NPOV

"Members of the House, do you all agree?" Annabeth's voice rings brightly through the room. Jason's sleepy head nods from behind his cup of coffee, Leo gives a hum from where he's laying face down on the table and Piper raises her thumb after getting a nudge in the side from Percy.

Annabeth breaths in deeply; "Come on guys, I know it's still early-"

"Early?!" Leo interrupts, the side of his face buried in his elbow, "It's seven a.m, that's not early but illegal."

His curls fall over his eyes and shield him from the tired glare he receives from his side. Annabeth continues without missing a beat.

"-but it's the first time since an eternity that the schedule of the Half-Blood house and the Roman Room finally line up for a meeting." She gestures at the teenagers huddled together at the other side of the table. As far away from Leo who's downing his third energy drink as possible.

Hazel gives a polite nod in acknowledgement.

"Yeah because it's freaking seven in the morning woman!" Leo hisses while knocking down his tin can with his arm. He curses as he wipes the green liquid away with the sleeve of his shirt. Leaning onto the wonky table with his whole upper body.

As if he wasn't dramatic enough.

"Shouldn't you get a towel for that?" Frank suggest quietly.

Leo looks up with bags beneath his eyes before slamming his head down on the table and sweeps the rest of the green drops away with his forehead while mumbling a "don't tell me what to do."

Hazel looks at the scene in distress while Frank just sighs deeply. One Roman kid shuffles his chair as subtile as possible towards the exit door. Jayson's steaming cup of coffee nearly spills onto his lap from the wobbling of the table. He jumps up.

"Okay that's enough theatrics for today." Jayson pulls him back up as his hand clasps around Leo's collar.

"And definitely enough of that as well." He grabs the tin can and hands it over to Piper who dunks it into the litter bin without budging an inch from her chair. The roman room workers look with all sorts of expressions at the wet glistening forehead of Leo Valdez, who slumps in his chair with a scowl.

"That is going to get so sticky," Dakota comments as he pokes the tan skin before Leo slaps his finger with a grunt away.

"Okay can we get back to the meeting now?" Percy says exasperated and all heads silently turn his way.

"Thank you," he breaths out before nodding to his girlfriend who can barely hide a smile.

Her fingers grip tighter around the infamous binder, "So as I was asking, all members of the house agree?"

A series of unenthusiastic agreements fill the room.

"Members of the Roman Room?" she asks while looking at the row of purple t-shirts.

An echo of slightly more awake responses bounce off the table.

"Okay good, then I can tick this off the list." She uncaps a pen with her teeth before turning some pages in the binder. Her eyes are narrowed, her tongue sticks out slightly from her lips as she scribbles something down on the lines. She pauses for a second, her hands still as a frown takes over her face.

"Wait we don't have every vote."

Percy leans onto her shoulder as he looks onto the page with her. His sea green eyes glance up and his lips move as he mentally counts every head around the table.

"No we're missing two," he mutters.

"Well, Octavian couldn't make it, so that's one." Frank adds helpfully.

Piper grins from behind the cup of coffee she had snatched from jayson's spot when he wasn't looking, "oh, what a pity. I'm missing him already."

That does earn a snort from the grumpy statue that's Leo. The Roman kids shuffle on their seats uncomfortably.

"Who's the second one then?" Percy asks as he scans the seats around him.

Leo shakes his head with a sniff, "It's mister underworld over there, he hasn't voted yet."

I can feel Percy's green eyes burn into the side of my face. I keep staring at the wooden table until the circling patterns turn into a brown blur before me.

"Probably because he'll disagree, as usual," Piper utters before taking another sip.

"Give me that!" Leo's greedy hands pull the cup right from her lips. Piper's eyes widen as a hot stain soils her pants.

"Hey my coffee!" her chair scratches over the ground.

"No, my, coffee," Jayson interferes and Annabeth clasps her hands around her head while squeezing her eyes closed.

"Guys!" Percy's hand slams against the table. The sound doesn't even register in my brain. I wish I could find the strength in me to look up at him. I wish I could do anything else than just sit here really but it's as if my mind isn't mine anymore, my limbs too cold to command movement, my chest too hollow to feel silly things as annoyance or fear.

