Nico's dreams paralleled reality up to a point. He was still in the infirmary, sitting up in the gurney bed, while Will gently cupped his chin. A devious grin decorated Will's handsome face. Slowly, Will leaned down. However, in Nico's dream, Will did not stop a few inches away.

Warm lips pressed into Nico's. The butterflies within his stomach started to go crazy.

Shutting his eyes, Nico let himself melt into the kiss. One of Will's hands wrapped around the back of Nico's head, tangling with his dark hair. Will's lips were everything Nico had ever dreamed about: soft, gentle, wonderful. Their first kiss was sweet and sensual. But need began to build up within Nico; he grabbed at Will's shirt and pulled him closer, wanting more.

The two boys fell back onto the gurney, both sets of hands wandering as their mouths worked feverishly together. Will's tongue sneaked into Nico's mouth, causing the younger boy to moan. Will chuckled, clearly pleased at the response he'd got. Nico wasn't about to let him win, though. Arching upward, Nico pressed his body into Will's.

Will groaned with pleasure. Nico grinned into the kiss, satisfied.

Nico was in the middle of letting his hands wander south on Will when a voice cut through his dreams.

"Should I jealous of that pillow?"

Blinking sleep out of his eyes, Nico found himself staring into his pillow. Somehow, his pillow had migrated from under his head to in between his arms. There was also a large wet spot on the pillow across from Nico's mouth.

Embarrassment crashed down on Nico. "Oh gods." He hissed, shoving the pillow off the bed. Will, who was standing on the other side, started laughing.

"It looks like you had a good sleep?" Will teased with a big grin.

"Shut up, Will." Nico snapped with annoyance, crossing his arms as he sat up. He was furious at himself that he'd made out with his own damned pillow in his sleep. His cheeks were red as he tried to glare at the demigod that had been the star of his dreams.

His petulance didn't seem to affect the peppy son of Apollo. "But if I shut up, I can't tell you about how I'll be checking you out later today. Checking you out of the infirmary, that is." Pausing, Will leaned towards Nico and clarified mischievously, "Not that I won't be doing the other sort of checking you out."

Nico gaped as heat rushed to his face.

Nico knew that Will liked him. Will knew that Nico knew that. And, based on Will's heart rate experiment yesterday, Nico was pretty sure Will knew that Nico liked him too.

It only made sense that Will was flirting so openly with Nico. However, flirting was an entirely new thing to Nico, and while he didn't dislike it, he didn't know how or if he should reply. The fact that Will had just caught him sucking on his pillow made him even more unsure.

"Y-yea, well, okay then!" Was what Nico managed to splutter out. He was trying to sound fierce, but his voice cracked at the end.

"Okay then." Will repeated, his eyes glittering with amusement.

And that's how the two began a day of lopsided flirting. In between checking on his other patients, Will kept swinging by Nico's bedside. Sometimes he would just make smalltalk, while other times he'd jump right to cheesy lines. One time when he passed by Nico's bed, he stopped and asked the other boy, "Did it hurt when you feel from Heaven?" Before Nico could chastise Will for being so cheesy (and point out that there was no floating Heaven in Greek mythology), the healer was off again, heading to his next patient.

It was almost dizzying to Nico. While he had crushes on guys before, he had never expected to have his feelings returned. No, he never imagined himself on the receiving end of flirtation. Now that he was, Nico was disoriented. By default, he snapped, growled, and rolled his eyes at most of what Will's said. But Will never seemed to mind. It was sort of like he could see right through Nico's grumpy act.

The infirmary grew quieter as the day progressed. Finally, right as the sun was vanishing into the horizon, Nico found himself as the only patient in the infirmary.

Will pushed aside the curtain and sauntered over to Nico's bedside. "Ready to get out of here?" The healer asked.

Nico nodded and huffed, "Yes. It'll be nice to have a break from you."

Clasping a hand over his heart, Will pretended to be emotionally injured by the comment. "Ow, my heart. Here I thought you were enjoying being here because I was here!"

Actually, Nico had sort of enjoyed his day in the infirmary because of the handsome goof. Like I'd tell him that. He thought shyly. So, instead, Nico snorted "Hah!" in reply.

Chuckling, Will started to get to work with the final check-up. Nico tried not to jump as Will's hands wrapped around his arm. "Too bad you're still mine for the rest of the night." Will commented offhandedly as he paused to scribble onto his medical clipboard.

Nico blinked. "What? I thought you said you're releasing me from the infirmary?"

"I am." Will said, suddenly staring intently at Nico. He was smirking. "But tonight's the fireworks show, and you already said you'd come with me."

The fireworks show? Nico had completely forgotten about that. He had promised Will, over a week ago, that he'd would go. However, at the time, he had thought of it as a friend dragging him, as a friend, to the event. Now... now it sounded like a date. Nico wasn't sure if he was ready for that; the idea of a date made him exceedingly nervous. Nico's flight response kicked in automatically.

