#also i think it's cute for Will to have this ridiculous head-over-heels crush on Nico cause he thinks Nico is so cool

[aroaceleovaldez]

okay so one particular thing I write with Solangelo absolutely always is that a.) Nico joined CHB way before Will (Nico joining in TTC and Will joining only just before TLO) and b.) Will does not initially know this. Because I find that combination extremely compelling in how it’d shape their friendship very early on!

Here’s how I view it: Nico and Will both meet for the first time in TLO. They’ve maybe heard extremely vaguely about each other prior to the Battle For Manhattan in passing, but mid-battle is their actual first times seeing each other. For Will, the first time he sees Nico is when Nico arrives with reinforcements, parting the Titan Army (which is a very striking first impression, which is a large part of why Will becomes interested in him). For Nico, he probably just meets Will in passing mid-battle, while going through the med quarters or briefly helping Will bring the injured or dead into the makeshift camp. Will’s first impression of Nico is that he’s impressive and mysterious and almost godlike (literally showing up alongside three gods, personally parting the Titan Army and sassing Kronos to his face). Nico’s first impression of Will is that he’s an incredibly hard worker, and brave and talented field medic. After the war they barely interact, but generally keep those sorts of impressions of each other - Nico learns further that Will is generally well-liked by everyone, and a sunny and relaxed dude outside of battle. Will learns that Nico is a lot more down-to-earth, but still mysterious and cryptic and definitely operating on an almost otherworldly set of rules. Will then proceeds to spend basically the next whole year pining over Nico, because he’s so mysterious! And never around! So when Nico shows up again by the fight with Gaea, Will is basically taking every excuse to talk to him and spend time with him (Telling him to hold his hands, three days in the infirmary, etc etc.) because he wants to get to know him better!

So they become friends, but Will is operating under the assumptions that a.) Nico is a new camper, and is relatively unfamiliar with CHB, and b.) that everybody else views Nico like he does. Not unsettling, but interesting! And trying to get to know him (but he’s just so hard to pin down to actually hold a conversation with! because he always seems to be busy with Underworld stuff or something else mysterious!). So Will assumes that Nico just needs to be shown around and introduced to everything and taught what’s up, and that he’s purposefully pushing people away because he seems so angsty and jaded for no reason. And it’s only when Nico puts his foot down and explains that he’s been there longer than Will has (and explaining how long others at camp have ostracized him, even before he was known to be the son of Hades) that Will realizes he’s accidentally being kind of an asshole, making assumptions about Nico and dismissing his experiences. And so Will apologizes and starts listening for real, and just that show of respect is so huge to Nico that he’s like “well, shit, guess I’d die for you now.” And they become close friends and their friendship turns into much more of a mutual exchange - Nico showing Will around old forgotten parts of CHB that were nearly lost alongside all the fallen in TLO, or telling him about CHB from before TLO and the campers who were already gone by the time Will joined. And Will shows Nico all the new stuff and introduces him to the newer campers and teaches him about modern stuff.