Hey, amigos! I have another fic for you! It's, again, kind of Solangelo themed, and I tried very hard to make it fluffy and cute. But yeah. Kind of something to say sorry for no Valentine's fic?
Aaaaanyway, enjoy!
UPDATE (31/03/2016): I've read through this again, and made a few edits to try and improve the story a little? Anyway, I hope you still like the story - enjoy!
"You did what?!"
Lou Ellen visibly winced at Nico's yell, looking around to see whether anyone had heard it. Luckily, (for her, most likely) no one was walking about outside the cabins. More specifically, the Hecate cabin.
"Just… come in and I'll show you." She grabbed his arm and pulled him into the cabin, shutting the door quickly behind him.
Nico yelped as he was pulled in, his eyes wide. "I thought it was against camp rules for us to be in here alone?" he hissed, looking as if he wanted to go back and open that door again.
"Oh please – everyone in camp knows we wouldn't get up to any funny business together when you have that blonde hottie." She resisted the urge to smirk slightly at Nico's eye roll. "Besides, we're not alone," the daughter of Hecate pointed out, before signalling to a rug in the middle of the room.
Nico probably would have disregarded it (because Lou was all for dramatics and when you paired that up with magic you never knew what would happen), had it not been for what was on the rug.
Or, rather, who.
Six babies were on there, babbling and gurgling. They would've looked like regular mortal babies, had it not been for some distinct features.
One of the babies (the one that had his foot in his mouth) had dark – pretty much jet black – hair that flopped down over his eyes… sea-green eyes that seemed to sparkle as he focused intently on nothing but his foot.
The baby beside him was a blonde little girl, her hair curly and her eyes a startling grey. She'd looked over as soon as the door opened, staring at Nico and Lou with wide eyes that didn't show fear, but curiosity.
Beside her was a cinnamon-haired baby, who seemed to be just as quiet as the blonde girl, but had almond-coloured eyes that were watching Nico and Lou. As she did so, she seemed to be sucking on her thumb, the tips of her fingers on her other hand glowing a faint silver.
Next was another brunette baby, her hair wavy and uneven, although that didn't seem to change how cute she appeared. Her eyes weren't a set colour, switching between green, brown and blue almost regularly. Her lower lip quivered, and soon enough she began to cry.
The reason for her crying was due to the two babies beside her. One of them was blonde, with a rather large pair of glasses sitting crookedly on his face. His eyes were electric blue, and he seemed to be the largest out of all the babies, although not by much.
The baby that was trying to crawl on top of him and pull off his glasses, causing him to whine, was the smallest of the six babies. His hair was curly and dark, and his eyes were also dark, but if it wasn't for the fact that his hands were glowing like embers and causing the blonde baby to scream, Nico would have never recognised the son of Hephaestus as a demigod.
Son of Hephaestus.
Holy Zeus.
"You… you turned them… into babies?!" Nico almost screeched as he turned to look at Lou in something akin to horror, causing Piper's cries to increase in volume.
"It was an accident!" Lou protested. "I was practicing a spell, and the door was open, and they walked past at that exact moment! I didn't mean for it to happen!"
Nico groaned and rubbed his temples, his eyes closing. Of all the things the girl had to turn them into…
Still, it could've been worse, he supposed.
"What do we do?" she asked him.
His eyes snapped open sharply. "We?!"
She took a step back, raising her hands in surrender. "Well, you know now! So you have to help me!"
"Nuh-uh, no way!" Nico shook his head frantically, waving his hands in front of himself in a frantic 'Hades no' gesture. "I'm not helping you to take care of a bunch of crying, screaming babies!" Not on the day right before Valentine's Day, he added mentally, although he wouldn't voice that to Lou.
"Please, Nico? It's only until I can find a spell to reverse all this!"
Now, Nico was usually able to avoid and ignore puppy-dog pouts easily, and just wave them off as stupidity, but for some reason he just couldn't do it right now. He wasn't sure whether it was because this was Lou Ellen, one of Will's closest friends, or because he could see just how dire this whole situation was. Honestly, he could hear it. Piper's screams would've given someone in Tartarus a headache.
"Fine," he grumbled, folding his arms defensively and looking back over at the babies on the rug. "Just… find a way to help me get them down to the infirmary."
"Why?"
"Will should have a spare bed. It's his shift. He could help us."
"Got it." Lou Ellen raced out of the cabin, only just managing to tell Nico that she would be right back before disappearing. Soon enough, though, she had returned, and behind her she was dragging what looked like a small trailer padded with pillows, which Nico was pleased with… and a very amused Cecil, which Nico was far less than pleased with. Not that he had anything against the son of Hermes, but he was just… a Hermes kid, which he didn't need right now.
"I'm sorry, I had to see this," he told Nico, before stopping at the sight of the babies, his eyes widening comically. As soon as he recovered from his shock, he began laughing loudly. "Oh, Lou… ahahaha! This is gold!"
