A Reason to Stay (Solangelo/Willco)

I. Doctor's Orders

        Nico trudged back across the lawn, doing his best to look anywhere but at Will and totally failing.  Honestly, it was like the guy had some sort of visual gravitational field; there was no other explanation for why Nico's eyes were disobeying him so stubbornly.  His natural frown deepened into a full-fledged scowl as he realized Will was staring right back at him, grinning in what Nico was sure was some kind of mockery.  Didn't he have anything better to do than stand around making the son of Hades feel even more uncomfortable than usual?  As if he hadn't already been ostracized enough, Will just had to remind him of what a freak he was.  The sad part was, he'd almost started to let himself hope that things were different now – now that Nico had played such an integral role in saving all their asses from the Apocalypse – but maybe he should leave Camp Half-Blood after all.  Just because Percy and Annabeth and the rest of them didn't seem to hate him too much anymore, didn't mean anyone else had changed their minds.

        He was a demigod, and a pretty powerful one at that; he could take care of himself just fine.  Why should he stick around here just to be reminded every minute of every day that he could never truly be accepted?  He would stop by Camp Jupiter to say goodbye to Hazel (of course, she wouldn't know it was really "goodbye", but it was better that way), and then he would leave, just like that, leave and never look back–

        "Chop chop, Death Boy, you're not looking too great," Will called when Nico was about ten feet away.  Thanks for rubbing it in, Nico thought, like I could've forgotten I'm the son of Death and look the part.  Apparently oblivious to the epic glower that Nico had spent the last few years perfecting, Will continued, "I was trying to avoid carrying you to the infirmary, but if you stall any more, it might just come to that."

        Nico stopped in his tracks, trying to remember the plans that he'd felt so sure of only a moment before.  He could do it, he could shadow travel away right now and no one could follow him, no one could track him down, it would be just Nico once again, left to his comforting solitude, no one to disturb him, no one to despise him.  No one to fear him.  He hated the look of fear on the faces of the other campers more than anything, more than the whispers calculated to be just loud enough for him to overhear, more than his empty cabin and his empty table and the bubble of empty space that seemed to surround him as he walked through an area that had been crowded only moments before.  But looking up at Will from under his dark sheath of hair, he was shocked and mystified to find none of the usual expressions of horror on his face.

        Instead, he just kept up that smile, waiting for Nico to say something, waiting for him to reply like any normal human being would ("Yeah, okay, I guess I'm pretty tired" or "No need for that, I can manage the walk" or even a playful "Shut up, Will"), and always with that glow, like he was simultaneously absorbing and reflecting all the light around him, so everything and everyone near him grew brighter, but none so brilliant as the son of Apollo himself.  And Nico felt an overwhelming urge to flee, before he could mess it up, before he could break the spell, but as soon as he broke eye contact and turned away, shoulders hunched up, head ducked, making for the nearest shadows and his escape, there he was, blocking his path, making him squint up into the light.

        "Oh no you don't.  I told once, and I'll tell you again, no more Underworld-y stuff.  At least three days in the infirmary.  Doc–"

        "Doctor's orders, yeah, yeah," Nico snarled, trying to scare him away like a deer in the path of an oncoming car, but he just stood there and smirked.  He was so close, Nico realized.  Closer than he'd been to anyone in a very long time, not including life or death situations, which he really didn't think counted, anyway.  He'd never noticed how tall Will was, at least three inches taller than Nico.  And how had he never seen that smattering of freckles across his nose, like a goddam illustration out of a picture book?  And his eyes – he'd thought they were just blue, but they seemed almost gray from this distance, a summer sky with a few scattered puffs of clouds.  Nico was struck with the sudden urge to reach out and touch his arm, brush a strand of ridiculously blonde hair off his forehead –

        Shocked at his own thoughts, he scrambled back from Will, stumbling over his own feet and somehow ending up on the ground.  Disgusted with himself, he tried to heave himself back up.  And that was when he realized just how tired he really was, just how heavy his bones felt in his ghost-like skin, how leaden his eyelids felt as they drooped closed....

        He was half-aware of being scooped up by gentle, firm hands, of a slightly frantic slur of words – Percy, he thought, he would recognize that voice anywhere – and another, reassuring voice, this time from Will.  His last thought before he passed out altogether was how strange it was that Will's voice seemed as familiar to him as anything else in the world.