solangelo one shot

first (and only) chapter 🫶

"Really, di Angelo? You're back in here again so quickly?" Will Solace sighed disapprovingly. "Let me guess, shadow travel?"

Nico said nothing. Partly because he was right, and partly because he felt like he was about to pass out if he stayed conscious for much longer, let alone spoke.

"When I said I wanted to see a friendly face, this is not what I meant."

Nico nodded, expecting him to keep lecturing him, as Will was never forgiving when people blatantly disregarded themselves like he had, but instead he just grabbed him and carried him to a bed in the infirmary. As soon as Nico's head hit the soft pillow, he was out cold.

He awoke to the gentle nudging of his nurse, Will. Rays of light filtered through the blinds, making his blonde hair even more radiant than usual, and his tan even warmer. Nico groaned, remembering that the one downside of being cared for by him was that he was an extreme morning person. He tried to turn over and go back to sleep, but his companion wouldn't let him.

"I know you're tired, but I still need to heal you," he chided almost affectionately. Nico felt a blush creep through his cheeks and dismissed it as a result of his condition and definitely not because he was flustered.

"Jeez, it's even worse than I thought. You've always been pale but at this point your skin is translucent. Literally," Will added with a worried glance towards Nico's hands that seemed to be a five-foot travel from disappearing. "And all these scratches....you didn't shadow travel while injured, did you?"

Unfortunately, that was exactly what he did. He tried to hide it by neither admitting nor denying, but his silence was telling.

"I know it was impulsive, but I thought I could take it, honestly! Besides, it's not like I died or something, I got out of there just fine," Nico quickly tried to defend himself while averting Will's concerned gaze.

"Just fine? You could've died! You almost disappeared," He scolded Nico, his blue eyes deep and anxious. "I'm worried about you, Nico."

"But....why though?" Nico realized how blunt the question was, but he was confused as to why he fretted over him so much. He hasn't realized he mattered enough to worry anybody, let alone someone as amazing as Will.

Will grabbed Nico's cold hands and gently pulled them closer to him.

"Because I care about you, stupid! You're strong, you're nicer than you realize, you're empathetic, you're smart, you're really cool, and-" The blonde stopped himself as he realized he was rambling, a bright red blush implanting itself onto his face. He even started to glow a bit, his demigod power activating itself in the midst of his fluster. "What I'm trying to say is that you're important. Now, let's get you cleaned up."

As Will bandaged and healed him, making that face of concentration that he had to begrudgingly admit he found totally adorable, the son of Hades was forced to think about what his friend had said. He was also forced to confront how it had made him feel.

Nico liked Will. He really liked Will. For gods' sake, every time the sun rose in the morning, he thought of him and his warm, bright disposition. He couldn't get that annoyingly adorable boy out of his head.

This was decidedly the wrong realization to make right as his newly found crush grabbed his hand to apply some salve. He promptly pulled it back, feeling his face get unusually hot.

"Hey, I know that the scratches probably sting a bit, but you'll need to tough it out for a bit so it can heal properly," Will told Nico with a smile while taking back his arm, seemingly unaware of Nico's internal panic at the contact.

"Ah...right...sorry."

Nico kept burning up every time Will had to grab him to change the position of his arm, apply bandages, or touch him in any capacity. He even caught his mind wandering, imagining a future with him, on the off chance that he somehow shared his feelings, but he didn't want to get his hopes up. Still, it wouldn't hurt to gauge exactly how the son of Apollo felt about him, right? The curiosity was about to kill him even quicker than his injuries.

"When you said that I'm important...uh....why?"

Real smooth, di Angelo, he scolded himself internally.

"Why do I care about you? Because you're my friend and I like you, duh!" Will smiled, as if it were the most obvious thing ever, as obvious as the sky being blue.

"You....like me?" Nico had no idea if that meant what he thought it did. He hoped so, but as he was never good with social cues, he wasn't sure.

Suddenly, Will seemed to become ever more focused on his work, his face becoming a bright red akin to a sunburn, his glow faintly warming Nico's skin with every touch even more than usual.

"Not in that way! Well, actually it kind of is in that way, but-" He abruptly cut himself off and sighed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

Nico didn't believe what he was hearing. He doubted whether he was understanding it correctly. If he was, however, then what he considered to be a wild teenage dream may have actually been true. Besides, if he was misinterpreting it, he could simply shadow travel himself to the underworld and never come back.

"It's okay, I like you too, if that's how you feel," He tried to whisper and be quiet with his words so that if Will didn't feel the same he could pretend he never said it.

"You...like me? Like, like-like me? Because I kinda like you in the way that I wanna pick you up and kiss you and I don't wanna do anything you're uncomfortable with and I don't even know if you actually like me the same way-"

Nico just responded by giving him a quick, sweet, gentle peck on the cheek. He did like Will in that way, and his insides were melting at the realization that his feelings were returned.

"I love you, Solace, if that's what you're asking."

He grinned for the first time in who knows how long. Will responded with a warm, rib-cracking hug that he happily accepted.

"I love you too. Like, a lot," Will said with a smile that turned his heart to jello.

That night, Nico slept comfortably in the arms of his new boyfriend who made the very intelligent decision, from the perspective of a medical professional and absolutely nothing more, that endless affection and cuddles were fundamentally necessary for the sake of his recovery, and that it would be in his best interest to stay the night in the Hades cabin. He couldn't have agreed more.