If you recognise it, it's not mine.

Will skidded to a halt outside the room. He could see Nico sitting up in the bed, talking to another doctor, but his eyes were darting around frantically, and the hand which wasn't in a cast was tapping against the bed in a twitchy, nervous way. Will took a moment to calm himself before stepping into the room. The other doctor, a friend of Will's named Lee, glanced up as the door opened, and then nodded, pointing to the note with a smile. Nico's eyes widened.

"Will?" he whispered, in a hoarse, quiet voice Will could barely link with the boy he'd known last year.

"Hey, Nico."

"What... what are you doing here?" Nico looked completely confused, eyes huge in his pale, gaunt face.

"I could ask you the same question," Will replied, sitting on the edge of the bed gently. Nico's fingers twitched, and Will wrapped both of his hands around the smaller boy's. Nico's skin was cold, and Will could feel every bone in his hand.

"We've given you some antibiotics, which seem to be working, and we put a cast on your wrist, as you've noticed," Lee said kindly. "If the antibiotics keep working properly, you should be okay to leave later today, that is, if you've got somewhere to go?" Lee exchanged a glance with Will, and Will shrugged slightly, squeezing Nico's hand. Lee was a good guy, and he'd been working at the hospital a lot longer than Will. He could tell that something wasn't right with Nico even without knowing him personally.

"I..." Nico started to speak, but trailed off in a shuddering sigh. "My-"

Will looked at him carefully, noting the tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes. "It's okay, Nico. You don't have to explain just yet." He pulled his friend into a loose hug, letting the dark head rest against his shoulder. Nico's breath was coming in little gasps as he tried to hold back sobs, and Will sent Lee a look. Lee nodded understandingly and backed away towards the door.

"I'll get them to send up some breakfast," he said softly. "For you too, Will. How much sleep did you get, three, four hours?" He closed the door before Will could say anything, leaving him alone with Nico.

"Okay, Nico. I think Percy's coming when visiting hours start, so that's in about an hour or something."

Nico nodded miserably, but didn't say anything.

"You're going to have to tell somebody what's going on at some point, you know? You can tell me, or Percy, or Jason, or maybe one of the girls, and then we'll get everything sorted out."

Just then, Will's phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out to see a text from Jason on the screen.

Percy just told me Nico's in the hospital, when can I come? -J

Nico peered over his shoulder as he replied, reading the text with a frown. He pulled away from Will, huddling up on the bed. Before Will could say anything, a nurse came in with a tray of breakfast, flashing Will a sympathetic smile as she set it down on the table.

Nico stared at the tray as if he hadn't seen food in weeks. It wasn't anything special, just toast and fruit juice. Slowly, his hand reached out and tore a corner off a piece of toast, tentatively putting it in his mouth.

"It won't bite, you know," Will said. "This place actually does pretty good food, for a hospital."

Nico swallowed and picked up the rest of the slice. He tore into it with his teeth, barely chewing before swallowing. Will placed a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe slow down a little?" The dark-haired boy barely seemed to hear him, coughing as a mouthful stuck in his throat. Will patted him on the back, frowning as he felt the boy's spine like a shard of glass. "Nico, when was the last time you ate?"

Nico shrugged, still trying to catch his breath. "A while," he muttered.

Will kept a hand on his back, rubbing soothing circles as Nico reached for a paper cup of juice. His hands trembled, and Will picked up the cup before it could spill, holding it to Nico's lips and tilting it. Nico took a few sips before batting his hand away. He slumped against the pillows, a little sigh escaping him. Will moved to the seat beside the bed, fixing him with a firm look.

"So, are you going to tell me what's going on?" he asked, meeting Nico's eyes.

Nico sighed again, fingers tapping restlessly against the bedsheets. "It's a long story," he murmured, in that cracked whisper Will still couldn't get used to.

"We've got three quarters of an hour before the others arrive," Will pointed out.

Nico nodded, and then, taking a deep breath as if he was steeling himself, he blurted, "My stepmother kicked me out."

Will nearly fell out of his chair. "Wait, what?" he demanded. "You have a stepmother? And she kicked you out?" As far as Will had known, it was just Nico and his dad.

"Yeah. Persephone. My dad started... started seeing her sometime last year. She was okay, at first, but after they got married she just... changed, completely."

Will frowned. "Why didn't you tell someone?"

"You guys all had your exams, you were busy."

"But not too busy to help you, Nico!" At his raised voice, Nico flinched, and Will immediately leant forward, trying to calm down. "Sorry. Keep going."

Nico took another shuddering breath and kept talking. "It was like... if I was talking to Dad, she'd come in and interrupt. She'd tidy away my stuff and not tell me where she put it. It was like I was some sort of weed she was trying to get rid of."

"Oh, Nico," Will said, a feeling of guilt in the pit of his stomach. "I don't get why you couldn't tell us, after exams, though?"

Nico suddenly looked unbearably sad, and Will reached out to put a hand on his arm. "She... she forbade me from seeing any of you, or texting or anything. She even deleted all the contacts in my phone." He sniffed. "And then Dad went away on this business trip and she wouldn't even let me out of the house."

Almost unconsciously, he rubbed his arm, and alarm bells went off in Will's head. "Nico... did she hurt you?"

Nico looked like he wanted to bury his face in his hands and run away, but he managed to meet Will's eyes again. "Not exactly."

"Nico." Something in Will's tone had changed. He was a doctor, and people getting hurt was what he tried to prevent. "Tell me what she did."

Nico stared down at the bedsheets. "She'd fill a sink or something with boiling water, and force me to put my arms in it, up to the elbow. If I refused, she'd push my head in. Other stuff, too, but mostly... mostly that." Nico's voice trembled, breath coming in shuddering gasps. He coughed weakly, a wheezing, choked sound.

For a moment, Will gaped in horror, then his instincts as a friend and a doctor kicked in and he sat back on the edge of the bed, pulling Nico into his arms. The younger boy stiffened for an instant before relaxing. Will could feel his thin chest heaving as he gasped for air, and he gripped Nico's shoulders firmly, turning to face him.

"Nico, you need to calm down, okay? I get that you're scared and you don't feel great, but you have to calm down. Focus on me, alright?"

He breathed in exaggeratedly, held it for a few seconds, and exhaled. Nico copied him, much to Will's relief; a panic attack was really not what the other boy needed right now.

"We're going to get this sorted out," he promised firmly, stroking Nico's hair in a comforting gesture.

"I don't know what to do, Will," Nico whispered back, huddling against Will's side.

Will didn't let go, because there's a time to be a doctor and a time to be a friend, and he knew which one this was.