Chapter Text
Chapter One: Hello, Darkness, My Old Friend
Nico was not liking the situation at hand.
He was holed up in his cabin at the moment, still wearing the ridiculous shirt, though he'd found a pair of slightly loose black shorts he threw on. He didn't want to wear his sweaty jeans in the middle of summer, even if they provided more protection from the view of other campers.
And Will.
Nico shuddered at the thought of dealing with the healer. Will had promised to be by before dinner to pick him up, meaning he had less than half an hour of freedom left. Nico shifted the blackout curtain aside for an instant, squinting against the bright summer sunlight outside. He saw someone leaning against the cabin, someone tall, blond, and unfairly handsome.
Well, that last part was subjective.
Nico let go of the curtain, grabbing the backpack Will had told him to fill with whatever he had for comfort. For Nico, that consisted of his one blanket, the thing he'd carried around since he'd stolen it a week after finding out his sister was dead. It was ripped mostly to shreds from monster attacks at this point, but he could feel that there was something special about it. Sentiment, maybe. He didn't want to let it out of his sight after this long without it while he was busy questing.
So with the backpack slung over his left shoulder to avoid the worst of his pain, Nico opened the cabin door to face his fears.
“Yay!” he heard Will say only an instant later as he blinked at the sunlight. “You’re still alive!”
“I’m fine,” Nico muttered, already hunching over by the time he shut the cabin door.
“Posture, now. Backpack on properly.” Will was touching him all of a sudden, forcing his shoulders back despite his pain being clear on his face. But when the healer’s hand shifted to touch skin for an instant, he froze.
“Those aren’t healing right, are they? The ― scratch things.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Nico said quietly, slipping the backpack off entirely and carrying it by its handle as Will pulled away entirely. “Lycaon wasn’t gentle about them, though.”
“We’ll treat them as soon as we get there, Death Boy. Promise.” Nico glared at the healer for an instant, but it was hard to be angry when the blond was all smiles, skipping ahead like a child. Nico had no choice but to follow close behind, shaking his head. Crushing was difficult.
When the pair made it to the Big House, Nico looked at the staircase warily as he felt sweat drip down his forehead, the summer heat still overwhelming. “I’m not sure if I…”
Will turned to Nico, already standing on the porch. “Too tired?”
“Yeah.”
Immediately, the healer ran back down the steps. “Chiron’s wheelchair ramp is at the back. There’s an elevator. Sorry, I should have thought.”
“No, no! It’s fine!” Nico said, already following Will to the back.
“Except it’s not, because there’s a gods-damn reason why the ADA was made and I’m not about to be the one getting lectured.”
“ADA?” Nico asked.
Will paused at the base of the ramp. “Americans with Disabilities Act. I’ll clarify once we make sure you’re stable, Death Boy.”
“Sure, Sunshine,” Nico muttered, shoving past to go up the ramp.
“Ooh, I like it!” Will said. “I’ll keep working on yours.”
“What, the nickname?”
“Yes, the nicknames. Obviously. Now let’s get you inside and see if anything’s gotten worse since the battle, since I know nothing’s improved.”
Nico sighed, but opened the door to the Big House and let Will lead him to the elevator. But as the doors shut, he felt his breathing catch.
“Percy told me about the jar, Nico,” Will said quietly. “The elevator doesn’t take long. Plus, you aren’t alone, and I swear on the Styx I’m not feeding you pomegranate anything until you feel up to it.”
The doors slid open.
“Okay,” Nico said.
At first glance, the infirmary was nothing special: the hall was lined with a dozen or so beds, just enough space in between for Chiron’s wheelchair. Or, Nico thought, to carry a stretcher. He shuddered at the thought.
“Yeah, that’s what a lot of people say,” Will muttered before pointing all around. “Three exam rooms to your left, one library slash office slash healer nap space next to them, one operating room in the back in case anyone’s injured bad enough that we have to combine mortal medicine and the godly stuff to take care of it. All that work was two days ago, though. Most of those people are back to light training now.”
“Then why am I stuck here for three days?” Nico whined.
“Because I’ve pried most of your problems out of everyone else and there’s not a chance you’ll be nearly recovered by then. And Hazel is leaving before then, so you’ve got nobody to spot for you and warn me if you get worse.” Will waved to one of the other healers, then opened the door to the nearest exam room. “Come on, Death Boy. Let’s see if the stories are true.”
“Who was the worst snitch?” Nico asked, dropping his backpack just inside the door and slumping into the nearest chair.
“Jason, actually.”
“Oh, stabbed-with-an-Imperial-gold-sword-and-only-recovered-by-sheer-mind-powers Jason?”
