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The day Will asked Nico to marry him was the best day of Nico’s life thus far. He’d tossed an apple across the camp clearing during one of their bi-monthly visits and, when Nico had glanced up in shock, he’d grinned and knelt down, pulling a ring box out of his pocket with a beautiful diamond ring in it.
Will was a successful doctor, now, and he’d spared no expense on the thing. It sparkled, it was large—Nico thought it was far too fancy, but it was eye-catching too, and he adored showing off that he was engaged to the love of his life.
Nico was fascinated by the modern world, and so he studied digital design; he had a job at a webdev studio, and made a little less than half of what Will did annually. It was enough for them to have a little house on the outskirts of New York, with a big backyard and lots of trees. It was enough for bills and two date nights a month, for cars that worked and, apparently, for a big diamond ring.
Will had never complained, had never cared that Nico made less money. He told him over and over again that he was thrilled that Nico was following his dreams and doing what he loved. It was a full-time job, he made an annual salary—maybe he wasn’t a New York neurosurgeon, but he worked hard.
The problem was, as it so often is, the mother-in-law.
Will’s mom was a traveling musician, a country singer who had left him at camp when he was ten and never looked back. When she saw his name in the papers, she had driven up to New York to come and visit her son for the first time since he was a child.
Will had cried and cried, overwhelmed and excited and proud, because his mother was so proud of him for his accomplishments and really, that was all he had ever wanted. Nico had seen some red flags—who only came to visit their son when he made the papers after disappearing for almost twenty years? --but in the end, it had made Will so unbelievably happy to reconnect with her that he swallowed his concerns. Will was his priority—he would never hurt his feelings over a bad hunch.
The first time Nico and Naomi Solace met had not gone well.
Will had brought her to a coffee shop near Nico’s work, scheduling it ahead of time so Nico could dash over and meet her briefly on his break before anything formal. He wore his hair in a short ponytail and switched out his company shirt for a clean t-shirt, the fancy kind with the three little buttons on the neckline. It was dark blue. Will liked blue on him.
He’d found them at their table and waved; Naomi had turned and gasped, throwing a hand over her mouth. Nico smiled politely at her, tilting his head because Will said it made him look more friendly, and she spun quickly around to face her son again. He’d paused, confused, and exchanged a glance with Will.
“Honey, we gotta find somewhere else,” she said, loudly enough to carry. “That hobo-lookin' thing just smirked at me, I think he’s hittin’ on me.”
Nico’s jaw dropped and hurt bloomed in his chest, but he quashed it as Will frowned and waved him over. Slowly, he slid into the seat beside his boyfriend. “Ma, that’s rude,” Will chided gently. His accent came out more with his mom, Nico noticed; how cute! He loved his boyfriend’s Southern roots. “This is my boyfriend, Nico di Angelo. Nico, this is my mom, Naomi Solace!”
Nico extended a hand. She cleared her throat, eyeing it like a cockroach, and he retracted it slowly, the smile fading from his face. “It’s very nice to meet you, ma’am,” he said quietly, hoping manners would earn him some brownie points. “Will talks a lot about you; he’s been so happy since you came to visit him!” He offered up another smile and Naomi gave a half-hearted, fake, clearly uncomfortable laugh and a grimace that was probably supposed to resemble a smile.
“It’s... nice to meet you too, Mr. Di Angelo,” she said.
“Please, call me Nico,” insisted the Italian, dipping his head. Okay, maybe he let his accent slip a bit—sue him, Italian accents were smooth and musical. Will adored his accent, and he knew it made him sound a little more suave than usual.
“Honey, are you sure this is the right guy?” hissed the woman behind her hand, glancing over at Nico with a pointedly raised eyebrow. “I’m sure you can find a better one. He’s so scruffy and filthy, I mean, he looks homeless! How much does he make? He looks like he has about a million STDs and with the gays you can never be too sure, right?”
Nico was speechless. A pang of sharp hurt flashed through his chest like a knife and he turned to look at Will, who looked genuinely frozen in disbelief. Slowly, he stood from the table. “I... I have to get back,” he said quietly, trying not to let his voice betray his emotions. “My break is almost over. It was... it was nice to meet you, Ms. Solace. Have fun, Will, I’ll see you later.”
“No!” Will shot up very suddenly and snatched his hand, then turned and looked down at his mother, who raised both eyebrows in a clear ‘get the hint’ motion. “Mom, that was really over the line,” he said firmly. “For one thing, Nico is stunning, and I know it isn’t just me. He gets stopped on the street by strangers who ask him if he’s a model all the time.”
“Will, sweetheart, are you familiar with sarcasm?” asked Naomi. “It’d be a funny joke.”
“For another,” Will said, ignoring her, “It’s so rude to say those things like he isn’t even here! He wants to get along with you because you’re both so important to me. I love him, ma. We’ve been dating for twelve years now, all through med school, and I swear, he’s the one I’m gonna marry. I know there’s no possibility of STDs, because I was the one who took his virginity, and he’s been completely faithful to me all this time. He’s sweet, and he’s funny, and he’s always there for me no matter what I’m goin’ through, so don’t look me in the eye and talk down about him like he ain’t sitting right beside me! That’s way too far. Don’t talk to my boyfriend like that. He’s making an effort—the least you can do is offer the same courtesy.”
“You want to marry me?” Nico asked softly, eyes wide. Will had never mentioned that before. Will glanced over and squeezed his hand.
“Not just yet, but... yeah, angel. One day.” He turned back to his mother, who made a face like she was sucking on a lemon, but extended a hand to Nico, who released Will’s to take it.
“Nice to meet you,” she said, voice sickly sweet with a poison smile to go along. “Sorry about that. I’m just not used to seeing people like you out and about.”
Nico didn’t ask what she meant. He inclined his head politely, shook her hand, and stepped back. “I’m very glad to have met you, ma’am,” he said again. “I’m sorry I have to leave so early today. Enjoy your afternoon.”
He left the coffee shop with a lighter heart—maybe Will’s mom was a bit of a bitch, but Will wanted to marry him one day! That was enough to light him up inside. He had a boyfriend who would stand up to his own mother to defend him, and who wanted to marry him and who would call him stunning and sweet and grab his hand in public.
Not even she could bring him down.
The next two meetings had gone just as poorly. Dinner in a fancy restaurant, and Nico dressed up, wore a suit and some eyeliner, did his hair up with a flower pin from his stepmother—the kind goddess had made it from precious stones from the Underworld. Will kissed him softly before they left the house.
“You look beautiful,” he whispered, brushing a curl back behind the shell of one blushed pink ear. “Like a king.”
“I’m gay, Solace,” Nico whispered back. “You’re supposed to call me a queen.” It was a joke, but Will just kissed him again, harder.
“Then I must be your king,” he murmured, cheesy and stupid and definitely working on Nico. “Because I can’t possibly bear to see you standing next to anyone else looking like this.”
Nico snorted and pushed him back. “Come on, suck-up,” he said, amused. “We have a reservation to get to.”
Will sighed and followed him to the car.
Both boys stood when Naomi walked in—she was beautiful, like Will, with those crystal blue eyes and long brown hair. Will certainly had not missed one checkmark on the genetic lottery. Will hugged her and pulled out her chair, and Nico said a shy but polite hello and waited until she was settled to sit.
Naomi had brought her new husband, too, a drummer in her band named Joel. Nico knew a little about percussive instruments—the man was nice enough, and when Nico admitted that he played piano and used to dream of giving performances too, there was easy conversation. For half a second, he had hope.
“Really?” Will looked enthralled. “I didn’t know you studied music! Will you play for me one day?”
Nico chuckled. “I played when I was younger, Solace,” he teased. “I stopped around... oh, fourteen? A couple of years before we started dating.” He smiled ruefully. “I doubt I still could.”
“Ahh, nonsense,” said Joel. “A musician never forgets!”
Naomi cleared her throat, pulling the attention back to her. “Alright, I’ve been keeping quiet in hopes of a peaceful dinner, but that’s too much for me,” she said. Nico’s heart sank as she glared at him.
“Mom,” Will tried, but she held up a hand.
“Not now, Will, I want to set some things straight with your little date here,” she said sharply. “Now, you show up here and talk with that impossible accent, sounding like a gosh darn dago! And you look like one, too—where you from, boy?”
Nico swallowed. “I’m Italian,” he said, suppressing the automatic lilt to his words. “I can speak without the accent, if it’s hard to understand. I’m sorry if it caused any inconvenience.”
Naomi waved a hand. “So, you clearly went to that camp of rascals where poor Will was raised, and are foreign. Not just foreign, but from a previously fascist country. And you show up tonight on my son’s arm like a normal person, wearing a suit that was clearly bought with my baby’s money, wearing makeup and hairpins like a damn girl. I know you’re queer, but the whole world doesn’t need to. You look like a crossdresser. And now I find out y’all been dating for twelve years and you ain’t ever even told him you can play music? What if he wanted to hear your piano skills? Not that there’s much to hear, if your musical expertise is anything like as trashy as the rest of you. If you’re even hiding the little shit, how am I supposed to know you ain’t off screwing every big-dick back-alley fag you can find and not tellin’ him that, either?”
She glared as Nico’s heart froze and jaw dropped. Across the table, Will leapt to his feet. “Mom!” he said, sounding outraged. “What the hell is wrong with you!?” He shook his head and slapped a couple of hundreds on the table. “I promised to treat you, so that’ll pay for your meal,” he said coldly. “We’re going home. Nico, c’mon, sweetheart.”
Nico just sat frozen in his chair, feeling tears welling in his eyes. Slowly, he held a hand up to his boyfriend and waved him back to his seat.
“What have I done to make you hate me so much?” he asked the older woman quietly, knowing his voice was trembling. She rolled her lovely eyes—so much colder than the sweet summer sky he was used to.
“It’s what you are, honey, not what you’ve done. Will’s a doctor. He’s makin’ six figures and a damn name, and you look like some back-alley tramp he pulled in for the night who got attached. You look desperate, boy. Go find somebody in your league, stop weighing him down.”
“I’m gonna... go to the bathroom,” said Joel awkwardly, getting up to dash out.
“I’ve seriously heard enough,” Will said sharply. “I told you I plan to marry Nico, and you literally can’t be civil for five fucking minutes. I won’t sit here while you spit poison at him, even if you are my mom! I chose Nico because he loves me, supports me, stands by me and treats me well, even at the lowest points of our lives. I chose him because I know him and he knows me, and because I think he’s the one I’m meant to be with. You are not, were not, and will never be part of that decision!”
“Will, sit down,” Nico said calmly, straightening his spine and raising his head. “Ms. Solace, I don’t know what you think you may have heard about me, but I assure you, it is wrong. I was raised in fascist Italy, yes. We fled. My mother, Maria di Angelo, was killed, and my father, Hades, god of the Underworld, kept me and my sister safe for seventy years in a hotel where we did not age—it passed in a few months, there. I lost my sister to a quest and spent years traveling, learning languages, music, arts, technology, cultures and teaching myself how to fight by killing monsters. From the day Bianca died until the day I met Will, I forgot how to smile. Will didn’t start as a neurosurgeon, he started as a camp medic. He fixed me up after the war—a war I fought for three days to help win after dragging a massive artifact halfway across the world on my own power. He took care of me, and we started talking. I never wanted money—my father is the god of riches, I need nothing. I didn’t want fame—I live in the shadows and no one knows my name anyways, and I’m content like that. I didn’t want to trick him and I didn’t hide anything from him. My playing piano as a child never came up in conversation—it was years ago. Will was my first and, as far as I’m concerned, he will be my last. I’ve had no other man and I never intend to. I’ve loved him from the very beginning—unlike you, who left a ten-year-old child alone at a camp and didn’t look back until he gained wealth and power. Really, who is after Will’s current social status?”
Naomi Solace stood up and stormed out without a word, glaring furiously. Will slumped on the table, burying his face in his arms.
“That went well,” he muttered.
“I’m sorry,” Nico said quietly. “I couldn’t listen to it anymore. Did I go too far...? I didn’t think she’d leave.”
Will reached across the table to take his boyfriend’s hand, rubbing his thumb over the knuckles. “No, sunshine, it’s not your fault,” he said sadly. “She was the one being horrible. You just told her your life story. I mean, that last thing you said was kinda mean, but after everything she said to you, there’s no way I could be upset. If it were me, I’d have said a lot worse.” He reburied his face, but Nico could already see the tears in his eyes. “I just... really wish she could see how special you are to me,” he mumbled. “I want us to be a family.”
Nico kissed the hand he still held and reached over to brush Will’s hair back lightly. “I’m sorry tonight didn’t go well, cucciolo,” he murmured. “Why don’t we go get some ice cream and then go home, alright? We can watch the stupid Hercules movie and cuddle on the couch and forget tonight ever happened. How does that sound?”
Will nodded, not looking up, and took a minute to pull himself together before standing from the table. He left one of the bills—for taking up a reservation for nothing—and claimed the passenger seat, leaving Nico at the wheel.
