Archive of Our Own

Nico found it strange how he always wanted to be around Will.

It wasn’t the feeling in particular that was strange. He’d felt it before, whenever he was around a certain son of Poseidon. He knew what it felt like to like a person so much he wanted to be a part of them, burrow a hole in their chest and live inside of them. Drink them in, yearning for them like a flower yearns for sunlight.

But this time, he was feeling it for someone else.

It started in his three day stay at the infirmary. He’d hear footsteps walking past his bed, and he’d jerk his head up, his heart deflating when he saw it wasn’t Will. Or the opposite, the light and airy feeling he got when it was Will, coming to check on him, laying a hand on his forehead to check his vitals.

Now Nico was discharged from the infirmary, and there was a sort of gaping hole in his stomach. He knew, in the back of his mind, the cause of the emptiness. He missed Will. He missed waking up each morning to a “Good morning, sweetheart!” and a ruffle to his hair. He missed how gentle Will’s fingers were as he stitched Nico’s wounds. He missed unruly blonde curls, glowing skin, and freckles that looked like constellations.

Nico had been out of the infirmary for a day. Yet he couldn’t stop himself as his feet made the path up to the Big House. It was like he was a piece of metal, and the infirmary was a magnet. No, not the infirmary. It was Will. Will was the magnet, tugging Nico’s ore heart in each and every direction.

Nico walked into the infirmary, tugging the sleeves of his hoodie as he paused in the doorway and looked around. He saw Austin and Kayla, cutting bandages and bickering over something. He saw Sherman Yang in bed, Miranda Gardiner fussing over his wounds that another Apollo kid had just healed. His eyes skipped over everyone else, all their faces blurring together into one unimportant mob, searching only for-

Will.

There he was.

Nico felt that tug again, his heart lurching, like it was trying to jump out of his chest and run towards Will. He felt the gaping hole in his stomach begin to mend itself, filling itself with the rush of seeing Will. Of even just being in the same room as him, seeing him grin at one of his younger siblings, ruffle his hair the same way he’d do to Nico’s.

The camper ran off, and Will looked up. His grin widened when he saw Nico, and Nico ached because he was responsible for that smile.

Will walked towards Nico, and the unmistakeable scent of sweet tea and cologne that smelled like summer became stronger. Will was taller than Nico. He had to look up when he talked to him.

“Back already?” Will teased. His eyes were gleaming.

Nico used to have his own definition of the color blue. It was blue birthday cake, the waves of the ocean lapping against the shore, a boy who would never like him back because he was too different. Now, blue had a completely different meaning to him. Blue was chipped nail polish, friendship bracelets, flip flops and cargo shorts. It was kindness, understanding, whispered words when the universe felt so loud but Will would talk in hushed tones just for Nico. Blue was the color of the eyes that Nico saw when he closed his own.

Nico opened his mouth to speak, but it was like his heart climbed into his throat, took control of his vocal cords, and spoke for him, without his brain even agreeing on the words. “Do you wanna go somewhere?”

Will raised an eyebrow. “Where? My shift ends in like, five minutes, so we can-“

And before Nico even knew what he was doing, he was grabbing Will’s wrist and shadow traveling away. As they tumbled through the darkness, Nico was aware of Will’s hand fumbling for his own, twining their fingers together and squeezing tightly. Nico would gladly shadow travel halfway across the world with the Athena Parthenos again if it meant Will would hold his hand while doing so.

Eventually they stumbled out of a shadow, and Nico realized he didn’t even realize where he had been planning to go, but when he looked around, he knew. They were in Central Park. He winced. He hadn’t meant to shadow travel them out of camp. Chiron would have his head if he found out.

“Nico, where are we?” Will asked, shivering as he looked around. The effects of shadow travel still lingered on him. His skin looked pale, cold, and sweaty. But he was still beautiful. “This isn’t camp. Wait, is this Central Park? Nic-“

“Sorry,” Nico interrupted. The toe of his Converse scuffed the dirt. “I can take us back, if you want.”

Will opened his mouth, then closed it. He looked around. They were in a quiet area of the park, with just a few families walking around and runners with their headphones in. There were two dogs nearby, off their leashes, playing with each other, their owners watching nearby. One was a golden retriever, the other a chocolate lab. Will smiled. He looked up at the trees above them, the branches swaying in the wind, the sunlight streaming through.

