Chapter Text
It was maybe four days after the war had ended, not that Nico was counting. It was too hectic for him to worry about what day it was. Time was measured only by arbitrary things, like meals and Iris messages to Hazel and Reyna, and using these arbitrary things he was able to come to the conclusion that it had been four days. Four days and about twice as many naps. Yeah, that sounded about right.
So, yeah, Nico had promised to stay at the infirmary, but it seemed pointless by now. He had been resting and healing and whatnot for four whole days. He would have gone sooner, and he actually tried to, but Will got swept up by the chaos of post-war injuries, and Nico didn't know what to do, so he just turned around and walked away. It wasn't as though he was fatally wounded, and both he and Will were going to be busy, anyways. No one would miss him. Especially not after four whole entire days of him not going to the infirmary. Camp activities would be starting up again, too. Will Solace would probably just forget that Nico di Angelo ever existed, and they would both be free to go on with their lives. Not that Nico was too sure what his life entailed, now that the quest was over and everything was going back to normal, but he would have plenty of time to figure that out without being confined to the infirmary. Everyone else was getting on with things, anyways. Hazel and Frank headed back to Camp Jupiter. Percy and Annabeth had left as well, along with Reyna. Piper and Jason stayed at Camp Half-Blood, but Jason was always busy with one thing or another, and Piper had a cabin to run or whatever. Everyone scattered after their last meeting, a few days prior. Everyone got together to discuss Leo's memorial. Nico thought about how, if Leo had been there, he might have suggested something like a giant golden statue of himself, and some kind of long-winded plaque telling about how amazing he was. He didn't know Leo well, but he thought that sounded like a pretty Leo thing to suggest. He wasn't there, though, and no statues were suggested. They settled, instead, on having a quiet service later, once everything was settled. No one set a date.
Nico was looking at himself in the mirror of his cabin's bathroom. Four days and he had more or less gotten used to his own reflection. He caught glimpses of himself throughout the quest, and he thought he was looking better now than before. Less boney, if only slightly. He pinched one of his cheeks, surprised at the small amount of fat he was able to hold between his fingers. He was gaining weight, after all; his face was rounder and his eyes were less sunken. And, most importantly, he felt normal. Sort of. Less exhausted, more hungry, more talkative. He could hold conversations with Piper, whenever she was around, and he didn't think he was horrible at it. There wasn't much to talk about, of course, but she filled him in on what everyone was doing, and then he would try to carry the conversation as well as he knew how to. Piper was nice. Really, genuinely nice. Somehow, Nico could tell that she wasn't just talking to him out of pity or obligation. She actually wanted to talk to him, or at the very least, didn't not want to talk to him.
Nico washed his face, pausing when he pulled back his hair. He needed a haircut. He kept his hair long for a while, but this was getting ridiculous. But where do you go for haircuts? Would the Aphrodite cabin have anything to do with that? There had to be some option, there were year-round campers, after all. Not everyone got to go out into the world to do things like cut their hair or shop for clothes or whatever people do when they aren't at camp. Nico wished he had stuck around a bit longer, at least long enough to have a good grasp on how the camp functioned.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. An annoying knock, the kind that's quick and loud and to a beat. He wiped the water from his brow with his fingers, not bothering to dry the rest of his face. Who could it be? Not Piper, Nico knew her knock. Jason?
He was surprised when he opened the door and found Will Solace on the other side. He was leaning on the porch railing, smiling gently, like it was only natural that he would be smiling. Nico stared at him.
"You made me a promise," Will reminded him.
"Oh," Nico paused, waiting to see if he was going to continue, maybe to tell him that he didn't have to go anymore. "You know, I feel fine now."
"Oh no, you are not getting out of this that easy,"
"I'm not trying to. I'm just saying. I probably don't need to stay the whole three days,"
"We'll see," He pushed off the railing and backed down the stairs lazily. "C'mon, you."
