Their first performance came up faster than it had any right to.

One moment, Will was practicing with the band in the safety of the studio, at the piano in the common room of his hall with Nico, over FaceTime between study breaks to perfect his rhythm. He'd memorized beats from Nico drumming them on his knees with pencils as they sat opposite each other in cafes, Will with his textbooks spread over the table, Nico with his laptop open and headphones on. They were laughably oversized, a deep, matte black that shone against his hair and made him essentially dead to the world.

"Nic," Will said. He closed his hands over Nico's under the table to still them.

Nico blinked and stopped his tapping. A slight blush crept over his face. "Sorry."

Will cracked a smile. "No worries. Just— not when I have a paper due."

Nico went to tug his hands back and felt some resistance. He glanced down, then back up at Will, who quickly let go with a blush of his own. Nico cleared his throat and adjusted his headphones.

"When you're done with your paper, do you want to practice more?" Nico's voice came out as little more than a murmur. Will almost didn't catch it.

He blinked. "Um, yeah, sure. We should— I mean, I'll probably be hungry so—"

"We could get food." Nico was so brusque about it, as if he didn't even know the affect he had on Will just by opening his mouth. "You're a veggie, yeah?"

Will gulped. "Yeah."

Nico nodded. "Cool. I know a place." He put his headphones back on.

Will's heart jumped up to his throat. The words swam before him as he attempted to finish up his work faster than he ever has in his life. Nico seemed so nonchalant as he typed on his laptop, occasionally running a hand through his hair, tugging on the short ponytail at the back. He only ever put his hair up like that when he needed to concentrate or play the drums; he said his long bangs got in the way more often than not.

Will asked once why he didn't just cut it, then almost hit himself for suggesting it. He wanted to run his fingers through that jet-black hair some day. He bet it was soft as sin.

"Is he good?"

Percy sent a curious glance towards Will, who was crouched by the ground, attempting to breathe. They had a small gig at a local bar as a ramp up to the festival and the band that was on before them only had a few more songs before they went on.

"Yeah," came Nico's voice from a ways away. "Gimme a second."

Will rubbed his temples and attempted to calm himself. Nervous thoughts zipped through his brain as fast as his synapses could fire them. It had been ages since he'd been on a stage, and even longer since he'd sung with a band like this. They were all just so— cool; he couldn't take it. He didn't belong—

"Breathe."

A hand pressed down on his neck until his head was forced between his knees. Will let out an involuntary mewl at the motion. Nico's hand was heavy and warm, warmer than it had any right to be, and he smelled like the cigarettes he liked to smoke mixed with cheap whiskey.

"You mess this up and I will kill you. You know that. So breathe."

Fuck. Will was not going to survive this, not with Nico so close. But it brought him a modicum of comfort as well. If he could live long enough to not fuck this up, maybe he'd get to see the elusive Nico di Angelo smile.

"You know all the words, we've practiced them millions of times. Calm down, sunshine."

Will took in a shuddering breath and opened his mouth to speak. "Can you call me that again?"

"What?" He could hear the mirth in Nico's voice. "Sunshine?"

Will snorted. "Yeah, that one."

Nico's thumb rubbed the back of Will's neck with more pressure than necessary. "You're gonna give 'em hell, sunshine." He leaned down to whisper in Will's ear. "I know you can."

That nearly sent Will spiraling again. It was all too much all at once, but he had to. He made a commitment to Percy, to the band. He needed to keep up his end of the bargain, even if their drummer was scheming to give Will a heart attack.

He nodded, lifting his head from between his knees. Nico's hand was still on the back of his neck when they locked eyes. "Okay. I— I can do it. Fuck—" He rubbed a hand over his eyes. "Just— gimme a minute."

If he squinted his eyes just right, he could see the corners of Nico's lips turn up into a smile. He nodded and held his hand out expectantly to the others. Percy put a bottle of water in it and averted his eyes.

"Here," Nico pressed the bottle to Will's chest. "Drink this— all of it. Then go out on stage like nothing happened."

