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Honestly, Nico had no idea what happened.
One second, he had been supervising archery practice because Will was busy in the infirmary, and the next he had an arrow through his thigh.
He was more annoyed than anything. Sure, having your leg pierced by a celestial bronze tipped razor sharp arrow hurt, but Nico was pretty sure the whole explanation to Will of how exactly this had happened would hurt more.
So, there he was, being half-dragged by Austin to the infirmary to get the arrow removed.
"Honestly Austin, it really isn't so bad-" Austin looked at him like Nico had slapped him.
"Dude, there's literally a whole arrow in your leg right now, and if you move it too much it might hit your femoral artery and that would be bad and Will would be so mad-" Austin rambled. Nico knew he had a right to be legitimately concerned, but he'd experienced worse. This was like a splinter compared to some of the injuries he'd gotten before.
The pair reached the infirmary and Austin immediately shouted for his brother, only to quickly receive an echo of suffering from a female voice.
"Will- OH LORD HAVE MERCY- Hold on, wait- AHHGGG IT BURNS-" Nico knew that voice. She was the reason Nico had to sub in for Will to supervise archery that morning.
Two days before, Mary- the daughter of Demeter now screaming at Will for whatever he was doing- had been involved in an accident on the lava wall. She fell, and while she managed to avoid falling into the fiery pool of molten rock below, she had unintentionally thrown herself directly into the spear-like protrusion of a fallen branch.
Why it was near the lava wall, Nico didn't know (whoever was supposed to move it was probably skipping chores that day), but what he did know was that Mary got really lucky with her fall. She was impaled through her abdomen just above her right hip, miraculously managing to miss anything super important. In addition, the branch she'd fallen onto had snapped off of the main piece of wood after running her through, so getting her to the infirmary without pulling out the wood and potentially causing her to bleed out was easy enough.
Chiron and Will had managed to extract the branch and stitch her up, but Will had kept her in the infirmary for 'monitoring', which Nico took to mean a nice way of saying he was putting Mary on infirmary-arrest to keep her from reinjuring herself so soon.
Nico and Austin rounded a corner just as Will looked up in the direction of Austin's voice. A smile had just started to light up his face upon seeing Nico but died fairly quickly when he spotted the arrow in his thigh.
"Nico, what- do I even want to know?" He sounded both annoyed but also concerned, gloved hands still gently holding a piece of gauze soaked in some sort of healing tonic against Mary's abdomen. She looked back at him and gave him a pained yet mildly curious look.
"Oh, come on, you too?" She huffed incredulously. Will sighed at Nico as his brother helped him over to a bed.
"One of the newer kids- Colt, I think- he got distracted by something and misaimed his bow right as he released, and..." Austin trailed off his explanation and gestured helplessly at his thigh. Will just stared at him, almost disappointed, and sighed.
"Never a dull day here, is there?" He said almost to himself, dabbing at Mary's stitched up abdomen a few more times and eliciting several winces and pained expressions from her before stepping back to throw the gauze and his gloves away. He turned back to Mary and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder like an apology for the pain he’d just caused.
"You wait here, I'll go get Chiron to finish cleaning and putting fresh bandages on your stitches," he told her. She looked up at him with teary eyes.
"I don't think I could walk on my own if the building was on fire." Nico frowned. Oh, this was sad.
She'd been at camp for a few weeks, and had shown herself to be sweet and gentle, constantly wondering into the woods to converse with the nymphs and make friends with the local woodland creatures like a demigod version of Snow White or napping in the sun on the strawberry fields (in between practicing and honing her fighting skills with her bronze axe, of course).
Newer campers sometimes mistook her for a nymph because of appearance; hair dark like freshly tilled rich earth, eyes the color of sunned pine bark, and the splash of freckles like dappled shade on her warm skin, Nico really couldn’t blame the newbies for their mistakes.
Will gave Mary a sympathetic look and squeezed her shoulder slighter before turning to Nico.
“And you,” he started, eyes fixed on the arrow in his thigh. Oh, this was gonna be good.
”You stay right here. I don’t know even want to know how you managed to put any weight on your legs to walk here, not do I want to think about the potential damage of it right now. But I’m going to go get Chiron to finish on Mary while I take care of you.” Will put a hand on his cheek and Nico swallowed. Will tilted his head.
