Chapter Text
“Three days Nico, come on, you promised.” Will touched Nico’s forearm as if to lead him towards the infirmary. Nico immediately pulled his arm away with a wince. Will froze and studied him with a frown.
“Nico, are you hurt? More than from your underworldy stuff?” Will’s expression was serious and had a hint of concern. Nico didn’t know exactly how to answer, so he just sighed and started to make his way towards the infirmary- causing Will to chase after him.
“Relax Solace. I’m going to the infirmary.” Nico murmured coldly, obviously not wanting to talk. All he could think about was what he had just done. He told Percy… he came out to the others. He was scared and worried about what the other campers would say… what they might do. Will walked next to him, studying him the whole way there which started to get on Nico’s nerves a bit- but not enough for him to say anything about it.
Once they entered the infirmary, Will led him to a single room. A majority of the infirmary was just one gigantic room with cots- but there were a few single bedrooms in the back for the longer visitors. Will held open the door, and raised an eyebrow at Nico silently as if asking if he was going to enter the room on his own, or if Will would have to force him. Nico sighed and slumped a bit in defeat as he made his way into the small bedroom. There was a gigantic window, and a number of lamps which were all unplugged and placed in the corner of the room. Nico studied them, silently raised an eyebrow, but decided not to ask.
“Those are just my back up for if rest doesn’t help you.” Will explained when he saw Nico’s expression after eyeing the lamps.
“What do you mean doesn’t help me? I’m fine Solace. I don’t understand why you want me in here.” Nico argued. Will remained silent, ignoring Nico’s question. He closed the door, and walked over towards the small bedside table. He opened a drawer and pulled out a black hospital gown.
“Here, I got this special just for you.” He smiled warmly, handing Nico the gown.
“I’ll let you change. I need to grab some of my supplies and I’ll be right back. Change and sit on the edge of the bed?” He asked, smiling brightly at Nico- who reluctantly took the gown and studied it with a disgusted expression.
“So help me sunshine, if you’re not in here when I get back….” He gave Nico an empty threat.
“Don’t call me that!” Nico spat. Will decided to ignore Nico’s sour mood, and left the room.
When Will had returned, Nico was on the edge of the bed still in his regular clothes- except he had reluctantly kicked his boots off. Will frowned and set his supplies on the bedside table.
“Nico, I need you to change into the gown.” He studied the silent boy’s expression and sighed.
“Why won’t you change? It’s important. If you have like a heart attack or something- I need to easily have access to your body. I can’t if you’ve got all those layers on. I don’t want you to die because I couldn’t get a jacket off of you.” He explained, hoping it would change Nico’s mind. When Nico made no sign that he even heard Will speak, the smile on Will’s face slowly diminished. All Nico could think about was how Percy took the news. He was thankful that Annabeth was there and had a good reaction- but he just couldn’t tell how Percy felt about the whole thing. Yeah, he was over him- but he was still worried. His heart started racing as his mind dug deeper and deeper into those bad thoughts.
“Come on Di Angelo, either you change by yourself like a big boy, or you make me have to dress you myself.” Will frowned and crossed his arms, proving just how stubborn and strong headed he was on this topic. Nico still hadn’t moved, he was pouting- staring blankly at the wall, but still pouting none-the-less. Will was starting to get irritated, and after a few minutes of nothing happening, he decided to break the silence.
“Fine, if this is how it’s gunna be so be it.” He snapped, stepping towards Nico and grabbing onto his jacket. Nico’s body tensed and he stared at Will. He tried to push Will’s hands away but Will was right about Nico- he was weak and definitely needed rest. Will easily won the little ordeal and tried to gently remove the jacket. He frowned once the jacket was off and he saw what had made Nico wince before.
“Nico…. What are these deep cuts and gashes on your arms?” Will asked gently. They looked extremely painful and Will was very concerned. There was another long pause before Nico finally answered.
“Lycaon mostly.” He uttered quietly, avoiding eye contact. His heart was hammering in his chest as all thoughts of Percy disappeared from his mind. He reluctantly made eye contact with Will and shrugged.
“Reyna helped me bandage them before. You were busy with others so I just figured I could wait. They’re not that bad.” He mumbled, looking down at the floor.
“Mostly?” Will raised an eyebrow and crouched in front of Nico, gently taking his hand to study the gashes more closely. His heart sank when he realized what Nico meant. He waited for Nico’s response, but it was clear that Nico was done arguing and fighting him for now- which also meant Nico was done talking.
“Nico, these look… they should be more healed than this. It looks like Reyna’s stitches got infected, which is why you should’ve come to see me right away. How… how are you even able to move your arms without searing pain?” Will was astonished. Nico stared at the floor again, with Will still holding his hands to inspect his wounds they were really close which Nico was very uncomfortable with.
