"Hey." Nico welcomed the soft press of Will's lips on his forehead before the blond disappeared with the flourish toward the line that snaked around the counter.
Reyna rapped the mahagony table sharply, distracting Nico from staring after the love of his life. "Knock, knock, anybody home? You ignored my question."
"Sorry. What was it again?" He shifted to give her his full attention.
"I asked if three months was too quick to ask her to move in with me."
Nico didn't manage to mask his surprise. "Wow, so you and Lily are serious. No, I don't think it is. I mean, depends really."
Reyna groaned at his flippant reply. "You're useless. Oh, good, here comes Will."
Nico looked up, and smiled at his boyfriend, who's cheeks were flushed red with the cold. His fingers were curled around a cup of iced latte. "It's 16 degrees and you're drinking iced coffee?" Reyna commented, and Will stuck out his tongue at her.
"It could be negative 400 degrees and Will still wouldn't drink hot coffee, Rey." Nico answered for Will, who shot him a grateful glance.
Reyna rolled her eyes playfully and patted the chair next to her as an invitation for Will to sit. "I have a question for you, William."
"Okay, shoot."
"Do you think it's too early for me to ask Lily to move in with me?" She uttered in a breath, before she held her next breath, anticipating his reply.
Will, like Nico, didn't manage to conceal their shock. "Wait it's been what-"
"3 months." Reyna interjected.
"Yeah. Okay, wow. Uhm. Well, I guess not. You two seem really happy together, and if you think the time's right, then yes. Plus it'll be nice to drop by your place and NOT see you on your couch filled with misery."
Reyna elbowed him roughly, but her eyes shone in pleasure. "See, Neeks, that's how you give an answer. You have to give an affirmative one."
"Whatever, I basically said the same thing." Nico replied, snatching the iced coffee from Will's hands and taking a long sip.
Will glared at him, before it softened and he asked, "Where's Piper?"
Reyna snickered, and unbraided her thick braid to coax her hair into a ponytail. "In the six years of friendship with Piper McLean, I have never ever seen her show up on time for anything."
Just as she said that, the door to the coffeeshop swung open, and there stood Piper, in a pink faux fur coat, knee high leather boots.
"Speak of the devil." Nico smirked, taking off his legs which he had propped up on the seat beside him.
She brushed the snowflakes off of her hair, before settling in the chair. "Not even going to explain why I'm late. Anyway, what is this! I hear about Lily and you!"
The other three glanced at each other, not knowing how to react at how Piper knew what was going on between Reyna and Lily even without any of them telling her. That girl had many talents, and possibly, mind reading was one of them.
"We're..possibly moving in together." Reyna said slowly, and Piper squealed.
"Oh my gods, yes! At least you're moving faster than these two did." Piper nudged Nico, and he scowled in reply. "They took so long to get together, a year to move in together. And now, it's been another three years and there has been zero developments."
"Haha, Piper. 4 years isn't even that long of a time."
"Yeah, but you guys have been in love for seven years. Yes, I knew how hard you guys were pining from high school."
Nico flushed, and awkwardly took another sip from the coffee he stole from Will. "What, do you want us to get married or something?"
"YES!" Reyna and Piper yelled exasperatedly, making both Will and Nico jump.
###
Will chewed on his lip nervously. The conversation they had at the coffeeshop made him think about where he and this relationship was headed.
Did he imagine a life with Nico, complete with kids and all?
Yes. Definitely.
Does he want to watch the grass grow and grow old with Nico?
Of course.
There was nothing else he would want other than spend the entirety of his life; what's left of it together with Nico. But like he said, four years was a short time, and him and Nico don't really rush into things, given their history.
"Dork." Nico's familiar voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and Will felt warm fingers slip into the pocket of his coat and intertwine with his. "What are you thinking so hard about?"
You.
Marriage.
"Reyna and Lily. Like, you don't think they're rushing into anything, do you?"
Well, it wasn't a complete lie. Reyna and Lily were preoccupying the back of his mind.
Nico ducked his head and cast a soft smile toward the pavement. "Nah, they're perfect for each other. Lily's nice and gentle. And Reyna? She's all hard angles and toughness so seeing her being so soft and in love with Lily...it made her a better person. And I think that's what love is, you know? Making each other better people and making them happy."
