Nico has gone soft.
He’s gone soft.
Unbelievable.
“What,” he growls, yanking open his cabin door.
That’s the issue with it all — a year ago, if someone came pounding at his door, in the middle of the night, for literal minutes as he desperately tried to ignore them, he wouldn’t even bother with words. He’d come out swinging; fists or sword or both.
But look at him now.
Using his words.
He’s a pacifist.
“Can I please sleep with you,” blurts the interloper, and both of them go very intensely red at the same time.
Nico drags his hand down his face. (Because he is furious, not because he’s trying to hide his glowing cheeks.) “Solace, I swear to all that is holy.”
Will waits for him to finish. Nico chooses not to, letting the threat hang in the air. Will can imagine what Nico wants to do to him. Hopefully it involves screams of pain and agony, because that is the vibe he is sending.
“I — please,” whines the biggest thorn in Nico’s side, when it becomes obvious he is not opening the door any further. (Will even shivers, pitifully, and Nico refuses to notice the tank top and unwisely short shorts he’s wearing as PJs. That’s his problem. It’s October. Camp-monitored weather or not, he should know better.) “Please please please can I sleep here? Just for tonight?”
The issue is that he really does look so pitiful. His nose is red, slightly, and his eyes are big and blue and shining in the faint light of Greek fire torches, and the pout on his face is just short of emotionally moving. He glows in the moonlight, too, freckles shining like dotted stars; all of him awash in silver like a marble statue of Hellenistic tragedy.
Nico sighs.
Will brightens.
Nico opens the door, just a little.
Will darts inside.
Nico is a weak, weak man. Truly.
“You have your own cabin,” he grouches, scowl twisted and potent and pointed in Sun Boy’s direction. Will either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care, rocking back on his heels and observing the cabin as if he hasn’t been inside dozens of times to harass Nico in dozens of different ways.
“Never been here at night,” he muses, and Nico seriously considers collapsing to his knees and yelling at the top of his lungs. (But he is the dignified Ambassador of Pluto, King of the Shadows, so he does not. Instead, he vows to wait until Solace is finally gone, so he can wallow in peace.)
“Feel free to return to your own cabin at any given time,” Nico says pointedly. He ignores the second pout he knows is aimed at his back, crawling back into his bed and beginning the slow, meticulous process of layering himself in his fourteen and a half blankets.
“I can’t!”
The mattress springs of the spare bed across from Nico whine in protest as Will throws himself dramatically upon it. Nico refuses to look at him, and also refuses to ask the question Will is trying, with great difficulty, to make him ask. If he wants to march in here and make himself a nuisance, he can do it without Nico’s help, that’s for damn certain.
Will huffs. “It’s too dark in my cabin.”
There’s a second as the words travel from sparks in Will’s brain, to less abstract thought, to language, to a sound beginning with vibrations in his throat and floating through the air, tickling the delicate hairs in Nico’s ear and re-translating themselves to sparks inside his own brain. It takes but a moment, a millisecond, a delay too small for either of them to register. In that moment, Nico closes his eyes and wonders, clearly, to himself: is this really better than living alone on the streets, hunted nonstop by monsters? Is it?
“William,” he says, very, very slowly, ignoring the reflective, chirped Not my name! in reply. “William, I am going to kill you.”
See, every cabin has its quirks. Zeus’, for instance, resembles a mausoleum. (Nico should know. He’s picnicked in several.) Athena’s resembles a library, sleeping and living an afterthought. His own cabin, remodelled after whatever fool made it look like Count Dracula’s wet dream, now closely resembles his bedroom in his father’s palace, were his bedroom shared and less frigidly unwelcoming.
Apollo’s cabin is made of solid gold. The interior is painted with bright, overlapping murals made by generations of talented artists, fairy light strung across the ceiling and curled around bedposts, sun lamps and skylights peppering every square foot. Warmly lit and welcoming, in the inside, eyesore on the outside. Nico wouldn’t be able to find the shadow of a speck of dust in that cabin. He has no idea how anyone sleeps.
“William,” he repeats, incredulous. Four of his blankets slip from their meticulous pile, and Will stares right back, wide-eyed but unafraid. “William, please use your fucking eyeballs.”
Will gasps. Hand pressed to his chest, genuinely aghast, like Nico had just insulted his mother.
“Nico!” he chastises. “Language, lordie!”
Nico refuses to smile.
He refuses.
