AN: Sorry it took a bit longer than usual to update. Writer's block is the worst!

"We're going on a quest?!"

Nico didn't know he could turn so red so fast. He was going on a quest with Will. What kind of fucked up joke was the universe playing on him now?

"Well… sort of. It might be a quest I'm not exactly sure. But like Rachel had this vision of us in the woods with some creepy shadow figure thing following us. But we're going on some kind of an adventure. Exciting… right?" Will's hands were moving animatedly and he looked so flustered and adorable Nico could hardly watch. Not that he was going to not watch. Will said the last sentence with a sort of desperation, so from the sounds of it, he was probably looking forward to this quest as much as Nico was. Although for entirely different reasons, Nico just didn't want to go because time alone… with him… and Will. Will just didn't want to hang out with Nico because he was basically the loner of the camp that nobody really liked. It was more like people tolerated him. Nobody would willingly want to spend time alone with Nico. There was no way anybody could possibly be stupid enough to want to do something like that. But if anybody would be that stupid, it had to be Will. Or maybe Percy. Percy was pretty stupid too, but not stupid in that way.

Nico got up and brushed past Will. There was no way in hell he was going to deal with that right now. He did put in the time to respond, "Yeah, sure," as he attempted to walk away.

He hoped Will couldn't see how red his cheeks were. He couldn't get very far, seeing as he was hardly able to walk and he had to put all of his weight on the wall, his legs shaking with every step. He heard Will laugh softly at his failed attempt at movement. "Need help?"

Probably, yes. He needed it badly but Will didn't need to know that. Nico huffed indignantly, "I'm fine."

Will decided to entirely ignore his response and proceeded to pick Nico up again. "What. The. Hell?!"

Will looked at Nico as if he was an idiot, which at this point might not be too far off from the truth. With all of the emotions racing through Nico's head,a mile a minute, he was surprised he could even get a sentence out.

"You can hardly walk! So from here on out, if you need to go somewhere, just ask me. I am never leaving your side!" Will said it so stubbornly it was clear this was not up for argument. But did Will seriously just say that? He was never leaving Nico's side. Huh, maybe Will actually did care about him. Maybe Will cared about him a lot. The nagging voice that he was constantly squashing, the one that told him he might have a chance with Will came back. He nearly believed it, I mean, what are the chances that Will seemed to actually like Nico and he just so happened to also like guys.

"You're the worst."

I try." He looked at Nico smugly, "Where to?"

"I don't care." It occurred to Nico that Will was still the camp's head doctor and he had injured tons of people while opening up Tartarus. And yet, Will was here, with him. "Don't you have some injured campers to take care of?"

"Nope, the other nurses have got it under control." Will looked at nico intently, "And somebody has to take care of you?"

"I can take care of myself!" Nico spluttered.

Will laughed, "Says the guy who can't walk. But since you seem so worried about all the other campers because you care about all of them so much like the obviously kind and loving child you are, let's go to the infirmary and check up on them."

Nico glared at Will, although he wasn't sure how much he could scare Will when he was literally carrying Nico. "Shut up, Solace."

Will rolled his eyes, smiling. How could Will be so happy when so much was going wrong? Will brought him to the infirmary, and Nico nearly dozed off in his arms when Will suddenly broke into a run. Nico was confused until he saw that Will had already stopped running and was laughing. He was mortified to see that he had clung to Will and let go immediately, looking away.

"Was that really necessary?"

Will let out a final spurt of laughter, "Yes."

At this point everybody was staring at them. And fucking Drew had the nerve to snicker. When she saw him glaring at her she waved, biting back laughter. Will was really ruining the reputation Nico had built. I guess the fact that he was immobilized made him a lot less threatening. After forever they reached the infirmary, where Will promptly put Nico down onto a bed, to Nico's great relief.

"My arms hurt." Will groaned.

"Gee, I wonder why," Nico said sarcastically.

Gracie started walking towards them. "Will! Where have you been? We needed you," she called out.

"Yeah, they've clearly got it all under control," Nico muttered, nudging Will.

"Shut up," Will said through his teeth, still looking at Gracie. "Shoot, I'm so sorry. I was just helping out Nico."

Gracie glanced over to him, finally noticing Nico. "Hey Nico, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine." Nico mumbled.

"You sure. You need anything? Nectar, ambrosia, an icepack? Any headaches?" Gracie looked at him concerned.

"Aside from the fact that I can't really walk, I'm fine. But I sincerely doubt you can do anything to fix that."

"You can't walk?" A look of realization crosses her face and she glances at Will who doesn't seem able to meet her gaze. "That explains a lot of things."

Did everybody see Will carrying him? It sure seemed like it. Will interjected before he could respond, "Okay. Nico's fine. We're good. How are things in the infirmary?" Nico could barely see his face, but he was pretty sure Will was blushing.

"Everybody's fine but it's been a bit hectic without you in here. We're already a bit short staffed since Austin is hurt," she gestured to Austin who was lying in one of the cots. She looked back at Nico, "If you want I can get you a wheelchair or crutches, you know, so Will won't have to carry you around anymore? We need him here anyways."

Thank goodness. He was so desperate to not let Will carry him anymore he was planning on just staying in that hospital bed until his legs recovered. "Some crutches would be helpful."

Gracie disappeared into the back cabin and soon returned with two fairly sturdy branches which seemed like they could be used as crutches. "Sorry, we're a bit low on materials. Hey, did you get those cots Will?"

"I scavenged some scraps and I have one of the Hephaestus kids working on it." Will reached a hand into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out bits of fabric. "You can probably use these for bandages."

"Scrap fabric? Where did you get this?"

Will didn't respond.

"Will? Did you go back to the infirmary even with all of…" Gracie trailed off, shaking her head.

"Yes."

Gracie looked unsure whether to be impressed or angry, "That was so danger-"

Will cut off Gracie, who seemed ready to go on a whole rant. "Somebody had to do it." Nico had never seen Will this determined. It wasn't his usual stubbornness, this was just sheer determination. Will's jaw was set and he almost looked… hot. Great, just what he needed, another reason to like Will.

Gracie and Will were still going at it but Nico left them, figuring out how to walk with the crutches. Nico had used crutches before, when he had sprained his ankle, but he realized it was a lot harder to use crutches when you had neither of your legs working. He was basically walking with his hands, only being able to lift up one crutch at a time. It was probably a weird sight, but not as weird as his previous method of transportation so he went with it without complaint.

He walked a few laps around the infirmary, getting the feel of it when he saw Will applauding, "Yay, you're walking! Go Nico!"

What an adorable dork.