Brothers Reunited

Chapter Eleven: Will PoV

After the Avengers went to Sokovia, Nico returned to camp. He visited the Underworld every day for training, but Nico refuses to tell me what they're doing. He does keep on muttering something about his 'idiot father' being an 'idiot therapist.' Anyway, the Avengers ended up contacting us in the middle of the week and asked whether I wanted to visit the coming weekend. So, now we're in Avenger's Tower.

We finish climbing up the stairs. Gods, I love Nico, but sometimes his fear of elevators is really inconvenient. Nico stops at the floor with his room first, wanting to give me the full tour.

"This is the monstrosity Stark calls a bedroom," Neeks announces, showing me the inside.

In typical Nico fashion, everything is as dark and goth as possible. He doesn't even realize how clichè he's become. He has painted his walls black and put up some black and white pictures of the 1930s hanging around. There are some questionably dark posters on the walls as well, along with skulls everywhere and on everything.

I dryly remark, "Thinking about forgoing a career as a war veteran for a job as a pirate? I'm sure Percy could hook you up, though your pirate's skulls speak for themselves."

He glared at me with his full-on teenager scowl, "Piratey isn't a word."

"Shut up, Death Breath," I mutter before wrapping my arms around him and leaning closer for a kiss.

We stand like that for a minute or two. The world really seems to melt away when I'm with him. Suddenly, it doesn't matter that my mom thinks I'm a freak and won't let me near my fully mortal little sister. It doesn't matter that I don't have a single friend outside of Camp Half-Blood. It doesn't matter that literally every parental figure I've ever known or cared for has abandoned or forgotten me. Nico is my family; Nico is my home. He may be broken, but I'm damaged too, and I love him. I hope this Avengers situation doesn't go to Hades. Even though I selfishly want to be his only 'family,' I know he needs his brother in his life.

I hear someone cough and quickly whirl towards the doorway where Bucky stands, smirking.

"So you two lovebirds have hidden in here. Tsk, tsk, I expected better from you boys," Bucky struggles to contain a laugh as he says this.

Nico is blushing as hard as a field of peonies in the spring, and I smirk.

"Neeks here was giving me the grand tour. How are you, Bucky?" I ask.

Bucky fiddles with the doorknob, his face clouding over with something resembling regret or sorrow, "I'm sure you've heard of what's happened with the Avengers this past week, with Ultron and everything."

"I heard something. Tony nearly destroyed the world with his Ultron invention, right?" I reply, still not entirely sure what went down.

Nico jumps in after I step on his foot, "Are you okay? How are all the Avengers? There were three new heroes, right? They're Spider-Man, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch. Will they all be staying here?"

"Yes, we're all okay, thanks to Spider-Man. Quicksilver would have died if he hadn't swooped in on time. To answer your other question, I think so. There's some paperwork Tony has to get through first, so they aren't here yet," Nico's brother replies.

I'm internally freaking out for Nico at that last part. Nico doesn't have the capacity for healthy social interaction at the moment, so having three new kids his age around will only make him panic. Not to mention, it'll add to the people questioning him. Also, I've heard the one hero is especially good at digging through the minds, which could expose many secrets he's not ready to share.

"Anyway," Bucky continues, "Romanoff just got back from work, and everyone else wants to meet you, Will."

"What new conspiracy theories has Natasha come up with now?" Nico grumbles.