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Will feels like he should definitely be panicking, but he wasn’t. He’s never really felt this calm before.
To be fair the reason that he should be panicking is because he has no real excuse for how he has behaved while interacting with Nico this past week besides the fact that he is exhausted and a complete disaster of a bisexual. In other words, Will has a giant crush on the son of Hades that has apparently destroyed his brain to mouth filter and is functioning on far too little sleep to be healthy in the slightest, leading to a number of random confessions.
In regards to his crush, it's a crush that Will has been nursing since Nico had first showed up at camp. If not for the fact that the son of Hades was constantly pulling big stunts and then running away from camp, Will would like to think that they could have been friends a lot sooner. Instead, the two teens ended up becoming friends years later, during Nico’s mandatory three days under medical observation last month.
As for his lack of sleep, Will is the oldest of his siblings, Head Counselor of the Apollo cabin, and Head Medic of Camp Half-Blood. It was tiring, especially with how the Apollo cabin was practically in charge of cleaning up the war’s aftermath; dealing with all of the new emergency, debilitating, and chronic injuries everyone sustained while fighting. There are only three fully trained medics in the Apollo cabin, and Will himself is one of them. The youngest three of his siblings are still being taught how to do everything in the infirmary.
The shift rotations for the infirmary had Kayla and Austin taking six hour shifts in the morning and night respectively, with Will taking the remaining 12 hours. His shift was from seven am to seven pm. Just in time to drop off his siblings at breakfast and then pick them up after dinner. Most of his interactions with Yan, Jerry and Gracie were spent getting them ready for the day or ready for bed, and for two or three hours in the infirmary for lessons.
Kayla has taken over the activities schedule for the Apollo cabin, which Will could not be more grateful about, except for when it comes back to bite him in the butt for being too used to a semi-regular sleep schedule. Like the past two days, Will had been functioning on only an hour or two of sleep due to taking back over their cabin’s scheduling and covering Kayla’s evening shift, because despite popular belief, children of Apollo could still get sick. The sickness will simply never be viral or bacterial, but stress fevers and hayfever are completely possible for a child of Apollo to get, and unfortunately, Kayla is currently sick in bed with a stress fever.
So Sunday morning Will had woken up in his office after what couldn’t have been more than a nap, and ran over to his cabin to hand Austin that day's schedule which consisted of music lessons, which were conveniently run by Austin, lunch, and archery practice with Chiron.
“We’re still switching out at lunch?” Austin asked through a yawn.
“Only if you’re up for it.” Will instructs, shifting from foot to foot guilty.
“Yeah.” Austin yawned. “I will be.” he waves the older teen off.
Will kissed his brother’s head, whispering a quick goodbye and a reminder to check in on Kayla. Then he got himself dressed and ready for the day before booking it back to the infirmary, because somehow, there were already new patients for him to treat at six in the morning.
Nico, being the absolute saint that he is, ends up bringing Will’s breakfast to the infirmary along with his own so that they could eat together in peace. It was a small habit that Will had carefully coaxed into existence during Nico’s three day stay at the infirmary. Both as a way to help the son of Hades deal with his food anxiety so that the possibility of him actually eating something increased, and also as an excuse to hangout with his crush.
After treating two of his bed rest patients, Will snuck on back to his office so that he could eat his food.
“You, di Angelo, are a lifesaver.” Will groaned as he flopped down into his chair and dug into his plate of food.
“And here I thought that was supposed to be your job, Solace.” Nico tsked playfully.
Swallowing down his mouth full of food, Will rolled his eyes.
“There can be more than one life saver, death breath.” Will informs the son of Hades. “I’m a physical lifesaver who practices medicine and healing. You,” The blond says while gesturing at Nico, tossing a blueberry into his mouth, “are my personal lifesaver. An absolute angel.”
The other teen stared at the blond for a moment, a completely deadpan look resting on his face.
“Oh ha ha. How original, because my name literally means of the angels I must be an angel.” Nico snarked as Will took another bit of his food.
“Nah. That’s just a fun coincidence that your name matches the fact that you’re my personal angel.” The blond says once he’s swallowed down his food.
Nico rolled his eyes, clearly not believing a word Will was saying, which was fair given then that he wouldn't have admitted this is his brain to mouth filter wasn’t asleep. He doesn’t want to make his crush uncomfortable, but now it feels like he has to explain the reasoning behind his thought process.
“You have made this war’s aftermath a lot easier for me to deal with. I was sorta dreading this part, just because of how it went last time, but you’ve made it a lot more bearable.” Will blurts out.
“Oh…I-” Someone from the infirmary called for a medic, called for Will, not even a second later, allowing the blond to escape Nico’s reaction to the admission that he viewed the other teenager as his own personal angel.
