(Hi guys! I'm back after I think a couple years to give you this school sanctioned solangelo fanfiction. Enjoy these 6639 words of mostly pure fluff, it is very cheesy and probably very mediocre at best but oh well)

Nico turns back after finishing his conversation with Percy, to find Will waving him back over from his spot next to the Apollo cabin. As soon as he was near him, Will grabbed Nico by the hand and started dragging him towards the infirmary. Nico wrenched his hand out of Will's grip as he felt the skeletal butterflies once again in his stomach.

"I can walk on my own, Will," Nico grumbled. Will just shrugged nonchalantly in response and started walking forward again. Nico followed after him, though as he was walking he could feel his exhaustion begin to creep up on him from not sleeping. He had already been pretty tired from attempting to not fade into shadows after shadow traveling and summoning the horde of skeletons, and then he pulled the all-nighter last night, so he was definitely stumbling a bit as he walked.

Will noticed almost immediately, and quickly dropped back and put a steadying arm around him, just like he had after Nico had summoned the skeleton during the battle, and the same electrifying currents ran through him at the touch. This time, Nico didn't complain, simply letting Will help him along toward the infirmary. A short walk later, they reached the entrance, Will leading Nico inside.

The inside of the infirmary was still pretty full from after the battle, though most campers at that point had recovered after being given some nectar and ambrosia. Children of Apollo mostly hung out beside some of the cots and talked with the campers in them. Will took him past most of the beds and into a cot in the corner, where a couple of windows let in a lot of natural light.

"Now, Death Boy, you're still very much at risk from fading into shadows, so no Underworldy stuff until I give you the go ahead on that. And here, you'll be in an area with a lot of natural light, so that should help," Will spoke. He motioned for Nico to sit down on the cot.

Nico groaned at Will's words but sat down anyway. "Now, I need to check you for any injuries, so you're going to have to take off your shirt for me." Nico froze, and flushed a bit after processing what Will had said. Even if he knew it was for medical purposes only, it was still a bit weird to Nico, but he did take his shirt off. Will gasped when he saw the hastily stitched werewolf scratches on Nico's bicep of his right arm.

Reyna had hastily stitched them up while they were on their way to Camp Half-Blood, on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic, but they had not had many supplies or time. The scratches were now angry and red, and still very much painful.

"Why did you not come into the infirmary sooner," Will whisper-shouted exasperatedly, "these look serious. I'm going to grab some actual stitches." Will rushed off to a cabinet of medical supplies towards the entrance of the infirmary. Nico settled back in the bed and watched him. His bright blonde hair practically glowed in the sunlight, and though the green surgeon shirt and jeans were a bit worn, he looked very good in them. When Will turned back around to him, Nico looked away, and when he looked back up Will was already right next to the cot.

"Okay, so I'm going to cut these stitches, clean the scratches, and then stitch them back up, does that sound good?" Will spoke clearly, and Nico nodded in response. Will reached up with a pair of scissors and snipped the stitching. Nico felt a bit of pain as the stitches tugged on the skin around the scratches, but it wasn't too bad. What came next hurt like the waters of the phlegethon though, as Will took a rag with rubbing alcohol on it and wiped it against the scratches.

Nico hissed as the pain flared up, and Will apologized softly as he continued cleaning up the scratches. After he was done with that, Will gave Nico a small square of ambrosia which he ate slowly, feeling the pain recede a bit, and some of the redness around the scratches went away too. Will then began to stitch his scratches back up, while reciting a healing mantra that eased his pain and closed them up a bit.

"Do you have any other injuries that I might need to look at?" Will asked once he was finished.

"No," Nico responded. He had become pretty good with a sword during his time in the underworld/tartarus, so he had managed to come out of the battle without much of a scratch.

