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Three days under the close medical care of one, Mr. Will Solace. Nico thought he was about to lose his mind. It was bad enough during the battle, his blue eyes and his southern drawl… But now he knew, for certain, that there is only one thing that could make his life harder.
The fates hate him. He is confident in that at least.
“I need ambrosia, and prep the room with my micro suture kit. Stat!” a deep voice yelled with a sublet southern twinge to it. Nico noticed Will’s accent got much less pronounced when he was shouting orders.
Shouting orders. God damn he is so hot, Nico thought. Then Nico made the mistake of looking at Will.
He was wearing full Surgical scrubs, hands completely steady despite the chaos going on around him. Will caught his eyes for a second, before he rushed into the room and winked.
“I’ll see you when I get out Sunshine,” Will said as he turned around and entered the surgical unit.
Nico turned completely red as he sat alone in the infirmary. Gods, Nico thought, he was so utterly screwed.
————————————
Nico was sitting down on his bed in the infirmary, it was now day two. Will seemed just overjoyed that Nico was there, a confusing experience for Nico. Currently Will was on a break and was chatting with Nico.
“But surely you know Bowie?” Will said looking down at Nico with a look of utter horror on his face.
“I was born in the nineteen forties! I missed everything,” Nico said, for what felt like the hundredth time.
“Okay… But movies, how have you not caught up with movies. Oh my god you’re like my very own Steve Rogers.”
“Captain America is still a thing? Even now? He was my favorite cartoon character, my mom used to get illegal copies in Italy and she read them to me in Italian,” Nico said excitedly before sharply becoming quiet… It wasn’t often that he liked to talk about his mother or his childhood.
Will seemed to notice his sudden silence and swiftly changed the subject,”okay.. Lets start with the basics. Have you had Thai food?”
“No, but what does that have to do with anything?”
Will beamed, which temporarily dazzled Nico off because it was so god damn bright.
“Don’t worry Cap, I’m going to take good care of you.”
Nico couldn’t have blushed any harder if he tried.
—————————————-
It was finally the last day, and as much as Nico liked Will he really needed to leave. Wander around. Nico had promised that he would spend time in Camp Half-Blood, that much is true, but Nico was also a wanderer. A traveler by nature, and he had big plans to spend a little time in Buenos Aires, apparently it was the Paris of South America and gods did he want to find out.
Will was not thrilled with that plan.
“I’ve been on bed rest for days! The lamp, the rest, the sunshine, the god damn terrible medicine you keep giving me! I want to go,” Nico said practically pouting as Will stood looking at him will eyes that clearly said he was not going to be swayed.
“I said you can leave this physical building, not that you could shadow travel across the country!”
“Fine… Fine, can I go to Martha’s Vineyard?” Nico said, only half joking. Though most of the time when he traveled alone before he traveled for quest reasons he did occasionally like to take lovely vacations which his kind father was usually willing to bank roll. Sure Hades was the god of death and it was generally lonely at least his dad was rich.
Will looked conflicted for a second, “maybe, but I think I would want a medical professional to go with you…” He said looking at Nico hopefully.
Nico was thrown, his first thought being ‘really? Martha’s Vineyard?’ the second being ‘holy shit cute boy wants to travel with you’.
Nico was so shocked by the turn of events that he instinctively reached his left hand up to his hair to pat down his hair. An unusual gesture on his part, because usually he tries to hide his…
“What happened to your wrist?” Will said reaching out like lightening before Nico could pull back.
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit,” Will said looking at the even slices in Nico’s pale skin. Nico turned away, ashamed, he did not want to talk about this.
“Listen, I really do not want to talk about this.”
“Gods…” Will said, he sounded so shattered.
“Its okay Will,” Nico said.
“No, damn it. No it isn’t okay! Why did you do this to yourself?”
“I,” Nico started his voice wavering before he suddenly remembered who he was, “I do not want to talk about it. However you are more than welcome to join mein Martha’s Vineyard.”
Nico said that last part as a method to shake Will out of his horrified shock, but he didn’t actually think it through. Now Nico’s brain was in “DISASTER” mode.
Nico finally looked at Will again and his beautiful blue eyes were filled with tears.
“Nico… I am so sorry. I am so sorry you were ever so alone… That you ever felt so much pain,” Will started, “you’re so… Gods Nico, you’re so beautiful. I wish you knew how beautiful I…. I mean how beautiful people think you are.”
Nico was still processing those words when all of a sudden his head was filled with inspiration. Aphrodite had decided to smile down on him today, it appeared, and she whispered ‘kiss him’.
And Nico did. Will made a noise and then kissed back.
“Nico… Nico… “ Will said, seemingly in a daze between kisses, “There is no god damn way you are shadow traveling any time soon mister,” and then he pulled away.
Nico rolled his eyes and decided to be brave, take a chance and make a counter offer.
“Fine… Then do you want to borrow a laptop from Chiron and watch some Netflix with me tomorrow night?”
