Archive of Our Own

All demigods had special dreams, most of which were unpleasant, but none of them had dreams as bad or as frequent as Nico Di Angelo. Most nights the son of Hades would be lucky if he got an hour or two of sleep before he was jolted awake by another nightmare. It wasn't always like this. Before the battle with Gaea, he had been able to dream travel, a rare power for even demigods, and he could simply travel to a nearby camper's dream instead of staying in his own nightmares. He had over-used his powers shadow traveling halfway around the world, which had left him too weak to escape his nightmares, but during one particular night, about three months after the battle with Gaea, he had a nightmare much worse than the rest.
Nico was still very young, but he had already gone through many awful experiences during his lifetime. He had come face to face with Kronos, walked through the darkest parts of hell alone, and even spent over a week held captured by giants in an airless jar. Usually his dreams took him back to only one of those moments, but this night was different. This night he was thrown back and forth between all three, stuck in seemingly endless torture.
First he was back in Tartarus, face-to-face with Achlys. She laughed at his misery as he tried to stumble away, lungs burning from drinking from the phlegethon. He only made it a few feet before suddenly he fell into a pit of blackness. His lungs started to burn even more as the air seemed to vanish around him. He felt around the pit, but found no way to escape. Then suddenly he was back in New York City, Kronos standing right in front of him, his lungs still on fire. This continued on and on for what seemed like hours. He spent only a few seconds in one nightmare only to be thrown another. The same pattern over and over again. Tartarus, the jar, and then Kronos. Suddenly after what seemed like hours, that pattern ended. Instead of opening his eyes and finding himself in New York City, he was somewhere different. Some where he recognized. Somewhere he wanted so badly to forget. He closed his eyes and focused on the fact that he was finally able to breathe. He thought that maybe he was alone, and that the torture that he had just endured was over. He was wrong.
Suddenly he felt a chill go up his spine. He knew that someone was watching him. He also knew who that someone was, but he didn't dare open his eyes. He knew he was dreaming. He hoped that if he just kept his eyes closed that when he finally opened them, he would wake up. He needed to wake up. He needed to see Will.
After the battle with Gaea, Will Solace had made him stay in the infirmary for three days straight. He hadn't realized how bad his nightmares had become until those three days. Every night he would wake up in a state of panic, and Will would always comfort him. At first he didn't want to rely on Will to calm him from his bad dreams, but it was three months later and Nico still depended on Will to calm him down every morning. Will knew exactly what to say to make him feel okay again. He needed to see Will.
He heard footsteps approaching from behind him, but he didn't dare open his eyes. He focused all his energy on Will. He needed to pull himself out of this nightmare and find Will.
Suddenly he felt his surroundings change. The stones beneath him turned soft. The air became much warmer. The sound of footsteps vanished. He let out a sigh of relief and opened his eyes. He was expecting to be in his bed in the Hades cabin, where he had fallen asleep, but instead he found himself sitting in the grass in front of the lake house at camp half blood. At first he was confused. He wondered if he had slept walked while he was having his nightmares. Then he noticed a figure sitting on the end of the dock by the lake. The figure had bright blond hair that Nico could recognize from a mile a away. Suddenly he realized that he didn't wake up after all. He had managed to dream travel out of his dream and into Will's.
Nico thought about how Will probably didn't realize that he was asleep. If he scared Will in anyway, then he could have caused him to have a nightmare. After just getting out of the worst nightmare of his life, that was the last thing he wanted to happen to Will. He tried to dream travel again, but he was too weak. He was about to get up and try to hide when Will suddenly turned his vision away from the lake, and right at Nico instead.
