Archive of Our Own

For the first time in what had seemed like years, Nico di Angelo finally felt peaceful. Of course, being a demigod, he suspected it was only temporary. Still, now that Gaia was finished with, there was seemingly no impending threat and despite his initial eagerness to leave both Camp Halfblood and Camp Jupiter far behind, he was starting to feel at home at Camp Halfblood.

As the son of Hades, Nico doubted he’d ever fully belong anywhere, but he would be lying if he said he hadn’t been surprised to return and feel accepted. First, it had been Will Solace, along with Lou Ellen and Cecil, on top of the hill, not being afraid to talk to him and even lecture him in the case of Will. Then it had been Reyna hugging him in front of everyone as a sign of unity between the two camps. Now it was Jason and Percy deciding to rename the Hades table as the ‘Big Three’ table, insisting to sit with Nico, despite his disapproval. He’d never admit it to their faces, but they made quite amusing company.

Then, of course, there were the three days Will Solace was forcing him to spend in the infirmary. They would be far from peaceful. Nico was quickly discovering that Will was possibly one of the most stubborn people he’d ever met. He also smiled like the sun and had the brightest blue eyes Nico had ever seen. If someone asked Nico what the son of the sun god should look like, Will Solace would be his first example.

However, at the same time, Will was so very different to how he envisioned a son of Apollo to be. Wherever Nico went, he was used to people flinching away in fear, even if they didn’t intend to. As the embodiment of gloom and doom, it was only natural that people would fear him. Much to Nico’s surprise, Will wasn’t afraid of him at all. In fact, after Nico had only just arrived at the infirmary for the start of his three days of being held hostage, he decided he definitely needed to make Will more fearful of him.

It wasn’t even that he disliked Will’s presence. Unfortunately, he actually enjoyed it way more than he had initially planned to and had to reprimand his brain frequently to prevent unnecessary thoughts about the blond-haired boy from crossing his mind. It was just that Will was very… touchy.

Nico hadn’t noticed it at first, even if when they bumped into each other during the battle against Gaia, Will had grabbed Nico’s hands, punched his shoulder, wrapped an arm around him when he nearly fainted and laid a hand on his shoulder after the battle had finished. Looking back, he supposed he should have realised that Will was very casual about physical contact before he grew surprised by it as soon as he entered the infirmary.

“Nico, you actually came,” Will’s voice rang out the second Nico stepped inside the infirmary. His first thought was that this had been a mistake and he definitely shouldn’t have come, but as soon as Nico spotted the grin on Will’s face, his heart skipped a beat and he supposed it wouldn’t hurt to stay and finally get some rest.

Then Will grabbed Nico’s arm and dragged him into the infirmary. Nico’s arm turned warm under Will’s hand and he felt the urge to pull away. He ignored it, remembering there was no escape from the three days he‘d promised.

“Right, get seated and make yourself comfy,” Will said cheerfully. “This is about to be your home for the next few days.”

“You know I could just shadow travel out of here,” Nico pointed out, reluctantly sliding onto the bed.

“Don’t think I’m afraid to give you twenty-four-hour surveillance in here, di Angelo. You’ll do no such thing,” Will scolded humorously.

“Don’t think I’m afraid to raise skeletons in your hospital, Solace,” Nico countered, unable to help the smirk that crept its way onto his face.

To Nico’s surprise, Will scoffed and placed his palm against Nico’s forehead. The physical contact shocked Nico once again and he jerked back on reflex.

“Do you ever stop touching people?” he muttered bitterly.

“I’m a doctor; it’s my job,” Will pointed out, “so you’d better get used to it. You’re cold as ice, as I thought, and you’re still faint from all the shadow travel and Underworld-y stuff. Do you have any wounds from the battle that you’re deliberately hiding?”

Nico subconsciously twitched his arm before replying.

“No,” he said. Will raised a blond eyebrow before his hands pushed the sleeve of Nico’s borrowed Camp Halfblood t-shirt up, revealing the werewolf scratches that were now faded into harsh red scars.

“Oh really, Jack the Fibber?” Will replied slyly before narrowing his eyes and observing the wound more closely, stroking a thumb over the area. The action sent a jet of pain and a tingle of electricity up Nico’s arm simultaneously. He flinched.

“It’s nearly healed,” Nico argued.

“‘Nearly’ isn’t healed enough for me, Death Boy. You’re taking some ambrosia and I’m wrapping that up,” Will instructed, reaching over to the table behind him and collecting up various supplies. Nico resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He was fine.

“Do you get off on being irritating?” Nico complained under his breath. He could have sworn he heard Will make a choked sound, but when he turned back around to him with a bandage, scissors and a tub of an unknown salve, he looked unperturbed.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Will winked in response, his face breaking into a grin. Nico turned his head away, making an exasperated sound as he ignored the red flush rising in his cheeks. He hadn't been expecting such a response.

Nico remained silent as Will began to bandage his arm, deciding it would be easier to just let Will get his way considering the son of Apollo would argue with him to the end, no matter what he protested. He was surprised to find that the pain he hadn’t even realised was still present eased at the application of the salve. Will must have noticed the shift in Nico’s expression, because he looked up at him and smiled.

“Don’t look so surprised that it worked. I know what I’m doing, believe it or not,” Will said.

“Never doubted,” Nico replied dryly.

“Of course you didn’t.” Will rolled his sky blue eyes, wrapping the bandage around Nico’s wound several times before snipping the end and taping it down, gently pressing on it. 

Nico couldn’t help but watch Will’s hands as he worked. He knew Will was the best healer from the Apollo cabin, but seeing him work so effortlessly was kind of mesmerising. Will’s hands were smooth and tanned, unlike Nico’s pale, calloused ones from years of using a sword. 

He looked away as Will removed his hands, hoping he hadn’t been caught watching. If he had, Will didn’t let anything on, instead smiling down at Nico and placing a hand on his leg. Nico jumped by reflex at the contact.

“Jumpy, aren't you?” Will teased. “I’ve finished wrapping up your arm but I’ll have to change the dressing once a week until it covers over. Hopefully, I’ve caught it soon enough that it won’t scar.”

“I don’t really care if it does,” Nico shrugged.

“Yeah, I can tell,” Will said laconically. “I don’t want to be responsible for tarnishing your lovely pale skin.”

Nico scoffed at his sarcastic tone when Will suddenly grabbed his hand, turning it over to look at his palm. Nico nearly snapped it away in shock, uncertain he was ever going to get used to the excessive touches Will kept giving him. Especially when it caused his face to heat up each time he did it.

“What are you doing?” Nico questioned indignantly.

“You used to have olive skin, right? I swear you did when you arrived at Camp, all those years ago,” Will recalled.

“Uh, yeah, I guess. I’m Italian,” Nico shrugged, surprised that the action didn’t hurt for the first time in the past week or so. He was honestly shocked Will even remembered him arriving at Camp Halfblood for the first time. It seemed like a lifetime ago and, honestly, Nico was embarrassed about how eager and talkative he’d been.

“Hm,” Will observed. “Shadow Travel has made you pale. And you probably have anaemia. When’s the last time you got a proper night’s sleep that wasn’t passing out from excessive Underworld magic?”

Nico wracked his brain to remember, but his hesitance had provided Will with an answer, apparently. He flipped Nico’s hand over again and wrapped his own hand over Nico’s fingers, placing it back down on the infirmary bed as Nico’s heart rapidly beat at the action.

“That’s what I thought. Eat this ambrosia and then actually try and sleep. I will personally remove every shadow from this room to stop you from escaping, if I need to,” Will ordered.

“You’re really infuriating, you know,” Nico huffed, taking a bite of ambrosia. He’d forgotten how incredible it tasted. It reminded him of the food Bianca and he used to enjoy together at the Lotus Casino. The memory was bittersweet, but Nico was willing to bask in it anyway.

What he hadn’t been prepared for was the sudden drowsiness that hit him. Nico’s head flopped back onto the pillow with fatigue as Will smirked at him.

“Okay, maybe I could sleep,” Nico admitted.

“Told you. I am a Doctor, you know,” Will responded cheerily.

“The more you say that, the less convinced I become that you know what you’re doing,” Nico muttered, his eyes starting to droop closed with weariness.

“Just shut up and get some sleep,” Will complained. Nico, for once, was happy to comply, and as Will reached over and ruffled his hair before standing up to leave, Nico suspected his dreams might be quite a bit happier than usual.

When Nico reopened his eyes, it was still light outside. His body felt stiff as he managed to turn it over, forgetting about his bandaged arm as he rolled onto it and winced in pain. Eventually, Nico had managed to rub the sleep from his eyes and get himself into a sitting position on the bed. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see a clock in the room and he had no idea what time it was or how long he’d slept for.

The curtain separating Nico from the rest of the infirmary was pulled back right at that moment and the bright, cheerful face of Will Solace peeped inside as if he’d sensed Nico’s awakening.

“Oh, you’re awake,” Will observed joyfully. Having only just awoken, Nico didn’t exactly share his happy demeanour.

“How long did I sleep for?” he demanded to know, his tone grouchy. Nico was never particularly friendly when he’d just woken up, but Will’s thousand-watt-smile was too bright for him this early, late, or whatever time in the day it was.

“It’s definitely been at least twenty-four hours,” Will informed him, glancing down at the table beside Nico on which he realised there was a clock. It was already one in the afternoon. Nico’s eyes widened as Will continued.

“I did tell you that you needed to sleep. Now you might actually believe me. Are you hungry?”

“I slept all the way through yesterday?” Nico asked in disbelief, ignoring Will’s question. The blond boy shrugged.

“Pretty much,” he confirmed. Nico groaned and led back down on the bed.

“What’s the issue?” Will asked, the undertones of a smirk edging into his voice, “I would have thought you’d be glad to hear that you’ve already fulfilled a third of the time you promised to spend resting here.”

Nico considered that. True, he hadn’t been happy to spend an entire three days stuck in a room with someone he was deliberately trying not to get a crush on, but at the same time, he supposed Will’s face being the first sight to greet him when he woke up was far from horrible.

“Whatever,” Nico finally grumbled just as his stomach decided to growl loudly.

“I’ll take an educated guess and assume you are hungry,” Will commented. “Lucky for you, I just picked some food up from the Mess Hall. Mind if I eat in here with you?”

“I doubt you’d leave even if I said I minded,” Nico pointed out.

“Yep!” Will confirmed, grinning broadly as he stepped away from the gap in the curtain, grabbed something and entered the room properly, holding a paper bag filled with an assortment of food.

Nico watched as Will pulled up a chair and emptied the contents of the bag onto the table. Nico swung his legs over the edge of the bed so that he was facing Will and eyed the fries hungrily.

Apparently, Will had noticed, as he chuckled and slid them over to Nico.

“I guessed you’d like fries. Have them- I’m not much of a fry guy, myself,” he offered. Nico fought back the urge to laugh at his terrible rhyme.

“Definitely don’t think you inherited poetic skill from your dad,” he commented, unable to suppress the smile spreading across his face.

“No offense to him,” Will spoke through a mouthful of sandwich, swallowing before he continued, “but I think I’d much rather have healing powers than rhyming skills.”

“You can still curse people to speak in rhymes and stuff, though, right?” Nico asked, recalling an incident regarding the Ares cabin angering the Apollo cabin over a chariot.

“Alas, it’s one of my strongest battle techniques,” Will joked, flexing his arms as he grinned. Nico ignored the blood rushing to his face as his eyes skimmed over Will’s toned biceps. 

“W-what about music?” Nico attempted to change the subject before he embarrassed himself further.

“Hm?” Will hummed in response.

“I know you can do that ridiculous dog whistle thing, but did you inherit any other musical skill from your dad?” Nico asked. Will laughed in response.

“I think it’s safe to say that both myself and all my siblings feel the urge to wear earplugs whenever I attempt to sing in the shower,” he explained. Nico raised his eyebrows in surprise. Will’s laugh sounded so melodic that he’d have assumed the other had a great singing voice too.

“However,” Will continued, “if you ever need to torture some cats, call me. I’m your guy.”

Nico couldn’t help himself from letting out a laugh at that one.

“I’m pretty sure that’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh,” Will noted, an amused smirk gracing his lips.

“Yeah, well, it doesn’t happen often,” Nico shrugged, continuing to eat his fries. He noticed that Will had leaned forward a bit and sucked in a breath. His face was awfully close to Nico’s. It was making his heart rate pick up.

“That’s a shame,” Will frowned, his voice quiet. “You have a really nice laugh.”

“I- um- thanks,” Nico stammered as Will finally leaned back again, still smiling.

“So, what about you? You’ve interrogated me about what my dad ‘blessed’ me with, now what did you get from Hades other than your Underworld-y magic?” he asked.

Nico paused to think for a moment, still shocked by the fact that Will never seemed concerned that Nico’s father was the god of the Underworld.

“Stubbornness,” Nico decided. Will burst out laughing in response.

“Well, you’re right about that,” he grinned, placing a hand on top of where Nico’s was led casually on the table. He jumped in surprise as he felt the warmth of Will’s touch trickle up his arm. Why couldn’t Will give him warning before he touched him?

Will drew his hand back slowly and studied Nico with a more concerned expression. Nico looked away as his cheeks flushed. Surely this time Will had noticed his jumpiness.

“Hey, Nico, feel free to punch me or anything if I’m being too invasive here, but you get really jumpy when people touch you, right?” Will asked. Nico sighed.

“It’s not personal,” he promised. “I’m just… not used to people touching me.”

Nico turned his face back to Will’s, hoping to read his expression for any sign of judgement or mockery. Instead, it looked thoughtful.

“Hm,” Will seemed to consider. “I think you’re touch starved.”

“What?” Nico spluttered.

“Touching isn't just a thing friends do for the sake of it, y’know. We actually need human touch to keep up oxytocin levels in our bodies. If we don’t get enough physical contact, it can lead to depression,” Will explained. Nico rolled his eyes.

“Don’t get all medical on me,” he huffed.

“I’m serious!” Will laughed. “Who touches you on a semi-regular basis?”

Nico thought through his average day and scowled.

“Well, considering most people find me too intimidating to even approach, I don’t exactly get a lot of physical contact with them,” he stated.

“Not even Jason, Piper and that lot?” Will raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Nico shook his head. Sure, he’d allowed Jason to hug him once, but that was about it. 

“Everyone gets worried around a son of Hades,” was his response.

“I don’t,” Will said determinedly. Nico’s eyes connected with Will’s blue ones. He’d always thought Will was weird for not being more hesitant around him, but hearing the son of Apollo say it himself sent butterflies to his stomach. Nico’s promise to himself to never catch feelings for another handsome demigod was going to be broken if Will carried on like this.

“Maybe you should,” Nico countered.

“Not really a convincing enough argument, I’m afraid, Neeks,” Will smirked.

“I did not give you permission to call me that,” Nico scowled. Will laughed and stood up, having finished his sandwich and a banana.

“I didn’t ask for it,” he smirked. “Anyway, I’d say that was a pretty successful health check-up.”

“You didn’t even check my health,” Nico muttered as Will continued.

“So I’m now prescribing you a minimum of three doses of physical contact per day, delivered by yours truly. Doctor’s orders.”

“Seriously?” Nico rolled his eyes.

“I’m always serious, Nico,” Will commented, a mischievous twinkle lighting his eyes up. “Feel free to get more sleep, if you need it. Meanwhile, I have to clear the evidence of all this food- I’m not supposed to eat in the infirmary.”