The babies all stopped what they were doing at the sound of laughter, before Percy began grinning and laughing, the giggles contagious. The others soon followed, and eventually the cabin was filled with babies' laughter – even baby Piper had stopped crying and was laughing along with the others.
Nico breathed a sigh of relief. He could hear again. Thank gods. "Okay, you two, help me get them into the trailer."
One by one, the demigods put the babies in the trailer, making sure to keep Leo and Jason as far apart as they could, and ensuring that Piper was settled in as many comfortable pillows as possible so that she didn't start crying again.
And it seemed to work. As soon as the daughter of Aphrodite was placed in the padded trailer, her thumb went into her mouth as she fell asleep. Baby Calypso soon joined her, sucking on her own thumb, and was followed by Annabeth and Jason and, finally, Leo. Percy was the only one that remained awake, and he crawled towards the front of the trailer, where Nico stood.
Nico sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, his fingers gripping the ends tightly. Honestly, he'd never been a fan of people under the age of five in general, and now he had to take care of six of them. Granted, they were his friends who had a spell on them, but still.
"So… what now?" Cecil asked, looking between the other two.
"I'm going to try and find a spell to reverse this," Lou Ellen explained as she moved over to the shelf of spell books near the end of her bed. She continued to speak as she began scanning her eyes over to titles to find what she needed. "Nico's gonna head down to the infirmary to get some help taking care of those kids."
There was a smirk. "You mean Will's help?" Cecil clarified.
Lou grinned. "Yeah, that."
Nico scowled slightly at that, but didn't say anything more. After all, he and Will were dating. He was really the only one he could go to right now, since the other person that he would go to in this situation was currently asleep on a pillow in a trailer. As a baby.
"Right, so… what should I do?" Cecil asked, looking between Lou and Nico expectantly, as if he thought he was going to get a really important job.
"Don't tell anyone," they answered simultaneously, before Nico picked up the handle for the trailer and began to pull it out of the cabin.
"Otherwise, you'll be meeting my father sooner than expected," Nico threatened the son of Hermes lightly, before leaving the cabin, making sure to be careful as he dragged the trailer out. He didn't even wait to hear the audible gulp and the whimper that came from Cecil.
Nico considered himself very lucky that everyone in camp was busy at that time. The cabins were all doing different activities (which was why he was surprised that Lou had even been around to do what she did in the first place) and so everyone was busy and not watching Nico drag a trailer of babies all the way from the Hecate cabin to the infirmary.
When he reached the infirmary, the first thing he was greeted by was Kayla's unnaturally happy face… although he had a feeling it was because he had turned up (so she could rope him into helping with inventory) and not because she was actually happy; then again, you never really knew with Apollo kids.
"Nico! Hey!" she greeted brightly, coming around from behind the reception desk to greet the son of Hades. "How are you doing today? Have you come to help out with something? Do you want me to get Will for you?" She asked the last question with a small smirk on her face.
Nico blinked, not blushing at all at what Kayla was implying, before nodding. Best get him now to explain everything that happened before people started wondering what was in the trailer behind him. "Yeah, thanks, Kayla," he said, just as she turned to fetch her brother from the infirmary wards.
It wasn't too long before the daughter of Apollo returned with her brother, who looked slightly frazzled from whatever work he'd been doing. Nico guessed that there'd been something happening at the lava wall today – there was burn cream smeared on his shirt.
The frazzled look disappeared once Will spotted his boyfriend, and he smiled as he leaned on the reception desk, waving at him. "Hey, Nico! Come by to help?" Honestly, the son of Apollo was hoping that Nico would come by… mainly so that they could plan out their date for the next day.
"Have you got a spare bed?" Nico asked, ignoring Will's question and cutting straight to the chase.
Will frowned at that as he moved off the desk. "Hello to you too."
Nico rolled his eyes at that. "Yeah, yeah, hi to you too. Now could you answer my question, please? It's kind of important."
"Why, have you decided to sleep in here now?"
"Will, please. It's an emergency."
Will's eyebrows rose at this. An emergency? Since when did Nico come voluntarily into the infirmary for an emergency? He didn't even come in for serious injuries, unless it was against his will. "…What happened?"
Nico rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes drifting down to watch the reception desk in front of him instead of his boyfriend's blue eyes. "Well, you see… Lou did something…"
"What did Lou do this time?" Kayla butted in, a deep frown on her face. Now she was concerned – her best friend had done something, and Nico was involved? That was never good.
Nico took a deep breath, biting his lip. It was now or never. "Sheturnedthemintobabies," he rushed out quickly.
Will frowned slightly, before squinting at Nico, trying to understand what he'd just said. "What?" he asked, sounding very confused.
