Fire Fixes Nothing

Nico

Nico didn't understand. The past days had been so weird. That girl… she made no sense to him. First she runs into him in the woods, then she suddenly proposes to him?! It made no sense. Then Will, who gets along with everyone, was screaming at her?! Nico just hoped she stayed away from him from now on. Besides, he was gay. Probably important information to find out before a proposal.

Nico was sitting with Will Solace outside the Hades cabin. Clearly Will noticed how confused Nico was. "You good?" Will asked, pulling Nico closer to him. "Hm? Oh yea, I'm fine." Nico responded.

Will Solace was Nico's boyfriend. And he was perfect, absolutely perfect. He was so gorgeous all the time to the point it was annoying. Nico didn't understand how he deserved someone so perfect. His golden blonde hair glistened perfectly in the afternoon sun. His tanned skin and bright blue eyes matched him perfectly. He basically looked like a golden retriever if it were a human. Will wore the same outfit he had worn for the past 5 days, that worried Nico. He was still dressed in his jeans and scrub shirt, with flip flops. If Kayla hadn't asked Will to be the announcer for her archery thing, Will would probably have still been in the infirmary. Nico was pretty sure that's why she asked him. Either way he was grateful, because now he got to spend time with his boyfriend, meaning he could also talk to him.

Nico leaned his head on his boyfriend's shoulder. Usually he didn't like physical contact but with Will he tended to make exceptions. "Will." Nico said. "Nico." Will responded. "I'm worried about you."
"Why? Everythings fine."
"No it's not."
"Yes it is."
"You've worn the same thing for 5 days, you won't leave the infirmary for anything other than meals, your anxiety is much more noticeable, and you've even been sleeping in the infirmary."

There was a long silence.

Will seemed to ignore all Nico had said and instead just pulled the son of Hades closer to his chest. "I'm worried about you, Nico. Are you ok?" Will asked gently. Nico frowned "I was asking about you, not me, and I'm fine." Will pulled him closer still. Nico could feel his heartbeat. It was fast, too fast. But maybe Will just needed a break, Nico could talk to him at dinner. So he closed his eyes and just enjoyed being with Will.

Soon enough, dinner rolled around. Nico was going to talk to Will, he needed to find out what was wrong. As Nico headed to the Apollo table, (his usual table, even though he was the son of Hades) he noticed something. Will and one of Will's half-siblings, Austin, were busy talking to Kayla. Kayla's eyes were red and glassy like she'd been sobbing for a long time. Nico figured she probably had, she had been super distraught when she lost that archery thing. Nico awkwardly took his seat. He wasn't the only one who wasn't involved in whatever was happening with Kayla. Some of the other Apollo kids, Gracie, Jerry, Yan, Cora, and Angelica, weren't involved either. Nico thought of talking to them, then he saw Cora feeding her emotional support rat, Kazoo, he decided he'd rather not. Nico noticed that Will and Ausitn seemed almost panicked, something must be really wrong. Also Kayla didn't cry a lot, at least not in public.

Nico thought of helping. But he didn't even know what was wrong. Even so it probably had something to do with archery, and Nico didn't quite understand well enough to help with that. Though he did notice that her quiver was absent from her shoulder. She always wore her quiver. (Not when she slept, though how Nico knew that was another story.) Nico just ate his food. He would have to talk to Will after dinner. No excuses. Unless someone is dying, but no one should be dying right after a meal.

After about 20 minutes Will went to sit next to Nico. Nico turned to Will and raised an eyebrow. "Is she ok?" He asked. Will hesitated but shook his head. Nico frowned. Kayla and Austin were like his surrogate siblings, he didn't want to see any of them hurt really. "Look… she's just really upset about losing… I… I'd rather not talk about it… I have a lot on my plate right now." Will said. Nico kissed his cheek, he could tell he needed it. Will smiled. Gods, his smile was so gorgeous. "Thanks," Will said. "No problem," Nico said. They then ate their food in mostly silence. Well, aside from the intense noise around the rest of the dining hall, Kayla and Austin, and Cora, who for some reason was trying to explain how to properly do intestinal surgery on a human to Kazoo the rat. That girl was strange.