Battle Wounds: Solangelo Soulmate AU

FORTY-FIVE

WILL POV:
It didn't take long for news of the trial to spread through Olympian High school, and it seems the student body couldn't decide what to do with Nico now. Half of them were barking at him and I in the hallways, and the other half were walking up and randomly hugging him to offer their condolences.

"Get the fuck off me," Nico snaps as he pushes yet another random girl off of him.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what you've been through," she says, trying to shake off his rudeness. "If you ever need someone to talk to I'm always here."

"Fuck off," Nico growls pushing past her.

Without thinking I put my arm around his waist and he pushes me off too thinking it is another unsolicited 'comfort' from a random stranger.

"Sorry, just me," I say.

He grunts and steps closer so I can put my arm back around him. He walks with his head down and leaning on me in a way that must be making it difficult for him to walk normally but I don't mind. When I have him this close to me I can at least feel like I'm able to protect him from everyone's judgmental eyes.

It's lunch now so we head into the cafeteria and sit at our regular table with our friends.

"Hey Nico," Annabeth says like the entire lunch room isn't watching Nico like he's the most interesting TV show they've ever watched.

Nico doesn't say anything, just sits down and pulls his hood up over his head and leans on his hands.

"I'm gonna go get us lunch," I say rubbing his back and kissing the top of his head.

"I'm not hungry," he mumbles. "Don't get me anything."

I sigh, "Baby you need to eat something."

"No," he says firmly, and I can hear the warning in his voice.

"I'll get you an apple, if you eat it good but I won't make you," I say as I go up to get food.

When I turn back to the table I see Percy and Jason standing between the table and a group of guys. I hurry over to see what's going on.

"What we just wanted to see if he was still well trained," one of them says laughing.

"So hard to find a good bitch you know?" another joins.

"Fuck off," Jason growls warningly, stepping menacingly towards them.

"Back off guys," Percy joins, his hands clutched in white knuckled fists.

I ignore the confrontation and move to Nico, who's sitting uncomfortably still when those guys are ripping on him right now.

"Hey," I say sitting next to him and putting my arm across his shoulders. "Just ignore them, okay?"

His breathing is unstable and shallow and I can tell he's having a panic attack even though I can't see his face. I rub his back and try to sit as close to him as I possibly can. I lean down and look between his hands where his head is bent down and see he's got that blank stare he gets when he shuts down. I wave my hand in front of his face to see if he has any reaction to it. Fuck. He's having a seizure.

I look up to Leo and Frank who've been sitting there watching the whole thing. "How long has Nico just been sitting like this and not moving?" I ask.

They look at eachother trying to think about it. "Like 3 or 4 minutes I wanna say?" Leo says. "Why?"

Percy and Jason sit back down on either side of us as the guys walk away, still laughing like they are the funniest people ever.

"Hey it's okay Nico they're gone," Percy says leaning on his knees so he's closer to Nicos face, but not touching him. "We took care of it."