Will and Nico had driven in Will's yellow Volkswagen to the paintball war. Will wasn't really sure what to do, so he just trailed behind after Nico, as he seemed to know everyone there.
Nico was talking to some girl that Will vaguely remembered him saying was Hazel, his half sister. She was stealing glances at him and smirking, though Nico didn't seem to notice.
"And we move in in a week!" Hazel gushed. Though he wasn't paying attention (he was too busy staring at Nico), the blond concluded that Hazel was moving into a new home with (her boyfriend? Fiance? Husband?) Frank.
"Damn, Hazel," Nico said. "Look at you, moving into a house and all, and I still live in an apartment with a shitty roommate."
Hazel snickered. "Is he now? Or is he your boyfriend?" She wiggled her eyebrows mischievously.
"No, Hazel." If Will wasn't mistaken, he swore he heard nervousness in his friend's voice. His own face was probably beet red.
"Whatever you say, big brother."
Suddenly, the voice of Perseus Jackson rose above the rest of the sounds. "Attention!" He yelled. Once he was sure everyone was paying attention, he said, "Okay, so, I'm going to be going over the rules."
"So, I'm going to be giving everyone a special outfit to wear. You know, so you don't ruin your clothes. I've decided that this is gonna be a free-for-all; I'll let you guys decide for yourselves if you want alliances or not...
"Anyways, everyone is going to receive a paintball gun loaded with fifteen paintballs. Once you're out, you're out. Unless you get hit before you're out of paint, of course. First hit and you're done. Head shots count. Any questions?"
Will raised his hand awkwardly. "Um, how exactly do you shoot a paintball gun?"
"Oh! I forgot the mention that," Percy said. "So what you do first is you make sure the safety lever thing is off. You'll then need to cock the gun. But don't do those things until you're ready. You shoot it like any other gun, (hopefully none of you have experience in that department, haha). Anyways, if a white mist starts to come out of your paintball gun, it's the CO2 running low. The CO2 is in the barrel of the gun with your paint balls. I have already loaded all of the guns; I used light colors so you can see the colors on the black outfits."
Everyone nodded, and Percy then said for them to come up and get their outfits. He also stated there was a bathroom where they could change. Will trailed after Nico, grabbing a shirt and long pants of the correct size to wear.
Before the teams were declared, Nico whispered to Will, "I'm gonna beat your ass." And then he smiled and walked off.
He then saw Hazel approach him. She had a smirk on her face, as if she knew something he didn't. "Hey," she said, "I just wanted to say thank you. Nico seems happy because of you. He...had been iffy before you came into his life. So thanks."
Will blinked a few times. "Oh, yeah, no p-problem," he replied awkwardly.
She nodded, dismissing the subject. "You ever go paint balling?"
"Nope. This is my first time."
"Prepare for some fun," Hazel said, winking mischievously.
Percy went over a few more basic rules, and then everyone went to their starting positions.
"Three...two...one...go!" Percy yelled, and all hell broke loose.
Will dashed behind a tree, barely missing a whizzing gray paintball.
He suddenly heard Calypso mutter a curse as she'd been hit. Meanwhile, Piper and Hazel high-fived. Apparently, this game went by quickly. He wouldn't know; he'd never played.
He saw Nico hiding behind a tree trunk, and decided to take his chances to take him out. If he got Nico out, he could give him shit about it later.
So Will positioned and aimed his gun...and then he fired.
Whoosh.
The blue paintball splotched right into the trunk, dangerously close to his friend's elbow. "Nice try," Nico laughed, firing right back. Fortunately, Will ducked just in time.
But unfortunately for him, Will also slipped on a root that was sticking out of the ground. He landed on his chest, scraping his arm.
He was supposed to have good balance; what the hell had happened? Will just huffed and crawled out of the grassy area he was in.
Suddenly, a hand was on his shoulder. Percy.
"Will! You wanna help me take out Annabeth?" He asked, grinning evilly.
"Oh! Okay, sure. Where-"
"Just follow me," he said, cutting him off.
Will nodded and followed him, dodging a paintball that whizzed by his head. Why was everyone aiming for him? Because he was an easy target? Or maybe Nico had sent someone after him. That wouldn't surprise the blond.
As he followed Percy, the blond took a shot at hitting Piper, and failed. Dammit. He'd never been able to get his archery aim quite right, and apparently his paint ball aim was just as bad.
Abruptly, Percy whispered, "There she is!" while pointing to Annabeth. The girl seemed occupied in aiming at Jason. Perfect. Since she was distracted, she'd be an easy target. That's what Percy thought, anyways. Right as he was about to shoot, his girlfriend fired at him and hit him right in the chest.
"Ah, she's good," Percy muttered.
Will took this as an opportunity to shoot back, and somehow he successfully hit her.
"Damn, who was that?" Annabeth looked around, but Will made sure to keep cover by slinking down into the grass.
"Good job, Will," Percy whispered before he stood up and walked away; he didn't want to blow the blond's cover.
After looking up to check his surroundings, Will decided to look for Nico amongst the others. There were people he didn't even recognize; probably just some of Percy and Annabeth's friends. He'd get to know them soon enough.
He didn't see him, which he found strange. He'd had an encounter with his roommate just a few minutes ago; where had he disappeared to now?
