Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters! They all belong to the fabulous Mr. Rick troll Riordan. I also don't own the song its by Shawn Mendes.
A/N: This is the only chapter I'm doing bc its only one shots and its to a song. But I might do another one, so review if you like this or you want me to do another one!
I watch your troubled eyes as you rest,
And I fall in love with every breath.
Wonder if those eyes are really shut,
And am I the one you're dreaming of?
It was Nico's third day in the infirmary. He was only staying for three days, Will thought sadly. Nico had recently shadow traveled three people from Cleveland, Ohio to camp, which Will was not too happy about.. But that's a different matter. Right now, Will watched Nico's eyes flutter underneath his pale eyelids, he was dreaming. Will fantasized about the dream being about him, but Nico couldn't possibly feel the same way about Will as Will felt about him. Almost everyone, but Nico knew about Will's... feelings about Nico. Will had Lou Ellen to thank for that. Though there was no chance a strong warrior would like a weak nurse guy, Will found himself trying. There wasn't much happening in the infirmary right now so Will wasted the hours watching Nico sleep. By the time Nico woke up Will found his hand placed on top of the small Italian's. Nico's confused eyes met Will's and drifted to the tan hand on top of his. Both of their cheeks turned beet red, but he didn't remove his hand. Will suppressed a smile and said "Morning, sunshine."
'Cause underneath the darkness
There's a light that's trying so hard to be seen.
And I know this 'cause I've noticed
A little bit shining through the seams.
The next day, Will woke up at 7:00am and walked to the Hades cabin. The obsidian walls seemed to flinch away from the sunlight, if that was possible. Will knocked on the door in a cheery beat and heard a groan from inside. He chuckled as a mop of raven hair opened the door, groaned and shut it. Will caught the door right before it shut and gave an "uh,uh,uh." By then Nico had retreated to his comforter and was sitting on the bed like a big ball of coziness. Will invited himself in and sat on the foot of the bed. Suddenly, Will had an idea. He put his hands on the covers searching for the little Italian. He heard some grumbles, but continued until he located Nico's stomach. He could feel abs from where Nico had been working out lately and suppressed a small squealing sound. He dug his fingers in and started to tickle him. As soon as his fingers tazed him Nico sprung into action. He threw back the covers and squirmed under Will's grasp. He seemed to be suppressing giggles but Will couldn't tell as he himself was almost doubled over in laughter. Nico was yelling "Stop it! Stop it!" And swatting away Will's hands, A smile illuminating his shadow covered face. Nico suddenly laughed out loud and Will's body suddenly stopped working. His chin dropped, to the ground it seemed, as he first heard 'the ghost king''s laugh. It was his new favorite sound. It was rough, but delicate as if it was easily broken. Nico sat up and looked around awkwardly his face deepening to a dark red blush. Will felt the heat on his face as he blushed too. Then, unexpectedly, Nico tackled Will and started tickling him back. Will immediately started squirming, giggling and swatting his crush. They started wrestling around both trying to tickle the other and fell onto the ground Nico on top of will. All the color left Nico's already pale face as he stared into Will's eyes. Both of their faces flushed beet red. Nico's hands were placed directly above Will's shoulders, holding the small boy up. His knees were bent, one in between Will's legs and one on the outside of them. Will suppressed the urge to sit up and kiss him. Instead he grinned stupidly up at Nico. The corner of his mouth twitched upward. This made Will grin harder until Nico's face was finally illuminated by the smile that Will was in love with. An unclear emotion flashed on Nico's face and he got off of Will. Will stood up and stared at the 'deadly' boy. "So.." He found himself saying. "Breakfast?"
And if this is what it takes,
Then let me be the one to bear the pain.
Oh if this is what it takes
I'll break down these walls that are in our way,
If this is what it takes.
Later in the day, Nico found himself walking an Apollo kid, who was shockingly even smaller than him, to the infirmary. During Nico's sword fighting class (that even he was surprised he was teaching), the kid had accidentally drove his sword into the ground while charging into battle and had tripped and twisted his arm back. The entire walk the kid had been bawling and cradling his arm while moaning "am I gonna die?" Nico responding with "no." "How do you know?" "I'm a son of Hades, I just know these things.""... Are you sure?" "Yes." "Really sure?" "Yes." "Like positively sure?" And so on. After a while Nico had snapped and told the kid that right now he absolutely, positively, for super duper sure that he would not die from that injury, but if he keeps talking, Nico can't promise anything. That shut him up. When they reached the infirmary the kid ran to Will and began to bawl again explaining what happened. Will grabbed the child's hand and led him to a cot where healers enclosed around the boy who's name, Nico had learned, was Austin.
