Everyone Deserves to be Happy (Solangelo)

Traveling With Your Average Luggage of a 14 Year Old Boy (Will)

Will liked holding Nico's hand.

Will did not like shadow travel.

It was that simple. Unfortunately, shadow travel sucked way more than holding onto Nico rocked.

First of all, it was so dark that Will had no idea what was around him. The darkness felt tangible, like sheets of ice encasing him and then shattering as he hurtled at breakneck speeds through the void. And then there was the screaming. He wasn't sure if it was coming from the monsters he was certain populated the shadows or himself, but it was an earsplitting whine, so loud that he was sure his eardrums were going to pop. It seemed to last for hours, but finally they were spit out of the shadows and onto a patch of yellow flowers.

Sneezing, Will stumbled to his feet, pulling Nico up after him.

"Well." Will managed, after a few seconds of silence. "That was an experience."

"Yeah." Nico closed his eyes. Will noticed he was swaying slightly.

Just in time, Will dove, catching Nico before he hit his head on the pavement. Gods dammit. What am I supposed to do with him? Heal him. Duh. Of course. With meager supplies. In the street. Great.

"Okay," Will said, murmuring to himself. "I got this. I am the best in the world at this. Okay." He took out some ambrosia, and coaxed some into Nico's mouth. Then he brought out his flask of nectar, and poured a few droplets onto Nico's temples and eyelids. Nico's cheeks looked sallow, like a skeleton's in the grey light. There were deep shadows in the crook of his collarbone and under his eyes. Shadows much too dark to be usually seen in the light of day.

He grabbed his pack, and Nico's, pulling them onto his shoulders. Then he picked up Nico, one arm under his knees and the other under his shoulders, which was worryingly easy. I told him to eat more. Will looked around at his surroundings. There was no one on the street, and the sky was cloudy. The only patch of color were the flowers he had probably murdered. Great. He didn't even know what he was looking for. He turned around in desperation, and...voila! Right in front of him was a Christian church. Perfect. They offer sanctuary, right? Right. Will hefted his beautiful burden, and started walking down an unknown street in a foreign city to a building housing a god who was not his own.

I'm a foreigner in a strange land. I don't even speak the language written on the streets signs. I wonder if this is how Nico felt when he first came to the states. He looked down at the boy in his arms, head lolling to the side and dark hair mussed. Probably not exactly like this.

The first thing Will noticed about the exterior of the church was that there were crosses everywhere. In front, and on both the bell tower and the regular steeple. The outside was plain white, complimenting the grey wood of the window sills and the crosses. Must be protestant. What could Will say? He paid attention in class. Chiron would never answer his questions about Egypt and their gods. He got sort of fidgety whenever Will or anybody else asked, then he would spend the next few days taking to someone in an iris message, worry creasing his brow. Will learned to ask the teachers he saw during the school year.

Will walked up the street, his feet crunching in the gravel when he reached the courtyard in front of the church. There were stone benches to the sides, lining the courtyard along with hedges. Will trudged up the steps, about to figure out a way to knock, when the door slid open before, soundless on well oiled hinges.

A man wearing the usual robes of a religious minister stood before them. He was rather rotund and quite tall, making him an imposing figure. Thankfully, he had a sunny smile on his face.

"Olá. Bom dia. Me chamo Micael. Como o senhor se chama?"

Will was completely dumbstruck. He had absolutely no idea what the man had just said to him, so he tried the basics.

"My name is Will. Do you speak English?"

The man stared at him for a second, eyes narrowed in concentration. Then, he spoke, thankfully in English this time, albeit with a thick accent. "Yes. I said my name is Micael. What has happened?"

"My...friend..." Will said, not wanting to call Nico his boyfriend while also struggling to figure out a good explanation for why they were there. "We were on a school trip and we got separated from the group. I don't know why, but he fainted! Can he please rest here?"

"Of course. But wouldn't it be..." Micael paused, searching for the words "more...useful to call an ambulance? Or your school?"

Will thought quickly. "I can't do that, Nico, he is...a very religious person. He would much rather stay here-"

"I can't let a sick boy have no medicine!"

Will took a deep breath. "Okay. You want the real story? We ran away. We're brothers. Our parents, they neglected us. Or beat us. I can show you my scars. We speak English because we recently moved here from America. We've been up all night. He fainted while we were running away and if you send us to a hospital we'll get found by our parents!"

The man looked slightly skeptical, but there was sympathy in his eyes. "You're brothers?"

"Yes." Will gave him a solemn look, but there was pleading too. "Please. We just need to rest. "

He caved. "I cannot refuse sanctuary. Please, lay him down on one of the pews."

Thankfully, there was no one else in the church. The interior was as stark as the exterior, wooden benches on a white tile floor leading up to a simple mantle with one stained glass window behind it and three more crosses.

Will set Nico down on one of the benches, and sat down net to him, heaving a sigh of relief. Micael walked to the front, and opened a door that Will hadn't noticed before.

"I'll be back with food. It is after lunchtime. But you have not eaten?"

"Correct."

Micael brought back food, a potato dish, some grilled fish, and a fruit tart. Will ate quickly, surprising himself. He guessed shadow travel took a lot out of you. He looked at Nico sadly. It most certainly does. He is going to kill himself trying to save everyone.

Micael interrupted his thoughts, sitting in front of him and studying Will's face.

"I think...that you are very special. You do not know it yet."

Will laughed. "It's Nico who is the prodigal child. I'm just...Will."

"You are strong. You have known loss, and withstood it." It was a statement, spoken as the absolute truth in a moment of meditation.

Then Micael's grin returned, and he nodded to himself. "Strong." He got up a walked away to the back room, whistling a tune that sounded an awfully lot like 'Stayin Alive'.

The afternoon crawled by, and it was clear that Nico was not going to wake up any time soon. He was in a deep sleep, but at the very least it was peaceful.