AN: so yeah this is a human au as said in the description (along with other things that come later that I don't want to deal with haters for) so no demigods

Will and Nico sat on the pull out bed as they ate, watching the small TV Will had in his room. The lasagna had come out well, them both on their seconds. Cups of pop sat on the floor next to them.

"Can I ask you a question?" Will asked.

Nico shrugged. "Depends on what it is."

"Why'd you join the play?" Will wondered. "I mean, you don't seem like the type."

"Neither do you," Nico admitted.

Will cleared his throat. "Yeah, well, I've gotten that a lot. Especially from my parents. But I joined because I actually like acting. It's just...it's nice being able to live as someone else."

Nico played with his fork. "I joined because it'd teach me how to act well."

Will looked over to take in Nico's stone-cold expression. His eyes were darker than usual. Yet something about them seemed so familiar...

"What are you staring at?" Nico asked.

"I...I like your eyes." Will blurted. His cheeks felt on fire.

Nico's eyebrows twitched along with his lips as he decided on how to respond. The wind rattled the windows as he opened his mouth. "Thanks...?"

Will stood up. "I'm going to take my plate down. Do you want anything while I'm down there?"

Nico shook his head in response. His face hadn't relaxed since Will's statement of...what? What could he call what he did? Friends didn't just do that. He couldn't have just said that.

But he did.

Will took his plate down to the kitchen and washed it in the sink. The soap smelled too much like lemons. All he could think about was what he had done, what he had said. He had commented on those eyes...

He dried and put the plate away before making his way back to his room. As he walked, the stairs creaked beneath him and his feet hurt more than usual.

Nico had covered with the blankets and turned on his side, facing the wall so Will couldn't see his face. His body was still seen shivering, something Will had noticed never stopped.

"Are you cold?" Will whispered, keeping his voice down incase Nico has somehow already managed to fall asleep.

"I'm always cold." Nico kept his eyes on the wall. "Always."

"I can get you more blankets," Will offered. "And I can turn the heat up."

"You can if you want but it won't do much." Nico closed his raw eyes, red streaks having started through the white. "It never does."

Will covered him with two more blankets anyways before turning the TV off. "Try to get some sleep."

Nico made a noise before covering his head with the blankets, leaving Will with no other options to try and figure out his thoughts or emotions.

He went to bed but never stopped thinking. The shadows in his room never stopped moving. They seemed to shadow Nico along with his secrets.

In the morning, Nico was gone.

The sun seemed to be too pale in the morning sky, barely making its way through the clouds. Snow fell in a sort of early morning peace. It was a Saturday out of a picture book, but crayons nor digital art could account for the feelings it presented in Will's heart. Just when he thought everything was going good, life reminded him that there would always be something to hate or worry about.

He got up, got dressed, brushed his teeth. His medical book was cracked open. At noon Romeo took over as he read his lines. Juliet never showed up.

It wasn't until Sunday that he saw Nico again. Will was on his way to the store when the boy passed him, having been running full speed. Nico tripped on his old shoes and fell to the ground, but Will caught him before his skin could scrape the concrete. "Nico? What are you running from?"

Nico's eyes were wide with an instinctual fear. His hands shook as he pulled Will along, running from the street and running from the eyes of the public. "We need to hide!"

Will ran along behind him but kept looking back. He didn't see anyone in pursuit. "From what?"

Nico didn't answer nor did he stop running. It wasn't until he got to Will's house and burst through the door did he finally breathe, and then he busied himself with locking it and covering all the windows.

"Nico, tell me what's happening." Will internally debated how he had left the door unlocked. "What's wrong?"

"They saw me," Nico whispered, his voice shaking as much as his hands. "They saw me. I think they recognize me."

"Who?" Will went over to Nico and took his hands to keep them still. "Look at me before you give yourself a heart attack. You need to tell me and I won't take no for an answer. This isn't just anxiety about grades or school. You're actually worried for your life and I need to help you."

Nico looked into Will's eyes, looked out from the cage he had built around himself. "They saw me."

"Who?"

"The guards." Nico took his hands back and ran them through his hair as he paced. "The royal guards. They saw me."

Will froze. "What do they want with you?"

"I can't let them find me!" Nico ran to the kitchen and slipped beneath a counter, unseen from any windows or doors. "They'll take me, Will!"

Panic. Hysteria. The instinctual urge to fight or flee. As it raced through Nico, all Will could do was watch as his own urge grew. His urge to protect.

Ten minutes went by, then twenty. The only sound in the house was the ragged breathing of the two teenagers. No one knocked at the door, no one called their phones. Finally, Will moved and sat beside Nico. "You're in the clear."

"You're sure?" his skeleton-like fingers wrapped themselves around Will's wrist.

"I'm sure." Will didn't take his eyes off Nico. "Why are they after you? What did you do?"

Nico never stopped shaking. Will could imagine him with a gun to his head. "I...Will, I... They want me..."

"Are you going to tell me why?"

"...yeah..."