Prompt: Imagine person A of your OTP being an awful cook and person B being a "master chef" and B teaching A how to do the most basic stuff (for example boiling eggs and/or making spaghetti).
Title: You Can't Cook
Number in Collection: Four
Title of Collection: Solangelo Drabbles
Summary: Loosely based on this prompt: Imagine person A of your OTP being an awful cook and person B being a "master chef" and B teaching A how to do the most basic stuff (for example boiling eggs and/or making spaghetti). / When Nico entered his apartment to hear suspicious noises from the direction of his kitchen, he was expecting a monster. Not one Will Solace, Son of Apollo. / Fluff-ish, Solangelo, ONE-SHOT
Notes: Can be read as a standalone. AU. Takes place a few years after the Blood of Olympus, but doesn't take into account the events of the Trials of Apollo.
Nico stares at the scene in front of him in horror.
A suspicious red liquid splatters across the entire room. Brown chunks of suspiciously looking….things….litter the previously flawless floor. In the background, something whines – sharp, high, and oh-so annoying. And in the middle of it all stands one Will Solace: Son of Apollo, Camp Half-Blood's best healer, and the only person Nico had ever seen blotch up spaghetti.
The demigod grins sheepishly, his left hand holding a can of….was that spaghetti sauce? "Hey, Nico. I – uh – wasn't expecting you here."
"I live here, Solace," Nico deadpans, not at all amused by this turn of events. How did Will even manage to get into his house? As far as he knows, the only people who held a key to his apartment is Jason, Hazel, Reyna, and….oh, Percy. "What are you doing here?"
"Cooking dinner," Will answers, as if it should have been obvious. "Now if you would excuse me—" He turns back to the pot in front of him and proceeds to empty the entire can's content.
And Nico is further more scarred when the can's content comes out as a single large….glob, that squishes its way through the can. It lands with a plop! in the pot, much to the delight of Will and the disgust of Nico. A quick glance around the room confirmed his suspicious, similar empty cans filling up the trash and more sitting on the counter, unopened.
"What are you doing in my house, Will?"
The taller demigod freezes, the back of his neck turning red. He shifts his stance awkwardly. "I was in town? And, um, wanted to come over and surprise you."
Nico isn't the slightest bit amused.
Don't get him wrong. Will Solace wasn't an enemy of Nico's, or anything of that sort, really. He might even call the Son of Apollo a friend. No need to mention Nico's desire to be something more. No siree. Still, though. "Who let you in?"
"Percy," Will admits reluctantly after Nico fixes him with a death glare. "But it isn't his fault! Don't blame him!"
Nico has the very intention of doing just that. But Will is looking at him with those puppy eyes of his, and Nico? Nico tears his gaze away. "I'll think about it," he gives.
The smile Will gave him could rival the sun.
Will focuses his attention on his spaghetti sauce once more, stabbing at it with a wooden spoon. "Come on," he mumbles to himself. "Just….melt or something already."
Nico tries not to look too horrified. "Will, I don't think—"
The healer waves a dismissing hand at him. "No worries, Nico. I've got this. Go sit on the couch or something. Watch your favorite channel."
How does one do this nicely? Being somewhat pleasant was so hard. "But, Will, the mess—"
Will looks up as if he had just seen the walls, eyes widening as he takes in the state of the kitchen. "Oh, I'll clean it up, don't worry." But he doesn't look as confident as he did before.
Nico takes a deep breath and prepares himself to do the equivalent of kicking a wounded pup. "Will, stop."
He can see his words crush Will in the defeated slum of shoulders, the hanging of a head, the frozen movements. Will sighs softly. "I know. I'm sorry."
And suddenly, Nico can't just leave it like that. He allows himself a moment to bash himself mentally on the head, glancing skywards before quickly gazing at the ground. Hades give me strength. And then he raises out a hand and summons the skeletons.
A white, bony hand sticks out of the soil, a body following after. And another body. And another. They stupidly stand there for a while, probably wondering what they were doing in the middle of a city. Nico calls them to him, and watches as they disappear from the view of the window and into the lobby of his apartment building.
