How Icarus Fell From the Sun (a Solangelo fanfic)

gay?

Nico didn't try to avoid Will, not in the way he had avoided Percy. He knew Will wouldn't let him get away with it. Even if he had tried, Will was actively seeking him out, putting in twice as much work as Nico, and never taking no for an answer.

Nico participated in the camp's activities, he joined Will and his siblings when he was asked, he helped around the infirmary. But it was almost two weeks before he had what felt like a real conversation with Will, one that wasn't burdened by the dark cloud of shame that had been covering Nico ever since he had left his cabin the night he went to D.C.

Although, to be fair, those two weeks contained the one year anniversary of the first war, against Kronos. The entire camp was silent, and in mourning, not just the two of them. Hermes, Aphrodite and Apollo had it the worst, of course, keeping in their cabins until the ceremony they held that night, the burning of a small corner of cloth that resembled the chosen persons burial shroud, thrown delicately into the purple fire.

It was a rough day for everyone, and it hurt Nico directly, something he had rarely felt before, that he was unable to comfort Will, to bring him peace in such a desperate time.

After that day, the prospect of their reconciliation, of things going back to the way they had been before that night seemed bleak.

In reality, Will was acting completely normal. He wasn't shutting Nico out, or actively shunning him, or even ignoring him. If anything he was being kinder than usually, unresponsive to Nico's moods, and willing to hold his own in their conversations, when Nico remembered that night after D.C.

On the outside, Nico was still the same cold, calculating boy who wouldn't spare even a glance at anything he didn't need to. On the inside, he was tormented with choice. Nico di Angelo had never felt so unsure. He had never been faced with such a decision, that instead of coming at it head on, he ignored it, and accidentally made the choice in trying to avoid it.

Often, Nico would sit on the roof of his newly renovated cabin, to think and process what he knew. All in all, there was not much he was sure of, but his feelings for Will were an undeniable thing. If he was being truthful with himself, which he so rarely was, they were inevitable. Between his shiny smile, his willingness to throw himself into a fight, his affinity for banter and debates, Nico's heart was a ticking time bomb. A bomb that seemed to have gone off far too early.

In the span of three weeks, Nico di Angelo had both gained and lost Will Solace.

Will's refusal of distance and Nico's purposefully unkind attitude were two of the many reasons he was wary when approached in his cabin by Kayla, followed so closely by Mia.

He pulled himself into the minuscule shadows, struggling through the direct sunlight reaching his roof, and reappeared much lower, in front of the former.

"Hey." Kayla said, her eyebrows pointed into a skeptical arc.

Nico nodded at her. Kayla frowned, and pushed past Nico, into his cabin. She crossed her arms, and gave him a menacing look.

"Alright, Kayla, whatever you need, I'm sure someone else-"

"Look," she stopped him. "I have no clue what's going on between you and Will, but ever since y'all have been weird, he's been a moping mess. And honestly, I need him to get over it. He's trying so hard to pretend like everything's normal with you that he just collapses when he gets back and I cannot deal with his dramatics anymore. "

"Kayla-"

"Stop."

Nico swallowed. Will had seemed fine, if not a bit overly okay. But if it was enough for Kayla to feel the need to visit him, he must have been pissed.