“Don’t worry, I’ve done this before.” Will assured, a slight grin creeping on to his features before his eyes softened and he pressed a kiss to Nico’s cheek before going to get the old centaur.
As soon as the door closed, Mary turned to him and spoke up. "You’re so screwed,”
"Thanks, I hadn't figured that out. How are you doing over there?" Mary groaned at his question.
"Impaling yourself on a branch sucks, but having Will clean it with what feels like gasoline sucks more." Nico chuckled at her description, but she was quick to snipe back.
"Oh, you laugh, but you're next, Mr. Arrow-through-the-leg. And that thing is getting the same torture tonic I am."
"I like to think he's going to be gentler with me." Mary shook her head and attempted to sit up slightly, wincing as she did so.
"Will also told you not to move," Nico chastised.
"God forbid I reach for some water," she muttered, continuing to stretch until her finger closed around the glass cup.
Chiron clopped into the infirmary with Will at his side. Will gave Mary a look.
"You couldn't have waited for me to get that? You know you aren't supposed to move"
"I refuse to be immobile!" She protested, "And it isnt my fault the table is so far away." Will sighed and started shuffling through the cabinets, gathering supplies to fix Nico's leg. Chiron made his way over and examined his thigh, pressing around where the arrow penetrated his leg and eliciting a grimace from Nico.
"You are lucky, Nico," the centaur remarked, "an inch to the left and your femoral artery could have been nicked. You likely would have lost a significant portion of blood on the way here."
"I'm O-negative!" Mary piped up. Chiron gave her a smile and found her bedside, resting a hand on her shoulder.
"You've lost enough, young lady. As charitable as your offer is, you need your blood as much as he does if you wish to heal." He
"I can take it,” she continued, “I’d rather that than have someone die because of some precaution.” Nico glanced over at her, the throbbing in his leg becoming worse and worse by the minute.
“Mary, we’ve been friends for, like, a month,” he grunted out, trying to distract himself,” you hardly know me.”
“Yeah, and I normally don’t know who I’m donating blood to. That’s kinda the whole point.” She quipped back. Will chuckled and walked back over with a tray full of supplies, none of which looked like they’d be particularly fun to experience.
“In any case,” Chiron interrupted as he clopped back from the sink to wash his hands, “you have a site that needs cleaning and dressing,” he said with a nod toward Mary, “and you have an arrow that needs removing,” he finished with a nod toward Nico. “Shall we get started?”
Mary grimaced and turned her face into the pillow as the centaur approached. Nico wasn’t doing much better. Will had gently nudged him to lay down and then proceeded to snip the leg of his jeans off to gain a clear view of the projectile.
“You’d probably don’t want to see this, Nico,” he said gently, running a hand through his boyfriend’s hair. Nico stared up at the ceiling, doing his best not to focus on what was about to happen.
“I believe you,” he said, “feel free to remove it whenever, since we’re having this conversation.” He added, trying to ease his nerves. Will chuckled and kissed his forehead.
“Alright, Nico. Just focus on breathing and keep looking at the ceiling….”
He’ll spare the details (mostly because he doesn’t want to remember it any more than necessary), but it resulted in Nico biting off all his finger nails and Will snuggling with him for a few minutes as consolation.
Mary hadn’t faired much better.
For a Catholic, you wouldn’t think she’d have a dirty mouth, but Nico was pretty sure she’d taught Chiron some new curses as he cleaned and redressed her wounds. She was now laid flat on her back as she stared up at the ceiling numbly.
Will returned to Nico’s side, having left to retrieve him a glass of nectar to aid in the healing process.
“Drink it slowly,” He advised, “I don’t want you to throw up.” Nico furrowed his eyebrows.
”Why would I throw up? I don’t feel queasy.”
”You may not feel it, but that doesn’t mean your body is in rest and digest mode yet,” he explained, “just drink it slow.”
Will handed him the glass and kissed his temple before crossing over to Mary’s bed.
“You alright over here?” Mary slowly turned her head to him before saying, in the most serious voice Nico had heard, “I think I’m dying.”
He nearly spat nectar out his nose. Will sighted and tapped her shoulder.
“You’re not.” He stated.
”Yes I am.”
”No, you’re not.”
“How do you know?” She whispered back.
“Trust me, Mary, you’re not,” Nico interjected, “but that doesn’t mean you don’t feel like it.” He added.
“That doesn’t make me feel better.”
