Archive of Our Own ^beta

There were only so many things that Will looked forward to at the end of a long day, but knowing that Nico and the kids were waiting at home topped the list, and had Will counting down the minutes and racing through busy streets to get back home. He never knew what was waiting for him on the other side of the door - a mountain of homework on the dining table, or the kids trying to “help” Nico with dinner, or the living room set up for a movie marathon - and the not knowing was always part of the excitement. 

Because, no matter what, Will would always come home to Nico.  

There was a buzz just under Will’s skin when he spotted Nico’s car in the driveway, his smile already stretching wide across his face. He could barely hold himself back from running to the door, fumbling for his keys once he reached it. There was nothing, in his opinion, more reinvigorating than seeing the love of his life after a long day. 

The door was barely open before something brightly colored shot past him, followed by Oliver, then Mia, as they chased after Mia’s pink and purple soccer ball, Will flattening himself against the doorway to avoid getting trampled by the kids. 

“Hey,” Nico said, drawing Will’s gaze into the entryway. He had a gym bag thrown over one shoulder - which Will knew well enough by now was filled with water bottles, cleats, and shin guards for both kids - and his hair was pulled back into a stubby ponytail at the base of his skull. He hooked his fingers in the collar of Will’s shirt, tugging him down just far enough that Nico could press a kiss to his cheek. “We’re late for practice. Dinner’s on the stove - bye, love you!” 

A second later, Nico was rushing out of the house, wrangling kids into his car, and driving off, leaving Will waving after them from the front porch. 

He let himself inside, shutting the door softly behind himself and leaning back against it for a moment or two. His smile grew at the memory of Nico’s lips against his cheek, the love he’d pressed into his skin. 

Will started toward the kitchen to make himself a plate, and started counting down the minutes until Nico would come back to him.

The first thing Will saw was the back of Nico’s head, and not for the first time, he thought of how perfectly Nico fit into his arms, how he belonged in Will’s bed. Will had a view of the smooth skin across Nico’s back, and he found himself almost mesmerized by the slow expanding of his ribcage with each breath.

Will’s fingers skimmed over Nico’s side, his thumb tracing over the bumps and divots of Nico’s ribs - less visible now, after putting a bit of weight back on after his brief stint in the hospital. 

He pressed a kiss to Nico’s bare shoulder, then another, and another, drawing a line to his neck then following his spine down to that space between his shoulder blades that Will had learned always had to be covered while he was trying to fall asleep. Whether it be with a heavy blanket, Will’s palm, or his chest pressed to Nico’s back, Nico couldn’t sleep without that warmth, that pressure. He would run cold down to his toes, and twist himself up in the blankets until he was warm enough to sleep, even if it meant that his legs went bare. Temperature always seemed to be a funny thing with Nico, since he slept without a shirt more often than not when he stayed over at Will’s - which he’d explained with the fact that Will was like a hot-blooded, clingy octopus when he slept, and Nico didn’t want to overheat in his sleep.

As Will’s lips grazed over Nico’s spine, a shiver rocketed through the body in front of him, and a second later, Nico was turning onto his back, his shoulder digging into Will’s chest as he tried to make room where there wasn’t any. Will gazed into the tired, slowly-blinking eyes of the love of his life, and his lips stretched into a smile.

“Good morning,” Will said, his voice soft and low, though not quite a whisper. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” 

Nico’s mouth turned down at the corner. “Yes you did,” he replied, a low rumble to his voice that he only achieved so early in the morning that Will adored the sound of. He shifted until he could lay more comfortably on his back, no more pointy shoulders or elbows digging into Will’s soft flesh, and he let out a light sigh, content as he settled back down. His head lolled toward Will, his chin jutting out slightly, so Will met him for a kiss that had Nico sighing again. “Good morning,” Nico told him.

“Good morning,” Will said again, the hand that had been tracing Nico’s ribs now resting flat over Nico’s chest, this thumb tracing one of the lines of scar tissue that ran horizontal over Nico’s ribs. Will could lay there for the rest of his life, memorizing the peaceful look on Nico’s face and breathing together in the unusual silence of the house.

They could forget about the rest of the world, at least for a little while, right? No jobs, not a single other person on the entire planet aside from them, nothing at all concerning about the house really was too quiet--

“Not that I’m not enjoying this,” Nico said, lifting one hand to lazily run the backs of his fingers along the cut of Will’s jaw, “but I’m not used to your house being so… peaceful.”  

At least Will hadn’t had to be the one to say it. “We could just enjoy it while it lasts,” he suggested, already leaning in to offer Nico the perfect distraction before the bedroom door was thrown open.

“Daddy,” Oliver cried out in frustration, “Mia won’t let me watch Clone Wars even though it’s Saturday and we always watch--” 

Will pushed himself to sit up as soon as he heard his son’s voice, putting distance between himself and Nico as he watched Oliver come to a surprised stop halfway into the room. Out of the corner of his eye, Will saw Nico covering his face with his hands - a poor attempt at hiding? or maybe just rubbing the sleep from his eyes? - but he was more focused on the way that Oliver’s expression had quickly turned from irritation into something filled with concern.

His eyes flickered toward Nico, and when they went back to Will, Oliver looked scared. “Daddy?” he said again, and Will felt a spike of fear shoot through his own heart at the sound. 

Was this not okay? Were Oliver and Mia happy that Will and Nico could be such good friends, but couldn’t stand the thought of them being anything more? Will had to put his son first, wholly and absolutely, but how was he supposed to let go of Nico?

“Is Nico sick again?” Oliver asked, his voice quiet, like saying the words too loud would make them true.

Nico ripped his hands away from his face, scrambling to sit up against the pillows so that he could meet Oliver’s gaze. “No, Ollie, I’m okay. I promise.”  

Oliver’s eyebrows drew together, and he started tugging nervously on the edge of his pajama shirt. “But… You only sleep in here if you’re sick.” 

Nico’s eyes found Will’s, and Will’s hand found Nico’s among the sheets. A quick squeeze of his hand, and a shared look of fearful understanding in their gaze, and Will said, “Everything’s okay, bud. Actually, there’s something we want to tell you - both of you. Can you tell Mia to come in here, please?”

Oliver didn’t look convinced, but he nodded and turned out of the room. Nico’s hand tightened around Will’s as soon as they were alone.

“Are you sure?” he whispered, his eyes wide and his breathing quick. “What if they’re not ready to hear it? What if we’re not there yet? Will, we’ve barely talked about this!”

“It’s gonna be okay,” Will assured him, hoping he sounded more convincing than he felt. “It’ll be like ripping off a bandaid, right? Quick and easy, and then we can move on, with nothing else to worry about.”

Nico let out a huff. “Or we’ll remove the bandaid too soon, and the wound will get infected, and the next thing you know, you’re going in for an amputation--”  

“Hey, hey,” Will cut in quickly, his free hand guiding Nico’s face toward him, forcing eye contact. “Nobody’s becoming an amputee. No infections, no wounds. There’s nothing to worry about, darlin’. I promise.” 

Nico nodded his head, too quickly to be convincing, and pulled Will in for a quick kiss. “I love you,” he said with finality, so impassioned that Will almost laughed. 

“Don’t say that like you’re going off to war,” he teased, and managed to press a kiss to Nico’s cheek before the kids stepped into the room. Will smiled brightly at the both of them, and patted the open space at the foot of the bed, inviting them up. “C’mon up, we’ve got something to tell you.” 

Once both kids were settled at the foot of the bed, Will glanced back at Nico with a reassuring smile, though Nico’s nervous expression hadn’t changed. It looked like Will was going to be doing most of the talking. 

“I don’t really know how to lead into this,” Will admitted, “but the most important thing for both of you to remember is that Nico and I love both of you so much. And because of how much we both love you, and because of how much time we’ve all been spending together, we realized that we love each other an awful lot, too. And we decided that…we’re going to be boyfriends. Partners?” Will glanced back at Nico, questioningly, but Nico only shrugged. “Well, we haven’t decided on that part. But the point still stands.

“So, what does that mean for right now?” Will continued, since neither of the kids had jumped in with any immediate objections. “Nothing has to change, if the two of you aren’t comfortable with that. But from now on, whenever we have a sleepover, you two will be in one room, and Nico and I will share a room, too. Nobody’s going to be sleeping on the couch anymore, unless, uh…for some reason, somebody wants to. And you two might see me and Nico holding hands sometimes,” Will added, reaching out to thread his fingers through Nico’s and holding up their joined hands with a grin. “But for now… I think that’s all that’s going to change, okay? At least, for right now.”

Oliver didn’t look very happy with Will’s last-second amendment. “What else is going to change later?”

“I…don’t know yet, buddy,” Will told him. “Maybe someday we’ll all move into one big house together, instead of living in two different places, and we might…get married, and we’ll all be one family, together. But those are both very big decisions that Nico and I haven’t started talking about yet, so that’s not anything the two of you need to worry about, okay? But I can promise that we’ll do everything we can to make sure you’re included in any decisions we make that involve all four of us.”

This time, when Will looked to Nico, it was with nervousness of his own, afraid that he’d overstepped, and overshared his own desires without taking Nico’s wants into consideration first. When he turned his gaze, though, Nico was already staring back with wide, bright eyes, and Will didn’t feel quite so nervous after that.

“Does this mean Nico can be my dad now, too?” Oliver asked, and Will’s attention snapped back to him, then flickered back to Nico, trying to gauge his reaction. 

“I, uh,” Will started, then cleared his throat, trying to think of something to say that wasn’t yes, please, there isn’t anything I want more than to raise my son with this man. “That’s a conversation that we’ll need to have, but--”

“Nico, can you be my other dad?” Oliver asked, near pleading, his eyes bright with excitement. 

Nico squeezed Will’s hand. “Is that…something you want?”

Oliver’s head was nodding rapidly. “I love my dad, but-- I could have two dads! Mia, you love your dad, right? And if he’s my dad, too, then-- I could have two parents! I’ve always wanted two parents! And I can have two dads!”  

Will hadn’t been expecting such an… enthusiastic response, but he couldn’t say he was anything less than ecstatic to know that Oliver was supportive. And given the way that Nico’s eyes had started brimming with tears, Will could only assume that Nico felt the same way.

