"You'll never catch me, Shadow." Will Solace was standing on a coffee table in his best friend's living room, chest puffed out with all of his six-year-old confidence, and an old, plaid blanket tied around his neck.

Nico, who was perched on top of the backrest of his sofa with a black towel tied around his neck, narrowed his eyes behind the old Halloween mask he was wearing. In his mind's eye, the sofa was a building that stretched hundreds off feet away from the ground, a death-drop plunged downwards between his building and the one Will was taunting him from. Wind whipped around them, throwing their capes back and tossing their hair into their eyes. "You underestimate me, Flame." He jerked his chin upwards, trying to seem intimidating.

"Flame" grinned devilishly, taking a taunting step forward. "Then prove it."

Nico leaped foreward, landing gracefully on the floor a couple of feet in front of the coffee table. In their world, he was hovering seemlessly on a patch of thick, shadowy substance. Will turned and bounded from the skyscraper, landing and racing off down the hall, his cape fluttering as he soared through the air in their game, Nico charging after him.

"Is that all you can do, run away?" Nico mocked, "Why don't you-" His sentence ended in a suprised yelp as he tripped over one of the many toys that was strewn over the floor. His world became a blur of shock and terror and then vivid, shooting pain as he tumbled to the floor and clipped his head the metal corner of the vent that stuck out of the wall.

Will immediately pivoted, his mouth dropping open as his eyes landed on Nico, who was curled up on the ground, his eyes clenched shut and his hand pressed over his forehead, where a cut now split through his skin. His lip was trembling dangerously and a choked sob broke free of him along with a tear that disappeared underneath the material of his mask.

Will ran foreward and crouched down in front of him, "Nico!" He touched his arm lightly, his face filled with wide-eyed concern, "Nico, are you okay?"

After waiting a couple of seconds for a reply and getting only sobs and sniffles in return, he grinned down at Nico, who had opened his eyes now, "Don't worry! I have healing powers, remember?"

Nico looked doubtful, but Will's enthusiasm didn't waver.

"I need my magical healing tools, okay? I'll be right back." He hopped to his feet and sped down to the kitchen, climbed the shelves in the pantry so that he could reach the first aid kit, and then ran back to Nico as quick as he could.

He popped the plastic case open and studied the contents with a determined furrow in his brow and seized a tube of Neosporin, unscrewing the cap quickly, "My mom always puts this on my owies. She says that it helps it to heal, but you have to trust me to put it on your cut. Do you trust me?"

Nico hesitated for a second before pulling his hand away from his wound, nodding at Will and sniffling. His best friend beamed at him and proceeded to empty the entire tube onto Nico's cut after carefully removing his mask, and then gently applied eight Batman bandaids and a single Hello Kitty one just for good measure.

By now, Nico was leaning against the wall, his eyes watery and red, but no longer overflowing. Will narrowed his eyes, "It's not ready yet. It won't heal right."

Nico just blinked at him, confusion pulling his lips into a frown. "It's won't?" he snuffled.

"Nope." Will smiled at him, "It's still missing the most important part. A get-better kiss."

Nico's frown deepened, "That doesn't really work."

"Yes, it does. Watch." He leaned forward and pressed his lips over Nico's forehead near the edge of the Hello Kitty bandaid.

Something weird happened in Nico's chest, it almost felt like his heart flipped over, and his eyes widened, his head swept clear of all thoughts relating to his injury. Was that normal? Were hearts supposed to do that? He didn't think so, his hadn't ever done it before and he didn't see why it would start doing such weird things without his permission.

Will sat back, grinning at him, "See, don't you feel better now?"

Nico nodded in amazement, deciding that the feeling was actually quite pleasant. "Yeah."

After that, Nico never passed up an opportunity to get one of Will's magical healing kisses. Even as they got older, every time Nico got hurt, Will would kiss it better and Nico slowly realized the reason for the butterflies in his stomach went beyond friendship.

"Hey," Nico's voice, now deeper after ten years, was soft and hesitant, a stark contrast to the curse Will had just directed at the thumb he'd nicked with a chef's knife. He looked up at Nico, a question in his eyes.

"I'll kiss it better."

Will smiled lightly at him. "Yeah, I guess I- mmM." He was cut off by the press of Nico's lips to his, and just like the dark haired boy's had year before, Will's heart promptly did a somersault before he smiled and kissed him back, pressing his hands into Nico's back to draw him closer.

Nico gasped against his mouth, he hadn't really expected Will to respond. His hands hovered in the air uncertainly for a couple of seconds before they settled onto Will's hips.

After a few seconds, Will pulled away, brushing Nico's bangs to the side in order to kiss the scar left from that incident all of those years ago. "Every time you asked me to kiss you better, it was just an excuse, wasn't it?" His tone was light and teasing and Nico's face immediately turned pink.

"I didn't think you liked me back."

"You dummy, I've liked you for eleven years."