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Nico thought he wouldn’t be able to sleep, but it drowned him as soon as he closed his eyes.
He expected nightmares. None came immediately, though.
For a long time, he slept peacefully, dreamlessly. Hypnos was kind to him today - no memories of the Lotus Casino, no memories of her , no hysterical fever dreams that left him screaming.
But not for long.
Eventually, the darkness faded, giving way to the sight of Asphodel. He heard Cupid’s voice coating him before he could process what he was seeing, coating him unpleasantly like honey trickling down his body.
Son of Hades…
Your love is a sin.
Repent for it. Lament for it.
And he saw Hazel, just floating along in Asphodel, just like the first time he saw her. Only this time, he couldn’t move.
He just observed her, moving along, when a gap opened at her feet. She fell, screaming, into the void.
Curiously, he didn’t really feel the grief, the madness that he had felt when he sensed Bianca’s death, or Leo’s. He felt… he felt…
It was kind of as if a part of his heart - a part of him - turned to stone. His body felt several pounds heavier. He felt a tear slide down his cheek.
He felt a sort of numb pain. As if the very matter of him was changing, turning into rock. Like he wanted to feel something, like he wanted to go mad, but couldn’t.
Oh, Hypnos wasn’t being kind anymore.
A couple of seconds after Hazel fell, he saw Percy.
Percy was wandering about as well, completely lifeless, gliding along like a prop in a puppet play. His expression was like Hazel’s - emotionless.
Suddenly, he fell on his knees and turned to dust, just like that. Nico felt another part of his heart harden. He felt the longing to just feel increase, almost becoming a physical pain.
And it just kept happening. He saw Jason fall off a cliff that wasn’t there a minute ago. He saw Leo being swooped up and devoured by an impossibly big eagle. He saw Reyna shrink and disappear. He saw Annabeth use her knife against herself. He saw Will’s body shatter like glass.
By the time it was over, he was doubled over. He felt the tears coming and coming, ceaselessly flooding his eyes, streaming down his cheeks like the five rivers of Tartarus.
And then he was awake.
He jolted up, his mind trying to free itself from the figurative cobweb that the dream had trapped it into. As he began to process the sights around him, he saw Will Solace bent over a desk, writing something or the other as his shaggy blond hair fell into his eyes.
Will looked up from his papers, registering what he saw. Nico’s cheeks burned as he thought about how pathetic he must look, with sleep-mussed hair and dark bags below his eyes and tears streaming down his face.
Will looked disheveled as well, with his blond hair messier than usual and blue eyes dim with tiredness. Nico faintly registered that he was wearing glasses - wire-framed like Jason’s, but circular unlike Jason’s. While Jason’s made him look older, more mature, Will’s glasses looked more… childlike. They made his already impossibly soft eyes look even softer.
Nico turned away, not sure what to say. What do you say when someone has seen you in a state more vulnerable than how you’ve ever been in front of someone before? And what do you say when that someone looks like… that ?
Somehow, Will’s eyes found Nico’s. They broke something down in him; maybe it was the gentleness. Maybe the shape. Maybe the color: an everbright, tropical blue; a shade that would’ve been electric on someone else, but warm and serene on Will. A shade that promised comfort.
A shade that promised solace.
“Nightmares?” Will asked, his southern accent like liquid sunshine on a rainy day.
Nico nodded. His mouth still felt like it was glued together.
“I know how it feels,” Will said. “I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d finish some paperwork. The plan was for the paperwork to be boring enough to zonk me right out, but…”
The smile on his lips as he tried to make the joke faded.
For a second, Will looked haunted - and he had good reason to be. He was one of the youngest cabin counselors in camp history. He’d treated countless people in the middle of heated battles. He’d seen plenty of gruesome injuries, enough to mentally scar someone for life. He’d watched wars take place, feeling useless and unable to help. He’d seen so many people die under his care, and taken the guilt for it.
And it wasn’t just the trauma. Will wasn’t good at fighting. Will wasn’t good at singing. Will thought of his talent worthless - the polar opposite of what it actually was.
As someone who’d seen a lot of pain, Nico di Angelo was good at recognizing it. He recognized it in Will Solace, hidden beneath the sparkling eyes and bright smile.
He recognized the tiredness, too - taking care of a whole infirmary at 14, tending to a steady stream of patients. He saw the tiredness of training harder and harder, trying to learn to fight, trying to learn to get his healer’s hands to hurt someone. He saw the tiredness of holding the smile up, of holding the sunshine up.
If Will takes care of everyone, who takes care of Will?
He seemed to notice that Nico was troubled by something. “Hey, di Angelo, what’s up?” he asked, the ends of his eyes crinkling in worry despite his casual tone.
He’s so tired, Nico thought. He’s so tired, and he’s still trying to take care of someone else.
“Solace,” Nico blurted out. “Don’t ever die on me.”
That seemed to surprise him. “Where’s that coming from?” he asked gently.
Nico just shrugged. He started twisting his ring.
“Well, I’m right here, sunshine.” Will smiled at Nico, and it seemed different from his usual smiles - this one was softer, more vulnerable.
This one was just for Nico.
And they just sat there, boy and boy, silently basking in the other’s company, Will continuing with the paperwork and Nico fiddling with his ring, lost in thought.
Eventually, Nico felt his eyes starting to close. He didn’t want to face Asphodel again, not alone. “Solace,” he mumbled drowsily, “can you sit…” he yawned. “...with me?”
Will looked up at Nico, apparent surprise flashing in his eyes.
“Of course,” he said softly.
He got up and was about to pull up a chair to put next to Nico’s bed, but Nico shifted over in a clear signal for Will to sit there. A smile tugging on his lips, Will climbed in, stroking Nico’s hair. “I’m right here,” he murmured, before dozing off himself.