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When Nico opened his eyes, he didn’t know where he was. He sat up on the cot he’d been laying on, ignoring the pounding in his head, and looked around the room he was in. There was only one wall, the other three just curtains that seemed to be sectioning off a much larger room, if the background noise was anything to go by, and while the “room” he was in was rather small, it was packed with tan, blonde teenagers that Nico didn’t recognize.
One of the teens came forward, a boy at least five years older than him with the bluest eyes Nico had ever seen, and sat on the edge of the cot next to Nico’s legs. He held up a pen light, shining it in Nico’s eyes and telling him to follow the light. Nico did as he was told, but didn’t understand how he could understand the other boy. He obviously wasn’t speaking Italian, so what was it? English? Nico’s mother would never allow him and his sister to learn English, so why could he understand it?
Then he remembered; Bianca. Where was Bianca? If something bad had happened to Nico then what if Bianca was hurt too? He asked the boy, as he was putting away his light, where his sister was, but the boy just looked at him in confusion. Sure, Nico could understand English, only speak Italian, but this boy couldn’t understand him? What was going on ?
The boy turned to another boy on the other side of the room, a dark-skinned boy with his hair braided in rows on the top of his head. “Austin,” the blond boy sitting next to Nico said, “can you get Chiara?”
The dark-skinned boy, Austin, left the room through a gap in the curtains. The blond one turned back to Nico. “Can you tell me your name?”
Nico pulled his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. He wasn’t supposed to tell strangers his name, but these people were safe, right? They seemed safe, and maybe they could help him find Bianca, so he answered.
“Good, now can you tell me what year it is?”
Nico shook his head.
“No, of course,” the blond said to himself. “You wouldn’t know what year it is anyway, that’s fine.” He straightened himself before continuing. “Nico, I think I understand what’s happened. Can you understand me alright?” Nico nodded. “Good, so I think you must have hit your head pretty hard, most likely in the language center of your brain, which means that until it heals fully, you might not remember any English, speaking, anyway, clearly you can comprehend it just fine. Right? Did you understand that?”
Nico paused for a moment before slowly shaking his head.
The blond boy huffed. “Alright, then we’ll just wait for Chiara.” He turned to the others in the room. “You guys are good to go, I think, check on everyone else for now. I’ll call you if I need help with anything.”
As the mob of blondes filed out of the room, Austin returned with a girl, that, by the looks of her, was Italian as well. Finally! Maybe she could help him!
As Austin and the blond boy explained to her the problem at hand, the three of them kept glancing over at Nico, making him feel like an exhibit at the zoo. Finally, Chiara came closer to Nico, kneeling by the bed and introducing herself, and Nico didn’t think he’d ever been so happy to hear his mother tongue.
She asked him a couple of questions, like what he remembered last, and relayed them to Austin and the blond boy: “He says he remembers being on a cliff outside of a school when they were attacked, him and his sister and a few other people doesn’t know.”
“Hazel was there with you?” the blond boy asked. Nico looked at him with confusion and shook his head. “But you said--”
“Will,” Chiara stopped him, then turned back to Nico, asking if he recognized her. He shook his head with an apology, so she pointed at Austin and asked again. When he shook his head, Will asked Chiara what she was saying.
Instead of answering, she placed a hand on Will’s shoulder and said in English, “Nico, do you know who this is?”
Nico looked between the two of them, seeing sadness in Chiara’s eyes and fear in Will’s, but still, Nico shook his head. Nico watched as the fear in Will’s eyes flashed to sadness. “ Mi dispiace! Voglio che mia sorella. Dov’e Bianca? ”
Will stood up abruptly, running a hand through his curly hair. When he spoke, his voice was shaky. “Austin, can you get Chiron? I-- I’ve gotta…” He ran out of the room before he could finish.
Nico felt tears welling up in his eyes. He upset Will, but why did that matter? He didn’t know Will! Why wouldn’t anyone tell him where Bianca was? He could feel Chiara wrap him up in a hug, but it barely registered as the tears started to fall. He saw the curtains rustle as Austin reappeared - when had he left? - with a man in a wheelchair.
“Nico,” the man started, and Chiara moved away from him. “My name is Chiron, we’ve met before, though I don’t believe you remember it. Can you try speaking to me in English?”
Nico hesitated, glancing at the others in the room, and felt Chiara place a hand on his shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “M-my n-name ees Nico di Angelo. I have a s-seester named Bianca. My age ees …” What was the word? He unwound his arms from around his legs, holding up his hands and spreading his fingers.
Chiron hmm ed. “Now, numbers are hard between the languages, I know, but can you try again?”
Nico shook his hands out toward Chiron, showing his ten fingers. “Dieci.”
“Ten,” Chiara translated. “Nico, you’re saying you are ten years old?” Nico nodded his head furiously. “Nico, no--”
“Where ees Bianca?” he demanded.
“Bianca is unavailable right now,” Chiron said. “You’ll have to be patient. In the meantime, I’m sure you’re hungry.”
Kayla found Will rushing towards Cabin 13, wiping at his cheeks. Kayla ran after him, catching him at the foot of the stairs and stopping him before he could escape into the cabin. Kayla pulled him to a sitting position on the stairs, sitting next to him and resting an arm around his shoulders as he sobbed.
“I thought it was the language center,” Will cried. “I thought he hit his head at the language center but I was wrong . Kayla, I was so wrong , he doesn’t remember me! ”
Kayla rubbed his arms as he cried, trying to comfort him but not knowing how. “Why were you going to his cabin?”
