I know. I know I have other stories I need to update... but this came to mind and I couldn't resist so here is Nico and Will Solace-di Angelo learning how to be foster parents.
I don't know a whole lot about how foster care works but I think the feels are valid.
I do not own Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus.
"Hey Will?" Nico starts, waiting for his husband to get into bed.
"Yes, Sunshine?" Will lies down next to Nico.
"I was thinking… how would you feel about signing up to be foster parents?" Nico asks, holding his breath. Will takes a second to process the information then notices that Nico looks worried.
"I think that's a great idea. Have you already started looking into it? What made you want to do it?" Will questions.
"I don't know… I mean I was homeless for a good year and a half and it sucked but I was too scared to ask anyone for help. There was this really nice old lady that told me she could help me get into foster care so that I could be placed in a good home and I believed her. I ran into some kid in an alleyway right before I was gonna go meet her. I asked him why he ran away and he told me his foster family was abusive. He didn't want to go back. That scared me. I ran and shadow traveled until I knew I wasn't in New York anymore. I think I ended up in South Dakota but I'm not sure.
"The point is, I thought all foster homes were bad after that. I thought they were all abusive so I was too scared to go to one. I only knew there were good ones when I was talking to Leo about this. That's not right. Kids shouldn't be terrified of homes that are supposed to be safe. If you're on board, I want us to be the people and the home that kids feel safe and comfortable in. Leo said it was an amazing idea and to let him know if we need help if we do do it." Nico explains. "I want to and I've looked into it, but I want you to want it too."
"I want that too. Every kid deserves a place to feel safe. I think we should do it." Will supports.
"You do? Are you sure?" Nico asks, not wanting to push him into something he doesn't want to do.
"Absolutely. How do we sign up?" Will asks.
— — —
After meeting all requirements and getting a home study done, Will and Nico had finished the eight week foster parent training course that they needed to take before they were eligible.
"So, are you looking to foster a young child like a baby or a toddler, or someone older like a pre-teen or a teenager?" Miss Lacy, one of the caseworkers asked.
"We honestly don't have a preference, we just want kids to feel safe." Will replies.
"Then I assume gender doesn't matter either then?" She asks, looking at her clipboard.
"No." Nico responds. They run through her list of questions and information she has for them. They walk out of the building with a folder full of papers and documents and the knowledge that they could get a call anytime letting them know that they're getting a kid to foster.
"Are we really doing this?" Nico asks in disbelief.
"We're really doing this." Will confirms, the same dazed look in his eyes to mirror Nico's.
— — —
"Will! Will! William Andrew Solace-di Angelo answer the damn phone!" Nico yells, frustrated as he dials again and scrambles to get everything ready.
"Nico?" Will answers on the fourth ring, sounding exhausted.
"Will! Thank gods you answered! Miss Lacy called, she said we're getting a thirteen year old boy… tomorrow. I've been trying to call you for an hour because I'm freaking out!" Nico vents.
"Tomorrow?! We just got the 'go' from Miss Lacy like 3 days ago! That's really fast! Do we get any other information or just that?" Will starts to wake up a little.
"She told me his name is Henry and he's going to be an eighth grader, that's all I got." Nico says. "I'm trying to get everything ready in the guest room right now. She said we can pick him up at the agency tomorrow. I was wondering when you'd be out of surgery and when you'd be home."
"Yeah, sorry about that. I got pulled into an emergency appendectomy for a six year old. That was my last surgery though, so I'll be home in about 15 minutes." Will says.
"Okay, see you then. Love you."
"Love you too."
— — —
"Henry, this is Will and Nico Solace-di Angelo. They're going to be your foster parents for right now." Miss Lacy introduces the teenager to the couple in front of him. He's skinny with dark brown, almost black, hair and blue eyes like Will.
"Hi." He looks up briefly.
"Hello." Will greets for both of them.
"Any of you can contact me if you have any questions or need anything. Other than that, that's all I have for you, you are free to go whenever." Miss Lacy shakes all three of their hands and walks back into the agency.
"Ready to go?" Will asks, looking at Nico and moving to Henry.
"Yeah." Henry says, staring at his shoes which are a beat up pair of converse worn to the point of holes every couple of stitches.
