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Nico sat in the Apollo cabin, tapping his foot impatiently as the seconds ticked away, each moment feeling like an hour. He glared at the clock like he could scare it into going faster. The clock refused to cower before Nico, the ghost king himself. Stupid clock. Stupid time. Stupid-
A snort from the hallway made him jump in excitement, face lifting until-
“Someone's excited,” Kayla chuckled, leaning on the door frame. Her green highlights shone in the afternoon sun from the darkening sky. She almost looked like she was glowing, not like Will , though. Nico missed him.
“Oh. It’s just you.” Nico deflated back against the couch, hands rubbing over his face. Kayla cackled like a witch.
“You’re like a little puppy realising its owner isn’t back yet. It’s hilarious.”
Nico directed his glare towards her instead; maybe a living thing would grovel beneath the power of his stare. Not Kayla, apparently - she just laughed harder.
“I miss him, okay?” Nico mumbled, blowing the hair out of his eyes.
“I know you do; he’ll be back soon enough. Orthodontist appointments usually don’t take too long.” Kayla plopped down next to him and carded her hands through her fringe. “You know he loves it when you miss him, right? When you get that fond little look on your face.” She reached out a grandma-worthy hand to pinch his cheek, which Nico promptly slapped away.
“I hate you.”
“But you love him.”
Nico’s face softened a bit. “I do.”
“ That look!” Kayla pointed out, laughing yet again when her gaze locked onto something behind his head. “Looks like your prince charming is back.”
Nico’s face changed immediately as he jumped up, ready to launch into his boyfriend’s arms, who was standing sheepishly by the doorway to the Apollo cabin.
“Hi,” Nico whispered with a soft but giddy smile.
“Hi,” Will said equally as quietly, gripping onto Nico’s hands with his warm fingers. Nico was right; his hair really did glow in the sun, hell — all of him did. That might’ve also been because his boyfriend could actually glow, though — who could tell?
There was pure silence for a moment, Nico drinking in the blonde, even though he was only gone for three hours maximum. Will seemed just as happy to do the same, his blue eyes lovingly tracing the lines of his face. A choked cackle sounded from behind him, and Nico could only roll his eyes.
“I’ll give you two some… space .” Kayla slinked out of the room, and Nico could almost hear the smirk in her voice. “Enjoy your nerd rubber bands!”
Will laughed, his voice sounding like sunshine somehow, but Nico noticed something different about his mouth, something other than his braces. Without thinking, he reached a curious hand up to pull at his lips. “What have they done to you, Solace?” He muttered, way more seriously than he meant.
Will chuckled around Nico’s finger and opened his mouth to show the new addition to the metal in his mouth. “I got rubber bands!” He smiled, showing off the two white rubber bands stretching from one tooth on his upper row and two on his lower row, in triangular shapes on either side. Nico’s finger plucked at them experimentally but retracted when Will winced.
“It hurts?” He asked, hand moving back into Will’s grasp.
“Yeah. Lucky they didn’t adjust my braces too much other than that.” Will shrugged, “It’s because my teeth don’t touch when I bite down, so they’re pullin’ them together.”
Nico’s mouth made an ‘O’ shape, and he nodded, still kind of confused as to how braces even worked. He moved to hug Will close, his head against his chest.
“I missed you,” He mumbled, muffled by the fabric of Will’s camp shirt, the one he cut into a tank top.
“I missed you too, sunshine.” He ruffled Nico’s hair, smiling fondly even though it probably hurt a bit. Nico pulled away abruptly, squinting his eyes at his mouth.
“Wait, how do you eat?”
Will let out a low chuckle, cupping Nico’s face. “I change them everytime I eat or brush my teeth, Hon. Now, let’s go get some painkillers before my teeth start freakin’ out.”
“Anything for your robot teeth.”
———————
A knock woke Nico from his rest, his disorientated mind forgetting where he was. He stumbled out of bed, looking at his alarm clock. 2:34 AM. Another rushed knock echoed through the room, and Nico sleepily shuffled towards the door. He was about to grumble something about the time of night when he saw a sight that definitely woke him up.
William Solace, his usually stoic yet heartwarming boyfriend, was crying, arms clutched over his shivering figure.
‘Hey, hey. You alright?” Nico asked, gently gripping onto Will’s forearm to help pull him inside before the harpies got them.
“It hurts,” Will’s teeth didn’t touch as he spoke, a careful decision.
“Oh, zucherro.” Nico shut the door behind them and focused his attention on his precious boyfriend. His jaw was tensed and perched oddly, slightly open. “Your braces?” Will nodded slowly, flopping onto his back on Nico’s bed.
He was new to relationships and braces alike; it was new for his boyfriend to visit in the middle of the night, evading the harpies, just to see him. In the past, Will didn’t reach out for help from anyone, no matter how much Nico tried to convince him that it was okay to be vulnerable.
With that in mind, either the braces hurt so bad that he was hysterical enough to reach out, or Will had finally hit his breaking point. Something told him it was both.
Will thought for a moment, and he shook his head. “My mouth shut in my sleep and it… feels like my mouth is being chained together by chicken-wire, trying to pull out my teeth altogether.” He paused, clenching his eyes shut as he opened and closed his mouth, testing it out. “I, uh, took some painkillers, but it hasn’t kicked in yet.” His eyes got a bit glossy as he blinked, and he spoke in a garbled way, his teeth never fully touching. His eyes locked with Nico’s. “Just wanted you.”
Nico’s fingers swiped at Will’s bangs, stuck to his face with the tears. “Jesus, Will. Is there anything I can do?”
“Just be here, please.”
“Of course.” Nico smiled softly, carefully easing his boyfriend's head to rest on his lap as he leaned against the wall. He caressed from Will’s cheekbones up to his hairline, purposefully avoiding the bottom half of his face. “Anytime.”
After around thirty minutes of Nico gently drawing shapes on Will’s face, occasionally drifting his hands up to play with his hair, Will finally seemed to calm down. His bottom row of teeth still hovered away from the top row, but the tears slowed to a stop, and his face relaxed like it didn’t hurt as much. Soon enough, his eyes slowly blinked shut, sleep slowly taking his consciousness from him until the blonde was out like a light, snoring softly.
Nico let out a relieved sigh; his boyfriend’s face was peaceful at last, void of any pain. And before long, he found himself feeling the same. He slumped against the wall, sleep overtaking his senses until his last sight was his gorgeous boyfriend, who could even pull off nerd rubber bands and drool dripping down his chin.
Nico would hopefully never learn the pain of braces or rubber bands, but as long as Will had to have robot chicken-wire teeth, he’d be there to hold him through the pain. After all, he loved his boyfriend more than anything!