emptied the suitcase, he flopped onto the bed with a sigh. He didn't stay there for long because as soon as he touched the mattress, someone rang the doorbell, forcing him to go and answer. It was a real joy when he realized it was his sister, who had just knew about his arrival at camp. The two greeted each other warmly; Hazel had been missed more than anyone. Along with her was her boyfriend, the son of Mars, who seemed to have grown a couple of inches during those weeks.

Frank gave him a pat on the shoulder, quite happy to see him again. They had never really talked, but he was still part of Hazel's family, and that was enough for Frank to like him.

The son of Hades invited them both into the still-empty apartment, making them comfortable in the living room. He had a lot to tell his sister about those weeks at Camp Half-Blood, avoiding dwelling too much on Will and what had happened before arriving in New Rome. He also told her about Jason, who seemed to have completely rebuilt his life. "I'm really happy about that" exclaimed Hazel.

"Piper is such a good girl, those two make a beautiful couple" she told him, with Frank nodding in agreement.

"How's Percy?" asked Frank. The son of Hades just shrugged.

"Well, at least he hasn't gotten into any new trouble" he then told them about the absurd climbing wall challenge, of Jason being determined to win and not faint every two seconds.

The three spent the afternoon together, inviting Nico to join them for a bite to eat. The son of Hades agreed willingly, following them outside the building.

There were still many things Nico wanted to tell his sister, all carrying the same name. However, it was difficult to talk about them with Frank around.

They mostly talked about the Roman camp and how it had evolved in such a short time, telling him the same things Reyna had hinted at earlier: some problems that had arisen at the beginning, the decision to build more temples dedicated to minor and almost forgotten deities. "You should have attended the council" sighed Hazel, squeezing Frank's hand. "The Senate didn't want to hear any reason. According to them, we had to continue with our traditions" she briefly recounted what had happened after their return to camp.

"Some demigods thought the same, obviously" explained Frank. "Centuries of tradition thrown out the window" he grimaced.

"But even they had to bow to the will of the gods" Nico guessed. The son of Mars nodded.

"Thanks to the gods, they opened their eyes, our societies cannot survive if we don't collaborate. This was evident even this summer" added the boy, getting a nod of approval from Nico.

Frank began to speak freely, monopolizing the conversation a bit. He cared deeply about New Rome now that he had become praetor, telling them about the boring Roman bureaucracy that Jason had mentioned that morning, the holes to fill, the people to meet, all the supervision needed during the construction of the temples. "We could rely on Annabeth, she's a real architect!" exclaimed the boy.

The conversation gradually dwindled with the setting sun, coloring the green hills and the tips of the tallest buildings. Under that light, the city of New Rome seemed like a replica of the authentic Rome. "See you around" said Frank, bidding farewell with a nod.

"Of course" replied Nico, finally managing to spend five minutes alone with his sister, who had not missed the agitation and urgency to talk only with her. She was really good at reading body language. "Let's talk about what you forgot to tell me tomorrow, okay?" the girl smiled kindly, speaking near Nico's ear, who simply nodded and thanked her.

She walked away, the smile on her face leaving him in the driveway, which was slowly darkening.

The son of Hades returned to his apartment, finally lying down on the bed he had longed for all day. His mind was strangely empty, yet so full of thoughts that he didn't exactly know which ones to grasp.

He ran a hand over his face, forcing himself to get up, put on pajamas, and set the alarm for the next day. It was while turning the red hand that the air seemed to fold on itself, gathering the light like many small tiles, then opening into a window of light. On the other side, there was a brightly lit bedroom, although it was clearly night outside. The walls were covered with band posters, along with some photos and concert tickets now weathered with time. At the center of that window made of light was the boy who had been at the center of his thoughts all day.

"Hey!" Will was radiant as usual, but his smile faded when he noticed that Nico might be getting ready for bed. "Did I disturb you?" he hurried to say, regretful for not being able to call him earlier. Nico shook his head, placing the alarm clock on the nightstand.

"No, it's fine" he replied, unable to hide a certain embarrassment.

"Okay—" he tried to smile, but it was clear that something was wrong. All day, Will had berated himself for giving him that cheek kiss; he shouldn't have done it. Who knows what Nico thought now. "So, school starts tomorrow, huh?" he said the first thing that came to mind, even if it was rather mundane and predictable. Nico sighed, still not believing that he would really be picking up paper and pen again. "Yeah" he replied. "I'm kind of nervous" he hinted at a smile, sitting on the bed.

"It's normal" Will tried to cheer him up. "At least you won't have the fear of being expelled eight times" he joked, tilting his lips sideways. Nico stared at him, realizing that for the entire time, that was the first time he had looked him in the eyes.

"Then I guess they'll be more prepared for hyperactivity and dyslexia issues there" the boy continued. Nico struggled to imagine Will with such problems—at camp, he seemed like such a normal guy that Nico often forgot that, like most demigods, he suffered from hyperactivity and dyslexia. Life in mortal schools was often challenging.

"Do you start tomorrow too?" Nico asked then, breaking his silence.

"Yeah" Will sighed. "If it weren't for my friends, it would be a torture" It wasn't the first time he had said that, even during the days spent together at camp, Will always talked about his school and how heavy the schedules were, thankfully lightened by his two friends he had made during the past year. "Did you already get the list of extracurricular activities?" he asked, just to liven up the conversation. "It arrived yesterday, mom already signed me up for that music course. May she be blessed, I wouldn't know what to do without her" he said, unable to hold back a clear laugh. Nico thought about how it must be to have a mother; the only memory he had of his was of a faded smile, and maybe it wasn't even real. At that thought, he became saddened.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Will asked, concerned to see that dark expression.

Nico simply shook his head, coming out of his thoughts. "Nothing" he lied, trying to look at something other than Will's blue eyes. "Just tired, I guess" he said, trying to convince him with that excuse. Apollo's son tried to believe it, without delving too much into the details. "When does the course start?" he asked the next moment.

"Next week, while auditions for the choir are this Friday" he replied, and at that thought, he immediately became enthusiastic.

"A smile will be enough to get you in" Nico weakly smiled, imagining him auditioning for the school choir.

"Do you think so?" Will laughed.

"I think so" Nico answered so seriously that Will didn't know if he was really joking or being serious. He decided to take it as a joke.

The two continued to talk for a while, avoiding touching on the "hill kiss" topic. It seemed that both were fine with it, yet they couldn't deny to themselves that after that morning, a kind of strange tension had arisen. Will would have liked to explain, give him a reason for what he had done, yet something prevented him, perhaps the current situation. He thought that maybe it would be more appropriate to talk to him about it in person. Yes, he would do that when he returned to camp. However, he had not taken one thing into consideration:—"Remember during the game in the woods?" Nico suddenly reminded him, wanting to get that thought out of his mind that had been buzzing around all day. Will swallowed, hoping he hadn't heard it. "Yes" he replied, torturing his lips.

"You were about to tell me something" Nico continued, hoping he could talk to him about it now. Apollo's son nodded; he didn't want to tell him like this, via a message, but actually, at that moment, there was no one who could interrupt them. Will parted his lips, ready to tell him the truth. "Well, the thing is that..." he stammered, trying to find the right words, and as he struggled, the message was slowly dissolving.

"You'll tell me tomorrow" Nico hurried to say.

"Goodnight, Nico," he said just as quickly, before the window of light disappeared, leaving the son of darkness in the shadows.

"Goodnight, Will"

[CONTENTS]

1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20

[cabinofimagines]

Cryptozoology Ver. 1.0.1

Happy birthday Danny!! This is a different POV version from Cryptozoology- the story that was not told before! Have you read the first fic? Read this one! If not- a full version with both POVs is out too!!

Pairing: Leo Valdez x gn!reader, this is a solangelo fic at it's heart- Request: That's between me and Danny's chat, as many things. Word count: 4k Warnings: None!

-Asnyox

Will Solace cared for his friends, making sure that they ate enough, slept enough, and were happy. However, to Will’s chagrin, there was only one thing that at the moment would get Leo Valdez to eat, sleep and be happy. It was the exam period and Leo simply was not listening, unless Will would get him a significant other- something that Leo thought would only happen after pigs learned to fly, but Will had other plans... 

“Leo, I promise I will get you a lover soon enough!” Will waved his hands, “You just have to trust the genius that I am!” “Sure thing,” Leo scoffed, “And how will you do that?” “I have a plan.” Will assured his friend, “I simply need an appropriate candidate.” 

And perhaps he already had one. He didn’t even need to try too hard to stage the first meeting and start Leo’s infatuation. Will passed you on your way out, went straight to Leo’s, and forced him to take a break. While Leo was out he watched the first meeting through the window of Leo’s dorm. The target acted just as Will had suspected, hiding away from Leo, and Will could not wait until Leo’s sleep-deprived brain would start acting its magic. Sure, Will might’ve been unaware of their name, but he had seen them around in the cafe where he worked and he just knew they would be a good fit for Leo.

“Dude!” Leo stormed into his room, “I think I just met Mothman!” 

All according to plan.

───────────

The day after your chance encounter with Leo Valdez (where you heroically ran away from him, after hiding behind a tree, and then a second time in the hallway), you ranted to your friend about it, much to his dismay.

