Will

Hazel and Frank were going to Paris for a month, so they asked Nico to babysit their kid. He'd agreed, but warned her that he was not a social person, and this could end up very badly. She'd threatened him and his face, already kinda pale, paled even more as he listened to what she would do to him if her baby had a single scratch on her when she came back.

Today was the day they were leaving, and we had agreed to meet them at the airport. We drove in silence, Nico tapping his fingers on his knee beside me. I glanced over at him.

"Nico, you're going to be fine." I assured him. "I've seen the way you are with Percy and Annabeth's kids, and Piper and Jason, and Leo and Calypso. Whether you like it or not, you're a kid-lover."

"No, but, I've never been asked to babysit any of those guys for a whole month! The only time I ever see them is when we go over for the holidays! The longest I've had to babysit someone is an hour or two at most." He replied nervously. I glanced over at him again and put a hand on his shoulder. "You're going to be fine. Babysitting isn't hard."

He didn't say anything after that, so I switched on the radio to avoid the silence.

When we got there, we saw Hazel and Frank sitting on the bench in the foyer, holding a baby carrier and a simple canvas bag.

"Hey Hazel, Frank." Nico said from behind. They turned and Hazel's face lit up.

"Nico!" She rushed forward and embraced him in a hug. He chuckled lightly and wrapped his arms around her.

"It's good to see you Hazel." He said as the pulled apart. "You too. Hello Will." she greeted cheerily.

"Hey Hazel. How's it going?" I greeted.

"It's good. You?" I replied with a smile. She grinned.

"It's great, I can't wait to be in Paris." She gushed. Nico had wandered over to where Frank was sitting with the carrier, and held a hand gently inside it. His face lit up a moment later. "We have to go now, or we'll miss the plane, but everything you'll need is in the bag." She said, pointing to the canvas bag they'd been holding earlier.

"Great. Also, can you please tell Nico he's going to be fine? I've tried and he doesn't believe me." I replied. She laughed as Nico's head shot up towards me.

"I never said that." He protested. But there was a flicker of doubt in his eyes.

"Nico, as long as you don't scare her or make her angry, you'll be absolutely fine." Frank promised.

"Why? What happens when she's scared or angry?" He asked, panicked.

Frank glanced at Hazel. "Well...it depends..." He started.

"All passengers for flight two-thirty-four, this is your last chance to get on the plane before it leaves." The intercom came on before Nico had a chance to ask anything more. Hazel hurried around to the chairs and grabbed her suitcase and purse and leaned into the carrier to give her daughter a quick kiss goodbye. "I'll miss you my little Lily." She murmured before grabbing the bag and shoving it in Nico's hands.

"Good luck!" She gave him one last hug and hurried off next to Frank.

For a moment, Nico stood still, looking unsure of what to do. Then he turned to me, and then Lily, and then back to me. I laughed. "C'mon," I said, taking the handle and lifting it gently over the seats. "Let's go home." He nodded and followed me out the sliding doors, muttering nonsense in Italian.

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When we got back to the apartment, Nico took Lily from me and set her carrier on the counter. I reached in and tickled her small toes with a finger.

"She's adorable, isn't she?" He asked with a small smile. I grinned.

"Almost cuter than you." I teased. Nico scowled. "No matter how many times you call me cute, I'm always going to protest." He replied. "Lunch?"

"We've only got Macaroni." I replied.

He shrugged. "That's fine. We can go to the store later."

"Alright, then." I set about filling up the pot and setting it on the stove.

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An hour later, I was grading papers at the kitchen counter, and Nico was drinking coffee while watching Lily carefully.

"Do you have work tonight?" I asked softly.

"No." He hummed, turning his attention towards me. "Tonight's my night off."

"What'do you plan on doing?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You." He answered blatantly. I felt my cheeks flush a bit and he grinned. "I'm joking, Will." He laughed.

"Unless you want me too?" Nico teased. My face was probably completely red. I silently thanked the gods when someone knocked on the door and I leapt up to answer it. Nico laughed darkly. Gods, I loved his laugh. I thought as I peered through the peephole.

On the other side of the door stood an annoying mortal girl from the apartment two doors down. She always came and flirted with the both of us and it was getting really annoying.

