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Even though the war with Gaia has ended, many demigods were still hurt, so Cabin 6, the Apollo cabin still has a lot of work to do. A certain depressed demigod has been injured in the war, so the head councellor of the camp and also the head of Cabin 6, Will Solace, has been busy with his new (and very difficult) patient, Nico di Angelo, a child of Hades.
"Nico? Are you here?" Will barged in the Hades cabin, hoping to find his patient. He saw Nico huddled up with a bunch of blankets in a corner of his bed.
"Nico! Are you okay?" Will rushed to Nico, leaving the door open. When he realized that the cold evening air will probably make Nico colder, he cursed himself silently and went to the door to close it.
"Nico... Are you having a fever?" Will asked again, but in a much softer tone.
When Nico didn't reply, Will went to turn on the lights and started to observe him. Nico shifted further into his blankets when it became bright. Will sighed and turned off the lights, then started to glow faintly, making everything visible but not too bright.
"There... Is it better?" At Nico's nod, Will took the blankets that were covering Nico's face. He was shivering terribly even though the blankets should've kept him warm. He was definitely sick.
Will rummaged through the cupboards, searching for the medicine he stored in case of any emergencies, specially prepared for Nico. He found some painkillers and antibiotics, then put them onto the nightstand. Then he went to the bathroom andgot some water from the sink. Will was irrationally worried about the water's condition, so he decided to purify it himself using some singing magic.
After all that, he went back to Nico while reaching for the chocolates inside his pockets. It was supposed to be a surprise for Nico, since he was actually following Will's orders for the first time ever (and cause he loves chocolates), but Will decided to plan another surprise later.
"Here, eat some. You'll need to eat before taking the medicine." Will smiled when he saw Nico's eyes light up at the sight of the chocolates. Nico finished them, then held out a hand to Will, silently asking to have more.
"Take your medicine first, then you can have more." Nico frowned, took the glass of water and immediately gulped down the medicine with one try. Then he took the chocolates straight from Will's pocket and started to raucously eat them again.
Will laughed at Nico's actions, then proceeded to take all of the chocolates out of his pockets and put them in front of Nico. He had to admit, this side of Nico is much more adorable. Very childish but very tolerable.
Before he realized it, Nico had already fallen asleep. Will thought Reyna was exaggerating when she said that Nico's face looked peaceful while sleeping, but now he could see it was true.
Feeling sleepy (and lazy), Will lied next to Nico, facing the latter. Then he drifted to sleep, the whole time smiling at his patient's cute antics tonight.
It was early in the morning. Golden light seeped through the windows, covering the two boys who were peacefully sleeping on a bed in warmth, causing the one covered in blankets to wake up.
The first thing Nico noticed was how hot he felt. He grabbed the blankets that was covering him and tried to throw them away, but he didn't realize that the blankets were also beneath him. So he fell off the bed when he tried to throw the blankets.
When he got himself untangled, he crawled back to the foot of the bed until he saw a familiar figure. Will Solace, his so-called 'doctor'. Nico wondered why Will would be here, in the same bed, until he remembered what happened last night.
His face turned bright red instantly.
"Hmm... Nico? Sorry 'cause I slept on your bed. Felt too sleepy to go back to my cabin." Will woke up with a frown and started to speak. His voice was laced with a hint of sleepiness. He sat on the bed and started to stretch, making his shirt rise, just enough to expose the tanned skin of his midriff.
Nico blushed even wilder now, so much so that Will noticed and immediately became concerned. He reached out to touch Nico's forehead.
"Are you still having a fever?" Nico felt a jolt running through him at Will's touch and immediately flinched. His whole body became flushed fevered all of a sudden.
"Yes! I'm fine! Everything's fine!" Nico said in a hurry. A hurry for what, he didn't know. All that he knows is right now, his heart is beating so fast, it feels like it's going to burst.
"Alright. But if you're feeling sick, promise you'll tell me or at least take care of yourself better." Will's tone was... understanding? Compromising? Whatever it was, Nico felt relieved that Will decided to drop the subject.
"Yes, yes, I promise. Now please get out. I need to go take a shower." Nico started to push Will out of his cabin. Even so, Will complied, not resisting in the slightest.
Once they reached the door, Will stepped outside and turned to face Nico. But before he could say anything, Nico slammed the door on his face.
"Wow. Rude!" Nico expected for Will to be angry or at least frustrated. But he sounded amused instead. Like this was just one big joke that he liked.
When he heard Will walking away, he sat in front of the door, sighing. After a while, he started to make his away to the bathroom. As he stripped his clothes off, his mind started to drift off to the view he had of Will's body, then he snapped out of it and started to blush yet again.
