I took a deep breath as I placed my hand on the doorknob. I slowly turned it, trying to make as little noise as possible so as to not wake up the child of death that lies in wait behind.
"Nico!" I yelled after seeing that he was alert. "Good.You're finally awake. I'll get you some food, darlin'," I continued, attempting to mask the excitement in my voice.
"Okay," squeaked Nico, his face growing very red. Gods, he looked cute when he was embarrassed, I thought.
After getting a bowl of soup, I walked back, careful not to spill the hot liquid all over myself.
"Sit up, Nico," I commanded upon entering the room. I walked over and sat on the bed and gave Nico the steaming bowl of soup. "Eat." I cringed at my harsh words as Nico ate his soup. "I'll be right back," I reluctantly said. I grabbed the bowl from Nico and our hands touched for a second. Nico's cold touch sent shivers up my arm and electric jolts up and down my spine. Before leaving the room, I gave Nico a smirk once I saw him blush.
I walked out to the small room filled with medical supplies. Quickly, I took a roll of bandages and a vial of the silver ointment used for bad wounds. I sprinted back to the side of Nico's bed and grasped his left arm, unwrapping the bandages I had put on an hour earlier. Running my fingers over the wounds, I thought of how much Nico has been through for only being fourteen years old, which I had asked Chiron about while Nico was out cold; his age and all of Nico's past. Purely for medical reasons, of course.
Just then, pulling me out of my thoughts, Nico quickly drew his arm out of my hands.
"Stop doing that!" He exclaimed.
"Doing what?" I replied, already missing the feeling of Nico's cold arm against my warm hands.
"Shocking me!"
"Shocking you?" I asked, feigning confusion. Nico's face grew red.
"Uhh... yeah," Nico stuttered. Gods, Nico was cute when he was flustered, too. "Every time you touch me, it feels like you are sending electricity through me."
"Oh," I said, shocked that Nico was actually able to tell me. I tried to hold back my smile, but failed, letting a wide grin cover my face. "Really?You feel it too?" I asked, hoping I wasn't coming off as creepy. Nico's face got even redder and he pulled the blanket over his head, hiding his entire body from my view. The vial and bandages went flying off the bed, but I was able to catch them right before they hit.
"Nico," I said as softly as possible. "I really need to bandage up your arms again." Instead of taking the blanket off his head, Nico just stuck his arm out the side of the blanket, earning a light chuckle from me. I covered Nico's cuts with the silver paste. He flinched from the cold. I wrapped the bandage on Nico's arm and then walked around to the other side of the bed. I pulled the blanket off his head and pulled his right arm out from under him. I unwrapped the bandage as I gathered up the courage to confront Nico about something that was creating hope in my heart.
"You talk in your sleep," I said, interrupting the somewhat awkward silence.
"Wha-... what did I say?" Nico replied, obviously caught off guard, judging by the look of surprise plastered across his face.
"Lots of things," I started. "You kept murmuring 'Bianca' and, umm... and my name. Why?"
"Well, Bianca was my-"
Yes, yes, I know she's your sister," I interrupted, hoping Nico didn't get offended. I glanced up at him. To anybody else, Nico would've looked okay. But I was not anybody else and I had stared at Nico for a long time to be able to see right through his expressionless façade. I could tell that behind Nico's dark eyes were tears that were screaming to be let free. I could tell that behind Nico's cold grimace was a sob yearning to be let loose. Yeah, to anybody else, Nico would've looked okay. But I could see through the layers of walls that Nico has built around himself. I mumbled out an apology, but I can't be sure Nico heard it. I continued, giddy with excitement to hear Nico's answer. "But why did you say my name?"
"I-I really don't know," he said, blushing profusely.
"Oh," I said, my heart plummeting. "Okay," I continued, trying to act as upbeat as possible for Nico's sake. Even though he looked cute when flustered and embarrassed, he looked even cuter when he was happy, which was very rare. "What happens next stays between us and don't laugh at me." A blush crept onto Nico's face as confusion flashed behind his black eyes. I could feel my face grow hot as I absent-mindedly rubbed the back of my neck. You can do it, I thought. Here it goes, Solace. I began to belt out a hymn to Apollo to both heal Nico's cuts and to make him smile. But mostly to make him smile. I tried to sing quietly so that only Nico would be able to hear me. I could see Nico try to get up as a look of horror flashed across his face. I pushed him back on the bed to reassure him that everything was alright. As Nico realized what was happening, I could see him try to stifle a smile. He couldn't hold it back and a wide grin enveloped his face. I stopped singing so that I would have no distractions as I stared at the Ghost King's smile. I could feel myself falling in love with Nico. Then, he began to laugh and it took all the strength in my arsenal not to swoon.
"Hey!" I jokingly protested, but ending up laughing along with the son of Hades.
"You, the son of Apollo, god of music, can't sing?" Nico asked, wheezing.
"Not at all. I usually only hum the hymn, but I figured if I could share this secret with anyone, it would be you. Plus, you've been asleep for two days; I figured you could use a laugh since your relaxed sleeping face is still a grimace," I replied, already missing Nico's laugh.
Nico frowned. "I've been out for two days?"
"Yeah. I told you that you needed rest, Death Boy. I was able to heal all your wounds completely except for the werewolf marks, which I changed the bandages for every hour."
"You do know you have other people in the infirmary, right?" Surprisingly, Nico ignored the fact that I called him "Death Boy".
"And I have other brothers and sisters. You do know I wasn't going to let anyone else take care of our most important patient, right," I said, smiling widely as I mirrored Nico's previous comment. The son of Hades was silent for a long time before speaking up again.
"Will, have you gotten any sleep in the past week?"
"No," I replied, honestly. "There's too much work to do."
"I can help," Nico blurted out. I held back my urge to pump my fist in the air.
I tried to play it cool. "Really?Great, darlin'." I helped Nico out of his bed. This whole "three days in the infirmary" thing was going better than I had expected.
