Ink and Ashes

#20

Will did end up checking out his leg. In the end he just had Nico take off his pants(keep on his boxers obviously) and cover himself with the blanket so his mom could come see it.

Nico just glared at Will as he came back in with Naomi.

"I hate you." He muttered to the boy as Naomi smiled at him and sat down on the bed next to his propped up leg.

She inspected it for a few minutes, asking him questions about if it hurt and where, and about how he broke it. He refused to answer the how questions, but he answered the rest.

Naomi got back up and sighed, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's broken. We'd have to go to the hospital to make sure because the bone didn't get displaced, but you should stay off your feet for a few days, or at least use crutches."

"I don't need fucking crutches," Nico muttered, "I'm fine, I can walk I'm just tired right now."

"First, language," Naomi shot him a fake glare that still made Nico slightly uncomfortable, "And second, you can't be walking around with a broken leg and no crutches. We can go to the doctor to confirm it if that makes you feel less weak, but you need crutches."

Nico glared at her, "I said, I don't need fucking crutches. And you can't force me to use them. I'm fine, crutches will just slow me down."

"And what's wrong with being slow?" Naomi seemed a bit annoyed, "It's not like you're going to have to be running, or walking home. You'll be fine with crutches."

Nico didn't respond to that. It's not like he could just tell her how much running he usually has to do, running away from people, or chasing down people who dared threaten Hazel. It's not like he could tell them that he'd just had to do something like that the other day, trying to walk miles back to their house because he was kidnapped by his fathers former girlfriend and one of the men that had assaulted him. Because they wouldn't understand. Nobody understood.

So he just shrugged.

Naomi smiled and turned back to Will, "I'm going to go to the Pharmacy to get some, please don't let him run away."

Will just smiled at her and waited until she left, then closed the door behind her and came back over to the bed.

"What's with you and crutches?" Will seemed genuinely curious, which made it all worse, "You're acting like using them is going to kill you."

Nico just shrugged, he didn't want to talk right now, he was pissed at Naomi. But he didn't protest when Will pulled him into his arm, pushing his head to rest on the boy's shoulder.

After a few minutes Nico started to get tired.

"Why am I always so tired lately?" He muttered, his eyes already drooping.

"What was that love?"

Nico was about to respond, then he processed what Will just said. He looked up at him in shock and confusion.

"What did you just call me?"

Will chuckled, his face bright red, "I called you love. Do you not like it?"

Nico blushed, resting his head on Will's shoulder again.

"No, it's fine. I just wasn't expecting it."

Nico could feel Will smiling, "Wait so what'd you say?"

"Oh, I was wondering why I've been so tired recently. I used to be able to go over twenty four hours without sleeping. But now it's like I'm crashing, always tired."

Will shrugged slightly, jostling Nico's head, "Well that's probably it. I'm not an expert, but if you'd barely been getting enough sleep when you were in an unsafe environment, as soon as you get into a safe one, and realize that it's safe, your body is probably going to try and make up for all those lost hours."