WHOOO! My first PoJ fanfic! And it's a WillxNico! No surprise there. :D I think Solangelo's a beautiful pairing that needs more attention and more fics!

Prove your Worth

Chapter 1

Dark eyes stared at the bright blonde hair that stuck out in the group of demigods from afar. It was campfire night and Nico couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that a certain demigod wasn't sitting next to him while promptly ignoring Jason who was chattering away beside him. Not that the other blonde would notice, since Piper was doing all the replying.

Thinking that he had been staring for too long, he finally tore his gaze away with a small frown and shook his head. What was he even thinking? Just because they were close during those three days in the infirmary, doesn't mean he had to act all chummy all the time. And he definitely wasn't expecting anything. Nope. Nothing at all.

Hmm… maybe if he shadow-travelled he would catch his attention?

"Nico, were you even listening?"

Nico immediately darted his gaze back to Jason, who frowned at him in disappointment, while Piper seemed to be giving him that knowing smile.

"Sorry… the songs made it hard to hear you…" He muttered, and as if on cue, the kids from the Apollo cabin suddenly started singing a little too loud as they reached the chorus of the song Nico had no idea what was called.

It took him all his will not to look around to check on a certain blonde.

Jason gave him a suspicious look, but nevertheless spoke, "As I was saying… I was planning to go visit Camp Jupiter for a while. Just to check how things are going there."

"I'll be going too!" Piper cheerfully added.

"You wanna come with?"

Nico hesitated. Half of him wanted to go… but… this other half didn't really want to. But just looking at Jason's expectant face… he couldn't just say no. What can he say? He had a soft spot for the guy who first found out about his most embarrassing secret. But on the other hand… something… rather someone was holding him back. And he really didn't like the way the daughter of Aphrodite was looking at him. Smiling slyly as if she knew what he was thinking.

"Percy and Annabeth would be coming along too, to go check out that college they were planning to attend to." Jason added, as if that was going to make him agree even more. Technically, after that confession, Nico was pretty sure everything between them just got a little more awkward. Okay… he wasn't entirely sure since he had pretty much been avoiding the son of Poseidon.

"Well…?"

Nico held back a sigh, and shrugged, "Sure… why not?"

"Really?! Alright!" Jason grinned from ear to ear. Meanwhile, Piper looked a little surprise and at the same time disappointed. Nico didn't miss the way she turned to look at the kids of the Apollo cabin. Feeling a little stupid that he actually almost denied Jason's offer just for a stupid Apollo kid, he nodded firmly, "When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow afternoon." Jason hastily added, "But if it's a little too soon, we can move it—"

"No it's fine." He then stood up, giving his all not to look around for Will, "I should probably go and start preparing my stuff for tomorrow then."

Jason nodded, grin still intact. Nico felt his mouth twitch a small smile before walking out, trying to blend with the shadows as much as possible to avoid any attention from the campers.

"Don't worry, we'll only be there for a week!"

He suddenly heard Piper shout over all the noise and songs making him blush. Was he that obvious?

Nico trudged a little faster as his cabin came into view. Relieved that he finally got to have time for himself, he eagerly reached out for the door knob, only to be held back by when someone suddenly grabbed his arm. Without hesitation, he took out his sword and pressed it against the neck of the person who dared sneak up on him.

"WOAH! It's just me!"

As soon as he came face-to-face with the intruder, he felt his heart actually skip a beat and almost felt embarrassed of his actions. Almost. He still remembered how upset he was earlier and swiftly sheathed the dark blade. He forced to tear his dark eyes away from his blinding blue ones by looking at the bright camp fire from afar, "You should've known better than to sneak up on me like that, Solace."

"Yeah, well… if you weren't so deep in thought, maybe you would've heard me calling for you. It wasn't hard to miss you walking out in the middle of our song." Will Solace pouted, "And I was about to do a solo too."

Nico tried to push down the fluttering of his stomach and held back the urge to touch his face and pinch his cheeks, "Yeah? Well now I'm really glad I left. I might accidentally summon Elvis to slap you if I had stayed any longer."

The blonde laughed at that and Nico couldn't help but feel angrier. Angrier that his anger from earlier was easily wiped out by his smooth, melodic voice. He can't sing, but he sure can laugh.

"So what did you need that you had to walk out from your solo?" He raised an eyebrow while tapping his sword impatiently. He really wanted to get inside in his cabin and probably just go to sleep. He'd just do the packing tomorrow.

For a moment, Will looked embarrassed as he seemed to have forgotten his purpose… or was there even a purpose?