“I could…” he barely glanced at Will for approval before nodding. “I could be your dad, too.” 

Oliver didn’t hesitate before throwing himself forward, crawling into Nico’s lap and wrapping his arms around him, already back to his excited rambling. Will’s only worry now was that Nico might be replacing him in Oliver’s ranking of cool dads, but it wasn’t like Will could argue.

“What do you think, Mia?” Nico asked, one arm wrapping around Oliver’s shoulders while he reached out toward his daughter with the other. “Is this something you’re okay with?”

Will couldn’t believe he hadn’t taken the time to track Mia’s reactions. Sure, she hadn’t been over the moon the way Oliver had, but he definitely wasn’t expecting her to shout, “I don’t want another dad!” before she took off out of the room, the sound of a slamming door following her after a beat.

Nico’s arm hung in the air, his mouth having fallen open in shock. Oliver hadn’t missed a beat, despite Mia’s outburst, and was still clinging to Nico and cheerfully rambling about how excited he was to have Nico as a dad.

“I’ll talk to her,” Willsaid, already scrambling to get out of bed since Nico didn’t have any choice but to sit and stay. 

He ran from the room as fast as he could, finding the door to Oliver’s room shut tight, so he knocked before calling out, “Mia? Are you alright?”

“Go away!” she yelled back.

“I’m not gonna do that just yet,” Will replied. “Actually, I’m going to come in, and we’re gonna talk for a few minutes, and then I’ll leave you alone, alright? I just want to make sure we understand each other.” No response from the other side of the door, so Will told her, “I’m coming in.” 

Mia had climbed onto the top bunk of Oliver’s bed and buried herself under his blankets - Will might not have known where she was hiding if he hadn’t seen the blanket swallow her head a split second after he opened the door. He approached the bed slowly, and folded his arms over the side railing. “What happened that upset you? Which part?” he asked gently. 

She let out a hmph! and Will saw the bundle of blankets tighten slightly. 

“Just because your dad and I love each other doesn’t mean that either of us love you any less,” Will assured her.

“Daddy loves me more than anything else in the whole world,” she shot back, like it was some sort of competition.

One that Will had no intention of winning. “Yes, he does. And that’s never going to change. I’m never going to ask him to love me more than he loves you, because I don’t want him to do that, and if anything, I only want to help him love you more.”

“But I don’t want you to be my dad,” Mia snapped, the sharpness of her voice muffled by the blankets, but it didn’t do anything to dull the sting of her words.

“Is it something that I did?” Will asked. “If it is, I’m sorry. And if you tell me what it was, I can make sure that I never do anything else that might hurt you.”

“I don’t want any other dad!” 

Will paused - at least he knew that the problem wasn’t with him, even if it now seemed like it was up to him to fix it. “Did something happen with-- Did your dad have another boyfriend who did something that you didn’t like? Some guy who tried to be another dad to you, who might have hurt you in some way?”

“Nobody hurt me,” Mia insisted, finally sitting up and throwing the blanket off of herself so that she could glare at Will with all of her adorable might. “They hurt him!”

Fuck, Will thought, how had he forgotten?

“Daddy said that my biogic--” Mia frowned, irritated by her own twisted tongue. “My biolocal--” 

“Biological?”

“Yeah,” Mia said. “That dad was bad. So bad that Daddy had to run away to keep me safe. And Daddy said that I don’t need anyone else, as long as I have him! So I don’t want a mom or another dad!”

“I can promise you, Mia, nobody’s ever going to try to be your mom,” Will assured her, and he held out his hand toward her, his pinky extended. “And I won’t ever try to be your dad, if you don’t want me to be. I’ll be whoever you want me to be. Deal?” 

She hesitated, only for a second or two, before she hooked her pinky around Will’s and replied, “Deal.” 

“Good,” Will said, and as he dropped his hand, he felt his shoulders sag with relief. “What about Ollie? Is it okay with you if he thinks of your dad as his own?”

Mia took a deep breath, and after a moment of thought, nodded. “Yeah, that’s okay. He’s wanted another dad for a long time, so I’m okay with sharing.”

“That’s really nice of you,” Will told her. “And thank you for talking to me about this. I’ll let you be by yourself now, but if you need anything, your dad and I are always right here for you.”

Just as Will turned to leave, he heard Mia tossing the blankets aside and shuffling toward the ladder. “Wait!” she cried, and scrambled down to the ground, grabbing a hold of Will’s hand. “I want pancakes. Can you show me how to make pancakes?”

“I would love to,” Will told her, giving her hand a squeeze. “But, uh, first, I might need your dad to teach me.”  

Nico had heard the fear in the school receptionist’s voice when he was asked to come up to the school a few hours before the day would officially come to an end, and Nico knew that a call like that could only mean one thing.

He was so furious that he’d needed to take a few deep breaths before getting out of his car, just to make sure he didn’t start throwing punches the second he was through the front doors. When he stepped into the front office, he was directed straight to the principal’s door and he made a point not to knock before letting himself inside. 

To say that he had been angry before would be the understatement of the century. 

He had intended to walk into the room and go straight to Oliver’s side, offering whatever comfort he needed, and making sure that he was okay before ripping into the principal - again.  

There was no Oliver in the usual seat across from the principal’s desk. Instead, there was a bruised and bleeding Mia, a cloth-wrapped ice pack held up to her cheek with one hand while her other arm was crossed over her chest. 

“Mia, cover your ears,” Nico told her, barely waiting a second for her to do so before he demanded, “What the fuck kind of school are you running? She’s eight fucking years old - how the fuck do you let this happen? What fucking department of the state do I need to call to start a formal investigation into the utter fucking incompetency at this school? What the fuck happened?”

Principal Brunner let out a heavy sigh, like he thought Nico was nothing more than an aggravation to him, instead of the threat to his fucking career that Nico really was. “I wish I could answer all of your questions, Mr. di Angelo, but your daughter has been entirely uncooperative--”

“I want a lawyer!” Mia cried out, her hands still over her ears, though Nico had a feeling that she’d been shouting the same thing over and over again every time she saw Brunner open his mouth since she’d first stepped into the room.

Nico’s anger was temporarily doused by a wave of pride. Then, he noticed Mia’s swelling, darkening eye and a crack on her lip, and it all came rushing back. Nico’s hands clenched the back of the office’s other chair with so much force that he wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up popping the stitching.

“The two boys in Mia’s class that were also involved in the incident claim that they were attacked unprovoked,” Brunner continued, and when Mia started to shout again, Nico set a gentle hand on her shoulder to quiet her down. “However, Oliver insisted that Mia was only trying to defend him against his bullies.” 

Nico squeezed the back of the chair, and forced air into his lungs. “You’ve got eight-year-olds cleaning up your fucking messes? Is that really the plan from now on? Look at her fucking face!”  

“I assure you, we have everything under control, Mr. di Angelo,” Brunner told him, his hands folded in front of him on his desk. “We are implementing new anti-bullying strategies, including a zero-tolerance policy--”

Nico couldn’t stop a snort of escaping.

“--and in accordance with that new policy, Mia has been suspended for the next three days.”

“Fine,” Nico replied quickly. “Sure. Make an example out of the only kid who was trying to do the right thing. Whatever. C’mon, Mia, we’re going home.” Mia stood, and he set a hand on her back to guide her toward the door, and on their way out, Nico snapped back over his shoulder, “And we’re keeping the ice pack!”

He led Mia out to the parking lot in a hurry, refusing to so much as acknowledge the cowering receptionist in the school’s front office, and didn’t say a word until they were out the front doors.

Nico pulled Mia to a sudden stop, kneeling down in front of her with his hands on her shoulders. “Sweetheart, are you alright? Does it hurt? Do I need to take you to see a doctor?”

Mia shrugged, still pressing the ice pack to her cheek. “Will is a doctor. Can’t we just go to his house?”

“Will isn’t gonna be home for a few more hours--” Nico started, but quickly cut himself off. Mia was hurt, and if she wanted Will to fix it, he wasn’t going to argue. “Okay. Sure, we’ll go see Will.” 

“But we can get ice cream first, right?” 

Nico blinked, a frown taking over his face. “What makes you think we’re getting ice cream?”

“You said that if the teachers weren’t going to do something about Ollie’s bullies, and that somebody else should,” Mia explained, and Nico had a horrible feeling that he knew exactly what she was talking about. “And you said you would give that person whatever they wanted. Well, I want ice cream.”

Nico definitely had not said all of that - and what had been true had come from anger, not necessarily a place of honesty. (He had also had to quickly change the end of his sentence into something more kid-friendly once he’d realized the kids had run into the room.)

“We can’t get ice cream right now,” Nico told her, giving a gentle squeeze to her shoulders. “It would be rude to go without Ollie, right?” And you just got suspended, Nico didn’t remind her, and Will would kill me for making such a terrible parenting decision.  

Mia nodded, though she didn’t seem happy with her agreement. “After dinner?”

“Maybe,” Nico answered, and tried not to make too much noise of effort as he pushed himself back up to his feet - he wasn’t even thirty, and he was starting to make the noises of every sitcom dad on the planet. 

He took her hand as he started toward the car once more. “Daddy?” she asked. “What’s a formal investigation?”  

Nico felt his entire body tense. “It’s, uh, when somebody does a lot of research into something that happened, to figure out the truth. But, hey, maybe don’t repeat anything else I said in Mr. Brunner’s office, okay?”

Will had had a similarly panicked reaction at the sight of Mia’s injuries once he’d gotten home from work, and that was even after Nico had gotten her cleaned up, and the swelling around her eye had started to go down. 

Still, it probably didn’t help his mood that, as soon as Will tried to ask what happened, Mia loudly proclaimed, “I want a lawyer!”

Nico had to stifle a laugh. “Honey, Will isn’t a cop - he’s not trying to get you in trouble. He just wants to know what happened. And, honestly, I’m disappointed that you think I would date a cop.” 

Mia kept her mouth clamped shut, going so far as to fold her arms over her chest in a righteous display of anger - but the joke was on her. She knew that she wasn’t allowed to get up from the kitchen table until after she explained herself, even though Oliver was happily playing his favorite of the LEGO Star Wars video games all on his own in the other room.

