Truth or Dare with Riordanverse Characters / mostly Solangelo

will/nico pov

Will POV

We all scattered out of the Poseidon Cabin, and subconsciously, I found myself trailing after Nico. But, until the son of Hades turned to face me, I'd barely noticed the habit.
           "Will?" His face was bleary through the dark. "What're you doing here?"
          "Uh, just- making sure you got back okay." I lied.
             "To the other side of camp?" Faintly I could see a smile small playing across his lips.
             "Yeah. The harpies haven't eaten lately, and, so-" I stammered.
            
              "Uhm, Will- I'm sorry I- I, kissed you." Nico interrupted, whispering as he slid his pale hands into pockets. Words got caught in my throat.
                "What?" I asked, trying to choke back the hurt in my voice.
               "Well I mean I know it was  the dare but that was Reyna's idea, and I just dragged you outside in front of everybody and then didn't say anything or even ask and--" I tried to interrupt Nico's spiral best I could,
           
                "No- it's okay," he started to slow down, looking back up at me. "You're fine, Nico-" I caught my own words, "I mean it's fine-- not your fine," his eyes started to glint mischievously, "--Not that you're not fine, but it would be weird if I said you were fine because your my friend-- so that would be weird," I took a deep breath, feeling like I could suffocate into dust just like the monsters lurking in the forest. "I mean not that us being friends is weird- it's not that either I-"
            Breaking through my horrible excuse of a sentence, I heard the sweet melody of Nico's laugh, echoing through my ears, sending electricity straight to my heart.
            "Will, Will--" he repeated. "I think I got it," he grinned, slowly adding, "but thank you." I nodded a bit too enthusiastically.
            
             Cutting off yet another exchange of awkward smiles, I quietly tried to excuse myself,
             "Anyways sorry I should probably get to my cabin, --morning shift in the infirmary.." I whispered, silently wishing Nico hadn't heard, and I could just stay put. To my dismay, volume control is not my strength, and Nico nodded understandably.
            "Well I'll see you tomorrow then," he smiled lightly, but I felt my hope sink.
             "It's a-" I started,
             "Six AM to midnight shift, I know. You should get going, or you'll never stay awake for that." Nico agreed. I started towards the Apollo Cabin after wishing Nico one last goodbye, trying to unpuzzle when he'd learnt my shift schedule.

Nico POV

Watching Will walk away was the strangest feeling I'd had in awhile. But, I knew I would see him tomorrow. Whether Will knew it or not.

See, since my 3-days-that-got-lengthend-to-10-because-'dr.solace'-is-stubborn-stay at the infirmary had ended, more than a few months ago.

Yet through some coincidence, (can't explain it honestly) I'd ended up there anyways most days Will had a shift. Maybe I pushed myself too far in Swordfighting class, Mrs.Oleary mistake me for a chew toy again --gods that was a not-so-fun trip-- or I managed to eat the only things I'm allergic too, "by accident".

Will, lucky for me, hadn't noticed. But he might now, since I kissed him.
Yay. Go Nico! You might lose another friend.
My heart pounded while I stared up at the void of the Hades cabin ceiling.
He did say he liked a child of Hades. My heart argued. If it wouldn't have killed me, I might've punched my heart in the face.
Let's not have this conversation. My brain decided, sending me to sleep.

Ah sleep, hell away from hell.
Yippee.

Shockingly, dreams didn't seem to chase me into the night.
          "Nico!" the only dream I'd clung to started to shout-- "Nicoo!" it complained.

Wait, can a dream complain? My eyes finally fluttered open, albeit unwillingly. Though, with a start, my head shot up out of the loose covers.

         "Will?!" I asked, looking frantically at the blonde haired boy. "Aren't you in the infirmary today?" "At six?" He nodded, smiling a bit faintly.
         "Shh," he sat down nearby me on the floor. "Yeah, I've got a few minutes," he added. I frantically looked for a clock of some kind,
         "It's before six?!" I scolded. He nodded,
         "Sorry Neeks, but you said I would see you today. Here you are, and here I am." He grinned. I frowned,
          "I thought Neeks was done..." I pondered. Will had woken me up just to say hi? Sucking in a deep breath, I looked back at the son of Apollo, shrugging myself out of bed at the same time.
          "I meant I'd see you in the infirmary, Solace, not that I wanted to lose sleep." He nodded awkwardly.

Will POV

I sighed, looking over at Nico for another minute. The dark brown wood walls of the renovated Hades cabin seemed to shine down at me, matching the marble black floor and white/black rug sitting on the floor. A multi-color blanket hung half on his bed, and half on Nico, wrapping the otherwise color-deficit son of Hades in a rainbow of safety. It was my "we redid your cabin" present to him, trying to force Nico into a bit of color. Brown, black, and white might've been an improved color scheme, but there was more color to be had.
        
In an attempt to stop stalling, I admitted why Nico was now awake hours before his usual time. 
           "I was going to leave you a note, ask you to maybe hang out later," I pulled the now scraggly paper from my khaki pockets. "But you were shaking when I came in and whispering something--" I faltered. Nico had talked to me-- a lot! But it was an uphill battle to get him to talk about his feelings. A 90-degree-angle, scaling a wall kind of hill.
           "Oh." He whispered.
           "Was it nightmares?" I asked, looking cautiously up at his brown eyes. To my surprise, Nico shook his head.
           "Usually." He nodded, as if that answered the question. Well, it did, but not really-- "I'm not sure why this was any different," he muttered. Well.
That answered both my questions then...
         
            "Okay," I nodded, trying to find a better answer then "okay." I was a doctor! Shouldn't I know what to do?
            "How- How'd you know?" He stammered. Atleast that I knew.
           "Percy, and Annabeth-- they came to the infirmary once with crazy nightmares. Figured it was from Tartarus..." I faltered, "I wouldn't be shocked if you had them too."

Nico nodded sympathetically, as if this was nothing new to him.
          "Well, sunshine, you better get going, it's already six. I, however, will be sleeping. Thanks for uh- coming by, I guess." He redirected me to the time. Really?
Trying to distract me? I glanced at the analog clock--

Schist. 6:08?? I was deader than dead.
But--
            "Well listen death boy. I'm going to see you later, and were gonna figure this out." I argued, rushing out the stiff wood door. I didn't mean for it to sound so confrontational, but I couldn't help but feel my head drift back to Nico, writhing from pain with nightmares. He never even brought it up! How could he never tell me that? I'm sure we could've figured something  out. Not make them disappear totally, but how was he just living with that?? Was he getting enough sleep? It did seem strange no matter how long he spent in his cabin from morning to night, Nico never didn't seem tired... And if it caused Percy and Annabeth so much pain, when they saw it all together, what was Nico seeing? Oh gods.
         
            "Will? Will!" "William Solace!" Kayla snapped, "What's with you? Cut me just a few inches from those bandages, quick!" I nodded and hurriedly started fiddling with the scissors.

More than ever, my shift couldn't end fast enough.

A/N
1304 words! Sorry I couldn't get this out sooner! It's been way longer than I meant. This is also not how I thought I'd take this, but here we are..it might take one/two more chapters before I finish this. Hope y'all are enjoying. As always, thanks! And keep reading.

(Also-- 400+ reads??? Thank you all so much!! I'm really glad to see people like these.)