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“For the last time, tesoro, no means no!”
“Please?”
“No!”
“For me, Neeks?”
“NO!”
All the campers within earshot groaned in annoyance.
“Are they still going on like that?” complained Hamish, one of the new additions to the Ares Cabin.
“Apparently so.” replied Conchata of the Hephaestus Cabin. “You’d think Solace would have given up by now.”
“Ha!” snorted Austin Lake, who was tuning his ever-present saxophone. “You wouldn’t think to look at him, but Will’s the most stubborn out of all us Apollo kids. Mount Rushmore will wear away before he does.”
The not-quite argument had been going on for several weeks now and had only ramped up as the primary subject of it had arrived.
“I hate Valentine’s Day and I will not have any part of it!” snarled Nico di Angelo as he stormed in the direction of his cabin.
“Awwww, come on, Neeks! You don’t really mean that!”
Will Solace was a literal ball of sunshine, eternally cheerful and kind and the person who Nico loved more than anyone else in the world, but right now he was also the most frustrating person in the entire world.
“Take a good long look at me.” Nico said, gesturing to his all-black ensemble and generally gloomy demeanour. “Do I look even remotely like the kind of person who celebrates Valentine’s Day?”
“No, but that’s why you should!” Will continued, completely undeterred. “It’s good to try something different!”
“And by different, you mean a phony-baloney holiday that’s overhyped, overcommercialised and over here?” Nico remarked with acidic sarcasm.
“Uh-huh.” Will replied, nodding so forcefully that Nico wondered if his head would fly off. “Besides, everyone else is doing it.”
Nico scoffed.
“You’re exaggerating.” he said.
“I am not!” Will pouted. “Percy gave Annabeth a pearl from the bottom of the Mariana Trench, Chris got Clarisse a bulletproof vest, Malcolm and Connor exchanged mystery gifts! Look, even Travis is getting into the spirit of today”
He pointed over to where the elder of the Stoll brothers was doing some kind of happy dance outside of his cabin. Nico, however, merely scoffed.
“That’s because he’s happy that Connor’s spending so much time with Malcolm,” he said.
“No, he’s not!” Will insisted.
By that point, they had drawn level enough with Travis to hear that he also had a song to go with the little dance he was doing.
“Ma brother got a hunk, I got ma own bunk! WHAT!” the son of Hermes belted out with enthusiasm. “Oh, hey, guys!”
“Hey, Travis.” Nico replied before turning to Will with an “I told you so” look.
“OK, maybe Travis isn’t doing anything for Valentine’s Day, but-” Will began.
“Oh, jeez, I forgot! I have to meet Katie at the strawberry fields!” Travis exclaimed, taking off like a shot. “Thanks for reminding me!”
Now it was Will’s turn to give Nico the smug look; Nico’s eye twitched slightly in frustration.
“Why do you want to celebrate it, anyway?” he asked, folding his arms and scowling. “We’re the children of Greek gods, a pantheon that predates St. Valentine by about a thousand years!”
“It’s the spirit of the holiday, a day of celebrating love!” Will gushed. “And anyways, aren’t you Catholic?”
“Not the point.” Nico deflected.
Will opened his mouth to argue, but a sudden commotion drew their attention. From around the corner of the Hermes Cabin, a young boy with soot-covered overalls and unnervingly muscular arms for someone of his age came tearing past them, shouting “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” repeatedly over his shoulder as he was pursued by a slender Asian boy around the same age, who was shouting angrily in French while swinging what looked like a perfume bottle like a bludgeoning weapon; Nico caught a brief glimpse of the Asian boy’s soot-stained face and swept-back, slightly smoking hair before both boys were gone, though their shouts continued to echo long after their disappearance.
“Wasn’t that Harley from the Hephaestus Cabin?” asked Nico.
“Uh-huh.” Will replied.
“Thought so. And who was chasing him?”
“Dior Tanaka, Cabin #10.”
Nico still had trouble with names and faces, so it took him a few seconds to work out which cabin that was.
“Aphrodite’s cabin?” he asked, making Will nod.
“Yep. That was Drew Tanaka’s little brother chasing him, which I guess meant the Valentine offering didn’t go so well.” Will replied. “A shame, because they would have been so cute together!”
Nico stared at his boyfriend in astonishment.
“Wait, Harley gave somebody a Valentine?! He’s eight!” he exclaimed. “He’s supposed to still be in the romance equals cooties stage!”
