Archive of Our Own

When Will feels a hand on his shoulder, he sits up with a jolt, so fast and sharp that it makes his head spin. A condition that is not remedied in the slightest when the back of his skull immediately collides with something solid.

The small cracking sound— that Will assumes is the result of his skull fracturing upon impact— is promptly followed by twin yelps of pain, then the sound of Nico stumbling backwards, swearing under his breath. The sound of his boyfriend's voice makes the whole of what had just transpired click into place for Will, and he feels his eyes widen, feels a sharp panic seize in his stomach.

"Shit!" Will spins around in his chair, the motion so fast his reading glasses nearly fly off, stumbling slightly as he pushes himself up and hurriedly makes for Nico, his hands already reaching for Nico's face. "I'm so sorry, Nico— fuck, are you—"

"'M fine!" The hand Nico has cupped over his nose seems to only amplify the higher pitch it's taken on. Despite what Nico is saying, Will can see that his eyes are screwed shut, face scrunched in pain as he lets out a low hiss through his teeth.

"Let me see," Will insists. Nico sucks in another slow breath, seeming to consider another moment, before finally letting his hand fall away from his face.

"It's okay, Will. It was an accident… " Nico mumbles, his eyes fluttering open as Will presses his fingers beneath Nico's chin, gently tipping his head back to get a better look. "I should've been more careful about approaching while you were in the zone there—"

"Still I should have… have…"

It isn't until he's squinting to try and see up Nico's nose that Will realizes just how dark it's gotten; when he'd started studying, sunlight had been streaming in through the bedroom window, but now, the only light comes from a single bulb lamp on Will's cluttered desk. The dull ache in Will's eyes suddenly comes into sharp and sudden focus, and Will blinks, glancing around the room uneasily.

"…what time is it?"

Nico frowns, his chin lowering as he carefully studies Will's face.

"Seven o'clock or so."

Oh, fuck.

Well, that would explain the searing pinching sensation at the base of his neck. Will lets out a disbelieving huff of laughter, his hands pushing his reading glasses to the top of his head as he rubs at his eyes. When Nico gives him a puzzled stare in reply, he feels his shoulders droop slightly, his voice coming out strangely guilty.

"I sat down at eleven."

Nico's frown deepens, his eyes darting over to the desk, to the messy spread of open books and notepad pages, lingering on the crumpled energy drink can just beneath Will's lamp.

"So… you've been studying for eight hours now?"

"Give or take." Will tries to laugh again, but when he feels that painful twinge in his neck again, the attempt comes out as a frustrated sigh. Any other humor that could be found in the situation almost immediately fades when Nico gives him a stern look.

"We've talked about this."

"I know." He rubs the back of his neck, feels his face go hot with shame. "I'm sorry, I promise I didn't mean to… gods, I really lost track of time."

To Will's surprise, Nico softens at this. After a brief moment of consideration, he seems to decide that Will doesn't need another talk or lecture, because he brings a hand back up to touch his nose, wincing slightly before giving Will a reassuring half-grin.

"Not broken. Just bleeding a little." He tilts his head back as if to demonstrate, and sure enough, there's a small trickle of blood running down to Nico's top lip, slow and thin, but still there. Will sighs, leaning over to grab a tissue from a box in his desk drawer, which he hands to Nico.

"I'm sorry. Really."

It's not nearly good enough of an apology— truthfully, ever since finals started, Will has not been able to keep up with his boyfriend duties as much as he'd hoped— but Nico just shrugs, bringing the tissue up to carefully dab at his upper lip.

"Join me in eating takeout Kyuramen on the couch," he says, gesturing to the bedroom door, "and we'll call it even."

Will feels his eyebrows raise in pleasant surprise, his lips curling into a small smile.

"You got takeout from Kyuramen?"

Nico frowns. "What? I thought you loved that place."

"I do." Will chuckles, pulling his reading glasses off and tucking them into the pocket of his hoodie. "I'm just wondering what happened to, 'We go there too often, there's no way it's healthy to be eating that much sodium, we have to get better about cooking meals from home—'"

Nico snorts. "Well, Kyuramen is delicious, and I'm apparently as weak-willed for them as you are." He turns for the bedroom door, gesturing for Will to follow. "Besides, I know you've been stressed about finals. We both have. I figured we deserved a night of indulgence."

"Oh, I'm all for a night of indulgence." The enticing smell hits his nose before his eyes land on the plastic takeout bags sitting perched atop the kitchen table. Will's stomach gives a loud grumble of interest. "Especially one with no dishes afterwards." Nico chuckles, glancing up at Will with a strange sort of fondness before teasingly bumping Will with his hip.

"My thoughts exactly."

Gods above, Nico is so cute when he wants to be. And when he doesn't want to be. And all the time, really, which Nico doesn't believe, even though Will is constantly trying to tell him.

Will bites back a no-doubt-insanely-dorky smile, grabs hold of Nico's hand, gently turning him until they're face to face. Nico raises a skeptical brow, and Will gestures to the tissue.

"Let me take care of this first so that you're able to receive a thank-you kiss."

Nico snorts, rolling his eyes. "I got it." He turns for the fridge, straining on his toes as he tries to reach for the container of nectar and ambrosia that they always keep handy on top of it. Will has to suppress a snicker. He's too short to reach it— Will keeps asking him if he wants to move it, but Nico keeps insisting that No, he can reach it just fine, thank you very much—

"Also," Nico adds, strained and huffing with frustration, "since when has my bleeding ever stopped you from kissing me?!" Will lets out a bark of laughter, moving to reach over Nico's head to grab the container himself, setting it down on the counter. Nico shoots him a half-hearted look of irritation, but he seems too delighted at the sound of Will's laughter to remain indignant for long.

