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Chapter Text

About a week and a half had passed since what Nico had dubbed “The Incident.” Not the incident in the Hephaestus forges, where 8-year-old Harley had accidentally created a bomb and landed half his cabin in the infirmary. No, Nico’s brain was focused on something far more horrific. Ten days ago, a feverish, delusional, sleep-deprived version of Will Solace had kissed Nico di Angelo. On purpose. On his forehead, sure, but that still meant something, didn’t it? Maybe that was just another modern custom Nico had missed during his years in the Lotus Casino. Maybe platonic guy friends kissed each other on the forehead all the time, and Nico’s heart was now permanently tachycardic for no good reason.

Tachycardia. A heartbeat above 100 bpm at rest, or above 120 bpm when active. Will had taught him that, pointing to the vitals readout of a small Aphrodite girl who’d snuck into the woods and been chased out by some hungry monster. “It’s not dangerous,” Will had explained, while handing the shaken-up patient a juice box. “So long as it comes back down within a reasonable time frame.”

Nico scoffed at the memory. He wondered if ten days was considered a reasonable time frame.

He shook his head, trying to clear his mind and focus on his sword work. He was the only one at the arena that evening - trainings were never scheduled after dinner, and most campers would rather roast s'mores and sing songs at the campfire than train alone in the darkness. Nico actually had been better about attending campfires since the end of the war. It made Percy and Jason happy when he showed up, and he genuinely enjoyed watching them make fools of themselves in front of Piper and Annabeth. Then, Will had started sitting near him, and talking to him, and loudly singing dumb camp songs to him. He’d never admit it, but Nico genuinely enjoyed that, too.

It was really all Solace’s fault for messing it up. They’d had a good thing going: Nico got to secretly marvel at Will’s beauty up close, and Will got to - well, Nico wasn’t sure what Will got out of it. Maybe he just liked that Nico’s radiating death aura somehow made him look even more sunny by comparison. Whatever their relationship had been, Solace had destroyed it ten days ago. It was one thing to get comfortable with your feelings inside your own head. It was another thing entirely to acknowledge that someone possibly knew about them. Now Nico was left with no other choice than to avoid Will Solace like the plague, because that asshole had kissed his forehead and seen him turn as red as one of his father’s cows. And that meant Nico’s feelings were no longer a buried secret.

Nico slashed his sword through the straw dummy in front of him, too angry to care that destroying it would leave him with nothing to practice on. He let his weapon clatter to the ground as he wiped sweat from his forehead. Irritatingly, he heard Will’s voice in his head chastising him for not bringing a bottle of water to practice.

Nico gathered the pieces of the destroyed dummy, knowing he’d earn a lecture from Chiron if he left the place a mess. Suddenly, a short cough came from right behind him, startling him from his thoughts.

“Shit, Harley, give a guy a warning,” Nico muttered, looking over his shoulder to find the youngest son of Hephaestus. “Why aren’t you at the campfire?” he asked, figuring he already knew the answer.

Ever since Leo Valdez’s disappearance, when Nico had announced that he had felt Leo die and then somehow become un-dead, Harley had made a habit of ambushing Nico at random times. “Is Leo still not dead?” he’d ask, not bothering with any small talk or pleasantries. “Not that I can feel,” Nico would reply. He didn’t want to get the kid’s hopes up or anything, but he figured it’d be worse to outright lie to him.

Surely, he figured, tonight was no different. So he was rather surprised to hear Harley preface his question with, “Can I ask you something, Nico?”

The kid’s head was down, and his shoulders slouched in on themselves. He’d taken to that posture ever since his little accident in the forges. A long scar ran down the side of his chubby leg as a permanent reminder. Nico remembered how long it had taken to get him to stop crying that day.

“Yeah, whatever,” he answered.

Harley chewed on his lower lip. He was fiddling with what looked like some sort of hand-made compass. With his curly hair and constant movement, he reminded Nico of a smaller Valdez. “You used to not live at camp. Nyssa said. But you didn’t have no family either. Where’d you go?” the little boy asked, not meeting Nico’s eyes. He was too busy drawing lines in the dust with the toe of his shoe.

That wasn’t the question Nico had been expecting. Flashbacks to dwelling in the labyrinth with Minos’s ghost breathing down his neck came over him, and he forced himself not to shiver at the thought. Instead, he focused on the kid in front of him, and noticed for the first time that he was carrying an overstuffed backpack and had a bedroll stuck under his left arm.

“Harley,” Nico hesitated, not wanting to say the wrong thing. He suddenly wished Will were here. “Why don’t you head back to your cabin and go to sleep for the night, yeah?” he offered. That would buy him time to let Chiron know about the kid’s escape plan. He would take care of it.

“No!” Harley insisted, wiping a tear from his eye with the back of his hand. “I have to leave,” he explained, like that should have already been clear.

Nico seriously considered just picking the kid up and carrying him back to Nyssa, but Harley could kick hard when he wanted to. “Why would you need to leave?” he tried instead.

“None of my Leo-finders work,” he whined angrily, chucking the compass-thing in his hands across the sword arena. “The last one was so close! But it needed so much power! And then- then I wasn’t paying attention- and then it blew up everywhere!” He sat down hard on the ground and shoved his face into his knees. Nico heard a couple escaped sobs.

The son of Hades awkwardly sat down in the dirt. What was he supposed to do, hug him? Scream for Nyssa and hope she’d hear him from the campfire? He opted for uncomfortably patting the crying kid’s shoulder.

“Hey, uh, it was just an accident. No one died. You don’t - there’s no reason to leave camp over it,” Nico soothed. Well, tried to soothe.

“She told me to leave!” Harley cried out. He seemed frustrated that his plan to get a road map from the son of Hades wasn’t working out like he’d intended.

“What? Who told you that?” Nico asked, confused. Nyssa never would have said such a thing.

“Heloise!” he exclaimed.

That made more sense. Heloise was two years older than Harley, but she looked younger. She had curly blonde pigtails, was missing her two front teeth, and liked to wear a pink tutu over her Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and jeans. This was a stark contrast to her vicious attitude. Nico wasn’t entirely convinced she wasn’t a misclaimed child of Ares.

“What, and you listened to her? She’s been stuck in the infirmary for days, she was just lashing out at you,” Nico explained. Kids.

Harley paused his sobbing to glare at the son of Hades. “She SAID,” he emphasized, making sure Nico was listening. “She said that she wished I would have disappeared instead of Leo. It was mean!” Harley pouted.

“It was mean. But she’s only ten years old. She probably had the worst headache of her life after waking up, and Heloise is already a spitfire on a good day. She lashed out at you because you're her brother and you happened to be in the room,” Nico suggested. Harley’s glare softened. “Did she apologize?” Nico asked.

“Yeah,” Harley relented. “And Nyssa is making her do my bathroom chores for a week once she’s better.”

“Well, there you go. How’re you going to flee camp when you’ve got someone doing your bathroom chores for you?” Nico teased.

Harley giggled, wiping a tear track off his cheek.

“Besides, if you leave,” Nico added, “we won’t have anyone to build a working Leo-finder. The next one is going to work, you know. But only if you build it.”

“You think it’s gonna work?” Harley asked, his brown eyes wide.

“Of course. Just don’t make it into a bomb this time.”

“It wasn’t supposed to blow up!” Harley screeched.

“I know, I know,” Nico reassured. Note to self: Too soon. “I’m just teasing, buddy. Your invention’s going to work.”

“Okay,” Harley agreed. He stood up and brushed the dirt off himself. He crossed the arena to grab the invention he’d chucked in fury a few moments ago. “Also,” the little boy quipped, “Nyssa would miss me.”

Nico chuckled, standing as well. “Yeah, she would,” he agreed. “I’d miss you, too.”

Harley gave him a toothy grin. “Thanks, Death Boy.”

“Never mind, I wouldn’t miss you,” Nico deadpanned.

“I’m just TEASING,” the boy insisted, parroting Nico’s earlier sentiment. Nico rolled his eyes and suppressed a grin.

A pair of grimy, chubby arms wrapped around Nico’s middle. Nico tousled the kid’s curls. “Yeah, alright. Go on to bed now and maybe I won’t tell Nyssa what you’ve been up to. I don’t want to hear anything about running away again, yeah?” Nico pressed.