"Let's go then." Will walks around to the driver's side of the car and Henry picks up his duffle bag and slips into the back seat with it and his backpack always touching him in some way even though he has the whole backseat.
"So Henry, is there anything you would like to know about us?" Will asks on the drive home.
"Um, I don't know." He mumbles.
"Okay, then would you like us to just tell you some things that would be helpful or interesting?" Will continues.
"Yes."
"Okay, well we can start with our jobs then: I'm a pediatric general surgeon at a hospital here in Manhattan. I'm 29." Henry visibly tenses at the mention of the words 'surgeon' and 'hospital'.
"I'm a foreign languages teacher at Goode High School. And I'm 28." Nico says.
"We've been married for eight years and we had been dating for five years before that. We live about 10 minutes from the hospital and 7ish minutes from the school in a 3 bedroom house." Will tells Henry.
"Where are you going to school this fall? It starts in a couple of weeks." Nico asks.
"I don't know. Wherever you guys decide you want me to go." Henry says, quietly.
"Oh okay, is there anywhere you want to go?" Will asks.
"I don't know, it's never really been my choice, it's yours." Henry replies.
"How about Nico and I look into some schools we can enroll you in and then you can tell us which, one out of all of them, you want to go to. Sound good?" Will suggests.
"Sure." Henry lets out a small breath but not enough to relax at all.
"Well good, because we're here." Nico declares as they pull into the driveway and into the garage. The son of Hades gets out to meet Will on the driver's side with Henry not too far behind but not too close either.
"Leo said choices were good, right?" Will asks, half question, half pointed.
"Yeah, yeah he did. Let's go get Henry settled shall we?" Nico leads the other two into the house.
— — —
"Henry?" Nico knocks on the boy's door. "Henry, time for breakfast." When he gets no response, Nico cracks open the door only to find no one. He takes that as a sign that Henry's in the kitchen, living room, or bathroom. "Henry?" He checks around the house and then rounds back to the teenager's room.
"Henry?" He looks in the closet, the last place he could possibly be, and finds all of his things gone. "Shit. Will!" Nico runs back to his own room to wake his husband.
"What? What's wrong?" Will sits up, sleep clouding his features.
"Henry's gone." Nico exclaims.
"What do you mean gone?" Will looks more alert.
"I mean he's nowhere in the house or garage and he's not in the yard. He's not on the property and his things aren't here."
"Are you absolutely sure?"
"Yes."
"Shit."
— — —
"I'll be home in a little bit." Nico says into the phone. "Yeah, I had to run and get my laptop fixed so I can start lesson planning." Will speaks into his own phone. "No, the police haven't found him yet." … "I know, I feel bad too. I love you." … "Yeah, bye."
Nico walks through the streets of Manhattan on his way home from retrieving his laptop. He wasn't kidding when he said he had to get it fixed but he was really just glad to get it out of the house and the stress of waiting for a phone call. He just really hoped Henry would be okay.
Passing by one of the many alleyways in the city, Nico recognized the building as the one Paul, Sally and Estelle live in. He slipped into the alley, nostalgia guiding him to look up at the fire escape on the side of the building that he had gone through to find Percy and even Sally or Paul, many times.
Nico stayed there, in the middle of the alleyway, staring at the fourth floor, almost too busy to notice a relatively small figure 10 feet away from him. The son of Hades turned to leave when a foot sticking out from behind the dumpster caught his eye. He stalked towards it, wary of whoever it may be, and let out a heavy sigh of relief when he saw the boy that had run away from his home 3 days ago. The adult knelt down in front of him, giving him a respectful distance.
"Henry. Hen. Henry, wake up," Nico put his hand lightly on Henry's shoulder and shook lightly in order to shake the boy.
"Wha-" He looked up blearily, "Ahh! Agh!" He tries to scurry backwards, away from his foster parent, only to realize he was already resting against the wall.
"Hey, hey, hey. It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you. I found you here and I just wanted to make sure you're okay. Are you?"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me! Please! Please! I'm sorry!"
Henry rushes to get the apology out. He wraps his arms protectively around his head as he tucks it between his knees.
"It's okay, it is okay. We're not mad, we're just concerned. Are you okay? Are you ready to go home?" Nico asks.
