Advid-vibe-stealer - I Steal The Vibes

I would like a innocent little kid to come up and call will dad and kayla mom and see how they freak out about it If any one make this a fic I need to see it

Things I think happened in the chb’s infirmary No Order my references are prophetic dreams and war memories from when i was a health student

- they have like this huge old whiteboard glued god knows how with a little cartoon caterpillar sticker saying “get well soon?” where they (Will and any other poor souls that are in infirmary duty) put everything they need to remember but they can’t make themselves write complete sentences so is just “JuYCE” and “neomicinabacitracinanitrofural” and “CLARISSE = OUT”

- there is this hole on the floor that they always forget to ask a Hephaestus kid to fix so its like a rite of passage to not notice it and end up falling

- They are in a camp. Sharing cabins. Bathrooms. ADHD kids who love to run and procrastinate everything including hygiene. THE INFECTIONS GET SPREAD INSANELY FAST. They have to WEEKLY go renovating the “PLEASE WASH YOUR HAIR WE NEED TO ERRATIC THE COOTIES” ads around the camp.

- we need to rip off the band aid. where there is teenagers there is sex. Michael Yew was pioneer on the sex education topic and his legacy isn’t going to die on Will Solace reign. One thing is cooties another one is herpes. There will be informative and traumatizing videos and awful teen pregnancy documentaries. They are all gonna watch.

- And since they are already here there will be having safe drug use convos too and dionysus is the one sponsoring them there is a rap battle at some point i think

- kids will be kids and most part of the time they are taking care of spread ankles, stomach aches, allergies and flu season at this point Will doesn’t even need to touch them to know when its a flu case

- since they (the infirmary squad) are spending a lot of time walking around they need to wear comfy shoes. At some point Kayla shows up wearing a neon monsters inc slippers. So Austin decides to wear his clown shoes. Now they only accept sandals and crocs. Rules are rules. The weird socks keep going tho.

- on the topic there is a lot of unspoken rules. One of them is that the communal and personal things limits are very rigid. Everyone gets to drink the coffee. No one is going to use Austin personal “Grammy Winner” mug. No one is going to use Kayla’s special glitter rainbow hairbrush. And, mostly important, no one is going to give their bureaucratic work for Nico to help. That is Will’s personal secretary.

- on the communal help tho, sometimes they will use Drew’s charmspeaker as an anesthesia. The Stolls are always there to get a couple of stuff outside their monthly rides to get things. Clarisse is amazing to held people when they need to put their bones back into place. They make it work.

- the communal work have one problem unfortunately. They are neck deep into drama. And into a complex cobweb of they likes them and they kissed them and they hate them. And. Worse of all. They cheat them. Thats when there is screaming. And chairs floating into peoples neck.

- the smaller kids don’t get the drama on its fully complexion. But they still gossip. At least five of them have called Will “Dad”, at least three of them have called Kayla “Mom” and all of them have said “Thats embarrassing, dude.” For everyone around there.

Another solangelo sketch that I will never finish

The funniest thing about the whole ordeal is that he sits by the window, mooning.

Like a Victorian maiden.

"Stop teasing," Cass scolds, visibly choking back laughter. "He's -- little."

"He's down bad facetious," Lee argues. He gestures to Will's feet, which are -- and he cannot emphasize enough -- swinging back and forth. He even --

Gods.

He is twirling his hair.

Cass lets a bubble of laughter through, clamping her hand over her mouth.

"Oh my gods," she says, shoulders shaking. "It's so cute, I'm gonna --"

Will sighs to himself. Deep, long, lovesick; it takes everything in Lee's body not to join Cass on the floor, holding himself to limit the shaking. She keeps her head carefully bowed but even then Lee can see the tears streaming down her face.

"Goober," Lee calls, tongue in his cheek, "what the hell are you doing."

Will startles. He goes, quite immediately, startlingly, pomegranate red, sliding a worn journal against his chest and out of sight. Only, he misses, because he's a klutz, and launches the journal halfway across the cabin, narrowly avoiding smacking Cass clean across the face.

For a moment, there is nothing.

Stillness.

Silence.

Lee glances over at the journal. Will holds his breath. Lee moves his hand, ever so slightly.

They bolt at the same time.

