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It was Christmas Eve in the Solace household. Currently Nico and Will were bundled up near the fireplace, Rue, next to them, was reading their new book. Something about houses and seas, if Will remembers correctly.
Micheal and his boyfriend, Sammie, were picking up some last groceries at the store, while Maria, Polly, their four year old daughter Layney and their new son Wesley, were running behind. But honestly, they should be here any minute. Will hopes they get there soon, he misses having cute babies around.
Will was up late last night, Nico and him were wrapping gifts for their children and grandkids. Someone needs to take their card away, they bought so many gifts. And at this point Will is an old man and was tired, so you really can’t judge him for resting his head in his husband’s lap and allowing himself to drift off.
~~~~~~
When Will wakes up the house is in chaos. Maybe he should get his ears checked because how he didn’t wake up when the four-year-old-ADHD-child entered is a mystery. He looks to his left and he sees Sammie spinning Layney while Rue was jumping up and grabbing at the girl. They were yelling and giggling, and only got louder when Micheal ran from the kitchen to attack Rue with tickles.
He looks up at his husband who is holding his grandson and eyeing the havoc with a look of pure fondness. Gods, Will is the luckiest man on earth.
Nico seems to notice Will stirring because he starts to elbow his husband, nudging him to sit up. Will pathetically whines like a fifty-one-year-old should not, causing Nico to chuckle. ”I’m sorry hon. I already let you nap too long, I have to go help the girls with dinner. Here hold Wes for me,” Nico ends his sentence by shoving a baby in the hands of a barley-conscious Will and moving to the kitchen.
The baby starts to wiggle, letting out a yawn and beginning to whine. Will shushes the baby, rocking him and patting his back like he did with all his kids. As Wesley begins to settle, Will's phone starts to buzz, he looks down and notices the message from Hazel. She claims to have just landed, her husband, daughters and grandkids with her and on their way.
Hazel ended up with two kids, one of them, Darcy, is twenty-eight and married with twins. The other, Cora, is nineteen with a three year old. (Nico was furious when he found out his niece got knocked up at seventeen and the boy who did it to her ghosted her after finding out. Him and Frank were planning to commit murder and had to be restrained by their partners, it was bad. Oh, and Hades was livid. Will has never been more terrified than when Hades found out his granddaughter’s baby-daddy decided to be absent. That boy is not making it to Elysium.)
Unfortunately Piper isn’t making it this year, this time going to visit Shel’s family, but the house is still going to be full. Today is going to be a great day.
~~~~~~
“Rue! You cannot say things like that! You need to be respectful! It’s normal for people to ask you to get off your phone at the dinner table, you do not need to snap at your dad like that! Come on Rue, what’s going on?” Nico’s yells soften as he realizes he’s being a little too harsh. There has to be a good reason behind Rue’s outburst. And they would normally never say ‘I hate you’ or ‘I wish you never adopted me’ especially to Will. Nico knows that there is another problem going on with his child, but it’s hard to stay calm when your husband has to go take a break in his room because his child made him so sad that he needed to take a break and cry.
Rue pulls at their short hair, throwing their hands to their sides and clenching their fists. Rue’s voice gets louder, “nothing’s going on! I just hate both of you, and I’d rather live in camp than in this awful house! You guys are the worst parents ever!” They let out a scream and storm out the door, the whole house shaking as they slam it.
“Oh my gods,” Nico chokes. He’s in complete shock at his child’s freakout, and he really doesn’t know what to do. Just then Will walks down the stairs, eyes puffy and red.
“It’s okay, I’ll go talk to her. I can stay calmer than you can. Give me a few minutes.” Will goes to grab a blanket, put on his jacket, and go outside.
It’s silent for a moment before he hears Will yell, “Rue Bianca Solace, do not run into the road! Rue! Fuck! Rue! A car!”
Nico opens the door and watches his life fall apart in mere seconds.
~~~~~~
Nico runs to the bloody and battered body of his husband, his mind blurring. He reluctantly pulls his eyes away from the love of his life in order to command Rue to go inside and get Hazel. He’s never seen Rue run faster.
He thinks Will is dead. There’s no way he can even survive that. His stomach and chest is flattened, the imprint of wheels on his skin. He doesn’t even get to say goodbye. Fuck.
~~~~~~
Hazel speeds outside, seeing her own brother drag a manged Will Solace into their yard. “Oh my gods! Nico! Gods fucking damnit! Nico, fuck.” She takes a shaky breath, “he’s not going to live.”
Hazel tries to approach Nico, maybe to give him some comfort. Maybe to remind him that he can’t do something stupid. He’s fifty with kids. Nico doesn’t allow her to even get close. Shadows form a swirling tornado around the couple, spikes of black shoot from the tornado every time Nico lets out a scream. Hazel doesn’t know what to do.
~~~~~~
Nico’s mind is blank, he doesn’t have a consciousness anymore. The only thoughts are Will, Will, Will, and dead, dead, dead. He can’t control anything anymore, and his breathing is broken. He needs Will, and he doesn’t know what to do.
He must deserve all this pain, Mamma, Bianca, Jason, Will. He doesn’t see the reason to move on, his children an afterthought when he’s falling into madness. He probably should get Mr. D before his mind slips, but he doesn’t see the point. Maybe his mind already slipped, maybe he’s already gone mad.
Going crazy, that seems nice. Finally getting away from all this pain, and just escaping. Ha. Nico doesn’t remember anything anyway, the only thing in his mind is Will.
~~~~~~
It’s been three days since Nico went braindead. Rue was sent to live with Maria and Polly for the time being. Hazel has been here in the Solace house, alone, her sole purpose to just keep Nico alive.
Nico doesn’t make sense anymore. His mind is an empty shell of what it used to be. Sometimes he wanders the halls, calling for his husband before passing out, leaving Hazel to carry him back to bed.
Sometimes he starts talking, but it doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t respond if you ask him questions, just mumbles to himself about Will, Will, Will.
He barely eats. Hazel has figured out if you bring up Will then he’ll do it. He only seems to understand if you mention his husband.
Hazel tucks Nico into bed, four days after Will died. Kissing his forehead and whispering, “sweet dreams Nico. You can get through this, I know you can. You’re so strong. I love you.”
Nico doesn’t wake up the next morning.
The End
haha. got you. happy april fools.