“I mean how embarrassing! I named a lizard after him!” You pouted, “What is the chance? I wasn’t even aware he was near until I saw him bolt away!” “I’m sure he’ll not mind that,” Nico said, “If he’s as idiotic as you paint him to be, he might even find it endearing. What’s his name anyways?” “I’m not telling.” 

“And why won’t you tell me the name of your crush?” Nico was exasperated. “Because you’ll try something!” You squint your eyes at him, “I know you will.” “So we’re calling him fireboy? Because he is hot?” Nico teased, and you laughed, but Nico was not deterred, “Okay, tell me the name of your lizard then.” “No.” 

From the look in your eyes when you talked about Fireboy, Nico knew that he needed to figure out who Fireboy was and how to get you together, if he were to enjoy a calm lunch ever again.

What Nico wasn’t expecting was having to fend off another guy. 

He had stared at the blonde barista in the past (for no reason at all) and didn’t like the interest the guy was showing in you. Of course, he could believe that you didn’t have any interest in the barista, but the way that, since entering the café, the barista kept staring at you intensely, rubbed him the wrong way. Clearly this guy had an interest in you that went past you as a customer. Yet, it was busy and Nico was keeping your seats occupied while you stood in line. He glared as the barista handed you more than just your coffee.  

“So you’re saying you won this ticket?” “Yes.” “From the barista just now?” “Yes.” 

“And you’re sure he wasn’t just hitting on you?” 

“With the way he was eyeing you, I don’t think so?” “What is that supposed to mean?” Nico, unwillingly, felt his face warm. You simply shrugged as you smiled at your friend teasingly, and Nico sighed, “Guess I’ll get a ticket and we can go to the movie together.” 

So, a few hours later, you were sitting together in the movie theater. You were pretty sure you might have switched up the seats, but did it matter? You both had the tickets for these seats anyways. Nico had gotten the popcorn, and the ads had just started, all was good. 

Except, all was not good for Will. While Leo had just told him that the ‘cryptid’ had named a lizard after him, it took Will a moment to realize that his ‘cinema date’ had failed. Someone was sitting in the cryptid’s seat, and Will didn’t like that. He had invited Leo, and the plan had been to get Leo and mothman to sit together. If this black-haired guy had not been sitting in the wrong seat, it would have been a date! Basically! The worst part was that now he had to make sure Leo wouldn’t see Mothman, otherwise the whole ‘cryptid’ mystic would stop and Will’s efforts would be all for nothing. 

Fine, Will Solace resigned himself as he quickly pushed past Leo so he would get to sit next to the black-haired boy, fine, Will Solace would have a ‘date’ with this kid. Fine.   

Nico, on the other hand, felt triumphant as he noticed the big ass glare on the blonde’s face. Clearly this had been some kind of setup for a date, and he managed to fuck it up. (Y/n) was not even aware that the barista had entered the cinema and sat next to Nico, all for the better. Nico made eye contact with his seat neighbor, and stuck out his tongue, to which he saw the blonde tense up. Take that, barista boy. 

Will Solace felt his heartbeat speed up, as he realized a second flaw in his strategy- he might have started crushing on the enemy. 

───────────

Will was not giving up, and a few weeks later the perfect opportunity presented itself. He found a very good sale on fresh fruits and filled his arms with them to use them as a matchmaking ploy. The plan was simple- give you the cold fruits, tell you to hand them out to Leo, and bam! You would get talking, get a hamster, get a house- but first… 

“Hey, do you like mandarins?” “You’re that barista, aren’t you?” you looked at him suspiciously. Will nodded. “Look, as a promotional bit I need to hand these out,” Will lied, “but if you just take them off my hands, then I will be free to have a lunch break!” Will pushed the fruit in your hands and started backing away. Flabbergasted, you made sure not to spill any as you looked at the blonde. “Why would I need this much fruit?” You looked like you really wanted to hand the fruit back to him, so Will had to act quickly. “Just hand them out if you don’t!” Will turned around and took a small sprint. He quickly rounded a corner and not-so-subtly spied on you. With only a bit of luck, you would instigate a conversation with Leo, who was sitting alone, within the next five minutes. And that would mean-

Oh no. Will glared at the black-haired boy who approached you, the same kid that had prevented you from sitting with Leo. His ‘definitely not a crush’. Why was he putting the fruit in a bag? Goddammit! You walked away with your friend, and Will knew he couldn’t keep taking this (cute) boy's interference. Something had to be done. Will wasn’t sure what yet- but murder was still on the list. 

Meanwhile, Nico smiled to himself. He saw the blonde glare, and he felt great having meddled with his plans again. Sure, Nico had to admit that the blonde looked cute when giving away the fruits to you, but there was no way you would fall for someone who was simply giving out fruits, instead Nico subtly walked you into the canteen, spotted your Fireboy (he stopped caring about the name now that he had a face), and nudged you to hand out the fruits there. You might not have put together that Nico knew what your crush looked like (although he did not know his name), but that would all help Nico’s plans. You would never figure out that he was playing Cupid (all in order to get you to shut up about Fireboy during your Mythomagic games, certainly not to rile up the blonde barista who is trying to hit on you). 

Nico was a little proud of his plan- and the next step of it. He overheard Fireboy’s friends mention a party happening, and Nico had to find a way to get you to the party, although he would be the last one to go, he had a foolproof plan. Of course, you still weren’t invited but he guessed that it would matter little to you if you found out the real catch at the party. 

“There are cats.” Nico deadpanned, and he immediately saw you crack. Sure, you weren’t planning on going out today, but how often does an opportunity like this present itself? “But they’ll be inside!” “With that amount of sound? I don’t think so, but your loss.” Nico picked up his Switch again, continuing his Hades run. “Why do you even want me to go?” You sounded a little suspicious, as you squeezed Nico’s Blahaj. 

“So you’ll stop trying to steal my plushies. Just go, nobody cares you’re not supposed to be there!” And that stinky Fireboy would be there, which is why you should go. Of course, Nico didn’t really want to miss out on hanging out with you, but he had to keep his priorities. 

 “How many cats are there?” You considered your options. “Four.” “Fuck.” and there you went. 

A few hours later you knocked on his door, just in time for the both of you to catch the newest episode of the show you were watching together. Yet, you seemed a little fidgety and it only took a little prodding from Nico to figure it out. 

His plan had worked perfectly. Take that blonde barista! He would never stand a chance against the power of cats and your weirdness. 

Yet, Nico’s plan seemed to work a little too well, for one of Fireboy’s friends had spotted you and put the puzzle pieces together. 

───────────

Lucky for Nico, the friend was not Will Solace, unluckily for Nico, Will was a nosy bitch, who worked at a café. Will slid Jason’s favorite drink towards him. 

 “Hey, Jason, can you do me a favor?” Will intensely stared at Jason, his hand still on the lid.

“I don’t know, can I?” Jason looked from the drink to Will, who nodded as he moved the drink a little closer. “Yes you can.” Will said as Jason picked up the drink and examined it closer. On the side of the drink, Will had scribbled ‘for the best dude I know’ with a very badly drawn sun on it. Jason didn’t like the prospect of the favor being bought out of him, but he wasn’t complaining. He could always feign forgetfulness and not do it. 

“I need you to figure out who the cryptid is. Name, address, age-” Will paused, “It sounds like stalking, but you have a class with them, so maybe you can talk to them?” 

“Oh, I know the cryptid. We did a project together once.” Jason squinted at Will, “Are you trying to get (Y/n) and Leo together?” “Pfft, what? It’s not that obvious, is it?” Will laughed curtly, before going back to being serious, “Their name is (Y/n)?” “You didn’t know their name?” Jason sighed, “Of course not- either way, Leo’s obsessed with the cryptid simply being a cryptid.” 

“Good, all according to plan!” Will smiled, “I need you to approach (Y/n)’s friend and ask whether the cryptid is interested in Leo at all.” Will shrugged, “Not sure if the magic is working from that side.” 

“You mean Nico?” Jason asked

“The cute black-haired boy?” Will asked. “No.” Jason said, “I will not ask your crush whether he likes you.” 

“He’s not my crush,” Will shook his head, “He just keeps intervening with my plans for Leo and (Y/n)!”

“I suggest you just talk to him yourself, Will.” but as Jason suggested the normal thing to do, Will shook his head again. 

“Pretty please?” Will looked at Jason as he lifted his hand, clearly indicating that he would push the drink off the table if Jason did not agree. Jason shook his head as he gave in. Will did make his favorite after all, and perhaps he could befriend Nico on the way. He would probably be a little less weird than his current friends- 

“How do you know Nico’s name anyways?” Will asked after a moment. 

“He and Frank play Mythomagic together sometimes,” Jason looked at Will, “You sure you don’t want me to find out whether he likes you?” 

“No” Will blushed, “Not until Leo and (Y/n) are together! Then I can focus on myself. Who’s Frank anyways?” 

“Dating Nico’s half-sister,” Jason explained as Will seemed relieved, “Not that you would care, as you don’t have a crush” Jason laughed, while Will glared at him. ───────────

It took a bit for Jason to find Nico, but he eventually got word from Frank that Nico would be at their usual place for Mythomagic. When Jason got there, Frank hadn’t yet arrived, but Nico was going through his deck. Jason felt relieved that (Y/n) didn’t seem to be anywhere near. 

