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“Will?” Kayla asked, “Are you alright?”
Will’s face was contorted in pain and terror for a moment and then he was yelling, screaming at the top of his lungs. He shot up from his place at the table and stumbled back, one arm wrapped around his own waist and the other pulling at his hair.
“No, no!” he screamed, still moving backwards haphazardly, “Oh gods, no!”
People were staring at him in alarm and a few people had gotten up and were approaching him, reaching out to help. He violently shook his head as Lou Ellen was nearly close enough to grab him and he fell back, hard . The wind was knocked out of him but he was still gasping and letting out half shrieks. He had started crying too, torrential tears streaming down his face as he tried to catch his breath and continue to scramble away from everyone.
“Will, what’s wrong?” Lou Ellen asked, her voice tight with fear and concern.
He just kept babbling incoherently as he sobbed and screamed, still clutching himself. “It hurts ,” he finally said clearly enough for others to understand.
Lou Ellen’s stomach dropped but she tried not to let herself assume the worst. “What do you mean?”
Will’s face crumbled even more as he wailed, “I hurt. He hurts. I- I can’t- I can’t breathe it hurts so bad.”
Lou Ellen didn’t know what to do, he wouldn’t let anyone get close enough to touch him. She looked over her shoulder to Kayla and Austin who were staring at their brother in fear. Will cried out again, squeezing his eyes shut and pulling on his own hair hard enough to nearly tear it out. His face was pale and he was sweating and shaking. “Make it stop,” he begged, “He’s- he’s- oh gods, just stop .”
‘Will!” Drew Tanaka shouted, her voice laced with charmspeak, “Calm down!”
It was clear how hysterical Will truly was when Drew’s words just made him quiet down, only whimpering instead of screaming, but still clutching himself and rocking. Drew walked up to him and squatted down in front of him. He flinched at her presence and tried to back away but she quickly said, “Stay here.”
He heaved, still crying as she watched him. Lou Ellen, Austin, and Kayla and walked up slowly.
“Will,” Drew said sternly, “You need to tell us what’s wrong.”
Will grimaced and sobbed as he tried to speak, “I don’t- I don’t know . But it hurts, it hurts so bad . And that means he’s hurt. Nico’s- Nico’s hurt and he isn’t here and I don’t know if he’s okay. I don’t know anything. I can’t do anything .”
They all froze, unsure of what to do as panic raced through them. They couldn’t really do anything. Nico was off on a quest to pick up two demigods and bring them to camp. He was supposed to get back sometime tonight but now they were just hoping he would come back at all. Kayla looked at Lou Ellen and nodded. They both walked up and stood on either side of Will, placing gentle hands on his shoulders. He recoiled and let out a broken sound that made them pull back. “Will,” Kayla said softly, “We are going to take you to the infirmary.”
“I’m not hurt,” Will’s voice was cracking and broken with tears, “I hurt . I am hurting. But I’m not injured. You can’t- you can’t fix me. You can’t fix him.”
“We know,” Kayla tried to keep her voice steady and comforting, “But we need to calm you down. You can feel Nico’s pain and fear, and he can feel yours. You need to calm down so he doesn’t have to bear your panic as well.”
Her words made Will cry out again and they were afraid he would go back to rambling incoherently and crying but he pushed himself up, standing on shaky legs. Lou Ellen offered an arm for him to lean on and he did, staggering as she began to lead him towards the infirmary. Kayla walked beside them as Austin and Drew followed behind them. “We are going to give you some ambrosia, Will,” Kayla told him, “Just a little, just to make you feel better. If we’re lucky, it might help Nico as well.”
Will gasped and nearly crumpled back to his knees but Lou Ellen kept him up as Kayla rushed to him as well, grabbing his arm. “I can’t help him,” Will wept, “I can’t help him and I don’t know what to do.”
They brought him to a room near the back of the infirmary and he collapsed onto the bed, pulling his knees up to his chest as he heaved. He ate the ambrosia Kayla offered him and then laid back, curling up on his side and pressing his face into the pillow. The four of them watched him shake and sob, not knowing what to do other than wait. “It’s going to be okay, Will,” Austin said softly.
Will just sobbed louder into the pillow, fisting a hand in the sheets of the bed.
-----
Will must have passed out at some point because suddenly he was being shaken awake by Lou Ellen hovering over him, her face panicked. He blinked in confusion for a moment before it all hit him and his face crumpled again, tears welling in his eyes. “Will,” Lou Ellen said harshly, “We don’t have time for that. Nico is back and he needs-” her voice cracked, “He needs you. He needs a doctor.”
The terror that Will felt made his lungs stop working but he stood up in an instant anyway, rushing after her. She led him to a room near his own and he almost threw up when he walked in.
Nico was laid across the bed, one arm hanging loosely off the edge and his head lolled to the side. He was pale and shivering, like all the blood from his body was gone. And maybe it was, if the wound across his torso was any indication. His shirt was torn open and Will could see into his abdomen, even through the blood still gushing out of it. The skin around the wound looked like it was already festering with infection.
“Oh gods,” Will sobbed, “Oh gods, no.”
“Will,” Drew said, “You need to keep it together. You are the only one who can help him right now and if you don’t calm down, he is going to die .”
Will nodded as he rushed to Nico’s side, his hands shaking. “I need,” his voice cracked, “I need scissors, gauze, a needle and thread for sutures, alcohol, and unicorn draught. Someone needs to set up a diluted nectar drip for him, right now .”
It wasn’t the usual commanding voice he had when he was in doctor mode, his words were stuttered and his tears were somehow audible, but people listened. In an instant, people were rushing around him, pulling up carts next to him and handing him supplies. He took the scissors Lou Ellen handed him and began to carefully and quickly cut off Nico’s shirt. Even though the son of Hades was unconscious, he still groaned in pain as Will came into contact with just the skin around his wound. Will’s own chest was burning, the pain he felt nearly debilitating, but he wouldn’t let himself think about it.
