Baby Steps

Pairing: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace

Summary: a coda fic that takes place right after the events of The Blood of Olympus

or

While Nico spends his time in the infirmary as per doctor's orders, he discovers that there may be a little...something between him and said Doctor Solace.

A/N: Cross-posted on Ao3 under PorcelainEcho (pseud: Moons-and-Glassware)

It was a common rumour amongst the younger demigods at Camp Half-Blood that Hades' offspring could sense each individual's flickering life spark as if it were a flame. It was also a common rumour that they could extinguish it like snuffing out a weak flame if they desired it to be so. Nico could easily prove it false, but it wasn't like he stuck around long enough in social groups for them to reveal this piece of information.

Though it would have been an interesting ability to have, he mused.

Each life flame was said to have their own unique spark. If the rumour was actually true, then Will's life flame was the brightest and warmest thing that Nico's cold fingers has ever touched. Every time the other boy was nearby, the wisps of shadows that clung desperately to Nico's body was cast away and he was warmed by the caring touch of the sunlight.

Not to mention the skeletal butterflies in the stomach that woke up every time Will even glanced his way.

Gods, Nico was completely whipped.

He didn't like human contact meeting against his bare skin or even between clothed material for that matter, but he found himself inching as close as he dared to Will every time the concerned boy checked up on Nico's welfare.

"I'm completely fine," Nico groused, but he was secretly flattered by the attention Will was paying him. He tried to get into a sitting position, grimacing and hoping that his elbow wouldn't chose this exact moment to literally embrace the darkness.

"No, you are most definitely not," the persistent boy said, pushing Nico back down onto the infirmary bed with a firm but gentle palm on his shoulder. The butterflies went wild in his stomach; skeletal wings fluttering and slamming against his rib cage. It was all he could do not to gasp out loud.

A more cynical part of him whispered not to get any closer to Will than he already had. Right now, he didn't need another Big Gay Crush on a Not So Gay demigod. Though Nico had never seen Will express interest in other girls, he couldn't be completely sure. Besides Nico had only ever seen Will in warzone or in the infirmary and neither places called for romance.

Or maybe that was because a part of Nico was still stuck in the 1940's. Nevertheless, he would be playing it safe for now. He fell back onto the bed with a soft oof before looking down at the sheets and refusing to meet Will's eyes. "When you said that I would be spending the next three days in the infirmary, I didn't actually think I was going to lie helplessly in a bed while you mother hen all over me."

Will laughed softly. There was a period of silence before Will spoke again, his words shaky and nervous. "Well, I can't let an adorable son of Hades disappear on me any time soon."

Nico looked up sharply in surprise only to catch Will's panicked expression before the boy scrambled away quickly to tend another patient who had been groaning loudly about his leg for the past ten minutes.

What in Hades had that been about?

He felt a flush rise to his cheeks and a furtive smile made its' way onto his lips no matter how hard he tried to repress it. Nico pressed a hand against his warm cheeks, trying to slow down his racing heartbeat but it didn't quite work out.

Will didn't visit him for the rest of the day, but Nico didn't mind; he had his memories to accompany him. He wanted to shout his thoughts out loud. He called me adorable! Me! Adorable! If anyone else had called him that, he would have stared blankly at them and then scoff at their words.

Lou Ellen from the Hecate cabin visited him a little later after the encounter with giggles and a bouquet of wilted daisies. He didn't need to hear her say it to know that she thought he was adorable, but then again he didn't have the heart to ruin whatever epic romance she had in her head featuring the two of them with the news that he was pretty damn sure he was gay.

As ignorant as she was to his sexual orientation, she sure wasn't dim enough not to notice his pleased expression. "What's made you so happy, Nico?" she asked, accomplishing to slip his name in and then giggling at her success.

"Nothing," Nico said, trying to don the armour of an uninterested brooding demigod that he was so used to wearing. But Will's words had so much of an effect on him that he was too frazzled to even manage appearing slightly apathetic.

"Oh come on, Nico, you don't fool me." She gazed adoring down at him, and he wondered how many more times she could succeed in saying his name in every sentence. However, Nico couldn't find it in him to be put off by her today; his mind was too occupied with thoughts of Will, and his slender wonderful fingers, and his plump lips –

Blood rose to Nico's cheeks at the thought. Lou Ellen jumped up at this and shouted "A-ha!" so loudly that it caused the other medics to hiss at her to be quieter. Lou Ellen rolled her eyes. "This isn't a library, ma'am," she muttered under her breath before turning her attention back to the boy lying in the bed. Nico on the other hand only had eyes for Will, whom had appeared just in his line of sight again and was treating another patient with earnest. He drank in his features hungrily, as if he were a dehydrated man who had just found his oasis.

