A/N: Hey guys! It's raining buckets here... and it's so COLD. LIKE- SO FRIGGING COLD! My fingers are aching because of it... but still.... It's much better than the heat.

Anyways, here's the chapter!

Also, question, do you want me to do a Christmas special for this story? It won't fit in with this arc tho.... So it will be a one shot, probably post canon or before it... what do u say?

Welp! Enjoy!

Nico felt like he was the walking dead as he dragged himself through the school hallways towards his locker. People smiled at him, and even if he had resolved himself to make an effort socializing, right now, he could not muster anything more than a stiff nod.

It had been three days since Will got captured. Three tireless days and sleepless nights, and still no sign of him anywhere.

Now, having worked with someone by his side, Nico understood what it truly felt like to be lonely.

Fate was cruel to him. It gave him a taste of something nice, and just as he was getting comfy, it took it away from him. He could hear fate cackling in his ears: You see this? You like this? Yeah well, guess what? You can't have it!

Oh how he wished for some help...

Hacate's apartment had been deserted when he went back there. She had moved out, leaving no trace that it had ever been lived in. Hazel had not shown her face around either. On top of that, the public was getting restless. Petty street crimes were starting to rear their heads, having realized that Sunshot, who set out each night as the sun went down to instill justice, had not shown his face in a few days.

Nico tried to thwart these small evils as best as he could, but there was only so much he could do when he already had so much on his plate searching for Will.

On top of all that, Will's parents have filed a missing person report.

Who wouldn't? When their kid has been gone for three days?

So now Nico was worried that someone might put two and two together and figure out that Will Solace might be Sunshot.

Nico's own mother was worried about him. Fair, he supposed, considering he probably looked like he died last week. He had been using his powers a lot in his search for Will, and hasn't been getting enough rest to atone for the energy he was using up. How could he rest? When whenever he closed his eyes he'd see those blue eyes? Gazing at him with affection and trust?

It was better to just stay awake, drink coffee and continue searching.

Yes, coffee is good, he could use another one right now. (A/N: *raises coffee mug * to all those coffee drinkers out there! I propose a toast! * pretends to clink the mug and takes a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong swig *)

It was only after some thought that Nico realized he had also been betrayed. That 'friend' who he thought was trustworthy enough... had given him false information that Hacate would not be home. That, or the said friend was tricked himself.

Nico had a sick feeling that the latter wasn't the case.

He was dragged out of his musings when the sudden bout of dizziness that hit him, he leaned against his locker subtly, trying to ground himself.

He really needed some rest.

"Nico?"

He straightened himself when he heard his name being called, but did not turn around, taking a moment to gather himself. He blinked rapidly, expelling the dark spots swimming in his vision with quite a bit of effort.

"Do you have a moment?"

Nico was really not in a mood to talk, so pardon him for snapping as he turned around, "sorry, but I'm fresh outta moments-"

He came face to face with Cecil and Lou Ellen.

They stared at him, wide eyed, Cecil even shrunk back a little, clearly not expecting his outburst.

Nico blinked as he cut himself off, deflating like a balloon upon seeing who it was, "oh... sorry... I'm just-"

"Bro, it's fine," Cecil assured.

Lou Ellen nodded along, "we're worried too..."

"He hasn't shown up in three days and I..." Nico stopped, unable to continue as he felt a strange lump of something stuck in his throat.

Cecil sighed, the grip he had on the strap of his backpack tightened, "he's our best friend... we're worried sick... I can only imagine how bad you're feeling."

Nico glanced at his feet, the event from three nights ago repeating once more in his head.

Lou Ellen was the one to dust the thoughts off of him, "Nico, you look terrible... have you gotten any sleep at all?"

Instead of gracing her with a reply, Nico smoothly countered with a query of his own, "have you?"

The two of them glanced at each other. They didn't look that well either, both of them had dark circles under their eyes, their brows were wrinkled with frowns and their eyes were tired and concerned.

Though, compared to how he probably looked, Nico was sure they looked a lot better.

The three of them sighed in unison.

No one spoke for a moment.

Nico, knowing that he had to put on the worried 'boyfriend' act, opened his mouth to speak, "where could he have what? What could've happened to him?"

At his words, Lou Ellen and Cecil shared a glance, communicating with the complex language of eye gestures, which the two of them seemed to be well-versed in.

Unfortunately for them, Nico was quite good at reading expressions.