Jason sat down opposite of Nico and cleared his throat. Nico looked up from his deck.

“You’re Jason Grace, right?” Nico asked, “You finally got a deck?”

“Not yet, maybe you can help me though.” Jason looked at Nico, whose poker face was all too good. He could not make out what Nico was thinking, so he simply continued, “I have a friend who’s interested in you and was just wondering if-” “Not the Fireboy, right?” Nico interrupted him. “What?” Jason took a moment, “Who?

“Small, curly hair, petted cats with my friend yesterday,” Nico sounded a bit disappointed in his next sentence, “you know, ‘Fireboy’, as my friend will not give me his name.” 

“Oh! No, not the cryptozoologist. Any reason why you’re asking?” “For said friend, mostly. Would be disappointing if Fireboy fell for my charms while my friend swooned for him. Anyways, cryptozoologist?” Nico asked and Jason grinned.

“He thinks your friend is Mothman.” Jason elaborated, and Nico nodded. “He’s not wrong.” 

“Sure, anyway, you’re single then? Not interested in the cryptozoologist yourself?” “Pft, I’m not that pathetic.” Nico laughed, “Why are you interested?” “Asking for a friend.” “Toucheé” Nico shrugged, still taking the boy before him in. He had never really spoken with Jason before, but he seemed friendly enough, and if there was something he needed, it was more friends (especially if you were to ever start dating the cryptozoologist, who would entertain him then?). Besides, perhaps he could actually get Jason involved with Frank and his Mythomagic games. They needed more players, desperately. 

“Either way, the cryptozoologist is going to the library later today–” 

“Why tell me?” “No reason.” 

“Well, so are (Y/n) and I, we’re studying together today.” Nico answered shortly, “Look, Jason, great conversation we’re having, but I only engaged in it because I thought you were going to get into Mythomagic.” 

“Oh!” Jason hesitated, looking at the cards, “I mean I would love to, I just really do not know where to start.” 

“I have an extra deck,” Nico started going through his bag, “I can explain the basics in a duel now, and then you can try it against Frank when he shows up. I think Frank also has a more beginner-friendly deck with him- so you won’t be annihilated too quickly.” 

“Uh-” Jason was not prepared for Nico to start talking so fast, or so much.

“Of course, you’ll eventually have to find a deck structure you like,” Nico kept going, “or invest in something more competitive, but just for getting the hang of the game this should be enough.” Nico laid out some cards and grabbed a few figurines, “let’s start with the kind of cards that you can encounter, before going to the phases of your turn.” 

“Firstly! On a different topic, would you know if (Y/n) (L/n) is interested in Leo?” “No” Nico glared at Jason, he didn’t know this Leo kid but you only had one crush and that was your little cryptozoologist. Jason, in the short span of their conversation, blown away by the sudden development of Nico’s talkativeness,  had forgotten that Nico mentioned he didn’t know Leo’s name (or maybe, he simply figured that Nico was joking. Nico could joke, right?). “Okay,” Jason seemed disappointed, “Alright, let’s get into this game” Nico started enjoying the conversation a lot more after that. 

───────────

After a few hours and some intense Mythomagic games (Jason won once with Frank’s beginner deck! Nico seemed proud), Jason encountered Will on his break, drinking tea.

Jason leaned down, next to Will’s ear. 

“So the good news is, Nico is single.” Jason told Will, who spit out his drink and then quickly turned his head. “Why did you ask him that? I gave you a simple-” “I can see the way you eye him.” Jason cut Will off, “Also, be quiet, or do you want people to approach you on your break?” Will grumbled a little before continuing. “It’s because he keeps messing up my plans!” Will watched his tone, “I eye him in disdain, not longing.” “Yes, I see the romantic tension is to die for.” Jason feigned drama as he moved on, “The bad news is, I’m not sure whether (Y/n) is interested.”

“That’s a lie.” Will looked Jason in the eye, “Ask (Y/n). For me?” “I’m not a messenger.” “I will get you more staples.” “I will be a messenger.” Jason agreed, “You better get the staples, because I asked them this morning-” Will looked at him in surprise.

“I only asked you to check at lunch?” Will raised an eyebrow, “You knew already and kept me waiting?” 

“I didn’t know whether Nico liked you, buddy.” Jason shrugged, “(Y/n) seemed like they’re interested, but Nico gave a definitive ‘no’ when asked. Maybe he doesn’t agree with the pairing, maybe (Y/n) simply got flustered at the thought of someone liking them. Who knows?” 

“You’re supposed to find out!” Will exclaimed, “I’m not sure whether this information is worth the staples.”

“Well, perhaps if you would talk to Nico you would ‘find out’ that you have a lot in common!” Jason bit back. 

“I don’t think I can, Jason.” Will quickly took another sip from his tea, definitely not out of nervousness.

“He’s going to the library today with (Y/n)- and Leo is too. Who knows what he will be planning?” Jason offered, “He might try to put Leo in a bad light, I don’t know.” Will glared at Jason. 

“And what am I supposed to do? Be a distraction?” 

“Yes.”

Sadly, Will needed to make sure that Nico didn’t intervene with your study date. He needed to talk to Nico, and he needed to get back to work as his break was over. He only had two hours left- hopefully he would be at the library in time. 

───────────

“We should study in the library today.” Nico said, as if he didn’t overhear Fireboy complaining about wanting to do that. 

But right as he was about to walk into the library, the blonde barista was in his way. 

“Nico di Angelo, we need to talk.” “How do you know my name?” 

“I’ve been trying to get Leo to date someone for weeks now!” 

“I don’t know this Leo guy, but I was matching (Y/n),  and if it wasn’t for your meddling it would have worked!” 

“Well if it wasn’t for you, (Y/n) would already be dating someone. Leo, for example.” “I don’t care about your plan, just leave them alone!” Nico scoffed, “You need to understand that (Y/n) only has the hots for that weird cryptozoology guy anyways.” Will glare dropped, and after a moment, he started laughing. 

“What’s so funny?” Nico was filled with confusion, but Will just kept laughing. Nico realized he kind of liked this laughter from his opposition, especially as Will's face got a little red in the process. Could he make Will blush like that too? Before more thoughts could develop, Nico half-heartedly hit Will on his head, “Answer me.” Will looked at Nico, realizing that Nico’s pout was pretty cute. 

“Leo is the cryptozoologist.” 

“Oh, oh.” 

From here on out they needed a plan, together. 

Luckily things were already moving in the right way, because during the time  Will and Nico talked, Leo and you had interacted. Not a conversation, of course not, but an interaction nonetheless. 

“You’re late.” You stated as Nico sat down in front of you. “So?” Nico shrugged, “Mythomagic took a little longer than planned as we got Jason to join.” 

“Grace?” You asked, and Nico huffed. “Clearly, I meant Todd.” He stated “I fucking wish,” You sighed, “Either way, Fireboy just took a picture of me.” 

“Seems like me being late is the least of your issues.” Nico opened one of his textbooks, “Maybe you should just talk to Fireboy, or I don’t know, leave a note written in code and see if he figures it out.” 

“I won’t, what do you care anyways?” you sighed again, as you looked at Nico. “I care about getting a good grade on the next exam, which I will not get with your fireboy-complaining,” Nico glared at you. 

“If you played less Mythomagic and Hades you wouldn’t be complaining about my complaining,” You stated and Nico rolled his eyes. “We’ll see- maybe you’ll run into Leo again soon.” Nico focused on his books, and you figured he didn’t want to continue the conversation. You also figured that Nico finally found out who Fireboy was- but you didn’t know how. Maybe it was an accident, or maybe it was the blonde barista you’d spotted talking to Nico through the windows just now. They would look cute together. 

───────────

Nico had invited you for a double date. You found the date alright- but Nico was nowhere near, nor was his apparent date.

You wondered why Nico had stood you up. He was normally really punctual, but somehow he was not in front of the café, and after a bit he messaged you, asking you to just go in and sit somewhere. It was as if you were out of luck- every table was taken, and there were not a lot of free chairs. You figured you could get a coffee to go if nothing else, so you made your order with the blonde barista, who was smiling brightly. He pointed you to the only empty chair in the cafe, where your boyfriend sat. 

“Will recommended I visit the cafe today, and get an employee discount on the drink.” “Nico stood me up on a ‘double date’.” You smiled, as you tried to spot the blonde in the cafe, “Did Will just leave?” “He didn’t actually have a shift today,” Leo laughed, “I checked with his coworkers, it’s wild what they do to get us together.” 

“When do you think they’ll figure out we’re already dating?” You asked, as you purposefully kept your awkward distance from Leo. “At the marriage ceremony, most likely.” Leo laughed. “Ours or theirs?” You asked, as you joined his laughter. 

“Whichever is first…” 

From across the street, Nico and Will shared a fist-bump as they noticed the awkward banter between the two of you. “Well, job well done,” Will sighed, “I guess it’s time for our date!” “Our what,” Nico blabbered, as Will simply smiled and grabbed his hand.

