#blink-and-you'll-miss-it austin lake

[2nd2ndalto]

Fall Down With You

Chapter 5

(previous chapter)

The letter arrives on a Monday afternoon, carried to the infirmary by Cecil and handed over to Austin, who tosses it at Will like a projectile as Will’s searching the infirmary shelves for a half-case of nectar he’s positive he saw there last week.

“Letter from your boyfriend," Austin announces as he chucks it at Will’s head. Will frowns, snatching it away.

Is he? Are they? Maybe?

They’re certainly something more, now. Something that makes Will feel as if he’s walking on air, makes the space within his ribcage warm and swell in the best possible way.

They’ve kissed precisely six times now. The first time halting and gentle, on a rainy Sunday not long after waking, curled together like kittens in Nico’s bed. The sixth time hurried and heated, ragged breath and clutching fingers, just minutes before Nico left on an errand for his father. It’s been hard to think about much else in the ensuing three weeks, honestly.

And now this: a letter addressed to Will in Nico’s neat, careful cursive. Will makes to tear it open, then reconsiders, carefully folding the thin envelope in half and tucking it safely into his back pocket until he has the time and the privacy he suddenly feels it demands. _ _ _

“Solace. Solace! Hey, Will!”

Will blinks abruptly into consciousness in the Hades cabin, immediately pushing himself up in bed as he becomes aware of the hazy image of Nico wavering in the air next to him.

“I just woke half the Apollo cabin looking for you. Why the fuck are you sleeping in here?” Nico says, exasperated.

“Maybe because I miss you, you absolute dickhead,” Will retorts, rubbing at his eyes to clear his vision.

“I - I miss you too,” Nico says, his tone immediately softer.

“What,” Will ducks down, rummaging on the floor for his satchel, “what the fuck. Is this?” He waves Nico’s (now much read and repeatedly refolded) letter in the air in front of him, nearly dissolving the Iris message.

Nico looks a bit chastened. “Oh. You got my letter.”

“Yeah I got your letter, what the fuck?”

“Did you not - I’m sorry. If I - if you don’t feel the same way -” Nico stammers.

“Of course I fucking feel the same way!” Will throws his hands in the air. The letter comes fluttering back down onto the bed next to him. “What the fuck. Of course I feel the same way, you dumbass.”

“Then why - why are you yelling at me?” Nico asks, shrinking into himself.

“Because you sent me a fucking letter,” Will fumbles for the letter, waving it in front of the Iris message again, and Nico flinches, “saying you love me - and not very much else - while you’re on the other side of the world on some kind of fucking mysterious errand for your father, and I thought it meant you were fucking dead. Or dying,” he finishes, shoving his hair out of his face.

Nico’s eyes go wide. “Oh, shit.”

“Yeah,” Will says, finally taking a deep breath and scrubbing his hands over his face.

“But why - why would you think that?” Nico blinks.

“I don’t know.” Will deflates a bit further. “It seemed like something you would do.”

Nico pauses. “Yeah, actually you’re right.”

Will snorts.

“I’m - I’m not dead, though, or dying,” Nico says. Though he looks more worried about it now than he did three minutes ago.

“Yeah, I know,” Will says, softer. “Because I finally Iris-messaged Hazel yesterday and she said she’d just heard from you, and you were fine. Eating fucking gelato in fucking Sicily.”

Nico presses his lips together, suddenly looking very much like he’s trying not to laugh. Will scowls at him.

“I’m sorry,” Nico says. “I’m fine - I’m really fine. Okay?”

“Hmph,” Will says.

Nico chews on his lip. “I just… I don’t know. I wanted to say it before I left and then… I just couldn’t work up the nerve, and then I had to leave in a hurry. Then I saw this stupid fucking statue of your dad in Naples and I… I just needed to tell you right away. I didn’t have a drachma, so I wrote you a letter,” Nico finishes.

Will sighs. “Okay, that’s actually really sweet. Also please don’t ever tell my dad that.”

Nico laughs. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on it.”

Will watches the other boy, long eyelashes framing dark eyes, his gaze soft, and he’s rocked by an overwhelming wave of affection, and regret for all the fucking distance between them.

“I - I might have overreacted a bit,” Will admits. “Sorry.”

Nico snorts. “It’s fine. I should actually be back in a few days if you want to yell at me some more. That’s what I wanted to tell you.”

“Really?” Will brightens. “I thought you’d be gone for at least another month.”

“Nope,” Nico says. “Got everything wrapped up sooner than we expected. You might have to share the bed.”

Will feels a grin break over his face. “I’d like that.”

“Yeah, me too,” Nico says, a shy smile on his lips. “Did you um… did you tell Hazel… anything?”

They haven’t really told anyone anything, yet. It’s all still so new. Not that anyone should really be surprised, Will thinks.

“Um. I kind of had to,” Will admits. “She was - she was really happy, though. You should probably message her.”

“Oh gods.” Nico passes a hand over his face.

Will giggles. “Sorry. I didn’t want her to worry.”

Nico shakes his head. “Nah, it’s fine.”

They gaze at each other in silence for a moment, and Will wishes more than anything that he could reach right through the Iris message and pull Nico directly into his bed, now.