“Let me give you a starting point,” Nico said, standing behind her chair and giving her shoulder a squeeze. “True or false: all of this happened because you were trying to defend Ollie from his bullies, right?” 

Will, sitting in his own chair across from Mia, looked up at Nico with an expression of shock and hurt. “Still?” he asked Nico. “They still haven’t done anything?”

“Supposedly, they’ve got a new policy in place,” Nico answered with a roll of his eyes, “but we’ll get to that eventually. Sooner, once somebody starts talking. Don’t think I won’t make you sleep in this chair tonight,” he added, directed at Mia, though he was almost certain that she knew it was an empty threat. Even if she did fall asleep there, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he didn’t carry her off to bed right after. 

“Mia,” Will started, leaning forward with his knees on his elbows, as though trying to get down to her level, “just because somebody was trying to hurt Oliver doesn’t mean you have the right to hurt them back. I need to know: did you start the fight, or did you act out in self-defense?”

She still didn’t answer, which only made Nico grow frustrated with her. He was truly grateful for Will’s patience, because Nico might have just sent her to bed early, and then they might never have learned the truth of what had happened. Instead, he put some distance between himself and them, crossing the kitchen to start on the dishes from dinner while keeping an ear on the conversation happening behind them.

“Whenever something like this happens, you need to get a teacher to break up the fight for you,” Will told her. “If you step in, you get hurt, or you make things worse in the long run. Do you understand?”

“The teachers don’t do anything!” Mia argued, her voice bursting out of her, arms thrown out to the sides emphatically. “They’re all too scared of Daddy getting a phone call, or of Jacob’s mom showing up, or of anybody else’s parents! And if they’re not going to do anything, then who is? I’m just supposed to let Ollie get bullied? They pushed him!”

“Maria,” Nico called over his shoulder, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw her flinch at the sound of her own name, “you do not raise your voice at either of us.”

He heard what he assumed was a mumbled apology from Mia before Will asked, “What was different this time? What made you feel like you needed to step in today?” 

“Nothing was different,” she answered, her voice still holding all of the same attitude as before, though she kept the volume level. “I just don’t want it to happen anymore. And… It’s  so close to the end of the year that I thought nothing bad was going to happen to me, because… Because it’s the end of the year, so who cares?”  

“Mr. Brunner seemed to care,” Nico answered, shutting off the sink and drying his hands on a nearby towel before he rejoined the conversation. “You got in so much trouble that they won’t even let you back inside the school until next week.” He crouched beside Mia’s chair, hoping that the hand on her arm was a comforting weight. “I’m proud of you for sticking up for your friend, but punching people is never the answer, so you’re not only in trouble at school, but you’re in trouble at home, too. You’re going to have to come to work with me for the next few days, and you are not allowed to play games on my phone the whole time. Got it?” 

Mia huffed, crossing her arms again. “Fine.” 

He gave her arm a squeeze. “Go hang out with Ollie. Bedtime is eight o’clock for you, tonight - don’t even think about arguing.” 

She got up and ran out of the room before Nico could try to change his mind. 

He dropped into her abandoned seat a moment later with a heavy sigh, tipping his head back and grinding the heels of his palms into his eyes. “Thank you for not making me do that alone.” 

“I can’t believe she got suspended,” Will commented. “I almost feel like it’s my fault.” 

Nico’s hands fell to his lap in a split second. “What? What are you talking about?” 

“The bullying,” Will replied, “and Mia getting involved. If I would’ve gotten this taken care of the first time it happened, we wouldn’t be in this mess.” 

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Nico insisted. “You’ve done everything you could - neither of us had any way of knowing that this was going to get so blown out of proportion. But we will figure out what to do about this, alright? There’s still time before the school year ends-- Or we make sure Ollie’s in a different class from those kids next year. Either way, it’s almost summer anyway, so--”

“Dad?” 

Nico’s head turned toward the doorway first, though it was Will who answered, “Yeah, bud?” 

Oliver glanced between Nico and Will, then shuffled forward toward Nico and said again, “Dad?”

Nico nearly melted. “What’s up, Ollie?” Then, before he could answer, Nico added, “Hey, buddy, I’m sorry, I got so caught up with all of Mia’s stuff today that I forgot to check in with you. How are you doing after today?”

Oliver ducked his head and muttered, “Fine.” 

Nico frowned, reaching out with one hand to take hold of Oliver’s face. “Are you sure? You look like something’s bothering you.” 

“You called Mia Maria,” Oliver said. “That’s not her name.” 

Nico felt a small knot of worry loosening in his chest - finally, a problem he could solve. “Yeah, actually, it is,” Nico corrected lightly. “She’s named after my mom, Maria. Mia is just a nickname, like how sometimes we call you Ollie instead of Oliver.” 

Oliver shook his head, knocking Nico’s hand loose. “She doesn’t like it. You can’t call her that anymore.” 

“I know she doesn’t, but--”

“You can’t call her that!” Oliver repeated, more forceful than before. “It’s not right to call somebody a name they don’t like, right, Dad?” He looked to Will, this time, for confirmation, and Nico found sympathy in his boyfriend’s eyes. “It hurts.”  

Oliver’s words finally struck with the intended force - of course he would take personal offense to being called a name he didn’t like, and not just because of his bullies. Having a deep, personal disconnect with your own name was something Nico used to be familiar with, too. How could he have forgotten how much something like that could hurt?

“You’re right,” Nico told him, before Will could weigh in. “I’m sorry. And I’ll apologize to Mia, too, in just a few minutes, okay?”

Oliver nodded, then turned on his heel and went back into the living room. As soon as he was out of earshot, Nico curled forward and groaned, “Fuck.”  

“You alright?” Will asked, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“I’m good,” Nico answered after a beat, and sat back up. He offered Will a weak smile, and told him, “You raised a pretty good kid, you know? Smart, protective, way more confident than I was at his age.” 

Will grinned. “You did pretty good yourself. I’m glad they have each other - they make a pretty good team, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, they do,” Nico said with a nod. “And I’m glad I have you.”

Though they were only about halfway through the season, Nico had gotten pretty good at recognizing the usual faces around the soccer fields. Of course, on a Saturday morning when every field was packed with players, parents, and referees, there was bound to be a face or two that Nico didn’t remember seeing there before.

But he knew suspicious behavior when he saw it.

Someone who came to a child’s soccer game without any children of their own, and who never made any sort of effort to actually interact with any of the children. Someone who stayed far enough away from the games that seeing any of the action was near impossible. Someone who tried to blend in with the crowds, so that the camera in hand wasn’t quite as noticeable as it should be, while taking pictures not of the kids, but of the line of parents along one edge of the field.

Nico couldn’t help but feel like he was being watched. 

He told himself that the man he kept seeing out of the corner of his eye was likely from some local newspaper, probably doing a story on the local soccer leagues. If Nico approached him, he would probably flash a press badge or some kind and apologize for the misunderstanding. 

But if the man was supposed to be taking pictures for a news outlet, then why did it seem to Nico that the camera was always trained on him?

Nico was about to lean toward Will and ask if he’d noticed the suspicious figure, but he was interrupted by a loud cheer from the gathered parents as their goalie made an impressive save. The cheers set off a round of barking from a dog on the opposing team’s side of the field, which brought on a chorus of howls from all around the park.

“You know,” Will said, leaning against the flimsy arm of his camp chair, smiling in Nico’s direction even as he kept his eyes on the field, “last week, Mia convinced Ollie that we need a dog. Now neither of them will stop asking me for one.”

Nico’s eyes widened, and he felt his heart jump in his chest. There was always something so heartstoppingly exciting about hearing Will talk like they were all a family already, like the idea of Will possibly getting a dog was something that he needed Nico’s opinion on, because the dog would be his, too.

He’d always wanted a dog, but Mia had stopped asking him once he’d explained that it wouldn’t be fair to keep an animal who needed to run locked up in their tiny apartment all day long. Maybe, though, she’d started thinking of Will’s house almost like a second home, like someplace she might be able to see herself living in permanently, with a big yard and a neighborhood where it was safe to take a walk down the street.

Maybe Mia had adapted more to Nico and Will’s relationship than she’d let on. Or maybe she just really wanted a dog.

“I like dogs,” Nico said softly, unable to stop himself from imagining their kids running through the yard, chasing after a puppy who hadn’t quite caught on to the idea of fetch yet.

Will pouted. “Oh, god, not you too,” he said, clearly trying to sound upset, though it was ruined when he started to laugh. “You were supposed to be on my side!”

“And… Your side is the side where we don’t get a dog?” Nico asked with a confused frown. “Why would I choose that side?” 

“Uh, because you love me?” Will shot back.

“More than my own daughter? I don’t think so.” Nico reached over the arm of his own chair and wrapped his hand around Will’s tangling their fingers together. He leaned his head back against the corner of the chair, turned to face his boyfriend as he added, his teasing voice almost a whisper, “Maybe not even more than the dog.” 

“Nico!” Will exclaimed, though Nico was quick to elbow him in the side to get him to quiet down - he didn’t want to distract the kids from the game, after all.

“I’m kidding!” Nico replied, his voice bright with laughter, matching his eyes. “Of course I’ll love you more than the dog. I’ll love you more with a dog, though, for sure.” 

Will tipped his head back with a groan, the canvas back of his chair crumbling under the weight. “I’ll think about it,” he said in defeat, and then glanced at Nico with a look that suggested a more serious topic of conversation was coming to mind. “But I can think of a few other conversations that might make more sense to have, first.” 

He gave Nico’s hand a squeeze, and Nico felt warmth bloom across his chest. “Solace,” he warned, despite the wide grin that stretched across his face, “if you try to make some grand romantic gesture at our kids’ soccer game, I’ll never let you live it down.” 

“Fine,” Will replied, his attention drifting back to the game. “Some other time, then.” 

His thumb smoothed repeated lines across the back of Nico’s hand, and Nico felt himself melting at the touch. He turned his own focus back to the field, scanning the spectators across from him.

