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Nico di Angelo had always found humor in the macabre. He appreciated a well-timed death joke, chuckled at horror movies when others screamed, and found cemeteries more peaceful than coffee shops. It was no wonder, then, that he didn’t quite fit in at Olympus University. Most students were all about academic glory and joining the capitalist hive mind- Nico, on the other hand, had once suggested a human taxidermy competition at lunch. He still didn’t understand why that had been received with horrified silence.
Will Solace, on the other hand, was a ray of sunlight- albeit one that had rolled in mud and learned to laugh at the absurdity of existence. He stitched people up in the hospital while making casual observations about how ironic it was that humans, self-proclaimed tops of the food chain, could still die from something as pointless as an allergic reaction. He whistled cheerfully while resetting broken bones and liked to mess with his patients by pretending to have misplaced vital organs. "Wait, where’s your spleen supposed to go again? Left side? Right? Do you even need it?" It was amazing how much faith people still put in him.
Their paths crossed on a sweltering August morning.
Will was knee-deep in casualty reports when he was called to the emergency room for a broken arm. When he arrived, he found Nico perched on one of the hospital beds, curtain drawn around him like a makeshift throne.
Apparently, it had been a pre-planned fistfight. To uphold the honor of the Argo II Brotherhood. Whatever that meant.
"Five, maybe six," Nico said as Will disinfected one of his countless gashes. "Unless that ginger guy dies, then it’s seven. It’s a shame I won’t be there to see them cart away the bodies."
Will barely batted an eye. "It’s eight if I die of exhaustion from dealing with you."
Nico smirked. "Would that count as workplace homicide or natural selection?"
Will gave him a flat look before tightening the bandage just a little too much. "Oops. Slipped."
And just like that, their story began.
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Their second time meeting was at an abandoned building a mile away from their university.
Nico had wandered in out of curiosity, drawn to the eerie silence and the way the peeling wallpaper curled like old skin. It was the kind of place that smelled of rot and regret, and he felt right at home. He was inspecting a crumbling staircase when he heard the floor creak behind him.
"If you’re a ghost, just know I’m not in the mood for jump scares," Nico said without turning around.
"Damn," came a voice, amused. "And here I was, about to do my best ‘vengeful spirit’ impression."
Nico turned to see Will leaning against a rusted railing, dressed like he had no business being in a place like this- jeans, hoodie, sneakers that looked far too clean for ruined buildings.
"What are you doing here?" Nico asked, narrowing his eyes.
Will grinned. "Same as you, probably. Thought I’d find some ghosts, maybe steal a soul or two. You know, standard Friday night."
"Hate to break it to you, but I don’t have a soul to steal."
Will tilted his head, considering. "Eh. I could always take a kidney instead. Black market’s thriving."
Nico huffed a laugh despite himself. "You are unhinged."
"Says the guy who willingly walks into condemned buildings for fun."
Nico crossed his arms. "So, what, you do this often?"
"Only when I get bored. Or when my professors tell me I need to study more and I decide to risk tetanus instead."
Nico smirked. "You are the worst excuse for a doctor I’ve ever met."
Will placed a hand over his heart in mock offense. "Excuse you, I am an excellent almost-doctor. You’ll be begging for my expertise next time you get hit by some ancient curse or whatever it is you do in your free time."
Nico rolled his eyes but didn’t walk away. "Stop wasting my time. Come here and help me sample these blood stains now."
"I'm sorry, blood stains?"
Maybe this wasn’t the worst way to spend a Friday night.
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"Come with me to the morgue," Nico had said one evening in Will's dorm, eyes gleaming with something dark and unreadable. "I have a theory to test."
Will barely hesitated. "Lead the way."
The morgue was freezing, the stench of antiseptic and something worse clinging to the air. Will watched as Nico ran his fingers along the cold steel of a drawer, eyes tracing the toe tags with idle curiosity.
"Who exactly are we looking for?" Will asked.
"Franklin Weatherwax. Age 58."
"Why? Did you kill him?"
"I wish. It's a simple case of brain tumor unfortunately. In fact, I tried the opposite."
Nico slid the drawer open with practiced ease, revealing a pale, lifeless body. Franklin Weatherwax looked very much dead—sallow skin, sunken cheeks, the telltale stillness of a corpse.
Nico leaned in, his dark eyes scanning the body with sharp precision. He pressed two fingers against the man’s throat as if expecting a pulse.
"Didn’t you just say he had a brain tumor?" Will asked, crossing his arms. "Pretty sure that kills people."
"Yes," Nico murmured. His fingers trailed lower, stopping at the man’s wrists. He lifted one, turning it slightly. "But see this?"
Will squinted. A thin, nearly invisible incision ran along the inside of the wrist, the edges too neat to be accidental.
"That’s-"
"Not a morgue technician’s handiwork," Nico grinned.
Will glanced between the corpse and Nico.
