#nico/will

[mediumgayitalian]

“Oh, fuck.”

The clatter of her practice sword on the ground is almost louder than the crunch that rings out from his wrist. He inhales sharply, biting back a shout — no matter how many times it’s happened, he will never get used to breaking a bone. That shit hurts.

“Fuck, fuck fuck. Fuck, Seaweed Brain, is it broken?”

“Think so,” Percy grits out. He tries for a smile, and Annabeth matches it, small and worried. He leans into the hand she cups over his cheek. “Not too bad, though. If I just dump my water bottle on it —”

“Absolutely not. Water healing leaves you achey when it rains, you know that.” Shifting to wrap her arm around his waist, she helps him stand, shouldering some of his weight like it’s his ankle that’s broken. He lets her, reaching down to squeeze the hand resting on his hip — I’m fine. We’re good. She turns her hand to wrap clasp their hands together — Okay. If you’re sure.

They walk together to the infirmary, taking their time. Aside from the pain pulsing from his arm, it’s not too bad — camp is as balmy as usual, and the spring break energy is practically visible, it’s so potent. The Demeter cabin has plants growing everywhere, flowers and fruit trees blooming as bright as a box of new crayons, and the air is filled with shouts of laughter and teasing. Annabeth’s steps fall in time with his, and she’s a comfortable warmth at his side, pressed from shoulder to hip.

“You still okay?”

“Yep.” He catches her eye, smiling crookedly at her. “Doesn’t even make my top fifty.”

She rolls her eyes, hipchecking him. “Don’t I know it, ya klutz.”

“Not sure I would call being flung from the St. Louis Arch being a klutz. Or exploded in a volcano. Or crushed under the sky. Or slashed by giants. Or chased by —”

“You’re talking, but all I’m hearing is Annabeth, please, please pinch me, as hard as you can —”

“Hey! Get those claws off me, gods you’re worse than an empousai —”

“— and when you’re done pinching me please put me in the tightest headlock you can manage —”

“I am injured! You are beating up an injured person right now!”

“— and then please just bite a chunk out of my shoulder —”

“Cut it out or I’m telling Mom!”

“Wimp,” she taunts, finally releasing him. “I don’t go running to Sally every time I lose a fight.”

“Wha — you do so!”

She ducks through the infirmary door, smirking like she can’t hear him.

“You literally — you snitched on me last week! I got grounded for two days!”

“And you deserved it,” she says primly.

He gapes. “I did not!”

“Anytime you two are done,” Kayla drawls, shoving a clipboard at them. They accept it with matching sheepish grins, cowed at her perfectly arched eyebrow and slowly tapping foot. “I got patients to deal with and older brothers to harass. Let’s get this moving.”

She is shockingly good at humbling people for a thirteen year old. The two of them turn to their clipboard, chagrined, letting her stomp away with an exasperated He’ll be with you soon! Don’t set off the sprinklers again!

“That was one time,” Percy mumbles, ears reddening.

Annabeth pats him on the back. “There, there,” she says mockingly. “The fact that it was one time definitely negates the fact that you flooded the entire Big House because you got jumpscared by a child.”

“Harley can be sneaky, okay. Let me live.”

“Literally no.”

Annabeth does most of the paperwork for him, ‘cause she’s a nerd because his wrist is far too swollen for him to write properly, so it takes maybe half the time it normally would. The infirmary is crowded as Hell, though (he knows, he’s been), so they settle in for the wait, amusing themselves by tearing little pieces off of a blank form, balling them up, and tossing them in increasingly harder places. Percy is winning 7-4, although Annabeth might just pull through if she manages to toss her paper ball into Travis’ wide-open snoring mouth.

“Hey, guys. Sorry for the wait.”

Aw. She missed. Percy was looking forward to that.

“Hey, Will.”

He drags his attention away from the son of Hermes to greet his friend, but frowns before he can open his mouth.

“Woah, dude, you good? You look exhausted.”

Will snorts. “Welcome to spring break, man.” He holds his hand out for the clipboard, scanning it briefly. “Sparring injury? Oh, thank the gods. I could use a break. Here, face me.”

He climbs up onto the minimal left over space on the cot, tucking his legs under his thighs. Percy turns to mirror him, hesitantly sticking out his arm — A break? he mouths to Annabeth, meeting her eyes over Will’s head.

She shrugs.

“Just spent four hours putting Jake’s nose back on his face,” Will mumbles, placing a careful hand on his fingertips and his forearm. Percy flinches — his skin is blisteringly hot. Like someone just dropped a hot stone onto him. “I never want to sing a skin cell hymn again in my life.” He prods at Percy’s wrist for a moment, gentle enough not to hurt. “Okay, hold still, I’m gonna fix ya right up.”

Healing hymns are familiar, by now, but Percy will never get tired of them.

