Chapter Text
Being dragged through the woods in the middle of the night to the scene of an unknown emergency was not on Will Solace’s medical bingo card this week, and yet here he was.
He and Nico had returned to camp a few days ago, and tonight Will had been woken up by a text from Nico about some kind of emergency in the woods that required his immediate attention.
“Neeks, you're starting to freak me out,” Will said, fiddling anxiously with his med pack.
“Shh! Come on!” Nico said, tugging on Will’s hand as he continued leading him through the shadows.
“What's the emergency? What did you need to show me?” Will asked.
“You ask too many questions,” Nico responded with a glimmer in his eye.
Then, the two brain cells that were currently occupying the cavity inside Will's head started comparing notes, and Will came to a realization that should have been obvious much earlier.
“You lied to me,” Will said, stopping in his tracks. Nico turned, an expression of mock betrayal on his face.
“I resent that accusation!”
“There’s no emergency.”
“Well, that’s subjective,” Nico said, continuing to walk through the woods while looking at Will with a triumphant smirk. “I happen to believe 3 AM adventures can be quite urgent.” Nico stumbled, having almost walked directly into a tree as he was talking to Will. Will, naturally, laughed at him.
“Shhh!” Nico snapped, covering Will’s mouth.
“You’re funny at 3 AM,” Will said, his voice muffled by Nico’s hand.
“Well don’t get us killed! The harpies are going to hear you!” Nico whispered aggressively.
“This whole thing was your idea!” Will hissed.
“What’s your point?!”
“You're an idiot!”
“Wanna race up that tree?!”
“I thought you'd never ask!”
Both boys promptly sprinted towards the tree, each doing more to try to prevent the other from climbing the tree faster than actually making any effort to be faster than each other.
“You are such a cheater,” Nico grumbled, scooting further down the branch away from Will and brushing the leaves out of his hair.
“Hey, last I checked, being taller than you was not cheating,” Will said with a grin, leaning back against the branch just above the one they were sitting on. Nico humphed, crossing his arms and turning away. “Aww, come on, don’t be like that,” Will coaxed. Nico scowled. Will slowly moved his arms around Nico and grabbed him. Nico squirmed and grunted in protest but Will just pulled him closer, giggling and kissing the back of his neck. Eventually Nico huffed and gave up struggling, resting his head on Will’s shoulder, albeit reluctantly. Will rested his cheek on top of Nico’s head and rubbed his arm with his thumb. They sat quietly for a while, listening to the sounds of the crickets and the owls and the soft wind blowing through the trees. Finally, Nico shifted under Will’s arm.
“Hey, um…”
Will hummed in acknowledgement, looking down at Nico and noticing a distinct shift in his tone and body language. Before, he’d been confident and playful, but now he seemed subdued and serious, nervously playing with his skull ring. Will wondered for a moment if he had said something wrong.
“I’m… I’m really glad I met you,” Nico said quietly, still looking down at his hands in his lap, his hair obscuring his face. Will smiled.
“Yeah,” he said, “me too.”
“No, you don’t get it. I meant, before we were even friends… knowing you changed a lot for me,” Nico said, risking a sideways glance at Will. Will’s expression grew curious.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well… you're the one who made me realize I was being an idiot running away from everybody. You ranted at me for like thirty seconds, and then suddenly… I don't know, it was like an epiphany,” Nico said, smiling just a little in a way that was just north of sad. “You do this thing. You just… somehow make everything make sense. Give me perspective. It's a weird superpower.”
Will let slip a little sideways smile.
“…Huh. I’ve always felt the opposite, like you’re the one with perspective,” he admitted.
“What?” Nico asked, turning to face him.
“Well, I'm always focused on the tiniest things, but you see the big picture. Everything. Everyone. Even–especially the people everyone else is ignoring. I really admire you for that,” Will said, smiling at Nico softly. Nico’s mouth was slightly agape, his cheeks just visibly pink in the moonlight.
“W-What? Stop, we– we’re off-topic. Look, I just wanted to… I don’t know, thank you, I guess? I don't know where I would be without your annoying self butting into my life like that,” Nico said, crossing his arms and gently shoving Will sideways, sheepishly looking away again. Will laughed.
“I do love butting into your life,” he said, wrapping his arm around Nico and garnering an eye-roll from the son of Hades, “But you don't need to thank me. That wasn't me trying to be nice. That was me thinking you were really cool and being mad that you wanted to leave.” Nico paused, his muscles still tense under Will’s arm, but he slowly seemed to be relaxing again.