"No, no, no, no, no. Please, no." Henry shudders.
"Okay, I won't make you do anything you really don't want to. Of course I want you to come home with me so that me and Will know you're safe, but you can come back on your own or you could go back to the agency. We just want you safe, I promise." Nico says.
"I don't wanna go back right now. I'm not ready." Henry mumbles.
"That's okay. If you decide you want to come back later, our back door is always open in case we're not there and I promise we won't be mad. If you're hurt or sick or something like that- we told you Will's a doctor right?" Nico stops.
"Yes." Henry responds.
"Good, good. If you're hurt or sick Will can help you and we wouldn't need to take you to the hospital unless it was truly necessary. We won't be mad." Nico assures him.
"Okay, I'm sorry."
"Don't be. We just wanna make sure you're safe. And if you decide you don't want to come back, please call us or let us know in some way, we don't want you out there where nobody knows where you are." Nico says.
"Okay." Henry still hasn't looked Nico in the eye as he considers this.
"I'm gonna go then, okay? I'll tell the police we know where you are." Nico stands back up and continues, with a heavy heart, back home.
— — —
"What do you mean you found him and just left him?!" Will exclaims.
"I mean I found him and then I gave him the option to come home with me or make his decision later. He chose later." Nico calmly explains.
"So what I'm hearing is you left him alone in an alley in the middle of Manhattan." Will clarifies.
"No. He was staying right next to Sally and Paul's apartment building so I called them and Paul was home and said he would keep an eye on him and tell either of us if he left. He'll be fine. We at least know he's alive." Nico reasons.
"You are insufferable." Will grits through his teeth.
"Well you chose me." Nico smirks. Will glares at his husband, not regretting marrying him one bit. Suddenly, a knock sounds throughout the silent house. The couple run to the door and swing it open once Will identifies the person on the other side.
"Henry!" Will exclaims. "Are you okay?" Henry didn't move.
"N-Nico told me that if I came back… you-you guys wouldn't be mad at me…" He continues to stare at his shoes. "And he told me that if I was hurt, Will could help me." Henry takes a shaky breath. "Is that true?" He meekly looks up at the men in front of him.
"Yes. Yes, that is absolutely true. We are just happy you're okay." Will confirms. The healer takes notice of the severe black eye marking the boy's face and the slight lean towards his right. "Are you hurt?" Henry just nods. "Do you want to come sit down and show us where you're hurt or do you want to take a shower first?" Will gives him options.
"Do you even want me to still stay with you guys? I can go back to the group home, you just have to tell me." Henry looks surprised.
"Of course we want you to still live with us." Nico ensures.
"Are you sure?" The teenager asks, still looking uncertain.
"Yes. We're sure, we would know if we weren't." Will says, certainty plain in his face. "Now, shower or show us where you're hurt." Will softly displays the options once more.
"Umm, shower, if that's okay?" Henry decides sheepishly, looking for approval.
"That sounds perfect." Will opens the door wider and holds it open while Nico walks back into the kitchen to lead the way. Henry walks in and waits for Will to shut the door so that he can follow him. Nico herds him to the bathroom and Will grabs his medical bag he keeps in the house.
"I hate that he thinks we'd be mad at him." Nico fumes as he walks back into the kitchen to sit at the island with his husband. "Mad. Mad of all things. Why would we be mad at him for being scared?! That's not his fault. Ugh! I hate that he thinks he is never safe! I hate that he's been unsafe enough times to know exactly how to run away without anyone noticing! I hate that he thought we didn't want him to live with us anymore because he ran away! I hate that he's only one of the kids that has this problem!"
"I know. It's sad but we're gonna help him. We'll help him. I just know it." Will assures him. Mr. and Mr. Solace-di Angelo move to the couch and Will holds Nico close. After only 15 minutes, Henry slowly and timidly makes his way into the kitchen, hair wet and in a new pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. He favors one leg, if only slightly. He looks around quickly for his foster parents but Will spots him first.
"Here, come sit up at the counter." Will pulls Nico up and they both walk back to the counter. Nico takes a seat next to Henry, at a respective distance, and Will walks around to the other side so he can face the boy. "Where are you hurt?" He asks, already knowing.