A frown came upon Lou Ellen's features immediately when she realized what was going on. "Aw, come on," she pouted. Nico's attention flickered back to her before landing on Will again. He realized that she had seen what he was up to, and he immediately looked away, eyes earnest on Lou Ellen.

"What?" he asked, trying to look innocent.

"You could have told me you had hots for Will," she grouched, but didn't seem too disappointed by it at all. "I thought you were pansexual."

"What?" he asked again, this time actually confused. Over the time that Nico had lost at the ageless hotel, the world, along with somewhat begrudging acceptance from some countries, had created new words and meanings for different identities beyond the norm that left Nico confused. It would take some time before he could use the word pansexual without thinking about the actual god Pan whom he heard sad stories about from the dryads and satyrs.

"Drew Tanaka said you were pansexual," Lou Ellen admitted sheepishly. "I know you can't trust everything that comes out of her mouth, but I was hoping. So, you're gay?" Her words didn't sound like a vicious attack so he decided it wouldn't hurt to confirm her suspicions.

"I…yes, I'm gay," Nico ventured quietly, hoping that they weren't drawing the attention of unwanted listeners. It was bad enough going through this once with Jason. He didn't feel the urge to go through it again. At least they weren't being assaulted by Cupid this time, just a wayward daughter of Hecate. He decided it wouldn't hurt to ask her a question. There was no point in hiding. "Is Will…?" His cheeks flushed at the thought, suddenly imaging the son of Apollo's brilliant grin.

Lou Ellen thought about it for a while, her eyes turned pensively to the ceiling. "Well… I'm not really sure to be honest." She shrugged helplessly but offered Nico a wry smile. "I've never seen him with anyone before, but I'm pretty sure he'd wouldn't hate it if you kissed him." She grinned widely at this and punched him lightly on the shoulder. "And if you two are too stubborn to admit any feelings, then don't think that I won't let loose a truth curse on you two until some sense is finally knocked into your thick heads." She smiled fondly at him, but he knew she would see that threat through if things came to it.

"I'll be fine. Please don't," Nico said, adding the latter as an afterthought. "We don't need any intervention, divine or no."

Lou Ellen pouted. "I can't promise anything," she said before leaving him with the bouquet of wilting daisies. He scowled at the daisies, wanting to toss them in her direction but he knew the other medics would only grumble loudly if they saw they had to clean up a completely avoidable mess.

Will promptly saw the bouquet when he was brave enough to look over at Nico's form again. His fixed bright demeanour immediately darkened, but he didn't turn away. Instead Will headed directly for Nico's bed. "Who are these from?" he demanded, pointing at the flowers as if they had teeth and narrowing his eyes at Nico, which was a little adorable to be honest.

"It was from Lou Ellen," he replied, eyes darting away from Will's penetrating glare. He was afraid that if he looked too long then Will would understand exactly what had occurred earlier.

Will sighed, and he took the bouquet of flowers from his patient. "I told that girl to stop giving flowers. Some patients have allergies." His fingers brushed against Nico's arm gently whether by accident or purpose. Nico shivered, fingers aching to grab onto Will's hand and absorb his warmth a little longer.

It was then that he realized that it was nearing nighttime, and most of the patients had either gone to sleep or were knocked out in a demigod version of morphine. The other sons and daughters of Apollo who were playing medic for the day had mostly taken their leave. The last girl to leave sent Nico a meaningful look before closing the door behind her, leaving Nico alone with Will. And a couple other dead-to-the-world demigods.

Nico gulped, turning his gaze to meet Will's. He wasn't sure if he was enthused or frightened by a chance at time alone with Will. He also wasn't sure if he could take another let-you-down-easy talk. Well, Percy didn't exactly talk to him and it wasn't exactly an easy let down either. (It had been kind of really heartbreaking, to be honest.)

So he hoped to whatever gods were listening out there that Will was here to lecture him on something else.

But no. Will had lost the darkened mood and was looking at Nico nervously, running his hand through his hair. Nico wanted to reach out and replace his hand with his own, touching those silky strands and letting his fingertips brush against his scalp.

