Nico rolled his eyes at the blonde haired guy in front of him. "Will, seriously, I'm fine." He insisted, as the latter searched for some unicorn drought.

"Uh huh." Will said absently. "Here, try this." He held out a silver canteen, whch Nico took and drank. He'd already learnt not to argue.

"It's fine." Replied Nico dismissively. In fact, it tasted like sawdust, but the son of Hades kept that to himself. Will frowned.

"Are you sure?" He asked, nervously. Sure, he'd treated all kinds of wounds, but he'd never had to deal with anything like this before. The guy had litterally disapeared at one point! And every so often, Will's hands would go right through him. He was scared he wouldn't be able to fix it.

"Yes. Do I really have to stay in here?" Asked Nico, frowning. Not that he exactly... minded... Being taken care of by Will. But he did like to be out.

"Yes. Doctors orders."

"You always say that." He got no reply, which wasn't exactly a surprise. Will had already gone back to searching through the shelves. Nico sighed and lay back, resting his head on the pillow. The steady beeping of the machine besides him took count of his heart beats, and made him frown. It just reminded him that he was stuck there, and he hated that. As far as he could tell, this was all stupid. He should be out there, helping to clean up after the battle, or starting the reconstruction on Hades' cabing. Then again, at least he could avoid Percy this way.

Once he realised he didn't have feelings for Percy anymore, he'd been happy enough to tell him. But now... Well, he was worried that Percy might tell everyone about it, and even if he had admitted it to the son of a sea god, he didn't want the whole camp knowing.

Shaking this thought out of his head, Nico rolled over to watch Will, still tidying up the cabinets. He was tan and lean, with blonde hair and overly-bright eyes. He also had freckles, even though it was winter. He figured it was because he was a son of Apollo.

Nico didn't get Will. He'd assumed the dude was easy going and laid back, which he was. But he could also change and be stubborn, and extremely aggravating. Strangely, the made Nico like him more, the fact that he could put up a fight. Not that Nico liked him like that. No.

"Nico?" The son of Hades blinked and realised he'd been staring at Solace for several minutes. And he'd noticed. "Are you alright?" Asked Will, looking concerned.

"Um, yeah, fine." He muttered. "Im going to sleep now." But as soon as he closed his eyes, a hand on his forehead made him open them. Will's face was inches from his.

His eyes are even brighter up close. Thought Nico, then, Not that I care. Shut up. The machine that took his heart beat started beeping much faster, which made him actually blush slightly. The fact that Will was touching him made him flinch mentally.

"Hey, are you OK? Your pulse just quickend." Commented Will, moving his hand. "And your face is getting hot."

"I wonder why," Grumbled the son of death to himself. Unfortunately, Will heard, and looked confused.

"What?"

"Nothing." Snapped Nico. "I'm fine. Go and deal with your other patients." Will straightened up.

"At the moment your the most important patient. Even if your to stubborn-"

"I'm to stubborn?!"

"To stubborn to admit it, you need help."

"I don't need you taking care of me!"

"I'm trying to help you!"

"I don't need your help!" Snapped the son of Hades, feeling furious. Everything he was and had been feeling, along with the fact that he hated being stuck in here, built up. Plus, Solace was being infuriating.

"Fine." Said Solace simply, turning and walking off. Nico blinked, surprised. Of course, that was what he had wanted, but he'd expected Will to put up a fight. The boy frowned, then sighed and curled up under the sheets to go to sleep.

After dealing with werewolves, monsters, titans and Gaia herself trying to kill him, Nico had become a slightly lighter sleeper.

Also, he couldn't stop thinking about his fight with Will, which made it pretty hard drift off.

So when he heard someone coming towards his bed, he naturally woke up and squinted through the dark.

At first he could't see anything, but then he recognised the shape of Will, and he pretended to be asleep. The son of Apollo beant over him and placed a hand on his head again. "No fever." He murmured, then he adjusted the blankets over the supposedly sleeping boy. Nico was gad it was dark, because he was blushing like mad. He opened his eyes slightly and noticed that Will was standing in the light, and looked upset about something, as he carefully moved the sun of Hades hair out of his face.

Could Will be upset about the fight? Wondered Nico. He's probably glad to be rid of me.

Then the child of the sun god curled up on the chair in front of him, and watched him sleep. If he hated me, he wouldn't be taking this much care of me, pointed out Nico mentally. Espeically after I told him not to.

He was beggining to feel bad about it. Will couldn't help that it was in his nature to help people! And, truth be told, Nico didnt really mind being taken care of. It made a first. Sighing to himself, he opened his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Will-"

"Nico!" Yelped Will, falling out of his chair. "Gods of Olympus, I thought you were asleep."

"Um, Sorry?" Nico wasn't entirely sure what to sya to that. Will merely shrugged and stood back up.

"Yes?"

"What?" He asked, momentarily confused, then he realised. "Oh! Oh, well... I wanted to say sorry, for snapping at you. I didn't mean it. I kind of over-reacted-"

"Kind of?" Repeated Will, raising an eyebrow.

"Dont push it." Muttered the son of Hades. "Fine, I really over-reacted. It's just... I don't do well with physical contact. It makes me uncomfortably. And I'm slightly... confused... But the point is, I'm sorry." He blinked up. The healer smiled.

"It's OK." He promised, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I get it. No touching from now on. I'll try and remember."

"Good."

"And, Nico, you know you can talk to me, right? I mean... You keep everything cooped up inside. Tell me about your nightmares, or your journey through Tartaraus, or something. It'll help."

"Maybe sometime." Conceded Nico. And, maybe, sometime, he would. But not right now.