Sign of the Times

Chapter 10

Nico fell asleep in an exhausted haze after another smoke and a good cry. Will detached himself from the mess of sweaty limbs and tiptoed to his cousin's room, finding Percy awake and eating a plate of leftovers from dinner. As soon as he caught sight of Will's blond hair he gestured for him to come in, not putting the plate aside but halting his quick intake of the food.

Will closed the door behind him, wincing at the small squeak it made before sitting on the end of Percy's bed. The room was just as blue as it was the last time he was in there, but this time with new rocks from the lake sitting on his dresser.

"He asleep?" Percy asked.

Will nodded. "I...I can't tell his secrets so I can't tell you much, but I...we need to make him happy. We need to make him as happy as we can. Like...like I know you feel weird around him cause he's keeping that secret from you, but I promise he doesn't hate you or anything like that. He's just sad and in need of love."

Percy scratched his chin with his fork. "He should live in your room, not go back home."

"But Hazel..."

Percy deflated. "Yeah, you're right. He can't leave her there alone."

Will pulled his legs up to his chest, couldn't close his eyes or blink for too long without seeing Nico and those tears in his bruised eyes. The pain he wanted to rip from that small body. The pain he would take on if it meant Nico didn't have to feel it.

"We were gonna have a birthday party for him at the bunker," Percy thought aloud. "We could get all his favorite things."

"He doesn't have a lot of them."

"I know, but you can be there, and cigarettes, and...and Leo can upgrade his motorcycle," Percy said. "And...uh...anything else he likes?"

Will thought about Nico, how he had barely ever seen him without any traces of sadness in his eyes.

"He hates Frostford. If we could get him out of Frostford..."

"I wish we could," Percy agreed. "But we can't. It's so much gas and money and then hotels and food..."

"Yeah, it's not going to happen." Will picked at his pajama pants. "But I could go with him on his motorcycle...go camping somewhere far out... You'd take care of Hazel if I did?"

Percy nodded. "She can spend the night here."

Will laid back and stared at the ceiling. Nico's dark eyes and bruises haunted his mind. "Okay...we'll do that. Party at the bunker, me taking him camping after. Has he ever been camping?"

Percy shrugged, but Will wasn't worried. He had already stayed the night with Nico out on that cliff.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Saturday came quicker than Will expected, but maybe that was what happened when you let your anxiety eat you alive. He sat behind Nico on that motorcycle, watched the red leaves fall around them.

Nico's skin was always ice cold, but Will liked being against him. His fingers were stained with blood, but Will still held his hands.

The Bunker was decorated in a shitty way, but it was decorated. Red streamers hung from the couch and refrigerator, and a nasty looking cake sat on the counter. But there was also boxes of pizza, and Nico's eyes widened when everyone wished him a happy birthday. 

"Don't be so shocked," Piper told him. "We do this every year."

Will saw the shock in his eyes, but also the relief. He remembered what Nico had said to him all that time ago. How he was scared to know if his friends really cared about him or not.

He didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to say I told you so, or assure him that this was all real. Because Nico was Nico, and his brain was as stubborn as it was sad.

So he settled on "let's get some pizza".

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The party felt like a funeral lunch-in. There was food, there were some jokes and laughter, they sat together and talked. But a sadness Will couldn't place sat over all of them, like they were mourning someone, like they had been to a funeral previously in the day.

Something in him swore Nico was the source. But the birthday boy had his fake smile on and his bruises didn't seem to hurt.

Lies. Another instinct told him it was lies.

"The weather's changing," Piper announced an hour in. "Tomorrow's gonna be in the forties, and it's just going to go down from there."

Fall. Winter. The dark side of the year was coming, and they had known for awhile, but nobody was prepared.

"Good thing we're camping tonight, then," Will whispered in Nico's ear. "You think we'll stay warm enough?"

Nico gripped his hand and pulled it close. "Body heat can do wonders."

Will laughed, and suddenly the air was lighter, but something dark still loomed over them.

"Who's going to take care of Hazel?" Nico suddenly asked. "She's the only reason I-... I'm the only one she has-"

"Percy's mom's taking her for the night," Will answered. "You really think I'd leave her in that place alone? Trust me, I've got her."

"She'll be okay with out me...she's got other people," Nico breathed. "Good."

That was the best he ever saw Nico. So calm, relaxed, carefree. But something about it was wrong, off, like the uncanny valley in psychology. It made Will sick to his stomach, made every instinct in him scream that something was wrong.

But Nico was happy, relaxed, and he'd give anything for that, so he let it go.

But instincts were there for a reason. They kept people alive.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

That night was one he'd remember forever. A bittersweet memory. One of the night he had the time of his life. Felt most alive. And the last he ever felt that happy.

The sunset was streaks of red and their tent was the same color. Once the sun died and the stars came out, they drank and pointed out constellations and just forgot for a couple hours, stopped thinking, stepped away from the world and just lived side-by-side.

Nico was different than Will had ever seen. He was happy, so happy, and together they had the best moments of their lives.

Unfortunately, it was the best. They never peaked again. But everything had to end. Relationships came and went. People lived and died. But that night, they felt immortal. Or at least Will did, because the next morning, well...

The next morning started with the sun bleeding into the sky and ended in the same way, but it started with a life it didn't end with.