They didn’t meet up again until the family barbecue. That instance had been Will’s idea—he'd invited them both separately to the park for a picnic. It had ended in Nico making a muttered, olive branch comment about how her dress suited her eyes, Naomi throwing a glass on red wine on him and accusing him of perverted leering, Will trying to help Nico get the alcohol out of his eyes and Naomi screaming obscenities at the poor boy until Joel finally dragged her off and Nico broke down sobbing on the grass in Will’s arms.
They’d stayed there for nearly an hour, Nico crying into his boyfriend’s shoulder, not understanding why she hated him so much. Will rocked back and forth, humming softly, soothing him, using a hymn to clear the burning from his eyes and kissing his hair. He whispered endearments and apologies and reassurances over and over until the sun went down.
Then they drove home, silent, and spent the night curled up in bed back-to-back, hands laced between them, pretending to sleep.
After that, Will saw his mom once a month and always in a place where she couldn’t see Nico. When he slammed the front door angrily and kissed Nico, hard and firm, Nico knew she’d said something about him, but for the next year, it only happened a few times. Usually, Will came home happy and feeling lighter than before.
Now, though, they were engaged. They lay in bed, Will reading and Nico lying on his lap, head on his stomach. Will ran his fingers through it, mussing the fluff and scritching lovingly at his scalp.
“She’s coming to the wedding, right?” Nico murmured into Will’s stomach, glancing up.
Will sighed. “I really want her to,” he confessed. “She is my mom, and I missed her a lot and I’m glad to have a chance to start over. But... she doesn’t treat you well at all, and I hate seeing you so unhappy and hurt, so if you don’t want her there, don’t worry about it, okay? I understand and it’s good enough having dad and all our friends from camp there with us.” He stroked Nico’s cheek and the smaller man leaned into it, humming contentedly.
“No, mi amore,” he murmured. “She’s your mother—if you want her there, she’ll be there. Don’t worry about me. No matter how bad she is, she wouldn’t ruin her son’s wedding day, I’m sure.”
“There’s always the objection stage,” Will mumbled. “What if she calls you a whore again? I couldn’t live with myself if I let her show up and she hurt you again. S’your wedding too.”
Nico chuckled and slid up the bed, laying his head on his fiancé's shoulder. “Who knows?” he said sweetly, smiling up at the blond. “Maybe, now that I’m committed to marriage with you, she’ll have a change of heart.”
“I hope so,” Will muttered, leaning his cheek on Nico’s hair as he turned back to his book. Nico closed his eyes, content to bask in his soon-to-be-husband's warmth.
Nico felt he really should have been more suspicious about the whole thing from the start. Wedding planning was hectic as hell, and doing it while working full time was no walk in the park. Besides that, Will had been called for three doubles and an overnight in just one week, and Nico felt like he’d barely seen his fiancé in forever.
He’d worked out the flowers, venue, and catering when the front door slammed open and strong arms scooped him up, twirling him around happily and setting him back down just to kiss him, long and light and playful with his tongue.
Nico gasped as that wicked mouth moved down to his neck, kissing and sucking at the pale olive skin to bruise it up. “Oh!” he gasped. “It went that well, huh?” He snickered, threading his hands through Will’s hair; they hadn’t had sex in a while. He hadn’t expected his lover to be in the mood right after visiting his mom, but fuck if he was going to complain. “Mm. Fuck, Will, bedroom. Take me upstairs and fuck me, okay?”
“Nah,” Will murmured against his lips. “Gonna tie you up and tease. If you’re good, I’ll ride you, too.”
“You, bottoming?” Nico giggled. “Sure, okay. I won’t last long.”
“When you cum in me, I’ll use it to finger you open, then lick it out of you and fuck my own in instead,” Will growled, and Nico moaned into his throat as he was lifted off the ground.
“W-Will,” he gasped. “That’s... that’s filthy, fuck, really?”
“Mmhm.” Will bit down hard on his throat, pulling a cry from his lips. “Been too long since I heard your pretty moans. Gonna make you scream for me tonight.”
“Something good must’ve happened,” Nico said. “Okay, the invitations can wait for tomorrow. Fuck me, baby.”
“Told you,” Will muttered, throwing him on the bed and pulling two ties out of the dresser to secure his hands to the headboard. “Wanna ride you first. Make you cum inside me so I can feel you tomorrow.”
“Will,” Nico moaned, head falling back as his fiancé yanked off their clothes and tossed them aside. He wasted no time pressing two and then three fingers inside himself, prepping way too fast, and then grabbed Nico’s shorter but slightly thicker cock and sank down with a sigh.
Nico whined, struggling against the ties, wanting to touch, to taste. Will smirked, that devilish, heated expression that always drove his baby wild. “Does that feel good?” he purred as he levered himself up and down. “Look at you, baby. Don’t even have to top to make you cry. C’mon. C’mon, fuck me, fill me up. Make your fiancé feel good.”
Nico’s eyes rolled back and he thrust his hips up, jolting a moan out of Will, who braced his hands on Nico’s chest and set himself to a burning pace, hard and fast as Nico writhed and bucked beneath him, moaning, sobbing, begging.
“Will!” he gasped, voice hitting a certain point of wrecked and trembling that had Will groaning, smirking, doubling down on his efforts.
“Gonna cum, sweetie?” he growled. “Gonna make me feel good? Gonna get me all sloppy inside, so I can feel your cum in me when I go to work tomorrow?”
Nico cried out. “Cumming! Will, I’m--I’m-!” He arched off the bed, biting hard enough to draw blood into his lower lip, and came hard, letting out a choked, desperate cry. Will drew himself off Nico’s cock and nudged pale legs apart with his knees, reaching between his own legs to plunge his fingers into his own entrance.
“You ready, pretty boy?” he murmured, leaning down to kiss a trail up Nico’s chest and throat to his lips. Their tongues tangled, hot and filthy, and Nico whined as long, calloused fingers pressed inside him, working him open and teasing his prostate in the way only Will could ever do. He arched his back, trying to get those fingers in deeper, but Will anticipated the movement and adjusted with it, smirking. “Ah ah ah,” he murmured, voice full of sex and sin as he licked a path all the way up to Nico’s heaving chest and flicked his nipple with his tongue, nibbling lightly at it just to feel his lover shudder.
“Will, Will please,” Nico gasped. Will’s fingers—when had he gotten three in? --withdrew and he grabbed Nico’s thighs, shoving them back and folding him almost in half for a better view.
“Well, you’re all wet and open now,” he teased, “but that hole of yours is pretty filthy. Let me clean you out.” He ducked his head and plunged his tongue into the raven’s ass, sliding it in and out in shallow thrusts. Will had an abnormally long tongue—he had become very good at fucking Nico on it, over the years.
Instinctively, the son of Hades tried to reach down and grab a handful of blond waves, but he was stopped short by the ties around his wrists. With a small sob, he fell back, turning his face into the mattress as his thighs shook around his lover’s head.
Will pulled back and licked his lips, letting Nico’s lower half fall to his lap as he crawled over him to whisper in his ear. “Such a good boy,” he cooed. “Even after being inside us both... your cum tastes so fucking good.”
Nico let out a choked whine and turned his head to strain upwards, begging for a kiss. Will obliged him, pressing him back into the mattress as their tongues twined between them. Nico was almost hard again—at twenty-six years old, his refractory period was starting to get a little longer, but Will could always make him cum twice or even three times in one session, if he tried.
And fuck if his soon-to-be-husband wasn’t good material. He was shiny with sweat, cock long and red and dripping with neglect. His abs, well-defined and delectable, were heaving with his chest as he panted, and his expression was wrecked, dark with hunger, desire, lust. Nico spread his legs a little wider to fit the blond between them.
“Fuck me,” he breathed, panting himself. He flushed easier than Will, mostly because his skin was so much fairer, but Will was the more obvious one when turned on. For one thing, a bigger cock meant a more noticeable bulge, and just because Nico had him beat for girth didn’t mean he wasn’t packing in that department as well. For another, he lost control of his breathing—like now. Flushed and panting, ragged, torn breaths and hungry dark eyes, devouring Nico with their gaze. It was thrilling, addictive. Nico wanted more. “C’mon, Will,” he whispered. “Please?”
Will grabbed for the lube that had been precariously tossed to the edge of the bed and slicked up his cock. Sure, Nico would probably be okay without it, but saliva and cum could only do so much and he would rather die than hurt his darling like that.
He slammed in to the hilt in one single thrust, and Nico all but screamed, back locked in an exaggerated arch as his legs flew out straight and his toes curled.
“Fuck,” Will gasped, and he sounded pretty wrecked himself as he set a brutal pace. His hips slammed against his fiancé's hard enough to sting and Nico moaned on each thrust, punched out little chants of ah, ah, ah because any more was physically impossible. There simply wasn’t enough air in his lungs—each breath he took, Will fucked it right out of him.
The son of Apollo groaned loudly into Nico’s shoulder, holding his hip in a bruising grasp. “You’re so fucking tight,” he rasped. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, m’close.”
“Will!” Nico cried out, all but screaming as one perfect thrust made him see stars. How long had Will known his body this well...? The first ten or more times were little more than awkward fumbles, trying and failing on both ends as they struggled with the idea of using their assholes for pleasure. Now, Will could play him like a piano with just a few touches, and Nico could do nothing but beg.
Will groaned into his ear. “Your mind’s somewhere, baby,” he panted, sweat dripping down his chest and onto Nico’s. “Am I not fucking you hard enough?”
He reared back and seized both Nico’s hips, slamming in as deep as he could get with every thrust. Nico lost even the breath to moan, panting and gasping and occasionally squealing his debauched delight into the sex-scented air of their bedroom.
“Fuck!” Will shouted, and grabbed for Nico’s cock. “You gonna cum again? C’mon, angel, cum for me. Cum for your husband. Be good and let it out now. I’m almost there, baby, cum with me, c’mon--yes, yes, fuck, shit, you feel so damn good. Ngh—Nico!”
Nico spilled over Will’s hand, crying out his name the second he felt his lover’s seed flood his walls, pumping wave after wave of hot cum into his body until all he could do was lie there and take it, twitching through the aftershocks of his own astronomical orgasm.
Will pulled out and collapsed next to him. For a second, neither of them moved, breathing too hard to get any words out. Then the taller man pushed himself up and untied the bonds that held Nico’s arms up. He chuckled as his lover starfished on the bed, but stood shakily to grab a cloth from the bathroom and clean up anyway.
“Roll over, Nico,” he said, voice rough and hoarse.
“Woof,” Nico mumbled into the bedding, but obeyed, rolling onto his stomach and raising his hips so Will could reach in and draw out some of the cum still leaking out of him in globs. The son of Apollo huffed a breathless laugh.
“Damn,” he muttered, pulling Nico’s cheeks apart. “That’s a nice view.”
“I think I just found Nirvana,” Nico said, muffled in the mattress.
“Achieved Nirvana, sweetheart.”
“Semantics.”
Will pulled the covers over them both and cuddled up to his lover, grinning when Nico immediately nuzzled into his chest and closed his eyes.
“What’s got you in such a good mood?” asked the raven, not looking up from his hiding place. “I didn’t even know it was possible to get you that deep in missionary.” Will ran long fingers through Nico’s hair, noting with amusement that while he had washed them thoroughly, the pads were pruned from how long he’d fingered himself and Nico.
“Oh, right.” He kissed the younger demigod’s head and hugged him close, letting out a long, contented sigh. “I got some really good news. Don’t worry about invitations, by the way.”
“Are those two things related?” asked Nico.
Will kissed the top of his head again. “Yes,” he said, “but it’s a surprise. You’ll know when it comes out.”
Relaxed and thoroughly sated, Nico hummed and decided not to question it. Instead, he closed his eyes, breathed in Will’s familiar scent, and made a mental note to wash the sheets the minute he woke up from his nap. And then, without a care in the world, he fell asleep.
A month later, he wished he had questioned it.
It was Hazel who gave it to him, handing over the sealed envelope at the door with her lips pressed together in a thin line. “Nico, have you seen the new invitations yet?” she asked.
Nico shook his head, bewildered. “No, Will said they were a surprise.”
Hazel sighed. “If he did this... you might want to think about calling off the wedding before it’s too late,” she cautioned quietly. “The whole camp is in an uproar because everyone got these yesterday. Will’s whole family got them too, apparently.”
Nico’s heart sped up, nerves creeping up his throat. “Is it... bad...?”
Hazel gestured to the envelope. “See for yourself,” she said softly. “I have to go, but... think about what I said, okay? I love you so much, big bro.” She hugged him tightly and ran back to her car, and Nico was left staring at the envelope.
Finally, he ripped it open and pulled out the paper inside, gulping as he did. The back was blank. He couldn’t quite bear to unfold it yet.
He wandered into the kitchen and made a cup of tea—Will was due home any minute now, so he made another and set the water to boil again. It had just boiled, but it was an extra twenty seconds of time to waste.
At last, he sat down at the kitchen table and opened the letter.
You are regretfully invited to the wedding between my perfect son,
Will Solace (the doctor)
and
Some Cheap Two-Bit Tramp (whose name escapes me right now)
The biggest disaster in my family’s history will take place Saturday, June 7 th @11am in the cursed Central Park Venue Service Center
And most likely end in divorce, hopefully in time to be eligible for an annulment. Dress code is black tie (it is a sad occasion. Please respect the mood).