“Uh-huh, I promise! You don’t gotta tell Nyssa!" he pleaded. He turned to leave, then paused. "Bye, Death Boy!” Harley squealed. He ran all the way out of the arena, his tiny sneakers kicking up dust clouds behind him. “Oh, hi, Will! Bye, Will!” Harley sang as he turned the corner towards the cabins.

Nico froze. His stomach turned somersaults. If Will was here, he was going to want to talk.

Maybe the medic should fit him for a heart monitor while he was at it. Tachycardia levels through the goddamn roof.

Chapter Text

Nico had successfully avoided Will Solace for ten days. It was rather impressive, really. He had strategically reorganized his entire activities schedule to ensure that he and Will never crossed paths. He had made sure to get to the dining pavilion right at the ends of meals, because Will always arrived at the start and never stayed the whole time. Nico even got out of Friday’s counselors meeting by telling Chiron that his dad had summoned him down to the Underworld for a quick errand. Chiron had looked pretty suspicious, but let him off the hook for the week nonetheless.

Cornered in the sword fighting arena with Will right around the corner, it suddenly occurred to Nico how embarrassing the entire situation was.

Being a scrawny, emotionally-distant embodiment of Death with a hopeless crush on sunshine personified was embarrassing enough. The fact that Nico had faced two wars in his life and remained terrified of something as ridiculous as facing his feelings was even worse.

Paradoxically, hiding from this new source of shame still involved avoiding Will Solace.

The last rays of dusk were gone, leaving only the dim light from lanterns that dotted the arena. Gods, he could shadow travel away so easily. Leave this entire problem for some later date. Will knew he was here, though. Nico figured the overdramatic medic would track him down afterwards and lock him in the infirmary for three days if he jumped away now. He honestly considered risking it, but just then a head of curls so blonde they glowed in the night popped out from around the corner.

“Hi,” Will offered, stepping into the arena a little nervously. “Sorry, I, uh-, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I just noticed you weren’t at the campfire again and figured I might find you here.” He paused for a beat, then two. “I was sorta hoping we could talk,” he finished.

Nico noticed Will’s voice wasn’t raspy and strained anymore. His vitakinesis burns must have finally healed. He’d figured as much when he’d seen Will return to work a few days ago, but it was reassuring to see proof in person. Almost reassuring enough to override the nausea that was currently bubbling up his stomach. Almost.

Will took Nico’s silence as a cue to continue. “I did apologize, right?” he asked, his face tinted with concern. Nico gave a slight nod. Will started in on another one anyway. “I really am sorry I made you uncomfortable. I won’t do it again if you don’t want me to. I just - I’d really like it if we could still be friends, you know?” he asked, flushed cheeks barely evident in the lantern light. He looked as embarrassed as Nico felt.

I won’t do it again if you don’t want me to.

Nico wanted him to.

Nico really did not want Will to know that he wanted him to. Did he? No. Maybe?

He had a headache.

“Who said we weren’t friends?” Nico grumbled in response. He knew he was being difficult, but as usual, he couldn’t seem to make himself stop.

Will ran a hand through his vibrant blonde hair. Nico made a valiant attempt to tear his gaze away.

“I mean, you’ve kinda been avoiding me. I’ve barely seen you since I stayed in your cabin, and whenever I catch sight of you, you turn the other way like you’ve suddenly remembered you left the oven on,” he explained, slight exasperation in his voice. “Like, one time I saw you literally dive behind a bush. Do you hate me that much?”

Nico felt his face go hot. Will had taken an unexpected detour past the pegasus stables that day while Nico had been on his way to lessons. He’d had to improvise. Admittedly, not his proudest moment.

“You can’t prove that was me,” he shrugged, less as a legitimate defense and more because he hoped it might make Will laugh.

Will snorted. “Right,” he nodded. “Must’ve been the other resident emo kid who wants nothing to do with me.”

“Must’ve been.” Nico twisted the skull ring on his finger. He took a deep breath through his nose. “Sorry to hear that, he sounds like an asshole,” he deadpanned.

Slowly, a grin spread across Will’s face. “Nah, only sometimes. I like him alright anyway,” he responded. Nico bit back a smile.

Will was here. Will had come and found him because Will missed him. Will thought he had done something wrong, and Will was here in the hopes that Nico would forgive him, even after Nico was the one who’d acted like a child for ten days. Will, Will, Will.

Nico didn’t understand why. Then again, maybe he didn’t need to. Maybe he just needed to trust him. He could manage that, couldn’t he?

Will cleared his throat to break the silence. “That was really cool what you said to Harley,” he offered. A safer topic. “That his next Leo-finder would work. I don’t think I’ve ever heard something so optimistic leave your mouth,” Will teased, a soft smile still on his face. Nico was still looking down at his ring, but he could feel the other boy’s eyes on him.

“I probably shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up,” Nico sighed. “I don’t know what kind of trick Valdez pulled, but it seems like he would’ve made it back by now if he had the option.”

Will considered the sentiment. “Maybe,” he shrugged, “but I think Harley needed the hope, regardless. Poor kid’s been through a lot. He needed someone to tell him things would be okay,” Will surmised. “Helps that it came straight from his personal hero,” he added, as Nico met his gaze.

“Hardly,” Nico scoffed, but he knew what Will meant. Granted, eight-year-olds were pretty easy. A couple easy shadow tricks and Nico might as well have been a superhero.

“‘Will, did you know Nico can go INSIDE shadows? Will, did you know Nico has the coolest sword EVER? Will, one time, Nico summoned a WHOLE ENTIRE skeleton out of the ground!’” Will mimicked, gesticulating wildly like Harley was known to do.

Nico couldn’t suppress a laugh. “That kid is the one and only member of the Nico di Angelo fan club,” he relented. Harley's enthusiasm reminded him of his Mythomagic days, back when powers weren’t a means of survival, they were just really, really cool.

“Wrong,” Will retorted. “I’m the club president, actually. Harley and I meet on Tuesdays.”

“You’re such a dork,” Nico replied. He was glad Will wasn’t mad at him. He was even more glad that he was done being mad at Will. Nico had gotten so used to feeling miserable and nauseous over the past several days, he’d forgotten how good it could be when things were okay between them.

Nico wanted to tell him he was sorry for running away. He wanted to assure Will that he hadn’t done anything wrong, not really. It wasn’t his fault that Nico, the kid who’d been to flipping Tartarus and back, was still somehow afraid of his own emotions.

“You got any open shifts at the infirmary tomorrow?” he asked instead, trying to sound nonchalant.

The son of Apollo smirked. “Why, you know someone who’s interested?”

“Okay, no need to be so smug about it,” Nico said. Will rolled his eyes.

“I’m working tomorrow morning,” he offered. “I’m sure I could find some bandages for you to change.”

Nico nodded. “Tomorrow morning it is, then.”

Will smiled, his blue eyes crinkling at the edges. The sounds of the campfire sing-along were dying off in the background as campers returned to their cabins. In the darkness, Will somehow still looked like day.

“And, uh, it wasn’t anything you did, it was me,” Nico stammered, spitting the words out before he could swallow them. “Just...just for the record,” he mumbled. Fear prickled on the back of his neck, even as he registered it as irrational.

Will quirked an eyebrow, then slowly nodded like he understood what Nico was getting at. “Okay,” he managed, his voice hushed. He was smiling oddly, as if he wanted to say something else but couldn’t find the words. It was hard to tell in the low light, but Nico could have sworn his cheeks were tinged with pink.

For a moment, Nico’s thoughts quieted. You’re getting in over your head and You idiot, he’s just taking pity on you and The whole camp is going to laugh at you were replaced with something softer, yet more insistent. What would it be like to hold his hand?

“You’d better go get some sleep, then. It's a 6am shift, you remember?” Will instructed, back to his usual chipperness.

Nico groaned. “You’re lucky I owe you. That is way too fucking early,” he muttered. He dragged his sword through the dust behind him as he walked off towards the Hades cabin. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. “Night, Solace.”

“What was it Harley said? Bye, Death Boy!” Will sang, waving as he walked back towards the campfire to collect his lingering cabin mates.

“I can’t believe you taught him that!” Nico accused.

All Will could do was laugh.