Will twisted the cap off with shaking fingers. "Thanks."

Nico clapped him on the back. "Don't mention it."

Percy and Frank went out to set up their things between bands as an excuse to leave Will and Nico to their devices. Will managed to get off the floor and to the overstuffed couch in the corner that was being held together with worn bright blue duct tape, the bottle clutched to his chest.

"You like that, huh?" Nico asked as he checked his drums over.

Will blinked. "Like what?"

Nico looked over one shoulder at Will. "When I call you sunshine."

He turned red. "Um—"

Nico laughed. "You should come up with a nickname for me. I feel left out now."

What the fuck would I even call you? Will immediately felt guilty for thinking it.

"You name— it means angel," Will mumbled.

Nico laughed again as he finished unzipping his snare. "If anyone is getting called angel, it's you." He indicated Will's golden curls.

If Will turned any more red, he would explode. "Then what do you want your nickname to be?"

Nico hefted the bass drum onto one shoulder. He passed by Will on his way to the stage and ruffled his hair. "Think on it. It's no fun coming up with a nickname for yourself, angel."

Will closed his eyes. Nico di Angelo was going to kill him.

They liked them— thank God they liked them. Nico knew it would either be hit or miss with the way Will was hyperventilating in the greenroom. It almost gave Nico pause as well— almost. The relief that washed through him when Will's roiling anxiety transformed into the magnetic stage personality he'd had in rehearsals was euphoric.

He'd almost forgotten what it felt like to be on stage. Nico still played the drums in his apartment and the rare times he played with others, but he hadn't graced the stage since his last performance with Jason at the helm. At times, he felt himself reaching for Jason once again, but that feeling didn't find him when he was playing for Will.

When the stage lights hit him just right, he had a halo. An angel, indeed.

Frank and Percy rushed off stage and made a beeline for the bar, slapping each others' backs and shouting with the post-gig rush of energy. Nico followed slowly, lingering in the hall by the side stage. He paused for too long and Will bumped into his back.

Will grabbed the back of Nico's t-shirt on instinct as he stumbled back. "Nico, what—"

Nico turned and pressed him up against the dark wall of the side stage. He was shorter than Will by half a foot, but it didn't stop him from pinning Will to the damp walls with an arm across his chest. He pressed the softest of kisses to Will's lips.

"Good job," Nico murmured to him, his lips a hairsbreadth from Will's. He dropped his arm and pulled back from Will despite the way his head moved to chase him.

"Nico—" Will reached out to catch Nico's arm as he turned to go and held his gaze.

"What?" he mumbled, eyes avoiding Will's.

Will looked him over for longer than was comfortable. Nico could feel embarrassment come off him in waves, and just as he thought Will was going to turn him down, he pulled Nico in for another kiss.

It was Nico being pressed against the wall now, Will's arms around his waist as he tugged him up so he didn't have to crane his neck nearly as much. Nico wound his arms around Will's neck and lifted himself up to wrap his legs around Will's waist. The wall provided excellent leverage to hold Nico aloft while they deepened their kiss. Hands clutched at faces, clutched at throats, grappled at walls. Nico felt like he might drown at any moment.

"Hey, Percy wants to know what drinks you guys— oh, come the fuck on!"

They pull apart to a startled Frank hanging his head in his hands.

"Hey." Nico's breath came heavy. Will's hands grasped Nico's waist for lack of anything else to do. "H-how are you, Frank?"

Frank leveled a glare at them, his eyebrows slung low. "I can't believe you two."

"Don't tell Percy," Nico blurted out. He looked at Will. "Sorry, it's just—"

"No—" Will interrupted, eyes wide. "I totally get it—"

Frank groaned. "I hate you. So much."

Nico bit his lip. He called after Frank, "Get me a beer!"

Frank waved a hand dismissively as he walked away. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

Nico took in a few breaths before he looked at Will. His curls were in disarray, his lips swollen and shining. His pupils were blown as wide as they could go.

"Should we—" Will's voice was hoarse.