“See, Neeks?” Will gloated. “I told you, everyone’s doing it!”
Nico groaned and hid his face in his hands. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his boyfriend, nor was he opposed to signs of affection; he just resented the idea of being pressured to show his love on a specific day. Such feelings and gestures should be casual and universal, not bound to some stupid, overly commercialised holiday that made couples feel pressured and singles feel pathetic. A loud horn blared from nearby and he jumped, looking around for the danger.
“Are we under attack?” he demanded as an Ares camper ran past him.
“Worse!” the boy replied, looking as though he wanted to dig a hole and hide in it. “The Aphrodite cabin are on their Valentine’s Day rampage, and this year they’ve got glitter! Glitter!”
Nico idly wondered how a son of the god of war who was easily pushing six feet and looked like he could take The Rock in an arm-wrestling match could whimper the word “glitter” with all the terror of a pre-teen girl who’d just seen a mouse. An explosion went off and a burst of pinkish smoke shot up into the air from behind the cabin, making the Ares kid yelp and take off running like a hunted rabbit.
“Attention, campers! This is the divine Drew Tanaka, coming to you on this auspicious holiday celebrating our mother’s divine authority!” boomed the magnified voice of Drew Tanaka, Head Counselor of the Aphrodite Cabin. “There will be a mandatory celebration bonfire tonight before curfew, which all lesser beings are graciously ordered to attend! Couples are to present proof of appropriate gifts exchanged while pathetic, lonely, single people are to confess to at least one crush, lest you invoke our mother’s divine wrath! All cabins will be sealed and searched! All attempts to avoid or flee are futile! You have been warned!”
Nico felt a genuine thrill of terror creep down his spine; after their mother, the Aphrodite kids were the biggest love freaks in the world and on a day like this, dedicated to Aphrodite’s most famous domain, there would be no escaping or crossing them. And the punishments…Connor Stoll still bought underwear at least one size above ever since they’d cursed him so all his clothes were two sizes too small in retribution for that golden mango prank.
“And there’s the final argument in favour, Neeks.” Will said in a resigned tone. “No one has ever escaped the Aphrodite Cabin on Valentine’s Day. No one.”
“There’s a first time for everything, Sunshine.” Nico replied, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt.
“They think of everything, Nico. Everything.” Will whispered. “Percy tried to get away underwater last year and I kid you not, they’d put mines in the water! Actual sea mines! A Hermes camper tried to use flying shoes and they shot him down with a net gun then strung him up like a pinata! Nobody escapes them!”
“Oh, yeah? Well, they can’t block shadow travel.” Nico declared. “Come on!”
Will privately doubted that, if only because every other camper had tried literally everything under the sun to escape Valentine’s Day Rampage and failed spectacularly; most likely because Aphrodite herself intervened to help her children prevent such escapes, which was honestly just plain cheating!
Nico had planned to retreat to his cabin, with its abundance of darkness allowing for very convenient and easy shadow travelling, but those plans screeched to a halt and died a rapid yet agonising death as he found the door bolted and sealed with…with…a giant, pink-and-red padlock in the shape of a heart with a yellow sticky note taped to it.
“Even the shadows can’t escape love - A.” he read aloud before crumpling it up and tossing it into one of the sconces that burned with Greek fire day and night. “Maledetto pezzo di merda!”
“Sorry, Neeks. I tried to warn you.” said Will. “Might as well accept our fate.”
But Nico was not conceding defeat just yet. Though it was the height of day with a cloudless sky, there had to be some shadows around that he could use. His eyes fell on a nearby tree and saw, to his delight, that it was large enough to generate a slight shadow with its canopy. Slight, meaning the journey wouldn’t be very comfortable, but enough to make use of.
“We might be a bit nauseous afterwards, but this’ll get us to the Underworld.” he said. “Come on, take my hand.”
When Will didn’t grasp the offered appendage, however, he turned and saw that his boyfriend was just standing there with the most adorable, hang-dog expression and Nico groaned.
“Couldn’t we just…do Valentine’s Day?” Will pleaded, begged even. “Please? Just this once?”
Nico stared at him, the instinct to flee warring with the utterly helpless and slightly pathetic display he was witnessing, then sighed so heavily that it was a wonder the air around him didn’t get denser.
“Styx, I cannot believe I’m doing this.” he muttered before turning to his boyfriend. “I’ll be back.”