“No. Let’s stay,” Will decided.

Nico brightened. He smiled softly, taking Will’s hand gently before leading him to a rock. He made sure it wasn’t the Door of Orpheus before he sat down. There were a few benches nearby, but Nico didn’t care. The rock was big enough for the two of them, but small enough so when Will sat next to him, their legs and shoulders pressed together.

Will breathed deeply, tilting his head up to breath in the warm air. “I love summer.”

“S’fitting,” Nico said quietly, smiling as he watched Will. He admired the curve of his Adam’s apple in his throat, the chisel of his jaw, the slope of his nose. The color was beginning to come back into Will’s face, turning it that strong tan color again. His freckles stood out against his skin, and in the sunlight, even more became apparent. They dotted his cheeks, the bridge of his nose. There were a few on his forehead, his chin, his neck, his shoulders, which were exposed by the strap of his tank top. Nico wondered where else he had freckles, if they were all over his body. He realized he’d been quiet for a moment as he watched Will, then cleared his throat and clarified, “For a son of Apollo, y’know.”

Will cracked a smile. He let his head fall to the side so he was looking at Nico. “I got it.”

Nico brought his knees to his chest, leaning his head on them as he continued to look at Will. His eyes flickered over his face, shamelessly appreciating his beauty, before they met Will’s own eyes. They maintained eye contact for a few seconds, the only sounds being the giggling of children nearby and the barking of the dogs who were still playing together. Then Nico reached out, his fingertips gently brushing Will’s face. Will blinked in surprise, but didn’t pull away.

Nico took this as a sign to continue. His fingertips swept across Will’s face, tracing his jaw, his bottom lip, which was slightly chapped and Nico wanted to kiss. He brought his fingers to Will’s cheeks and nose, touching each freckle one by one, connecting them. They really did look like constellations. Nico imagined if his finger was a marker, and he continued connecting Will’s freckles, they’d make a map. A map that led to the most valuable, rarest, shiniest treasure to ever exist.

Nico planted his hand on the side of Will’s face, cradling it gently as he swept his thumb across Will’s cheekbone. Then he pulled his hand away, reaching down to twine his fingers with Will’s. He tore his gaze away from Will’s, not being able to look him in the eyes as Will’s thumb began to rub Nico’s hand. Will didn’t look at him either. They stared straight forward, watching the dogs play. They didn’t say anything. They didn’t have to. They didn’t have to talk about how they were holding hands, or how Nico had just caressed Will’s face so gently. They simply just existed together.

***

They stayed like that for about half an hour, before Nico cleared his throat and said they should get back to camp before anyone noticed they were gone. They hadn’t let go of each others hands the whole time, and Nico’s fingers were beginning to go numb. But a good kind of numb. The kind of numb where he couldn’t feel his limbs but didn’t want to. Where he felt as light as air, like he could float away. His hand pressed so closely to Will he felt like their bodies were starting to merge.

They stayed holding hands as Nico shadow traveled them back to camp. When they materialized into the camp, Nico stumbled, and Will caught him, strong arms wrapping around his weak frame. As Will held him, warmness seeping from his body into Nico’s, a sudden wave of exhaustion came over Nico. He didn’t know why. He’d shadow traveled greater distances without passing out immediately. Maybe it was because he had Will with him. Or because said son of Apollo was so warm, and Nico felt safe around him, and his eyelids were beginning to droop and his body was deflating against Will’s chest and then he was asleep.

When he came to, he blinked a few times to adjust. He was in his cabin, lying in bed, under the covers. The lights were off, but the lamp on his nightstand was flicked on, casting the room in a gentle glow. His shoes and jacket had been removed, gently placed by the door and hung on his dresser.

Nico sat up, rubbing his eyes.

“Good nap?”

Nico’s heart skipped a beat. Not because he was startled by the sudden voice, but because he recognized who the voice belonged to. It was deep, but gentle, always with a hint of amusement behind it, like he was constantly smiling.

“Will,” Nico directed his attention to the boy sitting cross-legged at the foot of his bed. Will was grinning, a book open in his lap. He recognized the cover, then looked to his nightstand where the book had been the night before. It was gone now.

“Sorry,” Will closed the book and handed it back to Nico. “I didn’t want to wake you up or anything, but I didn’t want to leave, so I just read to pass the time…” He shrugged. “Good book.”

