Notes: I realized (while writing this) that I really don't have a chemical connection with this pairing, but since Trials came out and the most adorable couple in the literary universe became canon, some sort of tribute was needed.

The son of Death was never supposed to touch the sun.

Will is like ambrosia: if Nico takes too much, he will burn. But he will keep on trying - and trying - until he can withstand the intense heat of Will's smiling lips and is able to fly into the sunset with him together.

One.

Will's infirmary is everything outside the infirmary doors. Lush grass, the smell of fresh strawberries, the cool wind, the warm sunlight. Will's eyes pierce through Nico, as all light does these days. They're blue, the color of the lake, of water, of life. Nico drinks it in, Will's words and laughter, and he imagines that the nectar from the gods will taste like this from now on.

"Come on," Will says.

"Where are we going?" Nico scowls. There's a stitch in his side; all the brightness is taking his breath away.

"I'll show you."

They go into the woods - just a little bit and not enough for it to turn dark. Will scampers up a tree, and Nico is pulled up after him with many grumbled protests. He perches on a branch uncomfortably and glares at Will, trying not to lose his balance from the dizziness of the height.

"Now what?" he asks.

"Now-just look."

And so Nico does. He sees the golden strands of hair waving in the dappled light, the shine of tanned skin stretching over muscle, the pull of the pink bowed lips into a smile. And he begins to feel whole again.

Two.

They go higher. They sit on the saddle between the wings, and with a careless "hold on" from Will, they rise into the sky in a flutter of feathers and hooves.

Will whoops with joy. Nico holds on to anything he can for his life.

"Aim for the clouds, Porkpie!"

They're wet and shivering when they land, but there's the sun to bake them dry and Will's side to use as a pillow so Nico doesn't complain.

The pegasus even allows him to give it an apple.

Three.

The slope is rocky and slippery at the same time. Nico grips tightly to Will for the entire climb as his feet slide and release sprays of stone and gravel.

"It'll be all worth it when we make it to the top," Will says to him. "I promise."

Nico doesn't have the breath to reply.

The sun is setting by the time his struggle ends. They're on the top of the cliff, but it seems to Nico that he is on top of the world. The land rolls out beneath him, shifting as if it is alive. And for the first time since a long, long time, Nico doesn't see darkness and death, but a quiet thrum of life everywhere, a balance between everything, in the shadows and the light.

Fin.