Hoo boi, this is even more choppy than the other one, but look I'm getting through the chapters quickly enough. Sorry for any mistakes/any angst-fueled crying, etc etc.
Thanks for reading!
Fez.
It was a while later when Nico finally woke up. His side was still aching and his head spun when raised his head and he was thirsty.
It was dark outside, but the fact that he was in a infirmary bed and his side was bandaged up, he could figure out they'd won the battle.
He lifted his head, and his gaze softened when he saw Will asleep in a chair pulled up close to the bed. His head was on Nico's thigh and he was holding his hand. He didn't want to wake Will up, having had no idea of how long Will had slept for but he had to shift in the bed, his position putting pressure on his hurt side. Will had always slept lightly and he raised his head blearily.
"Babe?" He asked thickly and Nico smiled at him softly.
"Go back to sleep." He whispered. "You can come up on here to lie down." He shifted over and patted the bed. The infirmary beds were narrow but Nico had no qualms about cuddling up to Will for a night.
Will stumbled to his feet and he seemed to be about to just climb up next to Nico, but his eyes cleared of sleep and he squinted at Nico.
"You're awake." He said and Nico went still at the ice in his voice. He had known he would be in trouble for what he'd done. "After being cut by some monster's poison claws! I don't even know what that poison is!"
"I'm fine." He started but he knew the hurt on Will's face couldn't just be dismissed.
"I told you no shadow-travelling." Will started and Nico glanced around the room. They were in a separate private room from the main infirmary but it was still the middle of the night.
"You didn't listen, you just ran off to put yourself in danger. What would you have done if you passed out from over-exerting yourself in battle, or fainted when you're trying to fight and been attacked?"
Nico bristled, about to argue that he didn't faint but the devastation on Will's face made him fall silent.
"What would I have done?" He whispered in the dead of the night. "You don't care, you just charge off thinking you're invincible."
"I was trying to help you." Nico pressed, swinging his legs off of the bed to try and go to Will to comfort him but Will took a step back and pointed a threatening finger at him.
"You stay in that bed and you heal." He hissed, and Nico didn't think he'd heard him sound so venomous before. "You owe me that much."
Nico was shocked into a stunned silence while Will stalked out of the room. He stared after him for a long time, hearing his footsteps leave the infirmary hall and Nico behind.
He lowered himself gingerly back onto the bed, not quite succeeding in shutting out the parts of himself that told him that Will had enough of his recklessness and his neediness and his patheticness.
And if Nico cried into his blistered palms until the sun rose again, well, there was no one there to see him.