Will Solace decided he had enough of the gods using demigods as toys to be played with whenever they were bored. He kind of wanted to go up to Olympus and yell at them, although he didn't think he would be received well if he did.

Not that he had time to do that now, anyway, seen as he had to take care of a toddler. A toddler with dark hair and big dark eyes the color of melted chocolate. A toddler that was also his boyfriend, or what used to be his boyfriend, anyway. A grown boy (although he hadn't exactly grown that much and still perfectly fit into Will's arms. When the world felt a little too big, a little too much, Will's arms were grounding and warm and safe) that talked easily and with full sentences. This kid was very, very small and did not speak full sentences. Well, fortunately Will had always been good with kids and with all the work in the infirmary he knew how to stay calm under extreme circumstances, which lead him to not freak out this morning.

This morning Will woke up to the laughter, groans and chatter of his siblings in the Apollo cabin. Every morning there felt like a new beginning and there was no room for morning grumpiness, which wasn't exactly surprising when you put a group of children of the sun god together. The bright smiles and personalities chased whatever bad feelings you're having away. And so, Will got ready that morning, happily joining when his siblings broke into an impromptu singalong/dance-party. He got dressed, brushed his teeth, quickly raked a hand through his messy hair, stepped into the bright sunlight.

He was still humming when he knocked on his boyfriend's cabin door. When he got no response, he assumed Nico was still in the shower or something so he decided to head over to get breakfast and save a seat for Nico. But then he heard a noise coming from inside that sounded a lot like a sob.

'Nico?', Will called, but he got no response. Now, he was sure he hadn't imagined the sound. It happened again. He carefully put a hand on the knob and pushed the door open. He peeked his head inside and at first he didn't see anything different, he didn't even see Nico in the dark. He squinted his eyes and after a couple second they adjusted to the darkness and he was able to make out a figure bundled in the blankets and sitting far in the corner of the bed that was pushed against a wall, knees pulled up and letting out heartbreaking sobs. Will had heard Nico cry, though, and although it was heartbreaking, it wasn't the same as this.

Will stepped closer to the bed. The floor squeaked and the boy looked up with wide eyes. Eyes as big and beautiful and the exact same shade of magical brown as Nico's. Will inhaled sharply when he noticed that, yes, his eyes were the same – he would recognize those eyes even in the dark – but this boy was decidedly not Nico. Or, at least, not the Nico Will knew and loved. This boy must be around three or four years old. How Nico had turned into a three-year old overnight, was something that Will did not comprehend and it made his head spin with such force he thought it might fall off. But, as mentioned earlier, all the years Will had spent working in the infirmary, had given him the ability to act quickly and be surprised later.

So, he sat down on the edge of the bed while three-year-old-Nico still looked at him with wide eyes. He held out his hand and kept his gaze gently on the boy in front of him.

'Nico?', he tentatively asked, keeping his voice down, gentle and soft, the way he talked when he welcomed new campers and the way he had talked after his mother went into labor and a few hours later he had held a little girl with brown hair and the same blue eyes as Will.

The boy's bottom lip wobbled at Will's voice and Will's heart broke. The boy was so clearly scared and the tears that escaped the corner of his eyes, accompanied by the little whimpers that left his mouth made Will's chest feel tight. He promised himself that he would keep this little boy safe and would do anything to not hear those sobs again. Will had always been a man of his word. He considered breaking a promise one of the best ways to ruin a friendship. But this promise affected him more than others for some reason.

'Hey, Nico', he said, again. 'That's your name, right? Nico.'

Nico looked at him without saying anything, but nodded after a while.

'My name's Will.'

Nico nodded again, like he knew. Did he know? Will wondered if Nico had turned into a toddler, but still had all the memories that normal Nico had, or if he had transformed back to the Nico he had been at three. Because if it was the second one, everything got more complicated. But Will wasn't that concerned, Nico hadn't called for his mother yet and Will hoped he wouldn't. There was nothing he could do about that.

Will held out his hand and hesitantly took Nico's hand, gently. Nico didn't react for a moment and Will waited patiently, a small smile on his face. And after a while, Nico's hand squeezed Will's and held it tight. Will smiled brightly and Nico actually returned it, as small and shy as it was.

And now, he was talking to Chiron with Nico sitting on his lap. Will had carefully brought him here, going out of his way to cross as less people as possible; he doubted it would be a good idea to just walk into camp with a toddler in his arms that suspiciously looked like Nico di Angelo. At least not if he wanted to keep Nico calm. He had scooped Nico into his arms and the boy had refused to let him go since then. Will didn't mind; Nico wasn't heavy at all and, really, he found it incredibly endearing the way Nico clung to him and showed affection the way he only did if it involved eye-rolls and exaggerated grunts and sights normally.