"Move, Solace."
Will does so almost robotically, not meeting Nico's eyes as he sets the objects in his hand on the counter and reaches behind himself to untie the apron he had jokingly tied around his waist. Nico flings a wet dishcloth at him, and Will abandons his untying to catch it fumblingly. "Wha?"
"You said you were going to clean up," Nico reminds him, shooing a hand at him. "So go on, clean."
"Right," Will replies dumbly, as if he couldn't believe Nico hadn't kicked him out yet.
Nico pretends not to notice, busying himself by dumping the contents of the pot into the close-to-overflowing trashcan. His nose scrunches up on its own when the slob slides out of the pot. Then he places it into the sink, soaking it with water.
To his credit, Will works fast, nearly finished with the main counter. The doorbell rings. "Let them in, would you, Will?"
Will does so lifelessly. At least, until Nico hears the door opening, and then there's a scream before Will scrambles into the kitchen, eyes wide. "Nico, there're skeletons at the door."
"I know. Did you let them in?"
Will gapes at him in answer, and the skeletons walk in the room. Nico nods at them, pointing at the walls and the sink. "Start cleaning."
The skeletons stare at him, befuddled, as if wondering why Nico would summon them for such a mundane task. Nico glares at them then looks at the spaghetti-splattered walls pointedly. With a chattering sort of grumble only skeletons could do, they reluctantly pick up clothes and begin.
Will is still standing there, not unlike a lost puppy, holding the dishcloth in his hand. Nico motions at the sink. "Go on, Solace."
And then, the Son of Hades opens the fridge, taking out supplies and placing them on the counter. Will pauses, glancing at them in confusion. "W-What are you doing with that?"
Nico stops long enough to send him a wry grin of sorts and a raised brow. "What does it look like I'm doing?" he asks, picking the tomatoes and retrieving the meat from his fridge. "I'm making spaghetti."
Nico doesn't know how long Will just stands there, staring at him while his brain processes the words. But Will does eventually give him that smile of his – bright, sheepish, and entirely Will – that Nico can't find it in himself to regret his decision. "Hurry up with those pots, Solace," he covers up instead. "I'm gonna need them if I'm going to show you how to make authentic Italian cuisine."
Will raises the dishcloth to his forehead in a salute, having the nerve to give him a little bow. "Right away, sir!" he chirps – the cheeky bastard.
Nico hides his smile by measuring out the amount of spaghetti needed for two people.
It's nearly four hours later when Will says he has to leave.
They've spent the time laughing at Will's lame jokes and making fun of movies (Will promised to catch Nico up on modern day movies, mentioning something about a Disney and a Marvel marathon) after eating the spaghetti (Will claimed it was the best thing he had eaten, even better than his mother's cooking – "Not that it says much. I got by abysmal cooking skills from her after all." "The first step to fixing your problem is acknowledging you have one. Congrats, you're ready to move on to step 2." "Hey!").
Will says he had a nice time, but mentions that he'll be dropping by a lot more now that he's tasted Nico's cooking. Nico can't find it in himself to be too annoyed by this, ignoring the skeletal butterflies that have chosen now of all times to resurrect. He holds something out towards Will quickly, before his brain can convince himself of otherwise. "Here take this."
It's a key – bronze in the light. "What is this?" Will looks down confusedly, but takes it nonetheless.
"What do you think it is, Solace? It's a key. Next time you won't have to resort to pleading with others just to get in." Nico tries to say it all casually, hoping his voice doesn't betray him. "I had it lying around. Figured you'd earned the right. Just don't steal anything."
No need to mention Nico's calling in of a few favors from the Underworld to get the key duplicated from his original in the shortest amount of time possible.
Will stares at it as if it was an alien before breaking out into a brilliant smile, blue eyes shining. "I-Thanks," he settles on.
"Oh, wipe that smile from your face, Solace," Nico says gruffly.
Will tries to do so, but the twitching at the corner of his lips give him away. "No, really. Thanks."
This time, Nico doesn't attempt to wipe the smile from his face.