And he shadow travelled out of there before Will could react, leaving the son of Apollo staring at thin air.
“Wha-? Nico? NICO?! You low-life, cowardly little…how dare you abandon me?!” he shouted, picking up a stone and throwing it as though hoping Nico was merely invisible rather than completely gone. “You get back here right now, you hear?! Get back here right now, you cowardly little Italian deadbeat!”
“Are you shouting at thin air?”
Will froze and turned around to see a sleepily confused Clovis staring at him, big eyes blinking blearily like a calf.
“Er…yes? Possibly? Yes.” he said.
“Ah, I’ve been there, man.” Clovis replied, stifling a big yawn. “I’ve been there.”
*
It probably wasn’t surprising that Persephone’s favourite place in the Underworld was her personal, private garden, a place that teemed with life in the heart of death. She would spend hours here, tending the plants, listening to the gently rushing streams, cultivating, pruning, nurturing, a place of peace away from the hustle and bustle that was her husband’s realm where she would rarely be disturbed.
“I need your help.”
Persephone sighed; she had mellowed out towards her stepson, it was true, but that didn’t mean she appreciated being barged in on.
“You know, it is considered polite to knock before entering one’s domain.” she remarked without turning around.
“I didn’t see any doors.” was the insolent reply.
She turned to face him.
“It’s also considered polite to say please when asking for help.” she said. “One catches more flies with honey than vinegar, after all.”
He rolled his eyes (impudent!) but grudgingly conceded.
“I need your help…please.” he bit out.
“That’s better.” Persephone replied; she would have helped him anyway, but there were certain proper ways to speak to a goddess and if one didn’t enforce that rule every few decades then they just walked all over you. “What is it that you need my help with?”
Nico clenched his fists and scrunched up his face, looking rather like one of the endless souls currently being tortured and tormented in the Fields of Punishment, forcing out the words like each one caused him physical pain.
“It is Valentine’s Day,” he said. “I need to get something for Will, but I have no idea what to do. Can you help me?”
Persephone stared at her stepson for a long moment.
“Ah, I see.” she said. “This is that mortal holiday where people exchange romantic gestures, yes?”
“It is.” Nico confirmed.
“Is telling him that you love him not sufficient?”
“Not as far as Aphrodite’s brood are concerned.”
Persephone winced; yes, Aphrodite could get incredibly pushy ever since she discovered that particular holiday, with the annoying habit of visiting and pestering her fellow deities into getting into the spirit of it.
“And you’re asking me what would be a good thing to get him?” Persephone asked.
“Yes.” Nico replied, then as an afterthought, “Please?”
He looked so nervously endearing, like a baby seal, that she had to smother a giggle.
“I can try, at least.” she admitted. “Valentine’s Day is all about love and affection, so a gift that showcases that from you to him would be essential.”
“Any ideas?” asked Nico.
Persephone’s domain might not include love, but it did include feelings; rebirth, renewal, a passionate love of life returning to the soil in the wake of a long winter.
“Well, the gift should be personal.” she said after some thought. “Also meaningful, genuine, not too over-the-top but not too subtle either.”
To her surprise and amusement, Nico actually took out a pad and pen and began writing this down.
“OK, and?” he asked, pen poised over the paper.
“I think symbolism is very important as well.” Persephone went on. “When I was first…starting out with your father, shall we say, he made and gave me this garden for me to enjoy while I was here. Plants and renewal are part of me, as the goddess of springtime, so Hades made this garden with that in mind. A reflection of how he saw and understood me and how much I meant to him, even if I didn’t see it at the time due to our…unconventional relationship beginning.”
Nico scribbled this down, tongue poking out the corner of his mouth in a way that forced Persephone to stifle a giggle; wow, this boy had it bad!
“OK, so it should be personal, meaningful, genuine without trying too hard or being too subtle and symbolic.” he finished off with a flourish. “Any ideas?”
“Are you expecting me to do all the work?” Persephone asked, though it had more teasing than bite to it.
“Well, excuse me for thinking that maybe my stepmother who’s been married to my dad for over a thousand years might be a good source of advice for romance!” Nico snapped back in a manner that would have gotten him smited only five hundred years ago.
“Do you want to be a dandelion again?” Persephone warned him, only half-joking. “And it’s closer to two thousand, actually.”
To her mild surprise, Nico did seem to acknowledge he’d pushed a bit too far and backed down; this situation must be very serious indeed.
