Nico was walking back to Will Solace. He couldn't care less about the gawking Percy or the smirking Annabeth he'd left behind. In that moment, all that mattered was a certain son of Apollo and the skeletal butterflies in his stomach.

As the son of Hades took each step, a shudder ran up his spine. The pain shot through his body and Nico felt like he was on fire. No, scratch that, being on fire would've been better than all your bones feeling like jelly and his heart beating crazily fast.

He had no clue why there were so many stupid butterflies in his stomach, but he was bound to get rid of them sometime. They were annoying and so was the son of Apollo standing in front of him.

'What do you want, Solace?' Nico asked him, giving the boy his best glare, which at the moment looked puny. Standing on his own two feet was draining his energy and he had no power left to give him a better glare.

'You promised me something, di Angelo. I'm not going to let you go so easily.' He told Nico sternly. The boy was going to have to understand that Will wasn't letting him go, not this time.

Nico scowled at his words.

'Not happening, I'm perfectly fine.' He replied, lying through his teeth. Nico was aware that he needed some rest, but he was not going to let him of all people help him. With his stupid golden-blonde hair and clear blue eyes. And that smile, ugh, that pathetic smile which made you go all dizzy inside, Nico wanted to kill him... He might've actually done so.

This time, Will scowled. It didn't look good on him, why was Nico noticing this?

'No. You're coming with me to the infirmary.' Will said while the other boy rolled my eyes. He didn't care anymore, Will could argue all he wanted but Nico could take care of himself. And even if he couldn't, it wasn't like there was anyone who cared enough to take care of him anyway.

'No. I'm going back to my cabin.' He huffed and turned on his heel, walking away. With each step he took, pain shot through his body and Nico felt like he was going to pass out any second.

You've been through worse. This is just a short walk, that's all it is. It's nothing , keep going. All you have to do is make it to your cabin and you don't have to do anything after that.

But before he made it very far, he felt a hand on his wrist and immediately jerked back.

'Do not touch me.' Nico told him threateningly but Will looked unfazed. 'And leave me alone, Solace.'

'Sorry for touching you but I'm not going to leave you alone. What are you going to do about it, Nico?' Nico, the way he says it-

No, snap out of it. No falling for him, all he'll do is break your heart.

'What's your problem, Solace?' He asked, shaking his head in disbelief. The boy was so persistent.

'Nothing, I'm just trying to be a good friend.' He said, his face lighting up a little. Damn it, him and his smile.

'Fine.' Nico grumbled, sticking his hands in his pockets. 'You want three days? That's all you're getting.'

The son of Apollo smiled even wider as the shorter demigod started walking in the direction of the infirmary.

'Thanks, Death Boy.' Will said. Nico grimaced and looked down as the sun shone ahead. Great, the sun was above him and the human embodiment of it next to him.

'DO NOT call me Death boy. And after this whole infirmary fiasco...' He said and paused for dramatic effect. 'You come nowhere near me, got that?'

Will didn't respond and he looked deep in thought. About what? Ask the fucking gods if you wanted to know. It's not like they would tell you either.

After what seemed like eternity, he responded with a small "ok" and looked at Nico. His smile looked to have diminished along with his idiotic dimples.

'Good. Now come on, Solace, I'm hungry. And if you're my so-called doctor, that's something you have to fix.' His smile returned at that and he grabbed Nico's hand. The son of Hades could feel his heart rise and fall in his chest, his pulse quicken and those stupid skeletal butterflies return... His blood boiled, the touch of someone living was so odd, so unfamiliar that the butterflies increased.

Nico groaned and kicked at a pebble, what was this boy doing to him?

***

'Hey, Will, what have you got there?' A girl asked as the two entered the infirmary. She was kind of tall, Nico thought he'd seen her before, he didn't know, neither did he care.

'Nico di Angelo, our rather gloomy patient.' Will told the ginger-haired girl. Not all ginger though, the ends were green. And it wasn't even like a forest green or something, it was lime-green... yup, that's the color. Nico thought it looked cool though.

'Right over there.' The girl- Kayla- replied, laughing and pointing to a small room at the back of the infirmary. 'Oh and if Daphne's there, tell her that Austin is looking for her. Apparently, he needs help with something.'

Will gave her a quick thumbs-up and grabbed the other boy's hand, dragging Nico to the room. Don't ask the son of Hades why the butterflies came back, why he let Will hold his hand or why he didn't pull away... It was probably Aphrodite's fault... Yeah, that was it.

Curse you, Aphrodite... Maybe he shouldn't have yelled at a goddess, oh well.

'Alright Nico, sit down and we can get started.' Will said, opening the door to a room. An all white room. Well, that was amazing, white walls, a white bedspread... Which fool decided that hospitals should be white? They deserved to be in the Fields of Punishment for coming up with that idea.

'Get started with what?' Nico asked, scowling at his surroundings. In the white room and him in his black attire, he stuck out like a sore thumb. Nothing new then. Well not all black, the stupid orange flower-y shirt was really messing with his look.