Will have her a gentle smile and withdrew his hand so he could adjust the blanket over her.
“Can I get you anything?” Will asked as he opened the blinds beside her bed.
”A priest, I need last rites.”
Nico couldn’t contain his laughter at that, and neither could Mary. Despite her grim tone, she was in on her own joke, though she winced as she laughed.
Will fought back his own fit of giggles as he responded. “I don’t think a Catholic priest would want to enter a camp for Greek demigods. Now, is there anything I can actually get you?”
Mary shook her head, expression more somber now. Though she didn’t say it, her body language and expression made nico suspect there was something she wished Will could get her. Or rather, someone.
James was away from camp for a few weeks on a trip to New Rome to aid in training healers there. Though Will had offered and had wanted to go, obligations at camp prevented it, so he sent James. Unfortunately, that meant Mary hadn’t had the comfort of her brother’s presence to help her through the healing process.
Will pat her shoulder one more time and picked up the clipboard by her bed to scribble something down.
”Alright, I’ll be back later. In the meantime, you two behave. I better not come back to any escape attempts.”
“I don’t attempt, I succeed.” Mary stated. Will looked like he was having a hard time containing a giggle, and he nearly lost it when he caught Nico’s eye.
“Just be here when i come back, okay?” Nico looked at Mary.
”We could leave and come back,” he said to her, ignoring Will like he wasn’t even there. Mary nodded approvingly.
”He’d never know.” She whispered back. Will sighed and started for the door.
”Wait, you’re actually leaving?” Nico asked.
”Yeah. I’m hungry. And I want to take a shower.”
“But Will,” Mary whined, “there’s nothing you can to do!”
Will put a hand on his hip and smirked.
“Well lucky for you both, I planned for this.” He set his clipboard down and entered one of the storage closet, rummaging around for something.
”Although, it may take a bit of negotiating on your parts!” Will called. After a few moments filled with a hounds of jostling and shifting, he backed out of the closet pulling small television on a cart. It was an older model for sure, but someone (probably one of the Hephaestus cabin) had managed to connect a dvd player to it.
On the shelves below the TV sat dozens of DVD cases, hopefully with discs that weren’t too scratched up.
Nico whistled. “Wow, didn’t expect an impromptu movie night in the infirmary” Will smirked at his comment. Mary, however, was slightly less than pleased.
”Wait, you’re telling me I could have been watching movies the past two days and instead I’ve been staring at the ceiling and sleeping?”
“You needed to rest, Mary,” Will countered, “and besides, it’s not like you’ve been awake much anyway the past two days. She’s even worse to wake up than you are.”
The last part was directed at Nico, who didn’t know whether he should laugh or take offense. Mary rolled her eyes at him.
“That’s not the point. It would’ve been nice to know I had options!” Will sighed and shook his head, squatting down to riffle though the DVD cases.
“So what are y’all thinking? We’ve got My Girl, Titanic, The Lorax, Princess Diaries two…” Nico and Mary exchanged looks.
“Titanic would take up the most time,” Mary offered. Nico rolled his eyes.
”Could we not do some sappy romance drama?” He pitched.
”It’s not even that sappy!” Mary defended.
”Oh please, they fall in love over like twenty hours and he dies for her? That’s sappy.”
“He saves her from committing suicide by man overboard!”
“You’re just further proving my point”.
Mary grumbled and rolled her eyes. Will smirked at them.
”I told you this was gonna take some negotiations.” Mary leaned in Will’s direction slightly.
”He just doesn’t want to watch it because he’s old enough to remember it,” she stage whispered. Will snorted.
“I’m not that old.” Nico protested. Mary raised an eyebrow at him.
“Babe, you were around for polio. You’re basically a dinosaur.” Will added. Mary snickered.
”Nico, do you remember the birth of Christ?”
He scoffed in response and decided to play along with her game. At least this would lift her mood for a little bit, and he actually found it kind of funny.
“Yeah, I was actually in the manger and everything.” Mary’s jaw dropped in feign surprise.
“No way!”
“Yeah, it was crazy. I almost had to midwife, but-”
“Alright, decide on a movie or I’m putting on The Notebook.” Will interjected.
”We didn’t even get to hear all the options!” Nico protested. His boyfriend smirked and shuffled through a few more.
“Rocky Horror Picture Show, Fifty Shades of Grey-how did that get in here?- A Dog’s Purpose-“
”I like dogs,” Mary pitched, looking Nico’s way, “and I haven’t seen that one.”