“I should let you get back to sleep,” Nico says regretfully. The image fizzles at the edges. “I think my time’s almost up anyway.”

“Okay.” Will reaches his fingers out towards the image of Nico, then drops his hand. “Take care of yourself, okay?”

Nico nods. “I will. And… I love you ,” he says, looking incredibly uncomfortable but also incredibly earnest.

“I love you too,” Will whispers, his voice rough. “I’ll see you soon.” _ _ _

Nico is back at camp in just under 48 hours, as it turns out, quietly opening the door to his cabin just after midnight. His breath catches as he recognizes a familiar form curled in his own bed, and he takes a moment to stand there in the darkness, drinking in the feeling of warmth that spreads over him at Will’s blonde hair spilling over the pillow, the now-familiar sound of his soft, steady breathing, a soundtrack Nico thinks he could sleep to for the rest of his life without complaint.

Nico wants nothing more than to immediately climb into bed with the other boy, but he’s almost as desperate for a shower. Reluctantly, he stows his sword and backpack and softly closes the bathroom door behind him. He showers quickly, brushes his teeth and pulls clean pajamas from his dresser all without waking the other boy.

Finally, gratefully, he pulls back the covers and slips into bed. And gods, Will is warm and he smells like Will and Nico can’t quite believe how much he missed him. He presses his face into the space between Will’s shoulders, carefully resting a hand on the other boy’s hip, torn between not wanting to disturb him and needing to wrap around him as tightly as humanly possible.

Will makes a soft, sleepy noise, shifting and stretching, and Nico follows him, drawn like a magnet as Will moves just a bit further away. Then Will’s body stills and he scrambles to roll over, his eyes blinking open, his gaze soft and surprised. “Oh, hi,” he whispers. “Are you really here?”

“Really,” Nico whispers, eyes tracing the beloved, familiar freckled face in the dark.

“Oh my god I missed you so much,” Will says. Then, suddenly seeming to register that Nico really isn’t just a figment of his imagination, he launches himself forward, wrapping Nico in a tight hug. Nico’s neck is bent at an odd angle and one of his arms is pinned under him, but at the moment he absolutely couldn't care less. He laughs against Will’s head, hugging back as much as he’s physically able to.

“I missed you so much,” Will repeats, softer, now pulling back to punctuate his words with warm, emphatic kisses pressed to Nico’s cheeks, his forehead, his temples, the line of his jaw. His breath is so warm on Nico’s skin, his fingers so warm where they grip Nico’s waist under his shirt.

Nico feels a giggle of absolute joy bubbling up in his chest as he tries his best to turn his head towards Will to meet his lips. Will shakes his head, covering his mouth. “No, you can’t kiss me, I have bad breath,” he mumbles into his hand. “I’ve been asleep for hours already.”

Nico snorts. “You dork. I’ve been waiting to kiss you again for almost a month. Believe me when I tell you that your breath is the very last thing I care about.”

This kissing thing is pretty new to both of them, but Nico thinks they’re getting quite good at it, honestly. Will’s mouth is soft and eager, and his fingers slide into Nico’s damp hair, a gentle tethering. He makes the most beautiful, soft sounds in his throat when Nico hesitantly runs the tip of his tongue along Will’s bottom lip, sounds that make Nico dizzy, make his breath come fast.

They part after a long moment, breath quick and uneven, gazing at each other in the dark of the cabin.

Home.

“I love you so much,” Will murmurs.

“I love you too,” Nico answers, unable to resist the wide smile pulling at his lips.

“You’re going to get tired of hearing me say that, because I don’t think I can stop,” Will whispers, looking worried.

Nico shakes his head, still smiling. “I won’t.”

Will beams at him for a long moment, then reaches to brush the hair off his forehead. “You look tired.”

“Yeah, a little,” Nico admits.

“Good thing I kept your bed warm,” Will grins.

“Yeah,” Nico agrees.

Will smiles even wider. “‘Kay, let’s sleep,” he announces, grabbing Nico around the waist and hauling the other boy on top of himself.

Nico squeaks and tries to move, but Will just holds tighter, giggling.

“Solace, I’m crushing you,” Nico protests, which he knows is not strictly true. But still.

“It’s okay, I want you to,” Will mumbles, nuzzling into his neck.

Nico laughs, managing to wiggle halfway off his… boyfriend?

Will makes a sound of annoyance, but doesn’t move, his arms locked tight around Nico’s middle.

Nico sighs. “Really? this is how we’re sleeping now?”

“Mm hmm,” Will mumbles decisively, nuzzling further into the space between Nico’s chin and his shoulder.

But the thing is, Will is warm and he’s Will and Nico’s missed him terribly every single moment of the last almost-four weeks.

“Fine,” he grumbles, fighting a smile.

“My grumpy little blanket,” Will mumbles into his neck, and Nico snorts, honestly too pleased with the whole situation to argue.

Grumpy. The word sits incongruously around the joy swelling in his chest. He can’t remember the last time he’s smiled quite this much, he thinks, as he drifts off to sleep.

When he wakes hours later, it’s to Will’s ridiculous bedhead and Will’s beaming smile and Will’s warm mouth on his skin, and Nico wonders if he’ll ever be able to stop smiling.

(next chapter)