Solangelo One-Shots

Baby Steps

What in Hades had that been about?

He felt a flush rise to his cheeks and a furtive smile made its' way onto his lips no matter how hard he tried to repress it. Nico pressed a hand against his warm cheeks, trying to slow down his racing heartbeat but it didn't quite work out.

Will didn't visit him for the rest of the day, but Nico didn't mind; he had his memories to accompany him. He wanted to shout his thoughts out loud. He called me adorable! Me! Adorable! If anyone else had called him that, he would have stared blankly at them and then scoff at their words.

Lou Ellen from the Hecate cabin visited him a little later after the encounter with giggles and a bouquet of wilted daisies. He didn't need to hear her say it to know that she thought he was adorable, but then again he didn't have the heart to ruin whatever epic romance she had in her head featuring the two of them with the news that he was pretty damn sure he was gay.

As ignorant as she was to his sexual orientation, she sure wasn't dim enough not to notice his pleased expression. "What's made you so happy, Nico?" she asked, accomplishing to slip his name in and then giggling at her success.

"Nothing," Nico said, trying to don the armour of an uninterested brooding demigod that he was so used to wearing. But Will's words had so much of an effect on him that he was too frazzled to even manage appearing slightly apathetic.

"Oh come on, Nico, you don't fool me." She gazed adoring down at him, and he wondered how many more times she could succeed in saying his name in every sentence. However, Nico couldn't find it in him to be put off by her today; his mind was too occupied with thoughts of Will, and his slender wonderful fingers, and his plump lips –

Blood rose to Nico's cheeks at the thought. Lou Ellen jumped up at this and shouted "A-ha!" so loudly that it caused the other medics to hiss at her to be quieter. Lou Ellen rolled her eyes. "This isn't a library, ma'am," she muttered under her breath before turning her attention back to the boy lying in the bed. Nico on the other hand only had eyes for Will, whom had appeared just in his line of sight again and was treating another patient with earnest. He drank in his features hungrily, as if he were a dehydrated man who had just found his oasis.

A frown came upon Lou Ellen's features immediately when she realized what was going on. "Aw, come on," she pouted. Nico's attention flickered back to her before landing on Will again. He realized that she had seen what he was up to, and he immediately looked away, eyes earnest on Lou Ellen.

"What?" he asked, trying to look innocent.

"You could have told me you had hots for Will," she grouched, but didn't seem too disappointed by it at all. "I thought you were pansexual."

"What?" he asked again, this time actually confused. Over the time that Nico had lost at the ageless hotel, the world, along with somewhat begrudging acceptance from some countries, had created new words and meanings for different identities beyond the norm that left Nico confused. It would take some time before he could use the word pansexual without thinking about the actual god Pan whom he heard sad stories about from the dryads and satyrs.

"Drew Tanaka said you were pansexual," Lou Ellen admitted sheepishly. "I know you can't trust everything that comes out of her mouth, but I was hoping. So, you're gay?" Her words didn't sound like a vicious attack so he decided it wouldn't hurt to confirm her suspicions.

"I...yes, I'm gay," Nico ventured quietly, hoping that they weren't drawing the attention of unwanted listeners. It was bad enough going through this once with Jason. He didn't feel the urge to go through it again. At least they weren't being assaulted by Cupid this time, just a wayward daughter of Hecate. He decided it wouldn't hurt to ask her a question. There was no point in hiding. "Is Will...?" His cheeks flushed at the thought, suddenly imaging the son of Apollo's brilliant grin.