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It wasn’t that Will didn’t know he was dreaming. Waking up in the same bed as Nico with a golden band on his finger? Of course it was a dream, a perfect world centered around what he wanted most to keep him compliant until one of those djinn finished draining all of his blood. He didn't remember ever getting attacked by a djinn, but he remembered trying to track down the nest with Nico, and it was much more likely that he'd gotten caught off guard during the hunt than Nico just deciding to actually like him back one morning.
And even though he knew what it really was, it was hard to do anything but play along. Especially when Dream Nico woke up and rolled over and planted a sleepy kiss on his forehead, before getting out of bed to get them both coffee. And it was especially hard when Dream Nico held his hand during breakfast, their fingers intertwined like two perfect puzzle pieces as their tabby cat named JB (Will was surprised that Dream Nico let him get away with that) rubbed up against Will’s leg.
And, okay, maybe he was starting to feel slightly guilty about the whole thing when Dream Nico kissed him goodbye on his way out the door to meet Jason for lunch. It was hard to completely ignore the nagging feeling in the back of his head that he was taking advantage of Nico, especially when Nico’s goodbye kiss ended with his cold fingers toying with the bottom hem of Will’s t-shirt.
But this wasn’t his Nico, Will reminded himself sternly, pacing the hallways of their nice home in the suburbs. The pictures that lined the walls– them posing with their friends, them holding a young-looking version of JB, their wedding day – weren’t really of them, it was Will and some perfect dream version of Nico, looking happier than ever, living the exact kind of white-picket-fence life that Nico had always sworn he’d never want.
And the cat purring in his arms, gently swatting his chest with a fluffy striped tail, wasn’t real either. It was a vicious monster who was designed to lure him into this dream world and hold him here until he died, and it definitely was not the cat Will had dreamed of having ever since he was a little kid.
Will knew he couldn’t stay in this djinn world forever. It wasn’t even real. And Nico needed him, if not as a romantic partner, then definitely as a hunting partner, because god knows that Nico would’ve bled out years ago if it wasn’t for Will tenderly patching him up after every hunt-gone-wrong.
But…maybe Will just didn’t have to leave quite yet. Maybe he could just wait it out for the day, basking in the way Nico kissed him ever so casually and looked up at him so adoringly and the way their matching rings gleamed in the yellow-tinted lighting of their shared kitchen. This was a Nico who was in love with Will to the same extent that Will was in love with Nico. Sue him for wanting to enjoy it a little before returning to his sad, miserable, unrequited pining.
It was this line of thinking that compelled him to kiss Nico first, right when Nico came through the front door.
It was the look of shock on Nico’s face when Will pulled away that compelled Will to step back in horror and realize that this Nico had smudges of dirt on his face and no ring on his finger.
“Oh god.” Will gulped. He’d just kissed Nico, the real Nico, who was not a djinn creation meant to be hopelessly in love with him. “You’re–”
“The real me, yeah,” Nico said. He was avoiding eye contact like his life depended on it. Well, there went all of Will’s ‘never tell him how you feel so he never leaves you’ plans, nose-diving out the window like that demon they’d hunted down in Omaha. “You’re in a djinn dream, and I’m here to–”
“Get me out, yep, let’s do that. Right now.”
He was really, really hoping that when Nico woke up from whatever dream-walking spell he’d used to find Will, he wouldn’t remember anything.
Will had no such luck. He woke up in a dingy basement, with Nico silently but gently taking him down from whatever contraption the djinn had hooked him up to. He was feeling slightly woozy from the blood loss, but he knew he wasn’t imagining Nico’s silence or pointed lack of eye contact as they worked side-by-side to take out the handful of monsters still left in the djinn nest. Of course, normally they didn’t need to communicate anyways (an inevitable product of them hunting together for years), but there was a brand new, uncomfortably unfamiliar, completely awkward tension simmering between them, sparked by that stupid kiss.
As they clambered into Nico’s old car, still wiping blood and dust off their clothes, Nico slammed his door unusually loudly, and Will was starting to wonder, with a sinking, sickly feeling in his stomach, whether it’d be better to address it now or just sit in this silence the whole way back to their motel room. At least it was dark outside– with the sparse street lamps providing a dim glow over the car– so Nico wouldn’t be able to see him blushing, or crying, or any other humiliating emotion.
In the end, he didn’t have a choice, because right before Nico turned the key in the ignition, he let out a deep sigh and said, “We should talk.”
Will shifted in his seat, pulling his flannel jacket around himself, as if that could protect him from the terrible rejection he was about to face. He’d seen Nico reject people before– blushing, stammering, politely explaining to whatever pretty-faced blonde had decided to flirt with him that he wasn’t into girls. But judging by his sigh, Will could tell that he was actually annoyed with the whole situation. Maybe even the kind of annoyance that would make him drop Will, forever.
Wouldn’t that be a great outcome? Will would be back on his own again, just because he couldn’t keep his stupid feelings in check. And Nico would be on his own again, running into trouble because of his stupid lack of self-perserverance, with no one to pull him out of danger. They’d both probably end up dead, like so many of their other hunter friends.
