The Infirmary

Will's P.O.V.

After Nico had finished eating and gotten ready, they headed to the training arena.

"Here's the deal," Will started, not even 10 steps away from the Hades cabin. He saw Nico roll his eyes. "No, stop that. Here's the deal. You can't push yourself."

"Okay."

"I wasn't expecting you to agree that easily," Will said slowly, narrowing his eyes at Nico. Nico just responded with a shrug. "I'm not buying it. You're up to something."

Nico turned to give Will a strange look. "I don't like being sick and injured all of the time, it just happens to end up that way. A lot." Nico seemed to realize this as he said it, and he scrunched his nose up in disdain. "Anyways. I'll be careful."

Before Will could respond, they were already there. It was empty today, to Will's surprise, but at the same time he was glad. He knew that if Nico started feeling bad with people around, he would try to hide it and make the situation worse.

"Are you going to train with me?" Nico asked, walking in. Will noticed the black sword sheathed at Nico's hip - Nico always had it with him. "We can use the wooden practice swords if you want," Nico assured, realizing Will's hesitation. Reluctantly, Will agreed.

After some digging, Nico found two of the practice swords and tossed one to Will, who caught it.

"As a warning, I'm better at archery," Will finally spoke up, glancing up at Nico. Nico stood there with an eyebrow raised, wooden sword slack. Suddenly a small smile took over Nico's face, causing Will to become confused (and completely enamored). It was the most genuine smile he had seen out of the son of Hades, and it made Nico seem younger. More alive.

"That's only more reason to practice," Nico offered, a strange twinkle in his eye that Will was unsure of.

After about 20 minutes of fighting practice, Will now understood what the twinkle in the other boys eye had meant. Nico was definitely better than Will was at sparring, and even though Will hadn't known this starting off, Nico sure did.

"What the-" Will murmured to himself, as he sword was knocked out of his hands once again. "Nico, you gotta at least give me a chance."

Nico put his sword down next to his side. His face was flushed slightly, a small grin still present. Will noticed that Nico was quite a bit more relaxed than usual. "But that's not really realistic," Nico countered, pushing some hair out of his face. "I mean, who's going to give you a chance to win in the middle of a battle?"

Will pursed his lips, shooting Nico a small glare.

"Okay fine. Let me try again."

They continued practicing until Will noticed Nico's hands start to shake. Will squinted, making sure he was seeing right.

Wasn't this exactly what he had told Nico not to do?

Nico had paused slightly, looking back quizzically at the still squinting Will. Will saw his opening, and quickly disarmed Nico, who huffed when he realized what had happened.

"That was rude," Nico murmured, as he went to go pick up the sword off the ground, his hands, and now Will could see, his arms, still shaking.

"I think we should take a break," Will offered quickly dropping his sword on the ground. "I'm wearing out."

Nico sat up and looked at Will observantly before nodding in agreement. "Sure," he agreed, before sitting down right where he was. Will blinked in surprise before sitting down with him.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while. Will wondered what Nico was thinking about, watching as Nico's eyebrows gathered, forming slight creases between them.

"Thanks for hanging out with me," Nico murmured, almost too quiet for Will to hear.

"Of course, I like hanging out with you," Will reassured, sensing that there was something else bothering Nico. "I'd rather hang out with you than anyone else here, actually. If we're being honest."

That comment earned Will a bewildered look from Nico.

"Oh."

They sat for a while more before Nico started the conversation again. Nico's fingers were fiddling with the hem of his shirt now, and Will watched curiously.

"You know, I like hanging out with you too. And you're probably my favorite person here too." Nico smiled up at Will, which caused the son of Apollo to grin back. "It was uh. It was a lot different when I was younger. Before the Lotus Hotel, you know? But I'm starting to think I like it now better," Nico added quietly, nodding to himself slightly.

"How different is it?" Will almost kicked himself. Why would he even ask that?

"Everyone's just a lot nicer. I think Hades really tried to keep Bianca and I safe." Nico paused before continuing. "I think he tried to keep us safe. I was younger, and they tried to wipe my memory, but I remember that everyone seemed very tense."

Will tried to do the math in his head based off of everything he had heard, from now and before, not really believing that he had done it right when he got an approximate answer. "Nico, if you don't mind me asking, when were you born?"

"January 28th."

"Year?"

"Oh. 1932."

Will almost choked.

"1932?  As in. The 30's?"

"Yeah I think so."

"Oh my gods - are you vaccinated?"

Nico's eyes grew wide, and Will noticed how Nico's foot started to bounce. He definitely wasn't vaccinated.

"Yeah, I have my vaccinations. I mean, who doesn't? That's what we gotta do and -" Nico's rambling was cut off by a potent look from Will. Nico sighed, playing with some of the dirt next to him - which Will decided he probably shouldn't be doing since he most definitely needed to get his tetanus shot. "I don't have my vaccines," Nico mumbled, looking down.

Will quickly, but carefully, removed Nico's hand from the dirt. "Okay, don't play in the dirt. Why don't we go back to the infirmary, get a couple of those, and then you relax for the rest of the day?"

"But... what if we don't do that?" Nico asked, a small, nervous smile present.

"No I think that's what we should do," Will calmly stated, trying to ignore the crestfallen look that had appeared on Nico's face.

Will got up and offered a hand to Nico, who took it almost begrudgingly. They picked up the training area. Will noticed Nico nervously brooding and chuckled to himself slightly as they started walking.

"I'm not a fan of needles," Nico admitted, eyes narrowed slightly.

Will's eyebrows scrunched together. "You had an I.V. in earlier this week," he pointed out, slowing his pace to match Nico's.

"I didn't feel well enough to care earlier this week. Now I do and I'm not a fan," Nico retorted quietly, scrunching his nose.

Will rolled his eyes before he grabbed Nico's hand, who had slowed down his pace even more, and started walking briskly in the direction of the infirmary.

"You'll be just fine. It's just a little poke and then we're all done," Will tried to reassure an increasingly nervous Nico, who was almost being dragged across the camp at this point. "You don't have to look at it. I mean, you've defeated monsters worse than this. You can handle a few vaccinations, I know you can."

Nico stopped abruptly, almost taking the both of them down with the sudden lack of movement.

Will sighed, turning around to try and convince Nico that it would all be fine. However, he stopped as he saw the bewildered look on Nico's face that was accompanied with a pair of wide, glazed eyes.

"Something's wrong," Nico breathed out, looking at the ground. "Something is definitely not right."