hey i'm back again. life is stressful. also i had to rewrite some stuff for a later chapter. sorry we're not at the wedding just yet; it's coming next chapter~ (this fic is so long askdfjdofds)
Connor didn't remember how he got into bed. When he woke up, he was lying on his side, still mostly dressed except for his shoes. His mouth tasted terrible. He realized, as his brain began to register things in the room, that Nico was pressed against his back, with an arm draped over Connor's middle. His breath was warm on Connor's neck.
Connor extracted himself carefully. Nico didn't stir. Though the throbbing in his head wasn't too severe, Connor winced anyway as he stood. He rubbed his temple. There was probably a whole bottle of aspirin in the kitchen cupboard.
As he walked down the hallway to the living room, Connor got the sense that he wasn't the only person awake. He poked his head into the kitchen and called, "Mom?"
"No, it's me." Travis was standing by the coffee machine. "I didn't expect you to be up."
"Dude, what are you doing here?"
Travis sighed and stared at the wall. "I needed a minute at home, before everything changes."
"Cold feet?" Connor asked, half joking and half serious (seriously worried).
"No. The church could burn down and I'd still marry Katie tomorrow. I was just feeling homesick, I guess. Needed some time with the family before everything gets public."
Connor helped himself to the aspirin and a glass of water. He didn't feel very sick, but he took small sips anyway. He wondered how Nico was feeling. Connor hadn't really been able to judge Nico's state when they got home. (As far as he knew, Nico hadn't joined them in drinking, plus there was that whole time he was out of the room. If anything, he was probably exhausted from all the social interaction.)
Travis added some milk and sugar to his coffee. He sat down at the tiny kitchen table. Connor joined him. The wooden chair creaked as he sat. Familiar. Comforting.
"I'm sorry about last night," Travis said. "Neil was being a fucking douchebag. We had a long talk about whether he still wanted to be my groomsman."
"It's really not a problem. We had a great time with the girls and I still have the headache to prove it."
"Ha. You're lucky I gave you a buffer day. If you got smashed before my wedding..."
Connor shrugged. "You'd do the same if I was the one getting married. I was going through an existential crisis, man. You're, like, a real adult now."
"Yeah." Travis slurped his coffee, turning to stare out the window. "It is pretty weird. Feels like we were thirteen yesterday."
"Remember when you fell off your Razor scooter and fucked up both kneecaps? And then I went to tell Mom what happened but I was crying a lot because I thought you were gonna die from blood loss?"
"Dude. If you start reliving childhood memories with me, I'm going to jam this spoon under your tongue so you can't talk." Travis waved the spoon threateningly. "Because if you do that, I'm going to cry, and I can't cry now because I'm going to cry at the wedding."
Connor chuckled. He didn't get why people cried at weddings, especially ones that weren't their own. He could only think of a few times he'd choked up in a public place and most of those were in movie theaters.
"Mom's gonna bawl her eyes out," Connor said.
"I'm going to try not to make eye contact."
They each enjoyed their respective drinks in silence for a few minutes. A patch of sunlight stretched across the floor. Connor knew he should have some speech prepared—either for now or the reception tomorrow—but his mind was blank. It was easy not to think for a while.
Connor didn't really hear Nico come in. He sort of felt a prickle on the back of his neck and turned around. Nico leaned into the kitchen, his hair mussed and still muffled with sleep.
"Oh," he said. "When I woke up, you were gone and I…" He trailed off, seeming to notice Travis was there. A hint of red appeared in his cheeks. "Morning."
"C'mere," Connor said, holding out an arm.
Nico was delirious enough that he walked right into it, letting Connor wrap the arm around his waist. He even draped his own arm across Connor's shoulders. It occurred to Connor—at the back of his mind—that he hadn't really done it for Travis' sake.
"Sleep okay?" Connor asked.
"Once I got you to lie still, yeah."
Travis chuckled. "When we were freshman I once had to piggyback him upstairs from a party and I swear to God, he wouldn't stop wriggling. If I didn't have lightning fast reflexes, I'd be an only child right now."
"That feels like forever ago," Connor said.
"What did I tell you about saying that shit?"
"You're the one who started it." Connor stuck his tongue out. "You know I'm graduating soon, right? I can be emotional, too."
"See, you can tell Connor's the younger brother because he's competitive," Travis said. "We did pretty much everything together and he still tried to one-up me. He actually tried to collect more Yu-Gi-Oh cards than me, even though we shared a deck."
"You played Yu-Gi-Oh?" Nico asked.
"When Travis let me have the duel disk, yeah."
Travis rolled his eyes. "What about you, Nico? Any sibling rivalries in your family?"
The mood immediately darkened. Nico slid out of Connor's grasp. He wandered over to the coffee machine without a word.
"Did I say the wrong thing?" Travis whispered.
"Um…" Connor said, just as Nico said, "I'm a younger brother. My sister died, though."
"Oh. I'm sorry for your loss. How did it happen?"
