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Nico once found out that he slept better when he was sharing a bed with someone else. Honestly, he was surprised he hadn’t come to the conclusion sooner. When he was young, when he’d first moved in with the Jacksons (and Paul), he had a lot of nightmares and usually went to sleep in Percy’s room for the rest of the night. As long as there was another person in the bed, Nico seemed to sleep just fine.
So after that first night that he slept over at Will’s, he thought that, maybe, having someone he trusted beside him at night meant that he could actually sleep through the night for once (he hadn’t, not really, not since he got his Miraculous).
The first time, Nico didn’t know how to ask. How was he supposed to ask his maybe-kinda-possibly-secret-boyfriend if he wanted to spend the night just to sleep in the same bed? That was weird, wasn’t it? What if Will thought it was weird?
Eventually, Nico got over himself and simply asked, and Will had been more excited than anything. Even when Nico had told him he’d have to sneak in through a window like Nico did whenever he transformed so late at night, Will had acted like it was some sort of extra challenge.
Soon enough, it became an almost nightly occurrence. Whenever Will’s mom wasn’t home (which was pretty often), he slept over at Nico’s. On the rare occasion that Naomi Solace was in town, Will stayed home to have breakfast with his mother in the morning.
Nico started leaving windows propped open. Sometimes, Will would follow Nico home after their patrol. Sometimes, Nico would already be in bed when Will arrived. On very rare occasions, Will would get there first, usually to Nico’s surprise.
Usually, Will set himself an alarm so that he could wake up with enough time to climb down the fire escape and change his clothes before school, though there was one morning where this wasn’t the case.
Nico had his back pressed to Will’s chest, one of Will’s arms wrapped tightly around his chest and his nose buried in Nico’s hair. It was already too late when Nico realized that Will had forgotten to set an alarm.
Percy threw the door open, the squeaky hinges waking Nico from his light sleep, though he froze, mouth hanging open, when he entered the room.
“Dude,” Percy whispered, nodding at Will, still asleep behind Nico. “What the hell?”
Nico tucked his face into his pillow. “Get out.”
“You’ve got a guy in here!” Percy exclaimed, voice raising only slightly.
“Shut up!” Nico hissed. “We’re just sleeping. Asleep sleeping!” he corrected, seeing the look on Percy’s face.
“How’d he get up here?” Percy asked, leaning against the doorframe like he was ready for a lengthy conversation.
“None of your business!”
“Fire escape?”
“Shut up!”
Percy laughed quietly, and Nico heard Will sigh in his sleep. “I’m telling Mom, and you’re gonna have to bring him down for breakfast.”
“Don’t you dare,” Nico threatened, but Percy had already turned on his heel, and was heading back through the door.
“Mom!” he heard Percy calling down the stairs. “Nico has a guy in his room!”
“Snitch,” Nico hissed, and felt Will’s arm tightening around his waist. Will curled impossibly closer to Nico, holding him only for a few seconds longer, before releasing him completely.
Will groaned, rubbing at his eyes, as Nico rolled onto his back. He reached up, brushing his fingertips gently along Will’s jaw line. “You forgot to set an alarm,” Nico told him softly, his anger at Percy immediately melting away when he laid eyes on Will’s sleepy expression.
“No I didn’t,” Will told him, reaching over Nico to where his phone sat on the nightstand, lighting up the screen and saying, “Or maybe I did.”
“Percy came in here to wake me up,” Nico continued. “He saw you. Obviously.”
Will winced. “Should I leave?”
Nico shook his head, still running his fingers against Will’s skin, now barely trailing down his neck and moving back up. “You have to stay for breakfast. I don’t think it’s optional.”
Will hummed, eyes wide and a little crazy, with a hint of something like fear. “No, I think I could probably sneak out without anyone seeing me.”
Nico dropped his hand, holding it close to his chest. “Do you...not want to have breakfast with me? And my family? I mean, I kinda wanted you to meet them soon, and I get that this isn’t the most ideal time, but I still wanted them to meet you. I don’t want this to be secret forever, you know?”
Will’s eyes softened, hand instantly reaching out to grasp one of Nico’s. “I don’t want it to be secret, either, I just-- I’ve never done this, and I know you haven’t either.” He paused. “I don’t want your family to have a bad impression of me because of this, I want them to like me.” Will released Nico’s hand, moving to cup Nico’s cheek instead, almost forcing Nico to meet his eyes. “Of course I want to have breakfast with you and your family.”
