As Head Counsellor and main healer, Will has more shifts than his siblings in the infirmary.
As the oldest, he also gets the worst ones.
First shift, always pointless because Will is sure he is the only one awake from four to seven in the morning. That's when he does his "Rapunzel routine".
He sweeps the floor, makes sure no sheet is stained with blood, fills the medical cabinets, rolls meticulously every bandage, sterilises his surgical instruments, reads the campers' files until he knows them by heart. It's mechanical by now, almost as boring as he did nothing and stayed in his bed.
Next one is lunch shift, from 11 am to 2 pm. The most arduous one as his fellow demigods are more careless with the prospect of a delicious meal at noon and more slow during the digestion. The lunch hour is a brief moment of peace, one Will uses to eat his sandwiches.
His final shift is the last one before night shift begins. Going from 7 pm to 10 pm, it makes him miss dinner and he can savours once again his sandwiches.
That's Will's routine at Camp Half-Blood, has been for over a year and will be until he either dies or leave Camp.
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He moves his arm until he finds it and slams it into silence.
His second alarm rings, this one too far on his nightstand to shut it down.
Groaning, eyes still puffy from sleep, Will sits on his bed and silence the noise before it wakes his other siblings.
He groggily makes his way to the bathroom, almost tripping on Kayla's bow laying discarded on the floor and stubbing his toe against Austin's saxophone.
After one year of waking up at 4 am, his body should really understand that he won't go back to a blissful sleep until 10 am.
Those times are gone, washed away with Micheal's body in the river, and therefore, so is his sleep schedule.
He robotically washes his teeth, makes no effort to tame his curls and takes a cold shower to shock his brain into action.
He slips on a pair of cargo shorts, a CHB tee-shirt and bright yellow flip flops and quietly leaves the Apollo Cabin.
As always, all he hears are the harpies patrolling over his head, watching him with their beady eyes.
Dimly, he notices a shadow in the Big House, making a lot of gestures and playing with something.
As long as he doesn't injure himself, it's not Will's problem to know who he is and what he is doing.
No, Will is just going to make his way to the infirmary and deny seeing anyone if something blows up.
When he passes in front of the window, the person hastily shuts off the lights and disappear from Will's vision.
He struggles to insert the key into the lock in the dark and he is forced to glow a little to see the hole. The reception's desk is empty and he passes it to enter the main room, the one with all the beds. He goes at the end of the room and lights on the coffee machine, the loud buzzing echoing in the silence.
"It's way too early to drink coffee." A voice chirps from behind him.
Will violently jumps and in panic, he throws his steamy, hot, cup of coffee at the unknown person.
"Ouch ! Dear Hermes, it burns !" The person gesticulates, hoping on one feet to another as if it would lesser the burn.
Will takes a bottle of water nearby the machine, opens it, and empties its content on-
"Travis ?" He whispers, bewildered, at his friend standing in front of him, now soaking wet.
"Hey Willy !" Travis cheerfully replies, "you have a nice way to greet your visitors."
"You have a nice way to announce yourself !" Will argues, "you almost gave me a heart attack."
"Eh," he shrugs, "nothing like a good jump scare to start the day !"
Travis opens a closet and takes a towel, processing to dry his hair.
"Why are you up ?" Will ask him, checking his watch, "it's 4:30 am."
"No reason," Travis smiles, his eyes glinting, "just thought I would keep you company."
"Riiiight," Will drawls, pouring himself another cup of coffee, "no prank ?"
He huffs, still not fully convinced of his friend's innocence.
It wouldn't be the first time Travis, or Connor, woke up at night to ruin a poor soul's day.
Travis plops down on a bed, rumpling the sheets, and he beckons Will to sit next to him.
"So, what do you usually do ?"
"Clean stuff." Will shrugs, "not much other thing to do."
"You spend three hours cleaning ?" Travis shivers, "why don't sleep instead ?"
"I can't, there's alway a chance a demigod needs urgent care and that's why I'm here."
He yawns and his stomach choses this moment to loudly rumble.
