A/N: Okay, just a heads up. This chapter takes place AFTER the Trials of Apollo. No, I am not a precog and I do not know what will happen in the series, so speculate that this happens about a year or two after the fight against Gaea. I think that's a pretty reasonable estimation. As such *spoiler* Leo is back and well again, and no, I will not go into what happened in Albania. No one knows and likely will never know *wink wink*.

Enjoy the chapter!


Chapter 3: First Fights or Or: The time Will was right but Nico was, apparently, righter.

Will and Nico bantered and argued. They teased and bickered. They pulled jibes at one another's expense, and words were spoken in sarcasm more often than not.

But the first fight, the first real fight… Kayla still said that she had nightmares about it sometimes because it was simply so explosive. Apparently the very cabin had seemed to shake, though Will couldn't recall it doing such. But then he had been somewhat distracted.

It started out as a simple conversation. Well, maybe not just a simple conversation. Truthfully, it began with a disgruntled – no, an infuriated – questioning, and deny though Will did at first, he knew he was the one that started it. The one who had so abruptly escalated the scene.

And, almost predictably, it was about Nico's shadow travelling. Or at least, his shadow travelling had a bit to do with it. A little bit.

Nico had taken to visiting Camp Jupiter in New Rome every second weekend to see his sister. They had grown closer since the first time they'd met one another, and though Nico had admitted that he wasn't sure they would ever really see each other as true siblings, he seemed to like her company. It reminded Will of how he felt with his own siblings; they weren't quite brothers and sisters, despite their godly parentage, but their bonds were profound nonetheless.

Apparently, as far as Will could discern without having ever actually visited the Roman city in San Francisco, Nico was something of a welcomed figure there these days. The positivity of his reception was, according to Hazel in the visits that she made to Camp Half-Blood, for a number of reasons in particular: one, that his strength as a demigod was respected as strength evidently was in the Romans. Two, that he was on a very – almost strangely – friendly basis with Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano, the praetor of the legion. And three, because he wasn't quite as disagreeable as he one had been. Not quite.

Will would be lying if he didn't take credit at least a little bit for that third one. It wasn't only him that presumed as much – everyone had noted, out of Nico's hearing, of course, how he'd changed since the near resurrection of Gaea and the attack of the Romans what now seemed so long ago.

Will wasn't usually so disgruntled about his boyfriend's trips across America. He knew he wouldn't be able to stop him from going even had he wanted to, and he didn't. Not really. Or at least, not that much. True, it worried him whenever Nico shadow travelled, and he didn't like it when he was absented for so long – two days felt much longer when it was spent waiting, despite filling ones hours with worthy distractions – but he never disputed it. Not much, anyway. He liked Hazel well enough and could understand Nico's desire to be around someone just a little like him. He only regretted that it wasn't Will that could fill that space.

Unfortunately, this time was worse. Worse for a number of reasons. When Nico stepped into cabin seven the morning of his return, glancing over his shoulder as though talking to a passer-by as he entered, Will was nearly quivering with pent up anger. He'd hardly slept the night before because someone had been a bloody, inconsiderate idiot.

He was lurching up from the couch before Nico had even shut the door. The couch, because Will hadn't bothered to take himself to his bed the previous night, having been worried about his stupid boyfriend. That worry only mounted when he saw the nearly healed cut slicing across Nico's cheek, and his weary paleness – damn him, he was just starting to get some permanent colour back into him! – and the bandage around two fingers of his right hand. Will would have known they were broken even without looking at them – he could feel it. Nico stopped barely a step into the cabin, eyes drawing to Will's as though magnetised, and though he didn't appear unnerved, discomforted, or even mildly surprised, it was evident that he perceived Will's anger. His hands slipped into the pockets of his jacket and he simply waited.

Will fought for a moment to calm himself, to moderate his response that threatened to burst from him in a thunder of raging accusations. When he did speak, he knew he hadn't quite managed. His voice wavered just slightly. "Where've you been?"

Around the cabin, the slowly awakening children of Apollo seemed to sense the descending mood. Gradual awakenings paused in the act of stretching and yawning, of swinging legs over the sides of beds and rising to feet. Will barely even noticed that he had an audience. His attention was focused entirely upon Nico as Nico stared back at him, utterly blank-faced.

A long pause was followed by a deceptively monotonous reply. "You know where I went. I always go –"

"To Camp Jupiter, yeah, I know that." Will fought a losing battle to keep his hands from curling into fists. "You always go every second weekend to see Hazel. I know that."

"You do know that," Nico agreed. Somehow, despite the complete lack of change to his tone, he sounded faintly accusing.

"What I don't know is why you come back on Wednesday morning, just strolling in as though nothing's different, when you always come back on Sunday."

"There's a reason for that."

"Oh, then, please, do enlighten me." Will couldn't suppress his glare. He was angry, so angry that his fingernails dug painfully into his palms in an effort to restrain their inclination to grab Nico's shoulders and shake him like a ragdoll.

Slowly, Nico folded his arms. It wasn't exactly a defensive posture, more objectionable than anything, but if nothing else Will recognised it as being a very clear gesture of Not Happy. "I had to help Hazel out with a quest. They were in trouble."

"I know that. After I Iris-messaged Reyna, she told me."

"Good for you, you know how to Iris-message. So what's your problem?"

"My problem," Will ground out, "is that you disappeared, Nico. You and Hazel and Frank and half of their cohort just disappeared and Reyna didn't know where you went. No one could get in contact with you – I didn't know if you were dead or injured or – or –"

Will had to cut himself off as he began to stutter. He pressed his lips together and pinned Nico with his glare, hoping the unspoken demand to "Explain yourself" was loud enough to be heard.

