Shady Lights- A Solangelo one-shot story

Tree Kisses

This wasn't their first kiss.

Their first kiss was about two weeks after Nico had left the infirmary. They'd been hanging out a lot together. That evening, while some of Will's siblings were leading the sing-along, Nico felt Will's hand find his in the darkness. His heart beat such a loud drum that Nico was sure the whole camp could hear it. He glanced sideways at Will and Will glanced back. They both smiled and pretended to turn and notice the singing and not the way their hands fit together; not the way their fingers curled around each other's; not the way Will's thumb was making circles on his palm, which made Nico more nervous than the idea of facing twin bloodthirsty giants.

That night after the sing-along, Will had sat with Nico on the steps of the Hades cabin until curfew and there he kissed him. Night had fallen and Nico was grateful for the shadows. Will had leant in and cupped his face in his hands and kissed him, just once, softly, on the lips. Just for a second – oh, but what a second that was. It was a glorious, weakening-the-knees, destroying-Nico's-heart-and-mind second. Will had to leave to make sure all his siblings in the Apollo cabin were behaving themselves and Nico had been unable to get much sleep that night, replaying the memory of that precious second in his mind.

Since then, not much else had happened romance-wise. It was turning out to be very hard to be alone in a camp with forty nosy demigods running around, showing up where you least expected them and interrupting their efforts to isolate themselves. Two weeks later and stolen shy kisses were all they had shared. Nico was frustrated. He craved more time alone with Will, more cuddling, longer kisses.

"Find a place high up," Jason suggested.

"Neither of us can fly, you know," Nico replied.

They were at Jason's table like usual. The two of them would always eat together, since they had no other siblings at camp and since the rules had relaxed a little in the aftermath of the war. Jason had fast become his confidant and Nico often turned to him for advice.

Jason rolled his eyes.

"I didn't say fly. I said find a roof, or a tree, or a ledge, I don't know. Climb something. No one looks up."

They had Capture the Flag the next night and they were in a team with Jason and Piper and some campers he didn't know very well. They armed themselves and walked into the woods.

"Right," Jason said. "Here's the plan."

The plan was promising. The only strange thing was the tasks that Jason assigned to them.

"Will take Nico and head towards Bunker 9. Cover that area all the way to the camp's borders."

"Why? That's really out of the way. You need more people here to guard the flag," Will argued.

"We're playing against the queen of strategy. Who knows what Annabeth might have up her sleeve," Jason said, but his eyes wouldn't meet Will's.

"Yeah, and Percy might – you know. Send people to attack from that side. Who knows," Piper said, looking anywhere but the two of them.

"We need lookouts there," Jason insisted.

Will looked at them with narrowed eyes, then turned to Nico and shrugged.

"Let's go then."

It was dead quiet at that part of the woods. Ten minutes in and they were surrounded by trees and darkness and the smell of moss; the only sounds were birdsong, insects chirping and the crunching of leaves under their shoes (or in Will's case, flip-flops).

"Did you get the feeling that something was up?" Nico asked Will.

"Like, why did they send us really out of the way?" Will smiled. "Yeah, I got that feeling." He chuckled and joined hands with Nico.

"I know we have to be alert and there are monsters here and all," Nico said. "But ..." he didn't finish his words, because Will stopped and pulled him close, their noses touching, their breaths mingling.

"... but that's all I can think about," Will continued his sentence.

His mouth met Nico's and this time it was a proper kiss. Deep, satisfying, giving vent to the frustration of all those days of pecks on the lips. Nico's lips parted and their tongues met. Minutes, days, weeks passed locked in an embrace that left them breathless.

"I've been waiting forever for this," Will whispered, his mouth trailing Nico's cheek. Nico buried his face in Will's neck, his mouth pulling and kissing. The smell of Will's skin made him dizzy. They pulled apart a little and gazed at each other's eyes. Nico realized he had gone totally weak in the knees. If it wasn't for the tree behind him propping him up, Nico was sure he'd have fallen on the ground.

"You need a haircut," Will said, brushing Nico's hair from his face, his voice tender.

"You need shoes," Nico replied in the same tone, bringing Will's palm to his mouth and planting a kiss.

Yelling and shouting was heard from somewhere far away. The game was going on somewhere without them.

"Should we see what's happening?" Nico asked.

"I don't think our team expects us to emerge for a while."

Nico surveyed the forest around them.

"Well, then. How about we climb a tree and be - what did they call it? - lookouts?"

They settled on an old oak where two sturdy branches joined the trunk and squeezed next to each other. Nico's lips sought Will's mouth immediately and they fell into another long kiss. Will bit Nico's lower lip gently, tugging it, running his tongue inside his mouth. It was heavenly. Nico had his arms around Will's torso and slid one hand under the hem of his T-shirt. A sigh escaped Will's mouth and he pulled him even closer. His body pressed on Nico, warm and firm and delightful, his hands on Nico's back, then his hair.

"I could kiss you forever," Will breathed in his ear. His thumb traced the outline of Nico's mouth making him close his eyes and sigh.

"I hope you do, Will Solace. I hope you do."