There was certainly a lot of noise outside for a Wednesday in February.

Nico was thrown for a moment, wondering if he'd been imagining the buzzing of voices. It was a noise he'd grown accustomed to in summer, when campers seemed to think it all right to wake up at the crack of dawn. It wasn't a noise usually heard in the winter. Especially on a cold day in February. He stared up at the clock on the wall, which was unsurprisingly shaped like a coffin. Camp Half Blood seemed to be under the impression that all children of Hades were gothic and wanted their cabin decorated like a carbon copy of an early 2000s Hot Topic. Well, Nico was kind of gothic. He did wear a lot of black and occasionally enjoyed a good metal band. And Hot Topic really wasn't that bad of store…but that's beside the point. The point was that it was 8:15 in the morning and campers were awake.

Nico racked his mind, wondering if there was something happening today that he'd forgotten. He couldn't think of anything that would be exciting in mid-February. Maybe the Romans are attacking again…he could only hope.

Camp Half-Blood was boring. Not that he missed the days of life threatening travel but…he missed the days of life threatening travel. He wouldn't go so far as to say he wanted to go back to Tartarus, but traveling with the Athena Parthenos wasn't that bad. And Reyna had been a really awesome friend. Hedge wasn't that bad either.

It has been a scary time, but at least he had been doing something. And it had kept his mind off…things.

The noise outside was only growing louder, so Nico begrudgingly tossed his legs over his bed and stood up. He caught sight of himself in the vaguely Stoker-esque mirror across the way. His dark hair was an absolute mess, which he'd been expecting. He wore a shirt of some band he didn't even like anymore and sweat pants about a size too big and an inch too short. It isn't like I have anyone to impress… Of course it wasn't true. The moment he thought it, he saw a very distinct face flashed in his mind's eye. Hastily, he tried to pat down his mess of hair but it stayed up. Deciding to give it up, he went out into the day.

He had to pause for a moment to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Surely, this wasn't Camp Half-Blood he'd walked out to. Yet the familiar buildings were all there, even though the fronts of them had been painted a most alarming shade of hot pink. In the middle of the circle was a giant statue (also pink) that Nico swore for a moment was Piper. But it was too mature looking to be her, so he figured it must be her mother. The statue had a face of insane elation, like it was really, really excited to be here. Its hands were flung up into the air like some crazy Cinderella beckoning to her birds. All around the ground were red and white rose petals which ever so often would burst from Aphrodite's hands like some horrible flower purge.

Nico wanted to vomit.

Amidst all the flamboyancy, Nico realized his other fellow campers had gathered as well, each looking more confused than the next.

A loud bang rang through the campus, so loud that Nico wondered if an Ares kid had set off a canon. It had truly come from the Aphrodite cabin where a large banner appeared that read (in horrific calligraphy) Happy Aphrodite Day!

"Okay, so that's definitely not a real thing," said a voice from next to him. Nico flinched, surprised at the exclamation. A familiar, cheery laugh gave him the speaker's identity. He turned to see Will Solace smiling at him, "'Morning, Nico. You look like death."

"I am death," he said dryly. Nico could've killed himself right that. I am death…what the heck?

To his surprised, Will laughed. "Hi death, I'm Will."

Nico made a very good show of rolling his eyes, trying to pretend he was indifferent. Nico had become very good at playing indifferent. Which had been hard since Will was so…Will. He was so handsome, but nice enough that you couldn't hate him for it. He was nice to everyone, which was a little exasperating. Nico sort of hated Will for being nice to everyone because Nico couldn't tell if he was, well, special. Did Will like him, or was he just being friendly? Did Will like like him, or was he just a friend? Nico thought about these things so much that he'd get headaches. Don't think about it now, stupid. Say something back.

Will spoke first, "But seriously, Aphrodite Day? That's definitely not a real holiday."

Nico shrugged, crossing his arms, "I don't know. It doesn't sound like something Piper would organize."

