**smut warning for this chapter**

Light in Your Eyes, Heat in My Heart

Nico

Kissing Will, his lips wet, plump, insistent, feels like coming home. Connecting with him, even if it's a simple wave or a raised eyebrow when Will has a busy day and Nico doesn't want to interrupt, makes his whole day. Nico recalls having had this realization the night before he woke to find time had skipped ahead two years. The way Will's mouth fits Nico's, the way he generates enough warmth to heat them both – Nico wonders if he really has found a home. Perhaps the fates had woven his life the way they had to help him escape the time period he'd been born into, to jump him far enough ahead to align him with Will.

His cheeks burn at his own sappy thoughts, so lost in them, he doesn't notice Will pulling away until he gets to his feet.

Nico looks up at him, squinting when Will turns on a string of lights edging the tent. When had it gotten so late?

Will chuckles. "I don't know about you, di Angelo, but after being on a pegasus all freaking day, I need to piss, take a shower, and get something to eat. Back in few, 'kay?"

Nico waves him away, his cheeks on fire. He can't help it. Combine his hormones firing at random whenever Will is around with the embarrassment of having fallen asleep while riding a pegasus and not realizing the entire day had passed – he'd rather compose himself than have Will make his blush even worse by pointing it out and calling it cute.

He's even more grateful the tent is equipped with a bathroom, and that Will is safely out of earshot when his stomach makes his hunger known. More than a growl, it full on roars, and Nico gets up to check out what the magical buffet table has to offer. He fetches a sandwich and a mug of fresh water, his mind drifting back to the time he'd spent traveling with Reyna and Coach Hedge. The hunters had gifted Reyna with a tent like this. Back then, he'd hated it because it had come from them. He'd thought of the hunters as sister-stealers, and even now, his heart twinges as he recalls Bianca. He wonders about the prophecy he'd witnessed in the memory Clovis shared with him. Unite the siblings forgotten by time. He shakes his head at himself. It couldn't refer to him and Bianca, not now. She's moved on to a new life, her memories of their life together permanently erased.

He splits what's left of his sandwich in two and places half on the silver brazier at the center of the table, sending a silent prayer of thanks to Artemis, and, at the last second, to Hestia. The brazier erupts in enchanted silver flames, consuming the offering and dissipating as fast as they had appeared. He's ready to let that old grudge go.

XxxX

Refreshed after a quick shower and shave, hunger satisfied, Nico wraps a towel around his waist, and returns to the sleeping bags.

Will has them laid out like a bed for two and sits cross-legged on top, munching an apple and digging around in his doctor's bag. A bath towel draped over his knees is the only thing covering him. He grins when Nico drops down beside him.

"Feel better?" Will asks, and when Nico nods, he looks around a couple of seconds like he's lost something, then pulls a plastic sack from his bag and stashes his apple core inside it.

Nico lies down on his side, trying to control his racing heart as Will follows him, and automatically curls his body along Nico's side, warming him, his heart pounding like crazy. "This is cozy," Nico says, yawning to cover his nerves. "Where'd you get one of the hunter's tents?"

Will runs a hand over Nico's chest, then presses a kiss to the spot behind Nico's ear, making him shiver. "Artemis is my dad's twin. She gives us presents on our birthdays."

Nico screws up his face, not sure if Will is kidding with him or not. He looks back over his shoulder, ready to snark back, but instead his heart thuds faster. The intensity in Will's gaze sets him burning all over again.

His stomach swoops as he recalls what he'd wanted to say after his talk with Zephyros, not sure how best to bring it up. He traces Will's hand on his chest, sinking into the warm embrace. Will yawns.

"You should sleep," Nico says, not quite able to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

Stupid! You were supposed to tell him you have an answer. What happened to seizing the precious moments in life?

"I, uh – may have drifted off for a bit during our flight. I drooled all over my backpack."

Will's voice is quiet, embarrassed, but the admission lifts Nico's mood in an instant. He faces forward, his back to Will, hiding a smile. "You're lucky you didn't fall off and drag me with you." He's teasing, mostly. It serves Will right for always getting on Nico's case about pulling dangerous stunts.

"You're right," Will says, bucking up against Nico's butt, his breath hot on the back of Nico's neck. "But I'm not too tired for lazy sex, if you're up for it."

Heat pours over Nico, running from his scalp, across his cheeks and spreading down his chest. The phrase 'lazy sex' seems to act as a keyword, unlocking a flood of memories. They had come up with the term 'lazy sex' to describe doing it while spooning, one of their go-to positions as it takes less energy than an intense session of trying new positions, is effective at drawing the experience out if they want to last, and is the perfect position for falling asleep immediately afterwards.

