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Chapter Text

WILL POV

Will watched admiringly as Nico turned away from Percy, his short stature emboldening with the relief of the heavy burden of his secret. Will hadn't meant to eavesdrop, he had simply overheard. He was surprised that, firstly, Nico was gay and, secondly, Nico had had a crush on Percy! Of all people! Not that Percy wasn't a decent hero, Will just didn't see him as the sort of guy Nico would fall for. Then again, Will couldn't imagine Nico falling for anyone. He was just too closed off and angry with the world. Not that he didn't deserve to be. Besides, Percy was the complete opposite to Nico! Although, Will was probably even more different from Nico, and he was definitely attracted to the son of Hades.

Nico approached Will, and glared up at him - it didn't seem like Nico was capable of any other expression. Will smirked at Nico, the poor guy only came up to his chest. Nico glared harder. Will quickly wiped his smirk from his face, fearing skeletal armies and all sorts of other underworldly horrors Nico was fantasising of.
"Three days, Di Angelo,"
"Can't we make it two? I really don't have time for this,"
"Three days, doctor's orders." Will turned and marched into the infirmary. Nico, hesitating for a quick grumble and a moment to curse Will Solace, followed suit.

Will led Nico down the ward filled with demigods with varying degrees of injuries - ranging from an ice pick lodged in the stomach, to minor burns from the climbing wall. The patients all stared at Nico (even the half dead dude with the ice pick poking out his stomach managed to spare him a glance). Will hurried passed, desperately hoping Nico wouldn't shadow travel his arse far away. Will hurriedly forced thoughts of Nico's arse from his mind. No need to dwell on that. The demigods continued to stare - clearly no one had ever told them it was bad manners. Nico stuck close behind Will, clearly hoping for shelter behind the taller demigod. Will dragged Nico into a secluded room with only one bed in the centre and a desk at the side.
"We usually only use this room for emergencies or quick cases, but I thought you could stay here for your three days as it is a little more... Private,"
"Wasn't the guy with the ice pick a little more 'emergency' than me?" Nico asked, incredulous and shocked that someone would think to cater for him so dedicatedly.
"Nah, we've had worse. For example, you, Death Boy," Will shrugged, falling into the chair at the desk.
"Me?" Nico perched delicately on the edge of the bed.
"You."
"I-I'm fine..."
Will stared hard at Nico, and Nico, while usually so bold, found it hard to meet his gaze.
"Nico, I need to ask you some medical questions, then I want you to get some sleep," Nico simply shrugged and stared intently at the dirt under his nails. Will took this as a submission.
"Right, how do you feel?"
"Okay, I guess," Nico shrugged again.
"Really?" Nico shrugged again. "Nico, I kind of need your participation here,"
"I promised you three days rest, Solace, I didn't agree to an interrogation!"
"This is important, Nico, I can't be expected to know everything about my patients,"
"Why do you even need to know everything?" Nico was glaring at Will again, so intently Will felt sure he was prone to melting on the spot.
"Because you're my patient, so stop being difficult."

But Nico just slumped back on the bed and refused to answer any questions. Will sighed.
"Fine, get some sleep, I'll be back in an hour to asses your injuries," and he marched out the room. Why was Nico being so infuriatingly difficult? Why was he so goddamn proud and stubborn? No wonder the kid didn't have any friends!

NICO POV

Nico felt stupid. Why hadn't he just answered the damn question? Well, he knew why. But the reason didn't help him feel better. If anything it made him feel more stupid. Nico didn't want to seem weak in front of the son of Apollo. He knew that was stupid seeing as the guy was his doctor - according to Solace anyway. He had just driven away another person. Add Solace to the long list of people who hated him.

Nico jerked awake as Will shook his shoulders gently.
"I need to check your wounds, Death Boy," he said, smiling that annoying, sunny, bright smile of his. Nico felt blinded by it and personally offended that anything sunny should invade his sleep.
"You said I could sleep, Sunshine," Will chuckled at this, but pulled Nico upright. Nico rubbed the sleep from his eyes and glared at Will. Clearly it wasn't very effective as Will only smirked. Nico considered raising a few skeletons, just for effect, but decided not to risk Will's wrath.
"I need you to take your top off," Will said, settling once again into the desk chair. Nico hesitated, considering refusing, but decided not to have a repeat of their earlier argument, reluctantly pealed his shirt away from his body. Will's eyes raked over Nico's torso critically and Nico felt conscious of his protruding ribs and pale body. Will nodded and chucked Nico some new clothes.
"Get changed, then I'll check that werewolf scratch, I don't like the look of those stitches," he said. Nico simply stared at Will until he sighed and got up to leave. No way was Nico revealing more of his weak body to Will.

Will returned five minutes later, with Nico suitably changed.
"Stunning," Will smirked.
"Shut up Solace," Nico said, hating the bright orange camp t-shirt he was wearing. At least Will had elected to let Nico wear black skinny jeans, as per normal. They were new and stiff, however, and not as comfortable as his old tatty pair that he assumed Will would whisk off to be incinerated. They were probably a health hazard of sorts.
"Now, lemme see that scratch," and Nico dutifully extended his arm. Will took it carefully and his touch sent made Nico shiver. Will's hands were soft and gentle, he had long fingers and smooth, delicate skin. They were healer's hands. Nico's were coarse and scarred, his middle finger wonky from a previous break. Will carefully examined Nico's wound, his eyes furrowed. His blond hair fell over his rich blue eyes. He was brown from the sun, whereas Nico was freakishly pale. Will's nose was slightly crooked, but Nico blushingly thought it only made him hotter. Wait - did he just think that?
"Well I'm going to have to replace these stitches. Reyna's not done a bad job considering, but they won't last," Will sounded concerned. Nico simply nodded, too tired to incite discussion. Will worked quietly and Nico silently admired the way Will moved. The quick, smooth efficiency of his work. The way he held Nico's arm so carefully, as if it were valuable. Will didn't force Nico to talk, probably suspecting Nico was exhausted. Or maybe he just didn't want to talk to the son of Hades. Nico wouldn't blame him. He was pretty used to people running away by now. Nevertheless he enjoyed Will's company and when Will had finished Nico felt almost sorry to see him go.
"Get some rest, I'll be back in the morning, Death Boy," he said, giving Nico a small smile.
Nico fell back onto the soft pillows and closed his eyes, feeling sleep capture him and whisk him away.

Chapter Text

WILL POV

He returned to his cabin after ordering Nico to rest, he was exhausted - maybe he should start following his own advice. He had stayed especially late in the infirmary that night, what could he say, Nico was a special case. Medically, of course. Medically, he was a special case. Given his extraordinary past and his extraordinary...
"Woah, watch it Will!" Lou Ellen said as he crashed straight into her. "You alright?" She peered up at him.
"M'fine," he muttered, unintelligibly. She laughed nervously.
"I think you need a break Will. Why don't you just take tomorrow off? I'll cover for you,"
This shocked Will out of his sleepy state.
"What? You know nothing about medicine!"
Lou Ellen cackled, "no, but I could have some fun."
Horrified, Will sent himself straight to bed, trying in all earnest to prevent Lou Ellen getting her hands on Nico.

NICO POV

The light of the sun shot through the blinds, tearing Nico from his slumber. He was sure Solace was responsible for this insult. A light chuckle sounded next to him.
"Responsible for what? Dawn?" Crap, had he spoken aloud?
"Exactly," Nico murmured. Will let Nico roll over and bury himself in his duvet before disrupting him again.
"How're you feeling, Death Boy?" He said with a tinge of concern lacing his words.
"Fantastic," Nico said dryly. Will chuckled again.
"Well that's good as you need to get up!"
"That wasn't a part of the deal, Sunshine. I agreed to three days rest, not three days prancing about not in my bed."
"Tough," Will crossed his arms and Nico turned to him, lowering the corners of his mouth and widening his eyes.
"Please, Will..."
"Don't think that cute face will work on me," Will smirked and pulled Nico, by the hand, out of bed. "It's time for breakfast, and I have a strict diet for you to follow. I don't like the way your bones stick out," Will smiled but Nico still blushed, embarrassed by his body. It wasn't as though he was completely malnourished, he still had a thick coating of muscles beneath his skin, given all the sword play. But recently his lack of food had lessened the prominence of his muscle and now all the focus seemed to be on those darned ribs sticking out. And of course, the hot doctor would be the one to notice them.
"It's fashionable," Nico joked, hoping to shrug off Will's comment.
"Then it's a stupid fad, and I shall not allow you to conform to it," Will stared intensely at Nico and he swung himself out of bed submissively. Will grinned and opened the door chivalrously.

WILL POV

Nico didn't look too impressed with his large bowl of porridge and the meagre dollop of jam in the centre.
"I don't like 'being healthy'," he muttered.
"Eat," Will said, thrusting a spoon into Nico's mouth. Nico scowled and Will panicked for half a moment that Nico would summon a ghost or two to take on the porridge. Maybe he should have given Nico a slightly more generous helping of jam. To his surprise, though, Nico began to eat, or rather, forcing it down. Will sighed, it was a start. He tried not to watch Nico too closely as he ate, conscious that a few Aphrodite girls were only a few metres away. Yet he couldn't help noticing the way Nico's sharp cheekbones moved rhythmically and gracefully as he ate, the way his ink dark hair fell over his deep brown eyes. His eyes showed pain - the way they were slightly tightened and tired. But they were also thoughtful and beautiful. Nico's eyes snapped up to meet his and Will felt his cheeks redden at the eye contact.
"I'm not going to drop dead any second - quit staring at me, Solace," he snapped. Will blushed harder, not realising he had been so obvious.
"Do you watch all your patients so intently?"
"No,"
"Then do you just insist on doing it to piss me off? Because it is working, Sunshine," Nico seemed especially grouchy this morning, although, Will considered, the early morning and the tasteless porridge were probably to blame. Also the whole death vibe he had going on would dampen anyone's spirits.
"Eat, Nico," which erupted in more grumbling and only one more spoonful being grudgingly swallowed.
"Where is everyone, anyway?" Nico asked - probably as an excuse to avoid the breakfast. Will sighed and submitted to Nico's ploy.
"Well most people have gone to visit family, y'know, after the war is over, be with loved ones," Nico fell silent at that and his face dropped. Will hesitated, unsure if he had touched on some vulnerable emotion of Nico's. He knew Nico had lost a lot of his family.
"Not you?" Nico asked.
"No,"
"Why not?"
"I have a duty here, to my patients,"
"That's very... Noble of you," Nico muttered, looking down. Will blushed slightly.
"Besides my mother lives down South - too far to just pop home," Will said. Nico smiled slightly at that, the right corner of his mouth upturned, minutely even. Will's smile broadened at the prospect of Nico showing any positive emotion.
"I lived in Italy growing up. It was beautiful, the sky was perfectly blue. We lived right by a canal, and the way the water would shimmer in the sun..." Nico said, his Italian lilt lacing the words. His voice was so much more artful and graceful than Will's own southern drawl.
"Of course, I didn't notice any of that back then, then they were just normal streets and skies..." He sounded sad, but not overcome with emotion as Will had expected he might be, considering his losses. Just fondly sad. His face was free of any scowls or frowns and, while not exactly showing happiness, he looked content. Will listened quietly as Nico talked of his birthplace and Nico slowly ate his porridge.

NICO POV

Talking about his past hadn't made Nico feel distraught for once, yes the sadness was there, but it was more accepting of his fate. Perhaps talking to Will about Venice was therapeutic. Will didn't interrupt, not even to badger him about the porridge, and in return Nico grudgingly swallowed a few more spoonfuls of the lumpy gloop. When he fell silent and his bowl was (mostly) clean, Will guided him back to his temporary room in the infirmary.

Nico felt drowsy and ready for more sleep - perhaps this three days rest thing hadn't been such a bad idea after all. But before he could crash into his bed, Will forced several pills down his throat. This guy was really too dedicated in looking after his patients. And Nico kind of admired him for that.

Chapter Text

WILL POV

Will woke early, like always, and demanded bathroom priority over his siblings (being cabin leader did have its perks). He rushed off to the infirmary and the first patient he checked on was Nico. Nico wasn't laying peacefully and thick with sleep as he had been when Will had left him the night before. He was thrashing about on his bed, the pillows had been knocked off and the duvet was tangled around Nico's skinny legs. His eyes and mouth were tightly shut - almost painfully so. Will rushed over, worried his patient was having a seizure. Nico's eyes burst open, showing such intense pain.
"Nico!" Will yelled out. Nico's eyes shot to his, bulging. His eyes slowly focused on Will and his body started to relax - as much as Nico ever relaxed anyway. Will carefully reached out to Nico, but he flinched away.
"Nico, I need to turn you on to your side," Will said, Nico allowed Will to place his hand on his shoulder, but eyed him warily. Will carefully turned Nico's frail body to the side. Nico's shoulder felt so small, delicate and vulnerable. Not that he would ever tell the son of Hades that.
"Nico, are you okay?" Will asked soothingly. Nico nodded mutely. Will sat back in the chair next to Nico's bed and they stayed there, in silence. Nico's breathing shallowed as he relaxed more. Finally he spoke up.
"It was just a nightmare," he muttered. Will nodded.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Nico's eyes shot to Will's, they looked slightly bewildered. Will wouldn't be surprised if no one had ever asked him that before.
"I was... In Tartarus..." He said quietly. This didn't surprise Will, if he'd suffered what Nico had he would have come out with much worse than just nightmares. Nico was so strong, to have survived what he had. Will desperately wanted to express this to Nico, but knew the son of Hades would recoil and he didn't want to push Nico away.

NICO POV

Will listened quietly as Nico talked. He didn't say much about the dream, he couldn't really remember it, just the feeling of terror that washed over him. He didn't feel reserved talking to Will. It didn't feel like Will was judging him, like when he spoke to anyone else. Will seemed accepting of Nico. Maybe he was wrong, but it didn't matter, it felt nice to talk about everything. And he trusted Will - he wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was because Will seemed genuinely concerned for his health. Even if it was just a patient-doctor relationship. It was the most care Nico had received since Bianca had died.

When Nico had fallen silent, Will stared at him for a long time before speaking. Nico didn't feel uncomfortable under his gaze, like he had the previous day or whenever anyone else stared at him. It wasn't a piercing, examining look, nor was it rudely nosey, nor judgemental. It was simply understanding. Not that Will could understand what Nico hand been through, but it was touching that he tried.
"I'll get you some breakfast," Will said, and with a slight smile added "None of that porridge stuff."
Nico breathed an exaggerated sigh of relief, to which Will's grin deepened. He turned and left and Nico admired his doctor's rear end before it disappeared out the door.

