The quest was never expected to go to plan in the first place.

So when they were all severely outnumbered they, being the idiots they were, still thought it'd be a wise idea to fight. There was a sea of swords and weapons, clashing and maiming valiantly. The five demigod clearly had no hope in succeeding, which would of been extremely easy if they had access to their demigodly powers, but due to the strange terrain they were on, they were completely stripped of them.

Even though there's five present, only three of the five seemed to make any (minor) physical difference upon the ambush. Percy, Jason and Nico were all gifted with their sword combat as well as their natural Big 3 powers, they fought off monster after life draining monster courageously, but there were too many to escape without being captured.

Leo and Will, however, though still fighting with our lives, weren't nearly as talented with our weapons. Leo Valdez was known for crafting epic swords and spears with unique attributes, but he himself, could hardly wield one, let alone fight with. Then you have Will Solace, unanimously decided as one of the most important demigods of Camp Halfblood, who could heal patients with golden magic generously blessed from Apollo at birth. Yet alas, his extreme skill in healing was balanced out by his complete lack of combat skills, even as a Son of Apollo, the arrows Will would shoot would only just scrape his target, if he was lucky that is.

It was fair to assume the odds were not in the favour of the questing demigods that afternoon, but by some life saving miracle, every unidentifiable monster just vanished, disappearing into great clouds of pitch black sand.

"Well," Percy panted, shock etched in his features, "That was pretty easy." He nudged Jason on the shoulder, as if tipsy, but Will identified it more as the adrenaline leaving his veins post attack.

Jason smiled, readjusting his square glasses and Leo chuckled, flexing his arms, "I guess they were just too intimidated by me," the Hispanic claimed jokingly, his own way of saying 'thanks for saving my life while I did abosutley nothing helpful besides aimlessly throw my blade around'. He pulled it of quite well.

The Son of Apollo waited for the Son of Hades to reply with deadpanned honesty of how Leo was no help whatsoever, but it never sounded. Suddenly alerted, Will only then noticed that Nico was no where to be seen.

"Guys," the concerned blonde started, disturbing the banter and laughter between the other three demigods, "Where's Nico?"

Their faces dropped; eyes widen in realisation as if it was practiced synchronisation. This was quickly followed by a chorus of Nico's name being shouted out, but silence weighed uncomfortably upon their shoulders as they were getting no response.

Will raked a hand through his golden curls, he was not going to lose Nico again, not after everything they've progressed to. Will attempted to formulate a logical idea of where the Italian may be but all he could think about was; he's gone, he's gone, he's gone. "He couldn't of just vanished into nothing, he must of actually gone somewhere"

"Those monsters - whatever they were - things, vanished into nothing, Nico could have done too," Jason pointed worriedly, that brooding Son of Hades was like the little brother Jason never had, meaning he was unhealthily overprotective over Nico. At least he has a reason to be overprotective, Will thought bitterly, sure he and Nico were dating, but it was secret, even to their closest friends. The Son of Apollo of course didn't mind, he wanted to go with whatever Nico was comfortable with, but it meant that it displayed Will as the least uncaring towards the dark haired teen when truly, he cared the most.

Leo pitched in, "Perhaps he shadow travelled—"

"Nico wouldn't do that," Percy replied before the blonde had a chance to, genuine worry evident in his sea green eyes.

The Hispanic just toed the sand with the tip of his worn out sneaker, "It wouldn't of been the first time, I mean, he's done it before..."

Will didn't even register what he was saying until he actually snapped, "Nico has changed, he wouldn't just abandon us like that. And if he shadow travelled, which I highly doubt, he'd have fucking Hades to pay."

Jason hummed in agreement, tracing his sword in the orange tinged sand. "That means he must of been taken," the Son of Jupiter concluded, saying what everyone knew but no one wanted to admit.

"That is quite correct, young Demigod," claimed a new voice, simultaneously, Will, Jason, Percy and Leo turned quickly to see the person behind the foreign voice.

There was a deep chuckling, in the complete opposite direction of where the exact same voice originally sounded, "Oh, teasing you demigods is far too fun."

This time, the four were actually able to see the being behind it. He was very attractive, as much as Will hated to admit it, he had dark brown hair and deep blue eyes, beautiful yet diabolical. The Son of Apollo knew exactly who this figure was, from all those times Nico would open up and describe his most tragic life experiences, this being would always be second on the list.

It was none other than Eros, the God of lust and beauty.

Will stood in front of him, the hatred he felt towards the God felt like acid through his veins, he'd rather be dragged to Tartarus rather than bow down to this arrogant scum's feet.

"Eros," was all Will said.

Jason's stormy blue eyes widened in realisation, before narrowing his eyes, giving a glare that would make Lupa proud.

