Enjoy solangelo!

Nico wasn't a morning person. Nor was he really a late night kind of guy. He could get up early if he was supplied with coffee and someone to stop him walking into things, but this? This was hell, and he'd know, because he'd been there.

After Will keeping him in the infirmary for three days, caring for him and slowly nursing him back to full health (Nico felt better than he had in years, how did Will do that?), he had finally been allowed to collapse into his own bed, with no one checking his forehead in the night- not that he minded Will doing that, in a strange kind of way. So, being rudely awoken at three in the morning by a loud foghorn was the last thing Nico wanted.

He got out of bed, groggy and slightly murderous, mentally condemning whoever was making such a racket to punishment. He stumbled out of his door, not even bothering to throw on some jeans, just clumsily appearing in an old t-shirt and his boxer shorts. It was kind of chilly, and Nico shivered, but he was too busy glaring at the other campers who'd gathered outside their cabins to be too bothered about it. He was sure he had cowlick in various places on his head, he was also sure his face was red where he'd nuzzled into his pillow- but he looked a lot better than some of the horrors that were stumbling around him.

"Who put fog horns in our cabins?"

"I swear to the Gods when I find out who it is-"

"I'll get such big bags under my eyes now!"

Much to Nico's surprise, it was an Ares kid that uttered that last sentence. He made his way over to the pyjama-clad demigods, hardly able to keep his eyes open, but trying his hardest to be fearsome.

"Who did it?" He demanded drowsily. One of the Aphrodite girls grinned at him.

"Who else but the Hermes kids, cutie?" She replied.

"Cutie?" He muttered, and she and her friends giggled.

"Come on, you guys suck- why today?" A voice called, and Will Solace marched over, wearing nothing but a pair of orange boxer shorts that seemed inappropriately tight in some areas that Nico should not have been staring at but hey, he was very tired so it wasn't really his fault if Will decided to just be mostly naked in front of him. He blinked a few times before his eyes finally made their way up to his face, frowning.

"What's today?" Nico asked curiously, rubbing his eye with the back of his hand. Will gaped at him for a moment.

"What? I- oh, nothing much- just first day getting to sleep in my bed" He said, pointedly looking away from Nico as if he was the one that was indecent. Nico almost snorted.

"Why? Where have you been?"

As far as Nico knew, Will had been here, he had proof since he dropped in on him frequently when he was in the infirmary. Will rubbed the back of his head, and laughed nervously.

"I slept in the infirmary- didn't want to leave you" He said. Nico blushed.

"Oh" Was all he said. Will smiled.

"Okay, the Hermes kids obviously aren't gonna turn these off, we better start now" Someone in the crowd decided, and others nodded, trudging back to their cabins to locate the source of the noises.

"Need some help?" Will offered "I mean, I have a whole cabin full of people taking care of mine, but you've only got you, so maybe you'd-"

"You can help" Nico said "I'm useless when I'm tired anyway"

Will laughed, his face brightening as he followed Nico to his cabin.

"You know I would've thought you were more awake at night, but no; you look like you could take a nap in a freezer- which I wouldn't advise. I hate treating hypothermia"

Nico just grunted, fatigue making it harder to speak, though if he was awake enough he would've cracked a smile at Will's comment- the stupid Apollo kid was always making Doctor jokes. Will took charge of finding and disabling the whatever-it-was the Hermes kids had attached to his cabin, which was awesome; firstly because Nico couldn't seem to coordinate his hands with his brain anymore and at this point he would sleep through the loud foghorn noise, and secondly because for some reason he seemed to enjoy watching a shirtless Will reaching up to pull the foghorn from above his door.

Nico tried not to think too much into the butterflies he'd been getting around Will, or how he pretended to be asleep when Will came in so that the healer would have to touch him a little more than usual to check his pulse, temperature and feed him ambrosia. He usually hated people touching him; Bianca always used to touch his hair and hug him, so when she died he stopped anyone else doing it. He'd let Reyna be the exception, because they had a bond now, and he reminded her of the big sister he lost sometimes. Now Will was becoming an exception too, and Nico didn't know whether to freak out or rejoice at the fact.

"Nico? Nico, come on you can't sleep outside" Will's voice floated to him through the drowsiness, and Nico woke himself up to find that he had slid down the wall and was curled up on the floor.

"I'll sleep here" Nico muttered, burying his head in his arms. Will squeezed his elbow.

"No you won't, you'll get ill" He said sternly.

"Meehh"

Nico was so eloquent when tired.

"Nope, you're going inside, Doctor's orders" Will told him, hoisting him up and sliding an arm around his waist, throwing Nico's arm over his shoulders. Nico sighed at the warmth of him; how could someone who was stood outside at night in their underwear be so warm? Nico was always cold. It wasn't fair. Will's arm had pushed his shirt up, his hand left to skim the skin of his waist, which made him a little more alert with every brush of contact. Nico shivered at the touch.

