Will

As soon as Will was certain that Nico wasn't following him, he abruptly turned and walked in the opposite direction of the town. He had already established that he couldn't go back yet because of this stupid curse. Possibly forever. His heart ached at the thought of never being able to see Lou Ellen or Cecil again. They'd been the only ones who had ever seemed to understand when he wasn't actually happy and they took care of him whenever they noticed those moments. Cecil would tell him funny stories about the trouble that he and his siblings had gotten into until Will's sides ached from genuine laughter. Lou...gods, Lou Ellen was like the mother he never got a chance to have. She would wrap him up in blankets, kiss his head and basically be so motherly that it almost hurt. Sometimes she and Cecil pooled some money together to get Will a cup of hot cocoa. He always ended up feeling guilty for drinking it, but when he was feeling miserable he couldn't bring himself to care and welcomed the gesture. His heart throbbed painfully at the memories and he sighed sadly, his face sore from smiling so much.

He looked up to see where he had ended up, surprised to see the old abandoned house that Lou and Cecil had taken him to on his birthday. How had that happened? It was as if his feet had subconsciously taken him there due to his mind being filled with the thoughts of his two best friends. Well, he wasn't going to complain. Staying in an old, abandoned, run down house was a lot better than sleeping outside when there could be risks of hypothermia or rabid wild animals. He made his way up the rickety steps and moldy doorway, looking around inside. It still looked like the same old, rotten, decaying place it was when he had been here last time. Perfect.

He went to explore the house, staying away from the second floor steps that looked like you would fall through them straight to hell, going to look through the other rooms instead. The place was pretty empty, barely any furniture besides a table, a couple chairs and a very old couch. No bed, food, clothing or running water.

'Absolutely wonderful! Living here would be a piece of cake! Who need that stuff anyways?!'  He thought to himself cheerfully before making his way over the couch to lay down. He might as well get some sleep if nothing else. He tried to make himself as comfortable as possible on the scratchy fabric and broken springs, eventually giving up and just laying down, closing his eyes. He quickly realized how exhausted he had been from the entire ordeal of today as he drifted off, dreaming of raven black hair and dark brown eyes.

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Will woke up at dawn and groaned, various parts of his body screaming pain! One of them was his back, which he expected since he didn't think sleeping on this couch would've done it much good. The other one was his stomach, hunger cramps practically stabbing his insides. Of course. He practically ate a king's meal yesterday and his stomach still decided to act as if it was practically empty. Granted, it had been the only meal he had for the past two days and he had mostly stuck to the stuff he knew, which was practically nothing but still. He should not be this hungry.

His stomach let out a loud growl, blatantly disagreeing with him.

He sighed in defeat and got up trudging over to the front door. Maybe he could find some fruit or something in the forest. He knew it was unlikely since it was practically winter but it was worth a shot. Otherwise he would have to steal from the village. Not only would he risk being seen by someone he knew but he hated stealing. Sure, sometimes it was necessary in order to survive but everyone already had so little. Why would you continue to take from someone who barely had anything? Plus he already ate a stolen birthday cake and that was enough to make his stomach churn with guilt. Speaking of his stomach, it let out another grumble as if getting impatient.

Will resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his internal organs of all things and stepped out of the house, starting his search for food.

He walked around for a while in a random direction, finding nothing but dry branches and dead leaves. He almost gave up and headed back to the house to suffer until the hunger passed when his eyes caught onto the sight of a berry bush. The berries were blood red, the skin smooth and shiny as green, lucious leaves curled around them. Will didn't know if he should eat berries in the wild, especially if they were growing in the winter but he was just so hungry. Berries could grow around this time of year, right? Like wasn't there some type of fruit called winterberries? That's probably what these were. His stomach was starting to cramp up and eventually the need to eat overpowered his concern for their edibility. He found himself walking over to the bush and crouched down in front of it, gathering up the berries in the palm of his hand. He was so focused on his task that he didn't hear the horse footsteps in the distance. Nor the sound of hesitant human footsteps coming right up behind him. What he did hear though, was a terrified gasp, followed by a pale hand slapping the berries out of his palm and then a harsh shove that had enough force to have him sprawled out on the ground a good 4 feet away from the bush.

Will groaned, though he was more surprised than in pain and he tried to get up, only to have a boot planted firmly on his chest, keeping him pinned down onto the ground.

'I'm going to die.' Will thought, hazarding a glance up at his attacker. He was met with the snarling face of Nico di Angelo, his eyes darkened with rage. Yes, he was definitely going to die. 

"Idiota" the prince hissed out through clenched teeth, glaring down at him. "Did you eat any?!"  Will stared at him blankly, the shock of suddenly seeing Nico and the overwhelming hunger in his stomach causing him to fail in understanding Nico's words.

"Wh-Wha...?"  The boot on his chest was pushed down harder, making him groan out in pain.