"I… I was wondering why you suddenly walked out like that." Nico felt his face heat-up as he couldn't help but… assume something. Suddenly, Will cleared his throat as he looked at anywhere but him.

"I-I mean if you were feeling unwell or something… I had to make sure that you haven't been using your Underworld-y stuff." And as if to emphasize his point (which was really pointless), "Remember? Doctor's orders."

Nico rolled his eyes, feeling more annoyed and disappointed at the son of Apollo before giving him a quick, stiff nod, "Right. I'd keep that in mind while I head back to Rome."

Just as Will finally looked at him with wide, surprised eyes, Nico had turned around and entered his cabin. Shutting the door in his face just as the blonde was about to open his mouth to probably ask something—which Nico never found out.

Will never thought there would come a time when he'd actually be enjoying his stay in the infirmary until those three days happened. Technically, hanging around with the injured and constantly complaining demigods isn't really a day to look forward to… unless you get to hang-out with injured and constantly complaining demigods with a side bonus of a grumpy, less than happy son of Hades!

He was like those toys you usually get to have after buying a happy meal in that clown fast-food restaurant!

Though honestly, Will had no idea why, since Nico was just as cranky as any other demigods he treated. But… his presence was an entirely different story. When he's around he feels lighter and a bit more cheerful than he usually was. He always loved teasing him, watching him scowl, splutter and blush… it made his stomach do some flips.

There was just really something about him that Will couldn't put his finger on.

Like, when he was trying to stop the bleeding from a badly wounded kid from the Ares cabin, he couldn't help but stare at Nico from afar, who was reading some batman comics that Jason must have lent to him, and the smile was totally not on purpose (the Ares kid promised to beat him to a pulp thinking that Will was enjoying his torment) as it formed on his face.

And even with his hectic schedule, he would always find himself next to Nico chattering about some nonsense, while the son of Hades nodded and listened. Giving him a half-smile when he would grin widely and watching those dark eyes lighten a bit as he made some jokes.

Though the son of Hades wouldn't react much, he still enjoyed those small smiles and treasured them just as you treasure something you knew you couldn't have.

And just like that, it was Nico's last day in the infirmary and Will tried to hide his disappointment. But what was he supposed to be disappointed about anyway? He should be happy for the demigod— and should even congratulate him for managing to stay in the noisiest and most disturbing place in camp for three days straight.

As he approached Nico who was already on his feet, stretching his stiff muscles, his blue eyes softened and he smiled.

"So… last day." He tried to not sound disappointed. A patient's purpose in the infirmary is to get out of the infirmary after all, "I bet you're excited."

The shrug he received made him feel a little happier than he should've felt, "I guess…"

And that was that. He goes over one last check-up just to make sure. The claw marks on his biceps were healing perfectly. He asked for any pain that he was currently feeling and checked his temperature, heartbeat (which was always fast for some reason) and finally…

He grabbed the small pale hand of the boy and felt the familiar current pass through him. The darkness was still there, but it was not as strong as before and it wouldn't be able to consume the boy before him, which relieved Will greatly.

Unconsciously, he ran a thumb over the pale knuckles and felt the other stiffen, but fortunately, this time Nico didn't pull away. Realizing he was still holding his hand another electric current ran through his own hand and he lets go a little too quickly. That was… different.

He looked up to see Nico staring at him questioningly. He immediately grinned to cover up his surprise, "Good news. It seems like the darkness inside you is finally retreating. But even so—no shadow travelling, and no summoning the dead—not even Jules-Albert. If you ever need to drive, I'd rather you come back here from a car accident rather than you fading away from me. I would like to deal with a patient I can touch, thank you very much."

Nico suddenly went red, and he tried to cover this with a scowl and a glare in which Will couldn't help but return with a smile. Though he couldn't help but be surprised at what he just said.

Finally, the prince of darkness thanked him and left the infirmary. All the while, Will watched as he walked off, shoulders hunched and hands in his pockets, almost like any other insecure teen and he couldn't help but sigh at this. The kid really had no reason to be insecure. When would he learn that everyone wasn't afraid of him nor do they not want him around?

Nico suddenly turned around, eyes a little wide with expectance and Will automatically grinned as he waved. His heart pounded hard against his chest as he saw the son of Hades return the wave and smiled, cheeks dusted with red, before turning around and abruptly ran off.

And with a goofy grin on his face he goes back to the infirmary, practically radiating with good vibes much to the grumpy patients' chagrin.

It had approximately been a week since he talked to Nico, and he would often find himself looking around, trying to see if he could catch a glimpse of the scrawny kid. They had just finished their little game of Capture the Flag, and fortunately their team won! So now, here they were singing their victory, some tone-deaf, some not.