When Will returned he was holding a tray packed with crispy bacon, fried bread, sausages, scrambled eggs, black pudding, mushrooms, beans and a whole load of calories.
"Um... What happened to being healthy?" Nico asked as the one-way-ticket-to-a-heart-attack landed on his lap. Not that he minded.
"This stuff will fatten you up just as easily... Probably more efficiently actually..." Will said sheepishly. Nico chuckled and dug in, stuffing his face gracefully. He didn't even care that grease was dribbling down his chin.
"Hungry much?" A familiar voice said. Nico turned and saw the golden haired, golden eyed, practically golden hearted Jason Grace. Nico choked on his bacon. Will ran to his rescue, thumping his back heroically.
"What are you doing here?!" Nico spluttered, once having fully recovered. Will hovered by anyhow.
"I just got back from visiting Piper's dad with Piper... I would have dropped in before I left, but Will said you were just unconscious and didn't allow any visitors-"
"Actually," Will butted in, "I don't recall allowing you here, now, and considering you almost made my patient choke to death, I think you should leave."
"No!" Nico yelled out. Jason and Will both looked at him in surprise.
"Fine. Ten minutes," Will said grudgingly. "Eat your breakfast," he said as he left. Jason came to sit on the edge of Nico's bed and pinched some bacon.
"Mmm... At least they have good food here," he said, licking his lips.
"I wouldn't make such assumptions... You should have seen the porridge yesterday."
Jason squirmed on the edge of Nico's bed.
"I just wanted to say thanks, I guess, for pulling us through that...whatever that was," he said in earnest, looking directly at Nico. Nico shrugged, unsure of how to react. He wasn't often offered thanks. Jason seemed to understand Nico's uncomfortableness and moved on to talk of New Rome.
"Reyna and Hazel have already left for New Rome, they-"
"What?" Nico said, hurt.
"They wanted to say goodbye, but Will didn't allow any visitors, and they had to get going,"
"Will - what? He didn't let them in? He should have woken me!"
"I'm sure he was just trying to..."
"Help. Yeah. That's all he ever seems to be trying to do. But who said it was his place to help me?" Nico muttered. Jason fell silent and after a few minutes clapped Nico on the shoulder and with a promise to visit again, left. Nico felt an odd tear uneasily edge its way down his face.

***Eheheh I just realised that Hazel actually left before Nico went into the infimary and they had a lovely, heart-warming farewell and all was fine... so just for the sake of this story, pretend that didn't happen;) In this, Hazel and Reyna left when Nico was unconcious in the infirmary.. Ignore Rick Riordan - what does he know?;)***

Chapter Text

NICO POV

Will returned after a few minutes, a well-worn scowl etched into his tanned, sunny face. What right did he have to be angry?

“That wasn’t a good idea! You’re not strong enough to receive visitors! If he wasn’t Jason Freaking Grace I wouldn't’ve allowed it! Grace probably would have fried me where I stood if I had though…”

Will was rambling and Nico fought the urge to punch him. Partly to shut him up and partly to vent his anger. Instead, Nico controlled his rage and spoke quietly – deadly even.

“Why did you not let me say goodbye to Hazel and Reyna?” He asked, looking directly into Will’s eyes. Will’s words spluttered to an undignified stop. He gaped at Nico. Nico simply stared back.

“You were – you were asleep!”

“Then you should have woken me up!” Nico snarled, pushing himself out of bed. He saw Will move fractionally as though to push him back in, this sign of protectiveness hardened Nico’s anger. He glared. Will looked at him helplessly. Nico knew rage – they were fairly well acquainted, Nico might even go as far as saying they were friends. He had felt rage when he had turned Bryce into a ghost, felt it when Percy Jackson return Bianca-less, it was not a new feeling to him. But before he had always felt rage on behalf of someone else – it had been a protective rage. He’d felt protective over Reyna, over Bianca. Right now, this feeling, this anger was different. He felt angry on behalf on himself. Angry that he hadn’t gotten the chance to see his friends. Angry that Will Solace thought he could order him about, control him, and make choices for him.

“You weren’t strong enough,” Will repeated. He looked shocked and hurt at Nico’s outburst. Nico felt pleasure at that. Time Will realised who he was dealing with.

“You don’t know that! You don’t know how strong I am,” Nico spat.

“I am your doctor, I needed to take care of you,” Will was now shouting back.

“Oh yeah? And who decided that? Who even said I needed your help or care?”

“Your almost transparent body did when it near faded into nothing!” Will’s voice cracked and his words came out raw.

“So? Why was that ever your problem?” This had become more than fighting about Will keeping his friends away. Nico felt his anger grow. He was angry that Will acted like he cared, angry with himself for letting him think Will cared. He knew it would only hurt him more when Will churned him out of his life. So maybe Will did think he needed to take care for Nico – but it was duty, nothing more, and Nico was a fool for thinking anything else. His burst of anger had cleared his vision. It was one thing for him to accept Jason, Reyna or Hazel as his friends, they had seen him suffer and suffered alongside him. That sort of thing created a bond and while Nico was a little wary, he could trust that bond. But some bright, very attractive, son of Apollo marching up to him and demanding to take care of him and treating him like a friend was a little far-fetched for Nico to trust. And being the idiotic introverted guy he was, the only way he knew how to confront this was pure vile anger. (That in itself was proof why Solace shouldn’t want to be his friend).

“How is that not my problem?” Will’s voice softened slightly, but was still raw, having realised the argument had moved on to a more sensitive subject. “I’m a son of Apollo – my instinct is to heal,”

“Yeah but no one ever wanted to heal me,”

“Because you’ve never let them. Look, Nico, I know I can’t understand what you’ve been through, but just let me help. Trust me,” their argument had lost its heat, but Nico couldn’t help the cruel words that escaped his mouth next.

“Trust you? Why would I ever trust you?”

WILL POV

Will recoiled. He could feel the whip of Nico’s words physically descend and strike him. He stared, wordless. Nico’s eyes had been burning black, hot and full of fiery rage. Will had not been scared for himself, but scared that Nico would indulge in some underworldly magic and completely destroy himself. But now Nico’s eyes were calm and collected… And full of hatred, directed towards him. And Will was now slightly scared for himself. Scared to be an enemy of Nico’s and scared he had ruined his shot at being Nico’s friend. Nico raised an eyebrow, as though he actually expected Will to answer. He ducked his head and Nico sneered. Will felt a pang in his heart, he thought Nico had been cold and distanced before, but now Nico was actually trying to be cold and distanced it was far worse.

“I’m sorry… Nico,” Will fought hard to formulate words, “I… I didn’t mean to presume anything,”

Nico shrugged, as though careless. How could he go from passionate rage to calm, self-assured dislike so suddenly?

“But I can’t let you leave yet… As much as you could probably smite me on the spot, please, please, just trust – just do this, okay? One more day? And I’m not asking you because I don’t think you’re strong enough. I’m asking you because after saving the world, you deserve a break and I don’t think you would allow yourself that if someone didn’t force you,” Will spoke slowly and carefully, as though calming a raging bear about to rip his throat out. Nico might not be a raging bear, but Will was feeling pretty nervous about the safety of his throat. Nico sighed.

“I don’t forgive you, Solace, I still think you’re an idiot. But I did promise, and it is only one more day...” and suddenly Nico’s façade dropped. He just looked tired – physically and mentally. Will breathed a sigh of relief. But he did not yet risk offering Nico a smile. Befriending the son of Hades was going to be harder than he thought.

Nico did not protest when Will, timidly, asked to see and redress Nico’s wounds. He seemed tenser – if that was possible – and more wary of Will. He flinched away from his touch more. Will had known Nico had an aversion to physical contact, but Nico hadn’t shown much resistance to Will’s touch, until now. He felt whatever he had been building with Nico, even though it seemed that it had been very one-sided, was ruined, and Will wasn’t sure if he had the energy to try again.

Chapter Text

NICO POV

Will didn’t return to bother him again. One of his younger siblings came to give him his lunch, with a trembling hand and a look of fear in her eyes, that is. Nico decided, as annoying as the guy was, he much preferred Will’s chirpy cheerful attitude to the Nico-fearing persona of his kid sister. Even if Will did seem completely unaware that Nico was the son of Hades and practically glowed with death… that hadn’t seemed to bother Will. No, what had bothered Will was Nico throwing back all his care into his face, but not before having a good hissy fit on it first. In his moment of anger he had wanted to scare Will like he’d never wanted to scare anyone before. He had wanted to actually intimate the happy-go-lucky son of Apollo, gain some respect… Be seen as the all-powerful hero he wanted to be… he’d probably pulled of pathetic child at best. And now Will probably hated him. Scratch that, definitely hated him. Nico didn’t just feel bad because it was yet another name on the list of People-He-Should-Avoid (which was developing rather rapidly) but because he spent that day laying on his bed, alone. Not that Nico minded being alone; Nico and isolation were tight, but counting the immaculately painted white bricks on the wall he faced repeatedly had grown rather tiresome. No, Nico felt bad because he actually missed Will’s company. Hell, he’d only known the guy a few days, not that he really knew him anyway! Nico had known he liked Will, ever since he had bumped into the idiot on Half-Blood Hill, he was infuriating (but then so were most of his friends, Nico thought) but he had enjoyed the son of Apollo’s company. And although it was part of the reason Nico had erupted on Will Solace, he liked that Will wasn’t scared of him – the whole son of Hades thing hadn’t bothered Will. In fact, Will probably hadn’t even stopped to think if it should bother him. Darned perfect son of Apollo. A day alone in the infirmary had taught him that, yes, he definitely liked Will Solace, he just hadn’t realised how much.

Nico also felt bad for hurting Will’s feelings – now there was a feeling he wasn’t used to. Nico was used to hurting people, he didn’t often meant to, but after so many times he’d grown indifferent to caring. Yet he actually felt guilty and wanted to apologise to Will. Nico hadn’t apologised to anyone who hadn’t meant a lot to him in years. But he knew going to find Will would just worsen the situation: Will would be angry at Nico for leaving his bed, claiming he wasn't strong enough, Nico would defend his pride, Will would force him back to bed and probably feed him some more of that torturous porridge (he should recommend it to his father for the Fields of Punishment). That was, if Will didn’t completely ignore Nico.

When the son of Apollo finally returned to Nico’s room the sun was setting, and Will looked exhausted. Nico sat up in surprise.

“Will…” He said. Will looked up blearily, he didn’t look mad or even look at Nico with dislike. He just looked weary. Nico could sympathise with that.

“Your dinner,” Will said blankly handing him a tray with, what a guess – porridge, “and your meds,” Will handed him a small tub with various tablets in it.

“Thanks,” he said. Will nodded and left. Nico tucked in, none too cheerfully, in to his porridge. This time he scraped it clean, not wanting to aggravate Will any further.

WILL POV

Will returned to Nico’s room after half an hour, desperately trying not to let his emotions show. If he wanted to keep Nico’s fury at bay, he had to act completely professional. He hadn’t realised how easily Nico’s fury could be unleashed… Perhaps he had assumed too much. Holding his breath, Will re-entered Nico’s room, removed the tray and slumped down at the desk chair, not meeting the son of Hades’ eyes.

“Will, I-” Nico started, but failed to complete whatever he had to say. Will was thankful, he wasn’t in the mood for anymore of Nico’s wrath.

“I need to do a medical check-up, then you’re free to go in the morning,” he said stoically. Nico just nodded and removed his shirt unquestioningly. Will took his measurements and cleaned Nico’s wounds silently. He tried to avoid looking at Nico’s torso, but his eyes kept drifting. Nico was still skinny, but he had lost some of that malnourished edge. He was muscular, but not excessively so. His pale skin stretched taught over the hard planes of his stomach and Will struggled to concentrate. Nico was beautiful, and Will was finding it increasingly harder to ignore this fact. Nico watched him work, deep brown eyes following his every movement.

“Will… I am sorry about earlier…” He said quietly. Will simply nodded, not trusting his voice. Nico continued, “it’s not that I don’t appreciate what you’re doing for me… I’m just not used to it and well I guess I’ve just been on my own for too long and have…uh, lost some of my people skills.”

Will snorted at that.

“Nico, did you ever have people skills?” He found it hard to imagine Nico being even remotely nice to anyone. Not that Will thought badly of that, Nico deserved to be act how he liked given how everyone else had treated him (and he found it strangely endearing). But Will had fought so hard to be the exception, fought hard to treat Nico how he deserved to be treated. Maybe Nico was just too set in his ways.

“Probably not,” Nico agreed, smiling slightly. It was small and barely noticeable other than the fact it was so different from his customary scowl. Will smiled slightly in return. So maybe their argument earlier wasn’t going to affect their relationship, if this even qualified for that term. Will was beginning to learn that Nico just had very extreme mood swings, and maybe Will had made some mistakes, but maybe Nico hadn’t meant all he had said either.

Luckily Will was very forgiving.

Chapter Text

NICO POV

Will left and Nico breathed out a sigh of relief. While maybe they were still tense and Will had seemed quiet, he did forgive Nico. Perhaps they could develop a friendship. Nico felt shocked at thinking that… he had never actually considered that a possibility. Maybe Will’s friendship would be good for him. He drifted off into a dreamless sleep and awoke refreshed for the first time in a long time. Will sat on the desk chair and was gazing at him bleary eyed. Nico rubbed his own eyes and struggled into an upright position.

“Ah, so he’s alive,” Will muttered with a small smile.

“Whaaa?” Nico yawned attractively.

“You’ve been asleep almost all day, Death Boy,” as soon as the nickname escaped his mouth, Will tensed, clearly unsure if Nico had forgiven Will enough to accept his annoying pet names. Although, considering it, he doubted Nico would ever accept his annoying pet names.

“I need my beauty sleep, Sunshine,” Nico grumbled sleepily. Will smirked at him.

“Right, you can leave then, just, no straining yourself…Be careful, and get loads of sleep,” Will started reeling off, sounding like a worried mother, not that Nico had had much of experience of that in the last 70 years, “and eat! Make sure you eat lots!”

“Uhuh” Nico mumbled, “See you Will.”

He was pretty sure Will would continue to lecture him on food groups all the way to his cabin if Lou Ellen hadn’t rushed in, proclaiming there was an emergency involving two children of Ares, a Pegasus and one of Jason’s newly made shrines. Nico darted in the opposite direction immediately as Will rushed off to heroically save the day.

Nico returned to Cabin 13 which was unsurprisingly empty. A year ago Nico would have leapt at the chance to stow himself away in private, but now he found himself craving company. He grabbed his beloved aviator jacket (rescued and repaired by his father as a thank you for, y’know, saving the world) and shut the door on Cabin 13 behind him. He checked the time – he still had a few hours before dinner and he decided to go and find Jason.

He found Jason sparring with Percy and they were calling insults to one another, laughing. Nico couldn’t imagine ever having such a carefree, trusting relationship. He did trust his friends, but he was still wary of them.

“You call that fighting, Grace?” Percy yelled, his forehead bathing in sweat. At that moment Jason decided to send a gust of wind at the son of Poseidon, knocking him off his feet.

“Yeah, I do,” Jason grinned down at Percy. Percy laughed as he struggled to his feet, then noticed Nico and beamed.

“Yo!” He shouted and Jason turned to see Nico.

“You wanna join?” He asked. Nico smiled, wearily, when would he ever turn down a chance to pummel his cousins to the ground? He grabbed his stygian iron sword, which was never too far from him, and leapt into the fight. Percy grumbled something about not being ready when Nico successfully knocked riptide from Percy’s hand. They all moved with incredible speed – sons of the big three matched for strength. Jason used the air to assist him, Percy occasionally doused them in water and Nico summoned the odd skeleton to tackle his opponents to the ground. Half an hour, an entire lake-full of water and three skeletons later Nico began to feel a little weary. Jason and Percy started to gang up against him, sensing his weakness. In a last desperate attempt to save his arse he summoned another skeleton who scrambled out of the earth behind Jason and Percy and rammed their heads together. Nico chuckled tiredly before collapsing. Perhaps he’d summoned one skeleton too many.

