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Waking up to find that he was unable to move was not how Nico wanted to start his morning. As he laid there staring out at his empty cabin, he tried to lift his arm, just for a streak of searing hot pain to jolt through his muscles. He hissed through his teeth, allowing his body to go limp again.
He didn’t know exactly why this was happening, it had never happened before. Sure his body was in constant pain, but he could at least get around with a cane or crutches pretty easily. He’d never been immobile, and most of his pain was in his back and legs, not his arms, so he should still be able to use those at least, right?
Nico glanced over to his bedside table, eyeing the small prism sitting below his lamp, a few drachmas scattered haphazardly around it. If he angled it right, he could send an Iris Message to Will, or maybe Jason. He tried to lift his arm again, feeling like an idiot when he felt another shock of pain.
“I didn’t want to actually call anyone anyway.” He huffed, glaring around his cabin at nothing in particular. Well, guess he was trapped here with his thoughts. Alone. Until someone remembers he exists and comes to check on him. That’s not good.
Nico had his eyes closed in an attempt to go back to sleep when he heard the doors to his cabin swing open. “Okay, it’s almost 3 pm, I’m guessing you just wanna stay in bed all day, so I brought you some food.” Will shouted, his voice echoing slightly in the silence of the large cabin.
Nico opened his eyes slowly, turning his gaze to his boyfriend. “It’s 3 pm?”
“Yeah.” Will set the food tray on Nico’s bedside table, sitting at the foot of his bed. “I’ve been busy in the infirmary all day. Got a bit worried when I didn’t see you by lunch, but then I had to perform surgery on this new kid that got here this morning, one of his ribs broke and punctured his lung and ambrosia wasn’t cutting it so I had to go in and take care of it myself and it was a whole mess.” He let out a small tired sigh, picking at a spot of dried blood on his scrubs before turning to look back at Nico.
“Anyway how’s your day been?” Nico blinked, staring at him for a moment.
“Oh, you know. Good. Can’t move, but that’s fine.”
“You can’t move?”
“Yeah, I mean I can. But it hurts, you know? One of my muscles twitches and I blackout for a second, it’s no big deal.” As he spoke Will’s eyes widened with concern, his eyebrows scrunching together.
“That sounds like a big deal.”
“It’ll go away eventually.”
“If it’s your chronic pain being really bad today, then I guess kinda. But that’s not good.” Will paused for a moment, looking Nico over for a moment. “Are you in pain now? Or...more pain than usual, I mean.”
“It hurts like normal, but then when I move I feel like I’m gonna combust.” Will hummed, turning his gaze to the ground for a moment, his hand pulling at a loose thread in Nico’s blanket as he thought.
“Alright, well...you’ll still need to eat, and then I’ll run to the infirmary to grab some painkillers.” Will stood up, before pausing for a moment, glancing at the food on the table, then at Nico. “Can you sit up on your own or do you need—”
He had already begun sitting up, wincing as lights danced before his eyes almost mockingly, his blood rushing in his ears being all that he could hear. He felt something warm take hold of his arms and guide him up, leaning him against the wall. As the lights faded he realized it had been Will’s hands.
Will took a seat next to him, taking the plate of food and setting it on Nico’s lap. “What about eating on your own?”
He made no attempt to reach for the fork, his head still reeling just from sitting up. His cheeks began to burn. Can’t even feed himself, this is embarrassing.
Will seemed to read his expression, taking the fork and picking up some food. “It’s alright. I’m happy to help you.” Nico’s cheeks burned even hotter, but now he couldn’t discern what exactly they were burning from.
Roughly half an hour later, Will was running back from the infirmary, carrying two heating pads and a plastic bag full of a large variety of medications. He plopped down on Nico’s bed, having changed out of his scrubs into a t-shirt and shorts. “Alright, got the painkillers!”
“Will, did you just shove a bunch of unlabelled pills into a bag together?” Will shrugged.
“I know what all of them are. This one,” he pulled out a circular red pill, “is ibuprofen, which is what you’ll be taking now.” He pulled out a second and held them out, waiting for Nico to open his mouth to pop them in.
After Nico drank some water the two worked to pilot him back into a lying down position in as painless a way possible. He still saw the lights before his eyes, but they felt less mocking than before, so he took that as a good sign.
Will pulled his blanket off a bit, holding out the heating pads. “Now where does it hurt the most?”
“It hurts everywhere , Will, I don’t think some heating pads’ll help.” Will nodded, pursing his lips together.
“Yeah, I expected you to say that. Heat’s good for chronic pain though, or at least that’s what I’ve heard. I was only able to steal two of these, though, so we’re gonna have to make do.” Nico buried his head into his pillow a bit further, a twitch in his hand causing him to wince.
“Both under me on my back maybe?” Will quickly moved to do so, gently helping him lift himself up and placing the pads below him. Feeling the warmth course through his body did make him feel better. It felt almost like someone was holding him.
Will let out a yawn, stretching a bit. “Does that feel better?” Nico nodded.
“A lot better.” He looked over to Will, noticing the slight bags under his eyes. “You tired?” Will shrugged.
“A little. My siblings told me they’ll take care of any more patients today though, so that’s nice.”
“Cool. Do you...have anything to do today?” A grin spread across Will’s face.
“Sounds like you’re asking me to spend the day with you.”
“No! I was just—I just was wondering if you had anything to do. Is all.” Will opened the drawer of Nico’s bedside table, placing the pill bag inside before moving to stack the drachmas.
“Well no, I don’t. But,” he reached into his pocket, pulling out dramatically with two fingers a phone, “I snuck this into camp last time we went out to the city. And my mom uses the same password on every streaming platform she has. You know what that means?”
“What?”
“Since you can’t move, now’s the perfect time to introduce you to Star Wars.” Nico sighed.
“Oh gods.”
“The time has come!” Will laid down next to Nico on the bed, holding the phone up between the two of them.
“What is it with you and Star Wars?”
“It’s simply the best franchise ever, and you’ll come to realize that soon enough.”
“I doubt that.” Will smiled, turning and pecking a small kiss on Nico’s forehead.
“Keep doubting, Dark Lord.”