“Wait, what?” Will asked, turning to look at Nico with a gleam in his eye.
“I’ll give you blackmail if you’ll let me leave early.”
“Except that’s not happening and you already know it.” Will paused, then smiled. “I’ll give you candy.”
Nico laughed, then spilled the beans on Jason and Percy’s misadventures as he had heard about them in the last couple of days and on the Argo II for so long before. “Annabeth’s ankle isn’t healed. Piper’s shoulder acts up sometimes. Frank got shot with an arrow and didn’t want to bother letting it heal.”
Will looked up from the notebook where he was scribbling every word Nico was saying. “What’s your favorite candy?”
Nico froze. Even after years of learning to function in the modern world, he couldn’t help but pine for the same things.
“Nico, here and now.”
“Sorry.”
“I don’t want one more sorry out of you, Skeletor,” Will said with a smile.
“Skeletor?”
“Add that to the list of things I owe you an explanation for.” He turned back to the cabinet. “Shirt off, would you? I’m serious about the candy, though. I’ll find whatever it is.”
“There’s this old kind of taffy, Mary Janes.”
Will snorted. “You’re not the only one. My brother Austin loves them.”
Nico smiled. “Pretty sure he wasn’t alive when Charles Miller was making them.”
Will didn’t flinch. “Percy told me about that, Nico. Good luck surprising me.”
“Aw, come on!” Nico said, struggling with the buttons on the shirt. “Is he that much of a snitch?”
“Apparently so,” Will said dryly, turning back. “Can you manage that?”
“Give me a minute.”
“Skeletor, it’s my job to help when you can’t manage it.” Will stepped closer, then knelt down next to him. “I’m not touching without permission, but I’m here if you need it.”
Nico paused, his fingers cramping with his coordination as poor as it was. “You don’t mind?”
“Not at all.”
“Then please.”
Will was slow to move, but he easily undid the buttons Nico couldn’t get, starting at the bottom and working his way up. He eased Nico’s frame forward to slip the shirt off his arms. Nico made what effort he could to help, but as the fabric slid over Reyna’s stitches, he hissed.
“Infection,” Will muttered. “I’m going to undo those in a minute.” Carefully, he lifted the shirt fabric past the claw marks, then dropped the shirt and stood up. “Come sit over here, Skeletor. I’ll take care of all that.”
Nico hesitantly stood. “Will, keep in mind that I’m from the thirties.”
“Yes, and?”
“Doctors were kind of assholes.”
“Then I’ll do my best not to be,” Will said, patting the exam table beside him. “Now come on, Nico. Those stitches aren’t good, and I need the light to fix this. Who did them, anyway?"
“Reyna.”
“Did she bother to clean the areas out first?” Will muttered as Nico sat down in the brightest area of the room, still nervous.
“We hardly had any water to drink, Will. We didn’t have enough to bother cleaning out every little scratch.”
“Then I reserve the right to whine about it.” Will turned back to the cabinet behind him for a moment, pulling out a plastic-wrapped kit.
“What is that?” Nico asked, leaning away.
“Just gauze, bandages. I’m not shutting those again while they’re still infected. Do you want something for the pain?”
Nico shrugged, watching the healer’s every move. “I don’t want it to mess with my head.”
“I can use a local anesthetic,” Will offered.
Nico looked at him blankly.
“Numbing cream. It should work well enough that you won’t feel the surface, at least.”
Nico sighed. “This goes way deeper than that.”
“I can inject that kind of thing, Nico. We’ll manage.”
“Will, why do you care?”
“Because of this,” he said, pointing to a red line working its way from the worst scratch on Nico’s left arm toward his shoulder. “This is an infection, Skeletor, and you’ve got about two hours before that is messing with your head. We can take stock of everything else after I finish this, alright?”
Neither moved for a minute. Will was holding Nico’s gaze as carefully as he held his arm, forcing him to understand the risk of refusing treatment for even so simple an injury.
“Tis but a scratch,” Nico said quietly. “But I don’t want my arms falling off.”
Will smiled, pulling away. “Good ol’ Monty Python. Let me grab the pain meds, Skeletor.”
“You still owe me an explanation about where that comes from,” Nico grumbled as Will ripped open another plastic package.
“How are you with animated movies?”
“Love them.”
“And comics?”
“Will, I played Mythomagic,” Nico deadpanned.
“Then you’ll love it. We can watch it later.”
We? Nico wondered. He didn’t want to deal with Will, not when so much of his pain came from loving men and knowing that only by luck did he end up in a time where that was accepted. But at the exact same time, he knew he wanted to watch whatever it was with Will sitting by his side.
