NICO
Without meaning to, I fell asleep in the back of the taxi. I'd stayed up late for my final night with Reyna and Hazel, before heading back to camp half blood early the next morning.
I wake half from the end of a nightmare, and half from the jolted stop of the car.
I rub my eyes and sit up quickly. It's bright out. I pay the driver quickly and grab my bags, anxious to get back to Will.
'Thank you.' I say, shutting the door and already heading back.
I hurry up the hill and to Thalia's tree. I told Will I'd be back tomorrow, but Reyna and Hazel had other things to attend to and I cut my visits day short without telling Will.
It's summer now, and the camp is overflowing with people. I much preferred when it was just our select few, but at least Percy and Annabeth are back from university.
I head into the infirmary, sure that's where I'd find Will. Reve is the first to see me.
'Nico! I...thought you weren't back till tomorrow?' He says, tentatively.
'Change of plans.' I say, 'is Will here?'
Kayla stops short on seeing me.
'Nico.' She says, carefully.
'Where's Will?' I ask.
'Will said you were coming back tomorrow.' She says. I narrow my eyes, looking from one to the other.
'What's going on? Is Will okay?' I ask.
'He's kind of...um...' Kayla trails off.
'High?' Reve offers.
'What?' I ask, unsure what to think, 'high? As in...high?'
'He was working with some new medicines. You know how he does.' Kayla says.
'Yeah, okay, what the hell?' I ask, 'where is he?'
'He's in the back.' Reve says.
'Is someone with him?' I ask, already moving to the back room.
'Piper's watching over him.' Kayla reassures me. I open the door and see Will lying across his desk, head upside down.
'Hi?' I say. He sees me and shoots up, and instantly loses his balance. I rush over to support him.
'Nico. My baby. I missed you.' He says, his hands holding my face.
'What is going on?' I ask him, 'how did this happen?'
'I made a drug.' He says, 'you're so pretty. He's so pretty.' He tells Reve and Kayla.
'Very pretty.' Reve agrees. I stare daggers at him.
'Nico, he's been talking about you non-stop for hours.' Piper says.
'How did this happen?' I ask again, 'I thought you guys were like...trained?'
'Oh yeah. We are.' Kayla says, 'which is why this is so funny.'
'Funny?' I ask her, 'my boyfriend is out of his mind.'
'I'm your boyfriend.' Will says, laughing and smiling, 'that's gay.'
'Honey.' I say, smiling a little now too, 'You are gay.'
'That makes sense.' He says, nodding.
'Can someone please tell me why my boyfriend is high?' I ask, one final time.
'Whenever you're away he gets really into making stuff and trying to, like, find new treatments.' Kayla explains, 'I guess it's his way to distract himself from missing you.'
'That's very sweet but please explain more.' I say, swatting Will's hands away from my face as I continue to try keep him standing.
'From what we can figure out,' Reve explains, 'he made something, and tested it out - which is normal; Apollo kids have better immune systems, especially Will, so we test run it on ourselves - and...I guess he tried it and got a little high, then because he was a little high decided to try a bit more and then a bit more...and so on.'
'When we found him he was pretty...uh...' she gestures to Will.
'Okay. Perfect. This is great.' I say, 'when will this wear off?!'
'I think he just needs a good nights sleep.' Kayla offers.
'Great. Just great.' I say.
'Baby, can we go swimming?' Will asks me.
'Okay first off, neither of us can swim. So no. Definitely not. And second, I don't know where this whole baby nickname came from. I did not sign up for that.' I say, to Piper, Reve and Kayla's delight. They seem to be enjoying this far more than me.
'It's cause you're so small and cute.' Will says, twirling some of my hair around his finger.
'I'm sorry, cute?' I ask.
'And small.' Piper offers.
'Thank you. Thanks for clearing that up.' I say to Piper, 'I'm going to...I'm going to get him to go to sleep.'
'We've been trying for hours.' Kayla says.
'Okay. Well I'm going to try again. I want my boyfriend back.' I say. I try to move with Will, but he trips almost instantly. I resort to lifting him up and putting him over my shoulder.
'Nico, where'd you go?' Will asks. I take a deep breath.
'Still here.' I say, 'don't you worry.'
'Welcome back, Nico!' Piper says as I leave the room.
'Bite me.' I reply.