Chapter Text

Nico flopped across his unmade bed, ready for a well-earned nap after a long shift at the infirmary. Okay, maybe “well-earned” was a stretch. The only patients were Heloise (who was only there for observation because her head hadn’t stopped hurting) and Poppy (a girl from Demeter with a skinned knee - Nico had gathered that she just wanted an excuse to spend time with Kayla). Nico had spent most of the morning teaching Heloise how to play Mythomagic while Will wrote a strongly-worded letter to Olympus about the need for more ambrosia and nectar.

“Do you think this sounds too pushy?” he had come and asked once, sticking the piece of binder paper under Nico’s nose. “Like, I want them to grasp the importance of timely delivery, but I’d also prefer not to be turned into a rodent,” he reasoned. Heloise whined at him for interrupting her game.

“Haven’t you ever heard of prayer?” Nico responded, not even trying to decipher Will’s scribbles. He looked past the note to the cards in his hand and laid down the Wrath of Ares to quiet Heloise. Nico turned towards Will while the little girl scanned her hand for something with high enough damage resistance to survive his attack. “How the Hades are you planning on getting a letter to Olympus?” he questioned.

Will snatched the paper back. Indignantly, he crossed his arms over his chest. Nico tried not to laugh. Will trying to seem angry was less intimidating than a baby cloud nymph. “Percy did it once,” Will insisted. “He said he stuck Medusa’s head in a box and shipped it straight to the gods.”

“Percy’s full of shit,” Nico replied.

“Nico said shit!” Heloise squealed, accidentally showing her entire hand of cards in the process.

It had been a fun morning.

The shades were drawn in the Hades cabin, blocking out the afternoon sun. Draped over his bed, Nico kicked off his sneakers and scooted up to get under the covers properly. He liked sleeping during the day - naps were short enough and light enough that nightmares didn’t come as easily.

Just as he’d gotten comfortable, a cheerful knock came from his front door. He sighed as he heard a certain daughter of Aphrodite’s voice carry through the wood.

“Neeks! It’s Piper! I’m coming in!” she yelled, opening the creaking oak door.

Chiron didn’t allow locks on cabin doors. Safety issue, he claimed. That didn’t stop Nico from bringing it up at every single counselors meeting.

“Oh, sorry!” Piper exclaimed, not sounding anything close to sorry. She hooked her thumbs through the belt loops of her jeans, the ones her sister Lacy had embroidered for her. “Were you sleeping?” she asked incredulously. “At three in the afternoon?”

“Trying to,” he muttered, sitting up to glare at his uninvited guest. He liked Piper, really. She always made sure Nico was included, and watching her fight monsters by shooting magic cornucopia food at them was quite possibly the only thing Nico would describe as hilarious. That said, Piper could be a bit much sometimes.

“My bad,” she apologized, making no move to leave. Quite the opposite - she pulled off her raggedy tennis shoes and sat down cross-legged on the end of Nico’s bed. “Jason wanted me to come ask you if you’d be on our team for capture the flag next week.” She grinned innocently, tucking a loose feathered braid behind her ear.

“I’m always on Jason’s team,” Nico said flatly.

Her kaleidoscope eyes sparkled. “Well, I just so happened to notice you back in the infirmary this morning, so I figured that since your little lovers’ quarrel is over, maybe you had signed on to Will’s team instead,” Piper suggested, a smile still plastered on her face.

Nico stiffened. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, please tell me what it was about!” Piper begged, her act forgotten. “I’ve been wanting to ask you for days, but Annabeth insisted I should let you figure things out for yourself first.” She rolled her eyes before continuing. “Lacy had her money on you two secretly dating and arguing over whether or not to go public. Personally, I found that ridiculous, because there’s no way you would have run off and gotten a boyfriend without telling your best friend, right?” she prompted, scooting up next to Nico.

“Best friend, huh?” Nico challenged.

Piper clutched her chest in mock offense. “Well, then you would’ve told Jason and I would’ve charmspeaked it out of him,” she teased.

“Right,” Nico relented. “We aren’t dating.”

“Perfect, so I didn’t miss it!” Piper exclaimed. She clapped her hands together. “Okay! So Jason told me not to meddle, but-”

“Absolutely do not meddle.”

“BUT! What if I told you I could totally get you two together?” she proposed, grasping Nico’s wrist in excitement. Nico let her.

“And what makes you think I would want that?” he deadpanned. Piper knew he was gay - Nico hadn’t been exactly subtle confessing his dead crush on Percy. Word had spread around camp pretty fast, and Nico was still surprised at how little anyone had really seemed to care either way. The general consensus had been: Yeah, who hasn’t had a crush on Percy Jackson?

Nico was, however, surprised that Piper knew about his crush on Will. Had Will told people what happened? Was it an Aphrodite thing? Or was he really just that obvious?

“You aren’t subtle, di Angelo,” she smirked. Well, that answered that question. Nico felt his eyes go wide.

“Oh, don’t look so embarrassed!” she admonished. “You two would be adorable! The whole night-and-day, sunshine-and-permanent-bad-mood thing! The Fates probably devised it themselves!” she swooned.

“Yeah, the Fates are known for being nice to me,” Nico grumbled sarcastically.

Piper snorted. “So they owe you one,” she shrugged. “I’d say Will Solace is a pretty good apology present,” Piper bumped her shoulder with Nico’s, a trademark move of her’s for trying to cheer him up.

Nico just sat there, fiddling with the skull ring on his finger. Piper idly braided a piece of her hair while waiting for him to talk.

“Just drop it, okay?” he finally said. “I’ve probably messed the whole thing up anyway.”

“What happened?” she asked. Nico knew she wasn’t charmspeaking him, because his brain was still telling him to snap at her and tell her to leave him alone. He shoved the instinct down. Piper probably wouldn’t have accepted that answer anyway.

“Something happened, when he was sick…” Nico started, not meeting her eyes.

Piper nodded, leaving him room to continue.

Nico told her about the kiss - the stupid, barely there forehead kiss - and revealed why he’d been avoiding the boy for the better part of two weeks. He told her about what he’d said to Will last night at the sword arena, how the problem wasn’t Will, it was him.

Piper smiled sympathetically, tilting her head. “Aw, Nico! What about that story makes you think you messed things up?” she asked earnestly. “It sounds like you apologized and half-way admitted some sort of feelings. That’s pretty good all things considered!”

Right. The things considered being that Nico couldn’t turn thoughts into words half the time and his friends just had to deal with him having the emotional availability of a brick wall. Nico didn’t know who Piper was kidding, he would never be able to navigate something as complicated as a relationship.

“I should have just told him everything. Or maybe I shouldn’t have said anything at all. Now everything is just awkward,” he griped, picking at one of his cuticles. “Well, for me at least. Mr. Sunshine-and-Fucking-Rainbows seems as normal as ever. I just -” he paused, looking at the ceiling to try to find the words. “I wish he never would’ve done anything so everything could stay in my head. Now that it’s like, out there,” he gestured vaguely, “I have no idea how I’m supposed to act, or what I’m supposed to say.” He picked at the bedspread so he wouldn’t have to see Piper’s pity. A daughter of Aphrodite. She probably knew exactly how to handle a relationship.

“Nico!” she laughed, bumping his shoulder again. “That means things are going well! Awkwardness and confusion are the foundation of all good relationships!” she reassured, smiling wide.

“Then why isn’t Will awkward and confused?” Nico questioned. He meant for it to sound like an accusation, but it came out more timid than he’d intended. At the infirmary that morning, Will hadn’t mentioned anything about the kiss, or the night before. He hadn’t looked nervous, or sweaty, or any of the other things Nico felt. Will had let him sit around and play Mythomagic with Heloise all morning while he focused on paperwork, barely even talking to Nico at all.

Piper scoffed. “Are you kidding? He’s been a mess this past week. He even asked Jason how to make things right with you, but Jason couldn’t really help since Will refused to tell him why you were mad in the first place,” Piper informed him. “And I’m sure he’s feeling as confused and awkward as you are now, what with the cryptic message you gave him last night,” she added.

“Cryptic? You said it was half-way to expressing my feelings,” Nico reminded.

“‘Half-way’ was a stretch, I was just trying to cheer you up,” she replied, smiling sweetly. Nico rolled his eyes. “Like, I’m sure he got your point,” she continued, “but you can’t leave him with that forever! He’ll just always be waiting for you to say when you’re ready.”

“What if I’m not?” Nico spat, sounding like a whiny kid even to himself. He didn’t know the first thing about relationships.

