Breakfast seemed a little too quiet. Will sat at the Apollo table with his siblings, listening to Kayla and Austin describe their brilliant plan to go 'internet famous.' It wasn't really describing, per say, more like controlled bickering over who would be the face of their YouTube channel. He tried to tune them out and focused on his pancakes, but something didn't seem right.
Even with all of his siblings around him, talking and laughing and joking, he felt so alone.
He did a quick scan of the pavilion, observing the other tables. The Hermes table was crowded, even considering all the campers that had left or...were no longer with them. He was struck with memories of all the wounds he'd tended and silently struck himself for remembering them.
The past is gone, the past is gone--
"Will?" Austin snapped his fingers in front of Will's face, which was pointed down to his plate.
"Wh-huh?" He stuttered, snapping back upright.
"What'd ya think?" Kayla asked, spreading her arms wide as if she'd proposed the cure to cancer.
"Great idea, guys," He said, sugar-coating his voice with fake cheer. Kayla just frowned.
"What's wrong, bro?" She asked, concern laced among the words.
"Nothing," Will lied. He could tell neither of his siblings bought it, but they didn't say any more, so he considered it a success. Kayla and Austin carried on, talking and only kinda bickering with each other, as Will looked over to the Hades table on the far end of the pavilion, where Nico sat all alone, nothing on his plate.
Less than half an hour ago, the two were setting up Cabin 13 together. They talked about life in general, and once Nico made it clear he wasn't in the mood to talk about his family, Will spoke up about his own. "I mean, obviously, my dad's Apollo," he began. Nico looked about as fake-shocked as you could get.
"Really?" He said, widening his dark brown eyes. Will found himself staring at Nico's eyes as he looked away. They looked generally content, maybe even happy, but he could see darkness and sadness lurking underneath. He was determined to get rid of all the bad things, to restore his eyes to a solid and happy color. As his professional doctor, of course. Nothing else.
"Yeah," Will laughed, short and quiet, "But my mama--My mom, she's a country singer down in Texas."
"That explains the accent," Nico muttered.
"Sorry, I just can't help it," He pronounced 'can't' like 'cain-t.,' which made Nico laugh.
"Anyway," Will coughed in an attempt to ditch the accent. It didn't work. "She got pretty stressed after...my dad," Will waited for Nico to interject, but he stood still and listened to everything he said.
"I visit her on occasions, mostly just for the holidays. But now, my granny ain't doing so well--My grandmother isn't doing very well and she wants me to come down for a bit to visit and/or heal her."
"Huh," Nico said, once Will was done explaining, "I hope she gets better." Will sighed, knowing that not every patient can. Memories flooded over him again, reminding him of the battles he'd fought in and all those he couldn't save. Without another word spoken between them, it was time for breakfast, and now Nico was all alone.
All of the happy talking and chatter would normally put Will at ease, especially after a long shift in the infirmary, but if anything, it only stressed him more. He couldn't bear the thought of having to stand one more minute of staring at Nico, beautiful, wonderful Nico, being all alone, unable to eat.
Beautiful? Oh, whatever.
So what if he liked di Angelo? So what if the thought of holding Nico close made him smile so wide literal rays of sunshine started to trickle out of his freckles? It's not like he had a crush or anything.
Shit
Okay, it was definitely like he had a crush. Perhaps a little more.
"Alright, campers," Chiron announced, loud but not demanding, just to get everyone's attention, "Happy Wednesday! Under normal circumstances, we'd have activities and other such things, but due to...recent happenings, today will be a loose 'free day.' Come to the Big House if you have any questions." He clapped his hands together and trotted off, clop, clop, clopping as he went.
People shot up at every table, running around to talk with their friends and decide what to do. Almost immediately, an Ares kid called out: "Contest on the lava wall!" Kayla practically leapt to follow the parade of campers that left with the Ares cabin. At that point, there weren't many other people lingering around the pavilion. A few Aphrodite kids were still sitting at their table, presumably gossipping. Austin had left to take care of the infirmary, as he did when Will was busy. Seeing as the Apollo table was empty without his other two siblings, Will wandered over to the Hades table, where Nico had just stood.
