AN: I have a lot of stuff right now, so I'm might not update as frequently. I'll try though. And if you can read this please let me know in the reviews, this chapter was really hard to post for some reason.

It was a good thing Nico was back up on his feet again. Will loved carrying him, but his arms were going to go numb pretty soon.

"We should probably get going if we're going to make it to the campfire." Gracie interrupted Will's train of thought.

"Oh yeah, we should probably get going. Death boy, you coming?"

Nico glanced up at Will, "I don't know. Maybe."

Will got that Nico was injured, and nobody wanted Nico to rest more than Will, but this was the campfire. Nico couldn't seriously think about skipping it. The last time he had skipped was a few years ago when he had acute diarrhea and he couldn't stop projectile vomiting. "You're coming."

Nico sighed and Will knew he had won. "Fine. Just give me a minute."

Satisfied, Will followed Gracie at the door, glancing back to make sure Nico was following. He wasn't, but Will was sure he would show up. He had faith in Nico.

Once they got to the campfire, most of the other kids were already there. His guitar was lying on the ground and he picked it up, sitting where it once was. He glanced around and noticed that Nico still hadn't arrived. He contemplated stalling but realized it wasn't necessary since most of the campers were deep in conversation. Only Chiron had noticed his arrival, and signaled for the campers to quiet down so they could begin the sing-a-long. After that failed, Chiron whistled so loudly it made Will wince. That shut everybody up.

"Okay people," Chiron clapped his hands, "Let's get this campfire started."

Will started strumming his guitar, half-heartedly singing the songs. He mostly let the rest of the campers carry the tune, his eyes everywhere. As the first song was nearing an end, he was relieved to see Nico limping out of the infirmary. Will eagerly waved him over, and Nico limped over with a lopsided smile on his face.

Will threw all his goals to act not interested or 'chill' out the window, "You came!"

"You thought I wouldn't?" Nico smirked at him. Gods. This kid. Always messing with his emotions.

Well two could play at that game, "Well, I didn't put much thought into it."

"Oh, really?" Nico let out a small, somewhat hollow laugh and Will wasn't sure whether he was disheartened or amused. He was hoping it was the latter.

"Okay, well maybe I put some thought into it." So maybe he couldn't play that game. But he did his best!

He wanted to continue his conversation with Nico, but campers were staring at him, expecting him to start the next song. Which he did. Will never managed to catch his eye, but Will was pretty sure that Nico had been looking at him throughout the next few songs, and it made him sing harder.

After the campfire, the campers began dispersing as usual, but Mr. D called them back. Will was confused since, as far as he knew, nothing new had happened to provoke a camp announcement.
"Alright, listen up. We don't know for sure, but there is a chance that the opening in the infirmary messes with the camp borders."

Will wondered what that might mean. Was the camp under attack again?

Mr. D was still talking and Will tried hard to hear him over the sound of the other campers. "Yes, monsters might be able to get through camp borders again. So we need some campers to go into the forest on patrol. Any volunteers?" Most campers were hesitant to put their hand up, not wanting to get involved in any more fights with monsters, after all that had happened during their war with Gaea.

The first person to step up was Clarrise, which was shortly followed by Percy. The competition between the two of them seemed never ending, although more amiable than before. There was no more hostility between them, and the hatred wasn't entirely genuine. From the backs of the crowd, a scrawny pale hand poked up. It was Nico. What the fuck was he doing? He was limping, prone to dizziness, and weak, yet he volunteered himself for a potentially deadly task? Without thinking, Will volunteered himself, hoping he would be able to protect Nico. And Nico had the audacity to glare at him. Ugh, Nico could be such an idiot sometimes.

"Okay. Peter and Clarrise, you check the east side. Nico and Will, you go west. Make sure you check your entire zone. Start in the morning. Campfire adjourned."

Nico tried to avoid Will after the campfire, which was futile, since Will had two fully functioning legs and Nico had none. When Will inevitably caught up, he was surprised to see Nico talk first.

"What the hell did you do that for?" He did it to protect Nico, but there was no way he was saying that. If he did, Nico would get all defensive and shut down on him.

"Nobody else was going to, and somebody had to do it." Will shrugged it off.

Nico looked appalled, "How can you take this so lightly? What happens if you get killed, this whole camp needs you!" Nico sighed and shook his head, "How could you be so stupid?"

"How could you?!" Will yelled back, "What happens if you get killed, have you ever thought of that?"

Nico scoffed, 'Nothing happens because nobody cares." He began to leave but Will stopped him.

"I care."

That stopped Nico in his tracks and Will felt beyond relieved. Maybe it was because Nico caring that Will cared about him might mean that Nico cared about Will. He should really just work up the nerve and ask Nico out already. Nico was probably going to say no, but in the grand scheme of things it hardly even mattered. Nico at least had to care enough about him to not ditch him if Nico ended up rejecting him. At least Will hoped so.

"I'm sure you do. Just like everybody else. Why don't you leave me be, I want to be alone. Just go, you don't actually want to be here anyways!"

Will wanted to respond in a million different ways, but Nico stormed off before he could say another word.

He tried to get some sleep before his morning patrol, but he was up all night thinking about Nico. He tossed and turned in bed all night. When the next day began, he felt exhausted, but still unable to fall asleep. He didn't think he would ever be able to, not until he smoothed things over with Nico.

It was 5 in the morning when he rapped on Nico's door, and he heard a groan from the other side.

Will was hesitant to bring up last night, but it had to be done somehow. He couldn't just let that sit between them. "You know I really like you, right? Like, I genuinely like you." Shit. Will worried Nico might hear that wrong and realize he was into Nico. Or maybe he was just being paranoid.

He heard an annoyed sigh from inside, "Whatever."

"I'm serious. Now get your butt out the door, we still have patrol duty. You can't ditch that just because you hate me." Will let out a small laugh, for Nico's sake, hoping it might lighten the mood a bit.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming. Give me a few minutes."

Will sat on the doorsteps for like twenty minutes until Nico showed up. He found that kind of weird because Nico literally wore the same shirt and jacket every single day. Although, he did totally rock that look. He had to take Nico shopping sometime, the guy totally needed some more clothes.

Nico walked out much more composed than he had sounded earlier, "Hey Sunshine, you ready to go?"

Sunshine, seriously? Will could do better than that. "I've been over here waiting for you, Death Boy. Let's go."

They started towards the woods, Nico being unable to keep pace because of his crutches. Halfway there, without a word of warning, Will picked up both Nico and his crutches and broke into a run. He only stopped when they were in the woods. He gently placed Nico back on his feet, handing over the crutches.

"You know, for somebody who seems to care so much about my health, you don't seem to care very much that you practically yanked my arm off picking me up!"

"If it's dislocated, I know how to fix it," Will offered. "And try to be a little quieter, you know, if that isn't too hard for you. That yell probably alerted any monsters for a few hundred miles."

Will could've sworn Nico smiled a bit, "Let's just start patrolling."

"We're going west, right?"

"Yeah."

The two of them began their patrol, walking through the woods in silence, always glancing around.