“Well, do you like being around him?” Piper asked, patiently ignoring his attitude.

Nico considered lying out of spite, but the answer to this one was pretty obvious. “Yeah, I guess,” he muttered, still petulantly picking at his comforter.

“Did you like it when he kissed you?”

Nico felt blush burn his cheeks. Did he? His stomach had felt fluttery, his face had felt hot, he’d felt the most embarrassment he’d felt since Cupid, but… he also hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he kept wondering if it would ever happen again. Wishing that it might.

He nodded his head, too sheepish to give Piper a verbal response.

“So…” Piper prompted. “It sounds like you have romantic feelings for him. You wouldn’t have to do anything you’re uncomfortable with. Dating’s supposed to be fun, not scary,” she explained. She paused for a minute, tapping her fingers on the mattress. “You have had the talk, right? Consent and all that?” Nico didn’t know how she managed to ask things like that without sounding awkward.

“Yes,” he hissed, his face burning. Chiron mandated that all campers age 11 and up watch Apollo’s sex-ed film. Yes, for some reason the god Apollo had carved time out of his immortal schedule to film an educational video for pubescent demigods. It was full of haikus and doubtlessly the worst thing Nico had ever been forced to endure.

“So, even if like, the only thing I want to do is kiss him.” Nico struggled to get the sentence out. “And maybe, like, hold his stupid hand or something.” He glanced at Piper.

Piper was beaming. “Then that’s all you gotta do, buddy!” she reassured. “But Will’s the one you need to tell these things to, not me. Because although you are always welcome to talk to me,” she said, squeezing his shoulder for emphasis, “the one and only thing you owe Will is communication. Capiche?” Piper held his gaze.

“Yeah, alright,” Nico answered. He took a deep breath. And another. Talk to Will. Yeah, he could do that. He’d shadow traveled himself, a gigantic statue, and two passengers across the Atlantic Ocean. He could admit his stupid feelings to Will Solace. But then again, what if…

“Are you sure he likes me?” Nico demanded.

Piper knocked on Nico’s head with her knuckles. “What do you know,” she mused. “It really is hollow in there. Did they lobotomize you in that casino, Nico?”

Nico elbowed her in the side. “Alright, I get the point,” he relented.

Piper smiled smugly, pushing herself off Nico’s bed. “Okay, kid. I’m going to be back here in three days. Quest deadline, that’s a language you can understand, right? I promise not to meddle in your relationship, so long as I’m rewarded with a story about your adorable new boyfriend when I get back. If you chicken out, I will bribe the Hecate cabin to put that 24-hour truth-telling curse on you.”

“That was your plan?!” Nico demanded.

“And I’d rather not have to use it! I’m saving my bribe to prank Jason on our anniversary,” she winked. “See you around!”

She waved, clicking the door shut behind her.

Chapter Text

Nico walked down the worn dirt path towards the infirmary, carrying a sandwich and a bag of chips in his hand. The sun was shining directly overhead, the protective bubble of Camp Half-Blood preventing it from being as blisteringly hot as it would be outside the borders. As he reached the front porch of the infirmary, Nico paused, his hand on the doorknob.

He was going to tell him. He had to tell him. Piper had already ambushed Nico this morning to remind him that she was expecting news by tonight.

It wasn’t that he was avoiding the situation, there just hadn’t been a right time. First, Will had spent nearly an entire afternoon trying to get his we-desperately-need-medical-supplies letter to the gods. He had tried simply writing the Empire State Building’s address on it and waiting for it to disappear (“I swear that used to work,” Percy had insisted). He had tried Iris messaging his dad and throwing the letter through the sprinkler, which earned him a “No Connection” message and a damp piece of paper. Finally, Will had asked Coach Hedge’s wife Mellie if she could send it, since cloud nymphs are generally good with that sort of thing. She shrugged her shoulders and sent the letter away in the wind, but had told him that she couldn’t guarantee it had ended up on Olympus. Will had been pretty frustrated at dinner that night.

On the second day, one of the Ares kids accidentally shot her brother in the back of the leg with an arrow. After giving the girl a very reasonable lecture about being more careful with deadly weapons and fixing up the kid with nothing but a mixture of vitakinesis and stitches, Will slept right through the campfire. Today, though, today Nico would make sure that nothing went wrong.

He stepped into the infirmary, the door’s bells chiming softly over his head. Will was sitting on the edge of an empty patient bed staring at a sheet of paper, with Kayla reading over his shoulder. The pair looked up when they heard Nico enter.

Will smiled when he saw him, but stress still lined his features. “You got any plans for today, Nico?” he asked, like he had something in mind.

“Uh, no, I don’t think so,” he answered, shaking his head. He held out the lunch he’d brought Will. “Here, I grabbed something for you.”

Kayla huffed. “Gee, you’d think Will is the only one that gets hungry around here,” she teased, snatching the bag of chips from Will’s hand.

“You can have all of it,” Will said, chucking the Ziploc bagged sandwich at his sister’s head. “Nico and I can get lunch on the road.”

“The road?” Nico asked. Will handed over the piece of paper in his hands and gave Nico a minute to struggle through reading it. In Ancient Greek lettering, it said:

We’re sorry! Your contact could not be reached at this time. We’ve detected the terms “medicine,” “gods,” and “innocent half-bloods” in your letter. If you are searching for “medicine,” try Telesphorus’s Warehouse. If you are searching for “gods,” try the Empire State Building. If you are searching for “innocent half-bloods,” try Camp Half-Blood. Thank you for shipping with us!

Nico looked up at Will. “Isn’t it a little concerning that nothing we send seems to be getting to the gods? Even Dionysus hasn’t been back since the end of the war,” he mused, a chill creeping up his spine.

“It’s very concerning and I have simply elected not to think about it,” Will reasoned, smiling tightly. “Instead, I’m going to focus on getting whatever medicine it is they have at Tele-whoever’s Warehouse today. You in?” he asked.

It could be fun, Nico supposed. He hadn’t been outside camp for a while, and he didn’t want to fall out of practice. A few easy monsters shouldn’t be a problem.

“Sure,” he agreed. “What are we up against? Who’s the Telesphorus dude, and how do we find his warehouse?”

Kayla answered him. “According to Annabeth, he’s some minor healing god. A son of Asclepius. She’s at the Big House right now looking up where to find his warehouse.”

“Hopefully it’s at least on this side of the country,” Will added, crossing his fingers emphatically.

Nico blinked. “A god,” he parroted.

“Minor god,” Will corrected quietly.

“Still immortal,” Nico rebutted. “And in my experience, almost always in a bad mood,” he stressed, remembering Jason’s whole idea of making temples to calm them all down. He wondered if Jason had gotten to the “obscure gods of healing” section of his plans yet. Maybe he could bring Telesphorus a blueprint.

“Maybe you should stay here, Will,” Nico suggested. He immediately felt bad when he saw Will’s face fall. “It’s not you, it’s just, minor gods are unpredictable at times,” he backpedaled. “I wouldn’t want you to get hurt or anything.”

Will crossed his arms defensively. “I’m not totally useless, you know. I shot a bow well enough to keep from dying in Manhattan.”

Nico twisted his skull ring. “That’s not what I was saying.”

Kayla swung her head between the two like she was watching a tennis match.

“When else am I going to get a chance to do something like this?” Will asked. “It’s not like I’m going alone. With you along, I’ll be totally safe,” he argued.

It struck Nico then that this was kind of a big thing for Will. Sometimes he forgot that quests weren’t something everyone got, since it often felt like he’d been on a nonstop one since he was ten. He knew that Will had never even spoken to his father, and quests were the number one way for a demigod kid to get some acknowledgement. Sure, this technically wasn’t even a quest due to the lack of a prophecy, but maybe Apollo would pay attention to a particularly dangerous errand all the same.

“Yeah, no, of course,” Nico conceded. “When are we leaving?”

Will grinned, seemingly surprised he had won so easily. “As soon as Annabeth gets back with that location,” he answered.

Nico wondered if Piper would grant him an extension.

- - -

As it turns out, Telesphorus’s Warehouse was just on the outskirts of the city. One uneventful taxi ride and pit stop at McDonald’s later, Will and Nico were stopped outside what appeared to be an abandoned building, featuring a very faded painted sign that read “MEDICAL SURPLUS.” The cab driver looked at them weird, but accepted the payment without too many questions and went on his way. The two boys stood alone on the side of the cracked road, staring at the huge, decrepit building beneath the afternoon sun.

