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Will was laying on the couch, on his phone scrolling through gods knows what. Nico walks over and sits down on the opposite side of the couch. Will looks up from his phone at his husband, who was sitting, knees to his chest, and playing with his sweatshirt strings.
”Kids in bed, Neeks?” Will asks, looking back down at his phone.
”Uh yeah, they shouldn’t bother us, they were pretty tired.” Nico mumbles, sounding like his mind was somewhere else.
Will seemed to pick up on Nico’s change of mood, and sets his phone down on the coffee table. ”Sweetheart, what’s up?”
Nico just sighs and buries his head deeper in his knees, “you remember Maria’s ADHD testing?”
Oh. That makes sense. The tester said that Maria could possibly have autism, the more they researched and looked for it, it became more and more obvious.
”Nico, I think she might have it.” Will admits, reaching for Nico’s hand and intertwining their fingers.
Nico groans, “are you sure? You’ve read the same books and articles I have, all the things they say are autism, are normal person things! We literally both do half of those things. Are you sure it’s not like,” he sighs, “an ADHD thing? Or a demigod thing?”
That does confuse Will. All of those ‘symptoms’ are things that Will and his husband constantly do. He knows autism is genetic, but there’s no way either of them have it, someone definitely would’ve made a comment before.
Plus Maria’s autism probably came from Hades or something, he gives the vibe.
“Nico, I have no idea. But I think we should get her tested, it can’t hurt. Plus aren’t you a little curious?”
Nico just nods and squeezes Will’s hand, “okay then. I’ll see if I can find someone to test her and try to get an appointment. I have nothing to do tomorrow.”
”Perfect,” Will says and pecks Nico’s lips. Will looks at the clock, “I have to get up early tomorrow, I should sleep, you coming with?”
“Of course,” Nico agrees, and they walk upstairs to their room, both of them refusing to let go of the other’s hand.
~~~~~~
It’s been a few months since Nico and Will decided to get Maria tested. Nico finally was able to get off of the testing waitlist and put in an appointment. Today was the day. Will had taken off of work so he could be there for Maria, he was very set on not missing it.
They were on the way to pick up Maria from school, making her take a half day because she’d already taken a day off that month. Will’s hand was on Nico’s thigh to keep him from bouncing it constantly from anxiety. They both weren’t talking.
Will speaks up, “Nico, honey, it’s going to be fine, you aren’t even going to get the results today. We’ll love her no matter what.”
Nico nods his head and looks out the window, the rapidly changing scene grounding him. The car stays silent for another fifteen minutes until Will breaks the silence for the second time.
“I love you,” he says as he puts the car in park. He pats Nico’s leg and gets out, they must’ve arrived at Maria’s elementary school.
Nico says it back but Will was already half way to the entrance. Nico looks down at his gold wedding band, a reminder that he doesn’t need to say it back. Will always knows.
~~~~~~
Maria jumps into the back seat, Will tries to help her buckle in but she just swats him away, “I can do it myself dad, I’m seven now.”
Will puts his hands up, “okay, okay, you’re a big kid now, got it.” He walks to the other side of the car and hops into the front seat. They have about a half hour to drive. It doesn’t seem like much until you have an ADHD child who skipped recess in the back seat.
Maria starts up talking about her day, gesturing with her hands, a habit she had as a toddler that just didn’t seem to go away. She starts blabbering about a new book that the school library had, both of her dads listening intently.
Nico is much more relaxed now, joking and laughing with his family seemed to distract him from his anxieties. All of his nerves come back the second Will pulls into the office building.
Will notices immediately when Nico’s muscles tense, and Nico starts fidgeting with his wedding ring. Will looks over at his husband and grabs both of his hands, squeezing them, “Nico, it’s going to be fine. Maria is perfectly happy with talking and answering questions, it’s going to be okay.”
Nico looks up at Will, “but what if she has it? Would we have to change how we parent? Put her on meds? Sign her up for therapy?”
Will squeezes his hands again, “we’ll cross that bridge when we get there, and to be honest, right now she doesn’t need meds or therapy. Having a diagnosis isn’t going to change that. This is just a label, so we can understand our child better, and be better parents,” Will finishes his reassurances with one last squeeze and then he lets go, getting up to unbuckle himself and to get Maria out of the car.
Nico follows suit, reaching down to and smoothing down one of Maria’s curls that escaped her pigtails. ”Miss Maria, are you ready?” Nico asks, reaching down and grasping Maria’s hand.
”Yes Papa! I’m gonna be such a good listener!” Maria shouts, volume way too loud for the situation. That was one of the symptoms he and Will had read about. Gods, this is gonna be a long day.
~~~~~~
Will, Nico, and Maria are sitting in the waiting room. Maria is currently flipping through one of the many books they had there, while Nico was practically grasping onto Will’s side while he scrolls through his phone.
“Maria Solace?” A woman calls out. She looks to be around her mid-40s. She had fair skin and straight light brown hair that was put up in a bun. She was wearing a pink sweater with little embroidered strawberries, Will liked her already.
Maria gasps and drops her book, she runs over to Will and holds onto his other side, the one that Nico wasn’t currently using for his koala cosplay.
The woman walks over to Maria and squats down. “Hello Maria, my name is Susan. I’m just here to ask you some questions. I have lots of toys in my room if you’d like to go see?”
