Chapter Text
Will opened the door, not sure what to expect. He had heard that Nico was in a good mood, but who’s to say if that’s changed in the last two hours. Nico’s file was heavy in his hand, slightly overstuffed but prepared to show him any data he might want to see. Nico looked up when he heard the door open, his book on his lap and his hair messy from sleep.
“Kayla is amazing but why did she give me such a sad book?” The boy was clearly concerned. It laced his voice as he asked why the middle child of the Apollo cabin would give him something that was so dark. Will laughed slightly, knowing exactly how he was feeling.
“The next one is apparently going to be less sad,” Nico looked distraught at that statement,
“There’s another one? Yeah no, you’re lying. If that exists, it is definitely worse than this one,”
“Not yet. I’ll ask the Stolls to grab a copy for you when it comes out in September though,”
“If it’s worse I’m blaming you for jinxing it.” Will laughed again, Nico joining in this time. He was happy to see the other starting to enjoy camp, no matter how small the moment was. He took a seat in the chair, rolling over to the bed. Nico’s eyes were drawn to the file in his hand as he set it down on the bed for him to see. “What’s that?”
“That, is your file,” Nico’s eyes widened at it and Will felt his heart rate pick up slightly, unsure of the boy’s next move. Sure, the size was a little concerning, but everything in it was important.
“And why is it so big?”
“It’s that big because it has all the information I’ve collected between yesterday and today.” Will opened up the file to the main page before continuing, “Once you’re out of here, you’re going to be Kayla’s patient as long as that’s okay with you,” He nodded, letting Will put a checkmark next to her name on the front page of the file. His heart sank slightly as he did it, even if he knew it was for a good reason. He didn’t want to give up time with Nico, no matter how menial the interaction was. “It’s not that I don’t want you as a patient, it's just that I’m not allowed to take on another with the amount I have. So, your discharge plan. We’ve got to talk about what you want versus what I want since you get to leave tomorrow night. Now, I’m not gonna force you to do any of this, but it is highly encouraged that you do what I tell ya to,”
“I guess that’s fair enough. It’s not bad here but I would rather not make this my permanent residence,”
“That’s what I thought,” Will pulled out the first thing he wanted from the chart, rolling over to be next to Nico instead of in front of him. The last thing he wanted to do was make everything he showed him be intimidating. Yeah, it was, but Will didn’t need Nico to know that.
“So this is the readings from the heart monitor we have on you right now for the last, 48, I think it’s been like 48 hours.” Will spread the paper out and Nico looked up at him, clearly expecting something. Realizing he wanted some kind of reasoning about why he was being shown it– or what any of it even meant– he launched into a well rehearsed explanation, “So basically this top one shows what your heart rate should look like at all times based off some really complicated math,”
“Ok, that makes sense, oh, oh, that can’t be good,” Will noticed Nico looking at the line underneath, his line, and had to hold back a laugh. It wasn’t funny. It really wasn’t. Nico’s face also was not funny. It was not funny how the boy was understanding why everyone had been so concerned for so long. His eyes were not wider than he had ever seen them. Definitely not.
“I mean I’m not going to disagree with you on that one DiAngelo, but, let me at least explain it to you. Clearly nobody has shown you this before which is insane because you should be seeing this, especially since you don’t have parents to make decisions for you. Moving on. Do you see how there’s little parts where the up and down parts are super close together but then they get really far apart before going back to normal?”
“Yeah I figured that much out,” Will was not surprised Nico was being a little petty. He would be a little petty too if he was in the same situation. Not knowing what the information was one thing but never even seeing it– that was enough to warrant a phone call to the other camp. No, he couldn’t do this right now. He pushed the thought out of his head. He couldn’t let his feelings get in the way of Nico’s treatment, not when he just signed him over to Kayla for this exact reason.
