Chapter Text
Will had been about to leave his house for his long-awaited date with Nico when Lou Ellen showed up at his door. She took one look at him in his usual t-shirt and flannel and jeans and marched him right back into his house. She demanded that he button up and tuck in his shirt while she dug through his closet to find him a tie, despite all of Will’s protesting that he was going to be overdressed.
By the time Lou had finally allowed him to leave, ten minutes had passed and Will was already starting to overheat. Lou insisted that Will stop at a store on his way to pick up a bottle of wine - “Because these are things people do for dates, Will, not that you would know,” - but after Will stared down the wine selected in the nearest grocery store for almost five full minutes, he rolled his eyes and bought a bouquet of flowers instead.
Even driving five-over the whole way, Will still wound up arriving at Nico’s about five minutes late, tugging at the collar of his shirt as he rang the doorbell and feeling terrified that he was starting to smell like sweat. He was about to sniff under his arm to see if his suspicions were true when the door opened in front of him.
“Hi, Mr. Solace!” Lucy exclaimed, and was hugging Will’s legs before he knew what was happening.
“Hi, Lucy,” Will replied, “is your dad here somewhere?”
Lucy pulled herself away and grabbed Will’s hand - the one that wasn’t carrying the bouquet of flowers - and dragged him into the house. “Papa! Mr. Solace is here!”
Nico came around the corner from where Will assumed might’ve been the kitchen. “Lucy, you know you’re not supposed to open the door without me.”
“But Papa, Mr. Solace is here,” Lucy repeated, and Nico knelt down in front of her, placing his hands on her shoulders.
“Lucy. You’re not allowed to open the front door unless I’m standing there with you,” Nico said sternly. “There could be somebody dangerous on the other side of the door, okay? Do you understand?” Lucy nodded. “Good, okay. Can you set the table for me, sweetheart?” Lucy nodded again, and Nico pressed a kiss to her forehead before ushering her off toward the kitchen.
He rose back to his feet before turning to face Will, the stern look on his face vanishing and being replaced by a bright smile - Will felt like the room had suddenly grown ten degrees warmer, and he didn’t know if the heat he was feeling was from a lack of air conditioning or from the smile Nico was aiming at him.
“Hi,” Nico said, stepping closer. Will tried not to be obvious as his eyes scanned over the man in front of him - he looked so much more relaxed than he usually did in his perfectly tailored suits, instead wearing an old band t-shirt and worn out jeans, and Will suddenly felt even more overdressed than before.
“Hi,” Will repeated. “Um, I got these for you.” He held out the flowers with a stiff arm, feeling like he was a fifteen year old on his first date and certain that he reeked of sweat by now. “A friend of mine said that I should bring a bottle of wine, but I don’t know anything about wine at all, so I thought flowers might be a better way to go.”
Nico bit his lip, looking like he might have been holding back a laugh, and took the flowers from Will. “Thank you, Will,” he said. He rose up on his tiptoes, placing a hand on Will’s chest to stabilize himself as he pressed a kiss to Will’s cheek. “You look amazing, by the way.”
Will felt like he was on fire, and with Nico so close to him he was almost afraid to breathe. “I feel a little overdressed, if I’m being honest.”
“What? No, you’re not--” Nico glanced down at Will’s clothes, and then seemed to realize how comfortably he was dressed. “Shit, I forgot to change. I’m sorry, I have nicer clothes laid out and everything but I guess I lost track of time--”
“Oh, no, nonono, don’t worry about it!” Will said quickly. “You still look great - God, I bet you look amazing in anything, you so don’t have to worry about it.”
They exchanged a surprised look, Will’s face growing red and Nico’s lips slowly curling up into a smile. Nico grabbed Will’s hand and pulled him further into the house, telling him, “Come on, you can put these in a vase for me while I finish up dinner.”
Will followed him into the kitchen, which was big and bright and smelled amazing, and took the flowers and a large mason jar when Nico handed them to him.
“I, uh, don’t think I actually have any vases,” Nico said when he handed over the jar.
As Nico turned away from him, Will took a moment to roll up his sleeves before going over to the sink to fill the jar with water. He set the jar aside and unwrapped the tissue paper that surrounded the stems of the flowers, then placed the flowers in the jar.
When he turned around, Nico was pulling a casserole dish out of the oven and placing it on the granite countertop of the island between them.
“That smells amazing,” Will told him, leaning forward against the island to get a closer look.
“I did promise to cook you something special, didn’t I?” Nico reminded him. “It’s lasagna, a family recipe.”