The whole room grows silent again as all heads whip to me. I don't need to lift my gaze to see Will sitting between the row of Roman Room workers, I know he's there, I'm just too afraid to let my eyes wonder over him again.

Percy turns his body my way, his face close to mine.

"Nico if you want to disagree just do so," he says.

Leo is already rolling his eyes while mumbling "here it goes, Di Angelo is about to make this meeting a whole hell longer."

"I agree." my voice is a hoarse whisper. I can see the surprise on Percy's face even from the corner of my eyes.

"Y-you do?"

My eyes are getting droopy but I nod while bitting my lips.

"With what part precisely?" Annabeth leans onto the table so her blond head slides into my vision.

"Everything." my eyes stay down as I speak.

I can almost picture them sharing glances with each other.

"I agree with everything." I try to keep the crack out of my voice. My eyes prickle as the words hang in the air.

"You have no problem with a fluid cooperation between you and the Roman Room starting in February?" Annabeth quirks her brow.

I stay silent before a quiet "no, I don't." slips out.

"Or with paperwork that needs to be classified by Octavian?" Jayson buds in.

"No." my voice gives out so I tiredly clear my throat.

Percy turns himself even closer to me while watching me intently.

"Nico," Annabeth tries to wring herself into my line of sight, "Nico, look at me, you can disagree if you want to. There's nothing wrong with having a different opinion."

"There is if there needs to be a second meeting about it," Leo grumbles in between sips of coffee.

My eyes dart towards her kind face for a second before immediately flicking down again. She frowns deeper.

"Nico," she tries again but I don't respond.

"Nico?" Percy's face scrunches up.

A hand clasps assuringly around my shoulder. My heartbeat jumps at the touch, I can't help the little flinch that vibrates through my body. The fingers rub my shoulder soothingly in an attempt to apologize for startling me.

"hey what's going on?" Percy's gentle voice mutters into my ear while leaning over me. His hand never drops from where it's holding me. I can't manage to stare back at him so I dumbly gaze at my fingers that are now hidden almost completely in my sleeves.

"Nico?" he shakes me a bit after not getting a response for a full two minutes. It stays painfully silent until a cough wrecks through my body. I duck away to not spew all my germs onto Percy's gorgeous face.

"You alright there, Di Angelo?" Dakota asks.

I nod feverishly without making any eye-contact. Everyone shares a look with another member at the table.

"I'm alright, don't sweat it." I quickly assure them. The muscles in my shoulders are straining from my hunched position, if I could, I would've melted away into the cloth of my chair. Percy's hand slides off of my shoulder, back to the table. The moment his fingers are no longer on me, my skin starts stinging at the touch of nothingness. Fried from nerves and anticipation. My body waits for a blow that will never come.

Zoë whistles between her teeth while straightening the purple shirt around her middle, "Never thought I'd say this but seems as if the House and the Room came to an agreement for the first time in thirty years."

My fingers keep twitching in my lap. I didn't notice the metallic taste in my mouth until my lip stings from biting down too hard.

Annabeth looks at the table with an open mouth as the realization finally trickles through.

"Yeah, I-I think we did," she whispers with a smile and Percy squeezes her hand. Jayson stares before him with a blank expression, his cup of coffee completely forgotten in the moment,

"Wait..." he muses, "we actually did it? We actually sat down as responsible people and fixed something?"

Piper returns his empty gaze, equally lost in the idea of it, "huh, it seems that all we needed was a yes from Nico."

My leg keeps bouncing in a record pace, I clasp my hand around my knee as I mentally will it to stop.

"Well, he could've done that years ago that would've made a lot of things easier." Somebody of the Roman Room comments before getting silenced by a venomous glare of Hazel.

"We respect everybody's opinion even if it doesn't match with ours," she lectures patiently.

The guy scoffs, "why are we even doing this, the Half-Blood House has never showed us any respect what so ever."