Will leaned over and gave Nico’s good shoulder a squeeze. Nico deliberately looked away as he did so, hoping Will wouldn’t notice his red face.

“Hmm, seems my medication may come with a side effect of blushing,” Will noted, his lips tugging up at the corners. Nico’s cheeks flushed even darker. He was never going to survive this ‘medication’.

“Or maybe that’s just patient-specific,” Will added with a wink. A freaking wink. A wink that, much to Nico’s dismay, sent his heart fluttering into a frenzy of erratic beating. 

“I- wh-“ Nico said intelligently as Will released his shoulder and walked towards the gap in the curtains with the remains of their lunch.

“Catch you later, Neeks,” Will grinned before slipping out of the room. Nico felt his body flop back onto the bed as he exhaled deeply, attempting to steady his heartbeat. How could he be so nonchalantly flirtatious? Did he even know what he was doing to Nico’s poor heart? Some doctor he’d be if he was the direct cause of Nico’s heart attacks.

William Solace had no right being that attractive.

Once Will had departed, Nico was left alone to his thoughts, which was always a pretty dangerous thing. For the first time over the past few days, he had the time to think about the war against Gaia. About Bryce. About Octavian.

The memory sent an uneasy feeling through his body. He kept trying to convince himself that he’d only done what he could have. His father’s voice echoed in his head: ‘Some deaths shouldn’t be prevented.’

Still, Will had hated Octavian just as much as Nico, if not more, and he had attempted to save the Roman’s life. Meanwhile, not only had Nico allowed it to happen, he’d prevented Will from interfering. He’d spent the first few days after the war avoiding Will, insisting that the son of Apollo thought only disgust of him.

Assuming that wasn’t the case from the casual way Will continued to approach him, Nico simply couldn’t wrap his head around what Will thought of it all. How could he not blame Nico? And if he did, how did he seem so unbothered by it? If Nico was this plagued by something he hadn’t even tried to stop, how was Will coping with it all?

A flash of blond hair caught Nico’s attention and he snapped his head up, preparing to greet Will sarcastically, when he noticed the blond hair belonged to Jason. His heart sunk and he chastised himself once again for feeling disappointed. Jason was still his friend; he shouldn’t feel displeased to see him.

“Hey, Nico,” Jason greeted with a grin. “Can Piper come in, too?”

“I don’t see a reason why not,” Nico shrugged. Clearly having been listening for her cue, Piper poked her head around the curtain and waved cheerily before stepping inside and lacing her hand with Jason’s.

“How’s the infirmary break going?” she asked with a grin.

Nico gave another noncommittal shrug. 

“I’ve been asleep for most of it,” he replied. For some reason, he didn’t dislike the daughter of Aphrodite, despite her heritage giving Nico optimal reason to. Piper wasn’t anything like her siblings. She was fierce and strong yet surprisingly gentle and cooperative.

“Don’t worry,” Jason said. “You’ll be out again in no time.”

“Yeah, I suppose I will,” Nico considered, wishing he didn’t feel so sad about that.

Just as Jason opened his mouth again, the curtain drew back yet another time and Nico was about to roll his eyes in annoyance when he realised it was Will Solace.

“Yo, Neeks, I need to check your blood pressure,” he announced before stopping short in his tracks when he noticed Jason and Piper. “Sorry,” he added. “Didn’t realise you had visitors. I’ll come back-“

“No, don’t worry,” Nico interrupted. “They’re only here to bother me. Plus, I thought I told you to stop calling me that.”

Will smiled and stepped around to the other side of Nico’s bed.

“Pretty sure I don’t remember that,” he shrugged.

“You have a selective memory,” Nico complained.

Jason and Piper watched their exchange wordlessly.

“Do you need us to leave for this, or-?” Jason began to ask but Will waved his hands to cut him off.

“No need! It’s just a pressure test. I’ll let you chat with Nico in peace in a few seconds,” he assured.

“Oh, don’t leave me alone with those two,” Nico pretended to complain. Will, who was wrapping a fabric sleeve around Nico’s arm to check his blood pressure, flashed him a wry smile.

“What, you’d rather stay in here with me?” he teased. Nico’s face flushed bright red and he desperately hoped Jason and Piper didn’t notice.

“Why do I constantly surround myself with infuriating people?” Nico sighed.

“You wound me,” Will clutched a hand to his heart in mock offense.

“Yeah, we’re not all that bad, Nico,” Jason chipped in.

“We only brought you one get well soon card,” Piper added, brandishing a pink, flowery card from behind her back and grinning cheekily.

Nico glared at Jason and Piper as they placed it on the table beside his bed. Will laughed from where he was crouched by Nico’s arm that was currently being squeezed by the machine.

“Jason Grace, Piper McLean, I think we’re going to get on very well,” he commented.

Nico groaned in complaint and covered his face with his hands, hoping it would conceal the smile he couldn’t prevent. His friends were infuriating in the best way.

“If I go down to the Underworld and never return after I’m released from here there is no one to blame but you three,” Nico warned them.

“Will you be able to?” Jason asked seriously, remembering Nico’s inability to access the Underworld that was unfortunately still in place.

“I won’t give Hades an option,” Nico said, hoping he sounded at least a little intimidating. Will laughed and ruffled his hair as he stood up so Nico suspected he hadn’t quite achieved his aim. However, it was also possible that Will, all sunshine and smiles, was actually just immune to his darkness and gloom.

“Right, I’ll leave you three be for now. Catch you later, Nico,” Will announced, giving Nico’s arm a gentle squeeze before he left. Nico was already finding himself growing more accustomed to Will’s touch and was beginning to think the blond-haired boy may have been correct about him being touch starved.

Piper cleared her throat to get Nico’s attention.

“So, Will, huh?” she asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

“What about him?” Nico snapped a bit too quickly, his face glowing red already.

Piper laughed.

“I was just teasing, Nico, don’t worry. He touches you a lot, though.”

“And you let him,” Jason added. “What’s with that? I thought you hated physical contact.”

Nico sighed.

“Don’t go getting the wrong idea. He’s just a very touchy person. Plus, apparently, I’m ‘touch starved’ or whatever, so he’s prescribed me with at least three doses of physical contact per day,” he explained. 

Piper and Jason shared a look with each other that Nico did not trust before turning to face him and smiling innocently.

“Of course,” Piper agreed. Nico could tell she didn’t believe him.

“It’s strictly medicinal,” Nico grumbled.

“He ruffled your hair,” Jason pointed out, “and called you ‘Neeks’. I’m pretty sure you’d raise all hell on me if I called you that. Literally.”

“I’m not allowed to do any Underworld-y magic,” Nico resolved. Jason and Piper still didn’t look convinced by his argument so he huffed and rolled over to the other side. He’d decided that his friends were the worst again. 

“Sorry, Nico, we’ll stop now,” Jason apologised. He tentatively placed a hand on Nico’s arm and Nico almost jumped away. Jason sensed this and pulled his arm back but Nico turned over again.

“No, it’s alright. I suppose you’re allowed to touch me, now,” he complained. “I’m just not used to it yet.”

In reality, he was only used to Will’s touch now, or at least Will’s touch was the one he welcomed. Gods of Olympus, he was in way too deep already.

“Does this mean I’m allowed to braid your hair?” Piper asked, a cheeky grin spreading across her face.

“No,” Nico said firmly, shooting her a glare. 

“What if I use charm-speak?” she challenged.

“You have a death wish, babe,” Jason sighed, placing a hand on his forehead as Nico began to have a glaring-cum-staring contest with his girlfriend. Nico won and Piper pouted, folding her arms in a deliberately childish way.

Jason wrapped an arm around her and placed a hand on Nico’s shoulder at the same time.

“Anyway, it’s good to see you’re doing okay,” he said. “I suspect Percy and Annabeth might drop by later. We’ll see you once you’re out around camp again!”

“Yeah, see you,” Nico waved goodbye, feeling a sense of relief flood over him once Jason’s hand left his shoulder and he was alone again. He still didn’t really like being touched, after all. Unfortunately, it was just Will Solace.

That evening, Will came in to check on Nico one or two more times, exchanging the odd sly comment and making sure to touch him each time he visited. Nico wanted to complain that Will had said the medication was only three touches per day, but as Will’s touch on his arm, shoulder, leg, head or face sent a burst of electricity through his skin, he couldn’t find it within himself to object.

Before it even turned nine o’clock, Nico found himself falling asleep once again. In the infirmary, he was astonished at how easy it was to slip into sleep. He was even more annoyed at how accurate Will had been when he’d told Nico he needed rest. 

The next day, when he woke up, Nico immediately regretted ever thinking this was a good idea. His head was pounding, his throat felt constricted and the sheets of the infirmary bed were sticking to his skin. 

He already knew that his immune system wasn’t the strongest, so spending time in the infirmary probably meant he’d caught something. Nico was going to strangle Will’s pretty neck when he next saw him.

He didn’t have to wait long, as just at that moment, Will peeked his face around the curtain.

“Hey, Nico!” he greeted when the smile suddenly fell off his face. “Oh boy, you don’t look good.”

“You think?” Nico croaked, his throat seeming too narrow to speak through. Will entered the room properly and immediately pushed Nico’s hair off his forehead, replacing it with his own hand.

“You’re burning up. Let me get you some water. I think I have some medicine, too. Your immune system must be pretty weak,” Will muttered, more to himself than to Nico, although the son of Hades wasn’t sure, because he was struggling to focus.

“This is your fault,” Nico blamed.

“How is this my fault? I’m the doctor!” Will complained, standing up and finally removing his hand from Nico’s sweaty forehead.

“Weak immune system,” Nico muttered. “You forced me to stay in the infirmary.”

“Please,” Will rolled his eyes. “You did need this. It’s not my fault that you were more susceptible to catching a virus from all that Shadow Travel.”

“Still your fault,” Nico insisted. Will heaved a sigh and walked towards the curtain.

“I would think being ill would make you less stubborn, but apparently not. Let me get you that medicine,” he said.

Nico tossed and turned in his bed during the ten seconds it took before Will returned, unable to find a comfy position. He stopped thrashing when Will entered again, carrying a glass of water and a bottle of yellow liquid.

“I’d normally give you tablets, but your throat doesn’t sound up to swallowing anything like that right now, so this medicine will have to do. Then you can have some ambrosia and hopefully that will make you feel well enough to leave tonight,” Will explained.

“Oh yeah,” Nico remembered. “It’s the third day.”

“That doesn’t mean you get to completely leave, though,” Will reminded him. “You still have to come for a weekly bandage change and I expect you to visit me anyway. Y’know, just to see a friend.”

“A friend?” Nico raised an eyebrow before coughing his lungs up. He didn’t realise Will even considered him a friend, although he supposed at this point they were hardly just acquaintances. Nico wouldn’t insult just anyone in the same way he insulted Will. Although, that might be due to other reasons than just the friendship Will had in mind.

“Yes, a friend. Drink this water,” Will replied when Nico had finally finished his coughing fit.

For once, Nico did as he was told. Will sat down in the chair by Nico’s bed and started pouring the yellow medicine onto a spoon. Even with his mildly delusional brain, Nico could tell it was disgusting.

“I’m not putting that anywhere near my mouth,” Nico rasped indignantly, placing the water on his table.

“You don’t have a choice unless you want to stay in here, ill, for the next three days,” Will stated.

“Just give me the ambrosia. I’ll be fine,” Nico insisted.

“Nope,” Will sang. “You have to take this; Doctor’s orders.”

Nico groaned in frustration as Will hovered the spoon near his mouth. Nico turned over, but Will just brought the spoon around the other side of his head. Nico kept his lips shut tight. He was not eating that medicine.

“Just take it!” Will sighed in frustration. Nico shook his head as he shifted his body to a sitting position. It took way more effort than he was expecting it to.

“Ah, go to Hades, Nico,” Will declared.

“I bring Hades, I don’t go th-!” Nico snapped back automatically before realising his mistake when he was cut off. In opening his mouth, he had allowed Will to lunge forward with the spoon and pour the pungent yellow liquid down his already painful throat.

Nico spluttered as he swallowed, scrunching his face up at the taste. Will sat back in his chair, smirking at Nico’s misfortune. Nico just wanted to wipe that smirk right off his mouth, preferably with his own mouth.

No, Nico, that is exactly what we are not going to think about, the still rational part of Nico’s brain tried to tell him, but Nico was too ill to pay it much attention as he continued to observe Will’s mouth.

“That tasted disgusting,” Nico finally said, forcing his eyes north.

“I knew I’d get you to take it,” Will said, clearly pleased with himself.

“Dirty tactics, Solace,” Nico complained. Will’s smirk softened ever so slightly, forcing Nico to have to make even more of an effort to not stare at his lips. He really hated his brain when it was ill.

Fatigue taking over him once more, Nico slid down from his sitting position to lie on the bed again.

“You look tired,” Will contemplated.

“I’m fine,” Nico grumbled.

“I can see that,” Will replied sarcastically, taking out a square of ambrosia. “Eat this then try and sleep off the fever. Believe it or not, there are other patients after this bed.”

“You’re the one who forced me to stay here for so long,” Nico reminded Will. The blond boy shrugged, unperturbed.

“I only planned for you being here for three days, remember.”

“This isn’t an actual hospital. I’m pretty sure you could find another bed,” Nico pointed out, accepting the ambrosia from Will and nibbling its edges. Today, its tomato and herb-y flavouring didn’t seem all that appealing to Nico. Not enjoying the feeling of being ill, though, Nico forced it down, drinking water to wash the taste away.

“Better?” Will asked.

“Hardly. I still feel horrible,” Nico complained, “and way too tired.”

“You should get some sleep, then,” Will pointed out the obvious. “I’ll leave you to rest in peace.”

Will laid a hand over Nico’s, fulfilling his physical contact prescription as promised, but for some reason, Nico’s illness addled brain caused him to twist his hand around and grab Will’s own.

“Please don’t go,” Nico begged, his voice cracking slightly in the middle. Will turned around to look at Nico and gave him a soft smile.

“Alright, I won’t,” he said softly, sitting back down again, still holding Nico’s hand. Nico fluttered his eyelids shut and slid into sleep as he felt Will’s hand brush some hair out of his face. 

If Nico woke up free of illness, he would have to erase both his and Will’s memory. No one could know he'd done that.

The next time Nico opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was the weight in his right hand. The next thing he noticed was that his head was pounding a lot less and he was finding swallowing much easier. Much to Nico’s aversion, it seemed the medicine and ambrosia had done their job, just as Will had promised. 

Will. Nico’s hand.

Nico snapped his eyes down to the unknown weight in his hand and flushed bright red when he noticed that Will’s hand was indeed still wrapped around it. Over in the chair, the son of Apollo was sleeping in a rather uncomfortable looking position. 

Nico felt guilty about accidentally asking Will to stay. It was an illness derived impulse, but Will had endured it just to honour his word. Nico wasn’t sure that the butterflies fluttering around his stomach were also guilt related.

The lights in the infirmary were fairly dull, so Nico assumed it was at least evening time. A glance at the clock on the table confirmed his suspicions. It was eight o’clock, meaning technically Nico’s three days were complete. Still, the fever had left him weak and he didn’t want to disturb Will by removing his hand.

Plus, the warmth of Will’s hand in his was very comforting.

Nico’s attention was torn away from the sleeping boy when he heard footsteps outside of his room.

“Will?” a female voice called. Nico’s heartbeat increased. Should he call out and tell the owner of the voice of Will’s whereabouts? He didn’t want anyone seeing him like this, holding Will Solace’s hand and watching him sleep. That would just seem weird.

