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With night as his only cover, Will makes his escape. The kingdom is quiet for once. The hustle and bustle of the commoners has ceased for the night, even the rowdy tavern has closed. The air of fear that blankets the village has been put to rest with the inhabitants, as well as the safety of a new king.
The same king Will is going to see.
Most would find his clandestine meetings with the king scandalous. He’d be put to shame, ridiculed, maybe even hanged. But in the nights embrace Will does not fear his fate. He can’t, in good conscience, fear the love he experiences with Nico.
Will pulls the cloak he stole from his mother tighter around him. The temperatures drop in the dark of the night, but he knows that the warm bed of his lover will combat the deepest chill. He continues on the path, flexing his fingers to stop them from freezing.
The castle is hard to see. The dark stone blends in with the inky night, the pale moon only doing so much to illuminate it. It resembles a shadow, elongated and thin, but sturdy in stature.
Will slows his steps, muffling his scraping boots on stone. He knows how to sneak around the guards that line the gate, learned from past mishaps that he barely escaped from. He climbs over easily, avoiding the pointed tops of the metal. He lands in the grass, ignoring the shock of pain up his ankles.
He uses the dark, and his learned expertise to his advantage. Nico’s side of the castle is towards the back, bordered by his stepmother’s beautiful garden. There are no guards patrolling that side, only the front and back.
The dewy grass soaks into his boots, chilling Will further. The balcony to Nico’s bedchamber looms over him, taunting his inability to get inside without Nico’s assistance. Usually his visits involve the pelting of rocks on the balcony door. Tonight he has to resort to his sheer determination.
Will wipes his wet boots on the stone of the castle. His foot catches a groove, and something clicks. He puts his foot inside the small groove and grasps for another higher up. His hands catch onto some ivy that grows up the side.
Carefully, Will tests how much the plant can support. He succeeds in raising himself up, one groove after the other. He looks up, the balcony is still taunting him. He continues to climb, ignoring his aching muscles and the cooling sweat on his brows.
He hauls himself over the balcony railing. He tumbles over, breathing heavily with trembling muscles. Despite the pain, he smiles knowing what is behind the door.
Will extracts himself from off the cool stone to peek through the door. Inside he can see the flicker of a candle, and the shadow of someone moving. He taps on the glass, watching in amusement as the shadow turns towards the noise.
The balcony door is flung open, and Will is pulled inside. The shaking chill in his bones is warmed the second hands find his face. Lips press to his, drawing out the breath in his lungs to breathe life into Nico’s.
If that is all Will can provide, he will until he is blue in the face.
“I have missed you,” Nico whispers onto his lips. He is pushing at the dimples in Will’s cheeks the way he does when he wants the smile to stop. It only makes Will grin wider.
“I have missed you as well,” Will whispers back. He enjoys the way Nico seems to melt under his words.
“What are you doing here so late? There are guards, Will, did they see you? You are freezing.” Nico worries over him, cupping his cooled skin between his warm hands. Will lets him worry over him, revels in it.
“I wanted to see you.” He does not bother to answer the other questions, the one is good enough.
Nico presses another kiss to Will’s lips. It is softer than the one he was greeted with, tender and sweet. “Are you staying?”
“I had no intention of leaving.” He didn’t. He wanted to be in the warm sheets of Nico’s bed. He wanted to feel Nico in his embrace, the warmth of another person.
Nico hums an affirmative. Then he begins to undress, smirking at Will at he does so.
Will sputters and his cheeks redden. They have done things before, but Will was still shocked to see Nico undress in front of him. “I was not planning to do…that.”
Nico looks at him, head tilted, smile widening. In the moonlight he seems unreal. He is the moon, the soft glow it brings each night. As pretty as the surface no matter how rocky it seems.
“I was not either,” Nico says, still undressing. “I want to be able to feel you.”
The words should not make him blush. They are not trying to be enticing, but that doesn’t stop the heat in his stomach or cheeks. He does not respond, just undresses alongside Nico.
They get into the bed, sheets already wrinkled from Nico attempting to sleep. Nico moves until he is flush against Will, tucking his head into his neck. Will responds by looping an arm around, pulling him as close as he can get.
They are pressed together like they are one person, one soul. “I have missed you,” Will whispers again.
“Not as much as I have you.” Nico’s breath puffs against his collarbone.
“I feel like I am missing a part of me when you are not around.” The words are true, something he has struggled with for so long. The bone deep loneliness that twists at him when Nico is not around. “I do not know how to be without you.”
Nico moves from Will’s collarbone. His hands press into Will’s face, digging into the dimples. “You are a part of me that I can not be. I am lost, aimless without you.”
Looking at Nico, radiant in the moonlight, Will understands Orpheus. He too, would claw his way to the underworld to avenge him. But he is not sure he would have it in him to not look back.