"You're a sap." Will teased, smirking at the shorter boy.
The brunet unlaced his fingers from Will's, annoyed. "I'm trying to make a point."
"I'm kidding!" Will chuckled to himself as Nico crossed the street, leaving Will alone on the other side. "Babe!"
###
The bus hissed to a stop, and Nico wrinkled his nose at the onslaught of pinks and reds (not to mention the kissing couples) that attacked his eyes as soon as he alighted from the bus.
Nico never really liked Valentine's Day. Not even after he started dating Will, because he just felt as though Valentine's Day was just a corporate scheme to sell as many candy hearts and flowers as they could for a day. Oh gods, the things people do for money.
Luckily, Will shared his distaste at Valentine's Day too. Another reason why he was completely in love with him. Will always knew when things got too much for him, knew his limits. Nico sighed to himself, trying not to smile at the thought of his boyfriend as he made his way toward their apartment.
Honestly? All he wanted right now was to cuddle with Will on the sofa and binge watch all the Harry Potter movies.
###
"I'm home!" Nico tossed his keys onto the counter. "Will?"
Silence greeted him.
Strange, because Will always got home before him. Maybe there was a traffic jam? Nico tried not to think of the worst and turned on the living room switch.
His heart dropped.
On the floor was a trail of red rose petals, leading straight to their bedroom.
"Oh my gods-" Nico's breath caught in his throat, and he didn't know if he should follow it.
It's been four years since they got together and not once in any of those years have they ever celebrated Valentine's Day so why today? Why this year of all the years? What changed? Was the pinks and reds to glaring for Will to resist? Or has Cupid finally worn his boyfriend down?
Nico mentally scolded himself for asking so many questions. Clearly the only way these questions were going to be answered was for him to follow the trail.
"Will?" Nico muttered, pushing open the bedroom.
Sure enough, there was his beautiful boyfriend, grinning at him as though all of his christmas wishes had come true.
"What's going on?"
"It's kind of weird, doing this. We have never, ever, celebrated Valentine's Day because that isn't us. We've always spent it curled in bed watching something, and honestly I just think it's because we hate how extravagant and obnoxious the entire thing is. So..uh..this year, I decided to change that."
"Why? It's fun hating it."
Will's grin softened. "Well, we can still hate on Valentine's Day. I just mean that we'll have to learn how to love the date. 14th February. Because today is the day I ask Nico Di Angelo to marry me."
"No-" Nico gasped, completely shell-shocked as he watched Will gingerly went on one knee.
"Okay, here goes. For the past four years, you've made me so, so happy. You've made me a better person, and you've made me do things I never thought I could. You're the reason why I wake up everyday, you're the reason why I get motivation to get out of bed sometimes."
Will broke off, laughing, and Nico chuckled with him, bleary eyed and desperately trying not to cry.
"I just...I love you so much." Will's breath skittered, along with Nico's heart. "I love how kind you are, how sarcastic and talented you are, how...how you're so much smarter than me and how you teach me something new about anything everyday. Four years and I'm still learning things. I love your stupid face and I want to wake up to your face everyday, for the rest of my life. So, Nico Di Angelo...would you make it your duty to be my happiness for the rest of my life and marry me?"
The shock wore off, now replaced by utter love and raw emotions.
He's never given marriage much thought, but now that Will was kneeling in front of him, all Nico could think of was the life they had ahead of them, now that they could get married, they could adopt and wake up to the sounds of laughter from children, wake up to each other..living together and growing old together-
"Oh, gods, YES. A million times yes."
The blond laughed, but tears escaped from his eyes. "For a second there..I thought you were going to say-"
Nico interrupted his boyfriend-no- fiance by marching toward him and yanking him into a deep kiss. Fiery and passionate, but only for two seconds before it dissolved into something sweeter, something more intimate.
"Don't you ever even for a second, think I'd say no to you." Nico said firmly, teary eyed and relieved.
And completely at bliss.
Will answered by slipping on the ring onto his finger. "I love you."
"I love you too."
End.
Author's note: I cried writing this. My boyyyyyyys sigh :"))) Hope yall liked this I havent been writing in awhile so I'm pretty rusty HAHA
vote and comment for lil' ol me?
Pretttttyyyyyyy pleaaaaaaseeeee with a cherry on top?
-K