'You just found him like this?'

'Yes, I heard sobs coming from inside Cabin 13 and Nico didn't answer when I knocked, so I went in and he was just sitting there, crying.'

Chiron was silent for a moment, clearly lost in thought. After a while, he looked up. 'And you're certain this is Nico di Angelo?'

'One hundred percent.' And it was true. Will was certain that this was Nico. He didn't know what it was exactly, that made him so sure, apart from the fact that he looked the same but smaller. He just had some kind of aura that screamed NICO to Will, he couldn't really describe it. He also bit his lip, something Nico did a lot and something Will had definitely noticed a lot and which this kid, too, did a lot. There was no doubt about the fact that this was his boyfriend, Will just wanted to know why, how long it would last and how it happened. It reeked of a god's work, but the question was more which god and why and what they could do to stop it.

'Okay, well, I'll have to try and communicate with Olympus one way or another. You just stay here. I think it's best if we try to find out if we can undo this before letting everyone know what's going on.'

Will nodded and the centaur left the room. They were in the big house, in a room that wasn't normally used by campers, but reserved for things Chiron thought were better handled in private, like situations like this apparently.

Nico on his lap was growing fidgety and Will suspected it was time for him to move or something as little kids had lots of energy.

'Hey', Will said. 'you wanna play a game?'

Nico nodded enthusiastically. So, they played hide-and-seek for a while, but the room wasn't that big and they quickly ran out of places to hide. So, Will started playing with the light. He moved it around, created little storied by shining pieces of it on the wall until they turned into little people, turned into little stories. He made it so Nico was the only thing illuminated in the room and all the rest was dark. He turned the light around Nico so fast he couldn't keep up and he tried to catch it, only he ended up emptyhanded and when he looked at Will questioningly, the latter shrugged and hold up his hands. The little boy squinted his eyes suspiciously, but didn't say anything.

Nico loved it. Will could see it in his eyes, the way they moved and followed the light, the way his eyes shined with wonder and awe and interest. How he laughed, so joyful. Will had always found the laugh of little kids wonderful. Hypnotizing, almost. Because it was just so pure, it was a true laugh, nothing behind it. They hadn't learned to be polite yet and to laugh when they thought they had to. They didn't know how much you could twist a laugh and turn it into something ugly and painful, how a laugh could become the opposite of what it should be. No, all a little kid did was express joy. Nothing less, nothing more. Just what it should be. And that's why Will loved it. Pared with the fact that it was Nico who laughed and Will also loved Nico's laugh very much, the two combined made his heart swell the size of Mount Olympus or even bigger.

It wasn't long before Chiron came back.

'It was Hera, which is not surprising. Apparently Nico said something to offend her, could be anything, really, so she cursed him. Naturally', he says, the last part sarcastically. 'It should wear off in a couple of days. I talked to the other campers so they know about the situation and won't be too intense on Nico, I hope. Can you try to take care of him, Will? I'm certain you'll do a great job. The infirmary can survive without you for a couple of day.'

'Yes, sir.', Will answered quickly. There was no way he trusted anyone else to take care of Nico, he would do it himself. And of course it would be Hera. As if she hadn't done enough damage already. Gods, he wanted to yell at her, tell her to stop acting like a spoiled child. She may be the queen of the gods, did that mean she could just get away with everything and make the life of half-bloods miserable? Didn't she have anything else to do, anyway? Like being queen of the gods. Certainly that came with obligations or something, anything to keep her busy.

Will turned to Nico whose stomach growled. He had completely forgotten about food, but of course Nico would be hungry. Being too preoccupied, he hadn't noticed it, but he was actually quite hungry himself. He didn't know how late it was, but he suspected it to be around lunchtime.

The prospect of facing the whole camp was a little terrifying. They wouldn't freak out necessarily; they'd seen more bizarre things for sure. He was just scared Nico wouldn't be able to handle the pressure and the noise. Grown Nico shut down sometimes, when there was too much noise or too many people. He didn't know how to handle it and that resulted in a bit of a panic attack. He'd gotten used to it now, but Will doubted his younger version would be the same.

But then again, keeping him hidden wasn't exactly an option either. Kids had to eat and needed some space to move; he couldn't simply be held in the same cabin for more than a certain amount of time. Even if Will brought him food, he wouldn't be happy. And, anyway, Chiron had warned the campers of their situation. They could be pretty considerate when necessary. He was probably overthinking this. It would be fine. The could do it. Or so he hoped.

So, he thanked Chiron and took Nico's little hand in his and, while telling him what would happen as simply as possible, they walked to the dining pavilion. A tall blond boy holding a small brunette's hand. They were quite the pair.

