A/N: Hello everyone! This one's kinda angsty and kinda cute! :3 Have fun!

Nico sighed as he walked toward the forest.

It had been a long morning. First, Will had dragged him out of bed early and made him eat breakfast- most of which he had thrown away when he wasn't looking. Then he had helped his boyfriend in the infirmary for a couple hours. He had been exhausted when he woke up this morning, thanks to the never-ending nightmares that he was forced to witness whenever he closed his eyes. He hadn't slept in several days. Therefore, after working for only a few hours, he felt like he was about to collapse from sheer exhaustion.

He leaned up against a tree and watched for a few minutes as the demigods in the archery class just up the hill tried and failed to hit their targets. Arrow after arrow sailed past the targets set up in front of the shooters. They were obviously beginners and hadn't been taught how to aim properly yet. They also probably hadn't had much time to practice. He didn't recognize most of the campers in the class, so they must've only arrived a couple weeks ago. If that was true, they'd still be getting used to things here at Camp Half-Blood.

He didn't realize he was falling asleep until he jerked himself awake.

"Ugh... no, you have to stay awake." He firmly told himself, pushing away from the tree and beginning to pace along the treeline.

After a few minutes of this, he grew bored of it and turned back toward camp, intending to head back to the infirmary and continue helping Will.

"NICO, LOOK OUT!"

He barely had time to register that someone was screaming at him before pain exploded in his right shoulder. He could feel something sharp piercing his flesh, ripping through muscle and tissue. The force of it made him stagger back. His legs buckled and he crumbled to the ground as black spots invaded his vision. He was vaguely aware of frantic voices screaming in the distance.

Something warm was streaming from the throbbing wound in his shoulder. He glanced down to see the shaft of an arrow protruding from the bloody wound. The pain seemed to have intensified now that he was looking at the source of it. Everything hurt. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't think.

Then suddenly everyone was there at once, forming a semi-circle around him as they tried to get a good look at the damage. Tears and a slowly encroaching darkness obscured his vision. He was so tired. He was even more exhausted than earlier- which he hadn't thought possible. Everything was blurry and his hearing shifted in and out of focus. He was exhausted but he didn't want to go to sleep. Then the nightmares would come. He couldn't deal with that. He fought as hard as he could, but with all the blood he had lost, he knew it was about as effective as fighting smoke. The world seemed far away, and despite his efforts, he couldn't hold on anymore.

The last thing he saw before he slipped into unconsciousness was Will shoving through the group of campers, trying to reach him.

Will fell to his knees beside Nico's motionless form, his fingers desperately searching his neck for a pulse.

"Please be alive, please be alive..." He muttered to himself, and as if on cue, he felt it.

It was weak and fast- which wasn't good- but it was there and that was all that mattered to him at the time. He looked at the arrow buried in his shoulder and shook his head. It was in deep, almost coming out the other side. The arrow was stopping most of the bleeding, and if he removed it here- where he didn't have much of anything to help stop the bleeding, Nico could die. He would never be able to forgive himself if that happened.

He hadn't thought to grab a stretcher, as he had dropped everything he had been doing and bolted from the infirmary when he heard someone scream, "NICO, LOOK OUT!"

So he gathered Nico in his arms- careful not to jostle the arrow in any way- and hurried back up the hill toward the infirmary. He ignored all of the people asking if he was going to be okay as he walked by. He didn't care enough to answer them right now. He had to get Nico fixed up.

When he reached the infirmary, he quickly cut Nico's shirt off and put an IV in his hand, injecting a sedative to make sure he didn't wake up while he was working on him. He also injected some nectar to start helping with the healing process. He examined him and found out that he had a mild concussion, which he could only guess was from falling on something hard after getting shot with the arrow.

Other than that, his only injury was the arrow wound. He grabbed a whole bunch of gauze- to help stop the bleeding after he pulled the arrow out- and some suture kits. He checked and double checked to make sure he had everything ready.

"Alright, let's see..." He muttered to himself, looking at the arrow.

He was glad it was just one of the arrows they used for class, which meant it wasn't barbed. If it was, he would've had to snap off the end and push it the rest of the way through, creating an exit wound which he would've had to stitch up along with the entry wound. With this arrow, he could simply pull it out the way it went in- something he was incredibly grateful for.

He put a hand on Nico's shoulder to keep him in place and carefully pulled it out, cringing at the squish sound it made as he pulled it free. He set it aside as blood began to pour out of the wound.

"Shit..." He muttered, grabbing a handful of gauze and pressing it firmly against the opening.

He held it there for several minutes, until he sensed that the bleeding had slowed substantially. He carefully peeled the soaked gauze away to reveal that he was correct. He sighed in relief as he grabbed a bottle of peroxide and cleaned around and inside the wound to prevent infection. Once it was clean, he stitched it up and taped clean bandages in place over it. Throughout this entire process, Nico didn't so much as twitch. Will was glad that he couldn't feel any of it... He hated seeing his boyfriend in pain.