"We're not on an active battlefield or in the middle of Tartarus!" Will insists. "This is different."

"True." Nico hums, his brow furrowing slightly as he looks inside. "Although maybe not that different; I mean, we are running low on nectar and ambrosia." Will glances over as well, lets out a small sigh as he takes in the three measly squares of ambrosia smushed up against the edges of its container.

"Yeah… I'll make a note to pick some up next time I visit camp. In the meantime, I can take care of that with some good ol' Apollo healing, eh?" He gestures to Nico's nose with a cheeky grin, an exaggerated wiggling of his fingers.

A small shadow of worry crosses Nico's face, flickering and uncertain.

"I've gone through Tartarus twice. I can handle a little bit of a nosebleed."

Will softens a little, lowers his hand to intertwine his fingers with Nico's.

"I know you can," Will reassures him. "But it's like my mom always says: 'there's nothing righteous in suffering for the sake of it.'"

Nico's lips twitch upwards at the mention of Naomi Solace— he'd taken quite a shine to Will's mother, and she the same, something that is a source of great joy and suffering alike for Will— though he quickly schools his expression again, giving Will a pointed raise of an eyebrow.

"The same goes for you, too, you know," he says. "You've been really stressed out, I… I don't want you to accidentally burn yourself out more."

After spending nearly his entire lifetime seeing burnout as a given—as an indisputable part of him, a condition of his existence, as expected and inevitable as breathing—Will still finds himself utterly floored by warm, swelling emotion whenever Nico challenges that idea. The kind of emotion that inspires him to brush his fingertips along the curve of Nico's jaw, wipe the small amount of blood from Nico's upper lip, and capture it between his own in a soft, lingering kiss. He pulls back after a moment, drags his lips up to kiss the curve of Nico's cheek.

"I won't," he murmurs against Nico's skin. "Really, Nico. Taking care of you isn't something that feels like a chore, and having you around, it helps … recharge me, I guess."

His ears go hot at the admission, but it's worth it for the smile that dawns on Nico's face, pretty and soft as starlight.

"That so?" Will nods, which makes Nico's smile grow. He brings a hand up to cup the back of Will's neck, his expression fond as his thumb strokes the patch of skin just beneath Will's jaw. "Does that make me your new sun globe?"

"Absolutely," Will grins, pulling back to meet Nico's eyes properly. "Although I don't think I've ever seen a goth sun globe before."

"Limited edition," Nico deadpans, which makes Will guffaw.

"We can compromise," Will continues. "I'll close up the actual injury, and you can take ambrosia for the bruising. How's that?"

Nico thinks a moment more before finally seeming to give in, lifting his chin to present his nose to Will. "Alright. Do your thing, Night Light."

It's a small gesture of trust, but one that means the world to Will. He grins, before going mock-serious again, tapping his chin in faux thought as he considers Nico.

"You know, to do my thing, I'm gonna need the jacket off."

"My jacket?"

"Yes," Will insists. "Immediately off."

Nico raises an eyebrow. "You need my jacket off to fix my nose?"

"I think I was pretty clear on what I needed."

Nico narrows his eyes, gives him a playfully reproachful look.

"You know my nose is in the middle of my face, right? As in fully in view?"

"I have a medical duty to make sure your biceps haven't been compromised by this serious injury."

Nico snorts. "Pretty sure asking your patients to strip for no reason is medical malpractice."

"Well, one of us has been studying the four main principles of medical ethics for the past few days, and I can say with certainty that's not you, Mister… Mister…"

Nico's fingers come up to the collar of his jacket, and the quick-witted nickname Will had been formulating immediately dies on his tongue. He watches, wide-eyed, as Nico drags the zipper down, holding Will's gaze as he shrugs it off his shoulders. Will feels his breath catch, and he presses his lips together, his whole face blooming with heat as Nico pulls it off entirely, reaching down to absentmindedly adjust the hem of his shirt.

Oh, my gods…

Nico breaks the stare long enough to drape the jacket over the back of one of the kitchen chairs before returning to it again, the faintest hint of a mischievous smirk playing across his lips as Will swallows, his throat bobbing painfully with the effort.

Look, Will knows Nico's body by now. In fact, he's intimately familiar with it. The days of Will having to rely solely on his own guilty fantasies to produce a clear picture of it are long since behind him, and with it, his days of hormonal lust should have followed soon afterwards, and his ability to function whenever Nico sheds a layer probably should have come to him by now.

But for some reason, it hasn't. And that fact is only made all the more obvious by the presence of Nico's biceps and forearms, by the newly-exposed and mouth-watering expanse of scarred olive skin atop corded, shifting muscle.

We're certain Nico's not an Aphrodite kid, right?! Will thinks, half-hysterical. Like, sure, the skeleton thing and the whole "shadow-travel" business, but there wasn't a mix-up somewhere, was there?! Maybe a faulty DNA test or—

Will's apparently been struck mute, but Nico doesn't press, just raising an eyebrow at him expectantly. And just as Will is about to regain some brainpower again, Nico crosses his arms over his chest, and gods above, those biceps are defined, holy Hera—!

"Will."