You. Did he forget his name? Part of him hoped so. He wanted to think that he was so unremarkable that his name would be easily forgotten. He'd rather be no one than be someone who was whispered about. Then again, just because no one knew his name didn't mean they wouldn't whisper about him. Would he rather others knew him as "Nico" or as "That weird Hades kid"? It wasn't a tough choice. Nico followed Will silently. The infirmary... He'd never been inside before, and he wasn't sure what to expect. Will was quiet as well, which Nico welcomed. The day they met, he couldn't seem to shut up. Not that he minded it that much. Sure, Will was irritatingly chipper, but he wasn't that bad. As long as he didn't start humming loudly or sprouting poorly done poetry, Nico thought he could manage three days with the guy.
The infirmary had two wings, both identical, holding rows of cots and wooden cabinets filled with miscellaneous medical supplies. One wing was empty, the other housing a few scrapes-and-bruises cases. Will led him to a room in the back of the empty wing, which turned out to be some kind of private check-up room, though there were doors on either side with little fogged windows. There was a scale and measuring tape on the wall, as well as a collection of seemingly random medical supplies. Will picked up a clipboard and sat at a chair, motioning for Nico to do the same.
"We're just going to do a little check-up real quick, nothing too invasive," Will clicked his pen. "You don't have a file, so..."
Nico didn't respond.
"Okay, well, to start with: when were you born?"
He shrugged.
"C'mon, Nico,"
"I don't know. I'm fifteen, probably,"
Will raised his eyebrows at his clipboard and scribbled something down. "Any allergies or medical problems or anything like that?"
"Not that I know of,"
"Alright... I assume you don't know your blood type?"
"...No."
"We should do a blood test, anyways. And I'm guessing you haven't had any vaccines," He looked up. "You aren't afraid of needles, right?"
Nico stared at him, unable to process how stupid it would be for him to be afraid of needles after everything that had happened to him.
"Dumb question. Right. Hum... We can do the blood real quick, and the vaccinations some time tomorrow, if that's alright," He stood. "Let's get your height and weight."
Nico was underweight, obviously. Will didn't say anything, but he didn't need his expert medical opinion to know that.
"Could you take your shirt off?" Will asked suddenly as soon as Nico sat back down.
"What?"
"You were injured, right? I need to draw some blood, anyways. No big deal."
Nico blinked a few times then pulled off his shirt.
"Holy shit," Will leaned closer to look at his arms. "You should've come here right away, I could've at least gotten you bandaged properly."
"They aren't that bad," Nico said. "...Right?"
"Infected," He pointed to the largest scratch on that arm, then several others in quick succession. "Infected, infected, infected... Don't they hurt?"
"Not bad."
Will chewed on his lip. "I'll uh... Hm... Disinfect these first. Then apply some ointment and bandage them back up."
Nico waited patiently while Will went through some cabinets. After a few seconds, he seemed to have everything he needed. He kneeled down in front of him and soaked a cloth in some kind of liquid, then quickly grabbed Nico's right hand and put it over his free arm. Confused, Nico was about to move his hand away when Will blurted out "Thisisgonnahurt," and practically slapped the cloth on his bicep. Nico's nails instantly dug into Will's arm, and it took him a second to realize he should adjust his grip so he wasn't actively gouging out his flesh. After that and a hard kick to the floor, it was done with. Nico closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Sorry," Will said, not giving him much time to recover before the process repeated on the other arm. Once that was done with, Will rubbed his wrist absently and began to apply some kind of ointment. Nico wasn't sure what it was, but it had a strong odor and made his skin numb before he even finished applying it.
"Sorry," Will said, again. "...You should cut your nails, dude."
Nico didn't have anything to say to that, so he stayed quiet.
"Let's just get that blood and I'll let you rest, 'kay?"
"Alright," Rest. He was seriously going to make him stay there. For three days. Seriously.
The blood draw went by quickly and mostly painlessly, then Nico was led into one of the other rooms. It had a bed - a real bed, not a cot -, a nightstand, and some poor, poor excuse for a shower squished into the corner.
"We have these rooms for long-term patients, but we don't really ever need to use them. Figured you'd appreciate the privacy, at least. There's a nurse call button on the side of the bed. Or, uh, you could just peek out of the room and see if someone's there. Oh, and if you promise you won't run away, you can go grab your stuff from your cabin. I'll find a bag," Will vanished from the room.
