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Nico is in the middle of painting his toe nails when the door bell rings, so there’s no way he’s going to get up. He’s a little confused; he’s not expecting anyone before Will’s study group ends in two hours, and the even the delivery guy said it’ll be 30 more minutes for his Chinese. His first instinct is to just wait it out and maybe the person will go away, but then the door bell rings again, and Nico has to sigh.
“It’s open!” he calls out, picking up his phone and lowering the music volume enough to hear. The door opens and closes, and there’s a rather soft hey that instantly makes Nico’s lips pull into a smile. “Hey, you’re early.”
Will appears into the living room doorway, but he’s not looking quite as cheery as he usually does. He puts in the effort, though, so Nico doesn’t mention it. “Yeah, um. I was running late to the study group, and then I spilled coffee all over myself, and when I got to the library I just…” Will looks down and tugs at the hem of his t-shirt. It’s a nice t-shirt, but it has a large wet coffee stain all over the band logo. “Can I borrow a shirt? And a charger?”
“Of course.” Nico gives him a smile, but Will isn’t looking up so he probably doesn’t see. “The charger is by the bedside table. And I just did laundry, so most of my shirts are still in the basket by the closet.”
Will nods, then drops his bag by the wall and turns towards the bedroom. Nico looks after him for a moment, wondering if he should say something, but then shrugs. It’s probably nothing. It wouldn’t be the first time Nico has overreacted to something, read too much into situations that were nothing out of the ordinary. He does that a lot. He’s been meaning to work on that; no time like the present.
Nico turns back to his toe nails and adds a second coat, humming along to the music. He scrolls through his social media while he waits for the polish to dry enough for a top coat, and thanks his lucky stars that his indecisiveness made him order enough food for two people. He’s not sure what Will’s plans are, if he’s still going to meet with the study group or not, but Nico likes to have a plan. And a back up plan. And he likes taking care of Will, who sometimes forgets to eat properly when he’s stressed like this.
Will is still in the bedroom when Nico is done with painting his nails and cleaning up. That’s… well, it’s not not normal, but it’s not usually Will who gets like this. It’s Nico, and now that the roles are reversed, Nico finds himself panicking a little. What is going on? Is it something Will has heard, or did something happen? For all Nico thinks he knows Will, he’s not sure he’s seen Will like this more than once, but back then they barely knew each other so there was nothing he could do. Now? They’ve been dating for almost two months, and sure, that’s not that long, but shouldn’t he know these things by now?
Squaring his shoulders, Nico turns off the speaker, cutting Taylor off mid-song and apologizing in his mind. He rounds the corner to the bedroom, then frowns when he sees Will just sitting there, looking down at his phone that’s decidedly not plugged into the charger.
“You okay there?”
Will jumps a little, almost dropping his phone. He’s changed his shirt, at least, now wearing one of Nico’s favorite sweaters, the soft one with frayed hems. It looks a little silly on Will, but Nico knows how nice it feels on his skin, and thinks that was probably a bigger motive than looks ever were.
“Yeah. Sorry.” Will clears his throat and tries for a smile again. It comes a little easier this time, it seems, and Nico feels a little relieved. “Spaced out, I think.” He leans back on the bed, reaches out on the floor to pick up the charger, and sets his phone down. He doesn’t get back up.
Nico takes a careful step forward, then another. Will doesn’t move when Nico very slowly sits on the bed, far enough to not be touching in case that’s not something Will wants right now, but close enough that he knows Will can feel the mattress dipping. “Do you… want to talk about it?”
A sigh is all that leaves Will’s lips. Nico would worry about that, about being annoying and needy and about intruding Will’s space with his questions, but then Will turns around and takes Nico’s hand. And the thing is, whatever it is that’s bothering Will, Will came here. He came to Nico’s apartment, even though the dorms are closer to the campus library, so he must want Nico there in some capacity, right? Then Will tugs on Nico’s hand, and keeps tugging until Nico takes the hint and lies down next to him on the bed, and after a little arranging Will is clinging to Nico’s torso with his head pillowed on Nico’s chest, and Nico can feel the remaining tension leave Will’s body with the second sigh.
Will’s hair is soft when Nico combs his fingers through it. He barely uses any product, and Nico thinks it’s absolutely unfair for someone to have such perfect hair and not realize what a gift it is. He just counts himself fortunate to be allowed to play with those curls like this, and lucky that Will actually likes his hair played with.
“I think I’m… socially exhausted. And just exhausted in general.”