The cool thing about ambrosia and nectar is that as pleasure food for the gods, it’s pleasant. It’s whatever taste you want, whatever you need to have most, you get it. But healing hymns are intentional the way nectar and ambrosia aren’t. Ambrosia and nectar happen to be healing for demigods — healing hymns were constructed to knit you back together, like you mother smoothing a bandaid over a skinned knee. They’re warm and sweet and deeply, endlessly comforting in a way most things simply cannot claim to be. They don’t feel like a medical procedure or a hasty patch job, they feel like someone gripping you tightly and promising you’ll be okay. They feel like getting carried to bed when you fall asleep on the couch. They feel like sitting down after hours of standing, like a drink of water when your throat is drier than sand. Healing hymns draw the pain and sick and ache from your body, and they feel like relief.

But this time, Percy can’t focus on it.

With every word, Will seems to get a little duller. Nothing like the horrible ash-grey he went in the war, dragging the poison from Annabeth’s body, but like his usual sunny disposition was dialed down a few notches. Enough that Annabeth frowns in concern, drumming her hands on her thighs, watching him closely.

“There,” Will says, pulling away. Percy turns his now-healed wrist, noticing the slight pant to Will’s breath, the strain to his smile. The shake of his blistered fingertips.

“You look overworked,” Annabeth says quietly.

Will holds his hands up in a what can you do gesture. “Spring break.”

“You said.”

“It’s just busy, is all.”

“Yeah, but —”

“Guys,” he interrupts, smiling tiredly, “there are two hundred ADHD demigods at this camp right now who have been trapped in a classroom for six months. There are three of us. I’m going to be a little drained; we’re all a little drained. But I’m fine, okay?” He gives them a second to scrutinize his expression, eyebrows raised in amusement. “I have been running my infirmary for years. I know how to pace myself, and I certainly know how to make sure my siblings are pacing themselves. If something goes really wrong, Chiron is a whistle away. I can go longer than you guys without sleep, anyway. Apollo kid health.”

“If you say so,” Percy says reluctantly. “I just — I can wear a wrist brace, man. Not every injury needs to be handled when it happens. You can tell people no.”

“I appreciate that, Percy, and I’ll keep it in mind. Anyways, I’ve got more patients. Stay off that wrist for the rest of the day, okay? It might be tender for a bit.”

Percy turns to Annabeth as Will leaves, frowning. He’s has never noticed the so-called spring break stress before (his camp spring breaks are usually a blast, but now that he’s thinking about it, he can’t think of a single spring break where he spent any time at all with Will, which is odd), but it can’t be good for him. There’s gotta be something they can do to ease some of the bruising under their friend’s eyes.

“I could set off the fire alarms again,” Percy suggests. “That’ll certainly get this place cleared out.”

Annabeth snorts. “I think that’ll cause more harm than good, Seaweed Brain. It’ll just fall in him to clean it all up, after.”

“Shoot.”

Percy counts nine of the forty cots currently unused. Will, Kayla, and Austin are rushing from cot to cot, handing out nectar, wrapping bandages, rattling off hymns at light speed. All three of them look exhausted, squeezing shoulders when they pass each other, knocking hips, exchanging tired smiles. This is so clearly something they’re used to.

Annabeth’s head rests on his shoulder.

“It wasn’t always like this,” she whispers. “When it was fully staffed…”

Percy exhales heavily. Yeah. He remembers. There was a lot less complication, once upon a time. The most chaotic the infirmary would get was when Lee would challenge his siblings to Hymn Karaoke — trying to heal with pop songs. There was a lot more laughter, at one point. A lot more people.

Percy sighs, squeezing his eyes shut. It never does well to dwell, but he — gods, he wish they all had more time. To sit with it, to acknowledge…everything. Siblings. Friends. A camp that’s smaller than it’s supposed to be.

Annabeth squeezes his hand again, and he squeezes back, resting his head on top of hers.

“Hey,” she murmurs after a moment, pursing her lips at the front door. “Look.”

Slinking through the entrance like a criminal is Nico, in all his dork ass black camp shirt glory. He looks around shiftily, like he’s trying to make sure no one sees him, and when his gaze lands on Percy and Annabeth his eyes widen. Annabeth smiles at him, but it does nothing to ease the spooked look to his face, back arched like a startled cat. He turns to leave, but before he can slip back out the door —

“Nico!”

The son of Hades whips back around so quickly he brains himself on the doorframe. Percy ducks his head and bites his lip, hard, because he can feel Nico’s glare at the side of his head like the press of hot coal, and if he laughs as badly as he wants to then the infirmary is about to look like a Spirit Halloween.

Will turns back to his patient, squeezing his eyes shut and rattling a hymn off so quickly it makes a burst of light pop from his whole body, and rushes over to where Nico’s standing. He only trips over two things, which is remarkable for him. Percy would be proud if he wasn’t a little embarrassed on his behalf.

“Nico! Hi!”

“He-ey, Will,” Nico says, voice cracking badly on every vowel. Annabeth shoves her face into Percy’s shoulder, body shaking.

“I didn’t know you were coming! I thought you were in the arena all day.”

Nico shrugs, shoes scuffing the floor. “I am. I just — uh, I got hurt? So. Came to see you.”

