The Last Stand

[7] A Suprise

The annual beading ceremony was amazing... until the interruption.

With Nico asleep, Will finally relaxed. Pipers charmspeak worked too much though because Will found himself asleep before he could get off Nico's bed. The result was each of them facing the other direction, their backs in the center, and arms used as pillows.

Will woke up to the sound of something strange, a clink? Then the smell of food wafted towards him and he peeled open his eyes. Lifting his head up off his pillow and arm to straighten his vision, he saw Kayla holding two plates of grilled cheese.

"About time you woke up. You know, Doctor, I don't think falling asleep with your patients is really professional," She smirked but it turned into more of a grin.

"Huh?" Will blinked sleepily, then realized the curled up ball of demigod behind him. He shot up, nearly bumping into Kayla.

"Ha! You two are ridiculously cute," Kayla laughed, her green hair falling into her eyes. "Now take this plate and eat. You two wouldn't be as cute if we had to bury you," She teased, handing one plate to Will and setting the other one on the nightstand.

Nico groaned and shifted from his position, stretching as far as his short legs could reach while stifling a yawn. Will couldn't help but compare him to a kitten. He was so adorable!

"Morning Sunshine," Will said with a sloppy smile.

"Ugh, Will your smile is blinding," Nico playfully shoved Will's face away, then he noticed the plate of food. His eyes lit up like a little kid's on Christmas morning. The glint was replaced with lust and before Will could stop him, he reached out and grabbed the plate, and devoured the sandwich in three huge bites.

"Somebody's hungry," Will commented, surprised.

"you gonna eat that?" Nico pointed to the sandwich on Will's plate.

"Uhm I-" Before Will could answer, Nico grabbed it off his plate and that was history. Well, at least he was eating now. "What exactly happened to make you so hungry?"

"You have no idea what hunger is Solace," Nico grumbled, and Will got the feeling his boyfriend wasn't being dramatic this time.

"Then we should head to the pavilion, you okay to walk?"

Nico stood up, testing his weight. Will couldn't tell how he was actually feeling based on his expression, but using his healing abilities, Will could tell Nico was stable. Which was surprising because his lung had been impaled by his own broken rib, and two other ribs had also broken. Not to mention he was pretty bloody and bruised. Luckily, Will was able to patch him up fast after he reappeared on Half Blood Hill.

Once they reached the dining Pavilion, Nico seemed to become a bit more self-conscious. He was wearing an orange Camp Half Blood T-shirt since his black one had been ripped to shreds. Instead of his black jeans, he had navy blue. Will figured Nico wouldn't want to walk around in white hospital cotten. The clothes from the camp store weren't much better though.

As soon as Will and Nico sat down at the Poseidon table, everyone stood up to rush Nico with questions. Will had kept them at bay from the Infirmary, but he figured the rest were still worried.

Will had Nico go get his food while he filled them all in on his condition.

"So he's fine?" Jason asked quickly.

"Yeah, he should be. Really hungry, but I don't know what's happened to him... mentally. I mean, he was in the forest for a whole night, and I still don't know what happened or where he went."

The others nodded gravely.

Nico rejoined them, his plate, or rather plates were overfilling with pasta, sandwiches, cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets. When he sat down, he picked up his cup and ordered it to produce root beer.