[sunshines-child]

C’mon fanfic writers, give me something good.

’m so done with the fact there are never any Solangelo breakup fics. And the ones that do exist are basic. Like “we don’t work, with the fact I have to go to a different school” or dumb shit. Give me Will yelling “You’re always in the underworld! You care more for the dead than the living!” Give me Nico going “It’s my fate! I am the child of dead! I am the one who will guide the souls! I am one if the dead!” Give me Will not thinking, blinded by rage going “Then die, if your so much of one of the dead! You never care for the living anyways! Gods above, Bianca died for nothing if you don’t want to live!” Give me Nico staring in horror, fear and pain expressed on his face. Give me Will realizing what he’s said. Give me Nico running, never coming back. Give me a Will Solace who tries to find Nico again, to apologize, to rekindle something lost, only to find out that now Nico Di Angelo is dead.

Nico had taken Will’s words to heart.

Because deep down, Nico truly loved Will. If Will thought death was the best, Nico would do just that. If Will was better, happier, without him, Nico would follow in. Nico trusted Will, but he just didn’t know how much Will loved him too.

[2nd2ndalto]

All I Want Is You

Hey, it's a Solangelo first-time fic. Thanks to the lovely anon who suggested it. And thanks to U2 for our fic title this afternoon.

___

When the subject arises for the first time, it’s late on a Thursday night not long after Nico’s eighteenth birthday, and the two are pressed together in Nico’s bed in varying states of undress.

It’s not how Will meant to broach the subject. In his defense, they’ve already been making out for a really long time and he’s not nearly as thoughtful or coherent as he was before all that started.

Nico’s fingers are tracing fire down Will’s stomach and his tongue has just found the hollow of Will’s throat. The words fall from Will’s lips without much thought. He’s dizzy and tingly and warm and everything they’re doing together feels so good and he just wants more, just wants Nico.

“I want you to fuck me,” he gasps into the dark cabin.

There’s a beat wherein Nico’s tongue pauses on his collarbone and his hands still. Then he’s raising himself up to look at Will, eyes wide and dark.

“You… you mean you want me to finger you?”

Because that is something they’ve done, many times. They’ve done nearly everything they can think of, many times, just not…

“Um.” Will swallows. And it’s a little awkward now, because he didn’t exactly mean to say it - not like he hasn’t thought about it, but…

“No. Yes. I - I don’t know.”

Nico blinks at him, bemused. Then he rolls off of Will to lie beside him. Still close, still touching, but gods, Will really could have chosen a better moment to start this conversation.

“You mean like… fucking-fucking?” Nico asks.

“I mean… maybe?”

Nico still looks a little blindsided, and Will rushes in to try to repair the situation.

“We don’t… I didn’t mean… I just… I didn’t want…” He stares wide-eyed at Nico for a long, awkward moment. Unfortunately, it seems that he’s not any more coherent than he was sixty seconds ago, and he rolls towards his boyfriend, burying his face in the other boy’s shoulder and groaning in exasperation.

Nico laughs softly, hugs him. Waits.

Will tries again, propping himself up on an elbow to look at Nico. “It… it was just something I was thinking about. I didn’t mean we should like… right now. I didn’t exactly mean to say it right at that moment. It just kind of… came out,” he finishes, embarrassed.

Nico reaches up, strokes his hair, his gaze somewhere near Will’s forehead. “That’s okay. I don’t mind that you said it. But I guess I don’t… I don’t really know… how. To do that,” he says awkwardly.

“Well. Me either,” Will admits. “Although… I understand the general principle.”

Nico snorts.

Will giggles.

Maybe the moment’s lost now, and Will sits up, pulling the blankets over both of them. It’s cooler now that they’ve stopped all the kissing.

“Have you… thought about it?” Will asks once they’re pleasantly snuggled up together, heads next to each other on Nico’s pillow.

There’s a pause. “I guess… not really?” Nico glances at him. “It’s not that I’m opposed to the idea. I guess I’m just… really happy with everything we’ve been doing.” He gives Will a shy smile.

“Well, yeah. Me too.”

It’s taken a while to get here, what with various disasters and quests and a long friendship before they really started dating. Will has absolutely no complaints about the pace of their relationship and he definitely doesn’t want to rush anything.

“I know I’m the one who brought it up," Will says, "but… we don’t have to do… that. Not ever, really. I’m absolutely fine with the way things are.”

“Yeah,” Nico agrees thoughtfully. “But… I love you. And I trust you. If I wanted to do that with anyone, it would be with you. And I do kind of like the idea of us doing… everything together,” he says softly.

“Yeah. Me too,” Will smiles.

“So, as far as… fucking,” Nico says after a pause, and Will can feel his face warming, now that they’re not in the heat of the moment.

“I guess we should be able to say the word. If we’re thinking about doing it.” Nico says, wrinkling his nose.

Will nods, stays quiet, waiting for his boyfriend to continue. His heart has suddenly picked up speed.

“I mean… is that… one of us would be… doing the fucking, and the other one would be… being fucked. Right?”

Will presses his lips together, but a giggle slips out anyway. Nico rolls his eyes. He pulls Will into his arms. And yeah, maybe it’s a little easier without the eye contact.

“How do we decide… which is which?”

“Well,” Will considers. “I mean, we could… try it both ways. If we wanted to. When I've imagined it, though, it’s always been me. Who was um… receiving,” he finishes, and his ears are absolutely burning now, but there it is. He’s been fantasizing about getting railed by his adorably sweet, incredibly hot boyfriend. And now said boyfriend knows. He’s taking it pretty well.

“Yeah?” Nico says.

“Yeah.”

“How come?”

“I - I don’t know,” Will says, embarrassed.

Nico pulls back, raising an eyebrow. “Is it because you like my big dick?” he asks, affecting a very deep voice and an accent Will can’t quite place.

Will snorts. “I like all your parts. I like them all equally.”

Nico rolls his eyes, and Will giggles, and then the conversation is put aside because there’s more kissing, and then there’s Nico’s hands and Nico’s tongue and it turns out the moment wasn’t lost after all.

___

The next time they talk about it, Will has done a bit more planning. Camp isn’t quite so strict about electronic devices as it once was, and Will signs out one of the laptops on a Saturday afternoon when neither he nor Nico has anything else going on.

Nico looks up from where he’s sprawled on his bed as Will arrives at the Hades cabin. “Oh. Are we watching a movie?” he asks. Innocently.

“Um.” And Will suddenly feels extremely awkward, because although he’s put a reasonable amount of thought into this idea, he now realizes that he somehow hasn’t mentioned it to Nico.

And maybe he should just say, “yes, we’re watching a movie! We’re definitely not scouring the internet to learn how to do anal sex properly!”

But, well. Will does want this. With Nico. So he tells him.

“Oh.” A smile pulls at Nico’s lips, and Will can feel a blush starting at his ears and spreading uncontrolled.

“Is that okay?” He mumbles, shrinking into himself.

“Yeah, of course it’s okay,” Nico grins, pushing himself up off the bed to cross the cabin and wrap his arms around Will’s neck. “You’re so cute,” he murmurs into Will’s ear.

“I’m not, I’m embarrassing,” Will mumbles back, pressing his face into Nico’s hair and taking a deep inhale. It’s calming.

“It’s okay to be both,” Nico says sweetly, and Will gives him a gentle shove.

“Here, let me boot up this sex machine,” Nico grabs the laptop case from Will, wiggling his eyebrows.

Will snorts.

Nico’s still pretty new to computers and electronics in general, but he’s at least had enough practice to be moderately reliable at turning the laptop on and finding Netflix.

“I’m just going to use your bathroom,” Will tells Nico as the other boy sits down on the bed with the laptop. “Don’t forget to use an incognito window.”

“A what?”

When Will returns from the bathroom, Nico is staring at the laptop looking horrified. Oh no.

“Shit,” Will says, hurrying across the cabin. “What did you google?”

“I - I don’t know,” Nico squeaks.

“Oh my - oh,” Will claps a hand over his mouth. They both gaze at the screen, wide-eyed.

“That’s two dicks in one butt,” Nico whispers.

“Jesus.” Will quickly sits down beside his boyfriend, reaching for the laptop. He closes the not-incognito window, definitely not at all curious about how the video’s going to end. After all, these things are pretty predictable. He can probably put it together for himself.

“That’s um… that’s not what you had in mind, is it?” Nico asks, half-jokingly, half-fearfully.

“Gods, no,” Will giggles nervously. “I mean…” he glances at his boyfriend out of the corner of his eye. “For one thing, you only have one dick.”

Nico doesn’t seem to find the joke as funny as Will does, and Will quickly opens up a new tab.

___

After what he comes to think of as the Google Fiasco, Will decides to let the subject rest. Though Nico’s assured him it’s not the case, Will can’t help but feel like he’s pushing the issue, and he definitely doesn’t want that. If Nico brings it up again, that’s fine. And if he doesn’t… well, that really is fine too.

He can’t help but notice that Nico’s handling the laptop a little more gingerly when they do watch movies, as if he's fearful of what it might decide to show him next.

They continue doing all the things they normally do together, just as frequently and just as enthusiastically as always.