The conversation probably went like,

Lou Ellen: should we tell him?

Cecil: Are you sure? I mean...

Lou Ellen: He should know.

Cecil: But-

Lou Ellen: We should tell him.

Cecil: ...

Lou Ellen: *long meaningful look *

Cecil: ...fine...

They both turned their heads back towards him in sync.

Nico, who had been eyeing their eye-conversation with the interest of a sports enthusiast watching a particularly heated tennis match, spoke up, "tell me what?"

"How did you-" Cecil broke off with a sigh, "you know what? I don't even wanna know..."

Lou Ellen cleared her throat, "there's something you should know..."

Nico raised an eyebrow, "what?"

Lou Ellen looked around furtively, "not now... too many people around... meet us after school?"

Will has once called Nico a feisty kitten. His mother has called him a kitten. Hacate has called him a kitten.

It was at that fateful moment that Nico realized: he indeed was a kitten. No matter how badly he wanted to go straight home... curiosity won over.

Curiosity killed Nico the kitten, it seems.

(A/N: if: kitten = curiosity, and: curiosity = death, which means: kitten = death. So if: Nico = kitten, we can conclude that: Nico = death. Yall I learned my axioms right hehe)

"Okay."

And that is how Nico found himself by the broad front steps in front of the school, leaning against the metal railing, in order to keep himself upright rather than to look cool.

Finally, after what seemed like eternity, Lou Ellen and Cecil walked through the main doors. Nico straightened up (A/N: not), but almost immediately lost his balance, his vision tilting.

Someone let out a loud exclamation, "Nico?!"

Someone's arm was around him, steadying him. He squeezed his eyes shut, drawing a shaky breath. When his vision cleared, he found himself in Cecil's hold, the said boy gazing at him worriedly. Beside him Lou Ellen looked panicked, "are you okay?"

Cecil gently made Nico sit down on the steps before sitting down beside him. Lou Ellen crouched on his other side, retrieving her water bottle from her bag. She unscrewed the lid and handed it to him.

"Damn di Angelo, you should really get some rest..." Cecil muttered, but there was no bite in his words, merely concern. He sighed, "I feel like we should take you to the nurse."

Lou Ellen bobbed her head in agreement.

Nico, however, did not agree. He was fine. He was just a little sleep deprived and exhausted. Nothing to worry the school nurse about.

Besides, he had heard many disturbing tales about the school nurse and her pet Chihuahua from many of his peers... he'd rather avoid that.

"I'm fine," Nico said after the long swig of water.

The two gave him dubious looks.

"Fine?" Lou Ellen clicked her tongue, she spoke, sarcasm dripping off of her words, "yeah, and I'm Ghostking."

Nico had to resist the urge to say, the other way round, actually.

Instead he said. "seriously, I'll be fine after I get some sleep."

More dubious staring.

"I will get some sleep once I get home, okay?"

Saying this, Nico held their disbelieving stares, silently daring them to say more. After what seemed like ages, they dropped their eyes simultaneously.

"Fine..." Lou Ellen resigned, "but we're walking you home."

There was no room for argument in her words. Nico breathed out in defeat, "fine by me."

She got up from her crouch and sat down properly by his side, his other side was occupied by Cecil. Silence issued for a few minutes before Nico spoke once more, "so what was it that you wanted to tell me?"

Lou Ellen and Cecil snapped their gazes at each other. They were wavering now, Nico could tell. Whatever they wanted to tell him, it was highly secretive and important.

Now Nico was even more curious than before.

Cecil raised his eyebrows silently at Lou Ellen. The said girl minutely shook her head, then jerked her chin slightly at him.

Nico sighed mentally, they were at it again.

Cecil: you tell him.

Lou Ellen: me? No way! You tell him!

Cecil: you're better at talking! You tell him!

Lou Ellen: no y-

"Just decide already," Nico drawled out, "or do rock paper scissors."

Cecil visibly startled, "how the heck are you doing that?!"

Nico shrugged, and took another lazy swig of water, his dark eyes not leaving the other two for even a moment.

The two of them actually did rock paper scissors.

Which is how Lou Ellen now sat victorious, her head held high, while Cecil looked on with miserable eyes, looking like he forgot how to string together sentences.

Nico didn't rush him, because honestly, the poor guy looked very distressed.

"Okay so," Cecil started, his eyes flitting between Nico and Lou Ellen, "it's about Will..."