Nico felt his face flush. Will didn’t want to leave. “Yeah. It is.”

“You like it?”

“Why would I be reading a book I don’t like, Solace?” Nico snorted.

Will’s eyebrows raised, and he held up his hands in mock surrender. “Wow, you’re sarcastic even directly after waking up.”

“You should know that after my three days in the infirmary,” Nico retorted.

“True,” Will hummed in agreement. He held out his hand, and it took Nico a second to realize he wanted the book back. Nico pressed it into his hands, and Will flipped it open, skimming through the pages. He stopped on one and brushed his finger over the paper.

“You annotate in Italian,” He remarked, holding the book up to show Nico. Nico’s face flushed when he saw the Italian. He’d scribbled it into the margins in black pen. His handwriting was sort of like cursive, but more messy. Nico had seen Will’s handwriting from documents and prescriptions in the infirmary. It was a lot different, blocky and a bit unintelligible at times. It sort of looked like a kindergarteners, but Nico thought that was cute.

“I do.”

“I knew you were Italian, but I didn’t know if you could actually speak it or anything,” Will said, closing the book and laying it on the bed in between them.

“Well, yeah. It’s my first language. English is second. I would mostly talk in Italian with my mother, and Bianca and used it together at the Lotus Casino. We knew English fluently, but I think we sort of liked it. Talking in Italian, I mean. It was kind of like our own little code. No one else knew what we were saying.”

Will’s smiled. That beautiful smile that made Nico’s chest swell, and cured whatever heartache he was feeling, sealing up the hole in his stomach. If he could actually see the hole, he thought it would be shaped like Will’s smile.

“That’s nice,” Will said, and he sounded so earnest it made Nico’s head swim. “What did it say in the book?”

“Just some notes about the characters, I think.”

Will hummed. A beat. “I don’t believe you can still speak Italian.”

Nico blinked. “What?” He asked, incredulously.

“Yep, you heard me,” Will crossed his arms indignantly. “I’ve never heard you speak it.”

Nico spluttered. “Why- why would I speak it here? No one else speaks Italian except Chiara.”

“Say something, then. I want to hear you.”

Nico thought for a moment. Then, he said, “Sei davvero carino, Will. Fastidioso a volte, ma carino.”

Will grinned. “I understood one of those words. Will!”

“You’re so smart,” Nico deadpanned, a dry smirk tugging at his lips. “Believe I can speak Italian now?”

“Fine. What did you say?”

Nico pantomimed zipping his lips. “Not telling.”

“Aw, come on, Nico!” Will threw himself at Nico, dramatically draping himself across Nico’s body. Nico just scoffed, pretending he wasn’t blushing. “Please?”

“No,” Will was now lowering himself down, his head resting in Nico’s lap, and Nico had to make a conscious effort not to spontaneously combust. “Maybe sometime. Later.”

“When’s later?” Will asked, looking up at Nico with those big blue eyes. Images of chipped nail polish, friendship bracelets, and chapped lips floated across Nico’s mind.

“Later.”

Will pouted. Nico smirked.

“It’s my turn to ask you a dialect question,” Nico said. “Do you have a country accent? I can hear it sometimes when you talk really fast, or are excited, or if I really listen. But it’s not that noticeable.”

“Well, technically, a country accent isn’t a dialect, it’s an accent, but-“

“Answer the question, Solace.”

“I was getting there!” Will protested. “I do, yeah. It was really prominent when I lived in Texas. But when I came to Camp Half-Blood, I sort of learned to disguise it. That’s why it only slips out at certain times, usually when I’m feeling strong emotions, and forget to hide it.”

“I don’t think you should hide it,” Nico said. “I think it’s cute.”

“Cute, huh?” Will smirked. Then, in an incredibly dramatized country accent, “You like it, darlin’?”

Nico’s breath hitched. Blood rushed to his cheeks. It was so incredibly ridiculous, but the accented ‘darlin’ bobbed around in Nico’s head, ringing in his ears. “Oh my gods, stop it.”

“No!” Will exclaimed, grinning manically as he sat up. Nico missed the weight and warmth Will’s head on his lap provided, but when Will turned to face him, smiling widely at him, it was all okay. “You asked for this!” In the accent again, “Didn’t you, sweetheart?”

Nico covered his face with his hands. “You’re the worst.”