Though he really wasn't paying much attention to his singing, nor did he care how off-tune he was in the second verse, for his eyes were solely trained on Nico di Angelo who sat across him, at the other side of the huge campfire, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but here.

As usual, he had that grumpy look on his face as Jason chatted beside him. Suddenly, those dark eyes landed on him and Will finds himself looking away. A little embarrassed. Though as usual, he didn't know why. Most probably because he remembered seeing Nico hanging around outside the infirmary for the past week, but never having the time to go out to talk to him. Of course he tried to, but when he would try to step out, he would be dragged back by either his siblings or the pained moaned of a patient.

Suddenly the voices of his siblings got louder snapping him out of his reverie.

There are days every now and again I pretend I'm okay
But that's not what gets meee~!

So when did campfire songs turn into sad love songs? Since the Apollo cabin decided that they've already sung all the campfire songs and decided to make this suggestion box for campers to drop the songs they want. Unfortunately though, all popular songs are 99.9% in the romance genre.

What hurts the most~ was being sooo close!

Suddenly he noticed Nico standing up. Jason was grinning like there's no tomorrow while his girlfriend frowned. And before he could wonder why, the ghost boy started walking away.

And having so much to say~
And watching you walk awaaay~

Okay, that part was totally weird, Will decided, before leaving to go catch up with Nico.

And never knowing, what could've been..!
And not seeing that loving you… was what I was trying to do—

"Don't worry, we'll only be there for a week!"

Piper Mclean's voice practically dominated all the noise, which surprised him. But her words made Will stop and think, 'A week… where?'

As he managed to sneak out (if you call your siblings snickering at you from behind while you try to dodge the campers around you sneaking out), he ran through the fields, trying to call out to Nico, who couldn't seem to hear him.

He was near his cabin and Will quickly grabbed his arm before he could enter, and the weird current ran through him once more. Fortunately, he didn't have to hold on for too long because the next thing he knew, there was a blade pressed against his neck.

"WOAH! It's just me!"

He watched as those onyx eyes widened and for a moment Nico looked embarrassed. But the look immediately disappeared as he swiftly sheathed his weapon, his face now blank and unreadable.

Not a good sign. He thought.

"You should've known better than to sneak up on me like that, Solace." He said, sounding cold as ever.

To some, they take that as a cue of, leave me alone or I'll impale you.

But to Will, it was like an opportunity for him to say something funny to cheer him up instead.

"Yeah, well… if you weren't so deep in your thoughts, you would've heard me calling for you. It was not hard to miss you walking out in the middle of our song." He pouted, trying to lighten up the mood, "And I was about to do a solo too."

He watched as the stern mask melted away and he couldn't help but mentally give himself a nice pat in the back.

"Yeah? Well now I'm really glad I left. I might accidentally summon Elvis to slap you if I had stayed any longer."

He couldn't help but laugh at that. He was happy that Nico was riding with his joke.

Suddenly before he knew it, Nico's stern look was back, "So what did you need that you had to walk out from your solo?"

And for a moment he was flustered, then embarrassed as he realized he had actually no idea why he decided to run after him. Nico was starting to look impatient and he was slowly bringing back that blank mask.

"I… I was wondering why you suddenly walked out like that." He quickly reasoned. It was the truth after all. He didn't dare look up at his face as the ghost boy seemed to have shifted and did not say anything. Feeling even more awkward, he quickly cleared his throat and continued,

"I-I mean if you were feeling unwell or something… I had to make sure that you haven't been using your Underworld-y stuff." Then he added lamely, "Remember? Doctor's orders."

There was another moment of silence and Nico shifted again. And this time his tone changed.

"Right. I'd keep that in mind while I head back to Rome."

Will had to look up as he heard that. Rome? Wait. What? And just as he was about to open his mouth and ask, Nico had already entered his cabin and shut the door in front of his face.

He stood there, his mouth hanging open for thirty seconds before dropping his head. He groaned and ruffled his hair.

Apparently, he had done something wrong.

He walked back to the other campers and was surprised that they were still there, still singing the same song. They must've asked for an encore.

-but I know –if I could do it over—
I would trade—give away— all the words that I saved—
in my heart, that I left unspokeeeen!

He was starting to hate this song. He was about to sit back with his siblings when he saw a certain daughter of Aphrodite stand up and talked to a certain blonde while pointing to her cabin. Jason nodded and Piper smiled and said something before giving him a kiss on the cheek and walked off.

Before Will knew it, he found himself following another demigod once more.

