How Icarus Fell From the Sun (a Solangelo fanfic)

mia saw the devils tango boys be careful

The next two days went by all too quickly for Nico. He stayed up on the second floor to rest for the majority of the time, leaving only for what Will was calling "Mandatory Social Hour." Will would bring him breakfast, lunch and dinner from the dining pavilion. He was busy, but somehow both days, he made time to eat lunch and dinner with Nico.

During dinner, he also found time to gossip with Nico about everything he was missing- while watching carefully to make sure he was eating enough. Pranks by the Hermes cabin- ten drachmas for a correct guess about who from,- hexes from the Hecate cabin, Katie Gardner wrapping weeds around Travis Stoll's ankles to trip him after he died all the grass on her cabin roof bright pink.

To his surprise, Nico found himself actually laughing, and looking forward to Will's visits by his third day in the infirmary. Both days, after eating, the boys would head outside and help Will's siblings set up the campfire, and participate in the sing-along. Then, they would help clean up and make their way back to the infirmary.

On the second day, Will didn't bring up what had happened the night before. He simply brought Nico up to the second floor, did a few simple tests to make sure he was okay, and then got into the cot with him yet again, this time making contact immediately and wrapping an arm around him in the dark. Nico was too tired to protest.

The third night, however, was different.
Nico and Will were walking back to the infirmary, and Nico watched as Will's brows furrowed, and his lip curled up slightly. By now, Nico knew that that meant he was in deep thought.

"Alright, Solace?"

"Yeah, I was just... I was just thinking about the other night, when Aphrodite visited." He turned his head towards Nico. "It's just that you're free to go or whatever tomorrow. But we still haven't talked about what happened. And I think we should"

Nico visibly cringed. He had come so close to forgetting.

"I know you won't want to hear it, but-" Will hesitated. "But I think it might help you. I know you've got a lot of shit in your head that you don't talk about, but maybe you can tell me."

"Gods, Solace, I'm fine." Nico said, agitated. "It was probably just some weird effect of all of that nectar. You did give me an ungodly amount. Which is saying something." Nico uncharacteristically cocked his head, smirked, and laughed. He knew he was deflecting, and he saw that Will could tell too.

"Even if that's it, you went through some traumatizing shit, Nico. It'd do you some good to talk about it. Just to me. Please, Sunshine?" Will pushed.

Nico rolled his eyes, and cursed every god he could name- which, after years of playing mythomagic, was a lot- for Will's ability to make puppy dog eyes at him.

"Whatever. If I put up with it for today, can we never talk about it again?"

Will raised an eyebrow and squinted slightly, his face illuminated by the light of the Apollo cabin as they walked past it. "That depends on how it goes. But if it'll get you to agree, then... yes."

Nico groaned, and didn't respond. They walked together in silence until they reached the second floor of the infirmary. Mia sat at the security desk again, reading the same book she had been a few days. "Hi, lovely! The patients in rooms 14, and 3 have been dismissed, and Clovis is now in room 12." She said, smiling brightly.

"Thank you, Mia." He smiled back, grabbing Nico's arm and pulling him towards his own room. "How is Clovis? That was a nasty accident with the lava wall."

"Sleeping it off as usual." She giggled. Nico hated her bright, bubbly face. He didn't understand how someone could be that happy all the time.

"And Butch?"

"He's doing great! He managed to walk all the way down the hall and back today. He should be ready to go by tomorrow night."

"Glad to hear it. Goodnight, Mia."

"No need to say goodnight just yet, silly. I'm going to sleep upstairs today, there's a bunch of paperwork that needs to be filed. I'm sure I'll see you up there whenever you turn in."

Will hesitated. "Yeah. Yeah, okay. See you." He nodded goodbye to Mia, pulling Nico into the room with such force that they ended up face to face inside the room as the door slammed, Mia's eyes wide at the scene before her, visible only for a second, Wills arm around Nico's waist to catch him, their faces centimeters apart. They stayed like this for seconds, and likely too many of them. Then Will turned bright red and pulled away, coughing. Nico's stomach started doing cartwheels, and he wondered if one of the campers had hexed his smores.

"Sorry, Sunshine." Will flushed. Nico felt his own face start to redden. Maybe he really had been hexed. But then Will managed to make a second of eye contact with him, his hand positioned behind his head, and his eyes clearly showing his embarrassment.

No, Nico concluded. He hadn't been hexed. he had just enjoyed being so close, and social with another person. He shook his head, and with it, the thoughts from his mind. That's a problem for a different time, he thought.

"So, um," Will coughed out, "Maybe just lay down? So that you don't like, fall or, um, anything."

Nico nodded, and lied down on the cot. Will flipped of the lights, and leaned against the wall by the cot with his arms folded, the only sources of light now the golden and silver glowing cabins outside the windows.

"Okay. So, start from the beginning. I know some details from the kids at camp, but I still don't really know why you were in the Lotus Casino? Or what happened when you left."

And with that, Nico closed his eyes, and tried to remember.