"Sorry," he feels his face go red, "I'm always hungry before breakfast."
"I figured you would need something to eat."
Travis gets up and pick up a box next to the coffee machine Will hadn't seen.
"Here," he gives it to him, "open it."
Inside the box, there's some kind of cake.
"How- how did you know I would be hungry ?"
"You never at dinner, and I know you would never steal a plate so I decided to make sure our beloved medic is well fed !" Travis grins, pulling out two plates from behind his back.
"Thanks Travis," Will eagerly, and messily, cuts the cake in half with his hands and shares it with his friend.
"It's panettone, from Italy," Travis says as they eat, "made this morning."
"You made this ? I didn't know you cooked." Will marvels, "It's very good."
"Remember Grace ? One of my older sisters ? She must be almost thirty if she isn't dead by now. She loved to cook, always sneaked in the kitchens to practice and I went with her." Travis smiles softly, "It reminds of her every time I cook."
"That's a nice memory to have of your older sister."
"Yeah," he snorts, "she used to curse so much in French, always went off when something was slightly over baked and gods forbid she burnt something !"
"I didn't know she spoke french." Will frowns.
it would have been nice to talk with her, practice his french. It always get a little rusty since he has nobody to speak with but nothing a holiday with his mother can't fix. He made a cross of Aphrodite's children when they all tried to talk about his love life.
"Her mother is French, but she didn't have accent, perks of being a daughter of Hermes."
Will had to practice a lot to get rid of his own accent, to smooth those "z" sounds.
"Yep, and she taught me before she left." Travis grins, finishing his slice of panettone.
"Really ?" Will perks up, "you're fluent ?"
"As a native speaker !" Travis says proudly, "Another perk of dad."
Finally, someone to talk with ! And his best friend nonetheless.
But he doesn't have to say it now, no. He can enjoy a few weeks of making Travis speak French and pretending not to understand.
His face when Will tells him will be worth the followings weeks of pranks.
"Say something to me in French." Will asks him, turning his body to be face to face with Travis, "Anything."
Travis looks at him, his head tilted ever so slightly that some of his curls fall on his face.
"Tu es magnifique." Travis whispers, "absolument magnifique."
"Will ?" Travis takes his face in his hands, "what's wrong ? Do I need to get you something ? Oh my gods, wait a minute, I'll get-"
"It's fine, it's fine !" Will stammers, "saliva went to the wrong tube, it's fine."
"You sure ? I can get you a glass of water if you need."
"I'm fine, thanks." Will smiles to reassure Travis.
That's when he realises his friend's face is very close to his and his hands are on his face.
You're magnificent, absolutely magnificent.
"Erm", Will flushes, "maybe you can get me a glass of water."
Travis nods and quickly goes to the coffee machine to grab one of the bottles.
Will uses those few seconds to compose himself.
Maybe Travis isn't a fluent as he thought, and he just wanted to tell Will he was good-looking.
Which is very nice thing to say one friend to another.
Will tells it to Drew all the time.
It's friendly, nothing more.
"Here you go." Travis puts the bottle in his hand before sitting next to him again.
"So," Travis smirks after he drank, "did you understood what I said ?"
See, it's popular belief children of Apollo are incapable of lying.
Will doesn't know who started the rumour but it helped him a lot.
Accused of something he may or may not have done ? Smile and deny.
"Nah," he shakes his head, "not a word."
He wonders if he asks Travis to translate his words, he would truthfully.
Does he even want him to tell the truth ?
"Eh," his friend shrugs, "it was nothing important. But I'm definitely going to spurt random french sentences around you now," he cackles, "it's going to be fun to see you trying to decipher them."
"Yeah," Will grins, "really fun."
"Tu as un très beau sourire." Travis says, "Catch any words ?"
You have a beautiful smile.
"No," Will answers shakily, "not one word."
"This is too much fun !" Travis snickers, "I'm going to bug you all day long."
"You better not whisper french in my ears when I'm healing people," Will warns his friend, "It's going to distract me."