Before him, Nico became visibly stony. His arms remained folded tightly across his chest and though his face blanked his eyes grew hooded in what Will recognised as being his 'objectionable' expression. Pissed off? Yes, he was probably pretty pissed off. Unlikely as much as Will, though, who was barely maintaining a grasp upon his roiling anger.

"Well, obviously I'm not dead."

"Obviously, but I didn't know that for the past two days," Will growled.

"I wasn't able to get a message off to you. Iris-message or phone call."

"Oh, you couldn't take a second out of your busy schedule, your unplanned and unexpected quest, to tell your boyfriend that you weren't lying in a ditch somewhere with monsters picking out your eyes?"

"Wonderful use of descriptive words there, Will," Nico muttered, almost too quietly to be heard. "Are you always so creative when you're upset?"

"Shut the fuck up, Nico. I'm not upset, I'm angry." And maybe just a little bit upset, Will added to himself, but he didn't give Nico the satisfaction of admitting his correctness. "You didn't tell me you were going, just up and left without a word because you felt like it –"

"Yeah, doesn't feel too great, does it?" Nico narrowed his eyes. "Funny that."

Will blinked for a moment, shaken briefly from his rising fury before reasserting his glare once more. "What in Hades are you talking about?"

"You know, you're acting very entitled about me just up and leaving to help someone out on some quest when you did exactly the same before me."

"What are you -?"

"Disappearing for half a week to go out and help your dad doesn't ring any bells?" Nico raised his eyebrows pointedly, affixing Will with his unblinking stare. The hardness of his face could have been carved from stone.

No one in the cabin seemed to breathe, and Will was as breathless as his siblings. Confusion momentarily dampened his anger. "What are you going on about? With Apollo –?"

"You buggered off to go and help your dad try and find his lyre without telling me until afterwards where you were going –"

"That? That wasn't a bloody quest, Nico. That was going on a – a – a fucking treasure hunt. We barely encountered a monster throughout the entire thing. And it's not like I could help it. It wasn't really even Apollo who needed help, it was Lester and –"

"They're the same fucking person, Will."

"No, they're not! Lester's bloody incapable half the time and would trip over his own feet if someone wasn't around to point them out to him –"

"Apollo had already regained his godly status by that point. He had no excuse for his incompetence."

"That doesn't even matter!" Will burst out. "I told you I was going –"

"You didn't. You didn't tell me anything until you got back."

"I told Fionn to give you a message –"

"Which she didn't deliver."

"Because she was attacked by monsters on the way back to camp!"

"You're just making up excuses for yourself." Nico was openly scowling now.

"Making up – wait, what the hell? We're talking about you here, Nico, not me." Will's hands were trembling fists at his sides. "We're talking about you and the fact that you didn't tell me where you were going when you were obviously heading into a dangerous quest –"

"It was hardly even dangerous –"

"Oh, so you're broken fingers aren't hardly an injury, then?"

"They're nearly healed," Nico muttered, tucking his right hand deeper into the crook of his elbow as if to bury it further from sight. "It was mostly just an accident, anyway."

"That's not the point!" Will felt the abrupt need to pull his hair out. His hand rose to rake along his scalp, locking onto his curls as he hissed out his frustration. "The point is that you always go off and do dangerous shit without even thinking about those dangers –"

"I do not."

"Oh, really? So all those times you've taken off halfway through the night –"

"To go to the Underworld, which isn't even dangerous, you idiot."

"Or when you suddenly up and left to go to LA because Jason mentioned something that might have been slightly concerning and you wound up with a broken arm."

"It was barely even broken –"

"Are we going to forget about the absolute stupidity that urged you to shadow travel the Athena Parthenon from bloody Greece a couple of years ago? You nearly killed yourself!"

Nico's eyes flashed dangerously. "You said you wouldn't nag me about that anymore."

"I'm 'nagging' because you keep doing stupid shit!" Will realised his voice had risen in volume, was nearly a shout, but he didn't cared. "I'm 'nagging' because even though you pass out nearly every time you do it you still keep on shadow travelling."

"I do not nearly pass out every time –"

"Are we going to just overlook the fact that the few times you've slept for more than twelve hours like a normal teenager are when you exhaust yourself from travelling that way? You know why you sleep so well, Nico? 'Cause you nearly fucking kill yourself!"

Nico's face had dropped what remaining colour it had retained. He stared at Will, unspeaking, blank-faced but for the seething fury in his narrowed eyes. Will knew instantly that he'd overstepped, though whether it was in mentioning Nico's difficulty sleeping, in spitting and spluttering over his shadow travel, or at the mention of death in general which could invoke nonchalance just as easily as anger or flight, Will wasn't sure.

But he wasn't done. Will knew he'd overstepped, but his anger, his frustration and yes, his fear was blurting forth in an unrestrainable gush that he couldn't stem. He was barely even aware of his warily brothers and sisters. "You always, always disregard looking after yourself, and it fucking scares the hell out of me! Do you have any idea how frustrating it is when you up and disappear somewhere and I don't even know if you managed to come out the other end of your shadows alive? Do you know what it's like to see your boyfriend come face-planting through your door because he's nearly killed himself somehow?

"No, you don't. You have no fucking idea because it's always me who patches people up, it's me who sits there next to you when you're sitting there pretending you don't feel how much your leg hurts because it's nearly been torn off, or that you're not worried that you can't feel your fingers because of frostbite when I can feel how much it hurts but you just fucking ignore it! And then we never even mention it again because you don't really care if you lose an arm or a leg, because you don't really care if you hurt yourself, or get lost somewhere in the shadows, or in the Underworld, or get dragged off to Tartarus again, but you know what, Nico? I care. For some stupid, ungodly reason, I care, and you make me so bloody angry and frustrated because you don't even seem to realise it and – and – and could you just fucking stop with your bloody shadow travel and think to send me a fucking message every once in a while? Huh?"