"Okay, then I'm going to go check up on a few of the other patients, you just try to get some rest," Will said before turning away and moving off. Nico felt a pang in his chest when he left. He ignored it and laid down, closing his eyes. After not having slept last night, he fell asleep pretty quick.

~~~

Nico shot up when he felt a hand on his shoulder. His sleep had been unusually quiet, but he still felt a bit restless. He whipped his head over to see Will with a plate of food in his hand.

"Sorry to wake you up, but it's lunch time and I figured you hadn't eaten breakfast before I brought you here, so I thought you needed something."

Nico smiled in appreciation at the thoughtfulness. The action felt weird and new on his face. He still wasn't very used to genuinely smiling. Will handed him the plate and a fork and he began to eat. He was still ravenous, his body trying to recover the energy it lost from shadow traveling halfway across the world. In truth, he could still feel the darkness swirling around underneath his skin, and a couple times during the last two days he had accidentally phased through something when trying to pick it up. There was a moment last night where, in the darkness of the Hades cabin, he opened his eyes and peeked at his hands when they had started tingling, only for them to appear almost translucent. They had solidified soon after, but it had scared him. That was one of the reasons he agreed to stay in the infirmary.

That, and the fact that it was Will. Nico was just glad that Will didn't seem to see him like a monster after what had happened with Octavian, and also he wanted to spend time with him. Nico had actually kind of missed seeing Will the last couple of days, even if he thought Will hadn't wanted to see him (which he had, by his own admission), which was a new feeling for him. The only other time he had felt something similar was in Tartarus, when he was desperately wishing he could find anything out about how Hazel was doing.

Nico soon finished his food, and looked up to see Will staring down at him. He felt a little tingling in his chest at the attention, and Will blushed when he realized he had been caught staring. Will reached to take his plate, and Nico let him. Will set it down on the table beside his cot and pulled out a pack of standard cards and a pack of Uno cards.

"So, I'm off for the rest of the afternoon, but since I'm the one I brought you here I figured I should entertain you instead of just leaving you here. Also, I wanted to spend some time with you," Will turned his head away for a second after speaking. "Anyway, I was thinking we could play like Uno or poker or something."

The way Will said he wanted to spend time with Nico, just easily like that, made Nico feel all kinds of things he hadn't felt before. The skeletal butterflies flapped their wings in his stomach. "I like Uno," Nico said, and Will quickly opened the box and brought out the deck of Uno cards. He dealt seven cards to each of them and they started the game. At first the atmosphere was a bit awkward, but Will started talking about random things, mostly the lighter stuff of what had happened in the infirmary the past few days. Nico would occasionally pitch in. Will looked surprised the couple of times he mentioned playing with Cerberus in the underworld, but then he would smile at him and Nico would practically melt.

They played for a couple of hours, then switched over to the deck of cards and played various games. Will wanted to play Go Fish first, so that's what they did. Then the bell rang signaling that it was dinner time. Will looked up for a bit, but then turned back around and went to keep playing the game they had been in -a game of poker where Nico thought he was definitely going to lose.

"Aren't you going to go and eat dinner with the rest of the camp," Nico said, confused as to why Will was staying here with him.

"I'd rather stay here and keep playing with you," Will said like it was the most natural thing in the world. Internally Nico was kind of freaking out, but externally he managed to stay cool, although he could feel a small blush rise to his cheeks.

"Why?" Nico asked. He knew it maybe wasn't the smartest question ever, but he couldn't fathom why Will would rather spend time with him than his siblings, or the other campers that would be at dinner. At this point the infirmary only had a couple of people left in it, and they were both soundly asleep, so it's not like Will had any reason to stay in here. Nico was still surprised Will wasn't absolutely disgusted by him after what had happened to Octavian, though he had accepted that Will did not seem to see him any different.

"Because you're fun to be around, and I've been having fun with you. Also, you still are very much in need of care. Don't think I can't tell you're still very close to fading. I can feel the shadows clinging to you." Will said it so nonchalantly, said what no one ever had, and Nico was left wondering what was so different with Will that he was like this. Nico liked it though. He liked how Will smiled at him, and he liked whenever Will would brush a hand against his arm, or put his arm around his shoulder to steady or reassure him. All of it made Nico want to blush and also hug Will and also curl into a ball and also scream and run for the hills. Nico had crushed before, with Percy, but that was more like idolization.

With Will, Nico felt like someone actually wanted him around. It was a relatively new feeling for him. First Hazel, and then Jason, and then Reyna, and now Will. He was making a lot of new friends, and that made him smile again. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. He had even smiled a few times while he was playing cards with Will.

"Oh," is all Nico could respond with. Will went back to the card game, and that seemed to be the end of that conversation for the time being. Soon though Nico's stomach growled very loudly, and he blushed in embarrassment.

"Don't worry, I'm hungry too. I'll go to the dining pavilion and grab some food. Be right back," Will said.

"Thank you," Nico quickly responded, before Will could get too far away.

Will turned around and smiled at him. "You're welcome."

And Nico felt his heart beat a little faster, and that feeling in his stomach of butterflies flapping appeared again.