Will surveyed the crowd. Nico knew most all the campers, but none well enough to actually initiate conversation. Not many campers stayed year round. It was mostly for people with a bad home, or no homes to go to. Some just liked it. Like Will. Will had decided to stay this year. Usually, he was just a summer camper, but Apollo Cabin had a lot of new campers staying and Will felt he needed to be there for them. He was so infuriatingly noble. Nico couldn't understand how one person could be so consistently nice and expect nothing in return. On top of being in charge of Apollo Cabin, he worked regularly at the hospital, and was now training new healers.

"Hey, there's Piper, let's ask her," Will said. "Piper!" He yelled, waving his hands above his head like an idiot.

"Stop," Nico mumbled, caving further into himself. All the campers around them turned and stared, raising their brows. He wished Will wouldn't hang around him so publicly. Every time they were together, people would stare and whisper. Like…like they knew… Not that Will was (or was he?) Nico could never tell and he wouldn't dare ask.

Piper saw them, and walked over, looking just as aghast at the outburst of pink-ness as everyone else. Piper's dad was filming a movie this year and she had decided to stay at Camp Half Blood to have more time with Jason. God, I hope Jason doesn't see us. The last thing I need is him over here…

Ever since piecing together Nico's crush, Jason had taken it upon himself to play matchmaker and force Will and Nico together at any possible moment. It usually resulted in Will being polite as usual and Nico trying not to explode from awkwardness and irritation…

Piper's braid wagged behind her as she walked up to them, "I don't…" She said with exasperation. "Don't ask me what this is all about." She gestured to the statue, which was now malfunctioning and spitting out rose petals at an alarming rate. A kid from Athena was screaming for people to get out of the way. "I guess mom took it upon herself to decorate for Valentine's Day."

"It's Valentine's Day?" Will and Nico asked at the same time. Will smirked and Nico tried his hardest not to blush.

Piper muttered something that sounded a lot like, "Boys."

There was another loud explosion, and Nico was just beginning to wonder what pyrotechnics had to do with love when Aphrodite herself appeared, bursting out of the statue's hands like some weird, unholy birth.

Piper face-palmed so hard it made a loud smacking sound and Will asked her if she was okay. The rest of the campers' faces ranged from confused to disgusted as Aphrodite descended, throwing glitter as she did so.

Aphrodite was hard to look at. Not just because of the fallin glitter shimmering around her, but because she herself was shimmering. Her form constantly was changing, little by little, into various, beautiful people. Perhaps it was the "beauty in the eye of the beholder" thing. She was blonde, then brunette. High cheekbones, freckles, pink cheeks... Her form kept wavering.

"Hello, my lovely campers," her voice sounded how cotton candy tasted. She saw Piper and beamed, "Hello, Piper, darling! How are you and Jason?"

"Mom!" Piper said indigently.

Aphrodite smiled, "Sorry, dear. Didn't mean to embarrass." She addressed the crowd, "On this wonderful day of love and caring, I have come here as a gift to all of you! With Chiron's permission, of course! I am here to give you all your love forecasts for the year!"

This was greeted with a rumble of excited voices. Most people sounded happy, but Nico felt like a bowling ball had been dropped into his stomach. He certainly did not want to discuss love, and definitely did not want to discuss it in front of all these people.

"Nico?" Will said quietly.

Nico felt his blood turn cold, "What?" He hissed.

Will was taken aback, "You look sick. Are you okay?" He reached out and Nico knocked his hand away.

"I'm fine, okay, Will?" He said coldly. Will raised his hands in surrender then crossed them in front of his chest. Nico knew he shouldn't have snapped. Will didn't mean anything by it. He was a healer, he was just trying to help. Will didn't mean anything by anything he did. Will was just nice. Nico needn't be so closed off.

You push people away. That's what you do. You push and push and push. That's why you're always alone. Always always always always…

"And," Aphrodite continued, "I will not leave until I've spoken to each of you." Nico could've sworn she glanced at him. "All right! I will be in my cabin! Tootles!" With another explosion (this time of cut-out hearts) she disappeared.

