Nico's POV
I was laying on my bed in my cabin, reading one of my old Batman comics when I heard the door open. I blinked furiously, trying to get the bright spots of light out of my eyes from the sudden exposure of brightness. When I could see again, Will was standing over me. He was wearing blue sunshine printed swim shorts and he was topless. He was holding two towels and another pair of swim trunks, these ones all black. He tossed the black swim trunks onto my chest.
"Put these on, we're going swimming together," he told me.
"What?" I asked. The last time I had gone swimming was, well, never. Bianca and I had never lived close to a beach, and we were born before swimming pools. I hadn't been around camp much before the war, and after I just hadn't had any interest. I didn't even think I knew how to swim.
"Come on, I want to have the whole day together. Maybe we could go out to one of the islands."
"Do we have to?" I sighed.
"Why don't you want to? It'll be really fun, I promise." Will gave me a small kiss. "I'll see you when you finish changing." He left my cabin, the door banging behind him. I picked up the swim trunks, surveying every inch of them. They were my size, and my style; all black. Will had clearly bought those just so we could go swimming together, and I would feel awful if I didn't wear them. Besides, I was probably the only teenager in America who couldn't swim. I didn't want to seem stupid in front of Will.
So five minutes later, I was standing next to Will, walking down to the beach in flip flops with a skull pattern towel slung over my shoulder.
"I'm so excited," Will grinned, slinging his arm around my shoulders. "I've been so busy with the infirmary I haven't gotten to see you at all. Besides, I love swimming."
"Me, too," I chuckled nervously. "One of my favorite things."
"You sound weird. Is something wrong?"
"N- no?" I stuttered. Will stared at me.
"Nico, do you know how to swim?"
"Not exactly," I muttered. "There wasn't a lot of time in my childhood to learn." Will started to laugh. "It's stupid, I know."
"No, no, it's fine," Will said. "You don't have to lie to me." An impish grin appeared on his face, the one that usually lived on Leo's face. "Besides, now I can teach you." He grabbed my hand and started running me, pulling me toward the waves that had just come into distance.
Will's POV
I threw my towel into the sand and kicked off my flip flops. Nico did the same, and we stood in front of the ocean together, watching as the waves splashed against the beach.
"So, how do we do this?" Nico asked. "Do we just, walk in?" I waded into the water. The cool waves lapped at my ankles. I looked behind me, and Nico was hesitating.
"Come on, it's not that hard." Nico poked a toe in the water, recoiling a bit at the icy liquid he was exposing his bare skin to, but eventually made his way in up to his waist, joining me.
"Lay on your back," I ordered.
"Why?" Nico asked. I could see a bit of fear in his eyes.
"Well, if you're going to swim, you need to float first," I told him. Nico nodded his consent, and I helped him lower himself into the water, so that he was floating peacefully on his back. His dark hair was splayed out all around him, making a circle around his head. He waved his arms around in the water, splashing a little and sending tiny beads of water at me.
"This isn't bad," he chuckled. "I can see why Percy likes it so much."
"Well, you've got the easy part down. Now you have to kick." Nico nodded, and began to slowly kick his legs, making waves at me. The first few kicks did nothing, but soon enough he had traveled a few yards, so that if he stood up the water would go up to about his ears. I splashed over to him, my feet sticking a little in the mud.
"Perfect," I grinned. "Now, do the same thing on the other side."
Nico flipped over and started kicking, struggling to keep his head above the water line. I laughed and came over to him.
"This is where you have to paddle," I said. I laid down on my stomach and did the crawl stroke, moving away from Nico. I looked back over at my boyfriend. He had put his head in the water and was now making slow but steady moves toward me. He kicked a little too much, and his strokes came slow and were inconsistent, but I could already see how much progress he was making.
Nico's POV
"What do you say we get out?" Will suggested. "Your lips are turning blue."
"They are not," I protested. "I'm fine."
"Come on Neeks, I can see them. Besides, dinner'll be in an hour and I want to get dry." He grabbed my hand and started leading me out of the water. My feet walked across the mud and soon the sand. We stepped out of the water and dried off with our towels. I put my flip flops back on, and Will and I started walking back to the main part of camp.
"Let's head back to your cabin," Will suggested. "We can change into warm clothes." I nodded in agreement, and soon we found ourselves in the circle of cabins. We headed toward the black mass of cabin 13, where warm clothes awaited. We entered the cabin, and I shut the door behind us.
"Gods it's dark in here," Will commented, staring around the cabin in awe. "Don't you have a light switch?"
"Yeah, but I don't like to use it," I grumbled. Will gave me an imploring look, and I grudgingly flicked the light switch. The cabin was immediately flooded with florescent light, courtesy of the iris cabin. I tossed Will his orange Camp Half- Blood shirt and worn out jeans and sent him into the bathroom to change. I pulled on a pair of comfy sweatpants and a soft sweatshirt, shivering a bit as my bare skin his the air. Will was right; I was cold.
Will came out of the bathroom, looking as perfect as ever, his blonde hair tousled from the waves. He smirked when he saw me.
"What?" I complained. "What's wrong with my outfit."
"Nothing," he snickered. "I just didn't think you owned any pants other that ripped black skinny jeans." I punched him lightly on the arm.
"Shut up you idiot."
"What do you want to do next?" Will asked. "We still have some time to kill before Chiron calls us all for dinner."
"Well," I started, an idea forming in my mind. "I heard if you talk to the right Hermes kid, they can hook you up with hot chocolate."
"I'll bet you five drachmas I'll get it before you do."
"You're on," I grinned. We rushed out into the camp again, determind to find the hot chocolate before the other one.
Hi! I'm really sorry for taking this long to update. I've been away on a camping trip with my class, so I haven't been writing and then I had major writers block so sorry if this one is kinda sucky. But I hope you liked it anyway!
Nina