The Perks of Us

Chapter 8

Will slunk into the living room and flopped on the couch, accidentally dropping all his papers and rushing to pick them up. His head pounded from lack of sleep, he had been up all night studying and then made breakfast for Nico for when he returned. He had sat through a heck of a lot of lectures and an exam and a surgery example. He felt sick to his stomach and his eyes blurred as he scanned the pages in front of him.
"Will?" He jumped. Nico stood behind him with two coffees in his hand. He set them down and kneeled next to him. "Are you ok?" He asked cautiously. Will had the feeling that if they were closer, Nico would've just bluntly stated how terrible he looked.
"I'm fine." Will's eyes blurred.
"No, you're not."
"Sure, sure. I feel dandy." Will tried for a smile.
"You're heating up. Hang on." Nico left for a second and then returned with a damp towel and a glass of water. He helped Will sit up and take a sip, then lay him down and put his books on the floor beside the couch. Will's mop of blonde hair covered his forehead, and Nico's cool hands pushed them up to pat him with the towel. He shivered under the touch. Will didn't remember if Nico had ever touched him before. His head swam.

Nico may not have known the boy lying in front of him very well, but he didn't want to room with him if he was sick. That and he was slightly worried for him. Will shivered again, and Nico spread a blanket over him. He went back to the kitchen and poured one cup of coffee down the sink, replacing it with tea and carefully handing it to Will.  He took it shakily and thanked Nico before trying to sit up.
"Uh-uh, Solace, you're not dying on my watch."  Nico put his hand on Wills shoulder to push him down again. Will tried to laugh but sneezed, which in turn became a coughing fit.  Nico jumped to help.
"Jesus, Will!! How sick can you get?!" Nico aided Will like that for the rest of the night, not even bothering to go to his classes.  
Nico had an exam the next day, and he was terrified.  It was the kind of exam that determined if he passed the class at the end of the semester.  He had been bent over books quizzing himself for hours, and, even though he felt like he knew the material, he was panicking.  He felt sweat bead on his forehead, and every time he looked at the books his heart pounded, telling him he wasn't going to pass, say good bye to his whole future! He decided to get up and take a walk, but as soon as he stood up he felt closed in.  He stumbled over to the door and opened it, but the walls were still coming closer.  Nico closed his eyes and his breath shortened, still sweating.  He heard rapid footsteps, and then there were hands on his shoulders, and a voice telling him to breath, take slow, deep breaths.  Saying that everything was okay and he would be fine.  He focused on the voice until his breathing slowed and he opened his eyes, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.

"I'm sorry." He whispered to Will.

"It's ok. Don't be sorry."  Will didn't take his hands off his shoulders.

"How did you know?"

"I heard you coming out, and then you were breathing faster than normal, and I'm almost a doctor, remember? I know."

"Thanks."  Nico took another deep breath.

"Hey, you help me, I'll help you."  He nodded and Will glanced behind him into his room. "Do you want me to help you study?" 

"Yeah, thanks."  Will followed him into his room and closed the door, even though they were the only ones in the house.  After about an hour Will paused. 

"See? You know this. You'll do great." He set the sheet down and stood up. Nico followed.  Will was right. He'd do fine, right?  They went into the kitchen and Nico started cooking pasta for lunch.  He heard a ding from his phone on the counter.

"Hey Will, can you check that?"

"It's from a Hazel." 

"Oh. What'd she say?"

"She's just checking in- How's it going and stuff like that." Nico may have had his back to Will, but he could tell he was going through his phone now.    "You don't have many contacts.  I would assume that you had like a hundred contacts in here."

"I told you I didn't know many people."

"So no girlfriend, then?" Will teased. Nico stiffened.  He may have told Will a lot about himself, but not this.  He didn't want to tell him this  yet. 

"Oh, just shut up."

"Why, touchy subject?" Will laughed.

"Just drop it, Solace." Nico knew he was kidding, but his jokes struck him harder than he expected.  Will dropped his phone onto the table as a joke.  "Will!" Nico sighed, exasperated.  "Do you ever just stop?" It came out a little harsher than he meant, and he could tell he hurt Will.

"Fine." Will snapped softly. "Next time you have a panic attack, I'll just stop."  He picked up his plate and left for his room.