"Car accident." Nico returned to the table with a full cup. "We didn't share a lot of stuff. She was into different things than me. Like archery."
"I'm guessing you didn't play any sports."
Nico shook his head.
"Well, we didn't either, so your sister has all three of us beat. We tried to do track once but it didn't work out. Running is only fun when you're trying to get away from the police."
Nico's eyebrows shot up. Connor glared briefly at Travis, then said, "He's not serious. We never ran from the police."
"Because by then we had bikes," Travis said with a devious smile.
"You're going to scare him off, Trav."
"He's been with you for three months. He's not going to run now." Travis turned to Nico. "I'll bet Connor was a departure for you. He doesn't seem like your type."
Nico looked at Connor, who could only shrug. He had no idea what Travis meant. Maybe he was implying that Connor wasn't emo enough.
"My type…" Nico said. "My type is unattainable."
"Ouch," Travis said, grinning at Connor.
Connor laughed it off. "I don't mind. I'm the winner here."
"Yeah…" Nico said slowly. He curled his hands around the coffee mug.
The conversation died down. It wasn't necessarily awkward. Nico's natural inclination toward silence made it feel natural. Even so, it was hard for Connor not to start chattering nervously about the wedding. He didn't know how Travis could sit calmly across from him the day before he was going to become someone's husband.
Nico seemed to read the room, however, and once he'd drained his cup, he disappeared like a ghost. How did someone move so fast and so silently at the same time? If Nico ever wanted to go into the assassin business, he'd be perfect. Then he'd never run out of bodies to embalm.
"How did you figure out she was the One?" Connor blurted. "I'm not saying she's not, I just—"
"There isn't really a One. You know that, Con. Divorce wouldn't exist if there was."
"That's not what I mean. How did you know it was real? You guys dated forever, but so did me and Miranda."
"Does this have to do with Nico?"
"Kind of," Connor said. Maybe. A lot of it has to do with me. "I'm not going to propose to him in the middle of your wedding, if that's what you're thinking."
"Good, because Katie would strangle you with a tablecloth if you did."
Connor could picture that. He touched his neck.
"You don't have to think about that stuff yet," Travis went on. "There's no rush. I know things were weird with Miranda. Before and after you broke up. Think of that like a test run. That way, you'll know better with the next person you fall for."
"Well…" Connor said. He forced the words out. "I don't know if I 'fell' for Miranda."
"That's okay. You learned something by not being in love with her. Even if you just thought it was the real deal, it wasn't a waste of your time or anything."
Connor tilted his cup back and forth, watching the last dregs of coffee swish around.
"Are you happy with Nico?"
"Yeah."
"Then don't worry. Think about all the heavy stuff later. As for now, just enjoy yourself. Tell him you love him at the wedding reception," Travis said with a grin.
Connor giggled nervously. "I'm not gonna do that."
"Real talk, you're a good influence on him. I remember he used to be gloomy all the time. And you smile at him a lot. I don't know how you did it."
I got him out of an awkward family holiday by putting him in another one. "Wouldn't you like to know."
After Travis left, Connor sat around sobering up. Nico spent a long time in their room. Connor wondered if he was on another phone call with his mom. There was definitely something up when he re-emerged. He didn't say anything about it. Aside from the occasional snarky comment during the news, he didn't talk at all.
Nerves, Connor thought. Tomorrow, they were going to have get dressed up and interact with the extended Stoll family. Which would not be pleasant for Nico at all.
Connor tried to breach the wall. "What did your mom say last night?"
"She just wanted to know how I was doing."
"Did she call again?"
"No."
For the sake of keeping things as un-awkward as possible, Connor didn't ask him anymore about it. Nico deserved some privacy. They'd been practically joined at the hip since they'd arrived.
Beatrice got up and said good morning. She had a bowl of cereal on the couch beside them. Nico answered her questions while keeping said answers as short as possible. (The party was good, he had everything he needed for the wedding, and Connor hadn't gotten alcohol poisoning.) Beatrice switched to updating Connor about some of their relatives. Apparently, some of the cousins weren't on speaking terms anymore and Connor would have to keep his wits about him to avoid getting dragged into the conflict.
"Um," Nico said, once the chit-chat lulled, "is there anything we're supposed to do today?"
"Not that I know of." Beatrice got up and carried her bowl into the kitchen. "Big plans?"
"I have to do some Christmas shopping. Without Connor," Nico added.
Oh, the Christmas present.
Beatrice lifted an eyebrow. (She smirked at Connor and all the features that she'd passed on to her sons revealed themselves in her face.) "Well, if you need a ride, sweetie, I'd be happy to give you one," she said to Nico.
There it was, the inevitable pet name. Nico flinched. It wasn't super noticeable. Connor mouthed "little potato" at him. He didn't know what went through Nico's head just then, but Connor guessed he'd almost lost the right to a present.
Nico regained his composure. "That's okay. Percy said he'd take me."
"He did?" Connor asked. "When?"
