  Will was awoken by Daisy three hours later, just as Daisy had promised. He felt better; the pounding headache he had gotten from using his healing powers, plus from lack of sleep and probably not enough water was completely gone. It was quite ironic that he was supposed to help people get better when he didn’t even take care of himself. His eye bags that signified his lack of sleep weren’t as prominent as they had been the past few days, and he just all around felt more energized. Three hours could certainly do a lot.
  Will headed back across the camp to get back to the infirmary. Apparently Daisy did a good job with some of the patients, because one was already gone and Morgan was just getting up to leave.
  “Leaving already?” Will asked her as she flexed her leg.
  She turned around, unaware that Will was behind her. “Uh, yeah! My thigh feels pretty good, thanks to all your healing and the nectar and ambrosia! Thanks so much, Will!”
  Will smiled. “Glad I could help, Morgan. I’m just thankful you’re alright! That Roman was pretty tough. Just make sure not to overdo it!”
  She grinned. “Of course. See you around!”
  Will was glad she was okay. When she came in, she had lost a lot of blood, but she was almost as good as new. That left four people in the infirmary. Jeyden Simmons, a son of Hephaestus who was badly injured when the ground opened up from Gaea, though he was probably going to be fine, the worst was out of the way. Then there was Norman Long, a son of Nemesis who nobody really saw what happened to him. He had really bad injuries across his whole body, and he was in a coma. None of them knew if and when he would wake up. Next was Penny Griffin, daughter of Demeter. Penny was stabbed in the gut by one of Octavian’s right hand men, but was able to take him down before dragging herself to the infirmary. If anyone says that Demeter kids are weak, think again.
  And of course, there was Nico. He was a bit nervous to talk to him after what he said earlier, but he pushed that aside. He walked over to his bed, and when Nico saw him, he looked away. He was probably annoyed Will was here again.
  “Hey, death boy! How are you feeling?” Will beamed at him. He was just so cute, he couldn’t help but smile when he was around him.
  “Maybe I should be asking you that, Solace. You haven’t checked on me in four hours. Are you feeling okay?” He said sarcastically.
  “Oh, I went to take a quick nap.”
  “Oh, so that’s why you seem to be more annoyingly cheerful than usual.” Nico remarked.
  Will ignored him. “Do you need anything? Some water? Food? New bandages?”
  Nico rolled his eyes. “Yeah. I need you to go away.”
  Will laughed it off. Nico always said things like this, but he knew the best thing to do was ignore it. He knew Nico didn’t actually mean them, he was just being sarcastic and stubborn. Right? Will looked over at Nico, and his face was red.
  “Nico?” He asked, concerned.
  “Yeah?”
  “Are you feeling okay? Your face is all red, like you have a fever. I’m going to check your temperature.”
  “N-no! I’m fine, Solace.”
  “Well, if I’m going to be letting you out of the infirmary tomorrow, I have to make sure you’re okay.”
  Before Nico could protest again, Will stuck a thermometer in his mouth. Less than a minute later, it beeped.
  “Well, your temperature is fine. I’m going to check your heartbeat now.”
  “No, Will! Stop! I’m fine! Really!”
  “Doctor’s orders.” He replied. Nico’s face reddened even more.
  He bent towards him with his stethoscope and checked his heart rate.
  “Wow, death boy. Your heart is beating really fast! Are you sure you’re okay?”
  Nico buried his face in his hands. “Yes. I’m fine, Will.”
  Nico looked so cute like that, for some reason seeming completely flustered. I guess it makes sense, though, since he doesn’t like physical contact. Will just wanted to bend down and kiss him, but Will knew he wouldn’t appreciate that. He would probably leave, and of course Will didn’t want him to leave. It would also probably ruin any friendship they had.
  He stood there for a moment, just staring at Nico, until Nico looked up. The son of Apollo averted his eyes, slightly blushing. “Alrighty then…..remember to-“
  “Yes, I know. If I need anything, just ask. You’ve told me that about a million times now.” Nico interrupted.