When Will came back into his office after treating two Athena, four Hephaestus, a Demeter, and five Ares kids, he found the son of Hades asleep. Nico must have been pretty tired that morning to have spent most of the time he was supposed to be eating to doze off while leaning on Will’s desk. His head was pillowed on top of his crossed arms, face turned to the side at just the right angle for Will to admire and perfectly map out the structure of Nico’s face for the millionth time. From the three raised marks over the bridge of his nose and down his left cheek to the slight part of his rosey lips. From the warm hue of his returning olive toned skin to the curtaining drape of his obsidian colored hair. Nico’s long eyelashes fluted for a moment, then settled. A soft huff of air leaving his lips as a few locks of hair fall in front of his face.
There is no one in the world, not counting the literal gods of the concept, that is as beautiful as Nico di Angelo.
“Gods, why are ya so damn pretty?” Will sighed fondly, brushing the strands of hair behind Nico’s ear. He turned to walk away, intending to get back to work, when Will noticed surprised onyx brown eyes catching his own, now slightly panicked, sky blue ones. A bright blush was now coloring Nico’s cheeks as he stared with wide, doe-like, eyes.
It was very tempting for Will to just hold his breath and wait for the son of Hades to do or say something, but knowing Nico as he does, Will is fully aware that Nico doing something is usually running, so Will takes the lead. He completes his turn towards the filing cabinet, opening the drawer with a smooth, practiced, motionion, grabbing the twelve specific charts he needed from the four different cabins.
“Did’ya sleep alright?” He asks while looking over his shoulder, a playful smile slipping into place, glossing over both his nerves and his earlier slip up. This line of questioning earns a groan as Nico tries to bury his face in his arms.
Rolling his eyes, the son of Apollo bumps the filing drawer closed, returning to his desk. The charts are unceremoniously dropped onto the desk as he glanced at the two plates that also sat on the wooden surface. His own plate was empty, but Nico’s plate on the other hand-
“Well, since you’re up now, make sure to eat some of that.” Will instructs while gesturing to the untouched plate of food.
“‘m not hungry.” Nico mumbled, unable to look Will in the eyes. Whether that was because of what he heard Will say, or because Nico knows that the blond will be upset if he starts skipping out on meals again, Will’s not sure. Either option is entirely plausible.
Onyx brown eyes peeked out from under obsidian hair as if to gauge Will’s reaction. It was a habit that the blond had noticed, and not an uncommon one for people who tend to enjoy pleasing others in order to receive affection, especially if they think that’s the only way to receive positive affection. The blush was still in place and apparently ran all the way up to the tip of his ears. It was just so cute that Will couldn’t resist ruffling Nico’s hair in a gentle teasing manner. Of course, the son of Hades swats Will’s hands away after a moment or two, but that was longer than Will had expected to be allowed, so it was progress as far as he was concerned.
“Okay.” Will hummed, thinking over how to handle this so as to not lose the progress Nico has made with eating. “You have two options, but you have to pick one or the other. We have some protein shakes in the infirmary that you can drink instead of eating, or you can try eating some of the fruit and the rest of your breakfast can be sacrificed.” Will informs him.
Apparently not liking either option, Nico scrunched up his nose, but eventually chooses to drink a protein shake. His plate of untouched food was sacrificed to one of the gods after leaving Will’s office.
The next time Will sees Nico is around lunch when the son of Hades came to bring him food and to eat his own lunch. They talk like normal, bickering back and forth while eatting until Austin comes to relieve Will of medic duty and return him to the position of Apollo cabin head counselor.
“Have fun at archery!” Austin says cheerfully while shoving both teens out of the infirmary.
“I don’t even have archery!” Nico hisses, jerking away from the younger son of Apollo’s touch.
“No, but I do, so come on.” Will laughs, grabbing Nico’s hand to lead him away. “Bye, Aussie.” The blond calls over his shoulder, doing his best to keep the smug look off his face for not being shaken off by Nico. Given the eye roll he receives, it’s likely that he doesn’t succeed.
“Yeah, whatever.” Austin chuckled, with a pointed look at the older teens’ joint hands. “Try and actually shoot the targets this time, William!”
They got halfway to the archery range before Nico pulled his hand away. A muttered, I know where we’re going, being his excuse to cut off Will’s physical contact as he shoved his hands into his jacket pockets.
His next big slip up wasn't until Wednesday, and it was definitely worse than the few affectionate compliments Nico accidentally heard him say.
Kayla had been freed from her fever on Tuesday morning, so come midnight on Tuesday, she was back to covering her one am to six am infirmary shift. This allowed Will to actually sleep in his own bed for the first time in three days. He was very happy about being back in his soft bed, and not having to wake up with paperwork stuck to the side of his face from falling asleep on his desk, but wasn’t too happy about Kayla putting herself right back to work as soon as her fever broke. He did, however, trust his sister to know herself enough to make that kind of call, so even if he doesn’t like it, he allows it.
Waking up on Wednesday morning Will got ready for the day and then the Apollo children were being herded into the dining pavilion to eat and make some sacrifices to their dad. Will grabbed a plate of food for himself and a bowl of fruits that he had seen Nico pick off his plate yesterday, then headed to the infirmary to relieve Kayla of her duties as a medic so she could go join their siblings for breakfast.
