Nico fidgeted uncomfortably in his sleeping state. His entire body rolled over, his hands grabbing a handful of the black sheets. He even managed to grit his teeth and somehow fight off tears.

Nightmares weren't an uncommon occurrence for the son of Hades. But they'd never been this bad before. Usually they were mistakes of his past, incidents that happened on board the Argo II, and him taking the blame for things that weren't his fault.

But this time was different.

Yes, he's had nightmares of his sister, Bianca, even before she died. She was all he had, so he would constantly worry about losing her. Then he did. And the hellish dreamscape world seemed out to get him. To blame him directly for what happened to his older sister.

Now things have gotten out of hand.

It seemed like he was never awake. He could be strolling around Camp Half-Blood, and he would catch a glance of her out of the corner of his eye. Then she'd be gone again. And it was really messing with his emotional state.

An abrupt knock on the door woke up the sleeping son of Hades. He jumped awake, grumbling softly as he woke up. Standing up, he strode over to the door and opened it up. Percy Jackson stood on the other side, much more awake than Nico was.

"Percy? What the hell are you doing up...? It's two in the morning..." Nico grumbled, a soft yawn escaping his chapped lips. But Percy's sea green eyes were filled with concern.

"I was just... On a walk, with someone," Percy mumbled.

"Mhmm. So you and Annabeth were taking an illegal walk around the camp. You woke me up for that?" Nico asked as Percy blushed lightly and quickly shook his head.

"No. Not at all. It was just, well, we were on our way back to the cabins and... Well... We heard you crying. I just wanted to make sure you were okay," Percy insisted softly as Nico inhaled a jagged breath. He was quick to nod, not wanting to explain himself with the knowledge that he'd sound insane.

"Yeah. I'm completely fine," Nico insisted as Percy's eyes narrowed down a small bit, showing disbelief. But he didn't want to pry and intrude on something extremely personal that Nico might be uncomfortable with.

"Well, if you're having night terrors and are struggling to sleep peacefully, I would recommend heading to the Apollo cabin and seeing what magical remedy they can whip up for you," Percy suggested as Nico slowly nodded, genuinely debating it.

"Okay. Thanks for stopping by," Nico spoke as Percy nodded, giving the small boy a smile.

"Absolutely. See you tomorrow," Percy piped before jogging back to his cabin rather quickly in order to not get caught sneaking around at night.

Nico closed the door and considered heading to the Apollo cabin in the morning, wondering what Dr. Will Solace would think of this situation.

He would probably be extremely sweet and comforting about it like he was about anything. And Nico's heart would fill to the brim, watching him work and try and figure out what was going on with him. Then Nico would attempt to explain to Will how he felt and he wouldn't be able to say anything and he'd just embarrass himself. Like always.

Nico's stomach did a summersault just thinking about the charming doctor. Like, c'mon, out of everyone in camp, why did it have to be the gorgeous doctor that every girl drooled over that Nico had the biggest crush on? It didn't seem fair. Worst yet, Will probably didn't want that.

It had been a few months since the Seven destroyed Gaea; meaning it's been a few months since Nico and Will had been close. They drifted, so many unspoken things drifting in the air between them. But, well, Nico's feelings for Will were still so strong.

Nico casted a small glance over at his bed, feeling dread well up inside of him. Going to bed and facing Bianca's disappointment seemed even worse than embarrassing himself in front of the attractive doctor.

Carefully, Nico pulled the door to his cabin open, glancing around the ring of cabins, which was casted in darkness and the only source of illumination was the moon. Counting off the cabins in his head, Nico spotted the Apollo cabin from his door.

Taking his first step, his bare foot felt the soft dirt from the Earth. A breeze blew through the cabin area, making Nico shiver a small bit. He looked back inside, spotting a specialized Camp Half-Blood hoodie that Percy and Annabeth had gotten him. It was inverted, so the sweatshirt was black and the words were orange. He stepped back in and pulled the hoodie on, then pulled his shaggy mop of hair back into a bun, not wanting to deal with it in the wind. He was also wearing black skull pajama pants, but at this point, he didn't care. He just wanted a decent nights worth of sleep.