Will was panting by the end of his tirade, panting and faintly dizzy from the throbbing of blood to his head. His hands were balled so tightly into fists that his fingers creaked and he knew he physically trembled with the force of his anger. He stared at Nico unblinkingly as heated rage rolled off his shoulders.

Nico stared back. He stared, as cold and expressionless as he was at his best. No, that was wrong. He was even more expressionless, and that fact, that realisation, would have probably alerted Will to the surfacing issue if he'd been more self-aware.

He wasn't. He was still angry, still furious, and he just wanted Nico to admit that he'd been wrong, to obligingly promise not to act so recklessly, and to fucking realise how much Will cared. Unfortunately, none of those wants appeared to be rising from the horizon.

Nico stared for a moment longer. Then, with a deliberate sweep of his gaze, he scanned the room and the silent watchers briefly before resting his attention back on Will. "Fanculo," was all he said, all he spat, before he spun on his heel and burst through the cabin door.

Will knew what that word meant. He probably would have been able to guess even if he didn't know for certain. But more than the meaning of the word itself, it was the fact that Nico had spoken in Italian that struck him. He only ever slipped back into his mother tongue when he was so detached from the moment that he literally forgot to speak in English. Like when he was utterly confused or absolutely, horrendously, chillingly furious.

The door slammed shut behind him with a bang. Will was left to slowly deflate from his anger – somehow, oh so slowly, and with as much pain as calming – in the ensuing silence that followed.


Nico had disappeared. Not simply secreted himself somewhere beneath a rock or something but physically disappeared. Will didn't even realise he'd vanished at first, and in some ways that only made it worse.

When Nico had departed the cabin, Will had struggled with the conflicting urges to race after him and knock him over the back of the head, to kick one of the cabin walls down, and to sink to the floor in exhaustion after his explosive rant. He did none of those things, but simply settled for slumping onto the back of the couch with a heavy sigh. Slowly, incrementally, the pounding in his ears, the headache in his temples and the anger that turned his vision too bright faded. He was left with nothing but exhaustion and the shadow of that anger, alongside a new kind of irritation that Nico had turned tail and just left. Again.

The other members of Apollo's cabin eased into movement only slowly. Like marionettes with their strings hesitantly jostled into motion, they eased back into the usual readying routine that engaged them every morning. Will didn't turn his head to meet anyone's gaze, but he could feel the wary attentiveness of too many eyes upon him. He didn't want to look up, didn't want to face the confusion, the reprimand even, that would likely greet him.

Austin was the only one who approached him. He slinked up to his side so quietly that Will didn't realise he had moved from his bedside until the back of the couch beside him sunk slightly under his friend's weight. Will spared Austin a sidelong glance, his fingers digging into the back of the couch.

Austin only stared at him for a moment in silence, face frowning slightly in thoughtful consideration. When he did eventually speak it was with his usual slow, calm tone. "So. What are you going to do?"

Will turned towards him. His anger had faded, but annoyance took its place. Annoyance at his half-siblings for bearing witness to his admittedly shameful display, at himself for shouting at all. He didn't shout. He never shouted. He was angry at Nico too, both for leaving with barely a moment spared to curse Will as much as for the reasons that Will had accused him of earlier.

He believed them. He wholeheartedly believed them. Will never had any intention of revealing that belief to Nico, but it was true. Nico was too reckless with his own life, with his health, and it was terrifying enough for Will when he was at his side as they fought monsters because he knew that Nico would throw himself upon the enemy with barely a second thought. That was to say nothing of when Will wasn't there, when he didn't have his back, both with bow and arrow or sword and as a medic. It angered him how little Nico seemed to care about his general wellbeing in its entirety, angered as much as it saddened him because Nico should care more, if only because Will wanted him to.

He was annoyed that Nico hadn't called him or told him where he was, absenting himself from the face of the earth for two whole days as though he didn't consider that anyone would notice his absence. It annoyed him that Nico persisted in shadow travelling after he'd experienced for himself time and time again how much damage it could do when he overused it. Most of all, however, it annoyed – no, it angered Will that Nico didn't seem to realise just how much Will cared.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that Nico didn't realise, that he disregarded the possibility that Will would worry about him. Why should he have to keep silent on the matter of his own concern just because Nico would brush it aside as a passing pleasantry, or as insincere, or as simply confusing? Why couldn't he just understand?

Blinking, Will met Austin's open, questioning gaze flatly. "What am I going to do about what?"

"About Nico. You're just going to let him walk off in a strop? He seems like the sort of person who'd hold a grudge if you broke apart on a bad note."

With a sigh, Will dropped his gaze towards his feet. Austin was right. That was exactly the kind of thing that Nico would do – if Will didn't go after him and soothe his cold anger, then it would persist. Will didn't think that was fair either, that he was the one who had to go and apologise, to patch things up when really, if anyone was in the wrong it was Nico. But that was the reality of it. Unfortunately. And unlike Will's, Nico's anger wasn't the sort to mellow and retreat with time and contemplation. He was just stubborn like that.

Nodding, Will rubbed the heel of his palm over his forehead. He was still angry – no, he was still annoyed – but he couldn't leave things as they were. "I know. I should go and get him."

"Do you know where he'd go?"

Will shrugged. "Maybe just to Hades' cabin. Or down by the lake. Or, I don't know, maybe he has enough sense to take himself to breakfast and eat something before he collapses. The idiot." Will shook his head, but his words were said without heat. He wasn't angry at Nico anymore, no more than he usually was – which was always just a little bit but similarly always buried beneath amusement and affection, laughter and determination and fond exasperation and torrents of joy. "I doubt it, but I'll check."