WILL POV

What. An. Idiot.

Will had been patching up a child of Ares with a Pegasus feather lodged in her back when the child of Hades had been carried in by Jason and Percy, both of whom looked slightly bewildered. He delegated the Ares kid to Kayla and rushed towards Nico. Percy staggered almost dropping Nico. Will lunged to catch Nico and held him be the waist as Jason dropped his legs. Will realised he was holding Nico in a very intimate position and blushed as he dragged the son of Hades to a bed close by.

“The bastard sent a skeleton after us,” Percy mumbled rubbing his head, Jason nodded, dazed. Will suspected they each may have concussions. He nodded to his brother Austin who whisked them off with Percy absently talking about fairies. He returned his attention to Nico who, while wasn’t fading, looked very pale. Was he trying to get himself killed?! Didn’t he realise how much the world would miss his cute, cute arse?! Will force fed Nico ambrosia, put on his most stern face and waited for Nico to wake up. It didn’t take long. Nico’s eyes fluttered open.

“Will…?”

“What did I tell you?” Will said firmly, not allowing the cute way Nico stretched and yawned soften him.

“What?” Nico said.

“What did I tell you?”

“Um… that I had a cute arse?” Crap. He didn’t realise he’d spoken aloud, much less that the son of Hades had been listening.

“Not that,” Will said, fighting his blush. Nico pouted. “How about when I told you no more underworld-ly stuff? How about when I told you not to strain yourself?”

“It was only a couple of skeletons!” Nico protested. Will folded his arms and glared at the son of Hades.

“A couple of skeletons my arse! You collapsed and gave Percy and Jason concussions!”

“Oh, that would have been Winston,” as though that explained it all.

“Winston?” Will echoed.

“The… um… skeleton…”

“You name the skeletons?” Nico averted his eyes, “Wow you need to get out more.”

It was Nico’s turn to glare at the son of Apollo.

“Well, sorry, I’ve been a bit trapped in here the past few days, and oh wait, I was too busy when I was saving the entire planet!”

“Yet you had time to name skeletons,” Will grinned cheekily and Nico allowed himself to smile slightly.

Will walked Nico back to Cabin 13.

“So, what are you going to do now you’re free of me?” Will asked.

“Urm, I don’t know, I hadn’t really thought about it…”

“Well... you’re not leaving are you?”

“No, I think I’m definitely staying,” Nico said uncertainly.

“Good,” said Will, “Then you can definitely come to the campfire with me tomorrow night!”

Nico found himself agreeing, to both his and Will’s surprise.

Chapter Text

NICO POV

Nico opened the door to his cabin as Will walked back to the infirmary, whistling out of tune. Nico found himself smiling slightly at the sound.

“Agh, he smiles!” A voice yelled as Nico entered his cabin. The voice belonged to a blond-headed body laying stretched out on Nico’s bed. That, if nothing else, was an invasion of privacy.

“Jason, what is wrong with waiting outside?” Nico asked, exasperated. Jason just grinned and stretched his long, athletic, feline body.

“So, you survived then?” Jason said, ignoring Nico’s scowl.

“And you survived Winston,” Nico said, collapsing into a chair and raising an eyebrow at Jason.

“Who is Winston?”

“Never mind, why are you here?” Jason pouted.

“Can I not come and see my favourite son of Hades when I want to?”

“I’m the only son of Hades…”

“Exactly, you’ve got no competition!” Jason grinned, “Anyway, I see Will decided not to kill you then,”

“Will… Kill me?” Nico asked, confused.

“For almost killing yourself… I’ve noticed he seems, ah, protective of you,” Jason peered at Nico through his long blond hair.

“We’re just friends,” Nico blurted, not realising the implications of what he had just said. Jason raised his eyebrows and smirked.

“I didn’t suggest anything different…” Nico blushed and Jason grinned harder. Gods, that guy must have seriously hard core cheek muscles to smile that. Maybe it was a blond thing, Nico thought, picturing Will’s constant bright smile.

“Anyway, I haven’t exactly had much of a chance to talk to you since the war, and, well, how are you?”

“Fine…” Nico muttered.

“You always say that,”

“Well maybe if you know the answer you should stop asking!”

“Okay, okay!” Jason said, holding up his hands in surrender, “Well, I’m fine too thanks for asking,”

“That’s good,” muttered Nico.

“Look, mate, I know you were upset that you didn’t get to say goodbye to Hazel and Reyna and I thought, why not go visit them yourself?”

“Will would never let me…” Nico said, not letting himself get his hopes up.

“And since when did Nico di Angelo listen to what other people told him to do?”

“Will can be pretty forceful and intimidating when he wants to,”

“I’ve noticed…”Jason said, “But I think, if you asked, there isn’t much Will would deny you,” Nico looked up sharply.

“What do you mean by that?” Jason simply chuckled.

“Just ask him, where’s the harm in that?” Nico thought about it and imagined visiting his sister and best friend, imagined talking to them in the hot California sun, imagined returning to Camp Jupiter – his second home. He nodded absent-mindedly.

Jason sprung up from the bed, with all the agility of the hero he was.

“Anyway, I’ve got to go meet Piper, I’ll see you at dinner, di Angelo,” Jason said and left. Nico remade his bed, ridding his duvet from the Jason-shaped outline it held. Now that the idea had been suggested to him, Nico desperately wanted to visit New Rome.

WILL POV

Dinner that night was the same affair as it ever was; his younger siblings elbowing each other, him shouting at them, and eventually the breakout of a food fight. Will ducked below his arm, avoiding a tomato covered meatball flying at his face. He blamed himself, he had been the one to start it all those years ago, but unfortunately the tradition stuck and Will found himself enjoying it less and less as every night he had to wash spaghetti sauce or lasagne out of his hair. He looked over at the table of the Big Three – Jason was chatting animatedly to Percy and Nico, both of whom looked vastly uninterested. Percy was making water spurt out of his glass into the air while Nico chewed his nails, not touching his food. That damn kid was going to starve himself to death. Nico’s dark, ink black hair fell over his eyes, which were staring at the floor. He was hunched over in a position that gave Will the strange urge to run over and hug the son of Hades. He wasn’t sure said son of Hades would appreciate that so much. Suddenly, Nico looked up and his eyes met Will’s. They were dark and intense and Will felt like he was drowning just staring into them. That’s when the nicely buttered dough ball whacked him in the forehead. Dammit, he had let his guard down. Attempting to wipe the garlic butter from his face, but really just successfully smearing it further, Will cursed.

“Sorry Will”, Kayla yelled. Will immediately grabbed a spoonful of his own mashed potato and hurled it at his sister. Will looked back over at Nico, ears burning with embarrassment. Nico was still looking at him, but he was no longer scowling. He had a broad smile and was laughing throatily. It was a strange and rare sound and Will was dumbstruck. The sound was beautiful and Nico looked so happy. Will was prepared to suffer a tornado of dough balls if it had this affect. He grinned at Nico, who actually grinned back. Jason had gone silent and he and Percy were giving Nico a strange look. Clearly Nico had never made this noise before. Will felt oddly pleased that he was the cause of it – even if he looked stupid with a garlic forehead.

Chapter Text

 NICO POV

The Hades Cabin was cold and dark when Nico returned to it that night – it reminded him strongly of his father’s palace and he felt an unexpected rush of affection. He had snuck away from dinner, probably none too subtly, after Will had been smeared with garlic dough balls. Nico was stunned at the laugh that that had surprised out of him; he didn’t even know he could laugh so hard, and especially for the son of Apollo to have triggered that reaction. Nico quickly brushed his teeth, changed into an old pair of joggers which passed for pyjamas and climbed into his coffin-like bed. As tasteless as the décor was, Nico had to admit it was growing on him. He drifted off into what he hoped would be an uninterrupted sleep.

The scorching flames licked his throat taunting him greedily – lavishly lapping up his energy. The fire of Phlegethon eagerly delved down into his stomach, lashing out and maliciously flicking his insides with its fiery touch. Nico gasped and wretched as he forced the liquid fire down. He knew finally what the word torture meant. It wasn’t the pain Hades afflicted on those in the Fields of Punishment, it was what people would do to survive, to survive to help those he loved. That was torture. This fiery liquid was torture. Yet Nico wouldn’t cease to drink it, he had to make it through Tartarus. He had failed his friends enough times, he wouldn’t do it again. He would inflict whatever physical torture he had to on himself to ensure he never endured the mental torture of failing his friends – of failing Percy again.

Nico lurched awake from his nightmare. The haunting memories of his time in Tartarus were etched into the insides of his eyelids and any amount of blinking didn’t seem to banish them away. Tears mingled with sweat and Nico’s body shook viciously; each convulsion prompting another wave of sobs to rack his body. Nico lay like that for what seemed like hours but what must have only been minutes. The darkness of his cabin stared at him. He had to get out, he had to escape the darkness. Nico forced himself up and crawled out of his tangled mess of a duvet. He scrambled off the bed and fell with a thud to the cold floor. Nico scuttled towards the open door on his right, leading to the bathroom. He was shivering hysterically and breathing feverishly. He reached the bathroom and, after flicking on the lights, lay down on his back and cried. His tears grew silent and his body calmed itself. Nico spent the rest of the night laying, quietly crying, and staring at the ceiling of his bathroom. When would these nightmares end? Why couldn’t he rid himself of the past?

WILL POV

Will awoke from his refreshed slumber early, a smile etched over his face. He remembered Nico’s joyous laughter the night before – in fact his brain had pretty much been replaying that scene to him all night long. He tried desperately not to giggle like a child as he thought of Nico. He failed miserably.

Will got ready quickly and prepared himself to face the day. He didn’t see Nico at breakfast, but he wasn’t too surprised by that. Although he snuck a muffin away to give to the son of Hades, he wouldn’t allow the guy to starve himself forever. When he knocked on the door to Cabin 13 he received no reply. He wasn’t surprised, Nico was probably sleeping, ignoring Will’s eager rapping at the door.

“Nico?” He called brightly. No response. Not even a grunt or the pissed off sound of the words “go away”. Will frowned, concerned. Perhaps Nico had actually gotten out of bed early today, he thought, but dismissed the thought as too farfetched. Nico was many things, but he wasn’t an early riser. Will cautiously pushed the door open and peered inside. It was dark. But, Will reflected, that wasn’t surprising considering it was the Hades Cabin.

“Nico?” He called again, a little more softly. Will saw a small light glowing from across the room, he presumed it was coming from within the bathroom. Will made his way towards the door and called Nico’s named again. This time a soft gurgle responded. Will carefully edged the door open and saw a small body laying still, staring at the ceiling, eyes unfocused and tears slowly falling down his face. He was like a skeleton himself; if it hadn't been for the tears, Will would have presumed the body was dead. Nico didn’t even acknowledge Will’s presence. Will sighed softly and crouched down next to Nico. His face was red and his eyes were raw. Will wondered how long he had been there.

“Oh, Nico,” he whispered softly. Nico’s eyes snapped towards his, intense and blazing with pain.

Chapter Text

NICO POV

He felt warm hands reach around him and hold his weak body firmly. He stared at the two deep blue abysses that could only be Will’s eyes. His brain slowly registered; they must be Will’s hands. Somewhere at the back of his mind felt uncomfortable at the physical contact, but he was too tired, too drained to care. Nico felt the pressure of Will’s warm hands increase and the cold hard floor fell away. Will carried him over to his bed and Nico gratefully sank into the warm sheets.

“Will...” he murmured. Will drew his blanket around him carefully. Nico’s eyes were still raw from his tears and he could only see in blurs – he could only see the big orange, pink and yellow blur that must be Will, but Will seemed to be moving away.

“Will,” he called out more urgently. He needed his doctor – saved him from his nightmares – he needed Will. Nico’s delirious mind repeated these thoughts like a broken record. The absence of Will’s warm hand on his left him feeling colder than he’d ever felt before.

“It’s alright, Nico,” Will’s soft, melodic voice drifted towards Nico’s ears. Suddenly Nico felt a scratchy damp cloth smother his forehead. It was cold and refreshing and Nico leaned into it, unaware he was inadvertently leaning into Will’s hand that was the other side of the cloth. He felt his eyes close and his exhaustion washed over him. He knew he wouldn’t suffer nightmares that night – Will’s warm hand holding his told him so. Why was Will so good for him?

WILL POV

Nico looked angelically peaceful. Will knew that the son of Hades would drag his sorry arse to the Fields of Punishment if he ever said so. Though Nico was so out of it, Will suspected he wouldn’t even hear. He didn’t want to risk it, however, so he kept his mouth shut. That didn’t mean he couldn’t admire Nico though – the way his ink black hair carefully decorated his forehead – just slightly too long so that it covered his eyes. Eyes that moved beneath their lids, not frantically or in any way creepy, but calmly and relaxed. Nico breathed gently, each time delicately causing small strands of hair to sway, like trees in the wind. Will really didn’t understand why he found the son of Hades so fascinating to look at. He definitely wasn’t telling Nico that, anyhow.

Nico’s eyes fluttered awake and Will felt his body jerk in shock. Three hours he had been sitting there and Nico had barely moved.

“Nico?” he whispered softly. Nico grumbled an incomprehensive response. That wasn’t unusual, however, most of what Nico said when in a sleepy state (and often when he was wide awake) was grumbled incomprehensively. Nico rolled over and stretched out his body. Will found himself admiring the way Nico’s limbs slyly elongated and recoiled. And the way his body rose and his top snuck up his stomach. Dammit Will, he cursed, why was he suddenly so caught up on Nico? He suspected seeing both Nico happy the night before, and seeing him vulnerable that morning had something to do with it. Nico sat up and swung his legs out of bed but they did not hold long and he crumpled to the floor immediately.

“Nico!” Will yelled. The son of Hades struggled to his feet, blushing furiously.

“That didn’t happen,” Nico asserted, glaring and Will. Will chuckled.

“Sure it didn’t, Death Boy,” he was glad to see Nico as more than a deathly corpse. At least he was talking. Nico glared harder. Will was sure that Nico’s energy always seemed to be sapped from the excessive amount of effort he put into glaring all the time – that would be sure to wear anyone out. Nico allowed Will to help Nico back into bed, albeit grudgingly. That kid was too damn proud.

“Will, I was thinking… I was thinking of going to New Rome…” Nico began and Will wondered if he detected nervousness in Nico’s voice.

“What? For good?” He wondered if this had something to do with the fact he hadn’t allowed Hazel and Reyna to visit him in the infirmary.

“No, probably just a few days or something,” Nico said quickly and Will internally sighed with relief, then quickly retracted his relief as he realised what this would mean for Nico’s health.

“When? Nico, I’m not sure you’re strong enough…” Will said delicately, not wanting to hurt Nico’s pride.

“They have medical care there, you know, you’re not the only doctor, Sunshine,” Nico said, not unkindly.

