Nico woke up shivering. Normally, he woke up wrapped underneath blankets with his portable sunshine, aka his boyfriend Will, cuddling him. But this morning, it was cold. That scared him a little. He looked over to his nightstand, where there was a note. It said, in Will’s beautiful handwriting:
Good morning sunshine!
I’m helping Kayla in the infirmary.
Come find me when you’re up.
Lots of love,
You significant annoyance ~
Nico giggled. Will still hadn’t dropped the whole “significant annoyance” thing, and now it was a joke between them. He pulled on some black jeans, a skull T-shirt, and Will’s yellow sunshine sweater and set out to the infirmary. When he arrived, Kayla was there treating a couple campers that Nico didn’t know.
“Hey Kayla, where’s Will?” Nico asked.
“Hello to you as well, Ghost King,” Kayla said. Nico rolled his eyes at the nickname. “I haven’t seen Will since earlier this morning, he helped stock the closet.”
“Where’d he go after that?” Nico asked her.
“The Big House, said he wanted to talk to Chiron about making capture the flag less violent,” Kayla answered, not meeting Nico’s eyes. Weird. That made him uneasy, but he pushed away his worst thoughts and thanked Kayla. He started toward the Big House. Chiron, Mr D, Grover, and Percy’s brother Tyson were sitting on the porch around the pinochle table. Chiron was teaching the Cyclops as he, Grover, and Mr D played.
“Ah, Mr di Angelo! Good afternoon! Would you like to play?” Chiron asked.
“Uh, no thanks. My mom actually taught how to play this when I was younger, but anyways I was looking for Will. Kayla said he came here?”
“Ah, yes. Haven’t seen him since this morning, though. He went galavanting off with Jason (he’s alive to me, ok? Nico needs his mega-ally bsf) to the Poseidon cabin,” Chiron responded. Tyson giggled, even though no one had made a joke. Nico frowned at himself, then turned around to go to the Poseidon cabin.
“Nope, he’s not here. Him and Jason went to see if Leo was in bunker 9 I think, if you want to look there,” Percy said when Nico asked about Will. Nico heaved a huge sigh. Annabeth put her book down and got up from Percy’s twin bed. She stood in the doorway with Percy. She put her arm out like she was going to place her hand on Nico’s shoulder, but then hesitated. She must’ve remembered he didn’t often like physical contact, except when Will displayed it. Then she made the decision to ignore that, and put her hand on his shoulder. He was a little uncomfortable, but also he appreciated it because he had been missing Will’s hugs from behind and his kisses.
“You’ll find him soon enough, no need to worry,” Annabeth said with a smile. But the smile wasn’t a smile of reassurance but one of pure joy, and she looked giddy and excited. He realized Percy was also having trouble keeping a straight face. Nico was confused and annoyed. He stomped off toward bunker 9. He didn’t bother knock.
“Will? Are you in here?” he called.
“He’s at the creek in the woods!” Leo called immediately. Nico shouted out of frustration and made his way to the creek. Sitting on the bank was a beautiful blonde boy with tan skin and freckles. He was relaxed and had a silly smile plastered on his face. Nico sighed out of relief. When he finally got to face to face with his boyfriend (well as close as they could get, there’s about a six inch height difference), he started to shout a bit.
“I’ve been looking for you everywhere! Why didn’t you tell me where you— mm!” Nico was stopped abruptly by Will’s lips colliding with his. His eyes widened and he fell back out of shock, but Will caught his waist and pulled him in tighter. He tangled his fingers in Nico’s dark hair. Nico relaxed into the kiss. They stayed like that for a while. Finally, Nico broke apart.
“Okay fine. But don’t think I’m just gonna forget that this happened. You’re still my significant annoyance, Solace!” Will laughed.
“Well, I was hoping I could be more than that,” he said as he bent down on his right knee. He pulled a small black box out of his jacket pocket. Nico gasped. He was…no way.
“Nico di Angelo, will you marry me?” Will asked, smiling. Nico shrieked. He laughed. He didn’t know what to say. His voice failed him, but he was jumping up and down in excitement. He pulled Will up by the collar and kissed him. Will held his waist and dipped him backward.
“So I take it that’s a yes?”
“YES, WILL! Of course it is!” Nico squealed and laughed out of pure joy. Will opened the box, and inside was an elegant silver band with small carvings of suns around the outside.
“Look, on the inside,” Will said as he showed him the inner circle of the ring. Nico saw that there was tiny writing inside. It read: Nico, you are my sunshine. – Will
Nico smiled as he pushed the ring onto his finger. He pulled Will back in for another kiss. They both melted into it. Nico pushed his hands into Will’s bright blonde hair and Will cradled his neck and hips. Nico giggled as Will planted kisses down his neck.
“I love you, Will Solace.”
“I love you, Nico Solace.”
“Hey, who said I’m taking your name?” Nico laughed.
“The man giving you kisses, that’s who, and if you want more you’ll be Nico Solace.” Will was joking obviously, but Nico giggled and smiled.
“Alright. Nico Solace it is.”
955 words
Comment