Nico sat on his bed with the construction paper and glitter glue in front of him. He may have raided the arts and crafts room for this project, including stealing the big kid scissors from the teacher's desk (the teacher being whichever cabin leader was teaching that day). Being the son of Hades and wielding his infamous Stygian iron blade for a few years now, he didn't think he could manage to cut his finger this bad.

He did, however, see this as an opportunity (excuse) to see Will. The Hades cabin didn't have a first aid kit anyway due to its low population of 1 (occasionally 2 when Hazel comes to visit).

Nico held his finger to prevent blood from dripping anywhere and dashed outside to cabin 7. It was late, past lights out curfew, so Nico knew Will would be there and not the infirmary. He jumped up the steps and knocked, loud enough that he knew Will would hear. The boy could purposefully sleep lightly in case there was some midnight emergency. And in this case, there was.

After a couple of more times knocking, Nico could hear shuffling from the inside, and the door swung open to reveal the blonde. His hair was disheveled and he wore a dark colored hoodie and basketball shorts, his preferred pajamas that he claims will at least keep him decent if he's woken for some emergency. And, again, in this case, he was.

"Nico?" He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and stepped outside, closing the door behind him. "Something wrong?"

"Actually, yeah." Nico held his bloody finger up. His hands where now covered since he hadn't bothered to stop the bleeding with any type of fabric.

The blonde let out a small "oh" of genuine sympathy and curiosity. He took Nico's wrists into his, inspecting the wound closely in the dark. His lips curled into a smile when he realized it wasn't that bad. "I see. Come on."

Keeping a hold of Nico's wrist as if he had just claimed Nico's hand and wound as his prize, Will led the two boys toward the infirmary. Nico noticed that Will had actually managed to put sandals on, whereas Nico had left barefooted. The blades of grass were cool and soft. The night was still. Will held Nico and was taking the boy to care for him. It was comfortable and heart-warming. Nico's heart leapt at the serenity of this moment in time.

They reached the infirmary doors. Will let go of Nico's hands to pull out keys from his shorts pocket and unlock the door, and Nico silently wondered if the blonde always slept with keys in his pocket. He also had never seen the doors locked, but figured they did have expensive and rare supplies inside that they wouldn't want any camper to rummage through.

Inside the door, Will flipped on the lights, illuminating only the half of the space they were using. The lighting was dim, almost romantic. He pulled up a rolling chair. "Take a seat." Nico did as directed.

He spun in the chair, back and forth and occasionally all the way around, as Will grabbed some supplies. Nico watched him bent over, pulling open drawers from the medical cabinet and grabbing one or two items and stuffing them in his hoodie pocket. His face was relaxed, the corner of his lips curled up in the smile that he got when doing a mindless task.

The blonde grabbed another chair and sat in front of Nico, dropping the items he acquired on a tray next to him. He donned blue gloves and pulled out several wipes from a package. They smelled clean and fresh. He began gently cleaning the blood off of Nico's hands. Shivers tingled over Nico's body as Will slowly moved the cold wipe over his palm and fingers. Nico was suddenly aware of how close the two of them were, of how intimate the situation felt. Their knees touched. Will's relaxed smile was still on his lips. His unkempt locks of golden hair were inches away. Nico was tempted to run his fingers through it, if he wasn't being held by Will to clean the blood off them.

The silence between them during the walk over and up to this moment had been comfortable, not awkward like it might have been with anybody else. He knew that Will got quiet when he was tired, usually perking up after some caffeine and dropping back off close to bedtime. Nico didn't feel a need to break the silence. He enjoyed the calming sensation of the movement over his hands, and relaxed into it for another minute or two.

Will spoke up first, just as Nico was grieving how much cleaner his hands looked already.

"So what could've you been doing past lights out to get a cut like this?" His tone was teasing but his voice was soft, remnants of sleep hinted in it. He didn't break his attention on Nico's hands.

"Oh, umm," Nico paused, not wanting to give away the secret of what he was doing. He tried to deflect instead. "It's embarrassing."

Will glanced up, a new look of interest on his face. His blue eyes weren't as bright in the dim light, but Nico stared into them nonetheless.

"Embarrassing? Well, now I have to know. Let me guess." He inspected the wound closer. "A smooth cut, no jags. Mostly superficial. Inside of the finger, not very exposed to elements, so you must've been doing something with your hands…" He pondered for a moment, then met Nico's gaze, raising an eyebrow. "Scissors?"

Nico was taken aback. "Uh, yeah. That's actually right. Is that some kind of power I didn't know about?"

Will chuckled and went back to the wiping. "No, not really. First aid training includes examining the wound to look for signs of potential causes. Just in case it might involve toxins or bacteria or any source of infection, and if the person isn't able to tell us. Or in your case, if the person doesn't want to tell us." He glanced up and smirked.

"That makes sense," Nico nodded.

Will turned and tossed the used wipes into a trash bin. Nico already missed the feel of Will's hands on his. He looked down at the cut, now more visible. Blood already started to well up and spill down the side. He turned his hand to prevent it from dripping.