“Aw, it’s okay, pumpkin,” Nico peeked through his fingers, getting a small glimpse of Will’s smirk. “You’re blushing, aren’t you, hun?”

“Why are you so good at this?” Nico asked, silently cursing the gods.

“What, the country accent, or making you blush?” Will’s smirk only deepened.

“I-“ Nico grew even more flustered. “The country accent, you fucker!”

Will laughed. It echoed in the room around them. “I lived in Texas for ten years, babe! This is the real me! Don’t you like it?”

Nico scoffed. “Hate it.”

“What happened to you saying it was cute?” Will elbowed him playfully.

“I changed my mind, because you’re being a dick,” Nico stated matter of factly.

Will rolled his eyes. “Oh, you love it.”

Nico glared at him, but Will countered it with a smile, and Nico wasn’t strong enough. He crumbled, sighing. “Fine. I love it.”

“Knew it!” Will declared triumphantly. He wrapped Nico in a hug, and suddenly he didn’t care that he’d lost their fake argument. He spoke in the accent again, even more exaggerated, “You just think I’m so cute, don’t you, lovebug?”

And Nico couldn’t help it. He began to smile, then he burst into laughter, and it wasn’t even that funny but that’s what made it funny. He was laughing because Will didn’t have to do anything to make him happy. Just exist. He was laughing because he really liked Will and he thought he’d forgotten what it felt like to be this happy.

Will grinned brightly at the sound, at the idea of making Nico laugh. He continued to talk in that stupid, dramatic country accent, calling Nico ridiculous pet names and poking him in the stomach to get him to laugh more. Soon they were both cracking up, falling over each other, their bodies shaking with giggles, and neither of them had ever felt more alive despite the fact they we’re sitting inside, in the dark, on a summer day.

“Niccolò, right?” Will said out of nowhere.

It surprised Nico, the last of his laughter dying down as he wiped tears out of his eyes. “What?”

“Your full name. It’s Niccolò. That’s how I knew you were Italian. We have, uh, the campers full names on documents and stuff.” A beat. “It’s pretty.”

Nico grinned lopsidedly. “Thanks. No one’s called me Niccolò since… well, since my mother passed away.”

“Niccolò,” Will repeated. He said the name like a child’s first words, curious and admirable. He held it with such weight and importance, like he thought Nico deserved that much appreciation as well. It rolled off his tongue with ease, and Nico had never thought his name was pretty until it was in Will’s voice and he was saying it with that smile of his. “Niccolò. Can I call you it?”

Nico shrugged. “Only if I can call you William.”

Will scrunched his face up. “It’s so… fancy.”

“So is Niccolò,” Nico countered.

And Will laughed. “Touché.”

***

It was becoming increasingly obvious that Nico was crushing on Will. Obvious to him, at least. He hoped it wasn’t obvious to anyone else.

He found himself only wanting to be around Will. No one else. Even if he was with Will, but someone else was there, it wasn’t the same. Nico wanted Will all to himself. Was it selfish? Maybe. But could anyone blame him? Nico felt safe around Will. He felt whole.

He found himself searching for Will in every room. Coming to the infirmary just to see him. Watching him from across the dining pavilion during dinner. Going to campfire just so he could sit next to Will, their legs pressed together.

“I think you’ve visited the infirmary more than actual injured campers, Niccolò,” Will commented one day as Nico walked into the infirmary for the twentieth time that week.

“What if I was injured?” Nico asked, pulling himself up on the table Will was sitting at, cutting bandages.

“Are you?” Will looked up at him, already knowing the answer.

“No.” Nico wondered if there would ever be a point where he’d be faking injuries just to see Will in the infirmary. He hoped he wouldn’t have to stoop that low, but he wouldn’t put it past himself.

“That’s what I thought.” Will nodded to himself, cutting the last bandage before moving them out of the way.

Nico kicked his legs in the air, picking at the skin around his nails. Will frowned as he noticed this, taking Nico’s hand and pulling it away gently, twining their fingers together instead. Nico’s thumb was bleeding where he’d picked it, so Will reached over and took one of the bandages he’d cut. He held Nico’s hand, so, so gently, and wrapped the bandage around his thumb. When he was finished, be brought Nico’s hand up to his mouth and kissed his fingers lightly. Nico watched in stunned silence, feeling warmth creep from his hand through his whole body.