"Nonsense, you're not going to understand it anyway."
Travis picks up their two plates and throw the plastic bottle in a trash nearby.
"Gotta wake up my siblings, but I'll see you at your lunch shift !" Travis cheerfully bids him goodbye.
Will checks his watch and it indicates 6:30 am.
"Travis," Will says jokingly, "you are now going to entertain me during all my morning shifts because time never flew that fast !"
He expects Travis to roll his eyes and say "I'd rather sleep."
"I'll be here 4:30 am sharp." Travis instead says very seriously, "with breakfast lovingly made just for you." He winks at him.
"It's a secret but I guess I can tell you." Travis whispers, "Arts & Crafts is the best activity to take a nap."
"You're incorrigible." Will rolls his eyes. "Now go, Connor needs you."
He makes a shoo motion and Travis leaves the infirmary chuckling.
---------------------------------
True to his word, Travis does pester him during his lunch shift.
He barges in the main room at 12 am sharp, whistling a happy tune.
"Shut it off, Stoll." Sherman groans from his bed.
"Rude," Travis blows him a raspberry before turning to Will, "you like my singing right ?"
"Yeah," He mindlessly says, focused on stitching back Paolo's arm for what must be the sixth time.
Travis takes a chair and sits next to him, still whistling.
Will sings his own tune, a healing hymn meant to put back flesh together. As always, his skin begins to glow softly.
"Aucune Ă©toile n'est plus brillante que toi, tu es plus Ă©poustouflant que n'importe quel astre." Travis casually interromps his singing, causing Will to short circuit.
Only his hard won training prevents him from staggering and messing up his hymn.
No star is brighter than you, you are more breath-taking than any of them.
Clearly, Travis is only fluent in Aphrodite french style. Or Grace thought it would be really funny to teach her little brother only romantic sentences.
Will hastily finishes his hymn, apply a healing paste to prevent any infection, and he goes over his next patient.
He hears scrapping on the floor and there's Travis, still seated, right next to him.
As he apply a soothing paste on Nyssa's right arm, red with a second degree burn, he briefly glances at Travis.
He meets his friend's blue eyes right with his own, startling him with the intensity in his look.
He quickly adverts his eyes, feeling his cheeks reddens.
"Tu as des yeux sublimes, ce sont tels des saphirs." Travis sighs, "Si tu savais Ă quel point tu es splendide Will."
Will grips Nyssa's arm tightly, causing her to hiss in pain.
"It's all right," she grunts, "what is the idiot saying about you ?"
"I don't know," Will says, ignoring Travis's huff, "I don't know French."
"But he mentioned your name didn't he ? I think I heard him saying Will."
"Good ears Nyssa," Travis claps, "I said he should try singing Rapunzel's song, to see if it works."
"Idiot." Nyssa rolls her eyes.
Will stays silent, translating the words in his head.
You have sublime eyes, they are like sapphires. If you only knew how beautiful you are, Will.
"Don't you have anything to do right now ?" Will asks Travis, his throat dry. "Siblings to take care of ?"
"Connor's got it all covered. You are stuck here with me."
"Good luck." Nyssa mumbles before he leaves her to treat someone else.
For every patient, the son of Hermes compliments him.
"J'adore la façon dont tu brilles au soleil."
I love the way you shine in the sun.
"Tu es surement l'une des meilleures rencontres que j'ai faite dans ma vie."
You’re probably one of the best encounters I’ve ever had in my life.
All with a soft tone, looking at him with a fond look in his blue eyes.
Will can barely concentrate on his patient with Travis whispering such things right next to him.
He almost gives Miranda the wrong medication.
He sets Sherman's leg the wrong way and has to do it all over again.
After botching stitches on Billie Ng's arm, he deems it necessary to take a break.
"Travis, please go tell Kayla to let Chiron teach archery and to begin her shift early. Tell her I'll owe her, it should convince her." Will sighs as he strips of his white coat and gloves, throwing the latter in the trash.
He enjoys that moment of rest to plop down on a chair and expires loudly.