“Well that basically means your heart is going real fast and then it just drops out of nowhere. I really want to be able to tell you what’s happening right now and give you a better explanation but I don’t have enough information yet. All I’ve had you do is sit in bed and that doesn’t really give me any kinda accurate read on what your daily life is like. Oh, this brings me to my first suggestion,”
“What is it?” Nico asks while Will digs through his bag he brought in with him. He doesn’t know what Nico’s knowledge of medical things from this century are, but he was not going to scare him if he didn’t have to. He finds what he’s looking for and sits back up,
“This,” He says, handing the small item to the boy, “is a portable heart monitor,”
“Nice,” Nico’s comment left little room for discussion, forcing them to sit in silence for a second, so Will had hoped he would elaborate. He didn’t.
“Have you ever seen one that looks like this before?” He just wanted a read on how much he would have to explain to Nico. The one word answer was not helpful when he didn’t know how recent Nico’s medical knowledge was.
“No, not one this small. Wait, no, I’ve never actually seen a portable one,” Oh. Wow. Ok. He had a lot of work to do. He should’ve expected that, should’ve seen that coming.
“Ok, that’s fine. I’ll probably tell you all of this again tomorrow but this just helps us get a better read on your daily life. It would be on for about 3 weeks but it goes under your shirt,” Will pulled down the collar of his scrub shirt, drawing an oval in the area where it would go, proving to Nico that it would be hidden, “right around here, so nobody would even notice it. If you agree to using it, you’re going to have a small phone looking thing that just stays in your pocket. It connects to a server we have here that holds all the information it gathers. I think that’s it for what that does, but you can ask questions if you have any,”
“No, I understood all of that,”
Nico methodically turned it over in his hands, contemplating what he wanted to do. Will was becoming increasingly concerned over the other’s concentration. His brows were furrowed and he had rolled his lips in, biting them. He wanted to reach over and– no, that would be unprofessional. He had to be professional right now. In two days it wouldn’t matter, but right now, right now it mattered. He was his doctor. Nothing more.
“I guess it’s fine.” Oh, that’s good. He wasn’t expecting a yes but miracles do happen every day. “You said first. What else were you thinking?”
“Kayla, and I guess myself, want you to at least try physical therapy. It’ll help you get some more strength in your legs,”
“I am completely fine Solace,” This boy was going to be the death of him. If he just took the help he was offered, he would make his life so much easier. Actually, he would make both of their lives so much easier.
“Nico, I can tell you are not and I have had multiple people verify that for me. You don’t have to agree to anything now, but are you at least willing to let Kayla come in, do a consult, and talk to you for a little bit?” His elbows found his way to his knees, leaning forward slightly. If Nico was going to be this stubborn, he was going to go down trying.
He didn’t care about the boy’s ego, or lack thereof. What he cared about was his physical wellbeing. If Nico didn’t want to take care of himself, he wouldn’t be forced to, but Will also wouldn’t let it get to that point. This was his infirmary. He called the shots here, even if Nico chose not to do anything.
“Are you going to be here while she does it?”
“I can be if you want me to,”
“Then, if it makes you feel better, yes, Solace, she can come in here.”
“Thank you,” Will smiled slightly, amused at the phrasing of Nico’s answer. Maybe he was actually getting Nico to like him. He hoped he was. Nico needed some friends around here and Will thought it was time he got to be one of them. “I’m going to go get Kayla before you change your mind. I’ll be back soon,”
“You say that like I’m going anywhere,”
“It took me 3 years to even get you in here, I’m not pushing my luck,”
Nico laughed, an amazing sign, and Will closed the door behind him. He had a new mission at hand. Finding his sister. He knew where she would be logically, but she didn’t exactly follow rules of logic.
He followed logic anyways.
—————
“Did you really have to wake me up?” His sister was not pleased. Kayla had been asleep in the office and was very comfortable on one of his bean bags. He chose not to point out that she was almost done with her shift and would have to wake up soon either way.
“Yes, Kay, I did. He said yes, so you are coming with me,” Kayla looked over at that, slightly confused at his statement, pulling her hair up into a bun. It had been getting long, especially for her. Her waves were more defined than usual, the extra length making them look more like waves and less like she had slept wrong. He hadn’t realized it was growing out so much until that moment, storing it away for when he would end up dying her hair in their bathroom at 2am in a week or two.