Nico raised his head, snapping into attention, "what about him?"

"He um..." Cecil struggled to find the words, "you know how he's missing?"

Nico shot him a flat look, "yes, I'm aware that my boyfriend has fallen off the face of Earth."

He was surprised at how easily the word 'boyfriend' rolled off his lips. Even if they were pretending to be a couple for the sake of their double identities and dangerous missions.... It felt...

It felt right.

Cecil flinched back as if Nico's cold words had physically hit him.

He cleared his throat uncomfortable before starting once more, "so yeah.... He might... he might not necessarily be missing."

"Huh?" Nico's sharp gaze probed Cecil.

"You see, he's... he's..."

Lou Ellen cut in, her tone resigned, and mildly annoyed at Cecil's stammering, even if she too sounded reluctant to utter the words. She lowered her voice as she whispered, "he's Sunshot."

This was where they expected Nico to exclaim loudly and lose consciousness, huh?

The problem was.... Nico already knew this.

And he knew that Cecil and Lou Ellen knew it too, as Will had told him earlier.

But what Cecil and Lou Ellen didn't know was that Nico knew this particular piece of information.

So should Nico act surprised? Or say that Will had already told him this?

Nico chose the first option, purely because he felt sorry for Cecil and Lou Ellen and all the hardships they just went through to utter the two words 'he's Sunshot'.

"WHAT?" he exclaimed, attempting to spring up to his feet.

"Shhhh!" Cecil grabbed his arm and forced him to remain seated, "keep it down!"

"What?!" Nico repeated, hoping his acting skills would be enough to convince them, "he's Sunshot? As in the Sunshot?!"

Both of them nodded in unison.

"You're pulling my leg."

"No."

"You definitely are."

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

I still don't believe you."

"Fine!" Cecil exploded, "I swear it on my mother."

"Still no."

"I swear it on Lou Ellen!" This earned an incredulous 'huh?' from the victim.

Hmm.... Some corner of Nico's mind whispered suggestively, so Cecil sees Lou Ellen as someone worth swearing upon? I knew there was something between them...

Nico filed these thoughts for later.

"That's pretty solid, but still no."

Cecil gasped in exasperation, "FINE! I SWEAR IT ON THAT BLUE JELLO THEY SERVE IN THE CAFETERIA!"

Nico gazed at him, thorough and long. Cecil hung his head, obviously feeling that he would never be able to convince Nico when-

"I believe you."

Cecil gaped at him like a fish out of water.

Then Nico resumed his 'surprised' act.

"Wow... I can't believe it..." Nico breathed, took a moment to look like he was digesting the secret, then he added for dramatic effect, "my boyfriend's a superhero..."

If he was not mistaken, he spotted a tiny smirk threatening to tug at the corner of Lou Ellen's lips, despite the grave situation they were in.

"So," Cecil continued, buying Nico's pretense, "Will might be out there somewhere... maybe looking for some bad guy?"

Nico nodded slowly, even if he knew that was not the case.

"Or... or he could be in trouble..."

Nico bit his lip.

"He could be kidnapped!" Cecil spouted, "he could be hurt! Or... he could- he could be-"

"Don't," Nico growled darkly, "don't even think of completing that sentence."

Cecil shut up.

Lou Ellen took his place in talking, "we just thought you should know... Will would want you to know..."

Nico nodded, "thank you for telling me..."

They sat in miserable silence for a few moments before Cecil piped up, hesitantly. His question was directed at Nico, "do you think it's Ghost king?"

Nico's heart flipped. Did they know that he was Ghost king? Had they figured it out somehow?

"What about him?" Nico asked slowly, trying to keep dread from leaking into his words.

It was Lou Ellen who answered, "Will was getting close with Ghost king.... He said they were good friends and that Ghostking was actually a good guy... that we've all misunderstood him."

Had Will revealed to them that Nico was Ghostking?

"What else did he say?" Nico asked, before he could reign himself in.

"That's all he said, he didn't elaborate," Lou Ellen answered, "but what if... what if Ghostking..."

"What if he what?"

Lou Ellen looked at Nico. There was no suspicion or hostility in her eyes towards him, but that didn't make him relax.

"We think Ghostking might've done something bad... to Will..."

What the absolute f**k?

A/N: So.... How was it?

This chap is longer than I expected it would be.... But that good for yall right?

Leave a comment! Constructive criticism is always appreciated!