“Well, whether you meant to or not, it helped. And even now, you're still… changing things for me. You make me… gods, this is going to sound so stupid. But you make me feel… like… something,” Nico said, glancing up at Will. “Not like, without you I'm nothing, but just, before you, I felt like I was nothing. But somehow, you just…” Nico sighed, rubbing his face and inadvertently dislodging Will’s arm from around his shoulders. “I don't know. Whatever. I don't know why I'm rambling like this. I just… wanted you to know,” he finished, his gaze cast downward into the tree branches below. Will was quiet, struggling to process everything Nico had said and all of the affection in his chest. Nico winced.
“Gods, I get weird at 3 AM. Sorry. Forget it.” He shook his head, shrinking away from Will.
“Hey,” Will touched Nico’s face, slowly pushing a strand of hair behind his ear. Nico looked back over at him, still seeming rather unsure of himself. Will smiled and pulled Nico closer, kissing him gently. Will wrapped his arms around Nico like he was the most precious thing in the world, and Nico rested his head in the crook of Will’s neck like it was made to fit there.
“You’re more than ‘something.’”
They were both quiet for a moment, holding each other and not wanting to remind the minutes that they were still there. Finally, Will opened his mouth to speak.
“I…”
“Will, I–” Nico began at the same time. They both chuckled nervously.
“Um, you go,” Nico said sheepishly.
“Oh, I just… I…” Will had been burning to finish that sentence for weeks now, but he still didn’t want to scare Nico away. So, he swallowed his pride and said what had become the next best thing.
“...You’re my favorite.”
Nico smiled softly, resting his forehead against Will’s.
“…You're my favorite, too.”
Their eyes met, they leaned closer and melted into a kiss that felt like a breath of fresh air.
In that moment, the anxious thoughts that were usually spinning in the back of Will's mind vanished. He forgot about the harpies, and the head counselors’ meeting he was supposed to prepare for, and the hours he would spend in the infirmary tomorrow after capture-the-flag. Will forgot that his father and friends were on a deadly mission and he was stuck at camp unable to help. He forgot about the guilt and the shame he'd been carrying around since his brothers' deaths. He forgot time and space and everything that wasn’t Nico’s lips on his. For the first time in what felt like years, Will had forgotten what it was like to feel anxious and scared; instead he was being consumed by a love he’d never imagined until he met Nico. He needed Nico to know just how in love with him he was, even if he was too scared to say it out loud. He felt like he finally understood that song his mom wrote, about love being a brightness of the spirit. He wanted his light to encompass Nico and never let the darkness touch him again.
Nico suddenly noticed Will radiating more heat than usual and blinked his eyes open.
“Why are you all of a sudden so–”
Will pulled back, looking at Nico curiously, and Nico suddenly realized that Will’s skin was actually emitting light.
“…hot,” Nico finished, staring at Will and trying to make sense of what he was seeing. Will laughed nervously.
“That-that's a new one from you,” he said, blushing, turning the light coming from his face a rosy pink color. Nico blinked.
“Will? You're glowing.”
“That's new too. Thanks, I guess…”
“No, Will, you–you're literally glowing,” Nico said, holding Will’s hand in front of his face. Will froze and his eyes widened.
“…I'm literally glowing…”
Nico turned Will’s hand over in his, staring at it in awe.
“This… is so…”
“Lame,” Will interrupted.
“Cool,” Nico breathed. Both boys frowned and looked up at each other.
“Cool?” Will said skeptically.
“Lame?!” Nico replied incredulously.
“I-I'm glow-in-the-dark!” Will cried, sounding completely mortified.
“You're glow-in-the-dark!!” Nico exclaimed, completely amazed.
“It won't turn off! How do I turn it off?!” Will yelped, holding his hands in front of his face and quickly patting himself down as if trying to find an off-switch. Nico laughed, unsure whether to be more amused by the fact that Will was glowing or the fact that he seemed so distraught by it.
“S-Stop laughing! I don't know how to–what's–agh!” Will started flickering, which only seemed to increase his panic.
“Wait, wait, don't! You're warm,” Nico chuckled, placing his hands on Will’s cheeks. Strangely, this did seem to calm Will down.
“I'm always warm,” he said, looking at Nico strangely.
“But now you're a personal heat lamp,” Nico said, taking Will’s hands and putting them on his own cheeks. Will let out an amused huff.
“What are you, a reptile?” he asked with a smirk. Nico ignored him, perfectly at peace from the warmth of Will’s hands on his face. Will snickered.
“Pfft, alright, c'mere, you strange Italian lizard boy,” he said, pulling Nico into his lap to cuddle him. Nico curled up against his chest, humming contentedly.
“I can’t believe you’ve been a glowstick this whole time and never bothered to tell me…” Nico mumbled sleepily, nuzzling into Will’s chest. Will rolled his eyes.
“Shut up,” he said fondly, giving Nico a kiss on the head in spite of himself.
