Will was unnerved. This was not easily done, but a bunch of things he couldn't hear didn't make him feel exactly great.
Maybe even worse than skin cancer.
He sat down at his usual table and rubbed his arm. Everything should have been normal. It was an average August day. He was sitting in between Cecil and Lou Ellen. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Except the whispers whenever he passed by. That, he wasn't used to.
"Hey," he said to Lou Ellen, "What's everyone whispering about?"
Lou Ellen swallowed her food and didn't look at him. "Tartarus if I know," she said a bit too quickly.
Jason took his usual place across from Will, next to Piper and Leo. He was grinning uncontrollably, like he'd just been given permission to prank the Stolls.
"What?" Will asked.
"Nothing," he continued smiling and staring.
Then Nico sat down. Will would never admit it, but he liked Nico. Out of the friend zone. He knew that Nico was Demi-romanic, but he didn't mind. Maybe, if Will got lucky...
No. Better not to dream. Then you can never have nightmares.
Nico noticed he was staring and stared back.
"What?"
"...Yep."
"Yep"?!? Really?!? He thought. Will was so stupid. How? Why? Why was he cursed to be the idiot to Nico's density?
"Oookay..." Nico replied after a long, awkward silence.
"I FREAKING SHIP IT!" Jason randomly screamed. And everyone went silent and stared.
"SO DO I!" the entire Hermes cabin shouted out.
"YAS!" agreed Aphrodite's spawn. One at a time, each of the cabins tapped in. Will buried his face in his hands. Sure, he liked Nico, but it was weird to have the whole camp in on it. That's what they were whispering about. Finally, Nico asked the cutest, densest question ever.
"... What the Tartarus is a ship?"
The entire roomed groaned. Will tried too, but it came out... weirder. More like a moan... one that you would hear coming from a room with a sock on the door.
Then the room stared at him. Because they ship it. And then they laugh. Because they ship it.
And that was the most embarrassing day of Will's life. And the most confusing of Nico's.