Work Text:
Nico met Will in elementary school, after the death and resurrection of his mother. Will had been there with him when Nico’s mother kissed the top of his head and dropped dead right in front of them, for the second time. This time, however, there was no resurrection. It was his mother who had taught Nico about his ability, though she never knew herself, and she was also how Nico knew to never resurrect someone for longer than sixty seconds or else some other person would die in their place - Nico’s older sister’s life had been taken in place of his mother’s.
Will had been the only one that kept Nico sane and alive through the years, fascinated by Nico’s ability without being scared of it, and comforting without being suffocating.
Nico loved Will. He was only twelve, and Will thirteen, when he realized it. He didn’t know how he knew, hadn’t known what love was since his mother died all those years ago, but Nico was certain. He loved Will.
And then Will moved away. Nico had just turned thirteen and Will’s father had just gotten a newer, better job in some other state, and so Will had to leave Nico behind. They shared a single kiss the night before Will left, and Nico knew in that moment that he would never love someone like he loved Will.
Eventually, like all people do, Nico grew up. He learned to love and accept the love of others, though he never did find someone that made him as happy as Will always did. He met his half-sister, Hazel, and together they opened a bakery in the city. It was there that Nico met Reyna, a detective with the city police, and accidentally revealed his ability to both girls in the same second. Both had been shocked, but neither disgusted, and Reyna offered Nico an under-the-table job, helping her solve murders. He didn’t know why he agreed, but he did.
On one particular day, Reyna picked Nico up from the bakery and drove him to a funeral home. Nico had familiarized himself with many of the funeral homes in the area over the few years that he had been working with Reyna. He no longer bothered with paying attention to where they were going or who’s name was on the sign outside the building. He walked into the room beside Reyna, set his watch timer for sixty seconds, and opened the lid of the coffin.
He froze at the sight below him: blond hair, freckles, a pointed nose and the softest lips Nico had ever kissed.
“Nico,” Reyna said, trying to spur him on. “Are you going to do the thing, or not?” When Nico didn’t answer immediately, Reyna said, “Do you know him?”
“No!” Nico said, too quickly. “No, I just--” he started coughing, fake coughing, hoping that Reyna didn’t see through him. “Uh, could you go back to the car and get my water? I’ll ask the questions while you’re gone, and we can get out of here.”
Reyna rolled her eyes. “Whatever, just hurry this up before someone catches us here.”
Nico watched as Reyna left the room, waiting until the door was shut behind her before tapping Will on the forehead.
Will’s blue eyes blinked open, and he sat up slowly. He turned to face Nico and suddenly the room was so much brighter because of his smile. “Nico? Is that really you? What are you doing here? Where...are we?”
Will reached out for Nico, who jumped back before Will’s fingers could graze his arm.
Will’s smile dropped in a second. “Oh. Oh, I’m… I’m dead, aren’t I?”
Nico nodded, feeling tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. “Yeah,” he croaked, and then cleared his throat. “I’m so sorry, Will, but I need to know if you remember how it happened. According to the police, you were murdered. Do you know who did it?”
Will frowned. “Is this what you’ve been doing all this time? Solving murders with the police?”
“Will, please, you know we only have a minute,” Nico begged.
He sighed. “I was on a ferry, on my way to work, I think. Someone in a crew uniform attacked me. I think I… I fell over the side, or I was pushed. That’s all I know.”
“Thank you,” Nico said softly, and glanced down at his watch. Thirty seconds left. “I… I have to let you die, Will, but I don’t want to lose you again.”
“I understand,” Will told him. “Do I have time to say one last thing?”
Nico nodded.
“I love you, Nico,” Will said. “I always have, and I always will. I’ll be waiting for you on the other side. Can I...kiss you, just one last time?”
Nico brushed a tear from his cheek and leaned forward, hands resting on the edge of the coffin, but at the last second he pulled away.
Will blinked up at him. “Nico?”
“Play dead,” Nico said.
“What?”
“Play dead.” He looked at the door behind him, still shut but he didn’t know for how much longer. “My friend will be back any second now, but I won’t lose you again, I… I can’t, Will. So I need you to play dead, and I’ll come back for you in a few minutes, okay?”
Will nodded, laying back in the coffin and crossing his arms over his chest. He cracked one eye open at Nico and asked, “Do I look dead enough?”
