Chapter Text
The sun’s warm golden light shone in through the infirmary’s windows. Will watched through the window closest to him and noted its position in the sky, surprised at how low it had already gotten. He’d spent almost the whole day in the infirmary- since around 12 that morning, when Connor and Travis Stoll had come in with matching burns from the guardian dragon of the Golden Fleece up on the hill.
Will cast a glance over at the two troublemaking brothers, who were currently sitting- in Travis’s case, awkwardly with his left leg bandaged- with their heads together on the other side of the infirmary. Probably plotting another ill-thought-out prank or heist.
To the side of them sat Chiara Benvenuti and Damien White, who’d had some sort of argument during sword training and taken it out on Damien’s head and Chiara’s shoulder.
The two were sniping at each other every chance they got, although Will was about 85% sure they’d been hiding a relationship for ages now, at least since January 2010 when they’d both apparently gotten ill from his dad’s accidental plague of hay fever- even though Will had observed absolutely no sneezing from Damien except when he’d noticed someone watching the two of them. He grinned just thinking back on it, and how two years ago he himself had just been at the start of a relationship.
Gods, Will missed his boyfriend. This was, in itself, not an unusual occurrence- whenever Nico wasn’t around, Will’s friends and siblings were subjected to him talking about Nico and how much he missed him until the son of Hades in question returned from whatever quest handed out by his father that time.
Will was also somewhat worried. He knew it was stupid, but Nico had been gone for a few days now and he couldn’t help mentally going over everything that could’ve happened to him- he could have been attacked by monsters, he could have shadow-travelled too much and passed out, he could have-
Will cut off his own thoughts before he kept overthinking and made himself sick with worry, instead reaching for a pen sitting on the side of his desk and finishing filling out the day’s incident reports for the infirmary records.
Name: Connor Stoll
Cabin: 11
Date: 08/19
Time: 12:05
Details of incident: he and Travis Stoll tried to steal the Golden Fleece from the pine tree and Peleus did his job
Injury type: Other- burn on right arm
Camp healer: Will Solace
Name: Travis Stoll
Cabin: 11
Date: 08/19
Time: 12:05
Details of incident: he and Connor Stoll tried to steal the Golden Fleece from the pine tree and Peleus did his job
Injury type: Other- burn on left leg
Camp healer: Will Solace
Name: Damien White
Cabin: 16
Date: 08/19
Time: 14:36
Details of incident: had an argument with Chiara Benvenuti while sword fighting that resulted in him cutting her left arm with his sword and him then getting hit over the head with the pommel of her sword
Injury type: Combat/archery training
Camp healer: Will Solace
Name: Chiara Benvenuti
Cabin: 19
Date: 08/19
Time: 14:36
Details of incident: had an argument with Damien White while sword fighting that resulted in him cutting her left arm with his sword and him then getting hit over the head with the pommel of her sword
Injury type: Combat/archery training
Camp healer: Will Solace
As Will completed Chiara’s form he realised the sunlight had changed to golden over the sheets of paper. Will sighed and set down his pen, cracking his knuckles. His fingers ached from holding that pen for so long and trying to puzzle out spellings- dyslexia was no friend to a medic.
Everyone in the infirmary looked up as the conch shell that signalled meals blew.
“Hell yeah, dinner time!” Travis cheered, standing up then immediately grabbing the crutch leaning on the back of his chair. “Fuck, ow. Forgot about that.”
Will snorted and rolled his eyes. “That’s what you get for tryin’ to steal the Golden Fleece. A burnt leg.” Travis flipped him the bird and limped past Will to the door, following Connor, Chiara and Damien who’d just left. Ran out would be more accurate, actually- using up Will’s medical supplies, healing magic and time must’ve built them up an appetite.
“You’ve got the wrong crutch, by the way,” Will told Travis, his lips twitching slightly as he watched Travis scowl and look down. Sure enough, he was using the crutch for the right leg to support his burned left leg.
“Don’t care,” came the answer as Will watched the son of Hermes disappear through the door, obstinately leaning on the wrong crutch.
Will sorted the incident reports into a pile on his desk and stood up, stretching his back. Gods, sitting at a desk for ages really did numbers on his posture.
Before leaving to eat Will cleaned up a little, packing away the bandages he’d used and throwing away loose cuttings. He picked up the crutch Travis should’ve been using and set it by the door, just in case he actually came back later for it.
Will stood just inside of the doorway and surveyed the room with his arms folded. Yep, everything looked good. He nodded to himself in satisfaction just as a shadow appeared behind him. He turned, half-expecting to see Travis back for the crutch, only to see Nico di Angelo standing in the doorway.
“Nico!” Will grinned, stepping forward. “I missed you so m-” Will’s sentence abruptly ended as he saw- oh, gods.
Nico’s black t-shirt had several marks that looked like he’d been slashed- monster claws, by the looks of it- and stabbed, and dark blood was soaking into the fabric. Will’s breathing hitched as he ran his gaze over Nico again, now noticing the unsteady breathing, the slash marks at the hem of the right leg of his jeans, the hand at his sword clutching the hilt so tightly his knuckles were turning white, the way the looked unsteady on his feet and the deep, bloody slashes on his arm.
Will’s mind helpfully supplied that at least he didn’t seem to have a head injury, then Will cursed as Nico faltered and fell forward- or collapsed, really- into him.
“Fuck,” he muttered frantically, hooking his arms under Nico’s. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Will shifted Nico so that he was leaning up against him and nearly sobbed when he heard his name being murmured softly in his ear.
“Will,” Nico croaked. He was clearly struggling to hold himself up, his good hand- from what Will could see, at least- gripping Will’s shoulder so tightly it hurt. “Will, it hurts.”
And suddenly Will was a scared twelve-year-old again, listening to his big brother Lee try to speak as the battle of the Labyrinth raged around the two of them, instead of a seventeen-year-old half carrying his injured boyfriend to an infirmary bed.
“I know, Neeks,” Will murmured softly, gently helping Nico to sit back on the bed. “It’s okay, though. You’re here now, and I can heal you. I’m going to heal you.”
Because Will wouldn’t accept any other option- he couldn’t save Lee four years ago, and he couldn’t save his siblings in the battle of Manhattan, but he’d sooner join them than let Nico.