"Nothing!" Will shouts, diving for the book. He is, unfortunately, a pipsqueak, and easily lifted to the side and dropped, screeching and clawing, on Michael's top bunk. "Nothing, nothing, I'm doing nothing --"

"If you're doing nothing, then it's fine if I look," reasons Lee, knowing that if he kept a diary and any of his rat ass siblings tried looking through it he'd kill himself. "Just blank pages, right?"

Will lunges, but Lee is stronger than he is, and his arms are longer. He plants a hand on his squishy face and holds him there, struggling, arms scrabbling for the journal, Cass's wheezing echoing through the largely empty cabin.

"Cass! Tell him -- tell him to give it back --"

Cass looks up, maybe, to tell him off, but she sees Will's squished, roan face and loses her shit all over again. This time she doesn't even bother staying on her knees, she hits the full, total ground, clutching her stomach, tears streaming down her face, choking in agony.

Lee flips open the book.

Will screams.

"Dearly beloved," Lee reads, voice trembling. Will claws at him. In what is, perhaps, divine intervention, the scratch marks disappear as quickly as Will makes them, glowing a soft gold. Will screams again. "We are gathered here today --"

There is laughter, and arguing, outside, and Lee pauses. Will stops struggling. His face drops. He whips toward the window, faster than Lee can even think of stopping him, and brings his clasped hands to his face, head bowed, and begins rapidly to pray:

"Dad, please, if you love me, smite them all, please, do not let them come in, turn off their ears, please, I promise I will scrape off every brownie I get for the next fifty years if you --"

But it is for naught. Because in a great, energized gaggle, the rest of their siblings pile through the door: Michael, scrabbling at Diana's flexed arm, flailing his way out her head headlock; Kate and Pheobe, heads bent over a script; Melody, Mercury, and Leanna, harmonizing over Michael's cursing; Gabriel and Laurel, tossing a basketball back and forth; and, finally, Amir, trailing quietly behind them, bow in hand.

They spill out onto the giant carpet by the door, and pause.

Lee clears his throat.

"--to celebrate the union of --" His voice wavers. Will shrieks, lunging again, but Kate in Phoebe are faster, lunging forward and grabbing one arm each.

"Oh, no you don't," says Kate, grinning, and Phoebe, unusually bold, pokes his ribs until he stops squirming, snickering to herself.

Lee continues.

"-- Nico di Angelo and Will Solace, in the sight of -- oh for fuck's sake, capital-G God -- to join them in holy matrimony."

Will puts his pudgy little hands over his face and yells. He begins, ever so, to glow, like he does when he's healing, and it is the perfect moment to set everyone off: several of their siblings join Cass on the floor, who, at this point, looks genuinely unwell, and several more -- mostly the girls -- rush forward to hang off Michael's bunk, cooing at poor Will, who glares at Lee with all the vitriol his ten-and-three-quarters body can muster.

"I hate you," he croaks. "You are -- the worst brother ever --"

"I'm just trying to have it memorized," Lee says solemnly, "you know, so I can recite and when you and Nico get --"

There is a quick, painful flash. For a moment, Lee is genuinely blind -- his eyes are open, he can feel the air of them on his drying sclera, but he can see nothing but pure, white light -- and it takes a solid minute of blinking to get anything back in front of him, even if it's blurry.

The first thing he sees is Will, off the bunk, with the journal in his hands.

The second thing he sees is Amir, quick and quiet, poised behind him.

"I don't even like him," Will says hotly, "I'm just -- did you know that there are friendship marriages, and --"

Lee meets Amir's eyes and nods. The curve of his oft-stoic mouth incites genuinely glee in Lee's wicked heart, and in a flash their third youngest darts out his deft pianist hands and grabs the journal from Will's hands. Before Will can even shriek, he tosses it across the room, where Laurel catches it, and she sprints across the cabin, scurrying up the wooden support beams, and hangs from the highest rafter. She flips through the pages and opens a new one.

"Oh-hoo-hoo, this one is good," she says evilly, wiggling her fingers. "He even got all the letters right, ahem, Mr. Will di Angelo --"

Will is short, but he's fast and he's slippery, so he's out of Kate's attempted half-Nelson in seconds and ripping across the cabin, spider-monkeying up the beam. Laurel shrieks and tosses the journal to the waiting Gabriel, who slides himself in the spot between his bunk and the wall and flips to a new page.

"It's a drawing!" he reports, delighted. "Aw, man, he even got the shine of his hair on here --"

"All of you hate me!"