He left his cabin again, running across the ring and trying to stick in the shadows, not wanting to get caught sneaking out by night patrollers. Once he made it to the Apollo cabin, he began making his way to the front door. He gave it a soft knock.

There was a stirring coming from inside. The wind got a bit rougher. But he swore on his life that he heard a voice behind him.

His head snapped back, eyes snagging on Bianca, who still looked exactly how she did all those years ago. Her dark hair was back in a braid and her grip was tight on a silver bow, a quiver packed with arrows was strapped to her back, and her bronze hunting knife was strapped to her hip. Her braid flew briskly in the wind, but her eyes remained locked on Nico.

Goosebumps covered his skin as he stared at her with shock. She'd never stayed long enough for him to observe her, but it felt like she was haunting him. And it was the worst torture he could've ever imagined.

"Nico...?" A soft voice asked after the door squeaked open, making the son of Hades jump and spin around, eyes landing on a groggy Will Solace. All Will's siblings were up as well, confused who wanted their attention at this time of day.

Nico took another glance over his shoulder at where Bianca had been standing, but she was no longer there. Gulping back fear, he turned to look back at Will.

"I have a problem..." Nico whispered meekly as Will glanced around behind Nico, confused as to what he was looking at. But nothing was there.

"What's wrong?" Will asked gently, tilting his head to the side a tiny bit. Nico inhaled a deep breath.

"You wouldn't happen to have a clinic in your cabin, would you...?" Nico asked softly instead of answering Will's question. His cheeks heated up, realizing how awkward this all was.

"Percy told me to come see someone..." He added, his eyes looking everywhere but Will's. But he was able to see Will smile widely, then gently nod.

"Of course," He explained so softly. He opened the door wider so Nico could follow him inside. There was a small back room, which probably used to serve the purpose as a shared walk in closet. It was about the size of the average home bathroom. A small doctor bed was pushed up against the back wall, which is where Will motioned for Nico to sit.

Will shut the door and turned the lights on. He grabbed out his stethoscope and blood pressure gauge, getting ready to run a basic check up. As Will started taking Nico's blood pressure, he looked up with his glimmering blue eyes and met Nico's black and harsh orbs.

"Nico, what's going on? You're starting to worry me a bit," Will explained so softly. He finished with blood pressure after getting an average Nico di Angelo reading of high blood pressure. Next he began taking his temperature.

"I've been having these constant nightmares... And now... Now it's starting to worry me... I'm losing sleep and I'm... I'm starting to actually see these things when I'm walking around camp," Nico whispered so softly, still feeling slightly embarrassed from all these things and how insignificant they sounded, yet he'd woken Will up at two thirty in the morning to tell him about them.

However, Will was looking at him with a serious expression.

"What are you seeing?" Will asked, snaking a hand with the stethoscope's end up Nico's shirt, his warm hand stopping once it was over Nico's heart and pressing the cool metal piece against his skin.

"Bianca..." Nico mumbled so softly as Will froze for a moment, meeting Nico's eyes again with so much sympathy. Nico was really hoping he wouldn't look up at him, because his face was glowing red from having the doctor's hand up his shirt. But he did.

"How have you been handling this so far?" Will asked gently, carefully removing the stethoscope and his hand from beneath Nico's clothing.

Gods, he's a doctor. This is his job. He does this to everyone. He doesn't need to deal with Nico being flustered and blushy. And, frankly, Nico didn't want to deal with it either. And he hated himself for being unable to control it.

"Like I always do. Pretending it's not happening..." Nico spoke gently with a shrug. Then a sigh unwillingly escaped him.

Will carefully sat down, grabbing a clipboard off his desk. A blank piece of lined paper was clamped to it as Will picked up a blue ink pen, his teeth biting down on the end as he glanced between Nico and the empty piece of paper. Nico curiously rose an eyebrow.

"What are you doing?" Nico asked softly as Will pushed some of his blonde locks of hair out of his face. His eyes went back to Nico's as he leaned forward.

"Okay. Is Bianca the only thing you're seeing?" He asked as Nico glanced at the board again. Then his eyes narrowed a small bit.