The son of Hades took another deep breath, biting his lip again before deciding to rephrase what he'd said, but a lot more slowly. "Lou… accidentally turned six of the campers into… babies…"
"What?!"
Nico gestured over to the trailer, and the other two practically raced around the desk and over to it. He winced at the strangled noise Will emitted when he saw the babies asleep, though the near screech that Kayla let out wasn't much better.
Once the two recovered from their shock, though their demeanours changed. "I am going to kill her," Will growled, looking almost murderous. Kayla looked almost as upset with Lou, but also mildly confused.
"Nico?" she started slowly.
Nico hesitated when Kayla spoke, already not liking where this was going. "Yes?" the dark-haired male asked.
"…I thought you said there were six babies?"
Nico frowned deeply and approached the trailer, counting the children in there. Blonde, blonde, brunette, cinnamon, elf…
Wait a second…
Where the Hades was Percy?
"Oh Hades…"
"Percy! Percy!"
The three demigods had failed to explain to anyone why they were calling out Percy's name whilst crawling on the ground, earning them very strange looks from the people in the infirmary, but they really didn't think it was safe to do so. As far as they knew, Lou Ellen was already in enough trouble as it was with Will – they didn't need to add three whole cabins, six gods (including Dionysus) and a centuries-old centaur into the mix quite yet.
The demigod who found Percy eventually was Will, and it was just in time too – the baby had somehow found his way into the supplies room (which should have been locked), and was rummaging through all of the sterile gloves and bandages with his chubby, drool-covered and bacteria coated hands (there went all their supplies), and had almost reached the needles—
"Percy!" Will screeched as he quickly ran in and grabbed the boy, snatching the hypodermic needle out of his hand before he could put it back in his mouth and putting it back on the shelf, making a mental note to sterilise the whole room and all the equipment in it, before glaring down at him. "You don't put needles in your mouth!"
Percy stared up at Will, wide-eyed and in shock, before the tears began to well up and the lower lip began to quiver… and then the crying began.
And boy, was it loud.
Will winced. Gods, he had never been good at crying babies, or children in general, which was why he usually left all the caring stuff to his younger sisters, in particular Kayla. But now she was off somewhere, looking for the child who was right in front of him, and he was alone with a… crying, sobbing baby that looked like he would scream his head off (and damage his vocal chords) if Will left him for any longer.
The son of Apollo quickly picked the baby up and winced for a moment (gods save his ears), before remembering what Kayla did with the younger campers. Slowly, he began rocking Percy from side to side, humming a random tune that popped into his head. Eventually, Percy began to calm down, and by the time Nico and Kayla found Will, Percy had his head resting on Will's shoulder, suckling on his thumb as he sniffled.
The two paused at the supplies room door.
"Um, Will… what are you doing?" Kayla asked slowly, though there was a small smirk of amusement on her face.
Will stopped in his rocking, which caused Percy to whimper a little, so he started again. "He was crying," he stated, as if that answered everything.
Nico's eyebrows rose in surprise. "You know how to shut up crying babies?"
"I'm observant."
"Okay, okay, no bickering," Kayla interrupted before Nico could make a comment about that. "Nico said we needed a bed, right? Let's get a bed for them all, and we'll… well, we'll have to take care of them until Lou finds a spell."
"Without telling Chiron," Nico added. "Great. This is totally going to work."
Will rolled his eyes a little at Nico's dramatics. "We don't really have a choice, though, do we?" he muttered, before following the other two out of the supplies room.
It turned out that there was a bed available, and it also happened to be the one furthest from the infirmary entrance – Nico thought that was perfect, because it allowed them to take care of the kids without anyone walking past or bothering them, and there was less of a chance of people accidentally popping their heads into the wrong cubicle or anyone overhearing and getting curious (because that was what demigods were known for, and that was what got them in trouble, really).
It was just a shame that the six babies were just really noisy.
Within the first ten minutes of the other five waking up, Nico was sure he had heard enough screaming, squealing and crying (which, thanks to Kayla, he now knew the difference between) to put the Fields of Asphodel to shame, he was sure of it, and had already had to sit a squealing Leo in the corner and away from everyone else because he'd tried to set Percy's hair on fire.
Nico really hadn't wanted to get drenched by the latter baby's fit.
After that, Will had nearly lost his temper (which was usually very difficult) when Annabeth had tried to reach for a vase (which, in her defence, had been brightly coloured and pretty) on the bedside table and had caused it to smash on the floor, nearly attracting the attention of some of the other Apollo campers working their shifts in the infirmary. Just as he was telling her off (she hadn't even started crying – just stared at him blankly), he had to pull Jason away from the broken glass before he could cut himself trying to eat it, and then almost started screaming when the pieces started glowing and spinning in the air, thanks to one recently baby-fied titaness.
Jeez, were all babies this difficult to take care of?!
