Will's POV

He doesn't know why it feels so good. He's kissed people before; quick pecks at dances, sitting on the edge of his bed, sprawled out across the park in the dead of night, watching stars glitter above them. But this, with his arm around Nico's waist, sitting on the edge of the bunk as they hear voices in the distance, feels different. He feels closer to Nico, as if they're being pulled together by some invisible force that wants Will to find something special, finally, after so many years of conversations fizzling out and first dates gone wrong. This is the first time he's felt this spark, something between them that feels like fizzling electricity, something that makes him want to keep kissing and never stop. 

There are points when he thinks they'll just keep going. Nico has never seemed to be the type of person to have much stamina but their lips stay locked, Nico's hand gripping the back of Will's head, and the only thing that crosses his mind is that, if they never stopped, he'd be happy. But then they hear the door swing open and Percy and Austin walk in, laughing about something that Will doesn't know about. The laughter dies down when they see Will and Nico sitting two inches apart, Nico's face flushed and Will's chest heaving as he fights to catch his breath. Percy cocks an eyebrow and Austin glances at Percy, grinning. Austin has sort of an I told you so look in his eyes, and it makes Will's skin feel sticky. 

"Did we interrupt something?" Percy asks, his eyes darting from Nico to Will back to Nico, his smile growing with every passing second.

"No," Nico says, shaking his head. "Will was just showing me his comic book." Nico glances at him and Will nods, subtly enough that he hopes Percy and Austin won't notice. Although Will has never been the most subtle person, so they probably did. 

"Haven't heard that innuendo before," Austin says with a cocky grin that makes Will want to punch him in the face. "I'll have to use that on someone at some point. Ask someone to come look at your comic book collection and five minutes later you're making out." As he passes them he claps Will on the shoulder, shaking his head. "You have more game than I gave you credit for." 

"I-" Will wants to say something sharp and witty, something that will make Austin regret opening his mouth in the first place. But his face is burning and his emotions feel like a tangled knot inside of his brain so he shakes his head, leaning back on his bed and groaning softly. Nico is still next to him, his hands tucked between his legs and his shoulders hunched as if he's trying to shrink himself. His face is usually so pale it's strange to see it glowing bright red, his skin emanating heat. 

"I'm gonna-" Nico doesn't finish his sentence, but he gets his point across by awkwardly nodding at his bunk as if he can't stand to get words past his lips. Will understands that feeling well. He's feeling it right now as if anything that he says will come out as jumbled a mess as his thoughts are. 

"Yeah." Will bobs his head, staring at the ground. "Cool." He can't believe that's all he has to say. He's sitting on his bunk with the boy that he likes, the thought of their kiss fresh in his mind and embarrassment fresh on his face, and all he can think to say is cool. Maybe he doesn't deserve a relationship. 

He presses his back into the wall, pulling his legs up to his chest like a shield to the world and propping his comic book upon his knees. Over the top of it, he can see Percy flash Nico a thumbs up, an eye roll from Nico before he flops onto his bed, burying his face in his pillow as Percy shakes his head, mouthing something to Austin on the bunk above Will before climbing up onto his own. There's too much tension in the room for Will's liking; too many words left unsaid, emotions left unexpressed. They're all brimming with opinions, thoughts on the kiss. But none of them wants to start the conversation so it gets left hanging in the air, waiting for the word to break the tension that never comes. 

Nico's POV

Dinner that night is forty-five minutes of knees awkwardly bumping together, full-face blushes every time hands touch over the butter knife, stammering out a request for the bowl of mashed potatoes. It's a stress-inducing, hormonally charged trainwreck and he wants out. Percy and Austin do their best to bridge the awkward gaps between conversations, talking about that day's activities, or gossiping about people in school. But, for the most part, he and Will are silent, and it's as if the kiss sent them back to the beginning of the trip when Nico was too scared to open his mouth. 

Percy pulls him aside on their walk to the campfire that night, his face shrouded in shadows as the sun sets behind them. There's a strangely worried look on his face as if they're in the middle of a life and death situation and not high schoolers dealing with relationship drama if you could even call what he and Will have a relationship. "You're such an awkward person, you know that?" Percy says, glancing around to make sure that no one's close enough to hear them. There's something oddly thrilling to Nico about keeping their kiss a secret, as if opening it up to the general public of the junior class will ruin his life forever. That, and he thinks that if anyone found out, he wouldn't even be able to stammer out a reply.

"Yeah, Percy, I know," Nico says, his tone flat. "I'm the one living it." 

"That doesn't give you an excuse to kiss a guy and then ignore him all through dinner," Percy says. His arms are crossed over his chest and as Nico glances at the ground, kicking around a rock with his shoe, Percy raises an eyebrow. "You know I'm right." 

"Yeah," Nico says with a heavy sigh, glancing past Percy's shoulder at the bonfire that's burning a hundred yards away. The rest of the class are singing campfire songs; no one's even noticed that they're gone and normally, Nico would enjoy that. The ability to slip into the trees and disappear away from the untrained eye has always appealed to him. But now, with Percy staring him down, he wants to be singing songs with everyone else, the low glow of the fire lighting up his face with an orange glow. 