“I’ve had a lot of practice.” Nico shot back, then immediately hated himself for saying anything.
“You’ve had practice with cuts on y….. oh Nico…. There’s better ways….” Will trailed off, all the color drained from his face. Nico pulled his arms away and pulled his knees towards his chest, hugging his shins tightly and resting his chin on his knee cap.
“I don’t want this conversation. I don’t need it. I’m fine, just…. Leave me here for three days and then I’ll be on my merry way.” Nico shot back, extremely defensive now. Will knew one of his secrets- and he didn’t like people knowing his secrets. His heart thumped madly and he felt his hands shaking, so in order to hide that he began twisting his skull ring. It always made him feel more at ease- he knew the ring caused the nearest dead to grow restless whenever he did it, but he felt more safe and secure knowing he could defend himself in the need occurred.
“Alright… will you work with me here please? Change into this so I can stitch those gashes up? I want to do a whole physical. Do you have any pain anywhere else?” Will asked while slowly grabbing the hem of Nico’s shirt and lifting it over his head. Nico didn’t fight or argue, he didn’t even answer the questions. He remained silent as he stared at the wall.
At the sight of Nico without a shirt, Will couldn’t decide what to feel. It was obvious that Nico was malnourished and that his body was over-worked, but Will also couldn’t help but blush a little. Even on his near-deathbed, Nico Di Angelo was still as stunning as ever.
“I’m just gunna slip this over your head, then I’ll let you take off your pants okay?” Will explained, then helped Nico into the hospital gown. For the first time, Nico followed Will’s instructions. Once the gown was completely on, he slipped off his pants and kicked them onto the floor, then returned to his seat on the edge of the bed. Will picked up his clothing and put them on the hook on the back of the door, then pulled a doctor’s stool from the corner of the room up to the bed infront of Nico and sat on it.
“Alright, let me get those cleaned out, numb them up, then stitch them up okay? Man, you look like you need some ambrosia.” Will noted as he studied Nico’s sunken features. His skin still had the blueish tint to it which worried Will very much. Nico hesitantly reached his hands out for Will to begin working on his arms. Will began to gently clean the wounds as best he could. Nico winced and grimaced, but didn’t pull away from Will. Even though he was worried, Will also couldn’t help but feel butterflies in his stomach whenever his skin made contact with Nico’s skin.
“Ambrosia won’t do much for me. Reyna and Coach Hedge figured out that Unicorn Draft is what works the best.” Nico admitted. Will nodded then internally cursed- he was all out of Unicorn Draft thanks to the war with Gaea.
“I’ll have to see if Camp Jupiter can send some over.” He murmured to himself, but Nico just nodded weakly. Will stopped cleaning the wounds and leaned back, studying Nico. He hadn’t let go of his hand though.
“I can manage stitching you up while you’re laying down. You look exhausted- when was the last time you got a decent night’s sleep?” Will asked gently.
“Uh…. Next question?” Nico murmured after a short pause. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually slept.
“What about last night? Didn’t you sleep at all last night?” Will questioned, gently helping Nico under the covers of the bed and tucking him in- with his arms above the covers still of course.
“No… ever since the war stopped I’ve been pretty busy making sure all the demigods are properly put to rest.” Nico admitted and let out a soft yawn. Will nodded solemnly, he understood. He himself hadn’t really had much rest either- but things in the infirmary had started to cool off a bit ever since the Romans left. They were amazing demigods- but thankfully a majority of them were stable enough to be moved back to Camp Jupiter.
“I need to do a mental and physical examination on you. I know you were in Tartarus, and you were in a death trance. From what I’ve read about those- you may need more than just three days in here. How you managed to survive everything… It’s unreal.” Will unconsciously reached up and gently moved some hair from Nico’s face. Immediately after he realized what he did he blushed madly and pulled his hand away. He was concerned- but also a bit thankful at how tired Nico was. If Nico was at full power and alertness, he would’ve definitely gone after Will for that.
“What do you mean a mental examination? I’m fine. The only thing wrong with me is the cuts from Lycaon. More than just three days? There’s no way, I only agreed to three. I’m fine other than these cuts!” Nico argued weakly, causing Will to sigh in annoyance.
“Just close your eyes Nico, I’m going to stitch you up, then let you rest for now. You look almost like I can see through you.” Will admitted ignoring Nico’s last statement. A worried expression painted his face as his eyes scanned Nico’s small limp body. Nico closed his eyes, but couldn’t sleep- not with Will so close to him.
Will began to stitch up Nico’s arms, then dressed the wounds covering his biceps, forearms, and wrists in bandages. He then gently tucked his arms under the blankets and smiled softly at the exhausted demigod in front of him.
