The Healer and the Soldier

Chapter 1

Nico POV: 

"What was that about?" Will asked as Nico re-approached him after his conversation with Percy.

"Nothing," Nico replied, trying his absolute best to pretend he didn't notice Percy gawking at them from a distance. He tried even harder to pretend he didn't notice Annabeth's knowing smirk. "Let's go."

Nico followed Will into the infirmary, where the son of Apollo led him behind a curtain into a small space with nothing but a bed, a window, and a chair.

"I hope you're not claustrophobic," Will said. Nico decided not to mention that he was stuck in a bronze jar for a long period of time with nothing to eat except pomegranate seeds from the Underworld. "But if you are, I can get you a bigger room."

"No, it-it's fine," Nico told him, not wanting to admit that he was finding it harder to breathe in the tiny room. He must not have been very convincing though, since the son of Apollo took him to another room. "I said I was fine."

"I'm starting to wonder if you actually know what that word means," Will told him as he made Nico sit down on the bed. He then proceeded to check Nico's pulse and placed a hand on Nico's forehead, which sent another electric charge throughout his body. He had a feeling those would be happening a lot in the next three days.

"Huh, your pulse just quickened," Will noted.

Nico immediately withdrew his hand. "I'm not used to people touching me."

"Yeah, well, you're going to have to since that'll be happening a lot here." Will's ears reddened. "It's part of the daily procedure for patients."

"Aren't I literally just here to sleep?"

"You're still a patient. And I want to make sure you don't try anymore Underworldy stuff."

"For how long?"

"Well, ideally it would be indefinite. But I doubt you'd accept that so at least a month."

"A month?!"

"Yes."

"But–"

"Doctor's orders."

Will was starting to have way too much fun with that phrase. Nico waited in silence for a few seconds, to see if Will was going to interrupt him. Finally, Nico said, "Oh, come on. This is Camp Half-Blood we're talking about. There's a crisis almost every week."

"Then we will deal with it," Will said, "without using Underworld magic."

"But—"

"Di Angelo, I swear to all the gods that if you even think about using your powers, even just once, I will destroy every shadow in existence and make Jason send you so far off the ground you'll get altitude sickness."

"I thought doctors weren't allowed to threaten people."

"And I thought heroes weren't allowed to be so difficult."

"Well there's your mistake. I'm not a hero."

"Oh please, if you, Hades, Persephone and Demeter hadn't shown up at the Battle of Manhattan, we would've lost the Titan War. And if you hadn't shadow-traveled the Athena Parthenos from Rome all the way to Long Island, then Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter would have torn each other apart before Gaia even got the chance. Face it, Death Boy, you're a hero."

Nico was too stunned to remember to tell Will not to call him Death Boy. He honestly didn't think that the son of Apollo had paid that much attention to him. The fact that he had started to make Nico wonder... No, he immediately shut down the thought before he could finish it. He'd played this game before, and he wasn't ready for another heartbreak.

Awkward silence filled the air, thick and suffocating. After a few painfully slow minutes, the son of Apollo left Nico to rest. Except sleep wasn't coming easily to him. He was exhausted, yes, but he couldn't stop thinking about what Will had said to him. Did Will really think that Nico was a hero? Didn't he know what Nico had done? ...Wasn't he afraid of him?

Fear had never really been Nico's favorite reaction regarding himself, but it was always used in the thoughts of others. He'd grown so accustomed to it over the years that he'd just come to expect it. And why wouldn't he? What he'd let happen to Octavian, and what he'd done to Bryce... How could anyone not think of him as a monster?

And yet...Will didn't treat him that way. He didn't even seem to care that Nico's father was Hades. The only thing that Will seemed to care about regarding the son of Hades was Nico himself. But that couldn't be right...could it?

As Nico started along an inner debate between hopefulness and logic, somewhere along the way, sleep found him. Unfortunately, so did the nightmares.

A/N

First chapter done. Hope you guys liked it. Sorry if it was cringe :(