"Alright," he exhaled. "What exactly did you do?"
Nico smiled then, something cold and knowing. "Necromancy, Will. The fun kind."
"But he's still dead."
"...I am out of practice."
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They started meeting like that.
In abandoned places, among the bones of the dead. They read autopsy reports together like love letters and held scalpel blades with the same reverence others had for wedding rings.
Will would press his fingers to Nico's wrist just to confirm that he was still cold, and Nico would watch Will stuff organs back into cadavers with a focus so intense it almost felt like devotion.
Their first kiss happened in a cemetery at midnight. The air smelled like rain and decay, and Will tasted like cheap coffee and something richer, something that made Nico feel alive in a way no haunting ever had.
"I think I'd let you dissect me," Will murmured once, half-asleep against Nico’s shoulder.
Nico chuckled. "Romantic."
"You love it."
And he did. In the only way he knew how- through whispered promises of eternity, through blood-stained fingertips, through quiet nights spent in the company of the dead.
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Their dynamic was strange to most. But not for people who truly knew them. Over the years, friends and family had plenty to say about the unusual duo…
"The thing about Will is that he's nice- until you actually get to know him. A lot of his admirers don’t realize he has a cynical streak a mile wide."
- Lou Ellen Blackstone, Will's best friend of 20 years.
"Nico makes rain clouds look cheerful. But deep down, I think he has a soft spot. Maybe it's for stray dogs. Or maybe it's for really, really dark chocolate. I haven't quite cracked the code yet. It's like trying to solve a Rubik's Cube while riding a unicycle. Challenging, but not impossible."
- Percy Jackson, captain of the swim team, second-in-command of the Argo II Brotherhood, and Nico's cousin (who has a healthy respect for Nico's personal space).
"If Will ever tells you ‘with all due respect,’ just know that whatever comes next will have absolutely no respect whatsoever."
- Cecil Markowitz, Will's roommate and trivia partner.
"One time, I complained about a professor, and the next day, Nico ‘accidentally’ spilled hot coffee on the guy’s lap. He had to be hospitalized for second degree burns. I don’t ask questions anymore—I just accept that he operates on a level of loyalty that’s both impressive and slightly terrifying."
- Jason Grace, president of the Argo II Brotherhood and Nico's other cousin (who has no respect for Nico's personal space).
"I guess it’s true that love makes you blind. My brother is amazing, really. But once you get past the Southern charm, Will is actually very weird. This is a man who once threatened to forensically ruin someone’s life just to prove a point. I don’t even know what that means."
- Kayla Knowles, competitive archer and Will’s half-sister who keeps a running tally of his weirdest medical comments.
"People say Nico is morbid, but honestly? He’s just consistent. He likes what he likes- burial rites, antique mourning jewelry, and gothic architecture. He once casually mentioned that the human skeleton has 206 bones—‘unless something goes wrong.’ He didn’t elaborate. I respect that."
- Hazel Levesque, sculptor of unsettlingly realistic statues, occasional gravedigger and Nico's half-sister.
"Will has always been a special boy. Why, he came into this world grasping my IUD in his tiny fists. If he sets his mind on something, you just know he won’t rest until he gets it."
- Naomi Solace, Will's mother who is currently on a world tour that began on Will's 18th birthday.
"Persephone claims Niccolò takes after me, but I disagree. He’s his mother’s son—drawn to the unnatural and the bizarre. Still, I sometimes wish he had inherited my inclination to stay put. The house feels eerily quiet without his daily experiments involving radioactive goats."
- Hadeon di Angelo, an entrepreneur with a thriving funeral home empire, a loyal husband who has already had three wives, and Nico's father.
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Their story didn't have a traditional ending- how could it, when both of them were obsessed with what lay beyond the end?
Nico and Will remained exactly as they were: two people who found beauty in what others feared. Will perfected the art of keeping people alive, and Nico continued his experiments with the ones who didn’t make it.
Years later, when Will graduated and became a full-fledged doctor, Nico arrived at his ceremony dressed in all black, looking like he was attending a funeral rather than a celebration. Will grinned when he saw him. "Mourning my lost freedom already?"
Nico smirked. "Mourning your patients. You know, in advance."
Will wrapped an arm around his waist, unfazed. "If I ever die on the job, you better bring me back."
Nico hummed, considering. "Only if you promise to haunt me properly. None of that weak, floating-through-walls nonsense. I want full poltergeist action- blood dripping from the walls, whispers in the dark, the works."
Will pressed a kiss to the corner of his lips. "For you? Anything."
And when they finally disappeared from Olympus University’s records, their names became more of a legend than a memory. Some whispered about the doctor who could fix anything and the boy who walked with the dead. Others claimed they had vanished into an unmarked graveyard, living forever between the world of the living and the forgotten.
But the truth was simpler:
They left, together.
And in the end, wasn’t that all that mattered?