Hey bestfriends, I live.

- 

"You're late." 

The blonde boy let out a whistling sigh, running his hands through his hair with a sheepish grin. 

"Sorry," He pouted, as he pulled out a shabby bouquet of small white flowers. "Ta-da!" 

"Will!" Nico gasped. "What's this for?"

Will tilted his head to the side. "What, you don't like it?" 

"No!" Nico cried, as he snatched the bouquet from his boyfriend's hands. "In fact, I love it." 

"Well, that's a relief." William chuckled, which made Nico feel like someone had injected butterflies into his bloodstream. 

Two weeks. It had been two weeks since that oh-so-anticipated campfire sing-along, where both of them had stammered how important the other was to them, the yellow flames casting a warm orange glow on their faces. 

It felt surreal; if there were any shackles binding him, Nico felt as if they had now fallen off. At night, when everyone returned to their cabins, Nico had spent the quarter of an hour splashing his face with ice-cold water and pinching the soft flesh in the inside of his forearm to make sure this wasn't a dream. The sharp crack of the tap water and the stinging pain had never felt more welcoming. 

For once, it wasn't his nightmares that kept him awake at night, but just giddy happiness. It felt out of place, but Nico decided to welcome the feelings anyways. 

Things only began to look up after that - he decided to approach Mr. D to help him navigate through his issues (with Will's full and enthusiastic support) and even though things like these might not be big but for once Nico felt that the sun might be shining brighter or the birds singing outside sounded sweeter.

Or maybe, that was just Will singing "Strawberry Fields Forever" under his breath as he rearranged the medicines in alphabetical order for the umpteenth time as Nico gawked at him shamelessly, he didn't know. 

Long story short, for once, Nico felt that things might get better and as strange as it might feel, he was glad about it. 

It was a little miserable, how mundane things like smiling and laughing and giggling felt abnormal to him, mundane things which normal people might not think twice about. Nico was aware of that, but he decided not to dwell on it for that wouldn't get him anywhere and would simply allow him to spiral into the abyss of his own thoughts. There were too many variables to destroy your mind over anyways, so it's best that he looked the other way when it came to that.

And Will, where could he start? Not a single praise in his lexicon was enough to describe his brilliance, no matter how many theses he wrote or sonnets he composed, it wouldn't be enough. Will Solace - paramedic extraordinaire, sunshine bottled into a human's body and fueled by five ounces of expresso - was probably one of the best and the brilliant personalities Nico had the fortune to come across. 

He was annoying but in an extremely endearing way. He pulled all sorts of antics to make Nico eat thrice a day and have eight glasses of water and sleep on time. On the nights when sleep was elusive, they would sneak out to the lake and sit on the pier, their legs dangling in the ice-cold water as they traced constellations in the sky. 

The past two weeks might've been one of the best weeks Nico had spent in the camp. 

"Psst, earth to deathboy, are you here?" Will's voice brought Nico back to reality. 

"Oh. Sorry."

Will waved his hand dismissvely. "Miranda wanted help with plucking the strawberries, are you coming along."

"Sure." Nico shrugged.

"Race you to the strawberry fields then?" Will suggested. "Great, let's go!" In the blink of an eye, he sprinted in the directions of the strawberry fields.

"Oi, that's cheating!" Nico cried as he ran after his boyfriend, barely containing his giggles. "Come back you punk, play fair and square!"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

Uhm...hi?

I have been gone for way too long, I believe. So sorry for that :( thank you for your patience! 

This is officially a wrap for this fic! As much as I might cringe at the earlier chapters, it'll always hold a special place in my heart for getting me started with writing. To my dear readers, thank you so much for your support. I had mentioned earlier that I will be rewriting this but honestly? I have decided to leave that aside and let this be a testimony to how far I have come. Thank you for your unwavering support and patience.

I hope all of you have been well all this time! I am once again very sorry for leaving y'all hanging. I might've planned a few more things, wHO KNOWS but we'll see.

As always, let me know what you think in the comments, I love reading them! My god, I have slacked in replying to them too rip. 

Drink water, wash hands, eat on time and sleep well! Ilysm.

~ hrishi :D