Hello and Thank you!!
Nico hid in his cabin for the night.
Will came multiple times and tried to talk, but Nico locked himself in.
Percy and Annabeth came by too. They tried to get him out to the campfire, but that didn't work either.
Nico had put in earbuds and blasted music, blocking out the deafening silence around him.
He fell asleep with the music playing, but that didn't last long. At two in the morning, he woke up and heard a soft noise outside. Instead of staying inside as he had promised himself, he decided to check it out.
Walking outside, he saw the fire still lit. One person sat alone by the fire. Will.
He was looking up at the stars with a guitar in his arms. Slowly strumming and singing, he got into a rhythm.
Recognizing the song, Nico stepped forward.
Careful to stay in the shadows, Nico listened to the blonde boy sing.
Nico was still upset, but if he was going to spend the summer here, better fix this before the kids come.
"Hey," Nico said, walking out of the shadows.
Will stopped strumming abruptly.
"Oh, um, hi."
Nico sat across for him on the log bench.
There was a short silence before Will started talking.
"Look, I'm sorry if I offended you earlier. I'm not homophobic, Grover's pan, Percy's bi, hell, I'm fucking gay too!"
Nico sat there in awe, staring at the boy as he continued talking.
"I just, I was having fun. I don't know how to talk to you about it and didn't want to freak you out. I'm sorry."
Nico paused. Looking for emotion on Will's face.
All he saw was regret. And lots of it.
"Will," Nico paused and took a breath. "I should have let you have a chance to explain. I overreacted. I should be the one apologizing."
The boys looked at each other for a while. The awkward silence was killing Will, so he started to play his guitar.
Nico got up and sat down next to Will. Will turned his head to look at him, not stopping playing the guitar.
"You're forgiven. Am I?" He whispered, just loud enough for Will to hear.
There was a pause. Then, "Yes."
Nico looked up into Will's bright blue eyes.
Their gazes locked and the boys started to move closer. Their lips inches apart.
They were then interrupted by a loud bang!
Jumping apart and looking around, They spotted a raccoon that knocked over a sign.
The boys fixed it and went back to the fire.
"I'm gonna head off, the kids come tomorrow. Gotta get some sleep, right?" Nico said.
Will agreed. They put out the fire and went back to their cabins.
The next day, Annabeth woke them all up bright and early. Five o'clock in the morning early.
Groaning, the counselor got up and headed to the dining hall.
"All right guys, it's the big day!" Annabeth said. Gesturing behind her she introduced two new people.
"This is Chiron. He is the head counselor." She gestured to the older, tall brown-haired man. "And this is Mr. D. He owns the campground."
Mr. D, a short, round man, stepped forward. "I'll stop by every once in a while. I'm here today for introductions. Better have good behavior today for the parents." On that note, Mr. D turned and walked outside.
Annabeth turned to the counselors. "Okay, with introductions out of the way, let's finish cleaning and get ready for the kids to come!"
She clapped once and took all the finished plates off the table.
Percy followed her while everyone else went to clean their cabins.
At seven o'clock, all the counselors were showered and dressed, Waiting for the parents and kids to arrive.
Ten minutes later the first car pulled up. A little boy wearing yellow jumped out of the car. Leaving his father to grab his bags, the boy ran over to the counselors.
"Will! Will! Where are you?" The little boy screamed Will's name as he ran.
The tall blonde counselor turned around just as the boy grabbed his leg in a hug.
"Martin! Hey buddy! How have you been?" Will leaned down to give the kid a real hug.
As the two talked about their year and what exciting things happened, Martin's father walked over. Chiron greeted him and took Martin's bags.
"Welcome to camp!" Will said to Martin. The little brown-haired boy squeezed Will's leg in a hug and ran to the yellow cabin. Chiron followed with the boy's bags.
The next three cars were for the red and orange cabin. Annabeth and Leo greeted the kids with hugs and various questions. Chiron brought their bags to the cabins while Mr. D talked to the parents.
They went through this rhythm over and over again with all the kids.
A black minivan pulled into the parking lot and two kids jumped out wearing purple shirts.
Both kids had bright blonde hair. The girl seemed shy while the boy ran over to the gate.
Nico's stomach dropped as the kids walked over to him.
"Hey guys, I'm Nico." He introduced himself.
The little boy spoke first. "Hi! I'm Theo! This is my twin sister Beth!"
They attacked Nico with a hug.
Then Beth spoke.
"Are you nice? The last counselor, Luke, was really mean. He got fired last year during camp and we had to merge cabins." She spoke fast as if she was scared.
"I'm new here, and from the sound of it, I don't plan to be like Luke," Nico said to the kids softly.