"I texted him earlier. You and Annabeth went shopping by yourselves, so it's fair if we get to go, too."
Connor agreed that it was fair. He just felt weird about Nico leaving him on his own. He was afraid Nico was retreating within himself in preparation for the wedding. That was no good. He needed to be as open as possible if they were going to comfortably pull off the couple act with so many witnesses.
"As long as you don't let Percy pick my gift then it's cool," Connor said. He wouldn't deny that Percy tried his hardest when getting people presents—if he remembered—but tended to play it safe.
"Do you think I'm an idiot? Of course, I won't." Nico checked his phone. "He says he's on his way. When I get back, stop Connor from seeing what I got him."
"Hey! I wouldn't cheat!"
Nico only smirked knowingly at him.
Percy arrived ten minutes later. He was bundled up to hell and back, but he kept shivering anyway. "Fuck winter," he grumbled. "The only thing good about it is Christmas."
"Nice to see you, too," Connor said.
"You agree with me, though, right?" Percy shook his hands out to get the blood flowing to his fingers. "Global warming is actually making the summers hotter and the winters colder. It's not natural. I almost can't wait for half the world to be underwater. Then maybe people will start giving a shit about tossing their garbage in it."
"Only if we evolve gills first."
"Dude, I'll fund whatever mad scientist wants to start bioengineering us to breathe underwater." He smiled. "So, where's your boyfriend?"
Connor snorted. "Seriously, Jackson? You're gonna tease me?"
"What goes around comes around. You locked me and Annabeth in a closet once."
"You should be thanking me. Otherwise you would've never fessed up!"
Nico appeared from around the corner of the hallway. He was wearing a scarf Connor was sure didn't belong to him. (Beatrice must've wrestled it onto him.) He kept fussing with it.
"Hey," he said. "Thanks for taking me."
"No problem. You ready to go?"
Nico nodded. He gave up with the scarf. It was red and black buffalo plaid, the ugliest of all the plaids. Nico didn't make it work, exactly, but Connor thought he was kind of cute.
"I'll see you later," Nico said. He put a hand on Connor's shoulder to drag him down and kiss his cheek. "No peeking, remember?"
"I remember. Have fun."
As he watched them leave, Connor couldn't help feeling… something. He sat by the window once they'd gone through the front door. Percy said something to Nico and Nico answered with something that made Percy smile. Connor touched his cheek. He didn't know what he was thinking.
I'm the winner here. Except he wasn't, because it was all fake. Connor shook his head. There weren't winners and losers in the first place. He'd said it as a joke. Just a joke.
It was hours before Nico came home. Connor felt his absence more than he'd expected. He ended up being a vegetable for most of the day. His mom was around, but it wasn't like he could talk to her the same as he could with Nico. On a different day, he would've texted Annabeth. The only reason he didn't do so now was because he'd bothered her enough last night.
He wondered what was taking so long, then remembered it was Nico and Percy. They weren't regimented like Annabeth. Nico would probably want to get done as soon as possible, but Percy would take his sweet time going into every store and finding weird stuff. Connor hoped Nico was keeping his temper in check. Tensions always ran high during holiday shopping.
Connor had been through a few holidays with Miranda, and the shopping had always ended in an argument. Not for the reasons most people thought, actually. He remembered one fight that turned into a shouting match in the middle of the Target, over what he couldn't recall—though it was probably inconsequential. There'd been a time when Connor assumed all couples were like that. Until Katie told him that she and Travis had never caused a scene like that, and they definitely didn't argue the whole way home after those outings, even when both of them were dog-tired and frustrated.
Nico returned halfway through a re-run of Rudolph. Connor wasn't really watching it. He looked up when the front door opened, admitting Nico and a couple of nondescript shopping bags. He was still wearing the scarf.
"Were you just waiting here the whole time?" Nico asked.
"Who says I was waiting?" Connor retorted. "Just because the living room's right next to the door…" He nodded at the bags. "What are you gonna do with those?"
"I'm giving them to your mom to hide."
"Smart move, as long as one of those isn't for my mom."
"No, I'm putting hers under the bed."
Nico had this whole gift-giving business well thought-out. Connor scratched under his chin. "How was it overall? When Annabeth and I went, it was pretty crowded."
"It was fine."
"Just fine?"
"Yeah. One second while I get rid of these." He hurried off.
Connor thought it might've been his imagination, but Nico sounded tense. Stress, Connor reasoned. The wedding was tomorrow, and he'd braved Christmas shopping. He was probably worn out. When Nico joined him in the living room again—minus the ugly scarf—Connor said, "Is there anything else you need before the wedding?"
"I'm good. A little nervous, but good." Nico ran his fingers through his hair, briefly lifting it off his forehead before letting it settle. "Actually, I'm more worried about your Christmas present. I had no idea what to get."
"Chances are I'm going to like it. Or I'll fake liking it."
"Yeah, you're good at faking."
Connor huffed. He knew it wasn't really an insult. Why did it still sting?