“I helped make it!” Lucy called, rushing in from the dining room.
“Did you?” Will asked. “That’s amazing, you’re probably already a better cook than I am.”
“But I’m not even allowed to cook by myself, does that mean you’re a really bad cook?”
“Lucy, don’t be rude,” Nico scolded, though he seemed more focused on cutting the lasagna into serving-sized portions.
“It’s alright,” Will assured him before he crouched down to talk with Lucy. “I’m a really really bad cook. I can’t even cook noodles without burning something, so instead I eat a lot of takeout Chinese food and pizza.”
“I wanna eat a lot of pizza all the time!” Lucy exclaimed.
“But you can’t do that, because it’s really bad for you,” Will told her. He leaned closer and whispered, “Maybe if I’m lucky, your papa will let me come over again soon and you can teach me how to cook something healthy.”
“Yeah!” Lucy shouted, and ran around Will and the corner of the island until she was standing next to her father. “Papa, can Mr. Solace come over again soon and we can teach him how to cook?”
Will straightened up and leaned against the island again, only to see Nico raising an eyebrow at him. “We’ll see,” he said, but there was a hint of a smile in his eyes.
They sat down at the table with their plates of lasagna, Nico and Will sitting across from each other and Lucy at the head of the table. Nico brought out three wine glasses - Will assumed they were Italian based on their last name, but he didn’t think that Nico was so Italian that he would let his six-year-old have wine with dinner - though he only filled two with a dark red wine. The third was filled with regular grape juice and was placed in front of Lucy. “She likes to feel included,” Nico explained.
Will took a bite of his lasagna, glancing up to see Nico watching him, as if waiting to see his reaction, so Will told him, “It’s delicious.”
“Good,” Nico said. “I’m glad you like it.”
“We made it from scratch,” Lucy said, seeming proud of herself to know such a grown-up cooking term.
“Wait, seriously?” Will asked. “Like, completely from scratch?”
“I mean, I bought the beef and cheese and those kinds of things, of course,” Nico explained. “But we made the pasta and the tomato sauce yesterday after I got home from work, and then we put everything together and baked it today.”
“Alright, and let me just get one thing straight: you don’t cook for your career, right? You’re an amazing cook and no one is paying you to do it?”
Nico tried to hide his smile being his wine glass. “No, I’m not a professional chef, just Italian.”
“You know, I probably couldn’t even cook one of those Stouffer’s lasagnas without majorly screwing it up somehow,” Will told him.
“That’s not even real lasagna,” Nico said with a roll of his eyes.
“Yeah? Then what is?”
“You’re eating it.”
Will laughed, and Nico looked proud of himself for making that happen.
Through dinner, Will learned that Nico worked as one of the senior executives at his father’s recording company and lived the first half of his life in Italy. Nico discovered that Will had intended on becoming a doctor before changing his path to teaching instead, and that he only learned how to play the guitar because his brother had forced him to.
Will helped Nico clean up the dishes after they’d finished eating, and soon after clearing the table Lucy had dragged Will into the living room for some kind of surprise.
She pulled a guitar from the corner of the room next to the couch - one much smaller than the one Will had, a guitar that might actually be the right size for Lucy to play - and she plopped down on the floor next to Will. She started playing, sometimes having to readjust her fingers on the frets a few times before she got the right chord, but Will was impressed either way.
“Lucy, that was great!” he told her when she stopped playing. “Have you been practicing? You’re getting so good!”
“I practice all the time! Papa bought me this for my birthday and I even got some song books, but I don’t think I’m good enough yet to play them. Can you teach me more?”
“Of course,” Will said. “I just wish I knew, I could’ve brought my guitar so it would be a little easier for me to show you what to do.”
Will helped Lucy to reposition her fingers on the frets, showing her a few new chords before Nico’s voice called from the kitchen, “Lucy, bed time’s in five minutes.”
Will and Lucy looked up at the same time to see Nico standing in the doorway leading into the kitchen, a soft smile on his face. As Lucy got up to put her guitar away, Will made his way over to Nico, hoping the embarrassment wasn’t clear on his face.
“I’m so sorry, you must think I’m the worst date on the planet,” Will said. “I can’t believe I just ignored you for, like, ten minutes in favor of your daughter.”
“It was more like twenty, but it’s fine,” Nico said, but Will still winced slightly. “It was cute. The last couple of dates I went on, I brought Lucy with me and the guys just flat out pretended that she wasn’t there. It’s a nice change of pace to see that you actually care about her.”