“It would be my pleasure.”
————————————-
Will was nervous, Nico could tell. He was shifting his weight and kept absently wrapping an ace bandage around his wrist and unwrapping it.
“Will,” Nico started, “What’s wrong?”
This seemed to be all the encouragement that Will needed before he started rambling nervously and quickly.
“Look, I know you have your pride but I don’t think this should wound your pride. And I know you think its touchy feely soft science but maybe thats because you’re from a different time where men don’t talk about their feelings… But I think maybe you should see a mental health professional.”
“…What?” Nico’s tone held warning. It was calm but icy. The type of voice he used when he wanted to make his enemies tremble with fear.
“Nico you know I care about you,” Will said even faster now, “and you’ve been through so much! A new era, losing your sister, finding out about the death of your mother, two wars, going through Tartarus alone… And not to mention all that time you were like eleven years old and were traveling alone. You’ve been through more than most people have been through in their entire life times! I just don’t think you should have to deal with it alone and I’m not sure I am trained well enough to help you the way I wish I could.”
This speech, Nico noted though his head was fuzzy, was clearly rehearsed.
“How could I see anyone anyway?” Nico said his voice cold and biting, “Its not like I can go to any shrink in New York and tell them about all this shit. I’ll get locked up.”
Will smiled quickly and said, “I already took the liberty of preparing a list of people who work near here who are Demi-gods!”
“…Do you think I’m crazy?” Nico said softly.
“What? Darling, of course not,” Will said, “I just think you’ve been through so much. So much more than you should have, and I wish I could shoulder even half of your pain… But I can’t. And it breaks my heart, breaks it Di Angelo, that you feel like you have to do this alone. And its fine if you don’t want to talk to me, well not fine, but I can live with that. As long as someone is helping you,” Will said.
“… Give me the list.”
“Really?” Will said suddenly looking up.
“I’m not making any promises… But if it means this much to you, I’ll at least look at the list.”
Nico smiled softly, he couldn’t believe someone cared enough about him to want to make sure he was sound. A lot of his friends cared, but not enough to know that sometimes they just honestly were not equipped to help. And maybe… Maybe Will made some good points. He certainly had enough issues that will screw him up for life, but maybe talking to someone will help ease the pain.
He glanced over at Will who was rambling about which one he thought was the best and comparing prices and kissed him on the cheek.
—————————-
Will was staring in awe at his boyfriend. First of all, boyfriend. How lucky was he? He got to date this beautiful boy. Hair as dark as night, skin as white as snow, lips as red as rubies. Well maybe not that last part. Nico’s face was delicate, full of beautiful bone structure. Will’s not sure he would call him ‘hot’ but Nico was more refined than that, practically patrician. It was odd to say but Nico looked like he was from another time, like he stepped out of a black and white photograph. Will never noticed it more than right now.
Nico was speaking to the waiter in fluent Italian. Gods, Will thought, that is so hot it should be sinful. The way Nico’s mouth wrapped around each word, so much more beautiful than English. It felt like he cherished the way the words felt on his lips. My Gods, Will thought, I want him to cherish the way my lips feel on his lips.
“I didn’t know you spoke Italian,” Will blurted out as soon as the waiter left.
Nico leaned back a little, his black hair falling elegantly, “I was born in Italy Solace, what did you think I spoke there? French?”
“Well yeah but… Wait… Actually that kind of explains your accent!”
“Accent? I don’t have an accent!”
“Yeah you do, its totally adorable. Like when you say certain Italian words even in the middle of an English sentence. Or the way you say your ‘a’s? I can’t believeI didn’t notice it earlier.”
“Are you screwing with me?” Nico said narrowing his dark eyes.
“Well yes, but you actually do have the sexiest accent,” Will said.
“Really now?” Nico smirked, “The sexiest?”
“Maybe if you’re good, I’ll show you how sexy I think it is later,” Will smirked.
Suddenly they heard a scream from two tables over. Sitting there, with absurd fake mustaches and newspapers were Jason and Percy.
Nico and Will just looked at each other and laughed.
——————————————
The Seven had decided that they were going to hang out with Nico and his new boyfriend. Nico shadow traveled to pick them all up and was now in desperate need of a nap. When, of course, a group of Cyclopses surrounded them.
“Haha look at these delicious looking Demi-Gods, I bet you will taste delicious with some spinach puffs,” the biggest ugliest one in the middle said as three more surrounded the seven. Percy and Jason both looked at each other and prepared a battle plan in their heads. Annabeth and Piper were already in fighting stance, when Nico walked right up to the first one.
“Nico, what are you doing!?” Percy yelled behind him. Nico had used a lot of magic and he would not be able to win this fight. But Nico silenced him with a look, it was Nico’s signature ‘I have a plan and it may or may not work’ look.
Suddenly the air got colder and Nico began to speak.
“Ha! You think you can challenge me? Me? The Ghost King? Son of Hades? Slayer of Giants? You think you can defeat me? Who has killed so many of your kin? For such a foolish thought I won’t even bother to kill you,” Nico said smiling coldly.
