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Will never thought laying face down on a hard tiled floor would be comfortable (to be fair it wasn’t) but he was running on three hours of sleep from the last 3 maybe 5 days and around four cups of coffee (which technically he wasn’t supposed to have, but he had his ways) and the floor just happened to be the first thing that was there.
He also didn’t make it far enough to a chair or something. And it’s not like he had to worry about the floor being dirty or anything since the infirmary floors were quite clean. He had cleaned them maybe seven times yesterday, in a sheer attempt to keep himself awake throughout the night.
‘Maybe this is is’ he thought ‘my body finally shutting down from all the strain and work I’ve put on it’
Will couldn’t even be mad, he was maybe hoping that he’d be able to last a little longer. He still had stuff to do but his cursed brain wouldn’t do a single thing to focus on the tasks that he needed to get done. It was also part of the decision to clean the floors seven times in a row because the first time wasn’t sufficient enough. He really hated his brain sometimes.
At least no one else was around to see him slowly clamber onto the ground and lay there, it was no dramatic collapsing from exhaustion, it was more of “my body physically cannot take anymore, the ground here looks clean and comfortable enough, I guess I’ll just submit to my exhaustion right here”. It sent a chill up his spine when his bare skin connected with the tiles, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to get up.
He was so close to falling asleep, he didn’t even know why he was trying to stay awake at this point. There was no purpose to it, it’s not like he could get up and do something else when he was too exhausted to move.
All week he had been studying, practicing whatever combat that he could muster, cleaning the infirmary over and over and actively avoiding the responsibilities of being the head counselor and finishing up with paper work and also helping with lessons for the younger campers (both his siblings and from other cabins). He was also pretty busy avoiding his siblings too. Kayla would murder him if she knew that he hadn’t been sleeping.
(He had told her that he was sleeping in the infirmary/in Nico’s cabin)
Oh yeah, he was also pretty actively avoiding his boyfriend, who would most certainly tell on him to someone or at least make him take a break.
Sure, sleep and taking breaks was nice, and since there was no one in the infirmary for the past few days there was no reason for him to be working himself like this. But it was either stay awake and work (at least claiming to do something productive), or sleep and face whatever his dreams and nightmares wanted to throw at him again. They have been particularly bad the last few times he had ended up falling asleep (he claims it’s because of the caffeine)
Now as he was laying on the ground, his mind whirling and his body unable to do anything, he thought about all the stuff that he still should’ve done. Paperwork that he had been procrastinating for weeks. Cabin checks which we’re coming up tomorrow, he had to help his own cabin clean along with inspecting other cabins. Kayla wanted him to be more engaged with fighting and combat, so she liked to ask him to help her with lessons. He also had to teach some of his younger siblings around the infirmary and how healings works, which he had been putting off.
He hated the month of august. Specifically the first half of the month.
He hated the nightmares that always came when it became this time of the year, the bad memories that always got drudged up when he looked at the calendar at the nearing date (he realized that he hadn’t looked at one of those in a while, he didn’t know what day it was). How much he missed his brothers, how much he had failed them as a camp counselor, he’d never be able to fill their parts.
Working didn’t help.
When he had a headache so bad it hurt to keep his eyes open for long, but whenever he tried to block out the light he felt himself falling asleep. He’d see another one of his siblings dead, or dying, too far gone for him to save. It was always death, and it was always blood, always someone that he wasn’t able to save or wasn’t able to heal.
And luck behold (maybe it was revenge on him refusing to give the gods any satisfaction of praise) just as he was laying in the middle of the infirmary floor, the door swung open.
“I mean this in the kindest most loving way possible, Will what the hell are you doing?” Came Kayla’s voice from the doorway, “I’ve been trying to find you for the past two days.”
Will made a half incoherent mumble of more incoherent words. He wasn’t going to even try and get up and look at his half sister, he honestly didn’t need to see her to know the expression that she was wearing. Judging by the tone of voice, probably confused or annoyed. Knowing Kayla, probably a mix of both. The girl had a temper and also Will was just always confusing.
“Are you okay?” Kayla asked. Will blinked, feeling her presence next to him now. Will gave another halfhearted mumble, the only thing working right now was his brain, and that was always iffy, so probably not a good sign.
“Are you… hurt?”
Will didn’t know how to answer that. No, he wasn’t hurt. But the ability to form words was. Kayla was sitting down now, she put her hand on the back of his head.
“When was the last time you slept?”
It was always that question. And it was always that question that Will had no clue how to answer. Bold of his sister to think that he would be able to remember that piece of information. He had been focusing on cleaning for past few days, along with various pieces of fabric and a needle and thread. (It was just sewing but he didn’t like to admit when he focused on sewing, it wasn’t the most productive).
Kayla probably already knew how exhausted Will and his body was. She would’ve been able to know from the moment she put her hand on his head. Will always hated it when their blessings from Apollo came and bit him in the butt. Being able to sense what was wrong with someone from touching them was an amazingly helpful skill, but very annoying when your siblings also have that ability and you’re pretty much an idiot.
“You want me to help you get up? So you can sleep in a cot instead of on the cold floor.”
Kayla was being nice at the moment, she’d yell at him tomorrow morning when he had slept.
“Bury me…” Will slurred. Kayla still had her hand on his head and now she was gently carding her fingers through Will’s tangled mess of curls. He realized that it had also been a few days since the last time he had showered. Curse him for getting so distracted by everything else.
“I can get you a blanket and a pillow,” Kayla said, “and maybe a wet floor sign too just so that people don’t step on you.”
He appreciated her weak attempt at humor.
“Mkay,” Will murmured, giving up on trying to stay awake any longer. He just wanted to relax. The only thing that he could hope for was that maybe he was too exhausted to have any sort of nightmares, it was a childish hope but it was something to hold onto.
Kayla left for a brief moment, returning with a pillow and also a fleece blanket that had been stuffed away in one of the closets. She put the pillow under his head and being the loving sister she is draped the blanket over Will.
“We’re having a conversation when you wake up, no if ands or buts,” Kayla said firmly. Will let out a slow breath. Kayla had said something else after that but he was already asleep.