"It's Natalie!" I hissed, backing away from the door. She knocked again.

"Ugh, doesn't she ever do anything else!" He groaned quietly.

"Maybe we can wait her out." I suggested, my voice barely above a whisper. He nodded and set the coffee cup down on the counter so quietly that if I hadn't been watching, I wouldn't have known.

"Hello? I know you're there guys." She called from the other side of the door.

"We need a good excuse!" I hissed desperately. His thin hands flailed.

"Tell her we have company! No, tell her... I don't know, just tell her something!" He groaned desperately.

My mind reeled. "Call Rachel!" I hissed. "She's good at making up lies. Or the Stolls." He nodded and fumbled with the Demi-phone Leo had invented awhile ago and slipped away towards the halls.

"C'mon guys, I just wanna talk!" Natalie whined from outside the door. "Hurry up Nico!" I hissed as loudly as I dared. He poked his head around the corner.

"She's not answering! Neither are the Stolls!" He hissed. I groaned. And then a baby leopard crawled towards the door. I glanced at Nico.

"When did we get a leopard!?" I hissed angrily.

"I dunno, I was about to ask you the same thing!" He replied. His head whipped towards Lily's carrier and he rushed over.

"It's Lily! See, I told you this would get messed up!" He whisper-shouted. I glanced back at the baby Leopard, and then at the door. Nico realized my plan before I did.

"Will, no." He warned in his regular voice.

"This may be our only chance to get rid of Natalie!" I replied desperately. His eyes were warring between agreeing and not agreeing, but eventually he nodded.

"If Hazel finds out about this, and kills me, I'm gonna haunt your ass." He growled.

"I promise I won't let her kill you." I said, moving towards the lock and unlocking the door, then pulling it open. In front of me, stood Natalie, her brown hair tucked in a tight bun, bright red lipstick covered her lips, and she was wearing her usual work attire of a nice dress that hugged her body closely, a well-fitted jacket, and four-inch heels. Her brown eyes lit up when I opened the door, but they quickly faded into something much more...fearful as she looked behind me. I turned and saw an enormous hellhound, with shaggy black fur, with a snarling face. Nico stood beside the hellhound with a creepy smile on his face. It's red eyes were glowing and Natalie whimpered before running away as fast as she could in those heels. I chuckled and closed the door, sliding the lock across the bar. The hellhound immediately stopped snarling and morphed into a tiny girl with dark skin and curly black hair. My eyes widened.

"What in—" I stopped myself from saying Hades, because it kind of creeped me out a bit that he knew every time someone said his name. Nico crouched down and picked her up gently, cradling her in his arms like a very precious thing.

"Please don't do that again Lily." He whispered as he held her tight against his chest. "You scared us both so, so, so much."

I stared in amazement, having only ever seen this side of Nico once or twice. He was really good with small children, that was truth, but he really would make a good father if we ever got a kid. I came over and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up, slightly startled at the touch. Lily cooed happily.

"Well," I looked down at the baby girl in Nico's arms. "I don't think Natalie will be coming by anymore."

He sighed in relief. "Thank the gods for that."

"Oh no, don't thank us, thank your sister." Apollo's voice came from behind and we whirled, surprised to find him sitting at the counter, fingering through the papers I had been grading earlier.

"Um, I don't mean to be rude, Apollo, but... What the Hades are you doing here?" Nico asked.

An annoyed sigh came from behind us, and we turned to find the actual Hades sitting on our couch.

"I'm flattered son, but please try to refrain from using my name in a figure of speech. It's rather annoying." Nico nearly dropped Lily.

"Don't drop the baby." I muttered under my breath. Nico ignored it.

"Wh—what are you doing here?" He stuttered. "What are both of you doing here?" He asked turning back to Apollo. He jumped off the stool with a shrug.

"Is it illegal to come and visit every once in awhile?" He asked. "We just wanted to come see how our favourite sons were doing?"

"You have like, thirty other kids at Camp alone." I replied as Nico put Lily back in her carrier.

"I don't." Hades said from across the room. "And besides, you never visit, so how are we supposed to see you?"

Nico snorted. "You actually want to visit with us?"

Hades looked genuinely concerned for a minute, but then his face fell. "Well, we were actually wondering if you could do us a favour..." He began nervously. Nico and I both scowled.