Will pulled his bow from his backpack. Lou Ellen had loaned each of the boys enchanted bottomless backpacks for their outing so they could carry back all the supplies they found. Nico noticed Will’s hands were shaking.

“You okay?” he managed, keeping his own sword holstered. No sense running into a fight with a god head on; outsmarting them was almost always the only option. Will, however, seemed ready to shoot at anything that moved.

“Fine,” he nodded. Sweat beaded on his forehead, sticking to his blonde curls. “Are there traps, you think?” he asked, scanning the ground ahead of them.

“Probably,” Nico admitted.

“How do we get around them?”

“I tend to go for walking straight into them, and then finding a way out of them,” Nico explained, moving towards the huge barn-style doors.

“Mmm,” Will hummed, stepping behind Nico. “I can’t tell if you’re kidding.”

Nico laughed. He’d never been on a quest with someone who didn’t have questing experience. It was sort of refreshing.

Nico pulled one of the doors to the side, wincing as the old wood creaked and groaned. He paused for a moment, holding his hand up so Will would know to keep quiet. When no monster or angry god popped out at him, he motioned for Will to follow him inside.

The place was more of an overgrown storage locker than a functioning warehouse. There was no lighting besides the sunlight that poured in from the open door. Air conditioning was also notably absent. Most notably, there were boxes piled everywhere. Some stacks reached almost to the ceiling, towering multiple stories above Nico and Will, definitely violating multiple health and safety regulations. There were more than they would ever be able to carry, even with their enchanted backpacks.

Will leaned his bow against a box and brushed the dust off of the label. The thing was so big, they would need a forklift to move it. “Nectar, half-liter, 1200 count!” he read. He turned and beamed at Nico. “It’s really here!”

Nico continued surveying the giant room. “Yeah, so where’s its guard?” he asked, trying to calculate how many possible ambush spots there were amongst the boxes.

“Maybe he’s on a break?” Will asked hopefully. “Or maybe the name is just an honorary thing, and no one actually works here,” he suggested, pulling out a pocket knife to get to his treasure.

“Hold on,” Nico said, just as Will was slicing into the packing tape. Will looked up at him, his blue eyes wide. “I bet you ten drachmas this dude pops out the second you grab something out of that box,” Nico offered, a smug smile on his face.

“Should I not do it?” Will asked, already trying to seal the box back up.

Nico shrugged. “We’re going to need to take it somehow, aren’t we? Might as well get the show started.”

Will looked confused. “You’re sure? We’ll be okay, right?” he asked. Nico politely ignored how his voice squeaked on the second question.

“I got your back, Solace,” he reassured him. “Like you said, minor god.”

Will slowly opened the box. “I think you might be crazy,” he muttered, either to Nico or himself. He carefully pulled out a corked jar of nectar, looked at Nico with that naive what do you know, we did it! look, and then: pop!

A man who stood about two and half feet tall, wrapped in what appeared to be a thick hooded blanket, was glaring up at Will Solace.

“Ten drachmas,” Nico silently mouthed to Will.

“Just exactly what do you think you are doing with that merchandise?” the tiny figure demanded. His voice was high and stiff, sort of like when a teacher lectures a kindergartener for misbehaving. “That is way out of your price range, I will have you know! Cursed demigods, they never have the proper payment!” he rambled. Will tried to reach for his bow, but Nico quickly shook his head.

“What is the payment, honorable Lord Telesphorus?” Nico inquired, laying the piety on thick. Minor gods loved recognition.

“Ew, ew!” Telesphorus gasped, spinning around to face Nico. His fuzzy blanket cloak kicked up small clouds of dust from the floor. “A son of Hades? Around all my nice healing items? Terrible for business! Out, out with you!” he insisted, kicking at Nico’s ankles like a toddler. Now, Nico had enough experience to know you shouldn’t go around underestimating gods, but at that moment he seriously considered just drop kicking the little thing.

Will attempted a distraction. “It’s a lovely business, Lord Telesphorus!” he fawned. “I’m a son of Apollo myself, so I know all about the value of healing!”

Telesphorus turned back towards Will’s strained voice. “A son of Apollo, you say? Perhaps you’re familiar with my father, Asclepius?” he prompted.

“I’ve heard of him, yes!” Will nodded a bit too aggressively. “I’d love to meet him! I hear he knows everything about medicine!”

Nico cringed. Rule number one of dealing with minor gods: Never praise the major gods in front of them.

“He is selfish! Cruel!” Telesphorus snarled. Will’s overeager face broke. “Had he relinquished his throne to me, I could have become an even greater healer than he! Just as Asclepius surpassed Apollo in healing, I was destined to surpass my father. Of course, Apollo always favored his son over me.” He paused, glaring at Will like he’d been personally involved. “One of his arrows pierced me while I slept, weakening my godliness, afflicting me with every disease Apollo had ever created. Since the two gods of healing refuse to let me be healed, I am doomed to suffer his cursed affliction for all eternity.” Telesphorus pulled his blanket cocoon tighter around his tiny body. “My one joy in life is my business, and maiming the horrible demigods who try to steal from it,” he hissed.

“That’s terrible,” Will responded, ignoring the threat. He actually sounded sincere.

Nico took in the information. Angry minor god, at least somewhat weakened by the sound of it, temporarily distracted by Will. If he could just stuff a couple of the smaller boxes into his backpack while the god was preoccupied, he could shadow travel them both out of here and ‐

“Maybe I could heal you! I have vitakinesis,” Will suggested innocently.

“Vitakinesis,” Telesphorus repeated in awe. “Why, I haven’t met a demigod with that blessing in centuries,” he mused, shuffling closer to where Will stood.

Shit. “Uh, Will, you have vitamins, not vitakinesis,” Nico insisted. “You meant to offer the nice god some vitamins. You do not have any rare coveted healing powers,” he continued, desperately glaring at Will.

He caught on quick. “Oh, I’m always mixing those two up!” he agreed. The literal facepalm he added was a little over the top. “Sorry, Lord Telesphorus,” he added, eyes darting nervously to Nico.

Unfortunately, the blanket-burritoed god wasn’t fooled. He grasped Will’s arm so fast Nico didn’t even see it happen. Immediately, he hummed with satisfaction. “I can feel it. The power you possess. So strong,” he muttered. “Maybe not enough to heal, but enough to ease the pain, yes, surely enough.”

Will tried to tug his arm away, but apparently the little cretin had a vice grip. Even though Will wasn’t consciously using his vitakinesis (Nico assumed), the patch of his arm encased in the god’s grip was glowing its trademark gold. In fact, it was brighter than Nico had ever seen it before.

Will gasped, choking out something that Nico couldn’t make out. “Let go of him!” Nico snapped. He dropped to one knee right behind the toddler-sized immortal and held his Stygian iron sword against the front of Telesphorus’s throat. He wasn’t sure if a god could actually be decapitated ‐ he’d never gotten close enough to try. He prayed that it would hold up as an intimidation tactic nonetheless.

The god gave some sort of primal growl. He dropped Will’s arm faster than Nico could process and dug a set of retractable claws into Nico’s sword arm. Nico had felt many burning sensations in his life, but none had been as intense as whatever poison had just entered his bloodstream. His sword clattered to the ground as he fought the urge to pass out. He heard Will scream his name, but it sounded like he was underwater.

“You let him go!” Will demanded, wisely climbing on top of a large box to distance himself from the god. “If you let him go, and you let me heal him, I’ll stay here with you!” he screamed frantically.

Telesphorus ripped his claws out of Nico’s arm, letting the son of Hades collapse on the ground. Nico was semi-aware that what Will said should have upset him, but he couldn’t focus on anything besides the pain in his body for longer than a second.

“I’ll kill him and you’ll stay anyway!” the god roared. Was he a god? He seemed a bit small. Nico couldn’t remember.

From his spot on the floor, Nico watched Will hold a pocket knife up to his own neck. “If he dies, you don’t get me!” he insisted, a wild look in his eyes. “You let me fix him, you let him leave with supplies for the camp, and I’ll stay here and heal you forever.”