Henry puts his left arm on the table to reveal a roughly 5 1/2in. long cut on the top of his forearm, about a half an inch deep.
"Oo." Will hisses. "Ouch. Did you wash it out with soap and water?" He asks.
"Yes sir." Henry slips into his old habits. Will notices but doesn't say anything for fear of scaring or embarrassing the teen.
"Good. I think this is gonna need stitches. Are you okay with that?" Will declares, looking to the boy for an answer.
"Yes sir. You're the doctor, sir." Henry doesn't make eye contact.
"It's not all up to me. I want to make sure you're comfortable with it."
"I'm okay, sir."
"You don't have to call me sir if you don't want to. Will is fine." Will grabs a needle, thread, a small shot of lidocaine, and some bandages from his bag and sets them on the counter. Henry audibly gulps at the sight of it.
"It's okay to be scared. This is scary." Will says. "I'm gonna inject some lidocaine around the area to numb it and then I'll start stitching it up." Henry nods. Will does as he said he would and waits for the numbness to take place. Once it does, Will informs him of everything he is going to do before he actually does it.
The first stitch penetrates his skin and Henry squeezes his eyes shut in discomfort.
"Is it not numb?" Will stops in his tracks.
"It is. It just feels weird sir." Henry confesses. The son of Apollo continues and Henry's eyes remain screwed shut. Nico softly places his hand on the boy's knee. He flinches in response and Nico almost pulls his hand back when Henry grips it tightly.
He seems to realize what had done and his eyes shoot open and he stares down at his hand then at Nico, who is squeezing his hand just as firm. Nico nods, telling him, 'it's okay.'
An armful of stitches and a full roll of bandages later, Henry gets his arm back and Will finishes cleaning up his supplies. He grabs a couple ibuprofen out of the cupboard in the kitchen and gives them to the kid with a glass of water.
"Here." Will hands them to him.
"I don't need it." Henry pushes it back towards Will.
"It may not hurt right now but it definitely will later. And I don't doubt that your eye hurts." Will informs him, shoving it back in his direction.
"I'm fine. I can't take this." Henry resists once more.
"What do you mean you can't take it? Like, it's hard for you to swallow pills?" Nico chimes in.
"No, I can't take these from you guys. I don't deserve them after I ran away after only three days here." Henry whispers, half hoping they wouldn't hear him but knowing they did.
"Hey, listen to me," Nico starts. "We brought you here because we wanted you here. We don't care that you ran away after only a couple days, you were scared and you can't help that. We only wanted you to be safe. As long as you're here with us, you will be taken care of, at any cost." Nico explains, meaning every word. It seems to strike Henry that they genuinely care and that he can't get off the hook on this one.
"Okay… Thank you." He finally speaks. Will pushes the glass to him once more but this time Henry actually takes the pills and downs the water. Nico places a reassuring hand on his shoulder while Will grabs a gel ice pack from the freezer. Henry takes it hesitantly from the healer and when both parents nod, he places it on his right eye.
"Have you eaten anything in the past couple of days?" Will asks.
"It doesn't matter." Henry makes himself small.
"Actually it matters a lot. You're underweight enough as it is and I'm sure three days on the streets didn't help." Will tell him.
"It's fine. I'm fine. I'm not hungry." Henry lies.
"Even if that is true, which I doubt it is, you still need to eat. I assume you've been decently underweight for around a couple years now and if that keeps going it becomes severely unhealthy." The surgeon explains. Henry keeps his eyes trained on his lap and Nico and Will give each other a sad look.
"Do you want to tell the truth now?" Will presses. Henry thinks for a moment.
"No, I haven't eaten anything in the past couple of days." The teenager fesses up.
"Thank you for telling the truth." Will praises him, trying to reinforce the behavior.
"Now let's figure out what's for supper." Nico decides.
— — —
Will wakes up to an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach. He rolls over and tries to fall back asleep but to no avail. Something's wrong? No, nothing's wrong, just out of place. What could it be?
Eventually, there's no falling back asleep so he rolls out of bed to get a glass of water and hopefully get rid of the feeling. He gets his water from the kitchen and stops by Henry's room on the way back to his own room.
