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"I told him not to go and climb the lava wall with a broken leg, but what did he do anyway? Climbed the stupid thing and of course he got his new cast stuck in a crack—Nico?" He turned around when he noticed Nico wasn't walking next to him. There were people everywhere, the carnival completely packed that day.
They’d managed to let Chiron let the two of them out for the day with the promise to be back within two hours and that Nico take a break after the shadow travel here—they had to come all the way to California for this one.
He searched around the near surroundings and decided to call his phone before panicking. He felt the bag buzzing and cursed aloud when he remembered that Nico had put it in there when he went on a large ride. Nico was a big adrenaline junkie, glad to get any positive adrenaline instead of his normal monster-fighting-I'm-gonna-die adrenaline.
He jogged around, doing his best to look nonchalant so no one approached him. After searching a bathroom, and the food stands(an unlikely spot), and a few random nooks here and there, he was ashamed to admit he was panicking some. What if he got lost? What if he was kidnapped? What if he got overwhelmed and is having a panic attack somewhere and couldn't get to me and I didn't notice he was gone and—
He stopped, his wide eyes ceasing their fretting when he saw a particular shortish black haired boy, dressed in a lot of black—bar the white accents on his shoes and the brown aviators jacket which adorned dozens of pins and patches.
He was gawking at a carnival game, but not just any game, because it was one which had a huge plush prize. I mean, probably taller than Nico, Will thought with a small smile. It had a black base but had a skeleton with a skeleton crow on its shoulder and a skeleton cat at its feet.
After he surpassed his joy at finding him and seeing he was okay and his adrenaline wore off, he approached him.
"Nico." He said ominously over his shoulder, causing him to jump.
"Oh gods, Will—" He jumped about four inches off the ground, hand going towards his dagger secretly hidden in his belt. He had been upset about having to leave his sword at Camp Half-Blood, but was happier when he figured he could bring a Celestial Bronze dagger and the mist would disguise it as something more normal, hopefully. It didn't ding when they went through a metal detector, so that was a plus.
"Whatcha doing?" He put a hand around his waist and pulled him closer, looking up at where he was at the absolutely humongous plush.
"I'm sorry I left you, I got totally distracted and just completely forgot about everything for a minute—" Nico apologized quickly and he shushed him, shaking his head and silently saying it was okay. "I got to these games and just loved looking at all the stuffed animals—and don't even start, I know what you have to say."
He can't say he didn't laugh a bit, squeezing him tighter and shaking his head, nodding for him to continue while trying to suppress a smile. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't something the average person would take this punk-style, scary looking boy for; someone who loved stuffed animals.
Nico rolled his eyes playfully and pointed up to the skeleton that was hanging up high. "That one caught my eye. It's so perfect, the skeleton for our heritage, the crow for me, and the cat for Bianca." He said casually, staring blissfully at it before beginning to drag Will away. "C'mon, we only have about half an hour left." Nico said, reminding Will of their two-hour time limit. They'd spent somewhere around an hour there already, and had to include their twenty-minute break they were obligated to take after Nico shadow traveled them here.
"Wait wait wait," He said quickly, rooting his feet to the ground. Nico turned around to face him, squinting in the light but furrowing his eyebrows pointedly. "I wanna see if I can get it for you." Will smiled easily, tugging him back towards it.
"Will, you don't have to do that." Nico promised, but trailing after him nonetheless.
They stood in the two person line, Will standing beside him happily—definitely not with a hand thrown around his waist, hugging him close. "No, I want to. It's just a darts game, shouldn't be too hard." He looked up and the sky jokingly before closing his eyes and clasping his hands in a mock prayer gesture. "Apollo, give me strength."
Nico popped a smile, bumping Will's shoulder playfully. "You're not even good at the bow and arrow, how are you gonna do this and get the best prize for this game?" He said accusingly.
"Hey, I'm miles better than you. I have at least some talent, more than the average person."
To Will's non-surprise but Nico's dropped jaw, Will won the prize with fair ease, only missing two darts of the 22 which were needed to get the grand prize.
The person manning the stand looked shocked as well as he pulled it down, admitting he never thought it was going to be won. Will just smiled happily and immediately after grabbing it from the man, handed it to a shockingly happy Nico who had a huge smile on his face.
"Oh my gods you actually did it!?" He practically squealed as he hugged it tightly, which was a hilarious sight as it was even taller than he was. Will liked to joke that Nico was short—in comparison, he was to Will—though he wasn't that short. But it was another joke he made cheekily as the plush was an easy two or three inches taller than the Italian.
"Shut up." Nico grumbled, rolling his eyes despite the smile still on his lips. He started walking and held it high so it wouldn't drag on the ground.
Only ten minutes later, as Will was at another food stand buying some fried Oreos—something he loved and insisted Nico had to try after admitting he'd never even heard of them—the adorably pouty voice of his boyfriend spoke up.
"Will, my arms are tired..." He emphasized his statement with a squeeze of his arms.
