Hey, this is Klyonsm2. I'm sorry it took so long to update, but the past few days have been incredible chaotic. I've been meaning to post since, like, 2 days ago, but I literally just finished the chapter. Hope you like it!

Chapter 9: The bad day

Will was vaguely aware of the conversation going on between Nico and Jason. Will sat up the breakfast table, trying desperately trying to at least look awake.

"Wait. Tuesday? I thought we were leaving Saturday." Jason sat, not far down the table, absolutely confused.

"The plan changed. " Nico said, almost emotionless. "I talked to Reyna this morning. The SUVs are leaving today to come pick us up. It's going to take them 2 days, more or less, to get here. "

That didn't put Jason's curiosity to rest. "But why? Did something happen? Why did the plan change?"

"We decided to change it so that you guys will have more time in New Rome. I figured you'd want to have time to build a few shines." Nico shrugged casually.

Jason wasn't buying it. "Okay, but what's the real reason?"
Nico avoided Jason's question and continued. "Tell the others so they have time to pack. They need to warn their cabins they'll be leaving early. Ill talk to Chiron."

Jason tried to start asking questions again but Nico was ignoring him at this point.
"So Will, " Nico practically shouted over Jason, attracting the stares of a few other campers at other tables. "Anything interesting happen in the infirmary today?"
Will furrowed his brow. "I haven't even gone into the infirmary yet today. It's breakfast."

Will knew that Nico was just trying to change the topic of conversation and couldn't think of anything better at the top of his head. Will also knew that Nico wanted Will to carry on the conversation with him as in attempt to drown out Jason. Above all, Will knew Nico was hiding something. It was painfully obvious. At least when Nico usually kept secrets, he was good at hiding them, but being confronted about it by Jason had thrown him off. Whatever it was, Nico really really didn't want to talk about it, at least, not to Jason.
"So, what are you planning on doing today?" Will asked Nico, trying to save him from having to tell Jason.

Will didn't like secrets all too much, but he wasn't going to make Nico tell Jason if he didn't want to. Will felt bad for helping Nico in an attempt to ignore Jason, but if Nico wanted Jason to know, he would tell him. Heck, Will didn't even know.
Nico shrugged and said "I guess I might do some training, probably sword fighting. I might pack a little after that."
"Oh, that's good I guess." Will said sounding a bit bitter. Will wasn't quite sure why, but a cool wave of sadness washed over him. Maybe it was because Will was a bit moody because he had barely gotten any sleep. Or maybe it was because Nico was leaving for New Rome in 2 days without him.
Suddenly, Will felt incredibly selfish. He wasn't entitled to go to New Rome with Nico. Nico hadn't even invited him. Nico had barely even talked to Will about it. Maybe Nico really didn't want Will to go. Maybe Nico was going in an attempt to escape Will's annoying-ness (Will was almost positive that after all the bossing around Will did, Nico found Will incredibly annoying).
Will felt stupid and foolish to think that anything good was going to happen between Nico and him after last night. He felt stupid for even considering kissing Nico, when Nico probably thought Will was pushy.

Nico looked shocked that Will suddenly sounded so upset. Will looked at his watch. 8:30 am.
He should really be getting to the infirmary. Camp activities would be starting in just a few minutes and there were plenty of accidents to be had. It's not like there was any shortage of hazardous stuff at this camp.
"Well, " Will said before Nico could think of how to respond, "I need to be going to the infirmary now. There's plenty of stuff to do before people start hurting themselves."
Will gathered his stuff and began walking toward the infirmary. He wanted to just walk away, but he forced himself to stop and say bye to Nico and Jason. Just because he was upset didn't mean he had to be rude.

The day in the infirmary was slow and painfully boring. The Stolls sat there and whined about all the pranks they could be pulling. Lou Ellen's medicine kept her knocked out pretty much all day. Will tried to bury himself in his work, but it was hard to concentrate. Will could barely keep his eyes open, much less control his emotions or, gods forbid, focus.
The Stolls picked up on Will's moodiness and tried to cheer him up by telling Will tales of pranks past, but Will wasn't up for it.
"I don't think I've ever actually seen a child of Apollo frown before." Conner whispered to Travis as Will was walking away, as if Will couldn't hear them
"Me neither." Travis whispered back.
Conner leaned closer toward Travis and tried to whisper more quietly. "Do you think it has something to do with Di Angelo?"
Travis thought about it for a moment then leaned over to the same degree and said "yeah."