"We'll help you look if you'd like?" Kayla said, coming up to lean against the back of the couch at Austin's side.

Will shook his head, managing a feeble smile of gratitude. "It's okay. I should probably do it. I'm the one he'd be angry at if he still is."

"I'd guess he's still angry. Pissed off, actually, from the looks of him." Austin frowned. "I haven't seen him that angry for a while, actually. I'm surprised that skeletons weren't popping up all over the place and the floor cracking to pieces."

"You and me both," Will said with a sigh. Then he pushed himself off the back of the couch and made towards the door. "Thanks guys," he called over his shoulder. Then he raised his voice loud enough to be heard by everyone in the cabin. "Hey, everyone."

Motion froze once more as all eyes turned towards him expectantly. Will offered another sheepish smile. "Sorry about the early morning wake-up."

"It wasn't that early," someone called from the back of the room.

"Yeah, the sun's already up and everything," Fionn added, shrugging and offering a smile.

Will felt his sparking guilt become more pronounced at the easy acceptance of his cabin mates. He was cabin counsellor and supposed to be a role model for the younger kids. It was more than a little embarrassing that he'd erupted into what he was rapidly coming to the conclusion was a child-like tantrum. Bowing his head, as much to hide his grimace as in gratitude, he headed once more towards the door. "Thanks, guys. Seriously, sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it," Kayla said with a fond smile that Will perceived as being reminiscent of an older sister's, despite her being younger than him. Not that he'd had all that much personal experience in that regard, but it was what it felt like. "Just go and bring back our Goth Kid, okay? He's our mascot these days, you know?"

Will's returning smile was more genuine this time, and he left the cabin shaking his head. Mascot? Really? He was sure Nico would be thrilled about that.

His smile rapidly faded, however, as he set off about camp in search of his seething boyfriend and, with each step, overturned place after place absent of sons of Hades. The dining pavilion, Hades' cabin, the armoury and down by the lake near the boatshed. He scoured the grounds, from archery range to volleyball court to lava wall and even swung by the Big House to ask Chiron if he'd seen him.

Nothing.

That was when Will began to worry again. Which annoyed him –why was it always Will who was the one worrying? – but that annoyance was trounced by concern. Nico had been injured, no matter that he'd brushed aside Will's concern for his health, and he'd been tired, likely from battle weariness as well as his shadow-travelling. What if he'd just collapsed somewhere? What if he was more injured than even Will's sixth sense awareness had picked up?

What if he'd shadow travelled again and his tiredness had ended it abruptly in disaster?

That last thought set his teeth on edge and Will's search became more frantic. He wouldn't have, would he? Surely he wouldn't be so stupid, regardless of how angry he was. He could seriously hurt himself! But Nico was a stubborn bastard and Will had rarely seen him so angry before. And never had that anger been directed to Will himself. Maybe Nico would have done something as absolutely ridiculously reckless as put his own life at risk just to spite Will? Surely not. Surely not –

He called in the help of Austin and Kayla after that. His siblings who, naturally, called upon the ranks of the children of Apollo as a whole. Nico really was their mascot, regardless of the fact that he was older than most of them. They seemed to dote on their resident Death Kid, even surly and scowling as he was almost all the time. The camp was quickly flooded with Apollo's kids scampering around and raking the grounds, skirting the tree line and infiltrating every cabin. The other demigods watched in confused amusement, but none stopped to answer their questions.

Will asked Hestia's hearth for assistance, even though she so rarely responded to anyone. He knew that Nico had a strange and sort of special relationship with the goddess, developed from his very first days at camp. Unfortunately, Hestia evidently didn't feel such compassion for other demigods, for she didn't answer. Which left Will racing frantically around the grounds once more, casting Iris-messages into the fountain to call Reyna and Hazel both – with little success; both only offered their worries dissent to his questions – and largely working himself into a fit.

Until he found him. Of course he would find him, just as Will became convinced that Nico had somehow managed to get himself killed and it would be all Will's fault because he had been angry at him and if he hadn't been angry then he wouldn't have run away and –

He wasn't dead. He wasn't even hiding. Not really. Nico had simply been overlooked, and Will only noticed him because, on the third time he ran into Hades' cabin calling for Nico, he'd paused outside the door and turned his gaze imploringly to the sky as he raked his fingers through his hair. Nico's boot was dangling just visibly over the edge of the roof.

Will closed his eyes with a heavy sigh, chin falling forwards onto his chest and propping his hands onto his hips. When he opened his eyes once more, it was to catch sight of Austin outside of Demeter's cabin directly across the grounds to him. Austin slowed in his step as he made towards the next cabin and quirked an eyebrow, his expression confused but rapidly fading into relief and then snorting amusement as Will simply gestured overhead. An instant later Will saw him race over to the nearest Apollo member and gesture towards the Hades' cabin. They both gave long-suffering shakes of their heads as if to say "of course he'd do something like that".

No one ever thought to look up.

"Bloody pain in the arse," Will muttered to himself as he rounded the cabin looking for a place to climb up. He trusted Austin to call off the search and set himself to preparing a scolding rant about the stupidity of sulking emos. Did he even know how worried Will had been? Again? No, of course he didn't. He would never suspect.

Will thought as such with only mild irritation, however, his relief almost overwhelming him. Nico wasn't dead, or apparently lost between planes of existence as he'd collapsed mid shadow travel. Those two facts themselves were the ambrosia of realisations.

Will had to end up jumping to catch onto the lowest awning around the back of the cabin to haul himself onto the roof. How Nico had managed it was a mystery given that he was still shorter than Will was, but he didn't spare much thought for it. Instead, he clambered onto his knees then rose to standing as to make his way across the roof.