~~~

When Will walked up to the dining pavilion, he was waved over to the Apollo table by his siblings. It was a table mostly full of blonde hair and their father's characteristic shiny demeanor.

"Where have you been, Will," Kayla, one of his siblings, asked him as he walked over and grabbed a plate.

"In the infirmary with Nico," Will smiled and blushed a little as he replied.

"Oooooooooo," a few of his siblings said. "Looks like someone is finally trying to do something about his crush." That was Austin.

"Well, I told him I was just grabbing food and then coming right back to him, so I better get going," Will said, grabbing a couple of plates and willing food onto them. Then he turned around and headed back to the infirmary. The Apollo table filled with chatter behind him, and he could hear snippets of them laughing at how hard he was crushing on Nico.

He had been crushing on Nico, in reality, since soon after Nico first came to camp when Will was 11. He had been such a bright-eyed boy, so excited about everything he saw, and Will just couldn't help but adore him. Then he disappeared, and when Will saw him again at the battle of Manhattan, his eyes lacked the spark of energy from before. Even still he fought ferociously, and he seemed so strong and powerful raising skeletons from the dead and slashing down monsters with his stygian iron sword. Then he disappeared again almost immediately after, and Will didn't see Nico again until the battle at Camp Half-Blood.

There Nico had gotten very close to dissolving into shadow. And then afterward Will was busy in the infirmary, and it seemed like Nico was staying very far away intentionally. Will didn't see him for two days. Then he had gotten the day off, and in the morning he had seen Nico standing outside the Hades cabin. Before he realized what had been happening, Will was waving Nico over, and Nico came up to him.

He had gotten Nico to agree to spending three days in the infirmary, and he was going to make the most of it. When Will walked into the infirmary, Nico looked up from fidgeting with his hands, and gave him a small half-smile. Will's heart lept at the sight. He brought the plates over and handed Nico a plate and a fork. They were both silent for a while while they ate. Will snuck a few glances at Nico, but always looked away quickly whenever Nico looked up back at him. As soon as Nico finished eating, he yawned.

"You seem tired, I'll let you get to sleep now," Will said, though he wanted to keep talking to Nico for longer, he knew he needed rest. He would recover more quickly that way.

