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‘I didn’t know she was there!’
‘I’ve never seen a dryad run so fast in my life.’
They both fell into giggles, and Nico was glad to see Will’s spirits rise, even temporarily.
‘So I screamed, too,’ Nico said. ‘It felt silly the first time, but then I was full-onyellingat the trees about how annoyed I was with Leo.’
‘Much later, when Leo returned and invited us to sock him, I think the punches he got from Nico were significantly less powerful than they could have been.’ Will smiled at his boyfriend. ‘All because you screamed at the trees.’
Nico laughed. ‘Well … it did made me feel better. Andunderstood. No one had ever done something for me like that before. That’s when I started looking at you differently.’
Will stared into the fire. ‘For me it was that week in the infirmary.’
Nico nodded. ‘That’s how I knew your moment came first.’
‘I do not understand,’ said Gorgyra.
‘Right after Gaia’s defeat, there were a lot of injured demigods,’ said Will. ‘And one thing the Apollo cabin is responsible for is medical care and rehabilitation. We help other demigods recover, whether it’s from cuts and broken bones, or from injuries that have left them permanently disabled.’
‘Will told me that he wished I could help out in the infirmary, so I did,’ said Nico.
Will laughed, though it made him wince. ‘I remember turning around and seeing Nico asking Dakota where the antiseptic cleaner was. Dakota is –was, I mean – a child of Bacchus from Camp Jupiter.’ Will smiled sadly. ‘He wasn’t all that knowledgeable about the infirmary, either, so I got to witness both of them running around the room, desperate to find something neither one knew how to find.’
‘I tried,’ said Nico. ‘That week waspainful. I constantly felt lost.’
‘But you never gave up,’ said Will. ‘And I don’t know … Your dedication just felt so beautiful to me. That’s all it took for me to see you differently.’
Nico blushed. ‘Wow, we aresuchsofties.’
Will narrowed his eyes. ‘Wait, how did you knowmymoment came before yours?’
Nico gave Will a mischievous smile. ‘Because Icaughtyou looking.’
‘What?’ Will said. ‘No, that’s not possible.’
‘It was the last day you needed help in the infirmary,’ he said.‘Before you sent me away. I was with Connor Stoll, and he nudged my shoulder and said you were staring at me. I thought I was gonna turn around and find you glaring at me angrily because I’d done something wrong.
‘But instead you were sitting next to Chiron, who was chatting your ear off, and you were looking at me with this whole puppy-dog-eyes thing going on.’
A slight redness rose in Will’s cheeks. ‘Oh, gods, I don’t even remember that.’
‘If you hadn’t looked at me that way … well, later on, I don’t think I would have had the courage to come out to you and tell you I wanted to go on a date.’
Gorgyra clapped her hands together lightly. Nico noticed that her skin tone had changed from light blue to something closer to lavender. ‘Excuse me for my excitement,’ she said. ‘I am so used to hearing stories of isolation that I am overjoyed at hearing one of connection.’
Apparently, these stories weren’t just giving Will some fortitude, they were affecting Gorgyra, too.
‘Can I tell you another?’ Nico asked, surprising himself.
Gorgyra placed her hands over her chest. ‘Please! It may be a long time before I see anyone else.’
Will nodded in confirmation, and the son of Hades began again.
‘I want to tell you how I asked Will on a date.’
Curled up in the trog’s nap cove, Will dreamed of Maron.
He was ten when the satyr had first appeared to him, and it was no different in his nightmare. Will held his mom’s hand as the two of them entered Washington Square Park, passing under an enormous stone arch. There were street performers and buskers everywhere. A group of college students danced near the fountain to music blaring from a set of speakers, while a skateboarder did a kick-flip over four people lying on their backs on the tarmac path.