“I know, but consider the journey, and, besides, I’m not just any doctor, I’m your doctor,” Will said.

“I didn’t realise you cared so much, Solace, I know you’ll miss me, but…” Nico smirked.

“I’m not sure if it is a good idea…” Nico’s face fell and Will felt a pang at having to disappoint the son of Hades. He desperately wanted to make Nico happy but he worried about Nico’s health far more.

“Will, please,” Nico stared intently into Will’s eyes and Will felt himself melting under Nico’s intense gaze.

“That’s cheating, you can’t use puppy dog eyes on me, Death Boy!” Will shifted his gaze to avoid the guilt he felt looking into Nico’s eyes. Stupid Italian.

“I promise I won’t do any shadow travelling for a whole week!” Nico pleaded.

“I don’t need your promise, if I have my way, I won’t let you do any shadow travelling for the rest of your life!” Will saw Nico visibly gulp and felt a wave of satisfaction. It wasn’t often the son of Hades cowered.

“Two weeks?”

“No deal, Death Boy,”

“Two weeks and I’ll help you out in the infirmary,” Will knew he was weakening under Nico’s intense gaze and decided to strike a deal before he completely submitted to Nico’s every will.

“I’ll let you go to New Rome,” Nico’s eyebrows rose in hope, “only on the condition that I come with you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah I’ve always wanted to go to California, besides, who else will scoop you up off the floor every time you decide to faint?” Will grinned to show the jab was in good humour and Nico smiled slightly too.

“You really want to spend a week with me?” Nico said and Will felt the pain of Nico’s lack of faith in himself.

“Yeah, doctor’s orders.”

Chapter Text

NICO POV

The water lapped lazily up the beach, sluggishly slurping up the sand. Nico watched the rich blue of the water shimmer and gleam in the sparkling sunlight. The colour reminded him of a certain son of Apollo’s eyes, it wasn’t fair, really, that one person could be blessed with both the body of a surfer and the eyes of, well, an angel. Nico felt excitement bubble in his chest at the thought of spending a week with Will, then harshly berated his chest – Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades, Ghost King, Saviour of the World did not have bubbly feelings. Particularly not about one rather attractive son of Apollo. Not… at… all, Nico tried to convince himself as Will’s face swam in front of his seemingly glazed eyes. He was thankful for Will’s help that morning, and only slightly embarrassed. On one hand the fact that Will had had to literally scoop his weakened body of the floor was entirely humiliating. But on the other, Will was a doctor and Nico felt he could trust Will. He was glad for Will’s comfort and didn’t feel like he needed to be ashamed about anything with Will. Nico’s thoughts, however, were interrupted by the ever so considerate son of Poseidon dousing him with water.

“Yo, Nico!” he yelled enveloping the son of Hades into a giant hug.

“Nicoooo!” Another voice shouted and more arms and legs joined the bundle. Nico fought his way free, uncomfortable with the physical contact.

“A simple ‘hello’ would have been fine,” he said scowling at Percy and Jason and wringing his too-long hair of water. Percy shrugged, grinning. Gods, Nico thought, how could these guys smile so much? Percy and Jason flopped themselves down either side of Nico.

“Man, how come you’ve always gotta sit in the shade?” Jason whined, looking longingly at the warm patch of sand only a few metres away.

“I’m a son of Hades; dark and shadowy is kind of in the job description,” Nico said bitterly.

“Well you sure have that covered,” Percy said, nudging Nico, “where’s your camp top dude? You’re a black dot in a sea of orange dots,”

“And a purple dot,” added Jason.

“Orange isn’t really my colour,”

“That’s no excuse!” Nico listened to Percy and Jackson rant about his fashion choices, talk about their girlfriends and plan their next strategy for Capture the Flag. These guys could talk for hours – how did their voice boxes not tire? Nico zoned out of the actual words and just listened the melodic buzzing of their conversation. He was surprisingly enjoying their company, as long as he didn’t have to hear their stupid comments for too long.

“C’mon man, dinner,” Jason said, clapping Nico on the back and standing up. Percy reached a hand down to help Nico up. Nico stared at it, shocked, just a few months ago he would have knocked it away, and, as it was Percy offering, he would have undoubtedly gone a brilliant shade of red too. However, Nico surprised himself by taking it. Percy showed no sign of shock other than a slight smile acknowledging he knew the change that had taken place within Nico. He was just glad that Percy didn’t announce it to the world for once. As stupid as the son of Poseidon acted, he was actually very observant and caring inside, he just hid it very well. Perhaps that was why Nico had first fallen for him. Now, however, Nico felt pleased to just be considered a friend of Percy’s – something he hadn’t thought possible a few months before. They walked to dinner together, Percy talking animatedly about what food he was going to make blue that night.

“Wow, Nico, don’t pig out there,” Jason said, raising his eyebrow at Nico’s meagre portion of olive salad. Nico scowled.

“My mum used to make it as an antipasti,” he said.

“An anti-pasta?” Percy exclaimed, “Like the anti-Christ but for pasta?”

“No! The antipasti! It’s like a starter, it was always my favourite part of the meal,” Nico said, taking back all he had thought about Percy being thoughtful inside. Clearly it was very, very far within.

“Oh,” Percy said, sounding vaguely disappointed. Jason cracked up and Nico dug into his salad, regretting his agreeance to forming just one table for the children of the big three. He wondered how he was related to either of them in anyway. His salad reminded him of his home, but it didn’t make him sad as it once would have. He realised that as much as he missed his old home and his mother, he still loved his new life, or at least the past week of it (the previous few years had been a bit crappy). But at least the crappiness had brought him close to people like Percy, Jason and… Will. No sooner had the thought entered Nico’s mind, the said son of Apollo dangled his dopey grinning face before Nico’s, who felt himself blush hotly at Will’s close presence.

“Solace!” Nico yelped, shocked.

“Di Angelo,” Will said solemnly, helping himself to one of Nico’s olives.

“What do you want?”

“Campfire time, Death Boy,” Will said, grabbing Nico’s hand, “You said you would come!” Nico rolled his eyes and glanced at Percy and Jason, who were exchanging knowing glances. Nico grudgingly detached himself from the bench and was dragged by Will towards a gathering crowd. The fire was starting to glow as two children of Hephaestus stoked it. Will pulled Nico towards a long, uncomfortable-looking log and slumped down on to it. Nico sat down next to him, slightly nervously. What if they expected him to sing? That was what happened at campfires, wasn’t it? He panicked and looked at Will, who seemed relaxed and was gazing at the fire happily. Nico felt his body calm slightly.

“I spoke to Chiron about New Rome,” Will said, still staring into the growing fire.

“And?” Nico said, eagerly.

“And, well as it’s you, he didn’t have any problem with it,”

“As it’s me?” Nico repeated blankly.

“Yeah, well you were a part of both camps before any of us knew they existed, and you pretty much saved both camps from destroying each other,” Nico blinked at him, but Will seemed completely serious, “Besides, you are the Ambassador for Pluto,”

“Yeah, but…”

“Shut up and enjoy the compliment, Death Boy,” Will said. Nico scowled but felt secretly pleased. He felt the log they were sitting on shift slightly and Jason and Percy joined them. They both stared into the fire silently, Nico knew they were thinking of Leo and mourning him. He knew their pain and grief and knew how much Leo was loved among the Seven. Piper, Annabeth and Rachel Elizabeth Dare soon joined them and relieved Percy and Jason of their mourning, although Nico could see all of them occasionally glance at the fire with an ache in their eyes. None of them showed it publically, but Nico suspected they were all incredibly pained. He turned to Will, who also seemed to have sensed the gloomy atmosphere. He gently nudged Nico and smiled dazedly when Nico turned to look at him.

“You ever tried a s’more?” He whispered, eyes glinting. Nico shook his head. Will gasped in mock horror and reached for the bag of marshmallows being passed round. He dumped a handful onto Nico’s lap and he felt his leg tingle where Will’s hand had brushed against it. Will showed Nico how to stab the marshmallow and burn it alive. Personally, Nico thought it was rather cruel, but followed suit. Will chuckled when Nico panicked as his marshmallow caught fire, and blew it out. Nico blushed at his silliness, making Will laugh harder.

“Shut up, Solace,” he muttered, examining his marshmallow critically. Will pouted and Nico shoved his burnt marshmallow into Will’s nose. The son of Apollo yelped and Nico felt his stomach ripple and he laughed strongly and loudly. The camp went quiet. Nico felt every eye on his face. Will then conveniently chose that moment to sneeze, sending marshmallow flying everywhere. The camp exploded as everyone dived away from Will’s airborne marshmallow. Nico grinned at him gratefully, whether intentionally or not, Will had diverted attention away from Nico.

Chapter Text

WILL POV

Nico only ever seemed to laugh when Will had food on his face. At the food fight, then at the campfire. Of course, Nico laughed at other times; a silent smirk or cute chuckle here and there, but these were the only times he laugh so fully, with every fibre of his being. Will was sure the sound was hypnotic and seriously considering getting Nico checked for any relations to the sirens. And he decided having food on his face was worth it, even if it meant still finding chunks of it in his hair the morning after when showering. The things I do for that damn Italian, Will thought, untangling a lump of marshmallow from his blond locks.

Will rapped harshly on Nico’s door, knowing that the son of Hades would still be fast asleep.

“Go away,” a grumpy voice yelled. Will gulped and decided to hedge his bets, hoping Nico’s reflexes would be sluggish in his sleepy state. He pushed the door open and darkness greeted him. Nico was swathed in black blankets, his own dark hair camouflaging himself, only the pale skin of his face showing, glowing in the darkness.

“What do you want?” Nico asked abruptly, squinting at Will.

“Got to check your wounds, Death Boy,” Will said. Nico grumbled something and rolled over, clearly not impressed with Will’s excuse.

“Nico, doctor’s orders,” he said. Nico swore and buried himself deeper in his bed. Will took this as consent and marched over to Nico, yanking his duvet away. Nico squealed – rather heroically, of course – and struggled to pull the duvet back.

“Can’t we do this later, Solace?” Nico demanded, giving up and slumping back into his bed, duvet-less, but not without a deadly glare.

“No, I have other stuff to do later,”

“Like what?” Nico asked suspiciously.

“Like tending to other patients,” Will said. Nico scoffed at that but sat up and offered Will his bandaged arm. Will took it and set to work.

“Anyway,” Will said as he unwrapped Nico’s arm, “I spoke to Reyna and Frank and also to Chiron and we’re leaving for New Rome tomorrow,”

“Tomorrow?” Nico said, excitedly.

“Yeah, I iris-messaged Reyna and she demanded to see you straight away, so I did my best to organise the trip quickly…”

“How long are we staying for?”

“Well, it’s a two day drive – I haven’t actually gotten us a driver yet – so we’ll be there about three or four days,”

“You haven’t got a driver?”

“Well, no, but don’t worry, I’m sure I can-,”

“I have one,” Nico said quickly. Will looked up at him.

“You have a driver?”

“Yeah, Jules-Albert, it was a gift from my dad,” Nico said, rather coyly.

“Wow, your dad gave you a person, my dad-,”

“A dead person,” Nico corrected.

“Even so, my dad only ever gave me a pat on the back,” Will said, smiling bitterly.

“Well I guess Hades only has one kid, whereas Apollo has quite a few…” Nico said, unsure of what to say. No one had ever been jealous of his dad before, at least it made a change from all the avoiding eye contact and skirting away at the mention of Hades.

“Yeah, I guess… Ah well, is this Jules-Albert prepared to drive us 3000 miles?” Will smiled. He was starting to feel slightly nervous at the prospect of sitting in a car with Nico for two days, not to mention their zombie chauffeur. Will quickly finished sorting out Nico’s injuries, ruffled the son of Hades’ hair and left for the infirmary. He had a lot of sorting out to do if he was planning to leave the infirmary in his sister, Kayla’s hands for a week. God help the patients.

NICO POV

Nico was so tempted to crawl back into his bed once the son of Apollo had left. No one should be up at this hour, he thought, it was just plain wrong. However the thought of visiting New Rome in just a few days was too exciting to ignore so he showered and made his way down to the training arena. Percy was there, talking to Annabeth and twirling Riptide around in his hands. Nico jogged over to him.

“Hey Jackson, Annabeth,” he said, nodding to them both and wondering with bewilderment when he had become so relaxed that he could greet them so easily. Annabeth grinned at him and Percy ruffled his hair.

“Ah, I suppose you want to practice getting thrashed by me then?” He said as Nico ducked away from Percy’s hand hovering threateningly over Nico’s head.

“Fat chance,” he smirked.

“You’re on di Angelo,” Percy grinned backing up and preparing to fight. Nico whipped out his stygian sword and danced forwards in attack. Percy fought back, just as strong. Both were sweating and grinning mindlessly when Annabeth called out encouragement to Percy. He glanced over at her, beaming, and filtered. Nico took his chance and knocked Percy to the ground.

“Best of three?” Percy asked, scampering to his feet and wiping sweat attractively off his forehead. Nico didn’t answer and simply lunged into attack.

“Woah, di Angelo,” Percy yelled, hastening to defend himself. Nico had the advantage and Percy was struggling to keep up. Nico relaxed into the fight, letting his reflexes take over and his mind wonder elsewhere, namely, towards Will. When agreeing to go to New Rome with Will he hadn’t quite thought that he would spend an entire week with the son of Apollo, and two car journeys with only Will and Jules-Albert for company. Nico found himself slightly excited by the prospect (of being with Will, not Jules-Albert, as lovely as he is) but nervous at the same time. He didn’t usually like being around people for too long – being at camp as long as he had without running off had impressed him, but he wasn’t sure if he could cope with being in solid confinement with Will for 44 hours. He did seem to trust Will more than he thought he should, considering how little he knew him, and he did regard Will as a friend. Yet Nico still felt those skeletal butterflies at the thought of being with Will, and only Will for so long. However, Percy decided to interrupt Nico’s philosophical thought stream to knock him to the ground with a triumphant look on his face. Damn, Nico had let himself be distracted. As he fell pain shot through his right hand and he groaned as his arm collapsed beneath him.

“Nico!” Annabeth yelled, running towards him. She and Percy helped him up and Nico set his face in grim determination, despite the sharp tingling dancing up his arm.

“I think you must have sprained it,” Annabeth said, grimacing.

“Sorry, dude,” Percy said, worriedly. Nico nodded, he was more hurt by the fact he had lost to Percy – he was sure he would never live that down. Besides, he had suffered worse injuries. Even so, when Annabeth told him to go to the infirmary, he went all too happily, knowing perfectly well who was on shift.

Chapter Text

NICO POV

The pain leapt up and down his arm – it was nothing compared to any previous injuries he had suffered, but telling himself that didn’t stop his arm from hurting. Nico gritted his teeth and put on a brave face, no way was he letting anyone see him in pain, least of all Solace. Nico nudged the door to the infirmary open and was about to trudge in when he heard Will’s voice. For some reason Nico felt hesitant. Of course, Will had been one of the reasons he had allowed Annabeth to pack him off to the infirmary, as much as he liked to deny it, he enjoyed the son of Apollo’s company. But suddenly he felt nervous and unsure of what he would say to Will. Not to mention he wasn’t looking forward to his doctor shouting at him for injuring himself. Nico took a deep breath, steeling himself for Will’s anger when yet again Will’s voice stopped him. It wasn’t his inexplicable nervousness this time that caused him to pause, it was the fact that Will had mentioned his name. Now, Nico wasn’t a nosy kind of guy; he didn’t snoop or eavesdrop on other people’s conversations, but he was insecure, and when he heard his new found friend mention his name behind his back, Nico grew curious.