"It's cute," Leanna coos, scooping Will up from the ceiling. Laurel damn near cries in relief, dropping down and muttering about evil, punishing little brothers and pointy fingers. Will tries to squirm free but Leanna presses a million exaggerated kisses to his cheeks, to his hair, and on reflex, he leans into them. "Baby's first real crush --"

"I do not have a crush on him!" Will squirms free, eventually, standing on his own -- unmade -- bunk and hollering until his face is read. "I just think he's -- cool, okay, he can control zombies and ghosts and --"

"'Makes your heart flutter?'" Melody suggests. She holds up the journal Gabriel has passed to her and traces her hand over an older page, tapping her electric-blue nails. She clears her throat, upping up her own slight drawl to match Will's heavier one: "'Symptoms: sweaty palms, dizziness, rapid heartbeat, high fever -- potential tachycardia? Or plague. Revisit next appearance.'" She closes the book and grins. "Think you're a touch ahead of yourself, kiddo."

Will, as he always does, chafes at the nickname, snapping a reflexive you're four years older than me! Not even! and crawling under his bed. Belatedly, an arm scrabbles up on his mattress, patting blindly until it makes contact with his pillow -- crumpled into the corner under half a metric ton of stuffed toys -- and drags it down with him, screeching into it.

"All I ever do in this stupid cabin is suffer," he bemoans.

Their siblings, for the large part, ignore his wallowing. More interesting is the journal, that they circle around, flipping through the various drawings and doodles of Nico di Angelo, enigma, and the hearts around every strand of hair.

Lee starts feeling a little bad.

A little.

"Dork," he says, peeking under the bed. Will kicks him. Lee grabs his foot. "Come out."

Will pouts. "No."

"Are you embarrassed?"

"Obviously!"

Lee looks down and sighs. He is eighteen, and feeling every year; his knees, actually, have wear equivalent to that of a seventy-year-old man. Michael checked. Michael could, also, have been lying, because he's a tool, but there was a particular gleam of unbridled glee in his eyes when he reported back so Lee is inclined to believe him.

All this to say: he is too old for this nonsense.

And, yet.

"You have not been sweeping under here," he grumbles, pulling a face at the (numerous) dust bunnies. "You have, like, two chores."

"I have so!"

Will coughs.

Lee sighs and holds out his hand. Will's throat is, indeed, closing up, so he fires off a quick hymn to lower the swelling but leaves it itchy in penance.

"I don't know why you continue to lie to me. Your tell can literally, actually kill you."

Will opens his mouth to lie again. Lee pokes him, hard, in the stomach, and he closes it, choosing instead to scowl.

"Get out of here," he complains. "You smell like dookie and I hate you also."

"I do -- I do not!"

Just in case, Lee sniffs, and he -- well, he doesn't smell like roses, but dookie is an exaggeration and after a moment the little shithead snickers, dodging Lee's pinching fingers. Lee rolls his eyes and scoots closer, crushing him against the wall.

"We're not trying to embarrass you," he tries.

Will scoffs. "Lie!"

"Okay, well, we are a little." Lee turns over and stares until Will meets his eyes. He is relieved to find no genuine hurt in them, only annoyance, and maybe a touch of frustration. He searches for Will's hand and squeezes, holding tighter when someone in the peanut gallery cackles, and Will scowls. "But, like. Embarrassment of love and affection."

"That's not a thing!"

"It is. You know how Diana likes to put a curse of truth on Michael and ask him leading questions about his weird love for Orlando Bloom in public?"

"That's different," Will says after a pause. "Diana only does it to punish him for his crimes."

"Of which there are many," Lee agrees. "But it is the same concept."

"But I'm not evil like Michael!"

"No? It wasn't you and Cecil that rigged Jake Mason's birthday cake to explode last week?"

Will's mouth opens. It closes.

"I will speak no further without an attorney," he decides on, and Lee laughs out loud. Will grins, forgetting his anger, and leans in when Lee curls into him, snorting. Lee presses a kiss to his hair and tugs him even closer.

"We are teasing you because we love you and you are being a massive goofball," he says quietly. He squeezes when he feels Will scowl. "You tease me for crushes and foolishness too, brat. You're just suffering because it's your first time."

"I don't have a crush on him," Will insists, muffled. "...I just think he's cool."

