"So, Nico." Annabeth said when they'd all gotten their breakfast and sat down at the Poseidon table. "I heard you're spending your time in the infirmary."

Nico swallowed a big bite of his apple and almost gagged. He blushed but hoped the others would think it was due to his coughing. Will sat beside him, close enough for their arms to touch slightly. Nico would not be the first to withdraw his arm.

"Yeah…" he said. "I needed some rest, I guess."

"You guess?" Will scowled at him. "You were half-dead."

"I was not," Nico insisted, though he knew Will was right. He evaded everyone's gazes and looked at his apple.

"Oh?" Piper eyed him curiously. "Did you meet a nice girl there?"

Jason choked on his Cheerios and started coughing, Percy blushed to his roots and Annabeth barely held back a smile. Nico sighed; then he suddenly realised that Piper was the only person on the table that didn't know his 'secret'. The thought was strange, but it made him happy.

"Actually," he began, encouraged by how well the others had taken it. "I'm not interested in girls, Piper."

"Oh, well, maybe not yet, but I'm sure you'll be-"

"No," Nico insisted. "What I mean is I… like boys." There, he'd said it. It was the first time he'd actually, openly, admitted to it. It didn't feel half as horrible as he'd expected it.

Piper stared at him with big eyes.

"Oh – oooh! Oh?" She said, which amused Nico. He smiled faintly.

"Yes."

"And you knew?" She stared around, scanning their faces.

"Well, you know…" Jason shrugged.

Annabeth smiled wryly.

"Not like I'm his type." Percy shrugged and Annabeth elbowed him. "Hey!"

"Please, Percy, we've talked about this."

"I mean, come on? What's there not to like about me? I'm your type, right, Annabeth?"

"Yeah, yeah, you are." She said, though she didn't sound utterly convincing.

Nico was a little embarrassed but sitting here, with his friends (yes, he actually realised they were his friends), talking openly about something that had tormented him his entire life made him strangely happy.

Only after a few moments Jason seemed to realise that Will was at their table.

"Wait," he said and locked his eyes on the son of Apollo. "You knew, too?"

Will shrugged and Nico felt his face grow warmer.

"We kind of talked about it."

"How do you kind of talk about that?" Percy asked, his usual sheepish self.

"Percy, leave them alone." Annabeth scolded. The daughter of Athena was way too perceptive for Nico's taste and he started feeling restless.

"Hmmm." Piper studied them and he trusted her, a daughter of Aphrodite, even less.

His feet started feeling itchy. At last, he got up.

"Anyway," he said, looking around. "We've go to go now."

"What?" Will asked.

"Yes," Nico insisted. "Will has to go back to healing and I… have to rest."

Nico felt very rested, indeed, but he wasn't going to admit that.

"But I haven't finished breakfast." Will looked up at him innocently and Nico could feel his ears burning.

"We're going!" He ordered and pulled the son of Apollo along.

"Nico!" Will called out as Nico dragged him over the courtyard. "Hey, Nico, slow down!"

Slowly, Nico reduced his pace. Will regretted his words when Nico let go of his sleeve.

"Sorry."

"No, um, I mean…" Will wasn't sure what to say. "How is your arm?"

Smooth.

Nico's hand wandered onto his werewolf claw mark.

"Better, actually," he said.

"Well, I'll be the judge of that," Will huffed, hoping to get Nico back into the infirmary.

When they stepped in together, Will's sister Thea scowled at him.

"Where were you?!" She demanded. "You were supposed to be here an hour ago!"

Had he really spent so much time with Nico?

"I'm sorry!" He said and Nico stepped in.

"He was with me," he said and Thea cocked her head. "Uh, I mean – he was with me and Annabeth and Percy and Jason and Piper and then we Iris messaged Hazel and Frank and Reyna…"

"What are you talking about?" Thea looked utterly confused.

"What he means is there was a, um, emergency at Cabin three," Will tried.

"An emergency involving chocolate?" The pointed at his face and immediately Will wiped his face. Ugh, had he looked like that the entire time? He shot Nico a sideways glance.

"Anyway, I'm here now." Will walked past her energetically. "And you guys are fine without me anyway. There's barely anyone left in here."

In fact, counting Nico, there were only three patients left. The boy from the Hermes cabin who had cried out two nights before and a girl from Hecate.

Thea sighed.

"Alright, just get back to your work, alright?"

"Yes, yes." Will smiled; he knew his sister wasn't that stubborn. Good for him.

"I'll see you tonight at dinner."

"Bye."

And Thea walked off, leaving Will with his two sleeping patients and Nico.

"So, um…" Nico began and Will turned towards him.

"Hm?"

"I actually… I'm not really tired." The son of Hades checked out the tips of his shoes with great interest.

"Huh?" Will was confused. Hadn't Nico said earlier that he needed rest?

"Well, I, I mean… I slept really well last night… no dreams."

Will remembered himself singing Nico a lullaby and blushed slightly.

"Oh… that's good," he said sheepishly.

"Hm."

They just stood there in silence for a minute until Will thought of something.

"Oh, yeah, your wound!" he exclaimed and gently shoved Nico toward the nursing room.

"Ah, yeah…"

As the day before Nico rolled up the sleeves of his Camp shirt. Will approached him with skilful hands. He took off the bandaged and whistled when he saw the claw marks glowing faintly pink.

"It does look a lot better."

"See?" Nico said. "I told you so."

"Yup, you did." Will gave him an easy smile and Nico averted his eyes.

"A-anyway," he blurted out. "Thanks, um, for getting the girls earlier."

"Oh, that?" Will chuckled and Nico's chest was filled with butterflies. Oh, geez. "That was nothing. I'm glad Leo isn't dead."

"Yeah. It would have crushed the others if he had."

"You not so much?" Will looked up inquisitively.

"Well, I mean…" Nico didn't want to sound bad. "We are quite different, Leo and me, and so we never really bonded." Nico shrugged. "He had an aura of death around him all along."

"You better not walk around telling people that." Will smirked.

"I'm just stating facts," Nico answered, feeling a little bit annoyed. He was not a people person.

"You can't walk around telling people they're about to die. They won't like to hear that." Will had finished wrapping up Nico's arm and stared at him bemusedly.

"Yeah, Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. Nobody wants to hang around that downer." Nico grit his teeth.

"Oh, shut it, Nico!"

Nico was surprised when he found Will glare at him angrily. He shrank a little.

"First of all, there are loads of people who want to be around you. Today should be an indicator for that." Will stemmed his hands in his sides, looking utterly enraged. "And secondly, you're great as you are, so don't worry about that."

Nico thought he hadn't heard right.

You're great as you are.

He stared at Will, dumbfounded. The son of Apollo seemed to have realised his wording and blushed.

"Uh, I mean," Will turned around to put his supplies back in the drawer, "you shouldn't change yourself for other people's sakes."

"Uh-huh." Nico nodded quietly and clenched his hands together.

"I, um, I should probably look after the other two now," Will said. "So why don't you rest?"

"I'm not tired, Will," Nico mumbled.

"Then, um…" Will looked at Nico, his face still flushed. "How about you help me?"

"Help you?" How could Nico help Will at healing?

"Yeah… I mean you could assist me and stuff…" Will shrugged, obviously at a loss of what to say.

Nico blinked, counted to ten and then said:

"Okay."