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Nico opened the door as quietly as possible and crept across the small apartment into the bedroom, swiping a large shirt and shorts from the dresser before slipping into the bathroom. He washed his face, not because he was particularly into skin care, but because he just felt grimy. He’d only just returned from a “quick” mission for his father, though herding unruly spirits ended up taking a little longer than intended. He would’ve taken a shower, but he didn’t want to wake up Will, and their shower tended to squeak a little on occasion, definitely loud enough to wake the other. He changed and hurled his clothes into their hamper before emerging slowly and quietly, creeping over to the bed and slowly crawling in.
Wills back was to him, but when he felt the dip in the bed he rolled over to face Nico, his eyes still closed, and one arm reached over to feel Nico's arm, “oh thank the gods you're home” he heard Will whisper, wrapping the arm around him and pulling him closer. Nico's heart swelled as he pressed his chest against Wills, “hi” he whispered, “hey, baby” Will murmured burying his face in Nico's hair. Nico curled up slightly, his and Will's legs tangling a little, and he fought the urge to wince, again, herding unruly spirits was not easy, and he was pretty sure he had at least one bruised rib, but he wasn’t going to mention that now, Will seemed to still be half asleep and he didn’t want to bother him or make him worry.
“You smell like the underworld” Will said softly, which made Nico chuckle, “thanks” he muttered, “I didn’t want to wake you up by starting the shower” Will hummed, and one of Nico's hands trailed up to run through his hair, feeling the blond curls come untangled in his fingers. “I heard you come in anyway” Will shrugged sleepily, pulling away a little and finally opening his eyes, “are you okay? How was the job?” He still had his sleepy voice, and Nico fought the urge to give him just a quick kiss, “it was okay” he said with a small nod, though he felt a little guilty about hiding his injuries, but they were just bruises, it wasn’t like he was actively bleeding out on their sheets. “Mmm” Will hummed and closed his eyes again, his hand trailing over Nico's waist and brushing against his ribs, his eyes snapping open when Nico sucked in a small breath. “You’re hurt” he said quickly, clearly more awake.
“I’m surprised you didn’t feel it.. I’m sorry..” Nico murmured, sighing, “it’s just a bruise, it’s not a big deal” Will let out a small huff, “it’s not a bruise, I feel it now, it’s a bruised rib, those are a lot more serious than bruising your shin running into the coffee table” Will chided, his hand slipping under Nico's shirt to press against his bare skin, “whatever” Nico closed his eyes and rolled onto his back, bracing himself in case Will decided to sing a hymn to heal him. He could feel Will's fingers trace over the outline of his ribs through his skin and over the scars from his top surgery, and he waited expectantly until finally, he heard Will begin to hum softly, then murmur under his breath, then sing softly, words for Apollo flowing from his lips. Nico let out a small sigh of relief as the pain faded and completely disappeared after a moment. “When are you going to learn that hiding injuries just does not work” Will said softly, pulling his hand back out from under Nico's shirt and running it through his own hair, and in the dark, he looked tired, which made a small seed of guilt form in Nico's stomach. It was late, real late, and Will was having to use his powers almost right after being woken up.. Then again, it wasn't like Nico could've hidden it from him until morning, Will would've eventually felt it just from touching him, or Nico would've turned over wrong and winced and Will would've noticed.
“Sorry” Nico mumbled and reached down to adjust his shirt, then opened his arms for Will to lay in, which he did, not putting too much of his weight on to his chest, even though his ribs were healed now. “I can maybe forgive you..” Will murmured, pressing his face into Nico's neck, and breathing in, even if he did smell like the Underworld. “You need to start telling him no.. I hate seeing you come home hurt..” Nico closed his eyes and nodded. He knew that he needed to stop doing whatever his dad wanted him to do just because it was his dad, he was his son, not his servant to do his grunt work for him, but… “He doesn't have anyone else to do it..” he said softly, but even he didn't really believe it. “He's a god” Will replied, and Nico sighed, Will was right… Hades could easily find a minor god or spirit under his control to round up unruly spirits for him, and they wouldn't have to worry about getting hurt the same way he did, they wouldn't have to have their boyfriend heal them at 2:36 in the morning… “ill talk to him”
The next morning, Nico woke up alone in bed, but could hear clinking in the kitchen, his body still heavy against the mattress before he finally dragged himself out of bed. Will was standing at the stove, the carton of eggs on the counter beside him and the smell of bacon in the air making Nico's stomach rumble. He picked up the coffee pot and reached for his favorite mug from the dishrack, one from a pottery date he and Will had gone on where they'd painted each other mugs, even though they both knew that the glaze that the pottery place had was so watered down it would fire terribly, the mug was still very precious to him- as Wills was to him. It was a dark green with white and light yellow twinkling stars painted on it, and small pink hearts on the handle, while Will's mug was light blue with yellow suns filled with orange spirals. He poured himself a generous cup of coffee and hunched over to get the creamer out of the fridge, pouring some in until his coffee was a light brown, when he'd been younger he'd liked black coffee more, mostly because he felt like he should like black coffee more, but now, he didn't mind a little bit of creamer… “How’d you sleep? Your rib is still feeling okay?” Will asked, looking over his shoulder at Nico, who nodded, rubbing his ribcage through his shirt and sipping his coffee.
Will reached over to turn the stove off and plated their breakfast, 2 overhard eggs and some bacon for Nico, and 3 overmedium eggs and only a little bacon for Will. Nico picked up his plate and together they walked to their little dining table, sitting across from each other and sipping their respective drinks. They ate quietly, but comfortably, and Nico decided then that he would have to talk to his father about stopping these dangerous little odd jobs for him, even if it demoted him from top 5 favorite children status, though, he didn't even know if he was actually in the top 10.. He decided this because- sitting across from Will like this, being domestic, drinking from their stupid little pottery date mugs, inevitably washing the dishes together and folding their laundry later, that was what he wanted, not to be down in the underworld half the week until all hours risking his life. Not when he had someone worrying for him at home… For one of the first times in Nico's life, he wanted to make an active effort to stay alive. Of course, he wanted to be alive, but he never really went out of his way to prevent himself from dying, like by staying out of dangerous situations like herding unruly spirits for your father, but- he didn't want to risk it anymore, at all.. He wanted to live, not just for Will, but for himself, he wanted to life so he could keep eating his eggs and watch the yolks from Wills eggs spill onto his plate, even if it made home want to gag a little it, because it was Wills eggs, because he had Will, and he wanted Will to have him too.