“All better?” Will smiled at Nico. Nico felt his body crumbling, felt the hole in his stomach threatening to unravel and send Nico melting along the infirmary floor. But Will was the one who mended the hole, and he held it together tightly, never letting it hollow out again.

“All better,” Nico stammered out. Will was still smiling, still holding Nico’s hand, rubbing his thumb gently over his knuckles.

Someone cleared their throat. Startled, Nico jerked away from Will, head swiveling towards the source of the noise. Kayla stood in the doorway of the infirmary, eyebrows raised and lips pursed in amusement.

“Hey, lovebirds,” She said, causing both Will and Nico to blush. “People actually have to work in here, yeah? Go make out somewhere else.”

“I- we weren’t making out!” Will protested, but Kayla was already walking away, chuckling to herself.

Will dragged a face across his hands, smiling sheepishly as he looked back to Nico. “Sorry about her.”

“S’okay,” Was all Nico could say. His body was still tingling with electricity, frying his mind, preventing him from forming coherent sentences.

“I should probably get back to work,” Will said. “Wanna help?”

That was Nico had been doing. Coming to the infirmary, asking Will if there was anything he needed help with. Will usually have him simple tasks, like restocking gloves and or syringes, and cleaning equipment.

Nico blinked, overcoming his embarrassment, then smiled. No matter how flustered Will made him, he made everything so easy, too. So familiar. There was a certain routine, a certain sureness about Will. Nico really liked that.

“Sure.”

***

They went to campfire together that night. They sat on the same log, right in front of the fire. The heat warmed Nico’s face, but it was nothing compared to the warmth he felt where Will’s leg and shoulder pressed against his own. The fire was a simple lighter in comparison.

Austin was leading the campfire songs, sitting in the middle with his guitar. Everyone was singing along, and though Will claimed he inherited none of Apollo’s musical abilities, he sounded beautiful as he murmured the words under his breath. Nico didn’t know the words, but that was fine. He was okay just watching Will. The way his the fire danced in his eyes, reflecting the light perfectly. The way his hair framed his face and fell around his jaw. He listened to the way Will sang, how he said each word as if it carried utmost importance, the same way he’d said Nico’s name. He was more mumbling than singing, but his voice had that song-like lilt to it. It was a low and a bit rough, but at the same time, light and airy and beautiful.

“I’ll light the fire,” Will sang along, his head swaying with the music. He glanced at Nico, smiling when he caught the son of Hades already looking at him. “Sing, Niccolò.”

Nico shook his head. “I don’t know the words.”

“Have you never heard Joni Mitchell?” Will asked, his eyebrow raised like this was a personal offense.

“No,” Nico admitted. “Is that bad?”

“Not bad,” Will assured him. “I’ll just have to introduce you.”

“In my defense, when you’re frozen in time for decades, you tend to miss out on all the latest musical hits,” Nico said, shuddering when he remembered the intense amount of Lady Gaga they played in the casino. Really, it was like she was the only singer that existed.

Will snorted. “Joni Mitchell isn’t one of the latest. This song is from the 1970s.”

“Well, I was still in the casino at that time,” Nico argued, crossing his arms.

Will laughed. The sound was even prettier than the music. “Okay, okay, you win.”

He causally draped an arm around Nico’s shoulder, and Nico wanted to cry. He wasn’t used to such open, intimate contact. Will hugged him and touched him like it was nothing. Most people were scared to even get in a five foot radius of Nico. But not Will. Will wasn’t ‘most people’.

Will had continued singing under his breath, and Nico shifted to look at him. Will’s arm was still wrapped around Nico’s shoulder, and the warmth pressed into him almost suffocatingly. But a good kind of suffocation. The kind of suffocation that comes from hiding under your covers when it’s cold, the blankets falling down on you.

Will was shining. And it wasn’t coming from the glow of the fire. Will was simply ethereal. It made Nico’s head hurt, how perfect Will was, because how could a human being be so unreal but so human at the same time? Will didn’t seem to have a single flaw, but he wasn’t some otherworldly being. He was so, so human. His nail polish was chipped and his lips were chapped and he had a small pimple on his chin but he was so beautiful. He was the kindest person Nico had ever met, and he thought Nico was kind too. The thought was enough to make him want to cry, because what had he done to deserve a person like Will?

