Nico couldn't help but sigh as he walked up to the infirmary. He was already regretting agreeing to stay there. For three whole days. Why had he agreed to this again?

Because it's three whole days to spend with Will Solace, snickered a voice in his head. He ignored it and walked through the door. As soon as he did, he had to stop – it was like getting hit by a wave of nausea. He could see everyone from the Apollo cabin, even those who weren't healers, helping out as best they could, and even people from some of the other cabins.

It wasn't working.

The aura of death around the infirmary was so strong that it felt like he felt like he was choking. This was supposed to be helpful? He found himself backing back outside, chest pounding. He'd have to find Will later and try and explain that he couldn't do this. He had to-

"Nico!"

He paused and looked up at the source of the voice. Avalon, one of the Apollo campers, was looking straight at him. So much for sneaking out. She turned and handed the ambrosia she was holding to another camper that Nico didn't recognise, who frowned and whispered something to her, looking distressed. He could probably guess what, but he tried not to think about it.

"Will told us to make a room up for you," she told him, walking over to him. "Something about too much underworld-y magic being bad for you. I don't know, I've stopped paying that much attention at this point." She gestured for him to follow her, but he held his hands.

"I can't do this. I'll- I'll talk to Will about it, but-" he hesitated. He didn't exactly want to tell her that most of their work was probably going to be useless, but he didn't know what else to say.

"I know," she said, drily. "We figured as much. I asked Lou Ellen to enchant the room for us, so you won't- so your powers shouldn't work through it." She pushed one of the doors open. "We'd all do anything just to get Will to shut up about you."

Nico felt his cheeks heat up, but he fought it back. He was probably reading too much into it, anyway. As soon as he stepped into the room, he let out a short breath of relief. She'd been telling the truth – the feeling off impending death disappeared completely, as if someone had flicked a switch.

"Feel better?" Asked Avalon, raising an eyebrow, but she continued before he could answer. "You should sit down. Or better yet, lie down. I'm not eager to have an annoyed Will on my hands. "

Nico sat down, and she smiled at him before leaving and closing the door behind her.

A few minutes later, Will Solace came in, beaming and holding a glass of water and some pills, which he placed on the side table. "How do you like the room?"

"It's fine," replied Nico, a little awkwardly, deciding to avoid mentioning the aura of death.

"Mhm." The blonde pulled something off his waist – a canteen – and held it out. "Here, take this."

The son of Hades barely managed to lift the bottle to his lips before he felt fingers wrapping his free wrist, and he nearly choked, feeling heat rushing to his face. He yanked his hand back a little too fast and leaned backwards. "Wh- what are you-"

"I'm taking your pulse, duh. And doing a reading, but that was mostly unintentional." Will explained with a roll of his eyes. "You're not getting anywhere near enough sleep, by the way. Which, given how exhausted you are, isn't-"

"I'm fine." Nico interrupted him.

"No, you're really not. Drink the Unicorn Drought – I'm guessing it'll be better than Ambrosia or Nectar for you. Plus, y'know, less risk of spontaneous combustion." The healer instructed, ignoring the surprised look he got and instead turning to the machine next to the bed. "Here, let me hook you up to this. It'll monitor your heartbeat, and I'll keep an eye on it."

He moved quickly, attaching it to the other boys wrists, and Nico swallowed. Hard. "Is this really necessary?" He asked after a second, shifting awkwardly as the skeletal butterflies seem to resurrect in his stomach.

"Yep. I don't know what happens to you when you're using your powers, but I'm not taking any risks." Will leaned back and grabbed the pills. "Now, you should take these, they'll help you sleep."

"I don't need help sleeping." Muttered Nico, but he took the pills anyway.

Will looked at him like, seriously?, and held out the water. "Did you miss my point about not getting enough rest? They'll also stop the nightmares, by the way. Which I'm guess you need."

Nico rolled his eyes instinctively, not wanting to admit he was right, but he swallowed the pills anyway and winced as he felt them go down his throat. "Fine," he sighed, settling back into the bed. Will adjusted the wires over him as he did so, and Nico tried not to react, although he was pretty sure the heart monitor was going to register some kind of anomaly. "Goodnight." He added tiredly, the pills working fast, and he closed his eyes and drifted off.

It was the middle of the night when he woke up, heart pounding, a fine layer of sweat covering his skin. It's fine, he told himself, taking in a deep breath. It was just a dream. A really bad dream.

Not that that was anything new, especially since the whole Tartarus debacle.

It was only as he started to calm down that he realised there was a weight on his stomach, and he tilted his head to see Will, who was slumping forward off the chair to rest his head on Nico's abdomen. He was suddenly very glad the other boy was sleeping, because he could feel his cheeks turning red.

He moved his head back slowly, careful not to jostle the other boy. He found, much to his surprise, that he didn't find it particularly uncomfortable, and let himself fall back asleep.

The next time he woke up, light was streaming through the window and Will was still sleeping on his stomach. This time, Nico had no problem tapping him on the head to wake him up. "Will?"

"Mmf, wha…" The blonde opened his eyes, frowning, and then seemed to realise where he was and sat up quickly. "What?" He repeated, groggily.

"No idea." Said Nico, smoothly. "You were just like that when I woke up." It technically wasn't a lie, he just wasn't specifying when he woke up.

Will blushed. "Sorry," he mumbled, running a hand through his hair. "I've just been really tired these past few days, and I guess I just…" he trailed off.

"It's fine." Nico assured him. "I get it. You've been working basically none stop."

"Right." Will still looked embarrassed, but he turned to the screen next to him to scan over the results. He seemed to take him a couple attempts to understand it. "Um, you seemed to get a bit restless around here. What happened?"

"I had a nightmare." Said Nico honestly, shrugging. Will frowned at him properly this time.

"Didn't the pills stop that?"

"No, but don't worry about it." He said, a little quickly. "I slept fine after that."

"Well, good." Mumbled Will, who still looked concern. Definitely good, noted the voice in Nico's head, but he ignored it.