Moondust

Chapter ten

24th of July

When Madame Calliope arrived at the studio door, she could hear the faint sounds of a piano. She smiled. They would be opening the windows today. She pushed open the door and stopped short at the scene in front of her.

A girl with choppy brown hair was tinkling away at the keys, while Jason danced in a series of bounds and leaps, his surname, “Grace”, finally making sense as the normally clumsy boy did a plié, a move he was struggling with just weeks before. The girl was glowing with pride as she watched Jason, who remained focused and intense, a hint of a shy smile appearing on his face whenever he caught her eye.

Calliope silently scanned the mirrored walls of the room and saw two heads in the corner, gold and black, bent towards each other like two children making a secret pact. In the mirror, she could see that Will had an IPod in his hands, scowling as he fumbled with the buttons. The other boy watched him with a soft smile on his face, his expression one of childish amusement.

Will let out a disgruntled sound and shoved the IPod at the other boy. He took the electronic device from Will, their fingers brushing as the IPod passed between them. The boy punched a few buttons, and put an earbud in his ear, handing Will the other.

Will gaped a bit, and Madame Calliope smiled as the other boy gave him a teasing grin and a light punch to the arm. Will stuck out his tongue and accepted to earbud, humming softly along to the invisible music that only the two boys could see.

On the other side of the room, Jason and the girl had stopped, and were sitting next to each other on the polished wooden floor, talking with wild hand gestures and exaggerated facial expressions. Will looked over and nudged his partner, who rose and joined Jason and the girl.

The two of them spread out a bit, making space for the other two boys in their circle, passing the IPod around as the dark-haired boy began an animated retelling of Will’s desperate struggle with the device and his heroic rescue. Jason and the girl laughed, and the look on Will’s face held an equal measure of exasperation and fondness, shot through with a weary delight, the expression you get when you collapse on a soft, familiar surface after a tiring day, one that said, I’m home, I’m home.

Muted giggling and stifled laughter mixed with soft whispers and invisible music as Calliope looked around the room, seeing Will’s expression reflected on the other’s faces, as if he were the sun, and they the moons in his orbit, the light and warmth he gave shining through them.

_________________________________________

Nico was telling Jason and Piper about the IPod. Piper couldn’t stop laughing, and Jason, normally stoic and reserved, was actually giggling, even if he kept shooting Nico hostile glares. Nico shot Will a smug grin and he shook his head, exasperated. He’d tried to keep his distance after the whole “Friends” thing, behaving more like how Jason acted around him. Though without the glares. Somehow, Nico had picked up on his mood and copied him, growing cold and distant.

It worked for a total of 10 minutes before Piper shot both of them funny looks and asked Nico if he was ill.

They’d gone back to normal after that, Piper trying her hand at playing the piano while Jason danced. The guy was an good dancer, but he did better when Piper was at the keyboard, leaping and twirling and doing complicated turns mid-air that Will couldn’t accomplish in a million years. As Nico was elaborating on his “Heroic Rescue”, Will rolled his eyes.

“Alright, alright, enough about me.” He grumbled good-naturedly, raising his hand to smack Nico’s arm, the other boy grabbing his hand before Will could do anything else.

“Got it. Doctor’s orders, right?” he joked, guiding Will’s hand back down between them, fingers lacing with his like ribbons at Christmas, thumb almost unconsciously rubbing circles on the back of his hand

Will disintegrated, the tiny fissures in his chest began to mend, and a small voice at the back of his head felt smug. See? You still have a chance. It gloated.

Will hoped that much was true.

___________________________________________

Nico didn’t notice that he was holding hands with Will until he heard a light gasp. He looked down.

Oh.

He’d held hands before. With Bianca, before he knew better than to pull away and tell her to stop babying him. With Hazel, her tiny fist barely wrapping around three of his fingers. If he had held his father’s hand other than the time he guided Nico and Bianca to their mother’s grave, he didn’t remember.

And Will.

Almost immediately, he was hyperaware of that hand, of Will, of how warm he was, the surprised expression on his face, how…

Suddenly, his hand was tingling, nerves  feeling like they were connected by electricity. Will didn’t pull away, and he felt a sheepish smile pull at the corners of his mouth.

This was nice, he thought, giving Will’s hand a light squeeze. This felt…

Right.

__________________________________________

Calliope silently closed the door. Her dancers could use a day off. On whim, she peeked through the window before she left, just in time to see Nico’s fingers unconsciously intertwining with Will’s, and the surprised smile that graced their faces.

She made it as far as two blocks before she had to get a tissue to dab at her eyes.