It took a moment before the intended meaning reached Nico's brain; all the blood meant for computing thoughts was currently preoccupied with another activity. He nodded swiftly. "Yes, yes, we— we should. Um— can you—?"

Will blinked. "Oh, yes—! Sorry." He let go of Nico's waist.

Nico cleared his throat, smoothing down his shirt. He turned to lock eyes with Will, then quickly looked away. "You know… my car is parked just around back."

Will swallowed. "Yeah? Do you think Percy would be cool with us bailing?"

Nico swore under his breath. He rummaged through his pockets and shoved the keys into Will's hands. "Give me fifteen. I'll pack up my kit and meet you there."

Will's cheeks pinked. "Uh— yeah, sure, right. I'll— I'll see you then."

A smirk crept up Nico's face. "I'll try not to keep you waiting long."

The thing about William Solace was that he was a certified Boy Disaster and acutely aware of that fact. He could count on one hand the number of times he'd had sex and none of them included a car in the mix. He'd adjusted his seat a million times before deciding it really didn't matter what angle it was at: Nico would change it regardless.

The thought comforted him a bit. Nico was nothing if not an absolute control-freak and Will could just relax and enjoy the ride. That is, if Will even knew how to relax in the first place; the jury was still out on that one.

He jumped at a knock on the window. Nico was there making a stupid face that melted into a grin when Will scowled in return. He unlocked the door and opened it.

"Fancy seeing you here." Nico looked Will over, hands in his back pockets. "Come here often?"

Will rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah—"

He was cut off by Nico straddling him, shutting the car door soon after. He might have been half a foot shorter than Will, but he positively dwarfed Will due to the sheer audacity he held in his body. Nico reached down between the seats and reclined it as far as it could go. Will fell back with a strangled yelp and clutched at Nico's t-shirt.

Nico smirked. "Eager, are we?"

He licked his lips. "I— I mean—"

Nico silenced him with a kiss, a hand coming up to caress his cheek, his hips rolling down to show Will he was already half-hard with the anticipation. He strayed from Will's lips and kissed his way down his neck, leaving small marks with his teeth. It made Will want to jump out of his skin; he could barely tell which way was up anymore, how was he meant to have sex with him?

"Nico—" he whined. His fingers tightened on Nico's waist.

"Hm?" Nico lifted his lips from where they were busy sucking on Will's collarbone. "What do you need?"

Just the question had him suppressing a noise. He screwed his eyes shut. "I— I don't know. I just need—"

"I know." Nico ran a hand through Will's hair. He reached between them to feel where Will was pressed up against the fly of his jeans, painfully hard. "I'll take care of you, if you let me."

Will let out a watery laugh, ending on a hiccup. "Yeah, I think I'll die if you don't, so—"

Nico smiled and pressed at the front of Will's jeans. "We can't have that, can we? Where else would we find such a pretty songbird?"

Will gasped. His fingers dug into Nico's waist hard enough to bruise. "You— you're too good at that."

"At what?" Nico undid the button on Will's jeans with one hand.

"Nicknames." Will fought a moan. "You don't know what you do to me when you call me— fucking— sunshine. Songbird. All that."

Nico hummed and pulled Will's cock out of his boxers teasingly. "Oh, I know what I'm doing."

Will swore. "Bastard."

"That's my name. Don't wear it out." Nico shifted to the side to better take Will in hand. His hair spilled out of its plait and cascaded over one shoulder.

Will reached a shaky hand up to brush his fingertips against it; it was just as soft as he imagined it being. They locked eyes as Nico stroked him, Will's hand tangled in Nico's locks. His lips trembled until he could no longer keep the sounds he was dying to make inside.

"There you are," Nico said with a satisfied smile. His other hand was braced above Will's head on the seat. Will was a good handful and filled Nico well, radiating heat and want. Nico was growing hard in his own jeans, but ignored it in favour of taking in the delicious reactions from Will.

"Fuck—" Will let out a strangled chuckle. "You're going to ruin me, you know that?"

