(A/N) Oh. My. Gods.

I owe you guys a giant apology. I never intended to go this long without updating, but it just sort of happened. Life has been increasingly hectic lately (I blame Finals) and somehow this fic got shunted to the back of my To-Do List. I will try to update more consistently from now on (every Wednesday). Sorry I am late, and I hope this longer-than-usual fic sorta makes up for it!

~Nexus

Will sat at the kitchen table, mixing a can of tomato soup with a few cups of milk and trying to collect his thoughts. It had been over a month and a half since he had seen Nico, or even heard from him, and he had been starting to think that maybe he was imagining the connection that he had felt with the young son of Hades. Obviously, if Nico had cared about him at all, he would have at least attempted to get a message to Will- an Iris message, or send a Fury with a letter. Will shivered a little; well, maybe not send a Fury. But there were still tons of other ways that Nico could have reached him, and for whatever reason, Nico had decided not to. So, after about a month or so of no word from the Ghost King, Will had decided to try and stop thinking about him; after all, if Nico didn't care enough to even attempt to communicate with him, then Will was just setting himself up for heartbreak.

So he had tried his best to get over Nico, throwing himself into other pursuits. He was a section leader and played tenor saxophone in his high school marching band, sang in the varsity chorus, was on the honor roll, Captain of the school archery team (well, duh), and was even enrolled in Driver's Ed. He had thought that being involved in so many other things would introduce him to a bunch of new people, and keep him busy enough to keep his mind of a certain son of Hades.

The problem was, his plan had worked a little too well.

The other students in the different activities actually resented Will for coming in out of nowhere and, almost without effort, becoming the best at everything that he tried. The other band kids were nice enough to him at first, but when he was appointed a section leader after the director heard him play, the rest of the saxophones started to become bitter. The same thing had happened in Archery; when he outscored the previous captain, a big Italian kid named Nathan, without even warming up, the team collectively decided that he was cheating somehow and refused to acknowledge him as the new captain. It didn't help either that Nathan was also captain of the football team, and liked by almost everyone. Normally pissing off one or two groups wasn't too big of a deal, but this was different. Oriental's high school was small enough that most of the kid's were involved in more than one activity, and everyone knows that high schoolers have a tendency to gossip. After Will had unintentionally shown Nathan up, his unpopularity had spread like the Black Plague, and for once Will didn't have a cure. After being enrolled in Oriental High for only two days, Will had managed to turn almost the entire school against him. So basically, Will was trapped in different activities without a single friendly face- and because of this, he was miserable. Granted, his heart wasn't broken, but he was still miserable.

Then, out of nowhere, Nico had quite literally collapsed back into his life, and now Will didn't quite know what to think. Part of him was overjoyed to see one of his closest friends again; after the less-than-smooth transition to civilian life, he had been missing his old way of living more than he liked to admit, and especially a certain slightly dark son of Hades. Ironically, seeing the son of Hades melt out of the shadows had been like a ray of bright sunlight to Will, and he couldn't be happier that Nico was here.

And yet.

Another slightly more pessimistic part of him was extremely worried about Nico's presence. As soon as the Underworld Ambassador had shown up on his porch, he had felt his neglected feelings for him come rushing back full force. Will knew himself well enough to know that he was falling for Nico, and falling hard. Since he had realized that he liked members of his own gender, Will had had a few crushes, but nothing serious. The way he felt about Nico was different than he had ever felt about anyone else before. While he had recognized that other guys were attractive, and had even flirted back and forth with some of them, he always thought about the other guys as just that- other guys that he thought were hot. Nico was, well, different. He had started out as a friend, and then Will's feelings for him had started to grow, from friend to best friend to crush. Then Nico had disappeared off to the Underworld, and the feelings that Will had realized he had slowly went dormant.

Now, Nico was back, and Will had no idea what he should do. If he straight up told Nico the way he felt, he risked losing one of the closest friends that he had ever had, not to mention being alone in his new miserable life again. On the other hand, he couldn't just sit by and watch Nico leave again; it had hurt him enough the first time. Staring off into space, Will tried to figure out his best course of action- should he risk one of the closest relationships he had ever had outside his family, or do his best to keep his heart where it was?

"Um, Will?" His mother's voice brought his head out of the sky, slamming it back to the present. Turning his sky-blue eyes towards the stove, he caught his mother looking at him, a small smile on her face. "I think that you might have stirred that a little to thoroughly." A questioning look on his face, Will looked down at the bowl in his arms and groaned.

While he had spaced off trying to think of a solution to his 'Nico dilemma" he had continued to stir the tomato soup in front of him, and as he had gotten progressively more "energetic" while stirring. When he wasn't paying attention, he had slopped the tomato soup all over the table in front of him and down the front of his shirt, staining the white cotton tee with the red liquid. The souped-up piece of cloth felt slimy and cold against his torso, which was not at all a good feeling for the son of the sun god. Grimacing slightly, Will turned back to his mother.