Will’s fingers pressed the edge of the worst scratch for an instant before Nico felt a sting. “Just injecting the local anesthetic,” the healer muttered, adjusting his position and repeating the process. “I’d do this by way of prayer, but that tends to require a base level of health.”
His hand never moved from the scratches on Nico’s left arm until the entire area was numb. “I think you’re good,” Nico finally said, shifting his weight.
“Awesome,” Will said happily. “You can lie down, alright? I’ll get these out. The other side doesn’t look as bad.”
“That side bled more, but it really didn’t hurt that much,” Nico said, swinging his legs up and lying down. “Reyna was worried something would catch the scent of blood if she didn’t close them.”
“Can’t say I blame her,” Will admitted. He cut the stitches with practiced ease, sliding them out from the skin without a word.
When he moved to the opposite side, Nico flinched. “Doesn’t it need the stuff?”
“Only if it’s hurting too much not to use it,” Will said, holding still. “Up to you.”
After a moment’s thought, Nico shook his head. “Just get it over with. It’ll hurt no matter what.”
Will sighed audibly, but nodded. He worked fast to remove the stitches. Nico felt the burn of each one through the yet-unhealed flesh, but he didn’t move until Will pulled away.
“I’m cleaning them now, alright? It might not hurt any more than that did, and I’m sorry if it does.”
Nico hardly had time to brace himself before the water hit the still sensitive scratches. He hissed, curling his right hand into a fist.
“You can say fuck, you know.”
“Fuck this.”
“Sentiment appreciated,” Will said, “but it’s nearly done. Just got to repeat it on the numb side once I’ve used some nectar on these. We’ll keep them covered. They should heal fine, given a few weeks.”
“Weeks?” Nico asked, startled.
“I’ll only have to change the bandages once every few days once they’re scabbed over, Skeletor. Plenty of chances to come up with more nicknames.”
“I can’t do it that long,” Nico said quietly as Will poured the nectar over the scratches. “I just can’t.”
“I know the feeling, Nico, but would you rather have bad scarring?”
“Will, I can’t,” Nico insisted, struggling to sit up.
“Hey, hey. I get it, Neeks.” Will put his arm across Nico’s chest, forcing him to lie back down. “I get the hatred of anything remotely medical. But I need a reason to practice my bedside manner with reluctant patients, alright?”
“What does it even matter to you?” Nico said, tears threatening to fall.
“Because I have to put up with the most annoying doctors, Nico. Because I’m trans and I have to deal with their stupidity four times a year just to get permission to take testosterone.”
Nico had heard the word trans around camp pretty often, in reference to a few different campers. He knew what it meant. But he’d never heard Will mentioned in those conversations, He didn’t want to make Will mad by saying the wrong thing, so he stuck with the simple response.
“How annoying do they get?"
“They call me a girl, still. A lot of them do that.” Will said it as a fact, his emotions hidden away entirely. “I’ve been on testosterone for a year and a half, puberty blockers before that. Chiron arranged for me to start pretty early for the sake of avoiding anything messing with me.” Will smiled, then said, “Mr. D also has a standing threat against all my mortal doctors if they refuse me treatment.”
“Mr. D?” Nico asked, surprised.
“Patron god of all the wonderful trans people in the world.” Will smiled again, a genuine one, before cleaning out the numbed scratches with water. “Damned infection is spreading."
“It doesn’t feel so bad,” Nico said.
Will glared at him. “That’s what worries me about this, Nico. This isn’t good. Now hold still and let me heal this, alright?”
Nico nodded, relaxing to what extent he could with the healer’s hands on his injuries. The ceiling was bare white, however, so the not-fidgeting didn’t last long.
But Will’s humming was faintly familiar, a song Nico couldn’t place. The words were all wrong, Ancient Greek sung instead of the actual lyrics. The tune must have been from his years in the Lotus Casino.
Eventually, Will pulled away. “It’ll heal. Let me put some nectar on it, Nico, and then we can get a move on.”
Nico nodded, still wondering about the song.
Will was a quick worker, finishing the deeper scratches in record time. Nico could feel the nectar this time, despite the pain meds, so he assumed whatever prayer Will had used was working somehow. It wasn’t painful; it was just there.
“Ready for the rest of the exam?” Will asked finally, stepping back. “I want to wait to cover those until I’m sure there’s no more infection, but we can move on for now.”
“I guess,” Nico muttered, sitting up. “What else do we have to get through?”
Will smiled, turning away. “Just the normal exam stuff, Skeletor. It shouldn’t hurt too much.”
Nico nodded.
“List everything that’s happened to you,” the healer said, picking up a clipboard with a sticker on the back. All Nico could make out was a bone with a few words written next to it, but it piqued his curiosity.