Piper groaned, "Mother!" She yelled out to the universe.

"Relax, Piper," Will put a hand on her shoulder. "She's just trying to have some fun."

Piper shook her head, "If she tries to make my love life interesting again, I swear to Zeus…" She walked off before Nico could hear the end of her swear, but he figured whatever Piper was planning to do was colorful in language. Piper may look a beauty queen, but Nico had seen her angry before and he certainly wouldn't want to be on the other end of her aggression. Or her knife.

Will looked at Nico, "Dude, you seriously look sick. Tell me what's wrong or I will carry you to the hospital myself."

As Nico looked at Will, he found himself suddenly wondering why Will wasn't constantly surrounded by admirers. Certainly Nico couldn't be the only who found him attractive. Will was attractive, in a very conventional sense too. Blonde hair and blue eyes. Tall and muscular. Will should've been noticed more than he was. Honestly, Nico wasn't one to talk himself. Not that Nico had spent too much time at Camp, but even he had hardly given Will much mind when he was there. Will was just this background person that never seemed of much importance.

Nico brought himself back to reality, "I, uh, had a bad experience with a love god before."

Will nodded, "The thing with Eros?"

Nico's eyes widened, "What do you know about that?"

"Relax," Will laughed, grabbing Nico's shoulder. "I don't know your secrets. Jason just told me you had a run in with him last year."

"Oh," Nico breathed. "Yeah. Right."

Will titled his head, "You sure you're all right?

"Yeah," Nico nodded, bringing himself to meet Will's eyes. They were so blue. He looked a lot like his dad, who Nico had met once. Apollo had been handsome sure, but not enough substance to really attract Nico. Not like Will. Will was so…real. He was so nice. Too nice. Nice to everyone.

Nico noted that Will's hand was still on his shoulder.

"Well," Will said, "Come get breakfast with me then. I'm not taking no for an answer." The statue had begun spewing out pink confetti now, to ad to the Valentine's mess. "Besides, if you stay here, you run a serious risk of being buried in pink glitter. As much as I want to see that happen, I think the world would explode from so much paradoxalness of you being in pink glitter, that we probably shouldn't do it."

Nico squinted, "Paradoxalness?"

Will shrugged, "I'm good with words. Must be an Apollo thing."

"But that's not a word-"

"All complaints must be submitted in the form of writing," Will said, slinging his arm around Nico. "Come along, death boy. Waffles are calling my name."

OOO
Jason came and sat at their table.

Well, not sat so much as fell, catching himself only by gripping the edge of the table. His eyes looked as big as lemons.

Will appraised him, "You don't look good, mate."

Jason shook his head. His glasses had gone askew and were threatening to fall off, but he seemed not in the least bit bothered by this. Nico wasn't used to seeing Jason so frazzled, and the glasses somehow made him look even more so.

"Aphrodite…" Jason breathed, "She told me…she told me…"

"Out with it, man," Will prompted.

Jason looked up, "She told me Piper and I are going to have seven kids!" Will and Nico burst out laughing, but Jason only grasped his head as if keeping it from exploding. His dumbstruck look was enough to have Nico sputtering with chuckles.

"You don't understand!" Jason stressed. He pressed forward on the table, "Seven kids! I can't have seven kids! That's too much energy that's….that's…" he dropped his head on to his hands in exasperation. Will was beaming, but his gaze had moved from Jason to Nico, which made Nico wonder if he had something on his face. Or perhaps the image of Nico smiling was so novel to him that he had to stare.

Piper walked over, and Nico was happy to not have Will staring at him anymore. He could feel his face turning red and didn't want anyone to notice.

Piper grabbed Jason's shoulders, "Did mom bother you too much?"

Jason gasped, "Seven kids!" He screamed. Nico and Will laughed again.

Piper blinked, "I'm missing something, aren't I?" She shook her head, "Come on, Jason; let's go get you some food." Like he was some feeble puppy, Piper grabbed his arm and led him off to the buffet.

