Personally, I think I'm amazing for having figured this out. I did so and started ranting to my friend, and if you're reading this Katrina, thank you so much for suffering me.

Basically, Will Solace has a cool last name and I feel like for once Rick made a cool last name that meant something important. Like, almost up to par with one of J. K. Rowling's names. ;) jk I love Rick Riordan (actually not so much after his last book, but...)

Note: I wrote this on the bus coming home from school and did not beta. (not that I ever do, but I know for a fact that Nico's a little OOC and that this is crap.)

Right. Enjoy, if that's something people do.

Solace: noun. Comfort or consolation in a time of great distress or sadness

i.

Nico usually had great command over his dreams. He could steer them clear of the Labyrinth and Tartarus, and instead keep them in happy places like Camp Half-blood. Today, however, was not one of those days.

What made it even worse was the fact that Nico wasn't even in the Hades cabin. (Although now that he thought about it, that could be why he was having trouble in the first place.) He opened his eyes, wet with tears, to see himself being shaken awake by no other than Will Solace. Nico was in the infirmary, and Will had woken him up before too many of the injured were awakened from their own sleep.

Nico tried to hide the burning of his cheeks and tears falling from his eyes, but the look on Will's face showed that he had already seen them.

"Bad dream?" He asked quietly. Nico only nodded.

"You know what my siblings and I do in the Apollo cabin when one of use has a bad dream?" Wlll said, just as quietly as before. Nico shook his head, feeling like a child. "Well, we either sleep in someone else's bed, since our own bed's got to have bad dream vibes, or have someone else sleep in our bed with us. Some people think they're too old for that or too mature, and they opt to talk about it or just not go to sleep in the end, but personally I find that cuddling with someone else always chases away the bad dreams." The look in Will's eyes suggested that not sleeping wasn't an option, sleeping in someone else's bed wasn't going to work, and there was no way Nico was going to talk about his dream. But there was also no way he was willing to share a bed with anyone, let along Will.

"You can trust me, you know." Will said after a few seconds of silence and tears. "I care about you. You're my friend." He said again, running his hand through Nico's hair in a way that reminded Nico a lot like Bianca.

"I'm fine." Nico lied, closing his eyes. In the silence and with his eyes closed, he could almost imagine that Will was Bianca, singing softly to him, "we've survived more terrible monsters than sleep, and you know I will be here to tell you to breathe."

"Then let's go to sleep." Will replied, sliding under the covers with him. He even nudged Nico a bit to make more room for himself. "You're freezing Nico." He turned to the side and wrapped his arms around Nico, pulling him closer.

Nico's head ended up snuggled against Will's warm chest, their legs entangled in what seemed to be Will's attempt at warming Nico's feet to a temperature above zero, and both of them fast asleep.

ii.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of." Were Will's first words as he entered the Hades cabin.

"Nothing to be ashamed of?!" Nico whirled around, sending his best glare at the boy standing across from him. "Do you know what I am?"

"Well, you're many things." Will replied carefully.

"I'm abnormal. An abomination. A disgrace, a horror, a—a—a monster!" Nico grabbed at his hair as if to pull it out. "People like me, in my day, they sent them to insane asylums! Tried to cure them! And they couldn't be cured."

"You do not have a sickness." Will snapped. "I am a healer, a physician, and I can tell you right now that you are not ill. You are perfectly fine, di Angelo. Homosexuality is not an illness, not a problem, nothing to be ashamed of."

"So you're not shocked at this piece of information that somehow got out? You're not uncomfortable with being alone in a room with me?" Nico threw his arms in the air and sat down on his bed.

"I… No."

"You hesitated."

"I'm not uncomfortable. The others might be, if we stay for too long—"

"Do not joke with me, Solace." Nico snarled in a very animal-like way.

"I'm sorry. It's just… It's not that big of a deal, Nico. You're taking this harder than any of us are." Will shrugged.

"It took Percy two months." Nico deadpanned.

"Because you told him you liked him. Anyone would be shocked at learning not only was his friend gay, but had liked him. True, Percy may have been too shocked, but…" Will shrugged hopelessly again. "Look, this doesn't have to change anything." He finally said. "I mean, you were gay before we became friends, the only thing is that now I know it. I mean, I had my suspicions, but now I know. And…" Will hesitated. "Well since you've been honest with me, in a way, I'll be honest with you. I'm gay too."

Nico's heart might have stopped.

"Really?" He managed.

"Yes. So whenever you call yourself a monster, or an abomination, you're calling me that too." Will looked Nico square in the eyes. "Now if this piece of information changes anything—negatively, at least—then I'll leave now and I'm not sure I'll ever come back." The thought of that seemed to scare Nico more than the idea that maybe he had a chance for once, so Nico shook his head.

"No, not going to change anything."

"Good. Now we can both tease each other about guys instead of girls." Will winked, but Nico had no idea what to make of it, so he decided to pretend it never happened.

"You never teased me about girls." Nico replied with a frown, instead of saying something about guys that would probably defy anything related to 'nothing changing between them.'

"Because I wasn't sure." Will muttered. "Now you're only making things worse for yourself if you just stay in here all day." He said, louder. "Go out there and show them that you're still you, no matter what, and you can still kill them with a glare if you really wanted to." Nico cracked a smile.

"In a bit." He said. "Can we just stay in here for a little longer?"

Will grinned and nodded, sitting down beside Nico on his bed and putting his arm around him. Nico tried to sense any difference in his touch, anything that showed how aware Will was that Nico might like him, but the arm was just Will's arm, the way it always had been. Nico laid his head on Will's shoulder and matched his breaths with Solace's.

iii.

"Hey, you alright?" Will asked, closing the door to the Hades cabin behind him. Nico ignored him, trying to even his breathing and sound as if he were asleep. "I know you're awake, Nico, it's mid-afternoon." Silence. "Missed you at breakfast and lunch today." Will tried. "Had no one to talk to, no one like my boyfriend." The words seemed to jab at Nico, poking him with guilt, but he didn't move, mentally willing Will to leave and let him mourn his sister in peace. Will knew it was Bianca's birthday today; Percy had told him, and he had approached Nico about it. Nico had confirmed it, stressing how important the day was to him.

"Are you going to say anything?" Will asked quietly, not obeying Nico's silent plea to leave. "You know you can talk to me about everything, right?" Nico felt the bed dip as his boyfriend sat beside him. Will sighed, lying down parallel to him so that his elbow brushed up against Nico's back. He tried not to flinch away, but Nico was suddenly very aware of every point where they touched; elbow to his back, feet against ankles. Sometimes it amused him how, although they were together now, there were times when the little things caught up to Nico and made him hyper-aware of tiny details about Will. Now was not one of those times.

If Will saw any of the tears silently making their way down Nico's face, he didn't say. He only lay there, silently, until Nico turned around to face him.

"I'm fine, now." He managed as Will moved to hug him. It was a bit awkward and the angle was weird, but Nico's face was buried in the crook of Will's neck and he knew there was no where else he wanted to be.

Can we pretend that this was meaningful and sweet? Thanks. I've never really done anything like this, so pls tell me how it was. Or if you have any other actually good ideas for situations wherein Nico might find solace in Solace, then just review or PM me I might continue if this ends up well and not a total flop.

Another note: i. was actually the third written, iii. was the first written, but I moved them around a bunch bc I wanted a 'friends' 'friends becoming more' and a 'boyfriends' thing.