What mess has he gotten himself into ?
He can't reveal to Travis he's been understanding everything since the beginning but he can't endure much more of whatever is going on with the son of Hermes.
They've been friends since they met, literally.
Travis saw Will enter the Hermes Cabin, alone and wide-eyed, and decided on the spot to stick with him.
And yes, Travis has always been at ease with physical contact.
Yes, he always made those hugs a little longer than the usual, not that Will minded.
Yes, he always seeks Will's company, always smile, always laugh, always make sure he's alright...
Will likes that about Travis, honestly.
It's nice to have someone care so deeply about you.
He always greeted him with a hug, always jumped on his back by surprise, sending tumbling on the ground.
But he did it with everybody ! It's just how he shows affection.
Will can name a lot of friends who got the same treatment from Travis.
Like Connor ! But he's his brother so he doesn't count.
Wait no, Travis is still sour about the whole spy thing and Drew is more Connor's friend.
He's sure they are others campers with who Travis is as friendly than he is with Will.
Annabeth would be a sure choice but she hasn't been around lately, busy in New Rome.
Percy is kind of guy everybody gets along with, he isn't a good example.
Clarisse, Travis told me and made him swore into secrecy, is only tolerated because Chris. The Stoll are still bitter about how she tried to plunge their heads into the toilets when they first arrived.
Surely there is at least someone else...
But as he racks his brain, he can't think about one person that Travis pesters like he does to him.
There's nobody else, except Connor he supposes, that would make him wake up at gods know when in the morning to bake a pastry because he cares about him enough to know he doesn't eat enough at dinner.
There's nobody else that Travis would follow all morning long and tell him nice things in another language.
There's only Will for who Travis does all those things.
But maybe he's reading too much into it ?
Maybe Travis is just flirtatious because he feels comfortable with him ? It's not like Will is supposed to understand the things Travis says to him. Maybe he's just having a laugh.
He needs to ask Drew about this.
"Nyssa," he calls her as he leaves the infirmary, "tell Travis to stay with Kayla until the end of her shift, she'll need help."
And he needs time to process without having Travis swooning over him and making his heart go crazy.
-------------------------------------
Will doesn't think he has ever seen Drew looking so disappointed in him.
"Solace," she sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose, "please tell me one more time what isn't clear to you."
"Travis is flirting with me but I'm not supposed to know that he is." Will stresses his word, "so does it mean that he actually likes me or is he just entertaining himself ?"
"Will, how many other friends do you have that go around calling you handsome, breathtakingly beautiful, light of their life-"
"He didn't say the last part."
"Just give him time and he will." Drew snickers.
"So, you think he likes me."
"Oh honey, I think he is head over heels with you." Drew grins, "the question is, are you ?" She lifts one eyebrow.
"I, ah, think so ?" Will shakes his head, "this is very confusing, I have known him for years and of course I like him ! He's my best friend."
"Have you ever wanted to kiss him ?" Drew asks abruptly.
"Have you ever felt bitter when the whole camp thought he was dating Katie Gardner ?" She presses on.
"Do you like the special care he gives you, and only you ?"
That one Will can answer without problem.
He finds very endearing the way Travis went out of his way to bake him, by himself, a breakfast.
And how time with Travis flies, not one moment boring.
And he likes very much how Travis speaks with awe of him in french.
"Oh my gods, I like him."
"This is a disaster !" Will groans.
"The only way I tell him that I know is by confessing I speak french. But, that would imply that I would have known he's been flirting since 4am in the morning and that I haven't said anything back !"
"Just tell him you were figuring it out, he'll understand."
"You sure ?" He asks feebly.
"Yes, now go tell him." Drew shoos him out, "It's time at least one Stoll gets into a relationship and Connor won't ask Malcolm out before the next century begins."
Once he's on the porch, she slams the door at his face, leaving him there, alone.
He's halfway to the infirmary when he meets Travis wandering on camp grounds.
"Travis ?" Will asks, surprised, "what are you doing here ?"
