WILL

Will was exhausted. He should've known better then to go to the training arena with Nico the previous evening. He was now working in the infirmary, low on sleep and dealing with dozens of injured demigods. Of course, it was all worth it. He had got to hang out with Nico.

Will had been infatuated with Nico for as long as he could remember. Will had seen him from time to time as a young boy, when he first came into camp with his sister. He seemed so effervescent, so full of life. Will had wondered if they could ever become friends. It all changed after his sister's death. He seemed like a totally different person; a hollow shell of who he used to be. He was no longer the cheerful boy Will had watched from afar; he was moody and despondent.

The young medic hadn't seen Nico much since the death of his sister. He caught glimpses of him here and there, but he never had the chance to actually get to know him. Unlike most of the campers, who wanted nothing to do with Nico, Will only became more intruiged by the boy.

Then, after the battle with Gaea, Will finally had his chance to try to become friends with Nico. Although he had to somewhat impose the friendship on Nico, the son of Hades soon began to actually enjoy Will's company.

After awhile, Will had began to develop an... attraction towards the son of Hades. Will had not meant to develop a crush on the boy... originally he had just seemed like an interesting person and Will wanted to get to know him. That's definitely not how it turned out.

Though he was attracted to Nico, he had no intentions of telling him anytime soon. Over the course of their friendship, Will had learned Nico had an extremely short temper. He was happier then he had been in along time, yet he still carried an unbelievable amount of darkness and pain. Will knew that if he tried to tell Nico his feelings... it most likely wouldn't end well. Maybe if the time was right, he would tell Nico... but not yet.

Will absentmindedly wrapped bandages around an injured demigod's arm. His eyes wandered up to the clock, and lo and behold, it was lunch time. He decided to use this as an excuse to get out of the infirmary. Will finished wrapping the young demigod's arm, and went out for lunch.

...

Will strutted out to the mess hall, basking in the warm sunshine that gave the camp an almost supernatural glow. He passed the table for the big three, where Nico, Percy, and Jason were sitting. He grinned when he saw Nico, and punched his shoulder.

"Hey, death boy!"

Nico didn't react to this. He didn't even turn to look at Will. He swirled his fork around his food, seemingly in deep thought.

This didn't seem like the Nico Will knew.

Nico almost always came back with a snarky remark if Will teased him, but Nico stayed eerily quiet. He just abstractedly stared at his plate of food.

Will gave Jason and Percy a confused look, but they just shrugged and gave him a look that clearly said, "I don't know anymore than you do". This worried Will, but Nico clearly didn't want to be bothered and he would definitely not agree to Will fussing over him. Will decided to leave him be, and he went to sit with his siblings.

Throughout lunch, he kept stealing glances at the son of Hades. The young demigod stayed in the same morose state the entire time. He ate a couple more bites of food, and then abruptly stood up from the table, stalked off back to his cabin, and slammed the door shut. Will was immensely curious and concerned now, and he decided he was going to talk to Nico about it, whether he liked it or not.

Will was a healer. His instincts were to heal, whether that was physically or mentally. He could literally sense the darkness in Nico. Some of that darkness had left Nico after the battle with Gaea, much to Will's relief, but a good portion of it still remained. Will desperately wanted to comfort Nico, which was difficult considering Nico's ill nature. He wasn't going to let that stop him, could tell Nico was particularly upset today, and he was determined to find out the cause.

He wolfed down the last bits of food, and paced back to the cabins. He walked up to the Hades cabin and rapped on the door.

No answer.

Will sighed. He swung open the door, only to see Nico Di Angelo sitting on his bed, staring blankly at the wall in front of him. His head snapped around to glare at Will. When he identified him, the anger smoldering in his eyes turned to mere annoyance.

"Go away, Solace! I'm not in the mood." Nico hissed.

Will crossed his arms and looked at the boy. "We should take a walk, Di Angelo. Stop moping around and get up."

"I told you, I'm not in the mood. Leave me alone!"

Nico's glare became even more intense, but Will didn't shrink down. He stared back at Nico with the same intensity.

"Walk. Now. Doctors orders."

Will could literally feel the tension, anger, and darkness rolling off the ghost king. Nico slowly got up and grumbled incoherently at his fellow camper. Will took all of this as somewhat of a good sign. Nico was acting like himself in this regard.

They walked out of the Hades cabin and made their way towards the strawberry fields. Nico looked like he was about ready to murder someone.

This made Will's mission to find out what was bothering him that much more difficult.

AUTHORS NOTES:

I'm really sorry, guys, for not posting this sooner. I had obligations scattered throughout this week. This chapter was particularly hard to write, considering that the only purpose of the first two chapters is for exposition and getting the story rolling. I have big plans for the next chapter , though, so bear with me. :)

Thank you to the few people who follow this story! It means a lot. I'm still pretty new to writing fanfiction, so I hope I don't screw anything up.