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Before the chimera could pounce on Will, Nico grabbed him and sank into the shadows. They both reappeared in an unfamiliar place surrounded by plants and trees. Will folded over, holding his hands on his knees. He had gotten used to shadow traveling to some degree, but this had been his third trip through the darkness today, and his stomach was not happy about it.
When he regained his bearings, he looked up. The sunlight glinted through a blanket of branches and leaves covering the whole area. Despite being in the shade, Will could already feel himself starting to sweat. It felt humid and muggy. He glanced over at Nico, who was leaning against a tree with his arms crossed.
“Is this your way of telling me we need a vacation?” Will held a hand on his hip. “You could’ve at least taken us to Hawaii or something.”
Nico scowled, obviously not in the mood for joking. “Not now, Solace.”
Will scowled back. “Okay let me rephrase that. Why are we in a tropical forest? In the middle of nowhere?”
“I don’t know!” Nico exclaimed. He coughed a couple of times and cleared his throat. “I was trying to go back to camp. I don’t even know where we are.”
Oh, well that’s not good . “What do we do now?”
“We try again.” Nico held his arms around Will, pulling him into the tall shadow of the tree.
“Wait! You just shadow traveled, you need to r—”
Will crumbled to the ground this time. He got onto his hands and knees, whining as the dizziness hit him in full force. The ground felt refreshingly cool when he pressed his head down and closed his eyes. However he soon realized that the ground wasn’t just cold, it was freezing and wet. He blinked, lifting his head to see that it was snowing. Everything around him was enveloped in a sheet of white, except for a few trees and a figure curled up next to him.
“Nico!” He shook him and got no response. Nico was out cold.
Will shivered. He already missed the temperate conditions of their last destination. He stood up, searching to find any evidence of civilization. Unlike the rainforest, it was nighttime here, and the darkness mixed with the snow made it difficult to see. But he spotted something large in the distance, something vaguely resembling a building.
Wasting no time, he crouched down to try and hoist Nico up onto his shoulder. The fireman's carry was his preferred method of carrying his unconscious boyfriend. But usually, he caught him while he was still upright. Picking him up off of the ground was not so easy. He tried different approaches, and different angles— pulling his arms, legs, torso —yet Nico’s limp body flopped around too much. Will sighed, grabbing Nico’s ankles.
“Uh, sorry about this.”
He started dragging Nico through the snow. The icy air began to burn against his skin, and Will could feel his hands going numb. He tried to ignore it and focus only on keeping a grip on Nico’s ankles. When they got closer, Will turned around and was glad to see that it really was a building. He nearly cried with relief when he tried the handle and found it open.
It was barren inside, seeming to be abandoned, with only a fireplace filled with wood on the opposite side of the cabin. Will hurried towards the fireplace, cursing himself for never learning how to properly start a fire. Luckily he didn’t have to do it himself, a small knob lit it up. It cast a comforting glow throughout the cabin. He sat up against it, rubbing his hands near the flames, and when he could feel his fingers again, he got up and hauled Nico over with him.
Will snuggled against Nico to warm him up, but he realized that Nico’s clothes were damp, probably since he’d been pulled through the snow. He tapped Nico’s face gently. “Hey, Nico? I gotta take off your clothes cause they’re wet. Okay?” Still no response. Will grabbed the blanket folded up on the bed before carefully taking off Nico’s jacket and pants, leaving him in just a t-shirt and boxers. He rolled Nico up into the blanket.
Still shaking, he curled up next to Nico, humming in appreciation at the heat emanating from him. It wasn’t long until his heat source started moving. Nico sat up blearily and swiveled his head around, shivering. “Where are we?”
“I don’t know, you shadow traveled us into the middle of nowhere again,” Will replied.
“Oh, shit.” Nico said, rubbing his eyes.
“Has this happened before?”
“Yeah, once or twice.”
“Do you know why it happens?”
“Sort of? It happened once when I didn’t sleep for a couple days. The other time I was pretty badly injured, that time I got burned by the basilisk.”
Will scanned Nico up and down. He hoped he didn’t drag Nico around while he was wounded. At least he already knew he had no external injuries. “Are you okay? Did the chimera hurt you?”
Nico looked away. “No, I think I’m just sick.”
“Oh.” That surprised Will. He wondered how he didn’t notice earlier, since he was a healer after all. “Why didn't you tell me?” He placed a hand on Nico’s forehead to check his temperature.
Nico closed his eyes, leaning into Will’s hand. “I thought I was gonna bring us back to camp and then deal with it. I could try it again, I’m sure we’ll end up somewhere better than this.”
“Absolutely not.” Will told him sternly.
“Why not?”
“It’s too risky! Maybe you take us somewhere better, or maybe somewhere worse! Like on an active volcano, or in the middle of the ocean!” Will said, gesturing his hands wildly in the air.
“An active volcano, really?” Nico raised an eyebrow. “And I can’t teleport to the ocean, that’s Poseidon’s realm.”
Will crossed his arms. “That’s not the point. It’s too much of a gamble. No shadow traveling until you’re 100% better.”
Nico sighed. “Okay.”
Will frowned. He expected a little more of a fight from the son of Hades. Nico laid back down, coughing into his elbow. He wrapped the blanket tighter around himself. “Fuck, I’m freezing.”
“I can help with that.” Will smirked and laid down, facing him.
Nico opened up the blanket before quickly covering himself back up, wide-eyed. “Where are my clothes?”
Will’s face turned red and he swiftly sat back up. “Sorry! Your clothes were wet! And I couldn’t really ask for permission, since you were still passed out and all!”
Nico chuckled, clearly amused by how flustered Will was. “Mhmm. Sure thing weirdo.”
“Well, this weirdo saved you from freezing to death. I’d call him a hero.”