To be honest, even Piper wasn't that easy to take care of. Nico couldn't stop her from chewing on the pillow without making her cry, so he had to just leave her to it – and Will definitely wasn't pleased about that. To be honest, Calypso seemed to be very content entertaining herself safely (okay, those glass shards in the air were not safe but she wasn't trying to hurt anyone with them so Nico deemed it okay for her to just keep going at it)…
Until she and Piper started fighting over the pillow (and she forgot about the shards, which kind of dropped everywhere, barely missing Will).
"Oh for the sake of the gods…" Nico groaned as he had to, yet again, stop Annabeth from crawling off the bed to grab something on the bedside table. As he did so, he nudged the chair closer towards the corner with his foot, stopping Leo from climbing out from the space behind the chair and crawling away. "Can't you just sit still?!"
Annabeth stared up at Nico with her big grey eyes, before giggling and trying to reach up for his hair, presumably to chew on it. He pulled his head away.
"No."
Will sighed as he approached the bed, Percy and Jason in either arm and trying to reach out for each other, whining and squealing loudly, whilst Will looked a little wet with windswept hair. "Nico…"
Nico looked over at Will, momentarily forgetting about Annabeth until she'd started chewing on his hair. He sighed. "Yes, Will?" he asked, shifting towards the bed when he realised that Calypso was now trying to levitate the pillow that she and Piper were fighting over, though the other baby seemed to have a pretty strong grip on it if the fact that she was hanging in the air was any proof.
"They're fighting again…" the son of Apollo continued, gesturing with his head at the two boys in his arms.
"Well, what am I supposed to do? I have my hands full with the rest of them! You know how to deal with people better!"
"Yeah, grown up people! Not baby demigods!"
Nico nearly groaned, setting Annabeth down on the bed and reaching out to pull the pillow down from the air, and certainly would have done so in irritation had it not been for Leo beginning to whine loudly in the corner. He snapped his head over, his hand hovering in the air. "Leo, would you please—" He stopped short when he realised exactly what Leo was doing.
He was trying to chew on the chair leg.
Will seemed to notice this as well, setting Percy and Jason down on the bed on either side of Annabeh, and he frowned a little. "…Is he…?"
Nico shrugged. "Kids try to eat weird things."
That was when Kayla appeared on their side of the curtain, raising an eyebrow at the two of them as she closed it behind her. She frowned at the two males. "Uh… guys? What are you two…?" She trailed off when she noticed Leo, and sighed heavily, walking over to the baby boy and picking him up to set him on her hip. "Have you guys even fed these kids yet?" she asked, frowning slightly at Leo when he began whining and chewing on his fingers.
Nico raised an eyebrow. "We're supposed to feed them?" he asked, though he knew as soon as the words came out of his mouth that they were stupid. He supposed he deserved the incredulous look that Kayla gave him.
Even Will had to give him an incredulous look at that. "What, do you think that babies don't eat?" he asked slowly.
Nico huffed, folding his arms before moving to stop Annabeth from crawling off the bed again. "You know that's not what I meant!" he snapped, glaring over at Will.
"Guys, please don't argue in front of the kids," Kayla warned, placing Leo down on the bed beside Calypso. Soon enough, she'd sorted Annabeth, Piper and Calypso out as well; Annabeth, Piper and Calypso were all sitting on the pillow, simply blinking at Kayla – Calypso's fingertips weren't even glowing anymore.
Kayla then turned to Will and Nico, taking Percy and Jason from Will and setting them on the bed as well. "Right, so I'm going to try and find them some food," she informed them as she sorted them out until they were settled, "maybe get Cecil to steal me some from out in the city. You two: stay here and take care of these children. Please." She left their area hastily, not giving Will and Nico enough time to protest.
Will and Nico shared a glance, before sighing.
This was probably going to be chaos.
Kayla managed to return within the next half an hour or so, carrying a bag of six different jars of baby food. She walked in on Nico and Will trying to keep all six babies seated on the bed quietly, entertaining them. The son of Apollo was cooing and making silly faces at them, whilst Nico was watching them all giggle.
"Who taught you to do that?" Nico asked suddenly, turning his attention from the giggling children to his boyfriend.
The blonde male shrugged. "I just watch Kayla – I told you, I'm a pretty observant guy." Will gave Nico a grin and a wink before going back to making the faces.
The light blush and fond smile that Nico sent Will's way made Kayla smile softly, and she leaned on the foot of the bed, watching them for a few more minutes before announcing her presence.
"Guys, I'm back," she said, making the two boys jump slightly and turn to look at her. "Don't look so surprised. I am here."
"When did you—" Nico started with a frown, only to be cut off by smiling Will.
"Oh great, you brought food!" The blonde jumped up and grabbed the bag off his sister, looking into it before wrinkling his nose at what he saw. "Babies eat this sort of stuff?"
