At first, Nico thinks it must be a trick of the light.

He first kisses Will on the front porch of the Big House the first day of summer camp. Nico's spent most of the year hanging out with his sister and Reyna at Camp Jupiter, while Will had gone back home to Louisiana and his mom. They'd Iris-Messaged, of course—Nico spent more drachmas than he'd care to admit just on calls to Will alone—but talking to someone through a wall of mist and actually seeing them in the flesh for the first time in months are two very different things.

So when Nico hears the familiar call of, "Hey, sunshine!" as he makes his way towards the cabins, he really can't be blamed for the way his insides suddenly jolt to life and start doing the foxtrot. He glances over his shoulder and can't help the grin that manages to work its way across his face at the sight of Will leaning casually over the Big House porch railings, broad shoulders filling out the sleeves of his orange camp shirt nicely, the four camp beads on his necklace resting comfortably inside the soft dip of his collarbones that Nico hadn't been able to stop staring at the past few Iris-Messages they'd shared.

He walks over towards Will, jumping up the steps two at a time, grin still firmly in place. Charming as ever, Solace, he goes to say, but before he can get the words out, Will is wrapping him in a crushing, bone-deep hug that Nico finds himself returning, if a little tentatively. Last summer, after the Giant War, Will had been a major influence in helping coax Nico out of his shell, and that included getting him used to human contact. Not to say that many people go out of their way to touch Nico, that is. Will is really the only one of Nico's friends who does—him, Hazel and Jason, but they don't count because Hazel's his sister and Jason's, well—Jason.

So when Will hugs him, instead of pushing him away like 14 year old Nico would have done this time last year, 15 year old Nico hugs him right back. They stay locked together for a few long moments, until Will clears his throat and pulls away, Nico copying the movement almost reluctantly.

"Missed you, dork," Will says with that quiet sort of intensity of his, and Nico fidgets under his gaze.

"Yeah," he says so softly it's barely audible, then clears his throat and tries again. "Yeah. Me too. I mean—I didn't miss me, obviously. You, not—I missed you, too." Will looks like he's trying not to laugh, and Nico huffs, rolling his eyes. "Shut up, Solace. I was having a moment."

"Oh, yeah?" Suddenly Will is a whole lot closer, and maybe he's going in for another hug, except Nico doesn't think so. Not this time. Will's eyes are locked on Nico's, but once or twice they drop down a little lower, and Nico's heart gives a jolt when he realises that Will is looking at his lips.

Will wants to kiss him.

Oh, gods. Will is going to kiss him.

Nico's palms are sweaty and he feels warm all over, which is silly, because this is Will, this is his best friend, the guy who he's talked to in his pyjamas in the middle of the night when Nico had woken from a nightmare and had no-one else to call; the guy who's looked after Nico when he's literally been fading out of existence; the guy who force-fed Nico chicken and mushroom soup when he was sick at the end of last summer. When it comes to Will, Nico shouldn't be at all nervous—except for the fact that he is.

So he does the only logical thing. He stands up on his tip-toes—who gave Will Solace the goddamn right to be six feet tall?—gathers his fingers in the front of Will's shirt and jerks him forward until their lips meet in an almost painful first kiss.

After a moment or two in which neither of them move from the embrace, Nico lets go and rocks back on his heels, just knowing that he must be blushing furiously. But Will doesn't look any better, if Nico's being honest. His brown cheeks have been tinged with red, and his forehead is shiny with sweat. But he's looking at Nico with blue eyes round like saucers, looking at Nico like Nico's hung the goddamn moon, and instead of the foxtrot they'd been doing up until now, it makes Nico's insides turn into a gooey, mushy mess.

"Let's try that again, shall we?" Will whispers, and then he's leaning forward and down and capturing Nico's lips again, and oh, this is how a first kiss is meant to feel. Like Nico's floating and sinking and grounded all at once.

Almost instinctively, Nico's eyes open during the kiss, and he drinks in the sight of Will so close to him—so close Nico could count his eyelashes, tug on that one strand of blonde hair that always manages to curl in the opposite direction to the rest. And then Nico sees it.

It's nearing midday, so the sunlight is bright in Nico's eyes, but the porch of the Big House provides just enough shade for Nico to notice a faint, kind of buttery glow surrounding Will. It's almost like a halo, except instead of just ringing Will's curls it's all around him, cloaking his neck and his shoulders and even the delicate slope of his nose. Nico's mouth opens in surprise, but this only serves to deepen the kiss, and as Will opens his own mouth in response Nico could have sworn the glow around Will actually pulsed, like the flicker of a light switch or the beat of the sun against hot earth.

They break apart to catch their breath, and Nico's eyes flutter closed for a moment, content to simply share the same air as Will. He opens them again a moment later and when he does, the strange glow is gone—Will is simply Will, smiling shyly down at Nico like they didn't just suck face for a solid five minutes. Huh, Nico thinks. Must have been a trick of the light.

But then it happens again. And again. And again.

Not always, but often, whenever Nico kisses Will or Will kisses Nico and Nico will open his eyes during the kiss just to stare at his boyfriend—yes, boyfriend, they're official now and everything—the glow will be back in full force, sometimes even stronger than when it happened on their first kiss. Once, when they're alone in the Hades cabin, Nico opens his eyes to stare at Will and is almost blinded by the sheer power of the glow against the darkness of the cabin's obsidian walls. Will's always been beautiful, Nico had noticed that the first time they met. But this—this is different. It's almost—ethereal. Nico can't put it into words.

