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“You need a haircut, Death Boy,” Will said carding his fingers into Nico’s bangs that hung over his eyes.
“There’s not exactly a barber around the corner here Solace,” Nico replied slapping Will's hand away and fixing his hair back over his eyes to hide his blush.
As much as Will wouldn’t admit it he liked Nico’s hair long, but his bangs were starting to fall past his eyes and he had taken to splitting it into three parts one on either side and then one patch falling right down his nose. Will had given Nico a hairband to tame his long mane during sparing but Nico refused to wear the silly thing around his wrist so most of the time he forgot it.
“I’ll do it,” Will said simply, shrugging his shoulders and reaching out to grasp at the tips of silky hair falling past Nico’s shoulder.
“Hey, stop it this isn’t a petting zoo-,” Nico swatted Will’s hand away again before asking, “You know how to cut hair?”
“Of course I do,” Will said matter-of-factly.
“And why should I trust you near my face with a sharp weapon?” Nico retorted.
“Who do you think keeps the Apollo cabin well-kept?”
“Santa?” Will slapped Nico’s shoulder, “hey!”
“Me stupid, now let me cut your hair you look like a wet cat all the time” Nico relented, “fine but you better not fuck it up”
That is how Nico found himself inside the Apollo cabin bathroom surrounded by white tile and golden faucets while being suffocated by the intoxicating smell of fresh grass and strawberry shampoo.
“Here sit down” Will had dragged a chair from the common area and plopped it right in the middle of the bathroom. He promptly started going through the cabinets under the sink pulling out shampoo bottles and soaps before finding a little plastic box and setting it on the counter.
“Is there anyone’s hair around camp that you like? Or do you have an idea of what you want?” Will asked, going through the contents of the box with his back to Nico.
“Uhh” Nico hadn’t thought about it, he’d never really gotten to choose his hair cuts, they were always just out of necessity. “I guess I kind of like it longer but I’d like to get this front part of out my eyes for when I’m fighting”
“Okay got it, short in front, trim in the back” Will turned around with a pair of gold scissors and comb in one hand and a spray bottle in the other looking a little too pleased with himself.
“Remind me why I’m trusting you with this again?” Nico scowled as Will came around and started pulling his hands through Nico’s hair. Nico started to move away on instinct but Will caught his shoulder. “You have to actually let me touch your hair for me to cut it Lord Darkness”
“Says who” Nico retorted but sat back and let Will continue his ministrations nonetheless.
“Says me now hold still unless you want a mohawk.” Will pulled at the hair behind his ear and the first snip seemed to echo through Nico’s skull. He was regretting this already. Will was so close, his torso pressed up against his shoulder as he continued to pull and snip his way around Nico’s neck. Will’s fingers brushed against his ear and massaged at his scalp in a bone chilling way. Nico willed the blush rising up his neck to go away. This was fine, nothing unusual or flirtatious about this at all so why did he feel so hot under the collar?
“Stop squirming if you want to keep your ears” Will said putting a hand on Nico’s shoulder as if to push him into the chair more.
“Sorry” Nico mumbled and took it upon himself to sit as still as possible. He didn’t even tap his foot or fidget with his nails as he watched Will’s hands gently work their way through his hair in the mirror. And if Nico’s stomach flipped as he watched Will furrow his brow and pull his lip through his teeth as he concentrated- then that was something he would keep to himself.
Will finally dropped his hands and sighed, exacerbated, and made eye contact with Nico in the mirror. “I didn’t mean you couldn’t breath, just relax zombie breath”.
“Sit still, don’t sit still, make up your mind glowstick” Nico bit back rolling his eyes to prove his point. Will rolled his eyes right back and finished up his snipping around the back of Nico’s head. His hair now sat just about at his shoulders, brushing easily back and forth over his neck. Nico carded a hand through the layers of his hair only for his hand to get slapped away by a certain blonde.
“Hold on I’m not done yet, now is time for the front” Will said moving to press into Nico’s shoulder once again. Nico tried not to tense and took deep breaths as Will slowly made his way around to the front of his head. Will seemed to hesitate then, stepping one way than the other trying to find the right angle Nico assumed, before he made a heart stopping decision.
“Can I- I’m just gonna-” He said and used his hands to spread Nico’s legs and moved to put one leg in between Nico’s and the other outside, practically straddling Nico’s left thigh. Nico couldn’t keep the blush from his face this time. Will’s knee was centimeters from his crotch, a breath away from pressing into Nico and causing a whole other issue. All the while Will just continued to pull and snip at the hair in Nico’s face like nothing had changed. All Nico could do was hold his breath and pray to every god he could think of that he would make it out of this with his dignity.
After a good many snips of the scissors did Will shift, moving his other leg in between Nico’s legs and transfer his focus to the other side of Nico’s head. Nico took a long stuttering breath and made the gut-wrenching mistake of looking down to picked at his finger nails.