The man with the camera was gone, but Nico couldn’t remember why he’d paid him any mind to begin with. 

Nico and Will had officially been seeing each other for about a week. Nothing really changed between them when the label shifted from friends to more, aside from the fact that Nico had made a point to fall asleep in Will’s bed rather than on his couch whenever he stayed over, and Nico could finally kiss Will whenever he wanted.

As long as the kids weren’t around, anyway. 

It wasn’t that they thought the kids wouldn’t be okay with their dads dating each other - they were practically all one family already anyway - but Nico had requested that they keep their relationship to themselves for now, just in case--

In case Will changed his mind, once he figured out who Nico really was.

Nico and Mia had spent the day with Will and Oliver again, which had drifted into spending the night together as well, and Nico had been psyching himself up all day to finally tell Will the truth - the whole truth - though he was starting to wish that he hadn’t waited until both Mia and Oliver were asleep. Because what if Will decided that they weren’t welcome in his house anymore?

No, he wouldn’t do that to Mia. He would quietly break up with Nico, tear his heart into a million little pieces, and then slowly start to distance himself from Nico until it was like they’d never been friends in the first place.

Maybe Nico needed to just keep his mouth shut.

“Hey, Will?” Nico said, already failing the first step. Will glanced up at him from the other end of the couch - normally Nico would be halfway on top of him at his time of night, as they were winding down and getting ready for bed, but he’d been so anxious that he couldn’t even stand the thought of a comforting touch for the last few hours at least. 

“What’s up?” Will replied, shifting so that he was turned to face Nico more fully. 

He could say, I love you, and leave it at that, though that might only leave Will more confused. A never mind would have him concerned. There was nothing that Nico could think to say except the truth.

“Remember how I told you that I stole Mia out of a fire station baby box?” Nico said, feeling his heart start to race.

Will started to smile. “Yeah, you said you started that rumor so that the nosy moms at the meeting would leave you alone.” 

Nico nodded. He dropped his gaze to his hands in his lap, picking at the skin around his nails. “Right. Well, it’s not really a rumor.” He braced himself, squeezing his eyes shut, unable to watch the reactions that played out on Will’s face. “I didn’t steal her, I mean-- Because-- I was the one who put her there. But I… I got so scared that I took her back.”

“Oh, Nico,” Will said softly, like his heart was breaking for Nico, but he knew that Will would change his tune as soon as he heard the rest. “It’s okay, darlin’. I know how hard it can be to raise a kid all on your own - I’d’ve probably thought you were crazy if you said you didn’t struggle with raising her.” 

“But I wasn’t alone,” Nico replied. “Her dad--” No, Nico was Mia’s dad, not-- “Her biological father was there, but-- He made it worse. He made everything so much worse.” He squeezed his eyes shut again, forcing his breaths to remain even, though each one shook his whole body. 

“You don’t have to tell me this, Nico,” Will told him in a gentle voice that Nico didn’t deserve. “I love Mia, and nothing you can tell me about her past is going to change that.” 

Nico flinched. He didn’t expect Will to stop loving Mia - she hadn’t done anything wrong.

“It’s not about her,” he said quickly. “But I still need you to promise that you mean it - that you won’t stop loving her because of what I’m about to tell you.” 

He glanced up, and found Will frowning. “Nico, I promise that nothing you say is going to make me stop loving her - or you.”  

He tried to suppress another flinch. He wouldn’t hold Will to that promise - he knew it wasn’t fair, when Will didn’t know what he was getting himself into.

Will leaned forward, and Nico braced himself, prepared to move away in case Will tried to touch him. “I mean it, Nico. Whatever happened with Mia’s mom or dad before you came into her life--”

“There was no before,” Nico told him forcefully. “I’m her m--” He gagged as the word tried to escape from his mouth. He swallowed down the bile that rose up, forcing himself to breathe again before he calmly stated, “I’m her dad. I always have been, and I always will be. She has two biological dads, but I’m the one that--” He wrapped his arms around his stomach, his chin dropping to his chest until he was curled into a defensive ball. “I carried her.” 

He risked glancing up after a second, and met Will’s unreadable expression. If Nico had to guess, he would assume Will was horrified, that he only stayed silent out of morbid curiosity of what Nico might say next. 

“I… I was already on T when we started dating, and he always seemed so supportive,” Nico explained, pulling his knees up to his chest until he’d developed a full protective barrier around himself. “He said he loved me, and I…believed him. I thought we wanted the same things, but then I got pregnant, and-- I told him I wanted an abortion, but he talked me out of it, even though it meant I had to stop HRT until after she was born. And it… Everything went downhill from there.

“He destroyed my binders, and told me it was an accident. He bought me new clothes, like he was trying to make up for it, but they were all maternity clothes, and he even started hiding some of my clothes so that I had to dress like a woman. He--” Nico could feel himself starting to break down, his eyes welling with tears, his entire body beginning to tremble. “He hid the scissors so I couldn’t cut my hair. He called my boss and told her that I was quitting so that I could stay home for the baby. He would touch my stomach and tell Mia how much her m-- How her mom--”  

Mommy loves you, Nico could still hear in his head, in his voice, could feel that hand on his stomach, and his body filled with the same fear and dread as it had all those years ago when--

“I thought, if I gave her up, then he would stop making me into a woman,” Nico confessed, “but I knew… I knew he didn’t really love me, or her, but he loved the control. And I knew that the only way for us to be happy - for us to live through it - was to run.” 

“Oh, Nico,” Will whispered, and Nico felt a new wave of tension flood through him.

“I’m sorry,” Nico told him. “I know I lied about…who I am, but--”

“What?” Nico flinched at Will’s outburst. “Nico, you didn’t-- Did you think I was going to break up with you because some asshole tried to ruin your life? That I wouldn’t love you because you’re trans?” 

“Well, no one else would!” Nico cried out.

Will didn’t respond right away. He rose to his feet instead, and Nico thought - he knew - that that was it. Maybe Will would’ve accepted the trans thing, but he couldn’t be with someone as fragile as Nico, as desperate and needy as him.

Then, Will knelt down beside the couch, right next to Nico, and held a hand out toward him. Hesitantly, Nico placed his hand in Will’s, and almost yanked it away when Will closed his other hand over top of Nico’s. 

“You are the strongest, handsomest, most intelligent man that I have ever met, and I love you for a million different reasons,” Will assured him, “the latest of which being that you trusted me enough to put your heart on the line. You are so incredibly brave, and I’m so grateful that Oliver has you to look up to, whether or not he knows about--”

“He knows,” Nico cut in, figuring that if nothing else had counted as a strike against him that day, then maybe asking Will’s son to keep a secret from him would be the kicker. “I told him…months ago, and I asked him not to tell you, because I didn’t want you to know, unless I told you. And… I didn’t want to tell you.”

Will’s face fell, though rather than throwing Nico’s hand back at him in disgust, Will lowered his head, resting his forehead against their joined hands as he breathed out, “Oh, Nico…” He stayed there for a moment, silent, before he lifted his head again. “I’m so sorry. I wish I could say that you were the one to tell me, but… I already knew. Not about Mia’s father, of course, but--”

Nico tried to rip his hand away, but Will held fast. “Oliver--”

“It wasn’t him, I swear,” Will told him. “I found out because…” Will let out a frustrated huff. “You were in the hospital, Nico. My hospital! And I know, you weren’t my patient, but I still took a look at your chart, because I wanted to make sure that everything was going to be okay. I’m so sorry, Nico, I shouldn’t have looked at it without your permission, but… Shouldn’t this be proof enough that I’m not going to look at you any differently? That I won’t love you any less?”

Nico still hesitated to relax, to give in, to even hope that Will was telling the truth. “You really don’t care?” Nico asked softly. “You aren’t upset that I didn’t tell you sooner?” 

“Darlin’, you never would’ve had to tell me at all,” Will replied, “whether or not I saw it in your chart. It’s your body, so it’s none of my business. But I do really appreciate that you did tell me, even if you only did it because you thought you had to.” 

Nico felt his entire body swell with emotion once more, though it was different this time - none of it felt… bad. “Will,” he whispered, his voice cracking, and he shifted so that he sat up straighter, opening himself up to Will. “Can you…?” Nico opened up his arms - as much as he could with one hand still held in both of Will’s, and a second later, Will had launched himself forward. 

He buried his nose in the side of Nico’s neck, abandoning Nico’s hand in favor of wrapping both arms around Nico as tightly as possible. One hand found that space between Nico’s shoulder blades and pressed there, warming Nico down to his core as Nico hugged him back.

“I love you,” Nico told him.

“I love you so much,” Will replied. “You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.” 

After a day as tiring as the one he’d just had, Nico was lucky if he paid enough attention to look both ways before he crossed the street to get to his car, let alone pay attention to the rest of his surroundings. 

It was only by chance that, after he’d loaded all of his equipment into the trunk of his car, he’d looked up, his eyes trained on the middle distance before they slowly came into focus on a single car parked on the other side of the street, about half a block up. It looked…familiar, though not in any way that Nico could pinpoint. It wasn’t a model that he’d driven in the past, nor did it look like anything any of his friends had driven over the last few years. It simply struck him as something he should recognize - as if half of the city didn’t drive an old, tan sedan. 

He tried not to pay it any mind, though his mind was reeling as he moved to get into his own car. One of his neighbors had a similar car, he thought. Or he’d seen the same make at each of Mia’s soccer games - one of the other parents must have driven the same one. At Mia’s school, too; it must have been a popular model, though it didn’t look particularly new. Rusted out slightly underneath the driver’s door, he noticed as he pulled out onto the road, and, interestingly, a pure white cover over the gas cap, rather than a door that matched the rest of the car. 

Nico was already two blocks away when he realized where he recognized that car, and the memory alone made his foot slip against the pedals, slamming the brake and jerking him forward as the car came to a sudden stop. He grabbed his rearview mirror, angling it to try to find that unassuming shade of tan in the reflection, but it was already gone from sight. 

The same car that he had driven had disappeared.

Nico felt like his head was on a permanent swivel. He carefully scanned the area around his car every time he went to approach it, or before he got out at his destination. He felt like he spent more time studying the other cars that drove past him than he did to the road in front of him. He’d even taken to triple-checking the locks on his apartment door, and gazing down at the road between the cracks in the blinds before he went to bed each night. 