"Here we go," Frank mutters under his breath.

"You're not giving it to yourself either by wearing that atrocious shirt," Piper comments dryly.

"What's wrong with our purple shirts?" Zoë glances down at herself with a pout.

"What isn't," Leo sniffs as he slouches back in his chair.

"This is what I mean!" the guy yells as a chair screeches roughly over the floor, "they always act like they are so above us so why are we trying to work with them?"

I wrap my arms over each other while curling deeper into myself, my fingers dig painfully in my upper arms.

Hazel pounds her fists onto the table, "because if we don't get the subsidy this year the Roman Room will get demolished in September, we're bankrupt!"

The whole room is stunned in silence. She's breathing heavily, her curls bounce up and down with her rushed puffs of air. "Now, shut up!" she adds as an after thought. Frank pats her hand in assurance. When she looks up at Leo, he's barely able to hide the little smirk playing around his lips.

"You heard the lady," he muses, "sit your ass down."

The boy looks at Hazel in annoyance as he pulls the chair back with a grumble.

"We're bankrupt?" Zoë echoes with a quiet voice. Hazel leans over the table to grab her hand in hers.

"I'm afraid we are... we haven't earned any subsidies in the last four years. The government refuses to invest in us any longer since the House has taken over almost all of the area. We're no longer needed."

A grim silence lays like a heavy coat over half of the table. Leo tries not to slurp too loudly. Hazel glances up at Will who's hands are peacefully clasped into each other.

"We're lucky we have a doctor, we couldn't afford one for a long while until Will came to us."

"Came to you?" Piper repeats, "you stole him from us, he was our doctor!"

Annabeth grabs Piper's arm while giving her a stern look. Piper reluctantly leans back in her chair, lips tightly pressed onto each other.

"I admit, Will is extremely useful but you stole the wrong guy though. We all know who arrived to the House four years ago and started winning all those subsidies for us. At age twelve might I ad. Do you know what I was doing when I was twelve? Eating sand, that's what I was doing, not funding an entire community service." Leo says as he lays his feet onto the table. Zoë's face deepens into a scowl as the dirty shoes are pushed into her line of sight.

I can feel Will's eyes on me. I swallow thickly, I just want to disappear as a string of smoke into the air. Dissolve against the ceiling. Everybody looks at me as if I'm some golden polished trophy with ugly black cracks in it.

You know,

something people think they want to have until they actually have it.

I try not to tremble under their gazes.

"Ah," the annoying guy from the Roman Room breaths out, "all time favorite of the streets Di Angelo? I would be too if I had to go back every week to snort new stuff."

I ball my hands into fists. I feel the anger claw at my insides but I stay unmoving. Next to me, every muscle in Percy's body tightens.

"What did you just say?" Annabeth's voice is dangerously calm.

The guy raises his hands in a surrendering gesture.

"Nothing but the truth. Our doctor over here had to fish him out of your pool."

I want to wrap my hands around my ears, I want to close my eyes and never open them again. Make it all disappear.

"Our doctor, our doctor! Not yours!" Piper yells hysterically while jabbing her own finger against her chest.

My throat tightens with every breath I take. I reach with shaking fingers at the bruised skin, feeling Nathan's grip around it again. Percy's green eyes search my face and my skin grows cold under his gaze.

"I'm sorry," I whisper to him. Not even knowing what I'm apologizing for, just wanting to escape from the way he's looking at me, the way green has been poisoned by someone else.

"We're in the kitchen right now," Leo comments while glancing through the room, "you really want to say that out loud in a space with that many knives in it?"

The boy runs a hand through his brown hair while sighing.

"Believe what you want. Your star player is tainted that's a truth you can't erase."

"Chad," Hazel warns in a low voice.

"No Hazel, they're not being honest about it. If it weren't for Will, he'd be floating face down in that pool right now. He should be grateful Will wants anything to do with him after what happened September the ninth."

All the oxygen is sucked out of the air. I'm trembling so badly, my chair shakes against he floor. I try to keep breathing in but it's getting more difficult with every passing second.

