Will Solace

You see I never imagined going to school unless it was in New Rome. But when Nico went into a shadow coma it was too much to sit there watching him. At least that's what Chiron's excuse for sending me off to school with Cecil and Lou was. We were all really close so it took a toll on us all, but me more than anyone because of why it happened. After three days in the infirmary, literally having to tie him to the bed with special rope so he couldn't leave. As soon as he was done that it took him two weeks to finally accept that all of us wanted to be his friends, as well as come out to everyone about his sexuality. That one was especially impossible, so it was just to his friends and sisters (Reyna included). As soon as he came out I told him I was too which surprisingly made him angry. It took another day for him to talk to me and explain. Finally I kissed him which lead to him shadow traveling away to who knows where. He came back after an hour looking horribly pale and went into his coma. It's been a week since I started school. A week of only getting to spend an hour with him, unsure of when he was waking up. Not being able to find out what happened.

"Will Solace, I hope you were thinking about my question and not nodding off." His teacher was glaring at him from the front of the room. I hated him with a burning passion, ever since he gave me an F due to me doing my project on LGBTQ etc rights. He was a stocky man, still with a full head of greying hair and dull green eyes. I guess he would have been handsome, thirteen years ago.

I tried to focus on what was written on the board and smiled when I remembered. "1942 sir." I never wanted to call this man sir but it showed him I was plenty awake, not that I respected him in anyway.

Cecil gave me a thumbs up, the only good thing to happen in class as it droned on and on. Next I had math with my favorite teacher of all time. She was a short woman with a seemingly stern expression that always brightened when our class walked in since this was the one for people with learning disabilities. She thought a kind touch was better for us then the stern one she gave everyone else since we needed a boost. I had this class with no one from camp.

Amelia waved me over giving me a flirty look but I simply took my regular seat before pulling out my study sheet. We played math games like around the world but then it was quiet time. I laughed when Mrs. Adams put on the Addams family theme song for us to listen to. The bell rang too soon for me, all of us giving her bright smiles where we could manage as we headed off to lunch. The first thing that told me something was off was my friends not meeting me at the door. The second was the lunch ladies giving me sympathetic looks like they knew something I didn't. When I entered the cafeteria and found my friends, someone was there I didn't expect. Someone I didn't want to see.

Hazel turned to find me standing there before her words found there way to me even through the chaos of the cafeteria. "He's alive still." She met me where I was before whispering, "His heart stopped for a full minute before we got it back. Will, I could feel his soul trying to leave, I had to force him back. Finally he let me do it. He was fading Will.." And with that she started bawling.

I felt the tray slam into the floor as my vision blurred. I knew everyone was looking at us now since the noise had stopped, the whispers spreading. It was that or my brain was ignoring it. Nico had almost faded completely. Nico almost died because of me. It was then that I found myself shaking, the tears closing my throat. It was then that the world spun around me and I had to sit down on the floor. I felt myself curling around my knees as I tried to breathe through everything. There were loud noises, someone trying to grab me but someone with pink hair dragged them away. Lou. Lou was protecting me. Would it be so bad to fade away into nothing? Would it be so bad to die here after putting him in a coma? I don't think it would. I don't think he would care. Another voice appeared in my head with such force I felt my shaking stop as if someone had grabbed me. Will Solace if you die I am dragging your sorry ass back only to kill you again. I felt a smile trying to tug it's way onto my lips but I refused to let it show in front of everyone. I felt my body start to move again as I pried my arms from around my knees and pushed myself off the floor. I felt Lou grab my arm to steady me, I knew it was her from the scent of magic. I opened my eyes and had to blink away the spots that appeared.

Hazel was looking at me with a slightly fearful expression when a sort of understanding passed through us. She knew what had just happened in how ever long I was on the floor, she had seen my life force shriveling. She knew he stopped me. "Will, he's going to live. He's going to wake up."

Nico's POV

I can't believe how wild that party got. I mean, I've been asleep for a while now, I think. That nightmare about Will though was terrible, him wanting to die so badly his life force was agreeing. At least I saved him. I want to wake up now. Why can't I wake up? This is not okay! I'm waking up whether my head likes it or not, I just hope I don't have a hangover.

A week and a half ago...

