Solangelo 1

Part 27

WILL

Naturally all I think about is Nico. In the back of my head I resent the Ares boy who was bought in needing emergency care, knowing that though I trust my siblings to take care of it, I don't want to leave them.
For about five minutes of the operation I keep finding my eyes drifting towards the door, so I ask for curtains to be put around the bed. My attention is needed.
There are three of us working around this one boy, all knowing what we need to be doing. It's by no means life threatening, but it's still serious. And our actions affect the rest of this boy's life.
We work in silence for six hours, someone guarding the door so we can't be interrupted so I don't even know if Nico tried to visit me.
Once we've finished, my two sisters opt to just sleep in the infirmary, too tired to walk back to the cabin, so we say our brief, exhausted well dones and good nights, and I walk out into the brisk air.
'Hey.' I look down and see Nico standing up from the bottom step where he was sitting.
'Nico, what...?' Is all I can manage, too tired to form a proper sentence.
'I came to visit, someone said I wasn't allowed in. I was going to wait until you were done anyway, so I took over guard.' He says, walking up to me. I take a step towards him and stumble slightly. He moves in quickly and steadies me, 'woah, you okay?'
'Fine, just tired.' I say, partially forgetting the weight of the last time I saw him. 'Concentrating for six hours. Really tired.' I say, smiling to myself as he lifts my arm around his shoulder and helps me walk down the steps.
'Come on, you need to get some sleep.' He says. I'm barely walking, putting all my weight on him. He doesn't mention it though.
'So do you.' I say, 'why aren't you tired?'
'I have naps in the day. I can't sleep longer than an hour anyway, so might as well nap.' He says.
'Naps. That's smart. You're smart.' I say.
'Thank you.' He says, not taking me seriously.
'Naps are meant to be better for you than one long nights sleep.' I say, splurging facts as he continues to only half pay me attention.
And then he stops suddenly, as I'm half way through reciting a study I read about when I was twelve.
'What?' I ask, looking around. He's looking at me, smiling slightly, 'what's wrong?'
'Nothings wrong.' He says quickly, 'sorry.'
'No, what is it?' I say, moving to face him. He holds me up, his hands locked behind my waist.
'You're just funny.' He says quietly.
'I'm funny.' I clarify.
'With your facts.'
'My facts are funny.'
'Yes.' He says, getting quieter and quieter. I don't think either of us are aware of what we're talking about any more, just talking as an excuse to stare at one another.
I lean my forehead against his, half unable to hold my head up, half just wanting to be closer to him.
'You waited for me.' I say after a moment, smiling,  'You must really like me.'
'Yeah.' He says, 'I do. I really, really do.'
'You do?'
'I do. I like you.' He says lightly and slowly and quietly, whilst holding me up, our foreheads just touching.
'I like you too.' I say, quickly. He smiles and I laugh a little, completely caught off guard.
'I'm going to kiss you now.'
'Okay.' I say, barely able to finish before we're kissing, my arms draped over his shoulders as he holds me tightly.
We part after a while and his grip loosens. My knees buckle and if his reflexes weren't as quick as they were I would be on the floor.
'This is ridiculous.' He says, picking me up and changing quickly to carry me, 'You're going to wake up all your siblings.'
'We have no curtains, they wake at dawn anyway.' I say.
'What?!' He says, surprised, 'you need to sleep for way longer than that.'
'Oh how the tables have turned.' I say, close to delirious as he looks down at me and tries to repress a smile. His cheeks blush slightly and he looks away.
'What?' I ask.
'My cabin has about two windows, you'll be able to sleep as long as you need to. You could take Bianca's bed.' He says, not meeting my eyes.
'Is that allowed?' I ask.
'Percy and Annabeth do it.' He says, looking down at me.
'Sure.' I say, quietly, 'if you don't mind.'
'Well, medically speaking, I think it's what's best for you.' He says, turning round and carrying me to his cabin.
When we step in, I notice instantly the contrast between my cabin and his. The light compared to the dark. Usually I would hate how dark it is, but I'm half asleep as soon as we step in.
He moves over to his bed and places me down, covering me with a blanket and moving away. But I hold onto his wrist, pull him back.
'You okay?' He asks quietly.
'Stay.' I say.
'I'm not going, I'm just in Bianca's bed over there.' He says, but I keep hold of him.
'Stay.' I repeat, quieter. He lingers a moment, then lifts the blanket up, moves in beside me. He wraps his arm around me and I feel his heart beating. I move so that my back faces him and he moves in closer, his head just beside mine.
I hold his hand loosely and I can barely focus on anything as my eyes close and his steady breathing sends me to sleep.