100 reasons to love our lives

A savior, a hero

Will

One of the biggest points of argument in our relationship was Nico's shadow-travelling.

Well, we needed it a lot of times, but he had had the habit once to travel right into people's rooms, or bathrooms, or other personal places. Not on purpose, of course, but I still could get pretty defensive when he suddenly appeared out of nowhere while I had been... busy in moments of solitude.

But now, as he stepped out of the shadows of my bedroom, there was no shame.

Within one second, I latched onto him, weeping openly. "Hey, sunshine", he greeted me, his arms carefully wrapping themselves around my waist.

More sobs forced themselves out of my mouth. Nico didn't ask questions; he was tumbling a little as he led me back to my bed.

"It's okay", he whispered for the thousandth time, keeping me safe in his cooling yet powerful embrace. "I'm here."
Finally, he was. My hours of stress, my half an hour of being on my own - it didn't matter anymore, because he was here.

After these dreadful hours, I could finally close my eyes and rest a little. Just a short while...

~~~

As I woke up, morning light shined through the window. Heinrich was just heading out the door; I could see how he closed it.
And Nico was still there, sleeping like the angel he was, his arms wrapped tight around my body.

Ignoring the aches in my muscles, I sat up a little to look at his face; his face with the incredibly defined jaw, the cute nose which gave his otherwise sharp edges a young look. There were some little scars on the skin I could see; his bare neck, parts of his collar bone, his face and hands. They were everywhere: thin scars, hollow and white, some nearly invisible on the ivory skin, some thicker, more defined.

What I would give for just being able to kiss him awake. But he wasn't that far yet; still tended to be violent and grumpy at mornings if somebody just hovered over him. It was a little understandable though. After a past of getting rudely awoken by monsters who tried to eat him several times, his body didn't make the difference between boyfriend and enemy.

Slowly, I freed myself from his protective hug and slid into the bathroom. College courses didn't wait for me to fix my own world; and I had time to eat and shower and wake up my boyfriend.

But I didn't have to do that. Nico already sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

Oh gods. What did he do with me? What kind of powerful magic did he charm me with?
"Good morning", I said and he grunted: "Buongiorno."
"When do you have your first course?", I asked. He fell a little forward to look at the clock, blinking hardly. "In an hour", he then answered.

"Did someone tell you that you look incredibly sweet in the morning?"
Nico rolled his eyes and fell back on the mattress, whimpering a little. "I just left you yesterday", he whispered. "I'm so horrible."

"No, you're not!", I objected fastly. "I said see you later. You understood that right! And you were here. You came back to look for me. Do you know how much that means to me?"
His ink-black eyes rested on me, full of self-doubt. "What happened?", he asked. "Why did you leave so fast?"

The memories boiled up in my mind; poisonous like a black widow's bite. "Celine", I managed to say. "She... She has sent me goodbye messages."
"What?!" He sat up so abruptly he hit his head on my chin. "This kind of goodbye messages?"
"Yes", I confirmed, my voice shaky again. "I ran over to help her save herself."