Nico tried to argue, but he couldn’t find his own voice. His skull felt like it was crushing his brain. His entire blood supply was on fire, he was sure of it.

Unwilling to lose his newfound painkiller, Telesphorus agreed.

“Fine! You can have your terms!” he snarled.

“On the River Styx! Swear it!” Will ordered.

Telesphorus reluctantly swore.

“Good.” Will hopped down, tossing his backpack at the pint-sized god. “Fill that up with nectar and ambrosia, so he can leave as soon as I’m done. He’s a son of Hades, like you said. It would be unfortunate for his death aura to taint everything in here more than it already has,” he explained. Nico’s head was pounding so bad, he couldn’t make out the distant response.

Something warm and familiar covered up the puncture wounds on Nico’s arm. Someone was talking to him. Singing? Maybe. It was nice. Sleep was nice. I should go to sleep, Nico thought.

He passed out, leaving the soothing voice to chase away the lava in his veins.

Chapter Text

Everything was warm. Back at the Lotus Hotel and Casino, there had been a hot tub that he and Bianca would relax in when they weren’t playing video games or feasting on junk food. Nico must have just stepped out of it ‐ that would explain the soothing warmth enveloping his skin. He would open his eyes and Bianca would be there. He hadn’t seen her in so long. She would splash him with the bubbling water, like she always did, and then they would towel off and go play the race car game, or ride the merry go round.

When Nico’s eyes finally opened, he instead discovered a head of blonde curls lying on the ground next to him. The boy’s face was towards his own, his cheek pressed into the dusty floor. His eyes were closed, and his skin was a startlingly bright red, but the rise and fall of his chest indicated he was still alive. Nico pushed himself up to a sitting position as his survival instincts kicked in. He grabbed his sword from where it lay on the floor, a few feet away. He shook the boy’s shoulder as the fog started to clear from his brain.

He wasn’t in the Lotus Casino, he realized. He hadn’t been there in years. He was somewhere in New York with… the boy from camp. He worked in the infirmary and Nico would bring him lunch sometimes and his smile made Nico’s stomach flip and - gods, what was his name?

Nico grabbed the unconscious boy by his shoulders and pulled him up towards him. His head flopped forward and smacked Nico in the chest, eliciting a groan. Nico took this to be a good sign. Frantically, Nico looked around the dark room. He struggled to remember: Why were they here? Where was here?

“Nico,” the boy whispered. His voice was harsh and gravelly. He grasped at Nico’s knee for balance, and the heat from his palm made Nico wince in pain. Will Solace. His name is Will Solace, Nico realized with a start. His own heart was pounding so fast, he could feel it in his temples.

“Will? Will, what happened?” Nico asked quietly, pushing back Will’s shoulders so he could see his face. Will’s eyes still hadn’t opened, and his forehead was dripping with sweat. He tried to respond, but his voice was so quiet and hoarse that Nico couldn’t decipher what he was trying to say.

At the front of the warehouse, a barn door stood open, exposing a distant road lit by a lone street lamp under a night sky. Nico maneuvered himself so that his arm was around Will’s waist, then pulled Will’s arm over his shoulders.

“We’re going to stand up, okay?” he muttered, as much to himself as to Will. Will hummed in response, or maybe pain. Nico rose from the floor, shouldering as much of Will’s weight as he could. He took a step towards the door, then another. Will’s skin was on fire.

Suddenly, as Nico attempted a third shaky step, an angry toddler manifested five feet ahead of him. The blanket-wrapped kid held two black backpacks, which he quickly threw with surprising force at Nico’s chest.

“Impressive, most promising indeed,” the figure muttered to himself. The distinctive voice triggered Nico’s clouded memory ‐ not a toddler, but a two-foot god. Telesphorus, he remembered. Telesphorus who hoarded medical supplies and had claws that Nico should definitely stay away from.

Telesphorus shuffled closer, undeterred by Nico’s attempt to wield his sword and support Will’s weight at the same time. “A fraction of my ailments injected directly, completely healed in a matter of hours!” Telesphorus murmured excitedly. He craned his neck to glare up into Nico’s eyes. “Well? Hand him over, son of Hades. You have your supplies and your life. A deal is a deal, especially one sworn on the Styx, no?” the god prompted. Nico held tighter to Will’s waist.

“You...swore…” Will gasped, his burning hand clutching Nico’s shoulder. “I…” Will feebly shook his head. As Telesphorus sputtered, Will tilted his face towards Nico’s. “Shadows...we have to...now…” he forced out. The last of the fog cleared from Nico’s brain, leaving him feeling like he’d been smacked in the face. Here he was, a son of Hades cloaked in darkness, thinking a front door was his only exit. Subtly, he hooked his foot through the straps of the backpacks on the floor in front of him.

Telesphorus unleashed his claws, achieving the very impressive feat of appearing intimidating while wrapped in a fleece blanket cocoon. “Idiot demigods,” he snarled. “You would dare cheat a deal with me? I am a GOD!”

“Minor,” Will whispered, his head lolling against Nico’s shoulder. Before Telesphorus could react, his prize, his supplies, and the son of Hades were gone.

- - -

Nico reappeared in the shadowy back office of Camp Half-Blood’s infirmary. The backpack straps were still looped around his right ankle, and he was clutching an unconscious Will Solace to his chest.

Dalya, one of Will’s sisters, was reading a textbook by the light of an old desk lamp. At least, she had been. When Nico and Will emerged, she jumped up hard enough to knock her own chair over.

She grabbed the desk lamp in her hands like a makeshift club, inadvertently illuminating the two boys heaped in the corner.

“Will? Nico?” she breathed in relief, lowering her weapon.

“You gotta help him,” Nico urged. Will’s body was covered in sweat, heavy against his chest. Nico couldn’t tell if the hammering heartbeat he felt was Will’s or his own. “There’s ambrosia and nectar in the backpacks. Maybe ice packs would help him? IV fluids? Chiron?” Nico floundered. His head was spinning. You’d know if he was going to die, the logical part of his brain reminded him. He’s not at the point of no return.

That’s how Nico had come to think of it - the point of no return. The point of no return was different from simply dying. Dying was a stopped heart, or a hemorrhaging artery. Or overheating to levels impossible for anyone but a child of Apollo in order to heal your quest partner. These things were processes that would actively kill a person, but could also be stopped if dealt with quickly enough. Regardless, whenever Nico said that someone was dying, everyone always assumed he meant they were past saving, so he’d learned to keep it to himself when he felt it.

Will was dying, but he wasn’t dead. Nico reminded himself to breathe.

Dalya yelled for an IV, which was quickly brought in by one of the younger Apollo children, the other night-shift medic. He looked like he’d just been woken up. Wide-eyed, he filled the IV bag with nectar from Nico’s backpack as Dalya stuck a needle in Will’s arm.

“Let’s get him to a bed,” Dalya decided. “Can you carry him?” she asked. She was around Will’s age, but about a foot shorter.

Nico nodded, scooping up the lanky son of Apollo bridal-style. Will’s little brother carried the IV drip beside him as they moved into the main med bay, currently free of any overnight patients.

Nico gently laid Will down on the nearest bed. As the nectar worked its magic, Nico felt the pressure on his chest ease. The feeling of dying was fading. Will’s skin still felt like a stovetop burner, his hands were so blistered and burned they hurt to look at, and he still wasn’t moving. But he wasn’t dying either. Will wasn’t going to leave him. Nico focused on that.

Thanks to Dalya, Will was quickly covered with every ice pack the infirmary owned. She’d sent the little kid to wake up Chiron and let him know what had happened. When she’d finally finished checking Will’s vitals and had started a second IV of cold saline, she turned to Nico. He was sitting in a chair parked next to the bed, squeezing Will’s shoulder and silently praying to his father. Yeah, he could feel Will getting further from dying, and it was anyone’s guess as to whether prayers were even being listened to right now anyways, but it never hurt to be on the safe side.

“How…” she started, drawing Nico’s gaze. “What the hell happened?” she whispered, as though trying not to wake her brother.

Nico explained how Will saved his life. Apparently too graphically, judging by the tears that pricked up in the corners of Dalya’s eyes. Nico didn’t cry, though. Nico never cried when he was awake.

By the end of the story, exhaustion had caught up to the son of Hades. Dalya must have noticed that he couldn’t keep his eyes open.