Kayla merely raised an eyebrow at Will, before reaching out and grabbing the bag back and began to unpack everything onto the bedside table, out of the reach of the babies. "What, you think they could eat hot dogs and fries?" she asked sarcastically.
At Will's silence, Nico concealed a small snigger behind his hand, which transformed into a slight scowl when Will (once again) pointed out that Nico didn't think that babies ate.
Kayla had never been more glad to hear the two say they suddenly wanted to help her – especially if it got them to shut up.
Feeding the babies had been a rather… eventful ordeal. Maybe it was because it was the first time Will and Nico had actually dealt with babies, or maybe it was because some of the kids had been so stubborn it was almost impossible to feed them.
Calypso and Piper had been fine to feed – almost easy. The boys (Nico and Will) had assumed they would be the hardest, what with Piper's near-constant fussiness and Calypso's love for casting random little spells (though some of them she tended to cast by accident), and so had left them to Kayla.
But they'd never been so wrong.
By the end of the meal, more than half of the food had ended up on Leo's head instead of his mouth, most of it burnt; Annabeth was still refusing to go with the "here comes the aeroplane!" stuff that Will was doing and just staring at him blankly, and Will had a feeling that if she could talk she'd be calling him stupid right then; Jason was whining and reaching out for Annabeth's food because apparently he wanted that instead, though Nico couldn't really see why he wanted what she had when it all looked equally disgusting; and Percy was too busy laughing at how Leo was trying to use his spoon as a hat to actually let someone put food in his mouth.
By the end of it, Will and Nico were absolutely exhausted and splattered in food, and it seemed as if the babies were too, so after cleaning them up with some baby wipes and finding them some clothes to change into (courtesy of Cecil) they were all put to bed, next to each other with the covers tucked around them loosely.
Nico and Will had groaned as they sat on the armchair in the room, relaxing back into the soft-ish material and closing their eyes. The son of Hades leaned his head on his boyfriend's shoulder, shifting slightly to rest more comfortably against him. Will slid his arm around Nico's shoulders, moving Nico so that he was resting even more comfortably against his side.
The two sat there in a comfortable silence, simply resting, until Will spoke.
"Nico?"
Nico looked up at Will tiredly, blinking heavily. "Yeah?" he yawned.
"Do you ever want to have kids?"
"Will, we're teenagers; I'm fourteen, you're fifteen. Teenage demigods."
"I know that, but you still haven't answered my question."
The son of Hades frowned, thinking about his answer for a moment, before glancing over at where the six babies were asleep on the bed. Every single one of them looked peaceful and angelic as they slept, cuddled up beside each other – Percy snuggled up beside Annabeth, Piper half-lying on Jason… Leo and Calypso somehow sprawled upside down; even as they all slept, tiny little stars appeared to glimmer above their heads, courtesy of a sleeping Calypso.
Although Nico would never admit it, he'd kind of had fun taking care of them that day. Even though they were really meant to be his friends, all of them at least two years older than he was, he'd enjoyed taking care of them. He could still see each of their personalities in them – Annabeth's inquisitiveness which caused her to try and reach for anything in her grasp, Leo's extreme ADHD that meant he never stayed still, even Jason's natural calm that meant he didn't really fight with the others (unless it was Percy, who always started the fights anyway).
"Maybe," he answered finally, looking up at Will before down at his lap. "Maybe. I don't know, but maybe… when I get older, of course."
Will hummed, seemingly considering Nico's answer for a few moments, before speaking. "Me too," he answered with a slight smile.
Nico looked back up at him, curious as to why Will had asked him that. He was about to ask, when he realised that Will had closed his eyes and was asleep already. He rolled his eyes at the male, a small smile on his face. How the son of Apollo could do that, he honestly would never know.
The next day didn't seem so bad, although if you asked Will he would've probably said it was because it was Valentine's Day.
Nico wouldn't have said anything at all.
The son of Hades woke up to a stream of sunlight shining straight into his eyes, which made him groan as he slowly began to wake. The first thing he noticed was that despite the fact that it was now morning, it was pretty quiet in the room, save for some gurgling that Nico was sure was coming from the direction of the babies.
The next thing he noticed was the lack of a warm body beside him (and Will was actually very warm, so that was a huge loss).
That woke him straight up.
Nico looked around disoriented for a few moments, before his eyes finally focused on a figure sitting on the bed. When he realised who it was, he smiled softly.
Will was seated on the bed, feeding a rather sleepy Jason with some bottled milk, whilst the other babies were either sleeping softly or watching him quietly on the bed (and all of them were sleeping… except maybe Calypso). And as he watched him, Nico couldn't help but realise how their resemblance made Will actually look…
Nico shook the thought out of his head, frowning a little, before he yawned and stretched, alerting the others to the fact that he was awake.
