Chapter Text
It hadn’t been Nico’s plan to grow his hair out. It’d just kind of happened. He blames both the Aphrodite cabin and Will, though Nico secretly loves when Will compliments his hair.
When his hair reached his shoulders, neglected after fighting two wars and being stuck in a casino for seventy years, Nico had gone to the Aphrodite cabin to get it cut. He trusted them with his hair as it was only hair. If they decided to give him a bad haircut, it’d just grow back for a second or third or fiftieth chance.
“You have really nice hair,” Piper says. “I mean, once you wash it and everything.”
Nico just shrugs. What he had hoped would be a quick cut had turned into something more like a salon appointment. Piper and her siblings had rinsed, lathered, and dried his hair. Piper’s little sister Val kept a list of everything they were using. For ‘future appointments’, Drew said.
“Why can’t you just cut it off?” Nico asks.
“Because, sweetie, your hair is pretty. And after this, I expect you to wash it at least every other day. Shampoo and conditioner.” Nico groans. He should have asked Percy or Jason to just buzz his hair. But Piper’s fingers running through his hair felt kind of nice. Even if he hated the sound of the hairdryer so close to his ears.
“I think we should just trim it up. Surprisingly, you don’t have a lot of split ends,” Piper says. Drew seems to agree with her as Nico realizes that they aren’t doing what he had told them to do when he walked in. They seemed to be styling his hair now, using brushes and combs and some sticky spray.
“How’s that, sweetie?” Drew asks when they’re done. Nico takes a deep breath before looking at his reflection. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, some drastic change. Instead, he looked mostly like himself, just with longer hair.
“Fine,” he says, not wanting to encourage them to mess with his hair more than he’d already allowed. Both Piper and Drew grin.
“It’s okay to say you love it.” She pauses. “If you do, the haircut is free.”
Nico grits his teeth, tossing each girl a drachma. He walks away before they can demand more. In all honesty, his head does feel lighter. He’d gotten so used to just pulling his hair back that he hadn’t really considered doing anything else with it.
He feels a little self-conscious as he walks into the dining pavilion. With his doctor’s note, he sits at the Apollo table. Slowly, he realizes that everyone is looking at him. For a moment, he thinks it’s because he’s somehow sat at the wrong table. Or maybe it’s because he smells like perfume and shampoo. He wants to curse the Aphrodite cabin.
“Hey, Neeks,” Will says. He kisses Nico’s head, pulling back a moment later. “You got your hair done,” he adds.
Nico tucks some of his hair behind his ear. “Do you like it?”
Will grins, running his fingers through Nico’s hair. “I love it. I had no idea it was wavy.” Nico just shrugs, but he really likes the feeling of Will running his fingers through his hair. Will twirls a strand around his finger, kissing Nico’s cheek. “I love it, I love it,” he whispers.
Nico feels his face heat up, and he’s glad that his hair covers most of his blush.
From then on, Nico just kept growing his hair out. Will seemed to like it, and he kept learning new ways for Nico to wear his hair. While Nico wasn’t quite into all of the complicated braids and whatnot that Will was learning, he absolutely melted under Will’s gentle touch. So he let Will do his hair whenever he wanted. He let Will wash his hair, brush his hair.
“I think you just love my hair,” Nico says one morning when he wakes up to Will braiding a strand of it. Will gives him that glorious smile.
“I love your hair. But I love you more.” Nico allows one kiss before he’s shooing Will off to brush his teeth. Nico gets up, stretching, feeling his hair hit low on his back. It’s slightly wavy, curled just a bit at the ends. Almost immediately, Will starts running the brush through it gently, working out the few tangles.
“I learned this new braid yesterday,” Will says. Nico had learned a while ago that Will asked everyone who came into the infirmary for hair tips, and that he could be caught looking through hair magazines in the Aphrodite cabin. “It might help to keep your hair out of the way when you’re fighting.”
That had been Will’s main goal. They’d tried many things, but either it was too uncomfortable, too tight, or too bulky. But Will never stopped trying.
Which is how they ended up in the infirmary, Nico sitting between Will’s legs as he tried out the new braid. Nico was cutting bandages as Will did so, trying to be somewhat productive. Austin comes in, rolling his eyes.
“Seriously, Will? Another braid? I needed those bandages half an hour ago.”
“They’re almost done,” Nico says, feeling Will move his head slightly to adjust the angle. Will was serious about his braiding. He was also serious about Nico’s hair care, making sure that Nico properly washed his hair and that it wasn’t too heavy for his neck.
“Here, Will. Let me finish the braid,” Kayla says. “Your shift started fifteen minutes ago.” She moves behind Nico to take the strands from Will. Nico hears Will huff.
“No, I’m almost done,” he says.
“Will, you’re halfway done. At this rate, it’ll take you another twenty minutes.” She pauses. “You know, it doesn’t have to be perfect, right?”
Will huffs again. “Yes, it does. I mean, I can’t just do a sloppy job.”“It’s not sloppy. Just a little bump, really,” Austin says. He’s standing in front of Nico, counting the bandages. He looks up at Nico, shrugging.
“He’s protective,” Nico says. Will refused to let anyone else do anything with Nico’s hair. They were allowed to touch it if Nico let them, but any hair care and hair styling were to be done by Will or an Aphrodite professional. It was basically an unwritten rule at this point, and Will cursed whoever disobeyed with a day of couplets.
“Don’t I know,” Kayla grumbles, hands on her hips. “If you’re not out there in twenty minutes, Will, you’re on morning duty for the next week.”
Will groans behind Nico. “That’s not fair at all. You two are just jealous that I have a beautiful boyfriend who lets me do his hair.” Austin finishes counting the bandages.
“Don’t forget about checking up on that Ares girl. She’s itching to be dismissed today.” Nico assumes Will nods because both Kayla and Austin leave.
“I don’t mind if other people do my hair,” Nico says, but he’s smiling. He doesn’t mind when other people touch his hair, but it’s different with Will. With Will, it feels almost like kissing sometimes. Intimate but also kind of mundane.
Will finishes the braid in a hurry before spinning Nico around and kissing him hard on the mouth. “Maybe not,” Will says. “But you love when I do your hair.”
Nico laughs as Will kisses down his neck. “Of course, sunshine. I love all of your ridiculous braids and accessories. What would I do without you?”
“Have mediocre hair, honestly,” Will says. Nico laughs again, pulling Will in for a kiss. They’ve only been kissing for moments when Austin walks in.
“Okay, that’s it! You’re on duty, Will. So help me!” He throws the clipboard at Will who merely deflects it. It clatters to the floor as Austin leaves again. “If you’re not out here in five minutes, I’m braiding Nico’s hair later!”
That gets Will up. He plants one last kiss to Nico’s lips before exiting the room. “Don’t you dare!” Nico rolls his eyes as the infirmary becomes a chaos of bickering. He runs his fingers through the loose pieces of his hair, smiling. He wonders what Will would do if he were to get an undercut.