He cracks the door open, just enough to see the bed. His heart rate speeds up when he finds no one in the bed. For a long moment, Will thought that maybe, just maybe, Henry ran away again.
No, Will thought, he just came back.
Wanting to make sure he's okay, Will opens the door further and scans the room. He finds the boy asleep, sitting on the floor in the far corner of the room with his knees hugged to his chest. Will's obviously concerned so he walks over to wake up the teen.
"Henry. Hen, wake up." Will puts a gentle hand on his shoulder. Henry jolts awake and backs further against the wall.
"What?" He looks up at Will and panics. "I'm so sorry. Did I wake you up?"
"No, no. It's okay. I was already up and wanted to check on you before I went back to bed." Will explains sincerely.
"I'm sorry." Henry apologizes.
"Nothing's wrong. Nothing's your fault. Why are you sleeping in the corner?" Will questions.
"Um, no-nothing. I-it's- I-" Henry stumbles to find an explanation.
"Hey, it's fine, I was just wondering. Do you want to get back in bed?"
"I-I…" Henry looks torn. "I don't know… I don't deserve it. I-I don't deserve to stay here with you guys."
"If you really don't want to get back in bed, or if you really don't want to stay here anymore, we won't make you. But there is no way that you don't deserve to be cared for. Nico told you we brought you here because we want you here, right? He meant it. We want you to feel safe and loved here. We know that you're scared and that things take time but that's normal. We want you here and we want to take care of you. I promise that we'll always be here."
"Okay. Thank you." Henry whispers, not truly realizing that it was genuine.
"Do you want to get back in bed? Or you could sleep on the couch? Or you could still stay on the ground but with a pillow and blanket? You can do whatever feels comfortable for you." Will says.
"Can I- can I sleep in the bed?" Henry doesn't meet Will's eyes.
"Of course. If that's what you want to do and what's gonna make you feel comfortable, then go for it." The thirteen year old pushes himself up with his good arm and lets himself climb into bed.
"How's your arm? Do you need more medicine before I go back to bed?"
"It's fine. It doesn't hurt." Henry lies through his teeth. Will, being the seasoned medic and doctor he is, calls him out on his lie.
"How's your arm?" He asks again. Henry knows that, once again, there's no way of getting away with a lie.
"Hurts." Henry says.
"And how's your eye?"
"Hurts."
"Do you want more medicine?"
"No, I'm not gonna feel anything while I'm asleep."
"Okay then, we'll just get you some in the morning, okay?"
"Okay."
"I'm gonna go back to bed. I'll come bring you some medicine in the morning. Good night."
"Good night." Henry curls into himself as Will closes the door and walks back to his room.
— — —
"Where are you going?" Nico rolls over to find Will getting out of bed.
"It's 8. I'm gonna go give Henry some more medicine and ice for his eye, I said I would." Will explains to his husband.
"When did you say that?" Nico asks, groggily.
Will recalls everything that happened the night before as Nico listens patiently.
"Wow, I didn't know," Nico comments. "You could've woken me up."
"It's fine. I'm gonna go wake Henry up and get breakfast ready though." Will kisses Nico then throws the covers back over his side of the bed. He shuffles through the kitchen to find some more ibuprofen and a new ice pack. Once he has them in hand, he makes his way to Henry's room to wake him up.
Naturally, the teenager was still sleeping since it was still pretty early considering it was summer. Leaning towards unnaturally, Henry was an extremely light sleeper when he wasn't exhausted so he jolted awake once he heard the door creak open and Will's footsteps approach the bed.
"Hey Hen, I have your medicine and a new ice pack." Will places the pills in Henry's hand once he sits up. He takes the glass of water from the side table and downs the pills in a second, he then takes the ice pack and presses it to his eye with a sigh. "Do you need anything before I go start making breakfast or are you just gonna go back to sleep?"
"I'll probably go back to sleep if I'm allowed but," Henry stops and looks up at Will, the foster parent nods. "Um, there's something I didn't tell you about yesterday…"
"Okay, do you want to tell me now?" Will prods, hoping the answer is yes.