"See, you're cold; more reason to go to bed" Will chimed, walking him inside. Nico didn't tell him why he shivered, just let Will believe what he wanted to. He stopped at the threshold.

"Nico, where are all the other beds?" He asked.

"Stupid campers made stupid beds. I- hated them"

"So...you got rid of them?"

"Yep"

"Oh. Hang on, why is your bed right in the corner? There's no light over there when the sun comes up" Will asked, and Nico could tell he was frowning. He shrugged tiredly.

"The moon shines on it. I- since Tartarus and the war, I don't...like the dark"

There was silence, and Nico froze. Why would he tell Will something stupid like that? Now he just looked like an idiot. He pushed Will away and looked toward his dresser instead.

"You...are scared of the dark?" Will asked, something that Nico couldn't quite name in his voice.

"It doesn't matter. You don't care" He replied.

"Don't- You think I don't care?"

"Why would you?" Nico asked, glancing at Will, who looked so ridiculous stood there with no shirt and an adorably confused expression that could give Percy's a run for its money. It only lasted a moment, before Will took a step forward, right into Nico's space.

"Do you think I'd be stood here in front of you at three in the morning in my pants if I didn't care? Gods death boy, you sure are dim sometimes" He said, and Nico's jaw dropped. After years of people being so easily pushed away, he'd not met anyone who'd pushed back quite so hard before. His friends were patient with him, waiting for him to come to them; Reyna was a little more persistent and he opened up to her; but Will? Will was bulldozing through those walls he had as if it was the easiest damn thing in the world.

"Don't call me that" Nico grumbled, and Will grinned.

"Whatever you say, cutie; you do seem softer when you're tired" He teased. Nico blushed. The feeling of intense joy he'd gotten from that small compliment was highly embarrassing and Will needed to leave right now before he gave Nico a heart-attack.

"Shut up"

"Look at you! Aww, little fluffy death kid, you look like you need a nap" Will cooed. Nico tried to get rid of the blushing, but noooo- for the first time since the war he thanked the Gods it was dark.

"I'm going to bed Will- goodnight"

Nico marched over to his bed and collapsed onto it, tangling his legs in the sheets to make himself comfortable. He was sure Will left, and he felt the dreams brushing against the corners of his mind, waiting to swoop in and take him off to sleep.

"Uh, Nico? I have a problem" Will's voice called quietly "My uh cabin mates thought it'd be hilarious to lock the door...I'm kinda locked out"

Nico cracked an eye open, trying to say 'you can stay in here', but instead coming out with 'blarghaesa'. Nailed it. Will frowned.

"What?"

Nico just patted the mattress, hoping he'd get the message that he could sleep in the cabin- there were spare pillows and blankets stacked up in the middle of the room from the other beds, Will could steal one of those...

Apparently, Will did not get the message. That or- Oh Gods. Nico had patted his mattress. Nico Di Angelo, the ghost king, ambassador of pluto and all around scary guy had just accidentally invited an attractive half-naked Apollo boy into his bed; he needed sleep. He needed sleep now. His mattress dipped as Will lay down beside him, and the heat rolled off of him, making Nico want to shuffle closer as well as roll as far away as possible.

"Goodnight Nico" Will said softly, and Nico mumbled in response.

Nico didn't sleep much- three hours was a good night for him. He'd have dreams, he'd be too alert and wake up when the wind whistled too loudly, he'd accidentally get tangled in his comforter and panic when he couldn't move- his sleeping patterns were rather erratic and contributed greatly to the reason he always appeared to be in a bad mood.

But now... well Nico was confused. Nothing had changed since the war- sure the Infirmary had been warm and quiet and safe but still Nico had trouble sleeping, Will used to scold him for being up all night as if it was his decision to stay awake. He woke up however quite refreshed, dreams somewhere far away in the back of his mind, warm and content to lie there instead of getting up and moping about the forest like he usually would.

He was going to check his clock by his bed, but Nico found a rather large, very warm, and nicely toned chest in front of his face when he opened his eyes to look. The shock made him freeze, especially when he found an arm carelessly draped across his torso, his head tucked under someone's chin. Oh Gods, he'd fallen asleep with Will. In his bed. And they were all tangled up together. And he liked it.

"Nico" Will's voice rumbled in his chest, gravelly in the morning "Stop freaking out"

Now Nico would, if he wasn't cuddled up to a shirtless Will Solace. Who had willingly climbed into his bed.

"Nico I swear if you start hyperventilating I will take you to the Infirmary" Will warned sleepily, and Nico knew he was serious just because it was Will and he did things like that. Slowly Nico relaxed back into the warmth of his usually freezing comforter, allowed himself to enjoy the steady pace of Will's heartbeat, and eased back into a peaceful sleep.

Maybe the Hermes kids and their three AM wake up calls aren't so bad after all.