Will smiled, "Well, let's hope it's not as bad as all that for us."

Nico shrugged, "I don't really want kids anyway. I'd be a terrible dad."

Will pursed his lips, "Nah, you'd be a good dad. And, if your kids were ever bad, you could just raise up skeletons and scare them into submission!"

Nico rolled his eyes, "Wow. You'll be a fun father."

Will leaned back on the bench, "Excuse you, sass pants, I'll be an awesome father. I'm gonna adopt nine thousand children and raise a small army. And you know what? We're gonna come after you first. You won't even know it, just one day a brigade of seven thousand small children will be in your yard. You won't even know what's happening and then I'll ride in on a magnificent stallion and we'll storm your house!" Will started doing something that Nico could only assume was a mime of sword fighting.

Nico stabbed at the remainder of his food, "Did you just call me sass pants?"

"Really, that's what you got from this monologue? That was a great monologue, Nico. Filled with pith and moment and all that stuff." Will shook his head in exasperation. The waffle he'd been so eager to have was already eaten, and now he was chewing on an apple rather loudly. And he just kept looking at Nico. Maybe it was that doctor thing. Perhaps he was really good at reading people.

Will put his hand on Nico's shoulder again, "Hey, don't be scared of Aphrodite."

"I'm not scared of Aphrodite," Nico replied.

"Good," Will squeezed his shoulder, "cause you can raise ghosts and command the dead! Don't let some silly fairy goddess scare you."

"I'm not scared," Nico repeated. Will smirked, taking his hand away. Nico could've sworn he moved a bit closer, but he probably didn't.

"Good," Will repeated, "because I'm a little freaked out myself."

"You are?" Nico raised his eyebrows. He couldn't imagine Will being afraid of anything. Will who jumps to the call whenever anyone is sick and injured. Will, who decided to stay at camp just to help new kids adjust. Will, who fought beside him last summer.

He nodded, "Yeah. What if she's all like, 'Will Solace,'" he raised his voice comically high. "'Your true love resides in the bottom of a volcano is Guatemala. Go find him.'"

Nico blinked, "Him?" I must've heard that wrong. People use 'him' all the time. He probably didn't mean it. No. Don't get your hopes up. Nico could feel this very strange fluttery feeling in his chest and wasn't sure if he liked it or not.

Will didn't falter, "Yeah, him. Anyway, I'm not about the quest life. Besides, I've already got a pretty good idea of who-" Nico must've been staring more than he thought, for Will turned and laughed, "What's up, death boy?"

Nico couldn't breathe. He couldn't form words. He very acutely understood how Jason had just felt and regretted laughing at him. Dumbstruck was not even a good enough word to describe it. How could Will just say something so huge so casually? Did he not know what he'd said? Did he not know what it meant?

Will was like him. He was…he was…

"You're…" Nico breathed, "You're…"

Will cocked a brow, "Yes?"

"You're…" Nico nodded.

Solace laughed, "You can say it, DiAngelo. It's not a bad word."

"No!" Nico raised his hands. "No! I don't mean that! Not at all! I just didn't realize you were-"

"Gay," Will finished, without a hint of mocking. He cocked a smile, "Correct, 10 points to death boy!" He said in an impersonation of a game show host, "However, we also would have accepted homosexual, queer, or, my personal favorite, queer as a two dollar bill."

Nico just kept staring. He didn't mean it to be rude, he just couldn't stop staring. Will was like him. There was someone else like him. And it was Will… Stop, it still doesn't mean he likes you in that way. It doesn't mean anything.

He cleared his throat, "That's good. I mean, well, I don't mean… I just…. I am…too."

Will smirked again, "Yes. The sky is blue. The grass is green. My father is Apollo." Nico blinked. "I'm sorry, I thought we were stating things that were obvious." Nico tried to speak but Will cut him off with his laugh, "Seriously, Nico, you didn't think you were the only gay kid at Camp Half-Blood did you?"