It’s become obvious to Will, over the two years they’ve been properly dating, that he usually tends to get worked up more easily and quickly than Nico does. He’s not sure whether it’s the vitalkinesis providing his brain with so much extra information, or if they’re just fundamentally different in that regard. Nico is almost always happy to go slowly, draw things out. He prefers it when they have all the time in the world to slowly work up to exquisite release, or even just to spend hours wrapped up in each other, kissing and snuggling without ever needing to push to an inevitable end.

So it always feels like a bit of a victory when Will is able to incite a little desperation in his boyfriend.

He manages it one evening after the campfire. Having walked Nico back to his cabin, Will shoves him up against the side of the cabin where no one can see, kissing him hard, wasting no time in letting his hands roam everywhere they want to. When Will drops to his knees & reaches for Nico’s belt, Nico’s eyes fly wide, and he drags Will inside, immediately pinning him against the inside of the door to finish what Will started. Success Will thinks to himself as his head knocks into the door.

Honestly Will was mostly joking about what he instigated outside the cabin. Although he has to admit that “death by harpies whilst sucking off his beautiful boyfriend” isn’t a bad way to go.

They’re collapsed together on Nico’s bed afterwards, neither having managed to get undressed much at all, when Nico brings the subject up again.

“I was thinking more…” he begins, “about the sex thing.”

Will’s head pops up so quickly that Nico giggles.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. You pervert,” Nico says fondly.

Will giggles. He snuggles closer, scooting down so he can tuck his head under Nico’s chin. Sometimes he likes to pretend he’s the shorter one.

“I think I’m definitely… interested in the idea,” Nico says hesitantly. His fingers stroke Will’s back, and Will hides his grin in his boyfriend’s t-shirt. Which he suddenly realizes is actually his shirt. But that conversation can wait.

“Were you still thinking of… the same um… logistics?” Nico asks.

“You mean with me being - um. And you doing the… yeah, I - I was,” Will finishes, finding he can’t quite force the words out.

“Okay,” Nico says evenly. “I think that would be okay.”

“You think it would be okay?” Will echoes after a moment. Not offended, exactly, but maybe a little disappointed in his boyfriend’s level of enthusiasm.

Nico huffs out a laugh. “Sorry. It seemed better than saying 'I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since you first mentioned it and I’ve been walking around feeling like a huge fucking weirdo'.”

Will giggles, pleased. “Really?”

“Really,” Nico says, his voice strained.

“It’s okay, we can be weirdos together,” Will says, squeezing him. “Besides, we’re eighteen. I think we’re supposed to think about sex a lot.”

There’s a pause. “That’s kind of a relief,” Nico says.

Will laughs, then stifles a yawn

“Yeah, we should get ready for bed,” Nico says, pressing a kiss to the top of Will’s head. “You staying?”

“Can I?”

“Of course.”

They spend their nights together more often than not, tangled up together in Nico’s double bed. It began years ago, for comfort more than anything else, the best way for them each to manage to get the sleep they needed. Mr. D has accused them of being joined at the hip, on more than one occasion, but both boys agree that as coping mechanisms go, this one is healthy enough, considering everything they’ve both been through.

Nico’s tucked in first, curled on his side and looking thoughtful. Will ducks under the covers to face him.

“I’m a little worried about… hurting you,” Nico says, seemingly apropos of nothing.

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

“You know. With um… sex.”

“Oh.” Will had thought they were done with that topic for the present time, but apparently not. “Well. You’ve stuck your fingers in there before,” he says matter-of-factly. “That feels good.”

“Yeah…”

Will reaches for his boyfriend’s hand. “Nico, if we don’t like it or it doesn’t feel good, we’ll just stop, okay? We don’t have to do anything we don’t want to. There doesn’t have to be any pressure.”

“Okay.” Nico nods, looking more certain. “Yeah, you’re right. If it doesn’t feel good to you, you’ll tell me, right?”

He fixes his eyes on Will, his gaze more intense than Will expected. “Yeah. Of course,” Will whispers.

“Okay,” Nico agrees, seeming satisfied. “Now get over here and cuddle me properly.”

“You’re still okay with just the one dick, right?” Nico asks, deadpan, once Will has him cuddled to his exacting standards.

___

A week later they’re lying in bed together again, this time in the infirmary. Nico has sustained a fairly minor slash to his shoulder in Capture the Flag, but he’s under (Will’s) strict orders to rest for at least another hour. He’s usually cooperative about following medical advice these days, for which Will is appreciative.

Will, on the other hand, is supposed to be catching up on writing chart notes, but Nico has managed to convince him that being cuddled immediately and thoroughly is essential to his recovery from his injury and thus should take priority over charting on said injury. It’s impeccable logic, honestly.

The light is fading from the infirmary windows now, slowly descending the room into dusk. Will’s been half-considering getting up to turn on a light so he doesn’t fall asleep here when Nico asks softly, “Is there anyone else in the infirmary right now?”

Will pokes Nico in the chest. “No, but you’re supposed to be resting.”

Nico laughs. “I know. That’s not what I meant.”

“Oh,” Will says, only a little disappointed. After all, it is a fairly minor injury.

“I um… I wanted to talk about us… having sex. A bit more,” Nico says haltingly. “If that’s okay.”

“Oh. Yeah, of course.” Will presses his lips to Nico’s hair. “What um… what did you want to talk about?”

Nico takes a deep breath. “So I was thinking about… positioning. Like, how were you thinking you’d want to… be?”

“Oh,” Will says, surprised. “I don’t… I don’t know…” And yeah, he’s definitely thought about it, but that’s a completely different thing than actually describing it out loud, especially in a completely non-sexual context.

This wasn’t really a conversation he expected to be having, but if it’s important to Nico, he’ll certainly make an attempt. With the advantage of all his healer senses, he can at least tell that Nico’s heart rate has picked up speed as much as his own has, and that helps a bit with the awkwardness he’s feeling.

“Like,” Nico continues in a rush, “if you wanted to be um… on top… then you’d have more control. Over, you know. Like, pace. And um. Depth.”

Will swallows, trying to gather his scrambled thoughts instead of fixating on the way the word depth makes his stomach jolt in a very pleasant way.

“I - I don’t think I want to be on top. I - don’t think I want to be… in control,” he admits quietly, realizing it at the same time the words leave his lips.

He’s spent too much of his life having to be in control, honestly. Taking care of others, trying to keep people alive. Taking over as head counselor when he was barely thirteen.

It’s turned out that an unexpected and very welcome benefit to having Nico in his life is having someone else to make decisions for him sometimes. And Nico has risen to the occasion more and more the older they get, telling Will in no uncertain terms when he’s doing too much, reminding him to eat. Even telling him what to eat in the moments wherein Will is too exhausted or overwhelmed to contemplate making even the simplest choice.

And Will listens, mostly, because he trusts Nico. He’s trusted him with his life on more than one occasion, and he suddenly realizes how much he wants to put the trust for this in Nico’s hands, too. That maybe that’s even why he wants this.

He lies here now, in the semi-darkness with his lovely boyfriend in his arms, trying to think of how to tell Nico all this.

But Nico just says, softly, “Oh. Okay.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Whatever you want. I just wanted to know.” And Nico tilts his head to press a very sweet kiss to the underside of Will’s jaw.

Will squeezes him closer, careful to avoid Nico’s injured shoulder. “Nico, you’re still okay with this, right? Are - are you having second thoughts? Because it’s okay if -”

Nico shakes his head immediately. “No. No second thoughts. Just thoughts.” He says decisively.

“You’re sure?”

“Yes, Will. Absolutely.” He snuggles closer. “I just want to be… informed.”

Will smiles against Nico’s head. “That’s very sensible of you. And mature.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Nico mumbles. Will giggles.

“Hold on,” Will says, as a few bits of information click into place. “Were you… googling without me?”

“Um. I can explain,” Nico says, immediately sounding guilty, and Will laughs.

“Look, I told you I was worried, right? About hurting you?” Nico says softly. “So I… borrowed one of the laptops and… did some research. Just to put my mind at ease. I know we’d already looked at stuff together, but… I don’t know. I just wanted some more reassurance. Are you mad?”

Will feels as though his heart might burst. He can very clearly picture Nico, alone in his cabin with the laptop, brow furrowed, studiously typing with both index fingers. “Of course I’m not mad, Nico. That’s really sweet.”

“I used an incognito window this time,” he says, sounding proud. “I googled how to do it.”

Will beams. “Look at you. You’re getting so smart. Conquering your fear of the internet for me.”

Nico snorts, burrowing back against Will.

“You smell good,” Nico mumbles sleepily after a long moment.

Will seriously doubts that, considering he spent half the afternoon running around the woods and the other half running around the infirmary. But Nico always thinks he smells good.

“Hey, no falling asleep on me,” he scolds Nico, shaking him gently. “I’m not carrying you back to your cabin again.”

Nico lets out a very sleepy whine. Will rolls his eyes.

“Okay, I’m getting up. I still have more work to do before I can leave.” Will tries to rise, but it’s challenging with Nico determinedly clinging to him like a baby koala.

“Five more minutes,” Nico mumbles.

