"Someone woke up on the extra sunny side of bed today." Cecil smirked.

Will's smile widened, "I think-I think Nico's going to go home for Christmas."

It was three days later, after the afternoon in the secret room and the lockdown had been lifted. Nico had also been asked by Hazel to accompany her home for Christmas. He'd said no, his father preferred it when he wasn't there but he'd talked to Will about it and that same evening, he called his father to book him a flight home. Will told him he didn't have to use it in the end but encouraged him to make an effort. And he thought he'd really be going.

"Um okay?" Cecil was confused, obviously, he didn't know what Will did but Will didn't elaborate. Instead, he asked if he wanted to come along to see him off. "Sure. He's a cool guy. He deserves to be told good luck."

Will grinned and together they made their way downstairs. He was glad to see Nico was there putting luggage in the trunk of a taxi.

"You are going right?" Will asked him.

Nico nodded, "Yeah... You were right. I need to talk to him and for Hazel's sake. Bianca might not be here but she is and she deserves a full family."

Will smiled, "Yeah. I'm proud of you Neeks."

Nico rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah, don't get all touchy feely on me."

Will laughed, "Alright. Have a good time."

Cecil clapped him on the back, "Good luck, Nico."

Nico glowered at him, most likely for slapping him. "Thanks."

Cecil grinned like Nico wasn't just wishing him to die an untimely death. "No problem."

Nico turned back to the cab. "Bye Solace."

"Bye Neeks."

He got in the cab and noticed Hazel was already in there. As soon as Nico closed the door the taxi drove away.

Will sighed, "There he goes."

Cecil snorted, "You're acting like your child's not coming back."

Will frowned, "He's not my child."

"But he is your boyfriend."

Will blushed and mumbled, "Not yet." Then he turned away and walked back inside. Reyna and Lou were waiting for them.

They both stopped in their tracks and Will had to remind himself that he wasn't supposed to know about what happened between them.

"Lou! I haven't seen you in forever. Where the hell have you been? Your best friend needs you!" Will scolded her and wrapped her in a hug. In reality he really had missed her. It hadn't been much but she was his best friend.

Lou scoffed, "Stop being so overdramatic Will. It's like you haven't seen me in weeks."

He pulled away, "Okay well what have you been up to?"

She blushed and Will immediately knew that after shed told Reyna, it had gone well. And it was a perk that they just happened to be roommates. "Uh well. I just happened to -"

Reyna cut her off, rolling her eyes. "Were dating now." To prove her point, she wedged herself between Will and Lou, grabbed Lou's face and kissed her.

Cecil leaned in close to Will, "Pay up."

"What?"

"We bet on it."

"No we didn't!"

"Oh right, that was in my head but I thought I'd be able to trick you."

Before Will answered Reyna and Lou pulled away. Lou was blushing furiously. She resembled a ripe summer strawberry. Reyna only smiled and took Lou's hand in hers. "Ta-ta motherfuckers we've got a date to get to."

Will grinned and watched them go, "Have fun!"

He was dying to talk to Lou about Nico but he was also glad she had conquered her crush. At least one of them had. Not that he was complaining, he was okay with Nico just being his friend. He just kinda wished they were more at the same time. But whatever, he'd get over him in time.