The overwhelmingly heartbreaking ceremony will be followed by dinner , where shellfish will be served, because whatshisface has an allergy.
Nico held the letter in front of him, watching his tears stain the paper as he read through the droplets in his eyes. Eventually, he had to stop and sniff, get up and find a tissue, and wipe the tears away before he could continue.
For several minutes, he just sat there. How did one react to having something like this sent to all their friends and family? What did he do now? There was no way Will had done this, but... he’d clearly known something about it.
“He loves me,” Nico whispered to himself, and the spoken affirmation calmed him down a little. “He would never do this to me.”
The front door opened and shut, and Will’s gentle, familiar voice rang through the little house. “Nico? I’m home!”
Nico stood from the kitchen table, not bothering to hide the tears streaming down his face, and approached his fiancé. Will turned to greet him, beaming, only to immediately stop in shock when he saw the younger demigod’s expression.
“Nico?” he asked, darting over to cup pale cheeks in his warm palms and gently wipe the tears away. Nico let him, for a moment, and then pulled away. “Huh...? Baby, what happened? What’s wrong? Tell me.” He sounded so worried that Nico’s fear eased a little more—yeah. Will adored him, he always had. Why would he ever tell her to do something like this?
He held up the letter and pressed it against his lover’s chest, holding it there without breaking eye contact. “You’d better not know anything about this,” he said, muted and hurt. Then he released the paper and turned to make his way up the stairs to their bedroom, where he curled into a ball on Will’s side of the bed and pulled the covers over his head, hoping it was just a nightmare.
Not three minutes had passed before he heard something smash, and then Will’s voice, loud and angry—he was shouting at someone, though Nico couldn’t make out the words through the wall. It went on for a long time. Nico didn’t mean to listen, but he tuned in enough to catch two words.
“If you... wedding... off...!”
That was the final straw, and he broke down sobbing, burying his face in the pillow to inhale Will’s scent and pretend he was still at work and none of this was happening.
“Wake up, wake up, wake up!” he told himself miserably, hitching cries drowning out the sound of footsteps in the hallway.
The sudden brightness of his surroundings startled him and he looked up, directly into worried blue eyes. Will was holding the blanket in one hand. The other was clenched tight at his side, dripping blood onto the floor. Nico didn’t ask.
“Is that it?” he asked quietly, breath hitching miserably as he wiped ineffectually at the tears on his cheeks. “Is the wedding really off?” Somehow, saying it aloud was so much worse than thinking it, and Nico broke down into incoherent sobs again.
Immediately, there were gentle arms around him and warm thumbs brushing the tears from his cheeks. Will pulled him into his lap and rocked side to side, like that day in the park, kissing his hair and whispering things Nico couldn’t make out. The raven sobbed.
“Louder,” he begged, burying his face in his apparently not-fiancé's shoulder. “Can’t... can’t hear you.”
“The wedding isn’t off, my angel,” Will soothed. “I’ve loved you for twelve years, and I knew I wanted to marry you before the first one was even up. Do... do you want to call it off?”
“ No!” Nico wailed, wrapping his arms around Will’s shoulders, clutching at his shirt. “I--I heard you downstairs! Heard... wedding, off, and something broke and your—your hand, is it okay?”
Will gave a startled sound and then chuckled sheepishly. “I punched the picture frame of me and mom,” he said. “I’m alright. Can you listen to me if I tell you what happened, baby? If now’s not a good time, we can wait. You misheard, I promise. I love you more than anything in the world and I would give anything to marry you.”
Nico tried to calm down, taking deep, hiccupping breaths. Will, ever the loving boyfriend and brilliant doctor, figured it out immediately and synchronized his breathing with his beloved’s, helping him regulate until he stopped hyperventilating.
Sniffling, Nico hid in the older man’s neck. He felt pathetic and weak, but really, he was past the point of caring. Will didn’t want to leave him, and he’d gotten angry enough to destroy the picture of his mother—that was enough.
“Tell me?” he asked softly, after a long stretch of silence, filled only by Will’s soothing whispers and Nico’s unsteady sniffles.
Will relaxed, running a hand repeatedly through soft raven curls, the way he always loved to do. “About a month back, you remember when I came home ridiculously happy and we had amazing sex and I told you not to worry about the invitations?” he asked.
Nico nodded.
“Mom and I met up and I told her we were engaged. She said she’d heard already and congratulated me, and said that if you were going to be a permanent member of our family, she would have to make it up to you. She said she wanted to apologize, but didn’t know how yet, so she came up with the idea to do something nice as a gesture of goodwill in the meantime.”
“Take over invitations for me,” Nico rasped. Will nodded, kissing his hair.
“I was so happy she’d accepted you,” he mumbled. “I should have known... I swear, I had no clue she was going to pull this on you, I really didn’t. I’m so, so sorry, Nico. As soon as I read it, I called her and told her never to contact me, you, or any of our friends again, and that I’d call the police if she tried. I broke the picture and said ‘if you show up to our wedding, I’ll have Jason throw you off the nearest cliff’. You must have heard part of that sentence.”
Nico hugged his fiancé tightly. He’d never really been the clingy type, but this was horrible and he wanted to cry more but wasn’t going to, and Will loved him and would comfort him if he wanted it, so why shouldn’t he ask?
“I’m so fucking sorry,” Will whispered. “I love you so, so much, Nico. I can’t believe she’d do something like this.”
“She’s crazy,” mumbled the raven. Will huffed a laugh.
“This is more than crazy, it’s psychotic,” he mumbled. “It’s verbal abuse and hate mail, and a cruel and unusual way to go about saying ‘I hate you.’ Hopefully our phone call taught her a little something about all this.”
He kissed his lover’s temple, laying back against the sheets with Nico lying on his chest. “I’ll send out an apology and remake all the invitations tomorrow,” he promised. “I already called off work. Turns out I have like three months of vacation saved up!”
“We could go on a trip,” Nico mumbled, recognizing the tactic. If they were daydreaming about sightseeing in Paris or having sex on a Hawaiian beach or whatever, he had something happy to focus on.
“Yeah,” Will whispered. Then, “I love you so much, Nico.”
“I love you too,” Nico replied immediately, raising his head to kiss him. Bless Will for not shying away from the snot on his face. It couldn’t have been attractive, but he didn’t seem to mind.
Will rested his cheek on Nico’s hair, still rocking them both because he knew it made his baby feel calm and protected. “We’ll get through this,” he murmured soothingly. “She shows up again and I’ll call the cops. I promise, she won’t hurt you again.”
Nico leaned his head on a broad shoulder, nuzzling at his lover’s neck. “She’s your mother,” he pointed out. “I can’t ask you to choose between us, Will. I can’t ask you to cut her out.” Will fit a hand under his chin and tilted it up, dragging onyx-dark eyes to meet his own cerulean.
“And that is exactly why I chose you,” he whispered. “She wanted me to choose, because for whatever reason, she can’t stand you. You never once asked me to do that, even though she was miserable to you. And Nico, you are the one who was always there for me, right from the day we met. You’re so genuinely kind, and you try so hard to make me happy and you love me so much. She ran away from me to chase her own dreams—you chased yours while standing by me and supporting me through my own school, and through all the overnight hospital shifts and all the breakdowns when I lost patients and all the dates that ended early because I got called in and all the financial hardship—that was you. You’re the one who asked for money from your father and helped pay for everything while I was paying for med school. You’re the one who pushed me to succeed even when I was falling apart. You’re the love of my life, Nico.”
Nico kissed him, long and deep and sweet, trying to convey all the words he didn’t have in that moment. “And you, mine,” he breathed when they parted. Dark eyes fluttered open slowly and found brilliant blue already watching him, pupils dilated. He stroked Will’s cheek with a thumb and shifted to straddle him properly, raising an eyebrow.
“What?” Will asked, wrapping his arms around Nico’s hips. The son of Hades shrugged.
“You’re not hard, but your eyes are dilated,” he informed the blond, who smiled and tugged him down to whisper in his ear.
“My darling,” he breathed, “Human pupils dilate when you look at someone you’re in love with. I don’t have to be horny to adore you.”
Nico kissed him again. They fell back to the mattress and wasted an entire afternoon making out and cuddling, even though really, they both had shit to do. By the time they finally fell asleep, Nico was giggling and Will was relaxed and grinning.
The wedding was incredible from start to finish—when the officiator finally allowed them to kiss, Nico yanked his husband in and slammed their lips together so hard the blond stumbled, prompting cheers and clapping from their audience. Will’s arms wound around his waist and lifted him up, spinning him around in a circle before finally breaking the kiss and setting him down.
“You’re mine,” he whispered. “Forever and ever.”
Nico smiled and reached up to straighten the bow-tie that had been knocked askew. Will had worn a black suit—Nico had surprised him with a white one and makeup, the evidence of which now glazed his husband’s lips with a light gloss.
“How does it feel to be married?” Annabeth asked, smiling as she watched Percy swing Nico around the dance floor in increasingly crazy circles. Will chuckled fondly at the sight, watching Nico laugh openly.
“Pretty gods damned good,” he admitted. “I didn’t think much would change, but... it’s thrilling. How about you? How’s your marriage going?”
“Amazing,” Annabeth chirped. “I got a new building commission, so I’ve been working on that. Percy has been astounding marine biologists, but still refuses to write any papers because he can’t source the fish and it offends him.”
Will snorted. “Yeah, that sounds like him,” he snickered. “Nico has been going nuts over a new website project. I really don’t get anything he does, but he said something about buggy coding and corrupted files and firewalls giving him a hard time. Something like a faulty seed? I don’t know. I have the next three weeks off and we’re honeymooning in Cancun. I’m super excited for it—I just know he’s going to whine about the heat but spend the whole time looking for turtles in the sand.”
“That would be very Nico,” Annabeth agreed, amused. “We married dorks, didn’t we?”
Will laughed. “I love mine,” he said fondly as Nico stumbled back over. “Hey, dork.”
“Will,” Nico said, a rare, beaming smile on his pretty face. “Come dance with me! It’s our wedding day, you have to dance!”
“I am a terrible dancer,” Will argued, like he wasn’t already setting down his champagne glass. “We did the first dance together.”
“I want to dance more,” Nico insisted petulantly—Annabeth had never seen him so open and sweet before. She smiled; Will was good for him. “I want to have fun but I want to be in your arms at the same time, so that means dancing. Come on, scaredy cat, or I’ll go slow-dance with someone else.”
Will clucked his tongue in fake annoyance, not even trying to hide the silly grin on his face as he wrapped an arm around his husband to guide him to the dance floor. “Needy,” he teased. “Alright, alright. But no whining when I step on your toes!”
“Deal,” Nico said happily. “Come on.”
Will followed, as he always did.
For a whole year and a half after the wedding, things went well. Will’s career took off, Nico’s project was a huge success, and Naomi Solace stayed well away from the happy couple.
Of course, peace like that couldn’t be expected to last. Adult or not, they were demigods.
The disturbance came in the form of a knock on the door; three sharp raps against the wood. Will and Nico exchanged a glance and Nico pushed himself up from where he sat beside the fireplace, wordlessly volunteering so Will could refocus on his book.
He opened the door and his heart dropped—there stood Will’s mother, hands shoved into the pockets of her oversized hoodie, hair tied up in a tight ponytail that only highlighted the wrinkles in her face. Were there more than the last time?
She looked surprised to see him, but forced a sheepish smile and opened her mouth.
“No.” Nico shut the door in her face before she could speak, locked it, and returned to the living room, arms crossed as he cocked a hip and leaned on the doorframe. Will turned the page.
“Who was it, baby?” he asked, clearly sensing something was up. Nico always melted like butter when his husband used pet names, so he saved them for special occasions. Like anniversaries. Or when Nico was mad.
“Your mother is standing at the door,” Nico answered calmly. “I locked it while I came to tell you, but she’s a mess and I think we should at least let her come out of the cold for a bit.”
“My mother!?” Will jumped up, eyes wide, book forgotten on the end table where he tossed it. “Nico, why didn’t you say that sooner!? Did she say anything?” Then he paused and blinked. “Wait... you want to... let her in?”
“She’s shivering,” Nico said gently. “There’s four feet of snow on the ground, she’s got no coat and she looks exhausted. It’s up to you, but I will say that letting her in is okay with me, so don’t hesitate on my behalf.” He reached up to briefly cup the blond’s cheek as Will headed through the door. “You’re kind, Will,” he said. “I know you can’t leave someone in pain.”
“That’s what you get for marrying a doctor,” muttered the taller man, pausing just long enough to plant a chaste kiss on his lover’s lips. “Alright. Can you go put the kettle on? She likes honey and black tea. No milk. And if she gets bitchy, I’m kicking her out.”
“Fine by me,” Nico said. “Go do your job, doctor Solace-Di Angelo, she’s freezing.”
His heart beat erratically in his chest, so he didn’t let Will touch him as he breezed by into the kitchen. He knew his husband wanted to monitor his comfort level. It was sweet, but if she was here after Will had cut her out, and standing outside in four feet of snow in New York without a damn coat and sporting dark bags and heavy wrinkles, it must have been important. Will would always listen to Nico, and he didn’t want his lover to miss something important in case it ended badly and he regretted it later on.