"No." He growled. I glanced over at him, and panicked a little bit as I saw darkness radiating from him, the shadows in the room seeming to be drawn towards his presence.

I put a hand on his shoulder and his scowl loosened and the shadows returned to their rightful place as he looked over at me with an apology written in his eyes. For a minute, we were completely unaware of the two gods in our apartment, but then Apollo cleared his throat.

"Sorry to ruin the moment, but we actually only need you to grab a block of cheese from the grocery store." Nico clamped his lips together to keep from laughing.

"A block of cheese?" I asked. "Can't you do that yourselves?"

Apollo shook his head as if true to clear his thoughts. "Just— please?"

I glanced at Nico. I don't think I could ever recall hearing a god use the word please. "You're going to the store anyway, aren't you?" Apollo asked. Nico's nose flared.

"How—actually, I'm not even going to ask. Fine, we'll get your stupid cheese, but if this is some sort of trap, I swear to— well, I swear I'm going to kill you both." Nico growled.

"Good. This isn't a trap, we're just asking for a block of cheese for Zeus." Hades replied.

"Why does Zeus need a block of cheese, and why did he send you to get us to get it?" I asked, confused. They sulked.

"We lost a bet." Apollo muttered.

"Again, I'm not even going to ask." Nico said, turning to grab the car keys from where they hung on the wall.

"I don't trust them alone with Lily, and I don't think this is a good time for her to explore the grocery store, so, I'll be right back." Nico told me, standing on his toes so he could peck me on the lips and then walking out the door, grabbing his jacket along the way.

On the couch, Apollo and Hades smiled. "What?" I asked.

They didn't answer. I rolled my eyes and went back to the seat where I had been grading the school papers and continued the treacherous boring of looking through all the answers and correcting them.

A half hour of awkward conversation later, Nico came back through the door, his arms full of paper grocery bags. I stepped off the stool and took one from his arms and set it on the counter. He dug around in one of them and pulled out a block of orange cheese and tossed it to Hades.

"Get out." Nico said grumpily. Apollo have him a grin and disappeared in a flash of light. Hades gave me a considering look, and an almost apologetic one to his son before melting into the shadows.

"I'm glad that's over." He muttered. I nodded.

"Me too. So what's for dinner mio Angelo?" I asked. He smiled and blushed.

"Curry. I'm making it tonight and don't try to stop me." He replied with a smirk. Most of the time, I was the one who cooked. And I liked it, so a lot of the time when Nico was cooking, I would try to convince him to let me take over.

"Alright," I pecked him on the lips. "So we'll go get Lily's crib after dinner then? Because we can't just leave her in the carrier."

"Cazza! I totally forgot about that! I'll call Hazel and see if she left a key to the house somewhere." He replied. I raised a brow as he continued to swear in Italian, most of which I couldn't understand.

"Wait— maybe the key is in the bag. She said everything we needed would be in there." I suggested.

He went over to the bag and rummaged through it. He pulled out a piece of paper and read it aloud.

"Dear Nico and Will," he began. "Everything Lily will need is in this bag, and just remember to put her down for nap at noon. Also you will need to buy the food." He swore in Italian again.

"We forgot the nap and I forgot the damn food at the grocery store." He groaned.

"We didn't know about the nap, and you were mostly concerned on getting a block of cheese for our dad's." I corrected, wrapping my arms around his waist. He leaned into me and rested his head against my chest.

"I love you." He told me softly. I kissed his cheek. "I love you too." I replied.

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It was one in the morning when Lily woke us up, screaming and crying in her crib (we had found a compacted metal square in the bag and pressed a button, and then it turned out it be the crib) at the foot of the bed. Nico jolted up, breathing in sharply through his nose. I was already up and making my way over as Nico blinked sleepily and glanced at the clock. He groaned.

"I know, I know." I whispered to both a fussing Lily and a sleepy Nico, not entirely sure if I was talking to one or the other. I picked her up and Nico joined me at the foot of the bed by crawling over the mattress.

"Shh..." I whispered to Lily. Nico yawned.