Will’s beam is so bright it hurts to look at, a little. Percy squints and realises that’s not just the excitement, actually — he really is glowing, faintly. His hands flap slightly at his sides.

“Well, you’re in the right place, then.”

“Yeah.”

Neither of them say anything for a minute, rocking back on their heels. Will watches Nico closely, biting his lip. Nico looks resolutely at the floor.

“We weren’t this bad,” Annabeth whispers, “were we?”

Percy shakes his head. “Nah, there’s no way.”

“Gods. It’s so — I don’t know whether to smile or take a dip in the Lethe. It’s embarrassing and endearing at the same time.”

“Painful to watch, but I can’t stop looking,” Percy agrees.

“What’d you hurt?” Will asks, finally. “Did you pull your shoulder again?”

A look of panic flits briefly across Nico’s face until he smooths it to something neutral, aloof.

“Yep. Totally. During — sword fighting, I swung — I did this really big thrust, actually. Just — hugely powerful, training dummy exploded on impact.” He clears his throat. “Some might say too powerful. If you can imagine.”

Percy cradles his head in his hands. “Oh my gods — ”

“Don’t laugh don’t laugh don’t laugh,” Annabeth chants, “oh my gods, don’t laugh —”

A light flush dusts Will’s cheeks. He brushes a strand of hair behind his ear, fiddling with his earrings. “Woah, really? I’ve never heard of that before.”

Nico smirks, standing up a little straighter. “Well, it’s not the first time. I tend to go pretty hard.” Remembering his supposedly hurt shoulder, he exaggerates a wince. “Too hard sometimes, I guess. Could you do the — the energy thing?”

“Oh — gods, yeah, sorry. Hold on.” He stares at Nico’s shoulder, hesitating. “It, um, works better with skin-to-skin contact.”

“I have seen crystal vases less transparent,” Annabeth says, aghast. “In two years he’s going to remember this and try to drown himself.”

“I will be counting down the days,” Percy says gleefully.

On rare, rare occasions, the gods answer his prayers. Clearly, both Nemesis and Aphrodite are looking at him kindly today. Percy makes a note to scrape some of the good stuff off his plate for them both today. Hell, maybe he’ll skip the portioning and toss them an entire roast chicken each. Or something. They deserve it.

Will places both hands — interesting, Percy notes, his wrist was snapped cleanly in two and he only needed one hand, wonder why that was — on Nico’s shoulder and closes his eyes, screwing up his face in concentration.

“Huh. I’m not feeling much damage. You said it was your right shoulder?”

“I heal quick,” Nico says loudly. “I mean, some of the damage might have — um.” He clears his throat. His face glows a faint crimson. He clears his throat again. “Y’know?”

Will’s face is a similar shade.

“Right, right. Yeah. Um, brace yourself.”

Instead of starting to sing, Will closes his eyes, holding completely still. After a moment, the tips of his fingers begin to glow; soft, ambery yellow, flickering like lit candles. He opens his eyes again and focuses intently on Nico’s bare skin, tracing patterns around every defined muscle, leaving a trail of light behind. He lingers, for a moment, when he connects the last string of light, waiting until it has faded entirely from Nico’s skin to remove his hands and shove them in the pockets of his coat.

“That better?” he asks softly.

Nico swallows. “Yeah.”

“Good. I’m glad, Nico. It means a lot that you — came to me. When you needed it.”

“I trust you, I guess.” Nico looks away. “You know what you’re doing.”

“I think I just threw up in my mouth a little,” Percy says thoughtfully.

Annabeth laughs, shoving his shoulder. “Don’t be mean.” She pauses. “Me too.”

With a sigh that can only be described as besotted, Will steps reluctantly away.

“I have patients,” he says, in the same tone of voice Percy usually says I have midterms. “So I gotta…”

“Yeah, no, go. Do your —” Nico gestures vaguely. “Doctor thing.”

“Right. Yeah. I’m gonna — go.” He turns, walking back towards a group of Hephaestus kids who appear to be tightly entangled in some kind of net. After a few steps, though, he pauses, biting his lip, then darts back over to Nico, pressing a lightning-fast kiss to his cheek — “Um, bye. Thank you for visiting. Bye,” — and then runs back over to his siblings, shy smile on his face.

Nico’s jaw is brushing the floor of his father’s palace. He stands, still as a statue, for four entire minutes.

“I think he just died,” Annabeth observes, eyebrows climbing higher and higher up her forehead with every passing second “Damn. Survived so much only to literally die because a cute boy kissed his cheek. A true hero’s end.”

Percy, because he is a kind, concerned friend, clears his throat loudly.

“Yo, di Angelo, you alive?”

Nico startles so violently he falls right over. Percy shoves his fist in his mouth to keep from cackling.

