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Will was well-known around camp for being a pretty laid-back guy. He wasn’t a pushover by any means and certainly had no shortage of sass and wit when the occasion called for it. He could lock in when the situation demanded a cool head and steady hand—he was the camp’s chief medic for a reason, after all. But in general, he was known for being very chill, ready to share a lazy smile and soothing demeanour.
Which is exactly why today, the infirmary, usually a source of noise in the form of clattering tools, chattering conversations, and often riotous laughter as the Apollo kids traded stories, jokes, and increasingly awful poems in the times between patients—well, today it was silent.
Or, at least as silent as Kayla and Austin could manage between hushed reprimands and worried glances across rooms.
And Will’s usual easy smile was replaced with a permanent scowl and too-heavy footsteps.
It wasn’t lost on Will that Kayla and Austin were trying to stay out of his way and some part of him did feel bad—and he was sure the guilt would crash into him later once his mood wore off—but for now, all he could think about was the fact that he hadn’t had a day off in ten days and that Nico had been away on some mission or another for his father for longer than that.
And apparently has been unable to send Will so much as an Iris message.
Will sincerely hoped it was because he was deep underground somewhere, busy and unable to find a suitable location to create the prerequisite rainbow, and not that something had happened to him. He hoped that if Nico had been hurt, that somehow a message would make its way to camp but truthfully, after hearing about Nico’s experience in Tartarus and months-long disappearance, he was more than slightly terrified about something similar happening again—and nobody noticing.
Except for him, that is.
But what was he supposed to do? He didn’t even know where Nico was. He had tried reaching him via Iris message the night before but was unable to reach him. Will would be lying if he said he wasn’t worried out of his mind and if that worry manifested itself as the dampening of his typical cheery mask to something a bit more alarming—well, it was better than allowing the stress to send him into a spiral of panic attacks until Nico came back.
He was barely holding himself together.
“I don’t know,” Kayla whispered from the other side of the room. “Do you think he’d actually do it?”
Will kept his hands busy restocking the supply cart and tried to look like he wasn’t eavesdropping.
“He’s got to do something,” Austin said. “He’s scaring people.”
Will felt a pang in his chest at that. He knew they were talking about him. He couldn’t bring himself to do anything about it.
“Maybe some sunshine and fresh air would help him work through whatever is going on,”Kayla said. “It’s not like we’re busy today. Surely Chiron wouldn’t care if Will takes the rest of the day to himself.”
“Hey, Will?” Austin asked tentatively.
Will looked up from his work. He was about to be kicked out of his own infirmary, he knew it.
“I heard,” Will sighed. “Fine. Just, be sure to come find me if anything serious comes up.”
Will grabbed his belongings and left the infirmary without so much as a goodbye. He knew it was his own fault—his attitude has been utter shit today—but without the everyday tasks of the infirmary to keep at least his hands of not his mind occupied, the weight of his worry about Nico seemed heavier, pressing on him from all sides, constricting his breath.
The thought of being around people when he felt like this was overwhelming, so Will walked through camp, head down to avoid making eye contact with anyone who might want to talk to him, and headed into the forest. He walked for what felt like ages in the shadows of the trees until he reached Zeus’s Fist. Nico had brought him here on one of their earliest dates. The entrance to the Labyrinth here had collapsed a few years ago, but the rock formation made for a nice place to sit high out of the view of passersby. Will pulled himself on top of the boulders and laid on the top, staring blankly at the tree branches above him.
It was quiet here. Not the forced quiet of the infirmary earlier, but a peaceful, natural quiet that soothed Will’s frayed nerves. His siblings were right, he knew, to send him away. And normally, he would have been grateful for the break, for the chance to unwind and reset.
But normally, he would have been doing so with Nico sprawled on the rocks beside him.
He didn’t remember drifting off, but he woke up when a dark shadow passed over his face, blocking out what little sunlight had made its way through the tree branches. He blearily opened his eyes to find Nico kneeling over him with a soft smile as he pushed Will’s slightly too-long curls from his face.
“Interesting place to sleep, Solace,” Nico murmured, no bite to his words.
“Mmm,” Will struggled as his brain fought to wake enough for speech. He squinted and rubbed at his eyes.
Nico shifted and laid down beside Will, one arm thrown across Will’s stomach and his chin resting on Will’s chest so he could watch Will’s face.
“I didn’t mean to,” Will managed.
“Why are you here anyway? Aren’t you usually at the infirmary?”
Will growled low in his chest.
“S’your fault,” he said, eyes drifting closed again.
“My fault? How is this my fault?”
“You were gone. Kayla and Austin kicked me out cuz I was scaring people apparently.”
Nico watched him with dark, worried eyes.
“Will?”
Will opened one eye.
“Did something happen while I was away?”
Will sighed and stared at the tree branches above him, avoiding Nico’s gaze.
“I couldn’t reach you,” he said, barely audible. “I tried.”
Nico sat up.
“I was worried. And, yes, okay, maybe I had been working too much and that didn’t help, but working kept me busy. But I may have overdone it a bit and Kayla and Austin decided to enforce a mandatory break by kicking me out of the infirmary and I was pissed so I came here.”
“Because you were worried about me? Because I didn’t contact you?”
Will grit his teeth, still avoiding Nico’s face.
“I’m sorry,” Nico said. “I didn’t think I’d be gone as long as I was—”
“Almost three weeks,” Will grumbled.
“And I was so concerned with finishing up and getting back here that I honestly didn’t think of anything else. And I should have.”
Nico bent over Will’s head so they were face to face.
“I should have gotten a message to you to let you know I was okay.”
Will finally met his eyes and a bubble of emotion welled up in his throat.
“I will next time,” Nico promised. “Even if I can’t Iris message you, I will figure something out.”
“Please,” Will asked, voice quiet and wobbly.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” Nico whispered. “And I definitely didn’t mean to make you cry.”
He swiped a thumb across Will’s cheekbone, clearing away the tears that had escaped.
Will took a shuddering breath.
“I know.”
“I do think that maybe Austin and Kayla have a point, though,” Nico said. “About a break. Maybe an actual one, more than just a few hours.”
“I have work,” Will protested weakly.
“You work all the time,” Nico pointed out. “You need to rest some, too.”
Will let out humourless laugh.
“You’re one to talk.”
Nico considered this, head tilted.
“I’ll take a break if you take one with me,” he bargained. “I can talk to Chiron and see if he’ll let us take a few days away from camp.”
Will scoffed. “Yeah right. You might be able to come and go as you please, but I’m not getting out of here without a quest or the apocalypse.”
“Let me try,” Nico pressed. “Please? If I can get him to agree, will you go with me?”
Will sighed.
The thought of a few days away from camp, away from the infirmary and chaos, away from his siblings who he loved dearly but spent nearly every moment of every day with—the thought of spending those days alone with Nico—was almost too tempting. He didn’t want to get his hopes up. He meant what he said. There was no way Chiron was going to sign off on this.
“And if he says no,” Nico continued, “I can always just… do it anyway. Take you with me. Chiron can’t block every shadow in camp.”
Will huffed a laugh at that, a real one.
“You’re going to get us both in so much trouble.”
“But will you come anyway?”
Nico’s eyes were huge, pleading and mischievous at once and Will felt himself melting into the stone beneath him. As if he’d ever be able to deny Nico anything when he looked at him like that, like Will held the key to Nico’s greatest desire in that moment.
And in this moment, Nico wanted Will to run away with him, if only for w few days.
Will nodded and Nico grinned, ecstatic.
Gods help them both.