Will turned around and when he saw Nico his eyes seemed to light up a bit more... But Nico was probably imagining it. Yes definitely imagining it. Don't get your hopes- "Hey death boy! Thanks for cheering Austin up. Someone asked him if he was worried and he said 'no because Nico told me I absolutely, positively, super duper surely won't die.'" Nico was shaken out of his thoughts by the vibrant face of his crush. He felt a blush creep into his cheeks and sighed. "Yup that's me, Mr. Helpful." Nico said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Will's eyes softened and he walked closer to Nico, narrowing the space between them from 5 feet to 1. Nico gulped as Will grinned and said, "You really are though. You might not realize but you helped win two wars, you got the Athena Parthenon back to camp, you recently saved three people in Cleveland, at the risk of yourself melting into a puddle of darkness, and made it so much easier to heal Austin now that he's not panicking." Will's hand moved to brush a lock of hair out of Nico's eyes and Nico was forced to make eye contact with Will. "You're so much more than you know." He added and Nico felt like he was about to faint. Will's hand was rested on Nico's shoulder. They stayed there for awhile, staring at each other, before Nico felt the eyes on them and stepped away to turn to many grinning faces. He looked back at Will who, also, was grinning and he muttered "uh, sure ok bye," before stumbling out of there. Why did Will have to taunt him so much?!
You keep on telling me I'm wasting time,
But to call it wasting time oh that's a crime.
And you think it's crazy what I'm trying to do.
Well baby, I'm a fool for you.
It was pretty much the same old schedule today for Will. 1) Wake Nico up, 2) drag Nico to breakfast, 3) eat breakfast with Nico, 4) go to the infirmary and work all day, 5) eat lunch with Nico, 6) go back to the infirmary, 7) eat dinner with Nico, 8) walk Nico to his cabin and hopefully hang out for awhile. And as always find as many ways as possible to see Nico, but that doesn't need a number.
The only difference with today was that Nico was crabbier than usual. Nico is always crabby, but not THIS crabby. And this was a sad crabby. Every time he saw him Will just had the urge to make him happy. He had done everything he could and he didn't know what else to do! By the time they had gotten to step 5 Will was following behind Nico to lunch when Nico suddenly whipped around to face Will and stopped. Will ran into him but the little Italian was solid as a brick. "What?" Will asked, worried and confused. "Why do you try so hard with me?" Nico responded. What? Will didn't understand the question. "What do you mean?" He asked. Nico's sad eyes glimmered with pain as he said, "Why do you try to be friends with me? To get close to me? You're just wasting your time." Will moved forward and put his hand on Nico's shoulder only to have it be hastily flicked off. Will stared in pain at his hand. He thought they were past that. He looked up at Nico a confused, painful look on his face and said sternly. "I am not wasting my time, trust me. What would make you think that?" Nico's eyes flicked up to his then looked away. Will could see the pain seared into his pale face as he looked at the ground and said "I hurt everyone. I'm the ghost king. Not the 'people' king. I'm meant to be alone with the ghosts because... because I hurt everyone who gets close to me to the point where, whether I mean to or not, I turn..." Nico sniffled. "I turn them into ghosts." Will saw Nico's eyes widen in remembrance and then seem to push away the pain back into his soul. Will pulled Nico into a hug not letting him fight back and whispered "I'm a healer. I can heal myself and.. And I can heal you. If you let me." Will pulled away and Nico's eyes met his. Will would never know but Nico was also worried about the healer hurting him.
'Cause underneath the darkness
There's a light that's trying so hard to be seen.
And I know this 'cause I've noticed
A little bit shining through the seams.
There were barely any people in the infirmary, so Will left early. He was walking without a destination when Connor Stoll stopped him. "Hey, Will! We just started playing truth or dare! You should play with us." The way he said it made Will suspicious, but he shrugged and agreed. When he walked to the circle on the grass they were at,he saw Jason dragging a struggling Nico to there as well. Will's face lit up when he saw Nico, not unnoticed by the group. The people playing were Annabeth, Percy, Jason, Piper, Lou Ellen, Cecil, Connor, Travis and.. Nico. It was kicked off by Connor daring Jason to fly onto the roof of the big house and dive bomb into someone in the group swooping them super high up into the air like they're prey for a bird. He chose Nico and as soon as he was in the air Nico clutched Jason's shirt, which he had to admit made Will jealous. Next Jason asked Annabeth if she had to bring one person with her to a desert island who would she bring? She chose 'seaweed brain' because he could just call an animal to bring them home. Annabeth dared Cecil to kiss the prettiest girl in the circle and he immediately turned to his right and planted a kiss on LouEllen's cheek, earning a blush. Will rolled his eyes. It was so obvious they liked each other. Then Cecil asked Will, truth or dare? Not wanting Cecil to ask who he liked he said dare. Cecil grinned and said he dared him to make Nico sit in his lap for the rest of the game. Nico's eyes took on a murderous look as Will pulled him into his lap. Will gulped as he realized how close they were right now. He found his arms wrapped around Nico's waist and he grinned pleasantly. It's not like he didn't like it and it's not like they didn't know he liked it. Nico however was still glaring at Cecil. Will decided to ask Nico. "Truth or Dare?" "Dare." "I dare you to... Kiss the person in this circle you're most attracted to." Nico swiveled around to face Will, the murderous look now pointed towards Will. Will grinned and Nico's face suddenly broke into an evil smile as he shadow traveled away.