“He’s stable, you know,” she offered. Nico looked up at her from his seat. She was standing on the other side of the bed, adjusting the drip rate on one of the IVs. “I promise I’ll watch him if you want to go get some sleep in your cabin. Or one of the other infirmary beds, if you’d like.” She paused. “Gods, I’m sorry. I should have asked. You’re not hurt, are you? I mean, it looks like Will did a pretty thorough job, but if you need some ambrosia, or even just some water, I can ‐”

Nico waved her off. “I'm fine,” he insisted, keeping his eyes on Will. The nectar was working. Will’s upturned palm was now free of blisters, leaving only redness, heat, and some tiny scars that would soon fade. “I think I’ll just…” Nico paused, suddenly embarrassed. “I mean, is it okay if I just sleep in this chair for a bit?” he muttered. “Just because, I can feel if something goes south, you know? Just in case.”

Dalya smiled softly. “Of course,” she nodded, her dark ponytail bobbing gently. “I’m just going to step in the back and start unpacking all the supplies you guys gathered. I’ll come check back every 15 minutes or so. You just yell if you need me, okay?”

Nico said that he would.

Dalya nodded again, then turned and walked towards the office. She stopped before she was out of view.

“Hey, Nico?” she called. She was standing in the middle of the infirmary, wearing a white lab coat over a cropped camp t-shirt and sweatpants with a hole in the knee. She was five foot nothing, and still had a baby face at fifteen. Nico marveled, not for the first time, at how young every person at this camp truly was.

“Yeah?” Nico responded.

“Thank you. For saving my brother.”

Nico just nodded.

She disappeared into the office, leaving Nico with the unconscious patient. He really is beautiful, Nico let himself think. Slowly, he placed his hand on top of Will’s own, their palms touching. His skin was still hot, but it was now more coffee mug than stovetop. Nico laced his fingers through Will’s, listening to the soft beeping of his heart monitor. He silently thanked his dad, and Apollo, and the other Olympians, and even the Fates for good measure, that nothing worse had happened that day. Then, as if Will too was omniscient, he thanked the son of Apollo himself for not dying.

I think you’re maybe the best friend I’ve ever had. In a different way than Jason, or Reyna. You make me less afraid. And you make me feel like I’m something more than a child of Death. I was starting to feel better about Camp Half-Blood anyway, but you’re the one that actually made it feel like home. Nico rolled his eyes at his own train of thought. I’m glad you can’t actually hear me. But I promise I’ll tell you how I feel when you wake up. Maybe in less words. I know you’ll get it anyways.

Nico slumped lower in his chair, letting his chin drop to his chest. His eyes fell shut as he squeezed Will’s hand.

Thanks for not dying.

By the time Dalya returned, Nico was snoring. She shuffled some ice packs around, carefully avoiding the pair’s conjoined hands.

Chapter Text

“See? I told you. He’s fine, just tired.”

“What about Will?”

“He’s okay, too. Look, they even took his IVs out. But we should let them sleep, okay? That helps them feel better.”

Nico blinked awake, the hushed voices pulling him out of his dreams and back into the infirmary, where afternoon sun streamed in through the windows. He rolled out the crick in his neck and pushed himself out of the hardback chair he’d slept in. Harley’s arms were around him before Nico could even say hello.

“He was really worried,” Piper explained, giving Nico a half smile. She was standing near the edge of Will’s bed, her hair pulled back in a messy french braid. “Jason, Percy, and Annabeth came with me to see you guys earlier this morning, but you were both passed out, so Kayla said she’d find us when you woke up. But then Harley overheard that you‐ ”

“Hey, Harley, too tight,” Nico interrupted. The kid released his death grip on Nico’s ribs, opting to quickly kick him in the shin instead.

“Harley!” Piper scolded, pulling out her cabin counselor voice.

Nico chuckled awkwardly at the sudden outburst. “What was that for?” he asked, leaning down to rub his new bruise.

Harley didn’t look the slightest bit guilty. “You didn’t tell me you were leaving,” he accused, with all the pointed anger an eight-year-old could muster. “You went on a quest and didn’t even say goodbye to me!” Instead of their usual fidgeting, Harley’s arms were crossed tightly against his chest. His eyes were scrunched up, stubbornly refusing to let any tears flow out of them.

Guilt bubbled up in Nico’s stomach. Honestly, it hadn’t even occurred to him to let the kid know where he was going. It was just a quick errand, after all, and Harley likely wouldn’t have cared either way.

Except that Nico had very nearly died to a D-list god in a dusty old warehouse. Judging by the look on his face, Harley probably would have cared about that. No, he definitely would have cared about that.

People cared. It was something Nico was still getting used to.

“I’m sorry,” Nico offered, feeling like that wasn’t really enough. He forced himself not to shrink under the eight-year-old’s glare. “I honestly just figured I’d be back pretty quickly. It wasn’t supposed to be some crazy, dangerous quest,” he explained. “Next time, I’ll let you know before I leave.”

Harley’s face unscrewed slightly, clearly surprised that Nico had apologized instead of arguing with him. He tilted his head, like he was considering something. “Swear on the Styx that you will,” he finally demanded, parroting the phrase he’d learned from older campers. His hands were now planted on his hips, clearly proud that he had won his case.

Nico snorted. “Dude, what if I forget or something? Or you aren’t at camp? You want me end up horribly cursed?” Piper giggled as Harley thought about this, with his bottom lip jutted out.

“Fine,” he conceded, the last of the tension releasing from his face. He stuck his pinky finger out towards the son of Hades. “Normal promise?”

“Normal promise,” Nico agreed, linking his finger with Harley’s.

In the bed next to them, Will rolled over in his sleep. Nico exhaled a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He hadn’t realized how stressed he’d still been until he felt the relief of seeing Will move.

He’s okay, Nico thought. He felt his shoulders relax, like he’d just taken off a backpack full of rocks. It wasn’t until Piper nodded in agreement that he realized he’d spoken out loud.

Harley bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, leaning forward to get a better look at Will. “Is he gonna wake up now? It’s kinda funny that he’s the patient when he’s usually the doctor. Hey, can Will use his healing powers on himself? Does that work? Nico, does it?” he wondered, tugging at Nico’s sleeve.

Piper stepped in with a proposition for the hyperactive camper. “Harley, why don’t you go tell people around camp about how good Nico and Will are doing? You can start with Jason, he should still be in his cabin.”

Harley hummed in consideration.

Piper rolled her eyes. “I’ll buy you a bag of Hot Cheetos for your troubles,” she added.

“Okay!” he agreed. “One of the big ones!” All his anger and anxiety had vanished, replaced by his usual jittery excitement. Nico smiled, giving Harley one last high-five before he left to spread the news.

He and Piper stood in silence for a moment, looking down at the sleeping son of Apollo. He was on his side now, facing towards them, with his knees tucked up towards his stomach. His skin was no longer that burning red color, and his forehead was dry instead of sweaty.

“He looks better,” Nico surmised.

Piper nodded. “Thank the gods for ambrosia and nectar.”

“Thank us for ambrosia and nectar,” Nico countered. “Didn’t see any gods out there risking their lives for it.”

Piper laughed, elbowing Nico in the side. “You keep that up, someone’s going to smite you. And then we’ll all have to march up to Olympus to avenge your death, where Jason’s dad will promptly blast us all out of the sky and let his wife spit on our ashes,” she explained, grinning when Nico laughed at her scenario. “Really, you’d save us all a lot of trouble by not being a smart mouth.”

“My apologies,” he conceded. When their laughter died down, he spoke again. “I’m going to tell him. When he wakes up.”

“Good. You’ll be glad you did, I promise.”

“Yeah.”

Piper’s eyes shined with pride. “I’m going to go grab you both some food, seeing as you haven’t eaten since yesterday. And I’ll be sure to let our mutual friends know to leave you alone for a little bit longer,” she said, throwing Nico a wink.

Nico rolled his eyes to hide his irrational embarrassment. “Thanks, Piper,” he replied. He meant it.

“No worries,” she answered. Then, in a louder voice: “Hey, Will! I’m so glad you’re feeling better!”

Will hummed something unintelligible as he stirred again. Piper dipped out of the curtained-off room just as his eyelids fluttered open.

His clear blue eyes went wide as they focused on Nico’s. The first thing out of his mouth was, “You’re okay.” His voice sounded perfect, all traces of heat damage gone.