It was steeple-shaped, but not difficult to traverse. Will wondered if whoever had first made the cabins had intended the roof to be flat enough around the edges to circumnavigate or if it was just a lucky coincidence. Whatever reason, Will was grateful as he skirted around the edge of the triangular prism at the centre of the roof and made his way towards where Nico lay with one leg still dangling slightly over the edge of the roof with eyes closed, frown affixed and hands pillowed beneath his head.

And headphones on.

Well, at least that explained why he hadn't heard Will as he'd called for him throughout Hades' cabin. It didn't excuse him, but explain it did. The frustrating bastard.

Will strode over to him, resisting the urge to kick him off the edge of the roof, and dropped to a squat at his side. He simply crouched for a moment, looking at his frowning, oblivious boyfriend and deliberately pushing worries of how pale he looked and should he take a look at his hand and how had he gotten so tired as to actually reacquire smudges under his eyes? It was a struggle, but Will withheld from doing so. He was quite proud of his restraint; even in the Apollo cabin he was acknowledged as the primary vitakinetic and had something of a healing people problem. A real problem. He couldn't help it – it was a character flaw. Or a character correctness, depending on whether one asked Will's mother or just about anyone else in the world.

Whether Nico honestly didn't hear his arrival - surely his music wasn't blaring that loudly – or he was simply resolutely ignoring his arrival, Will wasn't sure. After nearly five whole minutes of sitting in silence, however, his impatience got the better of him and Will reached forwards and plucked an ear of his headphones from his head. And yes, apparently his music really had been blaring.

Nico blinked his eyes open, starting slightly before immediately turning his frowning glare upon Will. For once it didn't serve to amuse Will quite as much as it usually did. Nico propped himself up onto his elbows and flipped his headphones around his neck. "What?"

"You'll go deaf if you keep listening to music that loudly, you know," Will commented idly, just for something to say.

Nico's glare narrowed further and he deliberately lowered himself back into his recline once more, turning his gaze upwards. "Maybe I don't want to hear. Some people have some pretty stupid shit to say these days."

Will bit back the urge to wince. It was almost as hard to fight as his urge to frown and argue that if anyone was being stupid it was Nico. But that wouldn't get them anywhere. And besides, he'd come after Nico to… well, maybe not apologise, because Will still maintained that he had very definitely not been in the wrong, but at least attempt to lower the abruptly constructed wall that had been erected between them. He didn't like walls, especially when they stood between the two of them.

Brushing aside the grumbling criticism, Will lowered himself down onto the roof so that he was lying alongside Nico and staring up at the sky. It was a pale blue, that perfect sort of blue that was untouched by clouds and faded into something paler on the horizon. It was warm, too, enough that he didn't need to wear a jacket even if the roof beneath him was a little cold.

Taking a sigh, Will reached down and grasped Nico's hand. His good hand, thankfully, because when Nico tried to tug his fingers free he could grasp tightly enough that it would have been almost painful. He wouldn't let go, probably wouldn't even if it had been his broken fingers. "I was looking for you."

"Were you really?" Nico's words didn't incite continuation of the attempted conversation, but Will ignored the suggestion.

"Really. Because I was worried about you."

"Unnecessarily. You stupid Chicken."

"Did you just call me a –"

"Chicken, yes. Because you're such a bloody mother hen."

Will turned his head to glance at Nico's profile. He'd maintained his fixed frown and, though his eyes where still trained towards the sky, Will was very certain that his glare was meant for him.

Heaving another heavy sigh, Will turned his gaze up towards the sky himself. "I guess I deserve that. Mostly because it's true."

"Of course it's true. Everything I call you is entirely true. Every. Word."

Apparently, Nico was still very definitely pissed off. The time Will had spent deflating from his own anger and growing in concern as he searched for him eased none of Nico's. It wasn't fiery and explosive as was Will's, but when Nico was angry he made sure everyone knew.

Every word? Every name he called him? Yes, in that moment, Will could very much believe that Nico considered him a bastard, and a pain in the arse, a dickhead, and, when he was feeling particularly multilingual, a carogna. His less scathing insults suddenly seemed like fond memories. Will almost wished Nico would just go back to calling him a Quack.

How to make him understand? Will pondered the thought in silence as they lay side by side, Nico every now and again making a motion to tug his hand from Will's grasp. Will resolutely tightened his fingers each time, making no other response as though the jerking attempts were barely consequential.

Will didn't believe he was unjustified in his attitude towards Nico's actions. His anger may have been, but that anger was driven by what Will was rapidly realising was sheer terror that something had happened to Nico. He had been terrified, as much for his ignorance as for the possibility that something had happened. Because if something had happened, then Will wouldn't have known about it and couldn't have done anything. He would have been effectively useless.

No demigod could handle being useless. Will had yet to meet one who would be content to sit idle while events were roiling around them. Blame the ADHD or whatever, but that was the truth of the matter. For Will, he couldn't simply sit still when someone was hurting, not when he could fix. If only he could draw Nico inside his head to show him the jumble of thoughts and make him understand what had made him speak as he had.

Quite without his direction, Will's tongue took that thought as a suggestion and sprung into action. Will felt as much an audience to his words as Nico was. He wondered which of them was less inclined to listen.

"You know, for the last two days apparently I've been insufferable. I didn't realise it myself, but then I haven't really realised much of anything since you didn't come back on Sunday night. And then when I Iris-messaged Reyna and she said that you'd gone off on a quest with Hazel and her cohort and were uncontactable?" He swallowed past the tightness in his throat. The memory of his rapid descent into catastrophising was almost as bad as it had been the first time round, before they'd even started dating. The difference was that this time Will could feel Nico's presence at his side and knew for certain that, at least in that moment, he was safe. "I was absolutely terrified. I… I don't think I've been more scared for anything in my life. Not facing monsters or anything. I was just really, really scared that something had happened to you."

