Nico opened his eyes to fire. But for variety’s sake, the fire wasn’t trying to burn him alive this time. It crackled peacefully along, a calm yellow with pink and orange undertones. It wasn’t much higher than the coals themselves, and that might have been because he was alone. He was sitting on an earthen step, and his eyes quickly inferred that he was in the Amphitheater.

An arm grabbed him, snapping him out of the trance. It softened, wrapping itself lovingly around Nico’s thin shoulders. He looked to his left to see who had embraced him, and found himself looking into Will Solace’s eyes. His blue eyes caught the firelight perfectly, and his blonde hair seemed to glow from within.

A sharp wind blew over Nico’s head, and he realized how cold it was outside, even with the fire to warm them. Will pulled Nico closer, and he snuggled up to his much bigger boyfriend.

“It’s almost Christmas, Nico,” Will marveled, staring into the firelight. “Our first Christmas.”

“Christmas is still a couple of weeks away,” Nico reminded him sleepily, “and besides, we’re Greek demigods. Isn’t it weird for us to be celebrating a Christian holiday?”

“I have never been told it isn’t okay,” said Will with an odd amount of stubbornness, “so we’re celebrating it.”

Nico smiled at Will’s stubbornness, even though they both were very much looking forward to spending some time with each other, free of obligation. Will saw him smiling at gently nudged Nico to sit up, allowing him to bring out his guitar.

“Nico, do you sing?” He asked quickly while finding a pick and tuning the strings, “I know we’ve been together for a while, but I don’t feel like I’ve asked you that one yet.”
Nico thought about his answer for a while, watching as Will found the correct pitches and hummed a faintly familiar tune.

“I haven’t sung in a very long while,” the son of Hades admitted, “and I sang mostly in Italian. When my mother was still alive, Bianca and I…we used to sing this one song…”

Nico’s eyes started to cloud with tears, and he blinked hard as the memories tugged at his soul. Bianca, Nico and their mother, Maria, used to sing the only Christmas song they all knew.

“What was it called?” Will asked gently, lightly placing his hand on Nico’s cheek. Nico took Will’s hand and placed it by his side.

“Ave Maria. When Hades would visit, he used to joke that the song must have been written about my mother, not the Virgin Mary. She always got flustered.”

“Which version?” Will asked, “Schubert or Bach?”

“Schubert,” Nico murmured, almost indistinctly, almost as if he didn’t even expect Will to know either one.

But then, Will started playing that old familiar tune, sad and sweet and hopeful and somber, all at the same time. It pulled images into Nico’s mind that he hadn’t seen in what seemed like forever. But suddenly, he found himself singing.

He was pitchy, much lower in range because of his age, and couldn’t quite remember the lyrics, but it felt transformative. Will dutifully played the chords at the right moments, and Nico only realized by the second verse that tears were rolling down his face. He had just realized why Will wanted to play him Christmas songs at that very moment, alone at Camp.

Nico stopped singing. “Will, are you leaving?” He held his breath for the answer.

“Leaving you?” He asked, “Never. But I might have a slight complication coming up soon. I have to take care of some business with my dad, and it might take a while.”

“How long?” Nico sighed, his throat already closing up with panic.

“Two weeks,” Will said, scratching the back of his head and pursing his lips together, embarrassed.

“So we won’t be celebrating Christmas together,” Nico summed up.

“That’s kinda why I brought you out here. I wanted to sort of…celebrate it now, I guess? I don’t know, Nico, it’s just that everything’s so sudden and I couldn’t avoid it and I really wanted to give you a Christmas together and—”

Nico looked forgivingly into Will’s eyes, and leaned in to kiss him. It was a sad good-bye kiss, even though Will wasn’t leaving until tomorrow.

---

Nico woke from the dream, staring at the empty sheets beside him. Will had been gone for thirteen days, and everyone of them had been Hell. He felt like he was constantly forgetting something, like he didn’t have his keys or wallet. Nico realized that that might be why they call it “missing” someone. Nico was missing Will, like he had misplaced his boyfriend.

But no. Will was somewhere in California, attending to Apollo’s needs across the country. Nico groaned as he got out of his bed and stood, stretching his legs, looking around the cabin. It was so quiet. Nico realized with a shock that this was how quiet the cabin must have been before Will.

That got Nico crying.

Jeez! He thought, He’s gone for two weeks, and I’m bawling like a drama-queen!

But today was special. Today was Christmas Eve. Nico wiped his face and took a shower, slowly warming up to the day. He got dressed in a Camp shirt, black jeans and his aviator, when he realized that a package had arrived during the night.

It was a normal Hermes-Postal brown box, but there was a card on it. In Will’s handwriting, the card said,

Nico,

I’m so, so sorry I can’t make it in time for Christmas. I knew that we were supposed to spend some time together, but my dad is going to probably keep me for another week. I miss you so much that Apollo is starting to wonder whether I’m going a little crazy about you. I guess that’s a good thing. Anyways, I hope you like your first Christmas present from me, and I’ll give you the real one when I get back next week.

Love and Sunshine,

Will

P.S. Secret Surprise: G#, C, D# on the lyre. Sing it on “la-da-da”

P.P.S. Pun intended. You’ll see what I mean.