"Right. And all the drawings --"

"Anatomy practice!"

"--and the poems--"

"I can't control those! They just come out!"

"--and the marriage vows --"

"I -- okay. That one -- gimme a second." Will screws up is face, considering. He brightens when the idea comes to him. Lee snorts. "Connor and Travis were telling us about levying the marriage system to benefit you and I think Nico would be a willing participant."

Will beams, proud at his quick thinking, and Lee cannot help but try to crush him a little. Will, used to it, sighs and grumbles and tucks himself smaller so he can fit into the shape of Lee's arms, tights against his chest.

"You -- are -- so goddamn cute, you know that?" Lee says, punctuating every word with a loving poke. "Gods."

Will squirms. "Everyone keeps telling me that. That's why I'm studying Nico. So I can get cooler."

"You're studying Death Boy because you have a big fat embarrassing crush on him."

"No."

"Yes, and it's ridiculous, because you've met him, maybe, twice."

"I have met him three and a half times."

"I don't know what a half is and I'm afraid to ask. Kid, you're whipped."

Will tips his head to rest on Lee's shoulder, groaning. He stays there long enough for the wheezing, riff-raff, and general mischief to quiet, for some of the most hyperactive kids in camp to get bored and move on, poking at another available sibling. Will stays there long enough, breathing heavy, eyes squeezed shut that Lee hears Cass humming as she makes her rounds, tucking in the younger kids, who insist that they are too old for such nonsense but allow it anyway, and brushing her gentle hands on the foreheads of the older kids. She comes to Will's bunk last, kneeling outside of it, matching her breathing to theirs.

"All good?" she whispers, hand coming out to squeeze Lee's shoulder.

Lee nods. "Yeah. Tired out."

He can hear the smile in his sister's voice. "Okay. Don't fall asleep down there, Lee. You'll ache in the morning."

"Won't," Lee promises, knowing full well it's a possibility. Cass snorts, squeezing again, and Lee hears he pad away, pulling back her unreasonable number of comforters -- for a child of the sun god she is always freezing -- and floating off a final night, fireflies.

Lee smiles as all thirteen of them -- including Will, who mouths it silently against Lee's shoulder -- wish her goodnight back.

"I don't." Will makes a quiet, keening noise. "I don't understand why my chest feels so big."

Lee buries his face in coily, tangled hair, breathing deeply.

"You got a big, giant heart," he murmurs. "And Nico needs a friend. I think you, uh, I think you might also have a thing for brown eyes and basket cases, but that's none of my business."

Will giggles tiredly. Lee smiles, holding them close and scooching them gently out from the dusty underbed. His knees, as he correctly assumed, scream when he stands, but Will's little hand is warm in his, and his eyes are cloudy and soft. He is ten years old and too big for it but he reaches his hands up and Lee lifts him, anyway, exhaling at the wrap of his legs and arms around him, at the shift of his head in the crook of his neck. He takes a minute to hold the weight of him, memorizing, before leaning down and easing him onto the softened mattress, tucking the creased, messy sheets around him the way he likes.

"Sweet dreams," he says softly, pressing a kiss to his freckled forehead. He grins. "Of wedding bells, and death-breath smooches."

"Go away."

Will pushes him, scowling sleepily, and Lee lets him, smoothing out his pillow and yawning his way over to his own bunk. He flicks Michael awake in passing just to be a jackass and dives into the bottom mattress, before he realizes, wrapping himself in his blanket and pretending to snore. When Michael has re-settled, muttering mutinously to himself, Lee opens his eyes, squinting over to where Will is curled up, across the cabin, blankets pulled up to his forehead and feet sticking out the other end. He smiles.

He can't wait to bring this up at their wedding, one day.

I see Will being the most introverted and socially anxious person because he went to camp at such a young age and he is a year round camper and the only adults that he really talks to is Chiron and Mr. D so I feel like he's scared to talk to anyone outside of camp. When Will and Nico go out to eat, Nico always orders for Will.

Nico on the other hand once his trauma gets better he is very extraverted and loves talking to people (mostly people he knows won't make fun of him or hurt him in anyway) but he still wants to appear mysterious and scary so he represses the urge to overshare things but he still needs to recharge after doing something

I feel like Nico would yell at the manger when Will asks for no pickles

i saw this image and immediately thought of them.Please tell me nobody has done this already LOL (。-∀-)

My babies I love you

what if

will lou and cecil came to camp together.

anyways, they're so smol.