"This is going to be a long day." Nico declared.
Starting from when he left the cabin until after dinner, Will noticed that Nico has been avoiding him. Each time he tried make an attempt to talk with Nico, the excuses were nonsensical but also never ending. He was confused at Nico's sudden change of behaviour, from behaving clingy to distant. Usually when he acted this way, Nico was just unfriendly but today he outright shut Will down, not talking in the slightest.
So, this time, Will was not going to let Nico escape. He would force Nico to answer why he wasn't talking.
As usual, Will barged in without any warning, but this time Nico was only in a towel, having only gotten out of the shower. Both of them immediately panicked but somehow had the completely same reaction. Will escaped by rushing back outside while Nico escaped by running into the bathroom.
"Sorry! Sorry!" Will apologized again and again, feeling warm throughout his body. His mind, which somehow memorized Nico's body, was looping back his form repeatedly.
After a while, Nico shouted from inside. "You can come in now!"
Will stepped in the cabin, this time carefully checking for... who knows what. When he determined that everything is clear, he approached Nico from the back.
"Hey... I want to get straight to the point." Will saw Nico slightly tense up. "Why are you avoiding me?"
Everything went silent for a while. Then, Nico answered. "I've just been... busy." It sounded like Nico was choosing his words very carefully.
Will felt a twinge of disappointment at Nico's response. Clearly it wasn't true. "No, like... the real reason."
"I was busy." Nico emphasized again. not budging with another answer. "Nothing else." That you want to know, he added in his heart.
Will noticed that throughout this whole conversation, Nico never once looked at him. He decided to push further.
"The real reason, Nico. I'm not leaving until you tell me what it is." Will pressed further. "You're not busy. You don't even go to Camp Jupiter anymore. Not after Jason died." He decided to invoke Jason's name, in order to get a reaction out of Nico.
Nico stopped looking at his locker and instead faced Will instead. But he was on the verge of crying, just one more push should do it.
"The only time that you acted like this to anyone was when you still liked Percy but even that has passed. So tell me the real reason on why you kept avoiding me today like I might be the death of you!" Will hated making Nico cry, but he carried some chocolates just in case he needed it. He hoped that Nico would forgive him for what happened today.
"That's because you are!" Nico started crying. "Each time you do something sweet like last night, I tell myself that it's just temporary. That you would leave me once you got tired of your new 'patient'. My heart felt like it was going to explode this morning, just because I saw a little bit of your skin! When you tried to talk to me, I left because I was afraid that someone I love is going to leave me again!" Nico snapped, revealing each and every subject he had been thinking about.
His tears were flowing uncontrollably now and he got up to run away from the situation that he is currently in. Nico's worst nightmares were being made real again. Being forced to confess to his crush but worse, because this time it's his crush who is forcing him.
Before he could run, Will grabbed his wrist and started to stutter. Nico could see that Will's ears were red. He decided to wait for a while. After a moment, Will started talking.
"Uhh... I don't really know how to say this... but... I... like you?" Nico immediately stopped crying. Will said it in a confused tone, but his face was red now. He was shyly looking away from Nico, but his grip remained firm, like he wouldn't let go until he heard Nico's reply.
Nico walked back and sat down besides Will. Will's hand was now intertwined with his, making both of them blush. Until Nico said something.
"I... like you too." Nico confessed. He didn't hear any response from Will, so he thought he messed up and tried to walk away again. But Will's hand held his even tighter now, but still gentle.
Nico tried to pull away, but Will immediately turned him around and kissed him. Then he pulled away just as quickly and began to stammer over his own words. "I-I'm so sor-, so sorry. I was just afraid that y-you would run awa-"
Then Nico kissed him back, revelling in the sweet taste of Will's lips and sunk into that feeling with his whole heart. He could feel Will responding back, grabbing the back of Nico's hair, pushing himself further into that moment.
When they finally both pulled back, feeling hot from the kiss, they looked at each other in the eyes. It was silent for what felt like a long time, until Will spoke up.
"Does that mean... that, we're like, dating now?" Will's first question immediately made Nico laugh. After all that? He was still asking?
"Yes, we are, Nightlight." Nico caressed Will's face lightly, feeling it burn over the nickname that he gave. He snickered and thought of some more. "Hmm... Sunshine? Flowerboy?"
Will's face blushed even more, making Nico laugh loud for the first time in years. Will turned away, but Nico pulled him back. Will's eyes were looking away from him.
Nico laughed a little and kissed his boyfriend on the forehead. "Goodnight, Nightlight." He declared. Then he promptly went off to his dreams. Will went a little wide-eyed at Nico's actions, but decided to address it another day.
Then he also went to sleep, glad to share the same bed with his boyfriend.