Solangelo Oneshots

When Will You Understand?

    Nico couldn't just adjust from trying to isolate himself at every turn to having Will want his attention like a pestering blonde puppy. He adored his boyfriend with everything he had in him, but some days he just didn't want to go to the lake, or the beach, or other cabins, or talk to Apollo kids at the med-bay. Some days, really most days, Nico wanted to become dead weight hanging on Will's neck and force him to stay in bed, playing silly card games and watching movies. Was that so much to ask?

   Apparently it was for the extroverted Will who rose with the sun, slipping from his boyfriend's grasp and going off in search of clean clothes that weren't wrinkled from sleeping next to the Ghost King all night. However, he had hardly made it to the wardrobe when a pillow was lobbed at his head from a clearly frustrated Nico who was now sitting up in his coffin-shaped bed with a deep frown. 

   Will barely managed to dodge the projectile, but turned around, raising a brow at Nico. "Something wrong?" He had learned Nico had trouble articulating his feeling, preferring being generally annoyed in favor of explaining himself.

   "Yes," His tone implied Will was stupid for even asking, rolling his eyes at his boyfriend. Of course, this attempt to look intimidating or angry was marred by the skull-patterned pajamas that hung off his relatively small frame as he crossed his arms, strands of raven hair falling into his eyes beneath the furrowed brow.

   Will paused in grabbing his shirt, turning back to his boyfriend who was now refusing to make eye contact....Gods Will adored him, but sometimes it was quite clear Nico had spent the years most people learn to interact with others, handle conflict, and explain emotion completely alone, and before that isolated in a casino. Times like this Will wondered if Nico's emotional intelligence wasn't limited to about a ten-year-old.

   "Neeks, would you talk to me? You do this, and it makes it very frustrating for me because I have to coax what's wrong out of you instead of focusing on the problem," 

   "Oh fuck off Solace! Quit using that damn doctor voice of yours like I'm a delirious patient!" Nico snapped, Will frowned taking a step forward.

   "Well, you're acting like an eight-year-old who's scraped their leg, so I'm meeting you there! If you want to talk like teenagers who have some sort of clue what's going on, we can do that," his southern drawl was becoming more pronounced as his brow creased.

   "Piss off!" Nico had no other response to give, and Will ran a hand threw his hair.

   "Fine, when you're ready to talk let me know," and with that Will stomped out, still in wrinkled yellow pajamas, leaving Nico to collapse back into bed.

    "Stupid, high on his horse, sunny ass..." Nico muttered to himself as he shifted over to his side, tugging the blankets around him so he disappeared within them. A clear pout was on his lip, one he wouldn't dare show if he had company, but it was an expression he slipped into often.

    Will had gone for breakfast, his tread still heavy and eyes stormy, but by the time he sat down with his siblings he already felt bad...he should've been more patient, maybe he really had done something to upset Nico for a valid reason and he'd just blown up instead of properly discussing the matter. Well, he had tried to discuss it, at leas there was that, he just didn't know how he was supposed to have a one-sided discussion on the matter.

   "Hey Will, where's Nico?" Annabeth had come up behind him, blonde hair tied back, orange shirt tucked into her pants in the front. Will sighed lightly but made his best attempt at a smile.

    "We got into a little argument, he's still in his cabin," Will explained, watching Annabeth's brow raise then a frown pull at her lips.

   "Do you guys argue often?" Will shook his head.

    "No, its just...when he gets upset he had a really hard time talking about it, and I know why, but he's still refusing to see a therapist or anything, and I also know why on that front, but it just...it gets hard sometimes," he admitted, slumping slightly, only to find Annabeth's hand on his shoulder.

    "That's fine Will, you're allowed to get upset, I know you're not the type of person to let it fester or brew, so it's alright. You spend so much time together, there's bound to be things that spark conflict, me and Percy get into arguments and sometimes we have to take a little time to cool off," she explained, watching as Will eased.

    "Yeah?...well thanks Annabeth," he smiled.

    "Anytime," she promised, walking off to Percy who was no doubt doing something stupid as per usual, Gods she loved that dumbass.

    Will sat there for a while, finishing his plate and making small talk with his siblings, even finding laughter hanging off his lips as he smiled. Maybe Annabeth was right, getting away for a little, letting them both have a breath, it was a good idea. After all, maybe Nico just needed more time than the average person to put his feelings into words, and he didn't want to rush him.

   So, the day was spent playing volleyball, training, watching Percy dramatically flirt with Jason as a joke only to have Piper sweep Annabeth away and leave him dumbstruck as the girls giggled, and overall quite a bit of fun. Despite this, he still missed his Ghost King, and went to fetch him as dinner approached, but his cabin was empty.

   The woods was the next place he checked, and sure enough Nico was there, petting Mrs. O'Leary with his sword sheathed and a plate of armor on.

   "Hey Neeks," Will called, and Nico looked up, blinking.

   "Hey I'm uh....I'm sorry about earlier," he admitted, and Will smiled. Yeah, he had just needed some time, once again Annabeth proved to be right.

   "Don't worry about it, do you want to talk about what got you mad in the first place?" Will asked, taking a seat in the grass, and extremely pleased when Nico joined him, placing himself on the carpet of sweet-smelling greenery.

   "Yeah, its just..." Nico searched for a second, and Will waited patiently. "I know you really like being around people, and that's cool and all, I mean I don't want to take that away from you...but I don't. A few hours is fine, but all day every day around people just really tires me out, then I feel like an asshole," the admission was made while Nico studied the grass as if it was somehow now extremely interesting.

    "Oh, I'm sorry Neeks I didn't know," and he hadn't, to Will being around people was energizing, the more the merrier, he loved conversation, small talk or otherwise. Guilt sat on him as he looked back and recalled how quiet or irritable Nico would get after a day spent in a crowd, how some nights he would request to just be alone and Will had always assumed it was because he wanted to sleep.

    "How 'bout you tap me on the shoulder or something when you get tired of people and I'll make you an excuse to leave," Will offered. "We can go off together, or just you, or whatever,"

   Nico smiled, he'd carried it for so long, and it figures his sunny boyfriend would be perfectly fine and solution oriented about it. "That sounds good...thanks Solace,"

   "Anytime death boy,"