"Wha—uh, I'm listening!"

Will didn't realize how far his eyes had fallen until they snap back up to Nico's. And Nico, never one to miss a chance to revel in Will's "bisexual chaos," has to press his lips together to keep from bursting into a peal of laughter, the corners of his eyes crinkling with a barely-contained smile as Will frantically gathers himself. The smile remains even as Will traces his glowing fingertips over Nico's nose, humming shakily as he carefully knits the small wounds within together, a fact that is still very much messing with Will's brain as he grabs a small square of ambrosia, holding it up to Nico with the best smile his misfiring neurons can produce at the moment.

"Your, uh… your medications, my good man!"

It's a poor imitation of an old-timey British doctor. And while it's not the most pathetically dorky thing that Will's ever said or done in the presence of his Nico, it's definitely up there.

And of course, that's apparently what it takes to make Nico finally break out into a full grin, his shoulders shaking as he lets out a small snickering sound. (Will's mom used to tease him that he had an "adorkable" charm about him, and bizarrely, while it had driven away almost every other person that Will had taken a liking to, it was apparently the exact kind of charm that worked on Nico.) Will feels his cheeks go hot, even as his own face stretches into a smile, and he gestures to the square, silently praying for Nico to hurry up and take it before his shaking fingers drop it.

But to Will's surprise, Nico doesn't reach for it. Instead, he merely raises an eyebrow, staring at Will for a moment before leaning forward, holding Will's gaze.

Will feels his brow furrow with confusion, his mouth opening to inquire about Nico's actions, until Nico wraps a hand around Will's wrist, gently holding it in place, stroking over the fluttering pulse there with his thumb. And right as Will's eyes begin to widen, Nico sinks his teeth into the ambrosia square, his dark eyes glittering with mirth beneath his lashes as they look up at Will.

The sight is enough to make Will's mouth go dry as a desert, his lips parting slightly in a shaking exhale as heat blooms then curls low in his stomach, shifting and bringing a rosy glow to the freckles on his cheeks (yes, a literal rosy glow. Child of Apollo and all that).

Because gods above, Nico is hot like this— dark eyes brought into sharp focus by the rings of smudged eyeliner around them, shaggy hair deliciously messy and soft in the light of the kitchen, muscle-corded arms on display and lips pressed against Will's fingers, gripping Will's wrist like a promise, like an oath of devotion.

And because it's been two weeks. Two weeks of college ramping up homework and projects in preparation for the final exams period, two weeks of steadily mounting stress and late-night study sessions for both of them. Two weeks of being too stressed out to even think about sex, and now that there's finally a moment of stillness, the unfulfilled need of it all seems to come rushing forward in a single moment, like a dam breaking apart to make room for the incoming tidal wave.

(Which would make it a bad dam, probably. Except Will's not exactly in the right mindset to be making perfectly-constructed metaphors to describe the sudden and sheer horniness he's feeling in this moment, thank you very much.)

He's about to do something about it— pounce on Nico, maybe, pull him into a fierce kiss, delve his hands into Nico's hair as Nico presses him up against the refrigerator— when his stomach lets out a loud gurgling sound of protest. A sound that effectively ruins any steamy moment that might have been building.

There's a brief moment of silence, both of them staring blankly at each other, before they both burst into peals of laughter, bright and happy. And even though Will's still fairly horny, the recent finals mean that it's also been a while since they've shared a proper laugh, and truthfully, it's a balm on the soul in and of itself.

So Will doesn't protest when Nico releases his wrist. He happily accepts the kiss that Nico presses to the slowly-dimming freckles on his cheek before turning to pull open the takeout bags.

After some discussion and divying up of food, the two of them end up on their couch, Will's shoulders resting back against the cushioned arm, legs thrown across Nico's lap, ramen container and chopsticks in hand, his laptop open on his stomach. He'd intended to work while he ate, except that he'd really underestimated how hungry he was, and now he's shoveling noodles in his mouth like he's trying to set some ramen-related world record, something that seems to entertain Nico just as much as it disgusts him.

(That's Will's special talent, actually; he takes a lot of pride in his ability to put Nico off just as much as he turns him on. There's nothing Will loves more than saying something insanely nerdy or dorky and watching Nico's expression as he speed-runs all the stages of grief, ending with the horrific realization that he's still very much attracted to Will.)

When there's no more noodles or other ramen-bits to be eaten, Will tosses the chopsticks onto the coffee table, lifting the container to his lips and tipping it back to chug the remaining soup within.

"Gods, that hit the spot…" He finishes with a belch that succeeds in making Nico snort, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as he sets it down as well before melting into the couch with a long, satisfied sigh. "You know, Neeks, this might be the most romantic thing you've ever done for me."

Nico chuckles, swallowing his last mouthful of noodles. "First of all: if takeout ramen is really the 'most romantic thing I've ever done for you,' then I need to seriously step up my boyfriend game here—"

"You know what I mean—"

"—and secondly!" Nico points an accusatory chopstick at Will. "The whole thing would be a lot more romantic if you weren't half-working on a school project the whole time." Will makes an offended noise, brings a hand up to press over his heart.

"Don't you point those at me, you absolute gremlin—!"

"Ever heard of the concept of 'taking a break,' Night Light?! 'Can't burn the candle at both ends,' something like that—?!"

