#im improving!!!!!!!!!!

"There's no way you're winning," Will says, arms crossed as he leans against the open door of the Hades cabin "We trained ours well!"

Kayla shifts in the spot next to him and rolls her eyes.

"Says the guy who absolutely did not help during training. You have nothing to worry about, Nico, Will's just very competitive."

A few weeks before, Chiron announced that there would be an new weekly event due to amount of new campers arriving every day.

'Mentored Fighting' he called it. And explained it consists of each cabin training a group of new campers to fight against another group. Two cabins would compete against each other every week so it wouldn't be too crowded.

The first cabins chosen were the Apollo cabin and the Hades cabin, it wasn't all that fair.

With all the arrivals the Apollo cabin had become so full they had to start building new beds but the Hades cabin was lonely as ever, only one person living in it. (or two, when Hazel was visiting Camp Half-Blood)

So, to make up for the difference in numbers, the Hades cabin was given more time.

At first, Nico was anxious. Most people still feared him, how would he train kids that are afraid of him?

Luckily, somehow, none of the young campers had heard of him before. He felt relieved.

He evaluated their initial fighting skills and felt lucky, again, to find out that multiple of the kids already knew a thing or two. (or more than that, like the newest Ares camper that, apparently, knew every single martial art)

He quickly began to feel protective over them, responsible for them. He found himself looking for them outside of class and checking if they were alright throughout the day.

Meanwhile, the Apollo campers weren't so lucky.

Since the first session, they knew Chiron must have chosen the craziest kids on purpose. It was chaos.

They were good kids. Funny, sweet, sensitive and all that. But also wild, really wild.

Will quickly learned to bring multiple first aid kits (one wasn't enough for all the damage) and to be ready for anything, even when the kids seemed quiet.

At least their energy was useful in combat. They moved swiftly, jumping up and down trees where they could shoot from. Being taught by the Apolo cabin means they mostly learned how to use a bow and arrow but there were still a couple of swordsmen.

Even with all the mess during the classes, Will would still, (more than) occasionally, spend time looking at Nico. It was a risky behaviour, he knew he should be paying attention to his group but Nico dealed with kids amazingly (Will took a mental note of that) and looked incredible doing it. He couldn't help but get distracted.

One day, his thoughts got interrupted by a bottle hitting his head.

"What the fuck--" he covered his mouth with one hand and touched the part of his head that was hit with the other, he hoped no one heard him swear. He looked around to see where the flying attack came from and saw Kayla walking towards him.

She had her hair up in a small ponytail and she was wearing the usual camp clothes. She looked cool. But not nearly as cool as Nico, he thought.

"If you keep ogling your boyfriend, I'll throw something again."

"That hurt, you jerk..."

"That was the point!" she put an arm around him "Now, come on, little Elly got hurt."

"Again?" he sighed and let himself get pulled by Kayla.

He stole one last look at Nico and blushed when their eyes met. Nico had already been staring at him.

Back in the present, Nico already wanted to leave.

Kayla and Will asked him to go 20 minutes early with them, he ended up not really having a choice since they showed up at his door and threatened to break it down. Nico didn't feel like testing his luck so, he started getting ready

They wanted to check up on all the equipment and see if the arena was usable (some of the kids from Apollo cabin's group got into a habit of gathering a dozens of rocks and spreading them around the arena, for some reason).

As soon as Nico finished dressing up, Will and Kayla started going down to the arena and Nico followed them, closing the door behind him.

"Okay, Will, go get some arrows, there aren't any in here." Kayla commanded while looking through a pile of their group's belongings "And you, Nico, make sure you have all the weapons you need!"

"Yes ma'am." he yawned "Why did it have to begin this early...?"

He set off towards the other side of the field but was stopped by Will's hand on his shoulder. He doesn't register what's being said but it seems pointed towards Kayla so he just takes the opportunity to take in the sight.

Will is an objectively beautiful man, anyone with eyes should be able to tell. And now, with his brows furrowed, pouting, his shoulder length curly blonde hair swaying with the light breeze coming through the entrance, his gorgeous skin tanned, due to the sun, and his freckles standing out against a light blush (oh?) spread across his face, Nico could die happily if he died looking at him.

And that's why Nico didn't even noticed he had been taken away from where he was standing, until Will speaks.

"Well..."

He looked around and realized Will had brought them behind the benches, so they were both hidden.

"What is up with you, Will?"

Nico can't pretend he hadn't realized. The lingering glances, the blushing, the insisting on spending more time with him than usual. He wasn't that dumb.

At least he hoped he wasn't, he really wanted to be right. He wanted it to mean something.

"Nothing important. You... you're just too cool," he looked away from Nico's gaze and fidgeted with the rainbow bracelet around his wrist "You look awesome when you're fighting or teaching or dealing with kids or- honestly, you look awesome all the time."

"Will--"

"And I just thought I should tell you because that's all I've been thinking about and I really want to focus on this event, I need to support the kids and I don't think I could do it without thinking you look amazing at least once. And thinking I should tell you and ruining your enjoyment by grabbing you and taking you somewhere private just for me to get my stupid feelings out. Well, if I hadn't told you now I probably wouldn't later, I'd get too nervous."

"You're rambling, Will" Nico grabbed one of his hands to stop them from shaking "Don't worry, I'm not, like, weirded out or anything."

"You're not?" he said, sounding a little too hopeful.

"No and...and I actually think you look--"

"The first round of Mentored Fighting is starting in 2 minutes, please come to the arena!" Chiron's voice sounded loudly through the whole camp from newly installed speakers.