"You're aware this isn't therapy, right?" Nico mumbled, a soft yawn escaping him. Which, of course, caused Will to yawn next.

"It might have something to do with your mental health," Will explained gently, laying out an option of what could possibly be causing this. Nico only shook his head.

"My mental health is fine," Nico insisted. And Will actually laughed.

"That's funny. Nico di Angelo, your mental health is absolutely anything but fine. You've gone through quite a bit, and at such a young age. You just turned seventeen and you've already been to Tartarus, fought in two wars, traveled around the world, nearly died countless times, and have experienced multiple deaths of loved ones. Is that enough to justify my point, or should I go back farther than five years?" Will asked as Nico huffed.

"Look, Solace, can you fix my nightmares or no?" Nico asked instead, making Will death-glare the son of Hades.

"No, Nico, I cannot 'fix' your nightmares. If you would like, though, I could give you some tips and medication to help. But seriously, Nico, you've quite literally been through hell. You've experienced so much mental trauma that I'm kinda shocked this hasn't happened sooner," Will whispered softly, speaking gently to Nico as if he was a shattered piece of glass.

Nico exhaled another shaky sigh, his eyes darting up towards the ceiling as he attempted to think his way through this.

"How about you explain to me what you've been seeing. And in detail," Will suggested as Nico looked back at Will and carefully nodded.

"Well... Bianca. Either with my mom, in the Lotus Hotel and Casino, or at camp. And, well, she used to be a blur of ideas and concepts that I'd always built her up to be. That was when she was suppressed in my dreamscape. Now it's actually her. She looks... Exactly the same as she did the day that she left with Percy. And now there are moments when I'll see her at camp. Sitting with other campers, lurking in the distance, or even standing right next to me. Then I'll blink and... And she's gone..." Nico breathed out quietly, his eyes transfixed on the ceiling once again.

Will scooted closer to Nico's bed, exhaling a tiny sigh.

"Okay..." Will whispered so gently, jotting some notes down on his sheet of paper.

Nico shifted uncomfortably. The idea of having a therapist always weirded him out. It's not like they had one here at Camp Half-Blood and there was no way a mortal therapist would believe a damn thing that he would say. He'd be locked up in a psychiatric ward before he even had time to finish a story.

"From what I can tell, it is a mental health issue," Will spoke up gently, carefully placing one of his hands on Nico's knee and looking him dead in the eyes. He gave Nico a sweet smile, his eyes glittering in a beautiful manner. But hidden in that was a look Nico had gotten too used to seeing when aboard the Argo II. Anxiety and worry.

Will was worried about him.

Then Nico's focus shifted from Will's absolutely flawless face to his hand. Will's perfect hand with a perfect tan. Dammit, just everything about Will Solace was perfect. And there sat Nico, a broken shell of a human and a teenager who had seen too much to be sane. They couldn't be anymore different.

"What is it, exactly?" Nico asked gently, his eyes trained on Will's hand still. Then he snapped himself out of it and looked back to Will. And Nico's heart melted.

Will was looking at his hand as well, smiling sweetly as he carefully began rubbing the pad of his thumb against Nico's kneecap. Nico stiffened up, afraid to move, thinking that any movement would make Will take his hand away.

Blushing softly, Will looked away from Nico's knee and back up to his face. And that left the two of them glaring at each other with glowing pink cheeks. Will quickly cleared his throat, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Um, I think it's that you're lacking closure," Will spoke, his words rushed and a bit jumbled together. This was the first time Nico had ever seen him flustered. Usually he was calm and worked through everything methodically.

"Closure?" Nico asked gently, his voice sounding genuinely confused.

"Yeah. You're holding onto this idea that she's still here. She's still following you around. But I don't think that she really is, Nico. I think your mind is so exhausted that it's playing tricks on you and that is stressing you out even more. You're trapped in an endless cycle of exhaustion and stress," Will spoke softly. He was about to move his hand away when Nico quickly reached his own hand out and caught Will's.

Will laced their fingers together, Nico squeezing them together so tightly. And Will could feel him tremble. So Will squeezed his hand back, almost being able to feel the sorrow and instability radiating off the broken boy.