“Weird djinn dream, huh?” Will said. “I don’t know where the djinn learn what the dreams are supposed to look like, but I think they screwed up a wire or something.”
“You kissed me.”
It sounded like an accusation.
“Well, we were married,” Will said. “Like I said, I think the djinn must’ve gotten something wrong.”
“We were married?” Nico scoffed, voice full of bitterness that Will didn’t know how to get rid of. “Right, yeah, must’ve been a mistake.”
“Hey, it wasn’t my fault, I was just playing along. Take it up with the djinn.”
“Married? Really? What did that even look like?” Nico asked.
Will gulped. Nice, is what he wanted to say, but he really didn’t think Nico would appreciate that answer. “We had a tiny little house in the suburbs and a cat named JB.”
“You know I’d never let you name our cat JB, if we did get a cat.”
“Well, if you were hopelessly enough in love with me to get married with me and giving up hunting for a white picket fence like you’re so opposed to doing, I think I can wear you down on the name of the cat.”
He tried to pretend like his heart wasn't breaking as he examined Nico’s facial features, watching the tiny smirk appear on Nico’s face, as if Nico being in love with Will was the funniest thing ever.
“I’m not,” Nico said quietly, so quietly that Will would’ve missed it if he wasn’t hyper aware of everything Nico was doing.
“You’re not what? Hopelessly in love with me? Yeah, I’ve figured that one out,” Will joked. He hoped Nico thought he was joking, anyway. It seemed like Nico hadn’t caught on to the fact that Will maybe sort of wanted to be married to him, and Will was just hoping whatever luck led to that would hold out until they got back to the motel and he could bury his feelings into some cheap ice cream and Dr. Sexy reruns.
“I’m not completely opposed to a…white picket fence life.” Looking down, his pale fingers played with the ends of the sleeves of his well-worn aviator jacket. “It just has to be with the right person.”
Will frowned. “We had a whole discussion about this, weeks ago. You said you didn’t want to give up hunting, not for anything.”
Nico was still staring at the steering wheel. He looked like he was retreating in on himself, like it had been Will that had entered Nico’s innermost dream and desire, instead of the other way around. Unless– Will swallowed, thinking of that conversation. They’d just gotten back from a hunt where some ex-hunter went insane from the loss of his wife, going crazy trying to summon her back. Will had asked if Nico would ever quit the hunting life, and Nico’s reply had been a short, dry laugh, followed by “Nah, the whole wife-and-kids thing has never been for me. I’m good as a hunter, I’ll stay as a hunter.”
The words were basically seared in Will’s brain, because he’d taken them as a sign of rejection. But now he was starting to wonder if Nico had really meant it as a rejection.
“I just don’t like change, that’s all,” Nico offered. He inhaled sharply, suddenly straightening up. “Whatever. We should get going, it’s late.”
The car sputtered to life. Will reached out before he really knew what he was doing, grabbing Nico’s hand to stop him.
“Wait. Just–” He tried to force the words to come out, the words he’d always been too scared to say. He just hoped it came out as something poetic and not something stupid, like you’re my brother, Nico or I love you. I love all of you. I love this car, I love that lamp. “--who’s the right person? I mean, if you got sent to the djinn world, who would you end up married to?”
“Doesn’t matter. It would just be a mistake,” Nico said bitterly.
“What if it wasn’t a mistake?” Will asked. His heart was pounding, his stomach fluttering with desperation, his fingers itching to slot together with Nico’s just like they were in the dream.
Nico looked up at him, hesitation clear on his face, and maybe it was a trick of the lights but Will could’ve sworn he saw something else, too, something that reminded him of the dream world wedding photos.
“Depends. Is not wanting to name a cat JB a deal breaker in your djinn dream world?”
“I think I can get over that,” Will muttered, before leaning across the middle console and pressing his lips against Nico’s.
This kiss was even better than the first, because it felt real. It felt exhilarating, like there were fireworks going off in Will’s head. Nico’s lips were chapped and his hands were cold where they grasped at Will’s shirt, pulling him closer and his hair was soft where Will’s hand had tangled up in it.
When Will pulled away, he was surprised the streetlights hadn’t blown out. How could anything look the same after he and Nico kissed ?
“If the djinn had gotten me, it would’ve shown me a world where I was married to you,” Nico admitted.
Will grinned. “Aw, Neeks, I love you too.”
Nico blushed fiercely, the red glow on his cheeks still visible even in the dim lighting. “I didn’t say that, I just meant–”
“No, no, it’s okay, I get it. You’re hopelessly in love with me, and you’d follow me to the ends of the earth, and you’d even suffer through a white picket fence life and a cat named JB if it meant making me happy.”
Nico rolled his eyes, but he was smiling, and something warm and bright was fluttering in Will’s chest. “Just shut up about the cat and kiss me again, okay?”
Will was more than happy to comply.