It is so rare, for a day of peace. So, so rare. For the Apollo cabin to be empty, for siblings to be busy, for the sun to be gentle and the birds to be sweet.

"Hey, Will."

So serene. Truly. Cecil lounging on Will's bed, remembering to have taken his shoes off for once. Quietly flipping through a comic book. Will, suffering but willingly, with his Calculus III textbook on the floor. Actually making progress this time, gunning through practice questions.

And Lou Ellen.

It always has to be one of them.

Lou Ellen watches, velvet skirts tucked under her crossed ankles, dark eyes squinting in contemplation.

Will barely looks up, scrawling something illegible over the most graphite-smudged paper maybe in the entire world.

"Yeah."

"Can we kiss for a little bit?"

That works. The slowly shifting sun through the dusty windows pauses. The chisme plants turn, slowly, shifting their stems to the center of the cabin. Will takes a full seventeen seconds to visibly separate from his textbook, process the question, and erupt into a shade of red previously unknown to man.

"Um," he says, or rather squeaks. "Yes?"

Cecil snorts, turning a page.

"Bicycle."

"Shut the fuck up, Cecil."

"Just like your father."

"Shut the fuck up, Cecil."

"I just want to try something," Lou Ellen soothes, potentially hearing the lack of breathing happening in Will's general direction. "Like, for science. That works for you, right, nerd?"

"Science generally begins with a hypothesis and due process," says Will weakly. But he dutifully crawls over to her direction, settling in front of her. "Um. Now?"

"Now would be great," Lou Ellen agrees. She tilts her head. "So do you just, like, go for it, or...?"

"I mean. In my experience?"

"Which is about to go from two to three," Cecil adds.

This time, Lou Ellen and Will are in perfect sync:

"Shut the fuck up, Cecil!"

Cecil flips another page and promises nothing.

The determination has slowed some of the blush in Will's face, containing it high in his cheeks. Or, well, spite. Cecil-branded fury. That does a whole lot of activating every modicum of ADHD impulsivity in Will's soul.

"Okay," he says, nodding to himself. He meets Lou Ellen's wide, round eyes. "Okay, so I'm gonna -- lean in. And we gotta close our eyes or it's weird. And then I'm gonna kiss you, okay? And you test."

Lou Ellen nods, serious. "Got it."

She breathes in, then out. She purses her lips, leaning forward. Her hands rest, fingers spread, on her knees. Her eyes flutter shut.

Will exhales. He squeezes his eyes shut.

He leans in, gently, and presses his lips to hers, resting a warm hand on the soft curve of her jaw.

"Hm," says Lou Ellen, as they separate. "Hm."

Will shifts nervously.

"You smell good," he offers. "And you taste like orange shampoo. In a good way."

Lou Ellen narrows her eyes at him. She reaches her hand out slowly, like how you may approach a startled horse, and grabs Will's chin with the tips of her fingers.

"Why," Will says.

"Hm," says Lou Ellen, again. She moves his face from side to side, inspecting. Will does not protest, but does choose to make an entirely unintelligible gesture with his hands. "You are hot, aren't you."

"Gah??" Will says. The confusions shifts rapidly from his face; his eyes widen, pupils narrowing, he tries and fails to pull slightly away and generally makes a collection of noises that boil down to hey, pardon. "I'm??"

Cecil choses this moment in time to tuck his comic carefully away, facing his friends in full. He also chooses to take this time to appraise Will's slightly squished face, nodding smugly.

"Yeah, he's a babe."

"Right, okay, that's what I thought. It's the bone structure, right, it totally --"

"Yeah, yeah, and the pouty lips, that definitely --"

"--you're so literally right --"

"You ever watched his shoulders?"

"They're biteable! Biteable, and when he plays volleyball it's like --"

"--yep. And his legs are approximately the length of the equator."

"Freckly, too, it's so --"

"His eyes??"

"I know??"

"Honestly wild."

They turn to him, twin dark brown eyes glowing amber in the sun, appraising him from his golden hair to his bare toes. Will, unfortunately, seems to be right on the urge of passing out, so red he has begun to glow, so warm Lou is forced to let go, and so lightheaded he has begun to sway.

"Hngg-what," he mumbles, eyes far away. "Wha -- I'm --"

Cecil pokes gently at him with his toe.

