[Nico inhales sharply when Will takes his hand, looking down and staring at it for a moment. Not with any distaste, just... looking at it. He can feel the warmth coming from the grasp and it's... nice.
But then he gently pulls his hand free, looking down and mumbling a thank you. He appreciates the words, but they also send his mind in a bit of a whirl too. Especially those three words of 'I like you.' Nico doesn't kid himself, knows Will means it just as a friend because he said so immediately after, but it makes him mull things over in his head. He likes Will too, enjoys being around him even if he wants to strangle him sometimes. During the month or so they'd been here together before, they'd gotten to know each other better and become friends. Will hasn't ever rejected him for being a son of Hades, and that alone is enough to put him in Nico's good graces for a long time, even if Nico feels he can be too pushy about not overusing his powers.
Will is his friend, he knows that for certain, but he's figured out by now that there's more to it than that. There'd been a lot of 'what if's' running through his head after Will disappeared the first time, things he'd thought over for awhile, but months had passed and he figured that those thoughts would go away. They'd faded into the back of his mind, yes, but now that Will is back, they've come roaring back to the surface. He can't put his finger on exactly what it is. He just knows that Will is important to him. It's different than how he had felt about Percy - that had all been hero worship - and it isn't how he feels about Jason or Hazel either. He cares about them all in different ways.
He wants to tell Will this, because Will could disappear in an hour with the possibility of him never seeing him for months again, or never again at all, and he doesn't want to wait another six months to tell Will he's important. But talking about his feelings is something Nico di Angelo is definitely not known for, and he's not sure how to express all that he's thinking.
So instead he turns it back to Will, asking quietly:] Why? After the war, when you weren't happy with me not visiting you at the infirmary, why me? You said you wanted to see a friendly face. Why not someone else? Why single me out, out of everyone else at camp? Was it just because you were trying to get me to rest?
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But then he gently pulls his hand free, looking down and mumbling a thank you. He appreciates the words, but they also send his mind in a bit of a whirl too. Especially those three words of 'I like you.' Nico doesn't kid himself, knows Will means it just as a friend because he said so immediately after, but it makes him mull things over in his head. He likes Will too, enjoys being around him even if he wants to strangle him sometimes. During the month or so they'd been here together before, they'd gotten to know each other better and become friends. Will hasn't ever rejected him for being a son of Hades, and that alone is enough to put him in Nico's good graces for a long time, even if Nico feels he can be too pushy about not overusing his powers.
Will is his friend, he knows that for certain, but he's figured out by now that there's more to it than that. There'd been a lot of 'what if's' running through his head after Will disappeared the first time, things he'd thought over for awhile, but months had passed and he figured that those thoughts would go away. They'd faded into the back of his mind, yes, but now that Will is back, they've come roaring back to the surface. He can't put his finger on exactly what it is. He just knows that Will is important to him. It's different than how he had felt about Percy - that had all been hero worship - and it isn't how he feels about Jason or Hazel either. He cares about them all in different ways.
He wants to tell Will this, because Will could disappear in an hour with the possibility of him never seeing him for months again, or never again at all, and he doesn't want to wait another six months to tell Will he's important. But talking about his feelings is something Nico di Angelo is definitely not known for, and he's not sure how to express all that he's thinking.
So instead he turns it back to Will, asking quietly:] Why? After the war, when you weren't happy with me not visiting you at the infirmary, why me? You said you wanted to see a friendly face. Why not someone else? Why single me out, out of everyone else at camp? Was it just because you were trying to get me to rest?