The Beginning Of Solangelo

A loud gasping noise awoke me from my dream in which I was silently standing in a white padded room. I heard a groan next to me and something shifting.
“Nico, I knew you said Percy wasn’t your type, but he’s gonna flip out when he finds out Will Solace is.” My eyes fluttered open and the speaker came into view. Jason.I wrapped my arms tighter around Nico’s waist. Yes. THE Nico di Angelo. I freakin’ fell asleep next to the Ghost King. The memories came rushing back to me as I remembered the hours earlier, when I had confessed my past to Nico. Now, a total of three people know.
Nico groaned again and began to peel himself out of my grip. “It…It’s not what it looks like, Jason!” Nico stammered. Jason let out a laugh.
“Piper’s gonna freak when I tell her about you two.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nico asked. Jason just smiled and shrugged.
“What, no snarky comment today, Will?” Jason asked. During the two days in the infirmary when Nico was sleeping, Jason, Piper, Annabeth, and Percy had come in frequently to check on Nico and always ending up staying for a little while. I guess you could call us “friends”. I mean, they invited me over to their table at mealtimes, since Chiron changed the rule because nobody was following it anyway. I guess Jason and the others had gotten used to my constant happy mood and jokes.
“Not in the mood,” I said as I pretended not to notice Nico frantically swiping his hand across his neck.
“Oh.I…okay,” Jason replied, flustered. “I brought you what you needed. Chiron told me to get it.”
“Thanks, Jason. Bye, now,” Nico said, hopping off the bed and pushing Jason out the door, shutting it behind him. He handed me the pills and I popped the lid off. I went to the sink in the hallway, grabbed a glass of water, and took a pill. In minutes I was feeling much better. I could feel my emotions coming back to me. I ran back into the room where Nico was and enveloped him in a huge hug.
“Thank you,” I whispered into his ear. I ran my fingers through his hair, something I had wanted to do since the end of the Second Titan War.
“I…uhhh…don’t mention it, Solace,” Nico squeaked, trying to pull himself out of my grip.I wouldn’t let him leave. I eventually let go of him.He takes a few steps back and I see that his face is red.I patted Nico’s cheek and he flinched away at the touch, though not as much as he used to. Over the past couple of days or so, I could see that Nico was becoming friendlier and was coming out of the shadows more, so to speak. He was still very much introverted, but he was coming out of his shell.
“Bed.Now,” I said, noticing the bandages still on his arms.
“W-what?” Nico stammered.
“I need to change your bandages.”Nico obliged, albeit frowning, and sat on the bed. I took off Nico’s bandages and saw that there were only scars left, not any raw, red skin. “If you want, I can get rid of the scars.”
“No. That’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay,” I said, somewhat disappointed. “I guess you don’t have to come into the infirmary anymore. I’ll see you around, Darlin’.” Nico gave me a small wave and left the room.
Throughout the next two hours, I healed roughly ten campers with injuries from burns to broken bones. The door then opened and someone walked in. Not looking up from my clipboard, I told the unidentified person to take a seat on the bed. I heard footsteps and the slight groan of metal as the person sat on the bed.
“You didn’t think you were going to get rid of me that easily did you, Solace?” the person on the bed asked. I knew that voice anywhere. I would be able to pick that voice out of a crowd of several million.
“Nico,” I breathed, a huge smile growing on my face.I turned to him. Nico was sitting cross-legged on the bed with a soda out in front of him. “Aww, Nico.You didn’t have to bring me a soda.I was just messing with you.”
“Oh. So, you don’t want it?”
“No, I want it. I was just saying that you didn’t have to bring me a soda. It is much appreciated, Mr. di Angelo,” I said, taking the soda from him and cracking it open.
“Dinner’s in like ten minutes, Mr. Solace,” Nico replied, blushing. He dropped his voice to a whisper. “How are you feeling?”
“Great. The pills take care of my…er…problem.”
“Does everyone know but me?” Nico asked, shyly.
“No, just you, Chiron, and Apollo. My own mother doesn’t even know what’s going on.”
“Oh,” Nico said, blushing even harder. I swear this blush-y boy is going to be the death of me.
“Let’s head to dinner, shall we? Lemme just change out of my scrub shirt first.” I was wearing my usual jeans and flip flops with it. I got up and took off my shirt. Glancing over at Nico, I saw he was looking away and blushing. I smiled broadly. I pulled on an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt. “You can look now, Nico.” He blushed even harder and got up to follow me out of the infirmary.
We went to the Dining Pavilion, walking so close together that our hips bumped into each other with each stride. Since Nico wasn’t flinching away from the physical contact, I could tell that he is becoming more comfortable with me or just people in general. In fact, while blushing of course, Nico was giggling. When we got to the pavilion, Jason waved us over to the table that held him, Percy, Annabeth, and Piper. While we were walking over, a girl from the other side of the pavilion called for everybody’s attention by yelling a question at me. I saw that it was Drew Tanaka, daughter of Aphrodite.
“Will!” She began. “Are you gay? For Nico? Do you actually like him?” I immediately felt my face go red, and assumed Nico’s did the same, judging by the sputtering coming from his mouth. Jason was the first out of his seat. He sprinted over to Drew and pulled a sword out.Annabeth, Percy, and Jason were close behind him.
“So what if he is?” Jason yelled.
“So what if he is?” Drew mocked. “It’s unnatural. He should go find a girl to crush on.” Jason surged forward, pressing his sword to Drew’s chest.
“Unnatural? A true daughter of Aphrodite would love all love, no matter what form it comes in!” Piper said, pulling out her own knife and holding it to Drew’s body. Annabeth and Percy did the same. At that point, I had heard enough. I ran out of the Dining Pavilion and towards the Apollo cabin. The funny thing was; Drew was right. I was gay for Nico and it was unnatural. I heard fast footsteps running behind me as I reached the Apollo cabin.

Notes

Hey guys! As always, thanks for reading! I hope you all have a happy holiday!