Maybe for that reason, or maybe because he thinks he might be going a little crazy, he doesn't mention it to Will. Doesn't mention it to anyone. And it's fine, everything's totally fine—until other campers start to notice too, and then—not so much.

"Hey, Will," Percy says one night at the campfire, and of course it's Percy, as if this couldn't get any more complicated than it already is. Nico's over Percy, has been for quite a while, but holding a conversation with his boyfriend and ex-crush can still get kind of awkward sometimes. So when Percy interrupts when Nico and Will are more than a little preoccupied with each other—well, Nico would take a monster over this any day. "Are you—glowing?"

Yeah, a monster is looking kind of attractive right about now.

Will breaks away from Nico and looks down at himself. "Huh?" he asks, holding up his hand to the firelight. His eyes widen as he sees the glow—faint, and fading fast, but definitely there. The rest of the campers around the fire fall silent as they notice too, and Nico looks across the clearing to see Annabeth staring at them, her brow furrowed in thought. "What the hell," Will says flatly, voicing what the rest of the campers are probably thinking. He looks over to Nico, who tries to assume an expression of confusion like everyone else, but has a feeling he fails miserably. He's never been able to lie to Will.

"Did you know about this?" Will demands, voice slightly panicky, and Nico hesitates for a moment before nodding. "And you didn't think that maybe, oh, I dunno, telling me would me a good idea? Hey Will, good to see you too! Did you know that you turn into a freaking glow stick every time we make out?"

"I thought I was imagining things!" Nico protests, trying not to feel like a little kid throwing a tantrum. "You're always so—you know! I thought it was just a trick of the light!"

"I'm always so what?" Will asks. "So what, Nico? So annoying? So frustrating? So, I don't know—concerned for people's wellbeing—"

"So beautiful!" Nico bursts out, and then immediately regrets the words once he's said them. Will pauses mid rant, mouth agape, and Nico can feel the eyes of every demigod present boring into his skull. He swallows heavily and feels his skin begin to heat up. "You're just always so—you know," he says lamely, making a loose hand gesture towards all of Will's body. "I just thought it was, I don't know, me realising how gorgeous you always are."

Will is still staring at him, and Nico throws his hands up into the air in exasperation. "Gods, this is ridiculous. I'm leaving." He stands and hurries away from the campfire towards the cabins, tugging his aviator jacket tighter around his shoulders and wishing he could just melt into the earth. Well, actually, he probably could, being the son of Hades and all, but—that's beside the point.

Will catches up to him halfway to the cabins, and stops Nico with a hand on his arm. "You Italians," he huffs, "Always rushing everywhere."

"You Southerners," Nico mocks, rolling his eyes. "Lazy as always."

"Hey," Will says, mock-indignantly. "I may have a lazy accent, but I ain't lazy, Di Angelo, so watch yourself."

"Or what?"

Will just kisses him in response. Nico makes a surprised but pleased sound into the kiss, and reaches up a hand to the back of Will's neck, curling his fingers in those golden curls he loves so much. Nico doesn't open his eyes, and when they break apart, he keeps them closed, content to just rest his forehead against Will's and breathe.

"M'sorry I yelled at you," Will whispers against Nico's lips, and Nico gives a small shrug.

"S'okay," he whispers back. "I should've told you what I saw. It could be serious, and I—I don't know. I was selfish. I wanted to keep you all to myself." He finally opens his eyes to find Will staring at him, blue eyes wide and clear like a cloudless summer sky, like the sky was on the day of their first kiss.

"About that," Will begins softly, and Nico sees a flush begin to creep across his boyfriend's cheeks, visible even in the darkness. Nico realises with a jolt that he can see Will blush because of the strange glow enveloping the son of Apollo—a glow which hasn't faded like it normally does by now. Will notices at the same time Nico does, and if anything, his blush seems to deepen. "I, uh, just spoke to Annabeth. She said that the, uh, glowing thing—it's not uncommon, actually." Nico stares, and Will fumbles his words. "Well, I mean—it is uncommon, but not unheard of. Some children of Apollo, apparently—they, uh, glow when they're with someone." Will closes his eyes for a brief moment before meeting Nico's gaze again. "Someone special."

Nico's heart is in his throat, and he can feel it beating there, like one of those big timpani drums. "How special?" he croaks his, his throat suddenly dry.

"Well, I mean, Annabeth's never seen it happen, only read about it, so it might be purely made up, you know, it is a bit ridiculous—"

"Will," Nico interrupts, grabbing his boyfriend's chin and forcing him to hold Nico's gaze. "How special?"

Will takes a deep breath, as though he's about to dive into the deep end of a swimming pool. "Their soulmate," he says simply, his voice quavering, and Nico's heart goes BOOM. BOOM.

"You're probably right," he manages to say. "Probably all made up. Just a silly story." But even as the words leave his mouth, he can hear them ring untrue. A small smile unfurls across Will's lips like the blooming of a flower in one of those fast-forward scenes from a nature documentary.

"Mmhmm," he grins, and Nico can't help but smile in return. "Silly." He gives Nico a kiss on the cheek and his glow pulses, making Nico shiver. "Stupid." A kiss on the nose; the glow brightens. "Insane." The jut of Nico's jaw; Will is blinding. "Absolutely ridiculous," he whispers against Nico's lips, and this time, Nico doesn't have to open his eyes to know that his boyfriend is shining like Nico's very own miniature sun.

His soulmate.

Yeah. Nico could get used to that.

a/n: inspired by a scene from stardust. if you've seen it, you'll know which one. title from the poem burning the millenium by tumblr user fairytalesques.