“Go on, get.” Will ordered, shooing his little sister out of the infirmary.
“I can handle a few more patients.” Kayla complained as she finished rebandaging the wound of a Hermes kid.
“I’m sure ya can, Cricket, but’cha need ta eat somethin’. I also need ya ta take over with the li’l ones.” Will reminded her.
She glanced up at him then looked back down at her clipboard.
“How much sleep have you been getting?” She asked while marking off a few things on her patient's chart.
“Don’t cha go changing the subject on me, little missy. Off ya go.” Will shooed her again, holding out an expectant hand.
Kayla looked up, narrowing her eyes at Will.
“It sounds like you’re the one changing the subject, Will. That heavy southern accent means you haven’t been sleeping.” She points out while scribbling one last thing down before handing the chart over.
“I’m alright, Cricket.” The older Apollo child reassures her, pulling his little sister in for a quick hug and a kiss to the forehead.
“You’re not covering for anyone else this week.” Kayla decides while returning the hug.
“Whatever you say, sweetheart. Now go on. Out of my infirmary.” Rolling her eyes, Kayla does as told, leaving the remaining patients in Will’s care as she goes to join the rest of her siblings.
About half way through his third case of the day, Nico came wandering into the infirmary for breakfast. The son of Hades said a quick hello before disappearing into the back office. When he reappeared, there was a plate full of food in his hands. Will looked at the plate curiously for a moment before getting back to work.
“Here.” Nico says, handing over the plate once Will was finished with his patient and had sanitized his hands.
“Thanks Neeks, but I’ll have ta eat it later.” Will informs him with a tired smile, gesturing to the three patients that just walked in.
Nico scanned the teens that had just walked in before turning back to the son of Apollo.
“None of them are actively bleeding.” The son of Hades observes.
“Injuries can be internal.” Will corrects him, standing up from the stool he had been using by the previous patient's bed.
“Head on back to my office, Angel. I’ll join ya in a bit.” Will tells the son of Hades, ruffling Nico’s hair as he passes by
“Hey.” The son of Apollo greeted the other teens. “Jasmine, Mike, and Lillian, right? Are ya’ll here for new or old injuries?”
As it turns out, Mike and Lillian were there for old injuries with recurring issues and Jasmine was just there to corral her friends to a medic for treatment. Both cases were relatively simple. A relocation for one of them and some physical therapy instructions for both. It took maybe a half hour to go over all the relative information for both cases, and then Will was able to send them on their way.
With a yawn, Will walked back to his office to put the new charts into each camper’s file.
Opening the office door revealed Nico sitting criss-cross on top of the wooden desk. The bowl of fruit Will had gotten him for breakfast was cradled in the son of Hades’ lap. About half of the fruit had been eaten, while the remaining amount was currently being played with, rolling around in the bowl as Nico tilted it from side to side.
“Ya havein’ fun there?” Will asked with amusement as he set the seven files on his desk, finally sitting down to take a break and eat his own breakfast.
Nico’s head snapped up from the bowl of fruit. A glare being sent in the medic’s direction.
“Shut up. I got bored just waiting back here.” Nico tells the healer in a hiss that had no real bite to it.
“Nah, I happen ta like talkin’, especially if it’s to ya, darling.” Will chuckled, taking a bite of his apple.
The son of Hades stared down at him quietly. After a full twenty seconds of silence, Will stopped eating to look up at Nico questioningly.
“Hm?” Will inquired, swallowing his last bite of apple before putting the fruit down on his plate.
“What’s with you lately?” Nico asked with furrowed brows, earning a confused shrug.
“I’m not sure what’cha mean, darling.” Will answers honestly.
“That!” Nico says, gesturing to the blond. “What’s with the accent you have today and all the weird nicknames? You called me Angel the other day and earlier today, and now you’ve also called me darling twice.” Nico informs him with red tipped ears.
Will blinks at the other teen, once, then twice. Not understanding until it clicked-
“Well shit-” The son of Apollo breathed, scrambling for a way to play all of this off. Thankfully, his brain was able to pull up Kayla’s earlier observation. “Don’t worry ‘bout it, Ang- di Angelo.” Will corrects himself with a sigh, running his hands over his face as he leaned back in his chair, looking up at the other teenager. “Just happens when ‘m tired.”
Nico raised a brow at him.
“You turn into a cowboy and use random nicknames when you’re tired?” He asks, as if double checking what Will had said.
“Mhm. I was born an’ raised in Austin Texas.” Will shrugged, because that was pretty self explanatory for the accent, but he could only hope that Nico would clump the pet names in with the exhaustion. Sure, he tended to use more nicknames when his accent was more prominent, but there was a long list of pet names he’s had to hold back from calling the son of Hades, and this was not how he should start using them.
“I was born in Venice and don’t have that habit.” Nico pointed out. Clearly skeptical of the logic, but he did dismiss the pet names in favor of questioning the accent, so Will willing to take that as the win that it is and not question it.
