Chapter Text
Will
It was an unusually quiet and peaceful at the infirmary that day: no broken bones, magical rashes, life-threatening power use, or fights. Actually, now that Will thought about it, it was probably because the seven were out that day. Nico must’ve also been gone, because he normally managed to rack up an underworldly injury or two every few days, and Will hadn’t seen him in at least a week. Will was just getting off his shift when a small meow sounded behind him. He whirled around to find a small, cutely grumpy black cat sitting there.
“Hi!” Will exclaimed, excited that a cat would show up at Camp Half-Blood.
The cat looked up at him in what he could only describe as a glare.
“Where are you supposed to be?” Will questioned out loud as he crouched down and held out his hand to the cat. The cat hesitantly stepped closer to his hand. Will smiled. “It’s okay, I’m going to help you,” he said softly. The cat eyed him suspiciously and rubbed its head against Will’s hand. Will’s grin brightened, and he gently scooped the cat up into his arms. “Come on, I’m going to bring you to my cabin to ask if anyone knows where you belong.”
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Nico
Nico was pissed. He was turned into a cat until who knows how long, thanks to Aphrodite and her wish to interfere with his (nonexistent) love life. Aphrodite had decided that just watching Nico struggle over how to tell Will he liked him wasn’t enough, but she would “give a little bit of help”. This included turning Nico into a cat until something happened with Will, although Nico wasn’t sure what.
As Will carried him to the Apollo cabin, Nico wondered what Will would think when the truth came out. Nico was only out to the seven and Reyna, and it scared him to think about the bad possibilities. When he was a kid, still living with Bianca and his mom, it was drilled into his head that ‘gay’ was a synonym for ‘evil’. Nico already got constantly shut out and bullied for being a child of Hades, and he really didn’t need more. He’d also never told anyone about his time in Tartarus; only the seven and Reyna knew. He didn’t want to be forever holding himself together so tightly, but his experience told him it was safest to keep it bottled up.
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Will
“Hi, Kayla, hi, Austin!” Will greeted as he made his way to change from his infirmary outfit into cargo shorts, flip-flops, and a CHB T-shirt.
“Hi, Will. What do you have in your arms? Is that a cat?” Kayla peered into Will’s arms as she spoke. The cat shrunk back slightly, looking nervous and annoyed. She pulled her face back as she took in the cat’s reaction. “Sorry little fella, I got up in your space there.”
The cat only stared blankly at her, but it relaxed slightly.
“Yep. I found it in the infirmary today just as I was packing up to leave, and I have no clue who it belongs to,” Will replied.
Kayla frowned. “I’ve never seen this cat before, or any cat at CHB, to be honest. I wonder if it’s…” she trailed off and her eyes grew wide. “I’ll be right back,” she announced.
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Nico
Nico watched Kayla leave, wondering where she was going and why she left so abruptly. He’d never met her before, and he didn’t trust her. He squirmed until Will set him down, then slunk off to spy on Kayla. When he found her, she was talking to someone. Nico couldn’t hear their conversation, however, so he creept closer.
“I think one of the campers was turned into a cat.”
“That’s possible, but who do you think would do it? The treatment for returning to human form varies depending on which god made the change. Athena does it for spying, Zeus for malicious intent, Aphrodite for love, and Hera “for the greater good”. Honestly, Hera’s starting to sound like Grindelwald.” As the person spoke, she used her fingers to make air quotes around “for the greater good”. Nico looked closer at the speaker, and he recognized her as Lou Ellen, daughter of Hecate.
Kayla nodded sagely, ignoring the reference. “If I brought the cat,” she said, “Would you be able to speak to it?”
“Yes,” Lou Ellen replied. “Although, you should probably tell it what you’re doing.”
Kayla turned to leave and Nico ran back to the Apollo cabin.