Now Nico was bright red, he could just feel it. And Will staring at him was only making it worse. Will wasn't staring in a mocking way…it was a sweet way. It seemed nice, but Nico didn't want to be stared at. He didn't want to be seen. He didn't want this to be a big deal.

So he reverted to his old friend: sarcasm.

"Well we don't exactly have committee meetings, do we?"

Will's eyes lit up, "Oh my gods, we should have committee meetings!" He looked thoughtful, "We could call ourselves the Homosexual Helpers! Or the Gay Brigade! We can go around helping people and fighting bad guys and all that jazz! I'll be like the whole 'seven half-bloods' thing, but 100 time more awesome." Will seemed to be getting some sadistic pleasure from making Nico uncomfortable. How could Will be so casual when Nico wanted to explode? How could he be so easy about something so difficult?

Will nudged him again, "This meeting of the Gay Brigade will have to continue later. I've got a love goddess to go talk to." Will picked up his tray, "See you in a bit, death boy."

He gave a very noticeable wink as he walked off the pavilion.

OOO

Nico hit himself in the face with his pillow. He'd been doing this for approximately an hour and couldn't bring himself to stop. He knows. Will knows. He knows. Will knew about his crush. He knew. How long had he know? Had it been obvious? Why did he never say anything? Did he not feel the same? Was he trying to spare Nico's feelings? Then why would he wink at him and be so flirtatious?

Nico hit himself in the face with his pillow again. It was a strange comfort.

There was a knock on his door. Begrudgingly, he pulled himself out of bed and went off to the door where he found Piper waiting. Worry lines showed themselves on her face, and her usual perfect braid was out of place.

"Nico, she won't leave," Piper said in a moan. "She won't even let me back in and I live there. Please, just go humor her. You're the last one to go and-"

"Okay," he said. Piper must've not been expecting him to agree so readily. She took a second to respond.

"Awesome," she blinked. "I guess I'll just leave you to it then." She raised a worried brow and turned away.

Nico took a deep breath, trying to get in as much oxygen as possible. I can do this. He remembered Will's words. You can raise skeletons, why are you scared?

He was scared because death was easy. Skeletons and ghosts and corpses were natural. They were a part of life. Even people who didn't believe in the gods knew that. But love was so…unnatural, at least to him. It was a foreign concept. Not that he hadn't received love or given love. He'd loved his sister Bianca and their mother too. He even loved his father, and his father loved him…in his own way.

But that wasn't romantic love. It was just friendship/family love, which was a totally different thing. It was a casual thing. A thing often given and received. Romantic love was so weird. Just as common, yet somehow more uncommon. Or maybe just to him. He hadn't loved Percy. He'd liked Percy…he'd been infatuated by Percy…but he liked the image of him better than the actual person. Percy wasn't for him.

Did Nico love Will? He wasn't even sure about that. He certainly liked Will a lot, and in a different way than he had liked Percy. Everyone said love was so easy, love was so simple, but why was it so hard for Nico? Nico, who could shadow travel and raise the dead, was scared and baffled by love.

Opposite ends of the spectrum I guess, he thought as he began his walk to Aphrodite cabin. The statue in the middle of the circle was now shooting out chocolates. It was proving to be a rather dangerous thing, for some Ares kid got hit with one and had gotten a pretty good sized welt on her arm.

Will and I are opposite ends of the spectrum too. Night and day…literally.

He walked to the Aphrodite door, and did not shudder as he took the handle. I can do this. There is nothing to be frightened of. I've been through Hell and back, literally. I can do this. I'm not scared of some fluffy, princess, fairy-

"Nico DiAngelo!" The door slammed behind him as he stepped inside. He was surprised to find it pitch black.

Nico cleared his throat, "Uh, yeah?" He stepped forward with trepidation.

"Love is not an easy thing to forecast," said a dreamy voice. "It is ever changing, like the seasons-"

"Skip the poetics, Aphrodite," Nico said. "There's nothing you can tell me that I don't already know."