Will looked up from where he had been feeding Jason and smiled at his boyfriend. "Morning, sleepy head," he teased lightly.
Nico rolled his eyes at the tease, though he was still smiling. "Yeah, yeah, morning…" he mumbled as he stood. "Was he hungry?"
"Yeah. Very." Will looked out of the window, seemingly observing what was going on out in camp. He spotted various campers moving about. "It'll be time for breakfast soon," he explained. "Why don't you go and grab something to eat?"
Nico frowned as he looked out of the window and realised that Will was right – people were heading for the pavilion for breakfast. "What about you?"
"Just tell Chiron I'm working and he'll get me something to eat; don't worry about me."
Nico shook his head, frowning slightly as he pushed himself to his feet. "No, I'll bring your food for you. Don't worry." He began to head out of the little area, glancing back at Will with a rare smile on his face. "I'll be right back."
As he promised, Nico managed to return about half an hour later, carrying a tray with two fairly large plates on it. One plate had a good few of pancakes on it, with various fruits and syrup decorating them, whilst the other plate had a few omelettes and strips of bacon. Two mugs – one with a large mug of coffee and the other with cup of tea – were on the tray as well. He smiled at Will as he headed over to the bed, placing the tray of food down on the bedside table once it had been cleared of empty bottles and baby food bottles.
Will looked up at Nico from where he had been rocking Jason back to sleep and tickling the now awake Calypso lightly, and smiled. "Thanks, Nico."
Nico just shrugged a little, walking over and picking Jason from his arms before laying the baby down on the bed and smiling slightly at the giggling Calypso, letting out his own small laugh when. "Hey, no need to thank me. Let's just… finish this, and then we can deal with the kiddos."
Will nodded in agreement, giving Calypso one last tickle before smiling and moving to grab his food. "You better like pancakes, Nico, because that bacon is mine."
Luckily for them, the rest of the babies didn't wake up until after Nico and Will had finished eating and had a little bit of time to themselves, and Calypso was pretty much able to entertain herself with floating flower petals and such, so Nico and Will's alone time consisted of them just cuddling on the armchair, enjoying the peace. In fact, Nico was just beginning to nod off again when he heard someone squirming on the bed – he assumed it was Piper, since the others generally didn't make that much noise when they awoke.
He sighed as he opened his eyes and got up, looking over at the bed. "They're up…" he mumbled, stretching and moving over to the bed to see who exactly had woken up.
Will just sighed, following Nico over to the bed and seeing that all of the babies were waking up and squirming. "Great…" he mumbled. "So… what do we do?"
Nico shrugged, picking Piper up before she could start crying and setting her on his hip, just as he'd watched Will do before. He tickled Annabeth a little, and smiled when she giggled. "I don't know… maybe we should—"
He was cut off when someone moved past the curtain and entered their area, and Will looked over to see Kayla and Austin, another son of Apollo, walking into the area, holding a box each that seemed to be filled with toys and things to take care of the babies.
"I still don't get why—" Austin started, only to stop short when he saw all of the babies on the bed. His blue eyes widened comically, and his jaw dropped. "Holy—"
Will glared at Kayla when she hissed at Austin to shut up. "I thought we agreed not to tell anyone else?" he hissed, setting Leo down before he started a confrontation with his siblings.
Kayla glared right back at him, not scared one bit. Not that Will's glare had ever scared her in the first place. "I'm sorry, but I needed help bringing this stuff down for you, and you were too busy being all cute and cuddly with your boyfriend to be of any help," she snapped right back, before standing straighter, her chin lifting. "Besides, Austin won't tell."
Austin looked between Will and Kayla with wide eyes. "W-what do you mean I won't tell?!" he yelped. "This is serious! We have to—" He faltered at the glare he received from Nico, the look he was being given as cold as ice.
"No, we don't," the son of Hades said lowly, taking a threatening step towards the other demigod (honestly, he shouldn't have appeared so threatening with a baby in his arms, but he did). "You aren't going to tell anyone unless we allow you to. Is that understood?"
Austin nodded, his eyes wide and his legs shaking slightly, before moving to place the boxes down. "I'll just, uh…"
"You're staying in here," Kayla snapped, placing her box down beside Austin's and placing her hands on her hips as she turned to look at him. "We're all going to stay and take care of the kids. Nico and Will struggled yesterday, and having a couple more hands couldn't hurt."
"B-but I'm on call today!" Austin protested, looking panicked as he glanced between the other three. "I need to—"
"We'll just put down that you're dealing with a special patient with Will. They don't bother with those dealing with special patients. I'll be the nurse working with you."
Nico and Will glanced at each other, seemingly debating over Kayla's suggestion, before they all nodded in agreement.
"That… sounds like a perfect idea, Kay," Will verbally agreed as he smirked over at Austin. He gestured for his brother to approach them. "Come on, Austin – let Nico and I introduce you to our… wards for the day."