Will picked up a bottle and poured the liquid onto a dry cloth. It smelled strong and sour, definitely rubbing alcohol. The blonde took Nico's hand again, for which he was grateful, and swabbed the wound with the disinfectant. It stung, but not bad enough to make Nico flinch (for which he was also grateful. He was the son of Hades, he'd survived two wars, he couldn't look weak in front of the boy he liked because of a small cut).

"So what were the scissors for?" Will spoke up again.

Poseidon's underpants, Nico was caught in this situation again. He tried to play it off, shrugging. "I was cutting something."

"Something more than your finger?" He smirked.

"Just some paper."

Will hummed in acknowledgment, seemingly accepting the short, vague answer. He disposed of the alcohol swabs and grabbed a jar of some ointment, smoothing a bit of it around the cut with a gloved finger. Once satisfied with that, he opened a bandage and wrapped the cut.

"There, all better." He smiled, taking off the gloves and tossing them in the trash. Nico wiggled his finger, not as flexible with the bandage.

"I'm sorry I woke you up. My cabin doesn't have a first aid kit, so…"

"No worries, it happens," he shrugged.

"Can I help clean any of this up?" Nico moved to stand, gesturing to the tray. Will stood up with him, waving it off.

"Oh no, I can get it tomorrow. I'll have time."

They stood there together for a moment, this time in a silence more awkward than before.

Will ran a hand through his hair. "We should probably get back to bed."

"Right," Nico nodded.

They exited the infirmary, Will locked it back up. When they made it back to the cabins where they normally split off, Nico held up his bandaged hand. "Well, thanks."

"No problem. Stop by tomorrow for a new bandage. And probably a first aid kit for in there," he laughed and nodded toward the Hades cabin.

"Can do," Nico laughed back, not wanting to leave the boy just yet. But Will headed off anyway, hands in his hoodie pocket. "G'Night," he called over his shoulder.

"Night." Nico grudgingly went back inside.

A couple of days later was Valentine's Day. Nico had never cared for or even really acknowledged the date before. When he wasn't at camp, the only reason he knew it was around was because of the decorations in McDonald's and other stores. At camp though, the Aphrodite cabin made it a big deal. They had festivities planned for throughout the week, everything themed about love. Nico found it was nauseating.

But there were two things he could appreciate about it. One, the idea that love doesn't have to mean one significant other. The Aphrodite kids had activities planned around the love of community, for friends, for guardian figures or mentors, for pets, and even objects and hobbies. It was refreshing to see.

The second thing was… he could use this as an opportunity to flirt with Will. Nothing big or extraordinary, but a solid sign that Nico was into him. Nico had finished his project the night after he had to get Will's help for his cut finger. Now it was the next day, Valentine's Day, and Nico was going to give it to him.

Not directly of course, because that's too up front. The dark haired boy had made sure to see Will at the dining pavilion during lunch, and snuck into the infirmary. He now knew he couldn't do it at night because it would've been locked, so he had to risk it during the day with other campers around. Nonetheless, he pulled it off. No one else was inside so he left the item on the seat of the chair at the desk. He just had to hope Will was the one to find it. But with how often the healer boy was in there, Nico had no doubt he would. With a smirk and a heart beat a little too fast to be considered calm, Nico strode back to his cabin. (Not at all to hide away and wait in anticipation for the other boy to find it, and not wait around for whatever likely awkward interaction they are bound to have afterward, nope not at all.)

Will opened the door and made his way into the infirmary. He almost hadn't come back since one of the Aphrodite's kids activities was going to happen soon, but he had forgotten something that he needed to grab.

Walking by the desk, a glint of red caught his eye. He did a double-take. There sitting on the chair was what looked like a red flower. It possibly could've been a carnation, except it was much larger. And it was made of construction paper. Will looked around, half expecting someone to step out and yell "surprise! You're my valentine!" But no one else was around.

Will delicately picked it up by the frilly edges. It sparkled with glitter, he guessed from the glue that held each individual layer of the flower together. A solid piece of the bottom fell, hanging onto the rest. Will almost thought he'd ruined the flower, but then realized it was like a card. He turned it over, reading the words that were neatly written in marker.

"Happy Valentine's Day. I like you. I hope you like me too."

Will blushed, his heart squeezed in a good way. It wasn't signed, and he was almost dejected that maybe it wasn't meant for him, but the bottom said,

"P.S. Don't mind the blood. It's dry now."

If he wasn't before, he was positive now of who left the card. Will couldn't have been more flushed or excited or happy. He laughed and hugged the card gently. Then bounced around in a circle, ran around the desk squeeing and laughing. He kept glancing between the card and the ceiling, almost not believing it was real in his hands. His chest felt like it might burst with joy. He leaned against the desk and sighed, one of contented new love.

Right then, Kayla poked her head in, her voice impatient. "Will, you comin'?"

"Yeah! Be right there." He placed the card on the desk, not wanting it to get ruined, gave it one last smile, and ran off toward his sister, the smile stuck on his lips.