Sometimes darkness wasn't all that scary to Nico. In fact, he liked the calm stillness that settled over the camp at midnight, long after the other cabin's lights-out. The Big House wasn't emitting its usual soft glow; No light escaped from the forge or library or temples. Only the stars provided any illumination.
Nico wandered out to the front porch of the Hades cabin and pushed himself up onto the little railing. It wasn't super high off the ground, his feet nearly grazed the grass, but he felt closer to the sky. He twisted the sun charm around his wrist. Will left that morning, and although he didn't want to admit it, he missed Will. A lot. He was going to try and tag along in the Iris message Kayla planned on sending to him tomorrow morning, after breakfast but before any classes started. Of course, he didn't know how to casually pop in without raising any suspicions. They seemed like close enough friends, right?
Anyway, he had better things to do. The Hephaestus kids were doing their best to figure out why and how the lava wall 'malfunctioned.' Nothing yet. Nico had been talking with them, mostly with Nyssa because she didn't seem as afraid of him. He'd become convinced of foul play.
"Several bolts are missing, and they just-so-happen to be key ones. Bit suspicious, if you ask me," She said as he leaned against a pillar by the now-under-repair lava wall.
"Well," He began, "How long has it been like this?"
"Would've taken years to wear it down that much. So it was a while ago." That wasn't the best answer, but Nico was able to figure out enough and pick up on a bit of Spanish in the process. All in all, good day. Except for Will leaving that morning. He was right about people wanting to be his friend. Nico had managed to get along with lots of campers, more or less. It was easier than he thought, maybe even a bit too easy. He decided not to look into it too much.
The stars continued to shift overhead as Nico sat with his thoughts. Nothing was simple, almost everything required some form of effort, but thinking about whatever wasn't that hard. That is, until Will popped up in every single thought. Life as a demigod was complicated enough. Why did a stupid crush have to come in and ruin everything? Nico had come to terms with the fact that he liked Will, as if it wasn't obvious as hell, but seriously? He hated it. He hated himself. He hated his thoughts.
He went to bed in frustration and woke up angrily well-rested.
Nico kicked his bed and grumbled a little, partially because he missed Will and partially because of why he missed Will. Apparently, he woke up right on time for grumpily throwing on a shirt and jeans and heading out to breakfast. Of course, he was alone at his table. As if he expected anything else. Breakfast was pancakes, which seemed to happen a lot. Maybe Mr. D liked them? Maybe nobody knew how to make anything else? Maybe he was over-analyzing his meal? Nah.
He looked over at the nearest populated table to him, the Hermes table. Over there, people were laughing and telling stories while stuffing their faces. It was so complete and beautiful. Nico wanted to go over there, at least to have something to listen to, but couldn't. Chiron would call him out, and that would be even if the other kids wanted to sit with him.
No, can't think like that, he told himself, They might wanna talk. You never know.
Nico was startled by a tap on his shoulder.
"Hey," Kayla said. He spun around to look at her.
"Uh, hi." She smiled, which Nico didn't expect but fully appreciated.
"I'm going to IM Will in the Big House. Wanna come with?" He was surprised by how casually she offered, but she almost sounded nervous. There was a slight hesitancy behind her blue eyes.
"Sure!" Nico replied, trying not to sound overly enthusiastic. It didn't really work.
"Well, come on, then." She started walking away and he shot up to walk beside her.
Kayla was a lot faster than Nico expected, even just walking. There was a small bandage on her shoulder where her skin had been burned before. Her shirt was blue today, nearly the same color as her eyes, and she wore black leggings. She spoke up after a few moments.
"You've been helping the Hephaestus kids?"
"Y-yeah. I've had nothing better to do," He said, "Why?"
"I dunno," Kayla muttered, "Will told me he was worried you'd never open up. Clearly that's not the case."
"Will's worried about me?" She turned to face him, but kept walking, narrowly avoiding a tree.
"Of course he is! It's like he takes responsibility for everybody," Kayla sighed. They arrived at the Big House and she threw the big doors open. Nico stopped beside her in the living room area. Chiron was still in the dining pavilion, probably helping a camper or talking with Mr. D, leaving the entire house to themselves. He leaned against a couch as Kayla fished a drachma out of her pocket. Within minutes, a rainbow was shimmering that gave way to Will's face.
"Kayla!" Will smiled a little, "Oh, and you brought Nico?" Kayla rolled her eyes.
"You told me to." Will blushed, but Nico had no idea why. It's not like he had anything to be embarrassed about. He was standing in front of a wall with a few paintings framed up on it. One of a sunset, one of a night sky, and one of a cloudy overhead that was parted by tree branches. His hair was wet and curling slightly at the ears, which Nico totally wasn't staring at or anything.
"Yeah, yeah, I did. Anyway, how are y'all?"
"Things are just the same as they were when you left. We're looking into the lava wall incident," Kayla said.
"Yeah," Nico spoke up, "I've talked with Nyssa. She's been fixing it for a bit, but whoever damaged it did it years ago."
"Huh," Will said, "Any way to figure out how?"
"Not as far as I know," Nico replied. Kayla cleared her throat.
"Maybe it's just a dead end. Anyway, how's Texas?" She asked. Will grinned and probably tried to bring up his accent to its fullest capacity.
"It's pretty nice. Hot as hell, but nice." He brushed some of his hair from his eyes, which Nico almost had to look away from on account of his blushing.
"And, before you ask, the infirmary is doing fine. Austin's got everything under control," Kayla said.
"Nobody's died?"
"Nobody's died," Kayla confirmed, nodding.
"Good." In the background of Will's house, somebody yelled,
"Will-iam! You want some breakfast, hon?"
"In a minute!" Came his reply. Then, he turned back to face Kayla and Nico, "Sorry, but I've gotta go."
"Call again tomorrow?" Kayla offered.
"Yup."
"Okay," Nico and Kayla said at the same time.
"Bye!" He waved as his picture turned to mist. They both just waved.
"Alright, I've got an archery class to teach. Where're you going, Nico?"
"Sparring in the arena."
"Ooh. Not my personal pick, but have fun?" She began to walk out of the living room, but walked backwards so she could keep talking to Nico. He walked behind her.
"Eh. Training is training, I suppose." Kayla just wrinkled her nose. Archers.
Nico tried to pay attention for the rest of the day, he really did, but it was nearly impossible. Seconds felt like minutes, hours felt like minutes, minutes felt like...nothing. Sometimes, time just gets like that, where it feels thrown off-balance. At the very minimum, Nico had a new freeze-frame of Will to keep his brain busy. Somehow his curls were even more cute when damp. And, oh gods, his southern accent was full when he was at home. Even as his day was thoroughly mediocre, with him being all alone at lunch and dinner but talking a bit every other time, he figured it would be okay.
At least he had something to look forward to tomorrow.
A/N: Chapter title art is not my own: https://toastchild.tumblr.com/post/172462356851/i-am-here-to-provide
Also, I will most likely be unable to publish anything next week for complicated reasons. Don't worry, this fic will be finished the week I return! Anyways, I might finish one last chapter tonight and publish it. Or maybe not. We'll see.