Nico just nodded, suddenly unable to speak. He sat back down in the chair beside the bed, so he wouldn’t be looking quite so far down at Will. Looking down at Will, a verifiable lanky giant, felt like an oxymoron.

“I was so worried,” Will exhaled, not looking away from Nico’s face. He pushed himself up so that he was sort of half-sitting instead of lying flat. His curly hair was smushed funny on one side.

“You were sleeping,” Nico answered dumbly.

“Before that. When I was trying to heal you. I didn’t ‐.” He stumbled a little on the word, then recomposed himself. “I didn’t think it was going to work,” he finished. Will idly rubbed his fingers over the palm of his other hand, as if remembering how bad they’d looked last night.

Nico tried not to feel guilty. Will, in fact, was the one who had once told him that he shouldn’t feel guilty for things out of his control. He was trying to get better at it.

“It worked,” Nico said, a weak attempt at comfort.

It was enough for Will. “It did,” he agreed, a toothy smile spreading across his face. “Good thing, too. I was really counting on that shadow travel to get me out of there. Otherwise, I’d still be working as a walking Vicodin for that tiny bastard.”

Nico smiled. “You’re a better painkiller than Vicodin. Walking Fentanyl, maybe.”

“High praise. I’m surprised you even remember that one. You been watching medical dramas without me?” he questioned.

“‘You should never, ever give this to someone unless you are 1000% percent confident you have the right dose, because too much will kill your patient faster than an overdose of nectar,’” Nico quoted. “See, I pay attention when you talk.”

Will’s laughter was contagious. It sounded like sunshine, which didn’t make any sense at all until you heard it, and then it was suddenly the only appropriate description. Nico felt blush rise in his cheeks.

“I gotta tell you something,” he blurted. Might as well be blunt about it.

Will was still giggling. He sat up further so he could lean against the wall behind the head of the bed. One of his siblings must have given him a fresh shirt during the night ‐ the one he was wearing was no longer sweat-soaked.

“What’s that, Nico?” he asked, his voice light as air.

What are you doing what are you doing what are you doing, his brain demanded. Nico begged it to be quiet, for once.

Will’s smile dropped a little. “Is everything okay?” he asked more seriously.

“Everything’s fine,” Nico muttered, both an answer and a self-reassurance.

“Okay,” Will replied. “So how come you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

Nico rolled his eyes as Will smirked at his own joke. It did ease the knot in his stomach, though.

“Seriously, you know you can tell me any‐”

“I like you.” The words rushed out of Nico like air from a popped balloon.

Will blinked, his eyes wide. He was still hooked up to the twelve-lead that Dalya had put on him last night. Nico watched as his heart rate quickened on the vitals readout.

“Like‐?”

“Yeah,” Nico confirmed. He met Will’s gaze.

Will’s face split into a grin. His heartbeat was steadily tachycardic. Nico told him this.

Will broke into laughter, blush highlighting the freckles on his face. He reached under his shirt to peel off the sensors stuck to his skin and turned off the vitals display so it wouldn’t alarm. He ran a hand through his bedhead, like he was suddenly aware of how messy his curls were. Nico just kept looking at him, his confession hanging in the air.

“Wow. I‐,” Will stammered. The dorky smile on his face was the only thing that kept Nico from shadow traveling away in a panic. “Wow,” he repeated again.

“So. Is that‐? I mean‐,” Nico didn’t know where his sentence was going.

Will turned his body so he was sitting on the edge of the bed, directly across from Nico. The bed was a bit higher than the chair, and Will was taller, so he had to tilt his head down to meet Nico’s eyes. “Gods, yes,” he started. “Yeah, I mean, yes, I like you too, obviously. It’s just, wow, you know? Like‐.” He laughed again. “I mean, holy shit, right?”

The tightness in Nico’s chest relaxed. “Holy shit,” he repeated, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

Will didn’t fidget nearly as much as some of the people at camp, but right now he looked as hyperactive as the best of them. His legs, dangling off the edge of the bed, were swinging back and forth like a little kid’s. One hand was tapping on his thigh while the other squeezed the edge of the mattress, like he was trying to prevent himself from jumping up and tackling Nico. His blinding grin never once left his face. Every couple seconds, he shook his head like he couldn’t believe what was happening. Nico could’ve stared at him all day.

His giddiness filled the son of Hades with confidence, more than he’d felt since Manhattan. Nico’s panicked thoughts were stomped into the ground by the way Will’s eyes were shining, and the way he couldn’t stop looking at him, couldn’t stop smiling. He wanted Will to look that happy forever.

“Hey. I have something else to tell you,” Nico started, trying not to smirk and give himself away.

Will looked like a kid who’d just been promised not one, but two desserts after dinner. “What is it?” he asked excitedly.

Nico dropped his voice to a whisper, and focused on keeping it from shaking. “It’s a secret,” he explained, gesturing for Will to lean in closer.

Will did. Before his nerves could get the best of him, Nico surged forward and met him halfway.

Will’s lips were chapped, and Nico had moved so fast that they kind of ended up bumping heads. And noses. Will was so caught off guard, his eyes were still wide open when Nico pulled away two seconds later.

“You’re gonna kill me, Nico,” he muttered, nose to nose with the son of Hades. He kissed Nico back; short, sweet, and even better than the first.

Nico just breathed, his head spinning. The harsh infirmary lights grounded him. He felt weightless, like he might dissolve into shadows if Will were to take his hand off his knee. He did, opting to lace his fingers through Nico’s instead. That worked just as well. Maybe better. They both laughed, nerves and relief intertwined.

“So what now?” Nico asked, a barely suppressed smile painted across his face. “I wasn’t even sure I’d make it this far,” he admitted. Will squeezed his hand.

“I don’t know about you,” he ventured, “but I’m starving. I haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday.” His eyes widened. “Gods, my last meal would have been McDonald’s chicken nuggets,” Will realized. His face scrunched up in disgust.

Nico snorted. “Next time we get into a life threatening situation, I’ll take you somewhere nice first,” he deadpanned.

“And that is all I ask!” Will affirmed.

Someone shuffled the curtains that surrounded Will’s bed. “Knock, knock!” Kayla’s voice called. She stuck her arm into the makeshift room, holding out a paper bag with a couple hearts doodled on it in black Sharpie. “Piper dropped this off with strict instructions that I just slide it under the curtains so as not to interrupt you,” she explained. “But I’m pretty sure it’s chicken noodle soup, and I’m not trying to clean that up if it spills all over the floor. So, here.” She leaned her arm further in the room, so her shoulder was almost visible.

Will laughed at his sister. “You can come in, Kayla,” he offered. He didn’t let go of Nico’s hand. Nico didn’t ask him to.

She accepted the invitation, handing the dinner to Nico and throwing an arm around her brother’s shoulders as she sat down next to him. “Glad you’re okay,” she told him, matter-of-factly. She nodded in Nico’s direction. “Both of you.”

“Me, too,” Will beamed. He swung up his and Nico’s conjoined hands, raising his eyebrows at his sister.

“Mmm, finally happened, huh?” she mused.

Will nodded smugly. Nico hid a smile and mumbled something about what a dork he was.

“Congrats. By the way, this is your shift I’m covering, so you owe me. Cleaning the infirmary bathrooms should suffice,” Kayla said. She flicked Will in the head when he whined. “You’re free to go,” she added. “No fever, no burns, and you’ve already ripped off your vitals monitor.” She side-eyed him as he pretended to look innocent. “Might as well get out of here so I can wash the sheets.”

Will hugged her hard. “Don’t have to tell me twice!” he exclaimed, pushing himself off the hospital bed. Kayla shook her head.

Will pulled Nico out of his chair, using his other hand to grab the bag of food from him. “How does a picnic on the beach sound?” he asked, bouncing slightly on his toes.

“Sounds almost as good as McDonald’s,” Nico deadpanned. He laughed when Will made a face.

“Keep an eye on him,” Kayla ordered, beginning to strip the bed. “Just in case.”

Nico gazed up at Will. Messy curls, blue eyes that outshined the overhead lights, and a ridiculously bright smile that achieved the impossible feat of making Nico di Angelo feel safe.

“No problem,” he called back. He held tight to Will’s hand, letting the son of Apollo lead him through the infirmary doors and into the afternoon light.