Ahh hello day eleven, and part one hundred! Aren't you grand? I would suggest not reading this if you're having a fantastic holiday because...Well...I'm me. So anyway happy Christmas eve! I'll be back tomorrow!

Halos

The first thing everyone learns in school is about the angels. The Guardians. The inhumanly human people who watch and know and see.

At age of five every girl and boy sits on the kindergarten mat of circles and squares as the teacher a man or a woman with a high voice recites the same old old story. And the next year they do it again. And then the year after that.

Angels, they say, are the guardians of humans.

Of course despite the rigorous brainwashing, there are people who don't believe. A lot of people, actually. How can they exist? No one sees them. They are an old wives tale! Death comes to everyone eventually no matter what you do. 

"If angels were real, then no one would die." Will found himself saying. He was by himself, speaking only to himself, but still the words were strange and foreign. But they were true. He knew they were true.

The blonde haired boy sat on the roof, legs hanging over the edge, hands deep in his sweatshirt. He was posed in that just "in between" where he was feeling the fall but not actually moving. He hated the feeling, but he didn't make a move to draw away from the four story drop. The rough breeze of the night chilled him.

Somewhere inside he knew people were looking for him. His family probably, or whoever was around. Mostly Percy and Grover and maybe that weird chick from down the hall Lou Ellen. None of them would check up here though. Will was afraid of heights.

Maybe that's why it was so ironic at this point. Will was afraid of the very thing he wanted more than anything else in the world. He teetered on the edge, waiting for a push in either direction: His brothers finally getting smart and finding him, or a mythological angel to pull him back.

Will wasn't surprised to see he didn't care either way. If he died, he died. If he lived....well there was always tomorrow.

"So...." A voice behind him said.

Will looked up to see a boy standing there. He looked ten times richer than Will had ever dreamed of being, with a slick leather jacket and jeans. He wore combat boots that Will might have sold his soul for. He wore a silver belt that glistened in the unwelcomed moonlight. It must have been past midnight, but the boy didn't look like he cared. 

In fact Will got the feeling he didn't care about anything.

He stood there hands in his pocket look bored out of his mind. "Are you going to jump or not? I've got a timetable to keep."

Will tipped his head to the side, "Timetable?" He mumbled. His face felt too numb to say much more than the one word.

The boy rolled his eyes, "Yes a timetable. You know? A table that keeps time. A schedule?" 

Will shrugged at his biting tone. He wobbled a bit almost falling but not quite enough.... The boy didn't make a move to stop him.

"Are you going to call my family?" Will asked. He stared down at the road below him. The nightlife was oblivious to him. They were mostly druggies and prostitutes maybe a gang member or two. Certainly not a single person who would care about him falling anymore than to check his pockets for loose cash. 

"Why the Hell would I do that?" The boy snapped, "Make a decision already. Jump or don't. I'm sick of waiting on you."

"Waiting on me?" Will repeated without looking back, "Just who are you?"

There was a snort and Will finally pulled his body back enough to crane his neck and look directly at him. With his body firmly situated again Will realized he was all alone on the roof after all.

"Will!" Percy yelled appearing at the entrance to the building. He panted looking out of breath, his raven black hair a mess, and green eyes wide. Will sighed looking over the edge one more time. Percy whisked him away from the end of the roof, but Will didn't hear a word he was saying. 

Tomorrow. He thought, There was always tomorrow.

***

The next night Will was on the edge again. This time he wasn't waiting exactly. Okay maybe he was. Maybe he needed a reason to go either way. 

He hated how indecisive he was. Nobody knew he was up here tonight. They thought he was asleep in his bed, oblivious to anything and everything. It was colder than before, but that might have been because Will was wearing old gym shorts that had been re-purposed as pajamas. He was bare foot and the chills made his toes numb. Winter was still a couple weeks away, but the city was always chilly at night.

"I thought you decided last night." The familiar voice from behind him said.

Will guessed he should have been startled or something, but he wasn't. He couldn't explain it. He had checked around and made sure there was no one up there tonight, but here was that guy. Will hadn't even heard the door open or close, and it squeaked like Hell.

"That was last night," Will said.

The boy mumbled something that sounded like a curse, "Moron."

 "How'd you do that?"

He asked sharply, "Do what?"