"I think we broke him," he observes.

"I see," Lou Ellen agrees, chin in her hands. "That's kinda cute, too."

"Oh yah. He's like -- he's never not a smokeshow, you know? Like he's hot when he's mad."

"Smoking."

"And the whole -- it's diabolical to say, but he's like..."

"Movie star pretty when he cries. Yeah, yeah, I hear you."

They turn to each other, lips pursed in thought. They turn back to their slightly dying friend.

"Hm," they say, together.

Will begins to pray. His father, intrigued, only shifts to better the lighting on Will's face. Will agonizes, shifting to pray to his aunt. This too proves useless.

"You know," says Lou Ellen. She taps her manicured finger against her cheek. "We could always share him."

Cecil raises his eyebrows. "We could?"

"Do I??" Will gestures wildly, face now glowing so brightly he is kind of hard to see. "Get a say??"

Cecil and Lou Ellen look at each other. They look back at Will.

"No."

"Nah."

"That's! I am -- taken, okay! I!"

Cecil snorts. "A long-standing crush on greasy Gerard Way does not count as --"

"It's not his fault he's greasy!"

Lou Ellen observes the boys. She hums to herself, rocking back on her knees.

"-- and he's hardly ever here, you met him like twice --"

"Four times! And he's charming!"

Hm indeed.

"I have an announcement to make," Lou Ellen announces.

Both boys stop immediately. Lou Ellen nods graciously, sitting regally on Will's bed. Will pouts a little, but says nothing.

"I am considering converting to lesbianism," she says solemnly. "I'm not sure yet, but I have been presented with a case and it is compelling."

Will and Cecil shrug, making noises of agreement.

"Yeah, fair."

"I mean, girls. I get you."

Will clears his throat. "But, uh. No boys? For sure?" His pout returns. It is indeed very cute. "Did I do a bad job?"

Lou Ellen reaches over and pats him very gently on the head. Her bangles get in his eyes a little. He blinks them away politely.

"Aw, no. You just seem very hung up, and I'm not sure how well dating Cecil would work, and no one else will talk to me yet."

"Dating me is an amazing experience, I have references," Cecil says, at the same time Will says, "Wait, still?"

There is a pause. Again, they speak at the same time:

"Stop using me as a reference, Cecil, gods."

"You want me to vandalize their possession for you, Lou? I would love to do that for you."

Lou Ellen moves to pat Cecil gently and condensendingly on the head.

"I'm good. Thanks, though. Chiron says they just need time. And perhaps an ass-kicking, if I feel so inclined."

"Sage."

"Good advice, that."

They all nod at each other. Wordlessly, they stand, returning to their earlier positions: Cecil, reclining on Will's bed, having abandoned the comic book for a nap; Will, poking at his math; and Lou Ellen, passing a green spark around her fingers and carefully Observing.

It takes her several minutes of reflection to blink and realise.

References.

Her eyes widen.

"Hey, wait a second --"

He’s going to be *on screen*!!

Happy season three renewal, everybody 😂

Maybe we should all draw this weird little gremlin to celebrate 😉

PAUSE would you have any more hcs about cecil/will 😭😭i love cecil thirsting over will (as he should because will is a blonde bombshell)

cecil and will met when they were very little and in the same cabin together (hermes). neither had been claimed yet.

will's coming to camp was...rough. it wasn't something camp saw often. no one really knew how to handle this eight year old who hated everything and anyone and never responded to anything.

when he cried, at night, people put a pillow over their ears.

but cecil has these giant brown eyes. and he would sit up and watch, on his bedroll, as this boy cried and cried and cried, never running out of tears, freckles glowing in his fury and sobbing until he was sick.

once cecil decided to sit with him.

he didnt say anything. will glared at him anyway.

but he sat there. watching. quiet. all the way until the sun came out, and he blinked awake to will's quiet snoring.

he got the hell out of dodge before will woke up. he didn't really want to learn what morning-grouchy will looked like, and besides if he skipped out of the cabin fast enough he didn't have to help sweep.