"You just need rest... And good rest," Will explained so softly. He twisted his body so he was reaching back for a box on his desk with his free hand and still gripping Nico with the other hand. He turned his attention back to Nico once he'd captured the box.

"These are some ambrosia mixed with melatonin. And a high dosage of it as well. It'll put you to sleep, make you relax, and should prevent some of the night terrors," Will explained with a gentle smile, carefully setting the box in Nico's lap.

Nico looked up at him with a strange sort of look. One of his dark eyebrows arched.

"Are you telling me you had this solution the whole time and you still made me go through that therapy session with you?" Nico asked as Will smiled sadly up at the boy.

"I just wanted to make sure you're okay. And, evidently, you're not. You're stressed out all the time and you've been isolating yourself so much more than usual. I knew something was wrong. I just didn't want to intrude," Will explained so softly to him. Nico was now staring at the floor as he tried to comprehend Will's words. Then his eyes carefully drifted up to their hands.

Will must've noticed this, because he squeezed Nico's hand again.

"Thanks for this," Nico spoke softly, gesturing down to the box. Will smiled softly and nodded.

"Of course. Tomorrow, you have to stop by so I can do another check up on you and we can talk about how those work for you," Will explained, squeezing Nico's hand once more before letting it go. He turned back to his clipboard and jotted Nico's name down at the top and left the board on the desk.

"Go get some sleep," Will spoke with a small smile as Nico looked up at him and offered a weak smile.

"Okay," Nico responded softly, sliding down off the bed and walking towards the door. However, Will stopped him before he could get there. Nico pauses and looked up at the son of Apollo with confusion.

"Will? What are you—"

Nico immediately stopped speaking when he felt Will push a soft and gentle kiss to his lips, catching him completely off guard. And before Nico could even comprehend what was happening, it was over.

His face had gone bright red and his eyes were opened wide with surprise. Not in a million years would he have been expecting that. Sure, they'd been holding hands the whole night, but Nico was almost certain it had been a comfort thing. But suddenly he was glad it wasn't.

Will was smiling at him, his cheeks pink as well. That made Nico's entire body feel more warm.

"You almost forgot this," Will spoke with a teasing smile. He was holding out the box of medicines to Nico, who took them with trembling hands.

"Thanks..." Nico whispered so softly, his voice extremely wobbly. Then he ducked his head down and opened the door, seeing all the Apollo campers looking at both of them expectantly. Nico felt his cheeks heat up even more before he walked through the room, many eyes flashing between him and Will.

"Tomorrow," Will's voice was a whisper, but it felt like he was yelling due to the general lack of noise throughout the room. Nico halted and looked back at Will, who was smiling so bright that it was clear his looks came more from a god than they would've from any mortal.

"Tomorrow," Nico softly echoed, his brain trying so hard to focus more on Will Solace than any of the other campers who were watching them as if they were re-enacting their favorite romance movie.

Romance? This wasn't romance. Nothing happening right now was even romantic. Right? Why did it feel like it was? Why was Nico's heart beating so fast? What was going on? Why had Nico even come here again? To see Will, right? Wait, no. It was sleeping issues. Yeah. Not romance.

Nico smiled softly at Will, and some people actually gasped with surprise. Does Nico never smile? Was that such a rare occurrence? Okay, maybe that part was true. It had been quite a while since he'd genuinely smiled without the presence of Will Solace.

He wanted out of there. It was a bit suffocating with everyone watching Nico crush on Will. He noticed all the smiles and glances between the two of them. And then...

Oh shit. They all noticed. They all knew Nico liked their brother. Oh gods no.

Nico ended up accidentally shadow traveling to his cabin due to being so anxious. He blinked a little bit, noticing a dark fog in his vision, but he was quick to blink it away. His breathing had hitched and he was slightly hyperventilating.

Oh no. This isn't good. This can't be good. They know. People know. That means Will will find out and—

Wait... Will already knows...

But still, it's kind of embarrassing. If everyone in camp found out. Oh gods. It was bad enough that Nico was already an outsider, let alone if he was a gay one. And would people judge Will because of it? Would they—