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Bianca’s Christmas concert had been a turning point for Nico. He’d been able to get himself to Bianca’s school, which was a victory on its own, and then for the days following, he slowly worked himself back to his usual self - cooking and cleaning and taking care of Bianca. The perfect house husband he’d never expected himself to be.
The only problem was that he’d been dodging calls from his publisher and kept pushing back their meetings when he hadn’t been feeling like himself. And now, just a few days before Christmas, he had to drive into the city to finally have that meeting. His publisher had threatened that if they didn’t meet before Christmas then they would cancel his book, and while he was pretty sure it was an empty threat, he hadn’t wanted to risk it.
When he returned home a few hours later, Will and Bianca were in the living room where he’d left them, but now there was an eight-foot tall tree standing near the window.
“Where did this come from?” he asked, standing between the kitchen and living room. Will grinned at him from across the room and hurried over to press a kiss to Nico’s lips. He pointed upwards and Nico’s eyes followed to the mistletoe hanging above them. “Really?” Nico asked, but he couldn’t help the smile slowly blooming on his lips.
“We got a Christmas tree,” Will told him as he looped an arm around Nico’s waist and led him into the room.
“I see that.”
“We got a new ornament, too!” Bianca said, a square box in her hand that she held out to Nico. “Daddy said that you should put it on the tree.”
Nico took the box from her hands and opened it, pulling the ornament out from within. It fit easily in his palm, and consisted of three snowmen - two big and one little - with their names each written neatly on one snowman.
“Bi picked it out when we got the tree,” Will told him softly before pressing a kiss to Nico’s cheek.
“I love it,” Nico said earnestly.
Will had to work on Christmas Eve, but managed to make it home just as Nico was about to start cooking dinner.
“Hey, you’re not working tomorrow, right? Don’t forget, we’re going over to Sally’s in the morning,” Nico said once he’d heard the front door close.
Will walked up behind him and wrapped his arms around Nico’s waist, his cold nose pressing into Nico’s neck. “I remembered, don’t worry. I’m done for today, too, and I was thinking that maybe we could hold off on dinner for a little while? Maybe get dressed up, go out somewhere, what do you think?”
“Did you have someplace in mind?” Nico asked.
“Well, I heard that a lot of the churches around are having a four o’clock Christmas Eve mass, and I figure that if we hurry we can make it in time to one of the closer churches.”
Nico spun around in Will’s arms, surprise evident on his face. “Really?”
“Yeah, if you want to,” Will answered.
“Yes, of course, I just, uh--” Nico glanced off to the side as his cheeks grew pink. “I haven’t been to Christmas mass in kind of a while.”
“You mean since that time you threw up in the holy water?” Will said. “Percy told me.”
“Of course he did,” Nico groaned, head tipping forward until his forehead hit Will’s collarbone.
“But this time will be much different, because there won’t be any drinking beforehand. So what do you say? Should I go tell Bi to get dressed?”
“Thank you,” Nico told him, looking into his eyes once more. “You’re the best, you know that?”
“I try,” Will said, and he pressed his lips to Nico’s.
They were the last ones to arrive at Sally’s the next day, not that Nico was surprised. He waved his hello to everyone as he walked through the living room, shook Paul’s hand when they nearly collided on Nico’s way to the kitchen, and said a proper hello to Sally once he’d found her. He’d immediately pushed up his sleeves to help with the cooking, but before he could touch anything, Sally had kicked him out.
He returned to the living room where Will was now sitting on the couch and Bianca was playing with Luke. Nico took a seat on the floor, leaning back against Will’s legs and listening for a conversation to possibly join.
Hazel sat down in front of him while he was looking the other way. “Nico,” she said, drawing his attention. “How are you feeling? You look happy.”
“I am,” Nico answered, and even he found it hard to believe that he was being honest. “I’m really happy.”
Hazel grabbed his shoulder and pulled him closer, bringing him into a hug. “That’s so great! I’m happy for you, Neeks, you deserve to have happy Christmas memories with the rest of us.”
“Thanks, Hazel,” he said. “I think this might be one of the best Christmases I’ve ever had.”