I Have It Bad

Nico walked with Will towards the Infirmary, his heart trying to burst out of his chest, when Will shyly reached to take his hand in his own. He glanced down at their hands, and for once, did not want to let go of the hand that is offered to him. Maybe Will was right, maybe he had pushed people away, or maybe he was wrong. He had felt all those stares he had received during those few couple of weeks, after the battle of Manhattan.

But, for once, he really did not care whether he was right or wrong. For once, he did not care about what people thought. He had a few friends, the seven, Reyna, and Will. He wanted to give the camp another shot. He wanted to have a family with Hazel, maybe he really had a chance, and he was going to be sure not to mess it up.

He glanced down at their clasped hands, and then at Will, who was looking, more like staring at Nico, and grinned at him. Will looked momentarily shocked, but then flashed his thousand watt smile at him. Nico started giggling, when Will started swinging their hands in between them. Will looked at Nico. He had never heard Nico giggle. And even though he wanted Nico to be happy, he realized that he wanted to be the one who made Nico smile, giggle and laugh. When Nico realized what he was doing, he clamped a hand over his mouth, though you could tell that he was still giggling.

"You look nice when you smile and giggle like that Death Boy."

Nico glared at Will, which was half hearted, but Will just ruffled Nico's hair and smiled at him.

"Hey, I am not a kid, and don't call me Death boy." Nico huffed.

"WILL! SAVE ME!" someone shouted. Both of them turned around to find a screaming Cecil being chased by a very annoyed, green colored person, who on closer inspection turned out to be Lou Ellen.

"IF YOU DO ANYTHING TO HELP HIM SOLACE, I WILL TURN YOU INTO A PIG ALONG WITH HIM!" Lou Ellen yelled.

Cecil just jumped on Will's back and shouted "Onward Solace… Before we both turn into pigs, for the whole week." Will looked at Lou Ellen, then Nico, then back at Lou Ellen. "Sorry Lou, I love you! Very Much!Please don't turn me into a pig." He said before he started running towards the forest, along with Nico (whose hand he was still catching), and Cecil on his back. They ran until Lou Ellen surrounded them with mist, making it impossible to run anywhere. She grinned maliciously, which honestly scared all the boys that were present there. Will straightened up, causing Cecil to land on his backside. "Ow!" Cecil grunted. Will had his hands in the air. Nico looked at Lou and said "Will dragged me here. I am not responsible for anything." Lou nodded and let Nico out of the circle of mist. Will shot him a look that said 'Et tu Brute?' Nico smirked at him as he ran up to the entrance of the infirmary, smiling when he realized, that this feeling of freedom and happiness and joy, would beat any quest any day. After a few minutes, he saw Will who happened to have a pinkish glow like that of a pig on his face, and also had pig ears. Nico stared at him before doubling over in laughter. Especially when he saw a small pig running around.(Cecil wasn't excused…)

Will looked at him with puppy dog eyes, asking him to stop laughing. This in turn caused him to laugh more.

"Yo…You should… you should look at yourself sunshine… You look … girly? Or Piggy?" He said, gasping for air in between his laughter. Will's pout deepened… "I will… I will keep you in the infirmary for a week if you laugh at me again!" Will said, and then realized what he just said… "Infirmary! Gods! You have to rest!" he said grabbing his hand and pulling him into the infirmary.

He received a few sniggers and snorts, someone asked what he did to piss Lou Ellen…again… apparently it was common for the campers to find Will or Cecil having different animal body parts, or being turned into completely different animals.

Will ignored then, sticking his tongue out at Kayla, who had a monster free camera in her hand, clicking away pictures. He took Nico into one of the private parts of the infirmary. He rushed out and returned with his medical supplies. He soon switched into his doctor mode. After making Nico drink some nectar, and asking him a few questions, and re-stitching his werewolf wounds (he had been impressed by Reyna's work, telling Nico that most of them mess up while they are stitching up wounds), he asked Nico to rest for a while, promising to get him lunch.

After Will left, to tend to his other patients, Nico replayed the day's events, of how much fun he had, his stomach filling with butterflies, thinking about Will, his hand in Will's, and the way Cecil jumped on Will's back, Will shouting at Lou Ellen begging her for mercy, telling her how he…loved…her? The butterflies in his stomach died.

Another unattainable person? The fates must really really hate him… he face palmed. This was really not funny. But… don't people usually say I love you to their friends? Like it's common right? Another part of him argued. He just shook his head.

He had decided not have a crush on anyone for a few years, for this very reason. And what did he do? He fell for the son of Apollo, the idiotic and stubborn part of him replied. He groaned and squished his head into the pillow, trying to sleep.

Sleep hit him with a force, and he realized exactly how tired with all the shadow travel he was. The quietness and the strangely soothing scent of spirit, made him relax and before long he was asleep.