“How am I going to survive a week with him? I’ll explode!” Will’s soft, melodic voice drifted towards Nico but the words cut like a knife. The ‘him’ had to mean Nico, who else was Will gallivanting off to New Rome with for a week? Nico swallowed his hurt down and forced himself to slowly rebuild that all too familiar wall he had relied upon for the past few years. He had relaxed; allowed himself to let the wall crumble, allowed himself to make friends, or he thought he had made a friend. Will’s words suggested otherwise. He didn’t particularly blame Will, he had expected something of the sort for a while, but that didn’t mean it didn’t feel as though someone had speared him with electricity. Nico was about to edge away when a response came.

“Just relax Will,” said Lou Ellen. Nico paused again.

“It’s just… When I planned it all, I was excited, and now… It just hit me that…” Will said disjointedly.

Nico frowned. Something didn’t add up.

“Just treat him like a friend,” Lou Ellen said.

“I know, and I try, but he’s just too damn cute,” Will said. Nico’s frown deepened. Something really didn’t add up. Nico was not cute. Nico di Angelo, Ghost King, Ambassador for Pluto, Son of Hades, was not cute. He was scary. Intimidating. Terrifying. He was not cute. The rest of their words were drowned by Nico’s internal monologue and Will’s earlier slights were driven from his mind. He entered the infirmary with the most intimidating glare he could muster. He’d prove Solace wrong. He was anything but cute.

Nico saw Will shifting through some papers, Lou Ellen long gone. How long had he been denying what Will had said? Nico coughed slightly and Will looked up, ears turning pink. Seeing Will’s bright blue eyes pierce his own Nico suddenly choked as the other implications of what Will had said struck him. Will thought he was cute! Will thought he was cute – maybe Will didn’t hate him! Maybe Nico had just mistaken what Will had said. Will looked at Nico’s doubled up body curiously. Nico righted himself, face burning and unable to meet Will’s eyes.

“You okay there, Death Boy?” Will asked, brows raised. Nico nodded, not trusting his mouth and held up his limp arm, sending sparks of pain shooting through it. He winced and Will sprang into action. Nico kept silent as Will wordlessly patched him up, admiring the skilled way in which Will delicately held Nico’s arm and wishing he were talented at healing people in the way Will was. Nico was mostly just good at destroying things, and occasionally bringing people back from the dead. That was the closest he came to healing, except that wasn’t really healing – he couldn’t save Bianca, he couldn’t save Leo. The only one he had managed to save was Hazel, yet he suspected his father had assisted him in some way with that. Nico felt a strong surge of guilt when he thought about Leo. There was something off about the way he had died, and Nico was not fully sure whether Leo had died. He felt guilty because, as the son of Hades, it was his duty to help Leo, who may or may not be dead, or at least find out. But he hadn’t. Not because he didn’t care, but because he didn’t want to let his sister and her friends get their hopes up. They were grieving and Nico did not want to disturb them unnecessarily. Also, for a more selfish reason, he was tired of trying to save the world and failing. He thought this one thing could wait. Maybe it would resolve itself. Nico swallowed down the bile of guilt rising in his throat. Besides, he wasn’t sure Will would let him go on any sort of quest to find out what had happened to Leo anytime soon.

Will finished patching Nico’s arm up and smiled softly at him.

“New Rome tomorrow,” he said. Nico felt a surge of excitement, Will’s own smile reflecting that. Perhaps Will wasn’t disgusted by the thought of spending a week with Nico, perhaps he was more nervous… Nico knew most people were nervous round him. He just hadn’t expected Will to be one of those people and felt disappointment at the realisation that Will viewed him just like everyone else did. Nico forced himself to smile back.

“Yeah…” he said and Will’s grin deepened, those blue eyes sparkling as Nico raised his own to meet them. Whether Will was apprehensive or not about this trip, Nico wouldn’t let it ruin his excitement to visit Reyna and Hazel.

Chapter Text

WILL POV

“C’mon dude it’s like a two day drive,” Nico groaned as Will dragged the half asleep demigod’s arse from his bed at 5am.
“Exactly, that’s why we need to be up so early,” Will said, sneakily admiring Nico’s long shaggy hair messily sticking out all over his head. Damn, the son of Hades looked good with a bedhead.
“If you’d just let me shadow travel us, we’d be there in two seconds and I could sleep in,” Nico muttered, his eyes flickering shut. Will pushed the son of Hades up Half-Blood Hill.
“It’s your sister,” he shrugged. Nico mumbled something incomprehensible about “stupid doctors”. Will chuckled mirthlessly, shoving Nico further.

Despite Nico telling him his chauffeur was dead, Will wasn’t quite prepared to trust the corpse that was currently opening the door to drive them all the way to California.
“Uh, Nico…” he said, his steps faltering.
“What?” Nico said, clambering thoughtlessly into the back of the car, accepting the rotten hand offered by Jules-Albert. Will sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. This was the opposite of hygienic, he thought, climbing in after Nico. Jules-Albert shut the door behind him and returned to the driver’s seat. Will was just wondering whether this was legal when he drove off. Nico was already snoring softly against the window, clearly he wasn’t bothered. But then again, the guy did have Hades for a father. Perhaps if Will hoped to spend more time with Nico he had to get used to such things as zombies driving him across the country. Will sighed again. What happened to the good old days when zombies were only in movies? Gods, he seriously hoped Jules-Albert didn’t get any ideas from those movies – he really didn’t want to be eaten.

After a few hours, Nico woke from his slumber – sort of (Will was starting to learn by now that Nico was not a morning person).
“What time is it?” Nico said, his voice muffled with sleepiness.
“8 o’clock,” Will replied.
“In the morning?”
“Yeah, we’ve been travelling for about 3 hours,” Will said. Nico groaned and slumped further down into his seat.
“I hate car journeys,” he complained. Knowing where this was heading, Will didn’t reply.
“If you’d let-,”
“Don’t even think about it,” Will growled and Nico trailed off, “I actually quite like car journeys.”
“What? Why? All you do is sit,” Nico said.
“Yeah that’s exactly it! As demigods we spend our whole lives running and fighting, it’s moments like this when we can actually relax,” Will said, Nico looked at him wide-eyed.
“I don’t like relaxing,”
“I’ve noticed,” Will said. Nico smiled at him sheepishly. “You don’t like a lot of things, Nico,”
“That’s not true,” the son of Hades protested, “I like fighting and… and I like Hazel…and Bianca… and my-my father,”
Will shrugged, “That doesn’t count as a lot of things,”
“Perhaps I like fewer things because I like them more intensely,” Nico said. Will considered this.
“Perhaps,” he allowed, knowing that Nico did indeed love his family very intensely, and his passion for fighting was by no means small. His many scars proved that.
“So, Jules-Albert was a gift? From your father?” Will said. Nico shrugged.
“Yeah, he sometimes has these fatherly moments, and I guess Jules-Albert was the result of one of them,” Nico said, his eyes distant. Will felt slightly jealous that Nico’s dad had any fatherly moments, no matter how infrequent. His father had had none. He supposed that with so many children, Apollo had it harder than Hades. But still, he wouldn’t have turned away a birthday card or Christmas present. Gods, he would have even accepted a zombie if his father had offered it. Although, considering it, he very much doubted that Apollo, god of healing, would offer up any zombies any time soon.
“Any other undead gifts he’s given you?” Will asked. Nico smiled slightly, as if remembering something.
“No, no other zombies. He does sometimes give me weapons, and, uh, last Christmas, he gave me two tickets to tour the Fields of Punishment… I guess he was trying to encourage me to make friends, or... Something more” Nico said.
“Who did you take?”
“I haven’t yet, even I didn’t think taking someone to the Underworld was a good idea for a first date,”
Will laughed, unable to tell Nico that he would quite happily go to the Underworld with Nico, if it meant spending more time with the son of Hades.

Chapter Text

NICO POV

Nico tried to figure Will out. He was laughing, smiling, so happily and carefree, as if he had a limitless supply of smiles. He was so different, the complete opposite of Nico - then why did he fascinate him so much? And why was Will acting so happily with Nico? If he had really detested spending a week with him, why did he bother wasting his energy and pretend to be nice? And why had he called Nico cute? Perhaps he knew it would rile him up, or perhaps... Solace liked him... Nico blushes furiously at the thought. Whether he was deluded or not, he liked Will being his friend and was content to keep up the pretense for as long as he could, despite the pain he would feel when it all fell.

Will poked Nico.

"Ow!" He protested.

"You're not even listening," Will said, "I'm busy telling you my life story and you don't even pay attention,"

"I was listening!"

"No you weren't," Will mock pouted.

"Yeah... You, um, said you were born in, um... Texas?"

"Dallas, Texas, actually - but that's not the point! You just guessed that by my accent!" Nico grinned sheepishly.

"So, what happened next?"

"What do you mean?"

"After you were born, what happened next?"

"I'm not telling you anymore," Will said stubbornly. It was Nico's turn to pout, but before he could do so, Jules-Albert pulled to car to a stop. Nico peered out of the window, suspiciously, knowing they had only been driving for a few hours. However the sky outside was dark and through the glimmer he could see the flickering sign of a motel. Had they really driven for a whole day already? Perhaps Will was right, sitting in a car for hours was definitely was more relaxing than he had thought. Especially with a certain son of Apollo sitting next to him.

Will checked them into the motel, charming the receptionist with his sunny smile and polite manners. Nico gave an unexpected growl when she placed her hand over Wills. She glanced at him warily, giving him a shaky smile that fell when she saw his glare. Will coughed nervously and pulled Nico away.

"C'mon Death Boy, let's get you to your happy place before you send this entire building into Hades," he muttered, steering Nico away. Nico allowed Will's strong hands guide him, not even protesting at the physical contact... They were warm and soft and...

"What brought that on?" Will hissed angrily into Nico's ear.

"What?" Nico said, taken aback by Will's anger.

"That underworld-y death glare you gave that woman back there!"

Nico shrugged, unsure himself.

"I told you no more underworld-y stuff! You almost scared her to death!"

Nico gulped, remembering a previous moment when he had actually turned someone into a ghost by mere will. Not that he was going to tell the son of Apollo that. Was that what he was about to do to the receptionist if Will hadn't interrupted?

Will dragged Nico to their room and dumped Nico silently on one of the beds before heading to the bathroom himself. Nico was still in shock as to the power he had held - he hadn't realized he was so angry by her flirtations with Will. He had felt protective, possessive, felt things he hadn't since Bianca, Hazel, Reyna... Did Will really mean so much to him after knowing him for so few days? He hadn't even felt that about Percy, he was more of a hopeless longing, not this caring feeling he felt towards Will. Nico groaned and slumped back into his bed. At that moment he heard the bathroom door open and Will strutted out with a towel wrapped around his waist. Nico gaped and Will's broad, tanned, muscular back stood only meters from his admiring eyes. The thick meaty skin hugging his bones - his golden hair lacing the curve of his shoulders. Will turned and Nico stuffed his fist in his mouth to stop any noise escaping. Will's stomach rippled in tune with his muscles, as though carved delicately by Hephaestus himself. Will smiled briefly at Nico, sending sparks of sunshine flaring. Yes, Nico decided, Will definitely meant a lot to him. 

Chapter Text

NICO POV

He woke up groggy and achy. He was about to turn over and pretend he had never woken when Will caught him.

“Up and at ‘em, Death Boy,”

“No,” Nico growled into his pillow. Will sighed.

“Nico,” Will said and, despite his closed eyes, Nico could almost see Will crossing his arms, pouting and tapping his foot. Nico groaned and rolled out of bed with a spectacular thud. He was greeted by a warm chuckle from Will. Peeling himself off the floor, Nico remembered the epiphany he’d had the night before. Nico blushed furiously, averting his eyes from Will. He cursed himself. So now he had realized that Will was more than just a friend to him, he apparently didn’t know how to act around him. Great. He felt Will’s warm hand on his shoulder and froze.

“Nico, you okay?”

“Mmph,” said Nico, shrugging Will off and rushing to the bathroom. If he didn’t get a grip on himself, it would be a hell of a long day. Nico groaned at the thought of being stuck in a car with Will. He thought he might explode – Will was too damn hot! With his stupid sunny smile and ridiculously perfect blond hair. It wasn’t fair. And it especially wasn’t fair that now Nico knew he had a crush on Will, he couldn’t think of anything else! At least before he had realized he could act like a friend, and not an idiot.

He met Will down at breakfast, believing himself to be calm and collected. However the furious blush appearing across his face proved otherwise. Cursing, he sat down next to Will and dug into his full English breakfast. Halfway through his fried bread he noticed Will scowling at him.

“What?” He said, mouth full.

“You’re practically downing diabetes,”

“I thought you wanted me to put on weight,” Nico said, Will rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, but not the kind that’ll damage your pancreas… And heart for that matter,” Will said. Nico smirked.

“Well, I’ll probably kill myself by overusing my underworld-y powers long before that ever becomes an issue,” Will didn’t seem too reassured.

Once Nico had finished his full-fat breakfast and Will had finished his meagre apple, they set off again. Will quickly fell asleep, much to Nico’s surprise. Wasn’t he supposed to be the lazy one? Besides, weren’t Apollo’s kids supposed to stay awake with the sun? He glanced out the window – the day was gloomy, perhaps Will was trying to sleep his way through the miserably overcast weather. Nico sighed heavily, trying to sleep himself. Alas, no luck. He couldn’t stop thinking about Will. Gods, this wasn’t some kind of chic-flick! He was supposed to be a warrior! Not some teen thinking endlessly about his crush!

WILL POV

The car rolled to a stop and Will woke with a jolt. Quickly wiping the drool from his mouth he turned to Nico.

“Gas,” Nico shrugged. Will nodded and climbed out the car.

“Where are you going?” Nico asked.

“Stretch my legs, you coming, Death Boy?”

“Nah,” Nico shook his head. Will nodded again and headed towards the little store. It was old, run down and shabby. Will grabbed some chocolate bars and fizzy drinks for Nico. Despite his tiny size, the guy could eat, Will thought fondly. He turned towards the counter when the shop assistant grinned at him. She sashayed her way towards him, looking up at him from under her eyelids. Will hesitantly stepped backwards when she grabbed his hips and yanked him towards her.

“Look, I’m very flattered, but I’m not really-,” He stammered before she shoved her tongue into his throat. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the doors open and frantically tried to disengage the lady from him. Her tongue felt thick and suffocating, flickering and hissing in his mouth. Wait – flickering and hissing? Will wrenched himself back to find not a vaguely attractive lady staring at him, but a Gorgon – snakes flitting around her head and her eyes darting maliciously over his body. He screamed; loud and piercing. Suddenly a dark shape appeared before him and Nico launched himself at the Gorgon, sword in hand and a ferocious glint in his eyes. Will scrambled backwards as he heard the sickening sound of her head being detached from her body. Her body fell, still, and the snakes froze. Nico turned to Will, sword still in hand.

