"should we do something...about will?"
(related to this post)
Eyes flick up to Tanner's face, yanked out of his thoughts with the suddenness of the question. But it actually wasn't that sudden, Nico considered, irritation still flashing down his spine, he was just thinking, apparently thinking very deeply.
"Will's...," he started to say but stopped himself. Because saying he was 'fine' obviously wasn't true, especially if Tanner had noticed it too. The son of Apollo tended to do a pretty good job hiding how he was doing from everyone else, but Nico could tell when there was a problem, and so could Tanner apparently. "Will's tired," he said slowly, finally. But he knew that wasn't enough either.
Something protective settled in Nico's chest, the urge to push Tanner away, to keep him out of whatever Nico ended up deciding to do to help Will. Nico didn't have a lot of chance to help take care of other people, didn't really have a chance taking care of anyone at all. So now that he had the chance, he wanted to do it himself. Besides, Will was his boyfriend, that only seemed fair.
Even though Tanner was Will's friend too, and the guilt settled in uncomfortably with the protection. "I'm taking care of him. Don't worry."