"Uh!" The dreamy voice now sounded quite offened. He heard the sound of two sharp claps, and the light flashed on so abruptly that Nico hissed and shut his eyes. When he opened them again, he saw the Aphrodite cabin, looking quite regular. It looked like any other cabin really, just decorated a bit nicer. Each bed had different things for each camper who lived there, but it was overall cleaner and better organized than most.

Nico had been expecting more pink. He'd assumed Aphrodite would've "decorated" the cabin inside too. The goddess herself looked more or less the same as she had earlier and was sitting on a rather small desk chair, looking quite ticked off.

"You're just like your father," she said distastefully. "He always made fun of love too, yet he feels it just as keenly as anyone else." Aphrodite smirked slightly, rising from the chair and moving towards him. She seemed to float, and Nico wondered if she was. Her dress moved like fluid across her body. "And I'd thought you'd like poetics, Nico DiAngelo, judging by your favor towards a certain Apollo camper." Aphrodite said with a smug smile.

Nico crossed his arms, "Serioulsy?"

Aphrodite stuck up her chin, "See? I know all about your love life." She floated closer, "I know your secret…"

"What? That I'm gay and I have a crush on Will Solace?" Nico wasn't sure where this confidence was coming from, but he was really liking it. He watched as Aphrodite gazed at him, her expression and form constantly changing. "Again, don't tell me things I already know." He thought she was going to lash out. He really shouldn't be taunting a goddess like this, and he wasn't sure why he was doing it in the first place. If he'd tried something like this with Zeus, he would've been dead five minutes ago.

But she smiled, "You've grown very brave, Nico. But you are still frightened of love-"

"I'm not frightened of love." He said.

She shook her head, "You're frightened of rejection then."

He did not respond.

Aphrodite put a hand on his shoulder, "But you aren't the only one frightened." She dropped the gesture and began to cross back to her chair. "Another young man came in here before you. A very handsome young man, mind you. He was frightened. He was frightened that a certain son of Hades was disinterested. See, this young man had done a lot to catch the son of Hades's eye. He'd taken care of him at the hospital and tried to spend every moment possible with him. He even stayed here over the summer to spend more time with him." Nico felt this very weird feeling in his stomach. It made him feel like laughing. Or throwing up. He couldn't decide. "But the son of Hades was always very aloof."

Nico didn't say anything. Now she's taunting me.

"So the son of Apollo thought maybe the son of Hades didn't feel the same."

Nico huffed a breath, "Are we done now?"

Aphrodite smiled, floating into her chair, "Not quite. I still haven't give you your forecast yet."

"Goody," Nico deadpanned.

Aphrodite crossed her legs, "But I don't need to give you a forecast, son of Hades." Nico raised a brow. "Because I already gave the son of Apollo his." With that cryptic note, Aphrodite nodded and Nico heard the door behind him open. She gave a little beauty queen wave and Nico turned and left, his head swimming. I already gave the son of Apollo his… What did that even mean?

Piper was outside the door when he left, a waiting look upon her face.

"All yours," he smiled slightly.

She sighed in relief, "Thank goodness! I've so much stuff to get done, and it's hard to do it when Jason is sitting next to me blathering on about seven kids…" She shook her head. "I don't even…I don't want seven kids! And mother is acting like I don't get a say in the matter, when I feel I have a great deal of say in the-"

Nico threw up his hands, "I don't want to hear this."

Piper blushed, "Of course. Sorry." She stepped up into the doorway, "Well, I hope she didn't emotionally traumatize you too badly! See ya around." In lieu of a hug, she squeezed his shoulder in a sisterly way and shut the door behind her. Nico was left outside, where he noted that the statue and pink paint had disappeared. The only thing left of Aphrodite's appearance was a pile of pink, white, and red rose petals on the ground. Nico rolled his eyes at the display, kicking up some of the petals into the air. He still couldn't figure out what Aphrodite had meant, but decided not to think on it too much. It only made him want to crawl back into his cabin and hit himself with his pillow.

