Work Text:
There were a few things Nico didn't like about the underworld. Like the sight of his father's cape (even by Hades standards, it was too gothic) and the distinct smell of the cereal that seemed to linger even when Demeter wasn't there. Then there were things Nico hated about the underworld, like the fields of Asphodel where he'd first found Hazel, or how his stepmother was always thinking of creative ways to turn him into a flower.
And then there were things Nico absolutely hated about the underworld. Like the absence of certain someone who radiated so much warmth and sunshine and made everything a little less worse.
So when he returned from a three-day trip to the underworld, he didn't waste a second pulling his boyfriend away from the infirmary to his cabin and spending some quality time with him.
By 'quality time', he meant making out until they were both out of breath and exhausted, and then holding each other while they took a nap.
So here he was, in his boyfriend's arms, kissing him like his life depended on it (right now, he wouldn't be surprised if it did). Nico wandered his hands from Will's soft golden locks to his freckled chin and rested them there for a moment.
When he brought his hands to Will's arms and rested them there for support, Will stopped the kiss, putting a little distance between them. Nico wasn't sure, but he thought he heard Will mumble a Sorry.
Huh, that's weird. Had it been some other day, Nico would have put more effort into giving it a thought and wondering what was wrong. But he hadn't seen his special guy for three whole days, so he decided to start over again.
When Nico leaned in to Will's lips again, he returned the kiss with a little hesitation at first, but Nico could feel Will relaxing with every passing second. Soon they were making out like before and Nico found it insanely easy to forget anything that wasn't or didn't feel like Will.
Until Will suddenly pulled back again and put some distance between them. This time Nico heard distinct 'I'm sorry' from Will.
"Okay what's going on, Will?" Nico tried his best to keep hurt out of his voice.
Surely Will wasn't losing interest in him, was he?
Just the other week, Nico had come out to Will as asexual. The whole ordeal had witnessed an impossibly long conversation, some heavy tears from both parties, and a promise from Will's part that this would never change anything between them, ever.
They hadn't had time to properly talk about it, since he had to go to his father's realm to run some errands, but they'd covered the basics. And Will had been nothing but supportive, taking him by surprise when he told Nico that he might have suspected it for a while.
Nico loved Will. He'd admitted the fact to himself before they started dating six months ago. He knew he loved Will even when he was just figuring things out for himself. Even during his brief moments of self-hatred and doubt (Maybe I don't love him enough, maybe that's why I don't feel—), he'd shake himself and remind himself that no, no matter what, he had to know that He loved Will.
And Will loved him too, Nico was sure of that. How could he not be sure, when Will whispered those words to him every single day?
And it wasn't just the words. It was the way Will looked at him when he thought no one was watching, the way he knew when to hold Nico's hand in public and when to give him space, how for all those lectures about eating and drinking healthy, he still sneaked in his portion of fries to Nico's plate because Nico once off-handedly mentioned that he loved the fries from camp.
He knew his coming out as ace to Will hadn't changed it. If anything, Will had starting to shower him with even more affection and so much sappiness it made Nico want to barf (he secretly enjoyed every bit of it). At first he'd thought maybe it was Will's way to make up for the sex (or the lack thereof), but he knew Will was naturally an affectionate person (not that he had any complaints).
So Nico was pretty sure Will loved him. But maybe Will had thought things over when he'd been to underworld, and decided Nico wasn't worth it. Maybe he'd realized that it would be a lot more difficult to keep the promise. Maybe he'd come to his senses and—
"—Neeks. Hey, hello?" Nico snapped out of his musings to Will's voice, and realized he must have zoned out for quite a while. Will looked his normal self, devoid of any guilt but maybe a little confused.
"Sorry, must have zoned out," Nico cleared his throat and continued, "You were saying?"
"Nothing. I— You just asked something."
"I was asking you what's going on. As in what's wrong, Will."
"Uhh, nothing? I don't really— I'm confused."
"So you're denying that you've been acting weird today—"
"—I haven't been acting weird—"
"—and you haven't been pulling away every time we kiss?"
"I'm not— wait that's what this is about?" Will asked, his confused expression finally gaining some clarity.
"Why, is there something else I need to be worried about?" Nico countered, this time not trying to hide the hurt from his voice.
Will scooted over to Nico's side and held both his hands. Even if Will was still sitting too far for Nico's liking and that he was supposed to be mad at him, Nico felt his tension ease away.
"But you gave me a— that was a signal, wasn't it?" Will asked.
It was Nico's turn to be confused. "A what?"
"A signal. You squeezed my arm. Twice."
"And?" Honestly, what the hell was Will talking about?
"And that was the signal for me to back off," Will must have registered Nico's confused look, "What part are you confused about?"
"Um, everything?"
Will didn't attempt to clear anything up, but to Nico's surprise, he started laughing. When he realized Nico hadn't joined him, he stifled the laughter into a series of coughs. "Wait, you're kidding, right?"
Nico gave him a look that screamed that he most definitely was not kidding.
"We decided on using a signal of sorts for when it felt too overwhelming for you or when I got too close for your comfort."
When had they had that talk?
"Not that I'd intentionally do anything to make you uncomfortable, mind you," Will added, which seemed unnecessary to Nico, since he already knew that.
