Always Chasing After You

Chapter 8

At fifteen Nico started to get romantic feelings for his best friend. They sat on the fire escape with sandwiches and cups of water, their feet dangling in the open air. It was chilly, the wind creating goosebumps on their skin.

"Hey, Will, you know how your parents can write on each other and the other will get it?" Nico asked. "We should do that. We should write to our soulmates."

Will's blue eyes were rimmed with red. It was around four in the morning, the two teenagers having come out for air after one of Will's many nightmares. "Really?"

"Yeah, get your mind off what happened." Nico reached through the window to grab a pen before sitting back down. "I dare you."

Will grabbed the pen and held it to his bare wrist. "What should I say?"

"Whatever you want." Nico watched closely, making sure to keep his own wrist in Will's sight. "You could even just say hi."

Will hesitated briefly before writing his full name on his wrist. In seconds, Nico could feel the prickling of ink on his own wrist. Before their eyes, Will's name spread over Nico's blue veins.

A siren burst through the night, the sound of cars came and went. As they stared at their wrists in the moonlight, fireflies lit up around them.

"I...I would never have believed it...if I hadn't seen it..." Will looked up to meet Nico's eyes. "We're...we're..." His eyes filled with love, love that hadn't been noticed since a trench and the sounds of gunfire.

"Soulmates." Nico finished. His face was close to Will's, close enough to smell the toothpaste on his breath. "We're soulmates. Do you still think they're gross?"

Will's blue eyes softened as they lost themselves in Nico's dark orbs. "I...I understand what they meant, when they said that the love...it comes..."

"It comes so quickly." Nico closed his eyes and felt his heartbeat speed up, felt life stir within him. He tried to forget the battlefield, tried to forget starving and the eerie noise of tornado bells in the calm before the storm. He tried to forget lives that were over so he could live now, live in a moment he had been dreaming about since the bullet went through his heart.

Their lips met just as the sirens died down, as the moon hid behind the clouds. In the darkness, they kissed with hesitant movements and chapped lips. Fifteen, a young age. A curious age. Nico melted into Will's touch, melted into the boy he had been dreaming about for decades. For Will, he was kissing the boy that made everything better, the boy that saved him from nightmares and saved him from terror. The boy that saved him in general.

In the darkness, they parted so they could breathe, parted so they could stare into each other's eyes. Dark eyes into light, black eyes into blue. Two different souls, fused together when the world began. Two different souls that would be seperated again by October.

"Holy shit..." Nico wiped his mouth before laying his head on Will's shoulder. "We're...we're..."

"I love you..." Will moved a hand to Nico's back. "I love you. I...I can't believe we've gone all this time without these feelings."

"Soulmates are weird." Nico closed his eyes and breathed in Will's scent. "You'll stay, right? You won't leave me?"

"Never." Will promised. "Never. We're together forever, remember?"

Nico grinned. "Together forever." For the first time, he believed it.

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The boys went to Will's apartment in the morning, their hands clasped together. Percy and Annabeth waited for them, eating breakfast at the small table. Nico watched Percy for a minute before sitting down, still not having had a conversation with him, in this life at least.

"Mom, dad, Nico and I figured something out last night." Will sat next to Nico, leaving no room between them. "We're soulmates."

"You...you figured that out...?" Percy's eyes widened. "That's...good?"

"Of course it's good, you idiot." Annabeth hit his arm lightly before looking to Will. "That's amazing, Will. I'm glad you guys are happy."

Nico leaned his head on Will's shoulder as he ate, his heart in his stomach as old memories came back. He'd leave Will, one day. He'd leave him and they'd be separated again.

Unless they went to the Facility together.

"Nico, can I talk to you for a second?" Percy stood up once his plate was empty. "Real quick."

Nico shared a look with Will before following Percy out of the room, his hands deep in his pockets. He made sure to keep his wrist visible, to keep that name in sight. Will loved him. Will loved him.

"I told you." Percy closed the bedroom door behind them. "I told you that you could do it."

"It was easier this time around," Nico admitted. "He has nightmares about his first life. And we grew up together."

"Still, you did it right." Percy ruffled his hair. "It's weird being older than you."

"Oh, shut up." Nico swatted his hand away. "Is that all you called me in here for? To gloat about being right?"

"That, but there's something else." Percy moved his hand to Nico's shoulder. "Will's my son. You hurt him and you'll be sent back to the Facility before you can blink. Deal?"

Nico grinned. "Deal."