Chapter Text
“Oookay. Okay. Let’s get back to the infirmary,” Will said.
“Hey, Kayla! Help me out here?” He called out to one of his siblings, practising archery nearby. She glanced at him, let go of the arrow she had already pulled back, letting it fly into the target, and ran towards him.
“What’s up?” She asked.
“Can you help me carry him to the Big House?”
She glanced at Nico, and said, “Oh. Didn’t realise he was half-unconscious.”
“Why would he be clinging to me if he wasn’t?” Will asked.
“Because you’re you. And Nico is Nico,” she explained very unhelpfully.
“What does that even mean?”
“He sits at our table just because you can’t stand being away from each other for more than two seconds. He’s started archery even though his aim is even worse than yours - and that’s saying something-”
“Hey, I’m right here,” Nico said indignantly. “And you don’t have to carry me. I can walk,” he continued, letting go of Will. He managed to stumble a few steps forward, before falling on his face.
“Urgh,” he said. Will raised an eyebrow at him.
“Can walk, huh?”
Nico huffed.
They got to the infirmary much slower than they should have, thanks to Nico telling them that “No, really, I can walk now” multiple times, falling down after a few feet every time.
“You handle this, Will, I’m gonna go back to archery,” Kayla said.
Will nodded, hoisting Nico onto one of the beds.
“Stay,” he said.
Nico glared at him.
He grabbed a bottle of nectar from the cabinets. Then, against Nico’s protests, he pressed his palm to his forehead.
“Oh wow,” Will said. “You’re hot.”
“Of course you think so,” Nico said. Will rolled his eyes.
“I mean you have a very high temperature. Drink this,” He said, handing Nico the bottle.
“I’m fine, Will. Just a bit tired.”
“Yeah, totally. The last time you collapsed and told me you were just tired, you almost died.”
“That was the time before last time, actually. Last time I really was just tired,” Nico said, but obliged and tried to twist open the bottle. Will watched his futile attempts for a while before reaching in and twisting the cap off. Nico frowned at the bottle.
“Give me your arm,” Will said. Nico, surprisingly, held out his arm without complaints.
Will unwrapped the bandage.
“Nico… Is there something you’re not telling me?” he asked as he saw what the bite looked like now.
“What do you mean?” Nico asked with a falsely innocent voice.
“The only bites that can get infected this quickly are human bites.”
“Yes?”
“But this is still shaped like a wolf bite.”
“Yes?”
Will sighed. “Nico, what bit you?”
“Fine, fine, I’ll tell you the truth. It was a werewolf,” he said, as nonchalantly as he would talk about the weather.
“What?” Will asked incredulously.
“A werewolf,” Nico said slowly.
“You got bit by Lycaon and said it was some dog?”
“No, not Lycaon. Some other werewolf. Lycaon would’ve talked more, this one just attacked immediately,” Nico explained.
“Nico,” Will said accusingly.
“Okay, fine, I should’ve told you, but it’s not that bad!”
“Yes, it is. If you were completely mortal and I hadn’t put the healing charm on it, you’d be either dead or in a coma by now!”
“But I’m not! So, put some healing stuff on it, and I can go back to the training ground.”
Will rolled his eyes. “That’s not how it works, and you know it.”
Nico glared at the wall.
Will glared at Nico.
Suddenly the door burst open and both boys looked at the door, though it didn’t undo the tension in the air.
“Whoa, am I interrupting something?” Percy asked, backing off a few steps.
“Oh, no, it’s fine,” Will said, shifting a little.
“You shouldn’t have let Nico leave earlier,” Percy accused Will.
“I can manage-”
Will cut off Nico’s protests. “Yes, Percy. You’re right. I shouldn’t have let Nico leave. I just thought he had some sense of self-preservation.”
Nico huffed and crossed his arms. “That’s not true.”
“What’s not- You don’t have a sense of self-preservation or Will thought you do?” Percy said.
“Oh, really? What about when the war ended?” Will said, ignoring Percy, and got up.
“Hey, if I hadn’t brought the statue here, I would be dead for sure. All of us would be!”
“You didn’t have to still-”
Percy grabbed Will’s arm lightly but firmly. “Hey, hey, calm down. Both of you,” he said, looking at Nico pointedly. “Will, can I talk to you for a moment?” He said, and without waiting for an answer, pulled the son of Apollo away and into the hallway, closing the door quietly. He let go of Will’s arm.
“It’s good and all that you’re taking care of Nico,” he said. “And I get why you want to. But I think you’re smothering him a bit.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Nico isn’t a very open person. He went for years lying to everybody, lying to himself, about his feelings. He almost let himself be killed rather than admit them. He isn’t used to being open about things.”
“Yeah, and I’d like to change that! He doesn’t have to keep hiding stuff. And why does this even matter?”
Percy sighed. “You two are together now, right?”
Will stiffened. “Yes- I guess. Technically.”
“Since when?”
“You know already.”
“Yes, I know, but I don’t think you understand. You’ve been together for a month soon. Have you kissed yet?”
Will looked at the floor, trying to find anything to focus on but this conversation. “No,” he admitted.
“Exactly. Nico isn’t ready for a relationship yet.”
“Doesn’t necessarily mean that,” Will mumbled.
“But it does. Why do you think you haven’t kissed? Why you don’t even spend that much time together, despite being ‘official’?” Percy said, sarcastically air quoting the last word.
“I- Every time, he backs off. I don’t know why. And whenever I ask him to go to the beach, or just go anywhere together, he has some excuse. So I only really see him in groups, when we practice things together,” Will stopped looking at the floor and looked up at Percy. “I don’t know what to do! I try to get him to open up, and it doesn’t work. All I can do is to try give him some space and hope he can figure things out. And then he goes on some pointless ‘mission’ in Brooklyn just to fight monsters.”
Percy looked at Will understandingly. “That’s just what Nico does. He’s one of the bravest people I’ve ever met in battle. And I’ve seen how many people fight. When it comes to a real fight, where dying isn’t that improbable, most people will escape. Nico never has, and probably never will. But when it comes to things he can’t fight, the only way to deal with them he knows is to run away.” He shrugged. “That’s just how he is.”
Will tried to blink away the tears in his eyes. He looked back down. “Can you talk to him?” He asked.
Percy shook his head. “That’s your job.” Without another word, he patted Will’s shoulder understandingly and walked away. Will stood there until he heard the door of the Big House open and close as Percy left. He rubbed his eyes with his hands, and took a moment to gather himself before walking back into the infirmary.
Nico looked away from the half-empty bottle of nectar he’d been staring into for the past few minutes when the door opened again. Will stepped in, taking up about half the space he usually did, as if he was trying to make himself look smaller.
“Is something wrong?” Nico asked cautiously. He might not show it a lot, but he cared about Will.
Will shrugged. He returned to sit next to Nico, and started applying some sort of ointment on the bite with speed and effectiveness that could only be learned from doing it countless times.
Nico noticed that there were some lines on Will’s cheeks, and his eyes were slightly red. He decided not to mention that he had been crying only moments ago.
“What did Percy want to talk about?” He demanded kindly.
Will looked away. “Nothing,” he said unconvincingly.
Nico frowned. Obviously Will didn’t want to talk about it. So he let it go, and watched distantly as Will wrapped his arm in fresh bandages, cleaned everything up and left.