“...Nico, I’ve only lived out here for ‘bout four years, and the other eleven of ‘em I have my full memories of while livin’ out in Texas.” Will gently reminds him.
It did, unfortunately, cause the younger teen to flinch back as if slapped, and Will immediately regretted bringing it up. Although, it did get Nico to nod his head, conceding to Will’s point.
“Wait- I thought you said you were ten when you got to camp.” Nico says with an adorably confused tilt of his head.
“Yup. I was ten my first summer here, but I wasn’t a year rounder back then.” Will informs the son of Hades, who now looks even more confused.
“Why weren’t you a year rounder?” Nico asked curiously.
“Mm, I’ll tell ya, if ya eat three more pieces of fruit.” Will decides, and Nico, more than used to this game, rolled his eyes and ate the required fruit.
“Done. Go.” Nico huffed, shoving the bowl of fruit away from his lap.
“Well, I don’t need ta be a year rounder. Nothing ‘bout me attracts monsters in a way that a bit of training wouldn’t take care of.” Will explains.
“But you’re a year rounder now.” Nico reminds the blond, who nods in agreement.
“Darling, I’m the head counselor of my cabin and the only person at camp who has vitakinesis. With how we’re still cleaning up and dealing with the injured from the war, I ain’t leaving camp anytime soon.” Will chuckled, but now Nico was frowning at him as if the blond had kicked his puppy.
“You aren’t stuck here, Will.” Nico stresses. “You can leave.”
“I can.” Will agrees easily, “but I couldn’t do that to my siblings. None of ‘em deserve that.”
Nico opens his mouth to say something else but is interrupted by a call for a medic, for Will, coming from the infirmary.
“Duty calls.” Will chuckled, ruffling Nico’s hair once more.
With the way Will had talked about essentially being trapped at camp so casually, it would be easy to assume that the son of Apollo doesn’t mind all that much, but the truth of the matter is that he had been too exhausted to really notice what he had been saying. So it isn’t until three in the morning when the blond jolts awake that he realizes with growing dread, what he said, and who he had said it to.
To the son of Hades, who’s first reaction was to run, Will’s situation must sound like tartarus. For someone who could move from place to place so quickly, being stuck somewhere would probably make Nico incredibly anxious, or at least, more anxious then he already was.
Thankfully, Nico didn’t bring up the previous day’s conversation when he came into the infirmary Thursday morning for breakfast. Instead, he brought Austin from the dining pavilion to the infirmary, who then proceeded to shove Will out the door.
“I don’t want to see you back here unless someone is actively dying!” Austin calls as the door slams shut.
Will stared at the door for a moment, but was then being tugged away from it.
“Come on. You have the day free.” Nico informs him, but does not explain further, no matter how much Will questions him.
The most Will got out of the son of Hades was that he had agreed to run an errand for Austin and Kayla next time he went to town. With the admission that Kayla was also involved, Will was informed that his little sister had agreed to take over directing camp activities for the Apollo cabin for the day. In other words, both of Will’s duties were covered, and he had a well and true free day that he apparently gets to spend all of with his crush.
Most of said free day was used snacking on junk food and taking naps because he definitely needed it, and Nico was more than happy to encourage additional sleeping time. After all, the son of Hades would sleep all day if Will let him. The only reason he doesn’t is because the few times he did, Will had hunted him down, no matter where he had hidden to nap, and had brought him to different activities. Which is another reason why the first thing Nico does after getting ready for the day was to check in with the blond and eat his breakfast in Will’s office, then he just tags along to all of the Apollo cabin activities. Today, however, they were nowhere near the other Apollo children, and Will wasn’t in charge of doing anything but enjoying himself and his company.
It was definitely strange to have nothing important or time sensitive to do, but getting to spend time with Nico was pretty cool. They ended up playing twenty-one questions after Will woke up from his nap, mainly because the blond was comfortable and didn’t want to move from where he was laying on Nico’s bed in the small sun patch that was let in through the curtain Nico had partially opened specifically for Will. Twenty-one questions was also just a great way to get to know Nico better, or to double check the observations he’s made.
“Favorite color?” Will started them off.
“I don’t know.”
“Just pick one. You can change it later.” Will suggested.
“Then is it really your favorite color?” Nico inquired.
Will blinked at the ceiling, then turned his head to the side to look at the son of Hades.
“I don’t know, but that’s what I did.” He shrugged.
“What, you just randomly picked a color and said it was your favorite?” Nico asked incredulously, turning to look at the blond.
“Uh, yeah.”
“Okay. What did you pick?” Nico asked curiously.
“Yellow.”
“...”
“What? What’s wrong with yellow?” Will asked in confusion.
“...nothing I guess. Why’d you choose yellow?”
“Because that’s what everyone always assumed it was.”
“...” Nico stared at Will as if he was stupid.
“What now?”
