My Moonbow (Solangelo)

Chapter 12

"So... you like me." Will was smiling as he played with the cord of his teabag. They had hurried to finish tidying up the infirmary and decided to go to the strawberry fields to hang out.

"Yeah." Nico chuckled lightly, looking down as well. "I like you."

Will's smile made him smile. "And I like you." The blonde said, turning to look at him. Their eyes met, and Nico nearly melted.

"You like me." Nico tasted the words, trying them out. Will nodded his head.

They were silent for a moment. Then, Will spoke, "can I ask you something?"

Nico turned to him. "Uh– yes. Of course."

"When you met me..." He fiddled with the bag inside the tea. "Did you think I was... you know..." He seemed to be struggling to get to the point, hesitating. "Gay..."

"Oh." Nico considered it. The truth was, he'd have never thought someone as attractive as Will would like males, much less exclusively like males, as he has just confirmed. Of course, those were only stereotypes he had, but that wasn't the question. "Well, no." He answered honestly. "Not really."

"Why, though?" Will turned his head at him, eager to hear the answer.

"Well..." He didn't know if he should tell him the real reason, so he just replied with half the truth. "I guess... society has a lot of stereotypes about that, and... well, they're kind of hard to– unlearn."

"Hmm..." Will nodded with his head slowly.

"Did you think I was?" Nico asked, trying to get him to talk a bit more.

"No... I mean," Will ran a hand through his hair and chuckled. "I wished you were, but... It wasn't until the battle of Gaia that the rumor spread."

"And were you happy?" Nico asked teasingly, grinning as he elbowed him playfully in the ribs.

"No!" He laughed. "I mean, yeah, but– not like– in a creepy way." His cheeks were turning redder under the sunlight, which made Nico laugh harder.

"You're such a dork, Solace."

"At least I wasn't the one to fall for the dork."

"At least the dork is hot."

"Is he, though?"

"Mhm."

"I think the non-dork is hotter, though."

"Nah, I don't think so..."

"You should rethink it." It was then Nico became aware of how close their faces were to each other. Was Will doing it on purpose? He wondered... No. He turned away from him, his cheeks burning hot. Though Will didn't say anything, Nico felt his eyes on his back.

"I– can I ask you something...?" Nico stuttered, still hiding his face from him.

"Anything." Will's voice was velvet soft.

"Would you..." He hesitated. What if he said no? There was no going back now, he had already started to ask the question, and Will was waiting for him to continue. "Would you like to kiss me?" He hurried the words out, fearing they might choke him if he said them slowly.

"So–sorry?" Will placed his hand on Nico's back. He hadn't heard.

"No–nothing." Nico sighed and glanced at him over his shoulder. "Don't worry."

"Oh." Will seemed disappointed. "Okay."

"It's just– it's a bit... silly." Nico's cheeks didn't seem to cool down.

The blonde shrugged, laying on his elbows. "I don't mind."

Nico took a deep breath. "Can I... Could you–" He then sighed and looked down. "I–I really want to kiss you." He said quietly, and glanced up briefly, waiting for a reaction.

Will broke into a smile. "Really?" His blue eyes were filled with excitement as he sat back up to be at Nico's height.

He nodded and rubbed his neck slightly. "Ye–yeah..." Then hurried to add. "But– I mean, we don't have to do it if you don't want to..."

"Well, I do want to." Will was looking at him intensely.

Nico looked back hesitant. He decided to just be direct, "okay. Just mind I don't know how to do this."

Will chuckled. "That's fine." He held his palm up, and it took Nico a second to realize he wanted him to hold it. He did.

They looked into each other's eyes as an invisible force seemed to pull them both forward, closer to each other. Time slowed down for Nico as he let Will lean close enough for him to feel his soft peppermint breath against his lips. It was Nico who, in the end, closed the distance between the two and locked them into a soft kiss.

It was short, but it was enough for Nico to feel his gut filling with butterflies. He pulled back slowly, leaving Will's lips slightly parted as he opened his eyes slowly to look at him. He smiled and did something Nico wasn't expecting: he leaned forward to give him a peck on the lips one more time.

Nico flushed in place, and Will laughed.

"Sorry..." The blonde grinned. "You just looked so beautiful I couldn't help myself."

Nico smiled a little, cheeks still burning hot. This is a dream. He is a dream.

"Did you like it?" Will asked him, softly nudging his shoulder with his.

Nico nodded his head in his direction. "I did."

He grinned. "Good. You can do it again whenever you want."

Nico nodded again. "Okay..." He bit his lip, trying to hide the fact he was grinning like an idiot.

Any other awkward moment that was bound to happen was interrupted by the horn for lunch, which boomed loudly through the fields.

Will got to his feet, fixing his orange camp shirt before holding his hand out to help Nico up. He took it happily and looked at him as they were at the same height.

"It's lunchtime," Will said matter-of-factly. Nico nodded his head and didn't make a point at how obvious the statement had been.

"Yeah." He mused, letting go of his hand. "Uh– see you later?"

"Sure." Will grinned. "But– let's walk to the mess hall together."

"Alright..." They made their way at a slow pace, not holding hands but their shoulders brushing from time to time.