"B-but…" Austin began to whine, frowning. "Oh, come on, it's Valentine's Day! Don't do this to me, guys! Come on!"
The rest of the day seemed to go by pretty smoothly. With the extra hands to help, the babies seemed to be a lot calmer – whether it was because there were more people around, or because they were kept entertained more, Nico wasn't quite sure, but he was definitely grateful for it. He could actually go five minutes without getting a headache, and that was something he thanked the gods for.
It wasn't until around dinner time that what Austin had said earlier finally clicked in Nico's mind, and he froze halfway through a game of peek-a-boo with Percy, his hands halfway in front of his face.
Valentine's Day.
It was Valentine's Day.
"Oh Hades," he swore quietly, running a hand through his hair to stop himself from hitting his own forehead in frustration. What was he going to do?
His thinking was cut short when he realised that Percy looked confused and was trying to reach for Nico to pull his hands down, and he sighed, laughing a little. "Oh, don't look so confused. I'm pretty sure you go through the exact same thing with Annabeth." When Percy's apparent confusion just deepened, he laughed a little more loudly. "Yeah, you do. And you know it."
"What's so funny?"
Nico startled slightly and looked over to see Will watching him and Percy with a curious look on his face. "Hmmm?" he asked, putting on an oblivious expression.
"You're laughing," Will pointed out, turning his full attention from where he had been reading to Annabeth and Calypso (who seemed pretty content just looking at the pictures on the pages) to Nico and Percy. "What's so funny?"
Nico blinked, before smiling a little, glancing down at Percy. The little boy returned the smile. "Oh… it's nothing." He laughed a little, ruffling Percy's hair. "Yeah, it's nothing."
Will watched Nico interact with Percy for a few moments, before smiling himself and turning his attention back to Annabeth and Calypso. "If you say so."
Nico nodded, and turned back to Percy, only to see that the baby-fied son of Poseidon was yawning and rubbing his eyes, whining. Nico rolled his eyes at the little boy, before grabbing one of the pacifiers that Kayla had brought and sticking it in his mouth before the whining could get any louder or turn into crying. "Let's get you to bed," he said.
"Yeah, I think they're all tired," Kayla agreed as she walked over, holding Jason and Leo in her arms. The two in her arms had their heads resting on her shoulders, their eyes closed and their hands fisted in her shirt.
Austin walked over with Piper, sighing. "Right… it's nap time, I'm guessing?" he asked, carefully bouncing the sleepy little girl that was sucking on her pacifier to keep her quiet.
"Yup."
"Sounds about right."
The four demigods quickly began to tuck the six babies into the bed, making sure that they were all comfortable with the covers and pillows around them, before finally beginning to relax, the exhaustion showing on their faces.
"Why don't you two go and grab something to eat?" Kayla suggested to Will and Nico, noticing the tired looks on their faces. Before Austin could argue, she continued. "Austin and I will take care of them, don't worry. Just make sure to grab us something small as well, yeah?"
Nico blinked at Kayla, not expecting her to suggest that, before smiling and nodding, taking Will's hand. "Sure. We'll, uh… be right back."
The two younger children of Apollo nodded, watching as Will and Nico left before going back to talking about the latest mortal medical discoveries that they'd heard of in quiet voices.
Will and Nico were just reaching the main doors into the infirmary when they bumped (or rather, crashed) into someone, nearly causing Nico to fall over.
"Hey! What was—" Will stopped short when he recognised the almost glowing green eyes and dark hair with purple highlights. "Lou? What are you—"
"I did it!" she gasped breathlessly, grinning widely at the two. "I-I found the spell! I can change them back!"
"Already?" Nico asked, frowning a little. It was barely sunset on the second day – how had she found the spell so quickly? The Hecate cabin had so many spell books to look through…
"Would you believe me if I said there was a spell for finding spells?" she asked them, smirking before holding up a book. "I'm completely sure that the spell's right in here! Just take me to the six, and I'll turn them back."
As soon as she said that, Nico felt conflicted. Although he hadn't wanted this to happen in the first place… he was going to miss messing with a tiny, excitable Percy and a (mostly) tiny Jason. He would miss how fascinated Annabeth was with his hair, always wanting to touch it (and pull it, which hurt), how Piper laughs could light up a room (when she was in a good mood)… how Calypso's fingers glowed at the tips, and the night sky would practically float around her as she slept. And he'd miss… no, wait, he wouldn't miss how Leo happened to want to set almost everything on fire. That he definitely wouldn't miss.
"Let's go, then," Nico said with a smile, turning with Will to lead Lou Ellen back to the room.
As soon as they reached the area, right at the back of the infirmary, Lou burst in and startled Austin right out of the armchair, and Will and Nico followed her in soon after.
"I found a spell! I found the spell to turn them back!" she cheered, not even bothering to keep quiet. She grinned at her best friend.