The car always seemed to be everywhere - unassuming tan, a little bit of rust, pure white gas door. At the soccer fields, across the street from Mia’s school, a block away from Nico’s apartment. It could be a coincidence. He prayed it was a coincidence, but the voice in the back of his head that hadn’t let him sleep for the first few months of Mia’s life told him to think otherwise. 

That he wasn’t safe. That there was no one he could trust. That they needed to run.  

But he couldn’t leave now - he had a life here, a job, an apartment close to his sister and his friends. Mia had a life, with school, and friends of her own, and her soccer team. Not to mention Will and Oliver.

What the fuck was Nico supposed to tell Will?

He kept an eye on the car that was already waiting across the street from Mia’s school when Nico pulled into the parking lot - like the driver had memorized Nico’s schedule, and anticipated where he would be next - and made his way inside among a crowd of other parents that had come for after-school pickup.

Mia and Oliver were waiting in the front office with all of the other kids that weren’t getting loaded onto a bus. Nico wanted to grab them and run to the solace of Will’s house - the one place that his car hadn’t seemed to have discovered yet - but he was stopped by a voice calling out, “Mr. di Angelo!”

His head snapped up, and his eyes met those of the smiling receptionist. She held a neatly stapled stack of papers in her hand. “I have those records you requested,” she told him, holding the papers out. 

Nico frowned. “What?”

“The copy of Mia’s file that you asked for,” she tried again, and stood up to lean over her desk, like she needed the papers out of her hand right that second.

“I didn’t ask for that,” Nico told her, his voice turning icy even as he felt his heart beginning to pound in his chest.

“You called this morning to--”

“I did not call,” Nico cut in, marching toward the desk and snatching up the papers, “so I don’t know who called, but--”

“He said he was Mia’s father,” the receptionist insisted, dropping back into her chair with growing fear in her eyes. 

“I’m her father,” Nico exclaimed. “Did you even try to verify who you were talking to? Do you just give out information to whoever asks for it?”

She shook her head rapidly. “Of course not - we don’t give out any information over the phone-- But he did use your name--”

Ice ran through his veins. Of course he wasn’t just coming after Nico - he wanted Mia, too. “Never give out any information to anyone except for me, got it?” he demanded. “And only if you see me face-to-face.” 

“Understood,” she replied with a subtle shake to her voice, quickly nodding her head.

Nico turned back to the kids, giving them little more than a nod toward the door before leading them outside. He kept his eyes locked on the car across the street as Mia and Oliver climbed into Nico’s backseat, and it wasn’t until they were inside with the doors shut that Nico got into the car himself, locking the doors before he even started the engine.

Before shifting out of park, Nico skimmed the papers he’d been handed - Mia’s full record, with her name and birthday at the top. The name of her teacher, the classroom number. Nico’s address, his phone number, Hazel’s number and Will’s listed under emergency contacts. Far too much information to have nearly fallen into the wrong hands.

“Fuck,” Nico hissed, tossing the papers aside before he started to drive away.

He didn’t see the car move to follow him, but he took a long, winding route to Will’s anyway, just to be safe.

Nico didn’t let himself sleep, only lying awake in the dark and studying the sleeping face of the man beside him. He wouldn’t miss his chance, this time. He would be ready.

As if on cue, a familiar sound came from another room - a high-pitched cry, their baby waking herself up despite the late hour. The bed shifted beside Nico, the man he used to love starting to wake at the sound, though Nico was quick to lay a hand on his shoulder and whisper, “Shh, it’s okay, I got it.”

He waited until the other man relaxed before getting out of bed and tiptoeing out of the room. 

He hurried into the baby’s room, shushing her as he scooped her out of her crib and bouncing her lightly in his arms until her crying stopped. “You’re okay,” Nico told her, pitching his voice as low as he could, since it was just the two of them - he wanted her to get used to him speaking in a lower tone, rather than letting her get too familiar with the higher-pitched voice he hated so much. “We’ll be okay soon, baby, shh.” 

Once he was certain she wouldn’t make another noise, he set her back in her crib just long enough for him to go into the closet and pull out a suitcase he’d placed there about a week earlier - filled nearly to bursting with her clothes, toys, formula, bottles, and a spare handful of clothes for Nico, as well. He wheeled the suitcase toward the crib, leaning over the edge and smiling down at his daughter, just so she knew that he was still nearby, before he stepped toward the window and pushed it open. 

He hadn’t anticipated how difficult it would be to lift the suitcase up onto the windowsill - he’d only had to carry around a baby for the last few months, after all - and he flinched at the sound of it hitting the ground outside, though after a few seconds where he didn’t so much as breathe, Nico determined that he was still in the clear. He hadn’t woken up.

Nico scooped up his baby once more, cradling her against his chest as he threw one leg over the windowsill, one bare foot stretching toward the ground as he braced himself for anything sharp that might be sitting in the grass just outside. Once he was safely on the ground, though, he reached up and shut the window, then grabbed his suitcase and started dragging it through the grass.

Only once he’d walked for about twenty minutes did Nico stop at a street corner and pop open the suitcase to grab a pair of shoes and the emergency phone Hazel had given him the last time they’d been able to see each other. (His phone, with all of his contacts, and hundreds of baby pictures, was still plugged in at his bedside, though he couldn’t risk being tracked, for both of their safety.)

Nico sat down on the suitcase, his back up against a fence and his daughter cradled to his chest, and he called the one contact in his new phone.

Hazel answered after two rings. “Is it time?” 

Despite the horrible dread Nico had felt for the last year, despite the fear he still felt at being caught, hearing his sister’s voice flooded him with relief. “It’s time.” 

“I’m on my way,” Hazel told him, and Nico could hear the rustling of sheets through the phone as she got out of bed. “Are you safe? Where are you? Is it just you, or were you able to get--”

“Maria,” Nico cut in, gazing down at the sleeping girl in his arms. He’d decided on her new name only a split second after he’d decided that they were leaving. He’d wanted to name her after his mother all along, after all. “I have her. We’re okay, at least for now - we’re on a street corner-- I can see a street sign, hang on--”

“Just stay put, Nico,” Hazel said, “I’ll be there soon, and we’ll get you both out of there, and as far away as possible.” 

Nico’s head dropped back against the fence as another wave of relief rushed through him. He was so close, and he was so tired, but he could stay awake until it was over. Whatever it took, as long as it kept his baby safe.

Nico made a point to bring Mia back home at least three nights a week. That way, she could sleep in her own bed, she had her own clothes, and she had her own space, should she want it. 

Still, that didn’t stop Nico from making sure they got to spend the whole day with Will and Ollie before they went back home later that night, sometime after Mia’s bedtime, because Nico hadn’t wanted to say goodbye just yet.

He was still on alert as he got out of his car - the streets nearby were dark, though Nico hadn’t seen his car all day, so he wasn’t too concerned as he walked Mia into the lobby of their apartment building. She leaned heavily against his side as they walked, seeming to be falling asleep where she stood, and Nico worried she wouldn’t manage to stay awake through the elevator ride up to their apartment. She barely managed to stay standing when Nico was called to a stop by the building’s doorman, a man who went by Mr. D, and refused to elaborate on his own name.

“I thought you should know,” Mr. D started, leaning his elbows against his desk, “somebody came by earlier today and asked about you.” 

Nico was instantly on edge. His arm tightened around Mia’s shoulders, pulling her closer to his side. “What do you mean?”

“I mean what I said, kid,” Mr. D replied. “Some guy - tall, dark hair - asked what time the di Angelos usually get home. So, I told him to--” His eyes flickered toward Mia, then seemed to reconsider his words. “I told him to shove it, and that if I ever saw his face again, I’d call the cops.” 

Fear sunk down into Nico’s bones, and he barely managed to get his next words out: “He came here? You saw him?”

Mr. D’s eyes narrowed. “Is everything alright, kid? If you’re in some sort of danger--”

“Don’t say anything,” Nico told him, feeling panic rising in his chest. “I was never here, got it? And if he comes back--”

He couldn’t get the words out. He hoped the fear in his eyes was answer enough as he crouched down and scooped Mia off of her feet before rushing back out of the building.

“Daddy,” Mia whined, “where are we going?”

“Back to Will’s house,” he answered. He loaded her into the backseat and buckled her in before diving into the driver’s seat. “We’ll be safe there.”

“I don’t wanna,” she complained, and Nico could hear the tiredness in her voice. “We’re home right now. Why can’t we sleep here?”

“Because we’re going back to Will’s,” Nico told her, leaving no room for arguments as he pulled back out onto the road. 

They were back at Will’s in twenty minutes. Nico had to carry an unhappy Mia back into the house, slamming the door shut on accident and sliding the deadbolt into place.

“Nico?” Will called out, rising off the couch and meeting Nico halfway through the living room. “What are you-- I thought you were going home. What’s wrong? What happened?”

“Somebody came by the apartment,” Nico told him, hiking Mia up higher on his hip, “and he was asking what time we would be home-- And there’s this car, at my apartment, at the soccer fields, at school-- He tried getting a copy of Mia’s records--”

“Nico, slow down,” Will told him, “you’re not making any sense--”

“He found us, and I don’t know what to--”

“I wanna sleep!” Mia cried, shoving at Nico and kicking her legs in an attempt to wiggle free from his hold. “Daddy, put me down!”  

Nico met her eyes, brushing a lock of hair out of her face as he struggled to hold her up with one arm - but there was no fucking way he was letting her out of arm’s reach for even a second, not now. “We’ll go to sleep soon, baby,” he told her. “You can stay with us in Will’s room - it’ll be like a sleepover!”

“Nico,” Will said, stepping closer and setting a hand on Nico’s shoulder, “put her down. Mia can sleep in Oliver’s room like she always does. Just let her go to sleep, then you and I can talk about this, okay? If you don’t let her sleep, she’ll be horrible at school tomorrow.”

“She can’t go to school,” Nico said, like that was the most absurd thing Will could have suggested. “He was there!”  