"I— when did we make a signal?" If they'd discussed this, Nico would definitely have remembered.
"Do you not really remember anything? Did you just zone out of the whole thing?"
That was one plausible explanation. He had a tendency to do that during conversations and sometimes he'd had to pay for it dearly. The worst thing that had happened was when he'd shrugged and given an affirmative 'Sure' to Piper when they were talking about— something. It wasn't until Piper had dragged him to her cabin and "experimented" his hair with bright blue colour he realized what he must have agreed to.
But this wasn't about his stupid hair. It was about his relationship with Will and how Will wanted to make sure Nico felt secure and comfortable in their relationship. He was (almost) sure they'd never had the conversation Will had just talked about before. But that didn't explain why Will was so adamant.
"Oh come on! We talked about it for so long. Two squeezes on my arm means I need to back off. Two times pat on the arm means you don't feel like being touched there. Nothing?" At least Will looked like he believed him now.
"Nothing. Unless you discussed something of that kind with your other asexual boyfriend and mistook him for me," Nico joked and immediately winced. He knew Will wasn't looking to ignore him or break up with him, but it was still too soon to make jokes.
"Shut up," Will pinched the skin on the back of Nico's hand slightly, which was a recent development where Will did it whenever Nico teased him. Nico had teased him about that too, saying Will was too much of a pacifist to do anything more than that.
"C'mon, we discussed it like two days ago, how could you not remember?" Will tried again.
"Two days ago I was in the underworld, running errands for my father."
"Well then it must have been like four days ago. You were sitting right there"— Will pointed across the other side of the bed— "And I was facing you. We had a long chat about the signals and how they'd work—"
"—We did not—"
"— And I told you about the pillow pet I had in my bedroom as a child—"
"—Don't you think I'd remember that—"
"—And, you mentioned you were hungry and we went downstairs in the kitchen where mama baked us some cookies."
Then it dawned on Nico. It must have on Will too, and it was definitely fun to see Will's expression shift when realization hit him like a train.
"There's a— Uhh, there may be a slight chance that it might have happened in my dream?"
"It might? No way!" Nico fake gasped, using elaborate hand gestures to emphasize his point.
"Gods, I'm such an idiot," Will said, and ignoring Nico's baritone of 'You think?', he held out his arms to Nico. "I'm so sorry, sunshine. C'mere."
Nico took a moment to accept the warm invitation since he was laughing so much (mostly out of relief), Will joined him. The whole thing was so ridiculous yet definitely like something Will would do.
Once their laughter had subsided into giggles (on Will's part; Nico certainly didn't giggle), Nico fell forward into Will's still inviting arms. If he'd felt relief earlier, it was nothing compared to how positive and elated he felt now.
"Do you think we should talk about that?" Will asked, rubbing small circles on Nico's back.
"About your fake lucid dreaming tendencies?"
"Not that," Will snorted, "The thing we discussed in the dream. Maybe we could have a real conversation, you know."
The idea didn't sound bad, and Nico appreciated how Will was always looking to make Nico comfortable about everything, but Nico didn't want to discuss it right now. Not when all he wanted to do was lay on the bed and take in the warmth of his boyfriend holding him. Besides, the exhaustion he'd been feeling while we was in the underworld was finally catching up to him.
"How about we talk about it tomorrow? We could make a "signal" like you did in your dream."
"Tomorrow it is, then. Although, we'll probably need to decide on a new signal, given how much you looove squeezing my arms," Will laughed.
"Ughh, shut up Will," Nico groaned, which made Will only laugh harder.
"Seriously what is it about them that— Ow! Hey!" Nico dug his elbow into Will's ribs. Will shoved Nico in return, but didn't let him get too far.
Nico took a moment to take in Will's face— his eyes that seemed to hold the stars and the sun at the same time, and his stupidly warm smile.
He was suddenly reminded of the day they'd had the conversation about him being asexual, after the long conversation when they were both feeling a little exhausted and a whole lot lighter, Will had made an awful joke about how he was proud to have a boyfriend who 'aced' in everything.
His boyfriend was a huge dork, and he wouldn't change a thing about it.
"Hey Will, next time you have to of those discussions with me in your dreams, just tell me. I'll travel to your dream and we'll have a nice chat, and that way we'll both remember it," Nico broke the silence.
"I'd forgotten you can do that," Will smiled affectionately, his eyes holding a sliver of pride and tenderness.
"You also forgot that the discussion you apparently had with me was in a dream, so I'm not surprised," Nico teased.
"In my defense, I'd been thinking about it a lot that day. I was going to talk to you about it once you returned."
"And you got so impatient that you decided to have the conversation by yourself? In your dream? That's not a very good defense, Will."
"Hey, don't blame me. Blame the weirdly vivid dreams that demigods have."
"Excuses, excuses," Nico teased in a singsong voice.
There were many things Nico loved about Will. Like the slightly affronted expression he was wearing right now when Nico teased him, or, quoting Will's words, "became a smartass".
What he loved the most was the look that was only for Nico to witness, when they were by themselves in the confines of his cabin or the infirmary or in their own little world. When Will looked at him like that, Nico knew, and he believed he'd be okay.
They would be okay.