Leo and Percy, however, just stood there, pondering on why the God of sex would pay them such an unannounced visit.

Eros just smirked charmingly, closing the distance between himself and Will, "That is correct, I am Eros. Son of Apollo? Am I right? You just radiate healing magic and that blonde hair of yours," the gods hand just ever so gently brushed a lock out of Will's azure eyes, and it took all of his willpower to not snap the God's unsnappable wrist.

"What do you want, Cupid?" The bespectacled blonde asked, the God's Roman name spat as if it was poison.

"Son of Jupiter, it's more of a matter of what you want," Eros practically purred, his attention never wavering from Will for a moment. The Son of Apollo didn't back down though, he refused to display any sign of weakness in front of this pathetic excuse of a god.

"Where is Nico?" Percy demanded as if he had accepted immortality all those years ago, he spoke to Eros as if he was not a God but merely a monster spawned from Hades. Percy had this stupid confidence around Gods; being completely honest Will had to admit that he admired it very much.

"Ah yes," Eros said, as if he had forgotten the sole reason of him being here was not due to Nico's disappearance, "I have him with me, he was ever so polite and charming when I met him again. Such a well mannered Son of Hades," Eros' irises suddenly blazed red, "Honestly, with a filthy mouth like his, he's quite lucky I haven't killed him yet. However, I do have admittedly have a subtle interest of young Nico's life. I just can't help but get meddled with it, it's ever so tempting." Cupid explained, the way he spoke was silky; almost hypnotic, as if it was some sort of type of charmspeak which he had inherited from his mother, Aphrodite.

"You've made his life even more of a hell than it already is," Will stated, stepping away from the he dare say handsome god who was really starting to have some affect of the Son of Apollo.

Jason, being unaware that Will knew about Nico's experiences with Eros, was confused, "Wait, Will, how do you know?"

Before Will could think of a legitimate answer, Cupid seemed to have grown excited, his deep navy eyes sparked paired a smirk tugged at the edges of his plump lips.

"Will? So you're William Solace?" The literal sex god seemed like he came to a realisation, which only perplexed the Son of Apollo, why would Eros of all gods above know his name? "I'm impressed, that Son of Hades has done well. Very well indeed." Cupid stated, as if taking notes of Will as he looked at him as if he were analysing and calculating a math problem.

"Come with me, young Demigods, if you want to see Nico," Eros said suddenly, and as soon as he finished speaking, Will, Percy, Jason and Leo were disoriented in a cloud of red smoke, before drifting clear to reveal themselves in a cave. The air was humid and thick, walls were dry and jagged. The rattling of metal could be heard, faintly echoing of the walls of the hollow caves. The area was dark, but the God radiated an ever so slight red aura, just enough to see the surroundings.

Eros lead them through the cave, and the rattling of metal started to sound more and more like chains clanging against each other. It was only when they turned their final left, was Nico Di Angelo revealed, wrists bound together and chained to the stony wall. Will felt reliefs soar through him as he saw the boy he loved, still alive and well, though in quite a predicament.

"Ah Nico!" Cupid exclaimed, as if excited to see the Son of Hades again. The Italian snapped his head up, only to glare piercing daggers at the God. Even Will, immune to Nico's so notoriously named death glares, felt uneasy — and he wasn't even on the receiving end.

"Get me out of these, Eros," Will was surprised by how calm Nico's voice was, though it was shaky, as if it took every ounce of determination to not snap and turn berserk and frighteningly intimidating like he is on the battlefield.

Eros just clucked his tongue in amusement, "But where would the fun be in that?" Beaming at Nico, mocking his position. That's when the Son of Hades lost it.

He tugged desperately against the shackles and chains, yanking them with such a desperate ferocity Will was surprised the chains didn't snap. But Nico came to a sudden stop as his jaw clenched and his limbs tensed, his back arching as he faced the roof of the cave, "Ah, fuck!" Nico gritted throughly clenched teethed, "What the hell are these chains made of you sociopathic piece of sh—"

"Molten celestial bronze and stygian iron" Leo answered, almost mechanically, and in great timing too, "Forged by the cyclops, they were designed to keep stronger prisoners such as huge monsters like Minotaur from escaping. The complex structures triggers several spring locks when force is applied to the cuffs, meaning they just become tighter and tighter the more the prisoner struggle."

"Very good," Eros praises, "Very good indeed, I take you are Leo Valdez hmm? Son of Hephaestus?" Leo only nodded hesitantly, Will didn't blame him, the Hispanic looked so severely lost throughout the whole Eros ordeal, he'd be just as confused if Will didn't know the history between the God and the Son of Hades.

After a beat of silence, Percy seemed to be the one to ask what everyone was thinking, "Well how the hell are we supposed to get him out?"