Instead, Nico did the only thing he could think to do: he pretended to be asleep.

“Will, are you still here?” the voice called out again. Nico could hear the sound of curtains being pulled back and knew it was only a matter of time until they were discovered. His heart beat faster. Why was he even pretending to be asleep? Whoever it was calling for Will was going to find the two of them holding hands, no matter what.

Deciding the only thing left to do was to be cruel, Nico pulled his hand out of Will’s strong grip as harshly as he could, causing Will’s eyes to snap open.

“Nico?” Will asked as he sat up straight. “What time is it? I hadn’t meant to fall asleep.”

“Oh, there you are!” The curtain to Nico’s bed was pulled back and the owner of the voice was revealed to be Kayla Knowles, Will’s sister.

“Sorry, Kayla,” Will apologised. “I didn’t realise you were looking for me. Fell asleep.”

“If you were getting enough rest at night, you might actually be able to finish your job without falling asleep on the patients,” Kayla pointed out, placing her hands on her hips as she looked at Will sternly. 

Will smiled at Nico sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. Nico suspected he had a crick in it from sleeping in a wooden backed chair.

“You haven’t been sleeping properly?” Nico asked. Will shrugged.

“The infirmary’s been pretty busy since the war. Doesn’t leave you much time to think during the day,” he explained.

Nico’s heart sped up with worry. Had he been correct in assuming that the fate of Octavian was haunting Will? If so, that meant Will neglecting his own health was ultimately Nico’s fault.

“Have you been eating and drinking properly, at least?” Nico asked.

“Hey, you’re the patient here. I should be asking you the questions,” Will said. Nico raised an eyebrow.

“Your refusal to answer suggests you haven’t, in fact, been eating properly.”

“Nico has a point,” Kayla chipped in. “Austin said to me yesterday that he thought you were looking a bit sickly. You’re never going to be able to help in the infirmary if you don’t look after yourself, first. You need to stop overworking yourself.”

“But-“ Will tried to argue.

“No buts,” Nico said firmly. “Kayla, has all the food gone from the Mess Hall?”

Kayla nodded.

“Come on, then. I know where we can get some food,” Nico told Will. Will raised an eyebrow at him.

“Last time I was awake you had a terrible fever. Don’t think I’m letting you go anywhere, Death Boy,” Will decided. Nico rolled his eyes.

“First, I’ve already told you not to call me that, second my three days are up- I can do what I want.”

“What if I said Doctor’s Orders?” Will teased.

“Not happening,” Nico stated. “Now, let’s go.”

What Nico hadn’t equated for was how weak his legs would be after spending so long led down. When he slipped his feet out of the covers and attempted to stand up, his legs wouldn’t take his weight and he tumbled forward.

A pair of strong arms wrapped around him as he made contact with Will’s chest.

“Still certain this is a good idea?” Will muttered in Nico’s ear, his breath warm against Nico’s skin, sending shivers down his spine.

“Shut up,” Nico grumbled, pushing Will away hurriedly and standing up, supporting his own weight successfully this time. “I’m fine.”

“I’m not sure I should leave either of you unaccompanied right now,” Kayla sighed. Nico was ashamed to admit that within the moment, he’d forgotten she was there.

“Don’t worry, Kayla. I’ll stop Nico from killing himself,” Will laughed. 

“I’ll make sure Will actually eats something and prioritises himself over others, for once,” Nico grumbled.

Kayla raised her eyebrow, still unconvinced.

“Alright, fine, but if you don’t have Will back before nine, I will march the whole cabin out to look for you. Harpies, or no harpies,” she threatened. Nico wasn’t about to feel intimidated by her. He was the son of Hades and she was a daughter of Apollo with ginger and green hair.

However, the glare she sent between Nico and Will before she left still put a lump in Nico’s throat.

“You don’t know Kayla as I do,” Will said once she’d left. “She really will send half the camp to hunt us down if we don’t hurry up.”

“It won’t take that long to get food,” Nico rolled his eyes. Will laughed gently and slid his hand into Nico’s, tugging him forward. Nico tried to protest as heat rose up in his cheeks but all that came out was spluttering.

“I don’t trust you to not fall over again,” Will explained. “Now, lead the way to the food, Death Boy.”

“Told you not to call me that,” Nico muttered under his breath, pulling Will out of the infirmary, anyway. Nico was glad the air was reasonably warm outside, as it wasn’t like he could have brought a jacket with him.

Still, with the warmth radiating through his body from Will’s hand in his, Nico doubted he would have needed a jacket even if it had been cold.

Nico was starting to become very much more accustomed to Will’s touch. He hadn’t even felt the urge to draw away or jump when Will had slipped his hand in Nico’s. Instead, he had just felt his heart pound and butterflies stir up in his stomach, symptoms of something very different from being touch starved that Nico was still desperately avoiding thinking about the consequences of.

“Where exactly are we going?” Will asked quietly in Nico’s ear, his voice dropping to a low pitch that caused Nico’s stomach to flip.

“You’ll find out,” Nico responded, turning his head around to flash Will a smirk. He hadn’t anticipated the closeness of Will’s head to his, and found himself staring straight into a pair of sky blue eyes. 

In typical Nico fashion, he stumbled on a rock. Therefore, it was only natural that Will’s arms wrapped around his back and caught him before he could fall off balance.

“Why do you keep catching me today?” Nico complained, desperately trying to ignore the closeness of Will’s body to his.

“I don’t know,” Will said, the corners of his lips tugging into a smile. “Why do you keep falling for me?”

Nico used Will’s arms to push himself back into a standing position.

“Gods, you’re insufferable,” Nico huffed, hoping it was dark enough outside that Will wouldn’t see how red his face was.

“You’re so mean, Nico,” Will teased, pouting.

“And yet you still stick around,” Nico retorted, grabbing Will’s hand again to drag him along. It definitely wasn’t just because he already missed the warm feeling of the son of Apollo’s hand in his.

“Takes more than that to get rid of me,” Will sighed, smiling easily as he took two long strides to catch up to Nico. Curse his long legs.

“Yeah, I noticed,” Nico replied, unable to resist the smile edging onto his face.

“Is that a smile, I see, di Angelo?” Will asked, poking Nico’s cheek with his finger.

“Get off,” Nico complained, using his free hand to bat Will’s away. The taller boy just laughed in response.

“Ok, where exactly are we going? I don’t see how we’re going to get any food here,” Will asked when Nico pulled him into a patch of trees down by the far end of camp.

“Just trust me, okay?” Nico grumbled. “Stay here. I’ll be back in two minutes.”

“Where are you going?” Will spluttered. Nico didn’t give him a reply before walking away. He’d brought the two of them to a patch of woods behind Cabin 13 because of the stash of food he kept inside. Nico grabbed a few things from his stash and headed back to Will.

Nico ignored the shocked look on Will’s face as he dropped the food onto the jacket he’d grabbed from his cabin so that it could act as a picnic blanket.

“Where did you get all this food?” Will asked.

“I stole it from the Mess Hall,” Nico shrugged in response, picking up a ham sandwich and finding that luckily his appetite had returned after that morning.

“Why?” Will mused. Nico swallowed his mouthful before replying.

“Just in case I don’t feel like being around other people. It means I don’t have to go hungry.” He considered Will for a moment. “You should do something like that, too. How many meals do you skip when you’re working in the infirmary?”

“Not that many,” Will brushed the question off. Nico raised an unconvinced eyebrow.

“Alright, I miss breakfast a lot but I usually get dinner every day,” he conceded.

“Will, Kayla was right. You can’t look after everyone else if you don’t look out for yourself first,” Nico scolded. Will picked up a sausage roll with a sigh.

“I don’t do it on purpose. I just have this innate need to look after everyone who needs help,” he stated. 

Immediately, the scene of Octavian being catapulted into the sky by his own onager flashed through Nico’s mind and he felt the guilt well up inside him once more.

“Is that why you tried to stop him?” Nico blurted out.

“Who?” Will asked, clearly confused about the lack of context.

“Sorry,” Nico said. “I was just thinking about Octavian.”

“Oh,” Will nodded.

“Yeah, oh,” Nico agreed. “Do you… hate me for what I did?”

“No, of course not!” Will declared, turning to face him and sliding a hand over the one Nico was supporting his body weight on.

“But I let him die!” Nico spluttered. “I didn’t even let you try and save him!”

“I know,” Will sighed, “but I think I understand why you did it. It wasn’t because I wanted Octavian to live that I decided to warn him. I just couldn’t not. I’m a healer. I’d do anything to prevent death, even if that death shouldn't necessarily be prevented.”

Nico looked at Will with wide eyes. Whatever he had been expecting Will to say about the matter, that certainly hadn’t been it. His own father’s words were surprisingly similar to Will’s own: ‘Some deaths shouldn’t be prevented.’

“I avoided you after the war,” Nico began.

“I noticed,” Will chipped in.

“It was because of Octavian. I thought you’d view me as some sort of monster. I’m used to people being naturally cautious of me; scared to approach me. When I arrived here again, you weren’t remotely wary. I thought you were stupid at first, but then I realised that’s just who you were. You weren’t frightened of me and it was very annoying,” Nico continued to explain. Will interrupted with laughter.

“You’re really not as scary as you think you are,” he commented.

“Pretty sure you’re the only one who thinks that,” Nico huffed. “Then you made that comment about me pushing myself away and that there were people who wanted to be my friend and you made me begin to change my mind about leaving both camps. When you dragged me away from Jason to deal with Octavian, I thought I’d finally scared you off just when I was thinking to myself that I didn’t want to. 

“I’m not sure I’d change what I did if it happened again,” Nico considered, “but I’m not proud of it. It was my father’s own words that rang in my head. He told me that some deaths shouldn’t be prevented- pretty similar to what you just said. If it had any contribution to the defeat of Gaia at all, I think Octavian's was a life better sacrificed.”

Will considered Nico for a second but his eyes didn’t flicker with any sign of fear or disgust. They were as warm and friendly as ever. Nico had no idea how he managed to be so kind towards the son of Hades, even after he'd basically admitted to assisting in someone’s death.

“I’m glad you stayed,” Will finally spoke.

“Hm?” Nico hummed.

“I’m glad you stayed here at Camp Halfblood. It’s good having you around,” he explained. Nico raised an eyebrow. Of all the comments he thought Will would make about his spontaneous monologuing, this was not one of them.

“I think I’m glad, too,” Nico admitted, looking away from Will’s face as he did so, too worried he’d blush if he continued looking into those big blue eyes.

“Thanks for telling me all of that. I know you don’t open up easily, so,” Will paused to catch Nico’s eye again and smirk, “I feel pretty special.”

“Don’t go getting an ego. We don’t need another Jackson or Grace at camp,” Nico retorted.

“Perish the thought,” Will chuckled, turning towards Nico with a smile. Will leaned forwards, growing close to Nico’s face. For a split second, Nico was sure that Will was about to kiss him. 

Instead, he brought his thumb up to Nico’s face and brushed it.

“You had a crumb,” Will explained with a cheeky grin, his face still very close to Nico’s.

Nico couldn’t respond. His heart was still stammering too fast and Will’s proximity was making it difficult for him to breathe.

“I’d better get back to my cabin or Kayla will have both of our heads. Thanks for the food, Nico,” Will smiled, standing up suddenly. Nico finally snapped out of his daze and jumped to his feet, too, picking up his jacket and the leftovers.

“Yeah, no problem. Don’t forget to eat again,” Nico said.

Will shrugged.

“Can’t make any promises. Don’t forget to drop by the infirmary later this week to get your bandage changed. I’ll see you around.”

“I guess you will,” Nico grumbled. “Goodnight.”

“Night, Neeks,” Will waved with a wink, already on his way back up through the trees. Nico lifted a hand in response before turning back around, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath in. His mind was replaying the image of Will leaning in towards his face, causing Nico’s heart to speed up every time their faces came close.

He couldn’t even try and deny it anymore. Nico had a major crush on Will Solace.

For the first time over the past few days, Nico actually woke up inside the Hades cabin. It felt good to be surrounded by his own bed sheets again, without the smell of antiseptic wafting through the air. Still, a part of him was sad to be out of the infirmary. For one, he didn’t get to wake up to Will’s face, which irked him more than it should have, and he would also have to speak to the other campers again now that he wasn’t ‘ill’.

Checking the clock and noticing that he was awake in time for breakfast, Nico begrudgingly dressed in the obligatory Camp HalfBlood t-shirt and a pair of black jeans to stay true to his aesthetic. He left his cabin and made his way to the Mess Hall for the first time in a few days.

To his surprise, Jason and Percy were still sitting at the Hades table that they insisted was now the ‘Big Three’ table, despite Nico having been absent at meal-times.

“Hey, Nico! Good to see you out of the infirmary,” Percy waved as soon as he spotted the son of Hades. Nico shrugged and slid into his seat next to Jason, piling toast onto his plate.

“I didn’t miss you, no offense,” he stated. Percy choked on his blue orange juice and clasped a hand to his chest.

“I see they didn’t heal your wounding remarks,” he said dramatically.

“He didn’t even appreciate the card Piper and I made him,” Jason joined in.

“It was pink and had flowers on it,” Nico pointed out, biting into his toast and rolling his eyes.

“A get well soon card is a get well soon card,” Percy sided with Jason.

“Yeah, I really didn’t miss you two,” Nico decided as he left the two to their dramatics, scanning the mess hall until his eyes inevitably landed on the Apollo table. He was disappointed to realise that Will wasn’t there, not that it would make any difference if he was.

Nico absent-mindedly wondered if Will was neglecting his health despite his and Kayla’s lectures last night, opting to skip breakfast in order to spend the morning in the infirmary. If he was, Nico was going to march in there and raise skeletons to hand feed him a Full English breakfast. 

His attention was drawn away from thinking of Will when he felt a cold hand touch his arm and he jumped back before realising it was only Jason.

“Woah, still pretty jumpy about touches,” Jason said. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m just surprised Nico didn’t whip out his sword and skewer you,” Percy smirked, skewering his own sausage on his fork as he spoke.

“Oh, did I not tell you?” Jason asked, a sly smile sneaking onto his face. Nico paled. He didn’t trust Jason when he got that look. “Will Solace has diagnosed Nico as 'touch-starved' and his medication is touching Nico three times a day.”

“Why did you even bother to remember that?” Nico mumbled but his voice was drowned out by Percy’s loud laughter.

“Oh really?” he smirked, raising an eyebrow at Nico. “What an interesting prescription.”

Nico couldn’t help but turn red, even though he doubted Percy even had any idea about his feelings.

“Shut up, he’s just an annoying doctor,” Nico rolled his eyes.

“Do you know what’s even stranger, Perce?” Jason added.

“Do tell, Grace,” Percy leaned in.

“Nico didn’t even flinch when Will touched him,” Jason said with a wink. Nico groaned and put his face in his hands. He knew Jason was only joking, but it really did hit a bit too close to home. The trouble was, if he admitted that, then they’d know he'd accidentally developed a crush on Will.

“And he jumped back when you touched him? How strange!” Percy observed.

“Jason’s hand was cold!” Nico objected. Jason and Percy shared another amused look.

“I bet Will’s are lovely and warm, being the son of the sun god,” Percy considered.

“I’m leaving this table,” Nico declared, already piling some food onto his plate to force Will to eat.