Besides that, it was a good time to exercise his tests in practice. Nico’s fatal flaw was holding grudges—overcoming it was hard, but with a situation like this, he felt he could dumb it down more easily.
Will’s mom hated him. She had hurt him.
Will had stood up for him and taken his side. He loved Will.
With Will around, with the incentive of what if he can have a relationship with his mother? hanging over him, he felt it might help him let go.
Step one of letting go had to be kindness—fortunately, Will had taught him enough of that for a lifetime.
He set the cups on the table, snapping out of his inner musings as the two wandered in from the entryway. Naomi didn’t look up at Nico when she sat down, offering a muttered “Thank you,” and settling into her chair.
Will exchanged a glance with his husband and took the seat opposite her; Nico smiled reassuringly and squeezed his shoulder. “I’ll leave you to talk for now,” he said. “Call me if you need me, alright?”
“You can stay, Nico,” Will said quickly. It meant please don’t leave me alone with her, so Nico nodded and took a seat next to the taller man, lacing their hands under the table just to make him feel better. Why Will was more nervous than he was, he didn’t know, but Will had always been selfless and loving, especially with Nico.
“I... need your help,” rasped the older woman, clearing her throat a few times. “I’m in a bad place. Joel left me; I lost my band after my smoking destroyed my voice. I’ve been diagnosed with cancer and without the money from playing, I lost my place. I got no options, no way to pay the medical bills, no job and no home, and I had no other kids to ask for help.” She pressed her lips together in a thin line and shook her head, clearly holding back tears. “I know I wronged you and you told me not to come back, but I hope you understand that I truly have nowhere else to go.”
“I’m sorry,” Nico said evenly. “That things have been so hard for you.”
Will let out a long breath and put his forehead down against the wood of the table. “I don’t--I don’t know what to do here, ma,” he said after a moment. “I tried time and again to reach out to you, to welcome you as part of my family, and every single time you threw it in our faces because of Nico. You called him horrible things, humiliated us both, hurt him and tore him down for no reason, and now you’re back? I... I can’t just throw you out, because I get that you need help and yeah, I’m not going to leave you on the streets and sick, but... I don’t honestly know what I can do for you.”
“I know,” said the older woman, voice trembling. “I’m sorry for hurting you. I was wrong and you two didn’t deserve that. Please help your mother, William. I’m out of options.”
“We have a spare room down the hall from ours,” Nico said, exchanging a glance with his husband. Will looked wary, but didn’t object. “If Will is okay with it, we can set it up for you to stay in. It’s close to the hospital; I’m sure we can help with medical bills if you agree to help around the house.”
“Honey, that means you two would be alone together for hours every day,” Will reminded him, squeezing his hand. “With your history... are you sure?”
Nico offered his husband a reassuring glance and squeezed back, hoping to ease his worries. “Maybe it’s time we get to know each other for real,” he said calmly. “I know you two love each other, even if it’s not perfect—I would love to see you rekindle your relationship.”
“Thank you,” Naomi breathed, hands tightening in relief around her tea. “I misjudged you, kid. What’s your name again? Nico?”
Will had just said it five seconds ago, but Nico overlooked it and extended a hand. “Nico Solace-Di Angelo,” he said politely. “It’s a pleasure to meet you again, ma’am.”
“Yeah, you too.” This time, the brunette reached out and shook the offered hand, to Nico’s relief. Will gave a soft sigh beside him and the raven hid a smile in his tea, taking his hand back to place it reassuringly on his husband’s thigh.
“I’ll go set up the spare room while you two catch up,” he said, and disappeared up the stairs. Will didn’t call him back this time.
Naomi wasn’t so bad to have around, for the first little while. She walked on eggshells around Nico for a week or two before starting to relax, figuring out eventually that the Italian was as kind as he was forgiving (which was to say, he tried, though it didn’t exactly come easily).
After a month, Nico decided their relationship was somewhere close to good, though they didn’t talk much. He still cooked dinner most nights—Naomi had been living off of fast food and canned goods for most of her life, and cooking had always been stress relieving for Nico.
While the two of them were at work, Naomi did little chores around the house. She cleaned the floors much faster than Nico could, and washed dishes or hung laundry to dry or weeded the garden in the backyard. She didn’t put up a fuss about her room, even though it was smaller than the master and the bathroom wasn’t an ensuite.
She was even nice to them, though there were a few occasions where she curled her lip or left the room when Will got especially affectionate. After long or difficult days, he was like a puppy—clingy and needy, cute, but underfoot. He liked cuddling and would wrap himself around Nico as soon as he got in the door, forehead pressed into his smaller lover’s shoulder.
On those days, Nico just kissed his temple and guided him up to their room, and there they stayed to cuddle. She didn’t like watching when Will kissed him, even if it wasn’t on the lips. She acted uncomfortable when Nico sat on his lap, or when Will wrapped an arm around him to hug or even just move him out of the way of something.
Nico thought nothing of it—PDA made a lot of people uncomfortable, and he and Will were an admittedly clingy couple to be sure.
Everything blew up the day she went grocery shopping. Will had lent her his credit card and Nico had written her a list—they had never maxed the thing out, because they almost never bought unnecessary things (except, of course, presents for the Camp Half-Blood kids and their friends on Christmas). So, Will had asked her to stick to the list, but said that she could grab one or two things for herself if she felt she needed them—like extra blankets or sweaters, or a new coat, or any feminine things she might need.
Nico worked in the study for a good hour and a half before Will poked his blond-curled head in, grinning mischievously. The Italian raised an eyebrow, smile creeping up over his own features in response. “Hi?” he said, cocking his head in question.
“Hi,” Will replied, grin widening. “Come here, I wanna spend time alone with you.”
Nico grinned back despite himself—no matter how stone-cold he could appear to anyone else, Will had always made him weak. “We’ve been alone for an hour and a half,” he said, amused. “Why didn’t you come get me earlier?”
“’Cause you needed to work,” Will said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “I figure you’ve been working long enough now to come take a break with me. So? You coming?”
Nico sighed, but hit ‘save’ and pushed back his chair. Will whooped when his husband took his outstretched hand and dragged him down the hall and main stairs, down to the living room, where the fire was roaring in the fireplace. Nico called it the hearth—Will thought that was too pretentious.
Even he sometimes used the term, though, and they both used it to make sacrifices to Hestia or their fathers. Sometimes it was comforting to have a reminder of their favorite goddess in their home.
“I found the record player you swore we had!” chirped the surgeon, waving a hand proudly at the ancient thing. “And the records, too! You were right, they were in storage; buried under the Christmas boxes.”
“ Oh,” Nico breathed, a huge smile spreading slowly across his face. He all but bounded over to the thing and set it up with expert fingers—this had been their main source of music in his childhood home. He’d found out when he was sixteen that it had been saved and resided in a museum in Italy—then when he turned eighteen, Jason and Piper had charmspoken it out of the museum and flown it all the way home for his birthday.
He set up the song he loved the most—an instrumental piece called Maria Luisa that his mother used to play for them. Strong, firm arms wound around him from behind and Will drew him back into an embrace, grinning into Nico’s neck as he tilted his head back to let his husband place soft kisses up and down the lines of pale skin.
“Dance with me, baby?” he requested, one hand drifting down Nico’s stomach and hip to find his hand and squeeze gently. Nico turned his head, smiling into Will’s neck as he breathed in his husband’s scent.
“You’re a terrible dancer,” he whispered, laughing when Will spun him around and wrapped an arm around his waist, lacing the fingers of the hand he held with his own. Will kissed him, long and sweet.
“Humor me,” he said, nuzzling at one pale olive cheek. Nico sighed and slid his free hand up Will’s arm, settling on his shoulder.
“Fine,” he murmured, leaning up to kiss his taller lover. “One dance.”
Will grinned against his lips, and then they were swaying together, back and forth, easy steps even Will could do. He preferred leading, which Nico was fine with—it was kind of a turn-on, being twirled around by a tall, handsome man with an arm tight around his waist.
Will dipped him and he gasped, laughing as he tightened his grip on his lover’s shoulder. The doctor’s answering laugh rang around the room and he pulled his baby in close, hugging him tight and slowing their pace as the notes of the music slowed to an end.
Nico hugged him back, head falling forward to rest on his shoulder, and sighed. “Okay,” he relented. “One more dance.”
One turned into five, and apparently the adorable bastard had been practicing, because he only stepped on Nico’s toes four times over the course of their dances and only lost count of the steps twice, stumbling awkwardly to catch up with the rhythm as Nico spun around and pulled him back into it gracefully.
It was a loud “ ahem,” that finally startled them out of their little bubble—they glanced up to see Naomi Solace standing there, arms loaded with ten or twelve bags. Will broke away from Nico and the Italian turned to take the record off, sliding it lovingly back into its case.
“Welcome back, ma!” he said cheerfully. “Let me take some of those—were you planning something for dinner? There’s so much!”
“No,” Naomi said, stepping back. “The groceries are in the car; I’m sure Nico can go get them, right?” Nico nodded and headed for the entryway, snagging a coat.
“Ma,” he heard from behind him as he opened the door, “did you buy all this stuff for yourself?”
“You told me I could get some things I needed,” she said defensively. Nico shook his head and jogged down the walkway to the car.
It was a few hours later when Nico heard about it all. He was cooking dinner, humming an old lullaby he couldn’t remember the words to as he stirred the sauce. Will came in to lean against the counter beside him, glancing back through the door to make sure Naomi wasn’t listening in.
“Our credit line was frozen,” he said quietly. Nico whipped his head around and Will held a finger to his lips to hush him—the raven stayed quiet, eyes urging Will to tell him more. “I called them and straightened it out, don’t worry, but no more using the credit card this month,” he told his husband.
Nico nodded, moving the pot off the hot element and putting a lid over it. He nudged Will out of the way so he could grab the chicken and scraped it into a pan with oil, letting it sizzle loudly before moving closer. “What happened?” he asked, hoping the sound of the food would cover their conversation if she did happen to be listening in.
Will grimaced. “She decided she needed some new clothes,” he said. “So instead of going to Target or a mall store like we do, she went and bought about six thousand dollars’ worth of designer clothing. They classified it as an ‘unusual purchase’ and froze the card, which is why she came home so pissed off. It works now, but we’re out six thousand dollars.”
“Will, cancel that card,” Nico said immediately, expression firm. “I know you want to trust your mom, but for all that she seems to be trying, she doesn’t really get boundaries. There’s no way she didn’t write down the information on that card so she can do more shopping online.”
Will winced. “Shit. I didn’t even think of that.” He sighed and leaned against the wall. “Do we say something to her? I mean, I know we had that much to spare, thank the gods, but it’s a lot of money and it’s totally unnecessary. I don’t know if it’s rude to ask her to return it or not...”
“She probably already took the tags off and threw out the receipts,” Nico sighed. “But I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to ask her. You’ll have to, though—she's been civil, but she still doesn’t like me all that much. Do you want backup?”
Will chewed his lip and shrugged. “You do the monthly budgeting,” he said. “If we take out the six thousand dollars, do we have enough to pay the bills? I know you said before that our heating and hydro bills have gone up since she’s staying here.”
“That’s not her fault,” Nico reminded him. “I’m a child of the Underworld, I don’t feel the cold. I usually just leave the heat off, but it is mid-January—of course a regular person would turn it on. And the hydro bill has gone up because there are more people showering and such. It’s not really a noticeable difference; maybe a hundred dollars extra a month. We don’t usually use the credit card, so as long as it isn’t maxed out, we should be able to pay it off in a few months. It would mean you’d have to save about three hundred more off your paycheck towards bills, I think... I’ll check the budget for the exact amount. And we’ll have to cancel date night on Friday. Bottom line, though, we should be fine.”
“Okay.” Will nodded. “Then I’ll cancel this card and get a new one, and we just won’t lend her any more spending money. Do you have enough time to do the shopping yourself, honey? I don’t want to overwork you, but I don’t trust her anymore.”
“Like I haven’t been doing it for the past six years,” Nico said, pressing an amused kiss to the corner of Will’s mouth. He turned back to stirring the chicken pieces, noting with satisfaction that they were just about done. “Of course I can. Could you set the table, please? Then dinner will be ready.”
Will did as asked and Nico finished serving up the food.
“What is this?” Naomi asked, scanning the food with a wary curl to her lip. Nico took a bite, unbothered.
“Coriander lime chicken,” he said. It had come out well—the sauce was creamy and smooth, the chicken was perfectly cooked and the fresh parsley sprinkled on top (Will didn’t like cilantro) gave it a pop of color that made it even more appealing. He’d made broccoli on the side as well, because sue him, he liked steamed broccoli.
“Are you sure it’s done?” she asked nervously. “It’s awfully... white.”
Will looked like he was about to tell her off for reacting like that to Nico’s cooking, but the Italian understood. She was right—the sauce did make the chicken look white, and no one wanted raw chicken.
“Mmhm,” he said, swallowing his bite. “The sauce is coconut cream, garlic and lime juice, so it’s all white, but the chicken is fully cooked. I promise, I checked it carefully.”