"You didn't eat anything," He said, half as an observation and half as an accusation. Nico shrugged.
"Wasn't hungry."
"Alright, Death Boy, you gotta eat something sometime," He looked carefully at Nico's face, waiting for a reaction.
"Don't call me 'Death Boy,'" He said, putting air quotes around the nickname, "It's somehow worse than Sunshine." In the background, Will heard a giggle coming from the Aphrodite table. He waved it off.
"You gonna go anywhere?" Will asked. Nico shrugged again.
"You're offering to stick with me, I see," He muttered.
"I need to make sure you're fully healed," Will protested, "Besides, the only other times we've hung out, we were preparing dead bodies for funerals together." A small smile played on Nico's lips, as if he thought fondly of the memory. Or, rather, memories. After all the battles Camp Half-Blood had been though, the body-prepping duty somehow always fell on them. For Nico, it made sense: He was the son of Hades, after all. Will supposed that, at the time, he was the de-facto guy for bodies as well. Healing extends to death, he figured.
Still, it wasn't the best of bonding experiences. They didn't say much to each other any time they were assigned that task, as they were both focused and busy. Will was in mourning, too, saddened by having to look at all of the people he couldn't save. Their faces, frozen in anguish or fear, a permanent reminder of all he'd failed to do.
"Don't you have to pack?" Nico broke Will from his thoughts.
"Yeah, I probably should. Argus is taking me to the airport first thing tomorrow,"
This time, he didn't even have the energy to hide his accent as it rose up and altered his words.
"Do you wanna help?" Will offered.
"So long as you don't call me 'Death Boy' again, we're good," He said. With that, the two walked across the Camp green and into Cabin 7.
From the outside, the Apollo cabin glistened as the sunrise hit it just right, sending it lighting up in a golden aura. Will could see inside the front door's small window and noticed the hyacinths in their yellow pots along the back window's sill. A few other flower pots dotted the sill as well, but the window frame cut those off. He twisted the outer knob and opened the door, holding it for Nico like the true gentleman he was.
"Does it have to be that bright?" He asked, holding his arm over his eyes.
"It's the sun, Neeks." Will jumped in shock when Nico let out a low growl.
"O-kay, taking that nickname off the list," He muttered.
"Good," Nico said. Will walked over to his bunk, a top bunk that was overhanging a little lounge area dotted with bean bag chairs, a table, a bookshelf with medical textbooks and novels, and some miscellaneous instruments. He pushed himself up, not bothering to get the ladder from the side, and opened the little drawer in the wall that held his clothes.
"Can you hand me the suitcase? It's under the table." Will heard Nico rummaging around some things below him, but didn't look to see what he was doing. He held out his arms as Nico pushed the suitcase up over the edge and onto his bunk. Will was busy folding up shirts to realize Nico was still even there, standing awkwardly by the table.
"So," Nico began, "Do you have any other family in Texas?"
"I've got a stepbrother, James, he's around eight. Then I've got a stepbrother who's just about my age, I think? I don't really know him that well. Oh, and a little half-sister, who's, like, five."
"You don't seem to know a lot about them," Nico observed. Will heard a bean bag chair shift a little and figured Nico was now sitting down.
"I don't know," He shrugged, "I haven't seen them since last Christmas. My ma--my mom and I, we write letters, but she never really writes about them."
Nico went to say more, or at least Will assumed he did, when the cabin door came shuddering open. A very disgruntled Kayla came sprinting in, a burn or two dotting her face and soot covering her shoulder.
"Uhh, Will?" She asked, her breathing hard.
"What?" Will put the suitcase down on the bed and just about leapt down in front of her. From there, he also noticed a slight rip in the sleeve of her green t-shirt, which was now far darker.
"Some shit happened on the lava wall."
"And?"
"You're needed in the infirmary."
A/N: Chapter title art is not my own: https://alessiajontrunfio.tumblr.com/post/643118592846594048/happy-stvalantines-day-3-3-3-3
Hope you enjoy this chapter, and please leave a vote and/or comment if you've got anything to say!