Nico di Angelo was a man of simple needs. Some food, water, sleep, and his boyfriend made him pretty happy and comfortable with his life. Will, although a bit more sensitive to needs and wants, was very similar in this aspect. Unfortunately, Will liked his sleep, which Nico has gone time and time again without on numerous occasions.

The son of Apollo whined softly and tugged on Nico's aviator jacket, pressing his body against the man's side, "Nicoooo, we've patrolled enough with no sign of any sort of monster, and I have work tomorrow! Can we go home and sleep?" He put on a puppy face, wrinkling his nose and widening his bright blue eyes. Nico looked at the face, flinched, and forced himself to look away in fear of succumbing to the pleading eyes of Will.

Will sighed as Nico looked away and tried again, "You and I have a lunch date with Miss Potts and Mr. Stark tomorrow at noon! It is one in the morning!" Will lightly hit Nico's shoulder before leaning over and putting most of his bodyweight on his boyfriend, who grunted at the sudden weight, but just looped his arm around Will's waist and kept walking.

"But I have a feeling we're so close!" Nico mused, "It's dangerous enough with the increased monster activity in cities across the country, but monsters working with mortals? This isn't a good situation to be in!"

The son of Apollo kept his weight on Nico, "I understand, but we've been doing this since after we had dinner! Please, let's just get some rest." Nico looked down and watched carefully at Will's bright blue eyes, "Nothing is happening anyway, so-"

Before the next word left his mouth, Will's stomach churned as a large noise, much like that of a gavel in court, was heard two streets away, "Nevermind. Let's go investigate."

Nico smirked as Will stood up straight and the both of them began running in the direction of the sound. Hurriedly hushed whispers broke out not a second later, and Nico grabbed Will's wrist, ducking underneath a car and making their way to the scene without being visible.

A large voiced boomed amidst the mass of undertoned speaking, commanding ears to listen, "Mortals and not, must we stand alone in this time of need? Are we not all lowly creatures, called to be silent and obedient? The monotony of our days does not define us!" Will and Nico peeked through the window of a car, seeing a large mass of monsters and humans alike. The speaker, although loud, was hidden from view, but the large amount of light from behind the crowd shows he was important in some way.

Nico leaned over and whispered, "So a congregation. And it's not even Sunday." Will hushed him with a wave of his hand, listening to the booming voice across the street. He wasn't sure why, but the nagging voice felt like this speech was supposed to be important.

The glowing light seemed to pulse with the loud voice, emphasizing his points and drawing all attention to his words, "The mediocrity of this world is sickening. Shall we celebrate and honor every little thing these authorities do?" A large resounding 'no' reverberated through the crowd as the silky voice continued, "Authorities, governments or even gods try to define who we are, giving us labels to prove our little self-worth, as if that is all we will ever be. Thieves, rapists, failures, beggars of man. Monsters. Will we listen to these figures of stature that belittle us?!"

"NO!"

"That's what I thought." Will grabbed Nico's arm and pushed himself up slightly, trying to get a peek of whoever was talking. He wanted to know the truth behind the words, and who was brave enough to speak against the gods themself. Nico quickly wrapped himself around Will to pull him back down, whispering about the dangerous situation they were in, but the voice took immediate demand, and the boys could do nothing but listen to the alluring voice, "Our numbers grow day by day, our attempts for free reign continue, and soon my brethren…"

Nico laced his fingers in Will's as they began running the opposite direction, trying to block out the man's sound. Will's eyes looked glazed over, his breathing quiet and his lips moving in sync with the speakers.

"We will be free."

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Nico didn't want to leave Will for a second that afternoon, but settled for knowing that they'd be able to be together for lunch. Sure, it'd be with people that he didn't know too well, but Will had started acting strangely after hearing that… sermon, or whatever the guy was preaching.

When they stepped into their apartment together the night before, Will had been in hysterics. His eyes seemed to have a constant film over them, as if his body was in the room, but his mind certainly was not. With tears streaming down his face, the son of Apollo kept murmuring about how every day was blending into the next, that he was going to die a failure of a doctor one day, and there was nothing he could to stop that. It took an hour for Nico to calm him down, and getting him to sleep was even harder. But eventually his breaths had evened out against the Ghost King's chest, who was trying his best not to take shaky, worried breaths.