"Did you eat any of the berries that are so poisonous, they'll make you vomit blood until your sorry self keels over and dies?!" He hissed out angrily. Will blinked rapidly as he processed the anger in Nico's eyes, swallowing thickly. He'd been in this position so many times before, except instead of Nico's face, it had been his stepmother's. Images flooded his mind and he quickly closed his eyes in an attempt to ban them. He would not freak out-or internally freak out-around Nico. He was a friend. He wasn't going to hurt him. Hopefully.

He remembered that Nico was still waiting on an answer, his eyes snapping open as he shook his head frantically. He decided to keep his mouth shut until he could get his thoughts in order watching as Nico seemed to sag in relief at the response and the rage quickly melted away to reveal another emotion in his eyes. Fear.

Before Will could think more on that, Nico finally seemed to realize what he was doing and hurriedly got off him. He pulled him up and even tried to brush the dirt off of him, something Will would've found amusing if he hadn't just been assaulted with images of Cassandra. He still smiled anyways.

Nico didn't seem to notice it though, still fretting over him like he was a mother who just saw her four year old almost run into the street.

"Are you okay?! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to be so harsh, it's just everyone knows how poisonous those berries are except for you, you stupid idiot, you scared me so badly!" Nico exclaimed before blushing furiously as he realized what he said. Will's eyebrows shot up in surprise but before he could comment, Nico was already plowing on, trying to change the subject and cover up for that small slip of emotions.  "Why were you even trying to eat them anyways?! Do you want to die?! Don't you have food at home?!"

The smile slipped off Will's face as he made his expression go painfully neutral again. How was he supposed to reply to that? He couldn't say his stepmother tried to murder him and now he was living in the forest with nothing, now could he?

Nico seemed to have taken Will's silence the wrong way though, his eyes immediately widening in alarm.

"No wait-shit-I didn't mean-of course, you live in the village, you probably don't have much-not that you're poor! Or you are but not in a bad way! Or is it a bad way? Shit, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to offend you-"  he rambled on and Will quickly put on another smile to reassure him, opening his mouth to correct him when he paused.

If he told Nico that he had done nothing wrong then how was he supposed to explain what he was doing out here? His stomach churned again at the thought of letting the prince think he had done something wrong, but there was no other option. Regretfully, he opened his mouth to reply to him, words tumbling out of his mouth that he wished he could instantly take back. 

"It's fine Nico. Don't worry about it." Immediately he could see the slumping of the younger boy's shoulders and how he instantly seemed to act more hesitant around Will, as if Will was the prince and Nico was nothing more than a lowly villager. Will hated it.

"I'm sorry..." Nico said again, his voice impossibly soft as he chewed on his thumbnail guiltily. Will's heart clenched in his chest at the sight and he opened his mouth to speak because curse be damned he was not letting Nico beat himself up when he did absolutely nothing-

Sadly, Nico was already grabbing his wrist and pulling him towards his horse before he could get a word out.

"You said you were hungry right? Come on, let's get back to the castle and get some food into you." He said sternly, trying and failing to regain the confident aura he had once had. Especially when he hesitated and glanced at Will nervously. "I-I mean...if you want to, of course..."

 "Yes! Yes, of course, I'd love to!" Will blurted out before Nico even finished his sentence. His cheeks turned pink when he realized how eager he sounded but he couldn't bring himself to care. After what he let Nico think, he deserved to be embarrassed and more.  "I'd love to." He repeated, this time more firmly.  "I'm starving, I could use a meal. Plus, I'd love to spend time with my newest friend." He told him, nudging him slightly and winking.

Nico's ears turned pink and the tension seemed to seep out of his shoulders to Will's relief. He ushered Will onto the horse, getting on himself before riding off to the castle. Will immediately wrapped his arms around Nico's waist when they took off again. He wasn't that scared of falling off anymore and no, he wasn't holding onto to Nico like this because he liked how he felt in his arms, he was just...okay, he lied. He was deathly afraid of falling off, better be safe than sorry.

They arrived at the castle too soon for Will's liking and he had to let go of Nico so he could dismount. Very reluctantly. Because he was still scared of falling off. Will moved to get off the horse himself when he noticed a pale hand being held out to him. The owner of said hand was pointedly looking away and trying to act non-chalant though his pink cheeks gave him away. Will felt like one of those fair maidens in one of those romance novels he read. Not that he was a damsel nor was Nico his knight in shining armour. Not at all. He smiled and took Nico's hand, using it to help himself get off the horse before walking inside with the young prince.

Neither of them let go of the other's hand.

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Hey guys! Sorry for it being so late! I tried to give you an authors Note that had a very very minor sneak peek at a previous chapter but apparently Wattpad didn't agree and didn't want to publish it. I'm sorry! I'll try to update more frequently now but no promises! I gave some extra fluff at the end though to make up for it.

Fellow Nerd,
Your very apollogetic author