The Canons of Ships

41: Solangelo

Nico woke from his nightmare sobbing. He ignored the tears that were rolling down his cheeks, and buried his head into his pillow, trying to get rid of the torturous images firmly imprinted in his head.. He became aware of someone rubbing his back and whispering softly to him.

"It's okay, Nico," Will whispered into his ear. "I'm here, nothing is going to hurt you. You're safe. It's okay."

Nico peeked up to see the outline of Will's face watching over him. It was dark outside, probably late at night, or very early morning. "Will?" he choked out through his tears. "What- what are you doing here?"

"I said I'd stay, remember?" Will said, still rubbing the small of Nico's back.

Even though Nico didn't like being touched, he found that he could tolerate it. It was soothing, and Nico could feel himself relaxing. And now that Will mentioned it, a hazy memory of last night came back to him.

Will and Nico had been playing Mythomagic. Nico had been teaching him. While Will was good, Nico was better. The son of Apollo was getting frustrated that he couldn't win and kept demanding rematches. Nico found it amusing that he kept trying so hard, so he decided to let him win a few games.

Finally, Nico yawned. Will had looked up to see the dark haired boy rubbing his eyes furiously.

"Tired?"

Nico shook his head. "Nope, wide awake. Mmm, Dionysus." He threw his card down on the pile.

Will eyed him suspiciously. "Poseidon," he said, throwing his card down but not looking away from Nico.

Nico stifled another yawn and shook his head, blinking quickly. "M-minotaur."

Will set his set of cards to the side. "Nico, you need to go to sleep. You look like you haven't slept in days."

"I'm fine, Will. It's your turn."

"No you're not. I'm a doctor, remember?"

"And I'm fine," Nico insisted. Will raised his eyebrow. Nico sighed. "Fine. I can't go to sleep."

"Why not? I have chamomile tea if you need; I'll go make-"

Nico shook his head. "No, it's not that I can't go to sleep... I just can't."

Will blinked. "Oh," he said, finally understanding. "Nightmares?" Nico nodded. "How bad?"

Nico's bottom lip quivered. "The worst."

"I'll stay with you," Will offered.

Nico blinked in surprise. "Really? You'd do that... for me?

"Of course," Will smiled. "Now get in bed."

Nico obliged and wriggled under the covers and laid his head on his pillow. He felt a bit awkward, being watched by Will the whole time. Seemingly satisfied that Nico had followed his orders, the blonde boy turned off the light and clambered into bed besides the dark haired boy.

"What are you doing?" Nico asked.

"I said I'd stay with you, and I'm not sleeping on the floor," Will told him, sounding amused.

"There are other beds," Nico said against his will. He didn't really want Will to go away.

"I know," said Will simply, and slipped under the blanket.

Nico stiffened slightly when Will's arms snaked around him. If Will noticed, he didn't care. He started to hum a lullaby in Nico's ear. Nico lost the tenseness in his shoulders and could feel himself melting in the older boy's embrace. He started drifting off, Will still humming under his breath.

"Please don't go," he mumbled sleepily.

"I won't," Will said.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

That was the last thing Nico heard sleep enveloped him.

"Oh," Nico said. "Thank you."

He rubbed the heel of his palm on his eyes, trying to get rid of the tears, even though Will had already seen them.

"Wanna tell me what it was about?" Will asked gently, wiping away a lone that had escaped Nico's eyes.

"Tartarus," Nico whispered after a moment's hesitation. "Just like every other night."

Will remained silent, whether it was out of shock or simply not knowing how to respond was unclear to Nico. He just kept rubbing his back.

"Will, why did you stay?" Nico asked quietly after a while.

"I promised," Will told him.

"So? You could have gone anyway," Nico persisted.

"But I didn't. That's what love is. Keeping the promise," Will responded.

Nico almost fell off the small single bed in shock. "What?"

"That's what love is," Will repeated. "Keeping the promise."

"You- you love me?"

Nico could almost hear Will rolling his eyes. "Yes, Nico. I love you."

Nico smiled to himself in the darkness, and wriggled closer to Will. "Say it again."

"I. Love. You," Will whispered into his ear, pronouncing each word slowly.

"I love you too," Nico blurted. Thank the gods it was dark, because his cheeks went bright red.

"Good that," Will chuckled. "Now go back to sleep."

Nico nodded and placed his head on Will's chest. Will stopped rubbing his back and started running one hand through his dark raven hair, while keeping one arm wrapped tightly his waist.

"I'll keep you safe, just go back to sleep," Will murmured in his ear. "I'll stay here. I'll always stay."

And with those words, Nico slipped into his first dreamless sleep since arriving at Camp Half-Blood, but not before he felt the gentle kiss that Will had placed on his forehead.

"I'll stay with you."