“Shut the fuck up,” Nico hisses venomously, scrambling upright. “Both of you, shut the — not a word —”

Percy and Annabeth make the mistake of looking at each other and simply erupt. Percy can’t feel his stomach. His lungs have abandoned ship. He’s glad as hell he’s in the infirmary because he is heaving for breath, tears streaming down his face, entire body convulsing. Nico stands in front of them literally shaking with rage, entire body redder than one of Apollo’s sacred cows, trying and failing to string together a threat that will ease any and all of his suffering. Annabeth screeches, almost falling off the bed as she cackles. Percy cannot even find the strength to catch her, his muscles are so weak.

“I fucking — I hate you! Both of you! You’re dead to me!”

“Your face!” Percy shrieks.

“Percy Jackson, I am going to turn you to fucking dark matter! I despise your very essence! I —” He stomps his foot. “I’m leaving, and I’m going to leave a rotting corpse in your cabin! Screw you!”

“Oh my gods,” Annabeth wheezes, digging her nails into his arm. “Oh my gods, that was —”

Percy wipes a tear from his eye. “I love being alive. I love being alive so much.”

“It really is great.” Composing herself, and biting back the leftover giggles that keep bubbling out, Annabeth looks back towards Will. He stands much straighter, now, smile back to full brightness. His siblings, too, look rejuvenated, snickering to each other and making kissy faces behind Will’s back. “So many beautiful things to witness. I’ve never seen his face go that red.”

Percy sighs. “This is genuinely going to carry me through the semester. I think his soul died a little. And Will just — gods, that kid is bold.”

“Oh says you, Mr. Do I Get A Good Luck Kiss.”

“Hey, I earned that.”

Annabeth grins, punching him in the shoulder. He grabs her wrist and tugs her towards him, chasing the curve of her smile. She laughs into his mouth and it taste like strawberries and freedom, and he presses a kiss to her cheek, to her jaw, and the side of her neck, resting there, breathing against her skin. After a moment her hands come up and slide in his hair, gently untangling the knotted mess.

“He is one thousand percent going to put a zombie in your bed, you know,” she says after a moment.

Percy snorts. “Yeah, I know.” He smiles. “Worth it.”

[asolareclipses]

Nico knew that canoeing was a bad idea, yet somehow he ended up in the middle of the sound once again. It of course was Wills idea. He and his love for athletic hobbies, Nico would preferred to watch a movie or stayed indoors. But here he was in a canoe.

It’s not like he hated canoes or anything, he wasn’t anti-canoe or whatever. It just happened that every time they rowed out onto this lake something went wrong.

The first time was when they had just started dating. Will had meticulously prepared and over the top date that made Nico feel like his bones were going to jump out of his skin. An image that frequently appeared in Nicos mind for some reason. Unfortunately the date was ruined when a swarm of bees decided to take interest in the honey and peanut butter sandwiches Will had made. They capsized in seconds.

Of course they decided to give it another shot, after Will promised no more honey. And everything was fine, at least it was until a giant statue of Apollo crashed into the water almost drowning the both of them. Looking back, it was definitely a sign for the chaos that followed Apollos arrival at camp.

Still, somehow, Will had managed to convince Nico that this time would be different. The word convince meaning he gave a smile to Nico and all of his stubbornness melted into a puddle of adoration. But of course Nico wasn’t going to admit that.

Instead with each row of the paddle he silently cursed himself for his disgusting obsession of his boyfriend. Each day he impressed himself with how much of a cliche he was. The moments when he’d see something and think Will would like that. Or when something like a yellow flower or particular glare from the sunlight reminded Nico of his smile, a grin that was slightly uneven but set loose butterflies in Nico’s stomach every time he had the pleasure of viewing it. Gods he was so gross. This was totally against his image. Cheesy guy head over heels for his boyfriend? Yeah, no. Those were not the vibes he was trying to emit. Still he never held himself back from his affection, he just didn’t let people see it. Or he thought he did.

When Nico looked up he was almost blasted out of the canoe by the most breathtaking sight. Will had been looking at him, an adoring half smile spread across his face. The sunlight reflecting ever so slightly from his eyes. His blonde hair fell recklessly in his eyes, rustling as a breeze passed by and his face was flushed slightly pink. Which Nico tried to convince himself was sunburn even when knowing how that wasn’t possible for a son of Apollo. Honestly, Will was effortlessly beautiful and he didn’t even realize it. From his freckles to his sun kissed skin he was perfect.

Will titled his head in curiosity as he watched Nico stare, “What?” He said as his smile grew bigger.

Nico heart did ten jumping jacks seven pushups and took a few laps in his chest. “N-Nothing.” Nico lied, the stutter being the selling point.

Will laughed, a sound that blessed Nico’s ears, it was like hearing liquid gold. “You’re cute.”

Nico tried his best to glare at Will, it turned more into a flustered glance. “Okay nightlight.”

“You’re turning red Nico,” Will smirked. He looked proud of himself, it was so attractive.

Now that inner comment caught Nico so off guard it almost made him audibly scream.

“Shut up please Solace,” Nico said. But he couldn’t hold back his smile. Revenge time, he thought. “You know…” Nico paused looking into Wills eyes for a moment too long. He’d long forgotten his paddle, dropping it to the side of the boat as he leaned forward to brush a strand of Wills golden hair from his face. “You might be cuter.”