“It’s going to be okay, darling,” Will whispered, his voice breaking, “I’m gonna- I’m gonna make it okay. You just have to hold on.”
He began to work, humming healing hymns and sending out silent prayers as he tried to clean the wound. Every time he touched it, even the slightest bit, Nico would make a pained sound and it made Will sob.
“I know, love,” Will cried, his hands shaking as he tried to gently clean it and drop unicorn draught on it, “I know it hurts. I’m gonna make it better.”
He held his breath to steady his hands when he had to begin stitching. Nico gasped in pain as the needle passed through the first time and Will wanted to pet his hair, hold his hand, soothe him somehow , but he had to keep going. “It’s going to be okay,” Will whispered, “You just have to hold on. Can you do that for me, darling? Just hold on a little bit longer.”
At some point, someone had attached the IV to Nico. Will kept singing hymns and muttering assurances that he was sure the unconscious boy couldn’t hear. When he finally finished stitching the wound, a massive slash across Nico’s entire abdomen, he hovered his hands over the wound and concentrated. He felt heat radiate from his hands as he focused on trying to heal Nico, praying to Apollo and Hades and every god he thought might spare them an ounce of sympathy. After he had passed over the entire wound and his hands were red and blistered, Will began to break down. Kayla placed a hand on his shoulder and he was suddenly reminded that there were other people in the room. “I need you-” Will tried to speak as he nearly hyperventilated, “I need you to drip more unicorn draught on him. I can’t- I can’t hold the bottle.”
He heard her move behind him and he stood up, dragging his chair closer to Nico’s head, and then sat back down. He gently laid his own head beside Nico’s, looking at the raven’s ashen face and parted lips. He looked like a corpse, truly, but Will could feel the shallow puffs of breath brush across his own cheeks. He inhaled shakily and bit his lip to hold back a sob. “Nico,” his voice hitched, “Baby, I need you to be okay. You- you just have to be okay for me. And then I won’t ever ask you to do anything again. You don't have to wake up for breakfast and we won’t watch any Star Wars movies if you don’t want to and I won’t make you participate in camp activities. If you just,” Will could taste his own tears and he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment to take a deep breath, “If you can just be okay. Gods, please be okay.”
Nico didn’t wake up, he didn’t move or sigh or anything, he just laid impossibly still and barely breathed. Will wanted to scream and wail and throw himself to the ground but he couldn’t bear looking away from the smaller boy, so instead he just clamped his mouth shut as tears streamed down his face.
-----
Will woke up by himself this time. He was awkwardly bent over Nico’s bed, his head still resting beside his still sleeping boyfriend’s. He sat up and noticed gauze messily wrapped around his own hands. He knew that Kayla or Austin had probably done it and he was grateful. He carefully brought one hand up to run his fingers through Nico’s hair, who shifted at the contact. Will’s breath caught in his throat as Nico let out a sigh and then squeezed his eyes closed even more before opening them and looking around hazily.
When they landed on Will, Nico seemed to smile slightly before a look of panic struck him. He tried to sit up but Will pressed him back down onto the bed, ignoring the stinging in his own hands as he shushed the raven. “You can’t sit up right now,” Will told him cautiously, “You need to lay back.”
Nico still looked panicked, Will could feel his panic, but he nodded and relaxed back down. “Nico,” Will said softly, “Do you remember what happened?”
Nico furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head slightly. “We were close to camp but there were,” he croaked, “There were dracaena. A lot of them. And I think, I think one of them hit me,” Nico looked at Will, his eyes beginning to water, “Will, I- I remember someone carrying me. And I remember feeling you. And I remember hearing you cry.”
Will started to stroke Nico’s hair and shush him slightly. “Yeah,” Will shuddered, “They got you pretty good, darling. It must have hurt real bad.”
“Will,” Nico was crying now, tears running down his face and he reached a hand out for the blond, “Will, I’m sorry . I’m sorry that I got hurt. That I hurt both of us. That you had to feel that.”
“Hey,” Will stopped him and brought Nico’s hand to rest against his cheek, “You don’t have anything to be sorry for. Getting hurt is just a part of the demigod thing. And me feeling it is part of the soulmate thing. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Still,” Nico whimpered, his fingers brushing across Will’s cheekbone, “I could feel how afraid you were.”
“But it’s alright now,” Will assured him, “I’m okay. You’re okay. You’re back here with me and that’s what matters.”
Nico stared at him, his eyes flitting across Will’s face and down to the hand he had resting in his lap. “You burnt yourself,” Nico said quietly.
“I had to,” Will moved the hand he had threaded through Nico’s hair away to grab the one Nico had pressed against his face, “You needed it. And my hands heal quickly.”
Will brought Nico’s fingers up to lips and pressed a kiss to the tips. Nico let out a quiet, strangled sound and Will leaned forward, still holding Nico’s hand but tucked against his chest. He rested his forehead against the smaller boy’s and closed his eyes. “I love you,” he muttered.
Nico didn’t say anything, instead tilting his head up to kiss Will. The kiss was sloppy and chaste and it tasted like tears but it made Will sigh in relief. Nico pulled back after a second and Will chased his lips slightly but the raven didn’t indulge him. “I love you too,” he whispered, and that was better than another kiss.
Will’s abdomen still ached and his hands stung but Nico was right there, in front of him, and he was okay. Nico was okay and Will wanted to scream his thanks. Instead, he kissed Nico again, softly but desperately, and he felt the warmth and pure adoration that bloomed in both of their chests.