Well shit, Nico thought as he started walking over towards the dock. Thank the gods that Will didn't seem to be startled, but Nico couldn't try to hide now. He had to talk to Will. That shouldn't have been a big deal, but Nico felt butterflies swell up in his chest as he stepped onto the dock. Three months ago he would have tried to convince himself that he was nervous for another reason, but Nico was long past the point of denial. He knew it was because he had developed a huge crush on the son of Apollo. He didn't try to of course. It just happened. When he first figured out his feelings, he had done everything he could to avoid Will for a week, but no one else knew how to make him feel better after his nightmares. No one else at camp was as caring, nice, funny, and smart as Will. Although he had stopped avoiding him, he still got nervous whenever it was just the two of them together. That rarely happened though. Even in the mornings, Will's siblings were usually there when Nico told him about his dreams. His siblings weren't here now though. No one else was. It was just him and Will on the dock.
"Hey," Nico said as he sat down next to Will.
"Hey Deathboy," Will replied with a cheeky smile that should have annoyed Nico, but instead made the butterflies in his chest flutter twice as fast.
"What are you doing out here all by yourself?"
Will sighed, "The infirmary can get crazy sometimes. I come here when I need an escape."
"You could always come to my cabin instead," Nico mumbled so quietly that Will could barely hear him.
"Maybe I will. I'm glad we became friends Nico," Will said with a big smile.
If only we could become more than friends, Nico thought. He then mentally scolded himself for even thinking that. He should be happy that Will even wanted to be his friend. There was no way Will was like him.
"Me too," was all he managed to reply.
"Do you want to play the question game?" Will asked suddenly.
"What is that?"
"I guess it's not really an actual game, but my siblings and I play it sometimes. All it is, is that I ask you a question and you have to reply honestly. Then you ask me a question and I have to reply honestly, and we just keep going back and forth."
Nico did not want to do anything having to do with honesty at that moment, but he wasn't going to say no to Will, so he found himself replying, "Okay I'll play."
"Yay! Okay first question, what's your favorite movie?"
Nico thought for a moment before answering, "I honestly haven't seen that many movies, but I saw Titanic a few years ago and that was pretty good."
"Yeah, I like that movie too," Will said with a smile, "It made me cry though."
"That's not very surprising," Nico replied with a slight smile.
"Hey, It's not my fault that I'm an emotional guy. Stop teasing me and ask me a question now."
Nico had no idea what to ask him. He knew what he wanted to ask him, but he couldn't make the words come out. Instead he asked, "What's your favorite color?"
"Yellow, obviously. What about you?"
"Black obviously," Nico replied with a laugh.
"You should laugh more," Will said with a smile.
"Why?" Nico asked as he forced his face back into it's usually scowling position.
"Because you're cute when you laugh," Will replied.
The butterflies in Nico's chest suddenly started beating twice as fast as he felt blush form on his cheeks. Did Will just call him cute? He tried to convince himself that it was only because they were in a dream, but then he remembered that Will probably didn't know that he was asleep.
"Thanks," he mumbled quietly before asking, "What's your favorite holiday?"
"Fourth of July. Who's your favorite camper?"
Nico hesitated for a moment before replying, "You."
Will sat in shock for a moment before asking "Why?"
"What do you mean why?"
"I just thought that you're better friends with Percy or Jason someone else," he replied quietly.
"What about you?" Nico asked.
"What?"
"Who's your favorite camper?" Nico asked quietly, thinking that Will was going to say Lou Ellen or Cecil or one of his siblings.
"You," he replied.
Nico put his head down to try and hide his blush. That doesn't mean he likes you, he tried to tell himself.
"Nico. Can I ask you something kinda... personal?"
Nico gulped then nodded slowly, keeping his eyes down on the water below the dock. It was fun while it lasted, he thought to himself, Whatever he asks, Just tell him the truth. You can't keep lying to yourself that he might like you.
"Do you have a crush on anyone?" Will asked.
Nico was silent for a moment before nervously replying,"Yes, do you?"
"Yeah", Will answered with a smile before asking, "Is your crush Annabeth?"  
"No," Nico replied quietly, "Why do you want to know?"
Will sighed, "Because if it was her then at least I would know that you're into blondes."
Nico sat in silence trying to process what Will had just said. Was Will flirting with him? Was Will even attracted to guys. He needed to know.