Nico's heart thuds in his chest, expanding as Will makes invisible trails of want chase across Nico's skin, brushing his fingertips over Nico's stomach. Nico recalls the times they'd spent talking – about their day, about lunch, about anything and nothing – while having lazy sex. A small, domestic sort of intimacy that allowed them to reconnect after a long day when time was short.

He rolls partly onto his back, twisting at the waist, and slips his arm behind Will's neck. He brushes their lips together, rolling his hips back against Will's groin. Nico's thoughts chase each other around in his brain as they kiss, all the things he wants to say.

Slowly, steadily, they take it deeper, tongues tickling teeth, exploring mouths, breaths growing shorter. Nico shifts his hips, his free hand pushing their towels out of the way, drinking Will's quiet moans, and savoring the heat of bare skin against skin. He pours what he wants to say into his lips, goosebumps canvassing his skin as Will holds him close.

I want us to last. I want to live with you; find a place to call ours, a bedroom that is ours, a bed that is ours. I want to feel you like this every night as I fall asleep, and wake up knowing you'll still be here. I want us to hit milestone anniversaries, to see you get your degree, to hear you insist you've earned your doctor's title and to tell me I can't tease you about it anymore. I want to visit your mom's house again, and to not see her trying to hide her surprise that we're still together. I. Want. You.

Nico halts his mind, distracted by Will's fingers prodding his perineum, then lifts his leg to give Will more room to move. He breathes deeply, breaking the kiss, lost in Will's eyes. The blue appears almost purple in the glow from string of dim lights. Will bites his lower lip as he slips his hand lower, pushing up against Nico's hole with the balljoint of his thumb. He lifts an eyebrow, tilting his head and Nico reads the question he's asking without words. You okay with doing it this way tonight?

Nico agrees with a slow nod and a sigh. Then Will ducks down, and rolls Nico onto his stomach.

Following Will's guiding touches, Nico tucks his knees up and to the sides, his stiff cock brushing the slippery sleeping bag material and making him shiver. His back is cold, his ass, too; propped up and exposed to the air while Will rustles with something behind him.

Nico nuzzles the cushioned bag, cooling his hot cheek, his hands at the top seam. He grunts as Will pushes his butt even higher with his warm hands. Nico stutters his breaths at the first slick swipe of Will's tongue, clenching the sleeping bag seam in his fists.

He really could do this for life, grow old with a hot boyfriend. One willing to do whatever it takes and more to get Nico off, equally ready to be pliant and receptive when Nico wants. Is that enough? Are they even old enough to think about being together for life? How long of a life will they even have? He pushes the irritating thoughts away. The truth is that neither of them can really know what the future might bring, and if people can talk about Annabeth and Percy making a long term go of it, then their youth shouldn't have a damn place in the equation for him and Will.

Tucking his chin, Nico pushes his forehead against the sleeping bag, arching his back and relaxing his muscles. Opening himself up, he wills his body to soften, pliable as warm butter under Will's mouth, his wriggling tongue. He moans into the sleeping bag, sparks prickling under his skin as every nerve in his body seems to wake at once. "I want to come …" he starts to say, gasping as Will finds and teases a sensitive spot.

Will chuckles, sending vibrations reverberating through Nico's bones, and then pulls back.

Nico's face burns red hot as he realizes how Will would interpret that, that he screwed up what he'd been trying to say, but Will only pats his legs and guides Nico to lie flat on his stomach. Will wraps Nico's backside in a full body hug and rolls them into a spooning position. "You want to come already?" Will asks, his voice quivering, aroused.

Nico grunts, trapped in Will's embrace as Will's dick nudges between his thighs, driving him mad. "You distracted me mid-sentence," Nico complains, then falls silent a moment while Will paints the back of his neck with kisses. He decides to go ahead and finish his sentence. "I want to come with you to – to Oregon – at the end of the summer."

Slackening his hold, Will props himself with his elbow, and Nico shifts, lying halfway on his back again. Their eyes meet in the low light, and Will seems to have lost the ability to speak. He stares at Nico, dumbfounded.

Nico rolls his eyes, then gives Will a wicked smirk, wriggling back against Will and creating friction between his legs. It seems to help Will find his voice again, at least. Will lowers himself back down, answering Nico's eager hips with slow drags of his dick along the crease of Nico's ass. His lips on the backside of Nico's neck, breathing his words more than speaking them, Will punctuates what he says with more kisses.