"Kayla kicked me out." Travis replies, "she said I was too disturbing."
"Oh, I suppose not everybody appreciate you as I do." He grins, nudging Travis.
He is rewarded by a choking sound that makes him smile even wider.
"Right," Travis croaks, "clearly she lacks good taste."
"Obviously," Will rolls his eyes, "you're free right now ?"
Travis, as he knows well, is very much not free right now.
He's supposed to be taking his nap at Arts & Crafts but surely Malcolm won't miss him.
"Depends on where we are going." Travis shrugs.
"Strawberry fields, I need a break from the infirmary and some sun would be really nice."
"Let's go then !" Travis replies cheerfully, launching his arm on Will's shoulders.
He could say it right now and then. Hey Travis, guess what ? I know French too and I know you like me. And I like you too ! Hum, let's be boyfriends ?
"What are you thinking about ?" Travis asks him and without an ounce of control, Will blurbs out "You." before furiously backtracking. "About how I don't think you're actually free, I even know you aren't, and you should be sleeping because I'll have you know it's not healthy at all-"
"I'll skip climbing and sleep then, don't feel like getting burn today." Travis stops him, his voice higher than usual and his hand on Will's shoulder is warm.
Will is not going to be the only one being a mess in this.
Without thinking too much, he is well past that, he slides his arm behind Travis' back and rest his hand on his waist.
There, now he just needs to act as if his heart wasn't soundly loudly enough for all Camp to hear.
"Come on, I'll need to go back to the infirmary soon." He urges Travis to walk faster, rather pleased that, for once, he is the one leaving the other speechless.
---------------------------------
Will doesn't manage to tell the truth to Travis during their little escaped in the strawberry fields.
Can't even bring the subject during the whole afternoon because Kayla drags him in the infirmary and Travis can no longer escape his counsellor's duties.
He is left to follow his siblings at archery, missing miserably every target, then getting his ass kicked by Ellis during sword fighting and creating a literal monster of clay for Arts & Crafts's project of the day.
Overall, not a good afternoon because the longer he takes to tell Travis, the more hurt the son of Hermes will be when he knows.
He can't believe he is taking advantage of him like that. He's a horrible person, a terrible friend and what a catastrophic boyfriend he will be- he's not even going to be a boyfriend since Travis will probably reject him when he learns everything.
He dejectedly slams his face on his office in the infirmary, slumped in his chair and determined to swallow in self-pity during his whole night shift.
"Shut up." He groans to his stomach when it rumbles. "I don't wanna move to feed you so just keep it quiet."
Expectedly, his stomach only protest louder at the perspective of no food. He forces himself to get up and grab some sandwiches by the coffee machine at the back of the room.
When he goes back to his desk, his chair isn't empty.
"It's nine pm, you're missing the bonfire." He tells Travis who's happily twirling in his chair. He settles for a nearby stool, nibbling on his cold chicken and mayo sandwich.
"They'll manage without me." Travis grins, sprawled on his chair like it's his. "And I come with a gift."
With flourishing gestures, Travis kneels in front of Will and presents him a white carton box, of which came out a delicious smell.
"From tonight's barbecue, I figured you'll like hot, tasty, meat more than that cold chicken you eat every night."
"Sometimes it's a vegetarian one." Will replies as he digs into his new dinner, only pausing to notice Travis sneakily stealing his previous one.
"Late snack." The son of Hermes shrugs before taking a big bite from his sandwich.
They eat comfortably in silence until Travis breaks it, in none other than French.
"Ça doit être fatiguant d'être seul toutes les nuits."
Maybe it's because Will is tired. Or perhaps it is the sentence's normalcy. It must be tiring to be alone every night. In any case, Will answers automatically. "Ça va, j'y suis habitué."
It's when the last word rolls out of his tongue, when It's okay, I'm used to it doesn't sound quite right in his head that he notices his mistake.
"You- you speak French ?" Travis's voice is high-pitched, his blue eyes looking at Will with blown wide irises, mouth slightly open.