A quick look of surprise danced across Wills face as the pink flush turned deeper. He blinked, and then blinked again before opening his mouth to speak and then closing it. It was a moment of speechlessness that Nico reveled in. But of course it didn’t last long.

Wills expression soon changed to delight as he smirked, “What about me do you think is cute?”

Nico’s smile dropped. He failed to realize that Will was the king of flirting and would somehow one up him each time. It was probably an Apollo kid thing. Dramatics, romance or whatnot. But Nico was determined to win so he said something cool like, “Um...”

Will giggled leaning forward, they were now extremely close and Nico was hyper aware of his breathing and well, everything else too. “Speechless huh?” Gods the look on his face was so attractive Nico wanted to tattoo it onto the back of his eyes. Woah, too far.

“N-no?” Another killer reply good one Nico, he thought. It took all of his willpower not to shrink into an embarrassed ball on the bottom of the canoe.

Will placed his hands on the sides of Nicos face, he too had forgotten the existence of his paddle. “How can I be cuter when you’re already the cutest?” He asked in a soft voice as his eyes sparkled like gems.

Nico tried to rack his brain for something to say but all he found was a puddle of thoughts. His mind had melted the second Will had touched him. His hands were so warm. He could feel the warmth spreading throughout his body turning him into incoherent mush. He was so in love with Will it was embarrassing.

“I win.” Will placed a peck on Nicos nose lightly.

Those words triggered Nico’s competitive side and he suddenly felt the unwavering need to win. His body moved before he could think as his hands moved to the back of Wills neck and he pulled him in for a kiss.

He could feel the surprise on Wills lips, then he felt the curve of a smile as Will kissed back. He was filled with a warmth that spread throughout his whole body. Nico thought about how impossibly soft Wills lips were as he ran his fingers through his hair. It took all of his mental strength to pull away, but as he did Will leaned forward as if he yearned for the kiss to continue. This pleased Nico more than he’d like to admit.

“No, I win.” He whispered brushing his thumb against Wills bottom lip.

Will stared at his lips then moved his eyes up to meet Nico’s. He stared for a minute, then a minute longer before a sly smile spread across his face. “You sure about that?” He said before rapidly kissing Nico all over, his forehead, nose, cheeks, chin, slowly moving down his neck.

Nico giggled, squirming but not making any effort to pull away.

Will paused for a moment keeping his lips close to the side of Nico’s neck, “Do you give up yet?” He whispered, knowing his breath would send chills down Nico’s spine. He could feel his words reverberating throughout his whole body.

Nico took a shaky breath, opening his mouth to speak but he was cut short by a realization, “It’s leaking.”

“Your heart?”

“No idiot the boat!” Nico tone was twinged with surprise as he pushed Will lightly.

Will looked down to see the puddle forming on the bottom of the canoe, “Oh..”

“Oh?!” Nico looked at Will in exasperation, instantly regretting coming out onto these Gods forsaken waters.

“Thats not good huh?”

“Duh! What do we do?!” Nico began to look for the paddles which had drifted a distance away, now bobbing peacefully in the soft waves.

“Great question babe.” Will looked around the canoe as if looking at it would magically fix it.

“Would be even greater if it had an answer,” Nico replied. He wondered if he was cursed when it came to water, it would make sense, Poseidon hated Hades after all . It was a short thought he had no time to linger on, but its briefness stung with a familiar pain.

“I think we have to abandon ship,” Will suddenly said.

“We what now?”

“Either we sink with it or escape while we still can,” He spoke as if he’d already made up his mind that this was the best option.

“Great.” Nico replied.

Will grabbed his hand as they both shakily stood up, careful not to capsize the canoe. Not that it would’ve mattered.

“In 3…2…1!” Will called out before they both plunged into the cold waters.

As Nico hit the water and the darkness washed over him, he realized he did in fact hate water. Well, not necessarily being on or near water, he hated being in it. It was cold and dark. Two things extremely prevalent in Nico’s life yet the combination that water brought reminded him of his deepest memories. He couldn’t drown in those right now, because he was too busy trying to actually not drown.

He floundered a bit at the surface, he was never good at swimming. He hadn’t actually learned until somewhat recently and he was a beginner at most. Will sensed Nico’s panic and he began to reach out so they could swim to the shore together. He could feel the nervousness start to dissipate as he looked at Will.

Then everything went dark.

Nico thought he had passed out, that was until he felt the salty water rushing into his mouth. This was when he realized he was being pulled down by something, or someone.

He looked down and in the darkness where he could barely make out a hand grabbing his ankle. He resisted the urge to scream, well more like he couldn’t scream as his lungs were quickly filling with water. He tried to regain his composure, realizing that if he didn’t he would drown. Slowly he forced his arms against the current as he reached for the arm, if he could just get it to let go. As soon as he grabbed the creature he knew immediately it was a spirit, a spirit which promptly turned its head revealing several rows of sharp teeth. Then in a split second a searing pain rolled up Nico’s arm, it bit him. The dark water turned a tinge of red, spiraling out in swirls and eerie patterns.

