What was Solace doing? Now that Nico was free from the infirmary, he missed walking up and seeing Will's appallingly happy face first thing in the morning. He liked Percy before, but he never felt like this. He was falling for Will. Hard. The thought of hanging out with Will made him feel all tingly inside, this was even worse than having to face Cupid. He threw on his aviator jacket and went to go get some breakfast at the Mess Hall, where Jason was waiting?
"Did any of you go back to camp Jupiter?!" Nico was extremely confused, why were all the Roman demigods still at Camp?
"Nope," cut in Reyna, who was walking by and overheard their conversation.
"Why?"
Jason turned to him, "We were all too worried about you."
Why did all these people feel like he was incapable of taking care of himself? He was just fine and he was tempted to summon a zombie to prove it, but Will said not too. And he decided to listen, for what was probably the first time in his life. "I'm fine."
"Alright, then we just wanted to see you."
Nico looked Jason dead in the eye. "Hi."
He moved to walk past but Jason blocked his path, "Come on, you could be a little nicer."
Nico ignored him, turning to Reyna. "Hey Reyna, how are you doing?" He turned back to Jason, "Nice enough for you?"
Jason looked hurt, "I meant be nicer to me."
Nico rolled his eyes, "So Reyna, how are you?"
"I've been doing well, but I've been meaning to talk to you. How are you doing?"
"It's been fine. Spent a lot of time in the infirmary, so I'm feeling better now."
Jason looked at him, "Yeah, it's all the time in the infirmary. With your doctor."
Nico glared at Jason, turning red, "Yeah. He is a… very skilled medical professional."
Jason smirked, "Something like that."
Reyna was totally oblivious to the hidden meaning behind the conversation, to Nico's great relief. It wasn't because she was unobservant, she could analyze a person just as well as Annabeth or Piper, but she was a bit preoccupied getting her food. "I haven't been here for long. Hey, what would you suggest getting?"
"The ribs are really good," Jason suggested, then quickly added, "But don't tell Piper I said that. She's trying to get me to become a vegetarian."
"Okay, I'll try them." Reyna took a heaping of ribs on her plate and Nico almost salivated. He was starving. He went to get his food and took a heaping of everything they had.
Will walked by and, seeing Nico's plate, nodded approvingly. "Somebody's hungry."
"Yeah, me." Nico deadpanned.
"Good, you need to eat more," Will inspected his thin frame, and Nico suddenly felt self-conscious.
He subtly shifted his weight from foot to foot, trying to look anywhere but Will's face. "Don't get your hopes up. I'm just really hungry right now."
Will rolled his eyes, "Well, I'm choosing to approve of the fact that you are hungry and eating properly right now. It means I get to wait until later to nag you to eat properly."
"Oh gods Will, I know how to take care of myself." Nico sighed.
"I know that, but you don't actually do it. And as your personal doctor it is my job to make sure you do." Will patted Nico, who no longer flinched at Will's touch. "Since when were you my 'personal doctor'?" Will had been hanging around Nico lots lately, it made him wonder.
"Since right now." Will gave Nico a big smile, "Now go eat your food before you lose your appetite. Doctor's orders."
Nico went to go sit at the Hades table, and to his surprise, Will went with him. Nico stopped walking and turned to Will. "You aren't allowed to do that."
"Don't worry," Will said. Many people turned to stare at the head counselor of Apollo sitting with the child of Hades. "Ignore them."
Chiron, however, was a little harder to ignore. "Will, please return to the Apollo cabin table. You know the rule."
Will acted like he was obviously supposed to be sitting there. Which he was not. "Oh, it's fine. Nico just got out of the infirmary. And as his doctor, I am taking it upon myself to monitor his condition and make sure he's doing well."
"Bu-" Nico interjected, but got a light kick on the shin which stopped him.
"It's for medical reasons." Will gaved Chiron a winning grin and Chiron raised an eyebrow. Nonetheless, he let it slide, not thinking it worth the argument.
Once he was out of earshot Nico said, "What the hell was that for?"
"You were going to get me sent back to my table." Will gave him puppy eyes that were so adorable that Nico blushed. "You don't want that to happen, do you?"
"You can stay," Nico said.
"Do you want me to stay? I'll go if you want." Nico figured Will was just trying to be considerate, but that put Nico in a really tough position. If he said no, the son of Apollo would leave and Nico really did want him to stay. And the only other option would be telling him that he wanted to hang out with him, which in Nico's brain was basically equal to him telling Will that he liked him. He knew that obviously wasn't true, but the thought still scared Nico. The last thing he wanted was to get rejected by Will, platonically or otherwise.
"Stay." The smile on Will's face was so big it made Nico's heart flutter. "So why did you want to sit here in the first place?
Will sighed. "For the hundredth time Nico, I'm here because we,"—he gestured to himself and Nico—"are friends. Okay?"
"Fine. Did you eat?"
Will acted like he was getting choked up, "W-why, you care? That means so much to me." He laughed it off and answered Nico's question, "I was just going to go get it. Don't worry, i'll be back."
"I was devastated at the thought," Nico said flatly.
"You can't get rid of me that easily, even if you want to."
"Whatever Solace. Just go get your food, or you're going to die of starvation or something. Or so I've heard." Nico smirked at Will who smiled back at him and went to get his food.
Nico dug into his own plate, eating in silent, well as silent as it could be during lunch with a bunch of teenagers.
"I'm back," Will said cheerily, plopping himself beside Nico.
"Congrats, you got your food and made it back to the table safely. You want an award for that?"
Will smiled cheekily, "Why yes, I would."
"Too bad."
Will pouted at Nico, scrunching up his nose. Oh gods, Will was adorable. Nico opened his mouth to say something smart that could start up an interesting conversation between the two of them but he couldn't think of anything to say, so he closed it.
Will, noting the gesture, asked, "What were you going to say?"
"Nothing," Nico responded.
"It had to be something, why else did you open your mouth like you were going to say something?" Will was persistent.
Because I'm too socially awkward to think of something to say so I froze, Nico thought.
"I dunno." Nico was about to do something extremely dumb that he was definitely going to regret for the rest of his life, "So there's this guy who says he likes you. I'm not sure why he told me, he must've thought we were friends. He wanted me to ask you if you were into… guys." Nico blurted. He
Will raised his eyebrows, "First of all, we are friends. And… yeah. I like guys. You can tell your friend that, you don't need to give me a name." Nico nodded nervously, trying to process what had just happened. He figured Will would say no, which would give him the affirmation he needed to squash his feelings for Will. But this… this was more than he could've ever hoped for. He noticed that Will looked just as nervous as he felt, and Nico realized that he was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he forgot that Will just told him that he was gay. Will was probably expecting some kind or a response.
"Oh, cool. I will… tell the guy that."