“Sorry,” he said quietly. “It’s just…I really want this to go well because Will’s so invested in Valentine’s Day and my only experience with love is years of Catholic guilt for finding boys attractive on top of extra years of nursing an unrequited crush on a boy who I also blamed for my sister’s death, so…yeah, not a great track record.”
How was it that mortals could out-angst deities despite existing for a fraction of a moment in comparison, Persephone wondered idly to herself.
“A fair point.” she conceded. “Very well, then. I believe that the best gifts to give are something practical, that the receiver can and will use all the time so you’re always on their mind, or something that can always be kept close at hand for the same reason.”
She gestured idly towards an enormous red poppy reposing in a pot nearby, which had been given to her by her mother shortly after the agreement over the pomegranate seeds had been hammered out; the poppy was one of Demeter’s sacred symbols and this one remained in full bloom during her time in the Underworld, shedding a single petal for each month that passed until she could leave and be with her mother again. It had been the sole reminder of her mother in this dark place and though things between her and Hades had…improved, for lack of a better word, in the intervening centuries, this poppy remained one of her most cherished plants.
“I returned the favour with a dandelion that first year, a permanent reminder of each other even if we’re not physically there.” she finished, smiling a little as she recalled Demeter’s radiant smile when presented with the dandelion.
She turned back to Nico and saw that he had frozen with an oddly thoughtful look on his face, eyes staring past her at the poppy. Then a grin, soft but genuine, crept slowly across his face.
“I know that look.” Persephone remarked with a hint of smugness. “Inspired by my brilliance, are we?”
Apparently, he was, and she was more than happy to oblige when he told her his idea. Her finest work, she would tell him on the condition that he never admit that to anyone else on pain of being turned into seeds, fed to birds and then used to fertilise her garden.
Will was working in the infirmary, or rather was trying to but his frustration over Nico abandoning him like a coward was seriously interfering with his concentration. As he cursed over inputting the wrong number of bandages for the fourth time, there was a sudden whoosh and the shadows in the room contracted together before disgorging his wayward boyfriend from their midst. The Italian was looking rather woebegone, arms held behind his back, and he had a look on his face that could only be described as pleadingly guilty.
“Well, well, well, look what the shadows dragged in.” Will remarked, folding his arms and giving what his siblings called his scary doctor look, the kind of look that could make even a god sit still and take their medicine. “Have you come to accept your fate, or were the shadows so disgusted by your cowardice that they refused to shelter you any longer?”
Nico winced slightly, but Will did not soften. He knew Nico had had problems with romance (to the point where Cupid’s name had become a banned word in his presence), but Will had been hoping to spend the day with him and his feelings had been genuinely hurt by the abrupt departure.
“I, er, I wanted to apologise first of all.” Nico mumbled, not looking directly at him. “It was a bit selfish of me not to consider your feelings, or realise that leaving like that might give the wrong idea.”
“Might?” Will asked with a touch of sarcasm. “I spent ten minutes yelling and throwing things at thin air before the harpies descended on me and forced me in here. I know you don’t like Valentine’s Day, but leaving like that… it left me with the impression that you’d rather not spend any time with me on the most romantic day of the year.”
Nico flinched again but didn’t argue. Will stood there, hands on hips now and glowering like an angry night-light.
“You’re right.” the son of Hades finally said. “I shouldn’t have done it, it was selfish and inconsiderate. But I didn’t flee to the Underworld to abandon you; I, um, I wanted to get you something because I could see how much this stupid holiday meant to you, but my romantic history is a disaster and I had no idea what to do, so I went to Persephone-”
“Your immortal stepmother who once turned you into a flower and is only married because her husband kidnapped her?” Will asked, forgetting to be angry for a moment as he pondered that through.
“Yes, and who is surprisingly insightful if you ask her the right things in the right way.” Nico replied, before shaking his head and continuing. “I asked her about gifts because I am, as I said, completely clueless about that and…well, I got you this.”
He brought his hands out from where he’d been holding them behind his back and produced…a sunflower. A giant, three-foot tall sunflower (and how Nico had been hiding that behind his back was a mystery all on it's own) in a brown terracotta pot, in full bloom and, unless Will’s eyes were playing tricks on him, glowing with a warm, yellow light like the sun for which it was named.