"And, hum, you understand it ?" He asks after Will nods at the first question, only to do the same for the second one.
It's a switch being turned on.
Travis goes from his usual relax self to a frozen state, mouth wide open and agape. "You, you- hahaha, you mean- from this morning, you, everything ?" Travis asks bewildered.
"Hum, yeah." Will says but before he can add "it's okay, I really like you too.", Travis lets out a high shrilled laugh.
"Woah," He coughs, running his hand through his hair and looking everywhere but Will. "Cat's out of the bag then ! The skeleton is out of the closet ! Get it ? Out of the closet."
"Well then." Travis claps loudly his hands, jumping out of the chair towards the exit. "I'll leave you to it, you probably don't feel that way because why would you, I'm just me and you're Will Solace, best medic and human person ever."
"Anyways, gotta go, sweet dreams and everything, I'll go cry to Connor and swallow a whole pint of smuggled ice cream, please don't tell Chiron about it, I'm going to need it." Travis rants as he backs up towards the door. "If you don't see me during the following week, don't panic, I'm just bawling my eyes out because I- what are you doing ?" Travis stops dead since he is blocking the path. "I, hum, need to go through that door Will. I mean, I could use a window but-"
"Neither of them, you are staying here until-"
"Oh ! You want to discuss our friendship, yeah fair enough." Travis smiles but it's a dim thing, strained and sad. "I'll leave you alone for a while, to let you compute."
"Travis, you are not leaving me alone." Will says. "I like you too."
"You- you like me back ?" Travis stutters.
"Wanna hear it in french ?" Will laughs softly even thought his heart is pounding wildly. Unlike english, french do not do the difference between "I like you." and "I love you.". It all comes in one small sentence, three words. "Je t'aime."
Travis stays silent for about three seconds before giving him a beaming smile, one Will is way more used to see on his features. "Je t'aime aussi."
Fireworks, butterflies, holy choirs, whatever things are supposed to represent love, Will feels it all.
"I would elaborate but I think you heard me enough today." Travis grins, all shyness gone and confidence returned, and leans towards Will. "What about you ?" He unabashedly looks at him, eyes flittering to his lips before meeting his.
Will flushes but leans forward too, kissing Travis. It's nothing much, gone before he can really register it but it brings a stupidly big smile on his face and Travis glows in a way it makes his freckles pop, his eyes shine.
"You're really beautiful too." Will whispers, tracing softly Travis' freckles on his nose leaning once again close to the other boy. "And you really need to sleep."
"What ?" Travis says, taken aback when Will drags him out of the infirmary, all the way to Cabin 11. It's empty, his siblings still at the bonfire but none of them were up at four am like their brother.
"You need to sleep, I need to sleep." He says as he manhandles Travis into his bed, his boyfriend letting him do so.
"Don't I get a kiss for good night ?" Travis grins, looking at him expectantly and Will obliges, giving him a light kiss before wishing him good night.
"Will you be there tomorrow morning ?" Will asks him as he leaves the cabin.
"Of course !" Travis yells from his bed. "Anything for my boyfriend !"
It's a mystery for Kayla and Austin to see Will asleep in his bed, a soft smile on his face, at a reasonable hour of the night and clothes already put aside for the next morning.
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His morning shifts are now something he wakes up excited for, curious to know what breakfast Travis baked for him today. Sometimes, Travis talks with him during his shift or sleeps in an infirmary bed, his simple act of presence enough for Will to start the day with a smile.
He doesn't see him much during the day, except when Hermes and Apollo Cabins are mysteriously paired for the whole day, a curtesy of Connor Travis said.
Over are the days where all he ate at dinner were his sandwiches because now, Travis brings him a box of whatever they ate that night, and sometimes he even managed to convince to leave the infirmary to join him at the bonfire.
Will is pretty happy with this routine, Drew occasionally popping up in the picture to look at the two of them appreciatively before leaving to pester Connor about Malcolm. Hopefully, he has it until the day he leaves Camp, and doesn't lose it because of some monsters trying to make him his lunch.
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