Will kicked his left foot forward feeling the tickled of the wind, "You disappeared right before Percy came up. I didn't even get your name."

The boy snorted, "My name doesn't matter. What matters, is if you are going to fucking make up your mind. Are you gonna jump or not!"

Will was silent. The faint music from somewhere floated up to them. The boy tapped his foot impatiently. His shoe made a heavy thud, thud, thud, on the chilled concrete. Will tried to remember if he had seen him anywhere before. He didn't think so. With those clothes he had to be from some rich school. Will couldn't imagine what he would be doing in the ghetto part of town. The only people who came here were the ones with death wishes. 

It was amazing how well Will had adapted to his role.

"Fine, if I tell you my name will you make up your mind?" The boy said.

"Why do you care if I jump or not? My own family doesn't even care."

The boy made an indigent sound, as if he couldn't believe how stupid Will was being. Will wasn't put off like he would have expected himself to be. 

"It's not like I care, you moron. I've got better things to do than watch you freeze your ass off on a roof in the middle of a ghetto town of New York. I could be at home sleeping, or eating, but no, William fucking Solace is on the edge of his roof again tonight so I've got to be here!" The boy snarled. 

Will whipped around so startled by the sound of his real name that he pulled himself back on the roof. Even though his actions were quick and and sudden, by the time he scanned the roof again, he realized he was completely alone.

Will wondered if crazy was a side symptom of being suicidal. 

***

"Oh Come on! The Harry Potter movies are streaming tonight!" The boy-with-no-name complained.

Will puffed out a breath just to see what shape the formless white cloud would take. "You don't have to be here."

"Fucking Hell I don't!" The boy griped.

"Go away." Will told him, "I don't even want you here."

"As if your opinion matters to me, Solace."

Will shivered in the cold. He had worn pants tonight, and shoes, having learned from last night. If there  was one thing he hated more than heights it was being cold. Still he didn't bother dressing up too much. Just like usual no one would care what he was wearing unless it was expensive enough to steal.

He could feel the boy look him up and down, probably not impressed with his wardrobe choice. Not that it mattered. He was a figment of Will's imagination.

"Am I crazy?" Will asked the night air.

"You're the one sitting on the edge of the roof and not making up his Fucking mind."

Will shrugged.

"Oh will you stop that? Shrug this, shrug that! It's like you never made a decision in your pathetic life." The boy stomped a little as if working warmth into his body. Will was prompted to look back if only to get another look at his mirage.

He wasn't wearing that jacket today. His pale arms were exposed to the night air like pale glowsticks. His dark eyes flashed with iteration. Will wondered what his subconscious was trying to tell him with this expensive, shiny hallucination.

"Nico." The boy said gruffly.

"What?"

"That's my name, dumbass." He said, probably with an eye roll. He waited another beat to see if Will would respond. When it was apparent Will wasn't going to speak, Nico huffed, "Well?"

Will raised an eyebrow, "Uh, it's a nice name?" Was he suppose to say something else? What did he care about an illusion that decided to name itself. 

Nico growled, something disturbingly inhuman. "We had an agreement! I tell you my name and you make up your mind!"

"I never agreed to that."

"Fuck you, I have a life William. I'm not your fucking babysitter!"

Will fingered the edge, "Babysitters don't let the children sit on the edge of the roof." 

Nico swore in Italian (or something similar). Will wondered where his subconscious had pulled that from. He didn't think he had hear Italian in a long while. But he did live in a big city. Walking around he could have heard someone say it once or twice.

"Then jump you asshole." Nico told him.

Will frowned. "Will you go away if I do?"

Nico let out a bark of a laugh that could have just as easily been the bite of the wind. "You won't see me ever again, if that's what you're worried about, moron.  Then again, your head will be cracked and blood splattered all over that nice sweatshirt so you really won't be seeing anything."

Will went to shrug but a sharp noise from Nico made him freeze. Will instead Will pulled his legs in. He swiveled enough so he was completely on the roof. He glanced back to see if Nico would remain there, but just succeed in seeing the hallucination fade into the multitude of shadows. 

Will was alone.

Just like always.

***

"Can't you just once prove me wrong?" Nico was waiting for him this time. He was situated on the edge of the roof, where Will normally sat. His black hair shone in the moonlight, and his scowl was oddly the most comforting thing Will had seen all day. He was smoking, the tip of his cigarette glowing. "I don't want to have to clear every evening plan I have  just to watch you freeze you ass off without making a decision."