"Okay, okay, point taken!" Will laughs. "I'm sorry I tried to show appreciation for my boyfriend's acts of service for me, alright?!" He reaches up to pull Nico's chopsticks from his hand, tossing them on the coffee table as well before settling back in. "And for your information, this is a very interesting project. I happen to like working on it."

"Oh yeah?" Nico leans forward to set down the empty ramen container, his thumb rubbing absentminded circles on the inside of Will's knee. "What's the project?"

A small flare of excitement sparks in Will's chest, the warmth of it spreading through his ribs. It always does whenever Nico asks him to talk about one of his interests.

"It's for my medical humanities class. We're studying the crossroads of pop culture and medical technology, and I have to do a presentation on one of my findings." He quickly adjusts his position to sit up a little more, shifting his laptop with a rapidly growing smile. "And guess what I found?!"

Nico's lips twitch upwards with fondness. "Do you actually want me to guess, or—?"

"A guy actually made a working, robotic hand based on Luke Skywalker's!"

Maybe Will should have let Nico guess, but he's almost vibrating with excitement, the sensation only growing when Nico's eyebrows shoot up into his hairline.

"You mean, like the one he gets after Darth Vader chops off his hand?"

"Exactly!" Will rushes forward. "A fully-functioning motorized limb that can be controlled by the user's thoughts, and it can actually feel touch!"

"Whoa." Nico grins. "Star Wars and medicine? That's your top two interests combined into one."

"I know!" Will beams. "I keep reading more and more about it, and gods, Nico— it's so fucking cool! Like, the type of thing that's only supposed to exist in science fiction, except it's real! It's real, and it exists, and it's so fucking cool—!"

A wave of giddiness washes over him, so powerful that it makes his freckles shift into a warm, golden glow, so powerful that it chokes him. He quickly cuts himself off with a strange squeaking noise, pulling up the collar of his hoodie to cover his smiling mouth and nose as he sucks in a slow breath, trying to calm himself enough to speak again. When he looks up, Nico is laughing, soft and unbearably tender, looking down at Will with such adoration that it makes another wave of giddiness flood through him, more powerful and embarrassing than before. Will quickly pulls his hood up, tightening the hoodie strings until it closes over Will's face entirely, leaving only a small hole for his nose to poke through.

He hears Nico's laugh double, feels him shifting on the couch. There's a brief pause, and then Nico's fingers are pushing past Will's nose, through the hole of Will's hoodie, careful not to accidentally poke Will's eyes. Will lets out an indignant squawk, grabs hold of the hoodie strings to pull them tighter.

"Don't look at me—!"

"Will," Nico laughs, soft and warm. "Come out of there. Stop being a menace. "

"A menace?! Ha! You are the king of menaces, di Angelo! Why, this is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black!"

Despite his protests, Will finally does release the strings after only a token moment of struggle, crossing his arms over his chest in faux grumpiness as Nico pulls open the hoodie. His beaming face is visible for only a moment before those smiling lips are caressing Will's, his hands cradling Will's jaw, thumbs running over the pinpricks of light on Will's cheeks.

"You're cute when you get like this," Nico murmurs against Will's lips, tilting his head to kiss the corner of Will's mouth, teasingly nipping at Will's lower lip. He shifts to wedge himself between the couch and Will's body, his lips curled in an infuriatingly smug smirk. "If thinking that makes me a menace, then so be it."

He's chessier than I am, Will thinks, dazed and dreamy, his arm coming up to wrap around Nico's shoulders as Nico settles into place, turning his head with a breathless sound as Nico pulls down Will's hoodie so that his hand can delve into the curls on the back of Will's head. How the fuck is that even possible—?!

Nico's mouth seals back over Will's in a slow, simmering kiss, his fingers tightening in Will's hair ever so slightly, just enough for Will's breath to hitch, for his mouth to momentarily go slack against Nico's. It's somehow Will's favorite and least favorite kind of kiss all at once— the kind that radiates the sweltering heat of barely-controlled lust, and yet it seems that nothing Will does can bring that temperature to a boil, because Nico keeps teasingly pulling back every time Will goes to deepen it, his chuckle puffing against the curve of Will's mouth as he pointedly slows the movement of his lips, only to hungrily press forward again as soon as Will makes a strategic retreat. It creates a vicious cycle that repeats itself, over and over with no end in sight, forever trapping Will in a state of blissful, agonizing anticipation.

"Nico," Will pants, soft and muffled against Nico's mouth. "I should— should, mm… hah… should m-maybe… uh, probably keep working on this…"

"Yeah, you probably should," Nico laughs, soft and fond. He hooks a leg over Will's hip, carefully massaging the growing bulge in Will's sweatpants with deliberate shifts and presses of his knee as he cups the back of Will's neck, tilting his head back. "Go on then."

"Wha—?" The startled exclamation twists into a moan as Nico drags the flat of his tongue across Will's pulse, lips curling into a smile as he tugs at Will's earlobe with his teeth. "Uh… p-pardon?"

"It's a presentation, right?" Nico murmurs, bringing a hand up to fiddle with the zipper of Will's hoodie.

"A… a presentation, that's— hah!" Will's hips buck at a particularly delicious press of Nico's knee against his groin. "Uh… that's right, isn't it?!" Nico chuckles, mouths at the corner of Will's jaw.

"I believe that's what you said." His fingers pause briefly on Will's zipper as Nico lifts his head to look at Will, eyes hooded and mischievous. "You need another moment to remember?"

"No!" Will rushes. "No, I-I don't need any more moments!"

