Part 6

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot.

"That little fucker," Will groaned, rolling over in the empty bed with frustration. Nico would be the boyfriend that got off on seeing him in the most uncomfortable settings. He would be the one to leave him to enter breakfast alone after his father saw them going at it the night before.

Figuring it couldn't get much worse, Will pulled on some clothes and walked downstairs with the strict intent of not looking Hades in the eye. Conversation was in full swing when he found his way to the kitchen, but it stopped immediately at the sight of Will.

Nico was leaning over the counter, sipping smugly on his coffee. "Morning sunshine," he hummed. "How are you feeling? I'm feeling great."

Hazel's eyes went wide as she squeaked in alarm. Hades walked past Nico and smacked him on the back of the head roughly. "Stop it," he barked. "Will, how did you sleep?"

He slowly walked toward Nico, who was holding out a cup of coffee as a peace offering. "I slept great, thanks," Will smiled cheerily, trying to pull on the energy he usually used for his patients in the early morning. Hades hummed happily, and Nico pinched his side as he settled next to him, so he added, "Until Nico started stealing all the covers."

Persephone chastised him while Hazel and Hades both laughed. "Stealing runs in the family, huh?" Hazel teased, and Will smiled, surprised to find it wasn't as hard to do as it used to be. He didn't know if getting used to Nico's criminal ways was a good or bad thing.

"No. Just killing. Stealing is below us, isn't that right, Nico?" Hades said, shaking his head. "Honestly, Persephone, you should have seen him. I thought he was going to let the fucker shoot her."

"What?"

Will gasped, eyes turning to Nico, who was stiff and quiet next to him. His eyes were turned down, focused intently on his coffee. He offered a shrug.

"Y-you killed someone?" Will stuttered, hating the sound of the words coming out of his mouth. His heart was still, refusing to beat in the face of such horror. He didn't want to believe it. Nico wasn't a killer. He couldn't be. He was dark and dangerous, but he'd never take someone's life.

"Will, I-," Nico began, but Hades interjected first.

"He didn't know?" Hades snorted. "It's a big accomplishment, Will. To be honest, I was worried about passing this off on him without someone under his belt. The first is a lot to deal with, and if that were to happen when he's taken over…well, it could cause problems."

Ignoring his father's words, Nico turned to Will, eyes wide and shocked. "Will, I'm sorry. I – I didn't know how to-,"

He reached out, but Will stepped back. Those were hands of a murderer. Those were hands that undid everything Will worked to keep from happening every day. Even worse, those were hands of a liar.

"I asked you yesterday," Will breathed, eyes stinging with possible tears. For once, he felt no shame in showing emotion in front of the mafia members. He'd thought he was just weak compared to them, but he suddenly realized how stupid he'd been before. He'd let Nico manipulate him into thinking a life of crime was okay. He'd let him think he was just weak when in reality, he wasn't weak. He was compassionate and empathetic. Nico was the weak one for being heartless.

"I know," Nico began, but Will shook his head. Turning on his heel, he tore down the hall toward the exit, cursing how much of a maze their house was. "Will! Wait, please. Let me explain."

Will shook his head, wiping away fast-falling tears. Will made it back onto the street after nearly jogging away from Nico, but before he could escape completely, Nico wrapped his hand around his wrist and yanked him back against the wall of a building.

"Let me explain," he insisted, refusing to lessen his grip. He stared at him with those eyes that begged for forgiveness. All Will could think was they were the eyes of a liar and killer. They were the eyes that changed Will, and not for the better.

"You don't get to explain," Will hissed. "You're not who I thought you were. You're the weak one, Nico di Angelo. Not me. And I don't ever want to be brought down to that level."

Will shoved against him roughly and managed to break away.

"Will, please," Nico ran after him, yanking on his hand again, but Will stood his ground and waved down a cab. "I swear I was going to tell you. I just – I didn't want to lose you."

Will whirled on him, throat burning. Nico's eyes were red. He was terrified, Will realized. "When?"