Nico almost let go. But he wasn’t going to let a spirit be what killed him, he hadn’t earned the title Ghost King for nothing.

As Nico lungs screamed for air he ignored the pain and gathered the rest of his energy, still gripping the spirits arm he willed the spirit to dissipate. Suddenly he was no longer being pulled down, but that also meant he had to now swim back up.

Fear filled his body like the water in his lungs. It was so dark. It was so cold. He was going to drown.

Then he saw a splash of light, a yellow glow from above him as a hand reached out. He grasped at the hand, feeling the familiar warmth pull him towards the surface.

He came up coughing and gasping for air as Will desperately tried to keep them both above the water.

“Oh my gods- Nico what was- that,” Wills voice was mixed between splashes.

Nico couldn’t answer as he was too busy trying not to choke to death. He thought they would never make it to shore but soon Will was pulling him out of the water.

“It’s okay, just breathe.” Will said putting his hand on Nico chest, he felt his lungs expand as his breathing became clearer.

“Gee, wish I’d thought of that.” Nico replied still hanging on to his sarcasm despite almost dying seconds ago.

“Are you okay? I- What happened - You- Oh gods Nico your arm,” Will stuttered before his face filled with concern.

Nico had forgotten about that, he was almost shocked to see the wound was much worse than he initially thought it was. Instead of a small bite it was a bunch of large gashes cut deeply in his skin. It was like a shark with knife’s for teeth had bitten him.

“Dam,” Nico said as the blood dripped from his arm making staining the sand with a dark red color.

“Infirmary now.” Will said grabbing Nico by the not chewed up arm. His tone was urgent and so was the look of concern, which was probably better described as pain, that was splashed across his face.

They were halfway there when Nico stumbled, almost losing his balance as a wave of dizziness hit him like a semi truck.

Will reacted quickly slinging Nicos arm around him and holding his waist as he carried most of his weight. Nico didn’t know if it was a result of the blood loss, the use of his powers, or the almost drowning. Probably a combination of all. But he couldn’t focus, the world was blurring together as he thought about the darkness of the water. He could see the image imprinted in his mind of Wills hand, glowing, reaching towards him to save him. Will literally and figuratively pulled him out of the darkness. Turns out a near death experience makes Nico feel really poetic. Or maybe he was just delirious.

They reached the infirmary, Will rushing to grab bandages and nectar as soon as he sat Nico down. His whole arm was drenched in blood now, he had been sure the cut wasn’t that serious. The nectar stung his skin as the bleeding stopped. Nico felt a rush a strength before his mind cleared and the blurriness faded.

Will looked at him with a subtle fear in his eyes, not against Nico but for him. “What did this?”

“I don’t know,” Nico replied as his eyes moved over the cuts. “A water spirit maybe? Something like that. I didn’t see its face, it was too dark.”

Will sighed, “I should’ve known we were too far from the barrier. Of course the water would be more prone to monsters.” He scolded himself in frustration as if he were somehow to blame.

“It’s not your fault Will, neither of us expected that to happen.” Nico said softly as Will delicately wrapped the bandage around his arm. Usually the way his hand would move in expertise as if bandaging was an art mesmerized him.

But now his hands slightly shook, “I shouldn’t have made you come out onto the water with me. You were right, it always goes wrong. But instead of listening I made you do it anyways.”

Nico grabbed Wills hand and looked up at him, an expression of reassurance across his face. “You didn’t make me do anything.”

“I know but-“

“But nothing,” Nico cut in. “I chose to go with you because I wanted to. End of story.”

Will sighed. He brought his head down resting it on their hands.

“I’m okay,” Nico softly spoke, “and you’re okay.”

Will nodded looking up at Nico, his eyes slightly shining. Whenever Nico would get hurt Will would always look like he was in pain too. Whether it was something big or small. Will seemed to feel it twice as hard. It was as if seeing Nico in pain was the worst thing physically possible for Will. Nico felt guilty for always being in pain.

A breeze from the infirmary air conditioning blew past, and Nico shivered. He hadn’t realized how cold he was until now. Will was soaked himself but still he rushed to grab a towel, draping it over Nico’s shoulders.

“I’ll grab clothes, you need to change before you catch a cold.”

“You too.” Nico said as Will was opening the door.

“Right.” Will replied almost as if he hadn’t thought about that.

When Will left Nico was met with a sense of silence. The infirmary was empty. Rare, but it made sense as it was nearing spring and most campers were at school or doing whatever non-summer campers did.

In the silence, Nico thought about being dragged into the depths. The tugging sensation had been so familiar to the one he’d felt many years ago. That same darkness as he was dragged deeper and deeper down somewhere he’d never wanted to go. The feeling had been so identical it made him sick. But this time he had Will to pull him up. Will who lost all self preservation when it came to Nico. Will who cared so much about Nico that it scared them both. He didn’t want Will to drown in his thoughts like he had, he wanted to be his light, to pull him from the darkness too.