Nico quirks an amused brow. "You sure?" He tilts his head as if considering Will, the innocent expression on Nico's face sharply contrasted by the way he forcefully roughs his thigh against Will's crotch, so abrupt that it makes sparks shoot across Will's vision. "You seem a bit forgetful right now—"

"I'm positive! Positive!" Will yelps, gritting his teeth together as he silently curses himself. "All good on moments, memory working great, you don't have to wait on me—!"

His thigh lifts just as suddenly as it had pressed down, and Will can see Nico's face morph into an almost wolfish grin when Will lets out a high-pitched pleading noise, hips tilting helplessly against the now-empty air. Will forces himself to go still, sucks in a few steadying breaths, but before he can get the chance to beg or curse Nico out for his cruelty, Nico suddenly releases his hold on Will entirely, shifting to sit up. Will can only watch, his lust-fogged brain too muddled to comprehend the events unfolding in front of him, as Nico lifts the laptop from Will's lap, setting it on the coffee table so that the screen faces Will, before swinging a leg over to straddle Will with a smirk.

He doesn't even realize that Nico's reached into his hoodie pocket until he sees his reading glasses in Nico's hands.

He feels his mouth drop open in shock, his eyes widening as they dart up to meet Nico's again, but Nico just ignores him, his smirk widening as he places the glasses on the bridge of Will's nose, using his pointer finger to push them up fully into place before cupping Will's face, leaning forward so that his roughened and husky words dance across Will's lips in a whispered exhale.

"So present it to me."

A million thoughts are running through Will's head— his presentation is complete garbage right now, what with him still trying to format it to look semi-decent, and also, how long has Nico been into his stupid reading glasses, and fuck, there's no way it's possible to do a presentation with someone this hot straddling his lap, much less Nico di-fucking Angelo— all of which are banished as soon as Nico's tongue sweeps across the seam of Will's lips, eagerly delving between them when they part in a moan.

And this time, there's no anticipatory simmer. This time, the heat is enough to sear.

Will melts into it without a moment's hesitation, quickly bringing his hands up to grasp Nico's face. His glasses dig painfully into the bridge of his nose as he devours Nico's lips, kissing him with all the strength his shaking form can muster. He's so turned on at this point that he's mad, absolutely delirious with lust, his vision hazy and unfocused when Nico finally breaks away, gently pulling Will's hands off of him. He presses them to the couch, a silent command that makes Will throb with need, below before tilting his head, sinking his teeth into Will's throat as he slowly, torturously drags the zipper of Will's hoodie down his chest, the clicking of the metal barely audible beneath their panting.

"So…" Nico hums, infuriatingly casual as he opens Will's hoodie, as he drags the hem of his t-shirt up just enough to bare Will's heaving chest, paint-chipped fingernails tracing over the sun tattoo on his pectoral, "…this motorized limb?"

It takes Will a second to remember what he's supposed to be doing. Though honestly, he's impressed that he even managed to remember at all.

His fingers are shaking so violently that he struggles to hit "present" on his slideshow. It takes a few moments of clusy fumbling, his fingers faltering as he feels Nico's soft sounds vibrating against the skin of his chest with each press of his lips. But by some miracle, he finally manages to do it, the slideshow expanding to fill the screen right as he feels Nico's scorching tongue laving over his nipple.

"Holy shit—!"

The sensation wrenches a gasp from him. His body seizes, one of his hands flying up to sink into Nico's dark hair. It takes him a moment to realize his mistake, another moment before he retracts his hand again, pressing it back down to its place on the couch. He's rewarded with the sting of Nico's teeth on his collarbone, the sensation of Nico's skull ring dragging against his skin as his hands feel up the sides of Will's ribs, slow and deliberate, like he's worshipping something sacred.

Gods above, there's no way he actually expects me to—?!

"O-okay… okay, uh…" He swallows hard, eyes straining for the laptop as he reaches to push his glasses back up his nose. "S-so there's this assistant professor at… at a university. Helps teach classes on computer engineering, physical medicine, and rehabilitation."

He feels Nico's lips curve upwards against his sternum. "Sounds like quite the guy."

"Uh-huh!" Will squeaks. "And he decides that he wants to help some guys out with building a prototype of— ah!"

Nico seals his mouth around Will's other nipple, his fingers digging into the curve of Will's ass through his sweatpants. He barely manages not to grab Nico this time, his knuckles going pale where they're clutching at the couch.

"…o-of a robotic hand for amputees," Will manages, strained and hoarse. "One that uses peripheral nerve stimulation, which is accomplished by connecting its electrodes to the nerves of its user. That way, it can then be controlled by the user's thoughts, just like a functioning limb." Nico makes an impressed sound as he sits up, though whether it's because Will hasn't grabbed him or because he's genuinely intrigued by this whole thing, Will has no idea. He's straddling Will's thighs now, his hands pressed up against Will's chest.

"That simple, huh?" Nico hums. His pleasantly casual expression is betrayed only by his eyes, which have now darkened significantly, glinting with a barely-restrained hunger that sends a shiver down Will's spine.

"N-not particularly, no—" Nico's hands begin to drag down Will's chest, even as his attention remains on Will, chuckling as Will's tone grows only shakier. "T-there's a bit of a learning curve…" Will barely manages to bite back the needy sound that rises in his throat as Nico's fingers trail down the ridges of his abdomen, towards the tie on his sweatpants in a manner that's torturously slow. "Requires more thought than… than… holy shit—!"