“That’s the worst reason to pick something I've ever heard.” Nico informs him, earning a huff from the blond who had gone back to staring at the ceiling.
“I feel like we aren’t playing this game right.” Will says after a moment. “That was far too many questions just to get past the first question, and yet you still haven’t answered it.”
“You’re the one who suggested twenty-one questions, and I told you, I don’t know what my favorite color is. That should be a valid answer.” Nico pointed out.
“Alright. Fine. Your question.”
“Hmm… What’s your hobby?” Nico decides.
“Healing?”
“Nope. That’s your job. What’s something you like doing for fun?”
“I do like healing though.” The blond argues half-heartedly.
“Okay, but it doesn’t count as your hobby, so pick something else.”
“I don’t know.”
“What about before camp?” Nico prompts.
“...My papa used to take me shooting?”
The bed moved, and when Will looked back over in Nico’s direction the other teen was now half sitting up and staring at him.
“Seriously?”
Will nodded his head.
“Yeah. Actually, I kinda miss it now that I’ve mentioned it out loud.” The blond chuckled.
“Huh. Now my hobby just sounds lame.” Nico laminated as he layed back down.
“Well what is it?”
“Hazel got me into drawing.”
Now it was Will’s turn to be surprised.
“Really? Can I see some of your drawings?” Will requested hopefully.
“No. Your question.”
“Favorite animal?” Will askes, earning a questioning hum.
“Mortal or supposedly mythical?” Nico inquired.
“Either one.” Will clarified.
“Hellhounds, specifically Cerberus and Mrs O'leary.”
“...that seems obvious, but it also feels slightly off.” Will mentions while glancing at the son of Hades, who just shrugs.
“What’s your favorite animal?” Nico echoed.
“I don’t really have one.” The blond answers.
Now it was Nico’s turn to glance at the other teen's unexpected answer.
“Really? I kinda thought you would be a dog person.”
“Nope, I just don’t have one. That's a valid answer, remember?” Will said, echoing Nico’s earlier reasoning. “Also I thought you would be a cat person.”
Nico considered what Will said for a moment before nodding.
“Fair enough, but no. My question. What’s your full name?”
“William Andrew Solace.” Will answers easily.
“...For some reason I wasn’t expecting your full first name to be William.” Nico admitted.
“Did you just expect it to be Will?” The blond asked with a chuckle.
“Yeah, kinda. I was more looking for an embarrassing middle name.” Nico explained with no regret whatsoever.
“Well, no embarrassing middle names. Sorry. What about you?”
“...”
The longer Nico stayed quiet the more amused Will became.
“Oh? Do you have an embarrassing middle name?”
“No.”
“Then why the hesitation?” Will teases.
Nico mumbles something under his breath.
“What was that? I couldn’t hear you.”
“I said, my full name is Niccolò Santino Salvatore di Angelo.”
“...That’s not fair. You have such a pretty name and it fits you so well. I can’t even make fun of it.” Will complained.
“How do you know if it fits me? It would be the exact opposite of what you think would fit me. Do you even know what it means?” Nico inquires.
“Do you know what my name means?” Will echoed.
“Nope. Fair enough. Your turn.” Nico dismisses, trying to move past the whole full name situation.
“Hey now, I never said I didn’t know what your name means. I just asked if you knew what mine means.”
“You know what my Italian name means?” Nico asked skeptically.
“Yup. Language of music and all that.” Will waves dismissively.
“Okay, go on. What does it mean?” Nico challenged, eyeing the blond with a raised brow.
“Victory of the people, sacred savior of the angels.” Will translated while staring Nico down.
A minute or two passes before the son of Hades sighed, conceding defeat.
“Yeah, that’s it. What does your name mean?”
“I have no idea.” Will admits cheerfully. “My brian doesn’t come with an automatic English translator.”
“Pff-” Nico, much to Will’s joy, laughed. “Your question.”
“Okay. When’s your birthday?”
“January twenty-eighth, nineteen-thirty-two.” Nico answers mechanically as if it was something he had memorized at some point and just never forgotten.
“So you’re chronologically seventy-eight years old, and biologically fourteen.” Will double checks, earning a shrug.
“I don’t have the brainpower to do the mental math, so I’m just gonna assume that you’ve got it right.” Nico agrees.
“Cool. So you’re both older and younger than me.” Will cheered. “My birthday is August twenty-third, nineteen-ninety-five. Your question.”
Nico hummed, then paused to consider something.
“Do you know what question we’re on?” The son of Hades inquired.
“Technically you’ve got the sixth question, but we’ve asked a lot of in between questions to clarify things so I’m not too sure.” Will informs him.
“It feels like we’ve done more questions than five.” Nico points out.
“That would be the clarifying questions.” Will laughed. “Now go. Ask your question.”
“What's the most precious item you have in your possession?” Nico asks curiously.
“I- Idon’t think I have one.” Will admits.
“Nothing comes to mind at all?”