She screwed up her nose and pushed the dish away, which gave the raven pause; okay, that was kind of rude. “Sorry,” she said, sounding distinctly not sorry. “I think I’ll pass this time. I don’t eat white foods.”
“You need to eat,” Nico urged her. “You can’t have anything after nine tonight—you have chemo in the morning. I can make you something else, if you’d like.” He had made it his mission to really try and help her—Will loved his mother, and she had cancer. She might not be around for too many more years. He wanted desperately to make sure his husband’s memories of her were mostly positive, whatever it took. “Speaking of, am I driving you before work tomorrow? I start at nine, so I can get you there around eight thirty.”
“I thought my son was taking me,” she said, frowning. “Aren’t I going with Will?”
Will awkwardly chewed a little faster, sensing that he should join in, but Nico gave his leg a reassuring squeeze under the table. “Will’s going in at five thirty,” he explained. “He works six am to six pm tomorrow, so you would be stuck for almost four hours with nothing to do. I’m happy to drop you off myself.”
“Fine,” she muttered, frowning. “I’ll just go with you and eat after the appointment.”
“You get sick if you eat after chemo,” Nico reminded her gently. “I like cooking, so I don’t mind making something else if you don’t like this. Will you try it, though? Just a bite? Please?”
Will held up a piece of chicken. “See ma, it’s brown on the bottom. That means it’s done,” he coaxed. “And it’s really, really good. Nico’s an amazing cook, you know that by now.”
Naomi gave her son a genuinely startled glance, then coughed out a hacking, pitying laugh. “Oh, honey, if this is amazing cooking to you, you’ve been deprived of your food experience,” she said. “I remember all the restaurants your dad used to take me to...” she sighed, leaning back in her chair.
Will looked outraged, but Nico squeezed his leg again. Sue him—insulted or not, he was a foodie, and she had piqued his interest. “Tell me about them,” he urged. “Maybe we can go visit them one day. Did you go on a lot of dates with Apollo?”
“Back in the day, he took me everywhere,” she said, a smile tilting up the corner of her mouth. Nico relaxed; it was working. Will’s tension eased too, and he reached under the table to grab his husband’s hand as he resumed eating. “We went to this amazing Japanese place where the servers just melted out of the shadows the second you needed something, I swear—and this Greek place that was so small and home-y, but had the most incredible lamb I’ve ever tasted in my entire life. It just melted on my tongue like butter, and the flavor was so intense.”
“Really?” Nico asked, excited by the prospect of visiting those places. Naomi nodded.
“Uh-huh. And then there was the Korean restaurant, where they made the food at your table and you could watch, and everything was cooked to perfection and so delicious, and then afterwards you could do body shots in the private rooms. We got so drunk there—or, at least, I did.”
“That sounds so nice,” Will said, sounding a little surprised and a little wistful. “We usually just stay in town because it’s so hard for both of us to get time off work. Every once in a while, Nico shadow-travels us to another country for a night, but I don’t let him do that often because it takes such a toll on his body.”
“You two don’t do dates anyway,” Naomi said flippantly, waving a hand. “That’s how I know this relationship won’t last.”
“When you came home, we were dancing,” Nico reminded her with a smile he hoped came across more friendly than he felt. “We do things like that a lot—bathe together, or dance, or cook together or cuddle and read books together. Spending time with each other is what matters, isn’t it?”
“We actually do go on dates twice a month, mom,” Will said, and his voice was tinged with sadness. “We canceled one last month to help you move in, and we had one scheduled for Friday, but we have to cancel it too because I asked you to go grocery shopping and you spent that money plus six thousand dollars on designer clothes when I said you could get a thing or two for yourself if you needed it. You know I was thinking of tampons and maybe a coat from Target, right? Not Versace and Gucci party clothes. You’re the reason we aren’t going to have a date this month.”
Naomi’s mouth opened and closed awkwardly. After a moment of silence, she cleared her throat, blushing furiously. “W-Well, you should have been specific!” she snapped, and Will threw his hands up.
“No!” he said, exasperated. “I should not have had to specify, ma! No one goes out and spends six thousand dollars when someone gives them a credit card for shopping—well, except sugar babies!” He waved a hand over at Nico, brows furrowing into a deep frown. “And Nico is over here, trying as hard as he can to keep the peace because he desperately wants you and I to have a good relationship. He was thinking through it, trying to figure out how to rewrite the budget so you didn’t have to return anything while cooking you a dinner you refuse to eat. I’ve never met anyone as blatantly, obviously rude as you, and I’m completely blown away when you do shit like this!”
Naomi stood silently, pushed in her chair and left the room. Nico groaned and leaned forward, head thunking on the wood of the table. “Nice going, genius,” he muttered, glaring up through his fringe at his husband. Will’s lips twisted into an apologetic grimace. “If you knew I was trying to keep the peace, why in Tartarus would you purposely start a fight?”
“I’m sorry,” he said, slumping back into his chair. “I get so mad when she does shit like that. Whining about your food, refusing to let you offer solutions, comparing her youth to our life and telling us that we’re going to break up. And it’s not just this, baby, there’s so much other stuff I don’t tell you. She’s always making these little backhanded comments about how you never help clean the house, and how you don’t work as much as me but all you do to help is cook this average food—I love your cooking, do not get me started—and how average looking you are and how I could have shot higher and...” He shook his head, running a hand through his hair anxiously. “I’m so fucking done, Nico. I’m so happy you’re trying—it's really sweet, honestly, and I love you so much for it—but it’s my problem with her.”
Nico took a long deep breath and let it out, then turned back to his dinner. “Then here’s what we’re going to do,” he said calmly. “We’re going to finish dinner, because I know you skipped lunch and you’ll get sick with all this anxiety on an empty stomach. We’re going to do the dishes together, take a long bath to calm ourselves down, and then we’re going to talk about where we go from here, because clearly, something needs to change. Okay?”
Will exhaled, slow and steady, and met Nico’s eyes, seeking his stability. “Okay,” he said steadily. Nico smiled proudly and picked up his fork.
“Enjoy the food,” he said happily. “I know you like this stuff. How was work, tesoro?”
From that point, dinner went smoothly, and Nico even found himself laughing a little when Will splashed him in the bath. He climbed into his lover’s lap and kissed him softly, hands scrubbing gently at his hair in a mini scalp massage while he washed it, making Will sigh and melt.
When they were changed into pajamas—Nico decided tonight was a night to just steal Will’s hoodie, the one with his name on the back that Lou Ellen had made him when he graduated. Will loved it when he wore that one—it got him feeling possessive and soft inside.
“Okay, Will sighed, flopping down on their bed like a starfish. Nico nudged him over, curling into his side, and Will wrapped an arm around him obligingly. “So, what do we do? Because we can’t kick her out, and I can’t live with her acting like she rules this house and being a total bitch to you.”
“William!” Nico smacked his chest lightly. “Don’t call your mother a bitch! Rude!”
“Sorry.” Will kissed his temple and Nico relaxed, smiling; his husband was sweet, he had to admit. “I love you, angel.” That gave the raven pause and he glanced up—Will looked miserable.
“Oh, Will,” he breathed, rolling on top of his lover’s strong chest. “It’s been really hard for you, hasn’t it?”
The blond sighed, closing his eyes and rubbing his cheek against the hand Nico slid up to cup it. “I keep seeing it,” he murmured. “Seeing you forcing smiles and cooking meals, doing research on what foods have the most nutrition to make up for how little she’s eating on her treatment. I see you trying so hard to defuse tense situations, and how you let her win to avoid fights and how she orders you around like a damn slave and talks about you behind your back, belittles your efforts and acts like everything you do disgusts her. It hurts, Nico, it really does. You’re the love of my life, my husband, my confidante—why does she keep treating you like shit?”
“I’m not okay with it either,” Nico admitted. “I’m trying to overcome this grudge I’m holding, but every single day it’s just more ‘Nico, go get the groceries. Go wash the dishes, my hands are sore. Why are you cleaning so slow? Are you even working when you lock yourself up in that office? Why would you cook this; I’m not eating it! I’m going to go spend six thousand dollars.’ There’s always something, isn’t there?”
Will hugged him, nuzzling at his hair. “There’s always something,” he agreed. “So how do we stop more ‘somethings’ from happening?”
“We could just talk to her,” Nico suggested, grimacing. “Maybe if we sit down and have an adult conversation, without you losing your cool and yelling at her, she won’t get defensive. Can you do that?”
“I... yeah.” Will sighed against his hair and Nico blew the displaced strands out of his face. “Yeah, I can be civil as long as she doesn’t start saying awful things about you.”
“Meh,” Nico said, shrugging. “I’ve heard much worse than what she’s said since moving in, believe me. If we don’t react, she might back down.”
Will grumbled, burying his face in night-black hair. Nico laughed and pushed him off, crawling up his body to lean on his chest and kiss him softly. “I know, I know,” he teased between kisses. “Mr. Overprotective. You’ve stood up for me enough, I won’t be mad if you let me handle it myself for once.”
“Fine.” Will flipped them over, prompting a gasp as Nico grabbed instinctively at his shoulders. “If you get to handle it, I get to prove how hot you actually are before she goes tearing you down.”
“Oh?” Nico laced his hands behind his husband’s neck, grinning. “And how are you going to do that, hm?”
Will pushed the sweatshirt up and over Nico’s head, pausing so the smaller man could free his arms. “I’m gonna make love to you,” he announced. “Right now, however you want it.” He ground his thigh down against Nico’s crotch and the raven gasped lightly, hips lifting against the stimulation.
“Lose the sunshine pajamas and fuck me, already,” he muttered. Will dove down and kissed him, long and gentle—his tongue slipped into Nico’s open mouth and wound around the Italian’s own. Nico threaded his hands through Will’s hair and pulled him closer, breathing in his scent as he wrapped his legs around his lover’s waist and hooked his toes in the waistband, dragging it down.
“Impatient,” Will mumbled against his lips, reaching for the lube in the bedside table. “I’ve got you.”
“It’s been a while, so make sure you do it properly,” Nico said lightly, teasing his lover by dragging his foot up Will’s side and sliding his leg over one broad shoulder.
“Maybe I want to make you cum on just my fingers,” murmured the blond, sliding two in. Month of abstinence or not, they’d been doing anal for almost ten years—Nico preferred receiving, so his body was accustomed to it.
“Don’t you dare,” he moaned, arching his back as Will’s fingers curled and stroked him inside, just the way he liked. “Ah! I want you inside me, Will, please...”
“I’m here, angel,” cooed his husband, leaning down to kiss him softly. “Just bear with me. I’ll take care of you.” He kissed a line down Nico’s throat and sucked at the pale skin, bruising it dark and eye-catching. “Your skin is so beautiful,” he mumbled, leaving a necklace of hickies and bites around his collar and then continuing down. “So soft and pale... makes me wanna mark you up.”
He slid a third finger into his husband’s ass, making Nico moan as he licked a nipple at the same time. “These are cute, too,” he teased, sucking on one just to feel his lover’s smaller body tremble. “It’s adorable how sensitive you are here. I like playing with them.”
He bit down hard on the other one, drawing a cry from Nico’s lips and leaving a perfect imprint of his bite around the pink bud. He traced it with his tongue, making his husband whine.
“I wish one of these would scar,” he murmured, “but I don’t want you to feel any pain. You know, they use dental records to identify people after death. Tooth patterns are unique—you’d have my mark on your skin forever.”
Nico grinned through another moan as Will’s fingers slid free, leaving him twitching, impatient. Will kissed all the way down his stomach, taking the time to suck a new hickey over every scar that spotted his pale skin. “Love your scars,” he whispered. “I love your scars, Nico. These beautiful, scary reminders that I’m married to one of the most powerful demigods in history, but when he comes home at the end of the day it’s to fall into my arms and curl up in bed with me and let me touch and kiss and love him.”
He sank his teeth into Nico’s hip, then soothed it with his tongue and sucked in another hickey.
“Your hips are so sexy. Every time you lift your arms up and your shirt lifts and shows them off, I want to wrap my hands around them and slam you against the nearest surface.” Nico gasped as a hand wrapped around his cock, muffling his moan with one hand. Will snatched it away and pinned it down, leaning over him to devour his lips in a vicious, hot, carnal kiss that left his baby shaking and panting.
“Don’t you dare,” Will huffed, voice an octave lower than usual, and Nico groaned again at the sound. “I adore your sounds. They’re so hot, and they tell me exactly what you like, what’s not enough, what you need more of. I love how wrecked your voice will get later, and how you scream when I hit it right, and how you moan around my fingers when I fuck your mouth with them.”
Nico was getting desperate now—he reached down blindly, trying to find Will’s cock, only to feel two large, hot hands seize his hips and flip him over easily. He loved how Will could manhandle him—for a moment he pressed his face into the bedding, trying to get his breath back, and Will let him, trailing one of those rough, warm hands down his spine.
“You have such a slim figure,” the blond murmured. “I love watching you from behind. Your hair is so soft...” He carded his fingers through Nico’s hair, then leaned down and bit the back of his shoulder, relishing the squeak it pulled from his surprised husband’s lips. He bit and sucked a trail of dark marks down every scar on Nico’s back, marring pale skin even where there were no marks to begin with, all the way down to his tailbone.