By the time the morning had come, Will was significantly better. Nico's eyes narrowed at the cheery look in Solace's eyes, the joy coming off of him strange compared to last night's struggle for sleep. The only reason Nico knew that it was fake was from looking carefully; he watched as Will's eyes didn't light up, how the roots of his hair remained a soft golden color, and how his freckles didn't even slightly glow.

The son of Hades bounced his leg in the cab he was in, sent personally for him from Mr. Tony Stark himself (Nico had to remind himself not to accidentally call him Howard, as the name was better known in his time. He may have been a child, but he remembered the impact Tony's father had across the world, including in Italy.) Nico looked forward to see Will again and clutched the aviator's jacket to his chest, fiddling with one of the patches on the sleeve.

The cab driver stopped in front of a large brick building, and Nico's eyes widened at the fancily pillared establishment. He could afford it, of course (being the son of a god of wealth had its perks), but he did chuckle in amusement at the Italian restaurant. Notte Stellata was a beautiful place, and a name like 'Starry Night' suggested an equally beautiful dining experience, even for lunch. He reached in his wallet for some cash for the cabbie driver, but the man held up a hand, "Already been paid, kid."

Nico shrugged and unbuckled his seatbelt before stepping out onto a near-empty sidewalk, pretty uncommon for the streets of New York. He watched silently as a couple of well-dressed individuals walked in, dressed to the nines as the door was opened for them. Nico looked down at his tattered jeans and frayed jacket, wishing he actually brushed his hair that morning instead of just running his fingers through it.

To make up for it the best he could, he took a hair band off his wrist and tied it up to try and look a bit more presentable. His feet stepped forward while his mind stayed behind him, heading straight for those closed doors. A hand was held out, and Nico stopped abruptly in his walk, watching the glint of the many rings adorning the fingers. He heard someone clearing their throat and he looked up to see a man raising an eyebrow at him, "Well?"

Nico coughed, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

The doorman rolled his eyes, "This is a place solely for customers only. Not for loiterers to hang around, so beat it." This time, Nico rolled his eyes. He cocked his hip slightly, imitating the man in front of him and put on one of his best shit-eating grins.

"Oh sir, but I am a customer. And you shouldn't deny service to anyone, now should you?"

The bejeweled man scoffed, but begrudgingly held the door for Nico to pass through, "I trust you'll enjoy your meal."

"Spero così." (I'm hoping so.) Nico smiled at the slight tick in the man's eyebrow at the italian words thrown at him, but walked through the now open doors. His eyes widened looking around; it seemed the name 'Starry Night' was a hint at the restaurant's theme; every wall had some replica of a famous painting made by Van Gogh, and the painting the place was named after hung above a large fountain, showcasing its brilliance to all patrons.

Nico tore his eyes from the sheer beauty of the place, smirking at the columns and thinking of a certain blonde-haired friend of his. When his eyes suddenly landed on a brilliant head of gold looking away from his direction, a wry grin was set on his face. He took a step forward to see him again, but was stopped by the host.

The fancy woman looked at him, not seeming as if she cared about his lack of formal dress, "Do you have a reservation sir?"

Nico pointed at the table his boyfriend was at, "Actually I see my date right there, but thank you." The woman smiled and waved him on, to which Nico was grateful she dropped the interaction quickly to deal with the next customer.

He was definitely in line of Pepper and Tony's sight, but because they didn't recognize him, they paid him no mind. That was, until the son of Hades quietly made his way over to hear a small snort of laughter leave Will's lips at a comment Stark had made. A thin hand was placed on Will's shoulder, and Will, recognizing the weight of the ring seemingly instantly, whipped around to smile at the man behind him, "Nico! I'm happy you came!"

He chuckled lightly, keeping his eyes on his happy boyfriend instead of those of Stark and Miss Potts, "Well, you did invite me, Solace." Will gave a smile at the small laugh Nico made before pulling out the chair next to him and patting it.

He sat down carefully and slowly, tearing his eyes away from the slightly glowing freckles to look at the people sitting across from them. Stark, as all the news and tabloids said, even looked egotistical in nature. His eyes lazily ran themselves up Nico, seeming to size him up. Pepper gave him an almost identical look, but hers seemed more… statistical, like she was trying to figure out a difficult problem in front of her.