“What are these two doing, now?” Annabeth’s voice came from behind Nico. He turned around, actually quite relieved to see her. Whilst he may have gone for many years hating Annabeth for selfish reasons, he didn’t mind her at all now that he had moved on from Percy.

In fact, Nico would go as far as saying she was now one of his favourite demigods. She never unnecessarily provoked Nico, never teased him, always gave him a smile and wasn’t particularly afraid of him.

She also put Percy back in his place, which was always amusing to see.

“We weren’t doing anything,” Percy said innocently. Annabeth was having none of it.

“A likely story,” she said. “Jason, fancy telling me what you were doing? Because Nico didn’t look impressed.”

“I was just recounting a tale about Nico in the infirmary and Percy was listening,” Jason explained.

“And no doubt this tale involved some sort of teasing,” Annabeth figured out.

“We would never do anything of the sort!” Percy gasped, acting offended. Annabeth turned to Nico and raised an eyebrow.

“Escape whilst you can,” she told him. Nico smiled wryly and nodded, collecting his food for Will and leaving the boys complaining to Annabeth about her letting him go.

Nico hovered outside the Big House for a moment, glancing into the infirmary through the window. Was it even appropriate for him to go back in? Will was probably busy and what if one of Will’s siblings found him first and asked what he was doing? Nico had been told by Will that he wasn’t allowed to eat in the infirmary whilst he was working, anyway.

Luckily, Nico didn’t have to worry about that, as his pacing was interrupted by a voice calling his name.

“Nico?”

He snapped his eyes up and was very pleased to see Will stood at the infirmary door.

“Hey,” Nico greeted. Will glanced down at the plate of toast and eggs in his hand.

“Thanks for stopping by, but I can’t let you in with that food,” he pointed out. Nico snorted out a laugh.

“I know, stupid. I brought it for you because I- er- noticed you weren’t at breakfast,” Nico admitted, his cheeks tinged red as he deliberately looked down at the ground to avoid eye contact.

“Really?” Will asked, his voice rising. Nico nodded as Will walked towards him.

“Well, come on, then,” Will smirked, grabbing Nico’s free hand to pull him along. “We’ll have to sneak around the back so I’m not seen eating on the job.”

Nico allowed himself to be pulled by the blond, flashing him a small smile when Will turned around to look at Nico. It really did feel so much more familiar and comfortable to be touched by Will than Jason.

Once they were behind the Big House, Will sat down with his back against the wall and Nico followed suit, handing him the plate.

“You really didn’t have to do this, y’know,” Will said through a mouthful of toast. Nico shrugged.

“I know, but Kayla said about you skipping meals and when I saw you weren’t at breakfast I was figuring you still hadn’t listened to us,” he explained. Will laughed freely.

“It was really sweet of you, Neeks,” he complimented. Nico flushed red.

“That is a sentence I never want anyone to hear,” he grumbled.

“Ah, so you don’t want anyone to hear it, but I’m allowed to say it,” Will teased, drawing his face close to Nico’s and causing his heart to short-circuit. That was becoming a hobby of Will’s, apparently.

“That- that’s not what I meant,” Nico spluttered in protest. Will chuckled again and shifted his weight to his right so that he was leaning against Nico.

“I know,” Will admitted. “It’s just cute seeing your face go red.”

Well, Nico thought, if Will continued to say stuff like that he was about to get a whole lot cuter. If Will proceeded to make more flirtatious comments in front of Nico, there was going to be a bed in the infirmary with his name written on it permanently.

As Nico allowed himself to silently observe Will as the son of Apollo indulged in his breakfast, he relaxed more into his side. It was surprisingly comfortable and Will was really warm. Nico could easily rest his head on Will’s shoulder and fall asleep again in a heartbeat.

“So,” Will’s voice broke the silence and snapped Nico out of his thoughts. “What are you doing today?”

In all honesty, Nico had forgotten that there were Camp activities he needed to participate in. If he hadn’t been so preoccupied with Will at breakfast, he would have remembered to ask Percy and Jason what he was even supposed to be doing.

“I don’t actually know. Being in the infirmary for three days has made me unaware of everything,” Nico said, looking at Will accusingly.

“Hey, don’t pretend you didn’t really need those three days of rest. I’ve already told you- I’m a doctor: I know what I’m doing,” Will pouted.

“And I’ve already told you: the more you try and tell me you know what you’re doing, the less I believe you,” Nico smirked in response.

“You’re so mean,” Will whined, dramatically putting the plate down and sprawling himself across the ground, his head lying in Nico’s lap. Nico glanced down and saw Will’s bright blue eyes and grinning face staring back at him. He tried to steady his breathing.

Will was too beautiful for his own good and he had so many freckles.

“If you’re not doing anything,” Will continued, apparently unaware of Nico’s gay panic, “can you teach me to sword fight?”

“What?” Nico spluttered.

“As a child of Apollo I’ve always been told to use a bow and arrow and I’m not dreadful at it, but when compared with Kayla and the others, I'm pretty lousy, so I’m never useful in battles. It’d be nice to try a different weapon; see if I’m any good with it. Plus, you’re pretty awesome at sword-fighting,” Will explained as Nico continued to gaze at him in shock.

“I think you’re pretty good with a bow and arrow,” Nico shrugged, knowing for certain he couldn’t even shoot within the target area, never mind hit a bullseye. He couldn’t do anything in his life straight, including shooting.

“Not for a son of Apollo,” Will frowned, finally sitting up again and turning to face Nico.

“Besides, wouldn’t someone like Percy be better to ask for lessons?” Nico continued.

“Would you want Percy to teach you?” Will raised an eyebrow. Nico nodded.

“You have a point,” he agreed. “Alright, I’ll teach you. It’s not like I’ve got anything better to do,” Nico finally conceded. It wasn’t like he was going to pass up the opportunity to spend a day with Will.

“Awesome!” Will grinned, gripping Nico’s hand between both of his. “I’ll just finish up in the infirmary and then I can take the morning off. Meet me at the arena.”

With that, Will jumped to his feet and raced back inside, leaving Nico’s heart a stuttering mess.

Don’t get your hopes up, he chastised his brain, Will might not be Percy but there’s still no chance of anything happening. He’s probably straight.

With that final thought, Nico’s good mood dropped drastically, but he picked himself up to make his way over to the training arena.

Much to Nico’s dismay, there was already a sword-fighting class happening in the arena, led by none other than Percy Jackson, himself.

“Oh, hey Nico!” Percy waved as soon as the son of Hades entered. The young campers gathered around passed worried looks between them at his arrival and Nico tried not to shrink back. It wasn’t their fault he was intimidating.

“Hey,” Nico greeted, avoiding eye contact as he walked over to the wall of weapons and looked over them, wondering which would be best for Will to use. The two would have to practice behind Nico’s cabin where they’d spent the evening, yesterday.

“I was just thinking that I needed someone for a demonstration, actually. Would you mind helping?” Percy asked. Nico resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He knew he couldn’t exactly say no. Not when Percy had asked in front of so many kids.

“Alright. Don’t expect me to go easy on you, Jackson,” Nico agreed, sliding his stygian iron sword out of his belt where it frequently lived and making his way to the front. He knew Percy was a better sword fighter than him- he was the best in the entire Camp and possibly out of all of Camp Jupiter, too. Still, Nico wasn’t exactly inexperienced.

“So, today we’re going to be practising some simple disarming techniques,” Percy explained to the campers. “The idea behind disarming is, unfortunately, not as interesting as cutting off your enemy’s arms.”

The young campers all laughed at Percy’s joke whilst Nico simply raised an eyebrow.

“Instead,” Percy continued, “it’s all about shifting your weight in the best possible way to force your partner’s blade out of their hand. Are you ready to demonstrate, Nico?”

Nico couldn’t help the smile that slid onto his face.

“You’re going down,” he said to Percy, bringing his sword in front of him.

“Go!” some kid in the front row yelled. Nico and Percy both followed the instruction and their swords clashed.

Luckily for Nico, Percy was also explaining what was happening as he parried Nico’s blows, giving Nico an advantage in that he could concentrate on his moves. Percy was still extremely talented, though, and could counter all of Nico’s attacks without even having to observe. 

Deciding to get a bit of revenge for breakfast, however, Nico lunged forward with a bit more intensity and Percy’s commentary slowed down as he focused more of his attention on the battle.

Just as Percy spoke up again to inform the kids of the technique he was using, his guard dropped ever so slightly. Nico spotted an opening, stepped between Percy and Riptide and pushed his own sword against Percy’s, causing it to clatter to the ground.

“And that’s how you disarm someone,” Nico announced to the class with a slight smirk.

“I let him do that,” Percy insisted. The campers laughed and Nico thought that, for once, they might not be completely afraid of him.

“Oh, hi Will!” Percy waved in the direction of the door. Nico glanced up and spotted Will leaning against the doorway.

“I came to collect Nico, but I see he’s preoccupied,” Will smirked. Percy looked at Nico and wiggled his eyebrows and Nico was very tempted to use his sword to slice them right off his handsome face.

“Oh, not at all, I just needed him for a demonstration. He’s all yours,” Percy said. Nico didn’t like the suggestive tone in his voice.

“See you,” Nico said to Percy, raising his hand to the kids in a half-hearted wave as he made his way back over to the door. He was glad to see Will had picked out a sword for himself.

“We can practice over behind my cabin, since Percy’s here,” Nico said as soon as he reached Will. The blond nodded and followed Nico across the Camp.

“Nice fighting,” he commented.

“Were you watching the whole time?” Nico asked.

“Pretty much,” Will shrugged. “You look really- um- cool when you fight.”

Nico raised an eyebrow at the compliment. Will wasn’t usually one to stutter over his words, so what had he been intending to say?

“Thanks,” he smiled, as they reached the spot they’d been at last night. “So, how much do you know about sword fighting?”

“Um,” Will scrunched his eyebrows together and looked at the sword. “I vaguely remember some of the classes Luke gave me when I first came to Camp.”

Nico bit his lip and tried not to think too hard about Luke Castellan, looking instead at Will’s hands wrapped around the sword.

“Well, for starters, you’re holding the sword wrong,” he pointed out. Will smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head with one hand.

“Yeah, the memories might be vaguer than I thought,” he admitted.

“Right, so you need to hold it more like this,” Nico said, demonstrating with his own sword. Will bit his lip and tried to imitate Nico’s stance but still struggled. Nico sighed in defeat and realised there really was no way he could do this without touching Will.

“Move this hand around the back of the handle and keep your thumb there,” Nico explained, placing his own hand on top of Will’s to move his fingers into the right position. It didn’t help that Nico noticed how small his hands were compared to Will’s. It wasn’t something he particularly needed to be thinking about. 

“Like this?” Will lifted the sword up once Nico had stepped away from him. Nico nodded.

“Yeah, that’s right. Do you know about stance?” 

Will shifted one foot forwards in something that sort of resembled the correct stance.

“Your expression is suggesting to me that I don’t know about stance,” Will chuckled.

“It’s not terrible,” Nico considered, “but you need to make sure your left foot isn’t turned in and that your hips are more centrally aligned so that you have better manoeuvrability.”

Will tried to follow Nico’s instructions and luckily did a good job. Nico didn’t think he would have been able to move Will’s hips into the right position without spontaneously combusting.

“Good,” Nico said with a small smile. “Now you need to learn the different parrying and attack techniques. I’m really not the best to teach you, because I mainly just learned from experience.”

“Well, in that case, why don’t you just come at me with your sword and I’ll try my best until I pick it up?” Will suggested. Nico raised an eyebrow.

“Are you sure?” he asked uncertainly. “I don’t want to accidentally hurt you.”

“Aw, that’s sweet,” Will smirked, “but I’ll be fine. I’m a healer, after all.”

Nico deliberately ignored his comment to stop his heart from pounding and swung his sword out in front of him.

“Ok, come at me with everything you’ve got,” Nico smirked. Will nodded and lunged forwards.

It was easy for Nico to parry, especially considering he’d just been fighting Percy, but he was surprised at Will’s strength. Despite being very new at sword fighting, Will was putting up a fight, watching Nico’s steps and moves and then adapting them into his own movements. 

Whilst it wasn’t quite the life or death situations Nico had sometimes learned to do specific moves in, he was impressed with how fast a learner Will was.

Still, having been sword fighting for years, Nico had a large edge on him and couldn’t help himself from stepping forward and disarming Will.

“You knocked my sword out of my hand,” Will frowned down at Nico. Nico chuckled up at him.

“It’s called disarming, dummy. Were you actually watching Percy’s lesson or not?” 

“Well, I was sort of watching but I wasn’t exactly paying attention to what he was saying,” Will rolled his eyes, picking his sword up again just as the two heard voices.

“No, you can’t do it to Nico’s cabin! Will would murder you,” one of the voices hissed.

“I’m not going to, you idiot,” the other hissed. “You think I want to see an angry Will?”

Nico raised an eyebrow at Will, considering the voices clearly belonged to friends of his. To Nico’s surprise, Will had gone bright red.

“Just a second,” he said, dropping the sword and running out in front of Nico’s cabin.

“Lou, Cecil, what are you doing?” Will asked. Nico wandered after Will and noticed that it was indeed Lou Ellen from the Hecate cabin and Cecil from the Hermes cabin. He was vaguely aware that the two had been on the top of the hill with Will during the battle, but he’d never paid them particular attention.

“Oh, I was looking for somewhere to practice my new pig balls. I’ve upgraded them so they can turn plants into pigs, now, but the pigs kind of run everywhere,” Lou Ellen explained.

“So you came down to my cabin to release them?” Nico raised an eyebrow. Cecil and Lou Ellen looked at each other and then between Nico and Will. Nico assumed they hadn’t realised he was there.

“Not exactly- I just wanted somewhere that was away from camp,” Lou Ellen shrugged sheepishly.

“Yeah, plus I told her if she released them near your cabin then-“ Cecil began before Will unsubtly kicked his leg, “then you’d be mad,” Cecil finished. 

Nico was confused, to say the least. Will was acting weird all of a sudden and he didn’t know why.

“Yeah, I don’t really want you raising skeletons on me,” Lou Ellen shrugged.

“I’m not allowed to, anyway,” Nico commented, glaring at Will specifically.

“Doctor’s orders!” Will winked at Nico. Nico really wished Will wouldn’t wink at him. It made his heart leap unnecessarily. Luckily, with two other people there, Nico had somewhere to look so he could avoid Will’s eyes.

“Oh, so I could release them down here after all,” Lou Ellen considered then.

“No, I might not be able to raise the dead but I can still decapitate you,” Nico commented, swinging his stygian iron sword around in his hand purely for dramatic effect. “However, I do know somewhere you could release them.”

“Oh, do tell!” Lou Ellen grinned, scurrying over to Nico. Nico leant forward and whispered his idea in her ear, which felt kind of weird. He didn’t like being close to people. In particular people who were not named Will Solace.

Lou Ellen grabbed Cecil’s arm after Nico had given her his suggestion and the two ran off.

“Where did you tell her to release them?” Will asked Nico. Nico just shrugged and smiled.

“You’ll find out, trust me,” he said. “Do you want to get back to sword fighting?”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Will agreed, although Nico could tell he was out of sorts. As he picked up his sword again, he placed the wrong foot forwards and seemed completely off-balance.

“Will, is everything alright?” Nico asked, lowering his sword and taking a step towards his friend. He wasn’t usually the one to ask about others first, but this was Will. Everything was different with Will.

“Yeah, it’s fine,” he shrugged.