"Crap, I'm sorry, Mom. I kinda got distracted. Could you throw me a roll of paper towels or something?" Addy grinned, the mischievous twinkle in her eye growing some. "By any chance, were you 'distracted' by the thoughts of a certain wounded demigod in your bedroom?" she teased, reaching into a drawer next to her. Drawing out a folded rag, she walked over to the table and handed it to her lightly blushing son.

One of the things that Addy loved about Will was his energy; when he was happy, he would buzz all around the house like a sunbeam, grinning and joking with the rest of the family until they were in the same mood that he was, whether they wanted to be or not. Of course, one of the hazards of having a son of Apollo around was the noise that would inevitably follow; when Will was a toddler, both his tantrums and his fits of giggles were loudly infectious, filling their house like a warm gust of wind. As he got older, he mellowed some, but his moods still tended to be a bit "audible".

Addy had never seen her son like this before. For once, Will was, well, quiet. Normally he would have joked back and forth with his mother, reassuring her in his own way that nothing was wrong, but today he simply blushed and started to clean up the spilled soup, avoiding eye contact with her. It reminded her of the way she used to act when a certain god of poetry was around... She shook her head and smiled to herself. She could reminisce later; right now, her son needed her.

Pulling up a chair next to Will, Addy laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You really like this boy, don't you, honey?" Will mumbled something under his breath, still refusing to meet his mother's eyes. Biting back a grin, Addy decided that the only way to make her son talk was through desperate measures. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that," she stated, the teasing tone back in her voice. Tracing her hand down Will's shoulder to the side of his ribcage, she continued. "Maybe you would be a little more talkative if I told Nico what happens when you-"

Will's head snapped up, a look of pleased dread on his face. "You wouldn't! That's evil, even for you!" He looked into Addy's face, searching for any hint that she was joking or bluffing, finding nothing but an antagonistic glee. Addy grinned menacingly, her dark green eyes twinkling like stars. "Oh, try me, buster!" she whispered, and suddenly she began tickling Will without mercy. The son of Apollo spasmed violently under his mother's tickling hands, the troubled look on his face transitioning into one of hilarity. Addy smiled at the sound of Will's laughter; the bell-like peals of his giggling never failed to make her happy.

After a while, she stopped tickling her son and instead hugged him, being careful to avoid the soupier parts of his shirt. Catching his breath, Will returned his mother's hug. They held each other like that for a while, just enjoying being near each other. After a few moments of hugging, Addy spoke. "Don't worry about it, honey. I saw the way that you two were acting around each other earlier, and the romantic tension between you two was almost enough to make ME blush. If I were you, I would just let stuff play out, and then whatever happens, happens." She smiled at her son, a genuine look of encouragement and happiness on her face. "I do see things ending well, though." Will met his mother's gaze, searching for any clue or hint that she was being even slightly dishonest. Finding nothing to indicate any subterfuge, Will let a small grin creep across his face. "Are you sure?" he asked, a hesitant note in his voice. Addy reached out and fluffed her son's hair. "Trust me, kiddo. Woman's intuition is never wrong."

Breaking apart, Will smiled at his mother. "Thanks, mom. You always know how to make things seem better," he said, a small smile on his face. Addy grinned back at her son, proud of the young man that he was turning out to be. She looked at him for a few seconds, her own smile fading a little as she got a faraway look in her eyes. Will noticed the way that his mother's expression changed, and adopted a face full of concern. "Mom? You ok?" he said softly, his blue eyes fixed on his Addy's green. She shook herself and changed her facial expression from proud to slightly wistful. "Yeah, of course, honey. I was just thinking how much you look like your father." Sensing the sadness in his mother's voice, Will leaned forward hugged her again. "You still miss him, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," she replied, a small note of melancholy in her voice as she returned Will's embrace. "I haven't seen him since he gave me the twins, and that was almost a decade ago.." Will felt a small knot of anger is his chest form at his father; how dare anyone make his mother hurt this way! He made a mental note to add Apollo to the list of gods he needed to have words with. Seemingly sensing Will's train of thought, Addy pulled away from the hug and smiled at her son reassuringly, blinking back a barely-formed tear. "Luckily, I still have you and your brothers. You boys are the sunshine in my life now, and that is enough for me." Picking at the red-stained shirt on her son's torso, Addy continued, her trademark teasing tone reentering her voice. "Of course, I could do without the cleaning of the messes that you produce, but such is the price I pay for my family."

