𝔯𝔦𝔭𝔱𝔦𝔡𝔢

Conceal

||Nico di Angelo||

"I hope you know how stupid I think you are," Will mumbled as his hands spun expertly around my knee. I hadn't even noticed the large gash spreading across until he demanded where I got it. He had immediately led me to a bed next to Grover and gone to fetch a bandage. 

I hissed sharply at the slight pressure he was applying. His eyes immediately shot to me, worry blossoming in his eyes and staying there even when I waved for him to continue. He reluctantly resumed, though I noticed he was being much more gentle this time. "Believe me, I do, from the ten times you've told me in the last five minutes."

"Nonsense," Will scoffed. "It was at least fifteen."

I rolled my eyes, smiling softly at the ceiling. I couldn't see him, but I knew Will was smiling, too. His gaze would travel over my face, just as it always did when I let him see how happy he made me, pause on my lips for a split second, and then he would dutifully go back to his tasks as if nothing had happened. 

"You said Percy wasn't the target."

Sighing, I nodded, the grin falling off my lips in a heartbeat as I remembered the ambush earlier in the day. They had been skilled, more so than what I was used to, but nothing I couldn't handle with a little focus. It wasn't them that disturbed me, as I had told Will before this, but their relentlessness in getting to me. 

Percy had been occupied with his own batch of the warriors, Hazel had been holding her ground but just barely, both of them unable to notice how much danger I had been in. Tartarus had, much to my annoyance, and had done his best to keep them off of me, but even that hadn't been enough. I had barely knocked them all down. 

They should have been after Percy. That's what I didn't understand. He would never call himself one but he was basically a god now. He was invaluable and dangerous with his own power and the power he had stolen from his father during the last battle we had fought together in. So why had the attackers come after me? 

There was nothing special about me. 

"You're just as valuable as he is," Will said quietly. 

I quirked my lips. He knew me too well. Sometimes I hated how easily he could read me, the way no one had been able to since my sister, Bianca, died on her quest to find Artemis. Other times, like this one, I was deeply grateful. I never had to explain myself or how I felt when I was with him because he understood it all, understood me. I had been searching for someone like that for far too long. 

It still amazed me when I took a step back from everything and realized I had found what I had been looking for. I had found Will. 

"I love you, you know that?" I murmured.

Usually, me saying those words would ease a chuckle from Will's lips. This time, however, his eyes flicked to mine and stared at me, reading everything I was thinking with ease. "I know," he said. "But I'll never get tired of hearing it." 

I blushed and Will finally laughed. It was a tender, melodic sound that was worth all the sun rays his father-

"Sorry, am I interrupting?"

Yes, I wanted to retort back, but stopped when I saw Malcolm walking toward us. He glanced around, probably looking for Annabeth, but she, Percy, Jason, and Chiron had all gone outside to discuss some further issues. Normally I would be with them, but Will had insisted to Chiron that my injuries at least get looked at first. 

"No," I lied. Will was still staring at me and he hurriedly ducked his head, his own blush creeping up to his sun-kissed cheeks. I wished Malcolm could have waited a few more minutes before approaching us. I considered politely asking him for a minute or two of privacy, but the grave look on his face warned me off. "You alright?"