"More thought than what?"

"Nico—!"

Will grits his teeth, his head thumping back against the arm of the couch with a frustrated grunt. And Nico, ever the smug son of a bitch he is, just bites back a shit-eating grin, still straddling Will's lap as he tries and fails, over and over again, to maintain the impassive expression on his face. Finally, after a long moment of reveling in Will's suffering, he makes a noise of reluctant surrender, rolling his eyes fondly before swinging his leg back over Will's hips, teasingly ruffling Will's hair as he stands.

"I'll get the lube."

It's almost pathetic how quickly Will undresses. He's already halfway through stripping by the time Nico has disappeared into their bedroom, his glasses half-hanging off his face as he throws his hoodie and t-shirt across the living room, hands already moving to the tie of his sweatpants. He's just managed to strip off his pants and underwear, and is just about to yank off his socks when he feels Nico pushing his glasses back up his nose, his laugh muffling itself against Will's lips as he cups Will's face and pulls him into a fierce, open-mouthed kiss, and then Will forgets about the socks entirely, his hands eagerly roaming over the newly-bared skin of Nico's torso as Nico pushes him back into the cushions, lips still pressed together as Nico climbs over him.

He's reminded of his socks again when Nico pulls back with a smirk, lifting one of his legs to rest on his shoulder. Still, he's distracted quickly enough by the feeling of Nico's slicked-up fingers pressing inside of him, the sting of Nico's teeth as he nips at Will's inner thigh, contrasted beautifully by the pleasure that comes when Nico crooks his fingers inside of Will just so. By the time he's finished stretching out Will, there's a delicious trail of stinging red and violet down the inside of Will's thigh, the kind that he'll no doubt press his fingers to later when he's by himself, desperately trying to recall the way Nico had looked at him while he made them.

He arcs up against Nico when he finally presses into him, his eyes rolling to the back of his head with a loud moan as he digs his fingers into the muscled curve of Nico's shoulders, Nico's deliciously olive skin erupting into trails of blooming red as Will's nails drag down the length of his back, slow and deliberate. He feels Nico's hands tighten on Will's shaking thighs, feels them loosen slightly as Nico lets out a long, breathless moan of his own, and then he's reaching for Will's face with one hand, his panting breaths puffing over Will's lips as he adjusts Will's glasses on the bridge of his nose, his lips twitching upwards when Will lets out a disbelieving huff of laughter.

"You and these glasses…" Will's eyes flutter, a low noise of pleasure escaping him as Nico's hand brushes a few wild curls from his face. "C-can't believe my nerdiness turns you on, di Angelo."

"Really?" Nico snorts. "Shouldn't be that hard to believe." He pauses, his fingers gently combing through the curls by Will's ear for a moment before he cradles Will's jaw, his expression softening as he nudges Will's nose with his. "Everything you do turns me on, Solace."

Will is gone. He's not going to be able to finish any of his final projects or attend any of his final exams, because unfortunately, he's actually died— right here, right now, on this very couch. Cause of death being the son of death himself, whose entire face is now alight in the rosy-golden glow of Will's freckles, his dark eyes sparking as he chuckles at the insanely dorky smile that is no doubt flooding Will's entire face right now.

He's smiling so hard that he can barely kiss Nico, though it's not for lack of trying. Because of Nico's height, Will has to lift his head to press their mouths together, straining so hard that his neck twinges with it, but he doesn't care, never has. Thankfully, Nico finally seems to take mercy on Will, because his teeth give Will's lower lip a final teasing tug before releasing it, his hands gripping Will's thighs and hiking them up his hips as he begins to rock into Will. The sensations that follow cause Will's head to thump back against the arm of the couch with a reedy, trembling moan.

Nico's pace resembles that of rolling thunder— slow but earth-shakingly powerful. Each careful inward press of Nico's cock brings with it a wave of pleasure that makes Will's vision blur almost painfully, his eyes fluttering and teeth sinking into his swollen lower lip as Nico presses all the way up against Will's prostate, as he finishes the motion with a delicious circling motion of his hips, the kind that so perfectly massages that spot inside of him he before pulls back again, the moment of relief quickly morphing into anticipatory excitement as the painless friction of his cock dragging against Will's inner walls shifts into yet another heavenly thrust. Over and over, the carefully-perfected motion of Nico's hips stoking a sweltering heat beneath Will's skin that feels like he's being washed in pure scorching sunlight.

It's a thought that would normally make Will laugh in its irony (a son of Hades bathing a son of Apollo in sunlight), but at this point, he's far too gone in the sheer pleasure of it all, in the all-consuming love of how Nico holds him to make any kind of comment on it now. So instead, he clings to Nico, his thighs shaking around Nico's hips as he cries out his pleasure beneath Nico, over and over again, the vision of Nico's adoring and hungry expression fading in and out of focus with each thrust.

