October 21
Will
Will tried not to watch Nico as he sat on the porch of the Big House with Chiron. It had been over a month since their yelling match, and they hadn't spoken since. A couple times a week Will would see Nico at camp discussing the New Rome trip, but he'd rarely do anything with the other campers or even eat at the mess hall before he left for Camp Jupiter again. Sometimes Will would glimpse him practicing sword fighting, but there weren't many campers left who were both a match for his skill and unafraid of him. Nico seemed to have fallen back into constant brooding, and the younger campers, especially, tried to steer clear.
Even though Will was still mad at Nico for thinking things would just be ok after disappearing, he found himself wishing that they were on speaking terms. The guy Kayla and Lou Ellen had set him up with was fine, but not terribly interesting. Will hadn't lied to Nico, he did have a date for the Feast of Jupiter, but it was orchestrated by his friends rather than his own doing. Since the campfire 'blind date' (or as much as it could be in a camp where everyone knew about each other), Will and the other boy had attended one or two campfires a week together. It was nice having someone to sit next to and flirt with a little, but it wasn't the same. If Kayla and Lou Ellen hadn't insisted on Will going to the Feast of Jupiter, and going with someone, Will would've just stayed at camp. He had a hard time getting excited about the trip after hearing all about New Rome from Nico. Every time someone brought it up, he flashed back to Nico's infirmary stay, when they actually started to get to know one another, and found himself wishing that it would be Nico showing him the university rather than a group tour guide.
Will wasn't sure what he wanted from Nico at this point. A large part of him wanted to yell some more. But another part, one that seemed to take up more space each week Nico was gone, simply wanted Nico to come back to Camp Half Blood so they could fall back into the routine they had established in August. Lou Ellen had decided that Will was definitely better off without Nico, and she was leading the charge to make sure Will had the very best time with the guy she found for him, which led to forced 'romantic' situations and her very obvious attempts playing wingman. Kayla was more sympathetic, and while she also wanted Will to move on, she seemed to understand that it wasn't so easy. To her credit, she only called Will out when he got unnecessarily wrapped up in organizing and cleaning the infirmary. Cecil minded his own business, which Will appreciated the most.
As the trip to New Rome drew closer, Will began to avoid Lou Ellen and her questions about how his 'new relationship' was going. He didn't really want to answer because if he said it was going well he'd be lying, but if he said otherwise she would start in on how he had to give it a chance because Nico wasn't coming back, which he didn't want to hear. Will also didn't want to lead anyone on, and discussing his feelings about any of it just reminded him that he wasn't being fair to the other boy or himself.
For the most part, Will tried to avoid thinking about the New Rome trip or his date and often found excuses to spend evenings organizing paperwork and his free class periods working on archery. One good thing that would come out of all of this, at least, was that by spring he would be nearly as good as Austin with a bow and arrow.
Will sighed as he took the long way around the house to the infirmary so he wouldn't run into Nico on the porch. As much as he missed him, he was determined to not be the first one to apologize. Apart from the yelling, Will knew he didn't have anything to apologize for. But Will was worried that if he happened to run into Nico he'd let him off too easy, and he needed more time to sort out his feelings and get back to normal.
Will sat down at the infirmary desk and got out the binders of paperwork, but ended up staring at the bed under the corner window for a good 15 minutes deep in thought before he cleared his head and got to work.