Piper's chair clatters against the ground, she pulls a hair tie from her wrist and starts combing her hair together with her fingers, "Okay, that's it, you and me right now."

One more wrap around her ponytail before she shakes her arms and head, ready to throw a punch. Jayson tries to hold her back by making a human barricade between her and Chad.

"Calm down! Everyone calm down!" Hazel orders as she scrambles to the other side of the table to put herself next to Jayson.

"Go get him Pipes!" Leo encourages.

Annabeth makes a cutting gesture with her arms while yelling "Enough!"

Her voice is drawn out by an angry Chad who tries to push his way towards Piper.

"Guys I said, enough!"

Frank is holding him back by his muscled arms. His chest bumps wildly against the struggling teenager in his grasp.

"Get the fuck off of me!" Chad shouts.

Zoë sighs tiredly while watching the scene before her; "I think our agreement lasted a full twenty seconds."

Piper clambers onto her chair before lunging at Chad. Jayson catches her mid-air and drapes her over his shoulder, turning her into a tangle of flailing limbs in his hold. She screams while nearly toppling over him.

"I said, let me go!" Chad wrestles fiercely against Frank's grip, "it's Nico's fault he disappeared and everybody knows it!"

I shrink in my chair. A dark, tingling feeling clouds my mind and weights heavy in my lungs. My fingers are twitching with every shout that fills the room.

"Take that back!" Leo screams as he climbs onto the table, ignoring the coffee and energy drink smudges on the surface. He crawls in record speed to the other side. Hazel grabs him by both his arms before he gets the chance to swing his fist at Chad.

"Take that back or I'll make you!"

I close my eyes as the nauseating swirl in my stomach makes my insides churn. I clasp a hand over my mouth while containing a dry heave. My whole body pulses forwards. I dig my nails into the wooden table as the walls close in on me.

"You know what Nico," Chad grunts out, there's spit bubbling at the side of his mouth "next time your attention seeking ass is freezing off in that pool water, we will just let you simmer in it. Pick a nice green patch next to the casket of your sister."

His cheeks are red from anger, a sneer carved in his hateful face.

"If you really wanted to die so badly, you should've taken Will's place on that day, you know, as you were supposed to since it was your shift."

The voices around me keep thundering like a rainy sky. I didn't notice Percy had jumped out of his chair until I see Annabeth restrain him from breaking every little bone Chad might possibly have in his body.

A throbbing pain pierces through my head. The air is squished out of my lungs, even when I try to sit up straighter. My lips part to gasp in a desperate breath but only panic floods my throat. It squeezes my stomach into a ball of stone, cramps up every muscle in my body.

My shoulders are shaking, first softly as I try to hold it down but as the voices grow more furious, the trembling worsens. I'm unable to keep my hands neatly in my lap, sobs vibrating through my chest. Some drops slip down my cheeks and splash open on the table before me.

"N-Nico?"

Everyone falls silent, frozen in their movement, Leo's hand still knotted in Chad's long hair and Piper sprawled out over the table, a grater in her hand with Annabeth's grey painted fingers clasped around her ankle. Her blond Princes curls are ruffled in every direction. Percy besides her, somehow managed to get one arm out of his shirt. Even Chad's face is wide with surprise and somehow tainted with a tiny tinge of guilt.

My eyes dart down as I try to silence my own sobs under my hand.

"I'm so sorry," I rasp as more tears slip past my jaw.

Another dry heave makes me double over the table. I push my chair backwards with heavy legs.

"I'm so sorry," I repeat once more as I clasp my hands around the table edge in an attempt to clamber out of my seat. Blood pulses to my head as their faces spin around me. I lose all grip in my fingers and instead just drop back down on my chair with a pained exhale.

"Look what you did!" Piper cries out as she shoves Annabeth off of her. Her colourful eyes spark with fury as she turns towards a flabbergasted Chad, "you made him cry you moron!"

More threats and shouts swell louder and louder in the air around us. What first had been a frozen painting, turns into a clash of limbs and chairs.

