WILL

Will should've known that Nico wouldn't fully open up to him. He still considered this 'mission' a success, because he at least found out what was bothering the ghost king. Will wished Nico would let him help, because gods knew he carried way too much anguish and pain for his age. But, Will did his best to comfort him and it was all he could do.

Will was broken out of his thoughts when he heard a voice quaking with anger.

"I don't want your pity, Solace."

Will scrunched up his eyebrows, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm bound to suffer, I'm the son of Hades. And I'm used to it. I don't need anyone hovering over me. I'm tired of people's meaningless blather. I'm tired of your fake pity."

Will was extremely confused now. Was Nico angry about Will trying to comfort him? Why would that make him angry?

"Nico, I was only trying to help. Why does that make you angry?"

"Because everything you said was meaningless! It's what you would say to anyone who seems depressed. You don't actually care about my well being. Who in their right mind would actually care for a son of Hades?" Nico snarled.

Not this again, Will thought. Irritation began to loom over Will like an oncoming storm.

"Gods, Nico! I've told you this so many times! It'll never get into that thick head of your's, will it? People do care about you! You have friends! You just love feeling bad for yourself, don't you?"

Nico's voice deadly quiet. "You know I can summon skeletons, you know I can overpower you in a second, yet you still overstep your boundaries."

"Oh, please. I realize that you're much more powerful than me, but I'm not afraid of you."

Nico flexed his jaw and narrowed his eyes. "Why won't you just leave me alone?"

Nico tried to push Will out of the way and walk back towards camp, but Will grabbed his wrist.

"Because I'm your friend!" Will exclaimed, exasperated. "Because I care about you! Is that so hard to see?"

Nico stared at him a moment, the shock visible in his eyes.

"Oh my gods. You don't see it. You really, truly, don't think anyone cares about you."

Nico looked at the ground. "Well, why would they?"

"You saved the camp from utter destruction multiple times, for one thing."

"That wasn't me, that was Percy and Annab-"

"Oh come on, Nico. You know they would've failed without you. Don't let yourself be overshadowed by other people."

"The camp obviously prefers Percy. Nobody at camp really cares about me."

Will let out a groan and placed a hand to his temple. "Percy cares about you. I care about you. You and Annabeth seem to be getting along. Jason is like your big brother now. Even Piper seems to have taken a liking to you!"

Nico stared at his fellow camper, his mysterious brown eyes meeting Will's. He seemed to be analyzing Will, trying to figure out if he was lying or not. His eyes traveled down to see where Will was grabbing his wrist.

After a long moment, Nico mumbled, "Why do you even make an effort to become friends with me? Was it Chiron's orders or something, because I have no friends?"

"I told you, because I like you."

Will intertwined his fingers with Nico's.

Oh gods, Will thought, I shouldn't of done that.

Nico looked from their hands, to Will, his eyes wide with shock. Then, realization seemed to settle in. His face turned beet red and he yanked his hand away.

"Just leave me alone, Solace!" Nico turned and walked away towards the cabins, leaving Will feeling foolish and alone.

AUTHORS NOTES:

Phew! Finally got this done! My computer still isn't working very well; At one point it deleted the whole document and I had to start over. But, I got it done.

This chapter is so angsty, it makes me cringe. My poor babies deserve to be happy and they obviously love each other. Don't worry, my children, things will work out.

Sorry this chapter is so short, guys. It was hard to drag out the argument into another chapter. I should've kept it all in the previous chapter, but I really wanted you to see it from Will's perspective.

I'm not sure when I'll get the next chapter up, because I'll be visiting my best friend next week. She also ships solangelo, so maybe she'll give me some suggestions for the next chapter. 0w0

Feel free to give me some constructive criticism in the comments! You don't have to sugarcoat it either, I really want to know how to improve this story.

Thank you to everyone who follows or comments on this fanfiction! It means so much to me, you don't even know. :,)