Solangelo: The Infirmary

Pranks in the Woods

After about five minutes of nonstop laughing, Nico managed to push everyone off of him. Nico's cheeks and chest hurt from the laughing. His body wasn't used to so much happiness. Nico looked down at himself and felt a wave of rage.
"WHY IN THE HADES AM I COVERED IN BLUE SLUDGE AND RAINBOW CONFETTI!?" Nico yelled. Everyone covered their laughs with their hands.
"Genius, right? We wanted to make the mud rainbow, but Percy," Travis stopped to glare at Percy. "Insisted on making it blue. Did you know he has a special secret shelf in the wall of his cabin, just for blue food colouring?"
"How in the Hestia did you die mud blue? Why?" Will asked.
"A congratulations prank on the camp's newest couple! Duh!" Conner screamed. Katie whacked him on the back of the head. "Ow..."
Nico felt his face blush. If he wasn't covered in blue mud, they definitely would have noticed. He looked at Will beside him, and guessed he was feeling the same way.
"Y-you... Katie! You told them?!" Will shouted at katie. Travis stepped in front of her.
"Of course she did! We're your friends and-" Travis was cut off.
"And we all saw it. You two weren't being very subtle." Clarisse looked at everyone's faces. "What? It's true." Chris stifled a laugh and put his arm over Clarisse's shoulders.
"And for the record, we all ship it." Jason added. Nico slowly met the eyes of everyone who was smiling and nodding agreeing with Jason's statement, then met Piper's eyes. "So you ditched me so you could prank me?" Nico asked. Piper nodded slowly.
"Don't think of it as ditching, think of it as... Encouraging you to go on by yourself?" Nico felt like dieing. They all knew...
"You should see your faces." Percy laughed. Annabeth elbowed him in the side. "What Percy is trying to say is that we only did this to prove that we love you, no matter what. Even if you are covered in blue mud." She gestured to herself and the others, who were also covered in blue mud from the giant group hug.
Conner and Travis whispered to each other and nodded. Conner started walking to Nico's left and Travis went to his right. "So now that that's all been put out in the open..." Conner drifted off. Nico looked back and forth between the twins who were smirking at each other and had surrounded Will and Nico. At the same time, they charged at Nico and Will with their arms outstretched. Before Nico could react, hands pushed him into Will's direction. A body crashed into Nico with equal force. Nico closed his eyes as he felt the pull of gravity and he crashed to the ground. He landed on Will. Nico heard gasps from Annabeth, Hazel, Katie and Piper, while Percy, Jason, Frank, Conner and Travis and Chris laughed, and Clarisse grunted. Nico opened his eyes to meet Will's, who's were full of worry and panic. "Nico I am so sorry. I-I had no idea. Oh my gods." Will whispered. "Nico you must hate me. I'm sorry, so so sor-" Will was cut off from -to everyone's surprise, including Nico- Nico's lips. He had bent down and placed a gentle kiss on Will's lips.
Nico pulled away from a stunned Will, stood up and offered him a hand. Will stood up and tried to pull his hand out of Nico's, but Nico held on, smiling at Will.
"What was that?" Frank asked, smiling.
"Well I had to shut him up somehow. He was rambling on and on."
After a moment of silence, everyone burst out laughing.
"Oh my gods! Nico made a joke! Tell you what Will, keep whatever your doing up, and you won't have a problem from me!" Percy winked.
"Yeah well you will from me. Don't you screw up once, or you will wish you were visiting hades soon." Jason said with full seriousness. Piper placed a hand over his chest. "Calm down, Will has us girls to worry about way more than you." Piper only half teased. Nico looked at Will who was gulping.
"Come on, Chiron will want to know how it went. Let's get back." Hazel pointed out.
"Wait Chiron was in on this too?!" Nico and Will asked at the same time.
"Well duh, we had to get you two love birds separated, which wasn't easy, by the way." Clarisse said as she started walking back with Chris followed by everyone else. Nico pulled Will after Hazel and Frank. They fell into step with them and Nico asked, "How come you haven't left yet? I'm starting to think you can't bare to leave me." Hazel smiled and nodded.
"Your right. We couldn't miss this. I'm so happy for you Nico. But we are leaving tomorrow. Frank does have a very important job position to get back to. But you," Hazel jabbed a finger at Will. "Better treat my brother like the ghost king he is, or you when I'm done with you, you will wish Jason got to you first." A murderous rage flashed in Hazel's eyes before softening again.
*****
They walked through the forest, all the couples holding hands and everyone chatting with one another. Will got a few more threats, but at least Nico wouldn't have to tell everyone himself. Finally they came out of the tree line, and walked towards the infirmary.
"You can let go of my hand now, before anyone sees." Will whispered to Nico. "Let them. I like holding your hand." Nico whispered back, then added, "Almost as much as I like kissing you." Will beamed and pecked Nico on the cheek.
Suddenly a bronze streak crossed the sky over them, and came crashing in the centre of the Ω of cabins. Everyone stopped in front of the infirmary. A column of fire rose up from behind it. Everyone rushed around the building with weapons drawn.
A huge bronze dragon was blowing fire into the sky in triumph. All the other campers had surrounded it with weapons drawn. A small boy with a huge elvish grin jumped down holding hands with a taller girl with long caramel coloured hair. On instant the seven, Nico and will ran forward while everyone stood rigid in shock. The boy threw his arms wide and shouted, "LEO MCSHIZZLE VALDEZ IS BACK! Wait, why are you guys covered in blue sludge and rainbow confetti?"