Nico winced. He hesitated before saying, "A week ago."

Will laughed coldly. "You're a killer and a liar, and I didn't sign up for any of this."

Will got in the cab and slammed the door, but Nico yanked it open again. "Please, Will. I love you."

The words hit him like a brick wall. He couldn't breathe again. He wanted to strangle Nico because he loved him, too. He loved him so much that every inch of his body was urging him to tell him that, to run back into his arms, to forgive him and live the life of a criminal's boyfriend. He was willing to go against everything he'd grown to believe in. He was willing to lose everything for Nico.

But he refused to give him. The anger in his head, the betrayal, stung enough to knock him to his senses.

"Somebody loved the person you killed, too, Nico."

Then, Will yanked the door closed, causing Nico to stumble to his knees momentarily. Will took that time to tell the driver to hurry off. It took everything in him not to look back.

. . .

That evening wasn't bad. Will was so sure in what he'd done, it wasn't bad. He was heartbroken, but he knew it was the right thing to do. He could be angry, but only at Nico. It was when that evening turned into the next, and then the next, and Will was alone, feeling the hole tear its way through his heart that things got worse. The agony of knowingly loving a killer made guilt creep its way into Will's mind if he thought for even a second of trying to hear Nico out. It was a constant battle of pain, sorrow, guilt, and disgust. No matter how much he worked, he simply couldn't get out of his head.

As the days turned into weeks, his friends slowly started asking questions. They were originally walking on eggshells around Will, just like they had been for the time that Nico and he were together. Will supposed his moping behavior and lack of getting picked up every evening in a black SUV tipped them off that Nico was no longer in his life. Still, when they asked, he said things were fine.

Will hated himself for saying that. He hated himself more than he could have ever imagined hating anyone. He was so desperately dependent on having Nico in his life he couldn't even tell his friends what happened because there was still that small part of him wishing he could ignore it. Certainly, if Nico could ignore it, he could, right? He should have been lying out of shame, not out of pathetic hope.

He'd been so invested in his own thoughts he hadn't even had time to think about Nico's wellbeing. Of course, he did, but only to a degree. He knew he was upset with Will running off. He knew he was most likely torn apart at losing Will. He knew all that. He worried over that.

It was the killing someone that Will never considered would affect Nico. After all, it'd been a week before Will found out, and Will hadn't noticed any major shifts in Nico's behavior. He showed no signs of guilt. When he'd been apologizing, it'd been over lying, not over doing it.

Will assumed that without a doubt…until one day at a break around two in the morning, everyone's pagers went off.

They rushed to the ER, tugging on gowns as the sounds of the numerous ambulances grew closer. The mood was somber, and the information they got was scarce: suspected drug related explosion followed by a shootout.

Will's brain was in overdrive. He refused to let himself think about Nico. He wasn't any of his concern anymore. Nico didn't matter. He was a killer. If something happened to him, well, that was karma for him. Nothing Will could do would stop karma.

Still, it didn't stop his heart from racing. It didn't stop the sweat from accumulating until he had to change his unused gloves. It didn't keep him from shoving past the other interns to get a look at the first victim.

Will stood outside in the rain, watching as patient after patient was taken into the hospital. For a while, he didn't question it, but when there were only one ambulance left, he realized he'd been waiting for Nico this whole time.

It was a good thing he hadn't seen Nico yet, though. He tried to remember that, even if it went against his rule about not caring about murders.

The last ambulance emptied out another nameless face. There were fewer victims than Will had been expecting, really. He turned to head back inside and lend a hand to a coworker when the sound of tires squealing shook him out of his head. Along with two other doctors, Will wheeled around in time to find three SUV's roll into the ambulance bay.

Will's heart sunk. He recognized those cars. They were used by the di Angelo mafia only, and his fears were only confirmed as the doors flew open to a frantic looking Hazel.

"Somebody, please! He-he's boiling!"

