a/n: So sorry for the long wait, but here is chapter two! I have a feeling all updates will be bi-weekly, but I am on holiday this week, so who knows? I may have chapter 3 out by the end of this week if I'm lucky!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please leave me feedback of what you thought xx

Nico spent most of his day staring out the window, watching camp life go on without him. As evening came about the sky darkened to a cerulean blue, and the stars started to appear. He had been lying here all day on his own, and was starting to get restless. He didn't see the point in being stuck here for three days - all it was doing was making him think. If there was one thing Nico avoided, it was thinking. That lead to dark places he didn't want to touch with a ten-foot pole.

So he tried endlessly to take his mind off things. He'd eaten breakfast, lunch and dinner (and tried to guess every single ingredient that was in them), counted the number of tiles on the ceiling (three hundred and forty-four), he'd thought all about his new plans for the interior of the Hades cabin, and he'd even started making up a haiku. He hadn't gotten far though; poetry wasn't really his thing.

At the thought of poetry Will sprang into his head. Thinking about the son of Apollo made Nico want to crawl into a hole and hide his face, safe in the darkness, forever. Will made him nervous - Will made him want to tell his secrets.

Nico had been sitting up for the past hour, looking at the approaching night; it looked as if it was laying down a blanket of peace onto Camp Half-Blood. He sighed. After years pf feeling like he had nowhere to be, now he had two homes that gladly welcomed him. A rush of affection flooded through him, but as soon as it did, he heard footsteps approaching him room. He quickly laid down again and rumpled the sheets, trying not to look like he'd been sitting up.

Will opened the door, smiling at Nico, and he impulsively smiled back, before putting his neutral expression back on.

"The doctor is in," Will said with a smirk, walking over to stand beside Nico's bed.

Nico smiled back, but inside her was studying Will's face intently - the way his lips turned up when she grinned, the way his blue eyes had a warmth about them just like the sun, and the way he seemed to inexplicably care about people. It felt different with Nico, though - like something that wasn't quite there yet.

The son of Apollo made him confused, and while Nico was used to it, it didn't make things any easier.

"Write any good haikus today then?" Will asked, pulling open one of the drawers of the bedside table and getting a needle and thread, along with some disinfectant and bandages.

"Not really."

"Shame. You could be a good poet if you put your mind to it. All that pent-up anger and the like." Will grinned. "Now, off with your shirt."

"Again?" Nico asked, undoing the ties. "You could try and be a bit more subtle about it, Will."

"Just doing my job, doom cloud." Nico felt his face flush with the nickname. He cursed inwardly. It wasn't even a nice nickname. Yet somehow Will managed to get to him, and he had no control over the effect the blonde boy had on him.

Will bent down and inspected the stitches that decorated Nico's pale skin. He pulled a face, and Nico couldn't help but smile at the way his nose crinkled.

"This will only hurt a bit," Will said, concentrating on the wound.

Nico closed his eyes as Will worked, trying to ignore how warm his fingers felt against Nico's ice cold skin.

"All done," Will said after a while, and Nico opened his eyes to find Will staring at him with big blue eyes, warm and inviting.

"Thanks," Nico said, holding his stare for several seconds before looking away. Will stretched after a moment.

"Now, try and get some rest. It's vital you get into the habit of sleeping properly in order for your energy to be restored," Will said. Nico tied back on his hospital gown and lay down, trying his best to get comfortable. However nice the bed might have been, it felt like concrete to him.

Will stood there for a moment, as if she was trying to say something. Finally, he gruffly said, "I'll see you in the morning," and left, shutting the door gently behind him.

The curtains were still open, and now the moonlight was the only source of light illuminating the room, and turning everything silver.

Will had seemed ... off. Had Nico upset him?

It wasn't as if he cared though.

But had he?

Nico sighed and stared up at the ceiling, before squeezing his eyes shut and trying to get some rest - and get lingering thought's of Will Solace's impossible blue eyes out of his head.