There was a fence ahead, and Will decided to stop there and examine the scrape in his arm. He leaned against the corner of it and gingerly blew on the cut; it stung like hell. He wanted to make sure it was treated right away; he didn't want it getting infected.
While he was focusing on his arm, Will didn't notice a person approaching him, gun in hand. He looked up to see his favorite person in the world.
Nico.
The black haired boy continued towards him cautiously, neither of them saying a word. Will retreated his arms to his side, holding the gun in his stronger arm. It was pointed towards Nico, but should he dare shoot? Would he notice if he did? Probably.
Once Nico was about a foot away from him, he dropped his gun by his feet. This shocked the blond; what was he doing? Surrendering?
His question was answered when Nico forcefully yanked him down by the shirt. They were close enough to kiss.
"Hey," said Nico, "I'm sorry." His breath was hot on Will's skin.
"For what?"
"A lot of things..." he began, and if Will wasn't mistaken, he was pulling him closer. "Being a douche, being stubborn and impatient, waiting so long to admit my feelings to myself..." Nico was wiggling his foot for some reason now, as if he was trying to get his shoe off. "But there's one thing that I really want to say sorry for."
"What is it?" Will asked. Their noses brushed when he spoke. He gripped the gun more firmly in his hand, preparing to shoot in case this was a trick.
"This." He puckered his lips as of he were about to kiss him, and then he moved closer-
Click.
A red paintball hit Nico right in the leg, and he pulled back abruptly. "Dammit, Solace! I was about to do that!" He beckoned to his foot that he was about to use to shoot the paintball gun with. "I had the perfect distraction, too."
The blond smirked. "I got you there, you loser." He stuck his tongue out at him like he was a little kid.
"Oh, fuck you."
"You're just salty cause you didn't think I'd beat you."
The shorter boy scowled. "Oh, sure."
"Oh, just admit it," Will said. "But," he added, "I have to admit that you did have a pretty good distraction."
Nico smiled at that. "I know. I even considered making out with you in the trees before I shot you, but-"
Suddenly, there was a rustle coming from the trees. Will jumped, and Nico laughed. "Are you scared, William?"
"Fuck you."
There was another sound; sticks being cracked, and maybe even a grumble. There was a shadow against the grass, a short one. Instinctively, Will grabbed Nico by the shoulders and held him protectively, even though it was probably an extremely safe situation and-
"Hazel!" Nico suddenly exclaimed. "W-what are you doing here?" His half-sister was no longer in her paintballing outfit, she was wearing a purple shirt with flowers on it and light capris.
"Looking for you two. Leo and Jason were making bets that you two were making out or something." She smiled, winking. "I think it's safe to say that-"
"Whoa, whoa whoa, we were not kissing. I was getting Nico out," Will boasted, earning an elbow in the ribs from his friend and a remark he didn't hear.
Hazel chuckled. "Oh my gosh, you guys. The paintball war ended a while ago, you know! Leo won."
"See, Will? You didn't win after all!" The black haired boy declared.
"Ah, but I still got you out, and that's all that matters-"
"Wait!" Nico sprung from his grip and pointed at Will's lower leg. There was a purple splotch on it.
"What?!?" How had he not noticed that? He hadn't even felt it!
"You little cheater! Looks like you didn't win after all!" Nico let out a laugh, and it was the cutest thing ever, if Will did say so himself.
"My goodness, you two," Hazel cut in, "you act more like a couple than Percy and Annabeth, and they're getting married tomorrow!"
Both boys looked at each other in surprise. "What?!" They yelled in unison.
"The invitation came out months ago! How could you have not heard...?"
"The only thing I'm sure of is that I did not receive an invitation," Nico said.
"I'm just confused as to how Percy never brought it up to you in person," Hazel added.
"Well, I think we need to get our asses moving and find a gift," Will said to Nico. "Put your shoe back on, we have to go."
"Ah, well, I'll see you two tomorrow, I suppose. Bye, guys!" Hazel waved, dashing back into the trees.
"Goddammit, Solace. We're fucked if we can't find a gift, or something to wear, or-"
Will put a finger to his lips. "Shh, we're fine. Now, let's go to the mall. I guess we're going shopping after all."
~~~
hey, I have no idea how paint balling works, so I'm sorry that this is probably highly inaccurate and boring. but I'd procrastinated enough on the chapter, so I did a little research and produced this for you guys.
I feel really bad that my daily updates turned into monthly updates. but your patience means the world to me. I just fear that people forget about this story now that I don't update as often. my views/comments per chapter went down, but I'm honestly so thankful for those who stuck with me.
I might end this at forty chapters, but idrk as of right now. I don't have an actual ending planned yet, but I do have ideas as to what's gonna happen before this is over. and now I have to juggle this AND Cemetery Angel, so it's a little overwhelming to have that on top of everything else in life. I'm not really sure when I'll even start the sequel, but I know you're all excited, so I'm gonna try my best. you guys deserve it. :)
but, I hope this chapter was decent enough. I have mixed feelings about it.
have a great day, guys. thank you for all of your support. ❤️ you
have no idea how much your comments make me smile.
THANK YOU SOSOSOSO MUCH FOR 11K, THIS MAKES ME SMILE SO MUCH OMG