He was standing in an area, filled with junk? Was that junk? He sneaked behind a boulder, when he heard footsteps approaching. He turned to face… Bianca? He clamped a hand over his mouth, as he felt his throat constrict, and his eyes started to overflow. He managed to quieten his sobs, but it was difficult, for he knew what was going to come next. Bianca handed the statue to Percy, and started running towards the statue. He tried to stop her, call her, jump in front of her, but she passed right through him. She went under the robot's feet just as the feet crushed down on her. He stared at her face, as she mouthed an "I am sorry Nico, I love you" to no one in general, and then, he couldn't control it anymore.

The darkness began to swirl around him, he felt himself dissolving, when suddenly a burst of sunlight hit him. "Nico, don't give up. Please, hold on. Nico Di Angelo! You are not gonna die on me! Do you understand?" that voice. It sounded familiar. Will. Will was calling for him, the sunlight around him increased along with the anxiety in his voice. Why would Will be anxious? For him? Of course you idiot! He is your friend. Friend…. He had friends, his sister, he had to wake up.

He forced his eyes open, and he lurched up, trying to breathe in as much air as he could. He frantically looked around until his eyes fell on Will. Will just looked at him with teary eyes, and pulled him into a hug, rubbing soothing circles on his back, whispering "you are okay. You are here. Don't worry." After calming down, Nico looked up to Will, his eyes taking in his shirt, wet with Nico's tears, his face wet with his own tears, which were being rubbed off. Will smiled apologetically as he said "sorry, your lunch…umm…" Will said gesturing to the ground. The plate and its contents were all over the floor.

Nico smiled as he said, "It's okay. I would like to go the pavilion anyways, or my ADHD will kill me. "

Will nodded as he offered Nico his hand, which he gratefully took. Will did not mention anything about the nightmare, if Nico wanted him to know, he would tell him. He would not force it out of him. And Nico was thankful for that.

The warmth in Will's hand reminded him that he was alive and okay. That he had friends and family to live for. Will started swinging his hands between them again. Nico smiled as he thought back to the morning's events. He looked at Will, and realized that the pink glow and pig ears were gone. When he asked Will about it, he said that, Lou Ellen did not stay mad for too long.

They reached the pavilion when Percy suddenly rushed forward, separated both his and Will's hand as looked at Nico seriously. Nico was about to yell at him when Percy pulled the Puppy dog eyes at him and said, "Why am I not your type? Why are you holding Will's hand? OMGS! Is Will your type? Are you guys dating already?" With each question, both the guys faces turned bright red, and Nico was about to summon a skeleton to answer Percy's questions, when Jason stepped in, shot both the boys an apologetic look, and started dragging Percy away.

"Umm… sorry about that…" Nico said blushing.

"It's okay death boy. But what did he mean by him not being your type? You… you don't have to answer if you don't want to." He added hastily.

Nico looked at Will, this guy just saved him from disappearing into shadows, he was pretty much his friend, or crush, a very small, very insignificant or apparently very significant part reminded him, and he deserved the truth.

"I…had a crush on Percy, but I am over it… I am gay, Will" Nico said afraid to look at Will, afraid of being rejected, afraid of losing his friendship.

"So?" Will asked, causing Nico to look at him.

"So? Aren't you disgusted or something?" Nico asked, quite shocked by Will's reaction.

"Well, that would make me a hypocrite, wouldn't it? Oh gods! Lunch! My shift starts in five minutes! Oh gods! How could I forget?" Will dragged Nico over to the magical plates, took one, filled it with the proper diet plan he had devised for the son of Hades, handed him his plate, and then filled his own plate with the same things.

When Nico raised an eyebrow, he said "What? You would not eat properly, if you were forced to eat that. So I am keeping you company. Come on. Eat, I have to administer the next dose of Nectar." Will said, wolfing down all the contents of his plate in a matter of minutes. Nico looked at the son of Apollo, eating like he had never eaten a proper meal in ages, and smiled. He ate everything in his plate, and showed it to Will, who smiled and said, "Well, since you are such a good patient, whenever I get free, I will play a game of Mythomagic with you, ok?"

"How…?" Nico asked, blushing as he was reminded of his childhood obsession.

"Oh, I have my methods, Di Angelo." Will replied, smirking.

Nico shook his head, as he was once again dragged into the infirmary, and given a dose of nectar. Will said that he would come back as soon as he could, and left.

Now that he was alone, Nico thought of what Will had said. 'Well that would make me a hypocrite, wouldn't it?'… Wait… so did it mean that, Will was gay? Too?

A sudden memory rushed into his mind, when they were in the battlefield, and Nico had informed them that he was going to leave both cams for good, the expression on Will's face, as he had asked, why would you do that, as if he were really hurt, and then, both of them started bickering, until Octavian had butted in saying that, if he stood down, or joined the romans, he would get a better offer at the roman camp, which had caused Will to rush forward, push Nico away from Octavian, and tell him that he was the real son of Apollo.

To think from a normal person's point of view, it might seem that they were actually fighting over him.

Wait… what? Fighting over him? Did that mean that, Will liked him? Did that mean that he had a chance? He fist pumped in the air, and then blushed, when he realized what he just did.

Oh gods, he had it bad.