“Not exactly- you have the wrong foot forward and you’re off balance,” Nico pointed out.

“Oh, sorry,” Will apologised, correcting himself.

“Which wouldn’t have even been an issue if everything was alright. You’re always forcing me to do stuff, so now I’m forcing you to tell me what’s up,” Nico demanded. Will looked at him in the eye for a few seconds before sighing and lowering his sword.

“I’m sorry, Nico. Really, I am, but I’m not sure I can exactly tell you what’s wrong. I’m not even sure what’s wrong. Maybe learning to use a sword was a mistake,” he shrugged.

Nico considered Will for a moment. He had been fine before Lou Ellen and Cecil had arrived. What about their arrival had caused his change in demeanour?

“I don’t think so. You were actually pretty impressive for someone who hasn’t learnt sword-fighting before. You definitely have a natural gift for it. I’d be happy to spar with you more if you wanted to practice and use it as your main weapon,” Nico offered. He was no good at comforting others, but offering to spar was the best shot he could give it.

“Really?” Will asked and his eyes seemed to light up. Nico nodded. “Yeah, I’d like to practice more, I think. Who knows? We might actually get to use the training arena next time.”

Nico chuckled at that.

“Do you want to end here for the day, then?”

“Yeah, I have to get back to the infirmary. Thanks for giving me a break, though. You’re a good teacher,” Will told him. Nico had never thought that was something he would ever hear, but if Will was saying it, he was tempted to believe it.

“I know I’m not the best at… emotional support and all that, but if there is ever anything bothering you, you can talk to me about it. Listening is the least I can do,” Nico added, hoping Will hadn’t been hiding any problems from Nico due to thinking he would be bothered by hearing such things.

Will smiled at Nico for a second with a glistening in his eyes Nico suspected might have been the start of tears before he did something Nico was not expecting: he let his sword clatter to the ground and pulled Nico into a hug.

The last time Nico had been hugged was when he told Jason he was staying at Camp Half-Blood. It had been awkward and Nico had stayed stiff, just allowing Jason to hug him. 

When Will hugged him, though, Nico found himself dropping his own sword as his arms wrapped around the taller boy’s torso to hug him back without hesitation. It didn’t feel awkward or unwelcome. It felt warm and familiar.

“Thank you,” Will whispered in Nico’s ear before he drew back. His face was sporting its usual grin and any traces of the distant, thoughtful Will that Nico had been met with earlier were completely gone.

“Walk me back up to the infirmary?” Will asked. Nico rolled his eyes but smiled anyway.

“If you insist,” he sighed, picking up their swords and walking by Will’s side up to the training arena. Will chatted idly by Nico’s side as they walked, telling Nico about Cecil and Lou Ellen.

“Honestly, It should be so obvious to Lou that Cecil likes her, at this point. All the little glances he gives her, all the things he’ll do for her that he never does for anyone else. She’s so oblivious,” Will complained. Nico fought the urge to mention that it was a bit rich coming from Will. Nico didn’t exactly offer to teach anyone else how to sword fight and he definitely didn’t bring them breakfast, or notice that they weren’t in the Mess Hall in the first place.

“Maybe it’s just more difficult to notice when you’re the object of affection than when you’re observing as a third party,” Nico shrugged.

“Wow,” Will said. “That was kind of deep.”

“It was?” Nico asked. Will nodded.

“Yeah! The second person in your story is the first person in their own and their thoughts differ so much from your own that something that seems so obvious to the first person can be misinterpreted completely by a second person and even misunderstood by the third person. Whereas other times, the third person understands the first person’s thoughts and actions more than the second person’s, despite the action still being the same,” Will rambled. Nico screwed his eyebrows together.

“Ok, you’ve lost me,” he said.

“I’m not really sure where all that came from, myself,” Will paused with a laugh. “Think I’m going to have to blame my dad for that one.”

Nico huffed a laugh.

“When in doubt, blame the gods.”

“That should be Camp Halfblood’s motto,” Will suggested. “And speaking of Camp Halfblood,” he continued, stopping just outside of the Big House where the two had arrived, “there’s a campfire tomorrow night.”

“There is?” Nico asked, having been unaware. He seriously needed to catch up on everything since his time in the infirmary.

“Yeah. Do you want to go with me? Unless you were already planning to go with Jason and Piper and the others,” Will spluttered out. Nico flushed red. Was Will suggesting that the two of them went together?

“I’d definitely rather go with you than them,” Nico admitted before his brain had the chance to filter his words.

“Oh,” Will smiled, his cheeks seeming redder than usual, although Nico wasn’t sure if he was just imagining things with false hope. “That’s great. Meet me at the infirmary at about eight?”

Nico nodded. 

“Yeah, I’ll be there,” he agreed. Even if he’d wanted to stop smiling, he didn’t think he’d be able to. For some reason, Nico felt like a ten-year-old with a silly playground crush who'd just been asked to sit on the swings and hold hands. It definitely wasn’t a feeling he was familiar with.

“I’ll see you then,” Will grinned, reaching forwards and squeezing Nico’s hand before turning around and walking back into the infirmary.

Nico stood, watching him go with his heart thumping. Once the blond was out of sight, he made his way back across the grounds and started his most dangerous habit- overthinking.

Will hadn’t actually meant it like a date. He was almost definitely straight and just wanted to be Nico’s friend, which was a miracle enough in itself.

Nico supposed he was the second person misunderstanding what the first and third person were in agreement about- Will could never like him as more than a friend. Nico was a small, moody, son of Hades. What could a son of Apollo ever see in him?

That night, for the first time since before Nico went into the infirmary, he had a bad dream. This one had nothing to do with any monsters or giants or even his father, though.

Nico was stood in the middle of the Mess Hall and everyone was staring at him.

“He’s gay?” he heard a voice hiss from the Aphrodite cabin, “geez, we’d better get my mom on that to fix it.”

“He used to have a crush on my boyfriend,” Annabeth said from the Athena table, “how gross is that?”

“I thought you couldn’t get any weirder, being a son of Hades already,” a voice laughed out from the Hermes cabin. Nico looked all around him frantically, searching for Jason. Surely he’d help, just like he’d supported Nico back with Eros. Nico needed him right now.

Instead of Jason’s blond head, though, his eyes fell on Will’s.

“I tried to be your friend and this is how you repay me? By getting a crush on me?” he sneered.

“Will, that’s not right, I-“ Nico tried to reply, feeling hot tears well up in his eyes. Will’s eyes, usually full of sunshine, were cold and empty as they glared at Nico.

“You disgust me,” he snapped, turning his back to him. Nico sobbed out and fell to his knees as laughter erupted around him; laughter that was quickly melding into one single laugh- Eros.

Nico’s eyes snapped open and he sat up in his bed, panting heavily. It had just been a dream. That wasn’t going to happen. Will was his friend. He wouldn’t shun Nico because of his sexuality. He wouldn’t turn his back on Nico just because he’d developed a stupid crush.

Even as Nico told himself those things, he wasn’t so certain. For all he knew, everyone at Camp would react as they had in his dream if he was somehow outed. 

Nico had always been one to internalise things, but after a week of learning to talk about his feelings with Will, he decided he was going to visit Cabin One.

When Nico arrived, he was not expecting to find Jason and Percy both running around outside of their cabins, surrounded by pigs. Nico was pretty sure he caught a glimpse of Annabeth’s blonde hair from in the doorway of the Athena cabin and he didn’t doubt that she was hiding just out of view to enjoy the scene unnoticed.

“Nico, help!” Percy called out upon spotting him, “the pigs are trying to eat me.”

“The two of you defeat Titans, giants and even Gaia herself and yet tiny pigs defeat you,” Nico sighed, shaking his head. He had almost forgotten about his suggestion to Lou Ellen yesterday what with Will distracting him and his dream last night.

“I’ve caught one!” Jason declared happily before screaming, “it bit me!” and promptly dropping it.

Nico walked up to the two of them and the pigs paid him no attention at all.

“Jason, could I talk to you in my cabin? The pigs shouldn’t follow you there,” Nico asked quietly. Unfortunately, Percy overheard.

“Nico, please can I come too?” he begged, “I refuse to die at the hand of pigs!”

“I’m pretty sure pigs don’t have hands,” Jason pointed out whilst Nico contemplated the prospect of Percy coming along too. After all, Nico was technically out to Percy as well. He just wasn’t sure if Percy had necessarily understood it.

“Alright, but I want to make this as short as possible,” Nico gave in. Percy grinned and all but set off at a sprint to get away from the pigs and make it into the safety of Nico’s cabin.

“Is everything okay, Nico?” Jason asked concernedly as the two followed Percy.

“I’ll tell you when we’re inside,” Nico sighed before spotting a glimpse of curly blonde hair again. “Just a second,” he added, jogging over to where Annabeth was leaning against the side of Percy’s cabin, watching the three of them.

“Annabeth, I’m sorry to be a bother but please could you come to my cabin for a second?” Nico asked, playing with his own hands agitatedly. Annabeth chewed her lip.

“Of course. Is everything alright?” she asked.

“Yeah. Sort of. I’m just a bit… anxious,” Nico admitted. Annabeth nodded seriously and followed with Nico to his cabin.

With the only three people that knew about his sexuality in front of him, Nico couldn’t help but pace, unable to settle.

“Okay,” Annabeth started, “considering the time of day, I’m guessing you had a dream.”

Nico had almost forgotten how scary it was when Annabeth was surprisingly accurate.

“Yeah, I did,” he said.

“And judging by the three people you’ve chosen to talk to about this, I think I have a good idea what it’s about,” she added.

“You do?” Percy asked. Annabeth elbowed him in the ribs.

“I’m not usually one to… actually talk about my feelings,” Nico started.

“We know and there’s no pressure if you don’t think you can do it,” Jason added, placing a very light hand on Nico’s shoulder to settle his pacing. Nico was surprised to find that he didn’t jump although he suspected it was mainly due to the fact that he was already unsettled.

“No, I need to. I’ve become a bit better at it lately thanks to,” he paused, his throat going dry at the thought of Will Solace, “thanks to Will.”

“Is this to do with him at all?” Jason asked, “if he’s hurt you I’ll-“

“No!” Nico interrupted, “I mean, it has something to do with him but he hasn’t hurt me. At least, not intentionally.”

“Nico, no offence, buddy, but you’re not making much sense,” Percy noted. Nico finally sat down on his bed and looked up at Annabeth, hoping she could help.

“How about you start by telling us about the dream?” she suggested. Nico took a deep breath in to calm himself and nodded.

“Right. So as you know, you three are the only people here at Camp that know I’m gay,” he said.

“Does Will not know?” Jason asked. Nico shook his head.

“I’m not ready to tell anyone yet. Especially not now,” he continued, “I had a dream where somehow I was outed and everyone was just jeering at me and it felt like I didn’t have a place anywhere again and-“ Nico tried to slow his breathing so he wouldn’t cry.

“Will, he-“ he tried to say again before a choked sob cut his words short.

“Nico,” Annabeth said sympathetically, standing up to accompany Jason by placing a hand on his back, “you know that would never happen, right?”

“What if it did?” Nico spluttered, “what if you three are the only ones that accept it?”

Percy stood up too and crouched down in front of Nico, looking up into his eyes and smiling. At one time, Nico would have given anything to be in this position. Now, it just felt like a friend supporting him and he much preferred this.

“It’s a shame you didn’t spend more time at camp before,” Percy said. Nico raised a questioning eyebrow and so Percy continued, “you’re not the only one. Clarisse came out as bi a couple of years ago and everyone was supportive. Connor Stoll came out as gay, too, and the entire Hermes cabin tried to hold a pride parade in Camp. Lacy from the Aphrodite cabin wasn’t called Lacy when I first arrived at camp and I definitely seem to recall hearing Wi-“

For some reason, Annabeth kicked Percy in the shin, glaring at him and stopping his talk. Nico looked up at her questioningly but she just shrugged and smiled.

“All Percy’s trying to say,” she said, “is that you really aren’t as alone as you think. No one here at Camp Half-Blood is going to reject you for this. Especially not Will. Trust me.”

Nico wasn’t one to trust people easily, but looking into Annabeth’s steely grey eyes, he realised he really did.

“I’m sorry for dragging you over here,” he muttered.

“Anything to get away from those pigs,” Jason laughed. Nico looked up at them each in turn. He had caused an unnameable amount of trouble for these three demigods and yet they held their arms open for him like he was a brother the second he needed help. 

Nico wasn’t sure what was wrong with his emotions that day, but he felt his eyes welling up with tears again.

“Thank you,” he sobbed. This time, when the three of them hugged him, he barely even noticed the unfamiliar contact. He welcomed it.

Nico was feeling decidedly better than he had that morning when he made his way over to the infirmary at eight o’clock in the evening. Annabeth, Percy and Jason had settled his mind majorly over his dream, although due to his lack of sleep the previous night, Nico was feeling particularly weary. 

He hoped he’d make it through the night without falling asleep on Will at least.

“Hey, Nico,” Will’s chipper voice rang out as soon as Nico stepped inside the infirmary, “I’ve just finished up.”

Nico waited by the doorway as Will took off his doctor’s scrubs, trying and failing not to let his eyes hover at the strip of skin that became visible between Will's waistband and t-shirt as he raised his arms to pull the scrubs off.

“Are you alright? Jason dropped by earlier and said you’d had a rough dream last night and you seem quite quiet,” Will asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

Nico was pretty sure this was at least the sixth time he had sworn to murder Jason Grace.

“Oh, yeah, I’m okay, now. Just kind of tired,” he shrugged. Will didn’t seem overly convinced and grabbed Nico’s arm to pull him closer before placing a hand on his forehead.

“Your temperature’s fine,” he noted, “are you sure you’re okay to go to the campfire? We can give it a miss if you need.”

Nico tried not to let his heart stutter at Will’s use of the plural pronoun rather than the singular ‘you’.

“No, I’ll be fine, I promise. Jason gets too worried about me. As long as I don’t fall asleep on you, everything will be fine,” Nico smiled wryly, deciding to start walking towards the campfire. Will followed his lead and drew side by side with him.

“It’s not bad that your friends care about you, y’know,” Will commented, “but if you do happen to fall asleep, I’ve heard I make quite a comfy pillow.”

Nico snorted with laughter.

“By whom?” he asked.

“Kayla and Austin,” Will shrugged, flashing Nico a smile as he tucked his hands into his pockets and bumped his arm against Nico’s gently, “you’re welcome to put their statement to the test, though.”

Having spent the entire morning convincing himself that Will hated him, Nico had forgotten how completely flirtatious, warm and friendly he could be. He certainly hadn’t been prepared for Will actively encouraging Nico to fall asleep on him. That was almost too much for his heart to handle.

“What if I think the ground makes a comfier cushion than you?” Nico asked with a teasing smile. Will gasped dramatically.

“I will be hurt and offended beyond words,” he spluttered. Nico accidentally giggled. Giggled.

“You? Beyond words? That’ll be a first,” he said through laughter. Will was looking at him strangely with an almost fond look on his face. Nico was certain it must have just been confusion from the fact that he, the son of Hades, the embodiment of the shadows themselves, had just giggled.

“Day by day, you only wound me more. Why do I even keep your company?” Will spouted poetically. 

“Anyone might be tempted to think you enjoy the pain,” Nico said in a low voice, smirking up at Will in a way that was so close to flirting that it surprised even himself.

Will moved closer to Nico to talk quieter in his ear.

“Whatever might you be implying, di Angelo?” he asked.