The nightmares came to him as they always did, in a haze of smoke and despair. He saw everyone he cared about dying. He saw Tartarus, flashes of things he had blocked out but were now starting to reappear. His nightmares were fire and fury and anger and pain, and he couldn't escape them, couldn't breathe. They were choking and smothering him, enveloping him in his past.

He couldn't see, couldn't move, couldn't do anything but let them wash over him like a tidal wave, and then he was screaming out loud - a long, guttural sound that tore through his bones.

And suddenly he was awake again, sweating and shaking and panicked, looking around the room and trying to figure out where he was. As his breathing slowed, he followed the light of the moon down from the window onto where it was shining onto a pair of big blue eyes. He nearly had a heart attack until he realised it was Will, in an unbuttoned plaid shirt and a pair of tracksuit bottoms, his hair ruffled.

"Nico, it's okay. I'm here to help," he said, his eyes filled with concern. Staring into them, Nico couldn't help but feel a surge of anger rising through him.

"Is that what you're here for? Why you're hanging out with me? You want to fix the poor little broken son of Hades? Well, this may come as a newsflash, but I am not broken, and I don't seem some mighty healer waltzing around thinking he can solve all my problems with the power of love, or some bullshit like that!" Nico snapped. He realised he was panicked and shaken up, but he knew that what he said was the truth.

Will stared at him for a moment before standing up and leaving abruptly. His face was neutral. Nico sighed, running a hand through his hair, and he couldn't shake the feeling that he had royally screwed up.

He knew he shouldn't feel guilty, or bad, or anything like that. But a part of him remembered the look on Will's face as he left and felt like he wanted to cry.

He turned his head so fast that he could've gotten whiplash, as he heard the door open. Will walked in holding a glass of water, and set it down on the bedside table next to the flowers.

He sat down on the side of Nico's bed, his blonde air illuminated by the moonlight. Nico held his breath, waiting to Will to yell at him, to shun him and call him pathetic.

"I'm sorry."

"What?" Nico whispered, unsure of what he was hearing.

"I said that I'm sorry," Will said in a low voice, staring at this hands, "because you're right. You're not broken, and you don't need saving. I just ... I'm a healer. It's my job to help people. If I'm not helping, then what's the point?" He gave a small shrug. "I just wanted to make you feel better." He stared up at Nico earnestly.

Nico took a sip of water, trying to process everything.

Will wasn't turning him away, or excluding him, or abandoning him. He was on his side.

Nico felt a rush of happiness. Lately everyone had been treading around him lightly. It seemed like only his friends accepted him - and now Will too.

Because, for some reason, Nico didn't quite see Will as a friend, and he wasn't sure what to think about that.

"Apology accepted," Nico said with a small smile.

"Yeah?" Will asked, his whole face lighting up like sunshine.

"Yeah." Nico nodded, trying not to laugh - Will looked like Christmas and his birthday had both come at once.

"Good." Will smiled. "That's good."

They sat in silence for a minute, but Nico didn't find it awkward. He didn't feel the need to say something. With Will, he felt comfortable, and he didn't know why that alarmed him so much.

He started to get drowsy and settled back down into the pillow.

"You don't have to watch me sleep, you know," Nico said with a small smirk, staring up at Will. The son of Apollo stood up and stretched.

"Don't worry, I'm not Edward Cullen or anything."

"What?" Nico scrunched up his face in confusion. Will stared for a second.

"Shaking his head, he said, "Never mind. Do you want me to help you sleep?" He froze, eyes widening. "I understand if you don't, that's fine too. I -"

"Yes," Nico said, partly because he wanted Will's help, and partly because he wanted to stop the boy from having a heart attack.

Will smiled, and Nico smiled back on impulse.

The son of Apollo laid his head on Nico's forehead and concentrated, closing his eyes. Nico felt a warmth spread around his body, from his head to the bottom of his feet, like a blanket being laid down over him. It made him feel content, and he sighed, immediately relaxing onto the pillow and closing his eyes.

"Rest," Will muttered.

Will took his hand away, but the warmth remained.

"Goodnight," he said.

Nico mumbled something incomprehensible back, before falling asleep.