Will rushed forward instantly, eyes going wide at the figure obscured in the dark car. He was writhing and screaming like his lungs would soon burst. There were a few other burn victims, but none that their whole back covered.

"Nico?" Will whispered, horrified at the familiar head of black hair that was currently being yanked to death.

"Will," Hazel pleaded. "He just ran inside! W-we knew it was going to explode, but – help him, please!"

Will blinked once before jumping into action. He couldn't think about anything else suddenly. "Get me a gurney!" Will threw over his shoulder. He looked at Hazel. "Any other injuries?"

Hazel shook her head, tears streaming down her face. Frank was behind Nico, throwing water on the burns every few minutes. "Okay. Frank, help me lift him."

Will hadn't heard Nico scream so loud before. His entire back was blistering and, as Hazel had almost accurately described, boiling. It was a mixture of second and third degree burns, it seemed. It wouldn't be so painful if there weren't second degree burns, like on his lower back and arms. His pants had been burned off, it seemed, but they had more or less protected his butt and thighs.

Finally, Will had Nico face down on a gurney, wheeling him into a private trauma room immediately. The treatment was laid out precisely for burn victims of this sort, which was relieving for Will. He was absolutely petrified, but even the amount of fear he held in his heart for the boy screaming below him couldn't cause him to forget something.

"Get an IV full of fluids in him. Send in another intern for debridement, and then get the plastic surgeon in here. He's going to need a skin graft." By the door, Hazel whimpered, turning her face into Frank's chest. Will felt annoyance prick at him, so he hissed, "We need privacy. Wait for him outside."

"But-,"

"Outside!" Will snarled, surprising himself with the venom laced in his words. Nico, through gritted teeth, raised an eyebrow in question at his tone. Will didn't feel the urge to apologize, though, and he watched Frank pull Hazel away without regret.

The nurse came back and placed the IV in his arm before going off in search of another intern. It was a lot of skin burnt. His burn ratio worried Will. The fact that Nico was still lucid and had't lost all the water in his system was a miracle.

"You can be a dick to me," Nico seethed, body shaking as he tried to force words out. Will was currently flushing the deeper wounds with water before he began the painful process of picking out the dirt and debris. "Don't need to be to them."

Will huffed hotly. "They're the reason you're here," he hissed without thinking about it. Pausing, he realized he had been short with Hazel without justification.

"That's on…me," Nico whimpered, feeling the way Will was currently picking through his raw skin. He had burn ointment he was laying over any freshly cleaned sections, but it only helped minorly. "I thought I could save them."

Will stiffened. "What?"

"Fuck," Nico cursed, clenching his eyes and taking a deep breath as Will picked out a pebble from his shoulder blade. "We found out…we got a bad batch of ingredients. Too concentrated or some shit. Went there to tell them, but…they'd already started. Meth." He slammed his head down again, and Will honestly wished he'd pass out already. His skin was finally cooling down, but the process had just begun. "We could see the smoke pouring out, but I saw people in there. So I went in and got blown right back out of the door. The survivors started shooting at the rest of them, thinking we planned it."

Will watched with agony as Nico's head turned on its side, his dark, scared eyes looking at Will with so much pain. "I did it again, Will. I killed more people."

His voice was thick and his words cracked at the end, and it was all too much for Will. His mouth dropped open, hands pausing in their ministrations because this was not what he'd been expecting if he ever thought about seeing Nico again. He always assumed Nico would be apologizing and begging for forgiveness and trying to get him back. Instead…Nico was so eternally broken.

"No," Will found himself saying, wishing he could touch Nico without causing him more pain. "No. It wasn't your fault. You didn't know."

His eyes were teary, and he didn't answer. He just stared at Will, so Will had no choice but to continue working. Soon, he was met with another nurse and an intern. Will looked at the nervous looking intern with cold eyes. Normally, he was good with teaching, but he wasn't going to give the intern any room for messing up here.