What she had said had given him hope though, and he wasn't entirely sure why. It sounded like she was saying that Will liked him back, but it also sounded like she was saying that he thought Nico didn't return the thought. Which Nico could understand, really. He was far too reserved, he knew that. Gods, he'd had a crush on Percy for years and no one was ever the wiser. Nico didn't like to show his feelings to anyone, ever. Showing your feelings made you weak. Wearing your heart on your sleeve was as foolish as going into battle without armor.

This mentality had kept his safe for a long time. Well, it had kept him alone for a long time, which was nearly the same thing. But now he wasn't sure if he wanted to be alone.

He wanted to march right up to Will and tell him how he felt. That's what he should do.

I'm not brave enough for that…

Brave enough? Said a little voice in his head. Of course you're brave enough. You are so brave enough. You are more than brave enough. You've been to Hades. You've been through Tartarus and lived to tell the tale. You lived through not one, but two wars. You transported a crazy, mind-controlling statue cross-continents with a domineering Roman and a crazed satyr. You've stood up to not one, but two love gods.

Brave enough, Nico DiAngelo? You are nothing but brave enough.

Nico took a deep breath, scanning across the crowds for Will. He had to do this now. He had to do this now or he'd never have enough courage too again.

He caught sight of Will's blonde hair across the way, standing (thankfully) alone by the dining pavilion. Nico rushed over, probably looking a bit crazed, but determined to speak his mind. Will looked up when he came over. His smile fell when he saw the contorted look upon Nico's face.

"Are you feeling okay?" Will asked in his healer's way. "Bad visit with Piper's mom?"

"Doyouwanttogoonadatewithme?" Nico blurted out. Instantly, he wished he'd been smoother. Will was always so smooth. Will could get you to agree to something before you even knew what you were agreeing to. Nico didn't seem to have that skill, as he'd just learned in that moment.

Will blinked, "I, um…was that English?" That little smirk grew at the corner of his mouth.

Nico breathed. "I said: Do you want to go on a date with me?"

The two seconds it took for that sentence to process in Will's mind and for him to give and answer was the longest two seconds of Nico's entire life. He saw his whole life flash in front of his eyes at that moment, and saw his own bitter end. Will was going to laugh. He would laugh, then all the campers would laugh, then the whole world would laugh, and the gods would laugh, and then the world would explode into fiery bits and-

"Of course I'll go on a date with you, death boy," Will smiled. "Took you long enough."

"Uh…" Nico sputtered. "I…Good. Well, not good, but good. Like, yeah. Uh." He coughed, "There's like a, uh, Olive Garden right outside camp. We could go there."

"Okay," Will kept smiling. "Sounds fine to me. Do we have Argus drive us or-"

"No," Nico said immediately. "That would be…weird. I could just, uh, shadow travel us there."

Will nodded, "Okay, but I'm paying for dinner." Nico opened his mouth to speak, but Will silenced him. "You're getting us there, I'll pay. When are we going?" Nico blanked, realizing he hadn't really thought this thing through. However, Will seemed to be a step ahead. "How about tonight? Meet outside your cabin at seven?" Nico nodded. "Good. See you then, death boy." With that little smirk of his, Will turned and walked off towards the cabins.

Stepping forward, Nico called out, "Hey! What did Aphrodite talk to you about?"

Will turned, "Nothing much, really. Just to…expect the unexpected." He gave Nico a very acute gaze, then turned back on his way.

Nico couldn't breathe. Had that actually just happened? Will Solace was going on a date with him.

"Oh my gods, Will Solace is going on a date with me," Nico said to himself.

His heart pounded, Will Solace is going on a date with me! He dashed off to his cabin, not caring that people were staring at him wondering why he was running so fast. I have a date! Granted, it was only barely past noon… It didn't matter. Nico had never been on a date before! What do you wear to a date?

Oh my gods, it's just a date! How scary can it be?

Nico wasn't quite sure, but at that moment, he thought he would've preferred Tartarus.