"I love you …" kiss "… so much." kiss

Nico aches, needing to be even closer, to really unite. He spots Will's doctor's bag at the edge of the sleeping bag and grabs it, straining with the effort to reach it and not move out of position. He passes it to Will, who takes it without question, opening it in front of Nico's chest and rummaging a moment, nuzzling up and down Nico's neck and behind his ear.

Nico closes his eyes, surrendering himself, and nearly crying out in relief when Will's lube-slick fingers begin rubbing his rim. Breathing a sigh as they breach, he trades kisses with Will, bumping noses, their breath mingling.

"Tell me, Nico – what life will be like. You and me. I want to hear you talk," Will says. He slips his fingers free, pulling back to fumble with something out of Nico's line of sight. He returns in half a moment, draping himself along Nico's back again, and then taking Nico's erection in his lube-slicked hand.

Lost in the loose slide of Will's grip, in the careful caress of tongues on teeth, the brushing of soft lips, the blunt pressure at his backside, Nico imagines their future together. He gasps at the first stretch of Will pushing inside, drinking comfort from Will's kisses as he adjusts, and then keening in the back of his throat at the relief as Will slides in all the way, the serenity of being filled.

Taking it slow, languid, Nico relaxes completely. The soft heat Will puts off surrounding him, filling him inside and out, Nico meets Will's gaze and his heart explodes. When he speaks, his words come out breathily, coaxed from his throat as if by reflex to fulfill Will's request.

"We'll have a place …" he breathes, "an apartment, or dorm, or maybe rent a small house …"

Will pulls Nico closer, all the way on his side, and curls up around him as if melding with his body, becoming a second skin. He pumps his hips, moving them together so slowly, so gently, it's hard for Nico to determine where he ends and Will begins, or even if the sensations he experiences are his own or Will's.

"Mhm," Will murmurs, his cheek at Nico's cheek. "Then what?"

Warm to the point of delirium, the kind that brings daydreams and idling away tedious hours, Nico answers without thought, without second guessing himself, trusting his own penchant for honesty, and unburdened by the filter he uses with others.

"We'd shower together in the mornings," Nico says, stopping to gasp as Will hits him at just the right angle. "There. Right like that." He raises his top leg, relieved when Will takes over supporting it with a hand behind the knee, keeping his thrusts slow and lazy. Nico continues. "I'd have a – a job, or maybe take classes, too …" He wraps his hand around his cock, lubing himself with the string of precome hanging from the tip. He feels perfectly at ease, his body in tune with Will's, their movements well practiced. "After you get your degree, we'll find a house. Decide – ah, – which state we want to live in. Where you can do your residency."

Will speeds up, his breaths coming harsher against Nico's cheek, his grip behind Nico's leg slick with sweat.

"And –" Nico starts again. He pauses when his voice turns into a moan, pleasure pooling in his gut, his balls aching to come. "I don't know what you'd imagine our life would be like, but…" Another moan steals his words, and he ceases stroking himself, not wanting to come before he's ready.

Will kisses Nico's cheek, then trails kisses to the ridge of Nico's shoulder, finally touching his forehead to the base of Nico's neck. His breath huffs hotly over Nico's skin. "Tell me how you imagine it, see how our visions of the future match up."

Nico chuckles, and Will's body goes rigid, still. Nico recognizes the reaction. Will must be close to climaxing. The thought makes Nico grin, and he strokes himself again, allowing the pleasure to build up, not trying to stop it. "I – I know it's early to talk about, that it might not work out, that we might have to wait a long time … but … I think eventually …" It's too hard to say it out loud, his faraway dream, one he'd had since he was a young boy playacting with his sister.

Will hums a low, soft melody, his cheek pressed to Nico's back, the vibrations resonating through Nico's skin and muscles. Will quickens the pacing of his thrusts, along with his melody, brushing Nico's prostate until his climax is imminent. "Tell me, Nico. Please, I'm close," Will whispers, then resumes humming.

Realizing he sounds cheesy as hell, but deciding not to care about it now, Nico confesses. His foreskin slipping over the head of his cock and back as he holds on beneath it, allowing the force of Will's thrusts to send him over the edge.

"I want kids," he says. The first time he's said it out loud since he was a child. "I want us to be parents." He chokes on the last words, teetering on the brink. His orgasm hits, dragging him under when Will swears, and pumps deep inside him. He tries to go even deeper, rolling Nico onto his stomach, covering his body and getting as close as two people possibly can. Nico finishes pressed into the sleeping bag, likely making a huge mess. If he were in any other state of mind, he might complain at having his orgasm so rudely interrupted, and then to be forced to lie in the wet spot, but right now, as he listens to Will catch his breath, his weight crushing Nico to the point his lungs feel tight; Nico simply savors the moment.

