The Sun and the Star (The Nico di Angelo Adventures #1)

by Rick Riordan

What did I ever do to deserve him? Nico wondered. He asked himself that question a lot.

A funny thing had happened as the two grew closer: Nico suddenly understood all those cheesy, sappy love songs he’d always hated. They’d always seemed like such a ridiculous exaggeration. And it wasn’t only that, of course. He’d grown up in a time and place where people like him... well, they just didn’t have love songs. In a roundabout way, his experience in the Lotus Hotel had allowed him to end up here, where this was possible. Nico had a boyfriend.

“It is Nico di Angelo, son of Hades! I have returned with my glow-in-the-dark boyfriend, Will Solace!”

“Okay, okay,” he said. “No more feeling sad. It is what it is.”

(Will still wasn’t used to the fact that his boyfriend kept random bits of human bone in his pockets for emergencies, but he guessed everyone needed a hobby.)

“We’ll do it,” Will said. He faced Nico. “We can’t turn back now.” Nico made a mental note not to let Will do the negotiating if they ever bought a first car together.

Will had heard love described in so many dramatic, bizarre ways over the years, but no one had described it like this: It’s like drifting down a river of pain and knowing you are safe. It’s like holding a person in your arms and realizing they are an interlocking piece of a puzzle you hadn’t known how to assemble. It’s like staring into a dark and treacherous expanse, unsure of what awaits you but finding comfort in the fact that you won’t have to face it alone. It was a son of Apollo falling for a son of Hades. It was this.