Unexpected Visitors

I

Cecil and Lou Ellen were together in the bushes. Now before you start formulating ideas about what they did exactly, there was no chance that it had anything to do with holes and sticks. If you got his drift.

Though Cecil found Lou Ellen rather adorable, with her bright, olive-green eyes that seemed to sparkle with more light than bioluminescence plankton against a stark, midnight void of a night when happy, or stirring up mischief with him. The daughter of Hecate's short dark hair seemed perpetually wild and tousled in a boy's cut. She was as cute as a button, and it would almost be a crime to do anything risque.

Now, as to what the two demigods were doing in the . . . er, flattened shrubbery, well. They were stalking someone.

If you wanted to be more specific, you could say that they were stalking two someones. While this wasn't uncommon, it was an oddity that they should actually know more about them than the sleep-deprived whispers in the dead of night or a rumor filling the buzzing air.

See, they were quite close with the tall, tanned boy with an Aryan-type look - bright blond hair that gleaned in even the dimmest of rooms and bright, crystal-blue eyes. He was athletic and filled-in, even for demigods who either exercised by avoiding Death or met the, albeit well-looking, deity.

Will Solace was everyone's best friend or a little extra something-something to the grim-faced boy leaning against the willow tree. If you knew what he meant.

Said boy hung his head, slightly frizzled dark hair drooping over his face. His slight frame shook, making Cecil blink in shock.

He glanced over at his partner in crime, Lou Ellen. "Is - is he crying?"

She shrugged.

With a wild jerk, Nico's head flew upward, letting out a long string of giggles as he clutched his stomach, face turning pink.

Cecil's jaw dropped to the dirt with brambles sticking out of it. "No way. . ."

Lou Ellen turned, eyebrows raised. In a soft, almost hesitant tone, filled with bewilderment, she questioned, "Did the - the King of Doom-and-Gloom, darkness and death, the Ghost King, just giggle?"

"I - I think our ship is ready." In mock seriousness, he focused his amber orbs on Lou Ellen's. He unconsciously leaned in to whisper, "Prepare the lake, soldier."

She laughed, showing off her pearly whites before her a dainty hand covered them. Giving a slovenly salute, she rolled her eyes, almost saying No way, José. "No, sir. I am the true commander. Bow down, mere mortal."

"Ugh, don't pull out the goddess card now. We have more important matters at hand." As much as he would like to banter with his best friend, he couldn't stand one more comment about the son of Hades' silky hair. He gestured to the soon-to-be coupling, as if he was a surveyor of land, or a stout nobleman about to go on the adventure of a lifetime: slay the dragon, get the girl, and all that jazz.

The people in question were smiling, inches apart, almost appearing to be leaning in. They had a mischievous grin, rather uncharacteristic of either them, almost as if they were sharing an inside joke, indecipherable to anyone else. Nico felt rather light-headed, his chest vibrating and sides seeming to split from the silly, sunshine-y medico before him.

After more moments than he'd like to admit, his breath evened out, no longer coming out it loud, shaky huffs. His face grew less heated, and he calmed down slightly. The world came back into focus, and Will, especially, came back into a little bit too much detail to be comfortable.

He tried to shuffle away awkwardly, suddenly aware of how. . . couplely they looked. With Will's exposed arm against the oak tree's dark brown trunk, almost directly above Nico's dark head of hair as he had supported his spinning noggin with it, sighing with an almost exhausted yawn. With the way, Will's signature lazy smile rained down on him like a warm, afternoon sun, perfect to loll around in. With not even half of his usual distance and snark. With them just taking each other in like that nice moment in between sleep and being productive - just there.