PART ONE

Nico never thought that he would live to see through the war.

No one would be there to miss him. Percy had Annabeth. Had sometimes did not suffice. Percy clung to Annabeth as if he was finally drowning and she was the damned lifesaver. Hazel went into a blushing virgin mode whenever Frank's name would somehow be mixed in even just a casual conversation. Jason went moony eyed for Piper.

And don't even get started with Leo's absolute manic fascination about some girl name Calyspso.

He was born to be alone, he knew but somehow, he had a feeling now that it was by choice unlike before when people uneasily stayed away from him because of his father.

Boys like him just didn't belong even if miracles like Jason Grace and Percy Jackson liked him just like the rest of the Seven.

Miracles like a certain Apollo Boy.

"Strict bed rest didn't I tell you? By the gods, di Angelo, when will you ever listen to me?!" Will jokingly yelled as he entered the infirmary to check on some of the patients, finding Nico sitting again by the window, a somehow calculatingly adorable look on his face.

"You weren't supposed to find me," he grumbled back, not moving an inch.

"I always come here for your food you doofus."

"I have two working legs damn it." Nico stretched his jean clad legs as evidence and made tiny walking motions as if to prove the point.

A smile that he has seen too many times amongst the Stoll Brothers graced Will's face and Nico's heart stopped for a moment. He could have sworn that the blonde was carrying about some evil plan of dumping cold water on him at night or some more strategic prank that the twins did daily.

And no, his heart didn't stutter because Will smiled.

"I can see that Death Boy. I too have two working eyes."

The idiot actually winked at him! Nico suppressed the urge to stick his tongue in childish defiance.

He wasn't a child anymore. Hell, he was technically older than a damned lot of campers in Camp Half Blood.

He stopped looking at Will, but felt him making rounds around the infirmary, checking on some satyr that broke a leg ( yes literally. It wasn't for some Nature play ), a young Dionysius boy with a sore hand and some other minor casualties. It was already his final day for the bed rest thing and it took a lot of Nico's effort not to just dash out of the infirmary and find some gloomy alcove.

His broken ribs were slowly healing and he had finally got over his exhaustion by sleeping for a whole day, thanks to some weird concoction from Mr. Doofus. Nico wasn't even sure if he was thankful. He always hated sleeping in the open because some childish part of him was afraid to wake up to pig tails and a sharpie scrawled face.

What's making me stay for Pete's sake.

A platter of food was then shoved directly in his line of site and Nico's stomach growled enthusiastically with it, much to his horror and to Will's delight.

"Told you you'd be hungry," Will laughed, munching on some muffins that was somehow a left over from breakfast. "I don't see any pomegranates here di Angelo. Eat up."

Nico just scowled but dug in. The steak tasted divine along with some roasted vegetables that he thought tasted absolutely disgusting but was then again wrong.

"Do you exist purely to prove me wrong Jingle Boy?"

It was Will's turn to scowl. "Stop calling me that. It was an absolute mistake to be out with the overly happy Demeter and Aphrodite kids singing about Christmas even if we know that everything about that is a total myth.," he grumbled.

Nico laughed. "Jingle Boy."

"Death Man."

"I already know that."

"I live to constantly remind you, you Highness," Will mock bowed. There it was again. That smile.

Those skeleton butterflies are back.

It was the kind of smile that you could write sappy poetries about. It just seemed to push away the shadows and forced the sunshine into you no matter where you went. He was doing it again.

Will freaking Solace was making him happy again for some reason by being a pure dolt.

"Stop it," Nico said, shaking his head sadly. Will's face fell, but quickly changed into that of determination.

"I can be your type."

WHAATTTTT?!

"NO."

"Yes.

"No dammit."

"YES."

"You can't even-"

"Doctor's orders," Will winked at him and smiled.

"How could making one happy be a doctor-"

"I'm the Doctor di Angelo. Didn't somebody ever tell you to shut up and take heed in doctor's advices?" he glared.

"You're not the Doctor Jingle Bells. You're a doctor, not THE DOCTOR."

"You know you like it."

"I don't"

"Yes you do," Will sang annoyingly, and Nico could almost picture out tiny Will's waving around in the air in a toga dancing to some happy tune and smiling adorably. He almost literally slapped his face.

"Okay I do but-"

"Everyone loves the Doctor Death Boy, even our Creator Rick Riordan, and what did I tell you about me existing to prove you wrong?" Will cocked a beautiful blonde eyebrow and all Nico could focus on is just how pretty Will was in this way, not some tired zombie running to and fro to patch up injured camp mates.

Nico just smiled softly as an answer.

Will couldn't believe his eyes.

Nico di Angelo, the hardest, loneliest, most serious person he's ever seen (well except for Ares. Damn that Man took hard and metal to a different level) was actually smiling.

The gods could kill him now.

Of course he was joking. He didn't even get to kiss the guy yet.

EEK. Voiced out.

They have always said that a smile changed you, not just your face physically, but also the depth of your emotions inside. Smiles like that that started slowly and ended just so beautifully with a slight quirk of the nose in the end.

And Nico just did it.

No one could ever feel more blessed right now.

He must have stared at Nico too long to the point that it brought discomfort to the other because by the time he really looked back, Nico was back at the simple infirmary bed. Too much sunlight streamed into the window where he sat and it probably annoyed the boy.

Though you could hardly call him boy anymore. He had finally grown physically but still had the lankiness of an awkward teenager. His hair seemed to be a spill of ink on top of his head and it refused to cooperate, making Will secretely happy. Cute Nico was better than a snarling Nico who made Confederate skeleton armies rise when he was pissed. He was like the night and danger mixed into one, like some world angry lost goth boy and Will can't help but fall for that.

It sounded stupid that people still labeled people and told them what to be on their first glance and Nico was thought of to be the most dangerous delinquent amongst the sea of delinquents that made the Camp. No he didn't like him because he was bad. He liked him because he was alone, and he honestly wanted to throttle the boy because this time it was by choice.

Being alone was a choice, one of the most stupidest choices ever made by mankind.

It was something Will wanted to change even if it meant making a utter fool out of himself.

Can't he see the envious looks he'd get whenever he walked around camp? He was the Seven's close companion, a very special one at that. He was loved by the strongest and most powerful demigods, something that a lot of people craved until they made fools of themselves, but Nico didn't even care.

It was like he was past caring and living.

It scared Will every night to think that Nico might melt into the shadows until he was one himself. What if he did and he wasn't there to help him back?

That may be the reason for Will sleeping in one of the uncomfortable beds in the Infirmary itself. He always deluded himself into thinking that it was for everyone's health, but there was one boy's that slightly mattered more than the others.

Look who was he kidding. If he and Nico somehow got wounded in a battle of some kind, he knew that he would unthinkingly heal Nico first and leave himself in the care of the others.

Was this what they called infatuation? Will never really understood the hierarchy of emotions.

Will closed his eyes painfully to that thought.