Will laughs, gently extricating himself and standing. “Nope. You can stay, but I need to get up.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll help you. With work.” Nico protests, still not opening his eyes. “Just… help me sit up.”

And Will senses a trap, but the truth is, he’s a sucker.

The second he sits back down on the bed Nico tackles him, clearly far more alert than he let on. And while Nico is shorter, he’s wily, and he’s strong. He has Will pinned to the bed faster than blinking, securing him with arms and legs and snuggling back into his shoulder. “Mmm. Can’t believe you fell for that again,” Nico mumbles happily.

And though it seems Will would be at a disadvantage, he’s very familiar with all of Nico’s ticklish spots, and his fingers are still free.

Tickling turns into wrestling turns into kissing and well... To Nico’s credit, he does help Will finish up his work. Afterwards. ___

It’s two weeks later and the two have just returned to Nico’s cabin after dinner. There’s a campfire starting soon, but the evening is chillier than expected, and they’ve come to fetch Nico a jacket. Will had thought that this plan might entail the return of the hoodie Nico “borrowed” from him earlier in the day, but as Nico begins to pull his jacket on over the hoodie, it seems that’s not the case. It’s fine, they can stop at the Apollo cabin so Will can grab something warmer. Although something tells him he’d probably find a couple of his own hoodies buried in Nico’s dresser.

Will lingers in front of the bookcase as he waits for his boyfriend, his eyes falling on a small plastic bag on the top shelf.

“Hey, what’s this?” Will is in the Hades cabin often enough to notice when something’s different or out of place. Not thinking much of it, he reaches for the bag and looks inside.

“Um -” Nico says, freezing with one arm in his jacket.

“Oh!” Will says, pulling out a black and silver bottle. “It’s… fancy lube?”

Nico grabs the bag from him, looking embarrassed. “It’s um.. Silicone-based. It’s supposed to be… better,” Nico explains. “Like, thicker than the stuff you get from the infirmary. So, you know. There’s less risk of… injury.”

“Oh,” Will says, surprised. “You bought supplies.”

Nico’s face is completely flushed. It’s heart-stoppingly adorable.

“Yeah. I um… I got condoms, too. I know we talked about not using them, but like… just in case.”

“Nico, I could have grabbed condoms from the infirmary.”

His boyfriend shrugs. “I know. I just wanted to be prepared. And responsible.”

“That’s really sweet,” Will says, pleased that the other boy has put so much thought into this. “What else did you get?”

“That’s it, mostly.” Nico looks into the bag. “I got KitKats.”

Will beams, suddenly so full of affection for the other boy. “Wait -” he says. “You walked into a drug store. And bought condoms and lube. Were you embarrassed?”

Nico groans, scrubbing his hands over his face. “All the self-checkouts were down. I thought I was actually going to die. I couldn’t just leave and go somewhere else because this one lady was already watching me like she thought I was going to burn the place down.”

Will bursts out laughing.

“The only thing that kept me alive was knowing I’d never get to have sex with you if I didn’t make it,” Nico mumbles into his hands, and Will laughs harder, wrapping his arms around Nico.

“Oh my god, you’re adorable.”

“Shut up,” Nico protests weakly.

Will giggles and ducks to press his lips to Nico’s. Nico’s nose is cold against his cheek. They pause there, sharing breath, and then... it’s as if something shifts. Nico’s hands rise to cradle Will’s face and Will feels as if the other boy is pouring his whole soul into the kiss. Will stumbles, suddenly weak-kneed, but Nico steadies him with an arm wrapped firmly around his waist. Will can feel his pulse pounding in his ears as the kiss lingers on and on. It’s not desperate or hurried, but burning with an intensity that catches Will off-guard.

They pull back after a long moment, breath ragged.

“We could - um,” Will breathes.

“Skip the campfire?” Nico asks unsteadily.

“Yeah.”

And they’re kissing again, but now stumbling together towards the bed as Will shoves Nico’s jacket and hoodie off and Nico starts unbuttoning Will’s shirt, then immediately drops his hands to Will’s waistband, tracing cool fingers against bare skin before he reaches for Will’s fly, as if he can’t decide which problem to address first.

They fall ungracefully onto the bed, gasping for breath and fumbling with buttons and zippers.

“Did you lock the door?” Will breathes, somehow managing to remember this small fact with the last small remnant of his brain that isn’t consumed with Nico, Nico, Nico.

“Shit,” Nico whispers, and he’s off the bed in a flash, nearly tripping over discarded clothing and managing to tug off his t-shirt before joining Will again on the bed.

“Fuck, your hands are cold,” Will giggles in a whisper as Nico finally manages to unbutton his shirt all the way.

“Sorry,” Nico mutters, and he shifts, moving to pull the blankets over both of them.

They’re side by side now, and Nico finally manages to shove Will’s pants out of the way, immediately reaching for his erection and beginning to stroke purposefully, clearly not interested in drawing this out today. Will takes in a shuddering gasp, reaching to reciprocate. Pleasure builds fast, and Nico is sucking exquisitely delicately on Will’s neck, drawing honestly embarrassing sounds from his boyfriend when Will thinks to pull away.

“Nico - ah - Nico, wait,” he mumbles.

“Hmm?” Nico pulls back looking bemused, cheeks flushed, his hair a mess from Will shoving his hands through it.

“Do you want to, um…” Will swallows. “Do you want to… try… the - the other thing?” He whispers, heart pounding.

Nico blinks, looking completely lost for a second before he breathes, “oh.”

“It’s really okay if you don’t -”

“No, no. I do. I definitely do,” Nico says softly. They gaze at each other for a long moment, and Will can feel his cheeks warming.

“Are you sure?” Will asks.

“Yeah,” Nico nods, looking mildly terrified. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Will says, a smile pulling at his lips.

Nico captures his mouth in a warm, slow kiss, the pace and mood suddenly much different than it was a moment ago. Nico’s hand rises to cup Will’s cheek.

He pulls back. “We’ll go slow?” Nico asks, his eyes darting back and forth between both of Will’s.

“Yeah,” Will smiles, suddenly shy. “That - that sounds nice.”

Nico kisses him again and Will lets his eyes fall shut, melting under the soft, insistent press of Nico’s mouth.

“Can I - can I finger you?” Nico whispers after a long moment.

Will’s breath catches. “Yeah, of course.”

Nico returns to kissing him, just as earnestly, letting his fingers trail delicately down Will’s ribs to his hip. Will can feel his breath coming quicker.

“Oh no,” Nico suddenly mumbles against his mouth.

“Mmm?”

“The um… the fancy lube. It’s way over there,” he says with obvious regret.

Will giggles. “I’ll go get it. It’s okay. I’m warmer.”

Nico gives him an appreciative once-over as Will walks back to the bed, and Will sticks out his tongue.

“Hi,” Will whispers, once he’s back under the blankets.

“Hi,” Nico says, breathless.

He leans in, pressing his lips to Will’s cheeks, his nose, his eyelids, letting his hand wander again, and gods, Will wants this so much. As much as he knows they should take it slowly, he’s already feeling so very impatient.

“Here,” Nico murmurs, grabbing Will’s thigh and pulling it up over his hip.

Will swallows as Nico’s fingers drift lower, lingering on his erection, then his balls, careful fingers stroking, cupping, and Will feels he could fall to pieces so very easily. The anticipation that’s been building for weeks is honestly not helping. He drops his head to Nico’s shoulder with a small, desperate sound, then remembers he really should be reciprocating, and reaches to stroke Nico, who exhales hard.

“Okay?” Nico whispers after a long moment in which pleasure builds and builds until Will’s head is spinning.

“Mm,” Will manages, higher-pitched than he intended.

“Hold on,” Nico murmurs, moving his hand away to reach for the lube. It’s an almost-welcome reprieve. Will drops his head to the pillow and closes his eyes, trying to steady his breathing.

He hears the pop of the cap on the lube, and blinks his eyes open to see Nico, looking very serious, carefully squeezing a bit onto his fingers. Will’s stomach twists in an extremely pleasant way.

Nico slides his arm between them and Will presses his lips together, waiting. Breathing. Or trying to. Nico fumbles a bit, but manages to get the lube where he’s intending, mostly, and Will presses his face against his boyfriend’s shoulder as Nico begins careful, purposeful stroking.

“Tell me if it’s too much,” Nico whispers.

And it’s already too much, but not in the way Nico means, so Will nods. He realizes his own hand has stilled and begins stroking his boyfriend again, though gods it’s awfully difficult to focus on… well. Anything.

“Could you um… stop?” Nico whispers unsteadily after a moment.

Will blinks, leaning back. Nico’s gaze is intense and a little wild, looking as though he’s having just as much difficulty maintaining this slow pace as Will is, no matter what his actions might indicate.

“Stop touching you?”

“Sorry,” Nico whispers. “Just - it’s hard to concentrate. And I want to - I want to make sure I get this right.”

“‘Kay.”

And honestly it’s nice, to have the luxury of simply sinking into sensations; Nico’s finger massaging, curling, sliding, then more pressure, gods, two fingers, their bodies tangled together under the blankets, Nico’s breath soft against his face. Will fights to stay still as waves of pleasure break, higher and higher. He blinks his eyes open after a few heady minutes and Nico is right there, inches away, watching him intently.

