Work Text:
Nico woke up annoyed and with a headache, which probably had nothing to do with the shouting and laughter that started early in the morning. Nico himself was up until four, practicing various sword techniques in the open area of his cabin. All the noise started around breakfast at seven, disturbing his sleep even more than his nightmares did.
It was just before lunch when he finally stepped out of his cabin, glaring at anyone who dared to look in his direction. Most people scurried away, but the occasional Aphrodite kid would just giggle. The atmosphere around camp was strange. Many campers were avoiding people’s gazes, hurrying to wherever they were going. A few were blushing.
Nico wondered what was going on.
Probably something stupid.
There was an assortment of sandwiches set out for lunch. Nico grabbed a couple, but didn’t hang around. He wanted to get to the training grounds to grab one of the nicer arenas in the shade. It was shaping up to be a hot summer day.
He was just tossing his sweater aside and settling into a stance when Percy fucking Jackson had to come up and ruin his peaceful morning.
“Shouldn’t you be like – in bed or something?” Percy was shoving a sandwich in his mouth, probably having the same plan as Nico. “Weren’t you in the infirmary yesterday?” He had mayo dripping on his shirt.
“The day before that.” Nico didn’t feel like telling him he’d already spent hours training the night before. “I’m fine now.”
Percy snorted. “Will’s going to have your head. He made sure everyone knew you’re supposed to be taking it easy. Me included.”
“I have to do –“ Nico scowled and stabbed his sword into the ground. “Something.” He wasn’t allowed to use his underworld-y powers for a couple weeks. He knew he wasn’t supposed to be doing anything too physical either, but it drove him nuts to sit around and do nothing.
“Yeah, well. Swinging that sword around isn’t going to do anything good for those werewolf scratches.”
“They’re mostly healed.” Will was doing a check-up that afternoon to see if the stitches could come out.
“Still, you know what he’d say if he found out.”
Doctor’s orders. Then he’d threaten to keep Nico in the infirmary for a couple more days.
“Fine.” Nico yanked his sword out of the ground angerly. “What do you suggest I do, then?” He sheathed his sword at his side.
“Mrs. O’Leary could use some exercise?” Percy grinned. “Besides, it could get us away from all the craziness this curse is causing.”
“Curse?” The last one Nico heard about was a rhyming one from the Apollo cabin.
“You don’t know?” Percy’s eyebrows raised. “It’s the Aphrodite cabin this time. Anyone with a secret crush calls their crush ‘sweetie’. Piper’s pissed. She’s been trying to get things under control all morning.”
Nico was so, so incredibly grateful he: Number One: told Percy he had a crush on him, and Number Two: was over said crush. But unfortunately, that didn’t mean he hadn’t developed a new one on someone else.
“Yeah, let’s get out of here.”
Nico couldn’t get away fast enough. He had no idea what he was going to do. He was supposed to meet Will in a couple hours and he doubted the curse would be resolved by then. He distracted himself by petting Mrs. O’Leary and dodging her attempts to lick him. Percy kept throwing the shield for her, but she tired of it after an hour and opted to lay on top of Nico and sniff his injured shoulder with her giant nose. He hoped Percy would forget about his appointment with Will, but his hopes were dashed.
“Shouldn’t you be on your way to the infirmary soon?” Percy was stretching his arms, no doubt sore from tossing the heavy shield.
“I’m not going,” Nico said. “It can wait for tomorrow.” Or even the next day, if it had to.
“Nico, you know I’m all for procrastination.” Percy fixed him with a firm expression. “But if I have to drag you there kicking and screaming, I will.”
“If you do, I’ll sic zombies on you for a month.”
“If you sic zombies on me, you’ll be eating soggy food for twice as long.”
Nico glared. “Yeah, well, if you –“
They were interrupted by a shout from the treeline. “Percy! We’ve been looking for you all over. Have you seen Nico?” It was Kayla. That voice definitely belonged to Kayla.
“I’m not here,” Nico hissed. He really hoped Kayla couldn’t see him under Mrs. O’Leary from her position.
“Uh…” Percy laughed nervously.
“Percy, please. I can’t talk to Will right now.”
Either Percy was convinced by the panic in Nico’s eyes, or he somehow understood his dilemma.
“Haven’t seen him. Sorry,” Percy said with a slightly high-pitched voice, and a fake smile.
Gods, the only times Percy could straight-up lie was to save his life. Kayla obviously didn’t believe him. She stalked up and stared down at Nico without a shred of sympathy.
“Get up, Death Boy. Before Will tears the camp apart looking for you.”
Percy came to his defense. “Is the appointment necessary? Can’t you just check him here? Nico seems to be doing pretty well –“
“Are you arguing with our top medic’s treatment plan?”
“Er…”
“That’s what I thought.” Kayla waved impatiently at Nico. “Come on. Chop, chop!”
Nico reluctantly stood. He let Kayla lead him back to the Big House. He went with all the enthusiasm of a man walking to his death. Percy trailed behind them, either for moral support or to watch the show. Or both.
Will was standing on the porch with his arms crossed. Nico refused to meet his gaze.
“Well, it’s about time you showed up, Sweetie.” He said it with a grin and without an ounce of embarrassment.
Nico couldn’t relate. By the time he walked up to him, he was beet red. He ignored Kayla snickering beside him. “Sorry… Sweetie.” He tried to choke back the word, but it came tumbling out of his mouth anyway.
Will beamed. He held out his hand. “Let’s get you taken care of.”
Nico glanced over his shoulder. Percy was grinning, so Nico flipped him off. Percy responded with an enthusiastic thumbs up. Nico took a deep breath, looked up into Will’s kind eyes, then took his hand.