"You like him, don't you? I can tell." 

"I don't-" Nico purses his lips, staring down at the ground. He crosses his arms over his chest as a gust of wind blows through the forest; he doesn't know when it got so cold but now, there's a chill in his bones and it won't go away. "I don't know. I've only really known him for a few days." 

"It's not like it takes a long time to develop a crush," Percy says. "Besides, I've noticed you looking at him before this trip. You always thought he was cute, and now he kissed you and you kissed him and nothing is stopping you." 

"I guess," Nico says, still staring at the ground. It's dark enough out that he can't see the tiny details on the ground that he can usually see; the pebbles, the beetles crawling across the ground, the individual grains of dirt that he can usually pick out so clearly. It makes him feel slightly dizzy, to see something that he's familiarized himself with become unclear in the dark. 

"Listen, I'm not going to tell you what to do, because I know you won't listen." At least Percy has that part right. "Just think about talking to him. I think it could help." Nico sighs heavily, kicking around a rock that he can barely see in the dark. The thought of talking- really, truly talking to Will- makes his heart beat erratically in his chest, and his palms reach a level of sweatiness that he didn't think was possible. But even as much as he hates to admit it, Percy's right. Something is sitting atop his heart, something that he can't yet identify. Maybe it's longing, maybe it's lust, maybe it's nothing more than a harmless crush that will go as quickly as it came. But whatever it is, Percy's right. It's worth investigating. 

"I'll think about it," Nico says, a tiny smile spreading across his lips. He doesn't want to give Percy the total gratification of being right but it seems to satisfy him enough so that he slings his arm around Nico's shoulders, pulling him close. 

"We should get back to the group," Percy says, grinning. "Your lover will start to wonder where you went." 

"He's not my-" Nico begins before his sentence cuts off and he heaves a sigh, shaking his head. He doesn't have time to banter with Percy because, in the end, Percy will always win. He doesn't have time to joke about Will or contemplate the what-ifs that come so far down the path of the future that Nico can't even see them. Because, even though he expected this trip to be relaxing, it turns out that he has a lot to consider. 

Will's POV

He's worried the minute Percy and Austin leave the cabin to brush their teeth, hurrying out the door as if something is exciting about squeaky sinks in a bathroom that fifty teenage boys have been sharing for the past few days. He's been worried since he caught Percy staring at him over dinner, since he noticed Percy and Nico hiding in the shadowy outskirts of the forest, talking furtively about something that Will couldn't hear. But when Nico's face goes pale as Percy throws him a wink, Will feels a dead weight drop in the pit of his stomach. 

"So," Nico says, turning towards Will with fear flashing in his eyes. There's a glimmer of sweat running across his brow line, and he forces a fake smile onto his face. "I feel like there's something we should talk about." Will can hear the sounds of the quiet night outside the cabin, the low chirp of the crickets and the water lapping up against the shore. It feels as if the world is holding its breath, waiting for someone to make a move. Will's chest feels tight with the same breath as he watches Nico draw closer, every move made with a purpose. 

"Yeah." Will glances down at his hands. The bright, bubbly person that he usually is has been replaced, for the time being, a nervous wreck taking his place.  

"The kiss." 

"Yeah," Will says with a heavy sigh. "The kiss." The memory is still heavy in his thoughts, weighed down by both the good things-the pounding of his heart, the way that Nico's skin felt underneath his hand- and the feelings of uncertainty that came after. "I thought it was good, but if you don't feel the same way, and you regret it, I understand. It was kinda unexpected." 

"I liked it." Nico's words tumble quickly out of his mouth as if he's scared they won't come out if he doesn't talk fast enough. "And I know we don't know each other that well, but I feel something between us. Like, I can't explain it, but it's there." He laughs and it comes out short and stressed as he runs his hand through his hair, his foot tapping incessantly on the floor. 

"No, I get it," Will says. "It's like, we probably wouldn't have talked if we hadn't been in the cabin together, but we were and it was kinda like we were meant to meet, one way or another." He's feeling strangely brave. He can't exactly explain it. A shot of adrenaline rushes through his veins and it lets him take a step closer, tells him to reach out a hand. A shiver runs up his spine and Nico stares up at him with an entire universe inside of his eyes. He's pale, and it could either be from fear or excitement; Will knows that he's feeling both. 

"I get exactly what you mean," Nico says, his voice barely above a breathless whisper. Will can hear his heart beating in his ears, roaring like thunder and the adrenaline that still whispers in his ears tell him to lean down so he does, pressing a slow, soft kiss to Nico's lips. It isn't much. It isn't the types of kisses he's seen in the movies, the one with fireworks behind their head. But it's filled with passion, and hope for the future and Will hopes that Percy and Austin never come back. 