Will awkwardly lifts a hand to Nico’s eyes. “No, don’t watch the stupid faces I’m making,” he laughs, breathless.

“Not stupid,” Nico murmurs. “You’re so beautiful.”

Will drops his hand and then Nico is kissing him again, deep and hot and breathless, and Nico’s fingers are stroking and curling until Will doesn’t think he can take any more.

“Nico - I’m - I’m ready. If you’re ready,” he gasps.

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

“How - how do you want me to -”

And Will grabs Nico around the waist, maybe a little more roughly than he meant to, doing his best to roll his boyfriend on top of him.

“Oh. Okay,” Nico whispers unsteadily. And then there’s more kissing and they’re pressing against each other and gods it’s so much, it’s so much. Will hooks a leg around Nico’s, trying to tug him closer and Nico makes a small, beautiful sound before fumbling around for the lube, finally having to shakily sit up.

“Fuck, I think it fell off the bed,” he murmurs, disappearing.

Will lies there waiting, breath coming fast. He’s so very ready, painfully hard and so fucking turned on by this last half hour of gentle persuasion. And then Nico’s back, and there’s a moment of shuffling and adjustment as they try to figure out the logistics.

“Okay?” Nico asks.

“Yeah,” Will breathes. “Yes.”

There’s pressure at his rim for a long moment, and Will takes a breath in, anticipating, but then the pressure’s gone again.

“Um. I’m not sure how to do this,” Nico whispers.

Will swallows. “It’s okay. Um. Maybe more lube?”

“Maybe…” Nico says doubtfully. “I kind of… I’ve kind of used a lot already.”

“Oh.”

“But yeah, maybe…” Nico reaches for the lube again, applying it liberally to both of them. The bottle rolls against Will’s hip when Nico sets it back down and he gasps at the sensation of cool plastic against his bare skin, already so on edge.

“Can I try again?” Nico whispers.

“Yes please.”

“Maybe um… try to relax?” Nico suggests. And okay, that actually is a good point. Will takes a deep breath in, trying to go completely limp as he exhales.

Nico’s there, pressing against him again in the next moment. There’s pressure, then more pressure, and god, then Nico slides in and they both gasp.

“Fuck,” Nico whispers, sounding strained. “Are you okay?”

Will breathes. “Yeah, just - it’s kind of a lot. Just… wait?”

“Okay, yeah. Yes.” And Nico very carefully lowers himself so they’re pressed together, Nico’s head against Will’s shoulder, both breathing hard. Will wraps his arms around his boyfriend’s waist and buries his face in Nico’s hair, thankful for the pause and the comfort. It’s good it’s just…

“It feels a lot bigger than your fingers,” Will breathes.

Nico lets out a soft snort and then his body shakes with laughter. Will can tell he’s trying very hard to hold still. “Thanks for noticing.”

Will giggles.

“Are you okay?” he whispers to Nico after a moment.

“Yeah. It’s just - it’s pretty intense.” Nico’s voice is tight.

“Yeah,” Will breathes.

Nico shifts to look at Will, his eyes dark and intent. “Do you wanna stop?”

“No. Just - kiss me?”

A fond smile pulls at Nico’s lips. “I can do that,” he whispers.

Carefully, Nico lifts himself enough to press his mouth to Will’s. Will kisses him back gratefully, feeling his body relaxing again under the familiar warmth of Nico’s lips, his tongue. After a long moment Nico pulls back. “Can I touch you?” he whispers, the words sending pleasant tingles throughout all the places they’re pressed together.

“Yeah. Please.”

Nico raises himself cautiously, reaching between them to grasp Will’s erection, stroking him firm and unhurried. Heat builds again quickly, but Will feels as if it’s spreading everywhere now, tingling in his face and rushing to the tips of his fingers and toes. The sensation of Nico stroking him and Nico inside, filling him… it’s pleasure building exponentially upon pleasure and it leaves him breathless.

Will lets his legs fall open further, reflexively grasping Nico’s arms to keep himself tethered. “Yes,” he gasps, sharp.

“Is that okay?” Nico breathes.

“Good, it’s really good,” Will says in a rush. “You can - you can move. Maybe not too much.”

And Nico does, carefully pulling his hips back and then pushing forward just the smallest amount and gods, Will is so very grateful for his patience, not to mention his frankly incredible self-control. He lets out a soft whine.

“Okay?” Nico whispers.

“Fuck. It’s good, you feel so good, Nico,” Will chokes out.

Nico lets out a sound very much like a whimper and on top of the dizzy heat in his own body, Will’s suddenly flooded with everything Nico’s feeling as well, the way he’s fighting overwhelming pleasure to hold himself together.

“God,” Will breathes. “More. Please.”

“Fuck,” Nico gasps. And he presses in deeper, though his movements are still measured, still careful despite everything. “Like that?” he asks, his voice unsteady.

“No. Harder. Please,” Will’s voice breaks. “God. Nico, yes. Please.” He doesn’t even care that he’s pleading, doesn’t care how ridiculous he sounds, he’s suddenly so very close to the edge, so fucking desperate, trying to buck up into Nico’s hand and push deeper onto him at the same time, fingernails digging into Nico’s back.

“Fuck, I love you so much,” Nico gasps, fucking into him while keeping up the motion of his hand. It’s so close, so much, and Will can’t do anything besides give himself over to this rush of heat between them.

“So close, don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop,” Will gasps. He comes with a broken sob, body shaking, wrapping his legs around Nico to pull him deeper, his face pressed hard into Nico’s shoulder. Nico’s right behind him, whispering Will’s name, and Will can feel it everywhere, can feel the way Nico can’t possibly hang on a second longer. He finally loses control of his rhythm as he comes, pressing in so deep that Will swears he sees stars.

Nico collapses on top of him and they hold each other for a long moment, gasping for air, bodies heaving together. After several minutes Nico shifts to pull the blankets over them and half-rolls off of Will, pressing his face into the hollow of Will’s collarbone with a soft, exhausted sound. Will buries his face in Nico’s hair.

“Love you,” Will breathes.

“Love you too,” Nico whispers immediately, squeezing him.

Will feels pleasantly weightless. Light and blissful and a little relieved. Overwhelmed with love for the boy next to him. He presses a kiss to Nico’s head.

“I think that went well?” Nico says hesitantly, once they’ve recovered their breathing enough for conversation.

“That’s an understatement,” Will says weakly.

Nico huffs out a laugh. “I was so fucking nervous,” he says after a moment.

“You were perfect,” Will murmurs. “I could tell how close you were the whole time. I don’t know how you lasted as long as you did.”

Nico huffs out a laugh. “Um. Remember when I was in that brass jar?” he asks, in a tone no different than he might say, “remember that burger place we went to?”

“Yeah?”

Nico rolls onto his side to look at Will. “That death trance. I had to kind of… do the same thing.”

Will blinks. “Like, just now?”

“Yeah.”

“You went into a death trance while we were having sex?” Will says disbelievingly.

Nico lets out a giggle. “Um. Sort of? It wasn’t a real death trance. I didn’t have any pomegranate seeds. Obviously. It wasn’t like… a bad death trance,” he shrugs lightly, and once Will starts laughing he doesn’t think he can stop.

It’s everything; the relief at having gotten to this point, the intensity of the moment and the deep love he has for this boy. And Nico, not thinking there’s anything particularly weird about employing his death trance skills whilst making love to his boyfriend. Will rolls forward, pressing his face into Nico’s chest and gasping with laughter.

“Hey, I was just trying not to come too fast! It was really hard, okay?” Nico protests.

And Will just laughs harder. “I can’t -” he gasps, “I can’t decide how offended I should be.”

And Nico starts laughing too, his body shaking against Will’s.

“You definitely shouldn’t be offended,” he giggles. “I think you should take it as a compliment.”

Their laughter slows to the occasional giggle or snort after a while, and they pull back, smiling at each other in the dark of Nico’s cabin.

“I’m really glad we did that together,” Will whispers, reaching for Nico’s hand.

Nico nods. “Me too.”

Will blinks, trying to piece together what else he wants to tell this beautiful human, because none of the words feel like enough. His throat is suddenly tight.

“You make me feel so safe,” he says finally, the words whispered into the small space between them because he doesn’t trust his voice.

Something like shock passes over Nico’s face, and then his mouth twists and he swallows hard. He shuffles forward, tucking himself into Will’s arms and clinging tight.

“Sorry,” Will murmurs. “Was that the wrong thing to say?”

Nico shakes his head, but he doesn’t speak, and he doesn’t let go. He sniffles against Will’s shoulder.

“I take it back,” Will says lightly after a long moment. “You’re terrifying. And I am terrified of you.” And Nico chokes out a giggle.

“Sorry,” he whispers after a long moment, pulling back to wipe at his eyes.

“For what?”

“I don’t know. I love you so much. Sometimes it hits me harder than other times.” Nico shrugs, his eyes on the ceiling.

“Yeah. I can relate,” Will whispers, his voice rough. He rolls forward to press a soft kiss to Nico’s cheek. Nico turns his head to kiss Will, and then they linger there, foreheads pressed together, breathing.

“So,” Will whispers after a long moment. “KitKats?”