“I-- I have to get m-my stuff,” he hiccuped. “He’s gonna go in there and see all that stuff that isn’t his and he’ll get upset so I have to move it all, I don’t want to make him upset--”
“Shh, Will, okay, I’ll help you, but you’ve gotta calm down, okay?” Will nodded furiously, straightening up and wiping his eyes. “Good?” Kayla asked, and when Will nodded again, the two of them rose and entered the cabin.
During the cleaning, Will had found a shoebox under Nico’s bed, filled to the top with trading cards. They looked rather old, maybe he’d remember them…
Will took the box, after returning each of his things to his own cabin, and went back to the infirmary. He was stopped just outside of Nico’s room by Austin, who simply said, “It’s worse than we thought,” before Will was pushing his way into the room.
He noticed first that Nico was still tucked into the corner on his cot, though now he seemed to be trying to hide his face behind his knees. His cheeks were a soft pink behind his tan, and the look in his eyes--- Well, he used to look at Will like that.
Nico’s gaze was focused on another boy whose back was to Will, and it didn’t seem like either of them had noticed Will’s entrance.
Will cleared his throat and the boy turned around, allowing Will to realize that it was Percy. “Hey, Will!” Percy said, standing up and patting Will on the shoulder. “Whatcha got there?”
“I- uh, thought Nico might want these,” Will said, holding the shoebox out toward Nico. Nico reached an arm out for it, taking it in his hands and popping off the lid.
“My Mythomagic cards!” he exclaimed, pulling a few cards out.
Percy retook his seat next to Nico’s bed and started sifting through cards with him until he found a small, dark figurine. Percy stared sadly down at the figurine until Nico plucked it out of his hand, examining it closely. “Woah, I don’t remember having this one!”
Percy cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah, about that--”
Austin poked his head into the room, saying, “Will, we need to talk to you out here,” before pulling Will back into the hallway.
“What, what is it?” Will asked.
“Chiron talked to him for a little while, but since Percy was the first person he met, we thought he should catch Nico up a little bit,” Austin explained. “Chiron is hoping that it’s just short-term amnesia, and when the injury heals, he should hopefully have all of his memories back.”
Will nodded. “Anything else? Any way to heal his head faster?”
“Chiron’s looking into it,” Austin answered. “But, uh, there’s one more thing.”
“And what’s that?”
“Nico thinks he’s ten again.”
“ GET OUT! ” they heard from Nico’s room, and Percy burst out from between the curtains.
“He, uh,” Percy muttered. “Nico won’t be asking for his sister anymore, I don’t think.”
Will rushed into the room, seeing Nico laying down on his cot, facing the curtain-wall, and the box of trading cards spilled onto the ground. Nico was staring blankly at the dark figurine in his hand.
“Nico?” Will said quietly.
“She’s dead,” Nico mumbled. “Bianca, I-- I know that, now. I remember, I mean. A-and I know that I’m not ten, but I don’t… I don’t know how old I am.”
“Do you want me to tell you?” Will offered, only a little surprised that Nico seemed able to speak fluent English again. “Anything you want to know, I’ll tell you.”
Nico glanced at him out of the corner of his eye before sitting up and dropping the figurine off the side of the cot. He nodded, and Will sat at the foot of the cot.
“What do you want to know?” Will asked.
Nico kept his gaze down at his hands in his lap as he said, “Who are you?” Will’s breath hitched, and Nico hurried to continue. “I-I mean, to me. Who are you to me? I know that you’re Will and-- And I know that. But… I think that’s it.”
Will hesitated, not knowing where to start. You don’t just flat-out say to an amnesiac that you’re their boyfriend, right? That could really mess him up, Will thought. More so. “I-I’m your friend,” Will started slowly. “I wasn’t always, and maybe friend isn't really the right word. Um, I’m the head counselor of the Apollo cabin - you remember all the stuff about the gods, right? I don’t have to go into all of that?” When Nico nodded, Will breathed a sigh of relief. “Good, okay, so I’m head of the cabin, and I’m head healer, and a little more than a year ago, you came back from this long trip with Percy and your sister Hazel and a bunch of other people, and you were… let’s go with injured, so I fixed you up, and you stayed in the infirmary for a few days, and on the last day before you left, you, uh, kissed me?”
Nico’s eyes shot up to meet Will’s. His cheeks were red and his eyes were wide. He quickly looked back at his hands in his lap.
“Um, and we...We’ve been-- I guess we’ve been dating? --since then,” Will continued, “and sometimes I sleep in your cabin with you, and we--” he laughed, looking down at his own lap, “--we tricked Chiron into letting you eat dinner with me, even though it’s against the rules. I’m seventeen, and you’re sixteen, by the way, and I stay year round at camp, and...I love you.”
When he glanced back up, Nico’s face was somehow redder, he looked like he had tears in his eyes, and he had pulled his hands into the sleeves of the sweatshirt he was wearing.
“And that’s my sweatshirt you’re wearing, too,” Will mumbled, smiling brightly at his boyfriend sitting across from him.
Finally, Nico looked up at him as a tear rolled down his cheek. “I don’t remember that,” he whispered, and Will saw his eyes well up.
“That’s okay,” Will said, scooting closer and wiping the tears off of Nico’s cheeks. “It’s okay. Chiron said that when your head heals, your memory should come back, okay? And you know who literally has magic healing fingers?”
Nico shook his head.
“I do.” Will leaned forward and kissed the tip of Nico’s nose. He moved his hands from Nico’s cheeks, resting his palms over Nico’s temples and leaned their foreheads together. “You’ll remember everything in no time, sunshine,” Will grinned, his eyes sliding shut as he began trying to heal his boyfriend.
Nico smiled. “I remember you calling me that.”