"Ti sei il mio sole, la Mia unicameral sole,mi fair delicensing quando, i ceili sono grigri, non saprai Mai cara, quanto ti amo, si prega di non predere la mia sole via." He sang softly. This was the first time I'd ever heard Nico sing, and I thought it sounded like an angel. Lily did too. In my arms, she calmed and quieted down. He repeated it, and I set her down in the crib, as soon as I did so, she wailed, and no amount of Nico's singing would calm her. So I took her back in my arms and kissed her forehead.

"Your uncle sounds like an angel when he sings, doesn't he Lily?" I murmured softly. Nico blushed, and his voice dwindled into dust. Lily started wailing again, so he hurriedly continued and I made my way back to the head of the bed, where I carefully climbed on and leaned against the headboard, Lily in my arms, cooing happily.

Nico crawled back towards me and rested his head on my shoulder, singing softly to Lily in Italian. We fell asleep hours later, and were woken by my alarm clock just as we were closing our eyes.

I groaned, and reached over Nico for the blaring noise, but he got there first and smashed it to bits. I jumped and Lily started crying again.

"Lily, Lily, please, stop crying." He pleaded desperately. He began singing again when she wouldn't stop. I rubbed my eyes with a free hand and handed the tiny girl to Nico.

"I'll be right back, I'm just going to call my boss and see if I can get a sub." I muttered, shuffling to the desk where we kept our landline.

Nico

Will shuffled to the desk and picked up the landline so he could dial his boss. In my arms, Lily cooed happily.

"Hello? Mr. Richards? Can I get a sub please?" He asked, rubbing his eyes. "A teacher Mr. Richards. Not a sandwich." He replied after a moment.

Will was silent and then: "We're watching my sister-in-law's kid." He replied. "She woke us up at one in the morning and kept us up all night."

Sister-in-law? But we weren't married yet. I shot Will a confused look and he gestured for me to hold on.

"Yes, he does own a club." Will answered tiredly.

"What does my work have to do with any of this?" I hissed in English. I think. Will held the phone to his chest.

"Shh! I don't know why, and you're talking in Italian still!" He hissed.

It took me a moment, but eventually managed to speak in English again. "Sorry." Lily started fussing and I continued singing.

"Uhhm...yes. Mr. Richards, can I get a sub or not?" He demanded grumpily.

A moment of silence. "Mr. Richards," Will began calmly, with simmering rage threatening to spill over. "I swear to the gods if you do not give me this sub today I will throw you in the Styx myself." He growled angrily. Sunny Will was gone. Now it was stormy Will.

"Thank you. I promise I'll be there early tomorrow morning." He said in relief. My shoulders slumped and I realized Lily had fallen asleep. Slowly, sleepily, I got up and shuffled to the crib at the foot of the bed and set her in it. Then I made my way over to Will and wrapped my arms around him and we just stood there silently for a minute, relishing in the quiet.

Will

Nico's body was cool and thin against my own, but that was one of the things I loved about him. I dragged Nico– who had already fallen asleep– back to the bed and managed to get him on without crushing him. And then I snuggled in beside him and fell asleep myself, but not before kissing him good morning.

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The month with Lily was over almost too soon. Despite keeping us up all night during the first week, the little girl had grown greatly on us. I knew Nico was sad to see her go, and I was too. It had been about twenty minutes since Hazel and Frank left with little Lily, and we were both drinking coffee in the kitchen.

"Nico," I began slowly. He looked up at me.

"Will."

"Would you... Would you ever want kids?" He froze, the mug covering half his face.

"I– I was just about o ask you the same thing." He stuttered, setting the cup on the counter. I grinned and set my own mug on the counter.

"And would you ever consider marrying someone?"

He moved like a cat as he came around the corner and kissed me full on. My eyes were wide for a minute, and then they relaxed and I kissed him back, reaching up to play with his hair.

I suppose you have to breath eventually though. We pulled apart, both trying to catch our breath. "You stupid boy," Nico muttered to me. "You didn't even have to ask." I laughed breathily and kissed him again.

"Good." I murmured against his soft lips. He grinned and pushed his body closer to mine.

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Nico tapped his fingers nervously on his knee, the skull ring and the new one, a simple band of silvery obsidian glinting in the sun. I laughed.

"Nico, relax, you're going to be a great dad. Okay?"

"But what if I'm not?" He asked, panic coating his voice.