Nico spluttered out the best excuse he could come up with. "I c-can't go because... um, I have nothing to wear. All my clothes are dirty and I don't want to wear this," He waved at his hospital gown, "to the show."

Will leaned down, grabbed something below the gurney bed, and then stood back up. He dropped a canvas bag onto Nico's lap. "Got you covered." Said Will cheerfully, before giving Nico two thumbs up and turning around. "I'll be out by the door. Come find me when you're dressed."

And that's how Nico found himself, about to go on his first date, holding a bag of mystery clothes.

Gulping nervously, Nico dug into the bag. Luckily, the black jeans in his bag were his jeans. Nico sighed with relief as he tugged off the drawstring infirmary pants and switched into his own pants. However, when he reached into the bag again, the shirt he pulled out was definitely not his. Scowling, Nico stared at the shirt with confusion and annoyance.

It was a light yellow shirt, too bright for Nico's tastes. Besides that, it had a strange print of an grumpy looking brown lion. Nico glanced through the bag again. Unfortunately, Will hadn't provided any other shirts to pick from. Sighing, the Italian switched into the shirt. It was better then the baggy, blue infirmary shirt.

After putting on his shoes, Nico walked out to meet Will by the door of the infirmary. The moment that Will spotted Nico, he straightened up and giggled, "That shirt is perfect for you." Nico raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask for an explanation. He had a feeling it was some sort of stupid American pop culture thing.

"I would have preferred one of my shirts." Nico grumbled.

"Sorry." Will said, but he didn't sound like he meant it. Nico tried not to blush (unsuccessfully) when Will grabbed his hand. "Come on, we don't want to be late!"

Nico was too distracted by how well their hands fit together to argue. As ridiculous as it was, the warmth from Will's hand was sending hot chills up his arm. We're holding hands, Nico thought with amazement. Not only that, but Will had intertwined their fingers, just like a couple.

There was already a crowd gathering on the hill of Camp Half Blood. Some of the campers had brought blankets, while others relaxed on the dewy grass. Nico spotted several couples cuddled up together, which only made him more nervous.

They ran into Jason at the bottom of the Hill. "Oh, hey Will, hey Nico – or should I say, Scar?" Jason laughed at his own random joke. Nico, on the other hand, hadn't a clue what on earth he was talking about. Scar? Where on earth did he get that stupid nickname from?

Before Nico could ask, Jason's eyes reached Will and Nico's intertwined hands and he froze. A small gasp escaped the son of Zeus. His expression changing to a devious smirk, Jason asked slyly, "Come to watch the Fireworks together?"

The darkness helped hide the heat that rose to Nico's cheeks.

Calling upon his powers, Nico was about to have a skeleton emerge right from under Jason when Will politely replied, "Yep, together. By ourselves. See you around!" Nico's heart skipped at a beat at the fierce way that Will had said by ourselves.

Will dragged Nico far away from the crowd. When Will finally stopped, Nico could barely see the other campers. Why'd he pick a spot so far away? Nico wondered, licking his lips apprehensively.

"This looks good!" Will declared, before plopping down onto the grass. Because their hands were still intertwined, Nico found himself yanked down too.

Nico ended up sprawled on the wet grass. Frustrated by the antics of his crush, Nico let out a low growl. However, Nico's growl of annoyance was cut short when Will rolled on top of him.

"I'm not a patient guy." Will said curtly, his blue eyes fixing on Nico's. Nico suddenly found it hard to breath, and it wasn't because Will's weight on top of him. "And I've wanted to do this for a while."

It was like Nico's dream, but this time it wasn't a dream.

Will closed the space between them. Nico shut his eyes right as warm lips pressed into his. He's kissing me. Nico thought, This is my first kiss. Every inch of Nico felt hammering in his chest, Nico worked up the courage to press into the kiss.

When the two broke apart, a few long seconds later, they both were blushing. "Whoa." Nico whispered breathlessly.

Will smiled down at him. In the night sky above Will's head, a firework exploded. The glittering lights cast a colorful glow onto his blond hair. Nico found himself captivated by the sight. "I know I invited you here to watch the show," Will growled sensually, "but I think I'd rather kiss you."

Nico didn't protest.

The fireworks crackled in the sky above them. As the rest of the campers marveled at the display, Nico and Will were too distracted to care. To them, the world disappeared, leaving only two young men in the early throes of love.

- x -

September 2018 A/N:
Well hello there, I hope you've enjoyed this Solangelo story.
If you're in the mood for a little more Solangelo romance,
check out my other stories, both new and old!
For a cute one shot, check out The Cat in the Hat's Vampire!
For a longer, more dramatic story, check out Cobalt Blue!