Will walked out of the room, his eyes alight with happiness. He'd gotten Nico to eat something, that was a small step on the road to recovery but it was going to take more than a few bites of food to get the boy back to normal. That's what the next three days were for, to help Nico and to possibly confess his love for him.

The medic shook his head, he could think about that later. As Will adjusted his stethoscope and grabbed a bottle of water, his best friend and brother came running over to him. 

'Hey Will!' The boy said, his dark hair flipping side-to-side. 

'Hey Austin! What's up?' Will said, turning around to greet that darker-skinned demigod. 

'You sure you want to take the night shift, I can do it if you want?' 

'No, Austin. That's alright. You go on to bed.' Will said, thinking back to how much he wanted to see Nico.

Austin nodded and went back to his cabin. Will quickly walked back to Nico's room and saw the boy peacefully asleep, the plate of food kept aside. He sat down in the wooden chair and gazed at the son of Hades. Gazed at how soft his features became when he was asleep, the slight part of his lips, his black hair even messier than before.

'Oh Nico, if only you knew how much I cared.' Will sighed, kissing Nico on the forehead and sat back in the chair. He closed his eyes, letting sleep take over, but not before he caught one last glimpse of his angel. 

***

Nico sat up and rubbed his eyes open. Thankfully, no nightmares had plagued him last night. 

'Hey Death Boy! Up already?' Will said, smiling and cutting off Nico's train of thought.

Nico relaxed at the sight of Will's face, he only wished he could see that smile every morning though. 'What time is it?' He asked, sitting up.

'It's nine in the morning. We missed breakfast. I got us pancakes, though.'

'We?'

'Well, I had to supervise my favorite patient, now didn't I?'

'F-favorite?' Nico asked in shock. He was someone's favorite? 

'Yeah, what did you think, Sunshine? That I hated you?'

'N-no, it's just that I've never been anyone's favorite.' The other boy replied, honestly.

'You're my favorite. Now eat up, doctor's orders.' Will said, gesturing to the  two plates of pancakes on the bedside table. The son of Hades was really Will's favorite though, with that snarky attitude, the long black hair, big brown eyes... Oh, he was definitely Will's favorite.

'So, another checkup today?' Nico asked, moving the hair from his face.

'Of course, and remember no Underworld-ly stuff. Doctor's orders.' Will replied, shaking his head. Will swore to the gods that if the idiot got himself killed because of his nonsensical shadow-travelling, he would go down to the Underworld and kill Nico again.

'Right, right.' The brown-eyed boy said, rolling his eyes.

'Good. Now eat Neeks. I can't have you walking out of this infirmary and still being so thin.'

Nico sighed and started eating. As Will took a spoonful from his plate, he asked, 'Will, you do know that compared to all the people in this place, I have no reason to be here, right?'

'Yes, you do. Those werewolf scratches are wounds that have to be taken care of. You barely eat, your condition after each Underworld-ly thing you do is sickening and don't get me started on your emotional condition.' Will said, rambling on and on. He could talk about Nico's medical conditions for days, but right now... He had to fix them. Rambling he could do later.

'Emotional condition? What emotional condition?'

'Nico, do you know why you skip every other meal, why you insist that you don't need a healer?'

Nico didn't reply, he knew the reason though. His depression, stress and anxiety had completely messed up his eating and sleeping habits. 

'You know why, Nico. Don't say otherwise. Just remember, that if no one else is here when you need them, I will be.' Will said. He smiled and got up from his chair. After grabbing the plates, Will said he had some work to do.

'W-wait, Will.' Nico said, as Will was about to leave.

'Yeah, Sunshine?'

'C-can you stay?' Nico asked. He could feel the blush rising to his cheeks but sadly, he couldn't control blood or tell his stupid blood cells to stop moving. He prayed to whatever god to make sure Will didn't see his blush.

The son of Apollo laughed an airy laugh and said, 'You look like a tomato, Neeks. Yeah, I'll stay, what's up?'

'Nothing, I just feel alone without you.' Nico said as Will sat down.

Will smiled, he too was blushing now. 'Why don't you change into something else?'

Will opened up the bedside drawer and removed an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt and a pair of jeans. He tossed them to Nico and turned around.

Nico quickly changed and said, 'Will, you can turn around now.'

Will turned back and gave Nico  one of those "light up the whole room" smiles. If Nico was a slab of ice, he would've melted into a puddle. A puddle of darkness, apparently.

'So, what do you want to do?'

'Checkup?' Nico asked.

'Hm... nah. I'll do it later.' Will replied. 'Let's just talk.'

Nico nodded as he asked Will when his other friends could visit. The word slipped off his tongue uneasily, it wasn't one he used much.

'Tomorrow. I would have them come earlier, but my Death boy needs his rest.' Will replied and immediately yelled at himself. My Death Boy? Really, William, really?? 

'Ok.' Nico said, not realizing Will's little slip-of-tongue. 

'I meant to ask you, you don't have to tell me though... But, what did you tell Percy?' Will said and then added, 'The dude looked like a fish out of water.'

'Oh, uh...' Nico replied but was cut off as Will said,  'Only if you want to tell me, Nico.' Will responded.  

'I used to have a crush on Percy.' Nico said quickly, with his head down. 

'Y-you're g-ga-ay?' Will asked, dumbfounded. Nico was gay, there could be a small chance he liked Will. But then again, Will and Nico were complete opposites. But, people say opposites attract, right? But then again, the sun and the shadows?? It would make a great combination in Will's head but what about other people?

Will's overthinking was cut off when Nico grumbled, 'Great, now even you think I'm a freak.'

'Hold up, a freak? Nico, you are not a freak.' Will replied, assuring the son of Hades that there was nothing wrong with him. 

'Yes I am, Will. I like...boys.'

'And exactly what's wrong in that? There are a lot of gay campers, some of my siblings are. Kayla back there, she's bi.' Will said, smiling softly. Of course there was nothing wrong with Nico being gay... That was great, actually. Now at least, there was a chance... The medic sighed internally. Maybe.  

'There's really nothing wrong with it. And anyways, if someone says something, just let Piper know.'

'Piper?' Nico asked, his eyebrows knitting in confusion.

'Yeah, she'll charmspeak them into jumping off a cliff.' Will said, smirking mischievously.

Nico snorted and asked, 'There's really nothing wrong?' After living in the 1930's for a part of his life, he was still a little scared of the idea, but Will made it seem like there was nothing wrong with his sexuality.

'No, Sunshine, there's nothing wrong.' Will replied, smiling.

Nico was about to say something about the horrendous nickname but thought better of it, if anyone was going to call him "Sunshine", it would be ok if that person was Will Solace.  

'You want to go on a walk, Neeks?' Will said suddenly as Nico nodded his head and carefully stood up. The blond boy flashed him another smile and took his hand, leading him out of the infirmary. As they walked, Nico realized that maybe there was nothing wrong with him being gay.