  Will smiled. “Oh, don’t be such a drama queen. By the way, are you updated on your vaccinations?”
  Nico blinked. “What are vaccinations?”
  Will’s jaw dropped. “You’re telling me you’ve never had a vaccination before?”
  He shook his head. “I don’t know what that is.”
  Slapping his forehead, Will got together some shots. “And to believe I want to kiss that unvaccinated mouth,” he said once out of earshot. He came back with multiple shots. “I shouldn’t have assumed. I’m sorry, Nico. I sometimes forget you aren’t from this century.”
  The dark haired demigod’s eyes widened. “Is that a shot? I’ve seen those before! I’m never taking one of those!”
  “Almost everybody does, Nico. Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little poke.”
  “Of course not!” He scoffed. “But why? Why do you want to give me a shot?”
  Will set down his tools and sat down at the end of his bed. “Okay, when you were a kid, a lot of people got things like polio, measles, mumps, things like that, right? And you couldn’t do anything about it, and a lot of people died?”
  “That’s right. There was a girl in my class when I was 7 that was crippled because she had Polio when she was very little. There were also a few kids who died from Measles and Mumps and other diseases. Once, when I was 8, Bianca got pneumonia and she was bedridden for weeks. It was a scary time.”
  Will nodded his head. “I bet it was. But, in the 50’s, scientists created vaccinations that prevented people from getting those things, and if somebody did get one of the vaccinated illnesses, it would be a lot milder. When a child is born, their parents have a choice if they want to get them vaccinated or not.”
  Nico held up his hands. “Wait, wait, wait. Some people choose not to? Why in the name of Hades would somebody do that?!”
  “Well, some people think that vaccinations actually cause people to get those diseases, like the flu shot for example; many people don’t get the flu shots because they think it makes you catch it, which I know from being a doctor is not true. Also, some people think it’s not natural, and causes more kids to be autistic or gay.”
  At the word ‘gay,’ Nico’s face twisted into a look of discomfort, like the word hurt him. Was Nico homophobic? He was from the ’30s…..
  “Why would anybody think vaccinations turn you…gay? It’s not like it’s a choice!” The words ‘vaccination’ and ‘gay’ sounded alien in his mouth, and he hesistated before saying it. If he knew it was a choice, was he okay with being gay? Will hoped so, because Will wasn’t straight himself, and of course he had a huge crush on Nico, which isn’t straight.
  “And what is ‘autistic’?” Nico asked.
  Will laughed, and Nico’s face turned a bright shade of pink. “Sorry, death boy. It’s a disorder, but we can talk about that another day. I think your brain has already taken in enough information today. So are you ready to get your shots?”
  “I guess so…” Nico tensed up.
  “Nico, you can relax. It doesn’t hurt too bad. Here.” Will moved Nico’s pale hand and rested it onto Will’s arm. “If it hurts, you can squeeze my arm. It’s okay.”
  Nico didn’t move his arm away, though his face was even pinker. Why did his face keep on getting pink all the time?
  “Why would I be scared of a little shot? I’ve been through hell and back!”
  Some of Will’s siblings looked over at them. “I know, death boy. You’ve just never had a shot before, so it’s a new experience.”
  Nico scowled, but didn’t pull his hand away. Will rubbed antiseptics on his arm, and Nico shivered. “That stuff is cold!”
  Will laughed. Once he dug the first needle into Nico’s skin, Nico gripped Will’s tan arm tightly. Will smiled faintly and he got the next needle ready. He did this multiple times until Nico had many bandages across his arm.
  “See, that wasn’t so bad! Now you’re all caught up on your vaccinations!”
————————————————————————————————
  Nico left early the next morning, not even saying goodbye to him. How could he do that? Will was sleeping in the chair right next to his bed, how could he get past him without waking him up? Will sighed. The three days in the infirmary was up, and Nico probably would try to avoid him again. But Will was determined to not let that happen. Even if Nico will never have feelings for him, he at least hoped they could be friends.
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