“I suppose you’ll never know, Solace,” Nico countered, turning his head to the side to grin at Will. 

Will was walking that close to Nico that he could feel his warmth radiating off him even though they weren’t touching. Will’s face was very close to Nico’s too and through his sleep-deprived brain, Nico was having to try way harder than usual to not lean up and kiss him there and then as he had imagined doing way more times than he’d like to admit.

As the two continued to walk towards the campfire, Nico let his hand dangle by his side and didn’t miss when Will removed his own hand from his pocket and bumped it into Nico’s.

He supposed he really shouldn’t be using Will’s physical contact prescription for his own benefit, but Nico couldn’t really bring himself to care. He was too tired.

The rest of the campers came into view as Nico and Will rounded the corner and as a flash of memory came back to Nico of his dream the previous night, he automatically moved to add more distance between Will and himself.

The son of Apollo was not so willing to let that happen, though. Will grabbed Nico’s hand and dragged him into the mass of people, weaving the two of them in and out amongst the campers.

“Will, what are you doing?” Nico hissed.

“Finding us somewhere to sit, duh,” he replied, rolling his eyes back at Nico, “we’re basically the last here.”

“Which means you’re just drawing attention,” Nico complained. Will didn’t respond and just tugged Nico’s hand, heading towards the back of the crowd. Nico caught a glimpse of Lou Ellen and Cecil sitting somewhere to their right and wondered if Will intended to sit with his friends but instead, he veered off to the left where there was an empty patch of ground behind all the other campers.

“We okay out here?” Will checked with Nico.

“Are you sure you don’t want to be closer?” Nico asked. Will shrugged and smiled.

“I know you’re not a fan of crowds, though,” he explained. Nico blushed. Will had brought them to the back for him? He’d definitely underestimated just how considerate Will could actually be. No one had ever gone out of their way just to make Nico feel more comfortable.

Or perhaps they had and Nico’s exhausted brain was just keeping a selective memory consisting of only Will.

Nico felt a tug at his hand that he had almost forgotten was still entwined with Will’s. Will was already sat down, waiting for Nico to join him so he did. Despite not exactly reaching the top shelves, Nico had a fairly good view of the campfire.

He also happened to have a good view of Jason, Piper, Percy and Annabeth. Piper caught Nico’s eye, looked between him and Will and wiggled her eyebrows before nudging Jason to get his attention. Jason looked over at the two and gave a not so subtle grin and thumbs up.

Nico was too tired to even muster a response so he sincerely hoped Will hadn’t noticed.

His hand was still held in Will’s. Nico didn’t want to let go and Will hadn’t either so he presumed it was acceptable for him to leave it there, resting on Will’s leg. Nico knew if he’d felt more awake, he would have pulled away by now.

He also wouldn’t have shifted his entire body weight to lean against Will’s side.

“You really are tired, huh?” Will commented quietly.

“‘M fine,” Nico responded, gazing into the flames of the campfire. Despite his distance from it, his face was still feeling hot.

“Hey, I’m not complaining,” Will smirked, “I did offer to be your pillow.”

“You’re really annoying, y’know,” Nico said. Will chuckled, the vibrations of his body passing through Nico’s cheek where it lay against Will’s shoulder.

“You may have mentioned it once or twice before,” Will shrugged, using the action to move one of his arms. Nico felt it slide against his back until it was wrapped around Nico completely. 

The rational voices inside Nico’s head were screaming at him. He was in public- any one of the campers could see them and notice. Will was only meaning this platonically and Nico did very much not feel so platonically about the situation and as Will’s friend, it was disgraceful of him to allow himself the indulgence. His dream last night should have been warning enough that he shouldn’t be doing this.

However much Nico knew he would regret this in the morning, though, his only coherent thought was ‘I’m tired and Will’s really warm.’

So, like the enamoured fool he was, Nico draped his other arm across Will and buried his face further into Will’s chest. Will smelt very good- like a pleasant summer’s day, fresh fruit and a trace of antiseptic he suspected was residual from the infirmary.

“Comfortable?” Will asked.

“You’re warm,” was the only response Nico could give. He was extremely tired. He really wanted to fall asleep against Will and it would be so easy to do so.

“I’m the son of the sun god. I always run hot,” Will explained with a grin. Nico had to try hard to resist the urge to respond ‘Too right, you do.’

“Is anyone singing tonight?” Nico mumbled, hoping Will could still hear him.

“Don’t think so. I heard Austin’s playing the saxophone and then there’s going to be fireworks,” Will answered. Nico nodded against Will’s chest.

“Wake me up if Austin’s playing makes me fall asleep,” he asked, “I don’t want to miss the fireworks.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t need me to wake you up once the fireworks start. The Hephaestus cabin made them,” Will chuckled, his arm pulling on Nico’s waist to bring him even closer.

Nico had never had such extensive physical contact with anyone for this long and had always hated the idea of it. However, wrapped up in Will’s warmth, he couldn’t think of anything he’d rather do than stay close to Will for the rest of his life.

Austin stood up, introduced himself and placed his saxophone against his lips, beginning to play as some girls from the Demeter cabin passed around marshmallows for roasting on the fire. Nico and Will were too far away from the fire to roast anything but Nico still wouldn’t have minded a marshmallow.

When one of the girls approached them, it didn’t even cross his mind that he was still curled up against Will’s side. Instead, he just reached out a hand and grabbed a few. 

“Thanks, Billie,” Will smiled brightly, taking some for himself as she moved on. “Reckon the sugar will keep you awake?” Will asked Nico.

“Maybe,” Nico shrugged, his words sounding muffled due to the marshmallow he’d just shoved in his mouth. Will laughed at the sight as he gazed down at Nico, their eyes meeting.

“How does anyone still think you’re dark and edgy?” he sniggered. Nico pouted which he supposed didn’t look all too flattering with a marshmallow in his mouth. Similarly to most of his previous actions that night, Nico found himself too tired to care.

“I am,” he argued indignantly. Flopping back down against Will’s side in defeat.

“Sure you are, Death Boy,” Will responded with a hum, his hand that had previously been wrapped around Nico’s waist snaking up to card through his dark hair. 

Nico hadn’t had anyone play with his hair since Bianca used to when he was little. Surprisingly, the feeling of Will doing so didn’t bring back painful memories; it felt like it was creating new, happier ones. 

Nico felt his eyes flutter shut as he listened to Austin’s saxophone, Will’s hand in his hair calming him down to the brink of sleep. Nico couldn’t help but smile to himself. He felt happy.

If Nico had hoped to get to sleep, though, he was much mistaken as a loud bang abruptly interrupted from somewhere in the sky. His eyes snapped open and he jumped slightly out of Will’s hold in surprise.

Will chuckled. 

“Were you falling asleep?” he asked.

“It’s possible,” Nico admitted begrudgingly, leaning back into Will, “you might have been right about this whole making a good pillow thing, too.”

“Told you,” Will laughed softly. Nico glanced up at him but his eyes were fixed on the fireworks above. Nico shifted his own gaze to observe them and found that despite his grudge against them waking him up, the colourful display of reds, purples, blues, greens and yellows that lit up the sky was beautiful.

Nico didn’t struggle to keep his eyes open as he watched the display, wondering how exactly the Hephaestus cabin managed to pull off such a feat. He was very glad Will had informed him about the campfire. Nico definitely wouldn’t have wanted to miss this, whatever he might pretend.

“I wish we had firework displays more often,” Will sighed.

“Yeah,” Nico agreed, “normal campfires are still pretty alright, though.”

“Really?” Will raised his eyebrows, “I didn’t think you were a fan.”

Nico blushed. In truth, he hadn’t really enjoyed the campfires previously, but when he’d answered, his mind had been thinking about how enjoyable they would be if he spent them with Will, just like this. His sleep-deprived brain needed to work on getting a filter.

“Depends on the company,” he couldn’t help but say.

“Am I bad company?” Will asked curiously. Like he hadn’t already guessed Nico was referring to him.

“Only sometimes,” Nico replied with a smile, turning his head up to look at Will. Their faces were really close. Nico really wanted to kiss him but luckily his brain was still functioning enough to remind him that that was something he definitely wasn’t about to do.

What he did do wasn’t much better, though. Nico raised his hand and touched one of Will’s freckles.

“Nico?” Will asked, his eyes widening in surprise. Nico didn’t notice and traced his hand to another freckle. He wasn’t going to be able to face Will in the morning when he felt awake.

“Your freckles,” Nico commented, “they look like stars.”

Will chuckled, “do they?”

“Mm,” Nico hummed in agreement, letting his hand drop as he looked into Will’s bright blue eyes, “a mi- myr- myri- I forgot the word. Lots of stars.”

With that, Nico couldn’t keep his eyes open and dropped his head onto Will’s shoulder.

“You’re cute when you’re tired,” was the last thing Nico heard Will say before he fell asleep, engulfed in the other’s warmth.

When Nico woke up the following morning he was back in his cabin which was a surprise to him because he was fairly certain that wasn’t where he had fallen asleep. 

Then the memories of the campfire flooded back to him and he covered his face with his hands in shame. He could never talk to Will again. Will was probably disgusted by his actions, just as his dream had predicted and he’d have to avoid him forever.

Nico desperately didn’t want to leave his cabin that morning and face everyone in the Mess Hall, but he and Will had eaten through his stash of food and the rumbling of his stomach didn’t seem like it was about to disappear if he just ignored it.

Begrudgingly, Nico got himself dressed and traipsed to the Mess Hall for breakfast. Percy and Jason were not at the Hades table as usual, which was quite a surprise to Nico but he supposed it was a relief too. He couldn’t imagine the amount of teasing he was going to get from the two of them about last night.

To Nico’s relief, no one seemed to be looking at him strangely or judging him. Hopefully, no one had even noticed him and Will last night. Still, he wasn’t prepared to face Will yet so it was a good job the son of Apollo usually skipped breakfast. Nico would have to apologise for what his stupidly sleep-deprived brain had allowed him to do.

“Morning, sleeping beauty,” an unfortunately familiar voice said from behind Nico as a warm hand fell onto his shoulder. Despite how used to the contact he was by now, Nico tensed.

“Hey,” Nico said, his voice sounding constricted. Will Solace slid onto the bench across from Nico at the Hades table, much to his surprise.

“Do you actually feel awake again today?” Will asked with a bemused smirk. Nico was surprised at how normal he was acting, but judging by his words, he was blaming Nico’s actions on his sleep deprivation rather than realising Nico had a crush on him. That was a relief, he guessed. Nico could at least relax a bit now.

“Definitely. Didn’t have any dreams last night,” Nico stated, chasing a piece of scrambled egg around his plate and avoiding looking into Will’s eyes. He was worried if he did, Will would notice how heartbroken he really felt.

Plus, it wasn’t entirely true that he hadn’t had a dream. He had in fact dreamt of messy blond hair, bright blue eyes and a warm body pressed against his. It pained Nico to know he could never feel that sensation again, especially now he’d had a taste of what it felt like. 

Part of him wished Will had realised Nico’s actions were because he liked him, not because he was tired. That way, he wouldn’t have to pretend that he was fine with just being friends. It hadn’t hurt this much to think about since before last night. Why did Nico have to go and ruin everything?

“Well, that’s good!” Will grinned, reaching forward with his own fork and stealing some of Nico’s food.

“Don’t steal my egg!” Nico gasped out, pulling his plate closer towards him. Will laughed.

“It’s payment for using me as your pillow and carrying you back to your cabin,” he smirked. Nico’s heart stuttered in his chest.

“You carried me back?” he asked. 

“I couldn’t exactly just leave you there, could I?” Will shrugged, a gentle smile still gracing his lips. Nico continued to stare at him, his cheeks tinged pink.

“Sorry,” he finally muttered.

“What for?” Will asked.

“Last night. I was really tired and it made me act weird. I probably made you uncomfortable. I’m sorry,” Nico spluttered, begging his cheeks to turn any other shade than the crimson they were going right then.

“Oh,” Will said. Nico glanced up. His face seemed contorted into an almost pained expression and the previous enthusiasm had dropped from his voice completely. Nico’s heart plummeted. Had Will really been that weirded out by it?

“Are we good?” Nico asked. He wasn’t usually one to state that he was on ‘good’ terms with anyone, but he had admitted to Will before that they were friends and his pride had already been ruined enough that day that it was futile to keep it up.

“Of course we are!” Will spluttered, a hint of his previous energy slipping back into his voice, “why wouldn’t we be?”

“I don’t know,” Nico shrugged. This conversation felt far too strained. Talking with Will had always been easy and flowed naturally but Nico’s guilty conscience at holding back such a big secret from Will was causing a weird tension between the two.

“Then there’s no problem, Death Boy,” Will smiled. Nico was glad to hear the horrendous nickname again. At least it hopefully meant that Will wasn’t mad, “Don’t forget to drop by the infirmary tomorrow to change your bandage, by the way.”

“Oh, yeah, I won’t,” Nico promised. With that, Will ruffled his hair and walked off towards the infirmary without another word. He definitely seemed quieter and more awkward around Nico. How had Nico managed to ruin one of the best things in his life?

Nico stared down at his plate of scrambled eggs. Suddenly he wasn’t so hungry anymore.

For the rest of the day, Nico trained on the climbing wall, did some sword fighting in the arena and helped clean out the pegasus stable with Annabeth who was surprisingly quiet about last night’s events, much to Nico’s relief.

Throughout the entire day, though, Nico didn’t see Will. Not even when he’d stopped by the infirmary and glanced inside. Normally Will or one of his siblings would have spotted Nico and he would have come to say hi. If anyone did spot him, no one said anything and Nico was left feeling even more down. Was Will really avoiding him?

That night, as Nico fell asleep, he realised something. It was the first day Will hadn’t upheld his prescription of three touches a day. Nico didn’t know why that thought hurt even more than considering the possibility that Will was probably ignoring him.

Nico didn’t end up getting much sleep. He was feeling far too restless at the thought of Will avoiding him and instead ended up tossing and turning until the sun began to rise. Nico dragged himself to the Mess Hall, early for breakfast for once. At least he would get to see Will when he went to get his bandage changed.

“Hey, Nico,” Percy greeted as he arrived, “you seem down today. Everything alright?”

Nico shrugged.

“Ok, I’ll take that as a no,” Percy sighed before leaning slightly further across the table and lowering his voice, “y’know if you want to talk about it, I’m here.”

Nico forced a small smile onto his face, “yeah, thanks. I’m alright, though.”

Percy raised a sceptical eyebrow, “alright, I won’t press it. If you want some sparring practice to take your mind off things, I’m down, though.”

Nico’s mood actually picked up a little at that. A distraction was definitely what he needed to take his mind off Will.

“I suppose that’s not a terrible idea,” Nico shrugged, “I have to drop 'round at the infirmary to change my bandage this afternoon, though.”

Percy considered him for a moment, biting into his toast which sort of diminished the intensity of his gaze.

“Is that… alright?”

Nico’s gaze fell down to his plate as he glared at the bacon. Was he that obvious that even Percy Jackson, king of oblivious, could notice there was an issue? Or was Will’s dislike for Nico that prominent?

“’S fine,” Nico mumbled.

“Right,” Percy rolled his eyes. Nico was usually quite good at concealing his emotions but ever since Will had entered the scene, he was becoming gradually more open. It was very frustrating.

“Anyway,” Percy continued, “meet me at the arena after breakfast! I have some kids to teach so you can help with that and then we can spar.” 

