This is for AlexandriaCFWJF, GoldenInkDrop (who helped inspire it), sarcastier, EveryKarmaLegend (who also helped inspire it), and TheLolz34!

Nico and Will walked down the street, hand in hand. They swung their arms and Nico was smiling. "Hey look! Starbucks! You want something?" Will said, halting oitside said store. Nico looked over and nodded.

"Sure! I'll wait out here, surprise me!" Will laughed and walked inside the store, holding onto Nico's hand until they were out of arm's reach. Nico laughed at his boyfriend's big goofy smile after he dissapeared inside the doors of the café.

"Hey! Princess! Is that your boyfriend?" A voice called from behind Nico. He turned and saw a boy walking toward him. He rolled his eyes and turned back around, tapping his foot and crossing his arms, waiting for Will to come back. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were a guy." The boy spat out. Nico kept his back to him.

Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder and he was spun around. "I'm talking you, faggot!" Nico grimaced and glared at the sound of that word.

"So what? I have a boyfriend. Get over it." Nico said, his voice a low growl.

"I'm not going to be over it, because it annoys me that you're gay." The guy said. Nico glared some more.

The guy shoved him. "Why do you have a boyfriend, huh? Why can't you be normal and like girls? Does your boyfriend even like you? I bet he's just messing you. I bet he's only with you because he feels sorry for you." The boy sneared. Nico felt tears well up on his eyes as the boy spat out the very thoughts that ran through his head every day.

"Go away." Nico said, cursing the tremor in his voice and the quivering in his hands and jaw.

"And why would I do that, you little shit? When making you feel as worthless as you are is so much fun." The boy smirked and shoved Nico, sending him crashing to the ground.

Nico looked up at him, struggling to keep the tears from his eyes and cursing the few leaked out. He didn't dare open his mouth to reply for fear of his voice cracking. He would not let this boy's comments get to him. Well, he wouldn't let it show that they got to him.

The boy kept throwing insults at Nico and shoving him away and to the ground every time he stood up. Before  he knew it, Nico had been backed into the alleyway next to the Starbucks and it was dark and it was only Nico and the boy and where the HADES WAS WILL-

Nico curled in on himself and his in the back corner of the alley as the bit started to kick him, the sound of his sneakers colliding with Nico's arms and legs ringing in his ears.

Will smile at Nico before walking inside the coffee shop, looking at the menu and trying to decide what to get Nico.

Well, Nico doesn't like coffee (fight me), so Will decided to get him a Vanilla Bean. Now he just had to decide what to get himself. Nico wouldn't kiss him if he had coffee breath, so another Vanilla Bean it is.

Now all Will had to do was wait in line.

And wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Will glanced out the glass doors, but there were plants and customers blocking his view of the sidewalk outside where Nico was waiting for him. Will furrowed his eyebrows. He felt like something was wrong, but he didn't know what.

Something just felt-

Off.

But it was almost his turn at the register, and if something was happening, Nico could take care of himself. It was Nico.

But if Will found out that Nico used his underworld-y magic to get himself out of a sticky situation-

Will ordered their two Vanilla Beans and went back to threatening his boyfriend in his head.

If Nico used underworld-y magic then Will was going to kick his ass and send him to the infirmary on bed rest for a week with a very long lecture awaiting him.

Will heard his name called and walked forward to crab Nico's and his Vanilla Beans before walking out the door.

But there was no Nico.

Will started to freak out.

The Vanilla Beans slipped from his hands.

What if Nico had used his magic and he had dissolved into shadows?

What if Nico was kidnapped by a monster?

What if Nico was-

Will stopped himself. Nico was fine.

He probably just went to use the bathroom somewhere.

Except-

Will had felt something off while he was in the store.

"Nico?" Will called, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Nico!" Will looked left and right. Where was his boyfriend?

Nico stayed curled in his little ball, tears slipping from his eyes and small sobs coming from his throat. The boy stood over him, laughing and still kicking him viciously. Somewhere, Nico thought he could hear Will's voice calling his name. But then Nico's arms and legs loosened and suddenly the boy had access to Nico's head and his stomach.

The boy immediately went for Nico's stomach and he bit back a cry when the foot connected with his ribs and he felt something break. He heard it too. A sickening crunch. And then the foot came to his stomach again and this time he couldn't hold back a scream.

The sound tore from his throat, unbiden, and the boy laughed again, smiling cruelly. "Nico!" It was definatly Will's voice.

"Will," Nico attempted to respond to his boyfriend but his voice choked in his throat.

"Shut up, dumbass!" The boy said, slamming his foot into Nico's skull. Again.

And again.

And again.

Nico's ears were ringing, his vision was fuzzy, and he felt something hot and wet in his hair.

The boy bent over and grabbed his collar, pulling him up and slamming him to the wall with another crack, making Nico scream again, his voice cracking as his throat was ripped raw. "This should teach you to be more normal." The boy threw another insult in his face.

Nico spat at him, a glob of something red and slimy landing on the boy's cheek. He took the back of his hand and wiped it away, leaving a small smear of red across his face and along the back of his hand. He then pulled a pocket knife from his jeans and flicked it open. "You just die. I'll help you with that." He plunged the knife into Nico's stomach just at Will came hurtling around the corner.