'The checkup, Nico.' Will said, smiling softly. It was going to take some time to remove the scowl from Nico's face, replace it with a smile and then his people skills? Don't get the son of Apollo started on that. 'I have to figure out what's up with your wounds and stitch them up.'

Nico rolled his eyes and nodded as Will asked him to take off his shirt.

The son of Hades was taken aback as he answered with, 'Um, what?' He really doesn't want Will to see all the scars, they just reminded people of how much of a freak he was. Even his body wasn't normal.

'There are werewolf gashes across your chest, Neeks. I can sense them.'

'Don't call me Neeks.'

'I'm sorry, look, would you just take off your shirt?' Will said, smiling a little. He would never admit to anyone, but Will had always wanted to see Nico shirtless. He'd also wanted the son of Hades to be friends with him and that was a step they were going to make in the next three days. Will was sure of it, he would befriend this boy, no matter how long it took him.

Nico cursed in Italian and took off the Hawaiian-themed shirt and lay down on the bed as Will stood over him, 'Nico, I will have to touch you. I know you're not ok with that, so I'm letting you know.'

'Cut the crap and get it over with, would you, Solace?' He said, sighing. The faster he finished whatever the hell he needed to do, the faster Nico could put his shirt back on.

Will caught himself staring at Nico with a sudden desire to run his hands through Nico's mess of black hair and glide his fingers across Nico's chest. He chided himself for thinking like that, right now he had more important things to do. Will examined the large gash and exhaled lightly. 

Some ambrosia, nectar, a little help with the Greek hymns, a few kisses here or there, two or three days of bed-rest along with proper servings of food... Nico would be just fine. 

Will nodded his head and began his "magic" and it was magic, quite literally. He was humming some Ancient Greek hymn while trailing his fingers over Nico's chest. It was kind of pleasing. And he meant pleasing in the sense that someone was burning him alive and throwing him into- No, nothing could be worse than that.

'Ok Nico, that's all for now. Those gashes are pretty deep, I may have to stitch them up later, but let's try and heal them naturally.' Will said, taking the boy's shirt in his hands. 'I'm going to get you something to eat and a new shirt. This one is an eye-sore.'

'Fine, I'm not going anywhere.' Nico replied, pulling the covers over my chest. He didn't want him to see the scars anymore than he had to.

'You better not.'

'Look Will, I promised you I would stay here for three days or whatever, so I'm going too.' He said, rolling my eyes. Someone remind him why he agreed to this again?

'Oh come on, spending three days with someone as charming as me isn't so bad.' Will said as the other boy simply rolled his eyes. The son of Apollo exhaled lightly, smiled at the pale-skinned boy and walked out the door, leaving Nico alone. Like always.

***

'Eat Nico.' Will said, pushing the plate towards the other boy. There was a bit of pasta on it and the smallest amount of salad too. 'You were the one who said you were hungry, now eat.'

He'd been pestering Nico about this for the past minute, the Italian finally gave in and took a bite of pasta. The cheesiness of it spread across his mouth and though it wasn't as good as the pasta his mamma used to make, it still sent Nico back... home? He didn't know if he could call Venice home, he didn't even think he had a home in the first place.

'Thank you, Nico. Once you're done, we- you can sleep for a bit if you want.' Will said, fidgeting with his bracelet. He did that a lot when he was around the other boy. Lightly tracing the border of the sun-shaped charm and then trying to remove the bracelet like it was bothering him, Will sighed. 

He knew he had a crush on Nico but did the demigod have to make him so nervous?

'I'm not sleeping.' The black-haired boy answered plainly, eating another bit of the food.

'Nightmares?' Will asked softly. Why did he act like he cared? Nico didn't get it, the first time they talked in days and the idiot managed to:

1. Talk to Nico

2. Get the son of Hades to the infirmary

3. Make him take off  his shirt

4. Make him eat something

And now he expected Nico to open up to him? He's crazy. It wasn't happening. The boy ignored his question and continued to eat. Will seemed to get the memo as he doesn't press further.

'Look Su-Nico, you don't have to sleep now if you don't want to. I would prefer if you did, yes. But if you're having nightmares, you can talk to me, I'm here. Or if you don't want to doze off, then that's fine too.' Never mind, he clearly didn't get it... What was he going to call Nico?

Will mentally slapped himself, why the heck was he about to call him by the nickname he called Nico in his stupid dreams where they were actually a couple?

'Well then, I'm not going to bed.' Nico said but then realized he was a bit thirsty. 'And would you mind getting me some water?'

Will grinned, 'Sure, but I want to see that plate clean by the time I get back.'

'Yeah, yeah. Whatever.' Nico replied, rolling his eyes playfully and took in yet another spoon of the white pasta. Will chuckled and shook his head at the boy and walked out of the room. And this time, Nico felt a little less alone.

And as the son of Hades sat there, on the bed, looking out the window, there was no one in the room except for him. 

And those damned skeletal butterflies.