Nico nodded and settled down into the cot, closing his eyes. Will sighed and stood up, busying himself by organizing supplies around the infirmary. The sun was quickly setting outside, shadows seeping into the room.

~~~

Nico was running across rocky, barren ground. In the distance a river of fire brightened the ground around. Otherwise Tartarus was Erebos' realm. Behind Nico, three dracaena pursued him, swords dripping with poison. A scratch on his arm stung and he knew their poison was already beginning to seep through his veins. As he kept running, he suddenly saw the ground ahead of him drop down at a steep cliff. He couldn't stop running. There was only one thing to do. When he got to the edge of the cliff, he slipped into a shadow and appeared not far away from the bottom. The dracaena hissed, their snake legs swirling at the edge of the cliff, far above him. He stumbled and fell to the ground, coughing from the poisonous air.

Just as he seemed to be recovering, the dream shifted quickly and he was back in the bronze jar of the giants Ephialtes and Otis. He knew somehow he had eaten his last pomegranate seed almost a day ago. His oxygen was quickly running out, and his vision was fading slowly into back. Fear gripped him, and he suddenly urged the dream away. He wandered the dreamscape, falling into a memory of his last day at camp with Bianca. She was telling him she had agreed to join the hunters. That she would be leaving him alone at camp. He was crying, thinking that she was abandoning him. She hugged him, but then was called outside by Zoe Nightshade, and left. The memory ended, and Nico woke up.

He jumped in the cot with a start, staring at his hands and shaking. He started freaking out when he noticed his hands were translucent, and the blanket that was over him had phased through his body.

"Will!" Nico shouted, panicking. Will looked over to him, startled, and rushed over as soon as he noticed the state Nico was in. Will tried to grab his hand, but Nico felt almost as transparent as he looked, and Will's hand phased straight through.

Now Will started to panic. He had no idea what to do. He couldn't even touch Nico, so there was no way he would be able to give him nectar or ambrosia. Nico was panicking because he could see himself becoming more transparent, and the tips of his fingers were beginning to fade almost completely into darkness. Will tried to grab Nico's hand again, but once again his hand phased through. Nico was fading. Will really didn't know what to do. He couldn't let Nico fade. He couldn't lose him.

And then Will's hand started glowing. And so did his arm. And so did the rest of his body. A bright light resembling the light of the sun. The light seeped toward Nico, attempting to fill the shadows inside and around him. He began to appear a bit more solid, the process of fading beginning to reverse. Will tried to grab Nico's hand for the third time, and this time it worked. He clutched Nico's hand tightly, and willed the light he was creating to flow into Nico.

Nico froze when Will grabbed his hand, but all he could feel was an overwhelming sense of relief as he slowly solidified. It looked like Will was concentrating hard, but Nico could also see the relief that also flooded his face. When the adrenaline from the situation wore off, Nico felt his face flush. Will was holding his hand. Even if it had been a heat of the moment thing, the contact still made his heart skip a beat. Will's worry, how quickly he jumped into action, also made Nico feel really good. Like he was wanted. Like Will actually cared.

Eventually Nico's skin returned to its solid, albeit pale, complexion. Will leapt up and hugged him tightly, and Nico could feel his blush rising to his cheeks. However he hugged back and buried his head in Will's shoulder. Both of them were just extremely relieved. Nico knew how close he had come to death, and that Will had saved his life.

"Thank you," Nico mumbled, his head still on Will's shoulder. Will was still glowing, but Nico bathed in the light, welcoming it against the darkness. He had never been happier to be in absence of shadows.

Will lifted up, though shifted his hand back to Nico's so that he could stay in contact with him. Nico smiled inwardly at that. He looked at his other hand in amazement, before a look of focus appeared on his face and the light coming from him flickered off.

Nico immediately felt cold seeping into him. "Will," he whined, beginning to panic, and Will immediately started glowing again. Nico gripped his hand tighter. "Sorry. Seems like it'll take a while for the shadows to go away enough for you to be in the dark," Will replied.

"Can you stay with me?" Nico asked. He felt vulnerable, realizing how easily he would slip into shadows again if he wasn't bathed in Will's light.

"Why would I do anything else? If I leave, you'll fade," Will looked at him incredulously, before softening his expression and giving him a hug again. "Sorry, that must have really scared you. It definitely scared me."

Nico repeated their previous position, burying his head against Will's shoulder. Will was right, he had been really scared. He had known he was in danger of fading, but he really didn't think it would be so easy to set off. His dream traveling had been mostly instinctive, to escape the worst nightmares, but it still was a power relating to the underworld. When he shouted for Will, it had been instinctual. His brain vaguely recognized that Will was there and that he had said he would help Nico, but mostly he was just panicking.

He didn't realize he had started crying until Will lifted his head and looked into his eyes and whispered, "Hey. Hey. It's okay. You're going to be okay. I'm here now. You're safe."

Nico removed his arms from around Will and wiped his eyes, trying to stop the tears from flowing. "Sorry, I just- you're right. I was really scared. Thank you." He had stopped the tears quickly, but Will remained hugging him, still glowing as well. He shifted to move over to Nico's side, settling next to him on the bed. Will still had his arms around Nico's shoulder, and he seemed extremely reluctant to let go. Nico was fine from that. Before he became closer friends with Reyna and Jason and Hazel, Nico thought he disliked physical touch, but really he had just never experienced it from someone he trusted enough since Bianca had died. Will's arm around him made him comfortable.

"You should probably try and get back to sleep. It's still a long time until morning, and you need the rest. I'll be here, so don't worry about that," Will advised.

"But what about you?" Nico asked. He would feel bad if he kept Will awake all night.

"I'll be ok. As long as I stay in contact with you, I can feel the shadows in you. If they recede enough for me to feel okay if I fall asleep and accidentally stop glowing," Will responded. Nico still felt bad, he didn't want to keep Will up, but he knew Will was too stubborn for him to argue with, and he didn't really want to bother trying. It made Nico's heart flutter to know that Will would do that for him, that he cared for him like that.

So Nico settled back down into the cot, with Will's arm staying around him. He felt safer with Will next to him, and his body was still hungrily absorbing the light emitting from him. Even so, he couldn't seem to fall asleep. The possibility of nightmares still scared him. His mind was still running from almost dying, and now from Will's arm around him. He looked over and saw Will was looking at him, an adoring expression on his face. Both of them blushed and looked away. Eventually, even with his restlessness, exhaustion took over and his eyes slipped close. He fell asleep.

