The Skeletons In The Closet

Epilogue

Nico's POV

Will and I stood in silence in front of his childhood home for a few moments, hand in hand. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from his mom and I promised Will I'd do this with him and I wasn't going back on that.

I could tell Will was nervous but the only at he was gripping my hand. He loved his mom, I knew that. But he also knew what her views were. And he was scared of that reaction.

"Well," he said finally, voice shaking the tiniest bit. "Shall we?"

He finally turned his head to look down and me and I smiled reassuringly, squeezing his hand. "We shall."

So the two of us walked up the pathway to the front door and after taking a deep breath, Will reached out and knocked on the door. I'm a moment of fear, he dropped my hand as he heard footsteps approaching the door.

He shot me an apologetic look to which I shrugged. I didn't mind.

The door swung open and Naomi was there, a laundry basket resting on her hip as music floated around the house. Her hair was pulled up in a messy pony tail and she looked like she'd been having an impromptu dance party while she folded her clothes.

"Hello?" She said, looking puzzled by her surprise visitors u til her eyes locked on her son.  She quickly set down the laundry basket and flung herself forward, wrapping Will up in a tight hug.

"Oh my god. Oh my god, Will! You're home! Oh my god, If I'd known I would've prepared something for you to eat—"

"Mom, don't worry about it," Will squeaked. I smiled warmly at the interaction, basking in the sunny vibes I got from the two.

Will's mom didn't let him go for a few more seconds, starting to rock him back and forth as she hugged him, muttering about how much she kissed him and how worried she'd been for him.

Finally, she pulled away at Will's complaints of not being able to breath. She seemed to notice me for the first time and she backed away, motioning us inside.

"Come on in, we'll catch up."

So Will and I followed her inside and sat at the counter while she threw a few snacks onto a plate that she set in front of us, leaning on the counter across from us and taking it all in with a soft smile.

She looked over at me again and then back to Will. "So who is this?" She asked him, nodding in my direction.

I kept eye contact with Naomi as he said it, but I could see out of the corner of my eye that Will's face went red.

"This is Nico," he said. "My boyfriend."

Naomi looked surprised for a minute and my calm stare took on a threatening edge as I silently dared her to say something offensive. Go ahead, my eyes said, go ahead and say something I dare you. See where that gets you.

But after a the surprise faded, a smile took its place. And it was my turn to be surprised when she offered me her hand to shake. "Well hello, Nico. It's nice to meet you. I hope you're treating my son okay?"

I stared at her hand for a few seconds before reaching out to shake it.

"Will, honey," Naomi said, smiling cautiously at her son who was staring at her wide eyed with shock, mouth hanging open slightly. His eyes were glassy and it took me a second to realize he was on the verge of tears. I'd only seen Will cry once or twice so this was a shock to me.

"You're-you're okay with this?" He asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes, honey," Naomi said kindly, walking around the counter so she could pull Will into a gentler hug, rubbing his back gently.

"I'm so sorry for the things I've said in the past. I've learned now, I took the time to educate myself after you left and I realize now how harmful it was of me to say those things. I promise I don't believe a word a said before and I still love and accept you. And as long as you're happy, I'm happy."

When Will pulled away from her, he was beaming. I loved it when he smiled like that, it was like he held the brightness and happiness of a thousand suns.

I glanced over at the clock on the oven and saw the time, looking regrettably over at the happy family reunion.

"Sorry to cut this short, but Chiron said we need to be back at camp shortly and if I'm gonna have enough strength to get us back, we better be on our way."

Will nodded and slid down from the counter stool and gave his mom another hug.

"You two are welcome to visit anytime, you hear? I want to be seeing you more often."

Will smiled, "sounds good mom, I'll see you soon. Love you."

"I love you too," she said, waving us out the door. "Now get going, you don't want to be late."

We exchanged waves as she shut the door behind us. I grabbed Will's hand again and smiled up at him, standing on my tiptoes to give him a quick kiss.

"Well I would say that was a success," I said.

Will nodded, still looking quite blissful.

I squeezed his hand tighter, reaching out to grab the other one. "Ready?" I asked, pulling us over closer to the shadow under a tree. He nodded and I reached out the shadows, pulling them around us and taking us home. 

+=+=+=

And that is a wrap! The ending was long overdue, thank you all so much for sticking with me to the end, I appreciate all of you so much. Thank you for reading and remember to vote and comment, love you demigods!!!