Will slid onto the concrete next to him. He was dressed a little classier tonight. He'd stolen Lee's old track jacket and Micheal's boots. Both were a size too big, but Will couldn't care less. They were warm.

Nico rolled his eyes and held out his box of cigarettes. Will stared at them, then shook his head.

"What? You'll jump off a roof but you wont smoke one?" Nico snorted, "You are messed up."

"Obviously." Will said, "I'm seeing you aren't I?"

"You don't have to be crazy or even suicidal to see me, you dumbass.  Most of your kind just doesn't want to deal with the idea that we exist."

Will cocked a head at him. "Wait what?"

Nico rolled his eyes, a motion that seemed to take up his whole body. "Don't tell me you thought I was a fucking Hallucination. I hate when people do that."

If his goal was to completely confuse Will than he did it successfully. Will looked at him, really looked. He was wearing that jacket, and the smoke made him look more real than before. But that was impossible. Nico couldn't be real.

The-boy-who-couldn't-possibly-be-real tapped his cigarette on the the concrete and put it out. "Oh you are one of those freaks."

"Don't stereotype me," Will said sharply.

Nico raised an eyebrow, as if Will had finally done something impressive, "So you can have an opinion." He huffed and re-situated himself on the edge. Then without waiting for any reaction He curled his fingers into a fist and slugged Will in the shoulder.

Will let out a yelp, nearly sliding off the edge, but catching himself on blind instinct. It was only after his rapidly beating heart managed calm down that he recognized the fleeting pain and the flash of warmth. Nico was warm. Will took a deep breath, "Why did you do that?" He asked, trying to keep the anger from his voice. It made no sense for him to be angry. Hell! He'd basically been asking for it for the past couple of nights.

"Proof," He said lazily, "I am real, you are a dumbass, and it is extremely cold out here. If you were going to contemplate killing yourself, couldn't you have done it somewhere warm? Like downing pills in the bathroom? Or try eating hot coals. That one was interesting." 

"You-? What-?" Will  struggled to find better words, "Angel? You? But angels don't exist!"

Nico snorted, "I wish." He stared down at the tiny people on the streets. 

Will couldn't help but stare at the other boy. He had long since convinced himself angels indeed, did not exist. But Nico was claiming to be one, and he had punched him. Weren't angels suppose to be white? And have feathers?

"Where's your halo?" Will blurted out.

Nico looked personally offended. "Excuse you! You gotta buy a guy a drink before you go pestering about halos!"

Will blushed though he wasn't sure why. It had to be the cold getting to him. He yanked Lee's sweatshirt tighter around himself, cursing the fall weather. Neither of them said anything and Will glanced downwards again. His stomach dropped out like he was already falling but he knew he wasn't. 

"So, why here?" Nico asked pulling out another cigarette. "You obviously have a fear of heights. If you wanted to go out, why this way?"

Will shrugged. Nico shot him a glare, but he pretended not to care.

"Seems fitting." 

Nico nodded as if he understood. Will doubted he did. He was an angel. How could he?

"What's it like?" Will asked, "Being..." He motioned to the other boy in a vague motion.

"Cold," Nico grumbled, "You end up spending nights on a roof with an asshole trying to decide if he wants to jump or not." 

Sirens started up not far away. Will kicked his feet to the scream, wondering if he would be alive long enough to hear them if he jumped. Nico sighed out a breath that gave a white cloud of condensation.

"Why?"

Nico looked at him as if he was stupid in addition to indecisive. "Because I have to, moron. It's my job."

"Aren't you suppose to be telling me not to then?"

"Well, first I would have to care if you fell or not." He lit the next cigarette with a lighter he pulled seemingly out of no where.

"You're extremely apathetic for an Angel." 

To Will's surprise and great interest Nico flinched. His finger danced on the edge while his eyes seemed to zero out on the dark horizon. "Nothing here is any different than any of the other fifty two people I've handled before."

"Fifty two?"

"What you think you're my first human?" Nico smiled as he exhaled so much smoke he turned the air in front of them grey. The smell made Will shy away. The ashy sent was still engraved in his brain from the last fire. "I've had more humans than birthdays, moron. You're all the same. You mope and cry and think the darkest thing is the end of the world. How pathetic is that? You wouldn't even understand happiness if you never saw the darkness too! You humans are spineless."