"Enough!" A voice bellows, a hand slams so hard against the table that one of the table legs cracks, "out of the room, all of you, now!"

Zoë lets out a small squeak in surprise. Every limb of mine is shaking out of control from the dreaded sound. I can hear my own rushed breaths in my ears.

They all stand there, petrified into marble statues while looking at Will's furious face. He points one trembling finger at Chad.

"Out. Now." his voice is chillingly low.

Chad just nods while swallowing thickly before scrambling for the exit. The rest of the Roman Room members follow him after casting some doubtful glances at each other. Dakota nervously waves at me while bringing out a "Sorry about the mess."

Zoë shuffles behind him but lingers in the doorway, her eyes keep darting over me but in the end her lips stiffen into a thin line and she too bolts through the hallway.

"you too," Will orders while glaring at the huddle of House members . Percy jabs a finger in his chest with wide eyes. Will nods; "All, of you."

Percy looks at me while mouthing something but my vision is too blurred from tears to see. It's not until Annabeth drags him behind her that he's truly gone.

"I said, all of you!"

Jayson and Leo stand frozen on the tiles. Jayson rubs his wrist and huffs anxiously, his electric blue eyes pierce in my direction.

"Look Will we just want to-"

"Out!"

"But-" Leo utters before getting cut off.

"No but, out, right now!"

Leo makes an effort to walk towards me but Will blocks his way.

"I'm not repeating myself again." Will threatens. Leo helplessly glares up at him before Jayson grabs him by his arm.

"Come on man, we'll come back when they're done talking."

One last look over his shoulder before disappearing around the corner. My heart drums painfully in my bruised chest. Will waits until they're completely out of sight before closing the door. The drumming echoes in my pounding head.

The things closed off people dare doing behind closed off doors...

"I-I'm sorry Will, I didn't, I didn't mean to-" I start rambling before falling silent. The heaviness inside of me is crushing every bone in my body. I can almost hear my heart crunch at the pressure of it.

Will takes a deep breath before turning around to face me.

Every little resistant fiber in my body explodes at the sight of his handsome face. I drop my head down as sobs wreck through my throat, tears flow out of the corner of my eyes without ending. I want to hold it back but I'm so incredibly scared and tired.

"Shit, shit, shit" he mutters while hurrying towards me.

"I'm..I'm so s-so sorry!" I hiccup through the violent shocking of my shoulders. I slump deeper into my chair. I want to get up and race for that door but my legs feel like lead.

My body moves backwards as he slides the chair out from under the table and turns it towards him. He crouches down.

"Hey, hey, hey easy there."

I cry harder. His face one skin-toned blur through the haze of my tears. He reaches for my arms. Alarm bells blare through my head as I yank them back, I almost sling the chair with me in it against the ground, if he hadn't caught the iron chair legs in time, I would've smacked my head against the table.

"Wow!" He gently places the chair back onto the ground on all fours. His chest is rising and falling rapidly, his eyes tiny blue bullets that stare at me.

"Jeez, Nico be careful," he pants out while keeping one hand clasped around the chair.

I try to bring out yet another 'I'm sorry' but the sound of my voice is lost in my raspy breaths. He folds his legs beneath him and stays seated in silence for a short while. His hand hovers above my knee, he looks up at me.

"Can I lay that down there?"

I'm shaking so badly, he almost didn't notice me nod. His eyes are full of anger and worry as he gives me a stiff smile. The moment his fingers touch the cloth of my jeans, a ball of electricity shoots up through my leg. I flinch in my chair, Will dodges my foot right when it's about to kick him against his thigh.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I cry out, no longer in control of my own body, "I can't help it."

I close my eyes as I try to dissolve the cunning smile of Nathan that's burned into my mind.

"I can't - I can't help it." A hoarse echo.

Another dry heave makes my body shudder. I clasp one arm around my middle while fragments of Nathan's voice flood my brain like a tsunami.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Will's voice is urgent, his hands gently grab me by my upper arms to keep me upright. My limbs are tingling too much to cower away. The blood retreats from my face.

"Don't hit me," I breath out.