Nico nodded, still not quite able to muster a genuine smile.

“Thanks, Percy,” he sighed.

Percy’s method did work as a distraction of sorts, but every time Percy would offer a small grin after Nico managed to disarm him, he couldn’t help his mind from flitting back to Will Solace. 

It was pathetic. How had Nico managed to relate being smiled at with Will? 

“Are you not tired yet?” Percy laughed after they’d been sparring for at least a couple of hours.

“Sort of. Are you?” Nico asked. Percy shrugged.

“I was getting hungry rather than anything,” he admitted. Nico snorted a laugh.

“You’re always hungry. We can stop and get lunch if you want, though,” Nico replied. 

“Is that alright?” Percy raised an eyebrow. Nico nodded. “And are you feeling any better?” Percy continued.

“I think,” Nico lied, “thanks for the distraction.”

“Anytime, man. Jason and I are here for you, y’know. You don’t have to be alone. And if you do want to talk, we’re only a few cabins away,” Percy offered. Nico didn’t find it so difficult to force a smile that time.

“Thank you, Percy. Really. I know we don’t have the best history, but-“

“Hey, I know you only ever wanted to help me. Don’t beat yourself up about it,” Percy said. Nico nodded.

“Right. Yeah. I won’t,” he replied.

“Let’s get to the Mess Hall, then. Jason’s probably wondering where we are.”

Percy put the pen lid on Riptide, allowing it to shrink back into its pen form. Nico left his sword by the wall of the training arena rather than bothering to return it to his cabin. It wasn’t like he was going to be needing it soon for training with Will again.

The two walked in silence and Nico’s mind couldn’t help but think that with Will, the silence was never awkward. Will also walked a lot closer and Nico missed feeling his warm arm brush against his side. 

He missed Will’s touch.

“Hey, you two, where’ve you been all morning?” Jason’s voice rang out as soon as they were in view of the Mess Hall.

“Training,” Percy explained, “Nico needed a bit of a distraction.”

“Oh,” Jason nodded in understanding as Nico and Percy slid onto the bench at the Hades table, “do I need to beat him up?”

“Who?” Nico spluttered despite knowing exactly who Jason was referring to. Nico was mad that he was so readable compared to how closed off he usually was.

“Will, duh. He’s obviously upset you,” Jason stated.

“No, I’m fine. It’s my fault, not his. He has every right to avoid me. Maybe I’m avoiding him, too! I don’t even know anymore,” Nico spluttered out, surprising himself at how much he was admitting.

“Hey, calm down, what happened?” Jason asked, placing a hand on Nico’s arm which he didn’t jump at for once.

Nico glanced up at him and considered admitting everything. Telling them both about his crush and what he’d done and said at the campfire. Then he remembered that admitting something like that was never going to end well with those two and the entire camp, including Will himself, would know before the end of the day and then Will would hate Nico even more.

“It’s nothing. I’m being stupid,” Nico brushed Jason’s question off, his cheeks flushing red.

Jason and Percy exchanged an exasperated look but Nico ignored it, eating his lunch in silence, instead. He had to go to the infirmary after lunch to get his bandage changed so it wasn't like Will would be ignoring him for much longer. They’d have to talk then.

“I’m gonna go. I’ll see you later,” Nico announced once he’d finished, standing up.

“Alright, see you, Neeks!” Jason waved. Nico turned around and glared at Jason for a few seconds, considering raising the dead on him.

“Don’t call me that,” he insisted before storming off towards the infirmary, wondering why Will’s nickname had been so painful to hear from someone else.

Nico arrived at the infirmary and decided to walk in without invitation. He had become fairly familiar with the building by that point and the infirmary seemed pretty empty anyway. To his surprise, though, he couldn’t see Will anywhere.

He didn’t know whether he should be relieved or not. One thing Nico was, was concerned, though. Will hadn’t been at lunch or breakfast and now he wasn’t even in the infirmary. Was he really avoiding Nico that much or just neglecting his health again?

“Hey, Nico, what are you doing here?” Kayla approached Nico, having spotted him first.

“I- um- where’s Will?” Nico blurted out, having not intended to say that.

“Oh, he just left. I think he said he was going to the training arena?” Kayla considered with a shrug, “please go and talk to him. He’s driving us crazy.”

“Is he okay?” Nico asked, worriedly. Kayla giggled which Nico thought was a little bit unnecessary. All he’d done was ask after Will. What was amusing about that?

“Go and find out for yourself,” she said before turning back around and leaving Nico stood there. With a sigh, Nico figured he didn’t have much choice. He was going to have to go and talk to Will.

Kayla had been correct about Will’s location. Nico found him in the training arena, holding a sword and practising his swings on the dummies. Shirtless.

Nico had originally been about to walk straight in but upon catching sight of Will’s bare torso, sweat droplets rolling down his muscled back, he’d made a choked sound, dove away from the entrance and leant back against the outside walls, covering his red face with his hands as his heart thumped against his chest. 

How was he supposed to have a conversation with Will and attempt to clear the air when he could barely tear his eyes away from Will’s toned chest? Nico was doomed.

Nico heard Will make a noise of annoyance as he swung again. There was a thump on the ground that Nico suspected was the limb of one of the dummies, followed by a loud panting for breath. Nico took his own deep breath in. 

The last conversation Nico had had with Will, he’d convinced him that there wasn’t a problem, but if that was the case, why hadn’t Nico seen him in two days? 

Nico took a final deep breath in to steady his heartbeat and stepped into the arena again, trying very hard not to look at Will.

“Hadn’t expected to find you in here,” Nico declared, making his presence known. Will snapped his body around in shock and almost fell over due to the weight of the sword in his hand.

“Nico? What are you doing?” he asked.

“I should ask you the same thing,” Nico stated, “I went to the infirmary to get my bandage changed and instead you’re here.”

“Thought I might as well practice sword fighting. Maybe then I won’t be so useless,” Will shrugged. Nico found himself taken aback. He hadn’t been expecting this kind of response from Will. He’d been expecting to yell at him for avoiding Nico after saying they were fine. 

“You’re not useless at all,” Nico huffed his tone not quite as comforting as it could have been. After all, he was still kind of mad at Will.

“Ha, good one,” Will rolled his eyes, discarding his sword and tugging on his Camp Halfblood t-shirt again, “what are you actually doing here?”

Nico was not used to Will taking on such an abrupt tone. Was he really that mad at Nico?

“I was going to ask why you’ve been avoiding me,” Nico said.

“I haven’t,” Will replied, “I thought you’d been avoiding me.”

“No, I’ve been where I am every day. There’s clearly something up with you, though. I thought we could talk to each other by now,” Nico raised an eyebrow, keeping his stare intense. If Will was going to be awkward with him, he might as well be awkward back.

“Fine, if you must know, I basically feel pretty discardable to just about everyone right now. Nothing that should be of any bother to you,” Will huffed.

“Will, I thought we were friends. You’re not discardable in the slightest. You’re Camp’s best healer and the only person I can actually open up to. I didn’t realise it wasn’t mutual,” Nico declared coldly, starting to turn around as blood pounded through his veins. He didn’t know why he was so mad. He’d been hoping talking to Will might actually help things. Apparently not.

“Nico, wait,” Will called out. He reached out like he was about to grab Nico’s arm but clearly thought better of it, dropping his hand back to his side. Nico stopped turning and glared at the ground. Could Will not even stand to touch him anymore?

“I’m sorry. Of course, I can talk to you, too. I thought you were mad at me,” he sighed.

“Well, I am slightly, now,” Nico pointed out, “you have been avoiding me.”

“I really haven’t. As I said, I’ve just been feeling down,” Will repeated. Nico rolled his eyes.

“I know I’m not the best at emotional help but I’m still your friend,” Nico raised his voice, “and you’re not discardable to me at least. Unless, of course, you lied about us being good about the other night and you were actually bothered by it.”

“What?” Will breathed out, his demeanour suddenly calming, “I didn’t think this had anything to do with the campfire.”

“That’s why you started avoiding me, though, right?” Nico insisted as Will walked towards him so that they weren’t stood so far apart anymore.

“How many times do I have to tell you? I’ve not been avoiding you, Nico,” Will sighed, placing a hand on his forehead and wiping the sweat that had formed during his training off, “I thought you wanted space from me.”

“Don’t you think I’d tell you? I’m never exactly subtle if someone’s actually bothering me,” Nico argued.

“Sometimes I don’t actually know with you. You sort of give off mixed signals,” Will snapped back.

“Because you’ve never given off mixed signals, have you?” Nico replied hotly.

“Oh, come on!” Will declared, throwing his hands down at his side before taking a deep breath in and looking Nico directly in the eye, “arguing like children isn’t going to get us anywhere. Let’s talk about this like sophisticated people.”

Nico resisted the urge to make a snide comment that nothing about Will was sophisticated and then remembered they weren’t really on the best of terms for him to do that right now.

“Ok. Fine. I’ll be honest with you, if that’s what you really want,” Nico said slowly, taking a slightly shaky breath in, “I thought you were disgusted. By me. At the campfire.”

Whatever Will had been expecting Nico to say, it clearly wasn’t that as his eyes widened in shock. Nico felt his heart rate begin to increase with worry about what he might have to explain. He couldn’t have that conversation right now.

“Nico,” Will said gently, “how could I ever be disgusted by you?”

“Do you not get it?” Nico spluttered, his voice rising and his heart pounding, “Will, I’m gay!”

Nico’s entire body tensed up at his declaration and his hand slapped over his mouth. That wasn’t how it was supposed to go. That wasn’t how this was meant to happen. Nico couldn’t bear to look Will in the eyes.

He turned around and ran.

When Nico made it to his cabin, he curled up in a ball and cried. Nico wasn’t sure he’d cried as much as this since Percy told him Bianca had died. 

Finally, he had found a person he could trust again after refusing to get close to anyone since his sister left him. Finally, he’d found someone who made him feel like he belonged. Finally, he’d allowed the walls he’d kept up for so long to be knocked down brick by brick by Will. Now he’d done what Nico did best. He’d ruined it.

Nico didn’t know how long he sat there before he heard a knock at the door. The tears he’d been crying had already dried up, though. He was exhausted.

Nico wiped his eyes again just to make sure before he walked over to the door and opened it. It was Will.

“Hey,” Will said, “can I come in?”

Wordlessly, Nico opened the door a bit wider and allowed the son of Apollo to step inside.

“So, I didn’t get to finish that conversation with you earlier because you kind of ran off,” Will observed.

“Yeah, I wonder why,” Nico replied, his voice hoarse.

Will hummed in agreement before sitting himself down on Nico’s bed and continuing.

“I came to the realisation, though, that there’s something I thought you knew about me that you apparently don’t know. Or at least, judging by your reaction earlier I’m pretty sure you don’t know,” Will continued, “why did you run?”

“It’s not exactly… normal,” Nico muttered.

“Who says it’s not normal?” Will shrugged, his demeanour more cheerful than Nico had seen it since the campfire.

“Eros did,” Nico huffed. 

“And since when have you ever listened to what the gods have told you?” Will rolled his eyes, “Nico, there’s nothing abnormal or wrong or anything like that. It took me a while to realise that, too.”

“What?” Nico spluttered, thinking he’d misheard Will’s last words. Had he just phrased them incorrectly? 

“Guess I was right,” Will said with a smirk, “you don’t know.”

“Know what?” Nico asked immediately, his heart stuttering slightly in his chest. Will couldn’t possibly be implying what he thought he was. It was impossible. Maybe Nico had fallen asleep and was dreaming all of this.

The warm hand that touched his arm right then felt far too realistic to be a dream, though.

“Nico,” Will said, “I’m gay, too.”

Nico’s thought process completely halted as he looked into Will’s eyes, his heart pounding loudly.

“Oh,” he managed to gasp out. If his cheeks weren’t bright red it would have been a miracle. But then, every flirty comment, every wink, every touch Will had given him- did that mean there was a chance they weren’t purely platonic? 

The thought of Will liking him back had seemed so implausible to Nico, but suddenly, it was seeming ever so slightly more attainable. 

Still, Will was a talented, attractive, funny, charming son of Apollo and Nico was, well, Nico, but the look in Will’s eyes as he pulled Nico to sit down next to him on the bed made him push all those thoughts out of his mind.

“Now are we all good?” Will asked.

“Yeah,” Nico nodded, “I think we are.”

Will sighed in relief, “Good. I’ve missed you.”

“Wish I could say the same,” Nico smirked, teasingly. “Anche tu mi sei mancato,” he added, the words ‘I missed you, too’ slipping out in Italian purely because Nico was far too embarrassed to say them in English.

“I’ve never heard you speak Italian before!” Will gasped, grasping both of Nico’s hands in his. Nico had really missed Will’s touch, he was suddenly realising, “it sounds musical.”

“Italian is the language of music,” Nico rolled his eyes.

“I know that,” Will responded indignantly, “can you say something else in Italian, though?”

Nico considered Will for a moment. His tousled blond hair, his sky blue eyes, the smattering of freckles across his cheeks, the upturn of his grin.

“Sei bello,” Nico couldn’t help himself from saying, “quando sono con te mi sento a casa.”

“What does that mean?” Will asked. Nico’s cheeks flushed red.

“I’m not telling you,” he said. Will pouted.

“That’s not fair!” Will complained, “you could be saying anything.”

“Yeah, I’m telling you your face is stupid and you’re annoying,” Nico smirked. Will gasped.

“That’s so mean!” he declared. Nico laughed at Will’s dramatics, thinking to himself how good it felt to laugh genuinely again.

“Get over it, Solace,” he said, nudging his knee into Will’s. Will smiled in response but it soon turned into a yawn.

“Sorry,” Will said after he’d finished yawning, “I haven’t been able to sleep well this past couple of nights.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Nico admitted, “you can, er, stay here if you want. It is getting darker outside and I don’t want the harpies to eat you.”

“Aw, you don’t want me to die,” Will smiled obnoxiously. Nico shoved him gently.

“That’s not what I said. If you die, I’m the one doing the killing. I’m not letting anyone else steal my glory,” he stated. Will laughed at him.

“How romantic,” he teased.

“Oh shut up,” Nico complained before yawning himself. 

“I can actually stay here?” Will asked. Nico shrugged.

“I don’t see why not,” he said. Will grinned and flopped down on Nico’s bed, lying himself down.

“Hey, that’s my spot,” Nico complained. In all honesty, he hadn’t been expecting Will to sleep in the same bed as him. Not that he was complaining.

“Deal with it,” Will poked his tongue out, pulling Nico down to lie alongside him. Nico looked into his eyes and couldn’t help himself from smiling.

“Your bed smells a lot like you,” Will commented. Nico felt his cheeks flush red immediately.

“Sorry,” he spluttered.

“No, don’t apologise,” Will murmured, his voice growing quieter, “it’s nice.”

Will’s eyes fluttered shut at that and his breathing stilled, his arm still around Nico where it had pulled him down onto the bed. Nico observed their position for a bit before letting his gaze rest on Will’s face. He looked so peaceful. It was beautiful.

Nico allowed himself to shuffle a bit closer into Will’s warmth.

“Mi sto innamorando di te,” Nico muttered softly before closing his own eyes and drifting quickly into a dreamless sleep.

Nico woke up before he opened his eyes. He was curled up against something warm and it was far too comfortable for him to even think about moving. Unfortunately, the warm thing had other ideas and decided then was a good time to slip out of Nico’s grasp.

