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Day One: Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
Nico was already sick of the Camp Infirmary. And he had only been there for one day.
True, for most of the day, he slept like the dead (pun not intended). Will Solace was right; using as much shadow magic as he had tired him out, and the complete lack of sleep last night did not help, either.
The three things that kept crossing his mind were: he was one hundred percent done with infirmary food; he would probably punch that son of Mars in the next bed over if he started whining one more time; and he couldn’t help but wondering what it would be like to kiss that annoyingly upbeat healer.
That last thought was one that he often shied away from; he didn’t remember his life before the Lotus Hotel and Casino, but the attitudes of the period had definitely left enough of a mark on him that he still lived in fear of how people will react to the way he felt. Jason’s acceptance of him had been a huge shock, and frankly, Nico was still surprised at himself for being able to admit his feelings to Percy.
But there was no denying the nervous buzz that went over his skin every time Will Solace – the guy responsible for his confinement here – sent one of those infuriatingly bright smiles his way.
Will made sure to personally bring Nico all of his meals, and they were all one hundred percent healthy crap. Nico would kill for a Happy Meal right about now. But no, Will had to make sure that Nico’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner were all perfectly balanced meals with representation from all the food groups. And no, hamburgers were not a food group, according to Doctor Sunshine.
And sitting in bed all day? Ridiculous! And hypocritical, considering the fact that Will preluded his demand that Nico come in here and rest by berating for not stopping by to help – and by ‘help’, he means ‘work’, so really, what was he really after?
Day Two: Thursday, August 5th, 2010
“Good morning!”
Nico groaned and buried his face deeper into his pillow. Despite his exhaustion, he barely got any sleep last night; that gods-damned son of Mars in the bed beside his snored like a chainsaw. And the Roman also had a quite temper, and was likely to throw things at anyone who commented on it. Nico had – more than once – mentally debated the merits of smothering him with his own pillow just to get some rest. Sadly, for him and the other residents, there was a healer on-call twenty-four-seven, and they all frowned on the idea of patients murdering each other in their sleep.
Nico was contemplating a little bit of murder right now. Despite the lack of sleep last night, he definitely felt stronger than he had the previous day. He wondered how well Will would take it if Nico threw the ‘you need to rest’ argument back in his face. When he peeked out through a tiny crack in the blankets, he could see the dark bags under Will’s bloodshot eyes.
Damn healer could stand to follow his own gods-damned advice once in a while. But the infirmary was stuffed with patients because they just finished their second war in as many summers, and also understaffed, because some of the Apollo kids – Greek and Roman – who would have been working as healers were too busy being patients themselves. So, that meant Will was putting in more hours than he should because there was too much to do and not enough people to do it.
“Do you hate me?”
Nico didn’t know what possessed him to ask that question, during a lull in activity when Austin and Kayla took one look at their brother and all but shoved him into a nearby chair, telling him he was done for the day.
(Apparently, forcing people to stick within their own limits was a child of Apollo thing.)
So, here they were, awkwardly sitting in their chair and bed, watching the healers try to manage Marvin, Son of Mars, as he threw a fit about how long it was taking them to change his bandages.
Will blinked at him. “What are you talking about? Why would I hate you?”
“I could’ve stopped Octavian. You wanted me to. And I didn’t.”
Will blinked again.
“I let a guy die when you wanted him to live. Do you hate me for it?”
Will blinked one more time before lurching out of his chair (across the room, Kayla gave him the stink eye) and staggering on stiff legs to sit on the edge of Nico’s bed. “Hate you? Of course not. You had a difficult choice to make, and no one’s going to fault you for it. No one who matters, anyway.” He put one hand on Nico’s shoulder, and Nico tried not to jump at the almost-electric buzz that ran through his skin at the contact. “The days of everyone hating the Death God kids just for being Death God kids are over, thanks to you and Hazel. And Percy and his crowd aren’t the only ones who care about you.”
Will’s brother Jayce came over at that point with a question (“A question that doesn’t involve you getting up and running around, you stubborn busybody.”), and Nico sat back, mulling over Will’s words in his head.
Even after Will left his bedside, and Nico spent the rest of the day occupying himself with re-designing the interior of the Hades cabin to something he might actually stand to live in, he could still feel the warm sensation of Will’s hand on his shoulder.
Day Three: Friday, August 6th, 2010
“Freedoooom!” Nico groaned as he finally stepped out of the infirmary and into the late-afternoon sunshine, which promptly blinded him with its brightness. Damn sunlight.
“Wow, and here I thought I was starting to grow on you.” The voice coming from behind him was bright and warm. Like sunshine, but not in a way that burns his eyeballs.
“Is that what you were trying to do? Stockholm Syndrome? I hate to break it to you, but making me want to stab you is not the way to go about that.”
“You know, you’re making it really hard for me to forget you’ve only been here two days.”
“No, I haven’t,” Nico argued, finally turning around to face Will, who was still standing in the doorway to the Camp Infirmary and smirking at him, “You said three days. This is the end of Day Three. You never said three nights.”
“Anyone ever tell you you’re a smartass?” Will sauntered down the steps, and the two of them started walking in the direction of the cabins. “So, what are you going to do, now? Please tell me you aren’t going to be doing so much shadow magic you’ll be back in the infirmary by sunset.”
Nico rolled his eyes. “Not really.” He chewed his bottom lip, then blurted out the truth despite his better judgement. “Okay, a little bit of shadow travel. But no crazy distances. Just to the nearest McDonald’s in New Hyde Park. Camp food’s all well and good, but this guy needs a Happy Meal.”
Will looked disapproving at the mention of shadow-travel, but his mouth twisted into a wry grin at the mention of McDonald’s. “As far as distance goes, I suppose it’s not so bad. But you really should be careful; you’ve only just gotten out of the infirmary. Might be better if you bring a healer with you, just in case.” He checked his watch. “I’ll have to hand a few things over to Jayce first, but I’m free at five. Cool?”
Nico thought about it. He was hungry now, but he could wait twenty minutes or so. “Yeah, sure.”
“Great. It’s a date!” Will turned around and jogged back to the Infirmary.
A date. Nico ran the word over in his head again. A date?
Those skeletal butterflies started up again, and he glanced down at what he was wearing. Jeans, boots, and the same skull T-shirt he’d been wearing all day.
Maybe he should change into a nicer shirt. Did he have a nicer shirt? Maybe he should ask Piper for advice.
Or not. He didn’t think his chances of escaping Cabin Ten intact were very high. Nico sighed and continued on in the direction of his cabin. At the very least, Will deserved a clean shirt.
A couple of campers waved to him as he passed, reminding Nico of Will’s words. That he was welcome here at Camp Half-Blood, even if he never let himself feel that way before. A few of them asked to speak to him, but he told them it would have to wait until later.
Nico di Angelo had a date.
Holy Hades, he had a date.
THE END