“Hey,” Will said, and reached down to grip Nico’s chin and gently lift it back to a forward facing position. “You can’t look down or the angle will be wrong” he explained. But little did he know that that simple motion sent Nico’s mind spiraling.
Keep it together di Angelo he scolded himself and tried to focus on his breathing as Will finally moved to the other side of his head, removing himself from between Nico’s legs. This was all too much, how was Nico supposed to deal with this procsimaty and now mild man-handling? When was this torture going to end?
”There, all done!” Will said, finally taking a step back. Nico went to take a breath of relief and found that his lungs craved the air Will had been contaminating.
”Go on, take a look” Will was rinsing off his scissors and placing them back in the plastic box, smiling softly at Nico in the mirror. Nico stood up on shaky legs and with much effort turned his attention to his image in the mirror.
His hair was still long but he now had swooping bangs that sloped back and dramatically dropped down around his ears to let the length free. Now instead of one giant slick of black hair falling past his shoulders, it was layered fluff, cascading off his shoulders. “I like it” He found himself saying, and actually meaning it. I guess Will actually knew what he was doing he’ll give’m that.
“Good, you look good” he said with pride, making eye contact with Nico again. He said it so casually it took Nico a couple extra seconds to process it. Will liked how he looked. He didn’t say he liked the haircut or that he did a good job, he said he himself looked good.
“Thanks” Nico replied, unable to hide the blush that was creeping up his neck. Nico looked back to himself in the mirror and started carding his fingers through his bangs curiously. Will seemed to take this as an invitation, moving to Nico’s side and replacing Nico’s fingers with his own.
“It’s just long enough for you to have some style but short enough to be out of your eyes right?” Will demonstrated this by pushing the bangs to tuck behind Nico’s ear. This would have been fine if Nico didn’t make the mistake of turning to look at Will as he did it. Suddenly they were so close, face to face staring into each other's eyes both searching each other for any sign of discomfort. But neither of them moved, till Will slowly let his hand fall past Nico's ear and through his waves of hair till finally resting on Nico’s check. Nico ever so slightly leaned into the touch and tracked Will’s eyes as they flicked down to his lips and back up. Nico sucked in a breath.
”Nico” Will choked, almost as a question and Nico didn’t know what he was asking but he knew that he would say yes.
“Nico can I-“ he studered again, chancing another glance down at Nico’s lips and Nico found himself nodding ever so slightly and let his own eyes flash to Will’s soft pink lips. This was all Will had been waiting for as he slowly started to lean forward, still watching Nico carefully for the slightest flinch. And when he continued to find none he ever so carefully brushed his lips against Nico’s. Nico’s brain was still a few steps behind, not even thinking to close his eyes as Will kissed him. Will was kissing him! Almost like an electric shock Nico woke up from his temporary paralysis and quickly chased after Will’s lips. Nico had to shift to his tiptoes to do it but the crushing of his lips against those soft lips was everything Nico could have imagined. Will matched his eagerness, cupped Nico’s face with both hands and leaned into the kiss.
Will kissed with his whole body, collapsing around Nico and pressing his torso into the shorter boy. And Nico met him halfway, grabbing fistfuls of Wills shirt around his waist and yanking him into him. They kissed like the air between them was an offense to all the gods.
As their lips melted against one another Nico found himself being bent back with the force of the kiss. Almost as if Will took it as a challenge, he released Nico’s checks to grasp at the small of his back, bending him back against the counter in a desperate plea for more. And Nico could do nothing but answer his plea, releasing his frantic grip on Will’s shirt and reaching his hands in the golden tangles of Will’s hair. It was soft and thick and Nico couldn’t help fisting a few locks and gently pulling him towards him even more. Will groaned and Nico’s stomach exploded into a frenzied flutter of skeletal butterflies.
“Hey Will have you seen- OH!” Will and Nico both jumped back as Kayla barged through the bathroom door. “I’m so sorry!” She stuttered as she shut the door again, slightly swearing at herself. And just as Nico and Will waited to hear her receding footsteps they heard her call one last time, “Congrats!”
Will groaned, wrapped his hands back around Nico’s waist and dropped his head on his shoulders. “Next time we’re locking the door” he said, his obvious embarrassment clear in his voice.
Nico laughed, light and clear, “what makes you think there’s gonna be a next time huh?”
Will’s head shot up his face even more red now if that was even possible. ”Oh I didn’t mean to- uh assume- I- sorry I thought-“ Nico decided Will was extra cute when he was flustered, it wasn’t something he saw very often.
”I’m kidding Sunshine take a breath” Nico’s stomach flipped again as he watched Will’s face split into a blinding smile.
“So does that mean- you liked it?” Will asked, his speech slightly clipped by how big his smile was. Nico rolled his eyes.
“I guess it wasn’t that bad” Will continued to smile, slowly leaning into Nico again,
“So does that mean I can do this?” By the time he finished he was practically speaking against Nico’s lips and he was much too impatient for that. Nico shot up on his tiptoes and connected their lips once again smiling into the kiss.