On an impulse, Nico walked over to Will’s cabinet, and found the lyre Apollo had given him on his sixteenth birthday. He found the right strings, and plucked them one at a time. Then, he sang the notes, slowly and carefully.

“La…Da…Da…”

Suddenly, two tiny speaker popped out of Will’s nightstand, and started playing soft Christmas music. It was sad and hopeful, just like Ave Maria. It was a tune Nico didn’t recognize. But that didn’t matter. Nico was in tears again, his soul incomplete without Will. As Nico opened the package, the speaker softly sang:

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas,
Let you heart be light.
From now on our troubles will be out of sight.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Make the Yuletide gay.

Nico smirked through the tears, “Pun intended.”

He picked up the thing Will had sent him and smiled earnestly, for it was a Christmas sweater, with all sorts of crazy patterns and colors, that depicted Santa and the reindeer flying over Camp Half-Blood.

From now on our troubles will be miles away.

Nico smiled sadly. Will was still ‘miles away.’ That made the song hurt even more. But still, he slipped the sweater on, and breathed in deeply Will’s scent on the sweater, sighing sadly.

---

Will smiled mischievously. He normally wasn’t one for pranks, especially on his boyfriend, but on this occasion, he couldn’t help himself. Apollo was definitely not going to keep him another week, and he was on the plane to La Guardia when his watch beeped, informing him of the fact that Nico had activated the speakers.

Will suddenly felt horribly, realizing that Nico was probably weeping in Cabin 18 as he listened to Frank Sinatra serenade him with awful puns and a C Major key. But he would be home soon.

He would be with Nico soon.

It hurt Will to feel how much he wanted to see his boyfriend. He felt angry at his father for dragging him away so abruptly, but at least he was home for Christmas. That explained his playlist.

Will Solace was currently listening to “Home for the Holidays,” his head lightly bouncing from side to side as he smiled. He opened the window and saw that Manhattan was dutifully decked out in white, like it was trying to clean itself up for the holidays.

The plane landed and Will hailed a taxi as quickly as he could. The ride to Long Island was long and unbearably full of traffic. But Will had expected that. After all, it was Christmas Eve.
He got out of the taxi and almost sprinted up Half-Blood Hill. He let Chiron know he was back and told him to keep quiet about it. Chiron chuckled in a fatherly way, saying,

“The boy has been sniffling all day, humming Frank Sinatra, if I’m correct. I don’t think he would have been able to survive the ‘extra week’ he kept mumbling about.”

Will thanked Chiron and ran (as softly as he could) to Cabin 13. He stopped in his tracks when he heard the sniffling. His heart sank. Nico was crying again, and Will was the only person to blame. But then he smiled, thinking about how awesome Christmas day was going to be with Nico. He stepped onto the porch, and just as he was about to reach for the door, it flung open.

Nico stood in the doorway, his eyes full of hope that he knew was futile, until he saw Will. Then, the hope realized that it wasn’t in vain. Will was actually back. He looked so young as he smiled at Will, and Will couldn’t take it anymore. He opened his arms, and Nico flew into them, burrowing his head into Will’s chest.

“You’re home!” Nico sobbed, muffled in Will’s coat. Then, Nico pulled away and punched Will square in the face.

Will must have underestimated how ‘little’ Nico was, because his upper lip started bleeding. He reflexively brought out ambrosia lip-balm and put it on, sealing the cut.

“You!” Nico growled in anger, “You said you wouldn’t be home for another week! You triggered your alarm clock to play depressing Christmas music so I’d start bawling like a depressed schoolgirl! You tricked me!”

“You just punched me…” Will realized, and Nico’s eyes filled with panic at the recognition of what he had just done. So he flew into Will’s arms again, running his fingers through Will’s hair and, on his tip-toes, kissed him deeply.

Will returned the kiss, caressing Nico’s face with his hands. After a very long while, Will released, and asked,

“What was that for?”

“Oh, sorry,” Nico said, like was trying to act dumb, “I hurt your lips, so I had to kiss them to make it better. Are you better now, or do I need to kiss them again?”

“You dork, I’m a doctor! That joke doesn’t work on me!” Will responded, laughing. Then, after a while of staring into Nico’s brown eyes, Will said,

“But my lips totally still hurt, so…”

Nico giggled and kissed him again. Will picked him up, still kissing him, and brought him inside Cabin 13.

He set Nico down and walked over to his alarm clock. He clicked a few buttons and new, different Christmas music started playing, happy carols filled with love and joy. He walked over and was about to start resuming his activities with Nico’s lips when he realized that Nico was wearing the sweater he had sent him. Nico realized what Will was looking at and smiled,

“I think it looks good on me. Is this the type of sweater everyone usually wears around Christmas time?”

“Some people do,” Will said, “some people don’t. It’s a matter of personal preference, really. I mean, in old American traditions, your grandmother would sew the sweat—”

Nico silenced him with another kiss, and Will gave in, smiling and letting himself melt into Nico’s lips. They stayed like that for at least another minute or so, before Nico released.

“Merry Christmas, Will Solace.”

“Merry Christmas, Nico.”

Notes

SO I KINDA HAD TO POST THIS. I needed to write this after certain events that have happened lately in my life. But we won't talk about that. I LOVE SOLANGELO.

Enjoy,
Grafon