"I mean it," Nico continues, low and slightly rough. Will makes a small noise of confusion, and Nico chuckles, ducking his head to nip at Will's earlobe. "Everything you do drives me crazy." His hand tightens in Will's hair, and his hips buck forward at Will's whine of pleasure, like he can't help it, his breathless moan barely audible beneath Will's panting. "When you— fuck! Hah… gods above, Will— w-when you wake up, all bleary-eyed and dazed, and you do that cute little stretch-yawn thing before wrapping yourself around me… when you're fussing over me, and you get all frustrated and huffy about my injuries… when you're cleaning out the closet, and you come out wearing all the hats you found, grinning like the absolute dork you are… mm, fuck, Will you feel so good…"

Will feels his spine tightening, his chest pressing up against Nico's with a high-pitched keening sound. "Gods, Nico…"

"You know," Nico laughs, breathless and strained, lifting his head to look down at Will, "whenever we're watching a film together that you love, I can always tell when your favorite scene is coming up. You try not to show it, but you get all excited and glow-y, and I'm sitting next to you, fighting for my life not to just… I don't know, tackle you and rip that stupid Ewok onesie off you—"

"Holy Hera—!" Will's moan breaks off into a disbelieving laugh, his hand coming up to grip the back of Nico's neck. "You know, you might be the only Star Wars fan in history who's ever popped a boner at the sight of someone in an Ewok onesie." Nico laughs as well, his own hand coming up to support Will's neck as Will lifts his head again, their lips meeting in a sloppy, achingly gentle open-mouthed kiss.

"Point is, you're hot, Will," Nico murmurs against Will's lips, turning his head to press his burning face into the curve of Will's neck. "Like, extremely hot."

"'Extremely hot?'"

"Hot enough to do the impossible and overpower the sheer unsexiness inherent to Ewoks."

"Hah… I-I see your point." Will swallows hard, ignores the way his glasses dig into his nose as he presses his mouth to the tangled, sweat-soaked mess of Nico's hair. "You drive me crazy, too, by the way."

"Yeah?" Nico lifts his face with a lazy grin, his thumb stroking the curve of Will's jaw. Will gives a sharp jerk of his head, ducking his chin so that he can briefly catch Nico's thumb between his kiss-swollen lips.

"A-all the time," he pants. "If my way-too-hot-boyfriend wasn't currently f-fucking me out of my mind, I'd come up with— hngh! C-come up with more of a list…"

"You can worry about coming up with examples later," Nico chuckles, his hand dragging down the sweat-slicked skin of Will's chest. "Why don't you just focus on this for a while, hm?"

The string of pleading syllables that slips past Will's teeth is rewarded by the feeling of Nico's hand wrapping around his cock, Will's grateful moan muffled by the tongue that delves between his parted lips.

From there, everything goes wonderfully fuzzy.

The stress of the past few weeks has been overwhelming, and now, Will can finally let himself go. He can finally fall into step, can finally give himself over fully to Nico— his Nico, who right now needs Will to do nothing else but take what he's being given, nothing else but bask in the love that Nico seems all too eager to heap on him. His mouth goes slack as Nico kisses and nips at his lips, his jaw, the curve of his neck and throat, his whole body shaking as it moves to wrap around Nico, arms and legs pulling Nico close so that their pounding hearts can press up against the heated furnace of each other's chests, his eyes screwing shut with a loud cry as Nico sinks his teeth into the wild pulse in Will's neck, as his hand expertly works Will's cock in time with each of his incresingly-erratic thrusts until Will is spurting into Nico's fist, his whole body going taut as the steadily-building pleasure finally spills over, flooding Will with a climax that seems to cover his entire world in a blanket of all-comsuming warmth.

It's exactly what Will needs.

It always is whenever Nico is involved.

He can feel Nico shaking by the time he comes back to his body. Will feels his face twist into a frown as he registers the feeling of Nico inside of him still, rock-hard and pulsing ever so slightly.

"You haven't finished."

His eyes flutter open. His vision is blurred, so he blinks a few times to clear it, his hand moving to push his reading glasses up to the top of his head. Nico makes a strained noise of agreement, moving as if to pull out, but Will grunts in protest, shaking his head and grabbing insistently at Nico's hips. Nico freezes in place, shoots him a confused look.

"C'mon," Will mumbles, half-dazed as he guides Nico to press forward again, thumbs stroking Nico's hipbones when he's buried himself to the hilt again. "You can finish in me."

Nico's eyes widen at Will's offer. He swallows, his eyes flickering over Will's figure.

"You're… not sensitive?"

"Oh, I am," Will groans, carefully unwrapping his legs and spreading them as much as he can to give Nico room. "I can handle it, though. Like I said, I… I like taking care of you."

There's another small pause as Nico stares at him a moment, blinking owlishly.

And then, Nico's face breaks into an awed smile. He lets out a small bark of disbelieving laughter, and then he's kissing Will, moaning against Will's mouth as he shifts his hold on Will's body.

"You're insane," he pants, his tone a heady mixture of humorous disbelief and total reverence, the kind that makes Will's head spin. "Absolutely insane, Solace…"

The way Nico thrusts into him borders on painful, but it's absolutely exhilarating. Will's body seizes, a punched-out whine ringing into the air as Nico forcefully ruts into Will, and he clings to Nico, kissing him back with all the passion he can muster in his fucked-out state until Nico gives a sharp, final thrust of his hips, his broken moan buzzing against the raw skin of Will's lips as he climaxes inside of Will.

The sight of Nico like this— hovering above him, face screwed up in agonized pleasure— will be no doubt added to the never-ending library of images Will draws from whenever he has a lonely night to get through.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I still don't know how the glasses managed to stay on the whole time."

Nico doesn't move, still leaning back against the tiles of the shower wall, eyes closed, and arms crossed over his bared chest. But after a moment, Will can see Nico peek an eye open through the thick steam of the shower, his gaze flicking downwards for just a moment to where Will is soaping up his thighs and stomach before it moves back upwards again, his lips pressing together as he suppresses a laugh.