"Do you like boys?" Nico blurted out before he could stop himself. He then cringed, expecting Will to get offended and tell him that he was disgusting for even asking that question.
Instead Will smiled then said, "It was my turn to ask a question, but yeah. One boy in particular though. What about you?"
At first Nico thought he was joking, but then he remembered that this is Will he's talking to. Will wouldn't lie to him.
He nodded slowly then looked Will straight in the eyes and said, "You can't tell anyone."
"I won't. I promise," Will replied with a smile.
Nico stared into his eyes and knew that he wasn't lying. He could trust Will. Will was caring, nice, trustworthy, and most importantly, Will was like him. Nico couldn't believe it. If they were in real life, Nico would have stopped their conversation there. Honestly, he probably would have shadow traveled away and convinced himself it had never happened. They weren't in real life though. They were in a dream. He said he had a crush on someone. You need to know if it's you. This is Will's dream. When he wakes up he won't know that it was actually the real you asking. Just go for it, Nico thought to himself.
Before he could convince himself that that was a bad idea, he quietly asked, "Who do you like?"
"An idiot apparently," Will answered with a smile, "I've been flirting with him for three months straight and he still doesn't know I like him."
For half a second Nico tried to tell himself that Will was talking about someone else, but even someone as oblivious as the son of Hades could figure out that Will had just admitted to having a crush on him.
"Shut up," Nico mumbled quietly, but on the inside the butterflies felt like they were about to burst out of his chest.
Will leaned over and whispered in his ear "Only if you kiss me."
Normally Nico would have tried to  run away from his feelings, but the butterflies in his chest were making it so hard for him to think straight, that instead he just went on pure impulse, and leaned in for his first kiss.
Will met him halfway and their lips softly touched. The butterflies in Nico's chest practically exploded in that moment. It only lasted a second though before both boys quickly pulled back and turned their heads away to try and hide their blush.
For the first time in his life, Nico couldn't stop smiling. He looked over to Will, expecting a similar expression on the son of Apollo's face, but instead Will was gazing out at the lake with a newfound sadness in his eyes.
"I just realized that this is a dream," he said quietly, "I was think about how something like this would only happen in my wildest dreams, and then I realized that that's exactly what's happening."
"Will-" Nico started to try and explain but he was quickly cut off.
"How could I be so stupid? Nico has a crush on Annabeth, and even if he didn't, he was born in like 1930 and he probably would be disgusted that a guy has a crush on him."
"I'm sitting right here Will," Nico said quietly while trying to hold back tears from forming in his eyes. The best moment of his life had just happened and it was only a stupid dream.
"You're not the real Nico though," Will replied quietly, refusing to look Nico in the eyes.
Nico sighed before replying "Sometimes when I have nightmares I can dream travel. I haven't been able to do it in a while, but tonight for some reason I could."
"Only children of Hypnos can dream travel," Will replied, still refusing to look Nico in the eyes.
"And the only demigods that can use the mist are children of Hecate, except Hazel. Sometimes children of the underworld have special powers I guess. I don't know. You have to believe me Will."
Will slowly turned away from the lake and looked at Nico.
"Prove it. Instead of coming to my cabin like you do every morning, come here when you wake up." he said quietly.
"Ok," Nico replied, "I think I'm about to wake up soon anyway."
"Yeah, same. The sun is about to rise. I can feel it even though I'm asleep. Child of Apollo thing," Will said with a smile.
"I guess I'll see you soon then," Nico said.
"See you soon Deathboy," Will replied.
Nico then closed his eyes, and when he opened them he was laying in his bed in his cabin.
Nico was nervous. He still wasn't sure that he actually dream traveled. Maybe that was his own dream and that wasn't the real Will. Dreams can be confusing. You can never really tell exactly what is happening.
He's not going to be there Nico thought to himself, but he quickly stopped those thoughts when he walked outside of his cabin and saw a figure sitting on the lake dock.
He then smiled and started to walk across the green, where Will Solace was waiting.