Nico's POV

The rest of the trip goes by in a blur. He's almost out of touch with reality, amid the wild ways of the woods, the wind knocking at the walls of their cabin at night. He's living the beginning of a fairy tale romance, the part with the prince and the princess before the evil witch comes and snatches their happiness away. But soon the evil witch comes in the form of a big yellow bus and he finds himself packing up his bathing suit, his toothbrush, making sure that the friendship bracelet Will had made him that morning is tight around his wrist. The cabin looks strange without clothes strewn across the wooden floors, without the scent of flames from last night's bonfire sticking to the air. He fiddles with his friendship bracelet as he stares at the cabin, watching Percy struggle to find his lucky underwear as Mr. Brunner yells that they have five minutes until they have to get on the bus.

"Have you seen them?" Percy asks, his hands sitting on his hips, wild eyes staring at Nico. 

"Sorry, Perce," Nico says.

"Fuck, I can't lose those," Percy says, getting down on his hands and knees as he shines his flashlight underneath the bed. "I wore those on the day I took my algebra final that helped me not fail the class." Nico nods.

"Good luck." 

"You're no help," Percy sighs, turning away from Nico. "Maybe I left them in the outhouse." He makes a beeline for the door and as Percy sprints for the bathroom in a mad dash against time Will appears at his shoulder, the heat from his body chasing away the chill that's wrapped Nico in his clutches. 

"Why would he have left them in the outhouse?" Will asks. "Wouldn't he have noticed if he had walked out without his underwear?" 

"Knowing Percy, probably not," Nico says. His tone is flat and he knows it. Every action he makes seems to convey his worries for the future, whether he means to or not. It's clear that Will notices it and he sets a gentle hand on Nico's back. 

"What's up?" 

"Do you think that things are gonna be different?" 

"Different how?" 

"I don't know. Like, we had the kiss and things are going well so far, but we haven't been living in the real world. Like, are we gonna get back to school and just drift apart?" Nico's voice cracks at the end, and part of him can't explain why he's so emotional. It's not like they've been together for a long time, like the switch back to reality is going to mess up a long term relationship. But for the first time in a long time, he has something real, something that he wants to hold onto, something that excites him, and he's just realizing that this switch could upend it so bad it would be like it never happened in the first place. 

Will sighs a warm sigh, rubbing Nico's back softly. That's something that Nico hadn't expected, the soft touches and the quick pecks. Somehow the tiny actions feel more intimate than the grand kisses, as if they're in a real relationship. It's these, more than the big kisses, that make Nico feel warm, make his brain go fuzzy. He doesn't need the kisses, not really. They're an added benefit, sure, but he doesn't know what he'll do if he loses those soft touches that make his heart explode. "Do you want things to be different?" Will asks quietly. 

"No. I like how things are going now," Nico says, staring down at the floor. "I'm just scared that we're not gonna be able to help it. It's like- I've been living in a dream, but I'm about to wake up." 

"If we want it, though, we can make it work. Besides, we don't know what it's gonna be like when we get back to school. We might flourish. We'll be a power couple." Will wraps his arm around Nico's waist and Nico feels his face flush as he laughs quietly. "Come on, I think Percy found his underwear. We should get on the bus." He kisses Nico's cheek softly and they turn around, their backs to the cabin. Just before they leave Nico turns back, taking one final the snapshot of the room before it's lost forever. The corner where he and Percy had their conversation after the kiss, Will's bunk where Nico had read Superman over Will's shoulder, where they had finally kissed after so many months of glances in the hallway, a head of blond hair popping up in his dreams. They haven't been there for that long but to Nico, it feels like a lifetime. His entire world feels as if it has been flipped upside-down, a life filled with loneliness turned into one with the possibility of romance. "Nico?" 

"Yeah?" He snaps out of his reverie at the sound of Will's voice, and the memories flicker and die from the front of his mind. 

"We gotta go. I know for a fact that Mr. Brunner really will leave us here if we're late." He pulls on Nico's sleeve gently and with a sigh, he turns around. The wooden door swings shut behind them, and Nico feels as if he's been cut off of something special. He's leaving a completely different world, and might never get the chance to return. 

They end up with a seat at the front, the back rows bursting with students who don't want to sit next to Mr. Brunner for the next hour and a half. The sky outside is dark and condensation from the cool air clings to the windows like tears cried from invisible eyes. Mr. Brunner counts heads and just like that, the bus jolts and tires squeal against the pavement and they're off. Nico feels the ties he feels to the camp snap and ricochet against his back. The feeling of leaving stings, the feeling of uncertainty about his relationship, whether or not they'll be able to stay together amid the hectic, judgemental hell called high school. 

When Will pulls him closer into his chest, his arm snaking around Nico's back, he feels a sense of warmth that he's never felt before. It's started to rain again and he can hear the drops pattering against the roof of a bus. He feels as if he's floating, with the darkness and the rain around him, the bus the only spot of brightness in the world. Will's body is warm and his breaths steady and slow, and Nico thinks that he doesn't mind it, being afloat in a sea of nothingness. It's calming, in a way, to listen to only the rain and the quiet hum of the engine, because he's too nervous about what will happen when they get back to school.  But the sensation of being with Will in a bus with nothing more than that going all around them soothes his nerves, brings the possibility that everything will be okay into his mind. He's been living in a dream for the entire trip and since the kiss, he's been scared of waking up. But maybe, there's something better waiting for him when he does. 

Hi guys, I hope you liked it!

Nina