"Oh and I suppose that you know all about darkness." Will scowled over the edge, "An angel like yourself?"

Nico didn't say anything for a moment. He looked murderous to the point where Will thought he was going to push him off the edge. Will waited for the shove, eyes narrowed because he was angry. He wasn't sure why, but he was. Angry because Nico was an angel and he didn't seem to care. Angry because he was suggesting that Will hadn't suffered enough. Angry because he was four seconds from death and he wanted it-- he really did-- but he couldn't. He just couldn't.

Nico leaned in, closing the gap between them. He paused just inches from Will's face, his warm smoke ridden breath cupping the blonde boys cheek. Will could see every part of his face, the angle of his chin, the dark onyx of his eyes, the slim curve of his lips, parted only so he could speak.

"Yes."

Will shook his head. "You don't know a thing."

"I know lots of things William Solace." He disagreed, "Most of them about you."

"You know nothing."

Something flickered in those eyes of his. The curve of his lips grew, until he was blinding Will with those perfectly aligned white teeth. He brought his hand up, but froze it just before touching the careful coat of concealer on his cheek, " I know that's a new bruise."

Then Nico reeled back, and brought the cigarette to his mouth. Will brought his hand up to his cheek fast and turned away faster. He scrambled back from the edge, barely gaining his balance before he was storming towards the entrance to the building. Nico's laugh rang out, and it was colder than the air around them.

***

"Don't say a word," Will warned him as he slumped down on the roof beside him.

Nico gave him a crooked grin, "Excuse you, I was here first. I'm the one that gets to decide that!"

"I'll find another roof to jump off of." 

"No you won't." 

Will sighed and looked at the city. "No I won't." He agreed. 

In some apartment below them Someone was throwing a party. Dozens of horribly parked cars were everywhere. Music was shaking the building to the point that they both could feel the beat. Drunk laughter echoed from some nearby alley. Will guessed it was great at least someone was enjoying themselves.

"You gonna decide tonight?" Nico asked.

Will shrugged. Nico seemed to be waiting for it this time and punched him in the arm. Will rocked forward enough to panic and then caught his balance again. 

"Every time you shrug from now on, I'm punching you harder." Nico said, and from the grin on his stupid face, he sounded like he would be enjoying that. Will let it slide, because what else was he going to do? Punch him back?

They were quiet for a long time feeling the rhythm of unfamiliar music underneath them. For once Nico didn't seem to be in any hurry for him to decide. The angel had another cigarette and a thicker jacket. Will noticed tonight of all night he looked haggard, as if some great huge force was crushing the life out of him. Nico looked content to have it crushed from him.

"Are you okay?" Will asked.

Nico blinked once, twice and then he twitched his nose, "I'm fine."

"I'll believe that when pigs fly."

Nico attempted a scowl, but tonight it looked more wary than angry. "It's been a long day."

"Angelic duties got you down?"

"I will throw you down off this roof." 

Will smiled. He wasn't sure what was humorous about a threat that Nico could completely achieve before Will could blink. But then again with Nico around, he was never sure what was humorous or not. 

"Why'd you cover them up?" Nico asked. At first Will wasn't sure what he meant, then Nico let his gorgeous onyx eyes flit to Will's cheek and subsequently his ribs and chest.

Will tucked his hands into tighter balls inside Lee's warm jacket. If he concentrated he could still smell Lee's "manly" perfume that he swore got him "all the cute chicks". Will rubbed his finger over the thick cuff, running along the seam. He watched nothing. The moon overhead was obscured by a cloud. 

"Got to keep appearances you know?" Will's smile was sharp.

Nico looked at him, "Moron, she beats the Hell out of you. Why don't you stop her?"

"Why don't you?" Will retaliated just as fast. If Nico was impressed or offended by his retort he kept it to himself. Will wasn't sure he even wanted the answer. The bruising didn't hurt when he was up here. Or maybe it did, but Will was so on-the-fence about his death that it fell under a back note in his worries list.

Somewhere down below a car alarm went off.

"It's my fault, you know?" He said, quietly, as if it was a secret. It was not one, but it felt like it should be. Everyone knew. Will knew everyone knew. It was in their eyes when they looked his way, the whispers when they thought he wasn't around, the way suddenly everyone was busy when he wanted to talk or chill. 

