Battle Wounds: Solangelo Soulmate AU

ONE HUNDRED AND THREE

WILL POV:
Stepping out of the car in my home state of Texas felt so good I could cry. We moved away when I was only 8 but that didn't stop me from having such a soft spot in my heart for it.

"It's so fucking hot," Nico snaps immediately.

"I told you it was 80 degrees here," I smile at him.

"It's fucking January! It's unnatural!"

We fall side by side as we head into the gas station. Nico immediately goes to go grab a monster, his third one of the day might I add, so I grab an extra bottle of water for him to try and help him not die from consuming to many of those things in the same 12 hour span. I also grab him a protein bar because he hasn't been able to eat much the whole drive here so far.

Nico waggles the can at me, "Look at me, I'm trying a new flavor."

"You could try something that won't cause your heart to shrivel up and fall out maybe," I suggest, knowing he's going frown at me.

"Bold of you to assume that hasn't already happened."

I glare at him jokingly, "Are you saying everytime you've said you love me you were lying?" He quirks his head to the side in confusion, a move I love when he does cause he always looks like a little puppy. "If your hearts all shriveled up and fallen out how could you really love me?"

He smacks my shoulder, "Shut the fuck up."

I grab his can from him and head up to the cash register to pay for our snacks and drinks. I hand Nico his monster as we head back out and he wraps his arm through where mines bent to hold the bag of goodies.

As soon as we step back out into the hot humid air Nico groans again. "I hate Texas," he complains.

"It would help if you would wear the lighter long sleeve shirts I got you," I remind him.

"I don't like them," he pouts.

I'm preparation for the hot Texas weather I got him these thin long sleeve shirts at costco so that maybe he wouldn't over heat too much, but even though I got them two sizes too big for him he still felt like he could see the outline of some of his scars. And I won't lie, I saw them too but that was only because I was looking closely for them because Nico told me he could see them.

"I know baby," I say gently, "Just think about it okay? You know where they are in my suitcase."

He nods tightly and I watch the muscles in his neck tense as he clenches his jaw. A habit I only recently noticed he has when he's uncomfortable and doesn't know what to say.

We get back in the car and I hand him the water bottle I got him and he glares at me half heartedly. "Whatever," he adds, snatching the bottle from my hand and setting in his cup holder.

He pretty much immediately leans against the window and falls back to sleep because we still have three hours till we get to my aunts house.

We're about 15 minutes away when Nico finally wakes back up again with a jerk. He looks around frantically as if trying to figure out where he is so I reach over and take his hand. He jumps and goes to pull his hand back but as soon as he looks at me he visibly relaxes and squeezes my hand back.

"Sorry," he murmurs.

"You're okay," I reassure him, rubbing my thumb across the back of his hand.

He takes a deep breath but I can feel he's still shaking a little. I always hate when he has nightmares and I don't notice.

I open up my arm to invite him to come move closer to me and thankfully he does. He moves to the center seat and re-buckles his seat belt before curling himself into my side.