“Wait, he actually agreed to this?” He nodded, happy that what he was saying was finally sinking in for her. Her eyebrows raised slightly and she started frantically looking around the main desk for something. An open drawer at the main desk called his name, needing to be closed. When he rolled closer, he saw what was blocking it. A deck of Uno cards stuck out slightly, holding the drawer open. He grabbed it, slipping it in his pocket, before closing the drawer.
“Kayla, what are you looking for?” This was weird, even for her. She didn’t even notice what he had done. He normally didn’t see her act like this, at least not often. It was only after some kind of battle that she would be this scattered, which he always wrote off as the remnants of her adrenaline.
“The file, where is it, it was right here, I swear,” She wasn’t addressing him, just the room. Fuck, that wasn’t good.
“Kayla,” She clearly hadn’t heard him, continuing her search for the papers that he had just moved, “Kayla. Look at me.” That one got her attention. She looked up and he could see the panic on her face. It was etched deep into her eyes, a look she was too young to have mastered. He gently took the tops of her arms in his hands, trying to ground her without it becoming overwhelming. “I have it. It’s in his room. You didn’t lose anything.”
“Are you sure?” Her words came out strained but easier than before. That was good.
“Yes, I’m 100% sure. Now, do you think you could take a deep breath for me?” She rolled her eyes but did it anyways. Good. His vitalkinesis had been going crazy from the second he touched her. He needed her to calm down before she went in there. “One more and I’ll let you go in there,”
She followed the instructions and looked up at him waiting for his approval. He let go of her, fighting the urge to take her back to the cabin and not let her work any more shifts in the infirmary, and led her to Nico’s room. Everything would go fine. Nico had agreed, Kayla had calmed down, and he would be in there the whole time. Nobody was against this idea. There were no unknown circumstances. Everything would go according to plan.
She opened the door, heading in first with Will in tow. He wasn’t staying behind on purpose, he just wanted them to have some space. It definitely wasn’t because he was nervous about Nico and Kayla being in the same room, especially with him there. No. He had been through two wars. That would be ridiculous. He stuck to the wall on the opposite side of Nico’s bed as Kayla took his normal seat.
“Alright Nico, you sure you want to do this?” Nico looked at her and from what Will could tell, he had rolled his eyes. Huh, that was new.
“Yes, we’re doing this. Come on, look at the file and just get it over with,” She laughed at him and opened up the file. Will felt a smile creep up onto his face and this time he didn’t try to hide it. Nico needed support and most people would interpret a smile as being supportive. Hopefully Nico was part of most people.
“Okay, can I pull the covers back?” He looked up at that, probably questioning why she hadn’t just done it already. Will gave her a nod of encouragement, reminding her that she was doing it right.
“Yeah, that’s okay,” He gave another smile to Nico, who scrunched his nose at him for that. He shook his head, laughing silently at the conversation Kayla was unknowing of. She had pulled back the covers, getting ready to figure out what was going on with him.
“Let me know if anything hurts at all, okay? I’ll stop and we can reevaluate,” He listened to the warning he knew he had given Nico before, knowing the boy would not listen to his body and just let it hurt.
“Yeah, I’ll let you know,”
“You better DiAngelo. That isn’t a warning. I can curse you to rhyme and I’m not scared to,”
“You can’t do that. She’s joking right? She can’t actually do that?”
“She’s not supposed to but I wouldn’t put it past her,” Kayla stopped what she was doing, looking up at Will’s response,
“She is right here and yes I can and yes I would,” Nico paled at that, resulting in a laugh from both of them. They wouldn’t actually try to curse Nico with anything, not when the threat works just as well.
She stretched Nico out, testing the levels he could move without being in pain. In his professional opinion, it was not going well. He was not a professional.
“Uh, Will, I think he might be about to faint,”
“Nico, are you about to faint or can you keep going?” Will wanted to check with Nico before passing any judgement calls about the situation. The last thing Nico needed was to feel like he couldn’t make decisions for himself.