Nico leaned in, sucking at Will's earlobe. His voice was a scant whisper. "That's the idea. Now come for me."

Will's pointed retort died in his throat as everything in him was lit on fire. He didn't realize just how worked up Nico had gotten him and everything took him by complete surprise. He gasped, bucking up into Nico's hand until it became too much to possibly bear.

"Please—" He protested weakly. Nico was touching him to the point of over stimulation. His hand slowed and Will caught his breath.

He was beautiful like this, Nico thought. Will's skin was covered by a sheen of sweat, his eyes lost in a far away place. Nico stroked his hair, his cheek. He wiped the come from his fingers on Will's stomach, soothing at the tensed muscles there.

"Good?" Nico asked. He rubbed his forehead against Will's.

Will took in a stuttering breath. "Yeah— fuck— that was— yeah."

Laughter erupted from Nico. "Sorry— you just look so—" He bit his lip. "Cute after you come."

Will slapped Nico's arm. "Jackass."

He buried his face in Will's shirt, shoulders shaking with laughter. "Sorry— sorry!"

Will rolled his eyes and pulled Nico's face to his so they could kiss. "What about you?"

"Me?" Nico blinked. "Well, I like to think I'm adorable—"

"No, idiot." Will snorted. He angled his knee up into Nico's hardness. "About this."

Nico's jaw tensed. "I was hoping we could fuck, but you seem pretty exhausted after all that."

Will glared at him. He pulled Nico down against his softening dick and rolled hard enough to elicit a groan.

"If you don't fuck me in your stupidly tricked out car right now, I'm quitting the band."

"Them's fighting words, Solace. Gonna put your money where your mouth is?"

"As long as you have lube, sure."

"And here I was thinking we'd get by on the power of love alone. Shucks."

Will pushed at Nico's shoulders.

"Fine, fine." He sat up and reached behind himself into the glove box. At the back, behind his vehicle registration and a canister of pepper spray, was a small tube of lube.

"Holy shit, you actually have lube in your car." Will grinned at Nico, tugging at his lapels. "You slut."

Nico scrunched his nose. "You like it. Don't lie."

Will licked into Nico's mouth, one hand undoing the zipper on Nico's jeans. "Hoping it gets me laid, what can I say?"

Nico bumped his head against Will's and started making work of both of their jeans. "You have an awfully high opinion of yourself, angel."

Will chuckled, his muscles slack from when he came, skin buzzing from all the close touches Nico gave him. "You like me, so I must be worth something."

He made a noise at the back of his throat and pushed Will up far enough so he could situate himself between his legs. Will was worth something to him— more than he could ever properly articulate— and it sent a pang of longing through him at the thought that Will could think of himself as anything else. Nico ran his hands up Will's thighs.

"Last chance to turn back," Nico said as he bit teasingly at Will's inner thigh.

Will's eyes slipped shut. "Either fuck me or I'm going to find someone else to do it."

"Harsh," Nico murmured against Will's skin. He uncapped the lube and coated a finger. "Tell me if it's too much."

Will hummed. "I think I'll be fine— oh."

His voice died in his throat as Nico circled his entrance and pushed in slowly with his index finger. He kept a watchful eye on Will's face as he explored, taking in even the smallest reaction.

Will was different when he was desperate; it didn't show much in his day to day life the way it did in bed, writhing under Nico's careful fingers. It struck Nico as strange and wonderful all at the same time when he let his gaze roam over the sweat-slick skin that he was allowed to bear witness to. He gently circled Will's entrance and inserted a second finger.

"So tight," Nico murmured. "You nervous or something?"

Will's cheeks were pink, his breath coming in short bursts. "I—" The noise that left his mouth was as delicate as the fluttering of his eyelashes. "You make me nervous."

Nico's fingers stilled for a moment, and in his astonishment, he added a third finger without even thinking. He made Willnervous? That didn't seem possible. Every second Nico was around Will set his nerve endings on fire. He didn't know if he wanted to kiss or kill Will most days, and try as he might to keep that under wraps, there was only so much he could do to conceal the breadth of his emotions. There was something about Will Solace beyond the comparisons his mind drew between him and Jason. If he didn't know any better, he would have said Will was half-siren, whole supernatural.