Cupid just shrugged. Smiling slightly as he suddenly burst out majestic, pure white, feathery wings. "Well demigods, as much as I love to sit and chat and torment. I am indeed a God and have places to be."

"So how do we get him out, surely you aren't going to leave him here to rot if you love messing with his life so much?" sneered the Son of Jupiter, but Eros seemed to already have made his exit from the cavern, but his humoured, deep voice still resonated faintly behind him,

"A true loves kiss, of course"

No one dared to speak, so the cave was silent take the quiet pelting droplets of water hitting the stony ground. Everyone stole not so subtle glances from Nico, only slightly (a lot) worried about reaction to the who ordeal. His jaw was clenched so tight Will was sure he could break it any second from now.

You could literally feel the tension in the air, it was thick and heavy and veiled upon the unfortunate demigods like a suffocating blanket. Nico looked up, narrowing his eyes at nothing and let out a puff of a breath.

"True loves kiss ay? Percy, you're up," said an apparently suicidal Jason.

Leo being Leo, couldn't help the snicker escape his lips before slapping his bronzed hand against his mouth. The Son of Hades glared at the hispanic (but not nearly as poisonous as he did to Eros) to which Leo raised his hands in surrender, "What? He said it, not me!"

Will, personally, found the situation hilarious - because really all he had to do was kiss the guy and he'd be free; they'd all complete the quest in a bippity boppity boo. Even the underlying reference to Percy being Nico's lover made Will chuckle out of sheer irony that the Italian had told him (upon several occasions) that it was he himself that Nico was truly in love with.

"That won't work," sighed Percy, looking down in feign defeat, "I'm not his type, you see."

They were all surprised when Nico was the one who let out a little snort — which Will found unfairly adorable. The Son of Hades had a lazy mirth filled smirk spread across his face, his narrowed eyes now shining coyly.

"For once you're right, Percy. And may I remind i was never in love with him in the first place, only slightly delusional."

Percy dramatically slammed his hand above his heart, falling down to him knees, acting as if non existent tears were streaming down is face, "And too think, we had something special... a...and you just shoot rejection right into the chest." He mopped on the floor, much to the amusement for the rest of the demigods, who were acting as if they weren't caught up in a pretty god damn serious predicament.

Leo tutted, shaking his head disapprovingly, "I, for one, always knew Percico would not be. Don't think I haven't been noticing the sneaky glances you've been stealing from me, Neeks." Will was laughing the most of them all, grasping his stomach for a magical method to get the oxygen to his lungs due to the burning sensation of his laughter. To even joke that Leo would be the one Nico would fall for, the amount of times the Italian had explicitly stated his annoyance of the Son of Hephaestus to him was uncountable.

"Nico, I'm afraid our secret cannot be concealed any longer," Leo sighed, now approaching the chained demigod. Several expression flashed through the Son of Hades face in a split second, horror, disgust and eventually intimidating.

"I swear to Hades Valdez, if you even think about it you'll regret it," he warned, the Latino brushed the threat from the literal child of hell from his shoulder casually.

He only grinned before he sealed his doom. The Son of Apollo watched in slow motion as the lips of the two connected, and he saw the severely aghast expression contoured in Nico's features. Will was literally burning holes into the skull of the foolish Leo Valdez, despite knowing it was all part of one heart aching joke. How else would Will feel if some guy was kissing his boyfriend right in front of him like that and oh my god Nico is responding. Percy's wolf whistle was barely even heard by the Son of Apollo because, fuck he was so jealous right now. He watched his tongue trace his boyfriends lip, he watched as his boyfriend gave Leo access, he watched Leo suddenly sprung apart, as if he were electrocuted by Zeus himself.

The Latino's hands covered his face as he doubled over in what seemed like obvious pain, "WHAT THE FUCK, NICO? YOU BIT MY GODS DAMN TONGUE OFF!"

Nico smiled innocently, an expression so foreign to his features yet suited so well, "I told you you'd regret it," was all that was said. Will noticed the subtle glance towards him, an apology and Will suddenly found the situation drop dead hilarious.

Percy and Jason's teasing of Leo seemed to die down as he still wailed in pain, Nico rattle on his chains a little, not enough to cause them to tighten cruelly into his wrists and sighed.

"I'm getting tired now. Will, get me out please."

All Will did was smirk, pushing himself of the cave wall he himself didn't even realise he was leaning on. Giddy joy flooded his veins as he said, "With pleasure."

No one had quite registered what was happening until Will cupped Nico's pale cheek, looking lovingly into those eyes he always found himself lost in. The kiss was brief, but long enough to overtake the one that Leo had stolen. Nico's arms looped around his neck, and Will was only vaguely aware that he could stop now, he was free. Only his rational sense of mind ruefully pulled him away.

"Oh mierda," said Leo, "I'm too handsome to die today."