"I mean it!" Will insists, stepping beneath the spray of the shower and hanging the shower brush back on the wall. "I can barely get them to stay on when I'm studying, how the hell did they last through all that—?!"

"Are you done yet?!"

Will makes an incredulous noise. "We've been in here for like… I don't know, five minutes at most—!"

"Yeah, and I haven't even gotten my hair properly wet yet," Nico cuts in, adorably grumpy. "When you proposed 'showing together,' I figured that meant that I would get to y'know… shower."

"We didn't have to take turns," Will shoots back. Nico snorts.

"Yeah, nice try, Solace. I still have PTSD from the infamous 'battle over the showerhead' from the last time we showered together. Not doing that again."

"That was mostly your fault, and you know it," Will counters. Still, he finally steps out of the stream of water, gesturing with a dramatic sweep of his arm for Nico to take his turn, grinning when Nico rolls his eyes in reply before pushing off the wall, moving beneath the stream of water. Steam rises from his olive-toned skin as he cups water in his palms and presses his face into them, his eyes still closed as he pushes his shaggy hair back with a low sigh of relief.

A faint jolt of heat registers low in Will's abdomen, his overspent cock giving a small twinge of interest as his eyes follow the enticing rivulets and droplets of water that trail down the curve of Nico's neck, through the well-defined lines of his collarbone and chest, down the sharp length of his jaw and nose. Nico seems to notice Will's interest, at least judging by the half-hearted scolding-but-affectionate look he throws Will's way. But when Will holds up the shampoo bottle in question, Nico doesn't even hesitate before nodding, chuckling to himself when Will immediately moves to soap up his hands.

When he sinks his fingers into Nico's hair, Nico's soft moan of contentment seems to echo in the shower stall, curling into the steamy air around him as his whole body sags back against Will's, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as Will carefully massages Nico's scalp with the pads of his fingers. The sight melts something in Will, the resulting affection that wells in his chest enough to momentarily choke him. He pauses to press his mouth to the back of Nico's shoulder, his eyes fluttering shut with a soft hum.

"Thank you," he mumbles into Nico's skin, low and heated. "I really needed that. Not just the sex— all of it."

Will can't tell if the blush that rises on Nico's cheeks is the result of the shower steam or his words, but at the very least, the smile on Nico's face is definitely because of the second option.

"Anytime," is all he says in reply. He gently moves out of Will's embrace to wash the soap out, though he keeps glancing back at Will, the pink color of his cheeks only darkening every time he catches Will's eye. He's still smiling all the while, soft and quiet and pretty in a way that's so wonderfully Nico. So wonderfully his Nico.

"I mean it," Will insists, his tone unbearably fond. "Even if I'll never be able to put on those reading glasses again without immediately popping a boner."

Nico laughs then, soft and low. With the soap now finally washed from his thick locks, he steps forward, reaches up to cup Will's face before gently tugging Will down, his eyes glowing with tender affection as he nudges his nose against Will's.

"Tesero mio…"

His words mingle in the minute, steam-filled space between them, quiet and so achingly real that Will has to kiss him, just to feel the weight of them on his lips.

They kiss like this for a while— lazy and soft caresses of their lips, bodies pressed close, hands gently wandering over slick skin and through wet hair. But finally, Will pulls back, swallowing hard as he meets Nico's gaze.

"Remember what I said earlier? About how you drive me crazy, too?"

Nico thinks a moment, gives a small shrug of his shoulders. "Rings a bell, I suppose."

"Well, I meant it," Will presses. He cups Nico's face, meets Nico's gaze with a determined steadiness. "You drive me crazy, Nico. I love everything you do." He can feel Nico try to turn away, can feel him shy away from the affection, but Will gently holds him in place, refusing to break eye contact as he speaks. "I love it when you get all grumpy or worked up over something stupid. I love when I run out for class in the morning and catch sight of you doing your eyeliner in the mirror, or painting your nails on the bed, or playing a video game on the couch. I love coming home to find you sleeping on random surfaces in the apartment like a cat. I love it when you worry about me and my habits, how you always check on me and make sure I'm taking care of myself when things get rough." He pauses, sucks in a deep breath. "Point is, I love you, Nico. I know I say it a lot, but it's true. I love you."

He can see Nico's eyes begin to well slightly, so he gives Nico a reassuring smile, a small kiss between his brows.

"You're a dork," Nico sniffles. Not an insult, but an affirmation. A reassurance that, to Nico, there's nothing about Will that needs to be tolerated. "And I love you, too, Will. Every part of you."

Will is never going to get used to this. He's never going to get used to the truth that there's no part of Nico's love for him that exists in spite of Will's dorkiness, or in spite of his nerdy nature. All the parts that Will had always perceived as issues for a romantic partner to merely put up with— Nico loves those parts of him. Wholly and completely, without question.

"And," Will adds, voice thick with emotion, "you turn me on like crazy. Like, all the time."

Nico groans in exasperation. "Oh my gods—"

"I mean it," Will says gravely, fixing Nico with a deadly-serious look. "Thank the gods you have that aviator jacket, because I don't think I'd ever be able to get anything done ever again, what with you and your arms just… just out here! Existing in my field of vision! I mean, you saw it, I wasn't even able to do a simple presentation—!"

Nico's still laughing, even as he cuts off Will's ramblings with a kiss.

He really does have the most adorable laugh.