Nico though that maybe, just maybe, this wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. It was just a room, after all. A room he'd have to stay in. Alone. With nothing to do. At all. He sighed. Will returned, shoving a cloth bag into Nico's arms.
"Go on, and get back right away. I will come looking for you if I have to," He warned.
Nico grunted in response and left with the bag. Pipe noticed him on his way back to his cabin and asked him what he was doing. Nico explained quickly that he was going to have to stay in the infirmary for a few days.
"That sucks," She said.
"I was in there barely twenty minutes and all he did was torture me," He complained.
"I'll come see you tomorrow. Blink twice if he's holding you hostage," She joked.
Nico smiled awkwardly, waving her off. Hopefully her visit would occupy some of his day. He was never much for passing the time with conversation, but it was better than nothing. Then, he doubted she would stay long. What's the fun in talking to Nico di Angelo?
He meandered back to the infirmary with a now full bag of his few personal belongings. Will met him at the door and walked with him back to his room. Nico wondered if he thought he would actually run away. Nico wondered if he should.
Nico dropped the bag on the floor and sat on the bed. It was softer than he was expecting, shocking him when he sank deep into the mattress. Will pulled a rolling chair from the lobby, sat down (backwards), and kicked the door shut behind him in one swift motion.
"What?" Nico asked.
"Well, I thought we'd talk. Get to know each other. Unless you're ready for nap-time,"
"Ah. We're moving on to psychological torture," Nico said, mostly to himself. Will made a face.
"I just wanna talk,"
"About what?"
"Well... For starters, how're you doing?"
"Fine,"
"Really."
Will was staring at Nico, really staring at him, in a way that made him think he was trying to look deeper into him. Trying to get the truth out. Trying.
"What do you want me to say?" Nico was becoming defensive, though he wasn't sure why.
"Just... Talk to me. You have nightmares? Trouble sleeping? Anything... Y'know, a doctor would want to know about?"
"Will, you're practically a stranger,"
"And?"
"And I don't even talk to my -" He hesitated with the word. "My friends about that stuff,"
"So? I'm just worried about you. You can tell me. It'll be confidential,"
"Why are you pressing so hard?"
"Why are you so suspicious?"
"Will."
"Because you looked like shit the last time we spoke, Nico. And to be honest, you look like shit now," Will said. "Because there are bags under your eyes and you're thin as paper. For fuck's sake, Nico, I'm not an idiot. You barely eat, barely talk, barely do much of anything at all. Obviously I'm worried, obviously I want to help. Anyone would,"
"Then why don't they?" Nico was seething now, gradually becoming angrier the more they talked. But why? "My friends aren't bad people, but they don't worry about me. Piper talks to me plenty, and she never brings all that up. And no one else bothers to, either. They don't worry because they can see they don't need to. Not even my friends. So why do you think you have to?"
"Nico -"
"Don't," Nico shook his head. "Never mind. I don't want to talk about this. I'll stay my three days, and you can stab me with as many needles as you want, but just leave me alone."
Will was silent for a while. Nico wouldn't look at him. He didn't want to fight, to get angry, to do anything, really. He didn't mean it, but he didn't really not mean it, either. Will huffed and stormed out. Nico was alone.
In the hours that passed, Nico came to a realization as to why he had gotten so angry. He thought about his face in the mirror, about how he could barely pinch the fat on his cheeks. He thought about the way his ribs seemed to slowly disappear, bit by bit, day by day. He thought about how natural it felt to talk to Piper. But was it all useless? Nico thought he had made progress, but was it so small that it didn't even matter? Piper never mentioned he seemed to be gaining weight because she didn't see a difference. And Will thought Nico wasn't trying to help himself at all because he just looked the same as he did four days ago. He had never thought about those things before, never noticed them, because he was so caught up in what he noticed. But obviously that wasn't enough. Progress wasn't worth anything until someone else could see it, right? He watched the campers go to lunch from the only window in the small room, then watched them come back. No one ever bothered to bring him anything. He didn't mind. Not eating was easy. He could deal with it. It was still bright out, but Nico kicked off his jeans and crawled into bed, not tired but bored enough to sleep. He hoped he could get a full night's rest. Then maybe when he woke up he could figure himself out.