Everyone Deserves to be Happy (Solangelo)

Dreams and Delight- Though Not in That Order (Nico)

Will wanted to kill every monster that had ever threatened Nico. He wanted to slap Hades in the face for everything Nico had gone through. And most of all, he wanted to duel Percy Jackson for breaking Nico's heart. And Nico's heart was really the problem, at this point. Will knew it was a ridiculous fantasy. After all, how could someone like Nico ever love someone like him?

He didn't deserve it.

He could never kill those monsters, he would never have the courage to even walk up to Hades, much less slap him.

He could never beat Percy Jackson.

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Nico was rather bored.

Being told to 'rest' didn't leave much to the imagination. On top of that, he didn't bring a book, and there was no one to play Mythomagic with.

He wanted Will to come back. He never thought he'd have a friend like Will. Hades, he never thought he'd have a friend. Period.

Being a child of the underworld came with a lot of power. Death was arguably the strongest force in all of creation. To destroy is much too easy. But that power...it didn't make people like you.

They were wary of that di Angelo boy. They avoided his eyes, as if sharing a civil conversation with a child of Hades would somehow make them evil. Hazel was different. She was warm and kind, and people saw her not as Pluto's daughter, but as just Hazel Levesque.

Nico had not found himself capable of being anything but cold since his sister, his real sister that he had grown up with, died. Hazel...she was wonderful. Really, she was. But she couldn't love him the way Bianca did.

It seemed no one could love Nico di Angelo. The ones who tried, well...everyone knows what happens to someone associated with Hades.

Nico laughed bitterly, casting his gaze about the room.

But then, something made him stop. The harsh expression painted on a face much too young to be filled with so much pain melted away.

The daffodils, bright like sun, brought to mind the image of a certain son of Apollo.

Nico felt his mouth form a little smile as he put together Will Solace's features in his brain.

His waves of blond hair framing a elf-like face with twin deep blue irises sparkling with laughter. His nose like Julius Caesar's (though Caesar wished he was as handsome as Will), beautiful mouth the slight pink of a spring rose. He was tall too, much taller than Nico, and Nico swore he was the only one that a Camp Half Blood shirt looked half decent on. Though, of course, he was usually in surgeon's scrubs. But surgeon scrub's wildest dreams were to be in Will's wardrobe.

Will, he was different than anyone else Nico had met. Not even the spirits in Elysium had the heart that Will Solace possessed. They were heroes, yes. But no fighter could compare to a healer.

No child of Hades could compare to Will Solace.

And yet...Nico found himself totally, helplessly, unbearably, gorgeously, in love with him.

This wasn't like the way it was with Percy. It didn't hurt the way that Nico that lifetime ago when he was a scared little kid looking for his sister. It didn't tug at his soul, threatening to rip it in half.

The image of Will brought Nico peace. Instead of feeling hollow, his love filled him up inside until he was ready to burst with all the unsaid declarations.

Nico knew that Will couldn't love him. He probably didn't even like guys. Like. In general.

Or did he? a voice that sounded quite a bit like Hazel said. His mind went on overload, replaying every conversation he'd had.

"You don't think I could stand to see a friendly face?"

What if he meant-? But no. Will was just being kind. He couldn't feel the way Nico did. It didn't compute.

Nico vaguely realized he had been pacing for over half an hour. He was suddenly quite tired.

Nico threw himself down on the bed with a sigh. Why do people have to have EMOTIONS?

It's so easy for everybody else. Who else could know what it's like?

And with that uplifting thought, Nico fell into a deep sleep. It was like his brain just flipped the switch to OFF.

But of course, there was no way the gods would let it be peaceful.

Nico's dreams had always been chaotic. They were usually reliving old battles, violent deaths, messages from shades. Lovely things like that.

But this was a different experience than he'd ever had before.

He was sitting a living room, watching as an older woman picked up a child, whispering to him softly about heroes. Then, she proceeded to move to place the baby into the fireplace. Nico rushed forward to separate whoever the Hades this woman was from the child. But he found himself stuck a foot from the scene. He watched in horror as the baby crawled into the coals. But nothing happened. The child was fine.

What in the-? Nico started to ask, but scene was already switching, moving a blur like extra fast forward on a T.V.

The child was sitting on a bench, and the same woman, Tia Callida, the boy called her, was with him. He saw her face, and instinctively knew who she was.

Hera.

He watched in fascination as the boy drew a picture of a flying boat with a dragon masthead, and started to sign his name. L.

Nico gasped. This was Leo. He was seeing Leo's life. That boat was the Argo II.

But why? Why were the gods showing him this? A cruel joke? A monument to Leo Valdez?

The dream fast forwarded again, to when Leo was older. Nico could only stand by, frozen in horror, as Gaea started a fire in a warehouse where Leo's mother was trapped, and the appeared to taunt the crying child.

Then there were more images, a montage of Leo's life.

Nico saw Leo introducing himself to kids in the foster home, joking so they wouldn't pay much mind to the new kid.

He saw Leo sitting in a sewer, the darkness and rumble of cars hiding his sobs.

He saw Leo walking into Camp Half Blood, trying to add humor to the situation so he wouldn't seem as scared.

He saw Leo rebuilding Festus, taking so much care in each piece.

Leo was in Rome, defending Hazel and Frank from automatons.

And finally, Nico saw Leo on an island, kissing a beautiful girl and then promising on the River Styx to be back for her. And then he saw Leo flying away on Festus, off into the distance with...Calypso?

Nico woke with a start, his eyes opening and immediately closing again as the light burned into his dilated pupils.

He sat up, mind ablaze with the revelation.

Leo Valdez was alive.

And Nico was going to find him.