~~~

Will had finally managed to calm down. Nico had really scared him, when he had suddenly shouted. Will had never heard him sound afraid until then. He had looked over, already spooked when he saw Nico fading. Felt the shadows swirling around him. He panicked even more when his hand went straight through Nico, and he didn't know anything that he could do to help him. When Will started glowing, and that stopped Nico from fading, he had been so relieved. Then he stupidly turned it off for a second and Nico said his name and he sounded so scared and Will's heart may have almost just broken. Luckily he was able to turn it on again just as easily as he had turned it off, but then Nico was crying into his shoulder and Will was shocked because Nico had always seemed so hardened since Will had seen him at the battle of Manhattan. It was all Will could do to not just hold him and promise to never let him go and never let him be hurt by anything every again.

Even so Will kept his arm around Nico and held him close, saying that he would stay with him throughout the night, reassuring him that he could sleep. Sleeping was probably the best way for him to recover, Will figured, outside of being in the sunlight, which just wasn't possible at night. Will kept his gaze on Nico as he settled down and closed his eyes, and stayed next to him for all the time it took him to fall asleep, just like he had promised.

Nico looked much more fragile when he was asleep. Smaller, the crease lines on his face relaxed. He curled up into Will, and Will leaned into him more. It came upon him suddenly and rather late that he was cuddling Nico. His face flushed red all the way to his ears upon the revelation, but he remained where he was. He prayed to Apollo, his dad, that Will's light would be able to help Nico. That it would fight against the shadows. Will could feel the shadows within Nico getting weaker slowly the longer he was there.

Will stayed awake for a while like he had promised, occupying himself mostly by admiring Nico. He had been fighting against sleep for a while when he finally figured Nico's shadows had receded enough that just being in the dark wouldn't cause him to fade. Will surrendered himself to sleep after that, Nico still curled up into his side.

~~~

When Nico woke up the next day, Will was already awake beside him. He still had an arm around Nico, but he was spearing pieces of waffle with a fork on the other. When Will realized Nico was awake he looked down at him and smiled.

"I had Kayla bring us something for breakfast when she came in for her shift, but I didn't want to wake you," Will said, motioning to a plate over on the table beside the cot. Stacked on it were a couple of waffles, covered in syrup.

"Oh. Thank you then, and remind me to thank her next time I see her as well. I didn't keep you up all night, did I?" Nico asked.

"No, I was able to get a couple of hours of sleep once you had stabilized. Though it turns out I kept glowing all night. It was quite a shock to Kayla when she came in in the morning. Also, while you seem to have stabilized, you are definitely in no condition to use any of your Underworldy powers for a long while. And if you don't mind me asking, what do you think caused that?" Will finished with a question. Nico was embarrassed to know that someone else had seen Will with his arm around Nico like that, but Will was acting very nonchalant about it so he brushed it off.

"I was having nightmares. I was trapped in the bronze jar and I- I was about to run out of air. So I just instinctively dream traveled to something slightly better without thinking, and then I woke up and I was fading and I panicked and shouted for you and then that whole fiasco happened. I'm sorry." Nico looked away, ashamed. He didn't know why he felt ashamed, but it felt almost as if he had let Will down somehow.

"Hey, Nico, look at me," Will said, and he was smiling at Nico and all his worries about letting Will down disappeared. "It wasn't your fault. Nightmares can be really hard, and if even a fraction of what people say you have been through is true it must be so much worse for you. You are in no way at fault for what happened last night, you just happened to get very unlucky. Now we know that I can help keep the shadows away during the night, and that the sunshine during the day will help you recover faster. You'll get through this, and I'll make sure I get you as healthy as I can, just like I said I would."

"Okay," Nico responded lamely. Will's words made him feel warm inside, and his arm was still around Nico's shoulder, and Nico couldn't help but smile. Will handed Nico the plate from beside him and Nico dug in, finding he was extremely hungry.

~~~

Will was extremely clingy the rest of the day, keeping at least one hand on Nico at all times, usually with his arm around Nico's shoulder or holding Nico's hand. A few of Will's siblings were working the infirmary, so Will spent the entire time just talking with Nico. They talked about a lot of things. Nico found out that Will played the guitar, and was terrible at archery, and loved friendship bracelets (he promised to make Nico one, though Nico felt his chest stir at the word 'friendship'). Will discovered Nico's love for animals, especially dogs, and his disappointment that the pegasi were usually so skittish around him. He learned that Nico's favourite place to eat was McDonald's (Will made clear his disapproval at the extremely unhealthy food choice) and that he hated being turned into plants.