Will shakes his head. Sure there are things he would have wanted to have, especially from his older siblings, but most of their precious items got destroyed or lost before Will could get to them so he doesn't have any items in his possession that he would consider precious.
“Nothing I can think of at the moment. What about you?”
“Bianca’s ring.” Nico answers without hesitation.
“...Okay, that’s cheating. Did you ask that question just so you had an easy answer?” Will inquired jokingly, earning an incredulous look.
“What? No. Why would you think that?”
“Because you had that answer ready to go the moment I threw the question back at you.” Will shrugged.
“That’s because it’s my most precious item.” Nico stresses the words.
“Alright, alright. Fair enough. Sorry. My question.”
And so on and so forth the game goes. Most of the questions continued to revolve around favorites, with some personal questions, and a few seemingly random ones thrown in. Surprisingly, it was Will who had a hard time answering the questions despite having a completely intact memory. Questions that were supposed to be relatively simple seemed to stump the son of Apollo while the son of Hades could answer most of them with only a few moments of thought. The few questions that Will had been able to answer easily were questions where the answer was predetermined and he didn’t have to choose anything for himself.
“I know I’m the one that suggested twenty-one questions, but I’m kinda wishing we had done something else, because now my entire existence feels phony.” Will groan, throwing an arm over his eyes.
“...you’re obviously not completely phony since you could answer some questions.” Nico pointed as the dinner horn faintly rang into the air.
The blond could tell that Nico was uncomfortable with Will's previous comment and couldn’t help but sigh tiredly. That’s what he gets for opening his mouth, but at least the son of Hades seemed to have been attempting to comfort Will. So the blond decided that the best course of action was to play off his previous admission in a joking manner.
“Oh, why thank you. That makes me feel so much better, to not be a complete phony, only a partial one.” Will snarked, earning another of Nico’s rare laughs that was really more of a surprise bark than anything else as the son of Hades grinned, all sharp edges and exposed teeth. It would probably make for a terrifyingly gorgeous sight if Will had seen him in the middle of a fight. He couldn’t help but think that it was absolutely breathtaking to be the cause of this.
“I like being the reason you smile.”
They were quiet for a moment as Will realized what he said and Nico shot up into a sitting position to stare at him with a brilliant flush of his cheeks. The son of Apollo pushed himself to sit up on the bed as well so they could make their way to the dining pavilion, and acted as if the last twenty or so seconds didn’t happen, with Nico apparently being quick to follow along. They walked side by side, close enough that their arms brushed every few steps, and Will found himself once again feeling smug that the son of Hades lets him get away with so much touch in comparison to what Nico allows others.
“Hey Niccolò?” Will prompts in a gentle voice that was just loud enough for the boy in question to hear, causing the tip of Nico’s ears to turn red.
“What?” The son of Hades grumbled, seemingly embarrassed and regretting having told Will his full first name.
“I enjoyed our free day.” The son of Apollo admits with a soft smile aimed at the other boy.
“...I did too.” Nico admits with the slightest upturn of his lips.
Of course, since Will had a free day on Thursday, his schedule was completely packed on Friday. It was typical, and expected given the fact that Friday's were always for capture the flag, with the two lead cabins of each side bargaining for other cabins to join their teams. Deals were made, mostly in regards to chores and activity time slots, and alliances where agreed upon.
Sadly, Nico ended up being on the opposite team, so between the infirmary preparations and their likely roles, Will hadn’t been able to hangout with the son of Hades all that often that day. That being said, they did, somehow, end up running into each other at Will’s team is supposedly based.
Apparently the red team had decided that sending the son of Hades straight to the flag while the rest of the team distracts the blue team with false plans would be their best play, and it would have been, except for the fact that Will had spent three consecutive days last month actively distracting Nico while the teenager had been under medical observation. Which makes the son of Apollo strangely suited to match the son of Hades. He just had to hope that his distraction was enough to keep Nico from finding where the flag was hidden.
“Come around these parts often, di Angelo?” Will called out just loud enough to alert the hidden guards that were nearby, after all, it would be stupid to leave the team's medic unprotected.
“Where’s the flag, Solace?” Nico ordered more so then asked, with a sword pointed at Will’s neck.
Raising his hands in mock surrender, Will took a step back from the metal blade, only for Nico to advance with every step Will took to get away. Eventually Will ended up with his back pressed to a tree.
Nico, forgoing his sword at this point, used his arms to keep the son of Apollo pinned in place.
“The flag, Solace. Where is it?” Nico demanded once again.
“I don’t know.” Will lied. Well, it was only a lie by technicality. He does, after all, know where the flag is vaguely supposed to be and who has it, which is how saying he doesn’t know would sound like a lie. “I’m just here in case one of my teammates gets injured.”
Nico scoffed, glaring at the son of Apollo, accidentally making himself look a hundred times cuter. Sure, Nico’s glare can be scary, but only when he means it. This little glare with no heat behind it was all playful kitten, and just adorable… maybe he’s a cat person if his first reaction is to compare the son of Hades to a kitten.
