Chapter Text
It took another week for Nico to finally let Will out of the infirmary, even though Austin had medically cleared him the day he woke up. Nico fretted over him for hours before finally sighing and giving one last tug on his sweatshirt sleeve, “You sure you want to leave?” he asked quietly, folding the edge of the bandage back so it didn’t peek out. “I’ll stay a few more days with you…”
Will rolled his eyes and kissed Nico’s cheek, “I’m sure, sunshine. I’ll be fine.” he reassured, petting through Nico’s hair, “Besides, I’m sure people are missing their resident Mr. dark and mysterious~”
Nico only rolled his eyes, “Will, nobody noticed I was gone. They missed you .” he urged, taking his boyfriend’s hand, “Everyone is worried, so if we’re gonna go, we might as well go now.”
Nico helped Will up, helped him to steady himself on unused legs and walk through the privacy curtain for the first time in two weeks. Hazel was there, probably to come find Nico, maybe to see Will.
"Gods, Will? What happened?" Hazel fretted, already fretting over Will, "You're so pale "
Nico grinned, "Leave him be, Hazel, he's fine" he mused, gently squeezing Will's hand. "Nothing too bad, Austin and I were just being overprotective"
Hazel frowned, but pulled her hands away from Will, "Fine. But Will is sitting with us at lunch, Nico." she demanded, leaving her brother with a quick kiss on the forehead, striding out like she was never even there.
"Hazel is still Hazel, at least" Will muttered, laughing a bit as he did his best to walk steadily out of the infirmary. It took a lap around the cabins, but Will was walking again, just holding Nico's hand and enjoying being out of the stuffy infirmary.
Nico urged him to laugh and smile, making absolute certain not to leave his boyfriend's side until they went to lunch, when Nico pushed Will down next to Hazel and then went to grab food for the both of them. "If you don't eat, I'm sending you back to bed" Nico threatened, noting the way that Will eyed the food on his plate.
"Fine, fine-" Will muttered, quietly shoving a strawberry in his mouth, "Happy?" he asked, picking at the other fruits on his plate.
Nico only huffed, nodding reluctantly, "You need to photosynthesize for a bit, hun, you're really pale… Wanna go to the beach?"
Will only huffed, "You two have no room to comment on how pale I am. You are literally the walking dead." he looked away, crossing his arms for a moment, "But yes, I want to go to the beach" he murmured, refising to meet Nico's eyes.
Nico only laughed, gently squeezing Will's hand, "Soccer? (they're in America right lmao? I'm so used to calling it football)" he asked. Nico would've offered volleyball, but Will's forearms were out of commission until they healed completely.
Will took a minute, but finally smiled and nodded, "Yeah, that sounds nice" he murmured, "I don't know how long I'll be able to play before I start tripping over my own feet, though" he mused, leaning his head on Nico's shoulder, "But I'll try."
So they did try, they laughed when Will tripped over the ball and laughed even harder when Nico missed it completely. They had fun, they were happy; but the lapses of silence reminded them that right now wasn't grins and giggles, Will had almost died at his own hand.
"Will?" Nico asked, the two of them just laying in the sand, hands intertwined, "I love you, you know"
Will grinned to himself, "I love you too, Neeks" he replied, rolling over so he could press a kiss to Nico's cheek. "Love you so much, baby" he murmured, trying to pull Nico closer to him.
Nico only smiled, kissing Will's nose, "Go take a shower, you're covered in sand" he protested, ruffling Will's hair in attempts to get the sand and salt out of his hair. "We have to change your bandages anyways"
Will wonder at the mention of his band she's, but nodded slowly, "Yeah, yeah. Let's go." he whispered, obviously trying not to let the thoughts of his self-harm get to him. "When we're done we can cuddle. You're covered, too"
So they went back to Nico's cabin, with Nico insisting on washing Will's hair for him (" I'm not worried that you're going to drown in the shower, Will! I just want to wash your hair!) So the two spent time trying to maneuver around each other in the small shower, Nico getting soap in Will's eyes no less than 3 times.
"Gods, sunshine I should've rejected your offer" Will muttered, rubbing furiously at his burning eye.