Nico coughed into the blanket, muffling a ‘shut up’ into it. He stared at the fire, still shaking. “Is there any more firewood?”
“Actually yeah, I saw some on the porch. I’ll be right back.” The breeze had picked up outside. Will’s teeth chattered as he grabbed an armful of firewood. He found a large cooking pot next to the stack. Maybe he didn’t know how to start a fire, but he did know a thing or two about creating a safe source of water.
When Will came back inside, Nico was sitting up, still facing the fire. “Hey I found this pot out there too, I filled it with snow so we could boil it for water!”
Nico didn’t say anything.
“Uh Neeks? You alright?”
“I’m gonna throw up.” He moaned.
Will quickly opened the door and dumped the snow out on the porch. He ran over to Nico and held the pot out in front of him. Nico breathed shakily through his nose, squeezing his eyes shut and wrapping his arms around his middle. He swallowed and jolted while holding his mouth closed. Will rubbed a hand up and down on his back. “Don’t try to hold it in. You’ll feel better when you get it out.”
Nico leaned forward and let his mouth hang open over the pot. He gagged unproductively a couple of times before throwing up. Once he started, he couldn’t stop. Even when he was empty, his stomach kept heaving, his eyes watering from the exertion.
“Gods.” He gasped out, in between gags.
Will continued rubbing his back and used his other hand to comb Nico’s hair back. “You’ll be okay, just gotta ride it out.”
When his stomach finally settled, Nico pushed the pot of sick away. He looked over at Will who reached over and wiped the tears off of his cheeks “Feel better?”
“Yeah.” Nico leaned into Will, laying his head on his chest.
“Let’s lay down.”
“No, laying down makes me feel sick. Can we just stay like this?”
“Of course.” Will hugged Nico closer to him, laying his head on top of Nico’s.
Despite the circumstances, resting here felt sort of nice. It was chilly outside, but inside next to the fire, it was warm and peaceful. He pressed his face against the top of Nico’s head. His hair still smelled faintly like the minty shampoo he used, and a bit musty since they hadn’t had time to shower on their quest. Will didn’t care. He soon found himself falling asleep too, until he was jolted awake by a familiar dizziness.
The cabin had transformed into an alleyway in a city. It wasn’t snowing here, but it was still dark and frigid. Will pinched himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. Definitely not a dream . Nico had shadow traveled again, this time in his sleep. Will shook him. “Nico! You really need to wake up this time!” He shook him harder, still Nico remained unconscious.
“I didn’t know you could shadow travel in your sleep!” Will said, feeling a cool breeze biting his face. “Wish it would’ve been somewhere warm and sunny this time.”
Wil gasped when the shadows engulfed them again. He squeezed Nico, pressing his face into the blanket wrapped around him. He breathed slowly, in and out, feeling the sun on his skin. They were on a beach now, sitting under some palm trees on the sand. Will pouted, he was going to have sand stuck in his clothes. At least it was warm.
It was warm and sunny, exactly what Will had been wishing for a moment ago. Suddenly he had an idea. “Can you take us home Nico? Please, if you can travel one more time, take us home.”
They both sat on the beach, unmoving.
“Okay, maybe I need to say like a keyword? Y’know home, the place we live at. It’s cozy and safe, our home back at ca—”
Will couldn’t stop himself from gagging this time. He held a hand on Nico, while he leaned over his knees, heaving. Once the vertigo had passed, he lifted his head, relieved to find that they were safe back in—his living room?
He rubbed his eyes. That was undoubtedly his couch and his TV, and he could see a kitchen that he was well acquainted with peeking through the doorway. Will rubbed his eyes again. He certainly didn’t expect to show up here, even though Nico had spent the night here with him a few times. He got up and turned on all of the lights to hopefully prevent Nico from shadow traveling again. But he decided to sit down next to him and wait for him to wake up just in case.
Will glanced down when he heard a small groan coming from the Nico-shaped lump of blanket on the floor. “Hey Neeks.” Will rubbed a hand on his side. “How you feelin’?”
“I’m so tired.”
“Yeah, probably because you shadow traveled in your sleep.”
“Hm.” He closed his eyes. “So that’s how we got here.”
“Have you ever done that before?”
“No. That’s new.”
“Well I turned on the lights so hopefully it doesn’t happen again.” Will stood up, holding his hands on his hips. “You can lay down on the couch, the floor isn’t very comfortable.”
“Yeah.” Nico stared at him, making a face.
“What?”
“Um could you…” A slight blush crept across Nico’s cheeks. “Carry me? I’m just really fucking tired.”
Will smiled. “Sure.” He crouched next to Nico and placed his arms under his upper back and knees. Picking him up was much easier now that Nico was awake. Nico let his head rest on Will’s shoulder as he carried him over to the couch, delicately placing him on the cushions. Will slid a pillow under his head, and Nico closed his eyes.
“Don’t fall asleep yet, I’m gonna make you some soup.”
Nico coughed into his elbow, shaking his head. “No, I can’t”
Will bit his lip. “You shadow traveled a lot today, you gotta eat something. A few bites at least.”
“Fine.” The smell of chicken soup wafted into the living room. Will carefully handed Nico the soup and sat at the opposite end of the couch. Nico managed to eat about half of it before handing it back to Will. He pressed his head into the pillow, although something seemed to cross his mind since he looked back again at Will. “Have you eaten?”
“No, but I’m fine.”
“Finish the soup, Will.” Nico closed his eyes. He started snoring, seeming to be sleeping peacefully. Pulling out his phone, Will texted his mom so that she wouldn’t be jump-scared when she got home, and subsequently ate the rest of the chicken noodle soup. He was pretty sure that all of the shadow traveling was over, yet he kept a hand on Nico’s leg, just in case.