"Oh, really?" He raised an eyebrow but didn't so much as turn his body to the boy as he stood with some mortal cash while waiting for the person in the truck to hand him the food.
"Mhm..." Nico sucked his lips in just slightly, giving him big eyes and looking up. Will knew this was coming, despite the way Nico happily pranced around with it like it was his new best friend, he suspected Nico would try to coax him into making Will tote it around.
"Sorry about that, love." He turned his eyes away from him and used all of his willpower not to smile at his obvious plot.
"It's just so heavy—"
Will called his bluff immediately. "My Nico, the boy who fights you-know-what's—" he whispered quickly, not willing to talk about monsters outwardly in a place full of mortals. "—with ease. My Nico, the boy who insists on fighting with heavy, sharp, and stabby swords even when he's injured? My Nico, who carries like ninety pounds of strawberries for nearly two miles mile up a hill in the middle of summer without drinking any damn water?" He lists easily.
Nico laughs quietly, burying his face in the black and white plush to hide his growing smile. "But Wiiiill..." He raised his head slightly and just peeked at the blond through his fluffy black bangs, enlarged doe eyes being Will’s certain demise. "My legs are tired from walking all day—"
He raised up two fingers and turned fully to him now. "Two hours, thank you." He huffed exaggeratedly, about to go on before the lady at the food truck came with the Oreos. He passed her the money and thanked her. He grabbed the chocolate and was walking towards the exit with the intent of going back to Camp, seeing as it was now lingering on the two hour mark.
Nico sighed longingly and hugged the stuffed skeleton tightly as he plopped down on a bench just outside the carnival entrance spot. There was a trailer that was empty and had good shadows just a bit away, so Will figured that was where they would go when Nico felt up to it. It was obvious now the toll of shadow traveling the two halfway across the country to then go and exert themselves for two hours straight.
"Wiillll..." Nico wrung again, peeking over the black fluffy fabric with his irresistible eyes, the little bit of eyeliner he'd meticulously put on before leaving now only just smudging at the edges. He made grabby hands with his fingers, only just letting go of the fabric enough to do so.
"Ugh, if you insist." Will feigned annoyance and stood up, turning around and crouching so Nico could easily climb onto his back and wrap himself around him like he imaged a sloth would do to a particularly comfy branch. Will now had the skeleton plush and the Oreos in his hands—though he figured it was fair considering that Nico was basically killing himself slowly just for their entertainment.
"M'kay, let's go." Nico said as he slightly readjusted his hands around Will's neck.
"You good?" Will sought reassurance before heading over to the secluded shadows. He felt Nico's head knock against the side of his neck and a quiet hum which he took as a 'Good enough that you won't tell me off too badly when we get back', which was most of Nico's responses when Will asked him anything, so he took it as fine and stepped towards the shadows.
Immediately when he came near, the shadows writhed and wriggled towards them and it took a lot of his self control not to shriek and drop Nico before running the other way. Once they were fully submerged in darkness and it was the most optimal condition, they were manually torn apart and shot through the literal fabrics of reality, weaving in and out of strands before seeing what looked like a black and white imagine of the entrance to Camp Half-Blood drawing nearer until it slowly took color, the image became sharper and less fuzzy, the sounds filtered through and scent greeted him happily.
They finally landed on the dirt path with a soft 'Oomph' from Nico. In the moment, the travel felt like hours—but now that it was said and done it felt like time only spanned half of a second—which it probably did, because of the way Nico pops across spaces without a second thought and appearing back before you can even comprehend what happened.
"Two times in one day was not okay." He grunted, rolling from his side and into a one knee crouch, looking for any injuries on the Nico lying limp on the ground while simultaneously checking himself and the items they'd brought with them. The Oreos were in tact and still in his hands, Nico's plush looks fine, and Nico himself looked okay besides the post-shadow travel exhaustion.
"Alrighty Death Boy, let's get a-rolling." He said after he gathered his bearings, slinging the stuffed life-size skeleton over his shoulder and the other life-sized skeleton into a bridal carry, somehow still holding the Oreos. He was going to make sure they stayed in pristine condition.
A short trek later and they'd arrived at the Big House, Will popping in for just a moment to alert Chiron formally that they'd returned before heading back to the Hades cabin.
He carried Nico to his bed and softly tucked him in, seeing as he was already breathing deep and evenly moments after Will had picked him up, and decided just to save the Oreos for later. They'd probably roast over the campfire very well.
He pressed a short kiss to Nico's forehead after he was deemed cozily rested and then climbed in himself—the bed was only a twin size so they were fairly close together. He didn’t complain.
Will felt tired too after having that much fun with Nico, but made sure that the special plush he'd gotten still had a place for itself at the foot of the bed, resting happily there as a sort of souvenir from their trip.
"Night night, Nico." He murmured, the small voice in the back of his head saying 'It's too late to nap or else you'll never be able to sleep!',
but he blissfully ignored it
and proceeded to have a nice, dreamless sleep with his wonderful boyfriend.