"All you have to do is notdrop your instruments or tear away good flesh, understand?" Will hissed, too wrung out and worried over Nico's spiking heart rate to care about his anger tonight. It seemed to be a common thread for him. "You literally can't mess up. If you -,"

"Will," Nico whispered, voice hoarse. When Will looked down, Nico rolled his eyes. Hesitantly, he reached a hand and rested it over Will's thigh. His face was pale, and those eyes were boring into him without mercy. "It's okay."

Will scowled. He couldn't help the words from flowing out of his mouth. "You might feel like throwing your life away, but I don't."

Nico blinked slowly, so Will went back to his task at hand. He'd moved on to the lower back before Nico spoke again, and when he did, it was in a whisper. "I didn't throw my life away."

"What do you call running into a building you knew was going to blow up?" Will snarled. The intern and nurse, who was currently adding in some pain killers to Nico's IV. "It's stupid, is what it is. It's reckless and dumb."

Nico was silent, pointedly looking at Will's chest. Will decided he didn't care who heard him at the moment. Even when he cried out in pain, he managed to not meet Will's eyes. So Will went back to focusing on his back, the sight of which made his heart cry out almost as loudly as Nico did.

"Saving someone won't make up for the lost ones," Will finally said. "I'd know."

And he really would know. He'd never killed someone, but there were far too many patients he felt he should have acted faster or knew better or just overall saved rather than lost. Losing patients came with being a doctor, but he still blamed himself every time. He understood the urge Nico felt. He understood wanting nothing else than going back and redoing it. He understood it better than Nico.

"I c-can't stop seeing his face," Nico suddenly whispered, voice cracking with tears that steamed down his face. He was so quiet, Will crouched by his face just to hear better, and it was like they were all alone again. "I didn't mean for it to happen. H-he was going after Hazel. I –."

Will understood now why Nico had so desperately wanted to explain. If there was a situation Nico would feel guilty in, it'd be this one. One where he was forced to shoot. One where his loved one's life was on the line. One where he was backed into a corner and now was trying desperately to retain some of the old him as he made his way out.

"I know," Will whispered, trying to whisk away all the pain. "I know. It's – it's okay. You had to. If he was willing to kill your sister, then you saved a life, one that's more important than his because, honestly, who could possibly be better than Hazel?"

Nico snorted, which quickly turned into a shout of pain. Will's head shot up to see the intern scrambling to pick up the instrument he'd let fall on Nico's back. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry-,"

"Out!" Will shouted suddenly, and even the nurse jumped at that. The intern went scrambling away, ensuring he'd rush the plastic surgeon in as soon as possible.

When Will looked back down, Nico's eyes were blinking shut. "Angry Will is…hot Will."

"Nico?" Will asked, lifting his chin for it to only fall back on the bed without any resistance. The heart rate monitor suddenly went beeping, starting to drop dramatically. "Nico! Nico, stay with me, okay? Fuck. Push more fluids!"

His blood pressure was alarmingly low, and it would only continue dropping as he kept losing fluid. He continued rapidly cleansing the burns, but they'd gotten through most of it. Will was seconds away from personally finding the surgeon when he burst into the room, surveying the scene.

"You shouldn't be working on this case," he said immediately as he reviewed the chart. "Too personal."

"But-,"

"I've got it from here. Go where you're less emotionally attached."

"Doct-,"

"Now, Solace."

And that was how Will found himself pacing outside of the OR hours later.

He didn't stop pacing even as Hazel found him. Instead, they paced together in the waiting room. He knew the skin graft shouldn't fail, but there was always the chance it just didn't take. If it didn't take, then it could lead to acidosis or infection or something so much worse Will didn't even want to think about it.

Finally, once Nico was safely out of surgery, Hazel and Will piled into Nico's room.

He was face down, but he still looked absolutely angelic. Without thinking about it, Will clutched at his free hand desperately, pressing his knuckles to his lips.

"You love him, don't you?"

The voice was grave and deep. It was one that used to scare Will, but it didn't anymore. He supposed around the time when Will blamed the entire mafia for putting Nico at risk constantly, for forcing him to murder someone was when he stopped being scared of Hades.

