Work Text:
Nico burst through the doors of the infirmary like a bat out of Hades, lungs pumping like he’d double timed it. His arm was held tightly to his chest with a swath of red fabric when one of Will’s siblings ran into his office and told him his boyfriend was there, panic evident in their voice.
“Nico, gods are you alright?” Will asked, hurriedly cupping his boyfriend’s cheeks and checking him over for injuries. The red cloth concerned him, but Nico wasn’t flinching away from him, only smiling like a madman.
“I’m not hurt, I’m fine,” he gently swatted Will’s hands away. “Look,” he untied the fabric, revealing the tiny, half shriveled face of a little creature tucked between his elbow and his chest. The poor thing looked pitiful.
“What… what is that?” Will asked, trying to figure out where the fluff ended and the ears began, Nico only beamed brighter. It was nice to see him smiling, even with how well he’d healed, he still didn’t smile as much. Personality, Will supposed.
“She’s a bat! A baby,” Nico was obviously besotted with the tiny creature, cradling her so delicately in his arm.
“How’d you get a bat? Aren’t they nocturnal? Don’t they fly?”
“I think she’s hurt,” Nico’s smile fell, and he carefully lay the bundle down on one of the unused cots, unrolling the fluffy baby. “I found her on the ground on my way to the arena, I don’t think her wing should look like that..”
Will could agree with that, the poor baby’s wing was bent in several awkward angles. The bat looked half out of it, so Will figured she was probably in a lot of pain. No wonder she let Nico hold her, animals usually hated him.
“Can you do anything for her?” Nico asked quietly, Will’s eyebrows shot up. Nico didn’t ask for much, even with everyone constantly insisting that it was okay to need things from others.
“I can probably reset the bones, give her a cast. Is Dala around, from Demeter cabin? She might know more of this than I do.”
“Thank you,” Nico grinned, leaning over and pressing a chaste kiss to the blond’s cheek when no one was looking.
“We can’t keep her, Nico…”
“I know, but… I was hoping to take care of her until she’s better. I’ll let her go when she’s better.”
“Alright, I’ll see what I can do!”
Will knew Nico would keep his word and care for the bat, which they learned was a baby haory bat when Annabeth caught wind of their little patient. She, apparently, had a book on New York wildlife. The new information helped them loads with figuring out what kind of foods Bianca liked to eat (Nico had named her, and had insisted on that name; Bianca was the only animal to ever like him when others wouldn’t, apparently she reminded him of his late sister. Will wasn’t going to argue with that, though he did chastise Nico for getting attached to an animal they weren’t supposed to keep). Nico had even set up a little corner for her in Cabin Thirteen, taking all the drawers out of an unused dresser so she could climb it and hang upside down from the slats. He set out blankets inside and a little bowl of water, he even had a few cat toys for her to roll around at her leisure.
What Will hadn’t expected was getting attached to her himself. The revelation hit him like a truck one night when he found himself fooling the baby to eat a cricket. She was so picky, refusing to eat anything that hopped or had visible wings. Will blamed Nico for spoiling her with beetles, they were easy prey, after all. He realised, while petting Bianca’s tiny head with his index finger as she begrudgingly chowed down, that he really didn’t want to let her go.
When the time finally came, it was several months later. Will had to reset the bones twice after Bianca had shaken off her casts, but now she was as good as new. She could hunt, they’d made sure, and could navigate fairly well in the dark for someone her age. They’d moved her in a cage to the edge of the forest, sitting down with her in between them. Nico looked… not angry, but resigned. Will felt it too, he’d grown accustomed for Bianca’s presence in their daily routine. the way she’d scream at them when she was hungry, or avoid any food with a mode of escape, or even how she’d hug onto the back of Nico’s head when Will was trying to catch her for bath time (Nico was no help, the bastard would never stop laughing).
“Can you do it?” Nico asked quietly, referring to the cage between them and the latch keeping Bianca inside. He’d been quiet since they packed up Bianca’s corner, stone-faced when he placed her toys in a shoebox under the bed.
“...Yeah,” Will nodded, reaching between them to jimmy the lock open. The cage door fell to the grass with a soft thump, but Bianca didn’t move. She simply arranged her wings around herself, like she did when she slept, but didn’t move, her fluffy head swiveling from Nico to Will.
“C’mon girl, come on out…” Will tried to encourage her, easing his hand in next to her, only to yank it out with a startled yelp when she bit him. She’d never done that before! He looked to Nico for support, only to see his boyfriend smiling devilishly.
“I don’t think she want go to, Will,” he said, hope evident in his voice. “Do you, girl?” Bianca only shrieked once, ducking her head back into her wings. Nico’s grin widened.
“Chiron’s not going to like this,” Will sighed in resignation, shaking his head with a fond smile. They closed Bianca back in her cage, holding it between them as they made their way back to Nico’s cabin in the dark, the only noises being the crickets hiding in the grass and the frogs in the sound.
“Absolutely not,” Chiron stood firm in his decision, resolutely not looking at the bat currently hugging onto the side of Nico’s head like a tiny koala. “There aren’t any pets allowed in camp, Mr. Solace, you know this.”
“But Percy has Mrs. O’Leary!” Will argued, doing his best to keep his tone level and reasonable. He’d never been gifted in his father’s way with words. “And she’s a hellhound!”
“Mrs. O’Leary doesn’t live at camp, she only visits.”
“C’mon, Chiron,” Will was struck with an idea, reaching to gently pry Bianca from her nest in Nico’s hair. She shrieked indignantly, but soon realized Will’s hands were warmer and cuddled up. “Look at this face, isn’t he cute? She hardly causes trouble, and she stays in Cabin Thirteen with Nico. Don’t make me pull the medical card…”
“What medical card?” Chiron asked, chancing a glance at the baby in Will’s hands. Will could practically see his heart melt.
“You know Nico has severe PTSD, I can claim Bianca as a service animal if I need to.”
“Bats aren’t service animals.”
“They can be, there’s no rule against it,” Will shrugged. Chiron must have decided it wasn’t worth the trouble, and with a giant sigh, conceded to letting the two keep their winged friend. It was worth the trouble for him, Will decided, if he got to see Nico smile like that more often.
“Come on, Bia,” Nico grinned, holding out his arm. The bat immediately shimmied out of Will’s grasp, gliding gracelessly to Nico’s arm and scrambling up to his head. “Let’s go home.”
Will nodded goodbye to Chiron and took Nico’s hand, smiling to himself as Nico lead them back to Cabin Thirteen. They had to set up Bianca’s corner again, after all.