Peace at Last

    Will smiled at Nico in a very Will-Solace sort of way with his messy blonde hair waving in the breeze. Nico, of course, didn’t smile back, but he felt did feel something he had hadn’t felt all that often: Safety. But, most importantly, wanted. Ever since Will had searched him out a few days after the final battle, he’d been spending a lot more time with Nico than Nico would normally want to spend with someone. But because Will was Will, and Nico secretly enjoyed all the time spent with him, not to mention attention of another human being, he went along with it. If Nico was being truthful with himself, he looked forward to seeing Will; be it the morning (and Nico was really not a morning person), the middle of the day (though the weather there was controlled magically, it normally felt almost too hot at that time of day), or at night, when the stars had come out to play.

    Today was almost one of those too-hot days, but the wind, paired with the fact neither of them were running or working, made it into more of a pleasant warmth that passed through Nico’s skin and into his soul.

    “I have something to show you, Nico.”

    “Really, now?” said Nico, the sarcasm in his words typical of the normally-gloomy son of Hades. “Because I thought we were just wandering aimlessly for the past twenty minutes.”

    “Thought you’d catch that. I’d hoped that I’d looked athletic enough to you that you’d think we really were wandering aimlessly, but that might have been a little far-fetched.”

    Nico smiled, a small smile, not a big one, which was a rare occasion nonetheless, and raised an eyebrow. “Oh sure, you’re athletic enough. But you already know that I’m not one to expend much more energy than I have to, and if you really intended on wasting some of it doing nothing, I would’ve been pretty angry.”

    “And then what would you do? Summon skeletons to kill me?” Will was walking backwards now, so he could face Nico while talking, and shook one of his fingers accusingly. “Remember, no using any of that Hades stuff anymore. I’d rather not lose you to the shadows, as you almost did a few weeks ago.”

    “Sometimes I think the shadows are better than anything here for me. At least, I did.”

    “And then you stepped outside, right?”

    Nico wasn’t entirely sure where this metaphor had come from, or where it was going, but he figured it could apply to a lot of things.

    “Sure. You could say that.”

    Will turned so that his back was to Nico, but he slowed down a bit so that they were walking side by side. They walked in silence for a few minutes, but it wasn’t the awkward or lonely silence that Nico was used to. There was something actually pleasant about this silence, as if simply their presence was enough to make each other happy. Sometimes a lot more could be said without words than with, and Nico had grown fond of silence. But not the old silence, the new one. The silence Will had given him. The peace.

    “We’re almost there,” Will said, stepping to the edge of the forest. “Just a little through the forest, and then we’ll be there. I promise you’ll be surprised.”

    “I wouldn’t count on that. I’m not exactly one to surprise easily, considering that I partially saved the world a few weeks ago.”

    “Hey, I did too, and you’ve seen how jumpy I can be.”

    Nico tried not to grin when he remembered yesterday night, when Will had been sitting by the campfire alone and Nico had slipped in around the shadows and startled him. Will’s expression had been priceless. Nico had more than a little wished he had got it on tape, but also knew it would have been different filmed. Things are never the same after they’ve happen. The first time is normally the best.

    “Most people are jumpy around me.”

    Will looked over at him, and almost bumped into a tree. Nico stuck out an arm and pushed him back, feeling his fingers burn afterwards where he had touched Will’s chest. Nico wondered if it was a son of Apollo thing, or if maybe he was just going insane. Or... something else....

    Will stopped moving, probably as so not to bump into anything else if he tried to walk and look at Nico at the same time. Confidently, he reached out a hand between them.

    Nico looked at the hand, a little startled. Was it for him? There wasn’t anyone else here, that he knew of, but still. People we’re supposed to do that. He needed space. And people were normally much more than willing to do so.

    “I shouldn’t be ‘most people’ to you, got it? From now on, I’m an exception.”

    Nico felt his cheeks get a little hot, which hadn’t happened to him a long time. A long, long, long, time.

    “I... suppose.” Nico looked at the hand again, and Will raised an eyebrow.

    “You going to take it? It’s getting cold waiting here.”

    Nico took one last look at Will’s face, his outstretched hand, his own hand, and then back at Will’s face.