”Me neither,” he responded thoughtfully, “put that one on.” Will raised his eyebrows at them.
”I mean…are you sure?” He asked
“Yeah, it’s a dog movie, it’ll be cute.” Mary responded. Will sighed and shook his head like he knew something about it.
“Okay, if that’s what you want….” He queued up the movie and pressed play before asking if there was anything either of them wanted and then leaving them to watch the movie.
Will returned ninety minutes later just as the movie was ending. Mary sniffled.
”What the heck, dude?” She whimpered.
Mary had been crying on and off for the past hour, and Nico had to agree, this movie was sad. Like, messed up levels of sad. Just when you thought it was getting happy again, it got sad. He would’ve gone over to comfort her, but he was pretty sure Will would strap him down if he got up.
“I tried to tell you!” Will forlorned, trodding over to Mary’s bedside and offering her a tissue. Mary took it and blew her nose before crying some more.
“Why didn’t you tell us it would be this bad?” She wailed. Will stepped closer and opened one of his arms to her, an invitation to come closer if she wanted. She took it and cried into his scrub shirt.
“Yeah, that was pretty tragic.” Nico said with a frown, still staring at the end credits on screen as they rolled by.
“I didn’t want to spoil the movie by telling you what happened!” Nico looked over at him with Mary tucked into his side crying and shook his head.
“Titanic wasn’t as heartbreaking as that was,” she squeaked, “that was just sad because you knew the whole time that the ship was gonna sink, but this…this was another level…”
Will wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pat her back comfortingly.
“I mean…the dog didn’t really die though, did it? It just kept getting reincarnated to find his owner.” Will tried in the hope of offering some bit of solace. Mary just sobbed harder. Nico shook his head.
"That's even more messed up, Will." He critiqued.
”He just wanted to get back to the first guy the whole time, and- and- he couldn’t-" she stuttered out. Will sighed and gave her a final squeeze before releasing her and walking over to Nico’s bedside.
“How’s your leg feeling?”
“The way you’d expect it to feel after an arrow went through it,” Nico grunted. Will chuckled and leaned closer, putting a hand on Nico’s cheek.
“Aren’t you glad you just get to relax here and don’t have to do any normal camp activities?” Nico gave him a brief side glance before turning his face into Will's hand and pressing a kiss to his palm.
“Only because the alternative is doing it with an arrow in my leg. And only because it's you." He said into his hand. Will leaned closer and pressed a kiss to his temple, letting his nose rest in Nico's hair a few moments after before pulling back.
"You know I wouldn't let you do anything until it was healed," Will said over his shoulder as he picked up the clipboard hung on the side of Nico's bed to scribble something on it. Mary sniffled from her bed and took a shaky breath, steadying herself before she spoke.
"Will? Is it almost dinner time? I'm hungry." He looked over at her and smiled.
"That's actually why I'm here. I came to see what the two of you felt like." Mary frowned.
"Max didn't do that..." She muttered. Will sighed.
"She's a newer healer. Usually, we're just supposed to grab something healthy and balanced and bring it back to you, but we are allowed to ask what you want. She probably just didn't know. Also, i'm feeling nice. And i have a special patient." He added with a wink at Nico. Mary rolled her eyes at his explanation and pulled her stretched her whole body, wincing as she tensed her core in doing so.
"Well, since your being so accommodating..." Nico sighed, putting a hand on Will's arm and tugging him closer with a smile.
Ten minutes later, Will returned carrying two plates and setting them on the bedside tables of their respective demigods. Mary's was laden with barbequed ribs, fries, and a salad of spinach and arugula. Nico's plate was the same but he subbed the ribs for a burger, and he rubbed his hands together as will approached.
"Oh, my gosh..." Mary mumbled through a mouthful of rib meat, "this is so good."
"You not had the ribs yet?" Nico asked. She shook her head, eyesw closed in ecsasy as she chewed.
"This is a literal godsennd, it's so good, i think-" Her eyes snapped open and she stopped chewing, whipping her head toward him. "Did i pray?" Will shook his head. Mary groaned and set the rib back down on her plate, making a hasty sign of the cross and saying grace, her mouth thiss stufed with food, before repeating the sigh on the cross and cntinuing to chew.
"Does that even count?" Will queried, prompting Mary to give him a side eye and take another bite.