At least he hoped so.

~~~

Unfortunately, throughout break, Lou and Reyna were all lovey dovey and that left no time for Lou and Will so he was stuck with Cecil the entire time. He didn't mind, Cecil was his best friend as well but he missed Lou terribly. They've known each other forever, or what felt like forever. And suddenly not having her around was completely weird. Either way, they still managed to have a good time. Will took the two weeks to catch up on archery. He hadn't done that in a while. And he was glad to find out his gift for the sport was still there. Cecil on the other hand, still wasn't great. No, he wasn't terrible, but he missed more times than not. He still had a while to go before he perfected it. If he ever did.

"Wonderful Will." Chiron praised him. "I'm happy to see you haven't lost practice." Cecil pouted when he didn't say such nice words to him.

Chiron was the vice principal and director of extracurricular activities. Like archery for one. Which students who stayed over breaks could take. He also happened to be one of the few teachers that stayed over break. All students knew was that most of his family was dead and the ones who lived traveled too much for him to be able to visit. So he stayed. It wasn't a problem for anyone though, all the students loved him.

Will and Cecil spent most of their times in Chiron's extra classes. Will's personal favourite was plant medicine. (He got to learn about using simple herbs and the likes to make remedies of all sorts and he loved it. Cecil just enjoyed eating any plants that were edible while Will chewed him out for it. And yet, he still did it. But he was great with a dagger.

Finally, finally, Nico and Hazel came back the day before school started again. Will made sure to be sitting at the fountain in front of the school's front steps when their taxi came in. He stood when Nico exited the cab. He helped them both take out their luggage and bring them up to their rooms in silence. Frank was waiting for Hazel at her door and blushed when he realized he hadn't gone down to help with her suitcases. He apologized profusely but Hazel only laughed and gave him a kiss. That shut him up effectively. She only turned to say thanks to Will before going in her room, Frank trailing behind her with her things.

Will sighed and looked at Nico as he took one of his suitcases, "So how did it go?"

Nico looked out through a passing window facing the front fountain with a Greek goddess holding a bowl of fruit and, Will noticed, he looked relaxed. He hoped that was a good thing and it meant that things had gone well. His hopes came true.

"It actually went well. We talked and well...we talked things through. Like everything else, it won't be fixed overnight or two weeks for that matter but we'll get there. It'll be okay."

Will grinned, "I'm glad to hear that. I'm really happy for you di Angelo. I mean it."

"I know you do, Solace." He sighed, "I learned a couple of things while I was there too."

"Like what?" They walked up the stairs slowly and then continued slowly down the hall.

"Like Persephone is a great step mom, she might not be my mother but she's nice. I'm glad she's there. And Bianca wouldn't have wanted me to be upset with my dad. He realized that one too and that's what led us to talk. And Hazel isn't Bianca so I have to stop treating her like she's gone too. I know I do that sometimes so that has to change. She's her own whole separate person. So I have to treat her that way. She's my sister too and I love her so she has to see that and I have to show her that."

Will smiled down at him as they finally reached his door. "That's great Neeks. I knew it'd be okay."

Nico smiled as he opened the door and Will's whole world lit up, "Thank you."

He brought his things inside and Will helped. "For what?" He finally asked once they were standing inside.

"For being my friend." He shrugged and looked away. He looked out of his window.

Will cocked his head, "Any time." When Nico didn't say anything again, Will turned to go but when he was at the door Nico talked again.

"Will?"

He stopped under the doorframe. "Yeah?"

Nico took a couple steps to reach him but he was still looking towards the window. "There was one more thing."

"What was it?"

"That Percy -" he stopped abruptly, he didn't seem to like how he'd phrased whatever it was he wanted to say in his head. He started again. "Percy's cute but he's not really my type."

Will suddenly felt like maybe his wish was coming true. "Oh?"

He finally looked up at him and their eyes met. "And I think it'll start getting hard to be just friends when I like you this much." Before Will processed what he'd said, Nico grabbed his shirt and brought him down for a kiss. Will's eyes went wide with the realization of what Nico had just said and the fact that Nico had actually initiated the kiss, before his eyes closed and he begun to kiss him back.

Soon enough, they were making out in the doorway to Nico's room.

Nico's hands eventually removed themselves from gripping his shirt and maneuvered themselves into his hair, tugging at the strands. Will absolutely loved it. Will's arms wrapped around Nico's torso and brought him closer to him. When they ran out of air and pulled away Nico muttered, "It's even softer."

Will frowned, "What?"

"Your hair."

Will's already flushed cheeks took on a darker tint. "Oh."

"Will?" He was whispering now.

"Yeah?" He whispered back, still out of breath.

"I hope this means you're my boyfriend."

"Hell yeah I am." He said before dipping down to kiss him again.

then