Nico only grinned, shrugging on a shirt that probably belonged to Will because he doesn't own anything that color green, "Your fault for not closing your eyes~" He sing-songed, gently tugging Will over to the bed, "Sit I need to fix your bandages."
Will may have been the resident doctor that had literally reattached somebody's limb once, but Nico handled him like he was fragile, his hands gentle as they finished drying his skin. "You're gonna be hurting for a while…" he noted, pressing a kiss to the heel of Will's hand before covering it, too.
Will only frowned, wrapping his newly wrapped arms around Nico, "I'll be okay." he reassured, kissing Nico's temple. "I promise it's okay."
Nico frowned, "We really have to talk about this, Will…" he whispered quietly, tracing patterns across the bandages, "I have to know that you're really okay, because you're obviously not, and I- gods, Will, I'm a mess. I'm in no place to take care of you and your feelings, but I want to. I want to be here for you and I'm going to figure out a way how. Can- can we try talking to someone? Like- someone who can help, I mean."
Nico looked worried, sad, like he was afraid he had overstepped. Maybe that was why he kept rambling, "I mean- I've been thinking about it and I was gonna see if I could go myself and maybe convince you to come too for moral support and then get you help too but, now… Will you think about it for me?" he asked quietly, finally glancing up and looking Will in the eyes, "Please?"
" Yes . Gods, sunshine, do I seem like the type of person to deny medical help? I'm a doctor "
Nico smiled at that, "Okay… Good… Thank you, Tesoro."
Will only smiled, "Come on now, let's go to sleep before Hazel comes in, yeah?"
Of course, just as the words left Will's mouth, Hazel strided in, a hand over her eyes, "Can I look or do I need to leave?" She asked, only half serious after more than one walk-in on not very PG actions. "Oh! Will, what happened to your arms? Why are you two crying ?"
Will wiped away his watery smile quickly, "Oh! Hazel-" he squeaked, shuffling back, "Nothing happened- I… Nico and I were just talking, that's all" he said hurriedly, looking desperately to Nico
Hazel frowned, "Will? Are you okay?" she asked softly, pushing past Nico and offering Will a hug.
Will just looked down, sighing quietly and quietly accepting the hug from his boyfriend's sister. It was weird, and Nico was visibly scowling (although there was no malicious feeling behind it), but it was nice at the same time.
Hazel took the opportunity to curl up at Will's side while Nico huffed and slipped into his lap. "You don't have to tell me anything, Will. I'm just making sure you're okay." Hazel reassured, leaning against the son of Apollo, hoping that she was a comforting presence.
Nobody spoke for a while, but Will did eventually break the silence, "Can you tell her, sunshine?" he asked, his eyes pinched shut and Nico's hand squeezed tightly in his own. "I don't want to talk about it just yet."
"Are you sure?"
Will simply nodded, relaxing a bit at the reassuring squeeze Nico gave his hand. "Yeah, I'm sure."
More silence ensued, but Nico eventually spoke up, explaining what Austin had told him, and then what happened after Nico himself came in. Nico tried not to cry, but he was choking on sobs when he explained hou scared he was that Will might not be waking up . Even as Will cradled Nico in his arms, it was hard to shake that dismay, that awful feeling of loss and grief.
Hazel, too was back to hugging Will as soon as she had realized what has happened, and Will just frowned, holding the crying siblings close to him and trying to comfort them with reassurances of "it's okay".
In retrospect, Will shouldn't be the one comforting them.
It didn't matter, because the siblings decided to curl up against Will Solace (they're like fukin moths and Will is rlly warm), Hazel effectively crying herself asleep, and Nico just sniffling and tracing patterns on Will's shoulder. " Are you okay?" he whispered, staying pressed snug against his boyfriend’s side, “Hazel fell asleep, didn’t she?”
Will only nodded in response to both questions, “It’s fine. Let’s just go to sleep, yeah? We’ll figure out tomorrow when tomorrow comes.”
Nico only nodded, resisting the urge to wack his sister over the head in favor of staying where he was. “I love you, Will”
“Love you too, sunshine. Now go to sleep.”