“I’ll be fine, I’ll let you know when I hit my limit Kayla, for now just keep going,” He had figured Nico’s limit was higher than what Kayla had expected. Over the years, he had probably built up a pretty good tell of when it was going to happen, even if he didn’t exactly know how to stop it. She moved one of his legs into a new position, clearly more painful than the others. “This one hurts a little bit,”
“I’m taking that as more than a bit. I’m going to straighten your leg slowly and just tell me when it stops,” She reversed what she was doing a little bit at a time until his leg was halfway between where it was and being straight.
“Right there,” She nodded, repeating the process on the other side with about the same results. Writing it down, she offered a hand which his wrist fell into for her to take his vitals. That was good. She should review them after this, to make sure everything is working right.
“You did a lot better than I thought you would. Someone told me it would be worse than this,” She looked over at Will when referencing the someone, trying to get the message across to both of them.
“That someone might be right.” Nico mumbled, barely audible from where Will was standing. He felt himself smirk as Kayla looked over at him again, not feeling like hiding it anymore. “It might possibly be better than normal because I’m not up and walking around.”
“Well that’s good to know. Speaking of getting up, do you need to use the bathroom before we leave?”
“Yeah, that would be nice,” Will walked over to his bed, prepared to help him to the bathroom if needed.
“Do you think you can stand up and walk over there by yourself or do you want some help?” Nico sat up, closing his eyes. Will lightly took his wrist for what felt like the millionth time that day and took his vitals. “Ok so I will be helping you get there,”
“As long as you don’t stay in there with me we’re good,” Will laughed, slipping an arm under Nico’s shoulders and pulling one of Nico’s over his own. They slowly stood up, giving Nico a second to adjust to being vertical for the first time in a while. Nico nodded, which Will took as a sign that he could move even though he let him set the pace, going as slow as he needed. He deposited the boy at the open door, reminding him to shout if he needed anything and when he was done, before heading back to the doorway where Kayla was standing. He checked the clock on the wall, trying to gauge how much longer was left in her shift.
“So, how’d it go?” Will asked, not actually sure what the answers would be. Without being hands on, he wasn’t always the best with this area. At one point, he had to act like he was, since he was the only one who he allowed to heal people in the infirmary. That problem didn’t exist anymore.
“I’m going to be honest here, if you hadn’t told me not to do the rhyming thing, I would have. He was acting like it didn’t hurt but I could tell,”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I don’t think he knows I can read his heart rate from any contact. But yeah in terms of function, it’s gonna take a while to get him where I want him to be. There’s detailed notes in the file, I figured you would want to be the one going over them with him,” Kayla looked confident, a sight that always filled him with pride. He only hoped that she was actually as good as he thought. As he knew.
“Yeah, that works for me. I’m going to have to call Percy’s mom about something tonight, but I should be good in here if you want to head out.”
“You’re the best,” He watched her grab her bag, waving her over before she walked out, “what’s–”
He didn’t get to hear the rest of her sentence, having pulled her into a hug before she left.
“Be safe at the range and please come get ice after,” She nodded into him and he let her go, confident that she would follow through. She left the infirmary and he went to help Nico get back to his bed.
The boy got into it with a little less reliance on Will this time, something that reassured the blonde. If Nico was going to be discharged tomorrow, he needed to at least be able to somehow get around, and he was not going to bring up alternatives unless he absolutely had to.
“Ok, this is from Kayla since she had to head out,” He opened the file, ready to read off it to Nico, “You are on restricted training for the time being and she wants you to come here 3 times a week to work with her on getting your strength back.”
“I guess I can do that if I really have to,” That was good. That was really good. He couldn’t look too excited though. He didn’t want to scare Nico but he was very excited. He was putting an effort into himself or at least attempting to. Would saying he was proud of him be too much? No. That’s normal. He hopes it's normal.
“Ok, that’s great I’ll be sure to let her know. I’m proud of you, you’re really trying this time.” All he got for a response was a shrug. That was better than a stare though. That was a start at least. “So, Nico, have you ever played Uno?”