After that, he cleaned up all of the supplies he'd used and sat beside Nico's bed, waiting patiently for him to wake up.

Several Hours Later...

Nico awoke with a gasp. His eyes snapped open and jumped around the room. After a few moments, his blurry vision cleared and he realized he was in the infirmary. His mind felt fuzzy... His head was pounding and his shoulder was really sore. He groaned and closed his eyes as the room swayed slightly, making his stomach lurch.

"-ico? You awake?" A familiar voice nearby asked.

"Ughhhnuu..." He mumbled.

Will laughed and asked, "How are you feeling?"

He just shook his head and burrowed further into the covers.

"Hey, c'mon, death boy. You need to wake up and eat something."

He pulled the blankets down and carefully moved Nico into a sitting position. He tried not to wince as his shoulder protested against the movement. Instead, he glared at his boyfriend, who smiled back at him as he checked his IV.

"Good morning, sunshine." Will grinned.

"Shut up, Solace..." He grumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and then glancing down at his shoulder.

What happened slowly began to come back to him. Walking to the woods, watching the archery class practice, someone screaming for him to move as a stray arrow soared toward him... Will saw his expression and put two and two together.

"You remember what happened?" He asked, sitting on the bed beside him.

"Yeah..."

"How are you feeling?"

He tried to shrug, momentarily forgetting about his shoulder. He gasped and clenched his teeth as it throbbed in protest.

"...Fine." He gritted out.

He narrowed his eyes at him and let silence hang over the room for a few moments. Eventually Nico's eyes drifted to the floor.

"You're not fine. If you were fine, you wouldn't be in the infirmary. Now eat some food so I can give you your pain meds. You'll feel better." He said, setting a tray on his boyfriend's lap.

Nico could've sworn he felt his stomach recoil in horror. At this point, he was about as far from hungry as it was possible to get. He pushed the tray back a bit, trying to escape the nauseating smell.

Will glared at him.

"Nico, you need to eat. If you don't, you will not be leaving this infirmary any time soon."

"You wouldn't let me leave anyways..." He mumbled.

Will crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"What was that?"

Silence hung over the room for nearly a minute before Nico replied.

"...Nothing."

He nodded and said, "That's what I thought. Now eat."

"...When I summon skeletons to drag you out of here, just know that this is why." He grumbled as he ate a spoonful of soup.

Will rolled his eyes and said, "You couldn't summon anything if you tried, death boy. Just shut up and eat your soup."

"I am."

"How are you talking to me if you're eating? Hmmm?"

Nico glared at him, and he grinned cheerfully back.

"Go away. You're being annoying." He sighed.

"You know you love me." Will laughed, carefully wrapping his arms around him and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Nico shoved his face away using his good arm.

"I'm currently debating on whether I love you or not." He said, making Will pout.

"You're meeeeaaann..."

"You'd be mean too, if you got impaled with an arrow."

"Well I could've given you your pain meds by now if you weren't eating slower than a sloth." He pointed out.

Nico just sighed and continued eating, knowing he couldn't win this argument. Eventually, he finished his soup... well, he actually ate half the bowl and refused to eat any more, but it was good enough for Will. The medic gave him his pain medication and cleaned out the wound, putting fresh bandages on it so it would stay relatively clean. Then he laid down with him in the hospital bed and wrapped his arms around him. The action caused Nico to frown at him.

"Willllll..." He whined, squirming in his arms, "you're smothering me."

"Nicooooo... I am not." He replied, mimicking his tone.

His frown deepened and Will laughed, giving him a peck on the lips. They laid there in peaceful silence for a few minutes, both of them warm and content. Will smiled to himself, just happy that his boyfriend was alright. He had been worried last night. Even though it wasn't a fatal injury and he knew Nico would be fine, he hadn't been able to fully believe that until now. His thoughts were interrupted when Nico yawned.

"Ugh... You gave me something with the pain meds, didn't you?"

"...Maybe..."

"...I hate you." Nico groaned.

"Well you need rest to get better, and with your nightmares you wouldn't get any. So I helped." He explained patiently.

The son of Hades glared at him, but he could tell he was fighting to stay awake.

"I don't need your help." He mumbled.

"And I don't care. I'm your doctor and if you need something, you're getting it whether you like it or not. Right now what you need is rest, so stop arguing with me and go to sleep."

"But-"

"Doctor's orders." Will grinned.

Nico glared at him for a few moments and he laughed, not scared of him in the least.

"Awwww, come on, Nico. You know you love me."

He shook his head and yawned again, still trying to stay awake.

"Go to sleep, love. You need rest." He murmured, giving him a peck on the lips.

He snuggled closer to him in an effort to keep him warm. Nico was too exhausted to say anything more, and his eyes fell shut. Will threaded his hands through his hair and began to hum softly. After a few minutes, his body relaxed and his breathing evened out. He smiled, glad that he was finally getting some rest. He laid there with him for a while, lost in thought.

Eventually his exhaustion caught up with him and he drifted off to sleep as well.