How Icarus Fell From the Sun (a Solangelo fanfic)

CUDDLY SOLANGELO ALREADY? IN A SLOW BURN SORT OF THING? YW

After nearly 5 hours of helping Will around the infirmary, Nico was starving, and exhausted. He had no idea how Will had been doing it with no breaks these past few days. He felt a ping of guilt in his chest for never visiting him.

All day, Nico had been joining Will as he frantically ran up and down the stairs, helping him carry nectar, turmeric, tylenol, and more. He had helped him pop a dislocated shoulder back in, something he never wanted to think about ever again. Even he had his limits. Kayla had woken up a few hours before, but Will continued dragging Nico around, and Nico made no effort to stop him.

It was... nice. Feeling like he had a job to do, a place in the camp besides 'the emo one who held the funerals'. Genuine thing he heard himself be referred to as, by the way. The strange looks followed him as he walked through the infirmary, the fear, but Will's presence, and unwillingness to acknowledge that yes, it was weird for a son of Hades to be helping out in the infirmary, made it much easier.

They had been pouring small amounts of nectar onto a boy from the Aphrodite cabin, Mitchell. He had gotten into a fight with some nasty creature in the woods while chasing after his little sister Lacy's scarf, which had been carried away in the wind. He had 2 huge gashes on his chest, multiple cuts, and splinters on his arms and legs.

Clearly, not everyone in the infirmary was quick to accept the son of Hades as a medical helper, but Piper trusted him, and therefore so did Mitchell.

Piper was standing next to Mitchell, holding his hand as he winced when the nectar touched his wounds, before his face relaxed and the pain began to wash away. It was clear by her face that she felt she was to blame for not getting it herself. Apparently, Mitchell saw it too, and spoke up.

"Pipes, I'm fine. Really. You were helping the Romans, and Jason," he wiggled his eyebrows, "and I knew Drew wasn't gonna do it."

She looked wary, but nodded.

Eventually, once Will began to pull splinters out of Mitchells leg, Piper realized that, even as the head of her cabin, she was no longer needed, not to mention bothering Will, and she whispered something to Mitchell about finding Annabeth before leaving.

"Alright, I think that's as much nectar as I can give you right now. I'll have someone move you up to the next floor, and you should be good to leave in a few hours." Will smiled at Mitchell, before hurriedly grabbing Nico's wrist and pulling him out of the Aphrodite boy's makeshift room. His smile fell as soon as he was on the other side of the curtain, and his legs began to shake.

"Woah there, Solace. You okay?" Nico asked, before realizing he definitely wasn't. He threw Will's arm around his shoulder, supporting the entirety of the taller boy's weight.

Nico dragged Will over to an empty cot, and pushed him down so that he was sitting up against the mountain of pillows piled onto it. He walked back and closed the curtains, trying his best to send an intimidating glare to the entirety of the room, so no one would see Will in this state.

"Sorry," Will mumbled into his hand, before speaking so fast, Nico could barely understand.

"It's just, gods, everything's been off since Rachel lost Delphi, and Apollo went away. It was better for a second when he got off of Delos and fought the giants, but it's worse than before, now that Zeus sent Apollo back to Olympus. Anyway," he slowed, "healing's just a little more energy consuming when the god you go to for help is unresponsive. I'll be good in a few seconds, I just need to sit." Will closed his eyes.

Nico found himself doing something unexpected. He put his hand on the blond's shoulder, and moved him over slightly from his spot on the cot. He then threw himself onto it, and sat down next to Will, who opened his eyes in surprise.