“You snogged a Gorgon?” He asked accusingly.

“Nico, she came onto me and-,” Will said, trying to justify himself before Nico burst out laughing. He doubled up wheezing while Will stared at him, blankly. It wasn’t that funny. Even so, seeing Nico so happy did cause his lips to twitch slightly. When Nico had fully recovered they made their way back before another monster could attack them.

“She didn’t look like a Gorgon when she came onto me,” Will said, defensively, as they were climbing back into the car.

“So you thought you were kissing a girl?” Nico asked, averting his eyes.

“Exactly,” Said Will, “Not a word to anyone, understand?”

“Of course not, Sunshine... Not about that... Or the childish scream," Nico said, laughing again. 

Chapter Text

WILL POV

The car approached the Caldecott Tunnel, making Nico sit up with a look of anticipation decorating his face.

“We’re here,” He said quietly. Will looked out the window, eyebrows raised.

“Here?” He said and Nico nodded, eyes wide and alert. Will shrugged, from what he knew of the Romans, he had expected a slightly more grand entrance. Jules-Albert pulled the car towards a service tunnel and the car had barely stopped moving when Nico threw the door open and jumped out.

“Nico!” Will yelled, scrambling after him. Two guards stood flanked either side of the door to the service tunnel. Nico jogged over to the guards, leaving Will to haul the bags.

“Ambassador for Pluto?” The guard on the right said, Nico nodded frantically and barged his way through the door. Will apologized for Nico’s rudeness and hurried after the son of Hades. The tunnel was a typical maintenance tunnel, and so far, Will wasn’t too impressed with Camp Jupiter. But slowly, the cracked cement flooring transformed to mosaic patterns and the tunnel became majestic and elegant and just so Roman. Nico didn’t allow Will time to admire the décor as he ran on. Will struggled behind him, panting with the weight of the bags. Daylight at the end of the tunnel grew larger and Nico ran faster. Nico soon disappeared into the bright white light. Gods, Will knew he was excited to see his sister, but he could have at least helped carry the bags! Finally Will staggered out of the tunnel, Nico stood next to him, squinting in the sunlight while Will beamed. Before them lay a deep circular valley – what Will could only guess was New Rome. Despite its slightly unimpressive entrance, the Romans sure did have an eye for beauty when it came to their actual camp. Will noticed Nico watching him, he looked expectant.

“Wow,” Will breathed and Nico grinned at him. Will was more blinded by Nico’s smile than by the dazzling sunlight. Nico then took one of the bags from Will’s shoulder and led him down the valley, towards Camp Jupiter. They approached a river, flowing fast and powerfully. Two sentries stood next to the river, both helmeted and armed. One of them squealed loudly and jumped at Nico. To Will’s surprise, Nico hugged the sentry back. Apparently he had relaxed his ‘no-touching’ rule. The sentry removed her helmet and the curly golden hair and dark skin told Will that this was Hazel, Nico’s half-sister. Will had seen Hazel before, and only spoken to her once when refusing her entry to the infirmary to visit Nico. Remembering Nico’s anger at Will’s actions, he felt slightly nervous, wondering if Hazel would have the same reaction. But when Hazel let go of Nico she turned to Will and smiled pleasantly. Will got the feeling she was too gentle to shout at him the way Nico had.

“This is Will,” Nico said, with one hand still around Hazel. Will was shocked by how freely Nico held Hazel and how relaxed he already seemed around her.

“Hi,” Hazel said, somewhat shyly. They crossed the river – Will was disappointed to learn that the only way was by wading through and was shivering when they reached the other side.

“I thought this was supposed to be California,” He grumbled and Hazel laughed lightly. Even Nico let out a small chuckle. Hazel and Nico led him through Camp Jupiter, barely allowing Will time to stare in awe at his surroundings, deep in conversation. Will didn’t bother to keep up, suspecting that their sibling bonding was something personal and private. They dragged him into a large grand building – Principia, Hazel had called it – which, too, was surrounded by armed sentries. Will couldn’t blame the Romans for having such tight security after the last war… But perhaps the Romans had always been this way. Will saw Reyna inside, with Frank Zhang, laughing at something. Will blinked. He didn’t know Reyna any more than he knew Hazel, but her reputation wasn’t one that suggested she was inclined to laugh. Perhaps the war had done some good, opening up people like Reyna, and… Nico. Nico too was smiling broadly, Will didn’t think the son of Hades had even scowled once since entering Camp Jupiter – for a full ten minutes at least. That must be some kind of record.

“Nico!” Reyna said, pulling the son of Hades into an embrace. Again, Nico surprised Will by hugging her back. Will started to feel envy at the ease of Nico’s behavior and how freely he was hugging his friends. The son of Hades was never so relaxed around Will… Perhaps it was because they barely knew each other, or because they hadn’t experience what Nico had with Hazel and Reyna together. Will shoved down his feelings of envy as Reyna turned towards him.

“Will Solace, right?” She said, all formalities. Will nodded. Her presence was so powerful, Will had the strange urge to salute her. Instead, he settled for shaking her hand. Frank too greeted him and Nico. They all looked so comfortable with one another that Will felt as though he were invading.

“Um… Where can I dump these?” He asked, gesturing towards the bags.

“Ah, Hazel and I can show you,” Frank said, taking one of the bags from Nico. The son of Hades looked at Will reassuringly as he was whisked off by the two Romans. They led him out of the Principia and towards what looked like barracks.

“Uh, this is where Nico used to stay,” Frank said, opening the door to a rather small and dark looking dormitory. Will looked at the long black drapes covering up the windows and the black bedding on the two beds. Of course this was where Nico stayed. He dumped their bags in the room and opened one of the curtains, allowing sunbeams into the deathly black room.

“Nico’s probably going to be a while with Reyna… They have a lot to catch up on… Do you want a tour?” Hazel asked, smiling gently at Will who nodded gratefully. Frank wrapped an arm around Hazel and they led Will off around New Rome.

Chapter Text

NICO POV

“You look better, Nico,” Reyna said, smiling lightly.

“Ah, yeah, Will, he – uh – is a good doctor, I guess,” Nico found himself stuttering slightly talking about Will.

“Yeah? Well he definitely seemed invested in you,” Reyna said, grinning mischievously. Nico frowned slightly – what did she mean?

“What?” Nico said.

“He couldn’t stop staring at you, idiot,” Reyna said, laughing, “I’m guessing you’re over Percy,”

Nico felt himself blushing furiously, but he couldn’t help the skeletal butterflies in his stomach from dancing like mad.

“I – We’re just friends,”

“Uhuh,” Reyna said. Nico scowled, deciding to change the subject.

“So how’re things in New Rome?” Nico asked as they made their way out of the Principia and through the camp.

“Better than ever, really,” Reyna said, her smile sparkling in the sunlight. Nico squinted at her. She looked a lot healthier; the bags gone from beneath her eyes. Although, Nico guessed he could be speaking for both of them there.

“Yeah? And how’s Frank doing as Praetor?”

“Good, he’s good, the role suits him,” Reyna said. And so, they spent their afternoon wandering through the streets of New Rome, discussing things like normal teenagers. Their ordeal – their shared experience – while not forgotten, nor buried, was simply over and they felt no need to live in the past. They would, of course, talk about it in due time, to help one another recover, but for now, they simply enjoyed each other’s company and they were no longer The Roman Praetor and The Deathly Son of Hades, but two regular friends.

“How is Coach Hedge? And Chuck?” Reyna asked excitedly.

“To be honest, I haven’t really seen too much of them,”

“What? Nico di Angelo, do you mean to tell me that you’ve been letting Coach suffer through the struggles of being a father alone?”

“He has Mellie… And Clarisse…” Nico shrugged, avoiding Reyna’s deathly glare.

“As soon as your butt gets back to Camp Half-Blood you are going right up to Coach Hedge and demanding to be granted baby-sitting duty,” Reyna said. Nico gaped.

“What? Reyna! I’m no good with babies! I’m a child of Hades, no one will want me near their babies!” Nico protested.

“Gods, I thought we’d been over this! Get over yourself Nico! No one cares that you’re a son of Hades, especially not Coach Hedge,” She said, sounding exasperated. Nico sighed. It was true, he’d had this conversation too many times.

“Fine,” Nico grumbled, nudging Reyna slightly. She laughed and shoved him back.

Nico lost track of time with Reyna, enjoying her company so much. And, it appeared, so did she.

“Crap, we have to get back, its dinner!” She cursed. They raced back towards the mess hall, laughing breathlessly. They arrived, panting heavily, and Reyna immediately took her place next to Frank. Nico spotted Will sitting uncomfortably next to Hazel on the same table. He slid in between him and his sister, still out of breath.

“Nico? Why are you panting? You didn’t use your underworld-y powers again?” Will’s expression turned stern.

“No, no, Reyna and I just sprinted here,”

“Oh,” Will said, frowning slightly.

“What?”

“It’s just… You have a, um, glow in your cheeks,”

“I’m glowing…?” Nico said, bewildered.

“No, I mean, like a healthy glow… It just looks strange on you,” Will said.

“Wow, thanks Sunshine,”

“I didn’t mean-,”

“I know, I was joking,” Nico said.

“Ah, yeah, sorry, I’m just feeling kind of overwhelmed and uncomfortable,” Will said, looking at his foot. Nico laughed delicately.

“Just eat, Solace, you’ll feel at home in no time,” Nico said, causing Will to give him a smile, making his heart flutter. Nico turned to Hazel, who had been watching the two talk. She gave Reyna a knowing smile while Will and Nico looked between the two, baffled.

When everyone had finished their meals Nico yawned loudly causing Will to spring into action as Nico’s doctor.

“Sleep, doctor’s orders, Death Boy,” Will said, marching Nico back to their dorm. Nico barely had time to say goodnight to Hazel, Frank and Reyna before he was whisked off.

“You’re so relaxed with them,” Will said as they walked in the dark night.

“Relaxed?”

“Yeah, so at ease and comfortable – more so than I’ve ever seen you with anyone, even with Jason,” Will said. Nico felt astonished. Yeah, he was comfortable with Reyna and Hazel – they understood him in a way that no one else did. He also knew he was very comfortable with Jason, who was the closest thing he had to a brother. But, he thought Will might have guessed, he was most comfortable with Will. Will, who cared for Nico and treated him like an equal without Nico having to work hard to earn his respect. Will hadn’t experienced the hardships Nico had with Reyna, Hazel and Jason – the fighting had bonded them. But he had bonded with Will in peacetime, he hadn’t needed to prove himself to Will. And despite the skeletal butterflies, the fluttering heart and the fire that roared through his veins whenever Will touched him, Nico felt the most comfortable with Will. But he didn’t say any of this. Instead, he uttered a simple “huh,” and they reached their dorm.

He got washed and dressed quickly before climbing into his bed. He hadn’t slept in this bed often, not having stayed many nights here at Camp Jupiter, but it was soft and welcoming. He vaguely heard Will climb into the bed opposite him and mumble a “G’night, Nico.”

Despite Nico’s apparent exhaustion he could not get to sleep; he couldn’t stop thinking about Will. Will, who was only a meter or so away. He had felt all this before – the sickness of falling in love and the endless torment. Only this time it was so much stronger. Nico was tired and Reyna was right. He had to get over himself. He refused to suffer what he had with Percy. Will wasn’t in any relationship, Nico had a shot – a long one, but it was worth taking. He wasn’t going to let this love slip through his fingers, he was going to fight for Will. Fight himself; his own inner self-loathing; fight his lack of confidence.

Chapter Text

WILL POV

The rising sun barely shone through the thick black curtains lining the dorm Will and Nico slept in. If Will hadn’t been a son of Apollo and ultra-sensitive to the sun’s beams, he wouldn’t have realized it had risen. He could hear Nico snoring softly, reminding Will of the son of Hades presence. He felt his heart pound slightly harder. He had really grown to like Nico – of course, Will had always been attracted to him, he’d always felt some kind of connection. Whenever Nico’s name was said, his ears unwillingly pricked up; whenever Nico was nearby, Will’s eyes automatically zeroed in on him. Will hadn’t really noticed his attraction until he had actually started speaking to the son of Hades in the midst of battle. It was then that it dawned on him that his fascination with Nico was more than just curiosity. Then they had become friends – well they were from Will’s point of view, he wasn’t so sure Nico called anyone his ‘friend’. As they spent more and more time together, Will felt the bond between him and Nico strengthen and found he couldn’t get enough of the son of Hades’ company. He was astonished, really, how deep his affection for Nico had grown. He was sure Nico was his best friend, and was surprised when he realized that it didn’t hurt that he knew Nico didn’t feel the same way. Nico wasn’t one to put a label on things, and even if he had, Will knew that Nico had other people a lot closer to him than Will. He didn’t feel bitter or resentful, just happy that he could call Nico his best friend. Of course, Will had many friends – Lou Ellen, Cecil, all his siblings – but no one he quite understood in the way he understood Nico. And no one’s company he enjoyed more than Nico’s. Will sighed as the sound of other campers rising interrupted his train of thought. Oh well, he could fantasize about Nico another time.

Nico and Will breakfasted with the other campers, but Will lost track of him as Nico was soon dragged off by Hazel. Frank remained, still working his way through his bagel and grinned at Will sheepishly.

“We won’t see either of them for a long time,” Said Frank. Will grinned, letting his usual blinding smile surface.

“I guess I shouldn’t wait around then,”

“You’re a healer, right?”

“Yeah, son of Apollo,” Will said.

“If you want, you could always help out with our medical team? They’re always in need of help, and, hey, maybe you could teach them a few Greek methods,” Frank said, smiling lightly. Will didn’t have any better ideas, and, honestly, throwing himself back into his work was exactly what he needed. Sure, Will liked resting, but he’d spent two days out of the infirmary, and now he felt like he had been useless. He had wasted two days he could have spent helping people. Will thanked Frank, excused himself and went off to find Camp Jupiter’s medical department.

The Roman medical ward was much the same as the Greek one, perhaps a little less chaotic and the injuries were a little less strange. Will suspected the latter was because Camp Jupiter didn’t inhabit people like the Stoll twins. Will was rushing about, stitching up wounds, cleaning cuts, giving patients a reassuring pat on the back – he felt back at home. After he had been working for a few hours, he was sweating and his head was swimming. Perhaps Camp Jupiter’s infirmary was a little more busy that Camp Half-bloods. Michelle – the head medic – told Will to get some fresh air and he jumped at the opportunity gratefully. As much as he was enjoying Camp Jupiter, it was all so foreign, it was exhausting. Will found himself wandering aimlessly; the voice in his head telling him not to get lost was drowned out by the glorious sun reenergizing him. He heard a couple of yells to his left and immediately realized he did not recognize his surroundings. Crap, he didn’t even know how long he had been walking around for. He had stumbled upon what looked like a training arena of sorts. Many centurions were shouting cheerfully as they darted back and forth, swords flying. Will chuckled quietly – the scene was so familiar – and then he saw Nico amidst the flitting, sweaty bodies. And gods, did Nico have a flitting sweaty body of his own. The son of Hades had removed his shirt and was dancing back and forth, stygian sword held high, the perfect picture of grace and beauty. Will gaped at how chiseled Nico’s torso had become in those short weeks since near-starvation. The pale planes of Nico’s stomach contracted and relaxed in a melodic, smooth routine. The muscles on his back were moving under Nico’s polished, gleaming skin, tuned in with the fight. Will was, to say the least, mesmerized. Nico quickly defeated his partner in a spectacular manner – sword in each hand pointing at the cowering Roman. Nico’s face was one of pure delight. Then he spotted Will and he could have sworn if anything his face lit up even more. Nico made his way over to Will and his smile turned shy as it became apparent that Will’s eyes could not leave Nico’s semi-naked body.