“You look perfect,” Nico said, and shut the lid of the coffin.
He ran out of the room, whispering to himself, “Please don’t let Reyna be dead,” on repeat until he bumped into her in the hallway.
“Nico, what the hell!” Reyna exclaimed.
“Someone on the ferry did it,” Nico said, grabbing Reyna’s arm and walking her back toward the exterior door. “Someone in a crew uniform, that should narrow it down, right?”
“Why are you in such a rush?” Reyna demanded.
“Somebody caught me in the room,” Nico lied. “They didn’t see anything, but I think they’re suspicious of me. Let’s just get out of here, okay?”
Reyna nodded, and got into her car as soon as she was outside. Nico hesitated. “Nico, get in the car.”
“Actually, I, uh. I have to buy some stuff for the bakery,” Nico lied again. “I’m just gonna walk, I think, so I’ll see you later.” And he booked it around the corner.
He stood and waited until he saw Reyna’s car leave the parking lot before he went back inside, into the room where Will was waiting. He opened the lid and whispered Will’s name, and the beautiful blond smiled up at him again.
They went to the bakery, where Hazel was running the shop. Nico held the door open for Will to walk inside, and they left at least a foot of space between them at all times. Nico had told Will about Hazel and the bakery on the walk over, and introduce Hazel when they got inside.
“You met Nico when you were kids?” Hazel asked after shaking Will’s hand, noticing how cold his fingers were.
“Yeah, in elementary school,” Will replied.
Hazel raised an eyebrow at Nico suspiciously. “So you must know about his fascination with dead things, then.”
“It’s not a fascination, Hazel,” Nico said. “Drop it.”
“You must have hugged each other after not seeing him for such a long time, right?” Hazel continued. “If you really were such close friends. Maybe you should hug right now.”
Will turned toward Nico who jumped back from him.
“I knew it!” Hazel exclaimed. “I knew you were being weird! Will should be dead!”
“Hazel!” Nico shouted. “Say it louder, I don’t think Reyna heard you back at the police station!”
It didn’t take long for Hazel to get used to having Will around - he’d moved in with Nico above the bakery and had started working with them in the kitchen. The two boys danced around each other constantly, not wanting to accidentally bump into one another and kill Will on the spot, but Hazel could tell even then that Nico was so much happier with Will around.
Nico had never understood why old TV shows had couples sleeping in different beds in the same room, but seeing as it was the only safe way for Will to be the last thing he saw at night and the first thing he saw in the morning, he was perfectly fine with it. He could reach across the space between them with a gloved hand and intertwine his fingers with Will’s as they said goodnight after a long day.
He walked into their room one night to see Will sitting up on his bed, eyes red and hands shaking as he picked at a frayed hole in his pajama pants.
“Will? What’s wrong?” Nico asked, standing at the foot of the bed.
“I-- I’m alive,” Will said, “so someone else had to die. Someone is dead because of me.”
Nico moved to his own bed and picked up one of the blankets before moving back to Will. He wrapped the blanket around Will’s back and held it there with his arms around the other, cheek pressed against Will’s back. “Don’t think like that, Will. It’s not as bad as you think.”
“How?”
“I looked into it,” Nico told him. “The day that I brought you back, there was a report of an old man dying in that funeral home. He was eighty, I think, and his wife had just died. The report said he died from grief, and he probably would have soon, anyway. It’s not as bad as you think, because we reunited them. There were two reunions that day, us and them. Two good things, right? So it’s nothing to worry about.”
“Thank you, Nico,” Will said, and Nico still held him as Will cried.
The next morning, Will was back to his usual happy self. He cooked breakfast for the two of them and danced around Nico along to the music playing on the radio as Nico made them coffee - not that Will needed it, clearly.
After breakfast, Nico carried their plates back into the kitchen to be washed, and he heard Will rustling through the cabinets behind him. When Nico finished with the dishes, he turned around and walked straight into a piece of clear plastic wrap that covered his entire face.
Will pressed his lips to Nico’s through the thin sheet of plastic, and Nico felt his legs turn to jelly, almost causing him to collapse before Will pulled away, taking the plastic with him so that Nico could see him clearly - through the stars in his eyes, of course.
“You’re…” Nico whispered, struggling to catch his breath, “such a dork. And I love you for it.”