Chapter Text
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“I didn’t see you at breakfast,” Will asked once Nico opened the door for him.
Nico stared at Will for a second and then he sighed.
“Because I didn’t go,” Nico said, matter-of-factly.
“Nico,” Will said with the tone that has become a little bit too familiar for Nico. “Breakfast is the most important meal in a day, Neeks.”
Nico rolled his eyes. “So you come here just to lecture me about that?”
Will grinned. “That, and a few other things.” He stretched out one of his hands that he had been hiding behind his back. “Here, I brought you some breakfast,” he said, showing a plate with some French toast and eggs on it.
Nico could not help but to smile a little as he took the plate from Will.
“Thanks, Will,” he said, half-mumbling. He already ate two granola bars so he was not that hungry, but knowing how Will had been kind enough to bring him something felt nice.
Holding the plate, Nico stepped away from the door. Will invited himself in and closed the door behind him. Nico walked to his bed.
“But really, Nico. Why you didn’t come to breakfast?” Willa asked as he followed Nico.
Nico sighed. “Long story,” he said.
He climbed to his bed and sat cross-legged there. He leaned against the headboard and put the plate on his plate. Will sat on the bed too, close to him. He bent down to put whatever it was that he’d been hiding behind his back to the floor. Nico was about to ask what it was but Will already asked him another question.
“Care to share?”
“I’ve told you it’s a long story.”
Will shrugged his shoulder, slightly smiling. “It’s okay. I have the time to listen.”
Nico’s heart fluttered a bit. There was something about Will that made Nico feel safe. Like he could trust Will with everything.
Nico bit his lip, then he placed the plate on the nightstand next to his bed.
“The thing is,” Nico said. “Today is February 14.”
“Valentine’s Day,” Will said, nodding a little. His eyes looked a bit softer.
“Yeah. And I hate Valentine’s Day.”
“Huh?” Will’s eyes widened and for a second, it looked like a shadow fell on his face.
Nico bowed his head down, absently drawing little circles on his bedsheet.
“Have I ever told you about how I met Cupid?”
Will tilted his head to the left as he kept his eyes at Nico.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Is it okay if I ask you how?”
“Well,” Nico said as he pulled his knees to his chest. “Here’s the story.”
He wrapped his arms around his knees, and started telling Will about his encounter with Cupid. About that dark times that Nico completely hate to think about. Nico would do anything to erase that from his memory. But somehow, after telling it to Will, it was like a heavy weight had been lifted out of his chest.
“So yeah,” Nico said and let out a long sigh. He rested his chin on his folded knees and looked at Will. “That’s why I hate Valentine. It’s like… The day just made the memory kind of…resurfaced.”
Will smiled softly. “It must be really hard, huh? I could not even imagine how you must have felt at that time.”
Nico shrugged his shoulders.
“Anyway,” he said. “That’s why I don’t feel like going out of my cabin tonight. I mean… I felt bad that I…” he paused and moved his hand vaguely as he tried to find the way to express what he meant. “You know, I don’t want to ruin people’s excitement about this day by…looking all gloom and miserable.”
“Oh, Nico…” Will said as he shifted closer to Nico. “Why do you have to feel that way? Just because other people like something, doesn’t mean that you have to pretend that you like it too.” Will raked his fingers through Nico’s dark curls.
Nico groaned and leaned to rest his forehead on Will’s shoulder. Will’s hand slid down from his hair to his back, where he rubbed it soothingly.
Nico sighed. He could only let his guard down in front of a very few people. And for reasons that Nico could not understand himself, Will was one of those people.
For a while, none of them said anything. But the silence and Will’s presence comforted Nico like a warm blanket. Nico took a deep breath, then he pulled away. That was when he saw the thing that Will put on the floor. Nico lifted his head up to meet Will’s eyes.
“Will? Why you have a bouquet with you?”
How Will’s face changed colors into a deep shade of red so quickly was almost comical.
“Oh, uh…” Will leaned down to quickly snatched the bouquet. “It was nothing,” he said as he hid the bouquet behind his back.
Nico rolled his eyes.
“Will. I just told you something that literally has been one of my biggest secrets,” he said. “And now you are refusing to tell me one simple little thing?”
Then a thought crossed Nico’s mind.