A drop of water fell from his hair and hit the ground, just as the door opened and Will rushed in. He hurriedly told Nico to change and Nico made sure to remind him to do the same.

Finally being in dry clothes brought a pleasant warmth throughout his body. But his hair was still dripping wet, chilling his neck as each drop made its way down his face. He noticed that somehow Wills hair had mostly dried already, another mysterious Apollo thing, Nico assumed.

Another drop of water fell from Nico’s hair and hit the ground.

Will noticed and frowned, putting a towel on Nico’s head, he stood while Nico was sitting on the infirmary bed. Will ruffled the towel, making a mess of Nico’s already unruly hair.

After a moment he stepped back and asked, “Is that better?”

Nico shook his head.

Will scrunched his brows in confusion before Nico suddenly wrapped his arms around Wills waist, pulling him closer.

“That’s better,” Nico said. His voice muffled as he buried his head in Wills shirt.

He could almost hear Wills smile as he leaned into the hug, they both shared the warmth of that moment for what seemed that forever.

Nico wanted Will to feel warm too. He wanted to be a light for him. Whatever darkness or pain Will had, Nico wanted to erase it all. Maybe he couldn’t do that. But he could be here, in this moment, so that’s what he did.

After a moment he moved back, looking up at Will. It was a breathtaking sight to say the least. The way Will looked down at him with a warm smile. It was like looking directly into the sun except Nico couldn’t look away. His eyes danced like diamonds and Nico realized what it felt like to be truly loved.

“I love you Solace.”

“I love you too.”

That day Nico thought that maybe canoeing wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

The new scars on his arm may disagree.

[yourlocalquestionmark]

Solangelo playlist!!! Adding to it everyday and there’s a mix of like 10 different music styles in there haha :D Check it out if you wanna ✨✨

[ecstacy-appleofmyeye]

hmrrrmrrr.,,,,,, solangelo as the demolition lovers??❓❓❓

[jankwritten]

Handful of Homes (link)

rated G, 2.8k words, corniness and fluff and coming out.

Relationships: Will Solace/Nico di Angelo, past Jason Grace/Nico di Angelo (momentarily mentioned)

Summary: Nico is eighteen, in an eight-month old relationship, and he thinks that it's probably, maybe, finally time to tell Will that he's asexual.

[jetstargenderfuckery]

i need to look like a man so i can dress like a woman

[cherriielle]

itty bitty ghost king 👑💀

[absolutedestinyapocalypsse]

how are they gonna adequately prepare whatever child they cast for nico di angelo. it has got to be impossible for someone that young to give informed consent about playing the saddest wettest loser in all of human history. like hey kid i know youre sprightly and all of ten, but we need you to be in all five stages of grief at all times. remember, your mother was killed in fascist italy, youre eighty years old, and now youre in love with the guy who killed your sister. say this next line like you know what it's like to be an ear of corn.

[kermit-coded]

god. hades saying, "ask me for sanctuary" after percy talks about kronos hits like a truck when you remember that he tried to do the same for maria, bianca, and nico.

[yellowistheraddest]

weirdgirl robin my beloved

[mediumgayitalian]

Will would like to say, at risk of perjuring himself, that he did not intend to fall asleep.

Like, he wanted to.

And he did.

But it was not his original intent.

His original intent was to stabilize his patients (success), climb out the back window of the infirmary (success), stick the landing (failure is good for growth), meet Nico behind the Big House (success), and shadow travel to his cabin without throwing up (fifty percent is a pass). The secondary intent was to sprawl on his boyfriend’s lap, taking up as much space as possible in his massive, against-camp-regulations bed (how it is possible to be Dionysus’ nepo baby without actually being a child of Dionysus, Will shall never know), turn off his brain, and watch him play video games for a while.

The issue is that Nico is so comfortable.

Yeah, he’s bony. And yeah, sometimes he gets really into the game and forgets that Will is there, elbowing him in the face as he cusses at the screen in what sounds like ancient Latin. And yeah, the sound of a CoD lobby is the opposite of a sleep-conductive environment. However.

However.

While he may spend hours of his week standing on tables, lecturing on healthy eating habits and regular circadian rhythms via sonnet, and enforcing said habits via taser (rip Leo Valdez, you would’ve loved watching Will taser people for stress relief, come back alive soon), Will is what his friends and family call a ‘big fat hypocrite’.

He wouldn’t know healthy habits if they painted themselves bright neon blue (the easiest colour for him to see), stood ten feet tall, dressed in Malvolio’s outfit from Twelfth Night, and roundhouse kicked him in the teeth his mother spent thousands of dollars on (braces suck). He has not slept through the night even once his whole life. Yesterday, his two meals were 1) twizzlers and 2) audacity. He once measured how much liquid he had in his system on any given time and then drank approximately two point seven litres of RedBull to become, by volume, one half percent caffeine. (His heart did indeed stop. But it started back up again when Jason shocked him, so it was fine. Plus, he wrote it all down, so in reality it was science.)