Hushed whispers and murmurs echoed in the mind of the son of Hades. Ghosts and souls luring him to join them and he felt nothing but the cold. He tried to cover his ears, trying to keep the voices away but they only seem to grow louder and louder.

He suddenly had this crazy urge to look down at his hands, though he already knew what to expect.

His hands slowly became transparent but he tried to willed it to stop. Trying to remember his name, his background, his sisters, his family, his friends… anything to remind him he was alive— anything to keep him from becoming a ghost. But to his horror, it wasn't working.

His feet were now fading as well and Nico couldn't help but wonder if this was the end. If this was finally his end.

"Hey, it's okay!"

A hand suddenly grabbed the hand that wasn't supposed to be there anymore. His next reaction was to look up and he was surprised to find himself looking at none other than Will Solace. His hair was slightly disheveled, and his plain white shirt was crumpled and tucked messily inside his jogging pants. He looked tired and his brilliant blue eyes showed nothing but concern, but he was smiling.

He was then aware that he seemed to be lying down on a bed, in the infirmary, and it was night time. Just as he was about to wonder how'd he ended up there, another hand finds itself on his head. He should've flinched away. But for some reason, he finds himself leaning to the touch. Just to make sure that he was still there. Solid and alive.

"You're okay." Will smoothly said, "I'm here. And I'll never let you fade, di Angelo."

He felt his eyes stung and he quickly shut them. And once he opened them, he finds himself back in his cabin. Streaks of sunlight lit the room up making him squint at the sudden brightness. He pushed himself off his coffin-like bed and rubbed his face, trying to rub off the sleepiness away.

The remnants of the dream were still there and he soon felt his face heat-up. Technically, it wasn't a dream. Well, the first part was, but the moment Will appeared, he knew the memory of his first day in the infirmary had resurfaced. Somehow his mind managed to sew those two up—which was weird… but would've made sense since at that time he was at the verge of fading as well.

It was nothing big, but Will somehow sensed his distress and before Nico knew it, he was right next to him, assuring him and comforting him.

Guilt suddenly welled up inside him as he remembered what happened last night. He unconsciously looked out the window as if expecting to see the son Apollo still standing outside. And of course, he wasn't.

He stood there for a couple of seconds contemplating what he should do next. The sudden growl from his stomach surprised him, and without further ado, he decided to go get some breakfast first before figuring out what to do next with a certain demigod.

He was now dressed in a fresh pair of dark jeans which may have been a little too long so he folded the end just a few inches above his boots, a black V-neck shirt covered in white stripes and a gray hooded-jacket. He actually felt a little uncomfortable with his sudden choice of outfit. Since when did he care about fashion anyway?

He self-consciously tugged on his jacket and headed to the mess hall. There were a few people around and Nico couldn't help but wonder what time it was. Most of the campers must've already left to do camp activities.

He unconsciously looked over the Apollo's table and felt his heart almost jump out of his ribcage as he saw a certain blonde sitting by. But no sooner did he feel disappointment as he realized it wasn't Will. He felt a little annoyed at feeling disappointed and immediately headed to his table with a deep scowl.

As soon as he got his food and gave his offering, he started stabbing the pancake on his plate, trying to vent out his frustrations. He of course knew how stupid that was.

"Woah, what did that pancake ever do to you?"

He looked around to see Percy Jackson.

All hunger he felt left as he slowly turned pale. The son of Poseidon smiled and shifted his footing, lifting the bowl he was holding he asked, "Mind if I join you?"

Nico wanted to say he could have the table but realized this was his table. So to save himself from further embarrassment he looked away and nodded. He didn't understand why he was acting like this. What happened to all that courage he managed to muster up before confessing his embarrassing crush on the guy who was now sitting in front of him? Gods! Why did he have to sit in front? If he sat beside him then he would at least have a reason to just look ahead.

"Hey… uh… you okay?"

"M'fine…" Nico mumbled and ate his pancake. This day could not just get any worse. There was a moment of silence as Nico tried not to look like he was in a hurry to finish his pancakes while Percy just sat in front of him, stirring his blue cereal. He could practically sense the other's hesitance.

Finally, Percy sighed and looked up, sea-green eyes shined like emeralds, "Nico… look, I don't want things becoming awkward between us."

He swallowed his pancake with a bit of difficulty before stabbing another piece, not really sure what to say. Fortunately, Percy seemed willing to elaborate further,

"What happened… I just want you to know it was cool and really, I don't mind." And much to the ghost king's surprise he added, "Except for the fact that you said I wasn't your type. Not cool. How can I not be anyone's type?!"