Nico didn't say a word. Despite the fact Will didn't want to, the rhythmic pumping of his heart made the words jump from his throat.

"All my fault. All of it. Lee, Micheal...I deserve it. I got them killed." Will tried to breathe and found the chilled air not at all refreshing. "Lee had a fear of small spaces. No one was ever sure why but he hated being closed up, you know? It was a simple drive home after school, he picked me up and I...the kids at school were giving me grief because...I told Nyssa I didn't like girls. And when I told Lee he laughed. I was so angry! He was suppose to be on my side! I was crying and he was laughing, and I told him to go die---" 

Will dropped his head remembering nothing but the darkness. The jacket around him was tight but not enough to make the words sound any more false. "He tore his eyes off the road, another car hit us....it fl-flipped. I was thrown out but Lee...Lee..." Will struggled to breathe again, "Right between the seat and the dashboard and the ground. Tr-trapped.  Police said he must have been stuck for an hour before he bled out...another hour before anyone found us."

Nico put out his cigarette even though he had barely touched it. He was facing Will entirely, but the blonde didn't remember him moving.

"Micheal wouldn't look me in the eye afterwards. He and Lee...they were closer than the rest of us. They had each others backs...And to know that he died trapped, scared, because of me? He wouldn't even talk to me. I tried... I tried to say sorry. I did. He wouldn't hear it.

"I couldn't...I tried talking to him but he...I had to corner him in his room. His silence tore me apart. I thought maybe if he understood.... H-he....tried to push me out the window." Will let out a bitter dry so that hurt his throat. "I grabbed anything...everything...Just make him stop-- He and Lee kept potted plants on the windowsill... It was a mistake-- I didn't.... He was afraid of hospitals." 

Will wondered if he'd ever like the color red again. He could feel the thick liquid between his fingers, running down his arms. The pain because it was a defense he never should have had to make. A defense that had Micheal terrified in the Hospital room of white and needles and forms of people he didn't know. A hit to the head that killed him, but not before he spent an hour in purgatory. 

"Mom thinks I'm bad luck." He said when his voice came back. When the feeling of blood had left his hands alone. "She...I killed two boys, my brothers... Whenever I get too close to Kayla..." Will didn't think he had to go on. His throat burned, and his eyes ached. The deaths had happened years ago, but his mother believed reinforcement. He couldn't remember the last time he said anything to his sister. But the bruises came every night.

"If I'm going to go, I might as well suffer my worse fear doing it, right?" Will whispered, "It's only fair..."

Nico scooted closer to him. Their hands touched and the warmth once again surprised Will. Neither of them made a move to back their fingers away.

"I'm not an angel." He said.

"What?"

Nico put a finger to his lips, "Well, I am. But I'm a fallen angel. I doubt you'd know the difference. Your kind barely likes regular angels, fallen ones would have humans trying to exterminate us wouldn't it?" Nico tapped his fingers.

"Fallen angels," He said, "are angels who neglect their duties as protectors. They still show up when their human is in trouble, but fallens don't help their humans. I told you I went through fifty two humans already. That fifty two of you same blithering morons who killed yourselves or were in the wrong place at the wrong time. When my human dies, I simply get transferred to a new one. I don't have a halo, or wings. Those are symbols of good and light. I have these." 

He lifted his jacket to show that silver belt he was always wearing. Except this time Will noticed the twitch of it. The silver moved and shook and by the time Will realized what it was, Nico had already unwrapped his tail from his belt loops. Will stared in amazement, stuck between shocked and terrified. Nico twitched his nose again and pulled an item form his pocket.

It was round and black, like a tire. But the edges were polished smooth. Will looked at it as Nico spun it in his hand. "A fallen halo." He said, "They turn black when your first human is killed and you could have prevented it." Nico looked up at Will, "I don't regret letting my sister's killer die."

"Can it ever turn gold again?"

Nico snorted, "Who says I care if it's black or not? It can be changed, but only if I help my human." The fallen angel rolled his eyes, "What a wasted effort. Even you come back every night to freeze yourself to death."