There. He'd said it. And when the last of the words escaped his lips, Will felt a rush of light-headedness at blurting them out. They were true, they were what he felt, but even acknowledging that truth he'd expected it to be somehow more embarrassing than it had been. Maybe it would have had anybody else been there to hear it, but when it was just him, his back pressed against the cold roof of cabin thirteen and the sky stretching an unbroken blue overhead, when it was just Nico lying silently next to him with his hand finally stilled in Will's, it had been almost too easy. Heartfelt and easy.

I should try this whole telling the truth thing more often. Maybe Dad was onto something with being the God of Truth and all that.

Nico was silent. He didn't say anything and he didn't move. In fact, he was silent for so long that, as Will waded through his light-headedness and settled back into reality once more, he had to glance at him to check if he'd even heard him at all. That he hadn't slipped his headphones one without Will's notice and fallen back to ignoring him. Will wouldn't put it past him to have done so; Nico wasn't a mean person, no matter how much he tried to convince both himself and those around him, but he was unerringly stubborn. Stubborn to his own detriment at times, and mulishly resistant to explanation and rationalisation.

He wasn't listening to his music. He wasn't even pretending to ignore Will, which may have been anticipated. There was still a frown on his forehead but his gaze was settled upon Will's face and, though there was still disgruntlement thickly shadowing his eyes there was thoughtfulness there too. As though he actually had heard – really heard – what Will had said.

But then, "You're so stupidly confusing."

Will couldn't suppress the snort that erupted from him. Nico's response was so opposite to what he had expected that he wasn't sure whether to be offended or amused. "What do you mean confusing?"

Nico stared at him for a moment longer, blinking slowly. Then he shook his head and turned back towards the sky. He made a grumble that could have been a string of Italian imprecations just as easily as it could have been another expression of confusion. His scowl was more of a simple pursing of his lips, his glare more of a slight crease in his brow. "You said you were scared. Because you didn't know where I was. Because you were worried I'd get myself into trouble. Right?"

"Right." That much seemed like he understood. What about that was confusing?

"But why?"

"What do you mean why?"

"Why would you worry about that?"

Will stared at Nico for a moment. Surely he was pulling his leg. He couldn't actually, genuinely be asking why Will cared. Nico wasn't stupid, regardless of how often Will might accuse him of being so. Nor was he that oblivious – most of the time. Speaking slowly, ensuring that Nico heard the thickness of his condescension, Will said, "Well, you're my boyfriend, and believe it or not I do actually like having you around. Going off and getting yourself killed would be a bit annoying. I'd have to put all that work into finding a new one."

The derision in Nico's glance was actually welcomed. It was a relief to see something other than that hard anger and coldness. "Don't talk down to me. I know that."

"Do you really? Good for you."

"Shut up, Will."

Will actually had to struggle to keep from smiling at that. It was almost normal and – what kind of person was Will that he actually liked being told to shut up? There was definitely something wrong with him. But even so, it was a relief to fall back into something that resembled their norm, even if Will did still ache from the aftermath of his worry and the last lingering sparks of anger.

"Much and all as you can be insufferable at times, I do understand that," Nico continued. "Clearly, otherwise I wouldn't be your boyfriend."

"Clearly."

"Shut up," Nico repeated. He didn't even bother to glance at Will this time. "What I meant was why do you worry so much. I'm more than capable of looking after myself. You know I'm good with a sword and even if that fails me I can always shadow travel away if I really need to." He shook his head and even though Will couldn't quite see it for himself he knew he was rolling his eyes. "You're a massive worry-wart and it's so unnecessary. You work yourself up into a fit –"

"I don't 'work myself into a –'"

"Will, you literally just did. Not even an hour ago. Or have you forgotten that already." Nico shook his head, still not looking at Will. "Do you have any idea have infuriating it is that you get so worked up about nothing? There's no reason to worry."

Will stared at Nico so fiercely that he was surprised that he didn't burst into flames. Then, with deliberate slowness, he let go of Nico hand, reached across his chest and grasped his other, bandaged hand. Holding it aloft, he glanced between Nico's raised hand and his face pointedly. "Really? I have nothing to worry about?"

"That's hardly anything. It's not –"

"You broke your fingers, Nico. On your sword hand. That makes it something."

"You're exaggerating because you're being a bloody Chicken –"

"I'm not exaggerating." Will shook Nico's hand for emphasis, ignoring the elbow in the ribs Nico gave him in dispute. "Honestly, how hard is it for you to understand that I might worry about you? And no, I don't mean that you 'understand', I mean really understand. Has it been so long since anyone has been actually concerned about you, even when you're not in direct danger, that you don't recognise what it looks like?"

Nico finally turned to Will at that, staring at him with a frown that was part frustrated and part sceptical. And Will got his answer.

Oh.

It really had.

Will was silenced by the revelation. Slowly, he curled his fingers gently around Nico's and, though he knew it really shouldn't, the very last of his anger dissipated completely. This was where the confusion lay. Nico apparently knew that Will would worry about him when he was endangered, but couldn't quite fathom that anyone would care enough to be concerned even when he wasn't. Perhaps he didn't think that anyone thought about him enough to even contemplate what he was doing when he wasn't directly before them. The thought was just a little heartbreaking. Will actually felt his throat close up slightly.

Squeezing softly at Nico's fingers, he sent a pulse of his rudimentary healing skills into the injuries beneath, a musical hum of enhancement arising naturally alongside it. No more than a hum – it wasn't really serious enough for a full song of healing, even if it concerned Will nonetheless. He could feel them, the hairline fractures on his two end fingers, the bruising upon the hand as a whole. Will could feel the pain as well as the injury, and just as he did he knew that Nico was deliberately ignoring it. Like he did with just about everything he didn't want to consider. Apparently he could somehow switch off pain, too, silencing it with a well-aimed glare.

