"Having fun?" Will had appeared, grinning. He hopped up on the table next to Nico. It was the first time they'd really had a chance to talk that day, other than when Nico first came in. Will'd beamed at him, and waved him over, and Nico for some reason felt a wave of hesitation at the sight, but Chiron thankfully saved him by putting a hand on his shoulder and steering him towards the other side of the infirmary.
It was weird. Nico should've felt completely out of place. He almost did, at the very beginning of the day, where he didn't know where to go or what to do, but one of the newer Apollo nurses- a little 9 year old named Ashley- gave him some instructions in a very important voice, and he followed them. And even though Nico didn't really have experience in healing people- that wasn't his area of expertise, exactly- he actually did pretty okay. He bandaged some feet and gave people ambrosia and nectar and didn't kill anyone.
It wasn't a bad day, really.
Nico scowled at the sight of Will, and then forced himself to stop. He didn't really know why he was scowling. It just came out. Almost like he didn't really know how to act otherwise. "Kind of unused to all this."
"To being around actual people?"
The scowl came out again, but it had reason to be there, so Nico let it stay. "Being needed for Un-Underworld things."
"And being around actual people?"
"I've been around actual people."
"Not by choice." Will was still grinning. He took a bite out of his apple.
Nico relaxed. This conversation. It was relaxing, somehow. "Actual people. Who needs those?"
"I think you do. I think you've needed them for a while now."
"I didn't kill anyone today."
"We should give you an award."
Someone was wheeled by, and Nico got a glimpse of the face. It was white. Deathly pale white.
"Solace."
"Hm?" Will was still lounging on the table, taking noisy bites of his apple. His eyes were fixated on Nico's face, and when Nico looked up, he forgot what he was about to say. His ears turned an angry red. Nico's eyes darted away before coming back again.
"Don't you have somewhere to be? People to take care of? I feel-" Nico shuddered as he tapped into his senses. Death waves were rolling in from everywhere. "There's so many dying-"
"Don't do that." Will's voice was harsh, snappy. "You still can't be doing that Hades thing, remember-"
"You're worrying about me when these people-"
"I'm on my break. Haven't eaten in ten hours. Chiron told me to. And I wanted to see a friendly face."
He'd said those words before, when he was yelling at Nico the other day for not coming by to see him. Friendly face. He called Nico a friendly face. And the way Will said it, the way he threw it out there- "You think I couldn't stand to see a friendly face?"...
It just made Nico feel really nice, that's all.
Stupidly, Nico stammered out, "Then go see Lou Ellen."
Will stopped chewing, swallowed, and stared. He raised his eyebrows.
"There's a specific type of friendly face I wanted to see."
Oh, gods. Red was overwhelming Nico's skin. It flooded his ears, diffused into his cheeks, settled into his chest...
Will tossed the eaten apple away into the trash. "You're right, though. Break's over. Work to be done. People hurt. And-" Will wagged his finger at Nicos' face, which was desperately trying to de-redden itself. "That reminds me- the Hades thing. Rest. Go to one of the chairs. Sleep in one of the beds. Do something."
"Will," Nico rolled his eyes. "I'm fine."
"Or," he suggested, casually, already walking away. "You could come with me. Help me out. I guess I could allow that, if I was watching you the whole time, making sure you didn't do anything stupid. That or rest. Either way."
Nico was very, very thankful at that moment that Will had his back turned. Because instead of scowling-
A grudging smile loosened itself on Nico's face.
