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Nico hated the gods.
Generally speaking, the only difference was that he hated some more and some less — but he hated all of them.
Alright, there were exceptions : his father, and Mr. D.
But regardless of those exceptions, the gods always managed to make his life harder than necessary. And this situation was just proof of that.
If anyone ever asked Nico’s opinion — which never happened when it came to the gods — he would have said he was actually having a fantastic year so far. Will had taken a break from his studies for New Rome’s medical university to go on a special Valentine’s trip to Paris. Sure, it was almost a week after Valentine’s Day to avoid the crowds, but it was still incredible.
They even had a picnic by the Eiffel Tower.
Nico sighed, already missing those days.
They had barely returned to camp, and things were already going downhill.
“Isn’t he adorable, ghost king?” Will asked, holding the pup over the table. His omega scent spread through the air, which normally would have made Nico blush, but he was too perplexed for that.
“I don’t understand.”
Nico couldn’t take his eyes off the little one, who smelled faintly of powdered milk.
“Well, we know even less than you do, my boy,” Chiron answered, smiling warmly at the three of them at the table.
“No doubt, they don’t usually leave demigod babies at camp,” Will muttered, poking the baby’s chubby cheeks. Nico couldn’t help but think the sight was adorable.
“Regardless, it’s still a divine gift,” Mr. D said, eyeing the child more attentively than Nico was used to seeing from the god. “And obviously, it’s yours, Nico.”
Nico’s hands clenched tighter around the already crumpled note as he tried not to let his scent sour in front of the little one.
A few hours earlier, Nico and Will had just arrived for dinner.
They were still planning what to do in the coming days when a basket landed with a thud on their table, delivered by a stork.
Inside was the baby, bundled in warm blankets and smelling of powdered milk, sleeping peacefully. Along with him came the note:
“To Nico di Angelo,
Consider this a gift for my masterpiece.”
“I don’t understand,” Nico repeated, staying as far as possible from the basket even though every omega instinct in him begged to pick up the baby.
Will tore his gaze from the child in his arms to glance at him. “We already understand that, Nico.”
“I don’t understand,” Nico insisted, ignoring Will’s face. “Who would give me a baby?”
“Seriously, Neeks? How many options do we have?” Will asked.
Unfortunately, his boyfriend had a point. Nico decided to just stay silent, staring at the still-sleeping baby.
Will sighed. “Alright. So now what? Do we take him to the Hades cabin?”
Nico’s brain practically froze. “What?”
“Well, we could take him to the Apollo cabin, but I’d have to talk to my siblings, and we already have a nest of our own in your cabin, so—”
“Will, we can’t keep him.” Nico frowned.
Will blinked several times. “But… why not?”
“Look, for starters, we’re only guessing where he came from.”
“Come on, Nico. A stork drops a baby with a note calling you a masterpiece. Who else besides Cupid would do something like that?”
“Were you expecting to get Cocoa Cereal from Nyx instead?”
Will pointed a finger at him. “Touché!” he exclaimed. “But still, I can’t imagine Nyx sending a baby by stork.”
“Just so you know, the goddess of Misery also considers me a masterpiece.”
Will raised an eyebrow. “You think the baby’s hers?”
They stared at each other for a while until Nico looked away and mumbled: “No.”
“Perfect!” Will grinned again. “So, with that settled, we can take him to the cabin.”
“No!”
“Why not?!”
“Because I don’t… this isn’t…” He sighed, his omega instincts screaming in protest against his own words. “This doesn’t make sense. We can’t just keep him.”
“He’s a divine gift, like literally a divine gift. You can’t deny that, right, Chiron?”
Chiron seemed startled to suddenly be dragged into the conversation. With a soft cough, he said: “Well, normally I do advise accepting gifts from the gods, but…”
“See? Even he thinks it’s a bad idea.” Nico argued.
“Not exactly,” Chiron murmured, coughing again. “It’s just… usually divine gifts are not… alive.”
“So what do you want us to do with him, then?” Will asked, his face tightening as his scent soured, making the baby whimper in response. “Give him to some random mortal?”
No! something inside Nico screamed, which he stubbornly ignored.
“He got to you, didn’t he?” Mr. D laughed. “On the other hand, I’ll teach this child how to drink and enjoy a real party. Not like these kids who can’t even remember what happened the next day.” His face twisted into disgust. “What’s the point of having fun if you won’t remember it?”
“Thanks? Though I’m pretty sure he’s too young for that,” Will said, shifting from a confused look at Mr. D to a more serious one at Nico. “That means it’s three against one.”
“Chiron’s not with you.” Nico shot back quickly, crossing his arms.
“I’d like to consider myself impartial,” Chiron said, earning matching scowls from the boys.
“Fine,” Will said, his tone sounding deeply betrayed. “That leaves two against one, so we’re still the majority.”
The stork let out a croak that sounded far too much like laughter in Nico’s ears.
“That’s not how it works,” Nico muttered, shrinking further into his crossed arms.
“Why don’t you want him?” Will asked, trying to keep his scent steady when the baby started to fuss.
“Because I don’t…” Nico turned his face away, his eyes stinging. “I can’t do this. I can barely take care of myself, let alone a pup.”
He felt Will grab his wrist and gently pull him down to sit beside him on the bench.
“You already take good care of the Cocoa Cereal. We can do this together,” he promised with a confident smile.
Nico averted his gaze from Will’s trustful eyes, glancing instead at Mr. D and Chiron — who, despite his words, was far from impartial judging by his look — and finally at the baby.
The child stared back at Nico with something like a smile, his chubby cheeks as soft as cotton.
“If something goes wrong…”
“Nothing will go wrong,” Will cut in, drawing Nico’s eyes back to him.
Nico smiled, hoping it looked more like courage than despair. “We’ll keep him.”
The stork cackled once more before flying away, but Nico didn’t have time to notice it, not when Will pulled him into a kiss, filling his chest with warmth.
“It’s going to be okay. We’ll be okay,” Will promised with a low purr.
And it would be.
They’d do their best to make it true.