Nico stared blatantly back, but a slight cough from Will broke everyone's stares and they all looked at his blushing face, "So um, this is a nice place, right?"

The son of Hades gave a small smirk, "Yeah it is. The doorman at the front was something left to be desired, but you can't always get what you want, eh, Will?"

Said boy laughed lightly at the slightly smug look on the other's face, and Miss Potts took the moment to reach her good arm across the table toward Nico, "You must be Will's boyfriend. I'm Virginia Potts, but please call me Pepper." Nico gave a small smile and gripped her hand, shaking it firmly, "And this is Tony."

"Tony Stark, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, and a genius engineer if I'm correct?" Nico practically purred, stroking the man's ego just right, and released Pepper's hand.

Tony smirked and held his hand out, "You forgot superhero, but I can let that slide."

As the four of them talked while sipping their waters, Will noticed Nico was playing to his advantages. He acted sweeter than normal, and kept slightly flattering Tony every time he could. Will realized about halfway into a conversation that Nico was trying to get on Tony's good side; but for what?

In the middle of Tony recounting something Clint Barton had said (to which Will was paying rapt attention to), a waiter had made his way over to take their order. He spoke in a thick Italian accent, asking what they'd like to drink and the orders they had for lunch. Saying their respective food items, the waiter's gaze finally landed on Nico, who hadn't said a word to the man as of yet.

"And you, young man?" Will cracked a grin at the comment, concealing a laugh in a cough that didn't go unnoticed by Tony or Pepper who smiled in amusement.

Nico just let a small scowl slip onto his face as he spoke quietly to the man, "I'll just stick with water and some risotto alla zucca, per favore." The small slip of 'please' in Italian caused the waiter to raise an eyebrow in a slight sneer, who leaned over a small bit to hover over the demigod.

"Are you making fun of my accent, piccolo uomo?" (Little man) As Tony raised his eyebrows, carefully watching the interaction, a sort of stricken look overcame Pepper's face. Will smiled at her and waved a hand, motioning for her to calm down.

Nico rolled his eyes before crossing his arms over his chest, "È possibile ottenere a noi il nostro cibo come un buon cameriere?" (Can you just get us our food like a good waiter?) Will gave a soft snort at the man's incredulous face, to which Nico's mouth twitched upward at the sound. The waiter gave off a slight huff before turning on his heel and walking off. A small shadow quivered under the man's shoe, and Will gave Nico a light pat on his forearm, signalling for him to knock it off.

The rest of the meal continued on uneventfully. Although it was rather embarrassing for Nico, considering that when Will left to use the restroom, the older couple (to him, not so much) began questioning him about his and Will's relationship.

It was Pepper, actually, who had brought it up first, twirling her fork in her pasta, "So how long have you and Will been dating, Nico?"

The son of Hades swallowed his risotto before answering quietly, "For about four years. Our anniversary is in December." He gave a slight chuckle that sounded nervous in his own ears, "I'm not sure what to do about it yet, actually."

"Yeah, yeah," Tony sighed. He poked a fork in Nico's direction, "So you're, what, nineteen?"

Nico wanted to say no, he was nearing eighty, but he knew the joke would be lost and that'd just be awkward, "Yeah. We're both nineteen."

"And you live together?"

A blush spread across Nico's cheeks, his pale complexion giving way the embarrassment he felt, "W-We've been living together for a while now, actually. Since last year."

Pepper's eyes widened, "But aren't you two a little young to be living together?" She ran a finger along the edge of her glass, watching Nico's reactions carefully, "Do his parents know? What about your parents? I don't want to act like a nagging mother here, but Will is my employee, and I take excellent care of people who take excellent care of me in return."

"His parents both know," Nico shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the staring gazes of the adults. This was almost worse than when he had to talk to Apollo (actually, Apollo came to talk to him. Mrs. Solace was nice to him and tried to calm the god down the entire discussion), "And my father knows of us living together as well. Both sides of the family approve, and we're in a happy relationship."

As Tony was opening his mouth- no doubt to make some sort of sarcastic comment- Will returned to his seat. He took a small sip of water before noticing the awkward lull in conversation, "Did I miss something?"

