XLII

NICO

"What if your past is in front of you?" Will's voice echoed.

Nico stared at those pale blue orbs that had always reminded him of a cloudless sky when the weather was nice. His heart was beating widely in his chest.

What did he say? What. What. What? Then Will kissed him and all his questions melted, together with his thoughts and his very own existence.

Nico responded before his mind could order him to do so. As if his body already knew what to do. He moved like something in him had recognized Will's lips and touch. But that was impossible, wasn't it? This was his first time kissing Will. . .

And then something else happened. As Will started to assault his neck that almost reduced Nico into a puddle, another vision flashed in his head, another vision ever since the revolving door incident.

"That in this world, you are the most important person to me now. . ." A voice echoed in his head.

Nico gasped not entirely sure if it was because of Will's continuous assault or because of the overwhelming sensation of this new vision. As usual, the vision was blurry. All he could make out from the flashback was, two people talking. But if there was one thing Nico was sure about, that voice had belonged to him. He was talking to someone

Who on earth was this someone important to him whom he had forgotten? Who are you?

Then he pushed all those thoughts at the back of his mind because the more important to him at that moment was Will Solace. Nico came into a conclusion that no matter how much he was trying to search for his past, the present mattered to him more. The present where Will Solace was in, and who could make Nico insane with his touch and lips.

"Di Angelo! You are putting the wrong sample in a wrong test tube!" Chiara Benvenuti barked at him.

Nico closed his eyes briefly. Yep, this wasn't exactly the right time to be thinking about a certain blond, not when he was in the middle of a work.

"I'm sorry," Nico said, his voice a muffled because of the safety mask he was wearing. He also wore a long lab coat. He faced Chiara who had her hands on her hips. She also wore a similar mask and lab coat. Her eyes narrowed at him and her eyebrow raised.

"Get your head out of the gutter, di Angelo." Then Chiara moved along.

"Man, stop thinking about your girl for a second. You don't want to make things explode in here." Paolo, his co-worker approached him.

"It's not a girl," Nico said as he adjusted his protective gloves. He carefully tipped the beaker he was holding to another test tube in the rack. He let the clear fluid from the beaker flow to the test tube.

"Tsk, di Angelo, you can't fool me. I know that look. That look that usually tells that I am currently caught up with this hot chick."

Nico put down the beaker on the stainless table. He faced Paolo. "For the last time, it wasn't a hot chick. I'm gay." Then he moved along the table.

Paolo was silent for a moment then he punched the air. Nico raised an eyebrow at him.

Paolo beamed."Chiara owed me 10 bucks"

"Please don't tell me, you're betting on my sexuality." Nico narrowed his eyes on him.

"Chill, dude." Paolo patted Nico's shoulder. "You'll be surprised at what other things we're betting in here. Anyway, was this guy hot too?" Paolo wiggled his eyebrows. If not for his mask, Nico would probably see an annoying smirk.

Nico just gave him a mysterious look. Yet there was a smile behind his mask, probably too sappy for his taste, but he hardly cared.

His day dragged by. His mind was tired than usual when he was making extra effort to focus on his work instead of thinking his blond. When he stepped out of the Triumvirate Laboratories, backpack slung on his shoulder, he was glad that his work was over. He walked along the street. He texted Reyna that he was on his way to NYPD. He rarely had seen his friend recently. She was too occupied by her work. So he was going to drop by at NYPD to see her.

Suddenly, a dog barked at him in the alleyway he was about to pass by. He paused, turning his head in the direction of the alleyway. A dog sitting in the alley, as if it was waiting for Nico.

"Mrs. O'Leary!" Nico went to the alley and crouched down to pet a big black Rottweiler with a golden name tag hanging around its neck. Mrs. O'Leary wasn't his pet technically. He had first seen it when he was still at the hospital after he had woken up from a coma. Then he would occasionally see the dog from random places even after he had gotten discharged.

That reminded him of something. . .

"How did you get here Mrs. O'Leary? Last time I saw you, you were in Queens then you disappeared. How. . ."