“Okay,” Will said, holding his hands out between them so that Nico could see his palms, no sudden movements. “She doesn’t have to go back to school tomorrow. But she does need to sleep. Just put her down, baby, and let her choose where she wants to sleep.”

Nico’s arms tightened around his daughter reflexively. “I have to keep her safe.”  

“She is safe,” Will promised. “As long as she’s under this roof, she’s safe - you both are. I’ll make sure of that.” 

Hesitantly, Nico let his arms loosen, and he bent at the knees to lower Mia to the ground. Instantly, she went to hug Will around the waist.

“Everything’s okay, sweetheart,” Will told her as he ran a hand through her hair. “You can sleep now - but if you decide to go to Ollie’s room, just be quiet, okay? He’s already sleeping.” 

Mia stormed off in that direction, opening and closing Oliver’s door as quietly as she could.

As soon as she was gone, Nico collapsed forward into Will’s chest, sobbing.

“You’re okay,” Will told him, his arms wound around Nico’s shoulders, one of his hands rubbing soothingly over the spot between Nico’s shoulder blades. Nico’s hands clenched into fists around the soft fabric of Will’s t-shirt. “We’re all okay. Let’s take a seat, baby, and you can tell me what’s going on. C’mon, let’s sit down.” 

When Will thought about happiness, he thought about Nico.

He thought about Nico feeling safe enough, relaxed enough, trusting enough to drop his guard and fall asleep in Will’s home, even when they seemed to hardly know each other. Will still smiled whenever he thought about the way Nico had fallen asleep against his shoulder the first time Will tried to introduce him to Star Wars - how Will had started holding his breath as soon as he realized Nico was asleep, because he was so afraid of waking him up. 

He thought of the way he’d felt during that week when the power was out in Nico’s apartment building, and he’d crashed on Will’s couch, despite Will’s repeated reminders that his bed was more than big enough for the two of them. He thought of how he got to see Nico’s sleeping face almost every morning - as long as the kids hadn’t gotten to him first - and how they’d started co-parenting the kids like it was natural to them, no discussion needed. Will thought about how he’d driven the kids to school in the morning before work, how Nico would pick them up at the end of his day, how Will would come home to a house filled with energy, sometimes just as dinner was being set on the table.

The only thing that had seemed to be missing was the ability to greet Nico with a kiss at the end of a long day, and to tell him freely, openly, whole heartedly that he loved him.

Sometimes, Will wondered what would have changed if he’d said it sooner - if he’d pointed out that his invitations to spend the night in his bed had the slightest of ulterior motives, or if he’d proclaimed how much he loved the fact that he hadn’t had to say goodbye to Nico at the end of the day, because neither of them were leaving.

Nico wouldn’t have spiked his heart into the ground right in front of him after casually confessing that he’d been swiping through dating apps for days or weeks or months. Will wouldn’t have had to call his mom in the middle of one of their support group meetings, in tears over the fact that Nico was never going to love him back. Nico wouldn’t have gone through such a shitty date, he probably wouldn’t have gotten sick, and Will wouldn’t have had to find him unconscious on the floor of his bathroom before rushing him to the hospital.

So much of their story would have changed, but the end result would always have remained the same. Will would get to fall asleep with Nico in his arms, wake up beside him almost every morning, and kiss him to his heart’s content. He got to tell Nico how much he loved him, and hear a challenging response that Nico obviously loved him more, and Will felt happier than he ever had in his entire life. 

Until Nico threatened to leave.

“That’s ridiculous,” Will told him, fighting to keep the fear in his voice under wraps. 

“It’s not like I’ve never done it before,” Nico shot back, still trying to scrub tear tracks from his cheeks with the edge of his sleeve.

“That was different,” Will replied, “you were trapped with him! But now-- You don’t even know that he’s the one that’s been following you!”

“Who else would it be?” Nico snapped. “You have to admit, the evidence is pretty fucking damning--”

“But you haven’t seen him,” Will argued, “so you don't know--”  

“By then it’ll be too late--”

“So you’re just going to leave?” Will cut in, resisting the urge to tear his own hair out in an attempt to make sense of whatever the fucking Nico was thinking. “After everything you’ve done to make a life for yourself here - your apartment, your career, and Mia’s entire fucking life are here. All of your friends, and your sister, and-- And me, Nico! What the fuck am I supposed to tell Oliver if you just disappear?”  

Nico flinched, and curled in on himself. “Don’t do that--”

“No, you’re right, that’s selfish of me,” Will spat. “I won’t make you sit here and lie about how you don’t love me anymore just to make yourself feel better. But you don’t get to do that to my son.”  

“What do you expect me to do?” Nico exclaimed. “Wait around like a sitting duck until he finds me? What if he gets to Mia first?”

“I want you to talk to me,” Will shouted, and recoiled at the volume of his own voice. “You’ve been dealing with this for how long? And you’re just now telling me about it? And in the same breath, you say that you’ve already figured out the perfect solution, which is just to fucking run away. Don’t you think he’ll find you again, if it’s really him? What do you think running is going to do?”

“There’s not really a fucking handbook on what to do if your abusive ex finds you eight years after you ran away,” Nico pointed out. “I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing! I’m just trying to keep my baby safe!”  

“I can keep her safe,” Will assured him, reaching out for Nico’s hands and holding them tightly in his own. “Both of you! Don’t you trust me?”

“I--” Nico hesitated, and Will could already feel everything they’d built starting to slip away before Nico told him, “Yes, of course I trust you.”

“Then trust me on this.” Will squeezed Nico’s hands, lowering his voice and leaning closer. “I’ll keep you safe. Nothing is going to happen to either of you, as long as I’m around. If it makes you feel safe, you can stay here as long as you want, and tomorrow, I can go by your apartment and get anything you need, if that’s what you want. Whatever I can do, just tell me, and I’ll do it.” 

Nico nodded, sniffling before he tipped forward, his head resting against Will’s shoulder. “Thank you,” he whispered, his hands loosely gripping the front of Will’s shirt while Will’s arms wrapped around his back. 

“You know I would do anything for you,” Will reminded him. He let Nico have a few moments to calm down in the comfort of Will’s arms before he started to pull back, and used his thumbs to wipe the tears from Nico’s cheeks. “You must be exhausted, baby. C’mon, let’s get you to bed.” 

Feeling safe was one thing when Nico was at home with Will, the doors locked, the curtains pulled shut, and Will’s protective arms firmly wrapped around him. But what about when he had to leave? He couldn’t stop showing up to meet with clients, he couldn’t abandon Mia and Oliver at school, and he couldn’t leave Will to do all of the grocery shopping when Nico and Mia were hiding out in his home. 

All he could think to do was try to blend in - but how? The car that had been following him already knew exactly what he looked like - they knew his car, his routine; everything except for the fact that he’d been staying with Will, apparently. 

But maybe if he’d changed his appearance, he’d be able to slip under the radar, at least for a little while.

He hadn’t shaved his face in a couple of days before arriving at Will’s, and had chosen not to since being invited to stay for the foreseeable future. He’d never really tried to grow out his facial hair - it was patchy, and grew slowly, and whenever he looked in the mirror he got the feeling that this was how he would’ve looked at about seventeen if he hadn’t been born in the wrong body.

With nothing left to do but wait for a beard to grow, Nico had taken a pair of scissors from Will’s kitchen and brought them into the bathroom with him. After laying a towel across the sink, he started cutting - little chunks at first; anything that he’d been able to pull back into a ponytail. He trimmed down the sides, because those were easiest to reach, though he hadn’t touched the top of his head before he realized that he was making a horrible fucking mistake and that he had no idea how to cut hair.

Despite the heat of the summer, Nico threw on a beanie, hoping it would hide the horrible cut he’d given himself, and found himself in a rush to drop the kids off at school.

A few days prior, he’d gone to apologize to the school’s receptionist for his behavior, and explained the situation in the vaguest terms he could manage. And that morning, since Mia and Oliver were being dropped off a handful of minutes past the bell, Nico had to sign them in, and figured that he might as well double check that his point had come across.

The receptionist had assured him that no one else had tried to contact the school regarding Mia - or even Nico or Oliver - and promised that no information would be given out to anyone over the phone, just as Nico had requested. The teachers and recess monitors all knew to keep an eye on Mia whenever she was outside, and at the end of the day, Mia was handed off by the teacher to Nico or Will, and no one else, under any circumstances.

After reviewing everything, Nico had to step aside so that a woman could sign her own child in for the day, so he led Mia and Oliver toward the door, giving them each a hug and a kiss on the forehead before sending them off.

He ended up walking out of the front office at the same time as the woman who had signed her child in after him.

“You know,” she started, just before they parted ways on the sidewalk, and Nico felt himself tense at the unexpected interaction, “people keep saying that the mullet is coming back. It isn’t.” 

Nico frowned, turning toward her to make sure she had actually spoken to him - and she had. “What?”

She flipped her long black hair over her shoulder with the help of a well-manicured hand. “Your hair, honey,” she said, gesturing to him with that same hand while the other propped itself on her hip. “It’s not a good look.” 

“Thanks,” Nico grumbled, tugging the beanie further onto his head. 

“I could give you a hand, if you wanted,” she continued before Nico could make a break to his car. “I have a chair at one of the salons in town, and I don’t have any clients today before eleven. I won’t even charge you, if it means I can fix whatever’s going on underneath that hat.” 

Nico hesitated. He didn’t have anywhere to be before noon himself, and it was definitely too hot for him to wear such a warm hat all day - not to mention the fact that he had clients to meet with who would no doubt be put off by his unprofessional state. “Okay,” he said after a minute. “Um. Like, right now?”

The woman shrugged. “Unless you have somewhere to be.” 

Nico shook his head. “Now works. I’ll, uh, follow you?” 

Drew the hairstylist, despite her blunt attitude, was nice once they’d started talking. She talked about her daughter, who was in the grade below Mia and Oliver, and how the salon belonged to her mother, but she hoped to own her own someday. She asked about Nico’s kids, and if one of them had taken a pair of scissors to his hair while he was asleep, though he’d sheepishly answered that he’d done it to himself.

“And why the fuck would you do that?” Drew asked, meeting his eyes in the mirror as she combed through his freshly-washed hair. 