A little after noon, Will gave Nico a little bit of nectar, and took him outside to the dining pavilion, expressing that the natural sunlight should speed up his recovery. They sat at the Hades table and talked some more, getting some glances from the Apollo table, who probably thought that they were being sneaky. They didn't seem to mind Will sitting with Nico, so Nico didn't worry about it. Throughout their time at the pavilion and on the way back to the infirmary after lunch Will was talking animatedly about having aided Mellie in giving birth to her and Coach Hedge's new baby. He was acting disgusted, but Nico could tell he was secretly proud of himself for it. Nico just nodded and laughed along with him, letting him get on with his story. He enjoyed seeing Will so animated, and his hand that was not gesturing around wildly was fit snugly within Nico's and so Nico was content.

When they got back to the infirmary Nico noticed that all of the cots were empty. It seemed that the last couple of injured campers from the war had been discharged. When Will led him back to his cot, Nico sat back down on it, though he did admit he had been glad to have gotten out for a bit. He was getting a bit tired of the stale white walls of the infirmary.

"I'm going to check up on the werewolf scratches," Will said as he lifted up the sleeve of Nico's shirt to look at them. The redness had gone away almost completely, and the healing process was coming along nicely. "They look good."

After putting Nico's sleeve down, Will settled in next to him again. In an act of bravery, Nico scooted closer and curled himself in a bit toward Will's chest. Will just put his arm around Nico, and started humming quietly to himself. The butterflies in Nico's stomach felt like they were rising up almost to his throat. Nico was still tired, likely from having rough sleep the last couple of nights, and against Will's chest he could feel himself relaxing.

Will looked down and noticed that Nico was asleep. Will was tired himself after not sleeping for very long last night, and he felt comfortable cuddled up with Nico, so he closed his eyes and fell asleep himself.

~~~

Will awoke a few hours later to hushed giggling. When he opened his eyes, he saw Lou Ellen and Cecil with wide grins looking at him and Nico. Will blushed a deep shade of red, but put a finger to his mouth to quiet them, trying to keep them from waking Nico up. It came too late, as Nico was already blinking his eyes, waking up slowly. When he noticed Cecil and Lou Ellen standing there, he jumped with wide-eyes, scooting as far away from Will as he could (not far, considering the cot wasn't really made for two people in the first place).

"Well, we came here to check up on Will, but it seems like he's doing just fine." Cecil's smirk was mischievous, and Will knew this would be used for blackmail later. Will was already missing being in contact with Nico, and he almost scowled at Cecil and Lou Ellen before clocking what Cecil had said.

"It's dinner time," Lou Ellen said. "We were wondering where you were, and your sibling said you had been spending a lot of time in the infirmary, so we came in to check up on you and make sure you weren't overworking yourself again. Though it seems as if you're doing just fine. But yeah, it's dinner time just so you know." Lou Ellen turned and smiled at Nico. "Make sure you take care of Will," she said before turning around and walking out with Cecil trailing behind. Nico's face burned at the implication, though he could also feel the fluttering in his chest.

Well, I guess we better go eat then, Will got up, and offered a hand to Nico, which Nico accepted. Will pulled him along out of the infirmary and toward the dining pavilion. Will pulled Nico towards the Apollo table, causing him to freeze and stop walking. Nico may have been getting used to being around people more, but he definitely did not think he could deal with eating with the entirety of the Apollo cabin, which was easily the second largest cabin in the camp after the Hermes cabin. Will looked back and saw Nico's hesitation, redirecting them toward the Hades table. Nico smiled thankfully at him, though he felt a little bad for keeping Will away from his siblings. They both grabbed plates and gave their burnt offerings to the gods, before going to sit down with their food.

Will struck up a conversation as they ate, talking about the Capture the Flag game that was scheduled to happen on Friday, in four days. He asked Nico if he wanted to be on a team with him and the rest of the Apollo cabin, to which Nico easily agreed. This caused them both to smile. Nico was surprised and very happy that Will had wanted to hang out with him after he was done with his time in the infirmary. Will was glad that Nico agreed, because now he knew that he would still be able to talk to Nico after the three days were up.

When they were done with dinner, they both headed back to the infirmary. The sun was setting, and Will was already preparing to turn on his glow when it finally did go down. Once they got to Nico's assigned cot in the infirmary, they settled down together, scooting close as had become standard. The shadows began to lengthen and while Nico didn't seem to be having issues Will did not want to risk anything, so he made sure to turn on his glow. Nico shot him a quick, grateful smile and gods that just made everything worth it. Will would give anything if he could just see Nico smile every day of his life. Will yawned and Nico followed, causing them both to chuckle and the law down, still pressed together. Despite having just napped for a few hours not long ago, they were both more than ready to sleep through the night.