“That was – uh – impressive,” Will stammered out.

“Thanks,” Nico blushed. Will nodded, absent-mindedly. Nico’s sweaty face was just as attractive as his sweaty body, Will decided, looking into the son of Hades’ gleaming eyes.

“Just don’t over-exert yourself,” Will said.

“Would I ever,” Nico muttered, rolling his eyes, “Any reason you came to see me, Solace?”

“I didn’t, not intentionally anyway… I was just taking a break from the infirmary and I, uh, got lost,”

“Trust you to buddy up with the medics as soon as you got here… It’s supposed to be a holiday, Sunshine!” Nico said, shaking his head.

“Like you’re any good at resting,”

“Whatever… I guess you want me to show you the way back to the infirmary,” Nico said and Will nodded his head gratefully. Nico grabbed a shirt and gestured for Will to follow him.

Chapter Text

NICO POV

Well that had gone better than expected, Nico reflected as he sat down to dinner. It had been childish, he knew, removing his shirt in the hope to attract the son of Apollo. He had really taken his promise to himself the night before seriously. He just didn’t know how to go about it in a mature manner, so he had set about with his cheap trick. But, lo and behold, it had worked. Worked far better than Nico had hoped. Will hadn’t been able to take his eyes off Nico. Nico knew had filled out slightly in the past few weeks, but he never thought he was anything special. However, the way Will had stared at Nico made him feel very special indeed. He felt himself blushing at the thought and buried himself in his soup. That, however, turned out to be a bad idea. The heat simply reddened his face which was only worsened by the blush that spread across his face when Will sat down next to him. Thankfully, Will was also red. Clearly, the incident earlier had not got unforgotten. Nico didn’t know whether to feel happy about that or not. On one hand, it proved he had made an impression, but on the other hand, it was deeply embarrassing.

“Hey,” Reyna said, as she joined them. She looked between the two, eyebrows raised, but decided not to ask.

“Hi,” Nico said while Will mumbled something along similar lines. Reyna shook her head, hiding a smirk. Dinner past quickly, with no appearance from Hazel and Frank, rousing Nico’s suspicion and instinctive brotherly feelings. No one bothered to talk much, simply dancing around the formalities and soon everyone was beginning to clear out. Nico and Will bade goodnight to Reyna and silently walked back to their dorm. The silence wasn’t awkward as such, nor uncomfortable. Both just suddenly felt very shy around the other. They quickly got dressed and climbed into their respective beds, wished each other goodnight and each drifted off into a comfortable sleep.

When Nico awoke the next morning, Will’s bed was empty. Long gone, Nico suspected, knowing Will’s tendency to rise at ridiculous hours of the morning. He washed and got ready quickly, then went in search of Reyna. He found her hunched over some scrolls, emitting noises of frustration.

“Er, Reyna?” He said, knowing to tread lightly when Reyna wasn’t in the best of moods. She grunted and smiled tightly when she saw Nico.

“You okay?” He asked cautiously. Reyna scowled and Nico knew she would not admit that she needed help – she was much like him in that way, too proud – and decided just to pitch in wordlessly.

While working with Reyna meant he got to enjoy her company, it made Nico vow never to take up the running of a camp. Heading the Hades’ Cabin was hard enough, and that only had one member. Helping Reyna sort through and organize Camp Jupiter taught Nico that A) He was very impatient and, B) He was not a naturally born leader.

By lunchtime, he decided he had had his fill and Reyna nodded that he could go. Nico found Hazel in the mess hall and dragged her out to the black crypt build into the side of the hill where they used to meet in Hazel’s first few months at camp. They fell into step and walked leisurely up the hill.

“So, where were you and Frank last night?” Nico asked. Hazel rolled her eyes.

“We, uh, had some, um, stuff to do,” She said. Nico nodded slowly, deciding not to venture further into the topic.

“What about you and Will?” Hazel asked, changing the subject and grinning at him slyly.

“Gods, why does everyone keep asking that?” Nico said, scowling.

“Because it is obvious you two have a thing for each other!” Hazel laughed.

“A thing? No, we’re just-,”

“Friends, I know,” Hazel said and their conversation moved on. Nico, however, found that his thoughts did not move on quite so successfully. Actually, they remained steadfast stuck on the goofy son of Apollo and Nico couldn’t help but wonder what Will was doing right at that moment, and perhaps, if Hazel was right. Did Will have a ‘thing’ for him? Stop it, he told himself sternly, he could go around and around in circles like this. He should know, he had been through it all with Percy.

As the sky darkened, Nico and Hazel returned to Camp, joining their friends in the mess hall. All shyness of the previous day forgotten, Will could not stop jabbering excitedly about the medical techniques used in New Rome. They sounded slightly more brutal than the methods used at Camp Half-Blood, but Nico listened without interrupting, enjoying the melodic tone of Will’s voice. And, although he would never admit it, he found Will’s bubbly excitement slightly endearing.

“So, are you guys coming to the Chariot Racing tonight?” Reyna said quickly, while Will paused for breath.

“Come on, it’s your last night and so far you haven’t come to any of the games!” Hazel pleaded.

“Fine,” Nico grumbled and Will beamed. What the hell, maybe it would be fun.

Chapter Text

WILL POV

He and Nico walked slowly down towards the Fields of Mars, arms occasionally brushing each other. He hadn’t seen Nico all day and was shocked by how much he had missed the son of Hades’ company. They walked in placating silence, though Will swore he could detect Nico humming quietly. Hazel and Frank walked a few paces ahead, chatting animatedly, and Will had lost track of where Reyna had gone to. Personally, Will found her terrifying. But, she was one of Nico’s closest friends – he was pretty terrifying himself so it wasn’t too surprising – so Will had quelled his fear and not run screaming whenever she turned her gaze on him. They reached the stadium and lost Hazel and Frank among the crowds. Nico grabbed Will’s wrist to stop them being separated, and, while surprised that Nico had initiated the contact, Will felt pleased. Nico was craning his neck and standing on his tiptoes – searching. Will chuckled and bent down to whisper in Nico’s ear.

“Too short, Death Boy?” He said, earning him a glowering look from Nico. Straightening, Will looked over the many heads easily and spotted Frank’s large form up in the stands, already seated.

“They’re over there!” Will shouted above the noise, and tightening his grip on Nico, started to barge his way through the crowds.

The chariot racing, while enjoyable, was nothing Will hadn’t seen before. Granted, the Romans went about it a little more blood thirsty than the Greeks, but the sport was essentially the same. When the first chariot turned over, Will was itching to jump from his seat and smother the casualties in his medical wisdom. But, he didn’t. Partly because Nico placed a hand on his shoulder, holding him back. And partly because a team of medics were already leaping into action.

“You’re not on duty, just relax,” Nico said, and Will could feel the tickle of his breath in his ear.

“You’re one to talk,” Will retorted under his breath, but stayed seated. Nico smiled slightly at the comment, but said nothing.

When the game was over, Nico yawned deeply. Will felt himself blush; Nico looked adorably vulnerable. Wow, his crush had intensified massively within the past few days. He felt as though his feelings had snuck up on him and were suddenly jumping out at him and yelling “boo!” whenever Nico moved or spoke. They left quickly, trying to beat the large crowds, and walked close together back up to their dormitory. Nico looked deep in thought and Will felt glad of the comforting silence. The moon glowed beautifully on Nico, lighting him up. Will thought it would be cliché to say he looked like an angel, but he couldn’t deny that he did. It couldn’t just be a coincidence that Nico’s name was ‘di Angelo’.

Will and Nico fell into their beds – separate ones that is, as Will was disappointed to note – and soon drifted off to sleep. Yet it had felt like no time at all had passed when Will felt dawn rise, pulling him with it. They were leaving today. He felt his heart sink in his chest. He had really enjoyed New Rome. Although, he had expected to spend more time in the company of Nico, but they had both been so busy. Even so, Will felt as if they had grown a lot closer over the three days. He rolled himself out of bed and decided to start packing before he risked waking Nico, not wanting the entire Underworld unleashed on him for disturbing the son of Hades’ sleep.

Hazel entered their dorm while Will was carefully folding Nico’s large range of black t-shirts and placing them into a bag.

“Hey, is Nico – Oh, I see he is still asleep,” She said, quietening her voice.

“Would you expect anything else?”

“Well, I thought you might have managed to wake him,”

“Me? Ha, he never listens to me,” Will said and Hazel looked faintly amused by that.

“I just wanted to come and say goodbye, I didn’t know when you would be off,”

“When Nico wakes – so probably mid-afternoon then,” Will said, earning a small laugh. Then miraculously, the bundle of blankets on Nico’s bed shuffled and a groggy voice said “I heard that,” causing both Will and Hazel to laugh. Nico’s head poked out of the blankets, scowling. Hazel ruffled his hair, kissed his cheek, shook Will’s hand and left. Meanwhile, Nico reburied himself in his blankets.

“Nico,” Will sighed.

“Go away, Solace,” replied the bundle of blankets. Will shook his head, he was just going to have to risk the ghostly army Nico would summon; they had to get going. He marched over to Nico’s bed and whisked the blankets away. Nico was curled up in a ball, large brown eyes staring at Will reproachfully. Will felt his knees go weak.

An hour later they were standing outside the car, Jules-Albert already revving the engine, saying there final farewells. Hazel had come back for more and was now sternly making Nico promise to visit soon. Reyna scooped Nico into a firm hug and muttered something in his ear, making Nico turn red. Frank shook their hands, Hazel kissed their cheeks and Reyna ruffled Nico’s hair one last time before they clambered into the car and were off. Nico’s face fell as they started to drive away and Will took his hand, comfortingly. He almost forgot about Nico’s ‘no touching’ thing when the son of Hades didn’t even pull away, but instead held on tightly. Will felt himself relax and closed his eyes.

Chapter Text

NICO POV

“I spy with my little eye something beginning with…” Will said, eyes wandering about their surroundings, “With… ‘Z’.”

Nico sighed.

“Zombie,” He said without pause.

“Wow you’re good,” Will pouted.

“Did you mean Jules-Albert or me?” Nico asked eyebrows raised. Will winked and said nothing. Nico felt a growl of annoyance leave him causing Will to laugh softly. The noise was so light and… Sunny – Nico felt his heart skip. He had spent the majority of the car journey debating in his head how, or whether he even should, tell Will of his feelings.

“Okay, your turn, Death Boy,” Will said, grinning. Nico scowled, and rubbed his eyes.

“Um… I spy, uh, I spy with my little eye something beginning with… Uh, ‘S’.”

“’S’?”

Nico nodded.

“Solace?”

“Not everything is about you,” Nico said.

“I beg to differ…”

“Just guess.”

“Um, S… S… Snake?”

“Where in hell do you see a snake?” Nico said, incredulous.

“Sheep?”

“No.”

“Sock?”

“No, you-,”

“Shoe?”

“Not too good at this are you, Sunshine?” Nico said.

“Sunshine!” Will exclaimed while Nico cursed himself, “Aha! So it is all about me then?”

Nico felt his heart flutter at the grin Will gave him.

They stopped for the night at another crappy motel and no sooner had they entered their shared room did Will collapse into bed. Nico laughed softy – they had been on the road for ages and the sun had gone down hours ago, no wonder Will was so tired. Nico quickly got into his own bed and it didn’t take long until they were both snoring softly.

Morning came and Will sprung out of bed, refreshed and annoyingly cheerful. Nico swore and, being the lazy bastard he is, refused to get up.

An hour later, Nico rose groggily from his bed to see Will impatiently tapping his foot. Groaning, Nico decided he would get out of bed, if only to prevent Will stealing his duvet again. When they were both showered and breakfasted they hit the road once more. Will was humming softly, his legs laid leisurely over the front seat and his eyes closed. Gods, he was hot. He also seemed to be in a good mood, although, if Nico thought about it, Will was never in anything but a good mood. Nico held his breath and asked the question that had been weighing on his mind.

“Are you gay?” He said, the words tumbling out at light speed. It was something he had wondered, even suspected, but desperately wanted to know for sure. Will cracked open an eye.

“What?” He said, puzzled. Oh gods, he wasn’t… Or what if he thought the question was intrusive? Nico gulped.

“Um…”

“Am I gay?” Will said, sitting up and frowning.

“Yeah… I mean, I don’t know, you might be, I was just... Are you?” Nico said.

“Uh, no,” Will’s frown deepened. Nico felt his heart sink and suddenly his throat ached – he was finding it difficult to swallow. The disappointment crushed him. Will spoke again.

“I’m, uh, bisexual,” He said. Now it was Nico’s turn to frown.

“You’re what?” He asked, confusion etched into his features.

“Bisexual… Y’know, like, I like girls and boys,” Will said, looking curiously at Nico.

“That’s… That’s a thing?” Nico said and Will laughed lightly.

“Of course it’s a thing, what’s going on, Nico?” Will looked concerned.

“I, uh, just didn’t know that was possible… I mean being gay wasn’t an option in the 40s, I didn’t even know being, uh, both, was possible…” Nico said. Will made a small noise of understanding.

“Ah, I forget, the 1940s thing.”

Nico nodded.

“So, would you… Be with someone who was… Gay?”

Will laughed again.

“Well I don’t think any straight guys would want to go on a date with me, let alone have sex with me,” He said, noticing the small wince Nico gave at the mention of ‘sex’. Nico felt confused, but relieved all the same. He had a chance with Will! Well… if Will actually liked him in that way. Whatever chance he had was small anyway, but his hopes raised just a little.

“So have you ever dated anyone?” Nico asked, genuinely curious.

“Well, a few summers ago, there was this one girl… Oh gods, I can’t believe I’m telling you this,” Will said, covering his face in his hands, “She was a daughter of Ares, and as you can imagine, it didn’t go too well… We went out twice and, well, it ended when I accidentally stabbed her with a fork. Now, let me warn you, never stab a child of Ares with a fork!”

Will shuddered at the memory and Nico felt himself smiling.

“Where is she now?”

Will stilled.

“She died. In the battle of Manhattan… It was long after we had dated, but still…”

Nico nodded silently. He knew about death and the pain it could cause. He had kind of numbed himself to it within the past few years. He began to fear that only people he really loved would provoke any emotion from him at their deaths. Such thoughts proved to himself how broken he really was.

“Yeah, but what about you?” Will said, stretching out.

“What about me?”