"Yeah, the first couple bites just aren't blessed." Nico remarked. Mary rolled her eyes at him but was pacified by her food enough not to correct him.
Will turned his head toward the door as a little scuffling sound came from the other side, only for it to be kicked open a second later and by another healer precariously holding three glasses in his hand, two filled with water and one with chocolate milk.
"Avery, I could have helped you with those," Will chided as he strode over to help the boy. Avery was about twelve years old, a son of Asclepius, and nearly ask skillful as Will when it came to healing. With his soft blond curls and gentle green eyes, he could have passed for one of will's siblings.
"You were already holding the plates, Will. It's okay, i got it under...control..." He trailed off as he took in the scene before him; Nico with his leg wrapped up and Mary scarfing down a plate of ribs, barbeque sauce now splotched on her chin. Avery stared at her slightly wistfully until Will nudged him and took both of the water glasses from him. He stood there awkwardly for a couple seconds, still gazing at Mary and holding the chocolate milk.
Oh, yeah. According to Will, Avery was crushing on Mary bad. Nico had believed him, but watching the boy lose situational awareness just from being in the room with her was pretty funny. Nico exchanged a knowing glance with Will and had to make a considerable effort not to bust out laughing. Also, he didn't want to choke on his burger. Will tapped his shoulder and Avery snapped back into reality with a little jolt, looking around before settling back on Will.
"Do you, um, need anything else?" He asked awkardly, making a point to look in every direction but Mary's. Will shook his head, fighting a smile that was tugging at the corner of his mouth
"Are you going to take that with you?" Mary asked, a sauce covered finger pointed at the remaining glass in Avery's hand. The boy's cheeks reddened slightly, and he hastily stepped over and set it on her bedside table, a huff of laughter coming from Mary. He stood back, hands clasped awkwardly behind him. Despite all the outward signs he was trying (and mostly failing) to hide, Mary didn't seem to notice, though whether she genuinely didn't see it or was just acting like she hadn't noticed to spare Avery's feelings, Nico didn't know.
"I could get you another blanket, or pillows...or something...." he rambled. Mary gave him a genuine smile.
"Oh, you're adorable, but I'm good. What about you, Nico? Need anything?" Mary looked his way. Avery's cheeks darkened at her compliment even more, though he tried to hide it by becoming very interested in the ceiling.
"Uh, no, I'm good." He responded, fighting a smirk and desperately avoiding eye contact with Will who he suspected was also trying to keep control of himself.
Avery nodded and looked over at will, who gave him a thumbs up in dismissal. He turned and scurried out of the infirmary, still reeling from what Mary had called him. Nico took a few breaths to steel himself and Will cleared his throat, still avoiding Nico's eyes.
"Okay then, well, I'll be back later on tonight to check in one last time, and then both of you need to go to bed. I don't want to hear about either of you up late." Will announced as he turned for the door.
"Wait!" Mary exclaimed through a mouth full of fries, making her have to stop, swallow, and cough before she could continue. Will juswt stared at her expectantly.
"Can you put in another movie?" She asked meekly. Will rolled his eyes.
"Fine, but I'm warning you, if you try to pick something sad, I'm vetoing it."
They settled on Twilight after Mary convinced Nico to go into it intending to make fun on the film. He had to admit, when they watched it that way (and with the addition of her well timed commentary), the movie was actually pretty fun.
"How do you feel about cold, wet things, Nico?" Mary asked at one point. He snorted.
"I don't really have much of an opinion on them."
"Wait, what if the reason Edward was so interested in her at the beginning was just because she was on her period?" Nico gave her a look.
"Dude, why did your mind even go there?" Mary shrugged.
"I'm just trying to figure out his thing with her. Also, why is he gaslighting her right now?"
"Because he likes her, and he doesn't want her to get creeped out."
"I'm pretty sure that's not how you get a girl to like you," Mary threw a look at Nico, "not that you would know." Nico feigned offense.
"I'm not even going to acknowledge what you just said." Mary just cackled at him. This went on for the rest of the movie, and it only got worse when Will returned because he was legitimately trying to watch the movie.
Eventually, Twilight came to an end, and Will turned off the TV. He turned to the two demigods in their beds.
“Alright, nighty-night time.” He strode over to Nico and kissed him.
”I’ll be back in the morning, okay?” He muttered into Nico’s ear.