On Board {A Solangelo Pirate AU}

9: Crow's Nest

WPOV

The tides made it difficult to sail to Lenk, which led to many loud nights as crew mates shouted orders at each other just to keep the ship afloat. I couldn't sleep. The tensions on the ship were record-high. Everyone was arguing, and Nico's tactics to ignore me were getting sloppier. Like he wasn't even trying to hide the fact that he was avoiding me anymore.

I passed him in the hall once and he didn't even look at me. Just kept his eyes forward, and he didn't respond to my greeting.

I was mopping the deck with Percy. Nico was sitting up in the crow's nest, as he had spent the last few nights. He didn't come down to eat—Hazel had to bring him meals, because apparently he didn't like others coming up there with him.

I glared up at him. It was past sunset. The stars were beautiful, but I couldn't think of them. All I could think was that Nico was being a complete asshole.

Percy raised his eyebrows at me. "You look like you're about to snap that broomstick in half. You alright?"

I huffed, "I'm fine. Nico's just been ignoring me. You'd think he'd at least want to talk to me a little, or tolerate it."

"Nico takes a while to form strong connections is all."

"I greeted him in the hall and he didn't respond. That's not him having issues forming connections, that's him being rude."

"Why do you care so much anyway?" Percy nudged my shoulder. "You've got the rest of us. Why do you need Nico to be your friend, too?"

"I used to know him. It's been a really long time, obviously, but I thought we could at least catch up. I'd been wondering what happened to him and his sister for a long time."

Percy dropped his mop. "You knew him? Okay, put down the bucket and tell me everything. What was he like before he was kidnapped? Were you close?"

I smiled. "Yeah, we were best friends. I'll admit I don't remember a ton. I remember the day he was taken, and I remembered his eyes. And I remember making sand castles on the beach and pretending to know how to write so we could give letters to our moms. Just like, normal little kid stuff I guess."

His eyes softened. "Does he have other family?"

I swallowed. "His mother passed away a year after he and Bianca disappeared. His father's doing fine, though. I think he remarried."

He winced and pulled the broom closer. "Don't tell Nico about his mother. I know that sounds unsympathetic, but he doesn't need to know. He's still mourning Bianca. Let him think they're both alive. Please."

I looked up at the crow's nest again. "I'm going to go talk to him. I won't mention his mom."

Percy grabbed my arm and pulled me back. "You will not. He doesn't like people talking to him when he's up there. He only goes up when he's slipping back into mourning or really, really stressed. Don't bother him."

I nodded. He let me go.

And then I was running towards the ropes leading up to the crow's nest. The others yelled at me, but I had to talk to him. I had to know if he remembered me, because this was all driving me insane. Besides, he was being a jerk. Maybe I was too by disturbing him, I don't know, but he was lonely and an asshole so I was going to talk to him.

I climbed the nets faster than I thought I could. From there, it wasn't hard to pull myself up into the crow's nest. Nico was sitting the other way, back against a wooden beam.

"Hey, Will," he said.

"How'd you know it was me?"

"No one else is stupid enough to come up here when I've made it very clear I don't want to talk to anyone."