“Any love interests? Any dates? Any big scary boyfriend coming to kick my ass for whisking you off to New Rome?”

“Um… I haven’t really had time…” Nico stammered. He was taken aback that Will knew he was gay, but not really surprised that the news had spread quickly. Luckily he didn’t know about Percy.

“C’mon, no one? Really?” Will grinned.

“When I was five, a girl in my class kissed my cheek in the cloakroom…” Nico said, remembering how it didn’t feel right, even then.

“Wow, Nico, keep it in your pants!” Will said laughing.

“I, uh, kind of had a thing for Percy, as well, for a few years,” Nico said, unsure of why he was revealing one of his most closely guarded secrets. Nico risked a glance at Will. He looked sheepish. Nico hadn’t expected that! He had thought Will might be shocked, revolted, pitying maybe, but not sheepish. Nico scowled.

“What?”

“I, um, it’s just, I knew…” Will stammered. Nico’s eyebrows shot up. Apparently news about him liking Percy had also spread.

“I kind of overheard you telling Percy,” Will said, guilt flooding his features. Nico felt his eyes swarm with clouds.

“Nico, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, but I couldn’t help it and I didn’t realize how private a conversation it was until too late!” Will pleaded. Nico’s brief anger disappeared. He realized the fury had simply been an instinctive reaction – he wasn’t really cross with the son of Apollo. Besides, it wasn’t like he hadn’t had his own share of eavesdropping.

“It’s fine,” Nico said tightly.

“It’s – What?” Will said, taken aback.

“It’s fine, I don’t mind… It’s not like I’ve never overheard any of your private conversations before,” Nico said, wavering between smirking and anxiety. Will frowned.

“I – What? You have?”

“Yeah,”

“When? What did I say?”

“You called me cute,” Nico said, settling for the smirk. Will opened his mouth, then closed it again and his frown deepened. He repeated this routine for a while before sinking back into his chair.

“Oh,” He said and Nico smiled.

“I am not cute.”

Chapter Text

NICO POV

“Nico!” A gruff voice shouted, followed by a slightly higher pitched yell. Nico turned to see Jason and Piper barreling towards him. He just had time to shove Will to safety before he was smothered in Jason.

“Ow – Jason – Can’t breathe,” Nico gasped. Jason chuckled and released him.

“How was New Rome? How was Reyna? And Hazel?” Piper asked anxiously, she looked like she was trying incredibly hard to not engulf Nico in a hug of her own.

“Um, good,” Nico shrugged.

“Oh my gods, Nico, you’re never going to guess what happened-,”

“He’s back-,”

“He just strolled back in one day, goddess in tow, you know how he is-,”

“He’d been planning this the whole time-,”

Nico blinked, stunned, as Jason and Piper gushed at him.

“Um… What? Who?” He asked.

“Leo!” They said in unison, beaming. Nico felt his heart jump and a frown form on his face. No, that couldn’t be right – he’d seen, he’d felt Leo die. He hadn’t felt him come back again. Nico exchanged glances with Will who looked just as bewildered.

“Come on!” Piper shouted, grabbing Nico’s arm. Nico allowed himself to be whisked off, curiosity and confusion getting the better of him. Piper and Jason took Nico down to the lake where, sure enough, he could see the unruly mop of black hair atop the scrawny son of Hephaestus. Leo was there, hand in hand with a young girl whose beauty clearly marked her out as a goddess.

“What?” He muttered and Jason simply beamed at him. There was a large group surrounding Leo and it didn’t take long for them to spot Nico. Percy waved him over. Hesitant, Nico stumbled forward.

“Nico!” Leo said, grinning, “Meet Calypso,”

Nico nodded his greetings, speechless. Leo was gesturing proudly at Calypso while the goddess herself was smiling a little more bashfully.

“H-hi,” He stuttered out, already thinking he would need a word with Hades over this, “How are you alive?”

Leo laughed and explained everything. Nico felt a burden lifted from his shoulders, he hadn’t known how much Leo’s death had been weighing on him. It wasn’t grief, but guilt. Even as Leo had exploded before his very eyes, something had felt different about his death. Nico couldn’t quite bring himself to find out what, nor could he bring himself to tell his friends. He felt relieved, now, that it had all worked out for the better. He breathed out, smile forming on his face, and looked around at the crowd. His smile fell when he saw Will sneaking off quietly.

When everyone had drifted slightly away and Leo and Calypso stood alone, Nico approached them, preparing himself.

“Uh… Leo?” He said. Leo turned towards him, smiling.

“Yeah?”

“I, um, just wanted to apologize for… For not looking for you… I, um, something about your death didn’t feel normal, and I knew that, but I didn’t look for you, or find out what happened to you and… I’m sorry,” Nico said, cheeks burning. Leo looked slightly confused before letting out a small bark of a laugh.

“Ha, I knew I wouldn’t be able to fool you with my death… But, hey, you didn’t need to look for me, it wasn’t your responsibility. Besides, I’m back now, so it’s all good!” He said reassuringly. Nico breathed a sigh of relief. Leo’s words were echoing around his mind – it wasn’t his responsibility. For so long Nico had felt like every death, everything related to death and Hades was somehow his responsibility. To hear it said that it wasn’t made Nico feel suddenly very light. People died of every second of everyday and just because he was a son of Hades, he wasn’t necessarily responsible for every death. Nico nodded.

Jason seized him by the shoulders, grinning maniacally.

“You’re back just in time to play Capture the Flag!” He said excitedly. Nico groaned.

“What? No!”

“No excuses, you’re on my team and that’s that,” Jason said, pulling him into a headlock. Nico considered summoning a couple of skeletons just to prove to Jason who was boss, but refrained, rather enjoying the brotherly interaction and fearing the undead might ruin the moment just a little, however funny it would be. Jason dragged Nico up to Half-Blood Hill, the other demigods following in tow, all chatting animatedly. Nico hadn’t seen everyone this happy in a long time. He hadn’t noticed quite how much everyone had been weighed down by Leo’s supposed death. Perhaps he wasn’t the only one who had been feeling guilty. Maybe everyone had sensed something was wrong, but hadn’t followed through because they hadn’t wanted their hopes crushed. Possibly Leo had had to reassure everyone that it wasn’t their responsibility. He knew how much it was in the nature of a demigod to take liability for everything and everyone. He had seen it in Percy, in Reyna, in Jason and in Will. Most of all he saw it in himself. Maybe now that the war was over and that Leo was back, they could finally rest and relax and begin to really enjoy themselves. Nico felt his thoughts drifting towards Will, perhaps he should really take the chance turn to enjoy himself was long overdue.

Chapter Text

Later that night, the campers all gathered for the game of Capture the Flag. Nico was glad to be on the same team as Jason, Percy and the Ares kids, which, as Will bitterly pointed out, gave their team a slight advantage.

“Don’t worry, Sunshine, I’ll go easy on you,” Nico promised, grinning in spite of himself. Will glowered and rejoined his team. Nico saw Jason and Percy smirking at him and found himself vowing to drag them into Hades himself, despite being on the same team. Clarisse dragged Nico into a team huddle and began sketching out their battle plans. Nico found himself admiring the detail and thought that had gone into the planning.

“Right, Nico, you’re our most important player-,”

“Me?” Nico spluttered and Jason elbowed him.

“Yes,” Clarisse scowled, as though admitting so was physically painful, “Everyone knows the extent of Jason and Percy’s powers, but while they know you’re very powerful, they don’t know how much, and whether they underestimate or overestimate you, they’re going to be wary and scared around you.”

Nico felt his heart deflate slightly. He had spent so long trying to convince himself that he wasn’t scary, only to have Clarisse come along and tell him he was.

“They’re not scared of you normally,” Jason interrupted, “But in battle, they would be stupid not to be scared.”

“But… We’re not in battle,” Nico said and was greeted by a collective gasp of horror. Apparently that wasn’t the right thing to say.

“Nico, this is the biggest battle you have ever been in,” Percy said, perfectly serious. Gods, these guys took the game seriously. Nico raised his eyebrows, but decided not to argue.

“Anyway, Nico, you need to be the front man to break down their defenses,” Clarisse continued, “They’ll see you and hopefully, back off.”

“What if they don’t back off?”

“Then good luck,” Jason said, clapping him on the back. So basically, he was their shield. Great.

Team Big Three (as Percy had named them, much to Clarisse’s dislike) scattered, taking up their positions. Nico found himself kind of nervous, realizing that he hadn’t really listened all that carefully to the battle pans. Chiron had forbidden shadow travelling, to Will’s relief and Nico’s annoyance. If he could shadow travel, he could have found and gotten the flag within seconds. That, he supposed, was why it had been forbidden.

“You’ll be fine, Nico,” Percy said, juggling balls of water and racing off through the trees. The whistle blew and the game began. Nico took a deep breath and started jogging in the general direction of the other team. Clarisse, Jason and a few other Ares kids were following him at a reasonable distance, but far enough that anyone of the opposing team would not be able to see them. As they advanced they came across a few members of the other team, and if they didn’t run at the sight of Nico, as Clarisse had promised, Nico quickly dispatched them with a skeleton or two. Nico knew they were nearing the flag when the opposition thickened. He lost count of how many skeletons he was summoning and how many yelps and squeals he heard as a skeleton went charging after another camper. Nico almost stumbled to a stop when one, very blond, very smiley camper stepped out in front of him, armed with a bow and arrow. He should have known there would be one camper who wasn’t afraid of him.

“Don’t even think about it,” Will said as Nico summoned another skeleton. Remembering his earlier promise to go easy on him, the skeleton sheepishly buried himself back into the earth. He distantly heard a loud crash and suddenly Jason, Clarisse and the Ares kids – his back up – were running away from him.

“C’mon Nico!” Jason yelled over his shoulder. Nico glanced back at Will.

“You going to stop me?” He said, gesturing towards to bow. Will shrugged.

“I don’t think so, you’d probably turn me into an Underworld-y chew toy before I could even try anything,”

Nico nodded and decided to go back on his promise, just because the idea of Will fighting off a skeleton was too funny to resist. Will yelped as a skeletal hand poked itself out of the ground and grabbed his foot, knocking him to the floor. Nico laughed and helped Will up, finding his face very close to Will’s.

“My point,” Will breathed, eyes flitting between Nico’s eyes and lips. Nico nodded again, not trusting his voice. He was very close to Will and suddenly he felt his back slamming into a tree and Will’s lips upon his own. Nico growled in surprise but followed Will’s lead and kissed him back. Will’s hands were either side of Nico’s head, nails digging into the tree, while Nico’s had found their way onto Will’s waist. Nico felt Will’s heart thudding against his own chest, fast and stuttering. Suddenly a very loud, very Percy-like yell of delight sounded throughout the camp, signaling the end of the game. Nico and Will broke apart, breathing heavily and staring into each other’s eyes. Nico had never seen anything so blue.

“Guess you won,” Will murmured against Nico’s lips. Nico couldn’t find it in him to talk. Instead, he pulled Will’s mouth towards his once more and shadow travelled them away to Cabin 13 mid-kiss. Their feet stumbled a bit as they landed and Will blinked in surprise. Apparently shadow travelling while kissing Will wasn’t a good idea, it turned out he couldn’t concentrate all that well while Will’s breath mingled with his. However, he didn’t dwell on it as Will grabbed Nico again and kissed him.

Chapter Text

WILL POV

Will pulled Nico into a tight embrace, holding the smaller boy against his body. Nico seemed cold, as usual, but he wasn’t flinching away from Will at least. Will smiled into Nico’s messy raven hair and fell back onto Nico’s bed, pulling the son of Hades with him. Nico curled up into Will and was smiling faintly. Will marveled at his incredibly fortune – he was holding the son of Hades in his arms! The great and powerful; the fearful child of Death had kissed him. Will felt overwhelmed at the wonder and beauty of the guy lying next to him.

“Nico,” Will mumbled softly.

“Yeah?”

“Why didn’t we do this weeks ago?”

“Because I was a near-ghost, and you were an annoyingly sunny doctor,”

“I still am,”

“Yes, but now I like you for it,” Nico said, reaching up to kiss Will again. Will grinned.

The night passed quickly with Nico wrapped in Will’s arms. When dawn rose Will’s eyes fluttered open, hardly daring to believe that it was Nico he held in his arms. He sighed knowing he had a long shift in the infirmary and he was probably already late. Will carefully detached himself from the snoring son of Hades, kissed his head and made his way back to his own cabin, unable to shake himself from the light feeling that had come over him the moment Nico’s lips touched his. He quickly showered, changed his clothes that still smelled of Nico and forced himself to head towards the infirmary rather than just back to Cabin 13.

The morning passed slowly and Will found it difficult to focus himself on even the simplest of tasks. Every time the door opened he looked up, hoping to see Nico, but every time he was disappointed. Not that he really expected Nico to come and see him in the infirmary, but that didn’t quell the small spark of hope dwelling inside him. When lunch time rolled around, Will decided to go himself to find the son of Hades. He jogged down to the training arena, intending to take Nico to lunch when suddenly, his steps faltered. Nico was there, fighting with Percy, moving gracefully and swiftly, cutting through the air with an intense focus in his eyes. He looked so powerful, so strong. Will knew they were different – their personalities were exact opposites; that was what had attracted him to the son of Hades in the first place. But it wasn’t just that. Nico was a fighter, a warrior, and Will was a healer. Nico looked up suddenly, saw Will, and with one swift movement knocked Percy to the floor. Ignoring Percy’s yell of annoyance, Nico came jogging over to Will.

“Hey,” He said, somewhat shyly. Will smiled and took Nico’s hand, tugging him away gently. They walked quietly, not in the direction of the mess hall, but towards the strawberry fields. Will let go of Nico’s hand and Nico blinked, as if waking from a dream.

“What are we doing here?” He asked.

“Didn’t feel like being surrounded by people,” Will said, falling to the ground.

“Story of my life,” Nico said, sitting himself down next to Will. Will wrapped an arm around Nico’s shoulder and sighed softly.

“What is it?” Nico asked.

“What is what?”

“You’ve barely said a word today and in the weeks we’ve known each other you rarely ever shut up.”

Will laughed softly and buried his head in Nico’s shoulder.

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

“Yes it is something, now spill.”

“It’s just, seeing you fighting with Percy...”

“This is about Percy?” Nico said, incredulous.

“No! Of course not, it’s about you.”

“Me?” Nico sounded slightly hurt. Will gulped – he wasn’t expressing himself too well.

“You’re just so powerful and so strong and… I was just thinking about the time, at the gas station, when I was attacked by the gorgon…”

“You were kissing her, I don’t think it was too hard on you.”

“She kissed me! Anyway, that’s not the point… The point is, you came to my rescue, and I’m grateful, but I want to be able to save myself. I want to be strong enough that I don’t need to be kissed by a gorgon before my knight in shining armor comes to save the day…”

“You want me to… train you?” Nico said frowning. Will looked into Nico’s eyes and nodded.

“Maybe one day I’ll come to your rescue,” Will said, gently squeezing Nico’s shoulders.

“Pff… As if,” Nico said, smiling broadly, his face lighting up.

Will breathed a sigh of contentment and relaxed into the grassy fields he lay in, son of Hades by his side.