"You know, you two would live a lot longer if you would keep your mouths shut. Trust me, I'm a doctor." Will snapped.
The Stolls gaped in silent awe.
Will took in the moment. The stolls were actually speechless for probably the first time in history. It was music to Will's ears.

After several exhausting hours, Will was finally done with his shift at the infirmary. Will went straight to dinner, which was just beginning. Will sat with his cabin, partially because he felt bad for leaving them the past 2 meals, partially because a portion of him was still cross with Mr. Di Angelo. Will still felt incredibly selfish for being upset about something like that, but that didn't change the fact that he felt hurt. He felt hurt because Nico hadn't even considered asking him to go too. In a way, he felt abandoned, like he wasn't part of some kind of club. He felt like he wasn't one of the few people Nico Di Angelo cared about.
Why should I be? Will internally scolded himself.

Dinner passed miserably slow. He couldn't help but to steal glances over at Nico, who was sitting at the Zeus table, having a quiet conversation with Jason. Will swore he caught Nico staring at him sometimes when he looked over, but Will was so tired, it could've just been the mist playing tricks on him.
Whatever Nico was talking to Jason about, Nico wore a constant look of concern, and that concerned Will. Will desperately tried to ignore Nico, as if he wasn't even in the dining pavilion, and tried to concentrate on the discussion his siblings were having. Something about discus going horribly wrong.
The whole ignoring Nico plan wasn't going very well.

...
Nico was worried about Will's health. He was shocked by how the roles had reversed. Just yesterday morning, Will was fretting over Nico and his health. Now, Nico sat across the table from Jason, unable to fight the urge to look at the Apollo table, where Will sat.

Nico was sure something was wrong. Well, in Nico's life, there was always something wrong, but this was different. Will was a generally happy person, so his bitterness that morning at breakfast had thrown Nico off. Now, Will had abandoned Nico and Jason to sit with his siblings, which Nico wasn't mad about, but he found it unlike Will. Will loved his siblings, but if everything was okay, Will would have at least warned Nico he was sitting else where.
Finally, halfway through dinner, Jason confronted him. "Okay, what happened with Will?"

"Nothing." Nico tried to brush it off, but Nico was sure he wasn't going to pull the wool over Jason's eyes.

"Okay," Nico said finally. "I'm not entirely sure what's wrong. Yesterday, Will was my best friend. Today, he's barely been talking to me."
Jason fake gasped and put his hand on his chest, as if Nico had hurt his heart. "I'm not your best friend?"

"Shut up Jason."

Jason shrugged. "I'm just trying to lighten the mood. So, what did you do?"

Nico sighed in defeat. "I don't know. There's a lot of reasons that could've lead to Will being mad at me, I just don't know which one."

"Ah, boyfriend troub- OWW." Jason groaned as Nico kicked him in the shin.
"Look," Jason said, rubbing his leg. "I'm no expert, but why don't you just ask him?"
Nico wanted to ask Jason if he had gone insane, but after thinking it over, Nico actually thought it was an okay idea. More of a plan than anything Nico had.

...Later...
Nico tiptoed up to the Apollo cabin. He wasn't sure why he was trying to be sneaky. He wasn't breaking any rules. It was before curfew. He was allowed to go to other people's cabin. Why was he acting like he was a villain?
He stood at the front door of the Apollo cabin, foolishly hoping no one was home, even though he knew the cabin was filled with probably 2 dozen or so children. He could feel his heart starting to pound. He managed to get himself to knock on the door. It seemed like forever before someone answered the door. Nico recognized the girl who answered the door as Kayla, one of Will's siblings.
"Ill get him." She said before Nico had even said anything. "WILL!" she yelled loud enough for half of camp to hear. Nico heard a series of loud crashes and a lot of cursing from Will Solace before, finally, Will appeared at the door. He had a slight scowl until he saw Nico, his expression becoming more neutral.