“Uh…wha-?” was all Will could manage as he tried to reconcile what he was seeing with what he knew about Nico, flowers and plant life in general.
“Persephone grew it for me and made it so that it’s always in bloom, glows and, most importantly, doesn’t die when I touch it.” Nico said, sounding panicked and breathless. “It’s a flower.”
“I…can see that it’s a flower.” Will said slowly. “Why a flower?”
“Because of what Persephone told me.” Nico replied.
He then proceeded to go on a babbling rant crossed with an exposition on flowers and meanings and how Demeter and Persephone used them to mark time and remind each other of each other and several other things that Will honestly just tuned out, so starstruck was he by the image of his boyfriend holding a giant yellow flower like an offering.
“...and when Persephone asked me why I chose this flower, I told that it was because no other plant screamed ‘’Will Solace’’ so much. It’s bright and cheerful and warm and useful and so, so, so beautiful that it honestly hurts to look at it because it reminds me so much of you. So I asked her to make it like her poppy because it’s like how I feel for you, a feeling that’s never going to die and-”
Will gently took the giant sunflower from Nico’s death-gripping fingers, set it aside on his desk and then placed both hands on his boyfriend’s face, gently holding him so they were almost nose-to-nose.
“Nico, stop talking.” Will said in a gentle voice.
The babbling ceased but Nico still continued to shake slightly, like a deer about to bolt.
“Do…do you like it?” he asked in a desperate tone, to which Will gave a brilliant smile.
“I love it,” replied the son of Apollo, “but not nearly as much as I love you.”
Nico’s face was one of the many things that attracted him about his boyfriend, particularly the shade of red that it went whenever Will said things like that, which was naturally quite often.
“So…it’s a good gift?” Nico asked. “And you…you forgive me?”
“I do.” Will replied. “Now, come here.”
Nico always let out the most adorable little squeak whenever Will kissed him unexpectedly and hearing it now, as their lips met in embrace, let Will know that all was now right with the world.
“Happy Valentine’s Day.” he whispered when they broke the kiss.
“Happy Valentine’s Day.” came the reply, and Nico sounded like he meant it.
“You know we’ve still got the Aphrodite love thing before curfew, right?” Will reminded him.
“Oh, gods, no.”
*
The mandatory love celebration could have gone a lot worse. The bonfire burned bright pink tonight, courtesy of some kind of glittery powder thrown into it by the children of Aphrodite, fat little Cupids made of soap flew around dispensing glittery confetti and all the beverages were dyed pink, red or white but apart from that, you were generally left alone as long as you showed plenty of devoted couple-y antics. Highlights included Percy trying to serenade Annabeth (which ended with one of the Cupids blasting a load of soap suds into Percy’s mouth because that poor boy couldn’t sing to save his life), Malcolm almost dying of embarrassment when Connor showed off the designer underwear he’d bought him (the son of Athena had only just shaken off the indignity of going to battle in nothing more than a cuirass and boxer shorts) and Damien White half-jokingly proposing to Chiara Benvenuti (a proposal that had resulted in her attacking him with a bouquet of roses whilst blushing furiously).
“So, torturous enough for you, Neeks?” Will teasingly asked his boyfriend.
“There is no greater agony possible to come up with than this.” Nico grumbled, but he was smiling. “But at least you’re here to endure it with me.”
“That’s the spirit, tesoro.” Will replied, kissing him on the forehead.
Nico flushed pink, as he always did when Will used the few words of Italian he could consistently remember, just as one of the Cupids came fluttering over. Will tensed, prepared for the worst, but Nico remained remarkably composed as he hissed at the cosmetic construction like an angry cat, bared teeth and all, to which the Cupid responded by dumping its load of confetti on his head and fleeing in terror.
“Urgh! It’s gonna take forever to get this out!” Nico complained, trying to brush the glittery litter off himself.
“Ha-ha, I like it! My own sparkly boyfriend!” Will replied, earning him a death glare.
“I. Do. Not. Sparkle.” Nico spoke through gritted teeth.
Unfortunately, he did for the foreseeable future as glitter was well-known for getting everywhere; the slightest movement set various parts of him off twinkling like Christmas lights as tiny fragments of glitter caught the light.
“HA! You look like something out of Twilight!” Travis Stoll exclaimed, pointing at him gleefully.
Nico was saved the trouble of stirring himself to kill the elder Hermes brother by Katie Gardner, who made Travis emit a noise like a cat trapped in a boiling kettle as she grabbed his ear, twisted it hard and reminded him forcefully that camp had banned that franchise for a very good reason.