Nico arched his back, rising up on his knees to try and tempt his husband into speeding this up just a little bit, thanks. He was rewarded with a stinging slap that left him jerking forward, crying out into the sheets.
“Yeah?” Will’s grin was audible in his tone, and a second later, another smack had Nico pushing his hips up and chest down, moaning into the mattress. His lover repeated the treatment three more times before leaning down and biting hard into his thigh. “You’re so hot, Nico. I can’t get enough of you. Your ass, your thighs—you're nothing but muscle, but they’re still so soft and fun to squeeze. I love the way your thighs shake when I pound into you. I love how tight your ass is, and I love how it looks when it’s squished against my hips, taking me in all the way.”
“Gods, Will,” Nico choked out, face flaming. “Where did you learn to talk like this?”
Will draped himself over Nico’s back, shifting his hips against the cleft of his ass just to tease him. “I just wanna show you how much you turn me on,” he murmured, kissing the back of Nico’s shoulder. “Did you know you had freckles back here?”
Nico shook his head. Will chuckled and kissed the little dots again. “It’s the only place on your whole body where you have freckles. They’re so cute.”
“You really... know every inch of me, huh?” Nico gasped, loosing a desperate moan as he bucked his hips back into Will’s crotch.
“I do,” Will said affectionately. “So I know you’re pretty desperate right now, aren’t you, darlin’?” That was totally unfair—Nico adored Will’s Southern accent and the son of a bitch knew it.
“Then fuck me!” he barked. A strong hand parted his thighs a little more and Nico sighed as Will reached for the lube and stroked his cock before lining up.
“Shh,” Will whispered, leaning back over his body. His hands landed on either side of Nico’s head and the smaller man moaned, totally encased by the warm, comforting presence of his husband. He curled his fingers around one of Will’s wrists and felt a gentle kiss touch the back of his neck as that amazing cock finally slid home, filling him up the way he’d been craving.
“Fuck,” he choked, tightening his grip as Will slid out, and then back in, agonizingly slow. “Faster, Will, please!”
“ Easy, sweetheart.” Kisses trailed over his shoulders, light and comforting, and Nico gasped as Will shifted his hips in just the right way to hit the bundle of nerves inside him. “Wanna hear all your pretty sounds.”
“Y-Your mom, down the—agh—the hall!” Nico choked out, biting his tongue lightly to stop the louder sound that wanted to fly out. Will sighed, sounding almost disappointed.
“Okay,” he said easily. Too easily—Nico swallowed nervously, wondering what he was up to back there. Then Will slammed his cock in deep, abandoning his slow pace to thrust fast and hard directly into the space beside Nico’s prostate—enough to drive him crazy without hurting him on overstimulation.
Nico let out a wild cry, clutching at the bedsheets, and Will moaned in his ear, hot and low—Nico shuddered, tongue hanging out as he panted like a dog for air. Will had always made him feel like a bitch in heat when he fucked him like this, but he didn’t often go this hard.
“Ah, fuck, Will!” he moaned, thighs shaking as the sound of Will’s hips slamming against his own echoed in the bedroom. “More--yes, yes!”
“You like that?” groaned the blond, nipping at the skin in the center of his back. “So cute. I wanna see your eyes.”
He pushed two fingers against Nico’s tongue and the raven whined, taking them obediently into his mouth and sucking on them. Will hooked them behind his teeth and pulled his head up, forcing him to arch his back impossibly far. Blue eyes locked with deep brown and Will hissed through his teeth—tears were beading in Nico’s eyes, the kind of tears that meant the pleasure was so intense he could barely take it.
Nico mewled as Will thrust his fingers farther down his throat, fucking him from both ends. The blond gritted his teeth and released the younger man, lowering him back to the bed just to grab onto his hips and fuck him roughly, jerking his body onto and off of his cock while pistoning his hips just to hear Nico scream—and scream he did, a constant stream of “AH! AH! AH! WILL!”
Pulling out, he grabbed one of Nico’s thighs and hooked it over his shoulder, holding it there while he straddled the leg still on the bed. He couldn’t go as hard in this position, not wanting to hurt his lover at all, but he could reach a lot deeper.
“Hnnngh!” Nico squirmed on his cock, writhing as Will’s free hand traced over his body and teased at his cock, gripping it and playing with the head while his hips rocked in deep and fast, occasionally stuttering harder than he meant as his control wavered.
“Let me see your face,” he all but growled, voice raspy with desire. Nico turned his head, looking obediently up to lock eyes with brilliant blue again. Will moaned, leaning forward, and pushed Nico’s leg up nearly to his own shoulder so he could kiss him, deep and hot and messy.
“Can’t believe you’re crying for me,” Will muttered. It was far from the first time, but no less beautiful now than it had been then—Nico's eyes were like jewels, he’d always thought, dark and shining, and they glimmered when he cried like they were full of liquid starlight. “You’re so pretty, Nico, so beautiful—tell me what you want, say it, baby, let me hear.”
“I want—I want to cum!” Nico wailed, yanking his leg off Will’s shoulder and wrapping his arms around the blond’s neck. Will hugged him back around his waist, rearing back to sit on his knees with Nico’s legs draped limply on either side of his lap, pale hands clutching at his shoulders.
He lowered the Italian onto his dick a little slower, this time, trying to be careful—it was easy to miss in this position, believe it or not, and he didn’t want to tear anything by accident.
When he was finally balls deep and Nico was bucking his hips, trying to ride him even through Will’s iron grip on his waist, he moved—hard and fast, slamming directly into Nico’s prostate, determined to make him cum. Nico screamed, throwing his head back, clawing at his husband’s back and shaking in his lap.
“WILL!” he almost shrieked, blunt nails carving lines all over the broad expanse of tanned, freckled skin. His cock rubbed against his lover’s abs, smearing precum all over the hard muscles and building the friction in a hot frenzy. “Ah, hah, right there! Right there, yes! Dai, di piu! Ah! Like that! Cosi, mi piaci, cosi! Ah! Ah! Hng, ah haah, harder, harder, please—AHH!”
His whole body shook and trembled as he came, and Will fucked him right through his orgasm, biting down at the base of his neck as he rocked his hips two, three, four more times and finally spilled inside his husband with a cry and a garbled yell of “ NICO, FUCK!”
For a moment, neither of them moved, Nico hanging limp in Will’s grip and Will still shuddering through the last waves of his orgasm as Nico’s ass rippled and clenched around him.
At length, Will pulled out and carefully laid his lover down on the bed before stumbling into the bathroom. “Holy shit,” he wheezed to himself as he gave himself a quick wipe-down. “Holy shit, that was so hot.”
Nico lay in bed, panting, dazed and sleepy and out of his mind. The door creaked—the bathroom? He hoped it was. Yes, there was Will, reaching down to brush his hair out of his face and smiling gently down at him. Nico felt a soft cloth touch his cheeks, clearing away the salty tear trails and the drool from his chin.
“Oh my gods,” Will whispered, gaze traveling down his husband’s body. “Look at you.”
Nico lifted his head slowly, wondering what he was looking at, and oh. Oh. His legs were shaking, muscles quivering and jumping constantly from the exercise, and his entire body was covered in hickies and bitemarks from Will’s earlier attentions.
There was a little pool of cum on his stomach and upper right thigh, where his dick hung limp and spent, soaking wet from the pre and cum. He assumed most of it had gotten on Will’s washboard abs, though he seemed to have cleaned himself off. If his front looked like this, he could only imagine the mess Will had made of his ass.
“Good gods,” he mumbled exhaustedly, flopping back against the pillows. “Think y’could’ve gone a little easier on me? ‘M not gonna be able to walk for like, a week.”
“Means I’m still doing my job as your husband,” Will teased, but he was breathless and the awe in his eyes as they scanned Nico’s body made the younger man want to hide away in embarrassment. Unfortunately, moving was not even a little bit of an option right now, so he just closed his eyes and sighed, letting his husband wipe him down with gentle touches and rub cream into the bites to keep any broken skin from getting infected.
“Hey,” whispered the blond, prompting the sleepy son of Hades to slant his eyes open like a napping cat. “Are you okay, angel? I wasn’t really thinking, but... I’m looking at you now, and I really did a number on you. Are you sore or anything?”
“Throat hurts,” Nico said. “From the...” He mimed shoving his fingers down his own throat and Will nodded. “I loved everything else. Like when you’re rough.”
“Yeah, in the moment,” Will said, amused. “Little masochist. I’m asking if it hurts now. If I hurt you, I wanna make sure I treat it properly. Just in case. I know you like it, but aftercare is a thing.”
Nico let out a long, exhausted exhale and closed his eyes, focusing on how he felt. He hummed. “My neck stings,” he mumbled. “Where you bit me when you came. You weren’t really monitoring your jaw strength, probably.”
“Probably,” Will agreed, and crawled over Nico to disinfect and bandage the wound—it was bleeding sluggishly, apparently, because a wet, bloody tissue landed in front of Nico’s face just before Will kissed the bandage and pulled away. “Let’s get you into some clothes and then I’ll get you some water, okay?”
“Then sleep?” Nico asked hopefully, looking over at his husband. Will grinned and kissed his forehead, passing him a well-worn black hoodie.
“Then sleep,” he agreed.
Nico wobbled his way over to the bathroom and emptied his bladder while Will was getting water and changing the sheets. He lifted up the hoodie to look in the mirror and whistled softly in amazement, eyes traveling over the dozens of dark, vicious marks adorning his fair skin.
“That’s hot,” he muttered to himself before stumbling shakily back to bed.
Will made sure he drank the entire glass and ate some fruit before allowing him to crawl under the covers. He hit the lights, then joined him, chuckling when Nico snuggled immediately into his arms and laid his head over the strong thump of his heart in his chest.
“She totally heard that,” Nico slurred, sliding his arms around Will’s waist to tug him closer. “For the record.”
“I’ll take the fall,” Will said, “but I doubt she’ll say anything. Too embarrassing. For real, Nico, are you okay? It doesn’t hurt? I seriously overdid it.”
“Excuse me, you did it just right,” Nico said, sticking his tongue out playfully. “That was the hottest sex we’ve had in months. I am thoroughly sated. Well done, husband. Keep it up.”
Will chuckled and left soft kisses all over his face—Nico scrunched his nose up and endured it, knowing it was Will’s way of showering him with affection. An apology for going overboard and a thank you for being honest about how he felt.
When at last the blond relented, Nico shoved his face into the base of his neck and bit down hard—not as hard as Will had, but enough to leave a mark. The son of Apollo yelped and touched the spot, glancing down in surprise at the raven cuddled happily up to his side, already dozing lightly.
“Ow!” he protested. “Why?”
“Now we match,” Nico said simply. Will paused, then smiled softly and pulled the younger demigod further into his embrace, closing his eyes as he nosed into night-black fluff and breathed in the scent of his sleepy, sated husband.
Neither of them remembered falling asleep.
Nico was woken by Will shifting in the dark of their room, disentangling himself methodically from his clingy lover’s arms. “Mm,” he whined, shoving his face into the blond’s throat.
“Oh...” A soft kiss touched his temple and Will ran a loving hand down his back, voice warm and low, rough like gravel, deep from sleep. “Aww. Did I wake you up, little angel? I’m sorry.” He pulled the Italian closer, allowing himself to snuggle with him a moment longer before sighing and pushing himself up.
“Mm-mm,” Nico protested, hugging him. Will laughed quietly and bent down to kiss his brow, brushing a strand of inky hair back from a pale forehead.
“Oh, baby,” he whispered. “You don’t make it easy to leave for work, you know that? Gods, I love you.”
Nico reached up, blindly searching for Will’s face, and brought him down into a sweet kiss. “’M gonna call in sick,” he said sleepily. “My back hurts like hell. You did not hold back.”
“Shit, I’m sorry,” Will whispered. “I still have some time before I have to go—do you want a massage? It might help with the soreness.”
“Nah,” Nico said through a yawn, tears beading like pearls in sleep-soft eyes. “I’ll sleep longer and take a bath after I drop your mom off. Maybe tonight, if you aren’t tired after work.” He pushed himself up, twisting to crack his spine, and draped himself over Will’s lap, kissing him long and soft. “Ugh. Morning breath,” he complained when they broke apart.
Will chuckled at him and hugged him tight, relishing the feeling of strong thighs around his hips and gentle hands running over the stinging feeling on his back. “I’ll go brush my teeth,” he sighed dramatically, laying his husband gently back down on the mattress. “Sleep more, Nico. I set your alarm for eight so you can have time before you leave to take mom in.”
“Thanks...” Nico watched, squinting against the bathroom light as Will brushed his teeth. He smiled to himself—watching his husband get ready for work in the mornings was one of his favorite things to do. It felt domestic, watching him go through the same routine every day.
Will left the light on so the main light wouldn’t disturb Nico and came back into the room, stripping off his sunshine shirt to rifle through the drawers for his uniform. Nico gasped, flushing brilliantly red at the sight.
“What? Hun?” Will turned, glancing worriedly over his shoulder. Nico coughed.
“Y-Your back,” he said, choked. “Your collar’s not going to cover that.”
