Work Text:
When Nico woke up, it took him a few seconds to remember where he was. The room wasn’t ice cold from a mini air conditioning unit, or completely dark due to blackout curtains - so it wasn’t his bedroom. The blinds covering the windows here were bent and dented, so slivers of sunlight still broke through, shining directly into Nico’s eyes and allowing the light into the room.
Still, across the apartment, there was a light on in the kitchen. From where he laid on the couch, Nico watched as Will - freshly showered, it seemed, and halfway dressed in pants but no shirt - moved throughout the small kitchen, silent but for his gentle humming as he worked.
I’m so in love with you, Nico wanted to tell him, and so he did.
Will stopped humming and glanced over his shoulder in surprise, not at Nico’s words, but in hearing him speak at all. He smiled, and a second later, he was carrying a coffee cup into the living room, placing it on the corner of the coffee table as he knelt beside the couch.
Will set a hand on Nico’s cheek and pressed a kiss to his forehead - the feeling reminded Nico of the ghost of a memory he had from hours or minutes ago when Will woke up first, but coaxed Nico back to sleep with a hushed voice and a gentle pressure against his forehead - and told him, “How about you tell me that again after you’ve had some coffee and woken up a bit?”
Nico huffed, but leaned into Will’s touch. “I’m awake,” he grumbled. “I’m definitely awake enough to tell you how I feel.”
Will’s smile softened. “I’m sure you are. Have some coffee.”
Nico pushed himself to sit up, rolling his eyes as he did so, and Will handed over the mug once Nico was settled. Nico took a sip just as Will got up to move across the room, back toward the kitchen, and Nico hummed in delight at the taste.
“This is good,” Nico told him, cradling the cup under his chin. “You made it perfectly.”
Will beamed at the praise. “Of course I did - I know what you like. I am in love with you, after all.”
Nico frowned. “Why do you get to say it, but I can’t?”
“Because I’ve been awake for an hour already. Had some coffee, took a shower, watched you sleep for a little while,” Will explained with a shrug as he stepped up to the kitchen sink before he began washing out his own coffee cup by hand. “I even fell in love with the way you snore, so. Yeah, I’m allowed to say it.”
“I don’t snore,” Nico argued.
Will shot him a grin. “You do. And it’s cute! It’s also cute how you think you’re going to argue with me about this. Like this isn’t the third time I’ve woken up next to you and caught you snoring.”
“Well I’m awake now,” Nico pointed out, “and not snoring. So you can stop talking about it.”
“Are you sure?” Will asked, his gaze flickering back and forth between Nico and the sink in front of him. “Because you look like you’re about to fall back asleep at any second.”
Nico set his coffee cup aside and threw the blanket off his legs with a huff before he pushed himself to his feet. “I’m awake,” Nico told him as he began marching across the apartment until he was close enough to shut off the sink. As Will picked up a towel to dry his hands, Nico grabbed hold of Will’s face and drew him in until they were nose to nose, almost as if he was pulling Will into a kiss, but stopped to tell him, “I love you.”
Will smiled. “And I love you.”
Nico’s eyes narrowed. “I’m in love with you.”
“I think we’ve already established that the feeling is mutual,” Will pointed out, his voice bubbling with giddy laughter.
“I’ve been in love with you for months,” Nico continued.
“Babe,” Will told him, tossing the towel aside so that he could wrap his arms around Nico’s waist unhindered, “you’re not gonna have me beat on this one. I’ve also been in love with you for months.”
Nico studied Will’s face. “You’re just trying to one-up me, because you’re jealous that I said it first.”
“Not true,” Will countered calmly. “I’m trying to establish the fact that we’re on even ground here. Because, in case you missed it, I’m kind of really in love with you.”
Nico shook his head. “I still feel like you’re not really getting it. I might just have to show you how much I love you.”
“You don’t have to prove your love for me,” Will told him with a laugh. “And besides, I was about to wake you up because I didn’t want to be the reason you were late for work. And yet here you are, about to make yourself late.”
Nico raised an eyebrow, challenging. After a beat, he said, dryly, “Oh no, I think I’ve suddenly come down with a bad case of food poisoning. I won’t be able to make it to work today. I probably won’t even be able to leave this apartment.” Nico lifted one of his hands from Will’s cheek and pressed the back of it to Will’s forehead with a gasp. “Oh no, you feel feverish. You’re probably sick, too. I should really get you into bed, and not let you leave all day long.”
Nico dropped his hands to Will’s shoulders and started pushing him in the direction of his bedroom, but Will wasn’t cooperating, too busy laughing at Nico’s terrible acting.
“Are you trying to sabotage my career right now?” Will teased.
Nico huffed again. “I’m trying to make love to you. Would you work with me here?”
Will’s smile was finally wiped away, replaced by a look of surprise that had his face suddenly blooming into a light pink. “O-oh.”
Nico rolled his eyes. “Finally, he reacts.” He rose up onto his tiptoes to press a kiss to the corner of Will’s mouth. Then, when he dropped back down onto his heels, Nico took a step back, releasing Will entirely. “I’m going to go call in. I suggest you do the same. And then… I suggest you get comfortable.”
Will nodded, and whispered, “I can do that.”
He retreated into his bedroom, while Nico returned to the living room, where his phone was sitting on the coffee table next to his abandoned mug. After shooting off a quick text to Lou, Nico made his way into Will’s bedroom and closed the door behind himself.
Lou was snooping through Nico’s emails - was it snooping when she had permission? - at his desk (his office chair was more comfortable than hers, sue her) when her phone buzzed a few times in her pocket. As she pulled it out, she leaned back in the chair and kicked her feet up onto the edge of Nico’s desk.
From: Nico; got food poisoning from that restaurant last night. I need you to push my meetings for the next day or two
Lou rolled her eyes, but made a mental note to start pushing meetings as soon as she finished checking her messages, and scrolled down to the next one.
From: Will; hey, I think I’m coming down with something. can you let people know I won’t be able to make it into the studio today? thanks!
Lou could’ve laughed if it wasn’t so obvious.
She started sending out messages from Nico’s computer, letting bands and managers and execs know that Nico was pushing meetings for the rest of the day, when there came a knock on the office door. Before she could say a word, the door cracked open, and Jason Grace poked his head inside.
“Hey, Neeks, I--” He blinked when he saw Lou at the desk. “Oh, uh. Sorry. Do you know where Nico is?”
Lou sighed heavily. “He’s getting laid.”