XxxX

He startles when Will moves, his back suddenly exposed to the cold air. He'd nearly fallen asleep underneath Will, wearing him like a blanket. Nico shivers and turns his head, finding Will lying on his back, half sitting up and grimacing as he ties a knot in the condom. It recalls to Nico's mind that he'd meant to ask Will about the previous night. Meh, I'll ask him later.

"Hey," Nico says softly. He should move soon, should climb under the top sleeping bag and get warm again, but moving feels like too much of a hassle.

Will smiles at him after discarding the condom. He runs his warm palm over Nico's back, sending shocks of residual pleasure racing through Nico's nerves. "You want to be daddies with me," Will says, his eyes dancing, his tone playfully teasing.

Nico raises an eyebrow as if to say, Yeah? And?

His Adam's apple bobbing, Will swallows. He wets his lips and scoots closer, keeping his voice a whisper. "I think that's the hottest thing ever." His eyes shine, half-lidded, as if he's been drinking and has reached the golden moment, when all is right with the world. He sharpens his gaze, though his posture remains relaxed, brushing warmly over Nico's back, petting him. "In this future you see for us, are we going to get married or are we, you know – " He drops his voice and wags his eyebrows. "– gonna be living in sin?"

He's teasing, Nico knows it, but the question only raises more in Nico's mind. He wrinkles his forehead. "Is marriage between two guys allowed? I didn't think we had an option."

Will drops his teasing leer, his eyes growing rounder, like he's just realizing Nico's question is serious, disappointment radiating off of him, from the turn of his lips, the crease in his brow.

Nico faces him, waiting, not sure he's liking the way the conversation is playing out.

His discontent must show on his face because Will changes tack immediately. "I'm not …" he starts, stopping at once, and blowing his bangs out of his eyes. It looks like he's talking himself out of being stupid. "Sorry. I forgot about the memory thing, the time skip. It's just, marriage equality has become a hot topic lately, across the whole country, and you and I have been following it the past year and half. As of right now, after our birthdays, we could get married in Washington, and like five other states. I really hope Oregon will legalize it soon, I mean honestly, the whole country ought to. But I don't doubt that by the time we're ready for these someday 'future' kids, we should be able to get married in any state."

Nico's mind reels as recent memories flood his consciousness, vivid and intact, as if Will had just whipped off a sheet that was keeping them hidden, and then turned on the lights.

"I – I remember," Nico says, half to himself. The advice Zephyros gave him seems to be working. His heart races, even more questions rising in his mind; he misses something Will says to him, and has to backtrack. "What? Sorry … I had a dream, it just … I'll tell you about it in a bit. What'd you say?"

Will's smile lights up as if from within. He scoots closer, their chests meeting, their legs tangling. "I asked if that was a yes. Do you want to get married?"

Heat. Hot. Fire. That's how Nico's body reacts to Will's question. He must be glowing like the coals in a campfire at night, he blushes so hard.

"Uh …" he starts, going even redder. "For the future, right?" Great, stammering. Pull it together di Angelo. Oh my gods, is he really asking this? "I mean –" It's hard to catch his breath. The ground under him seems to be spinning, or maybe it's the tent above. "I want to before we have kids, but now … I'm not ready?" Great. What's the matter with you? It's a statement, not a question!

Will smiles even wider, then leans in and steadies the world, anchoring Nico with a deep kiss.

They break apart, noses touching, foreheads close. "I'm not ready either. But I do want to marry you someday and I promise, if I end up being the one who proposes, I won't do it like this. It'll be a grand, formal gesture in private, that you'll see coming and will have ample opportunity to run away from if you need to, and nobody else has to know."

Nico's heart melts. He's well aware that Will just basically told him that, when it comes to emotions, Nico's stunted and afraid. But the fact that he would think of doing something like that, that he wants to do it in a way that won't make Nico freak out … Stupid son of Apollo. Nico swears to himself that when they're ready, he will be the one to propose.

Will makes a face, an unpleasant one, his eyes shifting down and then back up. "I'm in the wet spot now."

Nico giggles. Full on schoolboy giggling. His boyfriend is such a dork.

Giving Nico's hip a gentle smack, Will rolls onto his back, then climbs to his feet. He picks up their towels. "Gonna wet one of these and get us cleaned up. Be right back."