A/N: Because no one read Blood of Olympus and didn't forsee fangirls crying, "Flow forth, Fount of Yaoi!"

One-shots will gradually scale into M territory, and some content may be censored for posting here due to this "No MA content" business.
Links to uncensored versions of the final chapters might in turn appear on my profile, for APPROPRIATELY-AGED readers to follow.

Also, I must inform you that HERE THERE BE GAY LOVE. Don't be shocked and offended once you've read it and realized it's two guys.

[This chapter rated: T]

"School!?"

Nico nearly spat out the thermometer in his mouth. Across the tent, Will nodded absently but didn't look up from his clipboard.

"Yep," he said simply, flipping a page on his clipboard; Nico could see him barely suppressing a grin. "Now that this Gaea mess is over, we can all go back to doing normal, mortal-y things... Remember those? I recall there being fewer sword-fights with primordial entities, at least. Also some Harlem Shake thing."

Nico nearly ground his teeth against the rod in frustration, but remembered at the last second the poison within it. Wouldn't do to survive the battle with Mother Earth and then die of mercury poisoning, would it?

Will Solace made Nico grind his teeth a lot, you see.

If the healer was counting on that grin to save him, it wasn't going to work this time... It was a cute one, though - wide, crooked, and mischievous enough that it seemed better suited to grace the face of Connor Stoll... When Will had evil in mind, it was painfully obvious. And pretty sexy, too.
Sincerely hoping the thermometer wouldn't measure him flushing, Nico forced himself to believe it was the thought of modern high school (rather than the good doctor) making him feel so nervous.

"High school is not relaxing," he protested, glaring daggers at Will. "It is full of teenagers who think everything outside the norm needs to be beat up or shoved inside a locker."

"They make the lockers smaller nowadays just for that reason," Will offered cheerfully, still not looking at Nico.

"Small comfort," the younger murmured. "You don't get more outside of the norm than summoning skeletons out of the ground. Even if they weren't cramming me into trash cans and toilets, they'd be terrified... No one would talk to me. It'd be worse than here..."

"Hey!" Now Will was looking, green eyes narrowed severely.
"What did we talk about? Plenty of people want to talk to you- you just won't open up and let them. You've got to stop assuming people hate you off the bat. In fact, that's why you're going back to school: to learn that! Now stop whining- it's doctor's orders."

He surged forward and swiped the thermometer out of Nico's mouth before the boy could even form a retort. "Now shirt off, I need to listen to your heart. Stupid shadow-traveling..."

This was usually Nico's favorite part of his daily check-ups. In spite of Will's more infuriating tendencies, he'd been nursing a crush on the Camp medic since they'd worked together to disable the Roman onagers. It was precisely those annoying things, Nico was beginning to think, that made Will so appealing. He was Nico's opposite in most every way, but he was happy- and for some reason, that was very attractive. Will was a good influence, he had to admit... It's just that arguing with him could be like trying to reason with a Cyclops, and even put a damper on being physically close to his new crush.

"So assuming I don't unwittingly swallow the school in a pit that leads straight to the Fields of Punishment," he sighed, playing with the edge of his T-shirt (he always worried that he was too pale, too skinny, and so dragged out this part), "I don't even technically exist. All my identification and things are back in the forties. How would I even get registered?"

"Chiron takes care of all that for the year-round campers," Will answered, clicking the end of a pen repeatedly as he jotted something down on Nico's chart. "You know, the kids who don't have anyone to go home to."
He looked up and paused, as though making sure he hadn't said anything insensitive. He knew Nico's story as well as any other camper (save for certain events in Dalmatia, and- thankfully- those in Albania). When Nico merely shrugged, he continued:

"So unless there's a Hades High in the Fields of Asphodel, you'll be going to the one about ten miles down the highway. A little Mist on the papers'll do the trick. Now, shirt off."

"My father's never said I needed an education..."

"And your father doesn't have to count his own change or get into college. Shirt. Off."

So there were no technicalities to escape on... Crap. He was still thumbing his shirt hem, trying to think of something, when Will finished writing and covered the small room in two strides, standing super-close and leaning right smack in Nico's personal bubble.

"Look, you can't even take your own clothes off. You may need to go back a few grades... I think it was in kindergarten they covered that?"

He said all this while pulling Nico's shirt over the boy's dark head, popping the cold stethoscope heart against Nico's bare chest, and cupping the boy around the back to thump him and listen for lung problems. Caught off guard, the rush of physical contact made Nico's face burn with what he knew must be an embarassingly-visible blush. Sometimes being pale really sucked.

"Breathe normally," Will commanded.

I'll try, Nico thought.

A few seconds of deep sighs helped. Will went through the motions of this part of the exam, always glancing surrupticiously away. Nico couldn't shake the feeling that he did this because he found Nico's body repulsive (the thought particularly tortured him at night, before he went to sleep). He felt himself quail just remembering, and he wished in spite of himself that Will weren't so close.

"Don't sulk," Will said into space. "I'm just kidding. You get flustered so easy that it's hard not to mess with you. It's- it's funny."

Nico had a strange feeling that Will had intended to use another adjective, there- but he shook the curiosity away, still embarrassed (and yes, a little pissed about being forced to go to school).

"See what I mean? Everyone will mess with me- that's what I'm worried about. But no, it's doctor's orders..."

He deliberately mimicked Will on the last two words; the physician's face broke back into that wonderful, evil smile, and from his rolling seat he looked up, straight into Nico's face. Sun-kissed blonde hair, laughing eyes the color of fresh grass... Nico nearly swooned.

"You'll be fine," Will promised, his voice now as warm as a mug of honeyed tea. "You've been through a lot, Nico- but you're not as messed up or abnormal as you think you are. That's why I want you to go: I want you to get a chance to be normal and just- realize you're okay, you know? Can you do that for me?"

Gods, yes! The words surged through him and made his limbs tingle. Will thought he was okay. For a second, Nico would have gladly let himself be stuffed into a locker, as long as it meant Will Solace would keep looking him in the eyes this way...

On the outside, though, he remained calm. He narrowed his eyes, pretending to think the matter over.

"Can a Protector go with me? Just to hang around and make sure I don't hurt anyone?"

"I can talk to Chiron about it." Will smiled even wider, if that was possible. "I'd go with you myself, if I weren't too old."

Even the thrill of that statement couldn't stop a huge fear from popping up in Nico's chest: he'd never thought about their age difference. What if Will was too old and mature to ever think Nico would be... would be...
"How old are you?" the boy asked.

"18 in October", Will answered, his brow furrowing a bit. Nico had let a little panic seep into his voice. "Getting into freshman classes with you would be a little hard, since I look older..."

Nico's mind raced. I'll be fifteen in October... Does three years mean that much, nowadays? Does that even matter with guys? I've technically been alive for longer than him- does that count?

"Why? Do you really want me to come with you that bad?"

"N-no!" Nico gulped, the backtracked: "I mean, you're busy here. I'll be okay. Y-you'd just make me mad anyway... But not in a bad way!"

Will's barked with laughter, and swiveled away from the exam table.
"It's okay, I'm not going to give you a shot if you make me mad. In fact, I like hearing your rude little self come stumping in... which is why I want to keep up these check-ups for another three days. So I hope it's not in a bad way."

Three more days of banter with the guy who wanted to go to school with him? The one who 'liked hearing him come in'? Nico played with the edge of his shirt, concealing a thin smile at the thought.

"Even if I don't- doctor's orders, right?"

"You know it, Death Boy," he grinned, as bright and magnetic as one of Hazel's gems. "You know it. Now shirt back on, and I'll see your skinny self tomorrow, same time."

Nico looked forward to it.