Even if they were just friends, Will was too good for him. Will shone in a way Nico never would, but he was still so kind to him. He was kind. Nico wasn’t used to that. He had never felt so loved, so wanted, so important. Will made him feel important. All the small things he did, like saying Nico’s full name, or bandaging his bleeding thumb and kissing his fingers. Did he deserve to have his fingers kissed? It was such a small action, but carried so much genuine love and affection, Nico felt like he was seeing stars whenever he looked at Will. Stars and sunlight. Summer and warm strawberry-scented breezes.

It was such a contrast from how he’d been feeling the past couple years. When he thought of those times, the strawberry-scented air turned dark and stale. It smelled of death. It smelled of sadness. It smelled of being in love with a straight boy who was probably weirded out by him.

And then the positive things he’d been feeling slowly turned negative. He thought of Percy, when he’d told Nico that Bianca was dead. The whole world seemed to be washed in blue, and not the good type. Nico yearned for the shade of blue that shone in Will’s eyes, not the depressing hue that overtook his past couple years.

The blue was the same color as Percy’s birthday cake. It made Nico think of how he’d eaten a slice outside Percy’s window, and how bittersweet it was. Because he was sitting with Percy, and it was just them, and the world was quiet. But Percy just saw Nico as a friend. If even that.

Will always had a routine, a sureness that comforted Nico. It was familiar. But this sort of blue, this sadness was familiar. He’d lived with it for years. This was how he should be feeling, he thought. This was what he deserved. Not the thrill of another shade of blue, a blue that brought understanding and kindness and safety.

The song ended, and Will looked over at Nico. He was grinning, but it fell when he saw Nico.

“Niccolò?” Will said, and Nico wanted to cry. Then he realized he was crying, silent tears streaming down his face. “Niccolò, sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

“I-“ Nico started, but he couldn’t seem to say anything else. He choked on his own tears.

“Come on,” Will said, and then he was standing and gently touching Nico’s elbow, pulling him up and leading him away from the campfire. “Come on, baby, you’re okay. I’ve got you.”

The words only made Nico cry harder, because no, he didn’t deserve to be got and he didn’t deserve Will’s kindness. Will’s touch suddenly became suffocating, and not the good type, so he pulled away.

“Why are you so nice to me?” Nico asked, and he would’ve winced at how rough his voice sounded but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Will said, so earnestly, so honestly. Nico searched for any trace of doubt or joke in his voice but found none. “Niccolò… Neeks, you’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met. I’ve never met anyone like you.”

Nico’s bottom lip trembled. The words were vague enough, Nico could twist them into whatever he wanted them to mean. He could interpret it as Will saying he was weird and not normal. But he couldn’t bring himself to, because that’s not what Will meant and he knew it.

He knew that Will meant that Nico was special. That he was irreplaceable, unique. And he didn’t think he should take Will’s words for anything but what they were because Will’s words were always so honest and true and it would be a shame to not see them that way.

“I don’t… I don’t feel like I deserve it,” Nico admitted, and he hated the way Will’s face crumbled.

“Why would you think that?” Will said, and he was whispering even though they were far away enough from the campfire that no one could hear them.

“I’m different, Will. And not in the way that you think is so amazing. I don’t see how anyone could like me. Percy didn’t. And he had a good reason not to,” Nico was full on sobbing now, hot tears running down his face. He brushed them away furiously, but they just kept coming. “And I know you don’t like me either, so I don’t know why you’re so nice to me.”

“Can I touch you?” Will asked, and it was so abrupt that it made Nico freeze.

He sniffled quietly. “W-what?”

“Can I touch you?” Will repeated.

“Um… sure…” Nico mumbled, and as quick as he could blink, Will was in front of him. He wrapped his arms around Nico’s waist, tilting his head down and pressing his forehead to Nico’s. He reached up and cradled Nico’s face with his hand, gently brushing away his tears. Every time Will touched Nico like this, he wanted to crumble to the floor. But Will held him together. Will kept him whole.

“Niccolò di Angelo, you better listen to me when I say that is not true. Percy was an idiot for not liking you, but that’s not the point. You are likable. You are loveable, Nico. People love you, and you deserve their love. You are genuinely the kindest, most deserving of love person I have ever met. So don’t think any differently, okay?”

Nico hesitated. Sniffled. “…okay.”

“And you don’t know that.”

“What?”

“You said you know I don’t like you. You don’t know that.” Will said.

Nico’s head hurt from crying, and he wondered if he’d heard Will wrong. “Are you… are you saying…?”