And if this is what it takes,
Then let me be the one to bear the pain.
Oh if this is what it takes
I'll break down these walls that are in our way,
After dinner Will stomped towards Nico's cabin. He swung open the door and stomped in. Nico was sitting on his bed looking at a picture. When he saw the sad look on Nico's face all the anger about the truth or dare game melted out of Will. He sat next to him and saw a black and white picture of him and Bianca running around the yard laughing. A tear splashed down from Nico's face into the picture and Will turned and wiped a tear off with his thumb. Nico set the picture on the coffee table next to his bed and sighed. "Today was her birthday." He said his voice barely audible. Nico broke down right in front of Will, tears streaming down his face, sobbing noises emanating from his mouth. Will pulled him into a hug and rubbed his back. He could feel Nico's tears seeping into his shirt, but that was at the end of his list of priorities. After a while he softly said. "I know I'm not Bianca, and I can never bring her back, but I'm here for you. Anytime you need it. You don't have to bear all this pain on your own." Nico's pulled back and sniffled, wiping his nose with his shirt sleeve. A serious expression on his face, he looked up at Will and whispered "Thanks."
'Cause if you don't understand yet
Then I'll never let you forget
That you don't have to do this on your own.
Nico walked into the infirmary that day, instead of letting Will find him. Will turned around to see Nico in the doorway and his face lit up. He took off his scrubs, his shirt slightly lifting up to show abs, not that Nico noticed, and walked over. His 'light-up-the-world' smile overtook his features and Nico couldn't help but smile along. As they offered their food their hands brushed and they made eye contact. The sun got a little brighter and Nico sensed that Apollo noticed that. They smiled shyly at each other and went to sit down. As they sat at the hades cabin, their friends started filling in next to them, Jason on Nico's other side, Lou Ellen on Will's other side. They were packed tighter and Will's thought were pressed against Nico's, as were their shoulders. At the end of dinner Will's hand suddenly squeezed Nico's thigh and Nico practically leaped off his seat. Will's face turned beet red and he managed to force out, "That.. That wasn't me, that.. Lou Ellen. Magic. Don't hate me." He squeezed his eyes shut and then peeked them open to check Nico's expression but his mouth was still hanging wide open. He closed it and cleared his throat. "Uh..ok." He said and started to walk away. Will caught up to him and started to apologize. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that. I get it if you hate me, and I'm so sorry. I really hope you don't hate me because I lo-ike...I like hanging out with you. I just like hanging out with you and I don't want to lose that. You're my best-" Nico shut will up the only way he could think of. They were at Nico's cabin by now and Nico pushed him against the wall and kissed him. He figured if will didn't like him back he would just shadow travel to Italy and start a new life there. Will's eyes closed and he kissed Nico back. His hands found Nico's waist and pulled him closer and Nico's hands gripped Will's hair. When they finally pulled apart Nico made a little check mark in the air and said, "well, I did that dare." Will grinned at Nico and pulled him inside by the hand. A chill went through Nico's spine as Will closes the door and presses Nico against it. Only three inches separating their faces Will grinned and whispered "do you wanna be my boyfriend, sunshine?" Nico nodded as will closed the gap between them.
I'll be your shoulder to lean on.
I'll be your right when you feel wrong.
So come on, take my hand, we're moving on.
The next morning Nico woke to a chipper knock on his door and he rolled his eyes. When he opened it he found Will, grinning like a maniac as usual. He smiled and walked out with Will, still in his pajamas. Will's hand slipped into Nico's and they turned towards each other and shared a smile. When they walked in the line for breakfast, Will's hand and Nico's still intertwined, Nico made eye contact with Jason. Jason threw him a grinning thumbs up and, for once, Nico smiled back. Throughout that day everyone seemed to throw Nico a 'I'm-happy-for-you' smile, except Percy. When he saw them his brow furrowed and he seemed like he was trying to solve a puzzle. Then it was like a lightbulb lit over his head and he seemed to connect the dots of 'oh! That's Nico's type!' Overall, Nico decided, this summer was, is, and will be, very good. With that he kissed Will good night and, for the first time since Bianca died, had no nightmares.
And if this is what it takes,
Then let me be the one to bear the pain.
Oh and if this is what it takes,
Then I'll break down these walls,
These walls that are in our way.
If this is what it takes.