Disgruntled at the sudden cold that hit him, Nico reached out his arm and pulled the warm thing back against him. The warm thing let out a soft chuckle.

“Nico, it’s capture the flag day. We need to get up,” it said. Nico’s eyes snapped open and his brain began to function properly. It was Will. Will had stayed over in his cabin and he’d woken up next to Nico. Nico had pulled him back and was still holding onto him.

For some reason, this didn’t send Nico’s mind into the panic it normally would have done.

“Do we have to?” Nico complained, “you’re warm.”

“I swear you only hang around me to use as your personal heater,” Will complained. Nico shrugged.

“I refuse to make a comment on that,” Nico grunted into the pillow. Will laughed and tried once again to remove himself. This time, Nico let him but still refused to move.

“Honestly, it’s like you want me to beat you at capture the flag,” Will commented. Nico’s now awake brain snapped his body up at the comment.

“It’s capture the flag? I was supposed to help Percy and Jason!” Nico remembered suddenly, feeling guilty that he’d forgotten, “anyway, like you’d even have a chance of beating me, Solace.”

“Oh yeah?” Will raised an eyebrow, “we’ll have to see about that later, then, won’t we?”

“Get out my cabin, Will, I need to get dressed,” Nico sighed with a roll of his eyes.

“I mean, I don’t mind staying for that,” Will smirked, winking at Nico who flushed bright red.

“Shut up and get out or I’ll set Kayla on you,” he hissed, hoping Will hadn’t seen how flustered he’d become from a single comment alone. 

“Woah, no need for death threats, Neeks,” Will laughed, “I’ll see you during the battle, then.”

With that, Will waved one last time and slipped out of Nico’s cabin, leaving the son of Hades sat in the middle of his bed with his head in his hands, contemplating his entire life.

Will had spent the night in his bed with him with an arm wrapped around him. He was also apparently not straight, despite what Nico had thought. Could that be passed off as platonic friend stuff or was there something slightly more going on?

Before Nico had known about Will’s sexuality, he’d had the ability to easily disappoint himself by convincing himself that Will was just an overly touchy and friendly straight guy that wanted to be Nico’s friend.

Now, he wasn’t so sure what any of their interactions were and he didn’t want to get his hopes up in case they came crashing down anyway.

Still, if Will was going to wink at him like he had that morning, Nico was going to have a very difficult job not getting his hopes up.

Nico glanced at the clock and saw that it was already ten in the morning. Will had been right for trying to wake him up- the capture the flag game started in half an hour.

Nico got himself washed and dressed and ran out of his cabin to find Percy and Jason already in armour and discussing tactics.

“Sorry I’m so late,” Nico spluttered, “I overslept.”

“Yeah, it’s fine, don’t worry,” Percy said. His tone seemed humorous as if he was trying not to laugh.

“We suspected you might be preoccupied,” Jason added. Nico looked at the two of them, wondering why they were both snickering.

“Okay, what’s the problem?” Nico huffed, folding his arms.

“Nothing, nothing,” Jason commented.

“Yeah, I’m sure there’s no reason Will walked out of your cabin this morning after no one had seen him all night,” Percy added before bursting into laughter. Nico’s face turned bright red.

“That’s not- it isn’t- nothing happened- shut up!” Nico spluttered as Jason joined in the laughing. When he caught a glimpse of Nico’s face, though, he stopped.

“Nico, you don’t need to worry. Percy and I were the only ones that saw. We were talking over tactics whilst eating breakfast down here. No one else was around,” Jason explained.

“Although I expect the Apollo cabin might have some questions,” Percy added unhelpfully. Nico rolled his eyes as his heart rate calmed down again.

“I hate you two,” Nico huffed, “anyway, what’s the plan? We’re going against Annabeth, Piper and the entire rest of camp so we’re basically screwed.”

Percy gasped in offense, “Don’t underestimate us!”

“Yeah, we’re the children of the big three,” Jason joined in.

“Annabeth Chase,” Nico reminded them. The two rolled their eyes at him.

“You could have at least a little bit of faith in us, though,” Jason pointed out.

“Anyway, we want you to guard the flag, Nico,” Percy asked, “you can raise skeletons and fight off anyone that approaches whilst Jason and I go to find the flag.”

“Also, there’s a no maiming rule,” Jason added.

“What if my skeletons do the maiming?” Nico asked. Jason and Percy looked at each other and shrugged.

“Well, it wasn’t you,” Percy said.

“So it should be fine,” Jason decided. Nico smiled a little.

“Let’s do it, then,” he said.

Nico had to get his armour on quickly, considering how late he and Will had woken up. He barely had time to grab his stygian iron sword before Percy ushered him into the forest to their flag just before the horn blew.

Nico heard the yells of many fired up campers and he decided to sit down on the floor. He didn’t really have anything to do until someone found him so he might as well relax and continue to actually wake himself up. 

If Percy and Jason were stupid enough to take Annabeth and Piper on, Nico didn’t hold himself accountable for any harm they came to by him not being there to help.

Plus, he was still on a ban from Shadow Travel, anyway.

Nico’s peacefulness was disturbed when he heard footsteps, though. He wasn't sure how long he’d been sat there but he imagined it hadn’t been too long and assumed Percy and Jason’s hiding spot clearly hadn’t been so subtle.

Nico jumped to his feet on reflex and readied his sword, holding it in front of him as he wandered away from the flag slightly, towards the source of the noise.

A rustling noise came from behind a tall bush and Nico tentatively pulled the branches back.

“Aah!” a voice yelled at the same time as Nico’s own shout.

“Will?” Nico spluttered upon recognising the figure that had just jumped back. Will regained his balance and grinned, holding the sword he was carrying out in front of him, using it to hold the branches back so he could climb through the bush.

“Fancy meeting you here,” he smirked. Nico rolled his eyes.

“Bit ambitious of you to come after me alone with only a sword to arm you,” he pointed out.

“I’ve been training,” Will reminded Nico, twirling the sword in his hands to show off. Nico smirked. Two could play that game.

He swivelled his own sword around his wrist and brandished it in front of him.

“And you came here for a fight?” Nico asked.

“No, not really. I was just scouting. Guess I found what I was looking for,” Will said, offering Nico a wink that made him blush a deep red. Why did Nico feel as though the flag wasn’t quite what Will was referring to?

“Don’t think you can just wander in and take what you want, Solace,” he said back in a dangerously flirtatious tone. Nico needed to get a hold of himself.

“Still, think it’s worth a shot, wouldn’t you say?” Will teased, leaning forward ever so slightly to bring his face closer to Nico’s. Nico stumbled over his words for a second before he heard movement behind him. He whipped his body around, sword ready in his hands and caught a glimpse of Lou Ellen and Cecil attempting to approach the flag. 

With a flick of his wrist, Nico raised a few skeletons to hold them off before turning back around to face Will.

“So you were the distraction, huh?” Nico asked, smiling wryly. Will shrugged.

“Sorry, they put me up to it,” he admitted.

“Nice try, Solace,” Nico smirked, leaning in slightly himself, “but you’ll have to try harder than that to distract me next time.”

With that, Nico turned and ran towards the skeletons, Lou Ellen and Cecil, his own heart hammering at what he’d just said. If he wasn’t much mistaken, though, he was pretty sure he’d noticed a red blush cross Will’s cheeks. That counted as a success in Nico’s books. 

“Will, retreat,” a voice called from the other side of the woods. Nico was pretty sure he recognised it as one of the Ares kids and tensed. He could easily take Lou Ellen and Cecil by himself but a whole Ares cabin during capture the flag when he wasn’t allowed to maim? That would be difficult.

Just as the skeletons returned to Nico’s side after chasing Lou Ellen and Cecil away, the Ares cabin indeed burst through the line of bushes between Nico and the flag. 

Nico readied his sword in his hand and raised a few more skeletons to aid him.

Then he lunged into battle.

His sword clashed with Clarisse’s spear first. Nico had never directly fought Clarisse before but he knew he could put up a good fight against her.

At least, he would have been able to if he hadn’t just raised the dead. Having spent so long out of action, it had weakened Nico more than he was anticipating.

“What’s wrong, Death Breath? You’re a bit slow today,” Clarisse jeered. Nico gritted his teeth and pushed his sword back against Clarisse’s spear. He had to keep them away from the flag for as long as possible.

Out of the corner of his eye, Nico spotted a camper escape from their skeleton and crawl towards the flag. With his last remaining energy, Nico thrust out a free arm and raised a skeletal hand from the ground to grasp the Ares kid’s wrist and stop him from progressing.

The distraction was all Clarisse needed for her electric spear to graze Nico’s bad shoulder, causing him to fall to the ground, clutching it as a searing pain shot through his entire arm.

“Nico!” he heard Will call from the distance. Through gradually blurring vision, Nico caught sight of Clarisse stumble towards the flag. As a reflex, Nico thrust his sword out and tripped her over. Just as she fell, he raised one last skeletal hand to trap her wrist.

“Don’t you dare raise any more dead things, di Angelo,” Will’s voice yelled out again. Nico could barely focus on where he was anymore. His senses were becoming gradually fainter.

Nico felt two arms wrap around his back before he fell backward completely. Just before his eyes finally fluttered closed, he saw Percy and Jason running through the bushes in the distance, brandishing the flag and screaming loudly in celebration.

“How did we actually do it?” Nico asked weakly. Then he passed out.

When Nico next became conscious, he heard a multitude of voices around his bed.

“Will, I really am sorry. I hadn’t expected them to charge him all at once. I thought it would just be Lou Ellen and Cecil,” Nico heard Annabeth’s voice.

“You should know Clarisse never does what she’s told,” he heard Will snap back in response. Nico tensed slightly, noticing his shoulder throb slightly as he did. He was pretty sure he’d never heard Will so angry before.

“Hey, Will, don’t blame Annabeth, please,” Percy reasoned. Nico heard Will let out a loud sigh.

“I know, sorry for snapping. I just wish Nico would stop nearly killing himself every time he goes into battle. I’m not sure I can cope with it for much longer,” Will said, his voice wobbling slightly. It was Jason that spoke next.

“We understand. We don’t want to lose him either and we’re so grateful you know how to heal him,” he said, “but Nico will be okay. He knows how to use his powers.”

“What happens when he isn’t okay?” Will snapped, “you all know he’d put his life on the line without a second thought. What happens if one time he pushes it too far and slips into the shadows forever?”

“Will-“ Piper’s voice arose. Nico suspected he heard a bit of charmspeak slipping into her voice but Will somehow ignored it.

“I’m not trying to be a nuisance and stop Nico from using his powers. I just want him to learn his limit and allow himself time to heal before he gets himself killed before I ever have a chance to tell him that I-“ Will’s voice broke off in a sob and Nico heard the sound of feet shuffling closer together. He opened his eye a crack and saw Jason and Annabeth hugging Will, Piper and Percy placing their hands on his shoulders.

“We know,” Jason said, “but we’re demigods so we’re always at risk. You need to tell him your feelings before it’s too late.”

“But what if he-“ Will started but Annabeth cut him off.

“You’ll never know if you don’t tell him. Please, at least consider it,” she said. Nico’s eyes fluttered closed again as he felt his heart rate speed up. He wasn’t completely misinterpreting this conversation, right? Did Will actually return Nico’s feelings? Maybe this was some sort of hallucinatory dream.

“Just let me do it in my own time,” Will sighed, “we should probably go. I don’t want to wake Nico up. He needs the rest.”

“Will’s right,” Piper said, “let’s leave him be for now.”

The shuffling of feet indicated that they’d left his bedside and Nico exhaled a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding. 

Suddenly a warm hand enclosed around his.

“I’m sorry, Nico,” Will’s soft voice came. Nico pretended he was still asleep as Will released his hand and left along with the others.

Just before Nico allowed himself to slip into unconsciousness again, Will’s words really sunk in.

He couldn’t be as reckless all the time- he had people who cared if he died, now; people he could call family. If he let himself die, he’d have to leave them all behind.

He’d have to leave Will behind.

And that wasn’t something he ever wanted to do.

When Nico next woke up, he felt a warm pressure against his hand. Upon opening his eyes, he noticed that it was another hand. Will’s hand.

Nico’s eyes flitted up to see Will, who was sitting in a chair by Nico’s bed, gazing sternly into the distance.

“Hey,” Nico croaked, his voice hoarse from only just waking up. Will’s gaze snapped around to Nico and he immediately went to pull his hand away but Nico held onto it. He wasn’t sure where this sudden boldness had come from. Perhaps it was from what he overheard last night or perhaps it was from his own realisations of his mortality.

“You’re awake again,” Will noted, “how do you feel?”

“I’ve been better,” Nico shrugged, “but I have a pretty fantastic doctor.”

Nico noticed the blush that spread across Will’s face as he said that. For once, Nico didn’t question the reason behind it. He had a pretty good idea as to why, now, and even if it seemed impossible to believe, it didn’t even matter that much if he was wrong. He wasn’t going to live forever, after all.

“That’s good,” Will breathed out, “I hope you don’t mind me staying with you.”

“Not at all,” Nico smiled before sitting himself up a bit straighter. If he was going to tell Will his feelings, now was as good a time as any. “Listen,” he started, “I’ve been thinking a lot. About my mortality.”

“I have, too,” Will huffed out a laugh but Nico removed his good hand from Will’s grasp to place a finger against his lips, silencing him. Will looked at Nico, speechless.

“No interruptions. I need to say this,” Nico explained, “anyway, I’ve sort of realised that people might actually care if I die now so I should be a bit more careful about how I use my powers.”

Will rolled his eyes at Nico as if to say ‘Well, duh!’

“It’s not just that people might actually care about me, though. I’ve also realised just how much I care about some other people dying, too. We’re all demigods- we never know when we’re about to die- and I realised there are some things I really want to say in case anyone does.”

Nico looked into Will’s eyes and his heart sped up immediately. Will’s gaze on him was so entirely focussed and intense that it sent chills down his spine. Nico had to tell Will how much he meant to him.

Screwing his eyes tightly closed, Nico took a deep breath in.

“I like you, Will,” he blurted out, “more than like you. I have a crush on y-“

Nico’s eyes snapped open the second his words were cut off by a hot pressure against his mouth. He caught a glimpse of blond hair and tan skin right in front of his eyes and suddenly realised what was happening.

Will’s kissing me.

Nico’s eyes fluttered shut again and he pressed his lips back against Will’s, moving his good arm around so that his hand could cup Will’s cheek and bring him closer. Nico hadn’t kissed anyone before and didn’t have a clue what he was doing but it felt so natural to move his lips slowly against Will’s, pulling gently at his lower lip.

Unfortunately, Will pulled back far too soon for Nico’s liking, keeping his face right in front of Nico’s so that his hand could still rest on Will’s cheek. 

“Nico di Angelo,” Will breathed, “you have no idea how completely enamoured with you I am.”

Nico smiled warmly, his heart beating rapidly in his chest with happiness.

“I think I might have some idea,” he laughed quietly. Nico’s attention flitted back to the freckles adorning Will’s face and with the thumb resting on his cheek, he traced them just as he’d done at the campfire.

“Myriad,” Nico said.

“Hm?” Will made a puzzled sound.

“That’s what I was trying to say at the campfire,” Nico explained, “your face is a myriad of stars.”

Instead of responding, Will just dove forward and captured Nico’s lips again.

Nico couldn’t help but smile against Will’s lips as he pulled the son of Apollo further into him, deepening the kiss. 

If this was what being happy felt like, Nico was pretty sure he could get used to it.