(cecil will saw off his own arms to avoid chores. he'll take a monster attack any day of the week.)

he barely sees will all day. their cabin is huge and the camp is huger.

but at night will cries again.

and he comes again.

and he sits.

and watches.

this time will talks to him. snaps at him, rather, but it's something.

cecil just shrugs.

will gets used to his presence eventually. cecil's mama tells him he is like a a hissing baby monkey; grip like a steel trap and impossible to shake. will finds this too.

they talk, eventually. it would be hard not to. plus, will didn't know the camp store had candy. neither of them have any money, but will is a really good lookout and he's faster than cecil is.

(twizzlers is a balanced meal. there's protein in there.)

it takes some time for will to warm up to anybody. but cecil is funny, even though will doesn't like to admit it, and if he can make will laugh more than five times in the day will has to give him his bedroll for extra padding and sleep on the floor. them's the Rules.

it's boredom, really.

there aren't a lot of kids at camp. well, there are, but not kid kids, you know? mostly tweens, and they all suck and think they're too cool for anything fun. cecil and will form an alliance to avoid being wedgied from the top of thalia's tree again. they make a pretty good team anyway.

plus. as mentioned. cecil is tricky and will is fast.

together they bleed the camp store dry, along with most hip-length pockets.

they are friends first. it just happens over time. they spend most of their time together and they have similar interests. duh.

there is also the marriage incident.

the dumbass flirting is a result of the most poorly timed romantic relationship in the world.

look, they're both kind-of year rounders. moms are busy and travel. camp is stable, and neither fares well in the mortal world. and camp is fun but when it's not crowded, it's barren, and there is fuck all to do.

there's like.

studying.

and homework.

but homework is for people whose parents care about them, so.

what will and cecil do is a lot of fucking around.

they live in eternal summer and have a forest to screw around in, and will went ahead and got tall this summer, which cecil didn't know was allowed, and also he's starting to look more like his dad every day and not that cecil was looking, or anything, but field trips to olympus are boring as all fuck and apollo is literally the sun god, okay. he glows. he's hot. cecil has Eyes and he notices.

he also has eyes when he is not bored and those eyes are not blind to the fact that will is hot when he's mad and boy is it easy to make him mad. cecil is a growing boy with urges. there is no wifi at camp. what is he meant to do.

so one day they are thirteen years old (well, cecil is thirteen years old, and busy lording that over twelve year old will's head for five months) will comes to him, chin trembling, hands shaking, and says i like boys. im bisexual.

and cecil thinks very very quickly. son of the god of cunning, you see.

and says bullshit you are.

and will blinks.

he had a list of contingencies and responses. cass helped him write them out and something.

i. fucking of course i am, cecil.

eh.

i am. allergic to lying, you jackass.

no, i just mean -- you dont know. youve never kissed a boy in your life. maybe youre just trying to impress your dad.

are you????? fucking??? unwell???

and cecil is very good at keeping a poker face. it is a genuinely god-given right of his.

along with, of course.

trickery.

especially trickery in the name of Getting It.

and so he keeps a straight face and goes, nah. i'll believe it when i see it.

and will is very clever and very observant and an excellent planner etc etc. but he also has a temper. and cecil's number one favourite hobby is poking the bear.

(will is, aforementioned, hot when he is mad.)

and will stomps his foot and his face gets tinkerbell red and says i'll SHOW you kissing a boy!! dickhead!!

and well.

he sure does.

and it takes him approximately ten seconds to realise he's been Duped but he's kind of charmed by the idea of being manipulated into getting kissed.

and they're already techincally husbands.

so they date.

it's not that cecil is unattractive. he's cute actually.

and it is not that will does not have the occasional dream.

again.

attractive.

good with his hands etc.

it's just that.

well.

they forget.

to do boyfriend things.

they've been friends for so LONG okay.

literally the vast majority of their waking days for five fucking years. no weekends or summers off. constant.

they FORGOT.

three months later they're both like oh shit we're supposed to be making out aren't we.

and it's like. cecil has been flirting. but he ALWAYS does that bc it makes will roll his eyes and it's for the bit

he forgot it was not for the bit anymore

so they try again but they keep FORGETTING and adhd is their enemy in this moment and another month later they're like kay i give up. if you feel inclined to ravage me go for it i guess.

and cecil is like yeah good plan. i will hot stuff. and will Rolls His Eyes and they move on.

the issue now is that 1.

theyre married. technically.

2.

every time this greasy angsty emo boy comes to camp will is a kicked puppy about it. has been for years.

3.

cecil's literal favourite hobby is pissing his best friend off.