“I needed a…change,” Nico answered, hoping to stay vague. “Somebody I used to know… recognized me, and I thought a different haircut would keep it from happening again.” 

She hummed, nodding in understanding as she made the first snip! “I see. So it was on purpose?”

“It wasn’t shitty on purpose, if that’s what you mean,” Nico grumbled.

“No, of course not,” she replied, and her eyes flickered up to meet Nico’s again as she gestured to the lower half of her own face. “So, this part isn’t shitty on purpose either, I take it?”

Nico huffed. “Some men can’t grow facial hair as well as others. I didn’t realize it was that bad until I tried growing a beard.” 

“If that’s what we’re calling it,” Drew mumbled, then said, “So, you’re probably not going to let me clean that up, are you?”

“No!” Nico said quickly, his hands getting caught in the cape around his neck as he reached up, as though to cover his scruff and protect it from her scissors. “No, that’s…part of it.” 

She let out a sigh. “Of course it is. Alright, anyway, did you have a plan for this? I know you wanted it shorter, but how butch were you thinking?”

Nico frowned again. “Uh, well, I’m a man, so…maximum butch?”

“Oh, god, no, sorry,” Drew said quickly, “I didn’t mean anything by that. Nine times out of ten, there’s a lesbian sitting in this chair.”

Nico waved her off - after he was able to free his hand from beneath the cape. “Don’t worry about it. And…no plan, really. Just…short.” 

Drew raised an eyebrow and caught his eye again. “Should I get the electric razor?”

Nico only had to pause briefly to consider it - he hadn’t had his head shaved since he first ran away, when he couldn’t stand the sight of his long hair anymore, and practically begged Frank to cut his hair for him. “Sure,” he answered, “and we can go from there.” 

The months Nico spent living on Hazel’s couch were good for him, even if they only made him feel trapped in a different way.

He had a child who wasn’t even yet a year old, and nobody wanted to hire the guy who walked into the interview with a baby strapped to his chest, especially not when it became apparent that outside childcare was not something Nico had available. Without a job, he couldn’t pitch in and help with Hazel’s rent, nor could he save up for his own place to live. He couldn’t buy food or clothes or toys for Maria, and there was no chance in hell he would be able to go back on hormones until he could safely afford it.

He was a wreck who was even more worthless than he’d been before the baby - not that he would ever blame any of his poor choices on her.

And thank god for his friends.

Percy and Leo had gone through their closets and gave up a few outfits each so that Nico had more than two changes of clothes to his name. (Jason and Frank had done the same, though Nico had wound up practically swimming in their clothes, though he appreciated the gesture nonetheless.) Piper had made sure to pass along anything that Gus had grown out of, and any toys that he wasn’t going to miss, which had Maria taken care of. Frank had taken Nico into the bathroom one evening after work and shaved his head over the trash can, cutting it all down to one length - and that length was short, a centimeter or two at best . Nico hadn’t stopped running his palm over the top of his head for a few days straight after the fact. Even Annabeth had found a way to help that made it feel like a hundred pound weight had been lifted off of Nico’s shoulders by driving him to the courthouse and paying for the paperwork to get both Nico and Maria’s names legally changed - Nico away from his deadname, and Maria away from all traces of her biological father.

And Hazel. Nico was never going to be able to repay Hazel for everything she’d done for him - slipping him an emergency phone before he’d been able to escape, acting as his getaway driver, housing him, feeding him, taking care of Maria when Nico had just needed a break. And after months where Nico had been able to do next to nothing in return, Hazel presented him with a gift.

A binder.

One to replace all the others he’d lost to a horrible, horrible man.

It wasn’t HRT. It wasn’t the top surgery he’d been saving up for until Maria came into his life. It wasn’t his own home, or a car, or even a job that he could end up supporting himself with. 

But it made him start to feel like himself again.

Once school let out for the summer, Nico had to find some way that he could spend time with the kids before business took off again - with graduations and weddings and any other number of celebrations that people needed to have photographed now that the weather was finally nice enough to be outside. He was definitely happy to stray from his usual routine, and more than glad that he didn’t have to worry any more about Mia being tracked down at school. 

It just so happened that one of the last days that Nico had scheduled off for himself coincided with a day off that Will had been scheduled to keep him from working overtime that week. And, in keeping with straying from the usual routine, Will had happily agreed to joining Nico and the kids on a walk through the woods that morning. (Nico was more than grateful for the company, knowing that he would feel much better about being potentially stalked through the woods if Will was at his side.)

Still, Nico wasn’t overly excited about the fact that Will was no doubt going to want to talk about Nico’s distant follower. He’d already shared everything there was to know about his ex, and even Will had to admit that his stalker’s car had sounded suspiciously similar to the one Mia’s father had driven. It hardly seemed like a coincidence, but Will kept nudging Nico toward believing that it was.

They hiked until they reached the edge of a creek, just deep enough to swim in, though none of them had come prepared for that. It was clearly a popular place to stop, with a rocky beach along the edge of the creek, and a series of fallen trees and medium-sized boulders that made for great places to sit and rest. Will and Nico took a seat together on one of the logs while Mia and Oliver started toward the creek, keeping far enough from the water to avoid any splashing as they searched through the rocks on the beach.

“Why haven’t you gone to the police?” Will asked, shattering the moment of serenity Nico felt in watching the kids run around. 

Nico felt his shoulders rise up toward his ears, defensively. “If you don’t believe me, why would they?”

“I never said I don’t believe you,” Will said quickly, placing his hand over Nico’s where it rested in the moss on the side of the log. “I just don’t want this to change the way you live your life. And don’t try to argue that it hasn’t already - you’ve barely been accepting new clients, you always insist that you be the one to drop the kids off and pick them up from school, and you barely leave the house unless you absolutely have to. You haven’t even been back to your own apartment in a month!”  

“If we’re overstaying our welcome, just say so,” Nico replied, cold, blunt.

“You’re not.” Will shifted, angling himself toward Nico and squeezing his hand. “That’s not what I’m saying. I just think-- You can’t hide away from your problems, Nico. If you want to go to the police, I’ll go with you, or-- Or point me in the direction of that fucking car, and I’ll take care of it for you, okay? I just don’t want you to have to live in fear anymore. You did that for long enough.” 

Nico tensed at Will’s words. He wanted to lash out in response, or even run away again, though he knew he couldn’t do those things to Will - he hadn’t done anything to deserve it. But what was he supposed to say? He couldn’t let Will make himself into a target by confronting Nico’s ex. Sure, the man had never physically hurt Nico or Mia, but the emotional abuse could only go on for so long before things got worse - and surely he would think that Nico deserved to be punished for running away.

He was saved from needing to scramble for a response by Mia and Oliver appearing in front of both of them with their hands full of rocks, all of different shapes, sizes, and colors. “Daddy, look!” Mia exclaimed, shoving her hands out toward him. “We think we found fossils!”

“Really?” Nico asked. He held out his hands, and Mia dropped her pile of rocks into his palms. He looked over each rock individually, carefully inspecting them before he decided, “I don’t know that any of these are fossils, but they are some very cool rocks.” 

“What about this one?” Ollie asked, holding out an especially white stone to him that was almost cylindrical in shape. “We think this one’s a bone.” 

“Also cool,” Nico replied, “but I’m not sure how you would be able to tell that it’s a bone, and not just a rock.” 

“Let me see.” Will held out his hand, and Oliver dropped the specimen into his palm. Will raised it toward his eyes, taking a closer look at the surface, and then: he licked it. “Nah, sorry, bud. That’s just a rock.” 

“What the hell?” Nico demanded.

Will blinked at him, his head tipping in confusion. “What?” 

Nico gestured toward him, toward the rock, toward his face. “You licked it!”

“Yeah.” Will shrugged, like that wasn’t an insane thing to do. “That’s how you tell if it’s a bone. You lick it.” 

Quickly, Nico turned toward the kids. “Do not lick rocks. They’re covered in dirt, and germs, and who knows what else.” 

“I’m not kidding,” Will said with a laugh, elbowing Nico in the side as he kids turned back toward the creek to find new rocks. “There’s a textural difference between rock and bone that you can only feel by licking it. It’s a real thing!” 

“Sure,” Nico replied, leaning away from him. “Whatever you say. But I’m not kissing you until you rinse your mouth out.”

Will followed after him, looping his arms around Nico’s waist as Nico playfully struggled against him. “C’mon, you know you can’t resist me.” 

The drive home was spent With Nico’s hand interlocked with Will’s over the center console, listening to the kids bicker over who found the cooler rocks. Nico felt more at peace than he had in over a month as he sat there, though the moment was shattered by the sight of an all-too-familiar car parked at the end of Will’s driveway. 

Nico straightened up in his seat, pressing back into the leather like it would keep him from getting any closer to him. “Stop,” Nico whispered, because his voice wouldn’t seem to come out any louder. “Stop, stop.”  

Will was too focused on frowning in confusion out at the other car to notice Nico’s state, and carefully pulled into the driveway while Nico sank down into his seat, attempting to hide from anyone who might be waiting in that other car. 

Before Will could shut off the car, Nico grabbed his arm. “That’s him,” Nico told him, “that’s the car, that’s-- We have to leave.”  

Will covered Nico’s hand with his own, pulling it off of his arm and raising it to his lips, pressing a kiss to his knuckles. “I told you I’d take care of it, right? Just stay here.” He glanced back between the seats, saying to Mia and Ollie, “Stay in the car until I say you can leave, alright?” He got out of the car, leaving the keys with Nico, though he hit the locks on his way out, just in case anyone else tried to get in.

Nico watched as Will approached the other car, leaning down to speak with whoever sat in the driver’s seat. Nico didn’t think he’d ever seen Will look so determined, so intimidating, and he prayed to anyone who would listen that the driver would be scared off for good. Once or twice, Will’s eyes flickered back toward Nico, and Nico thought he saw confusion, uncertainty in that look, and that only made Nico even more terrified. 

After only a minute or two, Will started back toward Nico, and with no other motion coming from the other car, Nico felt it safe to unlock the doors, letting Will pull his open and lean in to ask, “Does the name Hades Aidoneos mean anything to you?” 

