I didn't know how we'd fallen asleep in the middle of the strawberry fields. And I certainly didn't know when it had suddenly gotten so dark out, or how nobody had come to find us yet.

But Nico's arm was draped around my waist as we lay on the blanket I'd spread out for us earlier, and his breathing was coming in short little puffs against my neck, and at that moment I found I didn't really care about anything else.

And I found it was strangely peaceful, out here with him in the middle of the night – even with the threat of the harpies looming in the back of my mind. That was until Nico started mumbling in his sleep and clutching at the fabric of my jumper, suddenly very distressed. But I'd seen him have this sort of reaction before, back when he'd stayed in the infirmary a few months ago.

"Neeks," I whispered. "It's ok, it's just a nightmare." Nico's eyes fluttered, but he still seemed trapped in the clutches of his subconscious.

"Come back to me," I said, pulling him closer. I hated that he had bad dreams, and I wanted nothing more than to take them all away for him. But I knew nothing would probably ever make them fully go away. Even if he hadn't been through so much, there was still the chance of the odd prophetic nightmare. Such was the life of a demigod. Especially a child of Hades.

"Will." Nico breathed. His eyes slowly fluttered open, and I pressed a kiss to his forehead.

"You ok?" I said, eyes desperately trying to search his, despite the dark.

He nodded. "Better with you here." He breathed against the hollow of my throat. I shivered involuntarily. And Nico noticed. I could tell by the way his hands moved from where they were clutching at my hoodie, to slipping underneath it to touch the bare skin of my stomach.

"Distract me?" He said, voice low. And then he was kissing my neck. I bit my lip. Gods.

But I didn't need to be asked twice. My hands tangled through his hair as I brought his lips to mine in a heated kiss. And it was like too much, and not enough all at once. His lips were so soft, his hands everywhere. I struggled to form a coherent thought.

But when his fingers started tugging at the bottom of my hoodie, I pulled back to look at him. We'd never removed any clothing before, and we were out in the open. We really should be heading back before we got caught.

"Neeks…" My voice was about an octave higher than normal. And I suddenly found myself very grateful that it was so dark outside – I felt myself blush up to the tips of my ears.

"Is this ok?" He said. And it was the wrong moment, but it struck me then how far we'd come in the last few months. When I'd finally gotten to see him again that day on Half-Blood Hill, and he'd pulled his hands away from mine, I'd never would have thought he'd be practically propositioning me. If someone had told me then that Nico Di Angelo, the boy who hated being touched at all, would let me kiss away his nightmares, I would have laughed in their face.

But he wanted this. And he wanted it with me. It was enough to make my heart lodge in my throat.

"Yes." I breathed, nodding slowly. And then I was lifting my arms, and he was throwing the offending garment to the ground, kissing me fiercely.

I wasn't sure I was equipped for this. I couldn't take it. Nico was peppering kisses across my cheeks, and my nose, and my lips again, and it was making my heart swell so much I thought it might burst. But then he let out a little gasp, pausing in his ministrations. It took a second for my brain to register that he'd stopped kissing me. And I found I missed the contact immediately.

"What?" I said, panicking. "What's wrong?"

"Will…" Nico's voice held a tone that I'd never heard before. If I didn't know any better, I'd have said it was something akin to…awe. And then I opened my eyes and realized why.

It was no longer pitch black in the strawberry fields. There was a faint golden glow illuminating Nico's flushed face, and his swollen lips.

I looked down at myself and thought I had finally cracked it. I was literally glowing. Like a full-fledged, human firefly.

Well, that was new.

Nico was shaking his head, "Gods," he said, reaching up to tuck some of my hair behind my ear. "And here I was thinking…" but he shook his head, and in the light I now seemed to be emitting around the field, I saw him blush a deep scarlet.

"What?" I asked, swallowing.

His eyes softened when he looked up at me. "That you couldn't get any more beautiful." And then he kissed my cheek. "Turns out I was wrong."

I thought I might spontaneously combust.