luce del sole (sunshine)

five | nico

Nico woke up to humming and something soft being dabbed onto his forehead. 

That stupid towel again. 

The humming though, was comforting and deep, and everything a son of Apollo should be when it comes to music. 

Nico cracked one of his eyes open to see Will leaning over him with a graceful smile and a bowl, which he dipped the towel into and wiped Nico's head again. When Will looked back down at him, Nico quickly shut his eyes. 

Will continued humming and set the bowl down with a clink. He made his way over to the bar of medicine and began absentmindedly filling a syringe. 

Nico sat up fast and shook his head. "You are not sticking me with a needle, Solace."  

"I knew you were awake." Nico could hear the smirk in his voice. "Figured this would get you." 

Nico looked around, as if just realizing he was in the infirmary. "How did I get back here?" 

"I carried you, di Angelo. Lay off the strawberries, will you?" Will teased as he put the needle up. 

"I fell asleep?" 

"Hard," Will confirmed, "there was no waking you up."

"You carried me?" 

"Don't sound too surprised, Nico, I work out. And you're not actually heavy." 

Nico instinctively looked down at his body. His limbs has always been wiry and his frame always thin. By looking at him, you'd never know he was a teenage warrior. Especially not the son of a god, much less one so renown. Then again, there was the fact that Hades was his dad, and Nico had never seen a paler, skinnier man. 

"I need to eat," Nico realized as he studied his frame. 

Will nodded. "You do. Luckily, that's not something I have to force on you. I've never seen anyone inhale food as quickly as you." 

Will set a plate down in front of him, a lunch meal. Nico stared at it. "It's lunchtime?" 

"Past. It's about three o'clock." Will sat down on the other cot. 

Nico sat up and swung his legs over the side of his own, ignoring the sting of the stretching stitches in his leg. Austin had said his leg would take months to heal completely, but the stitches could come out in two or three weeks. With Nico's luck, he'd still be here. 

"So?" Nico asked as Will watched him eat. 

"So?"

"What are your plans for the day? Other than watching me sleep for another six hours, then watch me eat again, then maybe pat my head with another wet towel?" 

Will scoffed. "I take my job very seriously."

"I know." 

"And besides, I actually have to show Chiron your progress later today." Will smiled. 

Nico dropped his fork. "Progress?" 

"How you've healed, Sunshine, that's what progress means." 

Nico stared at him, dumbfounded. "Wha-?" 

"Progress," Will sounded it out. "You know, like Westward Expansion? The Decades?"

"I know what progress means!" Nico shouted at him. "I'm talking about what you just called me! Do I look like Sunshine to you?"

Will regarded him playfully. "You look more like an Eric, but hey, I'll take what I can get." 

Nico chuckled unbelievably. "Sunshine." 

"Sunshine." Will nodded like the conversation was over. "Chiron will be here in about two hours. So take a nap, draw something, I don't care. I need my own sleep." 

Instead of curling up in his chair like normal, Will stretched out across the cot next to Nico like a cat and pulled the blanket over himself. He was out like a light. 

Nico finished his food and explored the infirmary. There was a whole cabinet of ambrosia and nectar, which would heal him up nicely. There must have been a reason Will wasn't using it. There was another cabinet with nothing but bandages that were identical to the one Will kept on his wrist. The sink was filled with the Apollo Cabin and Nico's plates from the last five days. No one seemed to do the dishes in this place. 

So Nico decided to make himself of use. He scrubbed the food off until the sponge and glass plates made a squeaking noise. Then he sat everything out to dry and turned to look back out across the room. His leg was straining now. He wouldn't be surprised if the cut was bleeding slightly. He continued to look around anyway. 

There was a bookshelf in the back, behind a curtain and a shelf of blankets. It was stuffed tight with old, worn books that didn't seem to be in use. Nico grabbed the closest one and broke open the front cover. The scrawl inside the hardcover stopped him in his tracks. 

Silena Beauregard. 

This had been Silena's book. Nico grabbed another one and checked inside. 

Michael Yew. 

These books had belonged to people no longer with them. He put them back, unsettled. Nico wasn't sure why dead people's books shook him so, just last week he would have had no problem raising these people from the dead. Now he couldn't hold an old book? 

Nico made his way back to his cot, weaving around rolling side tables and tossed aside instruments. When he settled into his own covers, he turned to Will. 

The blonde boy was resting peacefully, completely unaware. Nico could have left then, gone to the wind. If he tried that now, something told him he would truly be gone. So instead, he sighed contently and rubbed his own hair. 

Will trusted him enough to let him be alone, and Nico wasn't going to ruin that. He was also beginning to see the truth in some of Will's promises, and just how much the blonde boy laying next to him would have accepted him all those years ago. 

"Sleep well," Nico muttered as his own eyes drew to a close.