Will's grip loosens a bit. I can see the goosebumps rippling over the skin of his arms.

"What did you just say?"

His voice is so far away. I look at him with unseeing eyes. Defeat settles in my veins and turns my limbs into slush.

"I'm sorry," I say instead.

"Nico what's going on?" there's panic in his otherwise melodic voice, "I've never seen you like this, it's scaring me."

I dig my freezing fingers further into the skin of my wrists.

"Is this all about... about September the ninth?" he asks quietly.

I gasp for breath as another river of tears overflows my eyes.

"Nico," he starts with a slightly trembling voice, "what happened that day?"

I squeeze my eyes closed, letting a wave of pain wash over me. My wrists are hurting so bad from where my nails are pushing into the cuts.

"We had a fight," I breath in shakily, "a big one, first one ever."

I don't dare looking at him so I keep my eyes focused on my dark blue shoes.

"My fault really. A girl was hitting on you in the club, pretty, white hair, ponytails and black lipstick ..." I can't find the energy in me to wipe the sticky tears away.

"I felt insecure. She was a girl, you were bi, she could give you certain things that I couldn't."

Will stays quiet.

"You two just seemed to hit it off so well." I try to smile through the salty tears and I can see how it cracks Will's neutral expression.

"I got mad," I whisper hoarsely, "so I went back home instead of covering my last shift of the day."

Will shifts slightly closer towards me. My head is heavy from crying.

"But they still needed someone to go check in on a call about two teenagers who snuck into the basement of a building to search for shelter for the cold weather."

Bile fills my mouth the longer I look at him. I can taste the guilt in every corner of my mouth.

"So you went instead of me," the words are mixed with wet sobs "you walked into that building and-and..." I clutch my shirt in my fingers, "didn't walk back out." 

My throat catches fire, all words get smothered in its flames. I want to say something, anything at all, but it hurts too much to speak. My chest tears further open with every breath I try to take, exploding with regret and anger.

"I-I..." I press my hands against the sides of my head.

Where's my son, Nico, where's he, where's my baby boy?!

Naomi's crying voice rings through my mind. 

I squish my palms harder against my temples until the pain becomes louder than the chaos inside of my head. 

I breath in shakily, try to draw out the wailing voices.

Do you know what it's like to stand before the door of his grandfather the next day? To ring the doorbell and wait with only that torn off paper concert bracelet gripped in your hand. Flashy green and all they could've found underneath the rubble, all they could've found of him?

To watch his face falter as he sees it, to watch him collapse in the doorway and cry out in pain?

Do you know what that's like?!

"Nico, easy." His hands wrap around my wrists as he gently pries my arms away from my head. My eyes flutter open, a gush of breath rushes in. 

"That's all?" Will asks, "that's all you did and people blamed you for it?" His expression is torn between concern and rage. 

I nod exhausted, "they were right." 

Will shakes his head furiously. "No, no they definitely weren't. A fight like that could happen any day with literally anyone." 

"Yeah," I croak out, "but it happened with me. It always happens with me."

He shifts higher onto his knees, so he can look at me better, "People fight every day Nico. You couldn't have known what I was about to walk in to. If you did, you would have never let me go, would you?" 

I nod. A trail of snot drips down my nose. Will frowns before searching his pockets for a handkerchief. 

"You're bleeding again," he mutters before wiping the red tainted trail away. I recoil from his touch and he pauses. 

"Sorry," I mouth inaudibly. 

His fingers hover above my cheek, just one inch away from touching my freezing skin. His eyebrows scrunch up deeper the longer he looks at me. His lips part to say something but after a few thick seconds of silence, he closes them again.

"It's why I didn't tell you," I say. 

I feel myself drowning in the blueness of his eyes. I try to keep my head above the waves but I keep tumbling under. He pulls his hand back to his side.

"Tell me what?"

"About us."

My tears have dried on my cheeks. My head is a heavy bowling ball on my neck, nearly impossible to keep upright. 

"I didn't deserve you a second time. The pain I inflicted..." I close my eyes as a lost tear rolls past my nose, "Your family," I choke out, "they never said it but-" I shake my head, "I knew they were thinking it." 

