Judgmental (a Percy Jackson AU)

The Will

    Will was going for a walk when he bumped into Nico di Angelo. He had Saturday off and he had slept in past noon. Will used to be a morning person until he started having to stay up all night. Now, day had become night and night had become day. Walking outside in the sunlight felt as strange as walking late at night had when he was in middle school.

Will was passing by a park when he collided into Nico. Both men fell. Will was the first to his feet and he offered a hand to help the man up. As he did so, he recognized the man as Nico. He was wearing a poofy black coat and black slacks. He looked like a raven that had been swaddled in blankets. His hair was mussed and he smelled like fries and vanilla.

"Will?" Nico said. "I didn't think I'd see you again."

"I'll leave you alone if you'd like," Will said.

"No, no," Nico said quickly, his breath fogging up in the cold.

Will noticed how dark Nico's eyes were and how his eyelashes framed them just so. He looked strangely angelic. Will had never felt such a strong pull towards another person. It was almost as if Nico was his shadow.

"That night," Nico began. "When you told me that I shouldn't give up on life . . . I'm afraid I don't know how to not do that."

    Will stepped forward. He wanted to hug Nico, but he was afraid of scaring the young man away.

     "I — I just wonder if I have done something to deserve all that has happened to me," Nico said. "My mom's death. Bianca's. Did I cause it somehow? What did I do wrong to deserve to suffer?"

      "Nico, you didn't do anything," Will said. "What happened to you sucks big time, but that doesn't mean that you are to blame."

     "Then why did it happen?" Nico said. "What if God is punishing me for being — for being gay?"

      "Nico, sometimes bad things happen to good people," Will says. "It happens in spite of their goodness. Sometimes it happens because of their goodness. We can't always look for a reason for why we suffer because if we do that we might think that those you suffer deserve to be in pain and there is nothing that is less true in the world."

      "Will, are you sure life hasn't given up on me, then?" Nico asked.

      "Death Boy, why would you say that?" Will said.

    Nico bit his lip. His face was pinched from the cold and his lips were a pale pink.

     "Because I — I," he said. "I feel like my mind is playing tricks on me. It creates problems where there are none."

     "Like what?" Will asked.

       "Like — like you," Nico said.

          Both men leaned in. They joined together like snow forming a snowball. Nico's lips tasted like fries dipped in a milkshake. His lips were plush and his hair silky. Will enjoyed the bubble of warmth and heat before they separated and were left apart like two halves of the same whole.