Mrs. O'Leary barked, insisting. The dog nudged him as if telling Nico to go with her.

"Sorry, but I can't go with you there." Nico continued to pet the dog.

The dog whined and ran deep in the dark alley. Nico was about to go after him but he stopped himself. He stood up and continued his way.

"Free taste sir." A man suddenly said to Nico when he had walked past a bakeshop.

Nico looked at the tray. It was full of freshly baked cookies. Nico was starving since he had skipped lunch to finish some work in the lab. So he picked one, said a polite thank you and moved along.

He munched on his cookie as he stared on his phone. He contemplated what to text to Will. He hadn't received any text from the blond today. No checking up either. Will was probably busy too. Everyone around him was busy. So he texted a simple what's up and hit send. He glanced at the cookies he was holding. It was good. He made a mental note to come back in that bakeshop some other time.

When he had reached the NYPD, he immediately went to Reyna's desk. Most of the officers had already known him. He had been there frequently before to pick up Reyna, which had sparked a rumor that they had been dating. Reyna had dissolved that rumor by a fierce glare to his fellow officers and Nico had announced that he was gay.

"Detective Ramirez-Arellano was out for a moment." An officer told Nico when he had seen him.

Nico nodded then decided to wait at Reyna's desk. He sat behind Reyna's table, settling his backpack on his lap. Reyna's desk was cluttered with lots of files, which was kind of unusual. Reyna was a neat freak. The desktop screen was open revealing a car rental shop in New Jersey. Nico looked bewilderedly at it, then resolved his confusion that it was probably about one of Reyna's cases she was solving. He looked around the cluttered files on the desk uninterestedly until something caught his eye.

Now, Nico wasn't the type who poked on things that didn't belong to him, especially Reyna's things. Reyna had hated it when someone touched her things without her permission. But then a picture of an awfully familiar blond and tanned skin was peaking in between the pile of folders. Nico picked up that folder and open it. There were a profile and data about Will Solace. There was a sticky note in the corner of the folder with unmistakable handwriting from Reyna. It said:

-With Nico at the day of the incident/rescued by Nico

Nico's hand started to tremble. It was suddenly difficult to breathe. He swallowed the lump forming in his throat.

"Oh, you're here," Reyna said, oblivious to what Nico was holding. She was looking down at her folder. "I'm so sorry Neeks, but I think we have to cancel our dinner today. I have to go to New Jersey as in right now because of-"Reyna paused when she gazed up at Nico's direction.

"What's that you're holding? Nico, I told you-"

"What's the meaning of this?" Nico abruptly stood up letting his bag fell on the ground. He held up the open folder to Reyna so she could see it. Reyna's face turned guarded.

Nico swallowed again. He tried to reign in his voice. "What do you mean that I was with Will at the night of the incident? What do you mean I rescued him? Why was I with Will?"

"Nico." Reyna raised her hand at him. "Calm down, I'll try to explain."

"Yes, please do explain!" Nico shouted unable to contain himself. Nearby police officers looked at their direction. "Why do you have a profile of Will in the first place?"

Reyna approached him and gently held his wrist. "Let's sit down first, okay?"

Nico let her guide him on a nearby worn-out couch. He did some breathing exercises on the way to the couch.

"The night that you got hit by a car, there was also a police raid that was happening a few blocks away from where you got hit... " Reyna began as they both sat. "Someone saw you on the building where that said raid was happening. Then I found out that you rescued Will Solace and a teen named Austin Lake. After that, you're at the E 113th St and got hit by a car."

Nico rubbed his face with his hand. "Since when did you know this?"

Reyna bit her lip. "A few weeks ago. . ."

"And you never bothered to tell me?" He narrowed his eyes on her.

"I sort of promised Will not to tell you. Besides I don't trust him yet-"

"So you already had a chat." Nico cut off. His chest was starting to get tight. "You told me before that I was at Queens the night of the incident and I rushed off here to Manhattan for something. Don't tell me, it's because of Will. Who is Will to me?"