Turned out he worried for nothing, because when they arrived all that happened were a couple of turned heads and heated whispers; nothing out of the ordinary. Will walked them to the table he usually sat at. The people that sat with him watched them arrive with weird looks on their face; some weird mixture of concern, unbelief and amusement. And Nico just looked around curiously, not saying anything.

'So, it's true?', Percy asked in disbelief when they sat down.

'You thought Chiron was lying, Seaweed Brain?', Annabeth asked him skeptically.

'No, but – but I didn't', Percy sputtered when his girlfriend's grey eyes landed on him.

Will decided to put him out of his misery and said: 'It's true. Hera, of course.'

Everyone groaned. Jason asked some questions, Leo made funny faces at Nico that had him laughing every time, which pleased Leo immensely as no one laughed at his jokes most of the times. Lou Ellen put a hand on Will's shoulder and asked him if he needed anything while Cecil looked like all he wanted to do was bust out laughing, but thought it was better if he didn't. And Nico just looked completely at ease. It seemed Will's concern had been for nothing.

For Will the rest of the day was spent between playing with Nico and letting Jason and Percy play with Nico when Will didn't have any energy left to be entertaining and needed a break. Nico liked Percy and Jason almost as much as he liked Will, although it was clear Will remained on number one, a fact he was very happy about.

'Seems like you aren't even his type of playmate', Jason laughed when Nico ran out Percy's arm into Will's when the blond came back from his quick break to the infirmary to check if everything was going smoothly. While Will ruffled Nico's hair, he saw Percy clutching a hand over his heart, pretending to be hurt. Will was glad Nico had friends that cared about him. He knew Percy only liked to pretend he was hurt by Nico's preference of Will and that he actually felt kind of bad for treating him the way he did when he hadn't known of Nico's feelings; he was happy that Nico had moved on from him and had found Will.

In the evening Will prepared a bed in the Apollo cabin for Nico. He didn't think it would be a good idea to leave him alone at night. What if he needed anything? He tucked him in around eight o'clock and actually fell asleep himself soon after.

That night Will got woken up by someone shaking his arm. He didn't immediately register what was happening, just blinked slowly and took in his surroundings, until he heard little whimpers and sniffing. He turned around so his back was facing the wall instead of his face and was met with the sight of Nico standing there, with eyes overflowing and trying very hard not to make too much noise as not to wake the other campers. Will's heart broke instantly.

'Will', Nico whispered brokenly. His voice was merely a whisper, but Will could distinctly hear the tears and fear laced into it. 'Will, I'm scared.'

Will sat up and brought a hand to the little boy's cheek to wipe away some of his tears and take his hand. 'Why are you scared?', he asked, voice as quiet as Nico's had been, but gentle and reassuring.

'I – I had – I had a nightmare.', he answered. He had trouble forming sentences and words with the way tears kept falling from his wide eyes onto his little chubby cheeks.

Of course Nico would have nightmares. How had Will not thought of this? He knew Nico had nightmares almost every night, which wasn't surprising with all he had been through. So it only made sense Little Nico would have them too.

Will sighed sadly and full of remorse. He was always met with such sadness whenever he thought of all the things Nico had endured. He patted the bed next to him and motioned for Nico to climb in with him. Nico looked at him hesitantly. Will only nodded and gave him a small encouraging smile. After a couple of seconds where Nico looked at the bed warily and Will patiently waited, Nico got in. Will put the blankets on both of them and took Nico in his arms so that the smaller boy was lying on his shoulder and pressed to his side. The boy curled onto himself and his hands were tight into tiny fists on Will's chest.

'I'm sorry I woke you up.', he mumbled so quietly Will almost didn't hear it.

'Don't apologize, darlin'', Will whispered back while softly caressing the little boy's hair. He dropped a kiss on top of his head. 'I'll always be here when you need me.'

Nico nodded.

'Go to sleep now, Nico. And don't be scared to wake me again if you have another nightmare, okay?'

Nico nodded again.

Will let out a contented sigh, the other boy uncurled his fists and Will could feel him relax against his chest. His breathing got heavier almost immediately and Will followed soon after.

Nico woke up at seven the next morning, which was way too early for Will, but Nico apparently didn't really care about that. He kept bumping Will's nose and whispering wake up wake up wake up in his ear until Will gave in and got up. The day started like any other except that now Will had a toddler to dress, wash and feed instead of only himself.

After breakfast he tried to find Chiron to ask if the camp had some money to spare. Nico had spilled his juice all over his clothes and as those were the clothes he had already been wearing when Will found him yesterday, he didn't have anything else to wear.

While contemplating if leaving him alone with Leo was such a good idea, he bumped into someone. 'Sorry, I wasn't look – ', he stopped abruptly after looking up and seeing a man with dark hair and dark eyes and dark clothes. Although he was older and far less handsome in Will's opinion, the resemblance to his son was there.