Maria looks to her dad for approval, Will gives her a smile and makes a shooing motion with his hand. Maria looks back at Susan and nods slowly, following behind her into the office.
Will tries to pull out of Nico’s grasp. “Nico come on, it’s time,” he says, standing up and walking behind his daughter. Nico reluctantly lets go and follows his husband into the office.
In the hallway a painting was hung up, it was blue and had a floral design with the flower petals shaped in 3D. All three family members reached up to touch the painting, rubbing their fingers across the petals and feeling the smooth shapes.
Will looks at Nico with an eyebrow raised, “really?” He whispers. Nico just rolls his eyes and lightly pushes him.
“It’s not like you didn’t touch it too, shut up.”
~~~~~~
The room is cozy, the walls are painted a warm cream, there are a few paintings hung up, enough so the room doesn’t feel too empty, but not too much to overwhelm.
One wall is lined with a big shelf, filled to the brim with toys, fidgets, and trinkets. It took all of Will to not instantly go over there and touch everything. His husband and daughter weren’t so lucky. Maria instantly went for this pink slug that you could wiggle around, and his husband went for this bowl of smooth rocks, dipping his hand in and pulling it out, over and over again.
Maria spotted something on the top shelf and started reaching for it. “Papa, help please,” she commanded while pointing at a red object.
Nico reached up and grabbed it, handing it to his daughter. Who immediately ran over to the doorway where Will was and gave it to him. “Here you go dad! It’s a real heart, for doctors like you!” She runs back to Nico who’s showing her the rock bowl, now she’s dipping her hands in.
Gods, Will really wants to touch those rocks, but he has to be the mature adult here. Since his husband has forgotten that he’s supposed to be the parent.
Will looks down at the supposedly “anatomically correct human heart.” He looks at the different pieces, fiddling with them and reading how they’re spelled. That’s when Will discovers a monstrosity. One piece of the heart is labeled “endocardium” which would be correct, except for the fact that the “u” is replaced with an “e” misspelling the word.
Will cannot believe this. How could a mistake this big make it past production? He needs to warn Susan before she misinforms a ton of kids.
No. Will thinks. Normal people don’t like to hear about that kind of stuff. It’s best he keeps it to himself. Will walks over to the shelf and puts the heart back. Tapping Nico twice on his shoulder and looking over to the couch.
Nico seems to get the message because he puts the bowl back and follows his husband who’s already sitting down. Susan was looking at the whole fiasco with a soft smile, quietly writing things down in her notebook.
“I’m sorry about that ma’am,” Nico apologizes, going to sit down next to Will.
Susan shakes her head, “no worries, let’s get started shall we?”
~~~~~~
The first few questions go pretty well. Except for the fact that Nico and Will were still convinced that doing that stuff was ‘completely normal,’ but that was pretty standard.
”So Maria, what do you enjoy doing the most?” Susan asks, looking intently at Maria. Maria was staring at her lap, Will would too, gods her eyes hurt to look at.
“Well, I love to read, I have so many books, Uncle Leo even made a bookshelf in my room that goes to the ceiling! It has a sliding ladder and a built-in chair,” Maria’s hands move while she talks, her gestures getting so big they almost hit Nico. “I organized all of my books by author and series, but also by genre, so on the top I put non-fiction because I don’t like those that much, and-” Maria stops herself, placing her hands under her legs to stop them from moving like she does in public.
“Sorry I talked too much I’ll be quiet.” Maria mumbles, looking down at her lap. Susan just smiles,
“It’s okay Maria, that’s what you’re here for. Now tell me more about your books.”
~~~~~~
Susan asks Nico and Will a couple more questions, and after a total of two hours they finish. She sends the family off with a goodbye and a promise of results in 2-3 weeks.
When they get into the car Maria instantly conks out. Mouth wide open and head drooping to the side, Will prays for her neck.
Will looks over at Nico, who seems much less stressed than he was going in. Nico meets his eyes and gives him a smile, pulling out his phone and taking a photo of their daughter’s weird sleeping position.
Will begins to drive home, they have to be there soon if they’re going to make it on time to pick up Micheal from the bus. “Not so worried anymore are you?” Will asks, quickly glancing over at Nico, who is quietly tapping his legs to the beat of the song currently playing.
Nico shakes his head, “nope! Honestly everything she asked was pretty normal. I don’t think Maria would have autism, and if she does that would mean we would both have it, and that’s stupid because you would think if we had it someone would have said something by now.” Will nods his head in agreement.
”I agree, I doubt we would have autism. My mom acted the same way I acted as a kid, and there’s no way she would also have ASD. I guess we’ll have to wait for the results but I’m not worried.”
Nico gets an idea, “what about this, if she somehow ends up having autism, we have to get tested too. Just to like, know.”
Will shakes his head, “I mean whatever you say, I still doubt she has it though, that test removed any worry I had for her.”
Nico lays his head on the window and sighs, “yeah, nothing to worry about.”
~~~~~~
Two weeks later Nico is sitting in his bed, checking his laptop for emails. Will is on his side, laying down and attempting to read a book without falling asleep.
Nico sees an email from Susan, “Will look! It’s Maria’s results, wanna come look with me?”
Will immediately sits up and looks over Nico’s shoulder at the laptop. Nico clicks on the email and scrolls down to the results.
”What the fuck.”