Work Text:
It was the day after the latest capture the flag game. Nico was lounging on Will's bed in the Apollo cabin while Will read a book next to him. It was a perfect moment if you asked Nico. Nobody to interrupt their peaceful time together. Just being for once, neither of them being needed for anything.
He was a bit sleepy, but stayed awake as an attempt not to screw his sleeping schedule up again after he just got it back under control. He looked up at Will and the book that he was reading. 'Pride and Prejudice'?
"Isn't that some cheesy romance novel?" Nico asked. He had heard some things about it, but had yet to read it.
"Yeah, so?" Will hummed, turning the page.
"Nothing, just wondering," Nico looked back at the bottom of the bunk ontop of Will's. "Do you think that—" he started again, but stopped midway. "Never mind, I forgot what I was about to ask."
Will just hummed and smiked warmly at Nico. "It's okay, just ask me when you remember it again."
>->->->->-|-<-<-<-<-<
Later that very same day, Nico was sitting behind the infirmary again, nothing to do at the moment with Will having infirmary duty and not really wanting to be a test subject again for him, he slipped out.
His joints hadn't been that bad in a while now, and Nico was starting to feel like it might've been just a temporary thing. He knows it wasn't. He knows that it'll come back sooned or later. He just wishes that it wouldn't.
Now that he thinks of it, he hadn't noticed anyone else having similar pain other than Bia and mamma. Rationally Nico knew that whatever was wrong with his legs wasn't normal, but it hadn't hit him earlier that most others didn't ever feel like that.
He would curse the fates if he didn't want to not get on their bad side.
For now all Nico hoped for was that the pain would stay away for just a few days longer.
>->->->->-|-<-<-<-<-<
"Hey, Nico?" Will suddenly asked Nico in the middle of arts and crafts. They were sitting in the corner table by a small window, overlooking the strawberry fields, just far enough from most of the others in the activity so that they won't hear them.
Nico looked up briefly from his drawing, sending his boyfriend a questioning look.
"So, I might've done a thing," Will started slowly and hesitantly, as if expecting Nico to blow up at him as soon as he'd say the thing he did, "And I got into contact with a physiotherapist from New Rome–"
"You did what?" Nico interrupted him.
"I got into contacted a physiotherapist that wouldn't ask anything about this life of ours and your scars or your past or anything like that," Will launched into a ramble of explaining himself, not leaving any space for Nico to stop him, "And I am sorry for going behind your back, Death Boy, but I swear that'll help you I promise the only reason I didn't tell you before was because I know that you dislike when I bring it up–" Will took a breath, "–and you try to deny that it's a problem but I'm worried for you."
Nico sat there, finding no words capable of expressing how he felt at the moment. Will had gone behind his back to get him a physiotherapist? Did it really seem that bad to an outsider? Nico kinda hoped that it didn't.
Will squirmed slightly in his seat, as Nico still hadn't reacted after a minute or so. "So..?"
"So what?" Nico asked.
"So are we still okay? Are you mad at me?" Will asked, a bit hesitant, Nico could tell. And for fuck's sake Nico knew that Will has anxiety, he should've reacted sooner.
"Not mad, just.. processing," Nico assured the son of Apollo before he could start spiraling. "I mean, i didn't think that it was that bad that I'd need one, I guess."
And it was true. He has dealt with this for almost the entirety of his life, and it never struck him that it wasn't normal. After all, Bia and Mamma had it too. But now, after living at camp for over two years now, he had slowly started to notice how it was not only getting more frequent, but that almost nobody else seemed to subconsciously flinch every time that they stood up as if waiting for their knee to start hurting, or having to stop after standing because they got a head rush.
"I just need to process this, but I promise, I'm not mad Will," Nico said, getting up and pecking a kiss on Will's cheek before walking out of the room and making his way back to his cabin. He just needed to be for a second. Just a second.
>->->->->-|-<-<-<-<-<
That second turned into two and a half hours, Nico realized, as he looked at the time. He had been productive for once, at the very least, having tidied up the cabin and finally, fucking finally, doing his laundry and putting all his clothes back to the drawer. It hadn't been as mentally tasking as Nico had expected it to be. Surprising.
Nonetheless, it was getting closer to dinner time, so Nico decided to lay down for a minute longer, and just think.
It wasn't terrible that he was going to have to go to a physiotherapist. He wasn't sure how he felt about it. Call it denial or whatever, but he couldn't wrap his head around that he needed this. That he might actually have something wrong with him. Nope – nothing is wrong with him, if something was, it'd be fixable. He was just different. Again. Some times Nico wished that he'd be normal, even if it could never be so.
But, he was also glad for Will having taken the iniative. If it was left for him, he'd probably never had done anything until he absolutely had to. Hopefully Will didn't actually think that he was mad at him.
Nico got up, brushing his hair off his face before starting to walk towards the dining pavillion. A moment later, however, he had to pause to gather himself again, as vertigo washed over him. After it went away, he continued his way down.
>->->->->-|-<-<-<-<-<
Nico saw Will conversing with Kayla and Austin at the Apollo table and sat next to his sunny boyfriend with his plate, nodding as a greeting for Kayla and Austin. Will quickly noticed Nico, and pecked him on the cheek.
The dinner went by faster than what Nico had expected, and he had found himself laughing at the stories Austin told them about his last school year.
Before Will could leave the table, Nico stopped him.
"I just wanted to say thanks," Nico smiled. "I think that I probably wouldn't have done anything if you hadn't. And I may not know what's the reason for all this, but still. Thank you, my sunshine."
Will seemed to brighten again, his gaze fond, as he hugged Nico, his arms wrapping around the smaller boy's frame.
"I love you Nico. Through everything, I'll love you."