ꜱᴏʟᴀɴɢᴇʟᴏ ᴏɴᴇꜱʜᴏᴛꜱ

Soangelo's First Five Kisses

Nico

Will wasn't at dinner that night... and Nico missed him.

Which was silly, Nico told himself, because they didn't even sit with each other at dinner.

Nico was sat at the Zeus table. It was the first meal he'd eaten with Jason in just over a month.

Chiron had decided that Jason, Nico and Percy were allowed to share tables when more than one of them were at camp, since it seemed silly to have the three of them sit separately and on their own. But after summer ended, Percy was back at his mom's place and Jason and Piper had gone searching for Leo. The two of them had finally given up on their search and returned to camp that morning.

Despite his contentment at having Jason back at camp again Nico ate distractedly, his eyes on the Apollo table, missing Will.

Will himself wasn't at dinner today; Nico knew he had infirmary duty and would be eating there. The two of them had planned for Nico to stop by after dinner so that they could walk to the campfire together.

Jason, to Nico's relief, had not teased him about this.

Since Nico and Will had spent a whole (totally innocent!) afternoon together on the beach a few days ago, lots of campers were speculating whether Nico and Will were a couple now. But neither of them had yet worked up the courage to make a move. Nico kept alternating between insistently telling himself and his friends that it didn't make sense for someone like Will to be interested in him, and focusing on the increasing evidence that this assumption was incorrect. Jason and Annabeth liked to consistently point out said bits of evidence whenever the topic came up and after that (yeah, ok maybe innocent but definitely full of open flirting) afternoon on the beach, Nico had finally come to grudgingly believe his friends were right (not that he would be telling them that).

And so now, here Nico was, trying not to make it obvious that he was rushing his dinner so that he could make it down to the infirmary sooner and see Will again.

Maybe tonight, Nico thought, something might happen.

At the past few campfires, Nico had been getting bolder. When the sun dipped below the horizon and the rest of the camp was occupied singing and toasting marshmallows, Nico didn't feel quite so on display. He'd had the courage to sit with his arm around Will, or with their hands intertwined. Sometimes, on the walk back to their cabins, Will and Nico would have a moment or two alone. Maybe tonight...

Nico forced himself to stop that train of thought.

He was being silly again.

Nico's own self-doubt always stopped him from letting himself get too carried away with thoughts on what might actually happen if he and Will-

"Nico" Jason waved his hand in front of Nico's face, drawing his attention back to the Zeus table.

Nico looked up to realise that Piper was there, waiting impatiently at the head of the table.

"I'm gonna join Piper and head down to the amphitheatre," Jason said. "I'll see you and Will down there?"

"Oh," Nico said, trying not to blush at the knowing smirk Piper was giving him over Jason's shoulder. "Uh, yeah, see you there."

Jason grinned and snapped his massive book of myths shut, tucking it under his arm. He took Piper's hand and they left the dining pavilion together.

Nico noticed that lots of other campers were heading down to the campfire too. That meant he could finally go and meet Will!