I'll be honest, I thought this was going in an entirely different direction than it did, but that's okay, because this is super fluffy Solangelo/ Nico, Will, and Cecil friendship. Don't worry, Lou Ellen makes an appearance, of course. Oh and we have an Apollo-approved Haiku by yours truly. Me! I hope you enjoy!

The grass tickled the exposed skin on his ankles, and dug into the palms of his hands. The sun battered on his skin so violently, one would think his sickly skin tone had personally offended it. He knew hadn't, as the sun itself had told him through rather horrid verse how much he meant to him.

Oh! Darling Nico

Dark, brooding, mysterious;

Apple of Will's eye

He had given Apollo a glare when he had first given the haiku to him; in the form of a card with a smiling sun and a little skeleton on the front, and complained to Will for days that his father was annoying, that it was weird to give your son's fifteen-year-old boyfriend a poem. But, he secretly did enjoy it—it was tangible proof that he was accepted by Will's family—and showcased it in a glass-doored armoire located in the Hades Cabin. Will probably noticed it, but he had enough tact not to mention it. He was annoying, stubborn, and talkative, but he knew where the boundary was. That was one of the things that drew Nico to him in the first place. One of the things that made Will one of the few people he'd let in.

Will sat beside him, legs sprawled out on the grass, which matched the moss-color of his cargo shorts near perfectly. His recently bought sneakers had small suns on them that peeked through the green spokes, and he wore his favorite t-shirt—one with Chewbacca on it that was well-worn and had loose threads on the sleeves and helm that Nico had to physically restrain from yanking—and an ace-bandage wrapped around his right wrist. He wasn't injured, he had told Nico years ago when they first met and the latter had inquired about the bandage, he just liked to fidget with it.

Despite his boyfriend's average attire, to Nico he looked ethereal. Like the gods had dug into his brain and fished out the perfect boy. His father's light created a halo around him, and at quick glance, one might mistake him for an angel. To Nico, Will was an angel. A gift after a life filled with tragedy. He still had trauma, still woke up most nights shivering from nightmares, still jumped when thunder cracked and lightning struck outside his window, still cried when the room was too small and the walls were closing in, but Will made life bearable. He was the gold at the end of the rainbow; the reason that all the pain and darkness had occurred. Because if he hadn't gone through so much, then he wouldn't have met Will or Reyna or any of his other friends. He wouldn't have saved Hazel. And they were all very important to him.

He and Will sat in silence, taking in the picturesque view that Camp Half-Blood had to offer. Just on the edge of the horizon, they could see the construction of a few new cabins. Nico couldn't specifically remember which ones, but he knew Morpheus had a young daughter, given she had cheerily walked up to him at breakfast that morning to tell him he looked like he had nightmares. Like Nico needed a nine year old to tell him that. To their left were the strawberry fields, which glistened in the sun, and seemed to dance despite there being no satyrs, Demeter, or Dionysus children around. From this distance, Camp looked almost like a place where normal children and teens would congregate. That thought brought a small smile to his lips.

They weren't touching, content to just bask in each other's presence as the time passed without the screams of fighting siblings and friends. Nico wanted it to last forever.

The silence came to a stop as Nico heard the crunching of grass underneath someone's feet as they approached from the right, and Nico turned to see Cecil Markowitz rushing towards him and Will, a bright smile on his face.

"Will, Nico!" Cecil shouted when he was an ear's length away, a bright, mischievous smile on his elf-like features. He jogged closer and stopped at Will's side. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"We just wanted some quiet," Will said. Nico could see Will reach for the bandage on his wrist, the serene, comfortable silence gone in a flash. "Which you don't provide."

Cecil gasped, putting his hand to his forehead as he fake-fainted into Will's lap. His hair sprawled over the moss-green like dirt, and he closed his eyes to dramatically state, "Oh, Will, how you wound me."

Will pushed Cecil lightly, but the Hermes boy made no move to leave Nico's boyfriend's lap. Instead, Will's fingers dropped from the bandage and found themselves in Cecil's hair, coiling and uncoiling curls.

Nico shifted, the grass parting slightly, but not wilting. "Are you just here to cuddle with my boyfriend, or are you actually going to tell us why you came?"

Cecil whistled, glancing back at Nico as best as he could. "Jealous, di Angelo?"

"Hades no, just annoyed that Will has such annoying friends." He paused for a moment, "Which honestly shouldn't be a surprise, given how annoying he is."

"Hey!" Will complained, taking one hand to reach out and flick Nico on the forehead, "I happen to be the perfect blend of charm and charisma, Mr. Dark Lord."

Nico scrunched his nose at him, "You keep telling yourself that, Sunshine." Despite his previous insistence and not being jealous, he scooched over slightly so he could burrow himself into Will's side, careful to avoid Cecil's flailing limbs.

"Nico, however incorrect about his assumptions that I am annoying, did ask a valid question, Cee," Will began after making sure Nico was comfortably situated under his left arm. "Do you need something, or were you just bored?"

"Lou's giving a tour to a new Hecate kid, Connor and Travis are working at the store, and Alice and Julia recruited some Terpsichore kid to help them choreograph a dance number for the talent show next week." Cecil said in lieu of explanation.

"Bored," said Nico and Will simultaneously, which made Will burst into a fit of laughter, squeezing Nico's shoulder with every breath. Nico cracked a tiny grin at his boyfriend's antics.

