Shelter (Solangelo)

Chapter 30

The rest of the evening passes without any more monster attacks. Lou Ellen takes turns between the twins and Liz, entertaining them with tricks of the Mist, while Will catches up with his mom. Nico is far from comfortable sitting beside Will at the kitchen table, but Daphne seems to read his discomfort and doesn't put him on the spot. While Will talks, Nico notices how often Will reaches out for him: brushing their feet under the table, squeezing his hand, a touch to his knee or the back of his neck. It drives home for Nico that this is how Will claims the ones he loves. The touches seem to increase when the conversation centers on Apollo. It's overwhelming, and at the same time reassuring. Nico reads the growing conflict inside Will in regards to his father.

When Will presses Daphne about Apollo, she insists he'd never forced himself on her, that she seemed to forget their previous arguments and fall for him all over again, until he'd try to explain again who he was. Then, she'd only hear the ravings of a lunatic, or see anything he did to prove he spoke the truth as a trick of the light, or a number of other more logical explanations.

Nico joins Lou Ellen when she says she's ready to go to the guest house for the night. He takes a quick shower. When he gets out, he puts on a clean pair of black boxers and snags one of Will's clean T-shirts.

"Hey," Will says, standing in the doorway. "You can toss your dirty clothes in the washing machine in the hall. I'm gonna have a quick shower and then I'll run it."

Nico nods while Will retreats to the bathroom, his posture slumped more than usual. He pulls his dirty laundry from his backpack and throws it and the clothes he'd been wearing into the machine, then takes a seat at the small wooden table at the window overlooking the beach.

A circle of light from the spotlight mounted on the back of the house throws part of the beach into relief, but the rest is entirely dark. He can hear the never-ending pulse of the ocean, though he can't see it. It's hypnotic and soothing. Nico relaxes in his chair, drawing his feet up and resting his chin on his knees.

Will joins him after starting the washing machine and closing the door to their room. "Lou Ellen is out cold," he tells Nico. "I think my sisters wore her out."

Nico watches as Will tries to get comfortable in his chair, setting his own feet back on the floor and his hand on the table. Will settles his on top of it. Anteros's warnings echo through Nico's brain. After tonight, there are only three days until the eclipse. He has three days to figure out how to get Will to let go of his resentment of Apollo.

Will's eyes are fixed on the tabletop, as if he's not really seeing their hands, but is lost in thought.

"Wanna talk about him?" Nico asks, surprising himself. It reminds him of when he'd pushed Reyna to talk about her father.

Point is … I don't like talking about my dad, either. But sometimes, you have to.

Will frowns, his shoulders slumping further. "Not really."

"I do."

Will finally looks at him, an eyebrow raised, mouth turned down at the corners. "Really? Why?"

He's not sure where the words are coming from, perhaps deep inside himself, but Nico lets them come. "For an Olympian god, he's one of the best."

Will half-scoffs. "Yeah, that's not really saying much."

"He reminds me of myself sometimes," Nico says, turning his hand so it clasps Will's.

"How do you figure that?" Will asks.

Nico looks straight into Will's eyes as he answers, pushing his buttons, testing the depth of his resentment of Apollo. "Other gods have been messing up Apollo's life since the beginning, blaming him for who he is, trying to make him different by shaming him. Only he's had to deal with it for eons."