~~~

Nico woke up before Will that morning, when it was still dark out. Will was glowing beside him, peacefully asleep. Nico had just woken up moments before being crushed by a cyclops in Tartarus, and the nightmare left him shaking and jittery. He tried to control himself and stop the shaking, so that he didn't wake Will up, but realized he had failed when Will sat up, blinking sleep out of his eyes. When he noticed the state Nico was in, wide eyed and shaking, he quickly became alert. He brought Nico into a hug and whispered soothingly against his ear.

"Hey, you're okay. I'm here, you're at camp. Nothing is going to hurt you here." Will kept talking until Nico's shaking slowed and eventually stopped, and his breathing became more even. "What happened?" Will asked.

Nico spoke quietly, almost as if saying it out loud might take him back to the scene. "It was from when I was in Tartarus. A cyclops had found me and he was throwing giant rocks at me and I was running but he was catching up. I almost died there. Sometimes the rocks would fly by just over my head or a couple of feet to the side of me. The only reason I survived was because the cyclops hit another monster that had just formed and they got into a fight. I just kept running until I was far, far away from them."

"Oh, Nico," Will said softly, holding him tighter. "You're safe now. You're not in Tartarus anymore, and I am never going to let anything like that happen to you ever again."

"You can't promise that," Nico responded quickly, wide-eyed at Will's statement.

"I can sure as heck try," Will answered, his tone determined and his eyes fierce. Nico knew from that point forward he could count on Will. That Will would be on his side whenever he needed him.

Eventually Will unwrapped his arms from around Nico, and Nico immediately missed the security that Will's hug had brought him. Will kept one of his arms wrapped around Nico's though, and intertwined their hands together.

Instead of going back to sleep, they talked long into the morning, mostly joking around and avoiding serious topics after how the day had begun. The sun rose on the last day of Nico's stay in the infirmary, and they went to the dining pavilion for breakfast. They returned to the infirmary after, still hand-in-hand, and many of the other campers recognized what was developing.

Their conversation continued uninterrupted once in the infirmary, though as it dawned on Nico that this was his last day in the infirmary, he began to worry about what would happen after. If they would continue to be close, or if Will would go back to his normal schedule and Nico wouldn't be able to see much of him. It was already incredibly lucky that nobody had gotten injured to interrupt his time with Will in the infirmary.

"Will...?" Nico questioned before trailing off. "Hmmm," Will prompted.

"Can I still hang out with you after this? Like, I don't have any cabinmates to share activities with, so maybe I could do them with your cabin or something. I don't really know, I just have enjoyed the last few days a lot and I don't want to stop hanging out with you after I get out of the infirmary," Nico looked almost shy as he said this, his voice quieting down toward the end.

Will smiled brightly. Nico wanted to hang out with him more! Internally he was dancing around the room in joy. Outwardly he just shouted "Of Course!" And when Nico looked up at him and smiled brightly back at him, Will felt like he was on top of the world. He embraced Nico tightly, prompting Nico to say "Not too tight, you're crushing me."

"Sorry," Will replied, loosening up a little. Nico hugged him back, and Will's heart was racing, his head felt like it was in the clouds. Screw it, he thought. I'm going to tell him.

"Hey, Nico," Will said, mirroring their earlier conversation. "What?" Nico prompted.

"I really, really like you," Will rushed out, nerves rising slightly as he stared at Nico to gauge his response.

Nico froze for a few seconds, trying to process what Will had just said. Will liked him. Will liked him. Will liked him! Nico looked up at Will and smiled possibly the largest he had ever smiled in his entire life. "I really, really like you too."

Will breathed a sigh of relief and joy. His chest felt like it was filling up with happiness, and Nico's large smile showed he felt the same way. "Do you want to be my boyfriend?" he asked.

"Yes," Nico responded.

(Might continue this if I ever get the motivation, might never touch it again. Who knows?)