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Nico sat in the ditch next to his car, pulling at his hair and rocking back and forth. The moon was absent from the pitch black sky and October wind was snaking up his back. This is not how he envisioned his late night drive back from the city going. He was expecting more of a peaceful, spookily aesthetic trip home and some hot tea before bed. Now it was 3 am. The towing company wouldn’t be here until at least eight and none of his friends were picking up. Of all the awful vehicular accidents that had happened to him in the last few months, this just had to be the cherry on top.
The damp grass he was sitting on was just making him colder, and the moisture was starting to seep through the ass of his jeans. He should probably be inside his car, where it was dry and slightly warm--and he at least had less of a chance of getting picked up by a homicidal maniac. But he couldn’t get signal inside his car. There was only one contact left in his phone he hadn’t tried and even the thought of the repercussions of waking Will up make him shiver harder than the autumn chill.
The little box on his screen inched lower and crossed into red. 10% battery left. He steeled what little courage he had left and dialed Will’s number.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
“What?” his voice was groggy and already irritated. Nico curled tighter into his knees as the time a few months ago when Piper called him at 11 to see if he wanted to hang out and get pizza came to mind. That did not end well. Will was very strict with his 10 o’clock bedtime, and it was several hours past 10 o’clock.
“Hi, uh, it’s Nico. I’m,yeah thank you so much for picking up because my car broke down like, twenty minutes outside town and now the tow truck won’t be here for hours and—“
A car zoomed past and blew his hair into his face. He could feel his throat tightening and his eyes starting to sting. “And no one else is picking up and my phone is going to die so—“
“Where are you?” Will cut him off. Nico looked around for anything that might be more specific than ‘a ditch’. He got lucky. There was a sign for some local strawberry fields just a couple of yards away.
“I’m on 81, in a ditch by the sign for the Delphi Strawberry company.”
Will groaned. “Whatever. I’ll find you. Get in your car and lock the doors, I’ll be there soon.”
Nico didn’t even have time to gush any ‘thank you’s’ before Will hung up on him.
No matter how many times Nico ended up in this situation, it would never stop being terrifying. He was completely alone in the dark, with no way to escape if a murderer decided they wanted a skinny italian for their next target. God, he really should have taken Hazel up on the offer to keep her old softball bat in the back seat.
The call to Will had zapped the last of his battery. Passing the time in absolute silence was going to kill him. He squeezed his eyes shut and gripped the steering wheel. Don’t panic . Don’t panic. Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic, don’tpanicdon’tpanicdon’tpanic—
The knock at the window made him jump.
Will was in his pajamas, arms crossed over his flannel top and bags already forming under his eyes. He looked more tired than pissed off.
“Nico, come on, it’s cold,” he whined.
He could have hugged him. He didn’t.
The orange numbers blinking on the dashboard of Will’s car read 3:38. Ten minutes since his phone died. It had felt like an eternity longer.
“How’d you get here so fast?” he clicked his seatbelt into place and finally let himself relax.
Will rubbed his eyes and yawned. “I may have broken several road safety laws.”
Nico scoffed. “No way. I’ve never seen you drive above fifty. What have you done with my Will?”
Will’s slippers were a godawful shade of yellow that clashed horribly with his red pajamas. He hadn’t even stopped to put on shoes…
“ Your Will,” he said, “Just ran three red lights and drove 80 in a 45 to make sure you didn’t have a panic attack on the side of the word.”
They were going a safe 35 now, even though there was no one else on the road. It was quiet, peaceful. This was more like the trip home he’d envisioned.
The car pulled to a stop gently outside Nico’s apartment. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned to meet Will’s eyes.
“Thank you so much. I really do owe you one this time...“
“You do,” Will said. “Can I come in?”
“Uh, sure. Of course,” Nico stammered.
It wasn’t like Will hadn’t been in his living room before. They’d been friends for years, hell, Will had met his parents at Christmas last year. But now…something was different and he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.
“Do you want some tea or?“
Will looked nervous. Which was weird. In all the time they’d known each other, nervous was not a word he could have used to describe Will Solace.
“Nico, if I don’t say it now I never will.” He took a deep breath. “I’ve liked you for like, two whole years. And I sound like a middle schooler saying it this way but I don’t think I even realized until half an hour ago. For the longest time my chest would get tight when I was around you and I would think: hey, this shouldn’t be happening. I don’t smoke. I don’t have any history of lung disease. My breathing is fine most of the time,” he looked up to meet Nico’s eyes and he was wearing the dopiest half grin. “I actually had one of the interns at work give me a checkup last week.”
Nico was frozen in place, one hand halfway to the cabinet for the tea, the other already holding the kettle. Oh. Oh.
“Anyway,” he continued while Nico stood slack-jawed. “I don’t want to be that asshole who tries to pressure you into going out with me after I just did you a favor and followed you into your house.” He stood up and ran his fingers through his curly bedhead. “I guess I just wanted you to know I have everyone else’s ringtone on silent. I wouldn’t even have picked up for anyone else. So whenever you wake up tomorrow, however early or late that is—uh. Just. Give me a call and let me know if we need to pretend this never happened or—“
“You talk too much,” Nico sighed. It was like he could physically feel all the emotional turmoil he’d been in for the last few hours settling into a solid cast all over his body. It was exhausting. “Do you just wanna go to bed?”
Will’s face turned cherry red and Nico cringed.
“No, I mean,” he set his mug down on the table. “I’m tired. I just wanted to go to the library but the only 24 hour one is an hour away and—you know what, it doesn’t matter. I’m tired. I want to go to bed and I’m sick of sleeping alone, so if you’re serious about this you can sleep here tonight and just hold me. No nsfw activity involved,”
“I...yeah. I think I can deal with that.”
“Good.”
Nico left to change, and when he returned Will was ringing his hands. His nails were all short and uniform, clean. Doctor’s hands. There were freckles on his knuckles and wrists, lighter than the ones on his face. Nico took Will’s hands in his own and led him into his dark room, navigating them around the dresser and sinking into the sheets. The window was open and cool air flooded in through the window. His comforter was warm and inviting, especially with the added body heat of Will lying next to him. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t get nervous easily, panic was his middle name--but somehow none of this felt out of the ordinary.
Nico rested his cheek against the soft fabric of Will’s shirt and listened to his heartbeat in his chest. It was fast, like a hummingbird’s against his skin. The thumping of it was oddly comforting. He wrapped his arms around Will’s waist and their legs tangled together underneath the blankets like this wasn’t the first time this had happened. Slowly but surely, the beating in Will’s chest slowed to match Nico’s and everything was quiet. Will drifted off first and Nico felt him pull him closer in his sleep. He could get used to this.