Will licked his lips subconsciously, a faint red stain just visible on his cheeks. Not wanting to dwell in the silence any longer, Nico asked, "So what do you want?"

His words broke the spell over them and Will was once again looking away from Nico. "Just glad to see that you're getting better," Will said, his bright tone unnaturally forced. "See you tomorrow."

With that, he began to head out of the infirmary. Nico bit his bottom lip, unwilling to let the moment slip away so easily. His heart pounded against his chest, beating a tattoo against his rib cage as he called out, "Wait."

Will stopped, turning around to face Nico. His face was carefully masked when he observed Nico. Tilting his head slightly, he opened his mouth to speak, but Nico was faster.

"Stay for a while," he blurted out, and then blushed at the innateness of the statement. Could he get any more juvenile around Will? He looked down at his pale hands, refusing to meet Will's questioning gaze.

There the sound of movement and then Nico felt Will's warmth radiating off his body when he pulled up a chair next to Nico's bed. "May I…?" Will asked, hovering a hand over Nico's arm. Nico nodded without hesitation, allowing him permission to touch him.

When Will's warm fingers closed around his wrist, Nico almost stopped breathing. Will gently turned his hand over so his palm faced the ceiling and rested two fingers against the pulse point on his wrist. Nico was sure that he would be able to feel the rapid beating of his heart. Instead, he turned and flashed Nico a warm smile. "You're recovering nicely," he commented, but he didn't draw his hand away immediately.

Their eyes met, and this time neither of them could look away. Between their locked stares and Will's hand on Nico's wrist, they couldn't force themselves to continue the dance of denial.

Before he knew it, Will had moved his other hand to graze against Nico's cheek. His lips were parted, and his eyes outlined the shape of Nico's lips before darting back to meet his eyes and hesitating. "Do you want this?" he asked, his voice barely a murmur above the snores of the other sleeping patients.

"Gods, yes," Nico breathed out, and Will leaned forward to brush their lips together. Nico's breath caught in his throat, and he puckered his lips against Will's. He wasn't really sure how this 'kissing' was supposed to happen, only that he thought it looked kind of like eating the other person's face every time he saw it happen. However, he wasn't so brave to head down that lane yet, so he settled for awkward close-lipped kissing.

Will chuckled and opened his mouth slightly, tongue sweeping out briefly to lick at Nico's bottom lip. At his startled gasp, Will delved deeper. He pressed their mouths together, tongue moving to sweep gently against Nico's lips, the insides of his mouth, and his tongue. Nico tightened his grip, which had somehow move to find purchase on Will's hair sometime earlier. His body felt hot all over. He tried to reciprocate and imitate Will's actions, shivering in pleasure when he licked tentatively at Will's lips.

They finally pulled away with widened eyes, tousled hair, and spit-slicked lips. Heart thumping furiously, the two boys grinned at each other. "We should do that again sometime," Will said, attempting to put on a nonchalant act, but Nico saw right through the guise.

He smiled softly, reaching one of his hands up to touch his lips. "We should," he agreed, feeling as if the son of Apollo had left him wonderstruck and dazed.

Before they could say anything else, the door had flung open and a medic stormed in with Lou Ellen hot on her trail. "How many times did I tell you not to bring flowers –," the medic was saying until her eyes landed on Will and Nico. It was then that Nico realized he still had one of his hands gripping Will's hair and half of Will's body was on top of his. The two of them blushed furiously and pulled away, averting their eyes from each other.

The medic hurriedly pulled Lou Ellen out of the infirmary, but she wasn't quick enough to stop Lou Ellen from shooting Nico a thumbs up which only made him blush more.

"I'll take care of the daisies," Will said, picking up the discarded bouquet of flowers. He hesitated for a second at Nico's bed before leaning down and brushing their lips chastely together. "I'll see you tomorrow." It sounded like a promise rather than a dutiful obligation.

"I'll be right here," Nico said, a dopey smile still upon his lips even as Will left the infirmary. For the better or worse, Nico wasn't the only one feeling dazed. Will nearly walked into a wall when he left. He rolled over on his bed, still feeling the phantom linger of Will's lips on his and figured, hey life wasn't so terrible after all.

(The shadows began to slip away easier after that encounter.)

-the end

A/N: Reviews are very much appreciated, of course. The choice for Lou Ellen having a crush on Nico is because I deduced that much from her brief interaction with his character in The Blood of Olympus.