'Lord Hades, I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking.', Will sputtered. He bowed his head, not knowing what exactly was the right thing to do when faced with the God of the Underworld.

'William Solace.', Hades answered and his voice sounded so strict Will was scared he had done something wrong and the ground would swallow him right this moment and bring him to the deepest pits of Hell.

'You can relax now. I'm not going to hurt you.', he almost sounded annoyed, as if he was tired of people being nervous around him. Will supposed it came with being known as Lord of the Underworld.

'It has come to my notice that my insufferable sister has, once again, caused complications.'

Will nodded.

'Contrary to what people believe, I actually care about my children. I wasn't exactly present when Nico was younger and I'd like to make it up to him now.'

Will nodded again. That's all he seemed capable of doing.

'So, I have brought some things he seems to be in need of.' A black bundle of clothes suddenly appeared in Hades' arms. He handed them to Will who was slightly trembling and almost dropped them. At least now he knew where Nico got his dark fashion sense from. Then what seemed like a credit card appeared on top of the clothes.

'If you need anything else, this card has some money on it. I don't know how mortal money works, so there's around eight thousand of whatever it is you pay with on it. I hope it is enough.'

Will almost dropped the clothes again when he heard the amount of money on the card. Eight thousand dollars? Did he really mean eight thousand dollars?

'Well, that's all. Take care of my son, William Solace.' Will wasn't sure if it sounded like a threat or if it sounded concerned. Maybe a little bit of both.

'I will.' And with that Hades disappeared.

The curse stayed on Nico for six more days. The week went faster than expected. Nico wasn't a very difficult child, all he wanted was some attention, which was normal;, all kids did, Will knew that. So that's what he gave Nico: attention. And with the help of his friends who were more than happy to lend a hand, it went smoothly. Hazel even came down from Camp Jupiter when she learned what happened.

So, Will played with Nico, occasionally checking on the infirmary and leaving Nico with someone else. And although, he loved taking care of the little boy, it was also tiring and he usually went to bed way earlier than he normally did. Taking care of a child was exhausting.

Nico quickly learned that he could get anything he wanted from anyone he wanted around camp. All he had to do was look up at whoever it was with wide eyes and say please and they would give in. He was just too damn adorable. Sometimes Will told Nico he had eaten enough cookies for the day and Nico would look at him sweetly and he would give in with an exasperated sigh. And if it wasn't cookies, he asked for other things. Like, being carried. It quickly became apparent Nico hated walking and preferred being carried and when Will put him down because his arms started hurting, Nico would say please and cling to him like a little monkey and Will wouldn't be able to say no to him. It wasn't something new, though. Will had never been able to say no to his boyfriend, even in his normal state. He'd gotten better at resisting, but it had taken a lot of practice and now, just like that, he had to start all over again.

And although Will actually liked taking care of Little Nico, after a few days he started missing Normal Nico. He loved Little Nico's pure laugh, but he also loved Normal Nico's laugh a lot. In fact, he considered it one of his favorite sounds in the world. He missed Nico's death glared directed to him or one of their friends. He missed his sarcastic comments that really shouldn't be that funny. He missed wrapping him in his arms and protecting him from the world, even if he got to do that now too, it wasn't the same. He missed resting his chin on top of Nico's head and Nico acting annoyed by his small height but still relaxing against him. He missed how easily Nico blushed at the smallest of things; when Will took his hand in public, when Will kissed him on the cheek, when Will told him he looked good or cute or adorable. He missed the way Nico could make anyone shut up by making one small comment. And he missed kissing him. Gods, he missed kissing him. So, so much. He wasn't necessarily thinking of their more heated, passionate kisses, although he missed those too. No, he was thinking of the casual kisses he loved so much. The quick pecks when they saw each other in the morning, or when they went to bed.

So, it was a relief when he woke up the seventh day and Normal Nico was sleeping in the bed next to him. He let out a sigh of relief and the first thing he did was pressing his lips against Nico's and waking him up in the process. Nico's eyes snapped open and he quickly pushed Will off him when he realized they were in the Apollo Cabin.

'Gods, I'm so happy you're back to normal!', Will exclaimed and pulled Nico into a hug.

'Back to normal? Will, what do you mean? Why are we here?

'You don't remember the last week?'

'What am I supposed to remember?'

Will told him everything and Nico got redder and redder interjecting things like 'Did I actually do that?' and 'Oh, Gods!' and 'My dad?!'.

And Little Nico may have been fun for a little while, nothing was better than his Nico talking to him normally again, Will thought.

A/N:
I'm not exactly proud of this ending, so sorry 'bout that!
But thank you for reading!

Love,
Jasmine