Will walked over to where they were standing. "Theo! Beth! Hey guys! I see you've met Nico. He's really nice, you'll have lots of fun with him!"
Nico turned and silently thanked him for the save.
The two kids nodded and ran off with Chiron to pick their beds.
Nico met the other kids in the Purple cabin.
Lily, the short red-headed six-year-old held Nico's hand until her mom gave her a goodbye hug.
Amelia, the small, plump four-year-old, hugged Nico and climbed onto his back.
Jamie, the dark-haired seven-year-old, had immediately run off to the cabin to pick his bed and meet his friends.
Gabriel, the tall eight-year-old, hugged Nico, then ran off to the cabin.
Lance the dark-skinned four-year-old hugged Nico and started talking about his summer. Nico talked with him for a few minutes and then they went to the cabin to get him unpacked.
When everyone got there, they gathered in a circle on the cabin floor.
"All right!" Nico started. "Let's do introductions since you're all going to share a cabin for the next few weeks!"
Nico smiled at all the kids. "I'll start. I'm Nico, your cabin counselor."
"Tell us a cool fact about yourself!" Theo said.
Nico thought for a second. "My job is to take pictures," Nico said. "I brought my camera, want to take a picture?"
The kids screamed yes and Nico got his camera from his small room.
"All right! Say cheese!"
The kids smiled and screamed. The camera snapped the picture and Nico looked at the shot.
He passed it around to show the kids. They all laughed and pointed.
After a few minutes of settling down, they got back in their circle.
Theo volunteered to go next. "Hi! I'm Theo. I like cars and my dad drives a big monster truck!"
Next was Beth. "Hi, I'm Beth. I like cats and my mom said we might get one soon!" She got excited on that last note.
Then Amelia went. "Hi! I'm Amelia and I wanna be a doctor when I grow up!"
The kids then had a small conversation about what they all wanted to be.
When they got back on track, Lily went. "Hi, I'm Lily. I, um, I like to draw." She turned her wrist into the circle and showed the others the flower she had drawn on her wrist in pen.
The kids complimented her on her drawing.
Then Jamie went. "Hey, I'm Jaime. I like drawing too."
Lily and Jamie had a small conversation, then Gabriel went. " Hi, I'm Gabriel. I like soccer and basketball."
Lance was the last one. He was hiding behind Nico. Slowly, he stepped out. Holding Nico's hand, he introduced himself.
"Hi. I'm Lance." He looked up at Nico. "I want to be an astronaut."
With introductions out of the way, Nico led the campers outside.
The other groups of kids were running around already. Lance stuck to Nico's side, gripping his hand tightly.
Nico bent down to look at Lance.
"Hey buddy, look over there," he pointed to a small black-haired boy sitting alone. "Why don't you go play with him?"
Lance nodded and dragged Nico over to the boy with him.
"Hi!" Nico said to the boy. "What's your name?" He asked.
Lance moved from behind Nico and sat next to the boy.
"I'm Lance."
The boy picked his head up and locked eyes with Lance. "I'm Keith."
Lance nodded at Nico and he got up and left the boys there.
Nico was walking around keeping an eye on his campers, making sure everyone was having a good time. Every once in a while, Nico went over to check on Lance and Keith.
At one point, Keith and Lace were drawing together.
"Look, Nico! I made stars!" Lance exclaimed, holding up his paper filled with blue, purple, and yellow crayon marks.
A few minutes later, Wil came over to him.
"Hey," Will rested his elbow on Nico's shoulder.
Nico brushed him off. "Just 'cause we bonded, doesn't mean you can do that."
Will, instead of listening, placed his arm back on Nico.
They stayed there a while, talking about the campers and what Nico should expect. At some point, they moved to sit by the fireplace. Will's arm had slipped down and now rested around Nico's hip.
Nico, being completely oblivious, didn't notice Will's attempt at flirting.
"Neeks, come on man."
"What?"
Will turned his head. "I want to ask you something."
"All right." Nico shifted to look at Will."
Their gazes locked and a moment passed between them.
"Will, is this your boyfriend?" A small voice said.
They separated quickly and stared at the kid.
"Oh, hey Katlynn!" Will said. "This is Nico, the purple cabin counselor. I was telling him about the activities here."
Katlynn, who looked about eight, countered his statement. "Is one of the activities mouth exercises."
The boys turned bright red as she giggled and ran off.
After that, the two boys separately swore to themselves never to do anything like that with kids around.
This is something I started a while ago, I love writing but don't have much motivation. Hopefully posting these will help me be a better writer and give me motivation! :)
Thank you for reading!