“That I like you?” Nico had never heard such gentle words, or felt such a gentle touch when Will tucked a piece of hair behind Nico’s ear. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

“Don’t say that, Will-“

“What? Say the truth?” Will demanded. “I like you, Nico. I like you and nothing is going to change that. You’re the only person I’ve ever felt this way about. I have this urge to be around you all the time and to hold you and to love you. I want to be the one who kisses you goodnight and wakes up in the morning by your side. And I- I’ve written songs about you, Nico. I’m not the musically inclined sibling! That’s how deep I’m in! I like you so much. So don’t try to say you’re not likeable.”

Nico’s brain felt like it had fried by the campfire. He found it hard to process what Will was saying. Will wanted to kiss him goodnight? Wake up next to him? He’d written songs about Nico? “You… you like me?”

“Mhm,” Will nodded, looking down at Nico with the most patient look he’d ever seen. “Is that so hard to believe?”

“A little, yeah,” Nico admitted, and Will chuckled.

“It shouldn’t be.”

They were quiet for a moment. Will kept holding Nico, and Nico never wanted him to let go.

“I like you, too,” Nico said, and it was so quiet Will wouldn’t have been able to hear if they hadn’t been standing so close.

“Yeah?” Will whispered.

“Yeah,” Nico echoed.

Will smiled. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to Nico’s forehead. Nico hummed and fell against Will’s chest, burying his face in the fabric of his shirt. He breathed in his scent, sighing at the cologne he wore. Will really wasn’t like most people.

***

It was only later that night, after Will had walked him back to his cabin and he’d stumbled into bed, that Nico realized the severity of what had just happened. He’d confessed to Will. And Will liked him back.

What did that mean for them? What were they? Were they boyfriends? Nico wanted to be. But he wasn’t sure. His head swam with thoughts, but he somehow managed to drift to sleep.

The next morning, he went straight to the infirmary. Will was there. Of course he was. Nico knew his shift schedules.

“…hey,” Nico said when he walked in, lingering by the doorway.

Will turned right him, and when he grinned, any anxiousness he’d previously felt was washed away. Funny how Will could do that with just a smile.

“Hey,” Will said, dropping whatever he was doing to go greet Nico. He tucked a piece of hair behind his ear and kissed his forehead like it was the most normal thing in the world. “Feeling better?”

“Mhm,” Nico said, and it was true. “Listen, Will, everything you said last night… was that true?”

“About me liking you?” Nico nodded. “Of course, Niccolò. Why would I lie about that?”

Nico just shrugged.

“I like you, Nico. You hear me?” Will placed his hands on either side of Nico’s face, holding him steady as he looked directly into his eyes.

Slowly, Nico began to smile. “I hear you.”

Will grinned.

“So… what are we?” Nico asked, picking at his nails nervously.

Will moved his hands off Nico’s face to twine their fingers together. “I’d like to be your boyfriend. If you’d like to be mine.

Boyfriend. The word traveled through Nico’s ears and down his body, settling in his stomach like a swarm of butterflies. “Boyfriend. Yeah. I’d like to be your boyfriend.”

“Me too,” Will said, and he kissed Nico’s forehead again, like he couldn’t get enough of it, and it was the sweetest, most human thing Nico had ever experienced.

“I want to kiss you goodnight and wake up next to you, too,” Nico whispered. “And… and I’d like to hear those songs you’ve written about me.”

Will laughed. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you about those. Fine, I’ll let you hear. If you told me what you said in Italian that one day.”

Nico cursed.

“All or nothing, Neeks,” Will smiled smugly.

“I said you were cute,” Nico mumbled under his breath.

Still smirking, Will leaned in closer. “What was that? I didn’t hear you.”

“I said you were cute!” Nico exclaimed. “I said: ‘you’re really cute, Will. Annoying at times, but cute’.”

“You did not say the annoying part.”

“Did too.”

“Wow,” Will placed a hand over his heart in mock offense. “I’m hurt. And I thought you liked me.”

Nico rolled his eyes. “Shut up.”

“Gladly,” Will said, and he leaned down, and then he was kissing Nico. He was kissing Nico and the hole in his stomach dissipated completely, replaced with a soft and warm feeling of love.

They pulled apart, and Nico held Will’s face, tracing his fingers over Will’s freckles.

And he felt whole.