“Solace, this place is made of shadow. You are full of shit, telling me your cabin is too dark. Literally what are you yapping about.”
Will holds his gaze for a moment, still glaring. But stubborn as he is, Nico has the better glower of the two of them — Will is more practiced at the silent treatment. He huffs, relenting.
“Jus’ feels dark,” he mumbles, so quietly Nico has to strain to hear him. “‘N it’s quiet.”
Oh.
Oh.
“Is this about Kayla and Austin going home this year?” he asks softly, awkwardly.
Will nods miserably.
“Well — I mean — in that case —”
He stumbles over his words, face glowing. He doesn’t know how to say what he wants to say without embarrassing himself, without missing the mark — you’re welcome here, Will? Of course you are? I answered the door for you, Will? I let you in, Will? For anyone else, I would have slammed it in their face, Will? I have before?
“Just — sleep it off,” is what he ends up saying, wincing as soon as the words leave his mouth.
Will snorts. “Yeah, lemme just dodge the crushing loneliness with a quick five hours.”
“Piss off, you know what I —” Nico frowns. “Five hours?”
“It’s two somethin’ in the morning, darlin’. I’ll be up when the sun rises.”
Nico glances at the blackout curtains hanging from the window frames.
Not this time, he thinks, as quietly as he can.
“Right,” he says. He waits a beat. “Goodnight, you pain in my ass.”
Will beams at him. He can’t see it, but he can feel it, practically, the glowing warmth of it, and he shoves his face in his own pillow before he does something embarrassing like smile back.
“Night! Love you bunches.”
He screams slightly into the silk pillowcase. “You are the biggest dweeb in the world.”
“…Aw.”
“Shut up. I love you too. Sleep immediately or I’ll gag you.”
“Yeesh, Nico, let’s discuss our fantasies before we dive into any —”
“I am going to kill you to death, Solace, I swear on the palace of my father —”
“Okay, yeesh, Prince of Darkness, I’m kidding, I’m kidding.”
Will’s snickering is an annoyingly welcome sound in the usually silent cabin. Nico ignores it for his own peace of mind, waiting for it to fade into even breathing before he lets out the breath he was holding, sagging into his bedsheets. He peaks over the mound of blankets and pillows, eyes adjusting easily to the dark, and traces Will’s lanky frame; on top of the covers, because of course he is, bare leg hanging off the side of the bed and arm hooked around his own head. He’s been asleep for a few minutes at most, but his curls already frizz and tangle in a messy halo all around his head, as if he’s been tossing and turning for hours. His mouth is parted just slightly, Cupid’s bow pink and pursed.
“Love you, stronzello,” he whispers again, fondly, and smiles as his own eyes flutter shut.
———
(He wakes up at noon to Will rushing around the cabin, panicked, shoving his feet into his flipflops and buzzing about being late to his shift. He brains himself on the door frame in his rush to get to the infirmary.)
(“Karma,” Nico calls to his retreating back, snickering.)
(He thinks he’ll let Will sleep over more often.)
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given jantje friese's exquisite mind, i don't think it's too presumptuous to make leaps when it comes to the significance of things.
daniel’s surname being a prime example. solace.
there’s a point made in that second episode where he emphasises it by not saying first then surname, but rather having a beat or two in-between. it forces the audience to focus in on it compared to when maura introduces herself. (maura franklin rather than daniel - - solace)
and of all the surnames to choose, solace has to be the most apt for daniel as a character. solace meaning comfort and consolation. connotations of refuge, sanctuary, a safe haven. a light at the end of the tunnel. hope.
because that’s what daniel offers. yes he’s mysterious and dark and murderous, but for maura he is the epitome of safety. not only is he by her side and at her back quite literally every time she needs support, but several times he actively puts himself between her and danger. when tove lunges for her, daniel steps in front without hesitation, and then again when maura is protecting elliot and is almost shot, daniel jumps in front of a bullet to protect her.
i know there are so many theories already about whether or not daniel is even real, and what part he truly plays within the simulations. but no one can possibly doubt his love and sheer intense devotion for maura. he represents the purest and deepest form of love. entirely selfless, utterly consuming.
and it’s no wonder maura is drawn to him even though she doesn’t remember him. he is familiar to her, his presence triggers something within her, and it’s not too much of a stretch to think it goes back to that idea of solace. she recognises something within him which gives her hope and security. a feeling of home when all around her is in complete turmoil.
he is her solace. just like she is his.
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