Nico looked out into the city, and Will followed his gaze. They watched lights of other apartments go out, one by one, building by building, like stars. The clouds moved on silently. At some point even the music of the party shut off, leaving just the two of them on the roof. Will lost track of time. Though he was sure time didn't matter anyway. Today was a day, a night, an hour, and he was sitting on a roof with a boy he didn't believed existed a week ago.

Nico didn't light another cigarette. He stared off as if he was seeing something way more interesting than the silhouettes of the buildings around them.

"I'm not going to jump off the roof tonight." Will told him.

"I figured," Nico responded. 

Will shifted slightly so he was back enough and then he laid down. His head found a spot just next to Nico's fingers. The concrete was a frozen, but Will didn't mind. He didn't feel cold tonight. Just empty. He folded the collar of Lee's jacket so it was covering his nose. The smell of his older brothers faint body spray started to lull him to sleep.

"Are you going to go?" Will asked the angel.

Nico looked down at him, a twitch of a smile on his face. "Someone's got to make sure you don't roll of the roof in your sleep, William."

"Will." The blonde boy hummed and closed his eyes. "Just Will."

"Moron."

When he woke up the next morning Nico was gone. The only thing left of the other boy was the thick black jacket that had been draped over Will sometime after he had drifted off.

***

"You never told me why." Will mentioned. Nico was mid way through his second cigarette, the smoke hanging between them like a curtain. Th angel glanced at him with a bored look. Will had returned his jacket earlier, having even ran it through the laundry. Nico had chided him for even considering cleaning it, but Will waved it off.

"Why what?" Nico asked.

"Why are you a fallen angel?"

Nico touched his poison to his lips but then frozen. His shoulders were tense and his other hand was clenched into a fist. His eyes were cold and distant, but Will had found them still lovely to look at. They were like looking into a cave.

He asked coldly, "Why do you care?"

"I don't." Will was lying on the concrete again staring up at the faded suggestion of stars. Nico's arm kept brushing the ends of his blonde curls, but Will just took that as a sign the other boy hadn't ditched yet.

Nico didn't say anything. Will tore his gaze off the black emptiness above them to look at him. The cloudless night wasn't nearly as interesting as the boy sitting next to him.

"My sister."

Will waited patiently as Nico took a long drag of his cancer stick. He looked in pain, immense pain. Will wanted to hate that he brought it up, but before he could say anything Nico let out his smoke with a breathy humorless laugh.

"She fell in love with her human." He said, "That's a big no-no in the angel world by the way. Bianca, my sister, she was a model angel. But even she wasn't allowed...I don't know how to explain it to a human like you.” Nico ran a hand through his coal black hair. “Angels only are assigned humans who are close to death before their rightful times. There are rules to what we can do. We can't kill anyone, not directly. But we also can't stop a death, if the human dying doesn't want us to.”

“What can you do?”

“Shove you over the side,” Nico said. “Technically the fall is killing you not me. Ah, gravity.”

Will snorted. The angel looked down at him shook his head.

“I can offer advice.” he said after a moment, “Tell you why you shouldn't, make a deal, promise to protect you...stuff like that. Really the only difference angels have from normal humans are wings and halos.”

“So what happened to your sister?” Will ran his fingers across the edge of the roof feeling each and every bump until his hand went numb.

“Well, once an angel’s human is “saved" or they die, the angel is transferred. Bianca...she couldn't handle not seeing Ethan again after he decided not to off himself. She snuck off to be with him. She asked me to watch her new human. Do you know how much a pain you losers are? After a week of endlessly prattling between my human, some guy named Luke, and hers, a girl named Zoë, I told her to pick or I was going to go insane. Me and the angels or Ethan.”

Nico spoke with a quiet detachment, the same bored voice that he usual saved for threatening Will. “She chose him over her other Zoë, and the girl died trying to defend her sister from their abusive step father. Bianca lost her status and her wings.

“But that didn't stop her or Ethan.” Nico settled back, “No. They just went right on along. Bianca abandoned her humans. Oh man, What a pain that was. I tried to help her. I tried to bring her back, but she said she'd rather be a human than an angel.

“That same night, Ethan had bragged to his friends that his girlfriend was an angel. They rioted. That night…” Nico blew out a puff of cigarette smoke. “You humans hate things you can't understand. The anniversary of hers and Ethan's death was yesterday. They really fucked them up, you know?

