A/N: As requested by duh shipper, here's a Solangelo college AU! Enjoy!
Nico might have been annoyed with his roommate, if he wasn't so frustratingly cute. On November first Will had gone from hiding plastic spiders around the dorm room and telling corny jokes about the undead (What's a ghost's favorite type of pie? BOO-berry!) to singing carols at the top of his lungs and attempting to make Christmas cookies in their broken microwave. If Will didn't happen to be Nico's boyfriend as well, he probably would have talked to the dorm offices about switching rooms.
"What are all these bags for?" Nico said as Will returned to the room with another armload of plastic bags. Nico, who had been forbidden by Will from helping for reasons unknown, sat cross-legged on his bed.
"It's a surprise, I told you," Will said, rearranging the pile of cardboard boxes and plastic bags on the other bed to make room for the latest load.
"Unless this surprise is going to help me pass my Greek Mythology final, I'm not interested," Nico said, closing his textbook and setting it on the nightstand.
"Says Mr. Mythomagic," Will teased.
Nico grimaced. "I knew I shouldn't have told you about that. I haven't played that game since I was eight. Besides, knowing how many attack points the Minotaur has won't help me remember the story of The Iliad," he said.
"You were twelve, not eight," Will corrected, leaning against the door with his arms crossed over his chest, "And I know for a fact you still have a box of figurines and a binder of cards in your closet."
Nico's face flushed. "How did you know about that?"
Instead of answering, Will reached into Nico's closet and tossed him a jacket.
"I need your help carrying something in, could you come out to the car and help me?" Will said.
"Jesus, Will, how many more boxes are there?" Nico said, slipping into his jacket and zipping it up.
"Just one more, I promise," Will said. Nico followed him down the three flights of stairs to the parking lot, into the bitter December air, and to his SUV. Will reached down and opened the trunk, revealing a cardboard box nearly the size of a refrigerator.
"What is that?" Nico said, rubbing his hands together and wishing he'd brought gloves.
"You'll see," Will said, "Now come on, help me carry it inside. You grab one end, I'll grab the other."
Dragging it out of the trunk took a lot more effort than Nico expected. "Why is it so heavy?" he asked.
"How many times do I have to tell you it's a surprise?" Will complained. They set the box down on the pavement so Will could close the trunk, then heaved it up again.
"How are we going to get this up the stairs?" Nico said.
"No idea," Will replied.
By the time they had dragged the box up the stairs- three flights of them, which seemed to Nico to be much longer on the way up than they had been on the way down- Nico was exhausted. Sweat plastered his hair to his forehead, and his face was bright red. He shrugged off his jacket and tossed it onto his bed.
"This had better be worth it," Nico said, smiling in spite of himself at his dork of a boyfriend who was fussing over some bags while humming softly to himself.
"It will be," Will promised, turning around to gather Nico into a hug and kiss him on the nose, which was still cold from being outside. Nico scrunched up his face, and Will laughed quietly.
"You could just kiss me on the mouth," Nico said.
"There are lots of places I could kiss you," Will whispered, his lips hovering dangerously close to Nico's. Then, much to Nico's disappointment, Will stepped away abruptly.
"However," Will said, "First, we have some Christmas decorating to do."
"You bought this many decorations?" Nico said, incredulous, as Will reached into a bag and tossed him an oversized, bright red bow. "Is this going to be like that time you wasted all your money on that life-sized skeleton for Halloween and I had to pay for your food for two weeks because you couldn't afford it?"
"I brought some of these from home," Will said, "Now go hang that bow somewhere."
"Where?" Nico said. Decorating wasn't really his thing.
"I don't know, on the wall somewhere. It's so plain and white in here, the room could use some Christmas spirit," Will said. Christmas spirit had never really been Nico's thing, either, but Will's energy was contagious.
After an hour, all of the boxes and bags had been cleared out, except for the largest one. The room looked like Santa and all his reindeer had thrown up on it. Strings of lights were hung up on every wall, Nico counted at least five wreaths, and there were ribbons tied to every doorknob, drawer handle, and light fixture in the room. Nico thought it was the most obnoxious thing he'd ever seen, but at the same time it made him smile. It was all so very Will. Seeing how proud he was of it, Nico couldn't help but be proud of it too. If overzealous decorating made Will happy, then Nico supposed it made him happy as well. Even if it was something he'd be embarrassed to show guests.
"So do I get to see what's in the big box now?" Nico said, walking over to the corner where it stood and placing a hand on it.
Will grinned. "I thought you'd never ask. Only if you help me open it." They pulled the box into the center of the room and set to work.
"Oh my God, is that a Christmas tree?" Nico said, reaching out to touch it as Will lifted up the top tab of cardboard.
"A fake one. I'm allergic to the real kind," Will said, "But a tree, yeah. You can't have Christmas without a tree."
"Where the hell are we going to put it?" Nico said.
Will shrugged and looked around the tiny room. "I didn't really think that far in advance. You know, if we got rid of your bed…"
"And where would I sleep?" Nico said.
"With me," Will said, winking.
"Except that the bed is tiny, and there's no way we'd both fit," Nico said, though Will's words set butterflies in motion in his stomach.
"We'll figure it out," Will insisted.
"Do we have to?" Nico said, a sly smile slowly creeping across his face.
"What?" Will said, though his smirk revealed that he was catching onto Nico's idea.
"Do we have to? Figure it out, that is. At least for right now," Nico said, inching closer to Will.
"I suppose it can wait," Will said, his eyes narrowing and his grin widening. He reached out and kissed Nico hard, pressing him up against the wall.
Oh yeah, Nico thought, it can definitely wait.
A/N: Don't forget to review! Also, I'm still taking requests, for both Christmas-themed and regular one-shots. I can't promise I'll get a chance to write them all, but I'll certainly try!