Nico and Will sat in silence for a while, watching the various campers and camper couples interacting. Giggling near the campfire caught Nico’s attention and, turning his head to look, he was surprised to see Harley and that Asian boy who’d been chasing him, Dior or some such, sitting together. There wasn’t any hanky-panky occurring compared to what some other campers were discretely getting up to, but every so often they would nudge the other’s leg or arm and giggle while blushing hard enough to put a traffic light to shame. It was oddly adorable, Nico had to admit, if a bit odd to see kids that young expressing any romantic gesture.
“I see Harley survived, then.” he remarked to Will.
As it turned out, Harley had indeed given Dior a Valentine in the form of a mechanical perfume bottle, but something had gone wrong or gotten mixed up during manufacturing and so the son of Aphrodite had gotten blasted in the face with soot and sparks instead of eau de parfum, which had explained his soot-dishevelled appearance earlier. The enraged Dior had apparently chased Harley all over camp for an hour before finally cornering him in the bathrooms and prepared to administer a beating of epic proportions, which Harley had only been spared because Dior had caught sight of himself in the mirror and decided that he didn’t actually mind his new singed-eyebrows look. The two older demigods watched as Dior took out a compact and began applying some touch-ups to his make-up, a task which Harley decided to interfere with by making faces and flexing his muscles in the mirror to distract Dior.
“If I smear my mascara, even Hades won’t find your body!” Dior snapped, but he sounded more amused than angry.
“Why do you want to smear gunk on your face when it’s already so pretty?” asked Harley.
Will squealed as Dior turned the colour of a ripe strawberry and aimed a punch at Harley’s arm, which didn’t do anything given the other kid was built like an ox calf.
“Aren’t they just so cute together, Neeks?” he gushed to his boyfriend.
“Yeah, yeah, adorable.” Nico replied, watching the two little demigods in slight jealousy; he wished he’d been that comfortable with his sexuality when he was that age.
They watched as Dior put away the compact and took out Harley’s mechanical bottle, which he seemed to have fixed if the lack of miniature explosions from it was any indication. Dior sprayed a little on himself and the scent of lavender came drifting over on the evening breeze. Harley clapped his hands happily on seeing his gift work, and then promptly all but malfunctioned as Dior gave him a little peck on his soot-stained cheek. Watching this made Will abruptly remember something.
“Oh, Styx, I completely forgot to give this to you!” he exclaimed as he took a small, prettily wrapped box from his jacket and handed it to Nico. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
Nico took it curiously, admiring the pretty little bow it was tied with, then opened it. At the sight of the contents, he froze, mouth slightly open in astonishment, then reached in and pulled out…
“A dog collar?” he squeaked.
It was bright red, made from soft and supple leather and decorated with silver spikes. Nico held it up like it was a dead mouse, every fibre of his being demanding an explanation.
“No! No, it’s not a collar, it’s a…well, they said it was a choker but now that I think about it, it kind of does look like a collar.” Will hastily clarified. “Maybe it’s both? A chollar? A coker?”
“It’s a collar, Sunshine.” Nico said in an utterly dead inside voice. “You got me…a collar. You want me to wear…a collar.”
Praise be to the Fates that nobody had noticed them so far, because Will didn’t think he had the fortitude to withstand everyone at camp thinking that he and Nico were into…nope, not even going to go there!
“It’s not for whatever reason you think it is, Neeks!” he protested.
“Then what reason is it for, Solace?” Nico asked, still in that dead voice.
“Well, I saw it on display in New York and thought that, given your aesthetic, it might…suit you.” Will squeaked. “I mean, with the spikes and all.”
Nico looked properly at the accessory he was holding, taking in every inch of detail.
“I do kind of like the spikes,” he admitted, making Will exhale in relief. “But, seriously, William…red? Why is it red?”
“Is something wrong with red?” Will asked.
“Have you seen how I dress?” Nico continued, gesturing down at his all-black ensemble. “Why did you think red?”
“I thought you could use a pop of colour.” was the meek reply.
Nico proceeded to spend the next hour - yes, hour - going into detail about how the accessory was the most demeaning, tacky, ridiculous, garish, inappropriate and utterly unlike him gift that Will could possibly have picked.
He wore it every single day for the rest of his life.
THE END