"You know," Will murmured, keeping his hand on Nico's healed fingers as he gently began to unwind them of bandages. "I actually think about you a lot."

Nico was silent for a moment, and a glance towards him saw that – still frowning – his gaze was affixed upon his hand as Will relieved it of its bindings. "What are you going on about?"

"Just because you aren't here doesn't mean that you don't exist anymore. It doesn't mean that I'm not wondering where you are or what you're doing or whether you're okay. I know – and I'm sure you do too – that you have people that care about you: Hazel, Reyna, Jason and Piper and Percy and Annabeth. Leo too, even if he spends so much time in Bunker Nine that he hardly knows anything that goes on in the world. But…" He glanced up at Nico and could see the closed guardedness of his expression. He didn't need to say it, which was a blessing, as it would have been painful to even voice the truth.

But to them, you're not the most important person.

Will wondered if Nico ever had been to anyone. Had his mother cherished him above anyone else? Him and his sister? Had Bianca cared for her younger brother with her whole heart, worried about him in his absence and conjured every possible catastrophe that could confront him when he wasn't by her side? Will wasn't sure, but he hoped so. He hoped that, even if just in his childhood, Nico had been the most important person to those he too cherished the most. Will didn't need to have seen all that much of their interactions – what he had was minimal at best – to know that Nico had all but hero-worshipped Bianca. In a sibling kind of way, but the truth was apparent enough. And Bianca had seemed to feel much of the same way.

But when she was gone…

"You worry about me, don't you?" Will found himself saying. "You said before, when I went off with Lester looking for his lyre. It was expected to be a relatively easy quest, and it was only by chance that we saw any monsters at all. But even knowing that, you worried, right?" Worried a lot, apparently, if the simple fact that he had mentioned it was any indication. Nico rarely voiced anything that even resembled concern.

Nico had turned towards him, and that same resistance to voicing such welled within his expression once more. He seemed to struggle with his natural inclination to remain mute before he slowly nodded. He seemed disgruntled to have had to admit it but at least the anger had faded to barely visible now.

"I'm the same as that," Will finished, wrapping Nico's hand between both of his. It was awkward, given that they were both lying half on their backs, but he managed and felt contented for the simple contact. Even better when Nico didn't immediately attempt to draw his hand from Will's grasp.

"It's not the same," Nico murmured.

"What?"

"I said it's not the same."

And here comes the resistance all over again, Will thought with an inward sigh. "How is it different?"

"Because you're incompetent in a fight, that's why. I'm just as worried you'll stab yourself with your own sword when you're just returning it to the armoury, let alone fighting with it."

It was a massive exaggeration, Will knew. Just as he knew that Nico was exaggerating because he truly was worried. Will was far from being a poor swordsman, was even one of the better of the children of Apollo and not only because he was a little on the older end of spectrum. It was only next to Nico that he looked vaguely incapable, but then Nico was something of a machine when he fought, a whirlwind of black sword and shadows. All that zombie practice fighting had paid off.

Will didn't really care, though. Nico had admitted for the second time that day that he felt worried for Will. Even better, it appeared to be in the same way that Will worried for him. It felt as though he'd been given a gift for those simple, backhanded words.

"Then you understand?" Will asked. "You understand why I'm worried? Maybe?"

Nico's frown deepened as he glanced up at the sky once more and re-pursed his lips. Why he was actively fighting that understanding Will didn't know, but he didn't push him towards it, regardless of how much he wanted to. "Because you're a hypochondriac?"

"No," Will sighed. "Or at least, not only that. You don't seem to understand –"

"No, you don't understand, Will." Finally, Nico turned his full attention towards Will. He actually rolled fully in his recline so that he could meet his eyes more easily. You don't even understand what pisses me off so much."

"So then tell me," Will prompted. He clutched at Nico's hand until he heard a knuckle pop when Nico tried to jerk it away in withdrawal.

With another grumble, Nico heaved a sigh that managed to blow his fringe. Then he was glaring again and his anger had returned. "You're telling me what I'm supposed to do like you're not allowing me to do it. You're telling me not to shadow travel, or to go on a quest with Hazel, or to go to New Rome –"

"I never told you not to go to New Rome," Will interrupted, and was momentarily relieved that he had held his tongue from doing so on previous instances.

"Shut up, Will. Don't interrupt me when I'm telling you off."

Will bit back the urge to laugh. Damn him and his tendency to swell with amusement before Nico's disgruntlement. He bit his lip to withhold it. "You're right. Sorry. Go on."

Nico only glared harder for a moment as though he'd heard Will's thoughts spoken aloud. "The point is that you're telling me not to do what I want to do and it's infuriating! That's not worrying, Will. That's tyranny."

And finally, understanding dawned. Will felt it rise like the sun and couldn't hold back his spreading smile this time. Blessedly it was small, for even that slight slip curled Nico's lip angrily. "I think I understand now."

"Do you really?"

"Yes. You've got a problem with authority."

Nico's glare abruptly dropped into blank-faced confusion. He blinked. "What?"

Will nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense, actually. You've never really had anyone tell you what to do. Other than you're Mum, I guess, but not after that. And how old were you when you had to leave your Mum? Eight or something, wasn't it?"

Nico's rapid blinking seemed to struggle for a moment, wavering as he attempted to reassert his glare. "You're belittling me, aren't you?"

"You have a problem with that, too. Have I never told you?"

"Shut your face, Solace."

"That might be a little difficult."