And before he knew it he was chuckling and almost choking at his food. Percy grinned at him and slowly that grinned turned into a soft smile. His heart fluttered at the sight, but it wasn't the same as back then. Now… it was a little… different.

"I just want us to be friends again and I want us to stop trying to avoid each other all the time. Gods! You have no idea how childish that is!" Percy exclaimed looking exasperated.

"Are you calling me childish, Jackson?" There was no hint of anger, just amusement. Truth to be told, he really was the one who did most of the avoiding after all.

"Maybe…?" Percy grinned and reached out to ruffle his hair which Nico tried to slap off. The son of Poseidon laughed as he held both his hands up once the younger teen threatened that he would make him fall through the earth down to the underworld just by the field of punishment if he didn't stop messing up his hair.

Finally, as they settled down, Nico sighed and spoke,

"Look… Percy, I—"

"I hope you're not apologizing, because I don't think you have any reason to be sorry about at all." All the amusement had faded from his features and now the hero was giving him a stern glare, "You absolutely have no reason to be apologizing to me about anything."

"But—"

"I'm the one who's supposed to be apologizing here." Percy sighed, pushing his cereal aside, "I wasn't even aware, and gods, I never realized how much I've been such a jerk!"

"Yeah… you usually have that bad habit of not noticing." Percy immediately gave him a deadpanned look and he couldn't help the small smirk, "It's fine, really. You wouldn't have known. After all, why would I let you know something so… embarrassing back then?"

Percy shook his head, "Dude, it doesn't even matter. We would never shut you out just because of that. I wish you could've at least trust us you know?"

He shrugged, feeling a little better at the turn of events, "Well, I did now, didn't I? Better late than never."

And with that, the taller teen grinned and held out a hand, "Friends?"

Nico smiled back, a bit embarrassed, before hesitantly accepting the other's hand, no spark or electric current unlike that time when they shadow-travelled, and the son of Hades couldn't help the smile that widened significantly, "Friends."

All the good vibes from morning was immediately drained out when Nico couldn't find the son of Apollo anywhere. He had no choice but to head back to his cabin when afternoon came. Jason called out to him to hurry up, the SUV was already waiting.

Completely getting lost with the track of time, Nico accidentally skipped lunch to go back to his cabin and stuff some random clothes in his backpack. He didn't bother changing clothes as he quickly headed out when he heard more honking from afar.

Nico scowled at this and sprinted towards the exit of the camp. Argus was by the driver's seat, looking bored. He turned and immediately saw Jason putting his bag inside the van before shutting the door. Annabeth and Percy leaned against the vehicle talking animatedly to one another. Once they noticed him, Percy grinned and waved, Annabeth did the same, looking happy and proud at the same time.

He waved back before turning to Jason who adjusted his glasses, "Where's Piper?"

"She's on her way."

And as if on cue, Piper comes running down the hill waving at them excitedly. She wore a checkered button-up shirt and a pair of skinny jeans. Her hair braided to the side as usual with the blue feather dangling back and forth as she ran.

"What took you so long?" Jason frowned, taking her bag from her once she stopped in front of them.

Piper suddenly gave Nico a funny look which made him frown in suspicion. This can't be good.

"Sorry, someone wanted to tag along." She chirped cheerfully. And before her boyfriend could ask, Piper turned around just in time to see a blonde boy trudging towards them, a back pack slung casually over his shoulder and his attire was a simple casual blouse and jeans rather than the usual green surgeon shirt and cut-off shorts… but still wearing those flip-flops—

Nico shook his head as he realized that that wasn't the problem here. He turned visibly pale before looking at Piper for an explanation.

"Well, he insisted he needed to take care and keep watch of his patient, just to make sure he wouldn't start using his "Underworld-y magic"." Piper's grin widened, while dread just settled in Nico's stomach… as well as the new set of skeletal butterflies he really wanted to get rid of.

He didn't miss how Jason seemed to stiffen and how Percy looked at him and Piper in confusion, then at Will. Annabeth, meanwhile, smirked at the daughter of Aphrodite. His attention was immediately drawn back to Will who halted in front of him and grinned so bright, Nico almost squinted.

"It's a Doctor's duty after all."

Nico hoped he wasn't turning red, because his face was definitely on fire at the moment. He tried to scowl just to hide this and spoke (trying to sound annoyed as much as possible), "Doctor's orders, I presume?"

The grin melted into a soft smile as he agreed, "Doctor's orders."

End of Chapter

In case you're wondering, the song's called 'What Hurts the Most' by Rascal Flatts.

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