“Percy already told them you’re here,” Nico said.
Will smiled. “At least now it won’t be a surprise.” He leaned forward a pressed a kiss to the tip of Nico’s nose.
Nico rolled his eyes, trying to hold back a smile as he did. “C’mon, Kitty, let’s go.”
“Yes, darling.”
They came down the stairs into the kitchen holding hands, mostly just so Nico knew that Will wouldn’t run back and climb down the fire escape.
Sally, Paul, and Percy were already sitting down at the table, waiting for Nico and Will to arrive, and turned to look at them expectantly when they entered the kitchen.
“This is Will,” Nico told them. “My, uh--”
“Boyfriend,” Will finished for him, squeezing his hand. “It’s nice to meet you all.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too, Will,” Sally said with a smile, before nodding to the open seats across the table. “Please, take a seat, grab some breakfast.”
The two did, and the first thing Will noticed was the food sitting on the table. “Are those waffles...blue?”
“You get used to it,” Nico told him, already using his fork to pull a waffle onto his plate.
The table grew quiet, slowly becoming more and more awkward as time passed, until Sally broke the silence: “Are the two of you being safe?”
Percy spit out his drink and Paul choked on a bite of waffle. Nico and Will froze, their faces blooming matching blushes.
“We’re not--”
“There’s nothing to--”
“What, are you afraid of Nico getting pregnant?” Percy asked, bursting out laughing.
“Percy,” Paul scolded.
“There are other things to worry about than pregnancy,” Sally said, shooting Percy a Look out of the corner of her eye.
“Sally,” Paul tried again. “Let the boys speak.”
Suddenly, there were three pairs of eyes on Nico and Will once again. “There’s nothing happening?” Nico said, though his voice didn’t even sound convincing to himself.
“There isn’t,” Will insisted. “I spent the night last night, but nothing happened other than sleep. Like, unconscious sleeping, not like sleeping together. Yeah.” As soon as he was finished speaking, Will sunk down slightly in his seat.
Nico glanced over at his boyfriend before turning back to his family. “So, Will has to go home to get ready for school, so thanks for breakfast, but--” He stood, grabbing Will’s arm, and pulling him back up the stairs.
Later that morning, when Nico was standing at his locker, Jason cornered him. “Dude, we gotta talk.”
“About what,” Nico replied, not looking up from where he was grabbing textbooks and binders from his locker and dropping them into his backpack.
Jason took a moment to glance to either side, to make sure no one was paying them any attention, before he leaned forward and whispered, “I saw Chat Noir on your roof last night.”
“When?” Nico asked, trying to remain calm even though his heart was beating a million times a second.
“Like, eleven?” Jason answered.
Nico narrowed his eyes at the other boy. “What the hell were you doing outside my home at eleven at night?”
Jason’s face bloomed red. “Uh, okay, so I was hanging out at Piper’s, and it got super late, and I walked by your place to get home.”
Nico’s lips twitched up at the corners. “What were you doing at Piper’s?”
“Unimportant,” Jason insisted. “That’s not what we’re talking about, anyway. What was Chat Noir doing on your roof at eleven o’clock at night?”
Nico turned back to his locker and shrugged. “I dunno, patrolling with Ladybug, or something? How should I know what he’s doing?”
“But, like, I saw him climb in through your window,” Jason continued. “I kinda doubt there was an akuma inside your room, man.”
Nico sighed, slamming his locker shut. “Okay, you know what? No, there was no akuma in my room. Yes, I knew he was there. I’m--” Nico hid his face in his hands and groaned, mumbling something into his palms.
“What?” Jason asked, leaning closer to try to hear him better.
“I’m dating Chat Noir,” Nico hissed, glaring up at his friend. “You can’t tell anyone, okay? No one can know. You can’t even speak to me about this, ever again. Got it?”
Jason’s eyes widened. “Uh, yeah. Of course, dude, no problem.”
“Great,” Nico said with a nod. “Alright. Let’s move on.” He turned away from his locker, immediately freezing in his tracks when he saw Will walking towards him. He breathed out, “Shit,” before plastering a smile on his lips.
“Hello, darling,” Will said, stepping up to Nico and pressing a quick kiss against Nico’s lips before turning towards his own locker.
The smile dropped from Nico’s face, and he ground the palms of his hands into his eyes. “Shit. Alright.”