Nico was pretty sure that there were roses in that bouquet. And today was Valentine’s Day. What if Will just got that bouquet from someone?
From someone who liked Will and had enough courage to tell him by giving him that bouquet?
Nico knew for sure that even though Will often denied it, Will was actually a hopeless romantic.
“Is it because of Valentine’s Day?” Nico tried to joke. He even forced a smile that he hoped looked like a teasing one.
“Did you just get it from someone?” Nico asked another question.
If it was even possible, Will’s face got even redder now.
“Uhm… I…” Will paused and nervously ran a hand over his head.
Another thought flashed in Nico’s mind.
What if it was for someone?
Somehow, that possibility felt even worse.
Will closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Nico felt like blood was draining out of his face as Will slowly opened his eyes.
“It’s actually for someone.”
Nico’s heart lurched down to his stomach. He unconsciously gripped his bedsheet with one hand and forced himself to fake a smile.
“Really?” he asked, cursing himself as he could hear how his own voice trembled. “Who…Who is it for?”
Will’s blue eyes were as soft as his smile when he pulled his hand from behind, so Nico could see the bouquet now.
“It’s for you,” he said as he slowly handed out the bouquet to Nico.
Nico let out a small surprised gasped. He looked at the bouquet then his eyes darted to Will’s eyes.
“For me?”
Will nodded, a shy smile on his face.
Feeling like he was half-hypnotized, Nico took the bouquet. He stared at the bouquet for a while, at the red roses and yellow sunflowers, tied together with a white ribbon. He looked up at Will again, still with confusion.
“But…why?”
Will’s smile disappeared. Will ran his hands over his face, then clasped them beneath his chin.
“Promise you won’t get mad at me?”
“Oookay?”
Will sighed as his hands fell down to his lap.
“Listen, I did not know that you hate Valentine’s Day.”
Nico shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I’ve never told you before about it.”
“Well, yeah. But it still makes me feel bad.”
“Will, just tell me, okay?”
Will bowed his head down for a second or two, like he was preparing to say something important. He lifted his head up again, and there was something in his eyes that Nico could not really put his fingers on to.
“I thought… Since... It’s Valentine’s Day, I wanted to ask whether you want…to go out with me?” Will was half-cringing, like he himself could not believe what he just said. Then he took a deep breath and exhale it out in a huff.
“So. Yeah.”
Nico stared at him. He was still a bit confused but he could feel heat was creeping in to his cheeks.
“You mean, like… go out together? To the dining pavilion? Or the campfire?”
Will scratched the back of his ear nervously.
“Kind of. Not really. Well, something like that?”
Nico raised up his eyebrows.
“I mean… go out as in…dating,” Will said.
Nico’s heart skipped a beat as he stared at Will.
“Dating?” He said. “Like… like…as in…boyfriends?”
Gosh, the word sounded so foreign and strange in his tongue, but at the same time, it sparked some hope inside of him.
The corner of Will’s lips curled up higher into a gentle smile. “Well… I mean… That’s what I was hoping for.”
The heat that was creeping in on Nico’s cheeks was now burning his whole face. Nico bowed his head down. He bit his lower lip but a smile already bloomed and his chest felt like it was about to explode, and the butterflies in his stomach were now flapping their wings like crazy.
He lifted his head up and he kind of hated himself because he could not stop himself from smiling stupidly. But at the same time, he could not care less because he was just so so happy.
He peeked at Will from beneath his eyelashes, and nodded.
“Okay,” he said, quickly looking down at the bouquet that he was holding.
“Really?”
Nico steeled himself to lift his head up, meeting Will’s eyes. Will’s smile was practically the brightest thing ever and it was just so beautiful. This time Nico didn’t even bother to think about how wide his own smile was as he nodded.
“Really.”
Will laughed and even his laughter was almost musical. Will reached out for Nico’s hand, holding it gently.
“So, boyfriends?” Will asked, half-whispering.
Nico gave him a single nod and held Will’s hand back, squeezing it a little.
“Boyfriends,” he said. The word still felt weird on his tongue and probably it would still felt weird for a while. But at the back of his mind, Nico thought he might get used to it eventually. He wouldn't mind it to get used to it.
Nico used to hate Valentine’s Day. But since that day, February 14 was no longer just a date that he dreaded to see on the calendar.
***