"No, no, no," Will interferes, "don't say that, no."

"It should've been m-"

He shushes me before I can sob out the rest of my sentence. His hands are warm on my cheeks, I tremble harder. 

"Then I saw you with Steve and..." 

Will wipes some traces of tears away with his thumbs. I try not to flinch too hard in his grasp. 

"I just wanted you to have your happy ending." I whisper brokenly, "it's what you deserve." 

Will closes his eyes before breathing in deeply. His grip on me unconsciously tightens a bit.

"Nico, every ending without you in it, is the wrong happy ending."

I try to laugh but more tears roll over his tanned hands. It makes every bone in my body throb with the effort. My shoulders shake as a smile crosses my pale face. I want to bring out a quiet 'I missed you so much' but no sound escapes my closed up throat.

I look at him with so much desperation, hoping the warmth those words bring to my heart, could melt away all the pain inside of me. 

"Why don't we start over?" He smiles.

"Again?" I laugh wetly. 

"Again and again and again till we both get that happy ending deathboy." 

I shiver in my chair while managing to smile brighter. "I'd like that doctor Solace," my voice is soft and plainly butchered but somehow it still makes the corners of Will's eyes crinkle with joy. 

"Don't tell Nath though," the words are out before I can stop them. 

Will cocks his head to the side.

"What's wrong with Nath?"

"He's just..." I stroke over the black and purple bruises covering my arms, "been very protective lately." 

Will nods. "I won't, scouts honor," he promises while lifting his three fingers up to the air. 

I try to crack a smile but I'm so hollowed out from all the crying. Will looks at me intently.

"Nico... I don't know what's going on with you lately but, you know that you can always talk to me right?" 

I stay unmoving. 

"Because, all that stuff I said yesterday was an outburst in the moment, not out of anger but out of concern. I care about you, I just wish you'd care about you too." 

His hands softly lay down on my shoulders. His thumb strokes over my bruised collarbone. A pained grunt slips past my lips before I'm able to shut myself up. I squeeze my lips onto each other while mentally cursing Nathan's existence for the upteempth time. Will's hands fly back as if he put them on burning iron. 

"What, what did I do, what's wrong? Did I hurt you?" he immediately starts rambling. 

I shake my head, not trusting myself to speak. 

"You look pale, actually the whole meeting you've been looking pale, are you alright? Have you slept enough? Do you need me to make you a sandwich?" 

I laugh slightly, "You've been staring at me the whole meeting?" 

His cheeks colour red, "well yeah,  you look like you ran away from the autopsy table." 

"Rude."

An itch crawls up through my throat, I try to stifle a cough to my side but Will heard. 

"Are you sick?" His eyes are wide, his hands on his hips.

I shake my head while ignoring the way the movement makes the pounding worse. 

"You're sick!" he accuses as he clambers back onto his feet.

"No, I'm fine, listen to me I'm fine."

Don't cause trouble.

Don't get hit. 

"Of course you're sick! That's why you're so twitchy, I mean even more twitchy than usual."

I bite my lip.

"Stay here, I've got some coughing syrup in the bathroom cabinet." he says as he hurries away.

"I'm not staying!" I yell hoarsely as he disappears through the open door. 

"I'll make chicken soup for you!" his voice rings through the hallway.

Damn.

"I might be staying!" I shout after him. His laugh bounces brightly against the walls. I fumble with the sleeves of my shirt as tiredness nestles into my bones. I look up at the softly swinging branches outside the windowpane and let my gaze get blurry. Only the ticking of the kitchen clock fills the silence around me.

"Nico," 

My head whips around so fast, I get a muscle cramp in my neck. There, where Will had walked out seconds ago, leans Nathan against the doorway. He smiles sweetly but his eyes are sparking with green fire. 

"You ready to go?" 

-----------------

whew, what a ride.

What? You thought this was your average angsty fic? Oh sweetie no, I snort readers' pulverized hearts for fun.

thank you voters! xx