"Ye-yeah… I think so. I forgot- no, I didn't forget, I didn't want to tell you that I hurt my ankle while I was gone too." Will's heart warms at the way Henry corrects himself so that he's telling the truth, even though Will didn't tell him to or call him out on it. At the same time though, Will's 'Doctor Mode' part of his brain takes over and concern for the young boy in front of him floods his system.
"Which ankle?" Will starts his interrogation.
"Left."
"Can I take a look?" Will looks to Henry for consent. Henry just nods. The healer pulls the blankets off of his feet and sits on the edge of the bed to gently take the boy's left ankle in his hand. The joint is warm to the touch, swollen, and bruised, all signs of a decently bad sprain.
"Does it hurt when you put weight on it?"
"Yes."
"How'd you hurt it?"
"The night I ran, I jumped a fence and landed on my ankle sideways." Henry explains.
"So your ankle's been swollen and bruised for almost four days now?" Will confirms.
"Yes." Will uses some light healer abilities to diagnose the problem through touch.
"It's a pretty bad sprain. Between grade 2 or 3 but leaning towards three. Do you want crutches or a boot and keep weight off of it as much as possible?" Will declares.
"I don't need anything. I just wanted you to know." Henry says, his poor sense of self-preservation making itself known once again.
"Well, I'm a doctor and I know that this isn't gonna get better without either of those things. I also know that this is pretty painful." Will points out. "I want to help you, Henry. I just need to know what I need to get before I leave."
"Do I really have to? I don't- I don't wanna be any trouble."
"This is no trouble. I just want to make sure you're okay and the only way for your ankle to heal is by using crutches and a brace or a boot and no weight." Will says.
"Okay, fine. I don't want crutches." Henry says.
"Okay, then a boot and no weight it is. I'll bring you some more ice to put on it while I'm gone." Will gets up from the bed and walks out of the room like he's on a mission.
"Neeks, I'm gonna run to CVS real quick to go get Henry a boot." Will informs his husband.
"What?! Why? What's wrong?" Nico is quick to pull himself out from under the covers.
"Henry told me he hurt his ankle too and didn't want to tell me last night. It's a grade three sprain so he's gonna need to wear a boot and keep as much weight off it as possible. That's what I'm running to CVS to do."
"Oh okay, I'll keep an eye on him then."
"Good. Bye, love you." Will kisses Nico and speeds out of the house.
— — —
"I'm back." Will shouts loud enough for Nico and Henry to hear.
"We're in here." Nico calls from the living room. He and Henry were sitting on the couch watching Grey's Anatomy, with Henry's ankle and eye covered in ice and his arm still wrapped in a bandage.
"I got the boot," Will says, holding up a bag. "I also got some crutches," He notices Henry's look of fear. "You don't have to use them, they're just in case. And I picked up some breakfast." He pulls out a McDonald's bag.
"You know me so well." Nico kisses Will's cheek when he drops onto the couch next to him and Henry.
"Just because I love you doesn't mean I approve of your taste in grease filled food." Will chastises. He reaches into the bag and pulls out 3 breakfast sandwiches, 2 hashbrowns, and one box of fries. The son of Apollo hands Henry a sandwich and a hashbrown while he takes the same for himself. "Your fries, Mr. di Angelo."
"That's Solace-di Angelo to you." Nico takes his fries. "Thank you."
"How's your ankle?" Will turns to Henry.
"Hurts." Henry tells the truth.
"Do you want to put on the boot yourself or do you need help?"
"I can do it myself, I think." He takes the boot from Will and leans down to put it over his sock.
He manages to tighten the boot onto his foot and winces from the newfound stability.
"Good?"
"Good. Thank you." The three turn back to the TV. The current episode that's playing is one of Nico and Will's favorites but for different reasons. Nico loves it because the death that gets dodged by Meredith is funny to him and Will loves it because he can point out all the medical inaccuracies.
"Meredith has drowned, been blown up with a bomb, been in a shooting, been in a plane crash, been attacked by a patient, and lost her husband and she still hasn't died yet. How?!" Nico exclaims.
"It's a medical drama with her name in the title, what do you expect them to do, kill her off?" Will points out.
"Yeah, but 'Grey' was Lexi's last name too and she died in the plane crash." Nico says.
"Well she was a side character." Will says.