Nico felt himself pale, hundreds of emotions shooting through him, though the most prominent had to be confusion. “That’s my dad.” 

Will took a breath. “Well, I have good news, and-- Judging by your reaction, maybe not -so-good news. Your ex isn’t the one who’s been following you, it’s--”

Nico threw himself out of the car before Will could say another word. As he did so, a tall figure rose from the passenger’s seat of the other car, and Nico felt his blood boil at the sight of a man he hadn’t seen in a decade. 

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing here?” Nico demanded, marching toward his father with his hands balled into fists. Behind him, he heard the sound of more car doors opening and closing, and tried to reign in his anger at the thought of the kids behind him, though it wasn’t easy when his father was looking down at him with the same dissatisfied air he’d always held toward Nico.

“Is that any sort of way to speak to your father?” Hades replied, and Nico barely held back from throwing a punch. 

“You think you deserve my fucking respect?” Nico spat back. “You stalked me for months-- And I thought-- I could kill you for this--”

“Nico,” Will’s voice came from behind him, seconds before a hand landed on his arm. Nico almost flinched away from the touch before he realized it had to be Will trying to comfort him, rather than his father starting to attack. “Come inside before one of the neighbors calls the cops, okay?” 

Nico shook his head. “I don’t want the kids to see this--”

“I sent them out to play in the backyard,” Will cut in, giving Nico a nudge toward the house. “Go. Take a minute, breathe. We’ll be right behind you.” 

“I don’t want him here,” Nico argued, but Will was standing firm.

As he started toward the house, he heard Will introducing himself as politely as he could with a guarded and threatening edge to his voice. The last thing Nico heard before he shut the front door behind himself was, “He deserves an explanation, but keep it brief.” 

He was given just about sixty seconds to pace back and forth in the living room before the door opened, and Hades and Will stepped inside. Nico wanted to throttle his father as soon as he saw the man, but Will immediately took charge of the situation. “Explain yourself,” he said to Hades, not unlike the way Nico had seen him speak to Oliver when he’d done something he shouldn’t have. “Why have you been following Nico for the last few months?”

“I have done no such thing,” Hades replied, as if it would take all of the blame off of him, despite the fact that he continued, “I only hired a private investigator to help me find my missing child.” 

Nico rolled his eyes. “I’m not fucking missing.”  

“Then why haven’t I heard from you since you were nineteen?” Hades shot back. “Does a father not have the right to know that his children are alive?”

“So you hired a fucking PI to find me? Why didn’t you just call Hazel?”

“Do you really think she would have answered if I called?”

“Stop,” Will cut in, crossing his arms over his chest. He turned to Hades. “How did you find Nico? And why now?”  

Hades sighed, and took a seat on the couch. Will moved to lean against the arm on the other end of the couch, though Nico refused to let his own guard down, and stayed standing where he was. “My secretary was reading one of those rock and roll magazines, and left it open on her desk when she stepped away. I happened to take a look at it, and thought the name of the photographer sounded familiar. Nico di Angelo.” He turned toward Nico, a strange sort of thoughtfulness in his eyes. “That’s the nickname your sisters called you in high school. And you took your mother’s last name instead of mine. You changed your daughter’s name, too, according to the investigator. Why is that?” 

Nico felt himself tense again, and glanced toward Will to find him already looking back, his expression saying, you don’t have to answer that, though Nico was speaking before he even realized he’d opened his mouth. “I had to. To keep us safe from the man that I thought was following us.” 

Hades hung his head, almost as if he was actually ashamed of what he’d done, though Nico couldn’t see how that was possible. “I’m sorry I had to resort to this, my… son,” he said, hesitating before the word, but clearly determined to get it right in the end. “I wish there had been another way, one that may not have caused you so much stress, but especially after I found out that I have a granddaughter… I had to see this through to the end.” 

Nico flinched. “What do you want with Mia?” 

“I’d like to meet her,” Hades answered, “that’s all.” 

Nico only had to think about his response for a second. “Not today,” he replied, “but I’ll think about it, once I’m not so pissed off anymore. I’d offer to give you my phone number, but I’m sure your investigator already got that for you, right?” 

Hades’s gaze hardened - Nico knew he was a man that wasn’t used to being told no, so Nico was more than happy to give him the pleasure. 

Will pushed himself upright and cleared a path toward the door. “Let me show you out,” he said, making it clear that it wasn’t a suggestion. He waited until Hades had followed him to the door before adding, “If either of us ever see that car again, we’ll be pressing charges. Have a nice day.” 

He stayed in the doorway as Hades left, and Nico watched through the living room window as the car drove away. As soon as it was out of sight, Will shut the door, turned the lock, and came to catch Nico before he collapsed. “Fuck,” Nico breathed into Will’s shoulder, grabbing the back of his shirt by the fistful. 

“Agreed.” Will’s arms tightened around him until Nico struggled to take a deep breath, though he couldn’t be more appreciative of the pressure around him. “But he’s gone now, and he’s not coming back - not without permission. You’re safe, Mia’s safe - we’re all okay now.” 

“Fuck,” Nico said, this time choking on a sob that rocketed through him. “I can’t believe-- That car-- How was it the same car? What kind of fucked up coincidence is that?”

“It’s fucking insane,” Will agreed, “but at least now we know that it was just your dad. You’re okay, Nico.” 

“And the fucking magazine!” Nico shoved himself back so that he could stare up at Will in exasperation. “That AltPress shoot didn’t get me any more clients, but it helped my fucking dad track me down? How does that make any sense?”

Will grinned, laughing lightly. “It doesn’t. Listen, do you need a few more minutes to scream and process and swear at the top of your lungs, or can I go get the kids? I think we should celebrate your new freedom by going out for ice cream or something like that.” 

Nico took a deep breath, and furiously rubbed at his eyes. “I’m okay. I think I can handle some ice cream.”

Nico hadn’t touched his apartment in a few months, though he’d only just realized it within the last couple of days. It was hard to think about leaving Will’s home, even just for a night or two, though he knew he should really get back to his old habits.

But why did he have to think about it when he was halfway in Will’s lap, his head pillowed on Will’s shoulder, with one of the millions of Star Wars movies playing on Will’s TV?

“Mia and I should probably go home for a few days,” Nico commented, keeping his voice low so as to not disturb the movie - not that he’d been paying any attention, and not that Will hadn’t seen it a hundred times before. He felt more than heard Will’s hum in response. “I know she likes to sleep in her own bed. And she probably has more summer clothes back at home. And-- Oh, god, my fridge is probably disgusting--”  

“Nico,” Will started, his hand smoothing down Nico’s back, and Nico pressed himself tighter against Will’s side.

“Sorry, the movie, I know, I’ll shut up.” 

Will huffed. “Nico--”

“It’s not that I actually want to leave--”

“So don’t,” Will cut in. “Just move in here.” 

Nico threw himself back, eyes wide as he studied Will’s relaxed expression in the dark, only illuminated by the glow of the TV. “What?”  

Will blinked. “Oh. Is that not what you were saying?” 

“No, I--” Nico shook his head. “I mean, yes, but-- No!” He kept staring at Will, his hands waving around wildly between them as if that would get his point across.

“Okay,” Will said, “take your time.” 

“I can’t ask Oliver to permanently share his room with Mia,” Nico said, the first of a thousand thoughts swarming through his head that managed to make it to his mouth, “that’s not fair to him.” 

Will’s hand slipped down to the small of Nico’s back, a gentle pressure as his thumb slipped under the edge of Nico’s t-shirt and started smoothing repetitive lines on his skin. “He basically already does, and he’s fine with it.” 

“He should still be given a choice,” Nico pointed out, “and we did say that we were going to talk to the kids before we made any big decisions like this.” 

Will nodded. “Yeah, of course, you’re right. We should give them options.” 

Nico snorted. “Options like what? We all live here, or we all cram into my apartment? That’s hardly a choice.”

With his free hand, Will pulled out his phone, quickly opening up a web browser and clicking on one of his bookmarks. Within seconds, he handed over the phone - on the screen, a listing for a three bedroom house across town with a big yard. “This is on the other side of town, but still close enough that Mia and Oliver wouldn’t have to change schools,” Will said as Nico started swiping through pictures - a separate kitchen and dining room, a big living room. Will leaned in so that he could look through the pictures with Nico, though he’d clearly seen them all plenty of times before. “This would be our room, with our own bathroom,” he said as Nico swiped through the master bedroom. “Next is Mia’s room, and Ollie’s - they’re the same size, so it doesn’t really matter which is which. They’d have their own bathroom, separate from a guest bathroom.” 

Nico continued swiping - past the bedrooms and bathrooms and a two-car garage, through the fenced-in backyard with a small patio, into a large, brightly lit sunroom, and Will’s hand squeezed his waist. “I was thinking this could be your studio,” he said, dropping a kiss to Nico’s shoulder, as if he would need convincing. 

“How long have you been looking?” Nico asked, wondering just how far behind he’d been for the last few months, with his mind constantly occupied by too many things at once. 

“Not long,” Will answered, and Nico knew it was a lie. “But this listing just went up today. The house actually goes on the market in two days, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to bring it up to you all day, when we’ve never talked about this before--”

Nico’s heart was pounding in his chest. “You want to buy a house with me?” 

Will smiled, and Nico was reminded that Will was just as stupidly in love with him as Nico was in return. “Yeah, obviously. And if you’re down, I was thinking that we could talk to the kids about it tomorrow, and maybe we could try to be the first ones to put in an offer once it goes up. Or, I could even try to contact the realtor and see if we could cut in early--”

Nico didn’t let him say another word. He dropped Will’s phone to his lap and tugged Will forward and into a kiss that had their noses bumping against each other. 

“Should I assume that’s a yes?” Will asked, his words mumbled against Nico’s lips, and Nico could feel the way his mouth had stretched into a smile. “Or do we need to talk about it more? ‘Cause if we’re still talking, then I think I need to pause the movie--”

“Shut up,” Nico told him as he planted himself firmly in Will’s lap, his hands locking in Will’s hair as he pulled him in again. “I love you so fucking much.”