Nico was woken in the early hours of the morning by shuffling coming from the far corner of the room, while a dark shadow riffled through the medical draws in the corner of the room. Dawn was just starting to peek through the gap in the curtains casting a soft orange glow into the room. Keeping the rest of his body as still as possible Nico edged his left hand closer to the night stand where he had places his sword the previous night, hilt facing towards him. Grabbing a secure hold on the hilt of his sword, Nico sat up straight in bed in one swift sudden movement, his weapon pointing straight at the unknown intruder. Will wheeled around at the sound of Nico's sudden movement, his pulse sky rocketing and his breath catching in his throat as he came face to face with the black blade the other boy was holding mere inches from his face.

"Er..." Will stuttered, never taking his eyes off of the sword "mind putting that down?" laughing slightly, trying to add some humour to the situation. Sighing, and also slightly out of breath from adrenaline, Nico lowered the sword to swing loosely at his side. "What are you doing here Solace" Nico asked, an exasperated tone clouding his words, annoyed at being woken from his, for once, peaceful sleep.

"I was trying" Will sighed "to find something to cover this!" he stated, gesturing to his eye where the slight shadowing of a bruise last night had erupted into a large blackish purple mark covering his eye and cheek. Nico blushed as he caught a full view of the damage he had done to Will's face. "I've tried everything I can think of: ambrosia, nectar cream, healing chants, I've even prayed to my dad but nothings worked! Clearly Apollo wants me HUMILIATED throughout camp" Nico jumped as Will started swinging round wildly and shouted to the sky, as if that would make any difference. "Look I'm sorry" he continued, his voice calmer and softer as he once again addressed Nico, "I know you didn't want people finding out about this and I can't lie for toffee... If someone asks me what happened they're not going to believe what I tell them"

"You're sorry?" Nico asked, staring in amazement at the blonde boy in front of him "I'm the one that should be apologizing; I gave you a flippin' black eye for gods sake!" Sighing in defeat Nico moved to sit himself back on his bed, Will joined him a second later, sitting side by side both boys rested their backs against the wall while their legs stretched out in front of them. "So what are we going to do?" Will asked, breaking the pensive silence between them.

"Pray to your dad?"

"Tried that. Didn't work"

"Concealer?"

"Would have to ask the Aphrodite cabin. Which would probably create more problems than it'd solve"

"You could hide out here all day?"

Will laughed "As much as I'd enjoy that Death Boy I think someone would come looking for me." There was a small pause before Will began to speak again "Why can't we just tell people you hit me? We don't need to tell them why you hit me so technically I wouldn't be lying..." Will turned his head to face Nico as he spoke, the latter nodding his head at the idea, a small smile making it's way onto his face.

"Not a bad idea Sunshine" gently nudging Will with his elbow as he spoke "Won't stop Jason though... he'll interrogate you, asking what you did to make me hit you, he'll try and defend my honour" Nico's tone was sarcastic as he turned to face the other boy, there faces dangerously close. Both boys felt their heart rates spike as a certain tension spread between them. A red flush spread across Nico's cheeks like wildfire as he quickly turned to face forward once more, pressing the back of his head against the coolness of the rooms wall. Taking a deep breath to compose himself, slow his heart rate, steady his breathing. "And don't ever call me Death Boy again" The pair laughed good naturedly before falling into a comfortable silence.

"An eye patch?!" Will exclaimed, causing the young Italian to burst out laughing. "I think that's even worse than the concealer idea" Nico replied, still laughing.

...

By this point the sun had well since risen, bathing the pair in a soft glow from what little light was making it's way through the split in the curtains. Turning to look out of the window, his eyes seemingly unaffected my the glare, Will jumped off of the bed, a wide grin plastered across his face. Turning his back on the window Will appeared to Nico to have a halo of light, reflecting off his golden hair; Nico's own medical angel.

"Now" Will started, clapping his hands together as he spoke "I know you're supposed to be resting, but that doesn't mean you can't help out around here. You can be my nurse!" The glee in Will's voice at his last statement was undeniable, and Nico could feel his eyes rolling of there own accord (a habit he'd pick up from hanging around Annabeth, her habit usually caused by Percy's antics), folding his arms in annoyance, his brows furrowing together, indignation was clear in his voice as he spoke. "And what sort of things would I be doing as your... 'nurse'?"

"Oh you know... cutting bandages, fetching medicines, general admin... you know stuff like that" Although Nico's face got darker with every word that Will spoke, the Apollo boys manner never changed, the grin never leaving his face. "So" he continued "you have 5 minuted to get changed, then breakfast, check up and then we put you to work" swivelling round on the spot Will headed for the door with purpose, pausing in the door way to turn back to Nico. "5 minutes stat!" and then leaving as swiftly as he'd started to.

Letting his head flop back against the wall once more he tried to get his head around what happened and how he had been roped into playing nurse for the day, and possibly the remainder of his three day stay in the infirmary. Pushing himself up off the the bed Nico reached down to the foot of the bed for the black rucksack Hazel had brought round earlier the previous day which contained all the old clothed that he had left in his cabin over the years, he just hoped some of them still fit him. Pulling out the top two items of clothing from the top of the pile he headed for a quick shower, glad that he was finally able to be rid of that hideous Hawaiian shirt as he balled it up and aimed it at the trash can in the corner of the room. Pausing before leaving his small sanctuary of solitude to meeting Will in the main infirmary room.

The blonde was already already at work talking to a patient while wrapping bandages around the stomach of a daughter of Hecate when Nico emerged from his room. Shooting Nico a quick smile as he finished up his task the son of Apollo scooted over to a sink as he addressed the other boy, the wheels of his chair gliding smoothly across the infirmaries laminate flooring. "So breakfast?" Will asked, the ever present elation still clear in his voice. Rolling his eyes at Will's cheery tone Nico buried his hands deep into the pockets of his too small jeans (turns out he'd grown a bit since he'd last left clothes here) he turned to walk past the rows of beds lining each wall, making his way to the exit. Will, who had practically leaped from his chair when he realised Nico was leaving without him, following swiftly behind.

Nico was only around two feet from the door when the infirmary door flew inwards, causing Nico to stop in his tracks to avoid being hit by the swinging door. Jason stood on the other side with an expression nearly as gleeful as Will's, a fact which only caused Nico to frown harder.

"Nico!" Jason exclaimed, Piper, Hazel and Frank visible behind him. "We were just coming to get you. We wanted to see if you wanted to join us for breakfast" At this point all the attention Nico had been receiving over the last 24 hours was getting to be too much for him and the son of Hades found himself lost for words, choosing instead to stare at his sneakers, though allowing himself a few quick glances at his sister to see the reassurance on her face. All attention was drawn away from Nico however when Will came unto the others view. Gasps from the group in front of him caused Nico's curiosity to make him look up just as Jason verbalised what everyone else in their small group had been thinking.

"And what in Hades happened to you?"

A/N: Okay so I know I promised this chapter would follow 'soon' and it's been three months but I do have good reason I promise and the chapter is here now. The next one will follow as soon as it's written I promise!