It shouldn’t be such a surprise. All the signs are there, Nico knows them better than anyone, and he should have been putting two and two together from the moment Will walked in. But Will has never said anything about that before; how is Nico supposed to know this is a thing that can happen to such an extroverted, generally happy person? A people person? A person like Will?
Nico feels a little bit of an idiot, but he tries his best not to let it show. “I didn’t know you get that way, too.”
“Me either.” Will sounds a little better already. He’s quiet for a moment, and in that time Nico merely holds him and plays with his curls. He really hopes the Chinese delivery takes a little bit longer and doesn’t interrupt a perfectly good cuddle. “Do you mind if we just stay in tonight? I really don’t feel like going to a concert.”
The campus cafe has a few local bands playing the first Friday of every month, and Will and Nico have been going every time since their first semester. It’s been a silent agreement that they go, if nothing else then support their friends, but it’s not like Nico specifically wants to see the bands. For a long time now, the concerts have just been a reason to spend time with Will, first as friends, then as a guy with a seemingly impossible crush, and now as boyfriends. Agreeing to stay in is easy.
Will nuzzles his shoulder in thanks, then settles in to just be held. Nico closes his own eyes and listens to the sounds outside his window while Will runs his hand up and down his side, over the tank top but under the plaid. It tickles a little, but after a while Nico’s skin gets used to the sensation, like it always does. His toes are a bit chilly, since he didn’t put on any socks after painting the nails, but he can’t be bothered about changing that right now. He’s way too comfortable, and if his instincts are correct, Will needs this. Him, them, this, the quiet and the closeness. Will is not like Nico, he’s a people person, and he might be socially exhausted, but he still came here. He still needs Nico.
“You really should lock your door, you know.”
Nico smiles. Not because what Will says is funny, but because Will sounds more and more himself. “I know”, he says just as his door bell rings. He’s getting tired of the sound. “Speaking of, that’s food. Give me two seconds.”
He extracts himself from Will and drops a quick kiss to the top of his head before dashing to the door. He tips the delivery guy a little more generously than is necessary, but he doesn’t want to waste time looking for the smaller bills. After picking up paper napkins from the kitchen, Nico returns to the bedroom with the food to find Will sitting up and hiding a yawn behind his sleeve.
“Chinese in bed?” Will asks, his eyebrows climbing up in question. “Are you sure?”
Nico merely shrugs and climbs up the bed, leaning his back against the headboard and crossing one of his legs over the other. “I can always wash the bedspread.”
Will knows how strict Nico usually is about his rule of no food in bed – and honestly, Nico feels a little light headed when he starts taking the containers out of the plastic bag and spreading them in front of them on the bed. But this is just another thing he’s been meaning to work on. There’s nothing wrong with his rule in general, he can just be… well, a little mad about it sometimes. Rules are meant to be broken. But Will knows this, and Nico knows that he knows, which is probably why Will’s smile is so warm and fuzzy when he leans in to kiss Nico over the containers.
“You’re a really amazing guy, you know that?” Will says as he moves to sit next to Nico, their shoulders brushing with every shift of an arm. Nico knows it’s weird that he still gets so tingly around Will, but he can’t help it. He just likes Will so much; kind of thinks he might be in love with him.
So Nico smiles and hands Will a napkin. “Well. I try.”
Nico reaches out for the dumplings, but Will’s hand is on his arm all of a sudden, tugging on the sleeve of the plaid. “Is this my shirt?”
The back of Nico’s neck starts to burn. Right. He had meant to change before Will came over that afternoon, but since Will showed up earlier than planned… “Uh. Yes?” Nico doesn’t exactly mean it to sound like a question. It’s not like he can lie about it anymore; the can’t out of the bag. “Sorry. I should have asked.”
Nico doesn’t understand why he imagined it would be a problem. Isn’t Will the one wearing one of Nico’s sweaters? It’s just that Will left the plaid at his apartment when he was staying over last week, and it’s laundry day, and the fabric is soft and it kind of smells like Will, and it’s not weird, and the sleeves are totally alright when he rolls them up a bit –
“It’s okay.” Will’s smile is soft. A little shy. Nico is reminded that he might not be the only one who gets a little tingly in this relationship. It’s a nice thought. “Looks good on you.”
Yes. Definitely in love with him. Nico can feel the blush spread into his cheeks when he returns the smile and nudges Will with his shoulder. He bites on a dumpling and makes a mess all over the bedspread. He doesn’t even care.