Kayla stood up sharply from her spot on the edge of the bed, a wide smile on her face. "Really?"
"Yeah!" Lou Ellen held up the book, grinning. "It's right in here!" She glanced over to the bed of slumbering babies, before flicking to the required page in her spell book and taking a deep breath. "You ready for them to be turned back?" she asked, glancing over at the others.
"So ready," Will breathed dramatically, causing Nico to chuckle a little as he squeezed his boyfriend's hand.
Lou grinned at them, before turning back to face the babies, closing her eyes as she began to chant the spell…
"I still don't understand why I woke up with a pacifier in my mouth."
"Maybe it's because you snore. Like, really loudly."
"Or because you talk in your sleep and you needed to be shut up. It could be either one, really."
Percy scowled at Annabeth and Piper as they each jabbed at his ego, teasing him. "Ha ha, very funny," he grumbled, rolling his eyes at them.
Jason rubbed his lower back. "What I can't understand is how I woke up with a pain in my backside, on the ground, and Leo asleep on my legs."
Leo laughed a little, his arm around Calypso's waist. "I said I was sorry, didn't I?"
"Dude, you almost drooled on me!"
"Well, to be fair, Piper was the one on the bed when we woke up," Calypso pointed out, looking over at the daughter of Aphrodite.
Percy scoffed, narrowing his eyes at Piper, who was blushing slightly. "Piper was the only one on the bed when we woke up," he pointed out, causing the others to laugh.
Nico watched them with a smile as he walked behind them, his hands in his pockets. They hadn't yet asked him why he hadn't been found asleep with them at all, or why he had been standing on the other side of the room, laughing so hard he was clutching his stomach, when Percy's head popped up from where he was on the floor when he was the first to wake up, his hair even messier than it usually was and a green pacifier in his mouth. And, to be honest, he was pretty glad they hadn't asked yet. He wasn't sure he was ready to explain to them how Lou Ellen had managed to change them all into babies, and how he and Will had been forced to take care of them for about a day and a half. He was pretty sure that Leo would end up whining about and doubting how well he'd been taken care of by the son of Hades, and Nico didn't really want to explain how he'd had to sit Leo away from the others so many times…
"Nico!"
The son of Hades looked up to see that he was standing at the door of the infirmary, and he looked towards the source of the call of his name. He smiled when he realised it was Will, standing not too far from the infirmary itself and waving at him.
"Hey, Nico!"
Nico turned again, and noticed the other six heading towards the mess hall, Jason being the one waving at him this time.
"You wanna grab something to eat with us?" the blonde called out again, the other five hesitating in their walk to see what Nico's answer would be.
Nico hesitated, glancing over at the son of Apollo, before looking back over at Jason and waving back at him. "Not today! I'll catch up with you guys later!" he called out, before heading over to his boyfriend. When he reached Will, he took his hand, smiling up at him. "You called?"
Will nodded, blushing slightly as his lips quirked up into a smile. "I, uh… I have something for you."
Nico frowned slightly at him. "Something for me…?" he asked slowly, raising an eyebrow.
Will nodded, settling for a smile, before beginning to lead Nico in the direction of the camp cabins. "Come on," he said, walking along and tugging his boyfriend along behind him.
Just as they passed the Apollo cabin, Nico frowned a little, opening his mouth to ask where they were going. If Will had something for him, wouldn't it be in his cabin, with all of his stuff?
That's when he realised they were actually heading to the Hades cabin.
"Will…" he asked slowly, almost cautiously, "what have you done to my cabin…?"
Will just grinned back at him. "You'll just have to wait and see."
Eventually, the pair reached the Hades cabin door – still as black and creepy as ever, though with fewer skulls and more ghostly designs – and Will turned to Nico with a grin.
"Close your eyes."
Nico's frown deepened at the light-hearted demand, but at the look Will was giving him he just rolled his eyes and did as he was told, closing his eyes and holding Will's hand more tightly. "Done it." For a few moments, nothing happened as Nico heard his cabin door being opened. Then Nico felt himself being pulled into the cabin, and the door being shut quietly behind him.
"Okay, you can open your eyes now."
Nico's eyes fluttered open, and his jaw dropped.
Nothing much had really changed about the cabin… apart from the candles scattered around the room that were lit, and the blanket in the middle of the cabin floor, with a basket of food sitting on it. There were black rose petals littered around the room – on the floor, on the few beds that actually occupied the room… – and the faintly floral scent from the candles wafted around the room.
Nico was so in shock that he didn't realise Will had led him over to the blanket of food.
"You did this… for me…?" the son of Hades asked slowly, his eyes still wide.
Will nodded enthusiastically, smiling at him. He gave Nico a peck on the cheek.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Nico." He grinned at him. "Now, let's have dinner."
So, what do you think? Review!