Chapter Text
For once, the infirmary has a quietish night. No one is in long term because of training accidents, dehydration or exhaustion, or general demi-god stupid. Perfect time to set up ALL the medications for the campers for the next month.
“Don’t you find it at least a little ironic that several Demeter kids are at least a little allergic to pollen?” Lyra asks, filling one tray for Molly Gibbs, a younger Demeter girl who nearly died when she walked into a very pollen-filled branch.
Will sighs and adjusts Nico who is curled up against his chest while he sorts another camper's medication, “No, it's ironic, I just don’t find it as humorous as you do.”
“Its not nearly as funny as Drew being allergic to her favorite foundation.” Piper adds from her spot on the floor where she has sprawled herself. “She still uses it though.”
Lyra rolls her eyes, Drew has always been stubborn about that. They go back to mostly silent except for the occasional squeak as Nico readjusts on Will’s lap to avoid falling on Piper’s legs. Will closes the tray he was working on and reaches for another to the great dismay of Nico who nearly smacks his head on the table. They all laugh as he grumbles and Will gives him apology kisses.
A knock echos from the door before it is slowly opened, they all turn to see Conner standing there in his night pants looking utterly defeated. “Will, we need your assistance with something.”
“Do I need to come too?” Lyra asks, pushing her chair away from the table.
“No, it's a — male issue.” Conner says carefully, fidgeting with the strings of his pants.
Will pinches the bridge of his nose, “What happened?” He asks, standing up and still having Nico glued to him.
Conner turns a little red, “Travis found a hole in one of the walls and,” he pauses and clears his throat, “Decided it was a great idea to stick his penis in it, Katie came over and well, he can’t get it out.”
Piper practically chokes, “What is with you men and doing that sort of thing.” Will and Lyra glare at her, “Ok, void you two it seems most men stick their penises where they shouldn’t go.”
Conner raises an eyebrow but doesn’t ask. Will hands a very grumpy Nico to Lyra and grabs his med kit and leaves the infirmary with Conner.
“You know I sometimes forget about the gender swap thing with you two.” Nico says quietly, nestling himself closer to Lyra and deeper into the blanket that he had draped over him.
Lyra chuckles, “It is quite the obscure thing, and is still a lesson in why we don’t let Apollo get drunk while with a pregnant mortal woman.”
Piper grunts as she sits up and rests her head on Lyra’s leg as she returns to sorting medication. After a while Nico drifts off to sleep, quietly snoring. Lyra rolls her eyes, Nico can practically fall asleep anywhere if he feels safe and is warm.
Will walks back in looking utterly defeated and sets his med bag down before resting his chin to Lyra’s head and sighing. “What happened?”
“I just saw a lot more of Travis’ penis than physically necessary." He lets out a slow breath, “I had to use an entire bottle of lube to remove it and he had a bunch of lacerations because of the wood. I need Nico cuddles.”
“You can get those if you're willing to wake and move him.” She says, running her fingers through his greasy hair gently. “It's about time I wash his hair again, it's really greasy.”
Will raises an eyebrow before gently scooping Nico into his arms, skillfully not waking him, and sits on the floor with his face pressed to his boyfriend's hair. Piper laughs and stands up, draping her arms over Lyra’s shoulders and gently nuzzling her. The rest of the night is quiet other than the occasional screeches from the harpies while they hunt just outside the barrier (at the satyr's request). Will eventually falls asleep leaning against his twin's chair while she diligently finishes up the sorting, quietly talking and flirting with Piper all the while.
✴✴✴✴✴
The sun beams through the windows, gently lighting the infirmary. Will wakes slowly and stretches, keeping a hand on Nico so he doesn’t slide off and get hurt.
“Morning sleepy.” Lyra coos, gently clapping her hand to his face.
He groans and removes her hand, “How long was I out for?”
She laughs, “Well you fell asleep around 11:30 and it's 5:45 so about 7ish hours.”
Off in the distance the bell sounds signaling time to get up and go to the pavilion. Piper yawns and gets up, “I’m going to get breakfast and piss off Drew.”
“Ok darling, have fun.” Lyra says, Piper comes over and kisses her before walking out, busy tying her hair back.
Will gently shakes Nico awake and slides him on to the floor, walking over to the kitchen to make the three of them breakfast. Nico gets up and clamors his way back on to Lyra’s lap, demanding cuddles.
“Are you being snuggly now?” She asks, he nods. “I’m going to wash your hair later, it's getting kinda greasy.”
He frowns, “Ok.”
Will wanders back out balancing three plates of food and sets them on the table and gives Nico a cheeky grin, “Bone apple teeth.”
Nico puts his head in his hands, “Will, why are you like this?”
“Becasue I can, you love me.” His face starts to glow a little as he kisses his boyfriend.
“I do indeed, Mr. Shoelace.” Lyra snorts at the retort as Nico slides off her lap and grabs his plate of food. “Oo pomegranate.” he squeals as he notices the small bowl of pomegranate seeds.