Cecil twisted his head so instead of basking in Apollo's beams with his eyes shut, he could look the two other boy's in the eyes. "Laugh at my expense, will you?"

Nico reached over and plucked a coil of Cecil's hair, allowing it to bounce back violently like a pop-up popper. "I can only poke fun at Doctor Solace over here for so long before I need to find other people to make fun of." The back of his mind fluttered through the thoughts of the revolution to the very idea of touching someone's hair he harbored only a year ago.

"You are so mean to me," Cecil lamented.

"Love you too, Death Boy," said Will, rolling his eyes.

Nico pecked Will on the cheek, "Don't you always say rolling your eyes is bad for you?"

Will rolled them again, and Cecil chuckled, "Nico, you're dating a hypocrite."

"Oh, don't I know." Nico said fondly. "He's un idiota gigantesco, and he knows it."

"But, I'm your gigantic idiot, right?" Cecil fake gagged, so Will bounced his knee, making Cecil jump.

"What was that for?" whined Cecil.

Will gave him his award-winning smile, but didn't reply.

They sat for a moment, Cecil glaring at Will with little heat, before a new voice spoke up. "Oh my gods, you're having a cuddle session and I'm not invited? How dare you!"

Nico stiffened slightly, having not heard the person's approach like he did Cecil's, but let out a breath when he realized who the voice belonged to.

Lou Ellen Blackstone stood at the base of Cecil's feet, arms crossed and lips pouted. On her left was a girl a few years younger than the others, about twelve, with the same bottle-cap green eyes Lou Ellen had. Her hands were stuck in her pockets, and she shifted uncomfortably in her lime-green high-tops, creating indents in the grass and mud.

"Sorry, Lou," Will said, before looking at the other girl. "You must be the new Hecate kid! I'm Will Solace and I'm the son of Apollo, and this dramatic kid on my lap is Cecil Markowitz, son of Hermes, and the goth one is my boyfriend, Nico di Angelo, son of Hades." Leave it to Will to be formal while having two boys using him as a stuffed animal. "I'm also the head medic, so while it's nice to meet you, I really hope I won't be having to see you much."

"I'm Lola Quartz," said the girl, looking at Lou Ellen for support. "And you're the head medic? Aren't you like seventeen?"

"Actually, I'm fifteen, nearly sixteen," said Will with a bright grin.

"That's worse!" cried Lola.

Lou Ellen tapped her newly claimed sister assuringly on the back. "Will's got the brains of a doctor who's been practicing for twenty years. I trust him more than my pediatrician at home."

"The creepy one that gives you the heebie-jeebies?" asked Cecil.

"Wow, thanks for the comparison," commented Will.

Lou Ellen leaned over Cecil to slap will in the head, "It was a compliment, you buffoon."

"Will doesn't know how to take compliments," Nico told her.

Will glanced down at Nico. "That's rich coming from you, Death Boy."

"My dad's the god of wealth, everything I do is rich."

"You did not just say that, di Angelo."

"So what if I did?"

Lou Ellen cleared her throat, ending the ping pong conversation between the two. "Enough with the bickering, you two. I actually just came to show Lola the strawberries, and then saw my friends betraying me so I thought we'd come scold you guys. I do have to finish the tour though, and make sure Lola's stuff all made it to Cabin 20 alright. I think the Hephaestus Cabin made some new contraption to transfer items from one place to another, so I hope Harley didn't rig up any explosives. We'll see you guys later, and I expect a cuddle pile upon my arrival!"

Lou Ellen grabbed Lola's hand and dragged her, ignoring the younger girl's screeching of, "What do you mean, explosives‽"

Cecil propped himself up slightly so he could watch the retreating Hecate girls, "Ah, to be young and naive again."

Nico crinkled his nose, "I can barely remember that now."

"Probably because you were dipped in the Lethe," stated his boyfriend.

Nico slapped Will on the arm wrapped around him as best he could, "I cannot with you right now, you idiota." Somehow, the jab at his past didn't send him into spirals like it would years ago. In fact, it even brought the barest of a smile to his lips.

Will pressed a kiss to his forehead, Cecil gagged, and Will jolted his knee so Cecil would collapse back down.

"Ouch!" cried Cecil, rubbing his back in pain, "I think you broke my spine!"

Will raised his right hand, the ace-bandage dangling precariously between his thumb and pinky fingers. "Doctor here. You're fine."

"Probably shouldn't get on his bad side, Cee," Nico noted, "After all, he's the one to fix you up when your pranks go wrong."

"Firstly, they never go wrong." Cecil sat up and turned around, readjusting himself so he sat on Will's calves, facing Nico. "Secondly, Will loves me too much for that."

"That's debatable."

"Why, you little—" Cecil threw himself at Will and tackled him to the ground. Nico, seeing the move as it was coming, managed to detach Will's arm from around him so he could remain sitting.

"Cee, oh my gods," Will squealed, "Get off me, you oaf!"

Nico couldn't help it; he laughed. A hearty, loud cackle that vibrated through his body.

"You traitor!" Will yelled when he saw Nico doubled over, "I thought you were on my side!"

Nico wanted to give a snarky reply, but he was too busy laughing to form a coherent sentence. The tears blocked his vision, which was how Will managed to grab ahold of him and yank him down.

"Will!"

"That's what you get for siding with Cecil!" Will laughed.

Soon, all three were cackling, and Nico's fleeting thoughts were; the gold at the end of the rainbow was much more than I ever expected.

And he wouldn't give it up for anything.