Nico laid on his coffin designed bed, missing the lid of course; Connor and Travis would've locked him in the bed so many times with one. The entire room was dark, the windows were covered with black curtains and the light wasn't on.

It had been three months since the Battle with Gaea at Camp Half-Blood. Only three months and the entire camp had been restored. Too bad Nico didn't recover as fast as that, he was still having the effects of traveling half way across the world using shadow travel and carrying a giant statue, along with two people with him. His mission was successful, although he did almost die in the process many times. Sadly Leo was lost in the chaos, along with his dragon Festus. Apparently, he had died, then was rebirthed, instantly thinking about Calypso and not the sanity of his friends.

Nico was looking at the ceiling, taking a particular interest in the designs on the ceiling when a knock echoed through the giant, silent room. "Come in," Nico yelled, not moving from his spot on his bed.

"Hey," Will Solace, the camp's medic, walked in. He sat on the edge of Nico's bed. "Feeling any better?"

"Yeah, not as sore or tired. I still have patches where my skin has turned into a shadow, though." Nico replied calmly, much to the surprise of Will who hadn't heard of the shadow thing.

"Wait, still?! When did that happen?" Will looked concerned for the smaller boy.

"Couple of days.." Nico replied as he sat up, brushing a piece of hair from his face.

"Why didn't you tell me about that?"

"I thought it would go away, but it hasn't yet." Nico shrugged.

"Can I see it?" Will asked, looking Nico in the eye.

"Yeah," Nico pulled his shirt off, his frame tiny and fragile. He was deathly skinny and anyone could see his ribs through his skin. Parts of his skin was missing, replaced with a black, wispy mist that overflowed from the patch. "Oh wow.." Will looked amazed and concerned. " I don't know what this is.." He passed his fingers through a patch, nothing happened. "No blood, that can't be good.."

Nico was slightly blushing, he had a crush on Will but was determined not to let him find out because of his own fears. Will looked up, "what's wrong, death boy?" Will chuckled lightly.

"Nothing.." Nico replied quickly.

"Somethings wrong, I know." Will pressed further.

"I'm fine, it's nothing," Nico said again.

"Okay, you know you can trust me, right Nico?" Will asked him.

Nico nodded, slipping his shirt back on, his skin as cold as ice.

"Hey, is it fine if I stay here tonight, just in case that shadow thing gets worse?" Will asked, his concern for the Ghost King showing.

"Sure." Nico laid back again, sighing as his eyes studied the ceiling again.

Around six or seven hours later Will walked into the door again, carrying a plate of food with him. "Hey, Nico. Are you hungry?" Nico sat up and shrugged, following Will with his eyes.

"Well, eat all you can, okay? You need your strength to heal faster."

Nico nodded and sat the plate in his lap, picking at the food, eating very little of it. After he was done he sat the plate on his nightstand and laid down, shivering. He bundled up in the blankets and managed to get a little warm. Nico was always cold, he always wore winter clothes.

Will looked over at Nico and noticed his shivering. "Nico, are you okay?" He stood up and walked over to the deathly cold boy.

"Cold... So cold.." Nico muttered, softly shivering. Will put his wrist to Nico's forehead and gasped. Nico was ice cold. Will sat on Nico's bed and picked him up, sitting him in his lap and wrapping his arms around him. Nico cuddled into Will's chest, not caring who it was only that they were incredibly warm.

"Nico.. Oh Nico.." Will mumbled, running his fingers through Nico's short, messy hair. Will had fallen for Nico, and he really showed it now.

"W-will?" Nico mumbled, looking up at him.

"Yeah, Nico?"

"How are you so warm..?" Nico asked, not completely registering the situation.

Will chuckled, "I'm just really warm." Nico nodded and burrows himself into Will's chest. Will, who was extremely shocked that Nico hadn't pushed him away yet, just rubbed circles on Nico's back calmingly.

They both shortly fell asleep, Nico still in Will's warm embrace.

Nico only did realize who was hugging him when he woke up the next morning and almost died of embarrassment. "Will?" Nico whispered, trying to wake him up. "Will?" Nico nudged him.

Will's eyes opened, "oh, hey Nico.." he smiled.

"Why are you hugging me.."

"Oh, you were freezing last night so I did this and you seemed to like it." Will chuckled as Nico's pale cheeks turned a semi-bright red. "Just question, do you like me?"

Nico looked up at Will, "yeah..." he mumbled.

Will grinned and leaned down, planting a kiss on Nico's lips softly. Will sat back up and laughed at Nico being in complete disbelief.
"Did that just..did you just..." Nico mumbled, unable to finish the sentence.

Will grinned, "yes I did." Will leaned down again and kissed Nico's lips, this time getting a reaction out of him. Nico kissed back and wrapped his arms loosely around Will's neck. They only separated because they had to breathe eventually. Nico rested his head on Will's chest and gave a contented sigh.

Will sat Nico down and stood up, stretching. "Can we check on the patches again?"

"Sure." Nico raised his shirt over his head and sat it on the bed beside him. There were no holes, no trace of the shadowy patches.

"Wow... You were just lonely and empty.." Will hugged Nico, wrapping his arms around him kinda tight. Will let go and kissed Nico's forehead. "On another note, want to go to breakfast now?" Nico nodded and stood, walking over to his dresser. He pulled out a long sleeve shirt that had a band logo on it. He pulled his black leather aviator jacket over it and put on some black sneakers. He walked over to the door and smiled at Will who wrapped his arm around the smaller boy once more before they stepped out the door and walked to the tables, talking about things.

-
I totally didn't squeal while writing... . Nope.. No one can prove it... This was like 1.1k words and really fun to write. If you want me to I could write them tell the camp/their friends and stuff in the next week or so.
-10.17.16
-Pastel