“First off, what does that say?” he asked.
Will looked up, noticing Nico’s line of sight. He held the clipboard up.
I Found This Humerus.
“I hadn’t realized you enjoyed puns that much,” Nico muttered.
“Apollo kid things, I guess. Jason’s not bad with them, but I feel like that’s just because he speaks Latin.”
“We speak Greek.”
“Well, yes, but not well enough to be making bilingual puns.”
“Tear a sheet of paper,” Nico said.
“What?”
“Do it.”
Will tore the corner off the top sheet on his clipboard without another thought. “What now?”
“Euripides.”
Nico watched as Will’s face went from confused to outraged and finally to amazed. “That was a good one,” he admitted.
“That’s not the full thing,” Nico admitted. “That’s just what fit into the situation.”
Will shook his head, still smiling. “Back to business. What hurts?”
“Everything.”
“Go by events, then. Just start listing stuff that I might not know about.”
“I tipped backward in my chair onboard the Argo II and hit my head,” Nico said quietly, half laughing at his own clumsiness.
Will scribbled frantically for a moment, then paused. “Concussion?”
“What?”
“Is it a concussion?”
Nico stared at him blankly. “I’m a native Italian speaker, Will. Any English word you’d more expect people to just understand, I probably won’t get. Like, at all.”
Will paused, biting his lip. “I’m not good at Italian, but I think I’m passable in an emergency. Danno cerebrale .”
“Non si preoccupi ,” Nico responded in an instant. “I think my headache is more from the lack of food or sleep.”
Will paused again, his face contorting in a way Nico couldn’t help but think of as adorable. “I’m not that fast on the uptake, Skeletor. Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Nico translated.
Will nodded. “I’ll assume that’s what it meant and not what I’m supposed to do. Because that’s still probably a concussion, and I should really go hit myself because I let you fight with a concussion. Now what else?”
“Exhaustion. Again, probably from lack of sleep, but it’s been happening since the jar.”
Will sighed. “And the food thing.”
“The food thing,” Nico echoed. “I like avocado.”
“So that’s why you got to come to the twenty-first century,” Will muttered. “The avocado toast.”
“What?” Nico asked, genuinely confused.
“Internet things. I sneak in as much time as I can spare when I’m at camp. Chiron doesn’t fight it too much if we’re inside the boundary.” Will smiled, shaking his head. “How much have you had to eat in the past week?"
Nico hesitated. “Not much.”
“The dining pavilion exists, Nico.”
“The dining pavilion has people,” he deadpanned.
Will looked at him oddly. “Fair enough, Nico. What else?”
“I mean, how much detail do you want?” Nico asked.
“Everything.”
“I have a sunburn. Reyna was lending me her hair tie until that happened but she told me to keep it covered once the sunburn got bad.”
Will shook his head. “I’ll take care of it. Keep going, Nico. We’ll figure everything out.”
Nico sighed. “My hands hurt because of some of the work I was doing, climbing ropes. That was how we got away from Lycaon, actually.”
“Impressive,” Will said, putting down the clipboard and gesturing for Nico’s hand. When he saw the red line, Nico could tell he was tempted to heal it straight away, but the healer paused. “Can I take care of this?” he asked, glancing up.
“Nectar doesn’t do that much for me.”
“I’ve noticed. It barely took care of the infection, never mind the actual scratches. But I can wash these for now and treat them tonight.”
Nico nodded, and Will pulled away. But after a moment, he asked, “How bad will it sting?”
“Hopefully not bad. I’ll do what I can to keep it from getting worse.” Will opened a water bottle, then gestured for Nico’s hands. “Just using a few drops until I can tell how bad they are.”
“Nothing was ripped, Will. They’ll heal.”
“But I can take away the stress of waiting for them to heal, Nico. So I’d like to take away that stress if I can.” Will poured just a couple of drops onto Nico’s hands, then put the bottle down and muttered another prayer under his breath.
Nico watched as the healer’s eyes fluttered shut, as he tried to find the source of the pain. It only took a minute for Will to have the rope burns traced, the small blisters on Nico’s left hand marked off by Will’s thumb.
“Nico,” he asked as his eyes opened, “can I just put some cream on these?”
“Cream?”
Will smiled. “A burn gel, to take care of the redness and blisters. I just put it on a bandage. Super fast, Nico.”
He sighed. “I guess you can?”
“I don’t want to push, Nico,” Will said, not moving.
“Me being here is pushing it, Will. I can’t deal with this when it’s everything hurting, but having people around is seriously too much.”
Will just looked at Nico. “Then I think I have a plan.”