“All done for now. I’ll keep an eye on you, get some sleep Nico.” Will smiled as he noticed Nico relax a bit. He decided to get up and pull the curtain over the window to keep it dark in the room so no light could wake him. Once Will noticed Nico had fallen asleep, he stood and exited the room to make his rounds.
-
Nico truly was exhausted and didn’t realize how much rest he needed until he was finally sitting down and Will was fluttering around him, taking care of his wounds and everything. He stared at the wall, mostly tuning Will out as he thought about how he just wanted to sleep. Will seemed to notice fairly quickly to Nico’s surprise, and he tucked him in. If Nico had more energy he’d argue that he wasn’t a child and didn’t need help, but he didn’t have the energy and it really was kinda nice to have someone fussing over him. He had taken care of himself for such a long time ever since Bianca, he didn’t have the strength to do it much longer.
He also didn’t want to admit to himself that he enjoyed Will’s touch- he actually enjoyed it! Anytime he felt Will’s presence he could’ve sworn a million skeletal butterflies were flying loose in his stomach. Will wasn’t gay- he was just doing his job, and Nico was getting his own hopes up just to be crushed. He tried not to think about Will anymore, and once he blocked the Will distraction, his mind ran back to fretting over Percy and what would happen if the rest of the campers found out.
“All done for now. I’ll keep an eye on you, get some sleep Nico.” Will’s voice popped into Nico’s mind and he felt Will moving his arms under the blankets.
“Don’t need to keep an eye on me. I’m fine.” Nico argued weakly, still not opening his eyes. He was utterly exhausted and knew he couldn’t fight it much longer. He drifted off to sleep quietly and peacefully after a long while. His dream on the other hand was not so peaceful. He was back in Tartarus, and in front of him was Akhlys. She was smiling at him.
‘My dear dear boy… my greatest creation… just look at you. Such pain, so much torture and despair.’ She cooed. Nico felt his stomach drop.
‘And now you’ve gone and made my job even easier!’ She laughed wickedly, ‘You think the child of Apollo would ever care for you? No one would care about you my dear boy.’ She cackled.
‘No! I don’t have feelings for him! Stop it! Stop messing with my head!’ He argued. She just kept laughing. Nico stood and tried to run away, but her laughter wouldn’t fade- it was as if she was right behind him, laughing into his ear as he ran.
Then it was dark. So dark. He couldn’t see a thing. He stopped running and soon realized he was about to stumble over a cliff. He immediately froze when he noticed the presence of something else… but it was so dark- it was pitch black. He couldn’t see anything.
‘What’s the matter dear? Afraid of the dark are we?’ It was Nyx. He was frozen in fear for a few moments before he realized that everything around him was shadow- he could shadow travel out! And so he did, he felt himself becoming one with the shadows.
‘We aren’t finished with you yet boy!’ Nyx’s voice faded away. That was an easy escape… too easy.
When he reappeared he was still in Tartarus, but right next to the Phlegethon. He forced himself to drink the fiery water and studied his surroundings. He didn’t know how to get out- he was trapped. So he wandered. After what felt like years of wandering in search of the doors of death, Nico felt as if he were getting sucked out of Tartarus. The scenery changed, and when he was able to focus again he was in the Hypnos cabin. He looked around and saw Clovis dazing off in an arm chair.
“Clovis? Hey, wake up man! Hello!” Nico shook him, and he reluctantly opened his eyes.
“Huh? Oh hey, it worked.” Clovis flashed a sleepy smile at Nico.
“What worked? What are you talking about?”
“You’re the one asleep Nico… well, I guess technically we both are…. Mmmm….. sleep….” Clovis yawned and scratching his forehead.
“Will wanted me to see if I could…. Pull you into my dream and talk…. He’s really worried about you…. You gotta wake up man….”
“Wait…. What? I have to… what are you talking about? Why is Will worried about me? I don’t understand?” Nico felt frantic as he paced back and forth in front of Clovis, trying to figure out what was happening.
“Just wake up Nico. Wake up.” Clovis said. Nico’s head felt super foggy and Clovis disappeared, but Clovis’ words were ringing in his ears.
“Just wake up Nico. Wake up.” It wasn’t Clovis’ voice anymore, it sounded a lot like Will. He felt as though he were swimming upstream through the Phlegethon while also being covered in weights pulling him down, but he fought the feeling. After a while he was surrounded by black, still hearing Will’s voice in his head as he felt himself laying in a bed. He slowly forced his eyes open. He grimaced and winced when he opened his eyes to blinding bright lights. He closed his eyes again and whimpered.
“Nico? Y-you’re…. awake?” He heard a voice that sounded like it had been crying- well, trying to hide that it was crying rather.