I was feeling like I was on cloud nine but there was no way I could deal with my feelings. So I did what any reasonable Child Of Hades would do. Went to Elysium and partied with all of the dead demigod heroes who needed something stronger then the drinks you could get in the upper world. Like pure alcohol and pure caffeine. But we'll get to that later.

"Dude! you finally came out, congrats!" Castor laughed as he downed another shot of gods knows what. "Hey, how's Pollux? I hear he started dating that Hephaestus chick, Nyssa right? Good for him. Anyway, Will is a lucky dude." He was about to hand me a shot of something but was quickly shoved out of the way by Silena. "Hey!"

"I will not let you get him drunk! He's like, what? Fifteen?" She kissed me on the cheek before flat out socking Castor. "Just because you got drunk at that age doesn't mean he can too. Go make out with Ethan or something." She laughed as he blushed and stormed away. "He's awesome, but really this stuff could probably kill you. I wouldn't try any of it."

Before I could even reply, she was whisked away by her boyfriend who gave me a quick wave before going to dance. Suddenly I had a pretty girl in front of me, laughing. "Hey little bro. I'm one of the only children of Hades here. Not many of us, you know? Take a shot. Sisterly love kind of thing." She couldn't have been more the twelve but she seemed fine. "Just don't get anything else. You only get one or you'll have some serious internal damage."

Taking that shot was the best and worse decision of my life. No. Taking the next two was the worst. Luckily I somehow shadow traveled to camp before I actually passed out. That was the last thing I remembered before finally waking up in the infirmary.

"Present" day...

The world was a craze of loud beeping, shouting for medication and the smell of steaming strawberries. I forced myself into a sitting position only to find three people trying to force me back down. "I'm fine! I'm fine!"

Percy was suddenly at my side dragging Jason next to him as they both hugged me tightly. They both looked terrified and relieved at the same time. Jason looked ready to cry as he grinned at me. "Oh thank the gods you're awake. We thought you weren't going to wake up."

"What are you guys talking about? I just had to sleep off the party that happened yesterday..."As I said it everything else came back to me like a bullet to through my head. "No. No, how long?" I looked around for anything, something to tell me.

Percy was the one to speak this time. "A week and a half. They said they would have to take you off the life support if nothing changed, but Will wouldn't let them. We had to force him out of camp so he had something else to do besides sit next to...What do you think you're doing?"

I grabbed my jacket that was thrown on the chair, glad I had on normal clothing. "I'm finding Will. I'll explain everything later but there is one thing I have to do first." I felt my heart pound as the realization came as to how close I came to losing him. "Where is he?"

"Downtown high but..." And that was all I heard before I let the shadows wrap around me as I imagined a shady tree that I could come out of.

When I arrived at the school no one was outside so subtly didn't matter. I ran straight for the doors as I glanced at my watch which said it was lunch time. I found my way to the cafeteria easily, shoving the doors open to come face to face with a lot of curious eyes. Before I could even register what was happening I was staggering to hold both our weight. Lou Ellen had koala bear tackled me as she cried into my neck.

"Nico don't you ever do that to me again! I swear I will turn you into a puppy if you even think about disappearing on us again!" She pulled away as she pulled away and blushed from embarrassment. "I'm going to go IM Hazel and Reyna, you have a reunion to have."

I found him sitting there just staring at me like I was a ghost. I felt anger boil in my blood as I stormed over to him only to stop half way there. "William Solace, get your sorry kissing ass over here." I watched as he pulled himself out of his chair so he could walk over to me, his expression still that of complete shock. I waited until he was standing in front of me to start yelling again. "What were you thinking, almost dying on me like that?"

Will's face changed to that of anger as well with his lip rolling up into a sneer. "Me? You were the one who went into a coma for a week! I'm sorry but that doesn't exactly make any of this my fault!"

"Do you know why I'm mad? Because I almost didn't have a chance to do this." I forced all of my courage into two actions. One, grabbing the front of his shirt. Two, pulling his lips onto mine. For a split second I don't think he understood what was happening, but then I felt his arms wrap around me tightly.

Sadly he pulled away too soon. "Does this mean you like me back?" He looked overly excited about this.

"No, I did this because I'm drugged. Of course I like you back! I have since that day on the hill when you grabbed my hands. Now are we going to go back to camp or am I picking you up after school?"

Will just smiled like the love sick idiot he was.