“That was the night I saw how brutal humans could really be. Angels too. Even after her death they demolished her reputation. Bianca...she never did anything really wrong. Yeah she let you humans die, but she didn't even want to be an angel. I figured what's the point. Everyone's a hypocrite.”

Will reached back to lightly punch him in the arm, “Except you. You are exactly what you advertise.”

Nico looked down at him, “And that is?”

“Black haired goth boy, with a mysterious past. As likely to kill you as look at you.”

“Speaking of which, why have I not done that already?”

“I don't know.” Will sighed. “What was it like to fly?”

Nico twitched his nose. “Horrible,” he said, “Wind caught in your eyes, it was always cold-- do you know birds don't follow traffic laws?” Will let out a laugh. Nico looked down at him, “Really! They are so inconsiderate!”

Will didn't remember falling asleep. He listened to Nico talk long into the night and maybe the next morning. And for those timeless hours it seemed as if they were the only ones in the entire world.

***

Will stumbled up the staircase. He hit against the door to the front but it didn't budge. His stomach churned and he was sure that with his stumbling he'd woken the whole floor.

He'd made a mistake. He'd made a mistake.

He wasn't sure what it had been. Maybe he glanced at Kayla for too long. Maybe his mother had realized he had taken Lee and Michael's stuff from the closet.

Whatever it was, Will found it hard just to breathe.

He slumped against the door, tears streaming down his face. His head hit against the cold metal. His chest burned, his legs were jello, if he could just…

“I'm sorry...I'm sorry…” Will coughed out half his lungs. Some thick liquid dripped down his chin, his fingers were red.
Suddenly the door jerked open and Will fell over. He didn't even have the strength to catch himself.

“Shut up!” a furious voice yelled at him.

Will blinked slowly, aware he was in someone else's arms. Strong arms. Nico's arms. He tried to stutter another apology.
“You're a piece off Shit, Will!” Nico snapped at him. It took a moment for the blonde boy to process his words. It wasn't anything new. But Will couldn't understand the shiny glint on his cheeks.

“God-fucking-Damnit!” Nico cursed dragging Will further into the night air. Will was immediately aware he wasn't wearing a coat. His bare feet felt four sizes bigger than normal. “Why didn't you let me help? I was right there!”

Will let out a weak sob that he meant to a laugh, “I thought...you didn't even... care... about me.”

“You moron!” Nico cried. Yes Will was sure, he was crying. He was also holding all of Will up. Entirely. Will tried to push himself up but Nico held tight. It was so weird being in his arms.

Different. Safe.

“I'm... sorry…” Will heaved out.

“I said shut up!”

Will ignored him, “I'm getting…blood...your jacket…”

Nico let out an impressive string of curses. Will tried to focus in on them, but all he heard was the sound of Nico's voice. It reminded him of last night. His beautiful voice, and the warm feeling of safety.

“Come... with me…” Will coughed.

“Damnit, Will! Be quiet! You're bleeding out!” Nico pressed his hand against Will’s head drawing him in like he could absorb the blonde boy.

“Nico...I made...my...decision…”

“No! You didn't Will!” Nico begged, “Please! Don't leave Me!”

Will breathed in his scent: the leather of his jacket, the smoke of his breath, a strange vanilla whiff that Will couldn't find a reason to dislike. “Come...with... Nico.”

Well felt the edge with his feet. It was only a little bit away. If they leaned far enough, gravity would work like a charm.

“No...more...pain...no...more... humans.” Will coughed again, “With...you…”

“I hate you!” Nico screamed, “I hate you, you moron!”

“This...is...how...you...save...me...” Will felt every word leave his mouth. He had to focus really hard just to pronounce the syllables. Bitter wind struck his face, but Nico felt so warm.

“Will…” Nico whispered.

“I...know…”

Will shifted. It wasn't a lot, most of his weight was with Nico anyway. But it was enough to get them both slipping. The short distance felt shorter. A breath of cold fear wrapped around Will as they left the roof, but then he felt the grip of Nico around him. He was safe. Here in Nico's arms. Nothing could touch him.

Lee was gone. Michael was dead. His mother was abusive.

But Will was free.

They were found the next morning, first by a lucky, moral less pickpocket, who stripped through their pockets with ease. He only found one thing worth keeping. An odd round object, like a tire, but it polished smooth.

And it glowed like gold.