luce del sole (sunshine)

eight | nico

Will Solace had kissed him. Sure, it wasn't a contact kiss...but it mattered to Nico all the same. 

Eleven days ago, he didn't know anything about Will. Now, Nico would've guessed they'd been friends since day one. He wasn't sure how he felt about the blond boy, but he knew that it wasn't the way he felt about Jason, Frank, Percy, and Leo. His other friends didn't make his heart race. He would just have to wait and see how everything went. 

Nico was feigning sleep, and Will was singing softly on the other side of the room. He was thumbing through the bookshelf Nico had found a few days ago. 

"Here we go," Nico heard Will mutter to himself. 

Soft footsteps padded over to Nico's cot, and Will sat down on the edge of the cot next to his. Nico steadied his breathing so Will wouldn't know he was awake. 

"Nico," Will whispered softly. He poked his arm. "Hey, Neeks, wake up." 

Nico moaned and rolled over to face Will. "What?" He asked in a fake sleepy voice. 

They hadn't spoken since the night before, when Will kissed his forehead. He hadn't even been woken for dinner, which Will never let him miss. He must have thought Nico needed extra rest. 

"I have something for you," Will said. He handed Nico a book. 

"What is it?" 

"A book," Will said smartly. Nico glared at him, and Will cleared his throat. "They, um, found it in her backpack." 

"What?" 

"They found that book in her backpack. Percy and Thalia." 

Nico's breath caught in his throat. Percy and Thalia Grace had been on Bianca's quest. They'd brought her things back. They'd brought Nico the Hades statue. What they hadn't brought, was a book. 

"Bianca's?" Nico whispered. He pawed the book's cover. "My sisters?" 

"Yeah." Will covered Nico's hand with his own. "Your sister." Will patted his hand and stood, walking back to the bookshelf. "I thought you would enjoy it." 

Nico looked back down at the cover, and to Will's back. He smiled. "Hey, Will?" 

"Yeah?" He called over his shoulder. 

"Thank you." 

He could hear Will's smile in his tone. "You're welcome, Sunshine." 

Nico chuckled to himself when he heard the nickname. He opened the book and looked at the inside cover. 

Bianca di Angelo was scrawled in Percy's hasty handwriting. Bianca wouldn't have written her name in the book. It was a book of poems. She always loved those. She used to read them to Nico late at night. 

She'd also written notes on the sides, things she would have done different and why each poems stood out to her. Her neat, beautiful handwriting comforted Nico. 

There was one poem in particular and Nico wanted to find. She'd read it every night. She said it reminded her of him...but he wasn't even sure it was in this book. 

Will seemed to have taken to reading the one Nico had seen as Michael's. Michael would be Will's older brother, one of the Apollo boys that died in the Battle of Manhattan. Nico wasn't exactly sure how he died, but he knew it was on the bridge, in front of all his siblings. Of course Will would remember that. At least Nico hadn't watched his sister die...he hadn't had too see that. 

Suddenly, screaming outside ensued. Nico startled and dropped the book. He glared at where it sat on the ground, just out of reach. Will jumped from his chair and threw his own, running to the archway that led outside.