Solangelo Oneshots

Quarantine part 5

Hurt/comfort time

—
Will's pov

Nico has been staying at my place for two months. It was mid May, and we had been no where besides the occasional grocery store or convenience store trip.
Nico was upset for a while, not being able to check up on Hazel or Reyna in California. Because they were safe inside new Rome, not letting people in or out (unless absolutely necessary), he wasn't allowed to drop in. If one person had the virus, it would spread like wild fire in the small area.

I think he felt restless. Not that I blamed him, I was too, but Nico was always moving from place to place. He didn't stick to one place. He may live at camp most of the time, but he had a place in New Rome, and he had a place in the underworld, and he had a place here with me.
Also, I'm pretty sure he's been shadow travelling without telling me. I'm not completely sure where he's been going, but sometimes I'll wake up in the middle of the night and he won't be in bed, or in the bathroom, or in the apartment at all. I've checked. When it happened the first time, I assumed he couldn't sleep and went to the couch in the living room, and I fell back asleep. The second time, a week later, I checked to see if he was alright, and when he was, well, nowhere, I panicked. I waited for an hour, hoping he went on a walk around the block, before I fell back asleep. He was back the next morning and didn't say a word.
The third time, I woke up when he came back. I didn't let him know that I was awake, but through the dark I watched him discard weapons on the floor quietly, still in his pyjamas, and kick off his vans before slipping back into bed. I leaned forwards and draped an arm over him, breathing deeply. He smelt like... wet grass?

I put two and two together, and deducted that Nico had been traveling to a forest or a field or something to train. What I didn't understand was why he was leaving in the middle of the night, from 1am to 4am, why he wouldn't just tell me that he wanted to expel some energy, or why he felt like he needed to hide it.

It's not like I assumed he was doing something dangerous- walking around New York and catching the virus- or anything like that, I just didn't understand why he was hiding it.

I guess it didn't really matter. He wasn't shadow travelling far, or I would've noticed fatigue. He obviously just needed some time to himself.

My back twinged, aching from doing my school work in bed most of the time. I snuggled deeper into bed, Howls moving castle playing on my (thankfully safe) phone. Not surprisingly, Nico barely knew any movies, and even after two months of binge watching tv shows and movies, he still didn't understand half of my jokes. We were on a studio Ghibli binge at the moment, and watching my all time favourite. His favourite so far was Ponyo and spirited away. Basic taste.
Nico was snuggled under my arm, watching the screen intently, face lit up with different colours as the screen changed in the dark. I rested my cheek on the top of his head, nuzzling sleepily into his hair and poking his foot with my own under the blankets. He lightly kicked me back, and tangled our legs by our ankles.

The movie was almost over, and thank the gods. I was exhausted, and every time nico yawned it triggered a yawn of my own. It was 12:00am after all.

"I really liked the soundtrack," Nico murmured below me, lifting his head and simultaneously lifting mine. He leaned his head back so he could gaze up at me. I hadn't even realized the credits were playing, I had blanked out. In the dark, his eyes looked black. And tired. He looked really tired.

"Isn't it great? I have it-" I cut off, turning my head over my shoulder to yawn, "I have it saved on my phone."

"I thought it sounded familiar," he nodded, slipping out of my arm brace and down the bed so that his head was on the pillow. His black hair looked like an ink stain. I shut my phone off and placed it on my bedside table, thanking the gods it was Friday. No alarm. Good nights sleep.