"Nico—"

Will whined. He fucking whined. It broke all of Nico's resolve and he swore under his breath as he shoved roughly at the front of his jeans and boxer briefs. He tugged just enough to hook the waistband under his balls, but his moment of relief was fleeting as the air hit his cock.

Nico groaned, leaning far enough forward to touch his forehead to Will's navel. He nosed absentmindedly there, his fingers curling inside Will enough to elicit a twitch as his cock attempted to move against Nico's shoulder.

Will's hand came down to rub at the taut tendon that stretched the length of his shoulder. "Alright?"

Nico took in a deep breath, his voice no more than a soft whisper. "I want to fuck you so bad, it makes me look stupid."

He could feel the chuckle rumble up through Will's chest. It felt like a purr. "Good thing I don't want you for your brains."

"Rude." Nico nipped at Will's skin before dragging himself up into a sitting position. He leaned back, reluctantly pulling his fingers out of Will to slick himself up. He rolled his shoulders.

"You're getting some serious mileage out of that glove box lube." Will raised an eyebrow.

"Preparation is one of the core tenants of the Boy Scouts." Nico grunted, throwing the bottle of lube somewhere else in the car. He twisted a hand up and down his length.

"Now, I don't know enough to dispute that, but of course you were a Boy Scout—"

Will reached out to clutch at Nico's biceps as he entered him, a slow, inexorable stretch that he could feel all the way in his throat. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this way with someone else, let alone by himself. He'd purchased a dildo ages ago that he'd hidden so well from his mother that he'd forgotten where he'd put it entirely.

Nico wasn't large, but he wasn't small by any stretch of the imagination either. He was the perfect amount for Will, almost as if they were made for each other. Will's arm went to cover his eyes as Nico began to thrust, trying to no avail to stop his desperate, needy sounds from escaping as the air was punched from his lungs. Nico himself was struggling as well against his baser instincts to rut into Will like an animal in heat.

"Fuck." He managed to pause long enough to rest his forehead against Will's shoulder. He kissed lazily into the join on Will's neck as he shifted his hips to be fully seated inside him. "God— you're so fucking perfect."

"Careful, angel." Will's eyes won't focus on anything but the dark roof of the car. His hand anchored itself in Nico's hair. "You're going to give me a big head about all of this. My ego doesn't need fluffing."

Nico hummed. "Call me that again."

Will moved his nose against the shell of Nico's ear, pulling his lobe between his teeth. "Angel? Thought you decided that was one of my nicknames."

A helpless whine emanated from Nico's throat. "No— that one's mine now. Give it back."

"Alright." Will ground his hips down against where he and Nico were joined. "Fuck me, angel. Please."

Nico swore. "Well, when you ask so nicely—"

Will swatted his back. "Get on with it."

"I'm not a horse, Solace—"

"Oh? Then I guess I won't ride you."

"God— you're insufferable. Why did I let you have so much free rein?"

"I think we're mixing our horse metaphors, here. What animal am I again?"

"A silent one."

Will laughed, his head tipped back, his nerves flayed open and his legs spread wide. He relished in every shift of his skin against the sticky leather of the passenger seat, in every soft noise of concentration Nico let out as he fucked him into oblivion. His second orgasm caught him by surprise as he floated on the pure pleasure of being taken care of by Nico di Angelo's practiced hands. In the end, it came to him through a kiss and he tensed just in time to catch Nico as well.

Nico collapsed on top of him, unwilling to move for the time being, no matter who found them in such a state.

"Fuck," he muttered more to himself than to Will.

"Hm?" Will toyed with the soft hair at the nape of Nico's neck.

"I'm going to have to clean my car after this."

"I'll help."

"No, that's how we're going to get into a repeat of this situation."

"I'll buy you better car lube?"

"Alright, deal."