"Nothing at all, Will," Nico chuckled, practically stabbing the risotto in front of him, "Nothing at all."

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Will hung up his white coat at the end of the night, revelling in the familiarity of the infirmary around him. Him being tired was an understatement; because of his and Nico's late night hunting monsters and working with Miss Potts until five in the evening, he was exhausted. But Nico had to talk to Chiron about what had happened, and Will decided to help out in the infirmary for the night.

And it was busy. He had two campers sick in bed (some sort of flu going around), a climbing wall accident, and another three people brutally maimed in another game of Capture the Flag. To a fully rested Will, all of them would've been doable by him and maybe two more of his siblings and he would have had energy to spare. But to current Will, he was tired and about to collapse. He hated staying up late and waking up early, but Nico seemed to be unaffected by the lack of sleep.

A sigh was halfway out of his mouth when he saw a familiar figure walk through the door, whistling to himself. Will Solace smiled, "What's up, my man?"

Cecil stopped whistling to smile widely at the son of Apollo, "Nothing much, Solace, how 'bout you?" Will replied similarly to Cecil's response, and Cecil spoke again, "Have you and Neeks been getting along?"

"Yeah, we are," Will leaned up against one of the beds, motioning for Cecil to join him, "Just came to talk to Chiron about New York."

His eyes widened, "Well that doesn't sound like 'nothing much' to me, Will. What's going on in the city that's got Nico coming to Chiron?"

Will leaned his shoulder onto Cecil's, kicking his feet on the floor under them, "Honestly I'm not too sure." He thought back to the night before, but all he could really remember was a sort of golden light making him feel lighter the closer he went to it. Will shook his head before answering, "My memory feels a bit fuzzy, but Nico says I was acting strangely afterwards. Weird, right?"

"Yeah, that is pretty strange," Cecil murmured, "How strangely are you talkin'?"

"Not sure of that either." Will admitted, "Nico looked uncomfortable talking about it, so I assumed it's how I act after a nightmare." Cecil glanced toward the sorrow-filled face of Will before the doctor waved his hands, "Hey, they have been getting better! It just… wasn't a good night for me yesterday."

Cecil snorted, "Whatever you say, dude. Hey, Lou Ellen and I were going to see if we could sneak some food from the kitchen and head to the beach; you in?"

Not missing a beat, Will agreed. He scrawled out a quick note for Nico before he left with his friend.

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"This is troublesome news, Nico. Are you sure this is what you saw?" Chiron asked patiently, his tail flicking back and forth.

Nico looked carefully up into the centaur's eyes, letting the older search him for any falsehood, "Chiron, I know what I saw. The question is what do we do now?"

Chiron stayed silent a moment, pacing around the large table. Mr. D was keeping quiet the entire time, asleep on the table, thankfully. Nico wasn't sure if he'd want the god to be awake; Dionysus was never pleased with anything. A moment or two passed before Chiron spoke once again, "We won't summon the war council for now, so let's keep this between us. Try to find more information if you can, and make sure Will won't go near the speaker again."

"Wasn't planning on Will coming anymore anyways." Nico muttered. To say the two were worried about the doctor would be putting it lightly; something had controlled his emotions last night, and Nico wasn't going to let Will be in that hysterical state again.

Chiron cleared his throat to dispel the sudden bout of silence, "Well now that that's out of the way, how've you and Will been, Nico?"

"It's actually going pretty great," Nico shrugged, "Will just got a job as Pepper Potts assistant, I'm working here at camp, the nightmares are slowly leaving him and me. We're not just surviving anymore, Chiron," The son of Hades gave off one of his rare smiles, "We are living."

The centaur smiled back, clasping a hand around the smaller's shoulder, "That's wonderful, Nico. It's getting late, my boy. How about you and Will start heading back home, hm? In a few days, Hazel and Frank should be coming to Camp. Rest up until then."

"We will."

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Sorry for the late update; I've been sick lately and teachers have been more or less dumping stuff on me. Being in three different orchestras takes a toll on you haha

If any of you are concerned with my 'Can You Help' story, it will be continuing, I've just been stuck with how to move the next part :/ Thanks for your patience!

With Love,

Hate