“Huh?” Will turned to look over his shoulder into the mirror—a slow smirk spread across his face. “Jeez, darlin’,” he drawled teasingly. “You really did a number on me, huh?”
Long red scratches scored marks all over his back, and teeth were imprinted in his shoulder from Nico’s bite the night before. The scratches even went up the back of his neck in one place, long red lines, evidence of Nico’s uncontrollable ecstasy the night before.
“Shut up!” Nico blurted, growing redder by the second. “Do you... do you want to cover them? Salve or something? Do they hurt?”
“No, they’re hot,” Will said, grinning widely at his lover. “I love how wild you get. Might have to cut your claws, though, kitty cat. Those definitely bled last night. Man, I can’t wait to show these off to my colleagues. They’re all super jealous of me since they met you, y’know. You’re so stunning even the straight guys were imagining you under them.”
“That,” Nico said, curling his lip, “is disgusting. You know damn well I’m not open to that.”
“Neither of us are,” Will said firmly. “I don’t share.” The son of Hades shivered lightly at the possessive tone and slid gracefully off the bed, hips swaying like a satisfied cat as he stalked silently across the room to wrap his arms around his lover’s waist from behind and kiss one of the marks. Will was a full head taller than him, which was useful for reaching things on high shelves, cuddling, and being carried around, but also kind of annoying when he wanted kisses.
Will turned around and bent down obligingly, smiling against Nico’s lips as his arms wound around a slim waist and tugged his smaller husband in close. “Gonna miss me?” he cooed. It had been a while since they’d had sex, longer since it had been this intense. Nico usually needed a day to be babied a little after since it left him so disoriented.
“Mmhm.” Nico kissed him again, reaching up to drape his arms over strong shoulders and tilting his head back to beg more pecks and kisses off his man. “You should stay...”
“I need to take this shift,” Will said, amused. “It’s harder than you’d think to find a neurosurgeon to call in, and it’s less than two hours’ notice now. Sorry, angel. I’ll make it up to you tonight, I promise.”
“Okay,” Nico murmured, reluctantly stepping back to let Will finish getting dressed. “I love you,” he said, smiling into a last, chaste kiss as Will finished up and headed for the door.
“I love you too,” Will said, and then he was gone.
Nico called in before going back to bed and then slept until eight, yawning through turning off his alarm and sluggishly going through his morning routine—she didn’t need to know he wasn’t going in.
He brushed his teeth, showered, made breakfast, and read a chapter of his book before Naomi wandered into the kitchen. She eyed him, zeroing in on the bandage on his neck, and curled her lip in disgust.
“Have a little discretion,” she snapped. “I hardly got any sleep last night!”
“Blame your son,” Nico said casually, taking a bite of toast. “He started it. Breakfast is on the stove. We have to leave in about twenty minutes.”
“We’re not going anywhere until you cover those up with makeup!” she demanded. Nico raised an eyebrow, too tired and well-fucked to give a rat's ass about her opinion today.
“Then you’re going to miss your appointment,” he said, shrugging. “And you’ll be covering the cost. Keep it up and I’ll wear a crop top so they can see all the marks.”
She flushed a bright red, but relented, angrily scooping the eggs onto bread with butter, lettuce and tomato all set up for her. They ate in silence—she mentioned covering the marks again while the Italian was making lunch for his husband, who had forgotten to make one yet again, and Nico went upstairs to change into a black band t-shirt that ended around the bottom of his ribs, revealing his smooth white skin, prominent hipbones, and about a hundred dark bites and hickies on his lower back and hips.
This infuriated her and she slammed the car door, fuming. Nico didn’t get in until he had finished snickering, not wanting to start a fight this early in the morning. Who knew it was this easy?
The minute the car was parked, she stormed in towards her chemo appointment and Nico wandered in behind her, still grinning. He waved at the receptionist, whose eyes were wide as saucers as they traveled over his exposed body and all the marks adorning it.
“Morning,” Nico said with a friendly, self-satisfied smile. “Would you happen to know where Will Solace-Di Angelo is this morning? He forgot his lunch.” He held up the bag pointedly, grinning.
“Um.” The receptionist glanced down at their computer, back up, then down again, blushing. “Uh, seventh floor, his office. You should hurry; he’s got a meeting in twenty minutes.”
“Oh, we won’t need that long,” Nico snickered. “I’m just dropping off lunch.”
It was surprisingly hard to hide the smile as the receptionist immediately jumped to their coworker and the two of them giggled behind their hands.
“Holy shit,” one of the blond’s coworkers said; a man named Grayson, who was fairly nice and always helped Nico locate the flighty bastard. “You uh, making a statement, Nico?”
“My mother-in-law told me to cover everything up and threw a fit,” Nico explained. “So obviously, I put on a shorter shirt. Besides, I don’t mind advertising that my husband is a sex god. You should see his back.”
“I did,” Grayson confirmed, nodding. “You must have had quite the night. He’s in his office, I think. You came to see him, right?”
“Smartest idiot on the planet,” Nico sighed, holding up the bag. “He forgot to make lunch. Since I was dropping mom off anyway, I thought I’d bring it to him.”
“Well, good luck,” said the older man, shaking his head with a fond grin. “You’re going to get a lot of attention.”
“That is the goal,” Nico agreed sagely. “I hope she hears about every bit of it.”
He took the elevator to the seventh floor and wasted a minute or two talking with the receptionist in Will’s department, who immediately spread the word once he turned back towards his husband’s office. It felt ridiculous, but in a fun, silly way; Nico kind of liked showing off.
Will actually wandered out from down the hallway, tugging up the collar of his white coat and holding some papers he must have just printed off. He caught sight of Nico for a moment before glancing down at the papers again.
“Hey, Ni—woah.” He did a double take, eyes widening at the evidence of their sex splayed blatantly across Nico’s hips and lower abs. “Uh. What?”
“Your mother made some comments and told me to cover up, so I decided to piss her off,” Nico said pleasantly. “She didn’t say another word until I dropped her off. What do you think, tesoro?”
“Uh. I. I mean, it’s... you... ahem.” Will blushed, dropping his gaze to his smaller husband’s hips—Nico knew he had a thing for the hips. He tugged up the coat again. “You’re... hot? Hot. Sexy. Uh, but, in a PG way, because I’m at work. Um. Yeah.”
“William Solace-Di Angelo, not one of these marks is PG and neither are the scratches you keep tugging that jacket up over,” Nico snorted. “Here; you forgot to bring a lunch again, doofus.” He handed over the lunch bag to his brilliantly blushing husband, who perked up.
“It’s--”
“Your favorite,” Nico confirmed. “Leftovers from last night, cucumber slices, two baby bell peppers, a granola bar, apple slices and three Oreos for dessert. I know your secrets, Mr. Doctor.”
“Gods, I adore you,” Wil said, reaching out to tug Nico into a tight hug and rubbing his cheek on night-black hair. “Mm, you smell good. D’you use my shampoo?”
“Obviously,” Nico said, grinning. “Don’t you have a meeting?”
“Shoot!” Will pulled away and turned towards his office, paused, turned back, and yanked Nico into a deep kiss, startling him and making the receptionists giggle. “I love you,” he said, low and sweet. “So much. Take it easy today, okay? Don’t overdo it.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Nico teased, kissing him again before pushing him back playfully. “Get going, big-shot. I love you too.”
Will offered him a last adoring smile before hustling back into his office, apologizing profusely to whoever was inside.
“Well,” giggled one of the receptionists, grinning, “Did you get the reaction you were hoping for?”
“No, but I definitely will tonight,” Nico said with an evil smirk. “He has a thing for my hips. If, you know, you couldn’t tell by the dozens of insane marks he left on them last night.”
“Good lord,” Arya snickered, both hands over her mouth to suppress her laughter. Kate had given up, doubled over behind her with full-bellied chortles. “He doesn’t seem the type at all. Is he rough?”
“Very,” Nico grinned. “I think I almost died. He’s really good about after, though. He’s sweet, too—you wouldn’t think it, but he’s got a six-pack and some serious arms under that uniform. He’s a lot stronger than he seems.”
“Oh my god, you two,” snorted Kate, sighing as she dropped into her chair. “Thanks for the laugh, Nico, we needed that. Your hubby’s client has a massive stick up his ass. Like, a telephone pole.”
“Cell tower,” Arya added, nodding. “He’s quite something. Will’s gonna have a hell of a time getting through to that guy.”
“He can do it,” Nico said confidently, smiling back at the office door. “Will is good at getting through to people. I’ve got to go; his mom will be done with her appointment in half an hour and I want a coffee. If I grab one for Will, can you make sure he gets it after the meeting?”
“Do not,” Kate stressed. “He’s had four already.”
“Four!?” Nico glanced back at the door, brow furrowed. “Huh. Maybe he is worried. He’ll be fine, though; he’s tough as nails and sweet as honey. Good combination, in this profession.”
“Very true,” Arya agreed. “It was nice to see you, Nico! Have a great day.”
“You too, guys,” he said, nodding politely before wandering back down the hall to the elevator.
Naomi was silent on the ride home and locked herself in her room for the rest of the day. Nico stayed pleasantly quiet, enjoying the silence of the home until around two in the afternoon. Then, he put his favorite disc in the record player and hummed along to himself as he folded laundry on the couch, legs crossed comfortably under him.
"Turn that shit off!" screeched the obviously fed up woman from upstairs. "It's making my ears bleed!"
"It's a violin and an alto singer, ma'am," Nico called back, eyebrow arched. He didn't turn it off. A minute later, loud footsteps on the stairs alerted him to her approach and he sighed softly, bracing himself for the meltdown.
What actually happened next was much worse than a meltdown, in Nico's opinion, and it took him a very long time to sift through it and figure out his feelings (not very good). She didn't say a single word as she stalked over to him--instead, she passed right by without so much as a glance in his direction, grabbed the record player, and threw it to the ground.
"NO!" Nico lunged, dropping the shirt he was folding, but he was too slow. The beautiful antique crashed to the ground with a horrible crash and shattered into several pieces, scattering around the floor around him just before his hand made contact with it.
"I've had enough of your smarmy, better-than-thou attitude," Naomi said coldly, crossing her arms. Nico didn't even look at her, carefully scooping up a piece of the disc--it had snapped, crushed by the heavy tone-arm and the heavier horn. "You are inconsiderate and stuck-up, and I can't believe my son keeps siding with you. He thinks you're some perfect angel who can do no wrong and I'm sick of watching you lead him around like a dog, acting like you're better than everyone else around you. You are not the only one living here--be a little considerate, why don't you?"
"How could you?" Nico whispered. His voice trembled and his hands shook as he pressed the disc to his chest, head bowed. "It was my mother's favorite song. How could you? All I had left..." He shook his head and stood, pulling out his phone to take a picture. As they'd grown, he and Will had learned to suppress their natures; it was safer to own a phone, now, especially since monsters tended to steer clear of the city anyways since the children of the Big Three had made their mark and grown up.
He turned silently and trekked up to his room, ignoring Naomi's shouting and clutching the piece of the disc--the center, where the title of the album was written in a little red circle. Truthfully, he had no idea what she'd said, because the words never even made it into his ears for all the blood rushing through them. His heart beat fast and his breath stuttered. Tears gathered in his eyes, and he wiped them away surreptitiously, frowning at himself.
The sound of music had always filled their home in his childhood. Bianca had danced with him to this song, over and over until he knew every step by heart. His mother had sung with him, teaching him each note, and he still heard her voice alongside his when he sang along. That record player was the only remaining piece of his childhood, the only reminder of the time when he was free and unburdened and innocent, his only tangible reminder of the memories he was so afraid would fade away as time passed.
Slowly, he sank down onto the mattress and pulled out his phone again. After a slow, deep breath, he clicked open his messages and sent the picture to his husband, sniffling softly. I'm done, he texted after, double-checking that he had locked the door. I want her out. I can't keep doing this. I'm done, Will.
Will didn't answer, and the read receipt never popped up. After five minutes of staring at the screen, Nico assumed his husband's phone was off. Presumably, he was either in a meeting or an operation, so he didn't text again. Will would respond when he saw it.
He didn't know how long he lay curled on the sheets, hearing Naomi putter around muttering angrily to herself and holding the piece of the record against his chest. Will's scent was still on the pillow, and it comforted him a little bit as he laid there. Eventually, his heartbeat slowed to normal and his breathing followed, though the ache in his chest grew stronger the more he felt the jagged, broken edges of the record in his hands. He did not cry.
It was nearly four thirty when the phone lit up and buzzed next to Nico's head, startling him out of his dazed introspection. He reached out and picked it up, relief tugging at the center of his heart as Will's name popped up on the screen between the two yellow heart emojis. He opened the message, sniffling a little and taking a deep breath before allowing himself to read it.
What happened!?!?!!?!?!?
Nico?????? Baby are you okay?????
Is that the record player? Did she break it!?!?!? Are you hurt!?!?
Nico???
Nico wiped his eyes when they blurred, pressing his lips together. He was by no means a crybaby, but Will's unbearable mother seemed to bring out the worst in him.