“You’re a horrible liar.” The son of Hades informs him before quickly diving to the side, out of the way of an incoming throwing knife.
He rolls for a moment, then is immediately back on his feet, scanning the trees for members of the blue team. When no one emerged, Nico looked back at the blond to find that he had a thin cut on his arm.
“You couldn’t have moved out of the way?” Nico scolded him.
“I got distracted.” Will shrugged as he covered the slowly bleeding line on his arm with his hand. When he moved his hand away, the injury was gone. “See. Not lying. I am hanging out here to heal my teammates.” The blond jokes.
“You don’t count.” Nico groaned, moving to stand up and look around once again. “What did you get distracted by?” The son of Hades asked with furrowed brows, clearly not seeing anything but forest around them.
“Oh, I was just look’en at a pretty li’l thin’.” Will smiled, amused by his personal inside joke.
Stepping away from the tree he had let Nico backed him into, the blond walked casually over to the son of Hades. Then, when he got right in front of him, when Will should have stopped walking, he pulled Nico against his chest, taking extra care to restrain his arms.
“Hey! What the fuck!” Nico hissed… like a cat… Okay maybe he needs to get some more sleep if this is what happens to his thought process when he doesn’t get any real sleep for a few days.
“Easy there, Darling. ‘M just keep’en ya in place for a li’l while.” Will cooes, genuinely enjoying the fact that he gets to hold his crush for a decent period of time.
“I could shadow travel away.” Nico pointed out as he struggled against Will’s hold.
With his boney frame, he was unlikely to break free without needing the element of surprise or a distraction.
“True, ya could, but then you’d be taken me with ya, and I never cleared ya for anything but short distance singular travel.” Will reminded the son of Hades who continues to fight for another handful of seconds before slumping in defeat.
“Fuck you.” Nico hissed.
Will gasped, “We haven’t even had a first date yet! How could you ask something so scandalous!” He teased, watching as the bright red blush appeared on Nico’s ear.
Apparently the blush also travels down to his neck as it colors what Will could see of Nico’s side profile. The blush was funny for all of ten seconds before he realized that Nico had stiffened up and wasn’t breathing.
“Darlin’ ya gotta breathe.” Will reminded the son of Hades, who then proceeded to take a sharp breath of air as he began to shake.
The younger teen tried to pull away once again, but was stopped by his knees giving out on him.
“Okay.” Will murmured as he caught the son of Hades. “ Just breathe. ‘M gonna sit us on down.” He tells him, and then processes to do just that. Sitting them down in the dirt, with Nico in between his legs. “Breath in. Come on Angel- there we go. Just like that. Now let it out, two three, four-”
The tree leaves from across the miniature clearing rustle as someone dropped out of it, but Will ignored them, knowing that they’ll be fine.
“Another breath in. Hold… breathe out, two, three, four. That’s it. You’re do’in so good, Darling. Another time just like that- in two, three, four, five, six, and out, two three-”
“Is he good?” Lou Ellen asked, crouching down besides them. Which had the negative side effect of making the son of Hades stiffen back up.
“Yeah. Just let the other’s know we’re out due to a medical emergency.” Will tells her without bothering to look away from the boy who was still breathing in little gasps of breath.
“Sure.” Lou Ellen agreed. Hopping up to be standing once more, she turned and walked away.
“She’s gone now. It’s just you and me, Darlin’. Take another breath for me.” Will continues until Nico was relaxing against him and breath regularly again.
He moved to pull away from the blond, but Will was having none of that and pulled the son of Hades back to his chest, tucking Nico’s head under his chin.
“You’re alright where ya are, Sweet-thin’.” Will cooed, then cursed under his breath as the pet name he let slip made his friend stiffen back up. “Can I know what set ya off, Nico?” He asked hopefully, but the son of Hades just tried to pull away again.
“I can’t stop doing something triggering if I don’t know it’s a trigger.” Will tells him gently while rocking slowly from side to side.
“...”
“What was that, Dar- Angelo. di Angelo?” Will askes while trying to keep himself from using the pet names that seem to be causing some of his discomfort.
“I just didn’t think you were like that.” Nico hissed, and this time there was some bite to it that stung to be on the receiving end of.
“Like what, Nico?” Will asked in confusion.
“I didn’t think you’d make fun of me for being- homosexual.” Nico tells him plainly, once again trying to pull away.
“Oh darling, I wasn’t. I promise ya I wasn’t making fun of you. It was just a joke-”
“Yes. I understand that.” Nico bitterly interrupts him.
“-because ya said fuck you to a bisexual, thereby making the intimate version of the saying make sense. Usually the joke is to respond with no thanks, maybe later, not now, I don’t swing that way, or to act scandalized, plus the million other versions of the joke.” Will explains horribly, but it seems to do the trick because Nico was now relaxed in his arms and had stopped struggling.
“...bisexual?” Nico questioned in a hushed voice, tilting his head back so that he could look up at Will from under his bangs. His doe-like eyes sparkling in the sun with the slight sheen they had.