"Gods, you're so annoying."

"I try." Will smiled. He smiled widely and happily, because the puzzle pieces were fitting into place a little more readily now. And even though Nico still appeared to be wavering between wanting to kick Will away from him or bury him in the weight of his glares, Will knew what to do. It might not fix everything entirely but it might help. Maybe.

Releasing Nico's hand, Will slid across the slight distance between them until he could easily slip his arms around him enough to lock his hands around Nico's shoulders. Which, like an indignant cat, Nico was definitely not happy with. He wriggled for a moment, strained and hissed, but Will simply held onto him and squeezed him more firmly.

"Will, what the hell? I'm pissed off at you, so you need to –"

"I'm sorry," Will said before Nico could get himself too worked up into a tiff. "I'm sorry for what I said. It came out wrong."

Nico froze in his arms. "What?"

"I'm sorry I got angry at you, and that I sounded like I was trying to tell you what to do." Will wasn't sure if that was how it had really sounded, but it was what Nico had heard and that was all that mattered. "I'm sorry that you seem to see the fact that I worry about you, and that I want to know you're okay and where you are just in case, seems like I'm being tyrannical. That's not what I intended.

"Honestly, Nico, I don't like you shadow travelling because I'm scared that one time you do it when you're just a little bit too tired you'll trip and fall into the shadows in between them and I'll lose you. I don't like it when you go off on quests with Hazel without telling me – or with anyone without telling me – because it means that I can't be there to have your back, or to patch you up if you get hurt. And I don't like you going to Camp Jupiter every second weekend not because I want to keep you on a leash but because I just want to be with you."

There. That was it. That was all of it, as honestly as Will could attempt to explain it. He didn't know if it would get through to Nico but it was the best he could attempt. Overlooking the tension that still tightened Nico's frame, he held onto his boyfriend and just let himself sit with the knowledge that he might have screwed up a little bit, justified that he still felt his anger had been, but that at the end of it all he was simply relieved that Nico was alright.

His stupid boyfriend with his skewed view of genuine concern. What was he to do with him?

Surprisingly, Nico actually begun to relax in Will's embrace. Slowly, so slowly that at first Will didn't even notice. Then he did abruptly, and it was like a balloon deflating of its puffed up fury. Nico didn't speak for a moment, hardly even moved, until finally, in a voice that was barely loud enough to be heard, he murmured, "Oh."

"Get it?"

Nico hummed something that could have been agreement or the exact opposite. Then he fell silent again and they simply lay in silence. A comfortable silence, however, for Will had shaken himself loose of the last of his fear, his anger and his worry, and felt calm. And Nico… he wasn't sure, but Will thought that Nico might have done so too. At least a little bit.

"You know," Nico muttered. "If you want to come to Camp Jupiter with me you can."

Will started at the unexpectedness of Nico's words and glanced down at his face. "What?"

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Nico hastened to add. He kept his chin tucked as though reluctant. Or bashful. A bashful Nico. Who'd have guessed? "I just didn't think you wanted to come."

"Why? Why would I ever not want to come with you?"

"Because it's shadow travelling the whole way there and you don't like shadow travelling –"

"I don't like it because I'm worried about you, you stupid Death Kid," Will said, but there was no anger and barely even reprimand in his tone. He felt his smile grow as Nico flashed him a reprimanding glance at the use of the nickname. "If I could come with you to make sure you were alright when you did it, then," he shrugged, and his smile widened. "You really mean it?"

Nico pursed his lips slightly once more, then shrugged himself. "Believe it or not, I do actually like your company."

"Really? I had begun to wonder."

Nico jabbed him in the belly with a sharp uppercut that temporarily rendered Will painfully breathless. "Yes, really. Even if you are an idiot. And even if you do sound like a Soprano singer when you get angry."

Will had been smiling. He was happy and smiling until Nico said that. Then his smile slipped, unhinged. "Excuse me?"

Nico peered up at him with just the barest hint of a teasing smile. Will hardly had the chance to appreciate it, to appreciate the progression from his cold anger of minutes before, for his confusion at Nico's words. "Yeah. When you're upset, you have a sort of high-pitched voice."

"I do not."

"Yeah, you do. You and your Soprano tendencies."

"Soprano," Will spluttered, torn between indignation and bemusement. "That's exaggerating just a little bit, don't you think?

Nico shrugged and his smile grew slightly wider. "Not really. At least I don't think so. Soprano."

"Hey, don't call me that. It's –"

"Incredibly accurate. No, I think it suits you quite well, actually. Soprano." Nico hummed as though savouring the word on his tongue.

Will couldn't help but snort in amusement. He wasn't even terribly embarrassed for the teasing – teasing that had to be an exaggeration. Surely. He rolled his eyes and drew Nico into a tighter hold that drew a mew of disgruntlement but surprisingly little else. He hardly struggled to untangle himself for more than a few seconds.

It was a relief to come out on the other side of their fight. A fight that, though short-lived, had been explosive and nearly as damaging as such a real explosion. It could have ended terribly, with Will most likely in tears and Nico vanished somewhere through his shadows and potentially lost because he was too tired and angry and –

It hadn't. Will quashed the temporary revival of worry, of terror, and wrapped himself more tightly around Nico. They were comfortable, and together, and after their unexpected discussion – of which Will at least had found enlightening – he felt that they had come out grown. Changed. Somehow more. And if the lack of Nico's withdrawal from their casually intimate embrace was any indication, he wasn't the only one who thought so.


A/N: Hi everyone! Hope you liked the chapter - fluff, Gods, I can't help myself! If you did, or if you had anything else to say, please leave a review. Every word counts a billion times over. Special thanks to, LittleBrawley, for you're gorgeous comment as always. Love you, hun! xx