I'm fine. She yelled at me to shut it off. I said no and she stomped past me and threw the whole thing to the ground. Mama's favorite record is broken too. It's just gone.
The response was immediate and Nico's heart swelled even through the pain at the sheer love his husband was able to give him, even in a debate between love and blood.
Oh, gods, baby, I'm so, so sorry. I'm coming home right now. Are you in our room?
Yes, Nico typed.
Stay in there. Keep the door locked and don't come out until I get there, okay?
Okay, Nico confirmed. I'm sorry, Will, I don't mean to pull you away from work. If you need to finish your shift, you can; she's leaving me alone now and I'm just lying in bed.
Baby, you are never going to come second after work, Will said immediately. You are my husband and you are locked in our room, not feeling safe in your own home and I am absolutely not leaving you there for another two hours while I finish up and get back. I'm on my way, so stay there.
Nico pressed call before he could think better of it, watching as the phone rang for only a second or two before it clicked and Will picked up.
"I love you," Nico blurted out immediately. "I'm sorry about this."
"Honey, it ain't your fault," Will soothed lovingly. "Nick, I'm clocking out, can you check if anyone else on staff can cover the last hour and a half of my shift? ...No, it's Nico. My mother did something extremely fucked up and he's locked in our room alone right now and I need to go help him. Thanks man, I owe you one. Okay, Neeks, I'm on my way. Hang in there for me, alright?"
"I really love you," Nico mumbled against the receiver. "So much."
"I love you too," Will said, tone soft. "We're gonna fix it, angel. I'm sure Leo can do it, okay? That guy can fix anything you put in front of him. It's gonna be fine, you'll see. And if not, I'll scour every record store in the country and find you that exact album. I promise."
"Will," Nico said, choked up. He squeezed the phone and the broken disc. "Thank you," he whispered. "Come home safe, alright?"
The car door opened and he heard Will get in. "I will. Stay safe, Nico. Be there in fifteen minutes. You're gonna be okay."
"Okay." Nico hung up, knowing Will would stay on the phone until he did even if he was driving, and settled into the bed as a little of the tension eased. It was going to be okay--Will was right, Leo could fix anything, and his husband was on his way home and he wouldn't have to deal with his mother-in-law anymore and it was going to be okay.
The door opened thirteen minutes later (Will must have been speeding a little) and slammed shut loud enough to ring through the whole house.
"MOM!" roared the rare sound of Will's angry voice through the house. Will was the sweetest man in the world, but gods, could he yell when he was mad. "GET DOWN HERE!"
"We should not have children," Nico mumbled to himself, pushing off the bed and making his way down the stairs just after Naomi. He stepped into his husband's embrace and accepted the hard, possessive kiss he pressed to his temple. "Welcome home," he murmured.
Will pointed to the broken record player on the floor, glaring so hard at his mother that Nico thought Hades would have shivered. "What the hell is this, huh?"
Naomi visibly gulped, eyes flicking to Nico, then to the broken instrument and then to Will again. "He was blasting horrible music, and I had a headache, and I asked him to turn it off but he refused and all but laughed in my face, so I pushed it and it just fell," she said. Will shook his head.
"Uh huh. Nico, what really happened?"
"I feel like a sibling getting caught after a fight," Nico muttered, and Will kissed his forehead.
"Sorry. I just want the whole story," he said apologetically. "I didn't mean to make you think I was mad at you."
"I was listening to mama's record and she told me to 'turn that shit off' because it was 'making her ears bleed,'" Nico recounted. "I called back that it was just a female alto and a violin, and she came downstairs. I thought she would yell at me, but she stormed right past me, picked it up and threw it, and it broke apart on the floor. The cone and tone-arm crushed the record, too." He revealed the broken piece in his hands.
"Nico, you got cut." Will took his hands, inspecting the palms briefly before turning back to his mother, shaking his head. "We'll deal with that in a minute. Mom--Naomi--do you have any idea what that record and record player meant to him? Nico lost his mother, his home, his life and his childhood when he was ten years old, and his sister not a year later, age-wise. That record player was the original one from his home, salvaged from the wreckage and preserved in a museum. It was gifted back to him by our friends, and that record you smashed was his mother's favorite. Those were the last tangible pieces of his childhood, do you understand that? Aside from the literal god of the underworld and a half-sister he met years later, Nico lost his entire family when he was just a kid. How could you break something so obviously precious? Those were his memories!"
She swallowed again, guilt flashing through her eyes. It did little to move Nico--he knew this would pass and she would be the same cold, aloof woman as always. "More than that," he said calmly, "she said that I lead you around like a dog, deceiving you, and act like I'm stuck up and better than everyone around me. She told me she was sick of my attitude and that she didn't know why you keep siding with me."
"This again?" Will turned to his mother, exasperated. "What is wrong with you!?" he asked. "Nico has been nothing but kind to you! In case you have somehow forgotten the way you treated him, here's a quick recap! Off the top of my head, you threw slurs around like confetti, threw alcohol in his eyes, screamed at him, wrote the most horrible wedding invitation in the entire world and sent it to all of our family and friends, insulted his cooking, treated him like dirt under your shoes, looked down on him, ordered him around like a gods damned slave, tossed insults at him at every turn, and made him feel like he was worthless compared to me! You know it was Nico who supported us the whole time I was in med school, and Nico who keeps up the house and works a tough and intellectually demanding, high-paying job, and Nico who did all the research on how to help you feel healthy and normal during chemo and Nico who convinced me to let you stay here in the first place and Nico who has been trying to get along with you since you met two years ago, right!? What the fuck is wrong with you!?"
"I..." Naomi grimaced and took a step back, looking more and more nervous by the second. "Well, I mean, look at--"
"NO, Naomi." Will looked furious, moreso than Nico could ever remember having seen him before. "I am looking. I have been looking since he stumbled into camp with his older sister nearly twenty fucking years ago. I have been learning since the war, fifteen years ago, and fourteen of those years, I spent dating, engaged, or married to him, so I think I know him better than anyone else by now. You're the one you should have been looking, but you're entitled, selfish, cruel and intolerant and I won't stand for it ever again."
"What does that mean?" she asked, swallowing yet again.
"It means pack your bags," Will said coldly. "I'm going to rent you an apartment on the outskirts of town and buy you a bus pass. Both of those things will last a month, so find a job before that happens."
"Will," Naomi said pleadingly, "I have cancer! Who's going to--"
"Your cancer is nearly gone," Will snapped. "You had a very, very small starting tumor and the chemo has all but eradicated it already. You've been living here three months now and you have appointments twice a month. You have one more in two weeks and then it should be gone, for the most part. Your hair is barely even falling out, unless you're wearing wigs."
"I'm your mother, William!" she said plaintively. "You can't just kick me out!"
"You're not my mother," Will told her calmly. He looked sad, Nico thought, but not angry. "You're a parasite and a toxin, and you're poisoning my real family." He squeezed Nico close to his chest, burying his face in black hair. "I love Nico more than I have ever loved you, and I will always choose him over you. I adore him and he's always been there for me. You just judge and hurt and spit poison. It's not healthy and it isn't a lifestyle we can maintain. I've had enough of you going after my husband."
Naomi's eyes were wide and she looked like she was panicking as she turned to Nico. "Nico," she tried, offering a wobbly smile. Nico stared her down with icy dead eyes, unwavering and chilling. She shivered.
"I'm done," he said, cold as ice. "You're hurting me over and over, destroying our things, stressing Will out nearly to tears every night, starting fights and spending all our money. You're finished. I've tried over and over, and I'm finished trying. Pack your things. You're done here."
"I'm sorry!" she cried, tears spilling over. "Let's just sit down and talk about this, okay? What are you going to do with no one around to clean the house? I'll do better, I promise!"
"Too late," Nico said, pulling away from Will's side. "Pack. Your. Shit. I am not negotiating and neither is he. We have had enough. I don't ever want to see you again, do you hear me?"
For a moment, it looked like she was going to argue, but then she spun on her heel and wobbled away up the stairs, looking rather like she was in shock. Will leaned on Nico heavily, wrapping his arms around the smaller man and burying his face in a narrow shoulder. "Hnnnngh," he groaned. Nico let out a long breath of his own and turned around, stroking blond curls soothingly and sliding an arm around his husband's waist.
"You must be exhausted," he murmured. "What can I do, tesoro?"
"I'm gonna take her to the apartment," Will sighed. "It's owned by a satyr, friend of Percy's. I called on the way here; he said hee would give me half the monthly rent to pay for the first payment and confirmed a place for her already."
"Is it a nice place?"
"It's a shitty place with $1,100 in rent per month," Will said smugly. "I'm paying $550, though, because he's sympathetic and also afraid I'll sic you on him, I think."
"Okay." Nico kissed his forehead. "You know she's stealing a bunch of our stuff to pawn, right?"
"Oh, I know," Will sighed. "I'll check her bags before we leave. Can you make dinner tonight or are you wanting to do takeout?"
"No," Nico said, shaking his head. "I'll cook while you're ferrying her over. What do you want, mi amore?"
"Can you make that lemon basil pasta you do?" Will requested hopefully. "I love that stuff."
"Sure," Nico said, chuckling. "I'll have it done by the time you're home." He paused, turning his face into Will's curls, and sighed. "I love you so much, Will," he murmured. "Thank you for always standing up for me, no matter what. I can't tell you how much it means to me."
Will drew back and cupped his face, turning his head to kiss him long and slow and gentle, and Nico melted into the kiss eagerly. "I love you too," mumbled the son of Apollo. "More than anything. You're my soulmate, Nico. There's no one else for me, not ever--I'll always, always protect you and us." He paused. "I mean, if it's a monster, you're protecting me, because I'm useless at fighting. But against my mom, it's--"
"Will." Nico kissed him again, quieting him. "Thank you, cucciolo."
"You're welcome, angel."
Naomi had, in fact, stuffed her bags with any valuables she could find. Nico even found some of his jewelry in her pockets and retrieved it, for which she screamed at him. He paid her no mind, watching Will dig through her things and take back everything that belonged to them, dropping it in a pile on the floor. He took out half of the designer clothes, too, saying, "I think you kind of owe us these, since you spent money we didn't give you on them and then tried to steal from us. You can sell the rest to pay your rent."
She fumed, but kept silent as he led her to the car. Nico took a good three minutes to bask in the utter silence of an empty house before he moved to start making dinner.
Late that night found them in the bath, Nico curled into Will's chest as his lover petted his hair and tipped his head back against the edge, the both of them probably closer to sleep than was a good idea in the bath.
"Sunshine," Will murmured, cradling Nico against him and pouring water from his cupped hands over soft olive skin. Nico was pale, had always been pale, but his complexion had darkened back to its more natural tone as he spent more time in the sun. "Are you okay? You were really, really upset, huh?"
"I'm upset," Nico sighed into warm golden skin. "But I have you, and Hazel. I have my dad. I have a family, Will, and I remember my past well enough. You're all the family I need, even if I miss the reminders of them." He paused. "Plus, I saw it, and the instrument itself seems to have just separated and probably lost a few little pieces. I'm sure Leo can put it baack together if we ask him. He'll probably do it for a low price, too."
"Oh, he'll probably do it for free as long as you tell him everything that happened," Will snickered. "He loves drama. Do your hands hurt? What happened?"
"From the record pieces," Nico mumbled. "I was holding them too tight and the edges were broken. I'm okay, though, they're just scratches. I just wanna go to sleep."
"Me too," Will sighed. They paused for a minute, then broke out into quiet laughter. "It feels like the end of a battle," mused the blond, grinning. "The night after, when everyone is asleep and everything has finally ended."
"It does, doesn't it?" Nico smiled into his throat, arms sliding around his waist. "I'm glad you're here feeling it with me. Do you think she'll be okay?"
"She'll be fine," Will assured him. "I'm more worried about you. She caused a lot of damage."
"No, she didn't," Nico said simply. "I'm tougher than that, Solace. You and I are going to feel so much better with her gone."
"Solace-Di Angelo," Will corrected, grinning into soft hair before kissing the part. "We're married, Neeks."
"We are." Nico settled into his embrace, dozing lightly in the warm water until Will shifted under him and pulled the plug.
"Bedtime, before we fall asleep and drown," declared the blond. Nico hauled himself up with a reluctant sigh and grabbed them each a towel, and they went about their nightly routines. Nico stole one of his husband's oversized sleep shirts and crashed into bed, nuzzling into the pillow and grimacing at the cold of the untouched sheets. Will slid in after him and wrapped his arms around his baby's waist, pulling him in flush to his chest. Nico turned over in his arms and embraced him, leaning up to kiss him softly.
"Goodnight, mio luce del sol," he whispered. "Sleep well."
"Sweet dreams, little angel," Will murmured in reply.
Nico closed his eyes with a soft sigh, smiling to himself as he curled into the love of his life. Will, perfect, amazing, adoring, loyal Will would always, always be there for him, no matter what. He knew there would probably be other problems in the future, but he couldn't bring himself to be afraid--no matter what or who came their way, he knew they would face it together.
"I'm glad you're the one I married," he whispered into the darkness. The only response was a light snore and a huff of breath against his hair. Nico grinned, chuckling breathlessly to himself.
Yeah; they were going to be just fine.