“Nico, come on, look at me.” He felt a hand gently rest on his cheek, thumb softly caressed his cheek bone. His felt a shiver run through his body when he realized who the hand and voice belonged to. He forced his eyes open again and was met with the sight of Will sitting in his chair next to the bed, leaning close to Nico. He had dark circles behind his pink bloodshot eyes. When he made eye contact Will let out a gasp of surprise and also relief.
“Hey…. Good morning…. No more darkness for you okay? Gotta keep these lights on you 24-7. Gods I’m so dense, I thought I should keep the room dark so that the light wouldn’t wake you and I just… I didn’t even think about…” Will murmured softly, his thumb still caressing Nico’s cheek bone.
“What…. Happened?” Nico asked, surprised by how weak his voice sounded- it was barely even a whisper. Will sniffed and frowned a bit.
“I… once you fell asleep I left to go make my rounds. When I came back I saw you were thrashing around in your bed, having a nightmare I think. I tried to wake you but the second I touched you, you disappeared… I couldn’t find you anywhere. I realized that you had shadow traveled in your sleep. Percy found you in the forest when we were all searching. It wasn’t easy to get you back in here either. We couldn’t hold you at all, we just… went through you. I still need to check you for other injuries- but even now you… you flicker…. Sometimes I can touch you and sometimes I can’t. I’ve got the same stuff Hedge and Reyna said worked the last time you flickered in and out and some other healing nature magic I’ve learned over the years but… gods Nico, for a few solid hours I could’ve sworn… I… I didn’t want to bury another camper, I definitely didn’t wanna have to bury you.” Will’s eyes welled with tears. Nico stared at him silently, soaking in his words. He shadow traveled in his sleep? How? Wait… Will didn’t want to bury him? Why would Will care so much? Percy found him? Did Percy say anything? He flickered again, Will’s hand fell through Nico’s head and onto the pillow causing Will to pull it back immediately and study Nico with a worried expression.
“Thankfully Lou Ellen is great at magic and controlling the mist and everything. She used her magic to get you here, otherwise you’d still be in the forest I think. We couldn’t move you then at all… I tried to change your bandages earlier but that didn’t really happen…. You just phased through them.” He frowned.
“I had to open the window and set up all these lights- I don’t want to risk you slipping into any shadows again, especially not when I’m suppose to be watching you.” He admitted. Nico studied him and frowned, he took in all the information and shuddered when he remembered his nightmare.
“Wait…earlier you said you found me in the forest when we were all searching? What do you mean? Who is we?” Nico asked weakly.
“Nico… you…. We couldn’t find you for a whole day…. We sent out search parties everywhere… contacted Camp Jupiter, even Hades didn’t know where you went.”
“Wait. You told my dad?!” Nico frowned.
“Yeah Nico, we didn’t know where you were.” Will argued and sighed.
“I just… I’m glad we found you, and my hand isn’t going through you anymore.” He smiled softly down at Nico who just studied his expression. His heart was thumping, and although he would never give Will the satisfaction of seeing him smile at something as trivial as that, on the inside he was beaming with delight when he felt Will’s fingers gently card through his hair. He purred softly and leaned into Will’s touch. It was so nice to touch someone else without feeling pain, it was so nice to be able to trust that Will wasn’t going to hurt him.
“I’ve got some Unicorn Draft coming from Camp Jupiter. They don’t have much to spare, but a little will go a long way.” Will said softly and he unconsciously played with Nico’s hair. Nico just hummed quietly in response, closing his eyes again.
“Now that you’re awake we should get some food in you, then I’d like to do the mental examination. I can do the physical one once you’re more… solid.” He noted. Nico tensed and his eyes shot open at Will.
“Mental examination?” He asked in a monotone voice, causing Will to roll his eyes and sigh. He pulled his hand away from Nico’s head and brushed his own hair back as he thought about how he would say his thought.
“Yeah… well, it’s very common to have sort of post traumatic stress after incidents you know? PTSD is nothing to be ashamed of or anything- hell I think a majority of the camp has it. Some can manage it well, for others who have lived through harder things it more difficult to live with, and you’ve seen some really hard things Nico.” Will explained. Nico raised his guard again now that he was a bit more awake. He stared coldly at Will.
“You think I’m crazy?” He spat quietly.
“No! No, I’m your doctor Nico. That means I’m trying to make sure that you’re completely healthy outside,” He gestured towards Nico’s body, “And inside.” He said as he gently held Nico’s face in his hand, caressing his cheek bone with his thumb. Nico’s heart was pounding and he tried to pull his head away from Will’s touch. He had just come out to Percy- he didn’t need or want another crush right now. Especially not his straight doctor.
“I’m going to get you some food. So help me Di Angelo if you so much as place a foot on that floor I will tie you to your bed.” He threatened, then left the room before Nico had a chance to tell him he wasn’t hungry.