4.

he knows will thinks he's cute.

so sometimes he just...influences things.

will would jump off a bridge before admitting it but he has a thing for nerds. so when cecil wants to bother him he locks in for the month and picks up a really intricate hobby and stops wearing his contacts.

and lo and behold.

a couple weeks later.

there is Screeching in the night.

YOU ARE DOING THIS ONE PURPOSE.

bat eyelashes. bat eyelashes.

whatever do you mean, my darling.

KISS MY ASS, MARKOWITZ.

can i?

SHUT THE FUCK UP AND -- PUT THE EYES AWAY!!!

they're never going to date. they would never even bother it goes Nowhere. but hoo boy are they both attracted to each other and is it not the funniest ordeal in the world

it's funnier bc they were genuinely each other's first time. they decided to before the manhattan war bc they both didn't want to die virgins as in their Lifetime Pact.

but the issue is that cecil thought it would be funny to show up to the Event™️ in a honkable clown nose and will has never forgiven him.

so.

it is in the dream sometimes.

"What was that for?"

He is warm, and soft, and he smells good.

And when Nico catches him by surprise, he touches the tips of his fingers to the swell of his lips, eyes wide, freckles blinking like stars.

Nico hides a smile, rocking back on his heels.

"No reason."

"Not that I am complaining," Will hastens to explain, "uh, I loved it, actually, I just -- I am kind of gross? I was gonna go run to take a shower before I woke you and --"

Nico leans over and kisses him again. From this angle he can -- the sand pit for volleyball is just slightly lower than the bleachers, and if Nico stands on the second step, he can just...lean over. Will's lips are right there, even if it is more a press of mouths than a kiss with Will's rambling.

It stops, though, when Nico kisses him. He clams up and kisses back like he's afraid Nico is going to stop.

"Was that one just 'cause, too?" he says, when Nico lets up. Nico pulls away and notices that he is breathless. That could be the game he just played.

It could also be the little tinge of red around his cheekbones -- barely, really, anything -- and the way he darts his eyes between Nico's mouth and his eyes. Experimentally, Nico leans slightly forward. Immediately, Will closes his mouth, then his eyes, waiting.

Nico waits, too, grinning. When Will cracks one confused eye open he cannot help but laugh, and Will shoves him, scowling.

"You're teasing me," he accuses.

Nico quiets his mirth in his hands.

"A little."

"You're mean."

"Mhm. A little."

He leans forward, again, past the threshold of middle ground between them. This time Will waits, evaluating, pout on his bitten-red lips. He narrows his Carolina-blue eyes and Nico takes the time to watch them, to memorize them. He thinks of brilliant butterfly wings and fire. He thinks of afternoon skies. He thinks of shallow, splashing lakes, of robin eggs and icebergs. Of scorpions and scales and flower petals. He thinks long enough for Will to believe him, again, to fall for it; he thinks he could get away with making him wait, again, but finds he doesn't want to.

"You taste like strawberry," Will mumbles, and presses himself closer, "the candy kind."

Nico smiles against his mouth. A bribe, of sorts. Will's tongue licks along the seem of his lips, determined to taste more. Nico allows it and slides his hands up his belly in his distraction, resting on his chest. He swears he can feel when his skin gives way to dark ink, long-healed as it is. There is less of a buzz.

Will pulls away, slightly, although there isn't much to go.

"I'm supposed to -- get ready."

"Mhm." Nico kisses him again. He resists, or he tries to. Nico hovers, for a moment, candy breath and all, and he cracks in second. "What was it you had to do, again?"

"I --" Nico swipes his thumb along the line of his ribs, featherlight, and he twitches, trembles; "I --"

He is so easy. It is like he has buttons red and tantalizing for Nico to press, and his impulse control has never been good. Nico memorized them ages ago, and uses them at his leisure; Twizzlers, before a game, dipping his hands in ice water so they're cooler than usual. A fingernail against his ribcage, a flat palm on the heart of his tattoo. A little bit of height, and the promise of a kiss, of the end of one.

Like a detonator.

"Don't stop," Will sighs, forgetting. Nico can almost see the list of responsibilities float from his brain, wrapping around Nico's head like laurels. He curls his fists to avoid the crow of victory bubbling in his throat, wrapping his hands in strands of Will's hair -- another button.

He tugs.

Will whimpers.

Easy.

"Won't," Nico promises, and kisses him again.