Me, writing in the canon universe for once?? It's a shock.

Will's POV

"Have you seen him yet today?" Percy sounds worried; Percy almost never sounds worried. When Percy sounds worried, Will knows it's bad. 

"No." He glances at the Hades cabin, the windows dark and the blinds closed. "It's almost one. He's always out by one, even if he sleeps in." 

"You do know what day it is, right?" Percy lowers his voice, casting glances around at the rest of the camp. There's the familiar clanking of metal in the Hephaestus cabin, and Piper and Annabeth are ice skating on the spot where the pond froze over, thick hats and scarves keeping out the chill of the winter air. Despite the month, the sun is still shedding warmth over the camp but one spot looks dark; the one cabin that has yet to move that day. "It's gonna be rough, for both of you. And I still think that he blames me for it a little, so I'm gonna stay out of his way for now." He side-eyes the cabin, his face is slightly too pale. "You should talk to him though. Just to make sure he's doing alright." 

"Yeah, I know," Will says, searching for any signs of movement behind the curtains. There hasn't even been so much of a sound from it all day, and he's starting to get nervous. 

"Good luck," Percy says, patting him on the shoulder before leaving Will standing in the middle of the horseshoe of cabins, staring down the black door as if it's his worst enemy. 

It opens with a creak and when he steps inside the cabin is darker than he thought it possibly could be; it seems to swallow up any light that makes its way past the curtains and the bed is covered by a pile of thick black blankets, a single lock of hair sticking out from within. "Nico," Will says quietly, sitting on the edge of the bed and setting his hand on Nico's back. "You should get up. It's already one." It's silent for a second until he hears a soft groan and the pile of blankets shifts, and he can see one eye peering at him from a crack. 

"Really?" 

"Yeah. You wanna get up? You must be hungry." 

"Not really." The eye closes again but Will pulls off a couple of the blankets, nudging Nico with just a tiny bit of force. 

"Neeks, come on. Get up." Nico lifts his head, struggling to push himself up on his elbows. It seems to take an effort to keep his head up and he stares blankly into the distance, ignoring Will's presence completely. "You wanna talk about it?" 

"No." His voice is scratchy and he's avoiding Will's eye contact as if it's the plague. 

"I know you miss her, but it's been four years. She'd want you to get over her death eventually." 

"I can't just get over her death, Will," Nico snaps, raising a shaking hand to his mouth and using his hand to support his head. "She's my sister, and I think about her every day. It's just today always makes it seem more real. Today's the one day of the year I can't convince myself that I can wake up and she'll be there for me." Each breath shakes and even in the darkness of the cabin Will can see his eyes filling with tears and he wipes them away with the back of his hand, hardening his face and taking a gulp of air. "I miss her so much." 

"I know you do," Will says, inching closer to Nico and wrapping him in a hug. Nico's entire body feels as if it's shaking and when Nico buries his face in Will's shoulder a sob shakes his chest, and Will can feel a wet spot forming on his shirt. Nico cries for what feels like hours as Wil holds him, not saying a word as he lets it happen. 

When Nico's body feels bone-dry he pulls himself out of Will's grip, sniffing and wiping any remaining tears off of his cheeks. His eyes are tinged red and his face looks paler than normal and despite the tears he had just emptied onto Will's chest, he still won't look him in the eyes. "Do you want to do anything?" Will asks quietly, keeping his arm wrapped around Nico's waist. 

"Not really." His voice is hoarser than it was before and it's thick with repressed emotion but he curls his fingers around Will's hand, giving it a light squeeze. "Are you going to leave?" 

"Not if you don't want me to." Nico is still for a second before he nods, resting his head on Will's shoulder. Will pulls him tight, holding Nico in his embrace until it feels as if their bodies are melding together. 

------

"We don't just have to sit here, you know," Will says. He can't place how long they've been sitting there. It could have been minutes, hours, days holding Nico tight, squeezing him so that he won't feel like he's drifting away. "We can do something." 

"I told you I don't want to do anything." His voice is hard and he can almost feel Nico beginning to pull away and he bites his lip, part of him wishing he had never started talking in the first place. 

