Shadows Fall to Flames. {{valdangelo}}

Chapter 12

Nico dragged his hesitant boyfriend away from the tree line.

Camp Half Blood lay spread before them, demigods scampering around, dryads and satyrs playing an unfair game of tip.

Everything looked too cheerful for the circumstances.

'Nico, I don't know....'

'Shut up Valdez, those cuts were really deep. You need to get em properly cared for' Nico said firmly 'I trust Will like you trust Piper, he won't judge, promise'

'Won't he tell someone...'

'You calling my friend a snitch'

Leo stared at his abductor, before chuckling nervously 'Ok, I said I'd go so I'll go, happy?'

'Not really' Nico said mindfully,

'SOLACE!!!' The son of Hades had a lot of voice power for such a tiny human,

'Gods Nico!! Maybe try again, Im not sure Zeus heard you'

The human loud speaker glared at his boyfriend, but was interrupted by the creak of the infirmary door.

'Nico! Leo! To what do I owe this pleasure' Will grinned, his tone was energetic but his eyes were dull with tiredness.

'Hey Will' Nico said solemnly 'can we come in'

'Yeah yeah sure' the son of Apollo ushered the boys down the hall into his office (aka broom cupboard).

Leo moved straight to the corner and slid down the wall, making himself as inconspicuous as possible.

'How may I help you' he said as professionally as one could while casually sitting on an upturned mop bucket.

'We just wanted to do this it private, see...' Nico started, it was clear he wasn't sure how to phrase his request.

'It's me' Leo butted in 'I did something stupid and we were just wondering if you could do some healy magic on me'

'Not something stupid' Nico clarified 'but Uhh, healy magic would be nice'

'I can definitely help, but I don't know how I feel about the term healy magic' Will smirked 'show us watcha got there'

Leo hesitated like anyone would in his situation, glancing nervously as Nico who intern gave him an encouraging smile.

Taking a shaky breath, Leo pulled up his sleaves to reveal his heavily bandaged arms.

Will beckoned him over, a more serious look on his face. Clearly he'd started to put two and two together.

Will took a breath 'let's get you a room'

Leo sat anxiously on the edge of the infirmary bed, Will had managed to find a private room for the moment and was now getting the necessary supplies.

The Latino had become more restless than usual which meant he was practically vibrating where he sat.

The door open to reveal the sunny teenager, laden with stacks of bandages antiseptic etc.

Nico rushed forward to stop the door from knocking over the walking Janga tower.

'Alrighty Leo' Will said as he sanitised his hands 'I'm gonna need you to give me your arms'

'You can borrow em, but ya can't have em' Leo joked,

Leo cringed as the bloodstained cloth was peeled of his arms to reveal deep oozing wounds.

'Yikes, you were probably right Neeks, they do need medical attention'

'Probably' Nico said as he pretended not to watch wide eyed as Leo's cuts were cleaned and wrapped.

'If you don't mind me asking, how long ago did this happen' Will spoke as he ripped open another bandage packet.

'L..last night' Leo said looking away, guilt creeping into his heart.

'I'm glad you came to me as soon as you did, these could've gotten pretty nasty pretty quickly' Will informed

'Thank Will' Leo mumbled 'I'm really sorry about this'

'Don't be, it's what I'm here for' the blonde smiled,

Leo's heart throbbed with gratefulness.

Nico reached out and grabbed Leo's hand.
The latter had been released from the infirmary after a quick checkup and was scheduled to revisit first thing tomorrow.

'Thankyou'

'Huh?' Nico cocked his head

'Thankyou for being there with me, I haven't really had many people do that since...' Leo voice cracked, tears forming in the corner of his eyes 'I know I've got Piper and Jason but I mean, they're always busy with each other. Its just nice...to have someone care about me, like actually care about me'

'Right back at you' Nico whispered , squeezing Leo's hand tightly.

He didn't even care if people saw them together.

He was with the person who made him feel like he belonged.

And that was all that mattered.

~~~
I TOLD you I'd be back

How many people didn't believe me?

Kinda short but I'm back in the biz so there's more on the way.