“Uh… What will you do then?” the dumb one on the side asked.
Nico laughed a cold, maniacal laugh that freaked Will out, “I will make you scream. I will make you cry, I will make you feel pain every night and every day. You will wish you could feel something as easy and blissful as death. In death you can be reborn, monsters have no souls. What I will do to you… You will never recover. Would you like to know why I do not fear the storm?”
Nico smirked at them stepping closer to the largest one, who backed away in fear. He walked even closer.
“Come on now, say it like a good little boy, ‘Why don’t you fear the storm?” Nico said mockingly.
“W-w-why don’t you fear the storm?” the largest one replied looking fearfully above. Jason had clearly started to go with Nico’s plan because dark clouds began brewing overhead.
“Because I am the storm,” Nico said, and then he thrust his sword into the Earth cracking it between the legs of the monster at the same moment lightening cracked overhead.
“Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks,” he finished as the sound of cracking Earth and lightening faded out.
“Do you still wish to fight me?” Nico asked with a mocking, cruel smile playing across his beautiful features making him appear more like Hades than Will had ever seen him.
None of the Cyclopses answered, they just ran away.
Nico turned to his friends and smiled, warm and loving, “I can not believe that worked.”
“Holy shit dude, that was so,” Percy started.
“Hot.” Will said it out loud right as Percy was going to finish his sentence. Everyone else suddenly turned to look at him, and Will’s ears turned bright red as everyone began to laugh.
“You have a good one here, Nico,” Jason said, “I like him.”
“Yeah,” Nico said kissing Will soundly, “I like him too.”
—————————————-
Will didn’t even have to open the door to the Hades cabin to know that Nico was watching the West Wing, he could hear the swell of the familiar theme music outside the door.
“Sunshine, you realize that eventually you are going to run out of episodes if you keep watching at this pace?”
Nico didn’t even look up, he just shifted so that Will had room to sit down. Nico was watching Josh Lyman bully a group of people into doing the President’s work when Nico suddenly paused the show.
“I want to do that Will.”
“… You want to act? I love you Nico but you’re completely terrible at acting,” Will said.
“No not act, you idiot. I want to do that!” he said pointing more ferociously at Josh, “I think I could be great at that.”
“Bullying people using words and leverage into doing your bidding? Yeah I think you could be amazing at it too.”
“I’m serious! I’ve been thinking about it a lot… And I don’t want to work for my father my entire life… I want to do good with my brain for once, not just my sword.”
Nico looked at will with dark passionate eyes and Will couldn’t help but nod. Though it may not look it, Will was surprisingly academically inclined and he couldn’t think of a person who deserved to live their dreams more than his lover.
“Okay babe, first thing is first, we got to get you into Harvard…”
Nico’s face split into a bright smile as he launched himself at his boyfriend. Apollo and Hades both looked on with matching smiles on their faces. Both their son’s would reach their dreams… And favoritism be damned they were going to help their sons any way they could.
—————————————-
Today was the day, the day when Nico found out where he was going to college. He had shadow traveled to Will’s dorm room at Harvard to open his early decision. He decided one way or another he wanted to find out this life changing information with someone he loved dearly.
He obsessively refreshed his email until finally he got a notification, with the headliner, “Harvard Early Application Decisions now available online”. Nico’s hands were shaking as he clicked the link and inserted his login information.
“Gods Will… I can’t do this,” Nico said looking nervously at his boyfriend.
“Nico don’t worry, I’m sure you did fine. I’m sure you got in, you are brilliant,” Will said comfortingly placing his hand on his lover’s shoulder.
Finally Nico took a deep breath, whatever was on the other side of this log in screen would change the course of his life. He could be more than just a Demi-god, he could get a world class education. He could save the world without using a sword. Since he started watching The West Wing when he was at Camp Half Blood he knew exactly what he wanted to do. He wanted to be a political consultant and with Hades as his father… Nico knew he would be good at it. He realized this was a lot of pressure to put on a college decision but for him this college decision meant more than any battle he had ever fought.
Congratulations! You have been accepted into Harvard class of 2022!
Nico started crying. Will looked fearfully at the screen for a second, worried for its contents, when he suddenly beamed with joy and swept Nico up into his arms.
“I knew you could do it Sunshine! I knew it!”
Nico looked at Will for a long time. It was only through his help that he had come this far. Will had taught him all the information he needed to be able to go to high school in ninth grade, he helped him with all his homework because there was so much Nico didn’t know due to the way his childhood had gone. Will coached him through which extras would look especially good to get him into top schools… Will told him all of the Demi-God/ Godly connections he could use to try to make the application process a little easier considering he also had to save the world on a regular basis.
Will.
Will had secured his future, given him a chance to be anything he wanted to be. Together they were going to rule the world, Will as a surgeon and Nico as a political consultant. The future was looking very bright indeed.