Nico lets out a soft, surprised laugh. “You're such a dork.”

“Yeah.” Will grins.

“Shower, and then KitKats?” Nico counters.

“Okay,” Will agrees.

Will moves to get up, but Nico stops him. “No, you stay here under the blankets,” he says sweetly. “I’ll yell when the water’s hot enough.”

Will feels his heart swell as Nico makes his way across the dark cabin, pausing to pick up Will’s discarded hoodie and pull it over his shoulders. Will’s ninety percent sure he’s not getting that hoodie back, but at the moment he couldn’t care less.

___

Notes

I told myself I wouldn't write a fic such as this. But then I did. I know it’s about sex, but it’s mostly about these two characters whom I adore, and hopefully it doesn’t come across as completely gratuitous. Mostly I just love writing how much they love each other.

Yes, the infirmary gives out condoms and lube, I decided. :) They also have oral contraceptives, Plan B, etc. I mean honestly, it's a camp full of poorly-supervised teenagers.

The more I wrote, the more I decided I liked writing a first time fic wherein the boys are already super comfortable with each other and have plenty of experience with other things.

Fun fact related to Nico's internet search - when I first started looking for PJO fic maybe six months ago, one of the first things I came across was a two-dicks-in-one-butt fic (incidentally very well-written). I am quite a bit older than Nico but tbh that was eye-opening for me as well lol

Thanks for reading! I sure love writing these two. <3 I'm open to prompts - although I can't make any promises.

[haven-of-dusk]

for the ask game: headcanons for nico di angelo? (if you haven’t read the books, then ricky bowen 🤠)

Sorry this took me so long... I have indeed read the books, so I'll tackle both! Nico Di Angelo:

Sexuality - Gay

A ship - I actually do like Solangelo a fair bit, they're not my faves per se, but I don't have glaring issues with them (especially compared with say, Caleo).

However for the sake of fun, I also love Jasico (I hope I have that name right). Minor aside that I'm about 90% sure Jason is (he's fine, TBM didn't happen I promise) a closeted gay man based on a number of hints dropped in TBM, plus vibes plus he just screams internalized heteronormativity. So I really wish we could've explored more of Nico and Jason's dynamic. Plus they'd be incredibly adorable about one-upping each other's displays of "touch him and die" imo.

A BROTP - Percico, I totally get why shipping them romantically is a thing, but I also adore the dynamic idea that Nico completely got over Percy and Percy's a little salty about it, plus the level of trust they eventually displayed regardless of the definition of their relationship is very special to me. (End of MoA always gets me right in the feels).

A NOTP - I don't have any specific ones...so I guess I'll just say any ship that tries to get him involved romantically with a woman.

A random headcanon - Though he mostly put Mythomagic behind him, he has since become a massive D&D nerd, with multiple fully fleshed out characters and a couple campaign ideas that he badgers people to play with him. (Also the main cast of HoO playing D&D is a podcast I wish was real, Critical Role style...)

General Opinion - I love Nico, top 3 Percy Jackson Universe characters (I think, I haven't gone through and put together an exact ranking ever since I love almost all of them), not super happy when the writing leans too far into the 'edgy' side of him, but his dry wit is always a pleasure, and he's also capable of backing up the edge with badassery.

His original artwork will always give me nightmares though.

Richard 'Ricky' Bowen:

Sexuality - Bisexual

Gender - Cis Male, though he did experiment with they/them pronouns to see if they felt better to him. They didn't, but he's glad he tried.

A ship - Caswen. Obviously. I think my canon rewrite of half the show serves as adequate explanation of my love for them.

A BROTP - Redky. The friendship/brotherhood between Big Red and Ricky was something I really enjoyed in the first two seasons, it felt quite accurate to my high school experiences and I also find their interactions in fanfiction very endearing. Plus it provides more fuel to my fire that Caswen are NOT brotherly since we have a perfect brotherly relationship for Ricky right there and it looks nothing like his relationship to EJ imo.

Plus I'm still extra irritated that in addition to the rampant biphobia in how Big Red's storyline was handled, they also tried to shove him out of the picture and replace him with Jet in S4, with a scene in E3 especially feeling like the dialogue was written for BR and then they had Jet read it for...no discernable reason.

A NOTP - ...Rina /s.

In all seriousness the only answer I can readily come up with is Rily, because wtf was that subplot even supposed to be, but I struggle to think of NOTPs for Ricky since my brain is mostly Caswen or bust. I thought of the EJ alternatives purely because Tim is so militant about Rina, but I really don't know what Ricky would do outside of preferably Caswen or Tim's beloved 'canon' Rina. And while I do think Rini work better as friends, I also wouldn't call them a NOTP since I feel kind of bad for some Rini shippers (not the creepy ones, the normies for lack of a better term).

Idk, I guess I'll just say Rily and move on.

A random headcanon - Ricky loves the Spice Girls. Where did this HC come from you ask? I have no idea. But I feel like it fits.

The urge to write a mini-fic of Ricky and EJ dancing at their wedding to 'Spice up Your Life' is rising. (Totally not influenced by Doctor Who)

General Opinion - I love Ricky. Not quite as much as Elton, but that's a pretty high bar to clear since Elton rose to my top ten of all time list pretty easily. I have mixed feelings about S3 and S4 Ricky since I felt like they made him overly obsessed with Gina and lost a lot of the charm of his earlier plotlines centering on familial trauma and figuring out his own desires in life, but he's still high ranking for HSMTMTS characters, and I obviously love Caswen to death, so it's hard for me to say I don't also adore Ricky as a special little guy.

That spiraled into a bit of a ramble. Point is that I do really like Ricky, I just wish the writing for him later in the show was less...self-parodic...if that makes any sense.

[shroomwar]

SPOILER WARNING FOR TSATS

My personal opinion of TSATS that no one asked for-

I personally loved Nico and Will’s relationship throughout the story, it felt realistic considering their situation and their miscommunication seemed accurate as no relationship is going to be constantly perfect, though I do wish their conversations were a bit longer

I love Will but I feel like this book left a lot of things unanswered about him, like they wanted to follow up on a promise of development for him but weren’t exactly sure how to follow through, especially with a book so focused on Nico. If this story had lasted even 2 books instead of 1, there would have been more development possible

The first half of the book, I loved. The trogs, Menoetes, Gorgyra, all of it felt the closest to books with Nico and Will I’d read in the past. Once they got to Tartarus was around when I started noticing this weird feeling, like something wasn’t right. It wasn’t super in your face or anything, but there was more that caught me off guard

I say this in the most love filled way possible, but parts of the book felt like a tumblr post

I honestly don’t really get the whole ‘Nico’s out of character’ thing I see people saying. His change feels natural, a part of his healing as he learns to accept joy into his life and focus on being a teenager. If anything, the dumb references seemed exactly like him, just a side we haven’t gotten to see in a while

If anything, Will seemed the most out of character, which makes sense. He’s someone whose POV we haven’t seen before, stuck in a place which is bringing out parts of him that don’t usually show on a surface level. The Will that so many people had in their head before this book was seen through other eyes, and now people are acting disappointed that he’s not who they thought he was when we weren’t given enough information to form a fair original impression of him

The one thing that kind of grated on me in this book was, unfortunately, the gay stuff. Nico and Will’s relationship felt so natural in the past, it felt almost more supportive to have it treated so plainly, a simple fact that Nico and Will were dating, and that was that. And don’t get me wrong, I was all for more representation, and things like Piper’s partner being mentioned or just simply Nico and Will being together was incredible. But now it just seemed to be all over the place, and again, often when it was mentioned it felt like a tumblr post

Wtf was up with Hazel and Reyna?? You know?? His two living sister figures?? I appreciate that we finally got some closure on Bianca, but to see Nico barely mention the other two kind of bugged me

The trogs should get a mini book. I said what I said

Idk bout y’all but Bob calling solangelo his sun and his star was some of the cutest shit-

Wtf was Nico’s coming out though like it still felt like it wasn’t fully his decision, after Cupid it seemed a little weird not letting his coming out be a private moment with the people he trusted most

Kinda confused how Nico survived his first fall to Tartarus when he didn’t have shit to protect himself? And yet with Will they had to make a half pipe to survive. How did Nico not just become a pancake on impact?? <- genuine question, anyone got ideas??

I think part of what made this book just slightly off for me was the lack of other characters. Even when it was just Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus, there were more familiar monsters, new friends, and there were other characters chapters in between theirs. I think that was why the Underworld part of the book resonated with me more than the Tartarus part, there were more characters to help the book move more smoothly

Also, they were fighting against Nyx, who is literally night. I know maybe my expectations were too high, but I was kind of hoping for more of a clash between night and the child of the sun

Overall, I liked this book a lot and it helped me reconnect with a part of myself I hadn’t explored in a while, but there’s a lingering ache of disappointment that I didn’t love it. Whether it needed more books to come to its full potential, or I raised my expectations too high, I don’t know. I’m still happy to own the book, to have read the book, and maybe the remaining melancholy is just a feeling of having to let go of characters, but I’d say this book did at least give some closure to all the sadness Nico has been through. The book did market itself as a ‘Nico Di Angelo Adventure’ so it makes sense he got the most insight