Also, his dumbfuck peers keep getting themselves maimed, and he was informed unfortunately by Chiron that he cannot strike and leave them to suffer. (Accusing him of violating his First Amendment Right To Petition got him nothing but stable duty.) As of ten minutes before Nico picked him up, he was on his thirty-ninth consecutive hour of being awake. Probably. (He’s reasonably certain that climbing a tree on Friday morning and belting himself to the trunk, Katniss Everdeen style, for a quick catnap was not a fever dream, but one can never be too certain.)

Regardless. Point is, Will had cute boys to cuddle and Thoughts to Think. He had no intention of falling asleep.

And, yet.

He wakes up warm — the perfect kind of warm, wherein you feel akin to a soupified caterpillar in a chrysalis — or like a croissant lovingly shaped by the hands of an elderly chef in Paris and baked with care in a regulated oven — or like a wonderfully blubbery elephant seal baking on a slick rock — or like a space rock hurtling through the —

“Morning, Sunshine,” murmurs a very familiar voice. Following the very gentle murmur is a very gentle smooch on the forehead. Will, still mostly asleep, thinks he would sign off his soul without a second thought to ensure it happens again. “Or evening, rather.”

“Has anyone ever offered you their soul?” Will asks, fuzzy and disoriented. He tries and fails to blink the grogginess away, but the world around him stays dark, and the hand in his hair remains where it is, and he is so, so sleepy.

“Not yet,” Nico says. Will can hear the amused smile in his voice. “Why?”

Will yawns. “No reason. Timizzit?”

“Late, tesoro. Past curfew.”

Will groans, knocking his head gently back into Nico’s hold.

Of course his dumb ass slept through the evening. Of course he now has to drag himself awake and walk, in the blistering, nose-numbing frost (it’s sixty degrees, Solace) across camp, dodging feral harpy attacks (Apollo kids have harpy immunity, William), and trudging into his sad, small, lonely bed (gods above you are your father’s son) where he will of course be fully awake by the time he gets there. God really does give his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers. (You’re an atheist, William Andrew.)

“Why me,” he laments, refusing to move from his boyfriend’s lap. Perhaps he will simply wither here, warm, satisfied, and more importantly away from little siblings who will not stop squabbling even when their long-suffering older brother looks longingly and pointedly at a bottle of cyanide.

Nico snorts. “Because the gods are punishing you for your crimes.”

“I have committed no crimes! This is unjust! Partisan! I am Hester Prynne and she is me —”

“Your mother is going to hell for teaching you literacy.”

“Defamation and libel!”

“Shut up, Will, gods —”

But he softens the blow of his words by leaning down, hands on either side of Will’s face, and kissing him like he’s trying to breathe him back to life. Or keep him quiet, honestly, but he smells like woodsmoke and citrus and old leather so Will doesn’t really mind. Even if he did, the chapped skin of Nico’s lips serves as a very good distraction, as does the brush of his thumb over Will’s cheekbone and the cool press of his ring against Will’s heated skin.

“Stay over,” he whispers, shifting his lips to Will’s chin, his jaw, his neck. He scratches his teeth lightly against Will’s adam’s apple and his hemoglobin briefly forget how important their job is. “You don’t have a shift tomorrow and everyone at camp owes you, like, twelve favours each.”

“That’s very convincing,” Will mumbles, unsure if he’s referring to Nico’s sound logic or the breath he blows on the shell of Will’s ear, which makes his arrector pili muscles go crazy. (He could make a more convincing case for the logic if all the blood had not abandoned his brain. Alas.)

“I’m a very convincing person.”

He slides a hand under Will’s shirt and his already very weak resolve pulls out a suitcase, packs its things, and abandons its family to pursue a career in competitive shoemaking. Or something. Nico’s hands are very very cold and it feels really really good for some reason and Will is just one man, okay. He may have been named after willpower but that does not mean he possesses any. And Nico is a convincing person. He out-stubborned Death.

“Okay,” he gasps out, arching into the nail Nico scratches over the intensely sensitive skin of his hip, “I’m staying, I’m staying, please take all your wiles and ship them out into the sea in a wine crate ala Danaë and her newborn.”

“…You are such a deeply strange person.”

“And yet you love me so.”

Nico presses his smile to Will’s forehead. “Indeed, I do.”

[h0rsegirlpercy]

Knowing how Hades is in the show now it’ll be really funny to see him and Nico interact bc Nico will be all Dark and Depressed in the underworld and Hades will just be like “son… please… you’re killing the vibe”

[millificent]

Every Nico Di Angelo fan focusing more on the background of the episode than the actual plot

[artkaninchenbau]

Crocodile finds a strange stray cat an 11-year old Nico Robin (AU where they met 13 years earlier. Robin's been on the run from the World Government for 3 years. Crocodile's 27 and has not set up base in Alabasta yet)

It seems like I have become possessed. By some sort of demon.

Bonus:

[fluffyartbl0g]

one piece saved my life man

[themetalhiro]