"NICO!" Will screamed. The boy glanced over at Will rushing toward him and dropped Nico to the ground, where he landed with an agonized gasp and a sharp intake if breath.

Nico squeezed his eyes shut and curled in on himself, pain burning in his abdomen and agony flairing in his chest. He hissed out shallow breathes and barely took any air in.

And he was so cold.

Then there were warm hands gently wrapping around him and a Nico opened his eyes to see Will's golden hair and brilliant blue eyes as the son of Apollo lifted him up and stared at him in worry.

"Don't sorry, Nico. You'll be fine. You have to be fine. Okay? Hang in there." The smooth voice whispered, obviously trying to contain his panic.

But those worlds had barely left his mouth when the fuzzy world started to go black and the ringing in his ears faded away to nothing.

Will heard a scream from somewhere, but he couldn't tell where it was coming from, or that it was Nico. "Nico!" He called, running toward where he thought the sound was from. The scream rang though the air again, and he knew that it was Nico.

Will ran toward the sound and dashed into an alley way just in time to see some boy stick a pocket knife into Nico's stomach. Will screamed his boyfriend's name and ran forward. The kid dropped Nico to the ground where he let out an agonized sound, and ran away, past Will and out into the busy street around a corner.

But Will didn't care.

All he could see was Nico curled on the ground, bloody and bruised and broken. Nico was shaking and there were tears falling from his closed eyes and his breathes were shallow hisses.

Will gently lifted Nico up in his arms and the son of Hades opened his eyes to gaze at Will. "Don't sorry, Nico," he said, "You'll be fine. You have to be fine. Okay? Hang in there." Will wasn't sure who he was trying to convice; himself or Nico.

Nico's eyes slid closed and Will swore, starting to run.

He had to get to Camp.

He blinked and suddenly he was stumbling out if the shadow of Thalia's Pine at the top of Half-Blood Hill. Help my son, Apollo's child. A voice whispered in his mind.

Thank you, Lord of Hades. I will do everything I can. Will muttered a prayer to Hades in thanks and then prayed to his own father that he would be able to help Nico.

Reaching the bottom the the hill, Will started yelling. "Help! Can someone help me!" Will was halfway to the Big House when Chiron emerged from the doorway in all his white horse glory.

He took one look at Will rushing toward him with Nico held rightly in his arms and galloped toward them. "Go get your brothers and sisters." Chiron said when he reached Will and Nico, scooping Nico from Will's arms. Will bit his lip in hesitation. A nervous tick he had picked up from Nico (Once again, fight me.). He stared after Chiron as he dissapeared back inside the Big House (that is where they have the infirmary right?), and then ran to his cabin to gather his brothers and sisters.

Running back to the Big House, his siblings in tow, Will tried to keep his nerves under control, but he was terrified. Nico was hurt, seriously hurt. And it was his fault. Will should have gone with that off-feeling, if he had then Nico wouldn't be so hurt.

Will burst through the doors of the Big House and followed the sound of Chiron's hooves clopping on the floor to the room where he had lay Nico down on a bed.

Will was kneeling at his side instantly. "Nico," he muttered, tears gathering in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Nico. I'm s-so sorry." Will brushed a strand of Nico's long hair out of his face before standing up and removing his emotions from his face and he started ordering his siblings around. "You, grab some ambrosia, and you, grab some nectar. I'm going to examine him and see what all needs fixing." His siblings rushed to do what he said.

Will turned back to Nico and started checking him over, seeing what was wrong.

He had a knife in his stomach, that much was obvious, he had four broken ribs, and maybe two bruised, he had multiple bruises already forming on his arms and legs, and Will had to grab a pitcher of water and a washcloth to clear off his head and hair before he discovered that Nico had a cracked skull and many little cuts. He was unconscious and Will didn't know how long it would take for him to wake up.

His siblings came back with the nectar and ambrosia and Will broke off a corner, gently feeding it to his unconscious boyfriend, then dribbled a little bit of nectar into his mouth.

Then Will shooed Chiron and his siblings from the room. He placed his hands either side of Nico's head and closed his eyes, his hands started to glow yellow as he started using his power to mend the cuts and the cracked skill. (We're just going to pretend this is how this works.)

He moved on and placed his hands on Nico's chest, working on the broken and bruised ribs. Then he moved to Nico's stomach. He pulled out the knife and then he used his powers to heal most of that wound. His powers didn't heal anything completely, just mostly.

Just as he was about to lift his hands from Nico's abdomen and move on to his arms, Will felt Nico sliding.

Not into death, but into a coma.

"No!" Will cried, lunging forward and holding the sides of Nico's head. "NO! Nico, come back! NICO!" But Nico was gone. He had slipped into the coma and Will couldn't get him out

"NICO!" Will's heartbroken scream rang through the air and echoed in his ears.

He could have saved him.

Word Count: 2138

Okay, so that was longer than I thought it'd be. But I hope I did a good job and I hope y'all like it!!

Yours in demigodishness and all that,
Annabeth_Jackson_12 <3