Solangelo: The Infirmary

Emergency Care

"Right here, death breath." Nico peeked out from his pillow to see Will smiling with his arms crossed. Nico untangled himself from the blankets and pillow to sit up and glare at Will.

"Don't call me that."

"General Will! Commander Katie, reporting for duty." Katie stood at attention, saluting Will. Will rolled his eyes but stood up straight and answered Katie. "Thank you, commander. You are relieved of your duty here. Go... Do something helpful." Katie smiled wickedly and Will quickly interjected, "That doesn't involve me or Nico!" Katie frowned, but nodded and walked away. Will released his firm position and blew his blonde hair from his eyes as he looked to Nico.

"It's been... intense in the Apollo cabin lately." Nico cracked an awkward smile. "I can hardly imagine. And you're barely ever there."

"Because you keep doing things that involves my medical attention afterwards."

Without thinking, Nico said with a smirk, "Just medical attention?" Will's cheeks flushed, ever so slightly. "Nico, what are you implying?" Will said as he walked from the foot of the bed to Nico's side and bent over, bringing his face a breath width away from Nico's.

"I, uh..." Nico's eyes kept pulling down to Will's lips, no matter how hard he tried to keep them still. He leaned backwards, and Will moved closer. This process continued until Nico was resting on his elbows and Will was almost on top of him.

Now it was Nico's turn to blush.

After taking in the red on Nico's pale face for a good minute, he smiled and sat back onto Nico's bed. Nico sat up and glared at Will with his face tilted down to hide the blush. Suddenly the infirmary burst back into it's business. All The Apollo campers had stopped whatever they were doing to watch Will and Nico. And since all Apollo campers had simultaneously froze, the campers being treated did too. Nico glanced out of the corner of his eye to see the expressions on some of the campers' faces. Some were smirking, Some smiling, and some frowning. Nico looked away quickly and shook his head.

"Aww Nico, don't be like that."Soft fingers slid under Nico's chin and forced him to meet Will's eyes.  Will seemed to stare right into Nico's soul before suddenly standing up and walking away. Too stunned to ask where he was going, Nico's eyes simply followed him as he walked over the the supply cabinet and grabbed something Nico couldn't see. Will walked back with a little first aid kit.

"come on, if you want privacy, let's go. But whether you like it or not, I'm re-bandaging that arm of yours. You just have to get injured everywhere you go, don't you?" Nico Hopped out of bed and smiled at Will.

"Only when I need your medical attention."

*****

They sat under the shade of a tree in a secluded area of the lake. Nico held out his arm and tried to hide his smile when Will grabbed his hand.

"So, what happened after you stormed off and left me?" Will asked as he unwrapped the bandage on Nico's forearm. Nico heard the undertone of anger in Will's voice and sighed.

"It wasn't my intention to leave you specifically. I just had to get out of there." Will sighed as he pulled the last of the gauze off Nico's arm. "I know, it's just, I wish you would let someone go with you. Not just me, but any of your friends, so you  wouldn't have to keep your emotions bottled up inside you all the time." Will turned Nico's arm as he examined the long gash the length of Nico's arm.

"Damn, it's deeper then we originally thought. I don't even want to know what you used to cut it."

"A sharp stick."

Will sat up in alarm. "You're kidding, right?" 

"Yeah." Will sagged in relief and started digging around in the first aid bag with one hand, still holding Nico's wrist with the other. "I borrowed a blade from one of the skeletons I raised to dig that hole you fell in. I think it was a dagger from the 1800's." Will froze and slowly turned to Nico, wide eyed.

"Y-you u-used an old, rusty, dagger from th-the Underworld?!"

"Is that not what I said?" Will stared at Nico for thirty seconds without moving. The only thing that did move was the blood from Will's face went to his feet.

"Uh, Will?" Will blinked at Nico before turning frantic and dropping Nico's hand to dig through the kit with both hands.

"Y-you could h-have an i-in-infection, you c-could die from th-that, oh my gods Neeks w-why didn't y-you t-tell me?" Will pulled out a small needle and a bottle. Without a word, He filled it up and grabbed Nico's arm, stabbing it in before Nico knew what was happening.

"OW! Will why did you do that get the damned thing out of me! WILL!" Nico screamed as he watched the clear fluid leave the needle and enter his body. Will pulled the needle out, put a cap on it, sealed it in a plastic baggie and continued rummaging through the first aid kit. Nico clutched his arm to his chest where he cradled it. "WILL WHY DID YOU DO THAT?" Will ignored him and pulled out disinfectant wipes.

"No Will those hurt!" Will ignored him again and reached for Nico's arm. When Nico leaned away, Will met Nico's eyes with the scariest death glare Nico had ever received, by monster, god and half-blood alike. Will grabbed Nico's arm and yanked on it so hard Nico lost grip on it and couldn't pull it back. Will ripped open the disinfectant wipes with his teeth and lowered them to Nico's arm. Nico braced for frantic movements by Will by squeezing his eyes shut, but Will gently wiped the cold cloth over Nico's cut. Nico grit his teeth none the less, because it hurt like Hell.

"Gods, Will. What in Hades was that?" Will ignored him still, and reached for some fresh gauze and strange cream all while keeping a death grip on Nico's wrist. Will popped the cap off the cream, spread it on Nico's cut and started wrapping it back up with gauze again, all while ignoring Nico's objections and cries of pain.

"Could you at least lessen the grip on my wrist?" Nico  asked, exasperated.

"Who knows what was on that blade. The Underworld has all sorts of nasty stuff. I bet Hades himself doesn't even know what you could have gotten. I gave you some basic injections for stuff like cleaning out your blood stream and fighting off viruses, and cleaned out the cut even more thoroughly than before but..." He sighed and looked up to Nico. "I'm just not going to risk losing you, okay?"

Nico's cheeks got slightly warmer. "Well, I mean, what would the world do without me?" Nico asked sarcastically.

"I don't know what the rest of the world would do, but I wouldn't let anything happen to you anyways, so I guess we'll never know, huh?" Will smiled his brilliant smile and, using his grip on Nico's arm, pulled Nico in for a little kiss.

That might have escalated... a lot.