“Of course I care about her,” Will said, “but isn’t the point of a date sort of to prove that I care about you, too?”
Nico ducked his head, but Will still saw the smile on his lips. “I have to go read Lucy a bedtime story. Make yourself comfortable, I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” Will said. “Hopefully then I’ll be able to make it up to you for ignoring you for so long.”
Nico walked down the hall toward where Will assumed the bedrooms were, but Lucy came running past him, straight to Will. “I don’t wanna bedtime story! I want Mr. Solace to sing me a song!”
Nico looked at Will, seeming unsure of what to say, so Will spoke first. “Uh, yeah, sure, if it’s okay with your papa.”
“Yeah, go ahead,” Nico said, and Lucy shouted in joy before she grabbed Will’s hand and dragged him down the hall to her room.
Lucy climbed into her bed and Will waited for her to get settled before he took a seat on the edge of the mattress, glancing toward the door to see that Nico had followed them though he hovered in the doorway.
“What song do you want me to sing?” Will asked.
“The animal song, from school!” Lucy demanded.
“Okay,” Will said, and began to sing. He felt a bit awkward at first, singing without his guitar and knowing that Nico was standing close by and listening, but once Lucy started to sing along with him he felt much better. When the song was over, Lucy cheered and clapped her hands and thanked Will for the song. Will said a quick goodnight before stepping out of the room to let Nico say a private goodnight to his daughter.
Will found himself distracted by the pictures on the wall in the hallway as he made his way toward the living room, spotting baby pictures of Lucy with an assortment of adults - Will recognized Lucy’s Aunt Reyna and Uncle Jason among them - and was only brought out of his observing when he heard Nico shut Lucy’s bedroom door behind himself.
He saw Nico try to hide a yawn behind his hand as he made his way over, and Will suddenly felt guilty for staying so long.
“It’s, uh, it’s getting late,” Will said awkwardly. “I don’t want to take up any more of your night, so maybe I should--”
“I wouldn’t mind if you did,” Nico cut in. “Come on, stay a little longer? If you leave now, it’ll seem like you were just here for Lucy, and then I’ll know that you were intentionally ignoring me earlier.”
“Are you sure?” Will asked. “You seem a little tired, I just don’t want to keep you from getting your rest.”
Nico waved him off, saying, “I have a six-year-old, I’m always tired. Have another glass of wine with me?” He took one of Will’s hands as he walked past him, guiding him back into the living room.
“I probably shouldn’t, since I’m driving,” Will reminded him.
“Water, then?” Nico offered. “Or I can make coffee?”
“Water’s fine.”
Nico gestered into the living room with a, “Make yourself at home,” before he stepped into the kitchen. Will took a seat on the couch and Nico returned a moment later with a glass of water for Will and wine for himself. He sat criss-cross at the opposite end of the couch, leaning back against the arm so that he could face Will.
They sat and talked for a little while, Nico only managing to finish half of his glass before his head tipped to rest against the back of the couch, blinking slowly and mostly just listening while Will did all the talking.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to go?” Will asked after a particularly long blink, gently prying Nico’s wine glass from his hands and placing it on the coffee table next to them. “It looks like you’re about to fall asleep on me.”
Nico sighed, straightening up and stretching his arms over his head. “Maybe you’re right. But I’m still awake enough to walk you to the door.”
They rose from the couch, Nico moving a little slower than Will, and made their way to the door.
“I had a great time,” Will told him once they got to the door, though neither made a move to open it.
“You’re just saying that so I don’t feel bad for almost falling asleep,” Nico said.
“No, I really mean it,” Will insisted. He leaned closer, taking Nico’s hands in his and lacing their fingers. “I hope this isn’t too forward of me, but I think I remember being promised a kiss at the end of the night.”
Nico hummed, smiling sleepily up at him. “Is that so? Well, I can’t break a promise.”
Will tipped his head down, pressing his lips to Nico’s softly, intending to keep the kiss chaste, but Nico pressed closer, releasing Will’s hands so that he could reach up and wrap his arms around Will’s shoulders. Will’s hands managed to find Nico’s waist before he had to break the kiss, unable to go on while he was smiling so wide.
Nico rest his forehead against Will’s, one of his hands slipping from Will’s shoulder until he was tugging gently on Will’s tie. “Next time, I’ll try to remember to dress up for you.”
“Next time?” Will repeated.
“Yeah,” Nico whispered. “And I’m gonna kiss you again next time, too. That’s another promise you can’t let me break, okay?”