“It means I like girls.” Will explains slowly as he whipped at the edges of Nico’s eyes, earning a frown. “But I also like boys.” He finishes, watching in relief as Nico’s mouth forms a little o shape.
“You like both.” Nico summarized.
“Yup.”
“You can do that?” He inquired curiously, causing Will to laugh at the genuine awe at such a simple concept.
“Ya sure can.” Will laughed, squeezing Nico to a little lighter to his chest as he continued to rock them side to side. Luckily, the son of Hades doesn’t seem to mind. “Gods you’re adorable.”
“...” Nico blushes pink, ducking his head back down.
“...Sorry, Darlin’, didn’ mean ta say that one aloud, but it’s definitely true.” Will shrugs unapologetically.
“You keep calling me things like that.” Nico muttered, glancing back up at the other teenager.
“Callin’ ya what? Adorable?” Will double checks, earning a nod.
“And pretty, and cute, and those nicknames.” Nico lists off a little braver than he had spoken when bringing up the topic.
Will stopped rocking them from side to side and looked away for the first time since he trapped the other teenager in his arms.
“And here I thought ya wrote the pet names off with my accent.” Will says defeatedly, blowing out a long breath.
“Pet names?” Nico echoed.
“Mhm. Pet names, not nicknames.” Will admits, because he might as well. He’s pretty much already caught so he might as well confesse to all of it. No point in really avoiding this conversation unless he wants to accidentally confess his feelings later.
“What’s the difference?” Nico asked curiously. He was now fidgeting in place, so Will began to rock them from side to side again, guiding the son of Hades through this specific stim’s movements.
“A nickname can be used by anyone, like how everyone calls ya Nico instead of Niccolò. But a pet name is just used by one person, like when I call ya sweet thin’ or darlin’ or my angel.” Will summarized, watching in fascination as Nico’s ears slowly turned pink. “I can stop if ya want me to, Darlin’, but I like being the only one who can call you by them.” He admits.
Nico sat quietly for a full minute, just letting Will rock them from side to side, side to side, side to side.
“If I tell you to stop calling me by them?” Nico inquires, and it makes a pang of rejection go through Will but he accepts Nico’s boundaries as they are.
“Then I’ll stop callin’ ya them.” Will answers with ease.
Nico hummed, turning to bury his face in the side of Will’s neck.
“Go ahead and call me what you’d like.” The son of Hades decides after another minute.
“...Even the ones I haven’t slipped up and used before?” Will askes hesitantly, pushing on the line of friendship and something more just a little.
Nico let out a breath, accidentally tickling the side of Will’s neck.
“Sure, but I reserve the right to veto them.” Nico tells the blond, who gives a quiet cheer of victory.
Not even a second later a loud horn sounds, letting them know that the game is over. The son of Hades was the first to climb to his feet since he had been on top of the other teenager. He offered a hand to Will, who took it with ease, letting Nico give him a hand up.
“Wait.” Nico calls out as the son of Apollo began walking back towards camp.
“What’s up, Sweetheart?” Will asked while testing out a new pet name, and had the pleasure of watching Nico flush a brilliant shade of pink once more. “Is that one okay?”
“Yeah- yes. It’s fine.” Nico tells him, waving the other teen off dismissively. “I just- I want to know why you like calling me all these things. I can’t figure it out.”
“Oh… because I like ya.” Will shrugged, earning a snort.
“I would hope you like me given that we’re friends, Solace.” Nico snarked, causing Will to smile softly, which earns a confused look from the son of Hades. “What?”
“Niccolò Santino Salvatore di Angelo,” Will began. “I like ya, as in, I have a crush on ya.” He smiles, watching every one of Nico’s micro reactions. “I’m perfectly content with how things are with us as friends, so ya don’t have to say or do anything or act any differently. You can pretend I never said anything if ya want, but ya did ask, and I ain’t gonna lie ‘bout somthin’ like this.”
Nico opened and closed his mouth a few times.
“You can disappear into the shadows if that’s what ya need to do, Sweetheart. I have to head to the infirmary, so ya know where I’ll be if ya do want to talk.” Will says gently.
With Will’s encouragement, Nico moved towards a tree and melted into a puddle of shadows. The son of Apollo hummed to himself as he left the woods and went to rejoin the rest of the campers, feeling a little lighter.
“Hey Will! Thanks for distracting di Angelo!” Drew, the captain of his team, called from where she was standing surrounded by their team.
“I wasn’t much of a distraction. We had to stop playing due to a medical issue. He’s back at his cabin resting now.” Will informs the other demigod. “Which means don’t bother him!” He calls out to Nico’s other friends, most of who give him sheepish looks or thumbs up.
Shaking his head, Will jogged over to the injured campers who had yet to be moved to the infirmary and helped two of them walk there. He doesn't have time to keep any eye on everyone who would go looking for the son of Hades, but hopefully his warning to Nico's friends will allow him a few hours to himself.