Three days in the infirmary a Solangelo Fanfic

Opening up

Nico

I heaved a big sigh, Will's words reverberated in my skull 'It is my business, Nico, you keep telling me you're ok. You clearly aren't. I'm going to ask you one more time, what's wrong?'

I knew that I had to accept what had happened to me, maybe I could trust Will. "It's not just a long story, it's really heavy. And it's also not your cross to bear, it's mine. And if I told you it would scare you away."

"Nothing you say will ever drive me away, Nico, can't you see I care about you? I'm here for you, so please, talk to me." Will then moved out of the chair and onto my bed, wrapping me into a warm hug. I was really glad that the curtain was shut around us, I didn't want to share this moment with anyone else.

"Ok, uhm, I guess I should go to the very start then." I took a deep breath, and relished what was probably the last time Will would not hate me. "So when I was younger, around twelve, Zeus killed my mother. Then Bianca and I were put in the Lotus casino for what we thought were two weeks. But in reality, it turned out to be over sixty years. Which would be why it's hard to tell people how old I am, biologically I'm fifteen. But chronologically I would be over seventy years old."

"So that's why you put a question mark next to age." Will said with realization hinting in his voice.

"Yeah, that would be why. So then Percy showed up and Bianca joined the hunters of Artemis. They went on a quest, and Percy promised to keep her safe." I was starting to get emotional, a tear dripped down the side of my cheek and I hid my face from Will. But he took my face in his comfortingly warm hands and made me face him, he wiped the tear off of my face and said, "It's ok, do you want to keep going, or do you want to stop?"

"No, I need to talk about this. I would've talked with Hazel but whenever I talk about Bianca she always gets a little hurt." I took a rattling breath and continued, "Bianca died trying to get me a mythomagic figurine, it's a stupid game and I stopped playing after she died. Then I left camp and learned about my heritage and how to use and grow my powers. I came back to help with the second titan war and no one bothered to thank me. Everyone was obsessed with Percy, even me. I didn't think that that had hurt me, but it did."

"Neeks," Will said in a really soft voice, "Thank you, I didn't know."

"There's a lot more, like I told you, it's a really long story."

"Ok, please, continue." Will re-situated himself. Now he had me in between his legs with my back to his chest, his arms were wrapped protectively around me and he rested his chin of my head. I've never felt safer.

"So then I stayed at camp for a while, until I had to leave again."

"Why'd you leave?"

"No one wanted me here, I was an outcast, still am. Nobody liked me, not even myself."

"I like you, I wanted you here." 

I blushed, "That-that means a lot, Solace. It's nice to know I'm wanted by somebody. So when I left I went to the underworld to go looking for Bianca, I was going to sneak her through the doors of death since everything was going haywire. Only to discover that she had chosen rebirth, instead, I found Hazel. My dad told me to bring her to Camp Jupiter and not to tell either of the camps about the other." I stopped, I was expecting some kind of judgy remark but got nothing. Nothing other than Will starting to rub soothing circles on my hand. 

"You wanna keep going?"

"Yes. So then I joined the Argo II group and...." I got cut off.

"No, you skipped a really big gap of time. What happened during that time?"

I guess I was not getting off easy, "During that time I went through Tartarus alone trying to see if I could find the doors of death and close them. Instead of being successful I was trapped by two giants and put into a jar with no air, food, or water for six days. I only survived by going into a death trance and eating one pomegranate seed a day from my step mom's garden. Then the Argo II group found me and saved me. I tried to help them but all that happened was me getting hurt. I went on a quest with Jason and got forced into admitting my old crush on Percy by Cupid and then I had to shadow travel a giant statue across the world with a grumpy old goat and the only other person on earth who cared to get to know me." I had ended up ranting to Will about everything and was only now starting to register all that I had said.

I started to try and slip out of Will's grip so I could hide but all he did was tighten his hug on me, making it impossible to get away.

Will

Oh. My. Goodness. I was not expecting that. I don't think he was either, Nico just admitted to being gay. I mean, I did register everything else and that meant the world to me. I knew that I had to protect Nico with my life now, I would never let anything bad happen to him. But I was rather focused on the fact that Nico was gay.

He turned around to face me to find that I had a huge, dopey, grin on my face. I realized that I should probably explain the look on my face, "Nico, did you just admit to liking guys?" I said it calmer than I thought possible.

I saw a blush creep up on his neck as he said, "I did, but I don't like Percy anymore. And you can't tell anyone. And I like someone else now." 

"Is it another guy? Who is it?" I just had to know who it was, now that I knew he was gay I had a chance. But if I could get him to admit to liking me then maybe, just maybe...