"I think you need closure," he says after a period of silence. "You said it yourself, part of you doesn't even want to admit that she's dead. You need to let yourself believe it." Nico's face flushes and when he doesn't say anything back Will is afraid that he crossed a line but soon Nico's shoulders slump as if his entire body is sighing and any fight that had been in him drains out. 

"You're right." He doesn't look at Will but down at his hands, twisting his skull ring. "Come with me." He slips out of bed, grabbing something from his dresser drawer and slipping on his jacket. He's still wearing his sweatpants with the sweet and sour stain on the leg but he doesn't seem to mind and Will finds him hurrying after Nico as he leads them into the woods. 

Nico's POV

He can't exactly remember where he put it. He knows it's somewhere in the woods, he just can't remember where. What he does know is that it's beginning to get dark, and Will looks cold. "You can turn around if you want," he says, glancing back at Will. His cheeks are pink and he wipes his runny nose on his sweatshirt sleeve, shivering lightly. 

"Do you want me to?" Nico pauses, glancing at the ground. The forest floor is frozen over, the leaves covered in a thin layer of frost and snow. 

"No, but I understand if you do." 

"Then I'll stay with you." Will gives him a small smile and Nico presses a kiss to his cheek, taking a second to watch the reflection of the sun set in Will's eyes. 

"Thank you," Nico says. "For everything today." Will's face takes on an almost sad look, like the one you give someone when they're just beginning to recover from a long illness. 

"Of course." Neither of them is very clear with their words, but they both know what the other one means.

He's cold by the time he finds it, a tiny clearing that looks undisturbed by the monsters that lurk in the woods and the thrill-finding campers who hunt them. There's a thin layer of snow over the entire ground, dusting the tombstone like powdered sugar. After three years the sharpie writing has begun to fade away, and the four-year-old flowers are wilted. The snow is undisturbed and it crunches underneath Nico as he kneels down, pulling the card out of his pocket. 

"I didn't know she had a grave here," Will whispers, coming up behind Nico and setting a hand on his back. "We burned her body, I remember. I was at the funeral." 

"I put it here," Nico says. "I don't think she would have wanted a demigod funeral. We only knew for a few weeks before she died, after all. I thought she might like this more." His voice is quiet and he can hear the wind through the trees louder than his own words. 

"Everything's wilted." 

"I haven't been back here since I made it. I remember-" he pauses, biting his lip as his eyes well up with tears. "It was so painful, to tell myself she was really gone." His eyes sweep across the grave; he can remember finding that rock four years ago, scribbling Bianca's name and birthday on it before sticking it in the ground. Based off of the date in the 1940s, you might think she had a long life. But Nico was the only one who knew how much she still had to live. "You're right, though. I need to let her go." Hot tears fall onto his cheeks as he pulls the card out of his pocket, his fingers shaking so bad the card trembles. 

"Mythomagic," Will says, frowning. "Why?" 

"This card was always super, super rare," Nico says. "I always used to say how much I wanted it because it looked like her, and she'd always laugh and say I'd never get it. And then after she died I found it and I didn't know what to do with it until now." Tears are falling freely down his face as he picks up the stone, tucking the mythomagic card underneath and setting the stone back on top so the wind doesn't pick it up and carry it away. "That's it, I guess," Nico says, his voice barely above a whisper. Will comes up beside him, one hand on his back and the other wiping away the tears streaming down his face. "Bye, Bianca. I love you." He feels as if he's curling in on himself, his stomach aching as he cries. Will wraps Nico in his embrace, drawing him in until Nico is sobbing into Will's chest, every breath he takes painful. 

"You're going to be okay," Will says, his lips wet with tears as he kisses Nico's cheek. "It might take a few more years, it might be painful. But you'll be okay." Nico isn't sure what he's supposed to say; he knows that, logically, what Will is saying is true. But at that moment his chest hurts and his head hurts, behind his eyes hurts and his heart hurts. And Will doesn't seem to mind that Nico isn't answering so he just sobs, four years worth of tears left uncried coming out in a single tidal wave of emotion. It's the best feeling that Nico's ever felt.

Hi guys, I hope you liked that one!

Nina