The twins laugh as he promptly sits down and starts eating. As they eat a slow creeping feeling starts to gnaw at the back of Lyra’s mind to the point she sets her unfinished plate down and gets up.
“Where are you going?” Will asks, mouth full of eggs.
Lyra grabs her med pack, “I just have a bad feeling, I’ll be back soon.”
With that she walks out of the infirmary and starts towards the cabins. The chaos of breakfast echos faintly from the pavilion as she walks, slowly speeding up as the feeling grows worse. Finally she makes it to the Hephaestus cabin and opens the door, its empty of course, well, its supposed to be. She goes up to the door to the bunker and types in the code to open the door.
The smell of smoke, grease and general grim meets her nose as she silently hurries down stairs. She sends a quick and silent prayer that her feeling is wrong as she walks. She reaches the halfway mark and hears subdued sobs, her heart drops out of her chest. Hurriedly she walks over to a desk where the sound is coming from, black hair visible over the boxes underneath.
She takes a deep breath and walks closer and kneels down finding Leo on the floor, dagger in hand and his own blood on his hands and the floor. He looks up at her and drops the dagger with a clang and tries to cover his arms. Her hand rests on the dagger as she slides it away and joins him under the table.
“I-I.” he starts, his breath hiccupping from his sobs as she hushes him.
She reaches and pulls him onto her lap and wipes his tears away and pulls out a roll of bandages and gauze, quietly starting to tend the cuts along his forearms. He presses his face to her neck as she gently applies some antibiotic and wraps his arms. After she finishes they just sit as Leo’s sobs fade into whimpers then sniffles and shaky breaths.
Lyra’s hand finds his cheek and guides his gaze to hers, “Why?” She asks, her voice soft and calm.
He sniffles and wipes his nose with the back of his hand, “I-I still feel horrible for worrying everyone and making Jason think I was gone, I don’t want people worrying about me.” His voice comes out small and fragile. “It was my fault.”
“Leo, its not your fault.” She gently kisses his forehead like a mother would do to her child.
“You don’t know that.” He looks away from her.
A half laugh exits her nose as she removes her flannel and makes a small light orb, “Leo I would know better than most.” She gently guides his thumb to small and faint scars like his own, now long healed and faded.
“You-” He starts then stops, brushing his fingers gently against her arm.
“After the battle of Manhattan I blamed myself for my siblings' deaths even though there was nothing I could have changed. Will found me much in a similar way I did with you and he sobbed, he was scared he would lose me too.” She explains softly, he looks up at her, his eyes still wet and glistening from his tears. “Do you want me to heal them or do you want to let them heal naturally?”
His brow furrows, “They scar either way?”
“Yes, my abilities don’t prevent scaring.”
“Could you heal them? I don’t want Harley to accidentally hit them.” He puts his arms out.
Lyra laughs softly and slides out from under the table, “Lets first go to the infirmary so we can also get you food.” He slinks away at the mention of seeing people. “It's, as far as I know, just Will and Nico in there. It's safe.” He hesitates but comes out from under the desk where Lyra scoops him up and walks upstairs.
Everyone is still at breakfast as they walk out and Lyra carries Leo to the infirmary. She taps the door open and sets Leo down on a cot and turns around, jumping at seeing Nico curled up in the nicknamed donut of sickness.
“You don’t feel good?” She coos, gently tapping the large firm pillow with her foot to grab his attention.
He shakes his head and does the sign for overstimulated. She nods and goes to grab his headphones and hands them to him. He takes them and curls up. She turns back to Leo and sits next to him and gently takes his hands and unwraps the bandages.
Her eyes flutter shut as she starts to hum the lyrics to the lullaby she and her brother hold so dear. Her hands glow as his wounds stitch themselves closed to Leo’s great amazement. As the song ends so does the healing, just leaving faint lines from where the knife met his skin.
She pulls in a deep breath and opens her eyes, looking more tired than before but she still smiles at him. “Thank you.”
“Anytime, next time you feel like doing that, find me, I don’t want to hunt you down like that again.” He smiles and nods, “Now go and do something that you like doing, like bothering Jason.” He laughs at that and hugs her before leaving.
Her attention gets drawn back to Nico who is still staring up at her. She gets up and walks to him and sits down offering him a hand to hold, he takes it and gently tugs.
“You want cuddles?” She asks, he nods.
She slides on to the over-sized pillow, quickly finding Nico on her lap, his headphone covered head tucked up under her chin. They sit there as she tenderly brushes her fingers through his hair. After a bit he nudges her, silently asking her to sing.
She sighs, “You want me to sing the Lullaby?” He nods and settles himself closer, “Let me get my lyre.” She starts to get up but he shakes his head. A soft smile rests on her face. “Ok.”
She clears her throat and starts to sing quietly. After a bit Will walks in from outside with Piper in tow. They both stand silently at the door just listening before Will gently taps his twins shoulder. Her eyes open as she continues and he snuggles up next to her and Piper sits down on the other side. Nico resettles between the twins as Will joins in, Piper gently grabs Lyra’s hand and rests her head on her girlfriend's shoulder.