No one spoke until Kayla had retreated into the cabin and shut the door. Nico was staring at his shoe laces. His heart was going insanely fast and he felt his face slowly starting to turn red for no reason.
"Wanna go for a walk?" Nico shrugged. Nico wanted to cringe at his own awkwardness.

Will shrugged back. "Sure."

The walk to the place was even more awkward. There was dead silent. Finally, Nico saw a spot that would be good for talking. It was a small cliff over looking the long island sound, illuminated by Artemis's sleigh (A.K.A. the moon). It was far away from the cabins and hopefully no one would stumble upon them.
Nico wasn't really into heart felt confessions, but this wasn't the first time he'd just have to deal with it. He just hoped this one would be way less painful than the last one he had with Jason when Nico was still on Argo II.
Nico sat on a grassy patch by the edge of the cliff. Will followed his example, though there was a large gap between Will and Nico that Nico really didn't like. He wanted to scoot closer but he didn't want to scare Will away.
"So," Nico tried to sound casual, but his heart was beating in his throat. "What's wrong?"
Will put on an ill disguised fake look of shock. "Nothing's wrong."
Nico looked Will in the eyes and said "Will, do you really think I'm that stupid?"
Will sighed, knowing he'd have to come clean.
"I don't know. My emotions are just kind of everywhere. I was already depressed about not being able to save that Pegasus."
"And?" Nico probed.
Will shrugged, slumping his shoulders. "Well, you and the seven and coach hedge are leaving for New Rome in two days and then I'll be stuck here by myself again."

"You'll always have your siblings." Nico suggested.

"Yeah, i guess." Will agreed. "But after being stuck in the infirmary and with my siblings for so many years, I just want to get out into the world for a while. I know a vacation is a wistful thought for a demigod, but...I don't know."

Nico took that in for a moment. Will wanted to go to New Rome with Nico. "Will, I want you to go to New Rome too, but I don't think you understand. It's going to be dangerous and I don't want to be responsible for your death."
It was clear Will didn't believe him. "A feast is going to be dangerous?"

Nico knew he was going to have to tell Will what Reyna had said in order for Will to understand. Nico really needed Will to understand that it wasn't because Nico hated him, it was because he wanted to protect him.

Nico explained what was happening. He explained the random deaths and the trouble brewing.
"So the Pegasus dying wasn't my fault." Will said finally.
Nico nodded. Some of the light returned to Will's eyes.

Will continued, still thinking about what Nico had just said. "I still want to go."

"You can't go." Nico some how stated and pleaded at the same time. Nico knew a few things. He knew Will was stubborn (extremely stubborn). And he knew that he probably wasn't going to change Will's mind. But he also knew he had to at least try to.
"It's not safe to go. If it comes down to it, you're inexperienced at fighting. You'll get yourself killed."

"I'm a big boy. I can handle myself." Will objected.

"Why can't you understand that you can't go!" Nico argued too loud. "If you go and something happens to you, how am I supposed to live with myself? I can't let someone else close to me die!"

"Why can't you understand," Will was yelling too now. "that if you leave and do something stupid, like using your powers, and get yourself killed, i'll live with the guilt of not being able to stop you! Why can't you understand that I don't want this to be one of the last times I see you!"
"It won't be!" Nico tried to reassure Will, but Will wasn't having any of it.

"Nico, you know better than anyone that that's a lie! You're the son of Hades! Look, I know you want to be noble, but you're being a real hypocrite. You sit here, telling me I can't do something because it would put me in danger, but you're in more danger going alone! I want to save the world as much as you do, but I can't do it if you won't let me! You said it yourself. You can't win by just sitting there. " Will screamed finally, utterly upset.

Will was right. Nico couldn't tell Will to stay here while Nico did all the hero work. Will was also right that Nico was probably in more danger going without him. With Will not around, Nico was more likely to take the chance of using his powers.
Nico was silent for a minute or so. At last, he calmly said "you're right."

Will, who had been ready to continue arguing, was taken back. Will rarely won their arguments. "Does that mean you're going to let me go?" Will half-whispered.

Nico sighed. "All I can say is, you've been warned. If I were you, I'd get packing. We're leaving Tuesday, as soon as our ride gets here."

"Yes, sir!" Will joked, grinning.