Hidden Angel

Chapter 5 A walk in the park

Well I just needed some happy fluffy cuteness or whatever in here so here we go, I hope you like it.

The next day Will came back around lunch time with a backpack slung over his shoulder. He pulled out his walkie-talkie and called up to Nico. "Hey Nico! You there?" he waited a moment before a reply came.

"Hey Will! Are we going to card battle again?"

Will smiled at the eagerness he heard in Nico's question. "Actually I thought that if you're feeling up to it maybe we could go to the park and have a picnic, you've never had one right?"

There was a pause while Nico seemed to think about it. "I guess that would be okay, I've been feeling better lately, and I can't remember ever having a picnic or even being to a park so I'd really like to go! Just let me grab the shoes you gave me."

Will slid the bag off of his shoulder. "I'll help you climb down like yesterday, I'll be right up." With that he started climbing the tree to his usually branch outside of Nico's bedroom window, when he got there Nico was opening the window and starting to edge out onto the tree branch so Will held out his hand for him to keep him from falling. "Same as yesterday, I'll climb down first and you follow when I'm at the bottom so that I can be there to catch you if I have to."

Now that he didn't have to climb down with bare feet Nico was doing better and didn't have to worry about splinters in his feet.

Once they were on the ground Will picked up his backpack again and smiled at Nico. "Come on I'll show you the way to the park, it'll be like we're going on a quest!"

Nico smiled remembering their conversation yesterday about heroes and adventures. "As long as you don't start calling me fair princess again."

Will laughed. "Nope that's just for when it's just you and me, what would this noble knight do if someone else stole away his fair princess he rescued from the tower?" he said all this in a really dramatic voice and they both laughed as they walked on.

Today Will let Nico walk on his own so that he could get used to it, besides it was farther to the park than it was to his house so he would have a hard time running while carrying Nico and the bag with their picnic supplies in it.

...

Once they got to the park Will led Nico over to where the trees were and set out the blanket he had in his backpack in the shade and started pulling out the food he had brought. There where juice boxes, fruit cups, crackers and cheese, turkey sandwiches, and granola bars, he wasn't sure what Nico liked or even what he normally ate so he just packed what he figured would be good for someone who's normally sick, some healthy choices and things that would help give him some energy.

Nico looked at the food in wonder, it was different from the prepared meals his dad always left for him and he couldn't wait to try them.

They sat in the shade under the tree while they ate their lunch and enjoyed the beautiful day. Even though it wasn't a large meal the food had been delicious and Nico was really enjoying having a picnic with Will in the park. He never would have imagined that he would be able to do something like this. Thanks to Will he was finally beginning to feel like a regular kid.

When they had finished their lunch they sat in the shade of the tree for a while and talked about everything and nothing at all, it felt good to be able to just speak freely to the other while sitting side by side like this. They both find it fun to have such a good friend to talk to and that they could tell anything to.

"Hey I know that you are normally sick and all but my dad told me that fresh air and physical activity can help people recover better so I thought we could play catch with a Frisbee or something, I brought a few things from home." Will reaches over and grabs his backpack and starts pulling out a few toys, there's a yellow Frisbee, a big red ball, a baseball and a couple of mitts, and of course his cards.

Nico's face lit up at the sight of everything.

"Just in case you weren't up for the physical activity I thought I'd bring my cards along too." Will explained.

Nico looked at the selection, of course he had wanted to battle with Will again but the idea of tossing a ball or Frisbee back and forth or kicking around a ball was even better!

Nico picks up the baseball and one of the mitts. "How about catch?"

Will smiles and nods. "Works for me!" He grabs the other mitt and they find a good place to start tossing the ball back and forth. "My dad and I would do this a lot as I was growing up but he's really busy with work these days so we don't get to come to the park much anymore just to have fun like this." Will tells Nico, a look of nostalgia on his face as he tosses the ball back to Nico.

"That sounds great; I wish I had memories like that with my dad."

Will starts to worry that he shouldn't have brought up happy memories with his dad knowing that Nico lost most of his earlier memories and his dad is almost always gone. "Sorry I shouldn't have brought it up. But hey! We're making happy memories here and now together right?" he smiled hoping to lift the other boys' spirits. It must have worked because Nico smiled back.

"Yeah, I'm glad you brought me here today."

As they started distancing themselves from each other to see how far they could throw they hear someone call out to Will.

"Hey Will!"

They look over to see a boy around Percy's age or so waving as he approached.

Will smiled when he recognised him. "Hey Frank! How's it going? I haven't seen you since camp!"

Nico couldn't help noticing that Will had a lot of friends.

"I'm good, are you going to camp this year? We could really use you in archery." Frank said a little out of breath as he had run over to them when he recognized Will.

"Yup, but I don't know how long I'll be at camp this year, I kind of want to spend more time with my friend Nico here." he said as he gestured to Nico as way of introduction.

Frank smiled and waved a little. "Why doesn't he come to camp too? They're always happy to have more kids join up."

But Nico was shaking his head. "I can't, I get sick easily so I don't even go to school. I don't think my dad would let me go to camp."

Frank looked a little crest fallen at that. "Sorry to hear that, it's really fun to go to camp in the summer and make new friends."

Nico really wished he could go to camp too, it did sound fun and he'd watched movies and read books where kids had a lot of fun at summer camp, but he knew his father would never let him go. "It's okay, I'm used to it. A least I have Will to hang out with."

Will looked proud to hear that. "Hey frank why don't you join us? Nico doesn't get out much so I brought him to the park to have fun today, it would be better if more people joined in, right Nico?"

Nico nodded. He was getting to meet a lot of people through Will.

"Sure, what would you guys like to do?" Frank asked.

Will looked at Nico and noticed that he seemed a little flushed so maybe they should go back to the shade. "How good are you at Mytho Magic?"

Franks face lit up. "I love that game! I play it whenever I get the chance!"

Will looked at Nico. "What do you say Nico, want to show Frank how awesome you are at the game?"

Nico smiled. "Sure."

Okay that's Chapter 5, we will continue with the happy friendship in the next chapter and then we are in for a bumpy ride so brace yourselves!

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