(Leo had, of course, built them and they had tons of special features: playing recorded messages, music, live audio from anywhere in the camp, among other things...)

"Come on, it's starting soon." Will pulled his hand away and started going back to the field, leaving a confused Nico behind.

Not for long, though, because Nico ran after him and caught a hold of his hand. Then, he took the lead, brought Will to his team and sat down next to them.

He could feel Will's eyes on him and his hand shaking (Oh gods, they were still holding hands). Nico turned to face him and brushed a few curls out of the way so he could clearly see his eyes.

"Listen, Solace, I really think--"

A loud whistle blew and everyone started cheering as the two groups of campers walked into the arena.

The arena used to always be empty but now they had special made props like metal trees, platforms and walls, to make it more exciting.

When they reached the middle, Elly and one of Nico's campers shook hands and moved back to their teams. Each group huddled together, whispering ideas and strategies among each other.

Multiple cheers for each team were yelled and finally, on a count to three, they started fighting.

Nico quickly noticed that something was wrong with his campers, but none of them had came up to him yet. He could see them throw glances his way, but why? They were doing great and used to the equipment. Then, it dawned on him.

"Will, I'm so fucked," he exclaimed as realization set upon him "I forgot to check the weapons, they probably don't have enough."

"They don't!" He agreed, smilling.

"Why do you sound so happy saying that? Wait... You- You did it on purpose."

"Perhaps..."

"You tried to distract me! And I totally fell for it!" he rested his face in his hands and groaned.

"You may be hot but I still need my collection of ten-year-olds to beat yours into the fucking dust."

Nico couldn't decide wether he should be flustered from the compliment or pissed at Will. His body doesn't really let him choose.

He felt his heart rate quicken and reached for Will's face, pulling him just a smidge closer. He was going to kiss this man.

This way-too-competitive, infuriating, genius of a man.

But Will suddenly got up along with a couple of his siblings and they all started cheering.

"You got this, Elly!"

The battle seemed to be going well for them, much to Nico's dismay. First, he gets lead on by Will, then finds out it was a sabotage plan, then doesn't get to kiss him, and now he was going to lose? No way.

He had to do at least one thing right that day.

Will isn't surprised when, just before dragging him away, Nico whispers something into one of his camper's ears. He was planning something and Will wasn't about to be made a fool.

Will had chosen to sit in front of his group's supplies, that way he could block the way to the extra bows, arrows and knives.

So, he told Kayla to take his seat once Nico isn't looking and to pay close attention to any campers passing by so no one would steal anything. She was more than happy to oblige.

She was just as competitive as Will, she wanted to win terribly bad and if all she had to do to win was sit down while her brother made out with his crush somewhere around camp, she was going to sit down.

"You can't trick me, I know you're up to something." Will said, deadpan.

"Up to something? When have I ever been up to anything?"

"Clearly right now! And that time you started acting really suspicious and out of nowhere all those mean new guys from the Hermes cabin stopped messing with me. I'm still not fully sure what even happened and, yeah, I'm thankful you stopped them but, I won't let it happen again. I'll know what you want to do, before it even happens."

"You might be too late."

"Oh, dear, I wouldn't be so sure."

He looks over Will's shoulder in response and Will can see the frustration appear on his face when he spots Kayla in the seat that should've been empty.

"Well, just so you know, if you hadn't played dirty, my kids would easily beat your stupid little archers." he stuck his tongue out.

They both laughed.

"You're such a dork.." Will said but neither of them were fully paying attention.

Since the tension was gone, it felt to quiet and, suddenly, they seemed to be closer than supposed to. Almost leaning into each other.

"Will, I'm going to be serious for a moment and you aren't allowed to laugh, okay?"

He nods and Nico puts a hand on each of his cheeks.

"When you told me I looked cool..."

"I wasn't lying!"

Nico smiled softly "...I got really, really happy. It might be a little silly since you didn't even call me pretty or hot or anything like that. Well, I guess not until later..." he added, blushing "But yeah, I swear my heart skipped, like, ten beats. You-- Gods, Will. You're breathtaking and I really, really, really like you."

"Nico..." Will whispered but he could hear him perfectly well, their faces only a few inches apart "Can I kiss you?"

"Please."

The distance between them closed for a second as screaming from inside the arena interrupted them. The fight had ended, they guessed.

Nico loved these kids but, honestly, all he wanted to be doing at that moment was kissing Will, his maybe-boyfriend.

Yet, there he was. Cleaning up wounds and reassuring kids that they were alright.

They fought well, as well as they could without all the resources needed. Nico felt partly guilty for not stepping in, he should've been there for them more, he shouldn't have been so careless.

"I'm sorry, guys, I should have known you didn't have everything. Everyone was fantastic, I'm the proudest I'll ever be."

A couple of kids started crying, out of happiness, and others ran to hug Nico. He was glad they weren't upset.

He finished dropping each of them off at their cabins and went back to the arena where Will was waiting for him.

He threw his arms around Nico and reminded "I think we were in the middle of something."

"I don't know, wasn't it all just a strategy? I thought it was just for you to win."

"Shut up, I actually do, very sadly, like you."

"Good to know I'll at least win the liking competition, since my... boyfriend hates me or whatever."

"It's not a competition! It doesn't count."

"It totally does."

"I'll show you how much I like you and you'll regret even considering thinking of you winning."

Nico laughed "We're stupid, really stupid."

("You called me your boyfriend earlier."

Will was laying on Nico's lap, both of them in his bed.

"I did, is that... okay?"