The Solangelo Collection

Questions from an ADHD Demigod

Will remembered the day that Percy had told him about Nico. Specifically, Will remembered what Percy told him about 10 year old Nico and how brightly his eyes had shone on the first day he had arrived at camp. He was the most curious as someone could be when told they were part god - excited by everything and discouraged by nothing. Percy had said that he had almost strangled Nico that day due to the fact that he wouldn't stop asking questions, but then again, Annabeth had gone missin that day as well. Will could almost imagine it, a young Nico who held a constant gleam in his eye, arriving into a world where everything made a little more sense than before.

If he were really trying, Will could almost imagine it. The new world that Nico had arrived in ended up making a little too much sense to him, and as a consequence showed him the harshness of being a demigod whose parent's job was to hide in the shadows.

Will could almost imagine it, but it was difficult to as he watched his boyfriend smack the training dummy senseless.

"Hey, Nico, take a break," Will shouted. Nico had been attacking the training dummy in a small section of the training area for about the past hour or so, being reminded - and begrudgingly coorparting - to take breaks by Will. Will had taken the entire day off from his normal camp duties so that he could spend the day with Nico, knowing well that the son of Hades was likely to end up in the infirmary otherwise.

Today was the anniversary of the day that Nico had found out Bianca had died. Which meant that it was the anniversary of the day that Nico had realized for the first time that he felt alone.

They had talked about it earlier that week, Nico warning him that he would not be helping him in the infirmary for the day. Will found out that Nico had never directly asked about the day Bianca died. As a child of the Underworld, he had sensed something was wrong, but he hadn't known - or didn't want to realize - that she was gone until he had been told. It had been years at this point since Bianca had died and decided to move on. Nico had found a family at Camp Half-Blood, found Hazel, and tried to move on. But sometimes the hurt doesn't go away an it doesn't fade. Sometimes, the pain just grows to be a normal part of your anatomy, settling in your bones until something reminds you of it.

Will held out a water bottle to Nico, who took it and flopped down on the bench next to him. Will took one of the many towels that he had brought with them from his backpack, swiping at Nico's forehead. He noticed the far-away look in Nico's eyes. "How about we go sit in the shade for a while after this?" Will offered, springing some of the water from the water bottle on the towel and draping it over Nico's neck. Nico leaned into Will's side, his head resting on his shoulder.

"No, I think I want to work on my technique some more," Nico muttered. Will could hear the exhaustion lacing his words - like the past two mandatory breaks. This time though, Nico's face was beginning to flush from the heat of the day and his hands had begun to shake.

"Nice try, maybe next time," Will corrected, letting a bit of a laugh filter through his concern. "Come on, I brought some fruit snacks." Standing, he hefted Nico to his feet and practically dragged him under the shade of a boarding tree. Nico huffed when Will shoved a packet of fruit snacks into his hand, but Nico opened then anyways and began chewing them contently.

"I like these," Nico said, picking up a red one and observing it closely. "They're fun shapes."

"Yeah I know. You always like the snacks that are in fun shapes."

"That's what makes them good," Nico declared. He reached into Will's bag, shuffling the contents around to find more snacks. Will grinned to himself, but not without Nico noticing.

Nico's eyes narrowed. "This was one of your schemes, wasn't it, Solace?"

"Yep."

"Darn it, fell for it again."