"Why do you care?" Will muttered, possessively gripping Nico's hand.

Hades sighed, leaning against the doorway. "You think I'm apathetic," he stated, no question in his tone. Will didn't look at him, not feeling like aiding what felt like a fight. "You think I care nothing of my son or daughter, or any life, for that matter."

Will straightened, not daring to do more.

"I get that, Will. I do. But aren't you just the same? It appears to me you care little for Nico. You turned at the first sign of darkness in my son without even sparing a thought about his feelings on the matter. The guilt that accompanies any kill, let alone the first, is immense, and as a doctor, I'd have thought you'd know that. And yet, you fled."

Will gritted his teeth. "What you do is wrong," he hissed, hating the defensive tone he took. When his eyes landed on a scrutinizing Hazel, he tried again. "I know. Now. And…I'm so sorry. I should have been there. I – I could have stopped this."

"How am I to believe that you're not the self-centered, egotistical doctor your actions have painted you out to be, then?" Hades strode forward, ripping Nico's hand out of Will's. Immediately, Will stood, facing Hades with a strength he could only describe as stupidity. After all, love made people downright dumb.

When Will could think of no better solution other than violently punching Hades, Hazel cleared her throat. Both of them turned to her meek figure as she stood on two feet.

"Father?" Hazel said with sweetness that her words immediately ruined. "Shut up. Will Solace is a good man with better morals than any of us. Of course he'd be shocked, and it was your fault for throwing Nico under the bus with no warning."

"That doesn't prove his-,"

"I had him surveyed!" Hazel blurted, looking at Will with wide eyes. Honestly, it didn't come as a shock to him at this point. "He's been as mopey as Nico. Hasn't been out since. Hasn't even smiled other than to patients…you can stop your scorn, okay?"

Hades' eyes were cold and analytical. He seemed to be regarding her words the same as he would when deciding how to transport drugs. Finally, after surveying Will harshly, he stepped back.

"Fine."

There was no apology, but Will honestly didn't want one. He was right about his selfish behavior, and he vowed to never act on such rash, impulsive thoughts again if this was the outcome of that.

Suddenly, a raspy voice whispered, "You never answered his question."

"Nico!" Will breathed, immediately falling to his knees so their faces were level. Nico's squished face was accompanied with open, honest, smug eyes. He wanted so badly to hug him. Instead, he settled with pressing their foreheads together and breathing in the scent he'd been craving.

"Well?"

"What question?" Will mumbled, too distracted by the relief of him waking up to care.

"Do you love me?"

Will's heart stopped, eyes going wide with confusion. "Isn't it obvious?" he said back, equally as quiet. Nico licked his lips, shaking his head to the best of his loopy abilities. The site made Will's heart swell, and soon, he rushed forward. "Yes. Of course, I love you, Nico you idiot. Too fucking much."

And then they were kissing, lips on lips, tongues swirling together, grins ruining a perfectly good kiss and making them giggle. Tears were streaming down both of their faces as Nico mumbled, "Good. I love you, too," against his lips. Then, he pulled back. "But my back really fucking hurts."

Will rolled his eyes, grinning widely as he kissed Nico again. He loved him, and that was that. Anything else was far less important to Will anymore. It would be tough to push past, but it didn't matter.

Nothing was bad enough to risk losing Nico.

A/N: Aw, well, now I believe I'm done. Sooo did anyone read/like it? I just felt like there was more story possible. Besides, most of my short stories have a little angst in it. Also, I think that's a very real thing for them to struggle with. I used to love reading Mafia stories, and I don't think I captured the family intimidation part as much as I wanted to, but...I tried. Lol I did once write an entire mafia story (not even fanfiction omg can you believe it?!) and it captured it a little better, but oh well.

This was a fun drabble, and I really hope to hear what you thought of it! If you like my writing, there's more Solangelo stories on my page so check them out!