Will laughed, somewhat relieved that his mother was ok. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. I'll go get cleaned up," he said, and briefly the twinkle in his mother's eye was mirrored in his own. "First, though, I don't think that I have demonstrated just how much I love you, Mommy! Come here!" And with that, he grabbed his mother in a giant bear hug, making sure to get as much soup on her as was on him. Addy struggled playfully, trying to get out of her son's grip, but the months training at Camp Half-Blood had made her son lean and strong. After half a minute of struggling, Addy resigned herself to her fate and hugged her son back. Will released his mother and leaned back, a satisfied smile on his face. Almost immediately after he released her, however, Addy reached around and smacked her son on the back of the head, a full-on grin on her face. "Go get cleaned up, you ruffian!" she scolded with a note of amusement in her voice. Will just laughed quietly and padded of toward the bathroom adjoining his bedroom, leaving his mother grinning and smeared with cold tomato soup.

Nico awoke to the sound of running water. The sound always tended to relax him; one of his most treasured memories was sitting by the bank of the River Lethe with his father and Hazel. Hearing the sound now confused him, though. He wasn't in the Underworld anymore, he was cuddled up in a fuzzy blanket on Will's bed. Remembering that, Nico felt his face heat up. He was cuddled up in a blanket on Will's bed, and if he remembered his dreams correctly, he had been having very vivid fantasies about the son of Apollo. He could feel his face start to glow like a stoplight as the dreams came back to him.

Will sauntered over to the side of his bed, a look of teasing lustfulness plastered across his chiseled face. For whatever reason, he wasn't dressed like he usually was in jeans and an orange Camp shirt. Instead, Will had donned a pair of white scrubs and a stethoscope. He would have looked like something straight out of one of those medical dramas that Hazel liked, except for one thing- he was not wearing a shirt!

Nico couldn't keep his gaze off of the tanned exposed skin, letting his eyes feast on Will's defined chest and abdomen. As his mouth slowly went dry, he wondered what it would feel like to reach out and run his fingers across the washboard that was Will's stomach. Before Nico's mind could start thinking in a more adult manner, however, Will spoke.

"Good evening, Mr. di Angelo, I understand that you aren't feeling well. I'm Dr. Solace, and I am here to make you feel better," dream-Will said, a low smoky purr in his voice. Nico swallowed and blushed at the obvious innuendo in his words. This was turning into a very good dream, indeed. Noticing Nico's reaction, dream-Will grinned slightly, with a lustful, teasing glint still in his eye. "Well, your face is flushed. That could mean a fever, which is definitely not good," dream-Will drawled. "Here, let me take your temperature." With that, he leaned down and placed his hands on either side of Nico's neck, gently caressing his soft pale skin.

Nico let out an audible eep at the unexpected contact, but did not shrink away from the unexpected touch. Instead, he gazed up into Will's deep sky-blue eyes, getting lost in them like a lone eagle above the clouds. Dream-Will spoke again, his voice dripping with huskiness. "Your pulse is getting awfully fast, Mr. di Angelo. If I didn't know better, I would say that you-" Will started to lean closer, "-were getting-" Nico could feel Will's warm, cinnamony breath on his face, oh gods, "-excited."

Nico was torn from the recollection from his dream by the sound of someone singing. He found that he was breathing heavily, and there was a sensation in his stomach that he hadn't felt for weeks, as if there were skeletal butterflies fluttering around his abdomen. He blushed slightly, smiling to himself. He had missed the feeling that he got alongside the butterflies, and it was good to have them back. He turned his attention to the voice mixed in with the sound of running water and the smell of hot, humid air.

"Heeeee'ss mmaahhhhh cherry pie! Cool drink of water, such a sweet sur-priiise!" The voice was a rich tenor, filled with emotion and vibrato. Nico's still slightly sleepy brain was impressed; whoever it was that was singing was one of the greatest vocalists that he had ever heard. He almost recognized the voice; it definitely sounded familiar to him, at least. He knew that he should recognize it, but he couldn't. Wracking his brains, Nico tried his best to put a face to the song, and like a blast of sunlight, he got it. The voice was Will's! He felt a self-satisfied smile ooze across his face and he settled back down on the pillow, re-wrapping himself in the blanket. As the sound of the running water petered off, Nico felt a niggling thought in the back of his still-sluggish brain. Singing, running water, hot humid air? He felt like those things all had something in common, but he couldn't- his eyes widened as he pieced it together. Before he could react to the information that was now in his head, Will entered the room through a doorway just behind the bed, still humming the tune he had been singing not 45 seconds before. Nico felt his heart stop as he watched the son of Apollo walk past the bed toward the chest of drawers on the other side of the room.

Will Solace, chief healer for Camp Half Blood and child of the Sun God, was wearing nothing but a bath towel!

End Chapter 3