"Nico, I don't think I am in the proper position-"

"Well, he lied to me!" Nico said in outburst as he stood up. His breath was ragged. He ignored the difficulty of his breathing. "He said that we've never met and now I would find out that I saved him before? Why on earth he didn't tell that to me in the first place?"

"Nico. . ." Reyna's mouth opened and then closed when she couldn't seem to find the right words to explain.

"Forget it. I am just going to ask him myself." Nico strode out of the room, leaving his bag behind.

"Nico!"

He rasped for breath when he had reached the street. He hailed for a cab. The cab pulled in front of him. Nico climbed in.

"JHH," Nico said to the driver. He winced when there was a pinching sensation in his chest. He clutched it.

This time, Nico couldn't ignore the fact that it felt like he had swallowed a cement block and someone was clawing his throat. The oxygen in his lungs seemed to be scarcer and scarcer. Beads of sweats trickled down the side of his face. His lips dry and chapped. He tried to roll down the window to get more air but it wasn't helping. He felt itchy and his eyes started to water.

"Sir, are you all right?" The cab driver glanced at Nico through the rear mirror in concern.

But Nico hadn't heard him when he was busy thinking of the reason why he felt like this all of a sudden. Maybe because he had skipped lunch..?

He had a hunch. He removed his coat and rolled up one of his sleeves. Rashes coated his arm.

Nico cursed and might as well cursed the cookies he had eaten. The cookies must have nuts and he had hardly noticed. Stupid him.

His vision got blurry. He fell sideways on the seat. His eyes fluttered closed, unable to breathe anymore.

He was vaguely aware of the shouts and that he was laid to a stretcher. He hazily mused how on earth he was still alive. Then there was an oxygen mask shoved in his face that he was thankful for. He could breathe a little bit easier now. Then he felt that he was wheeled to somewhere. Among those shouts, he heard a familiar voice.

"Nico!"

He tried to open his eyes but only managed to half-open them. He was so tired and weak. There, a familiar mop of blond hair. He must be hallucinating but it felt like he saw Will glowing, as if it was a scene in one of his dreams before. Wait, maybe he was dreaming or hallucinating? He could hardly tell anymore. His mind was foggy and his limbs felt like jelly.

"Allergy!" Will shouted then he started to bark orders.

"Gods, Nico have you forgotten your allergy with the nuts too?" Will murmured.

Yes, of course, Will knew. He seemed to be the person that knew Nico well.

He mustered the remaining strength he had as he lifted his hand and held Will's wrist.

Will's head snapped down at him.

"Nico. You'll be fine. I promise." Will assured.

Nico tried to speak, tried to voice out the questions he longed to ask. Instead, it became his final thoughts as he succumbed into darkness.

If I ask you once again, will you tell me the truth now? Are you the one who's the most important person to me in this world whom I've forgotten?

oo00oo

The rain started to pour down in the harbor suddenly in the middle of the night. Amidst the rain, Percy Jackson threw a man on the ground. The said man coughed out the water out of his lungs.

"One last time, who on earth is your boss?" Percy Jackson, drenched by the rain, crouched down next to the man.

"I-I don't know." The man sputtered.

"Tut-tut. That's not the answer I want. You want to drink water from the Hudson River again?" Percy asked.

"N-No. . ." The man whimpered.

"Then tell me. My patience is running thin."

The man swallowed. "C-Cobra, his name is Cobra."

"Is that your big boss?" Percy raised an eyebrow.

"N-no, b-but he knows the big boss. He contacts him directly. We didn't have any idea who's the big boss."

"Where is he?"

"In New Jersey, he owned a car rental shop there."

"Dude, if you're not telling me the truth. You're going to have another bath in the Hudson River and I'll make sure you won't get out of the surface." Percy said.

"Please, don't! I am telling the truth." The man wailed.

"All right." Percy clapped the man in the back cheerily. "I believe you. But if I learned that you lied to me, you won't like the next time we meet again."

The man whimpered more.

"You done here?" Jason asked appearing at Percy's side. He wore a raincoat.

Percy stood up, grinning. "Yes. He almost got away but interrogation is done. Anyway, we are going on a trip to New Jersey."