Chapter 2: The babies Solangelo

While most of the children had a fairly conventional means of entering the world, the same could not be said for the di Angelo- Solace twins. Will had been wanting children for ages, while Nico was far more hesitant. His fears were mostly based on what it might be like should his offspring ever become as lost and alone as he had for a time while younger.

"Now now sir ghost king, you're worrying too much. You forget, every kid goes through a "no one understands me, screw the gods, I'll raise the dead if I want to" phase. Ours will probably be no different, but we have good friends and we're not doing this on our own. Right?" Will reassured him. He sighed but offered a small smile, pushing back stylishly long dark hair that Will adored running his hands through.

"Yeah fine. And tone down the damn sunshine would you? It's too early for that." He replied. Will just laughed and gave him a peck, continuing to get ready for his shift at the new Rome hospital.

This was about the time they began to consider a surrogate. Without so much as a "no thank you" Nico had already decided Will would be donating his genetics, still afraid of what a grandchild of Hades could become. What a child of his might become.

And then, of course, the gods decided to "help" with the situation.

One night it was just the two of them. The next morning, they woke up to babies crying.

"What the actual Hades?!" Will demanded, kicking Nico to wake the young man. (Sleeping like the dead took on a whole new meaning when it came to the son of Hades). Di Angelo rolled over, mumbling something about blue sunshine and happy meals but refused to get up.

"Hey! Hellboy! Get your fine ass up, something's wrong." He yanked the covers away, ignoring the younger man's whine of protest and hurried to their living room. There,lying on a black baby blanket soft like velvet and covered in golden suns, were two babies, a boy and a girl.

Golden haired with cherub cheeks and trademark apollo blue eyes, the baby boy was crying great big crocodile tears and already reaching for the men as they entered. He had the usual roly-poly roundness babies so often did, little hands waving and legs kicking furiously.

Beside him, eerily quiet and whimpering softly was a baby girl, just as dark as her brother was fair. Her cinnamon eyes watched them with an almost unsettling intelligence, little mouth turned down in a pout and a mess of dark hair already wisping past tiny ears.

"Awwwwwwww they're so cute! It's okay. Shhhh Daddy's here." Will crooned, already delighted and accepting this new situation as only a demigod war doctor could.

Nico, however, was less than thrilled.

"Will- how.. Who- they- tiny-" He gaped like one of Percy's fish buddies and then let out a stream of italian in a tone that left no doubt as to what sort of words he was using. "Nico Di Angelo, you watch your tongue! Tiny ears mister." Will scolded, largely ignored by his husband. Instead, Nico continued to rant, gesturing wildly (which the babies found wildly amusing) until his occasional "DAD" was answered.

The god of the underworld appeared in a mist, as usual neatly tailored in a black armani suit, skull and crossbone cuffs glinting at his wrists and smiling. Smiling!

"Dad just what the hell do you think you're doing?! What is this? Who is this? Is this your idea of a joke? Cause I gotta say, this is about as funny as the skeleton ring bearer fiasco at my wedding!" He demanded as soon as the smiling good had fully formed.

"Still a drama queen I see. Really son, I expected more from you." Will put a calming hand on the angry Italian's chest, quickly stepping in to defuse the situation.

"We're just a little confused sir. Is this.. Well.. are they.."

Hades beamed. (Well, as well as the ruler of the undead could anyway)

"They're yours William. Obviously you can see who takes after who but I thought perhaps I could do this one small thing for you and my Son."

Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth (at least, not directly in front of both a god AND a god who happened to be his father in law) Will nodded, sitting to play with his new little ones. Nico opened his mouth to say more but was quickly cut off.

"I was never much of a father to you. The rules…. Anyhow. You can't do any worse than I did, now can you?" The mirth left his features, something more solemn replacing it. "You'll be fine. I know it." Looking as though he'd like to say more but deciding against it, he instead squeezed his son's shoulder in a rare display of affection and faded away into nothingness.

A flood of emotions were swirling in his chest but Nico couldn't see for the sudden tears in his eyes.

You can't do any worse than I did, now can you?

Oh but he could.

"Let's pick out- babe? Hey.. Nico what is it?" Will was at his side then, easing him down to the floor and wrapping an arm around him. "I can't- I can't do this. I'm not ready. What if another war breaks out? What if I get drained again but this time it's too much? What if they take after me, people will be scared of them, the other kids-" Will cuffed him lightly then gave him a tight hug,

"Hey now ghost king. They're barely old enough to be out of diapers, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. We're in this together, remember? Now first thing's first, before we start worrying about their social lives let's pick names, hmm? How about.. For the boy.. Henry? Or Wolverine! Yeah, that's a good name."

Nico cracked a smile, shaking his head. "That's a ridiculous name. Think again." Will considered this, scooping up their little angel. "Are you a Henry? Hmm? Or.. Thomas? Um.." While he thought this over, Nico leaned over the baby girl. She had yet to cry, but latched onto his finger with a strength that surprised him.

"Hey.. Will?"

"Yeah babe?"

She smiled suddenly, no teeth just yet but little face trusting and eyes full of love.

"Can.. can we name her Bianca?"

Will had no protests, only soft eyes and a cuddle for his small family.

That had been roughly two and a half years ago. Today, the four year old twins were ready to embark on yet another adventure:

Preschool.

"No Papa, I wanna wear the lellow one." Grayson D'angelo- Solace insisted. His favorite color seemed to change every few days and this week's hit was yellow. Nico sighed heavily, sending a silent prayer up to whichever god was bored and listening that this particular love was short lived. He took private comfort in the face that his son's t-shirt at least had black skulls on it and helped him pull it down over his little head.

While he worked to get Grayson ready, Will was doing the same across the twin's bedroom with their daughter. It was going in a similar fashion, save for the fact that Will was desperately trying to liven up her chosen outfit.

"Baby, look. Daddy has your pink tutu here and your red rain boots. You love your tutu and boots, remember? We had lots of fun on Sunday while you wore them."

Bianca remained unimpressed and continued to try and wiggle into her favorite black dress, one that was essentially an over sized shirt and her striped leggings. Will knew if he didn't achieve some sort of compromise soon, he might have to face such a battle every morning.

"What about your scarlet one? With the black bow?" He pleaded. That caught her eye and he tried not to pounce on the small crack in her facade. "You could wear your papa jacket. The black leather one, just like papa's? And daddy will put pretty black ribbons in your hair. Hmm?" He held his breath while the little girl considered this.

"Could I wear my polka dot shirt?" She finally asked. Will felt like cheering. "Absolutely you can! Come on and let's get you dressed, then I can make your hair pretty, hmm?" She nodded happily, already racing to her dresser in a bid to get the aforementioned shirt.

Once both children were neatly washed, dressed and combed for the day, the family set out. Both twins were bouncing in their car seats, eager to see what the day would hold. Oddly enough, despite their color preferences, Bianca could be a regular merry sunshine. She chatted endlessly, all about what she thought might happen and who she would see and if Ollie Jackson would be there and on and on.

The same could not be said of Grayson however, who seemed to have inherited Nico's more hesitant nature. It was usually he who waited in the background, shy and coming to play only when invited. Today, he kept a tight hold of his sister's hand. Maybe she was excited. He just couldn't settle the butterflies in his tummy. Hopefully they would go away soon, otherwise he might not keep down breakfast.